Megawati weighs independence trip

JAKARTA - Indonesia's President has yet to decide if she will attend next month's ceremonies marking the independence of East Timor, the palace said yesterday.

Earlier, a palace official who declined to be identified said Megawati Sukarnoputri planned to make the sensitive trip to the territory Indonesia ruled for 24 often-bloody years. Indonesian MPs have insisted she snub the May 20 festivities.

"No decision has been made," Garibaldi Sudjatmiko, head of the presidential media office, said. He gave no more details.

East Timor will become the world's newest nation on May 20 after being under United Nations Administration since it voted in 1999 to break from Indonesian rule, a decision that triggered an orgy of violence from pro-Jakarta militias opposed to the move. The nationalist Megawati opposed the UN-organised ballot.

Timorese leaders have said her attendance at the ceremonies would be an "eloquent" sign of how far relations have come since the pro-Jakarta militias, with backing from the Indonesian military, ravaged the territory.

But Indonesian legislators still upset by East Timor's decision to break away and embarrassed by the need for thousands of foreign troops to enter the tiny territory and restore order after the vote have urged Megawati not to go. More than 185 heads of state have been invited to the ceremonies.

- REUTERS

Feature: Indonesia and East Timor

CIA World Factbook: Indonesia (with map)

Dept. of Foreign Affairs of the Republic of Indonesia

Antara news agency

Indonesian Observer

The Jakarta Post

UN Transitional Administration in E Timor

East Timor Action Network