---------------------------------------------------------- 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 ---------------------------------------------------------- Pro-Indonesia group urges on-the-spot vote count in East Timor JAKARTA, Aug 22 (AFP) - A pro-Indonesia group has called on the United Nations to count the votes at next week's self-determination ballot at the stations where they are cast, the state Antara news agency said Sunday. "People will not have a chance to see the counting process transparently if the vote counting is centered in Dili," Antara quoted a spokesman for the Forum of Unity, Democracy and Justice (FPDK) as saying. The UN Mission in East Timor (UNAMET) has repeatedly announced that the August 30 ballot will be secret, to avert possible reprisals, and that for the same reason the votes will be counted centrally. Basilio Araujo, the spokesman for the FPDK, which groups several pro-Indonesia fronts including the army-backed militia, argued the centralized system was "undemocratic." Araujo also warned the central count by UNAMET could become "a reason for either or both of the two conflicting groups in East Timor to reject the outcome of the ballot." On August 30, more than 450,000 East Timorese voters inside and outside the former Portuguese colony which was invaded by Indonesia in 1975, will vote on whether to accept Jakarta's offer of autonomy under the Indonesian flag. Indonesian President B.J. Habibie has said he will ask the People's Consultative Assembly, the country's highest legislative body, to let East Timor go if the offer is rejected. UN Secretary General Kofi Annan has twice had to postpone the ballot, mainly because of unchecked violence and intimidation by the pro-Indonesian militia against independentists in East Timor. ++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++ Didistribusikan tgl. 22 Aug 1999 jam 12:43:33 GMT+1 oleh: Indonesia Daily News Online <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> http://www.Indo-News.com/ ++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++
