Statement by
Ambassador Rezlan Ishar Jenie
Permanent Representative of the Republic of Indonesia
to the United Nations
Before the security Council
On the agenda item
“The Situation in Timor Leste”

New York, 10 May 2004

Mr. President,

I would like to start by associating my delegation with the expression of condolences and sympathy to the Russian delegation and the bereaved families on the tragic loss of lives, including President Akhmad Kadyrov, and many injuries sustained in the attack in Grozny.

I would also like to acknowledge the presence of Senior Minister Ana Pessoa Pinto.

I would like to thank the SRSG Mr. Kamalesh Sharma for his important statement.

Let me at the outset congratulate you for assuming the Presidency of the Council for this month. My delegation is always pleased to participate in discussions of the Security Council on the United Nations Mission of Support in East Timor (UNMISET), the present mandate of which ends in 10 days.

I would also like to thank the Secretary-General for his report (S/2004/333), in which he observes that the relationship between Timor-Leste and Indonesia has continued to benefit from the commitment to cooperation at the highest political levels. From the very beginning, the leaderships of both nations agreed to cooperate on the basis of forward-looking and reconciliatory policies, a visionary and realistic approach that has served both nations well. It has led to peace in the area, and has enabled both Timor Leste and Indonesia to focus on development and on the best interests of their peoples.

My delegation is of the view that whatever problems we face now and in the future, the strong commitment of both national leaders to this forward-looking approach to which they have pledged themselves will be extremely useful in resolving them. This was restated and re-confirmed by the Foreign ministers of Indonesia and Timor Leste in their meeting in Bali on 8-9 May 2004, just a couple of days ago.

Mr. President,

In the report, the Secretary-General recommends to the Security Council the extension of UNMISET for a further one-year period, described as a “consolidation phase,” to enable the mission to sustain, strengthen and build upon the gains made so far in Timor-Leste. My delegation has no objection whatsoever to this recommendation to the Council. Indeed, as has been the case in the past, we are delighted to offer our support to policies that will enable Timor Leste to make the greatest possible progress in the shortest possible time. Indonesia, within its limited capacity, as a developing country, has in a modest way contributed concretely to the economic development of Timor Leste in various ways. Indonesia would even like to urge the international community, especially the developed nations, to re-double its efforts and assistance to help Timor Leste in its current economic development activities.

There are some other issues in the report that we would like to comment. With regard to the issue of border, in paragraph 11 the report while acknowledging the significant technical work that has been accomplished also alluded that finalization of an agreement on a borderline has remained elusive and for which further input is expected from Indonesia. We see this as an inaccurate and one-sided view and reflect the lack of understanding with regard to the issue.

For the Council’s information, the Technical Sub-Committee of Border Demarcation and Regulation, as part of the Joint Border Committee, since December 2001 has held meetings for 11 times, and each meeting was always being preceded by a joint field survey. Indonesia has been always supportive to every activities aimed at finding a solution to the determination of borders between Indonesia-Timor Leste and also all kind of community activities residing along the border.

Therefore, relating it to paragraph 12 on the issue of border management and regulation of economic activities, I wish to further inform the Council that there are two agreements in place, namely Arrangement on Traditional Border Crossings and Regulated Markets and Technical Arrangements on the Coordination of Measures to Facilitate the Movement of People and Their Personal Effects between the Enclave of Oecussi and Other Parts of Timor Leste. At this stage Indonesia is awaiting the readiness of its partner to start implementing the agreements.

With regard to paragraph 13, on the problem of the so called “former refugees”, first of all I would like to restate that there are no more Timor-Leste refugees in Indonesia since December 2002 when more than 200,000 refugees had returned voluntarily to Timor-Leste. From the registration process conducted by the Government of Indonesia from August until November 2003, the fact shows that there are about 125,342 East Timorese living in nine provinces and 61 regencies throughout Indonesia. From this figure 113 people opted to return to Timor Leste, and the Government will render its facilitation to help them. In addition, out of 125,342 Timorese who live in Indonesia, 28,000 of them live in East Nusa Tenggara (West Timor) province, but not in “camps” as the report suggested. They opted to stay in Indonesia as citizens and are being offered to be relocated within Indonesia. However, the Government is always ready to render its facilitation if they voluntarily decide to return to Timor-Leste at any time.

In relation to this issue, I also need to draw the Council’s attention that the continued use of the term of East Timorese “former refugees” is sending a wrong notion as if there are still some problems related to security. They are not posing security threats. In this regard, it should be noted that the Government of Indonesia has taken some important measures to address security matters, including sweeping and confiscating of weapons in the border area by Indonesian police and armed forces, which in return have been destroyed by the authorities witnessed by UNMISET representatives. Continuous checking from time to time is being conducted by the security apparatus in West Timor.

Mr. President,

Allow me also to refer to the previous debate of the Security Council on this issue. On 20 February this year, the Under-Secretary-General in the Department of Peacekeeping Operations, at the beginning of his briefing to this Council, cited an incident dated 29 January 2004 at the border between Indonesia and Timor Leste. One journal in Timor Leste even reported that the incident “took place in Sassa village, Bobonaro (Timor Leste) where some 200 Indonesians, six wearing TNI attributes, burned houses and destroyed plants of locals”. At this stage, I want to clarify the matter. Based on the Inter Command Meeting between UN PKF of UNMISET and Indonesian armed forces (TNI) in Denpasar, Bali on two separate occasions, the first between 28 and 31 January 2004, and the second on 18 February 2004, and following thorough investigations, the Inter Command concluded that such an incident never happened. It further agreed that should any such report of incident occur in the future, they would undertake a joint investigation towards clarifying the issue.

As a matter of fact, there has not been any report of incident along the border since 2001 and this clearly shows that security has been greatly improved along the border.

I wish also to bring to the attention of the Council that the outdated and unnecessary retention of the Phase 5 security situation rating in West Timor, unilaterally imposed since 2000, has prevented the access and operations of international agencies and NGOs in this process and hampered their humanitarian programs.
On the issue of the separated Timorese children, the Governments of Indonesia and Timor-Leste, in the absence of UNHCR, are taking full charge through their continued cooperation to see the issue successfully concluded, in the best interest of the affected children.

Finally, my delegation is confident that the Council would take into account the continued progress in the bilateral relations between Indonesia and Timor Leste, as well as in the stable security situation along our borders, in view of the fact that since 2001, there have been no problems whatsoever in the area. As the Timor Leste Minister of Foreign Affairs, Mr. Ramos Horta correctly stated in this Council on 20 February 2004, “Obviously, we do not anticipate any external threat.”

Thank you, Mr. President.