RI clarifies stance on East Timor

By Razak Imanuddin

NEW YORK (JP): Minister of Foreign Affairs Ali Alatas said on Monday Indonesia wanted a method other than a popular vote to gauge the opinion of East Timorese on the offer of wide-ranging autonomy as the final solution to the disputed territory.

Alatas made the remarks at a news conference at the end of two days of UN-sponsored talks on the issue here, denying earlier reports that Indonesia had agreed to a referendum. He reiterated Jakarta's view that such an exercise would trigger a civil war.

Alatas and his Portuguese counterpart, Jaime Gama, agreed in the talks to continue their discussions in search of an alternative solution on March 10.

UN Special Envoy for East Timor Jamsheed Marker, who also addressed the media conference, said the planned meeting in New York would be preceded by a meeting of senior officials on March 9.

Gama said Portugal had agreed to Indonesia's two-phase proposal for the settlement of the 23-year dispute over the territory.

"We've just been assessing final documents on the autonomy model for East Timor based on democratic principles," Gama said.

Alatas earlier said Indonesia was willing to grant special status to the country's 27th province, based on wide-ranging autonomy. Negotiations with Portugal on the matter are scheduled to be completed by April.

But, if the offer is rejected by the East Timorese, the government would propose to the new People's Consultative Assembly -- which will convene its maiden session by the end of August -- to allow East Timor to separate.

The remaining issue to be resolved, according to Marker, was how to reconcile the differences between Portugal's demand for a referendum and Indonesia's position, which has so far agreed to consult the East Timorese.

Marker conceded the upcoming talks would be tough.

"There is no shortcut to democracy," he said, quoting a Pakistani aphorism: "It would be much better if we could kill a snake without breaking the cane used."

"And now we are looking for the cane that can be used to beat and kill the snake without being damaged or broken," the Pakistani diplomat said.

Describing the "consultation" Indonesia had offered, Alatas said the manner in which UN Secretary-General Kofi Annan and Marker had consulted with the East Timorese in the past could be considered a model.

This consultation could be extended until the UN is sure whether or not the East Timorese approve of the offered autonomy, Alatas said.

"If in the past Marker consulted only with 10 East Timorese people in Portugal, now he can do so with 100 East Timorese.

"Then, if in the past, he only consulted with 50 people in East Timor, now the consultation participants from East Timor can be extended to 500 or 5,000 people," Alatas said.

On Indonesia's seriousness to settle the East Timor issue, Alatas reiterated: "We want to settle the disputed East Timor issue as soon as possible."

"It's not a matter of East Timor's independence, but how to honorably and peacefully get the province separated from Indonesia," he said.

"It's not a matter of profit or loss as we really want to let East Timor (be) free," he added.

Alatas has said that once Indonesia severed its ties with East Timor, the status of the island, with a population of 800,000, would become a non-self-governing territory, with Portugal, as the UN-recognized administrator, responsible for completing the decolonization of the territory.

The East Timorese would then have to negotiate their independence with the UN and Portugal.

During Monday's news conference, Alatas was accompanied by his Director General for Political Affairs, Nugroho Wisnumurti, Deputy Permanent Representative to the UN Arizal Effendi and Director of the International Organization of the Foreign Ministry Makmur Widodo.

Gama was accompanied by his director general for political affairs, Fernando Neves, and the Portuguese Ambassador to the UN Antonio Monteiro.