BBC Worldwide Monitoring

Source: Kupang Pos web site, Kupang, in Indonesian 17 Jul 01

Indonesia: Army commander to crackdown on plans for independent West Timor

“If the plans are still only a matter of discourse then I will make no comment, but if an NTR is declared in NTT, I will demonstrate no tolerance.  I will wipe them all out!”, insisted the commander when speaking with journalists at the El Tari Airport in Kupang on Saturday (14 July).

The Udayana Commander was asked for his comments on plans by a certain group within NTT to form an Independent Timor (NTR). “...If this concept of forming an NTR violates the unity and sovereignty of  Indonesia  then this will be dangerous”, he said...

“Have those proposing an NTR both from East Timor and Kupang thought this out properly? Plans like this will cause NTT to lose face with the rest of Indonesia” , said da Costa.

Therefore, the commander, who originates from Noemuti, North Central Timor, said, NTT should not imitate East Timor. Ideas such as these would only further jeopardize NTT which is already highly dependent on the central government.

“This needs to be examined properly because at the moment we live off the central government. NTT is a poor province which receives a lot of assistance from the central government. Does NTT want to turn its back like East Timor did?”, asked the commander.

He asked them to think rationally and to place the future of the NTT community above their political aspirations...