Jakarta – Aceh is to Indonesia what Georgia is to the United States – an integral part of the country. East Timor, by comparison, is like what Puerto Rico is to America, a territory.

President B. J. Habibie drew the comparison when he ruled out any formula similar to that used for East Timor, which would allow Aceh or any other restive province to break away from Indonesia.

"They cannot have it," he said in an interview on Tuesday, where he also warned that any province intending to do so would face the might of the Indonesian military.

"In Timor, it's just like in the United States, Puerto Rico. Aceh is just like, for the United States, Georgia. You cannot separate Georgia – or New York, or Alaska, or California or Washington – from the United States of America."

In drawing a comparison, he also made a rare admission that Indonesia's claim to the province is questionable: "East Timor never legitimately belonged to Indonesia. I don't know how we came to that problem – it's not my deal. But I tried to solve that. I had to solve it."

Since his offer of independence to East Timor early this year, the former Portuguese territory has been wracked by violence, mostly carried out by pro-Indonesian militias that human rights groups and others say receive arms and backing from the Indonesian armed forces.

But the Indonesian leader denied that the armed forces were involved. He said the military was doing all it could to maintain security in the former Portuguese territory, which Indonesia invaded in 1975 and annexed a year later.

The government's offer of a choice of independence or autonomy to Timor is believed to have sparked similar demands on the opposite end of the archipelago – by separatist rebels in the violence-torn province of Aceh.

But Dr Habibie on Tuesday ruled out any similar approach for Aceh or other province – which he said would face the full brunt of military might if they tried to separate.

In East Timor itself, the United Nations mission there, Unamet, yesterday extended the voter registration period for a landmark referendum on the territory's future to allow more people to sign up for the crucial Aug 30 ballot.

"The registration period has been extended for two days inside East Timor and for four days for registration posts outside East Timor," Unamet spokesman David Wimhurst said from the East Timorese capital of Dili.

"Although more than 400,000 people have registered already, we wanted to make sure everyone had the opportunity to put his name on the list."

The original 20-day registration period is now extended to tomorrow inside East Timor, and to Sunday for East Timorese living outside the territory.

In Jakarta, jailed East Timorese resistance leader Xanana Gusmao registered shortly after 2 pm yesterday at the UN information office.

Separately, an observer group registered with Unamet called on the UN to send peace-keeping troops to East Timor ahead of the referendum, citing continuing violence by pro-Indonesian militia.