STATEMENT BY
MR. MOHAMMAD KAMAL YAN YAHAYA
DEPUTY PERMANENT REPRESENTATIVE OF MALAYSIA TO THE UNITED NATIONS
ON THE SITUATION IN EAST TIMOR
FRIDAY, 28 JULY 2000
Madame President
First and foremost, my delegation would also like to thank ASG Annabi for his briefing this morning, and the Secretary-General for his latest lucid and comprehensive report on UNTAET pursuant to SC Resolution 1272 (1999) of 25 October, 1999.
The dynamics on this emerging new nation are positive, although the situation is not without problems.
Let me first welcome the historic announcement and swearing in of East Timor’s eight-member transitional cabinet, four of whom are East Timorese at UNTAET’s headquarters on 15 July. The first meeting of the new cabinet of the transitional government on 17 July is particularly welcomed by my delegation. The holding of that meeting is a very important step in the right direction towards an independent East Timor. It represents the first time in the territory’s history that East Timorese leaders have participated as equal partners in the governing of their own country. Nevertheless, Malaysia recognises that while a new state structure had emerged in East Timor, reconciliation, tolerance and contrition would continue to remain the basis for lasting peace in that new nation.
There have been other positive developments in the last month which my delegation applauds. These include the decision by the government of Indonesia to send a 17-member team from the Attorney General’s Office to Dili on 20 July to question witnesses and collect any material evidence concerning five criminal cases presented by the Indonesian authorities. The visit was the outcome of the first working-level meeting between the UNTAET‘s legal and political units with its Indonesian counterparts in Jakarta last month.
In addition, we hope that the inception on 11 July of the first batch of 50 graduates of East Timor’s Police Training College in Dili as police officers will enable the territory to fully undertake the responsibility of maintaining law and order. At the same time, the coming into operation of the East Timor Revenue Service on 1 July is indeed timely. Ninety percent of the businesses liable for the newly imposed services have been contracted by UNTAET. We welcome the decision of UNTAET’s Land and Property Unit to start a pilot mapping exercise on 26 July to determine boundaries of land in Dili, which hopefully, will be the beginning of a systematic registration of land parcels in urban areas. Nevertheless, we are mindful that the project is not to determine legal ownership or right of occupancy.
Meanwhile, we note with satisfaction the establishment of a joint border committee for the management of all cross-border matters reached during two days of talks between the Indonesian authorities and UNTAET in Surabaya on 5 July. In this connection, we urge the two parties to continue to explore ways and means to overcome the problem of land corridor to link East Timor with the isolated Oecussi enclave on the northern coast of West Timor. We are confident that further progress on other remaining issues such as, scholarships for East Timorese studying at Indonesian universities, pensions for East Timorese who had worked in the Indonesian administration, Indonesian assets, archives and culture of East Timor could be achieved at the upcoming September meeting.
My delegation’s optimism is however, tempered by the deterioration of the security situation in some refugee camps in West Timor. We are particularly dismayed that small groups of thugs are able to carry out with impunity a campaign of intimidation in the camps. We deeply regret that registration of East Timorese refugees in the main refugee camps in Kupang and in the border districts of West Timor had been cancelled as a result of serious security conditions. Equally, the repeated abuse and threats by the militias on IOM and UNHCR staff are a serious cause for concern to my delegation. Malaysia believes that UNHCR must be allowed to play its part in resolving the refugee problems in West Timor, with the full cooperation of the Indonesian authorities.
We are deeply saddened by the death of a New Zealand peacekeeper, Private Leonard Manning, on 24 July who was killed in a gun battle with armed militias in East Timor. We extend our deepest and sincere condolences to the family of Private Manning. This tragic incident serves to remind the international community of the remaining daunting challenges it faces in meeting its commitment to the people of East Timor. We welcome the actions taken by Indonesia to date, and look forward to further efforts by Indonesia to address this issue.
Madame President,
Although the process toward independence and nation-building is currently underway in East Timor under UNTAET, the local population is still living in difficult conditions. Unemployment runs at about 80% and there is little indication that things will improve anytime soon. Foreign investment, considered vital to reviving the shattered economy, is only trickling in. Apart for a handful of service companies setting up shop in Dili, in the hope of profiting from the UN’s host-term presence there, East Timor’s private sector barely exists. Equally disturbing, land disputes are proving to be one of the greatest stumbling blocks to the economic development needed to sustain East Timor as an independent country. Without clear ownership laws and with many government record destroyed, businesses quite understandably, are reluctant to invest in long-term projects. Whilst we fully support UNTAET’s proposal to set up an independent tribunal to arbitrate claims, the hundreds of cases already in the pipeline could take years to be completed. Unless UNTAET is able to quickly resolve the problem, the new nation risks being left without a functioning economy when the transitional administration ceases its presence.
We recognise that East Timor will need substantial funding from outside the territory for the foreseeable future to be able to rebuild successfully and to lay the foundations of a society in which the basic needs of all its citizens are met. Whilst donors are prepared to be generous over the short-term, they would justifiably, be hesitant to commit themselves to assisting East Timor for an indefinite time frame.
In conclusion, my delegation is pleased to hear from Mr Annabi that the leaders of East Timor have attended the recent 33rd Asean Ministerial Meeting in Bangkok and this positive development augurs well for the future relations between East Timor and the Asean countries, and also for the peace, stability and prosperity of the South East Asian region. Finally, my delegation also wishes to pay tribute to the efforts of UNTAET under the leadership of Mr Sergio de Mello which have contributed to the transformation of East Timor over the past 11 months.