Self confidence vital over E. Timor
Self confidence vital over E. Timor
JAKARTA (JP): A feeling of self-confidence is essential for
Indonesia in dealing with critics of Jakarta's policy on East
Timor, a prominent political scientist said on Saturday.
"If we have self-confidence, we will not object to being
scrutinized," said Juwono Sudarsono, the vice chairman of the
National Resiliency Institute and former dean of the University
of Indonesia's faculty of social and political sciences.
Juwono told journalists that, in other countries, the issue of
East Timor will always be associated with questions of human
rights.
"I think that from the outset we should realize that East
Timor is something which always surfaces as a problem of human
rights in the international forum," he said, comparing the issue
with other controversial human rights issues, such as Kashmir and
Tibet.
East Timor, formerly a Portuguese colony, was integrated into
Indonesia in 1976. However, the United Nations still recognizes
Lisbon as the administrative power there.
Speaking on the recent reconciliation talks in Austria between
East Timorese of opposing factions, Juwono said he did not see
any reason why Indonesia should oppose the plan to hold further
such discussions in the future.
"I don't think we have any objections," he said.
At the end of their meeting the East Timorese released a
declaration calling for the UN to facilitate a further dialog.
The declaration also stressed the need to safeguard human
rights in the territory and to preserve East Timor's culture.
"We have also accepted and implemented the two points in the
Austrian declaration calling for attention to human rights and
respect for East Timor," Juwono said. "The most important thing
is that East Timor's political status and sovereignty was not
made an issue."
Juwono said that holding a future dialog in East Timor itself,
as has been suggested by some, could have positive as well as
negative consequences.
"There would be a gain in that it would show that we are self-
confident, but we could lose if the event was manipulated in such
a way that it became an international media event," he said.
Separately on Saturday Minister of Foreign Affairs Ali Alatas
again said that the results of the dialog were being reviewed and
that, therefore, he could not say what Indonesia's position was
concerning the holding of a further dialog.
After being briefed by members of the Indonesian delegation to
the dialog at his office, Alatas said that whether or not another
dialog would be held would depend on his upcoming meeting with
his Portuguese counterpart in Geneva on July 8.
Alatas expressed satisfaction that the Austrian talks had
stuck to the original plan and refrained from discussing the
political status of East Timor. (mds)