---------------------------------------------------------- FREE for JOIN Indonesia Daily News Online via EMAIL: go to: http://www.indo-news.com/subscribe.html - FREE - FREE - FREE - FREE - FREE - FREE - Please Visit Our Sponsor http://www.indo-news.com/cgi-bin/ads1 ++ Pemilu Online: http://www.indo-news.com/pemilu/ ++ ---------------------------------------------------------- ANTARA, JUNE 30 1999 UNAMET Must Emphasize Balanced Approach Towards E. Timorese Lisbon, Portugal, June 30 (ANTARA)- The United Nations Mission in East Timor (UNAMET) must emphasize a balanced approach in dealing with various problems related to the existing conflicts among locals, two Portuguese observers of East Timor affairs have said. "It is necessary for UNAMET to attach more importance to the socio-cultural approach than political pressure in dealing with both pro-integration and pro-independence groups. Otherwise, Indonesia will always be put in an awkard position, viewed from the result of the latest tripartit meeting," an activist of Amnesty International here, Prof. Dr. Nuno Rocha, told ANTARA here Tuesday. The tripartit meeting held by Indonesia and Portuguese foreign ministers under the auspices of the United Nations Secretary General on May 5, 1999, came up with an agreement on, among others, a discussion of the direct ballot process in East Timor and a guarantee of security for the East Timorese by the Indonesian side with the help of UNAMET. On the basis of this agreement, Rocha, who has written "Timor, the End of an Imperium", said that Indonesia had been made quite busy to assume a neutral attitute towards the pro-independence and pro- integration groups, both being found to live in the same community. "It is often forgotten in responding to the socio-cultural problems in East Timor that in this region conflicts of interests have been going on since the presence of the Portuguese colonial rule. It means that these conflicts remain even after the integration of this region with Indonesia," he noted. Rocha, a professor of political communications at Independence University here also said that it should be admitted that in term of personnel, UNAMET was made up of a great number of activists of international institutions who had more often been fed with one- side information about East Timor. The information disseminated by international mass media, particularly in the West, where former colonial rulers are represented, tends to view the East Timor question as a major mistake made by Indonesia, in this case the military under Soeharto administration, he said. "Worse still, Indonesia has since 1975 fiercely opposed the United Nations resolution on East Timor," he added. This background, he went on, will certainly considarably affect the opinions of UNAMET personnel. Reports made by Amnesty International about the East Timor question are generally similiar in substance either during the period of Portuguese colonial rule or in the period after integration with Indonesia, but these reports have recently come under a bigger spotlight as a result of reporting by the international network of mass media, he added. In connection with the stone pelting of the UNAMET office in Maliana by local people, he said that it would be better to respond to this incident without blaming any parties. "If you want to be more honest in viewing facts in East Timor, you will agree that blaming only one party for a certain incident will only lead to a fresh incident because this party will feel that it has been disadvantaged," he added. Promote empathy In the meantime, Dr. Oliveira Diaz, an observer of East Timor affairs from the Center for Political Communications Studies (CECC) here, said separately that would be necessary for UNAMET personnel to promote their empathy in responding to physical conflicts in places where they are assigned. "I'am sure that UNAMET personnel are quite experienced to give roles to their emphaty. In this case they must promote their emphaty, which in political communications science is known as the way in which someone plays the degree of his understanding of his environment in responding to the interests of other parties," he said. "Viewed from the science of political communications, some of the conflicting groups in East Timor feel disadvantaged while some others advantaged in this process of shaping public opinion by the international mass media and community. Irrespective of who the perpetrators of the stone pelting are, the behavior of these perpetrators may be likened to the attitude of those damaging the office of the "Suara Timor Timur" daily some time ago," he said. Therefore, he went on, one of the efforts that can be made to avert physical conflicts between conflicting parties in East Timor is the provision of balanced information about the consequence that must be shared in the process of direct ballot on the future status of this region, the result of which will affect the next generation more than the present. "This direct ballot is not an easy choice for the East Timorese as a whole, so they must really know the advantages and the disadvantages of their choices," he added. (U.LPT-1/INT-LH/11:00/INT-TA/ri3/15:17/tb05) ++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++ Didistribusikan tgl. 5 Jul 1999 jam 06:06:37 GMT+1 oleh: Indonesia Daily News Online <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> http://www.Indo-News.com/ ++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++
