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)

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