---------------------------------------------------------- Visit Indonesia Daily News Online HomePage: http://www.indo-news.com/ Please Visit Our Sponsor http://www.indo-news.com/cgi-bin/ads1 ---------------------------------------------------------- New Straits Times Press (NSTP), Oct 7 1999 Malaysia Opposes UN Probe of East Timor Atrocities KUALA LUMPUR, Oct 7 (AFP) - Malaysia on Thursday joined its Asian neighbours in opposing a UN-led investigation into atrocities in East Timor. "Indonesia should be given an opportunity to look at all the problems that arose as a result of the presence in the territory because that place is part of Indonesia for 25 years," Foreign Minister Syed Hamid Albar told a news conference. "The Indonesian side has agreed that its human rights commission will undertake the study and they will include international parties and experts," he said. "We should try to let Indonesia proceed along that line before we jump to conclusions." Despite the opposition of Asian countries such as the Philippines and China, the UN Human Rights Commission voted last month to conduct an investigation into the orgy of burning, killing and looting by pro-Indonesia militias and some members of the Indonesian armed forces. The wave of terror in East Timor was unleashed after the territory voted for independence from Jakarta in a UN-supervised referendum on August 30. Jakarta annexed the former Portuguese colony in 1976, a year after it invaded the territory. Malaysian Prime Minister Mahathir Mohamad has accused foreign forces of inciting East Timorese to seek independence and said they would have been better off staying under Indonesia. Syed Hamid also said Malaysia hopes to play a "very important role" in the planned formal UN peacekeeping operation in East Timor. Malaysia, which has 30 troops under the present Australian-led multinational force, is awaiting word from the world body before deciding the strength of its next contribution, he added. Syed Hamid said Malaysia was also concerned that humanitarian intervention, discussed at the just-ended UN General Assembly in New York, might be used as an excuse to meddle in another country's affairs. "We have to be wary all the time of new concepts and new philosophies that will compromise sovereignty in the name of humanitarian intervention, in the name of globalisation which is another form of trying to interfere in the domestic affairs of another country," he said. "We have expressed our view that anything done in order to jeopardise the right of a country to determine its own destiny is not something that is welcome." ++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++ Didistribusikan tgl. 12 Oct 1999 jam 11:08:07 GMT+1 oleh: Indonesia Daily News Online <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> http://www.Indo-News.com/ ++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++
