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[Fwd: (FNLD-AUS)Letter to Indonesia



Subject: [Fwd: (FNLD-AUS)Letter to Indonesian President Wahid]

FORWARDED 10 NOV 99; 6:00AM

ADDED NOTE: The relation between Indonesia and Australia at the moment
is, as reflected in following letter from one of our Australian
colleagues, rather strained. The seperation of East Timor from Indonesia
would certainly hurt the Indonesian national psyche: but this may be
basically due to mis-information regarding with that territory by
Indonesian local press over the years. It appears that many people
within Indonesian political circle, including Megawati and President
Wahid, may have  hold the view that East Timor as one of the Indonesia's
legitimate territories.

Actually, the United Nations have had different view on East Timor. The
Indonesia's annexation of East Timor in 1975 had never been accepted as
'legitimate' by the UN (there was UN Resolution on East Timor around
1976 about it). This is why the process of UN sponsored referendum on
autonomy and the UN acceptance for Independent State of East Timor has
become possible after these 24 awful years. In other words, the UN
position on East Timor is crucial factor in that territory getting
international support for independent state.

What had happened during this 24 year is that Australia being the only
country recognising Indonesia's annexation of East Timor as legitimate
(there were businesses' interests involved). It is basically a tiny
community being subdued and bullied by two regional powers. Early this
year Australia reversed its policy on East Timor and everybody on this
list know the rest of story. Understandably, some Indonesians may find
separation of East Timor as unjustified-- but as an old saying, the
'Truth' will not please everybody. --U Ne Oo. 

/** forwarded message **/

Susan Locke (susanlocke@xxxxxxxxxxxxxx) wrote:
> 
> 
> Friends of NLD Australia
> PO Box 288
> Enmore NSW 2042
> 
> K. H. Abduraman Wahid
> President of the Republic of Indonesia
> 15 Jalan Merdeka Utara
> Jakarta         Indonesia
> 
> 8th November 1999
> 
> Dear Mr. President,
> 
> Friends of National League for Democracy
> Australia, a group in Australia lobbying for the
> restoration of democracy in Burma, send their
> warmest greetings to you as the newly elected
> President of the Republic of Indonesia. We are
> very heartened by your commitment to the process
> of democratisation in Indonesia.
> 
> In saying that, we are aware that after a long
> struggle for democracy, particularly one that
> has had a bearing on international diplomatic
> relations, that there will be a period of
> healing and reestablishment of goodwill and
> cooperation amongst all peoples involved in the
> struggle. We understand that that there has been
> concern and anger in Indonesia about the role of
> Australia in East Timor, and it is our fervent
> hope that reconciliation between Australia and
> Indonesia can take place. The stability and
> development of the Asian region can only be
> strengthened by a strong, effective and
> cooperative relationship between the two strong
> democracies represented by a post Habibie
> Indonesia and by Australia. We appreciate very
> much your government's Decisions on East Timor
> as made in the people's Consultative Assembly of
> the Republic of Indonesia of October 19, 1999,
> and described by you in your Open Letter to His
> Excellency, Kofi Annan, Secretary-General of the
> United Nations, as follows:
> 
> "Hence, Indonesia has taken the constitutional
> steps referred to in Article 6 of the "Agreement
> between the Republic of Indonesia and the
> Portuguese Republic on the question of East
> Timor" relating to the transfer of authority
> over East Timor from Indonesia to the United
> Nations. As a result, East Timor will revert to
> its status prior to July 1976 namely as a
> non-self governing territory.
> 
> In this connection, I should like to refer to
> Article 5 (1) of the People's Consultative
> Assembly Decision Number V/MPR/1999 on the
> Popular Consultation in East Timor which
> instructs the President of the Republic of
> Indonesia :
> 
> "together with international bodies to take
> concrete steps to provide protection for East
> Timorese people as a consequence arising from
> the holding of the popular consultation as
> stipulated in Article 1 of this Decision."
> 
> We thank the Indonesian People's Consultative
> Assembly for the clarity and firmness of these
> Decisions.
> 
> We have been thus further heartened to hear of
> your visit to Burma, and your desire to meet
> with Daw Aung San Suu Kyi, the leader of the
> democratically elected National League of
> Democracy, which as you know has been unable to
> assume its rightful position as the government
> of Burma.  We deeply appreciate your willingness
> to meet with Daw Aung San Suu Kyi and we believe
> that the meeting will be very encouraging for
> the people of Burma who have been struggling for
> the democratic cause in Burma. We sincerely hope
> that the State Peace and Development Council
> (SPDC) complied with your wish.
> 
> We would like to express our grave concern over
> the human rights situation in our country and
> other related issues in the ASEAN region,
> including drugs, migrant workers, and refugees.
> Recent reports from the United Nations and the
> United States indicate that the extent of
> repression and human rights abuses in Burma has
> increased markedly over the last twelve months.
> We hold fears for members of and elected
> officials of the National League for Democracy
> within Burma following reports of the
> intensification of intimidation, imprisonment
> and forced resignations from the NLD.
> 
> We have serious concerns and fears for the
> people of Burma, and for the long term welfare
> of those displaced people and political refugees
> in camps in Thailand. We greatly appreciate the
> Thai government's generosity towards the Burmese
> people seeking safety and refuge in Thailand. We
> would hope that other ASEAN countries provide
> the political and economic programs much needed
> to restore democracy in Burma, and thus remove
> the root cause of the refugee crisis and migrant
> worker problems in Thailand.
> 
> We sincerely hope that the newly elected
> Indonesia government under your leadership will
> support efforts to hasten the democratisation of
> Burma for the sake of the people of Burma and
> for the stability and prosperity of the
> Southeast Asian region.
> 
> Once again, our warmest congratulations to you
> and your government, and continued warm wishes
> for its efforts to bring peace, justice and
> stability to the peoples of Indonesia.
> 
> We hope that your trip to Burma was successful,
> and that we soon hear news of your meeting with
> Daw Aung san Suu Kyi.
> 
> Yours in solidarity with the peoples of
> Indonesia and Burma,
> 
> Susan Locke
> Chair
> Friends of NLD Australia

-- 
HTTP://www.physics.adelaide.edu.au/~uneoo
EMAILS: drunoo@xxxxxxxxxxxx, uneoo@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx
POSTMAIL: Dr U Ne Oo, 18 Shannon Place, Adelaide SA 5000, AUSTRALIA
[http://freeburma.org/[http://www.angelfire.com/al/homepageas/index.htm]
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