Also: Antara: INDONESIA- PRO- INTEGRATION E TIMORESE MIGHT CONSIDER BECOMING SEPARATE NATION - POLITICIAN

BBC Summary of World Broadcasts February 02, 2000, Wednesday

Pro-integrationists form single organization

'Tempo', Jakarta, web site in Indonesian 1 Feb 00

Excerpts from report by Indonesian magazine 'Tempo' on 1st February

Tempo: East Timorese pro-integration organizations have finally merged into a single institution known as Uni Timor Aswain or Unitas. Results of a congress decision carried out on Saturday night (29th January) in Kupang also named Domingos Maria das Dores Soares as Uni Tas chairman. In his inauguration speech, Domingos said his aim of re-integrating East Timor with Indonesia would be possible if pro-integrationists were a united force...

Around 400 participants attended the congress of pro-integrationists. Those attending originated from 13 different regions of East Timor and a number of delegates were also from areas such as Makassar, Java and Bali. The pro-integrationists have rejected results of the independence ballot announced on 4th September last year. They felt the ballot was not fair or honest which resulted in the destruction of East Timor. --- ANTARA - THE INDONESIAN NATIONAL NEWS AGENCY January 29, 2000

INDONESIA- PRO- INTEGRATION E TIMORESE MIGHT CONSIDER BECOMING SEPARATE NATION - POLITICIAN

Kupang, E Nusa Tenggara, Jan 29 (ANTARA) - Pro- integration East Timorese who are still loyal to Indonesia might consider becoming a separate nation loosely linked to Indonesia, a pro-Indonesian East Timorese figure said here.

Lopez da Cruz, general chairman of the East Timor People's Front (BRTT), was suggesting one path people like himself could pursue in the future after the majority of East Timorese chose to separate from Indonesia in the UN-administered ballot of August 30 last year.

Speaking at a conference organized by the National Unity Front (FPB) -- the umbrella organisation of pro- integration East Timorese groups -- here Saturday, Da Cruz said another alternative was setting up an independent and sovereign state without any sepcial ties to Indonesia but possibly having many things in common with Indonesia.

Da Cruz, a former roving ambassador of the Indonesian government, said he believed various internal potentials such as the FPB could become the moving force toward the establishment of a "free and sovereign Timor Lorosae."

During the 24 years that East Timor was integrated with Indonesia, he said, at least 14,000 native East Timorese had been trained or educated by the Indonesian government and given positions in East Timor's administration.

"These people have good skills and I'm sure they can become the real and productive force of the struggle of pro-Indonesian groups," he said.

He said UN Resolution 1272 on the formation of the UN Transitional Administration for East Timor (UNTAET) could be used as a basis for pro- integration East Timorese groups to move forward.

A point in the resolution stressed the importance of reconciliation among the Timorese people.

"It opens the opportunity to pro-integrationists to be involved in East Timor and draw up a strategy for their further struggle," he said.

Lopez da Cruz is currently Indonesian Ambassador to Greece.

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