---------------------------------------------------------- FREE for JOIN Indonesia Daily News Online via EMAIL: go to: http://www.indo-news.com/subscribe.html - FREE - FREE - FREE - FREE - FREE - FREE - Please Visit Our Sponsor http://www.indo-news.com/cgi-bin/ads1 ---------------------------------------------------------- SUPANGKAT'S COLUMN: THE MAJELIS FOLLIES ON INTERNATIONAL POLITICS The Majelis Permusyawatan Rakyat (MPR) have been dilly dallying on East Timor knowing that the international community forced us to conduct a referendum in which the independence option presented by the Habibie cabinet was voted over- whelmingly by its people. The pretext that the Habibie regime did not consult the proper channels prior to its launching the independence option and that Portugal still has in its consti- tution that East Timor is its overseas province and then demanded the scrapping of this particular paragraph before they consider the acceptance of the result of the referendum conducted by the United Nations, are totally irrelevant with realities. This is a cheap comedy! They betrayed their ignorance of international law and buried their heads like ostriches. The MPR thinks that the issue of East Timor can still be negotiated and they have the right to demand the amendment of the Constitution of another United Nations Member State - Portugal - as a bargaining chip.................. It was Indonesia who offered the option in the first place. No matter whether Pre- sident Habibie consulted or did not consult his Deplu and DPR/MPR which are still legit at that time. This is our business and when it proved to be lousy we should not blame Portugal, Australia, the United Nations who just acquiesced to our demand. Irrationality is out of order in the MPR and they should make it right before we make ourselves a laughing stock of the international community. We kept bungling on East Timor since day one where thousands of our brave soldiers died in vain to invade and occupy a country left behind by its colonizer in the brink of a civil war between the pro-integration and the pro-independence people. It was a good reason to prevent this war in our belly, but only to pacify them and not to annex them through the unilateral declaration of Balibo and all kinds of diplomacy of mendacity. Indonesia belongs to the Asia Africa bloc which later on became the Nonaligned whose motto is for the liberation of Asia Africa from colonialism. We became independent by way of guerilla warfare based on the spirit of independence for which we vowed to achieve it to the last drop of our blood. We reminded the United States to give up on Indochina because we knew this doctrine by heart, no power in the world could defeat the spirit of independence. Then Suharto who was notably a guerilla fighter himself, forgot this doctrine and invaded and annexed East Timor for territorial expansion with the pretext of anti-communism. Then we treated East Timor people as conquered slaves. ++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++ Didistribusikan tgl. 19 Oct 1999 jam 18:38:00 GMT+1 oleh: Indonesia Daily News Online <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> http://www.Indo-News.com/ ++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++
