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Sosok.ID – For decades, Indonesia was considered a colonizer by East Timor, or what is now known as Timor Leste.
In the past, East Timor was Indonesia’s 27th province, but it insisted that it wanted to determine its own destiny by separating from Indonesia.
East Timor officially left Indonesia on May 20, 2002 or after the referendum.
This means that the sovereign country neighboring the NTT province is now 18 years old.
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Once it became part of the Unitary State of the Republic of Indonesia (NKRI) on August 30, 1999, almost 80 percent of the population of East Timor decided to separate from Indonesia.
The United Nations-backed referendum ended the bloody conflict and ended their occupation as Indonesian citizens.
Provide a pathway for the people of Timor Leste to achieve independence
Yet after decades of viewing Indonesia as a cruel invader and slaughter, there is one thing or another that makes Timor Leste praise Indonesia.
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Launching Arab news (May 25, 2018), Timor Leste’s former Prime Minister Mari Alkatiri said that after nearly two decades of separating from Indonesia, the country’s relations with its neighbors have continued to strengthen despite some unresolved issues. .
It should be noted that Alkatiri was the first prime minister of Timor Leste from 2002 to 2006.
Alkatiri said Indonesia “is our greatest support.”
In an exclusive interview with Arab News at a hotel near the Fretilin party headquarters in 2018, Alkatiri, the Fretilin secretary general, described East Timor’s relationship with its former colonizer as “excellent, very good.”
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“We still have some pending issues, such as land and sea borders in Oecussi,” he said.
His statement referred to the East Timor coastal enclave surrounded by Indonesia’s East Nusa Tenggara province, which is located in the western part of the island of Timor.
Timor Leste is located in the eastern part of the island.
Oecussi is a special administrative zone and has been designated as a special economic zone with Alkatiri as its president.
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Alkatiri said the two countries need to resolve the border issue immediately because it would be difficult to define maritime borders in the Savu Sea without clearly marked land boundaries.
“But the good intentions of both governments are there,” he said, adding that successive Timor Leste governments will continue to strengthen relations between the two countries.
Alkatiri called Indonesia the “biggest supporter” of Timor Leste in its bid to become the 11th member of the Association of Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN).
Indonesia was one of the founding nations of ASEAN when it was founded in 1967 and considers itself a de facto leader.
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Indonesia supported ASEAN’s offer for Timor Leste when Timor Leste formally submitted its application in 2011, while Indonesia was the ASEAN leader.
Singapore, the then president, refused to welcome Timor Leste to the bloc.
However, Singapore said that it hoped that Timor Leste would fulfill the conditions to allow it to become a member.
Singapore Prime Minister Lee Hsien Loong said after hosting the ASEAN leaders’ summit in April 2018 that the issue had been discussed during the forum.
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But “there were no extensive discussions on the subject at this meeting.”
Alkatiri said that membership in ASEAN is a “very long dream.”
So far this year, Timor Leste has met two requirements to become a member of ASEAN: the country is located in Southeast Asia and has embassies in 10 member countries.
“This is one of the few things that has become a consensus among the leaders of Timor Leste, even though there are differences,” he said.
Meanwhile, Xanana Gusmao said that Timor Leste was doing its best to become a member of ASEAN.
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“We understand that some countries (members) think that we are not ready, but sooner or later, we will become members,” Gusmao told Arab News in an interview at his party headquarters for the National Congress for Timorese Reconstruction (CNRT). .
Alkatiri said that Timor Leste’s most urgent need is government investment in public infrastructure, such as education and health, and spending on basic living needs, such as community housing and clean water.
To find out, almost half of the 1.2 million inhabitants of Timor Leste still live in poverty,
“This is a 16-year-old country. We still need to build a nation; We need to strengthen the foundations, the institutions, the political foundations of the nation, everyone should try, ”he said at the time.
This article has been published on Intisari.ID with the title: Previously calling Indonesia a cruel colonizer and massacre, this is the statement of the former Timorese leader when speaking to the Arab media, praising Indonesia like heaven for this
(Tatik ariyani)
