Officials wary of Great Timor State

KUPANG, East Nusa Tenggara: A council commission has demanded that the government follow up on a military report, which revealed that a group of people on the Indonesian side of Timor island was trying to establish a Great Timor State.

Pius Rengka, the head of Commission A overseeing governance at the East Nusa Tenggara provincial council, said that the government should investigate the group, in order to prevent it from becoming a bigger movement.

The report was earlier given to the provincial council by a top officer in North Central Timor district military command.

The Wirasakti Military Commander overseeing East Nusa Tenggara province, Col. Moeswarno Moesanip, confirmed the report. He said that the group of people had campaigned along the border of Indonesia and East Timor. They apparently intend to create a nation combining East Timor and the western half of Timor island, which is still Indonesian territory, and call it the Great Timor State.

East Timor gained its freedom from Jakarta rule after a UN- sponsored vote in 1999. -- JP