Bahasa Indonesia Headlines ­ Friday 6 July 2001

1. Timor Gap Agreement: Fresh flow of funds to flow immediately 
2. Angela protests Timor Gap Agreement on behalf of National Council
3. 15 DAs and DDAs appointed 
4. PKF build alternative road between Baucau and Los Palos

1. Timor Gap Agreement: Fresh flow of funds to flow immediately (Suara Timor Lorosae, Front Page headline)

The signing of the Timor Gap agreement yesterday will see millions of dollars in fresh funds flow into Timor Lorosae.

The Australian government estimates Timor Lorosae will get at least Aus$7-million in royalties from the exploitation of gas and oil resources in the Timor Gap, based on the 90:10 sharing ratio in favour of East Timor.

“This is a way to show our appreciation to a country which is really poor and needs lots of help,” said Australian Prime Minister John Howard.

“This is a historical moment for ties between Australia-Timor Lorosae ties,” said Australian Foreign Minister Alexander Downer who was at the signing ceremony in Dili.

“This is also a good agreement for Australia. Both parties are winners,” he added.

Foreign Minister Jose Ramos-Horta agreed with Downer.

“This is indeed a historic moment for Timor Lorosae. Without the revenue from the Timor Gap, it would be difficult for us to create jobs. For the first year, at least, after independence we have to create job opportunites in order to stabilize the economy,” said Ramos-Horta.

2. Angela protests Timor Gap Agreement on behalf of National Council (Timor Post, Page 2 lead)

Angela Freitas, a National Council member from the Trabalista Party, yesterday lodged a strong protest against Foreign Minister Jose Ramos-Horta, Minister of the Economy Mari Alkatari, Minister for Political Affairs and the Timor Sea Peter Galbraith and Australian Foreign Minister Alexander Downer.

She opposed the signing of the Timor Gap Agreement between Timor Lorosae and Australia.

“We do not know the details of the negotiations and how the oil and gas resources are really being split. All this while we have been kept in the dark ­ there were only one or two people making the decisions. Once again the people of Timor Lorosae have been sold out,” she shouted in the room, at UNTAET headquarters, when the agreement was being signed.

But her shouts were ignored by the people present in the room.

Angelea said the UN Transitional Administrator did not have the right to bind the country to any external agreement at this juncture.

“We are not yet a definitive country, and we cannot give that right to bind the country to an outsider,” she told reporters outside the room.

Angela said she was representing members of the National Council who were too afraid to make their views known.

But another National Council member Clemantino Dos Reis Amaral said he did not agree with Angela.

“The NC has its own spokesperson and any statements has to come from the spokesperson.”

3. 15 DAs and DDAs appointed (Suara Timor Lorosae, front page second lead)

The recruitment process for high-ranking civil servants, through UNTAET, is an important step in the evolution of the transitional administration into an administration controlled by the Timorese people.

UN Transitional Administrator Sergio Vieira de Mello said this yesterday when appointing 15 Timorese as District Administrators and Deputy District Administrators at the Civil Service Academy in Komoro.

According to Sergio de Mello the replacement of international District Administrators with Timorese reflects the process whereby Timorese are gaining control of the administration of their country.

Sergio de Mello said internationals would now be only advising the Timorese District Administrators.

The Transitional Administrator said the Timorese District Administrators would also be coordinating security in the districts as Head of the District Security Council.

4. PKF build alternative road between Baucau and Los Palos (Suara Timor Lorosae, Front Page third lead)

Korean PKF (ROKBATT) and PKF Bangladesh Engineers have build an alternative road between Baucau and Los Palos. They have also build a bridge to replace the one that was washed away during recent heavy floods in Lautem.

The PKF press release said the alternative road was needed because the whole east sector was cut off when the earlier road had collapsed because of the floods.

Meanwhile Major General Roger Powell visited the eastern sector areas hit by the 19 June floods.

According to the PKF press release issued by Captain Jeff Squire, the alternative road was jointly build by the ROKBATT and Bangladesh engineers between 25 June to 29 June. They also managed to move a boulder weighing 5 tons when building the road.

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