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Government Should Ask Clarification From Xanana, PKS Chairman Says; Yudhoyono-Xanana Meeting To Be Rescheduled, Spokesman Says

Jan 27 16:06 President Called on to Ask Clarification from Xanana

Jakarta (ANTARA News) - Legislator Ade Daud Nasution of the Defense Commission of the House of Representatives (DPR) has called on President Susilo Bambang Yudhoyono to ask clarification from President Xanana Gusmao about a report he submitted to the United Nations that Indonesia has killed over 100 thousands people in in Timor Leste.

Nasution criticized the report, saying that Xanana had always expressed so far the need for the two countries to build reconciliation to solve their residual issues.

He said that Yudhoyono might use the good momentum to ask for explanations when he met his counterpart Xanana. Yudhoyono has plans to meet Xanana, initially scheduled on January 28, 2006 but it has been postponed.

Presidential Spokesman Dino Patti Djalal said on Thursday that the next meeting schedule for the two leaders had not yet been fixed because Yudhoyono was till concentrating on domestic issues.

He said the postponement of their meeting was not linked to the report to the United Nations by Timor Leste`s Commission for Reception of Truth and Reconciliation (CAVR) which was submitted by Xanana.

Indonesia has dubbed the report as discouraging because it was viewed as taking up the "old wounds" between the two nations after the East Timorese referendum in 1999, the solution of which Dili and Jakarta had agreed to solve through the mechanism of a joint Commission of Truth and Friendship (CTF). The commission (CTV) was jointly declared by President Yudhoyono and President Xanana in Jakarta on March 9, 2005.

"We are unhappy with the report because it contains an untrue and questionable allegation. We also have no idea why the old wounds had to be re-opened," Dino said.

But he said the postponement of Yudhoyono-Xanana planned meeting had no link with the report.

The 2,500-page report which Xanana delievered to UN Secretary General Kofi Annan, mentioned that 183,000 East Timorese were killed during the 24-year occupation by Indonesia between 1974 and 1999.

According to the report, the Indonesian military was trying to cleanse East Timorese with poisonous food and drink using napalm and chemical substances.

The report recommended that the contract for international judges be renewed to set up a Special Panels for Serious Crimes to prosecute all suspects in the murder cases between 1975 and 1999.

Xanana however objected to the recommendation because it did not take into account the possibility that it could incite political and social conflict if all cases since 1975 were taken to court.(*)

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GOVERNMENT SHOULD ASK CLARIFICATION FROM XANANA, PKS CHAIRMAN SAYS

01/27/2006 02:55:15 AM EST Antara

Jakarta, Jan 26 (ANTARA) - The Indonesian government should ask clarification from Timor Leste President Xanana Gusmao about his statement to the United Nations recently, Prosperous Justice Party (PKS) Chairman Tifatul Sembiring said here on Thursday.

Xanana has reported to the UN that around 102,800 people were killed in East Timor when it was part of Indonesian territory.

"The government has to ask clarification from Xanana about his statement to the UN," Tifatul Sembiring said.

He also urged the government to step up its international diplomacy because it was so weak before and after Timor Leste seceded from the Unitary State of the Indonesian Republic (NKRI).

"Indonesia should be active in its international diplomacy to shape the world's opinion," Tifatul Sembiring said.

He also pointed out the incapability of Indonesian diplomats that can be seen from their performance.

"It is the Foreign Affairs Ministry's responsibility to improve diplomatic relations in the international world," said the PKS chairman.

According to a report presented to the UN by Xanana Gusmao on Friday, around 102,800 East Timorese people were killed during 1974-1999 period due to torture, starvation, arbitrary execution and massacres.

The report, which Xanana delivered to UN headquarters in New York, provided the most detailed account to date of the alleged killing when the former Portuguese colony has been part of Indonesia for 24 years.

It also charged the country's armed resistance movement of committing "serious human-rights violations" after East Timor integration with Indonesia in 1975, including the torture and execution of pro-Indonesian prisoners.

Timor Leste government said it would not seek to prosecute those responsible for atrocities, citing fears that attempts to hold Indonesian generals accountable could undermine democratic transitions under way in both countries.

(THROUGH ASIA PULSE)

26-01 2006

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YUDHOYONO-XANANA MEETING TO BE RESCHEDULED, SPOKESMAN SAYS

Jakarta, Jan 26 (ANTARA) - Indonesian President Susilo Bambang Yudhoyono has yet to decide the date of his meeting with his Timor Leste's counterpart, Xanana Gusmao, which was supposed to be held on January 28, a presidential spokesman said on Thursday.

The meeting would be rescheduled because the president was now concentrating on Indonesian domestic affairs, Dino Pati Djalal said.

Dino denied that the postponement was due to Timor Leste President Xanana Gusmao's report to the United Nations on the findings of the Commission of Admittance and Verification and Reconciliation (CAVR) recently.

The report, which is considered "an unhappy report" by Indonesia, recalled the incident in the aftermath of the United Nations-sponsored people ballot in East Timor in 1999, despite the agreement of both countries to settle the case through the Commission of Truth and Friendship. The commission's establishment was declared by Yudhoyono and Xanana in Jakarta last March 2005.

"We are unhappy about the report, as the accusation was false and inaccurate. We also do not understand why we have to open the old wound," Dino added.

However, he reaffirmed that the postponement of the meeting was nothing to do with the CAVR report.

The 2,500-page CAVR report, which was delivered to the UN by Xanana on January 20, among others said that some 183,000 people were killed during the 24 year-long integration of East Timor with Indonesia (1974-1999).

The CAVR, which was set up in Timor Leste in 2001, has completed its report on a number of human rights violations during 1974-1999.

Xanana said that he did not interfere in the contents of the report, but the report was sent to the United Nations to meet the requirement on the establishment of the CAVR.