May 08, 1999
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| May 08, 1999 | atimes.com | |
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| Southeast Asia UN cautious but confident on polls By Farhan Haq UNITED NATIONS - UN officials concede that violencein East Timor is so strong it could prevent any fair vote on theterritory's status if it were held today but they also believethat it will not last. Under agreements signed this week, East Timor's 840,000 peopleare to be given a chance to choose between autonomous statuswithin Indonesia - which invaded in 1975 - or independence. Many UN officials acknowledge privately, however, that thecurrent level of threats and killings in East Timor will detervoters from giving an honest answer. All this may change soon. After the Indonesian and Portuguese governments signed theagreements on the autonomy plan for East Timor and a proposedballot in August, in which Timorese worldwide can vote on theIndonesian-occupied territory's status, UN diplomats immediatelybegan to plan for a free and fair vote. Portugal, East Timor's former colonial power, has pledged $10million for a UN trust fund for the Timor ballot, roughlya third of the estimated cost of the poll. Australia and Japanpledged to send civilian police to the Pacific island state,while Brazil reportedly also offered to send officers. That burst of support is the best hope the Timorese have thatthe vote will not be derailed by the wave of violence blamed onpro-Indonesia paramilitaries in recent weeks, UN officialscontend. One senior official, speaking on condition of anonymity, saidthat the presence of police from many countries with close ties toIndonesia - possibly including the United States, Indonesia's main weaponssupplier - would ensure that Jakarta would try to halt anyviolence. The official also maintained that Indonesian President Bacharuddin Habibie is sincere inhis efforts to hold a free and fair ballot in East Timor, even ifsome members of the Indonesian military are not. Under the agreements, the Indonesian military is responsiblewith ensuring security for the Aug. 8 ballot, although it will beassisted by ''a number of civilian police officers'' provided bythe United Nations. Those officers are likely to be limited in number, withestimates varying from some 600 to 900 UN staff overall. Annansaid that the officers would not be armed, although some officialsexpect they may be allowed by Jakarta to carry small sidearms forself-defense. Their duties, according to the agreements, are ''to act asadvisers to the Indonesian police'' and ''to supervise the escortof ballot papers and boxes to and from polling sites''. But, as Jose Ramos Horta, the Timorese pro-independence leaderand Nobel Peace Prize laureate, put it: ''It is like askingSaddam Hussein to ensure the safety of the Kurds." Charles Scheiner, UN representative of the InternationalFederation for East Timor, argued that, because ''the military isa party to the conflict,'' Jakarta should not be trusted as aneutral force involved in disarming combatants and maintaining thepeace before any vote. He added that the UN police proposed for East Timor should be''ten or 20 times as many'' as the envisioned body of severalhundred officers. Yet the United Nations in some ways is trapped by the desire ofall sides - notably Jakarta itself - to hold the vote on Timor'sstatus as quickly as possible. With Indonesia unwilling to let in peacekeeping forces, andmost nations unlikely to provide substantial numbers of troopsquickly, Annan has had to place his trust in the Habibiegovernment's cooperation. That cooperation, the senior UN official said, can be trusted;Habibie, as Ramos Horta also conceded, sincerely wants to resolvethe Timor question within the next few months, particularly withIndonesian elections slated for June. Recent massacres in the Timorese capital, Dili, and the townsof Suai and Liquica have led human rights activists to worry thatsome Indonesian army leaders are arming Timorese militias toharass the pro-independence forces. If they continue to do that when the police monitors arrive,they will be flouting some of the countries on whom Jakartadepends, some UN officials observed. Japan and Australia - the two countries that have alreadycommitted police - are Indonesia's major Asian trading partners. Also being considered for the UN team are the Philippines,Britain, Germany - where Habibie was educated and still maintainsclose ties - and the United States. In addition, with the expected endorsement of the UN SecurityCouncil on Friday, the world body will now be squarely behind the poll. Just as significantly, argued Constancio Pinto, UNrepresentative of the pro-independence National Council ofTimorese Resistance, Indonesia for the first time has recognizedthat the Timorese have a right to determine their status, and hasdone it in a legally-binding document. Now, whatever violence occurs, Pinto said, ''they no longer cancall it an internal matter of Indonesia." (Inter Press Service) | |||||||||
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