'We'll learn to swim', asserts Carrascalao

'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)