Soeharto plays down Dili riots

Soeharto plays down Dili riots

JAKARTA (JP): President Soeharto has dismissed the weekend
riots in East Timor as bearing no relation whatsoever to the
question of the territory's integration into Indonesia.

At a meeting with American Ambassador to the United Nations
Madeleine K. Albright yesterday in which the recent incident in
East Timor was raised, Soeharto reportedly said that the riots
were "not political."

Minister of Foreign Affairs Ali Alatas, who was present at the
meeting at the Merdeka Palace, told reporters later that the
riots were "SARA" in nature.

The term is the Indonesian acronym for issues considered by
the government to be potentially divisive: ethnicity, religion,
race, and social group.

Dili, the capital of East Timor and the site of the worst
riots, was calmer yesterday although it remained tense, according
to residents.

The riots were launched by a group of young East Timorese, and
their targets were immigrants from outside East Timor. Smaller
riots also took place in other towns in the province.

There were no casualties in the riots, according to the
government, but several people, including police and military
personnel, were taken to hospital with injuries. Dili's Komoro
market was gutted, cars were smashed and overturned, and migrants
said they were harassed if they ventured out of their homes.

Most of the people detained for questioning in connection with
the riots have been released, according to police in Dili.

"We regret that a ruckus occurred there, but as already
explained by the proper authorities, this issue is SARA and is
not political," Alatas told reporters.

Given Indonesia's size and diversity, such incidents could
occur anywhere, he said.

During the meeting with Albright, the President spoke of the
government's policies in the former Portuguese colony, including
the current withdrawal of two Army battalions from the territory.

Earlier reports said the riots were triggered by offensive
remarks about Roman Catholicism, the dominant religion in East
Timor, on the part of an official of the local office of the
ministry of justice at Maliana prison near Dili.

The remarks, said to have been made last Monday, were
reportedly heard by prison wardens and inmates, with the news
spreading beyond the prison's walls and angering the East
Timorese. The official, identified as Sanusi Abubakar, is
currently in police detention.

Albright told the press after a number of meetings with
Indonesian officials that the East Timor question is important to
Americans.

"The situation in East Timor is something of interest to the
United States government as well as to the American people, and I
have generally spoken about the importance we attach to some
resolutions of the issue," she said.

She added that Washington supports the current talks between
Indonesia and Portugal, the former colonial ruler of East Timor,
to settle the question of East Timor's sovereignty.

The talks are continuing under the auspices of UN Secretary-
General Boutros Boutros-Ghali.

Albright said she had "commended President Soeharto on some of
the actions that he has taken to improve the economic situation
(in East Timor), but also did say that we considered it very
important for progress to be made on the subject."

Albright stressed the need for further improvements, in both
economic and human rights conditions, in East Timor.

Alatas expressed a hope that the Dili incidents last week
would not cause further trouble on the international scene.
"Hopefully the people involved in exploiting the issue have been
identified and will be investigated through legal procedures," he
said.

Appeals for calm and restraint have come from the military as
well as Dili Bishop Carlos Felipe Belo, the head of the Roman
Catholic Church in East Timor.

Yesterday, Governor Abilio Jose Osoria Soares called an
assembly of all employees of the provincial administration and
reminded them of their responsibility to maintain order.

He also told his staff that he would punish anyone who took
part in the riots.

In Jakarta, the secretary-general of the ministry of religious
affairs, Ahmad Ghozali, said the Ministry has asked the
directorate general of Catholic community guidance to follow up
on the reports of the riots.

The chairman of the Indonesian Ulemas Council, Hasan Basri,
has also called for the formation of a fact-finding team to look
into the riots. (mds/yac/anr)

Editorial -- Page 4