 | Southeast Asia
U.N. welcomes softer stance on East Timor
By Farhan Haq
UNITED NATIONS - United Nations officials praised Indonesia'ssurprise announcement that it could be willing toconsider independence for East Timor, but some supporters ofTimorese rights remain skeptical about Jakarta's stance.
UN Secretary-General Kofi Annan welcomed the announcement inJakarta that Indonesia would ''countenance the possibility ofindependence'' for East Timor and would transfer jailed Timoreseresistance leader Xanana Gusmao to house arrest.
Annan ''hopes that it will soon be possible for Xanana Gusmaoto participate actively in the political dialogue,'' UN spokesmanFred Eckhard said Wednesday.
No less important was the first admission by the Indonesiangovernment that, if the Timorese did not approve of Jakarta'splans to offer them autonomy, it might consider grantingindependence to the former Portuguese colony.
''If they want their freedom, they are welcome,'' IndonesianForeign Minister Ali Alatas said. Indonesian officials said that,if autonomy proposals being worked out this year are deemedunacceptable, the government of President Bacharuddin JusufHabibie might submit an independence proposal to the IndonesianConsultative Assembly.
The announcement, made just one day before Alatas and hisPortuguese counterpart, Jaime Gama, meet at the United Nations toresume talks about improving human rights and establishingautonomy in East Timor, took UN officials by surprise.
''This was a dramatic announcement,'' Eckhard said. ''I thinkwe're still absorbing it."
Portuguese President Jorge Sampaio called the announcement ''apositive step to move the issue forward''. Annan added that theIndonesia-Portuguese discussions can be expected to take thelatest news of Xanana's impending transfer and Jakarta's firstmention of independence for Timor into account.
Yet for many activists who favour Timor's independence, therecent steps by Jakarta - just months after Indonesia and Portugalbegan to discuss ''wide-ranging'' autonomy proposals for thetroubled region - could still fall short of their hopes.
''I react with a lot of skepticism,'' argued Jose Ramos Horta,a leader of the pro-independence National Council of Maubere(Timorese) Resistance and Nobel Peace Prize laureate, in aninterview with Australian radio following the Wednesdayannouncements.
It is clear even to opponents of Indonesia's 24-year occupationof East Timor that Jakarta, beset by economic and politicalproblems of its own over the past few years, sees the Timoresequestion as more trouble than it has been worth.
Despite Wednesday's declarations, there are doubts about whereJakarta will go next.
''There is a blatant contradiction between the statements andwhat's going on in East Timor at the moment,'' contended JohnMiller, spokesman for the U.S.-based East Timor Action Network. Inrecent days, he argued, Indonesian troops have attacked Timoresein dozens of incidents, including one on Tuesday in the town ofGalitas in which four people were killed and after which sixpeople were deemed missing.
If Indonesia is serious about improving conditions in EastTimor, Miller said, ''they need to show it on the ground . . . byallowing a permanent UN presence there'' to monitor the withdrawalof Indonesian troops and human rights.
Similarly, the decision to move Xanana Gusmao - whose releasehas been requested by Annan, South African President NelsonMandela and others - opens up questions.
Wednesday's announcements pave the way for Xanana, the leaderof the Timorese independence movement, to be placed underresidential detention, with the government indicating that a housein Jakarta will be redefined so it can be used as a prison forhim. But if there is to be any progress on bringing Timorese toaccept any independence or autonomy deal, Miller said, Xananawould have to be released outright.
Alatas has repeatedly rejected that idea, calling Xanana acommon criminal who is not entitled to any amnesty.
Yet ever since Indonesia's currency, the rupiah, plungedsharply during the first wave of the Asian economic crisis in1997, Jakarta's occupation since 1975 of East Timor has becomeincreasingly fragile.
Last year, as economic woes and student unrest led to theouster of longtime dictator Suharto in May and his replacement byhis former protege, B.J. Habibie, the Timorese independence movementgained a substantial boost.
In UN-brokered talks last year between Portugal, which endedits colonial rule over Timor in 1975, and Indonesia, which annexedEast Timor one year later following a brutal invasion, prospectsof autonomy in most aspects of governance were mooted. Jakartaalso promised to reduce the number of troops in Timor and to grantamnesty to all ''legitimate'' Timorese political prisoners,although not to Xanana.
Many Indonesians believe the government is more concerned aboutresolving the economic crisis and in maintaining control overother fractious regions, including West Papua (also called IrianJaya) and Aceh, than in East Timor.
In particular, continuing pressure by the United Nations andother nations to improve its rights record on Timor has becomemore troublesome for Jakarta as it seeks assistance to bolster itseconomy. The rupiah has lost more than 60 percent of its valuesince 1997, stoking continuing unrest under Habibie's rule.
UN officials believe that the Indonesia-Portugal meetings,expected to end Monday, will help to answer questions about howfar Jakarta is willing to go to respond to its critics' concernsabout independence, and whether it is willing to consider areferendum for the roughly 700,000 Timorese.
(Inter Press Service)
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January 29, 1999
