---------------------------------------------------------- Visit Indonesia Daily News Online HomePage: http://www.indo-news.com/ Please Visit Our Sponsor http://www.indo-news.com/cgi-bin/ads1 ---------------------------------------------------------- NSTP (New Straits Times Press), Oct 1 1999 East Timor Not Case Of "Angels Fighting Devils": Indonesian Diplomat SYDNEY, Oct 1 (AFP) - Indonesia's outgoing ambassador to Australia has issued a parting call for reconciliation between the two countries, saying East Timor situation is not a simple case of "angels fighting devils." Sastrohandojo Wiryono, whose three and a half year term in Canberra ended Thursday, blamed the deteriorating relations between the two countries on a lack of knowledge about each other. "Most Australians know little of Indonesia, just as most Indonesians know little of Australia," he wrote in a letter published in The Sydney Morning Herald Friday. Wiryono issued a plea for Australians to understand that Indonesia was going through a traumatic period in its history as it prepared to form its first democratically elected government in decades. "The recent tragic events in East Timor have been played out against a background of this effort to form a new government to bring Indonesia into the family of democratic nations," he wrote. "It is important that Australians understand that the institutions they have built up over 100 years of nationhood ... are things we Indonesians aspire to, and are just beginning to enjoy." But Wiryono also criticised international media coverage of the crisis in East Timor, saying many broadcast images "were angled and spliced ... to picture the pro-independence side in highly sympathetic terms. "The fact is that the situation in East Timor is complex, not a black and white case of angels fighting devils," Wiryono said. "The animosity between the parties has been building up over many years." Wiryono, who was due to fly back to Jakarta on Friday, told The Australian newspaper that tensions between Australia and Indonesia were climbing a ladder and had reached a top step which "somebody would have to fall off eventually." "Where do you go when you reach the top of the ladder? Somebody has to go," he said. The ambassador said it would be naive for Australia to expect Indonesia would not react to unfair criticism. "We are a country of 210 million people. We are not going to stand by and allow these attacks to keep coming," he said. He also accused Australia of being hypocritical because of its own treatment of the Aboriginal population. "Look, you are not lily- white angels and neither are we," he said. Jakarta earlier this week said it had witheld Wiryono's replacement because of deteriorating relations with Canberra over Australia's intervention at the head of a multinational peacekeeping force in East Timor. ++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++ Didistribusikan tgl. 4 Oct 1999 jam 07:57:57 GMT+1 oleh: Indonesia Daily News Online <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> http://www.Indo-News.com/ ++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++
