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)