Subject: AN: Indonesia rejects Australian MPs as
Observers
Date: Fri, 02 Jul 1999 09:16:37 +0000
From: "John M. Miller" <fbp@igc.apc.org>EAST TIMOR : INDONESIAN
EXPLAINS REJECTION OF AUSTRALIAN MPs
06/30/1999 Antara - The Indonesian National News Agency Copyright (C) 1999; Source:
World Reporter (TM) - Asia Intelligence Wire
Canberra, June 30 (ANTARA) - Indonesian Ambassador to Australia Wiryono Sastrohandoyo
said the presence of foreign observers in the run-up to the direct vote in East Timor is
arranged by the United Nations which has recruited 400 observers.
"The number is more than enough to monitor the ballot, and if more of them are
sent it would be difficult to take care of them there," Wiryono said in a press
statement in Canberra Wednesday.
The Indonesian embassy deemed it necessary to explain a number of Australian
legislators who had complained they had been refused to come to troubled East Timor .
East Timor will be teeming with foreign guests, consisting of bservers, journalists and
UNAMET personnel, toward the direct vote scheduled for August 22.
And if more of them are sent there, lack of accommodation and facilities may occur in
view of the limited number of hotels in the former Portuguese colony.
In this context, therefore, the Indonesian government had no intention to reject the
applications for a visa that had been filed by Australian MPs.
The Indonesian government hoped the Australian MPs would understand the situation,
Wiryono said.
A six-member New South Wales parliamentary delegation said their application for a visa
for East Timor had been turned down.
The delegation's chief Paul Lynch told the a Tuesday that he had been trying to find
out the reasons for the rejection.
"A reply that we have received in writing said that too many people coming to East
Timor would create an unfavourable situation there," said Lynch, MP from the Labour
Party.
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