U.S. congressmen end visit to Timor

JAKARTA (JP): A nine-person delegation of the United States Congress ended a brief visit to East Timor on Saturday after meeting with officials and probing into issues of human rights.

Lead by congressmen Bill Ascher, during their two-day stay the delegation met with East Timor Governor Abilio Jose Osorio Soares and members of the provincial legislative council (DPRD).

Antonio Freitas Parada, speaker of the East Timor legislative council, during the meeting with the congressional delegation, asked why the world is obsessed with human rights abuses only after East Timor's integration and not while it was still a Portuguese colony.

"During the Portuguese colonial era, human rights violations were even worse, but why did the world not pay any attention then?" Parada said as quoted by Antara from Dili.

East Timor was integrated as part of Indonesia in 1976, a year after the hasty withdrawal of the Portuguese administration. The United Nations, however, still recognizes Lisbon as the administrating power there.

The United States, though giving de facto recognition of the integration, has carefully scrutinized the implementation of human rights there.

Following the 1991 Dili incident in which several demonstrators were killed following a clash with security forces, Washington promptly suspended its military training program to the Indonesian army. U.S. Congress has also blocked the sale of U.S. military equipment to Indonesia, based on human rights considerations, particularly in East Timor.

"There is no country that is free from human rights violations," Parada remarked. "(But) You can compare the conditions during the Portuguese colonial period to that under the Indonesian government."

Similarly, the deputy speaker of the East Timor legislative council, Maria L.V.C. Quintao, said East Timorese people now could channel their political aspirations through the legislative council. "The aspiration of the people that is presented through this council is never ignored," Quintao contended.

Quintao maintained that the many demonstrations occurring in East Timor were engineered by "outside" influences. "Some of those who come to East Timor have a particular mission in mind to incite the people here to do some things." (mds)