Thought people might be interested in an example of the views on East Timor been expressed on ANTARA , the official Indonesian News Agency WWW site. Don't think I have ever seen a better example of someone trying to have it both ways! Rais is the leader of one of the larger "minor" parties. Friday, September 10, 1999 E. Timor: EAST TIMOR NOT ONLY HABIBIE'S MISTAKE, RAIS SAYS NATIONAL NEWS Jakarta, Sept 9 (ANTARA) - Amien Rais, Chairman of the National Mandate Party, believed that the East Timor problem is not merely the result of President Habibie's mistake, but ours. It was believed that it was premature for President Habibie to offer a referendum to the East Timorese people, while in the past East Timor should have been integrated with Indonesia by virtue of a decision of an MPR (People's Consultative Assembly) general assembly, Rais said here on Thursday. In this regard, I personally noticed that there had been a procedural mistake. But I believe that even if the popular consultation in East Timor is renewed following the MPR general assembly, the outcome would still be the same. However, Amien Rais also realized that the Indonesian society cannot accept the outcome of the referendum, which resulted in the separation of East Timor from the unitary state of Indonesia. "Imagine that in the last 21 years Indonesia had spent so much money on the territory's development to embrace the area, but in the end we still have to give it up," he said. In the end, reality turns to be different. Efforts designed to embrace the territory have been in vain, and many regretted this, especially the military, because many of them have sacrificed themselves for the integration of the territory with the republic. Therefore, Amien suggested that government should listen to the aspirations of East Timorese people who have chosen independence. The most important thing is that East Timor is the first as well as the last and must not be repeated with the other parts of the country. In addition, Amien also called on the government to immediately lift martial law in the troubled territory. Let East Timor develop naturally. "We no longer have the de facto nor de jure right on the territory," he said. In order to prevent the East Timor case from spreading to other provinces, the government should stop any form of violation of human rights and be fair in the distribution of natural resources to the central and provincial administrations. East Timor could be made a precious lesson, thus hoping that the government could take pre-emptive measures in dealing with other such issues such as with regard to Aceh and Ambon, he pointed out. Rod Hagen [EMAIL PROTECTED] Hurstbridge, Victoria, Australia WWW http://www.netspace.net.au/~rodhagen ------------------------------------------------------- RecOzNet2 has a page @ http://www.green.net.au/recoznet2 and is archived at http://www.mail-archive.com/ To unsubscribe from this list, mail [EMAIL PROTECTED], and in the body of the message, include the words: unsubscribe announce or click here mailto:[EMAIL PROTECTED]?Body=unsubscribe%20announce This posting is provided to the individual members of this group without permission from the copyright owner for purposes of criticism, comment, scholarship and research under the "fair use" provisions of the Federal copyright laws and it may not be distributed further without permission of the copyright owner, except for "fair use." RecOzNet2 is archived for members @ http://www.mail-archive.com/
