West Timorese should be included in Timor Gap Treaty talks: NGO

JAKARTA (JP): The West Timor Care Foundation (YPTB) demanded on Thursday that West Timorese be included in talks related to the Timor Gap treaty both at national and international levels.

The group also urges the Australian government to pay US$50 million in compensation per year for a 25-year period to cover the West Timor people's losses since they have been excluded from the Timor Gap agreement and to cover rehabilitation costs arising from the recent impact of the relationship between Indonesia and Australia.

"The Timor Gap actually belongs to all East Timorese and West Timorese people. We've been fighting for West Timorese people's rights for quite some time," foundation chairman Ferdi Tanoni said.

The group is planning to meet President Abdurrahman Wahid before his visit to Australia to convey their aspirations about the matter.

"We are also working on an informal meeting with UNTAET (the United Nations Transitional Administration in East Timor) which will probably be held in Darwin. UNTAET has stated their willingness to participate," Ferdi said.

Indonesia and Australia signed the treaty in Dec. 1989 to explore and exploit oil and gas at the border between the two countries.

Based on the treaty, the Timor Gap was divided into three zones -- Zone A in which Indonesia and Australia get 50 percent of the royalties each; the Australia-controlled Zone B in which Indonesia gets 10 percent of the royalties; and the Indonesia- controlled Zone C in which Australia gets 10 percent of the royalties.

The Timor Gap treaty between Indonesia and Australia, however, expired once the UN granted independence to East Timor after the ballot results of a referendum of the East Timorese people on Aug. 30, 1999 were overwhelmingly in favor of independence.

Under the treaty, Australia has enjoyed generous oil and gas royalty terms.

"West Timor has always been treated as a stepping stone and we have always been neglected.. at least from the time back in 1975 following East Timor's integration within Indonesia and in 1999 when Australia pushed for East Timor's independence," Aco Manafe, one of the Foundation's founders, said.

Currently there are some 130,000 East Timorese refugees residing in West Timor, he said.

"Now the already poor West Timorese, who have already experienced slow economic growth, have to bear the burden.

"All efforts from the Indonesian government are channeled toward the refugees, not to the rest of the 3.5 million population of West Timor (East Nusa Tenggara). Therefore West Timor wants its share, fair and square," he added. (edt)