PPP legislators reject referendum call in East Timor
PPP legislators reject referendum call in East Timor
JAKARTA (JP): The 20-year dispute over East Timor will only be
solved by referendum, a constitutional law expert told members of
the United Development Party faction at the House of
Representatives yesterday.
Muchtar Pakpahan, who is also chief of the banned Indonesian
Prosperous Labor Union (SBSI), told the legislators that there is
no need for Indonesia to maintain East Timor's integration as
long as disputes continue to cause economic and political
problems for the country.
Since much money has been poured into the province, and given
that many countries still do not recognize Indonesia's
sovereignty over East Timor, Indonesia must take the brave step
of ending the dispute by holding a referendum, he said.
"The 20-year problem will go on unless there is a
democratically held referendum to decide whether East Timor
should be integrated or free from Indonesia," Pakpahan told the
four members of the faction.
The four legislators told Pakpahan that a referendum is not
relevant to solving the problem, and that the same economic and
political problems found in East Timor are also found in other
parts of Indonesia, such as Irian Jaya.
"Holding a referendum will inflict a loss on Indonesia,
strategically and politically," said Jusuf Syakir, one of the
legislators. The House of Representatives, he reminded, was
involved in finalizing the integration process.
Referendum is also one of the chief demands of Portugal in its
negotiations through the United Nations to resolve East Timor's
international status.
The Indonesian government has rejected the proposal. It says
that a referendum was held in 1976 when several East Timorese
tribal leaders, representing the majority of East Timorese,
pronounced their desire to integrate with Indonesia.
According to Pakpahan, a referendum would be consistent with
the country's basic ideology, which includes freedom, peace and
social justice.
Pakpahan also reported on the Youth Solidarity Group of East
Timor conference in Lisbon, Portugal, which he attended on
Feb.22-24.
The 400 participants were mostly East Timorese living in
Portugal, including those who had just arrived from Indonesia.
There were also legislators and activists from non-
governmental organizations and human rights groups from various
countries.
The conference decided to proceed with the efforts to put the
East Timor issue on the United Nations' agenda, Pakpahan said.
Similar meetings are being planned for Australia, the United
States, Ireland, Sweden, Malaysia and Britain this year, he said.
Pakpahan told the legislators that the message he got from the
meeting was that most of the East Timorese in Portugal are not
anti-government.
"They said they could not stand the military's cruelty towards
the East Timorese people," he said. (03)