Soeharto's offer on E. Timor gets mixed reactions
Soeharto's offer on E. Timor gets mixed reactions
JAKARTA (JP): President Soeharto's offer to hold
reconciliatory talks with exiled East Timorese opposing the
integration of their homeland with Indonesia met mixed reactions
from politicians yesterday.
The President said on Thursday that he would be pleased to
meet in Indonesia with anti-integration groups to deepen mutual
understanding and accelerate a solution to the East Timorese
question in international forums.
He made the remarks when meeting with the ambassador-at-large
in charge of East Timor affairs, F.X. Lopez da Cruz, who reported
to him on his recent reconciliatory talks with a Portugal-based
anti-integration group in London.
East Timor integrated with Indonesia in 1976 after the abrupt
withdrawal of the Portuguese colonial administration that
triggered a civil war. The United Nations has yet to recognize it
as part of Indonesia.
Hailing the President's move was Salvador Januario Ximenes
Soares, a member of the House of Representatives (DPR) from East
Timor, who took part in the London meeting.
"Although it is unclear what President Soeharto has in mind
about the anti-integration groups, the maneuver gives a new
dimension to the efforts to seek a solution to the East Timorese
problem," he told The Jakarta Post.
He said he was surprised when hearing news about Soeharto's
maneuver and wondered why it should be the President himself who
wanted to meet with the East Timorese in exile.
He said a thorough solution to the East Timor question could
be speeded up only if the indigenous community leaders, like
Roman Catholic Bishop Carlos Filipe Ximenes Belo, were involved
in the process.
Talks
He added that reconciliatory talks should be held with all
anti-integration groups in exile otherwise they would not be
effective.
Currently there are four such groups led by Abilio Araujo,
Jose Ramos Horta, Jose Guiterez and Joao Carrascalao. Araujo,
whose group is based in Portugal, is known as the most moderate
and has taken part in reconciliatory talks twice with ambassador
Lopez.
Antonio Freitas Parada, chairman of the East Timor provincial
legislative council, opposed Soeharto's move, saying that it
would be "improper" to personally hold talks with anti-
integration group's leaders like that of Ramos Horta.
"Ramos Horta has no right to claim that he represents the East
Timorese people," he said. "He would surely exploit such a
meeting for his personal and Portugal's interests rather than for
the sake of the East Timorese people."
He added that the East Timor governor Abilio Jose Osorio
Soares was also opposed to such a meeting for similar reasons.
(pan/yac)