wfn.org | United Methodists push House bills on East Timor

[NewsDesk <NewsDesk@UMCOM.UMC.ORG>]

July 28, 1998	Contact: Linda Bloom*(212) 870-3803*New York
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By United Methodist News Service

United Methodists are urging Congress to pass two bills in the House of
Representatives regarding East Timor, the tiny Southeast Asian country
that is under military occupation by Indonesia.

The first bill, House Concurrent Resolution 258, supports East Timor's
right to self-determination. It has 63 co-sponsors but needs more to
reach the House floor for a vote.

"What it's calling for is basically to resolve the political status of
East Timor by having a process of self-determination which would be
supervised internationally," explained Rebecca Asedillo, a United
Methodist Board of Global Ministries missionary, in a July 27 telephone
interview. Two United Nations' Security Council resolutions and eight
U.N. General Assembly resolutions have supported East Timor's right to
self-determination.

The bill recognizes the need for direct participation by East Timor in
U.N.-sponsored talks between Indonesia and Portugal. Portugal is still
recognized by the United Nations as having administrative authority of
the country because East Timor was in the process of de-colonization
from Portugal at the time of  the 1975 invasion by Indonesia.

Talks have been set for Aug. 4-5 in New York. In advance of that
meeting, Indonesia started withdrawing troops on July 28, and it plans
to pull 1,000 soldiers out of East Timor by early August. After the
withdrawals, 11,000 troops will remain.

The second House bill, H.R. 3802, is the International Military Training
Accountability Act, introduced by Rep. Nita Lowey, D-N.Y. It would ban
all U.S. military training of Indonesian troops.

Asedillo, a peace with justice educator, works for the National Council
of Churches' Southern Asia office and serves as staff for the East Timor
working group.

"From our perspective, we've always seen that the human rights
violations (in East Timor) are closely linked to self-determination,"
she said. Most violations occur against members of the pro-independence
movement, she said.

The United Methodist Church's 1996 General Conference, which speaks
officially for the denomination, objected to the continuing occupation
of East Timor and supported the country's right to self-determination.
The United Methodist Women's Action Network issued a July 27 alert
asking its members to write, call or visit their U.S. Representatives,
most of whom will be in their home districts between Aug. 1 and Sept. 8,
to urge support of the bills.

The U.S. Senate already has acted. Its July 10 resolution calls on
President Clinton to "work actively to support an internationally
supervised referendum on self-determination." The Senate resolution also
urges Clinton to encourage Indonesia's new government "to institute
genuine democratic and economic reforms."

Indonesia's new president, B.J. Habibie, has offered to give East Timor
"special status" and to free its political leader, Xanana Gusmao, in
exchange for international recognition of Indonesia's annexation of the
territory. According to the East Timor Action Network, Gusmao, East
Timorese Nobel Peace laureate Jose Ramos-Horta and the Portuguese
government have all rejected the proposal unless it allows East Timor
the fundamental right of self-determination after a period of autonomy.

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United Methodist News Service
(615)742-5470
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