Subject: IO: Alatas- Independent Timor can
renegotiate Gap deal
Date: Sat, 20 Feb 1999 09:03:20 -0500
From: "John M. Miller" <fbp@igc.apc.org>Indonesian Observer 18th
February 1999 FM: Independent Timor can renegotiate Gap deal
JAKARTA (IO) — Foreign Minister Ali Alatas said yesterday an independent East
Timor could renegotiate the Timor Gap treaty signed by Indonesia and Australia in 1989.
"When they are independent, this matter will be renegotiated. It must be discussed
because the Timor Gap is located in the southern part of the territory," Alatas told
reporters.
Under the treaty, Indonesia and Australia jointly develop oil and gas resources in the
Timor Gap – located between the Timor island and northern Australia.
Oil exploration in the Timor Gap is still in progress.
"I don’t think a negotiation will scare off investors," Alatas said.
The government startled the world in January when it offered the troubled province of
East Timor its independence provided the East Timorese refuse Indonesia’s offer of
broad, special autonomy.
The former Portuguese colony of East Timor was integrated into Indonesia in 1976 in a
move never recognized by the United Nations, which still considers Portugal as the
administering power of the territory.
Australia is one of a handful of countries recognizing Indonesia’s sovereignty
over East Timor.
Alatas said a number of ministers from Indonesia and Australia are scheduled to hold
regular bilateral talks in Bali next week.
Alatas said he believed that the East Timor issue will not disturb Indonesia-Australia
bilateral relations which have long been established under mutually beneficial basis.
"There are sometimes different perceptions between Australia and Indonesia on the
East Timor problem. However, in the coming years, the ties between the two countries will
be fostered because of the East Timor solution process.
"If there is a solution to the East Timor issue, both through wide-ranging
autonomy or the second option, the relationship will improve in line with the end of the
problem that has sometimes caused tension between the two," the minister said.
In the economic sector, the two neighboring countries have long teamed up in developing
14 provinces in the eastern part of Indonesia.
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