Indonesia may let go of the troubled territory of East Timor if Jakarta's latest offer of wide-ranging autonomy is rejected by the majority of the population there, a government minister announced in Jakarta yesterday.
The government will also take the East Timorese rebel leader, Mr Xanana Gusmao, out of the jail where he is serving a 20-year sentence and assign him a house to be designated as a prison, the Information Minister, Mr Yunus Yosfiah, said.
"A regional autonomy `plus' will be accorded to East Timor," he said. "If this is not accepted by the mass in East Timor, we will suggest to the new membership of the People's Consultative Assembly formed as the result of the next elections to release East Timor from Indonesia."
Mr Yosfiah's announcement was made after a routine monthly cabinet meeting on political and security affairs chaired by President B.J. Habibie.
The Foreign Minister, Mr Ali Alatas, said the cabinet decided that if the autonomy proposal was rejected it would suggest the separation of East Timor to the incoming legislature, to be elected on June 7th in the first elections since the fall of former president Suharto.
Caught by surprise, most diplomats in Jakarta said they were unsure how the East Timorese would be consulted on whether they accepted or rejected autonomy.
"There may be catches, but no matter what the catches, it is a very important development," an ambassador closely involved in the East Timor issue said. "It is the first time they (an Indonesian government) have been able to countenance in a public way the prospect of East Timor being independent."
In Lisbon, President Jorge Sampaio of Portugal said Indonesia's suggestion "could advance things."
Mr Alatas said Jakarta still viewed the autonomy proposal as "the most appropriate and fair" way out for East Timor, and repeated Jakarta's view that a referendum would lead only to "conflict or civil war there".
Indonesia, he said, had poured development funds into the territory.
East Timor has been a diplomatic albatross for Indonesia since Jakarta unilaterally declared it its 27th province in 1976, a year after the invasion. The UN and most states continue to view Lisbon as the official administrator of the territory and a pro-independence movement has provided active armed resistance to the Indonesian presence.
Others in Lisbon, including Nobel laureate Mr Jose RamosHorta, were more sceptical than President Sampaio.
"I am surprised, but I react with much scepticism to all declarations by this band of liars and cheats in Jakarta, whether they are in Suharto's or Habibie's camp," Mr Ramos-Horta told TSF radio.
He added that he would rather wait a few days and see what results emerged, "as we are used to hearing these declarations that are corrected or modified afterwards".
Irish Times Reporters add:
In Dublin, the East Timor Ireland Solidarity Campaign called on the Minister for Foreign Affairs to ask the UN to place observers in the territory. A campaign spokesman, Mr Tom Hyland, said: "While I welcome the announcement from Jakarta, it must be backed up by action."
The situation on the ground in East Timor, he said, did not reflect the announcement, "as Indonesian troops are beginning to hand out handguns and rifles to those Timorese who have collaborated with the occupation forces.
"The process from here on is going to be extremely painful for the Timorese," he warned, predicting that the Indonesian military would attempt to provoke civil conflict as it did in 1975, to sustain the presence of Indonesian troops in the territory.
He called on the Indonesian authorities to allow the UN to station observers in the territory.