Pro-Jakarta forces unite ahead of E. Timor ballot

Pro-Jakarta forces unite ahead of E. Timor ballot

JAKARTA (JP): A newly formed umbrella front for prointegration
groups in East Timor met in the provincial capital of Dili on
Friday to prepare nonviolent campaign for autonomy in the August
referendum set to decide the province's future.

"We are still laying down our constitution and defining a
structure for our organization," founder member Fransisco Xavier
Lopes da Cruz was quoted as saying by AFP on the sidelines of the
first congress of the East Timor People's Front.

Participants, composed of about 160 representatives from the
territory's 13 districts, agreed on a fundamental policy of
nonviolent campaigning, da Cruz said.

"All our efforts will be based on peaceful and nonviolent
means," said da Cruz, who is also ambassador at large for East
Timor affairs.

Prointegration militias blamed for recent killing rampages in
the troubled former Portuguese colony have yet to sign up, he
told the news agency, adding he was scheduled to start
negotiating with several of them.

"We are trying to invite them to take part... but certainly
we have our own rules and they have to submit to these rules...
not to terrorize but to protect the people."

The front will act as an umbrella organization for
anti-independence groups and work to promote broad autonomy under
Indonesia as the best option for East Timor, he said. The former
Portuguese colony was integrated into Indonesia in 1976.

A United Nations-sponsored poll of East Timor's 800,000 people
will be held on Aug. 8.

About 1,000 pro-Indonesia supporters also held a mass rally in
support of autonomy in a field opposite the police station in
Atabae.

Police in Ermera, meanwhile, found 11 unidentified bodies
buried in one hole in Bauhati village. Ermera police chief Erry
TB Gultom told Antara that the finding followed a questioning of
four people believed to be members of a proindependence group who
had been put in the list of wanted persons.

The suspects told the police their group of around 15 youths
kidnapped and killed Bauhati villagers and buried them in the 6.5
cubic meter hole on Feb. 22.

Erry said police had heard about the kidnapping, but found it
difficult to investigate it because nobody was willing to
testify.

Asylum

In Jakarta, Australian Ambassador to Indonesia John McCarthy
said that leading proindependence activist Manuel Carrascalao
"has not yet approached" the embassy to seek asylum in the
country.

"To my knowledge, Manuel has not yet approached the embassy,
it is not yet an issue," McCarthy told reporters after a two-hour
meeting with jailed rebel leader Jose Alexandre "Xanana" Gusmao
at his special detention house in Central Jakarta.

Separately in Mataram, West Nusa Tenggara, chief of the
Udayana Military Command which oversees East Timor, Maj. Gen.
Adam Damiri, said Manuel was still taking shelter at the East
Timor Police station in Dili.

McCarthy said the meeting with Xanana was "to give him an
account of some aspects of the Bali summit" between President
B.J. Habibie and Australian Prime Minister John Howard on
Tuesday. Indonesia agreed during the meeting to the presence of
United Nations police to help oversee security in East Timor
ahead of the ballot.

"I found his views were considerably more positive than what
was reported in the press here... he thought that the Bali
summit was constructive," McCarthy said.

"It is a good idea for Australia to keep in touch with Xanana
on the East Timor issue, just as we keep in touch with the
Indonesian government and with those in favor of the
integration."

He added that Australia "would like to keep the diplomatic
network alive and working".

AFP said the Australian government faced pressure on Friday to
grant asylum to Manuel after he fled the troubled province on
Thursday amid increasing fears for his safety.

Australia's Labor opposition and East Timorese support groups
demanded Canberra move quickly to grant a visa to Manuel, whose
son Manuelito, 11, was killed by prointegration militia along
with 11 others on April 17.

Manuel, who left with eight family members bound for Jakarta,
said he would probably seek temporary political asylum in
Australia because it was the nearest country.

Opposition foreign affairs spokesman Laurie Brereton urged
Canberra to grant Manuel and his family protection "as a matter
of urgency".

AFP added that the whereabouts of Manuel remained unknown on
Friday.

Another batch of 29 relatives of Manuel, including his wife,
was due to arrive in Jakarta on Friday, a source close to him was
quoted as saying by the news agency.

The source added Manuel would seek safety in Australia until a
UN civilian police force is in place in East Timor under an
autonomy package to be signed at the United Nations on May 5.

Manuel's younger brother, presidential advisor and former East
Timor governor Mario Viegas Carrascalao, has already sought
refuge in Portugal with his family.

Tension and violence between proindependence groups and
prointegration supporters have heightened since Jakarta announced
the independence option in January, leaving dozens killed.

Meanwhile, Antara quoted Education and Culture Minister Juwono
Sudarsono as saying that 1,600 teachers had asked for transfer
out of East Timor. About 700 other teachers have opted to stay,
he was quoted as saying. (byg)