Subject: AFP: Indonesia seeks clear reasons for
postponement of East Timor vote
Date: Sat, 26 Jun 1999 08:56:16 +0000
From: "John M. Miller" <fbp@igc.apc.org>Received from Joyo Indonesian
News:
Indonesia seeks clear reasons for postponement of East Timor vote
JAKARTA, June 23 (AFP) - Indonesian Foreign Minister Ali Alatas said Wednesday he did
not believe it was necessary for the United Nations to delay a self-determination
plebiscite in East Timor for two weeks.
Alatas said he was awaiting an official announcement of the postponement from UN
Secretary General Kofi Annan but that if it was true, the reasons should be clearly
spelled out.
"We do not believe that there should be a delay, we are ready to do it in August,
but if a delay is necessary, (then) only for technical reasons," he said.
Annan said in a statement released by the United Nations that the East Timor ballot,
originally scheduled for August 8, will be delayed for about two weeks.
"We have delayed it briefly, but the ballot will go ahead in the month of
August," Annan said in the statement.
The UN chief cited security and logistical concerns for the postponement.
He also said in a six-page report to the UN Security Council that Indonesia and
Portugal have "concurred with a two-week postponement of the ballot date."
But Alatas said: "We believe that the security situation is constantly improving
and we are quite sure that by the time of August 8, or far before it, the security
situation will be fully conducive."
However he added that Jakarta was aware that there had been "considerable
delays" in logistical arrangements.
"If that is the reason for the delay, we can be of course rational about it but
please use that reason truthfully and not only solely blaming security situation,"
the Indonesian minister said.
"Suppose a decision is made to propose to Indonesia and Portugal to postpone the
popular consultation, then Indonesia would like to see that the postponement is given
reasons that are logical and truthful," Alatas said.
"As far as we are concerned we are sticking to what has been explained to us as
late as yesterday by Ambassador Jamsheed Marker," Alatas said referring to Annan's
special envoy on East Timor, currently on a visit to Indonesia.
Alatas said Marker, who left Wednesday for East Timor after two days in Jakarta, had
assured him that a decision had to wait for his report to Annan.
Some 400,000 people in East Timor, a former Portuguese colony annexed by Indonesia in
1976, are to decide in the vote whether to accept autonomy with Indonesia or to become
independent.
Annan, who was in Moscow, said that before the plebiscite can be held "we have
certain conditions which have to be fulfilled.
"We have to ensure that the security situation (is) conducive (to a vote) and
appropriate, that the logistical problems (are) solved, that we (can) deploy everybody on
time," Annan told reporters in the Russian capital.
"And so having taken all these factors into consideration, we felt a brief delay
would be beneficial," he added.
Violence between pro-Indonesian and pro-independence factions in East Timor has
spiralled since Jakarta announced in January that it could consider independence if the
East Timor rejected broad autonomy.
Diplomats have blamed much of the violence in East Timor on pro-Indonesian militias.
And the principal human rights organization in Dili has warned that Indonesian security
forces and militias have been intimidating the populace.
Back to June Menu
Human Rights Violations in East Timor
Main Postings Menu
June '98 through February '99 |
