Students press for action

Press, Volume CXV, Issue 33964, 3 October 1975, Page 9

Students press for action

(New Zealand Press Association —Copyright •

JAKARTA, October 2.

Students from 11 universities arc urging the Indonesian Government to withdraw its recognition of Portugal’s sovereignty over Portuguese Timor, and to take action against the Leftwing Revolutionary Front for an Independent East Timor (Fretilin), one of the warring political parties in the colony.

The student councils of the 11 universities have issued statements also urging the Government to take tough action against the Fretilin which, it says, has violated Indonesian sovereignty: welcoming the aspirations of the Timorese who want the colony to join Indonesia; and urging the Government to help to restore order and peace in the area. The official Indonesian news agency, Autara. reports that the other Timorese parties, the Timorese Democratic Union and the Apodeti movement, have launched counter-attacks against Fretilin troops in at least four localities.

The agency says that resistance to the Fretilin has increased in Same Becau, Lage, and Los Palos, and that at least 2000 residents of those towns have gone into the mountains to support the counterattacks.

The Indonesian Government is investigating reports that Indonesian troops recently launched an attack on a Fretilin base in Portuguese Timor, killing an unspecified number of defenders and capturing their leader. The acting Foreign Minister (General Maraden Panggabean) announcing the inquiry, said that Indonesia maintained its principle of no territorial ambitions, but would accept the integration of Portuguese Timor with Indonesia if that really were the desire of the people of! the colony. The Government itself had earlier reported two clashes between a Fretilin force and Indonesian troops patrolling the border area, in which six i Fretilin members were (arrested. The clashes [followed reports of Fretilin mortar fire into Indonesian I territory, which prompted in[creased Indonesian patrols. I The general’s comment Hollowed a statement by the Governor of Indonesian West Timor (Colonel El Tari) that time was running out, and that a solution to the Timor crisis could be expected soon. He was speaking to refugees from East Timor.