'We'll learn to swim', asserts Carrascalao

JAKARTA (JP): East Timor will have to prove it can survive on its own if the government decides to grant the province independence, according to Mario Viegas Carrascalao.

The former governor of East Timor was responding on Friday to President B.J. Habibie's announcement that he wanted to see an independent East Timor by Jan. 1 next year.

The announcement was not unexpected, he said. The President already told aides that he wanted to start the millennium without any "extra baggage".

Carrascalao said, however, that the timetable for independence was too hasty. "At least two or three years" of preparation are needed, he said before addressing a luncheon of the Indonesia- Australia Business Council here.

He told the forum, however, that if East Timor was granted independence in the near future, the East Timorese "would learn to swim", and would prove that they were able to survive. He cited potential industries in the province, including agriculture and oil, which would allow the economy in East Timor to thrive.

"What's painful is that the government doesn't want (a) one man one vote (on the future of East Timor)," he said. Allowing the East Timorese to decide their future was necessary because the population of some 800,000 could not be represented by "a handful of people who could afford plane tickets to fly to Jakarta and lobby the government".

Most East Timorese did not even know what Indonesia's offer of wide-ranging autonomy meant. He also said that the province should be given time "to not hate Indonesia", an attitude created by the behavior of authorities in the province.

Carrascalao said that Minister of Foreign Affairs Ali Alatas rejected a referendum because of fears of civil war.

"However, don't forget the civil war in 1975 involved armed civilians with weapons from Portugal which no longer exist. The only weapons which now exist in East Timor are those from the Indonesian Armed Forces." So the future depends on the government's seriousness in promoting peace, including the confiscation of all weapons from civilians, he said.

"I would agree to arming civilian security guards if they were 100 percent under the military's control," he said after the luncheon, adding that it was dangerous if people were armed only because they were pro-integration supporters, which was often the case. Hundreds of East Timorese have recently taken shelter at his Dili residence, citing intimidation from armed pro- integration civilian groups.

Carrascalao, known as a pro-integration figure, particularly when he served as governor from 1982 to 1992, said he would not fight for independence, but would not refuse it.

The East Timorese, he added, would have to work hard to develop their infrastructure and resources, and not merely wait for independence to be given to them "on a golden platter".

He also told the luncheon that in a recent meeting with jailed resistance leader Alexandre Jose "Xanana" Gusmao, Xanana asked him to chair a new peace commission, to help ensure security in the province. Carrascalao said he would accept the position if everybody else agreed. The proposed commission would also include members of the National Commission on Human Rights, the church, the Armed Forces and pro-integration and pro-independence East Timorese. (anr)