Jakarta quick to absorb Timor

Press, 19 July 1976, Page 8

Jakarta quick to absorb Timor

By COLIN McINTYRE NZPA/Reuter staff correspondent Jakarta Indonesia has absorbed the former Portuguese colony of East Timor sooner than expected, once-strong international opposition to the move apparently waning. The formal linking of the territory with Indonesia, which already administers the western half of the island, was sealed on Saturday when President Suharto approved a bill passed by the country’s Parliament two days earlier. The President had been expected to endorse the move, turning East Timor into Indonesia’s 27th province. to coincide with the mainland’s national day on August 17, although a Government spokesman said he

had the right to put his signature to the bill at any time. The next step will be the dissolution of the proJakarta Provisional Government of East Timor, together with the 28-member Popular Assembly, which met only once to approve a petition demanding integration. Jakarta, which is reported to have several thousand “volunteer” troops still in the territory, has hurried the integration in the face of strong protests from abroad. The United Nations, which has insisted on a genuine act of self-determination in Timor under international supervision, boycotted the only Timor Assembly session in the territory’s capital, Dili, in May. Australia and most Western countries also stayed away. Now, however, there are signs that Portugal, which originally handed the problem to "the United Nations,

is preparing to accept what it regards as inevitable. This in turn could clear the way for other countries to follow suit. A top-secret Portuguese mission headed by the conservative Air Force chief-of-staff (General Jose Morais de Silva) recently visited Jakarta and Timor for talks which included discussion of the fate of 23 Portuguese soldiers captured by proIndonesian forces during last year’s civil war in Timor. On his return to Lisbon, General Morais de Silva told a press conference that the prisoners were well, and would be freed subject to certain conditions, such as the payment of pensions to Timorese officials. Other conditions are thought to be the return of money withdrawn from Timorese banks last year, and guarantees of Portuguese finance for public-works projects. East Timor was a Portu-

guese colony for more than four centuries but civil war broke out last August between the Left-wing Fretilin independence movement and various other parties which subsequently formed a coalition and called for the territory’s integration with Indonesia. The worst of the fighting ended last December when the pro-Indonesians, backed by Indonesian troops, seized Dili from Fretilin, whose forces then retreated to the jungle-clad hills of the interior. At the same time, Portugal, which had never officially abandoned its title to the territory, withdrew its last military units from the area. The present strength of Fretilin forces is unknown. Provisional Government officials say that death and defections have reduced Fretilin strength to no more than 100 to 200 men. However, knowledgeable Western

sources say they believe that Fretilin still has 700 or 800 hard-core fighting men, moving around the country on tough little Timorese mountain ponies, with mortars and other light weapons strapped to their flanks. Well-placed Indonesian sources said Fretilin remnants were encircled, and would be driven down when the dry season, which has been very late arriving in Timor this year, finally cuts off their water supplies. Though Fretilin is dismissed by the Indonesians as nothing more than a mild nuisance, correspondents and diplomats were forced to cancel a scheduled visit to Timor’s second town, Baucau, on June 24, officially because of bad weather. One report, still unconfirmed, circulating shortly afterwards, said Fretilin had mortared the airstrip a few hours before the visitors were due to arrive.