Association of Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN) membership is vital for the future security of East Timor, Nobel peace laureate Jose Ramos Horta said here Monday.
Horta, foreign minister in the East Timor transitional cabinet, said he had already gained the support of most ASEAN nations, including Singapore.
"Membership in ASEAN will provide us with a sort of security umbrella," he said, adding that the territory "cannot afford and should not spend too much money on an army."
"It (East Timor) would have an added voice to its concerns, its agenda," he said.
East Timor has been under UN administration since November last year, after a wave of terror blamed on militias trained by the Indonesian army after the territory's independence vote on August 30, 1999.
Horta said that of the 10 ASEAN members, visits had been made to Indonesia, Malaysia, Myanmar, the Philippines, Singapore and Thailand to drum up support for ASEAN membership and "all of them have said they welcome East Timor."
The other ASEAN members are Cambodia, Laos, Vietnam and Brunei.
Reports that Singapore objected to East Timor's entry were inaccurate, Horta said.
After last month's ASEAN summit, Indonesian President Abdurrahman Wahid launched a tirade against Singapore, including an accusation that the Island State had barred the way for East Timor to join the regional grouping.
Singapore "are in principle very receptive to East Timor joining. The only question is the timing," Horta said here after delivering a speech on East Timor to the Institute of Southeast Asian Studies.
East Timor is also keen to join the proposed West Pacific Forum (WPF) being considered by Indonesia and Australia, but not be at the expense of its efforts to gain ASEAN membership, Horta said.
"We will join as long as that does not mean exclusion from ASEAN," he said, adding that he had been told by some ASEAN countries, which he did not identify, that membership in the forum would exclude East Timor from ASEAN.
"We still think ASEAN is irreplaceable," he said.
The WPF forum, first mooted by Wahid in the aftermath of the East Timor crisis, will also include Papua New Guinea and the Philippines.
In his speech, Ramos Horta thanked Asian countries for their role in helping secure independence for East Timor.
"Many Asian countries including ASEAN countries contributed decisively in a discreet but effective manner in persuading Indonesia to accept a United Nations intervention in East Timor," he said.
Countries such as Singapore, Thailand, South Korea, China and Japan worked closely with the United States and Australia to convince Indonesia "it was time to leave and respect the ballot of August 30, 1999."
He said South Korea's President Kim Dae-Jung held talks with Chinese President Jiang Zemin and former Japanese Prime Minister Keizo Obuchi to help East Timor.
"The three together talked with B.J. Habibie (then president) of Indonesia to make him understand that major Asian countries could not continue to support Indonesia if they would not respect the ballot results," he said.
Horta is scheduled to fly to the Indonesian resort island of Bali on Tuesday to meet Indonesian Foreign Minister Alwi Shihab for discussions on the reconciliation of pro-Jakarta and pro-independence East Timorese -- SINGAPORE (AFP)
© 2000 Al Bawaba (www.albawaba.com)
