Indonesia May Give Up East Timor
Indonesia is willing to grant independence to East Timor, the government said Wednesday for the first time since annexing the island territory 23 years ago.
Although East Timor activists greeted the news cautiously, the statement seemed to be a major reversal of Indonesia’s stance on the former Portuguese territory, where it has faced international pressure to end years of fighting with rebels.
East Timor, with a mainly Roman Catholic population of 800,000, has been racked by bloodshed and human rights abuses since mostly Muslim Indonesia occupied it in 1976.
“If they want to have their freedom, they are welcome,” Foreign Minister Ali Abdullah Alatas said Wednesday at a news conference.
Indonesia’s legislature could consider the independence issue later this year if the East Timorese reject an offer for greater autonomy, said Information Minister Yunus Yosfiah, quoting President B. J. Habibie.
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