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)