Subject: AFP: Indonesian ministry holds out
"slim" hope of winning Timor vote
Date: Sat, 14 Aug 1999 09:18:34 -0400
From: "John M. Miller" <fbp@igc.apc.org>Received from Joyo Indonesian
News:
Indonesian ministry holds out "slim" hope of winning Timor vote
JAKARTA, Aug 9 (AFP) - The Indonesian foreign affairs ministry said Monday it believed
it was possible East Timor would vote for autonomy under Jakarta rather than independence
in a ballot this month.
Citing the ministry's estimates of supporters, a spokesman put the number of
pro-autonomy East Timorese at 193,000 compared to 187,000 against.
"My own assessment is that this is a slim difference. However we are a little
optimistic with this figure," spokesman Sulaiman Abdulmanan told a press briefing in
Jakarta.
Abdulmanan said the estimates were partly taken from figures provided by the
pro-integration Jakarta-backed Forum for Unity, Democracy and Justice (FPDK).
He added the figures were based on data as of August 1, when a total of 380,000 East
Timorese had registered for the direct ballot.
Close to 450,000 East Timorese had registered for the August 30 poll by the time the
process ended Friday.
Most diplomats in Jakarta say they feel the vote will be for independence.
Abdulmanan also repeated the ministry's insistent charges of pro-independence bias
against the United Nations Mission in East Timor (UNAMET), which is supervising the vote.
UN Secretary General Kofi Annan has twice delayed the vote, originally scheduled for
August 8, citing persistent violence by Indonesian army-backed militia.
"All this time, UNAMET personnel have not been fair and therefore biased in their
work ... they have always either said or blamed pro-integrationists for everything that
has happened in East Timor," Abdumanan said.
"I think what happened in the Batu Gade area recently is quite normal considering
the political climate there," he said refering to two cases of harassment by
pro-Indonesian militias that left at least one UNAMET poll officer slightly injured.
The incidents marred the penultimate day of voter registration on Thursday.
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