RI vows determination to maintain East Timor
RI vows determination to maintain East Timor
JAKARTA (JP): President Soeharto said yesterday Indonesia is ready to face challenges to its rule of East Timor because the majority of the people have chosen to become part of the nation.
The President's message was conveyed by F.X. Lopez da Cruz, Jakarta's ambassador at large on East Timor affairs, who met the President to report on Indonesia's stand on reconciliatory talks between pro- and anti-integration East Timorese, to be held from June 2-5 in Austria.
"We will not move backward, not even a single step. We will face all challenges that come from both within and outside Indonesia," Lopez quoted the President.
According to Lopez, Soeharto has pledged to continue defending Indonesia's stance on East Timor, even when he is no longer the president of the republic.
East Timor integrated with Indonesia in 1976 following the abrupt withdrawal of its colonial administrator, Portugal, the previous year, which triggered a civil war.
Thirty East Timorese will take part in next month's All- Inclusive Intra-East Timorese dialog, held under the auspices of the UN Secretary-General Boutros Boutros-Ghali. It will be held in the Austrian town of Burg Schlaining Schloss.
Initially, the meeting was scheduled for April 24-26 in Salzburg, Austria. But it was postponed after Indonesia raised objections to the manner in which Boutros-Ghali organized it, without first consulting Indonesia about it.
Jakarta has always emphasized that the dialog is not aimed at trying to find political solutions to the East Timorese question, but to avoid hampering discussions between Indonesia and Portugal.
President Soeharto, Lopez said, has encouraged the Indonesian delegation to be assertive in ensuring that their "brothers" in exile know of Indonesia's determination to receive and treat East Timorese people like any other citizen from other provinces.
According to Lopez, the pro-integration camp will have 16 representatives and the anti-integration camp 14 representatives in the upcoming meeting.
The pro-independence representatives will include Ramos Horta, Joao Carrascalao, Zakarias and Abilio Araujo, who are all living in exile, mostly in Portugal.
The influential East Timor Bishop, Carlos Filipe Ximenes Belo, will be present as an observer, Lopez said.
Initially, Belo was invited by the UN as an ordinary participant, but the Vatican has asked that the status be changed to observer on the grounds that as a religious leader, he is supposed to take a neutral stand.
"He (Belo) is not supposed to meddle in politics and represent the people of East Timor. He will position himself above all interested groups," Lopez said.
Meanwhile, political observer Marzuki Darusman said yesterday that he and two activists had turned down an invitation from the Portuguese parliament to attend a workshop, to be held from May 31 to June 2 in Lisbon, in connection with the Austrian meeting.
"Upon studying the invitation, I decided that the workshop will be counter productive to the efforts to settle the East Timorese problem peacefully," he told The Jakarta Post.
Included in the Lisbon workshop's topics are: the identity of East Timorese; Portugal as the administering power; East Timorese resistance abroad; self determination; and violations of human rights in the territory, Marzuki said.
"I have the impression that the topics are biased and it is hardly possible to have a genuine dialog," Marzuki said. Marzuki is a member of the National Commission on Human Rights.
He added that he turned down the invitation not because of any pressure from the Indonesian government but simply because he believed the meeting would not be productive.(pan)