| Subject: AP: Indonesian Delegation In E.
Timor, Touches On Asset Issues
Received from Joyo Indonesian News Also: ST: Jakarta presses Dili for compensation; JP - Jakarta, Dili has out remaining issues Indonesian Delegation In E. Timor, Touches On Asset Issues DILI, East Timor, June 15 (AP)--A delegation of Indonesian ministers arrived in East Timor on Saturday for talks with their East Timorese counterparts, including the hotly contested issue of whether Indonesians should be compensated for assets left in its former territory. The 31-member delegation, headed by Indonesian Home Affairs Minister Lt. Gen. Hari Sabarno, met with East Timorese President Xanana Gusmao, Prime Minister Mari Alkatiri and local parliamentarians in the capital Dili. "We have talked briefly about assets, but we have not gone into detail," Sabarno told reporters after meeting with President Gusmao. Indonesia says it should be compensated for the millions of dollars spent developing East Timor's infrastructure after it invaded the territory in 1976. It also wants compensation for Indonesian citizens, who left behind homes and businesses. But Timorese officials have dismissed Indonesian's claim, citing Jakarta's brutality and economic exploitation during its 24-year occupation. Furthermore, they have said Indonesians must be held responsible for the violence that followed the 1999 vote for independence in East Timor. After the vote, anti-independence militias working alongside the Indonesia military killed up to 1,000 people and destroyed 80% of the territory. The Indonesian delegation also discussed pensions for East Timorese who worked in the Indonesian civil service and support for East Timorese students at Indonesian universities. The delegation is scheduled to leave East Timor this afternoon. Jakarta presses Dili for compensation DILI - Thirty-one officials from Indonesia met East Timorese leaders yesterday to push its former province to compensate Jakarta for assets left behind when it pulled out amid bloodshed in 1999 - a request that has been steadfastly rejected in the past. Led by Home Affairs Minister Hari Sabarno, the Indonesian delegation held talks with East Timorese President Xanana Gusmao, Prime Minister Mari Alkatiri and local parliamentarians in the capital, Dili. 'We have talked briefly about assets, but we have not gone into detail,' Mr Hari told reporters. Indonesia says it should be compensated for millions of dollars it spent developing East Timor's infrastructure between 1976 and 1999. It also wants compensation for Indonesian citizens, who left behind homes and businesses. East Timorese officials have dismissed the claim, citing Jakarta's brutality and economic exploitation during its 24-year occupation - valuable hardwood forests were plundered and coffee plantations seized. The Indonesian delegation also discussed pensions for East Timorese who worked in the Indonesian civil service and support for East Timorese students at Indonesian universities. Meanwhile, East Timor Foreign Minister Jose Ramos-Horta said the doors of the newly independent country were open to pro-Jakarta militia members Jakarta, Dili has out remaining issues Fabiola Desy Unidjaja, The Jakarta Post, Jakarta Indonesia and East Timor have identified a number of residual problems that they will attempt to resolve following the new country's independence which was finally declared on May 20, 2002. The remaining unresolved problems since East Timor's decision to separate from Indonesia were discussed in a day-long parallel meeting between the two countries' high-powered officials in Dili on Saturday. Indonesian representative in East Timor Kristio Wahyono said that Saturday's meeting was not planned to conclude anything but simply to identify a number of problems that were expected to be resolved during the incoming visit of East Timor President Alessandro Xanana Gusmao to Jakarta. "This meeting is just more informal and personal than formal because we had a lot of problems that need to be dealt with soon to allow the two countries to enter a new phase of their good ties," he told The Jakarta Post by telephone after the Indonesian delegation's meeting with East Timor leaders in Dili on Saturday. Kristio cited problems that needed to be urgently solved were Indonesia's assets in the province, the pension of former East Timorese servicemen, the two countries' border areas, East Timorese taking refuge in West Timor and East Timor students studying in Indonesia with scholarships from the government. The three Indonesian ministers -- Minister of Home Affairs Hari Sabarno, Minister of Industry and Trade Rini Soewandi and State Minister for Social Affairs Bachtiar Chamsyah-- returned to Jakarta late on Saturday. Kristio said further that East Timor officials welcomed, with a warm greeting, the Indonesian delegation and President Xanana Gusmao even delayed his visit to Australia until Sunday to meet the Indonesian delegation. Assets remain as one of the contentious issues in the meeting between Indonesian delegation led by Minister of Home Affairs Hari Sabarno and President Xanana, Prime Minister Mari Alkatiri. "We will set up a joint committee to look into the issue of assets in more detail," Hari, a former army general, told reporters after meeting Alkatiri, adding that Indonesia will abide by international conventions on the issue. East Timor Parliament Chairman Fransisco "Lu Olo" Guterres hailed the Indonesian delegation's visit as a "milestone" marking a good start in the two countries' relations. "We are looking forward to cooperation with Indonesia. After independence good relations with Indonesia are all the more important," Guterres said as quoted by Agence France-Presse after the meeting. Despite the negative impacts of the violence that followed the 1999 self-determination vote, in which residents of the then Indonesian province voted for independence, both sides yesterday expressed positive gestures and a willingness to discuss many of the lingering problems. Rogerio Lobato, East Timor's home affairs minister, said his country's position on the asset issue would be in line with the constitution and the joint committee would probably be established as soon as possible. On the talks, the two sides agreed that they will finalize the discussion of the joint committee during the planned state visit of Xanana to Jakarta later this month. "On the planned visit of President Xanana, there will be more talks and hopefully more issues will be concluded," Kristio said. Australia will be the first country President Xanana visits as the new head of state, after Indonesian President Megawati Soekarnoputri failed to find time for Xanana to come to Jakarta. Back to June menu Note: For those who would like to fax "the powers that be" - CallCenter is a Native 32-bit Voice Telephony software application integrated with fax and data communications... and it's free of charge! Download from http://www.v3inc.com/ |