Jakarta – An East Timorese claimed on Saturday that members of the Free Aceh Movement (GAM) have made secret contacts with proindependence East Timorese, asking how the latter won their freedom from Indonesia, Antara reported.

A Dos Santos, who worked for an Indonesian telecommunications company when East Timor was still an Indonesian territory, said the contacts were made through the Internet.

"They [GAM members] often ask [me] about the East Timorese struggle until we got the chance to determine our future through the United Nations-organized plebiscite. I answered all their questions honestly. I hope Indonesia would be careful. Do not let the provinces of Aceh and Irian Jaya become independent like East Timor," he said as quoted by the news agency.

Santos, who is currently working for an Internet service company in Dili, further noted that the GAM rebels took the initiative to make the secret contacts. "The communication between the two groups has intensified because the GAM rebels have begun paying serious attention to the struggle of the Falintil and CNRT, especially in winning the hearts and minds of the international community," he said. Falintil was the armed wing of the National Council for East Timorese Resistance (CNRT).

Santos recounted that many East Timorese felt that Indonesia had done many good things for them. However, he said, due to the military's brutality in handling the insurgency, the sympathy of the East Timorese toward Indonesia vanished.

He said the military operations carried out in East Timor ought not be carried out in Aceh or Irian Jaya because antipathy was one of the reasons East Timor wanted to separate from Indonesia, he said.