RI wants 'peaceful, prosperous' neighbor

The Jakarta Post ,  Jakarta   |  Mon, 06/12/2006 2:54 PM

Abdul Khalik, The Jakarta Post, Jakarta

Suspicions that Indonesia is playing a role in the current conflict in Timor Leste are unfounded, with a peaceful and prosperous neighbor being in Jakarta's interests, experts say.

""What we want is no less than a peaceful and prosperous Timor Leste. We don't want a neighbor that causes problems for us. This is our only interest,"" the Foreign Ministry's secretary-general, Imron Cotan, who is also an expert on Timor Leste, told The Jakarta Post on Sunday.

The tiny nation plunged into chaos after Prime Minister Mari Alkatiri in March fired 600 soldiers, or nearly half the army, following complaints of discrimination because they came from the country's west.

Twenty-one people died in May as sporadic battles between rival soldiers and between soldiers and police descended into gang violence. Late last month the government appealed for foreign help and more than 2,000 combat-ready foreign peacekeepers, chiefly from Australia, are now deployed in Dili.

As a former occupier of Timor Leste, which gained its independence in a UN-sponsored referendum, Indonesia has been accused by several observers of being happy about the current chaos in Dili.

Imron, a former Indonesian ambassador to Australia, said that Indonesia would give Timor Leste assistance if asked.

""We have sent them humanitarian aid as that was what they asked for. We will continue to help them as long as they ask us,"" he said.

Indonesia provided US$700,000 in humanitarian aid to the tiny nation to help it cope with the fallout from the unrest.

Indonesia's first batch of humanitarian aid arrived in the country Friday aboard two Hercules transport planes.

An international relations expert at the Indonesian Institute of Sciences, Dewi Fortuna Anwar, warned Indonesia to stay out of Timor Leste's conflict because of Jakarta's checkered past with the country.

She said Indonesia should keep the conflict from spilling over its borders.

Indonesia invaded the Portuguese colony in 1975 and occupied it until 1999 when an independence referendum was organized under the auspices of the United Nations.

People in the former Indonesian province voted overwhelmingly for independence, which unleashed a wave of violence, arson and looting by pro-Indonesian militia.

According to an estimate, at least 1,400 people died and much of the territory's infrastructure was destroyed in the time around the referendum.

Thousands of UN soldiers, police and administrative personnel arrived to restore security and start building a nation, which became the world's newest nation in May 2002. It has a population of about one million.

Recently, there was a misunderstanding between Indonesian and Timor Leste leaders.

According to AP, the embattled Alkatiri said that former pro-Indonesian militia and third parties were responsible for the chaos in the country.

President Susilo Bambang Yudhoyono strongly criticized Alkatiri, warning that the comments could jeopardize bilateral relations.

Alkatiri later denied having said Indonesia had a hand in the violence in his country.

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