Sir, - Conor O'Clery writes (The Irish Times, June 18th) that an Indonesian government official, Mr Dino Djalal, envisages that "if East Timor rejects independence and opts for autonomy within Indonesia it would have a status similar to that of Hong Kong in China."
There are two points to note about Mr Djalal's statement. The first is that autonomy is nothing more than code for continued Indonesian rule and the regime of violence that has marked daily life in East Timor since 1975 killing over 200,000 people.
The second is that he made the statement at all. Under the agreement signed on May 5th between Portugal and Indonesia, officials from both governments are prohibited from making statements which lack impartiality.
So Mr Djalal's statement is a violation of the agreement.
His description of autonomy as a "peaceful political compromise" is positively Orwellian. It is hardly a compromise; and it certainly isn't peaceful. At present in East Timor gangs of army controlled paramilitary thugs are attempting to terrorise the population into voting for autonomy.
But then violence and murder are perhaps the only means Indonesia has to convince the East Timorese to accept this bogus autonomy.
After 23 years of surviving some of the worst horrors imaginable at the hands of Indonesia's military, I am sure the people of East Timor can see Mr Djalal's statement for what it is: utterly worthless. - Yours, etc,
Mark Whyte, Lansdowne Court, Shelbourne Road, Dublin 4.