Indonesia negotiates with UN over its East Timor assets

BBC Monitoring Source: 'Detik' web site, Jakarta, in Indonesian

Excerpts from report by Indonesian newspaper 'Detik' web site on 26th May

Detikcom -Yogyakarta: Indonesian and the United Nations Transitional Administration in East Timor (UNTAET) have agreed to cooperate to finalize the issue of Indonesian assets in East Timor left behind after the 1999 poll.

The [second such] meeting held between the parties, this time at the Hotel Melia Purosani in Yogyakarta, had become quite heated by 2200 on Thursday evening local time [25th May]. The meeting overran its scheduled completion time of 1900.

Both sides were evidently proceeding very cautiously in discussing the details of the various issues involved. The Indonesian delegation was led by Special Assistant to the Foreign Minister Abdurrachman Mattalitti, and the seven-person UNTAET delegation was led by US Ambassador Peter Galbraith, director of political affairs [as received]...

Mattalitti told Detikcom after the meeting that the outcome was still far from what he had hoped for, but some progress had been made on both sides. "A definite value cannot yet be set on Indonesian assets in East Timor , as further recording and registration [of assets] is needed," he said.

He said that the two-day meeting covered three basic issues: assets, cultural relics, and archived data.

The issue of assets was the only area of real contention, as the total value involved was large, and covered [Indonesian] state-owned enterprise [BUMN] assets as well as assets of private corporations which had been conducting business throughout the period of [East Timor 's integration with Indonesia].

"For example, assets belonging to Telkom, PLN [state electricity supplier], government and private banks, and Pertamina [state oil monopoly], which is still operating in East Timor . And there is the issue of privately owned land left behind after the poll," he said...

To record the number and condition of government, BUMN and private Indonesian assets in East Timor , UNTAET has agreed to Indonesia sending a small team of experts and representatives of Indonesian corporations to conduct a review [of the assets] in the field...

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