Timor politician expects little from new UN-sponsored talks

Timor politician expects little from new UN-sponsored talks

DILI, East Timor (JP): A local politician says Indonesia and
Portugal should try a new, less formal, approach to resolving
their dispute over East Timor, instead of waiting for the outcome
of United Nations-sponsored talks.

"We could be in for a long wait if we keep relying on the
United Nations," Salvador Januario Ximenes Soares, a member of
the House of Representatives (DPR), told reporters on Thursday.

Indonesia and Portugal should instead look for channels
outside the United Nations, Salvador said. "We can't expect to
see much progress if we wait for the formal channels."

His remarks came on the eve of the departure of Minister of
Foreign Affairs Ali Alatas for Geneva for the latest round of
talks with his Portuguese counterpart to resolve the East Timor
question.

The meeting, held under the auspices of UN Secretary General
Boutros Boutros-Ghali, is the third of confidence building
measures towards an acceptable resolution of the dispute.

While Portugal no longer insisted on a self determination act
for East Timor, Lisbon has continued to attack Indonesia,
especially over human rights issues. The predominantly Catholic
territory became part of Indonesia in 1976.

The Portuguese colonial administration had abandoned East
Timor a year earlier without completing the decolonization
process, leaving a bloody civil war in its wake.

A minority of East Timorese, who receive Portuguese support,
to this day are still waging an armed and diplomatic battle for a
separate state.

Salvador said that next week's meeting is likely to be another
"war of words" between the two foreign ministers since neither of
them wants to lose face. "Let's just see what happens."

He hailed the efforts by non-government organizations to
promote closer ties between the two countries in the absence of
formal diplomatic ties, severed in 1976.

Last month, 24 Portuguese of East Timor heritage made an
unprecedented visit to their homeland to visit their families,
sponsored by Siti Hardiyanti Rukmana, the eldest daughter of the
President who chairs the Indonesia-Portugal Friendship
Association.

The visit briefly stirred controversy as some East Timorese
protested against the presence of a former pro-separatist leader.
The group however stayed about one month in Indonesia and spent
Easter with relatives in East Timor.

Siti Hardiyanti, is next sponsoring a holy pilgrimage by a
group of 47 East Timorese to Fatima, a Roman Catholic shrine in
Portugal next month. They are scheduled to leave Indonesia on May
8.

She said in Jakarta on Thursday that the efforts were part of
her association's attempt to foster better relations between the
East Timorese here and in Portugal.

"I have of course coordinated these activities so it does not
go against government policy ... I regularly report to the
Foreign Ministry and Military Intelligence," she explained.

However she stressed that these activities are sponsored by
non-governmental resources while declining to confirm if her
company, the giant Citra Lamtorogung, is its main financial
backer.

The Portuguese government last week approved the visit by
granting visas for the pilgrimage.

However it stressed that such a move should not be interpreted
as a shift in Portugal's stance towards the East Timor issue but
was based on the religious nature of the visit.

The Foreign Ministry's ambassador at large for East Timor F.X.
Lopez da Cruz told The Jakarta Post that he would be leading the
visit to Portugal.

When asked if other government officials would oversee the
trip, Lopez said there would only a member of parliament
accompanying them. "This is purely a religious trip, there is no
government intervention in this visit," he said. (yac/07/emb)