Waves of asylum bids won't affect talks

Waves of asylum bids won't affect talks

JAKARTA (JP): Minister of Foreign Affairs Ali Alatas yesterday said that the recent wave of requests for asylum by East Timorese youths would not derail the on-going United Nations sponsored talks between Jakarta and Lisbon.

Alatas however said the climate of the talks would be affected since, as mutually agreed, all sides were supposed to refrain from creating situations which might disrupt the talks.

"How can it be said that they are restraining themselves when they keep holding demonstrations, burning the Indonesian flag, and have recently started entering foreign embassies here," Alatas said.

He added that this was a clear and planned attempt to disrupt the situation here. As a consequence, Alatas said, "Obviously it will effect the atmosphere of the talks. Obviously."

The minister last week blamed East Timorese rebel leaders in exile for encouraging the East Timorese youths to apply for asylum at foreign embassies in Indonesia.

Alatas described the recent flood of asylum seekers in the last fortnight as "a joke, but not a funny joke."

He said the asylum seekers were lured by the vision of a free ticket to Portugal and said the only motivation for these acts is to score public relations points.

When asked whether he thought this pattern would continue, Alatas said he did not know, but that sooner or later "the foreign embassies themselves would feel the burden of accepting them."

Under the auspices of the UN Secretary General, the Indonesian and Portuguese foreign minister have engaged in discussions aimed at finding an internationally acceptable solution to the problem.

The next meeting is scheduled for January.

Earlier this year pro- and anti-integrationists Timorese also held a dialog to help create a more congenial climate for the ministerial talks.

Alatas maintained that those seeking asylum have always been free to leave, and that they have never been persecuted by the government. (mds)