Jakarta – Most Indonesian students and academics believe the people of troubled East Timor should be allowed to decide their own future, according to an opinion poll.

Asked for the best solution to the problem, 66.5 percent wanted the East Timorese people to decide on their own future, while only 7.7 percent wanted the matter to be left to the Indonesian government.

Indonesia invaded the former Portuguese colony in 1975 and annexed it the following year in a move never recognized by the United Nations. Its troops have faced sporadic resistance from guerrillas fighting for independence.

Only 23.7 percent of 1,000 people surveyed believed that the integration of East Timor was the wish of the East Timorese, while 53.6 percent believed the process was a form of "intervention" by the government.

The survey was jointly conducted by the "Solidarity for Peace in East Timor" a private organisation, and a private social research foundation. It also showed that 70.8 percent of the respondents felt the demand of East Timorese to "separate" themselves from Indonesia was "normal".

Conducted between October 12 to November 22, the poll surveyed 1,000 students and faculty members in five major cities in Indonesia's main island of Java. Some 58.8 percent of those surveyed agreed that economic reasons were behind the invasion, while 24.5 disagreed.

A total of 48.5 percent said a referendum on self-determination would be the best way to settle the problem while 32.2 percent disagreed.

A total of 43.8 percent of the respondents named Nobel Laureate Bishop Carlos Felipe Ximenes Belo as the man best able to meet the needs of the East Timorese population while rebel leader Xanana Gusmao stood in second place with the support of 15.2 percent.

Only 13.4 percent of the respondents thought that news on East Timor conveyed by the government was credible, while 58.5 percent doubted its credibility.