Craig Skehan, Jakarta – Differences have emerged within the Indonesian Government over whether international peacekeepers could be needed in East Timor after tomorrow's announcement of results from the self-determination ballot.
The Justice Minister, Mr Muladi, and elements of the military have publicly acknowledged that early deployment of UN peacekeepers could be necessary.
But the Foreign Minister, Mr Ali Alatas, and the defence chief, General Wiranto, are publicly maintaining that Indonesia won't give up its security responsibilities in East Timor before parliamentary ratification of Monday's ballot. "That won't happen before November," Mr Alatas was quoted as saying in the Indonesian Observer newspaper.
General Wiranto, who is sending more troops to East Timor and flying there himself tomorrow, also asserted that Indonesia could control the security situation despite worsening violence.
Mr Muladi said Indonesia's priority would be for its own forces to exert their authority. But he said that if the situation deteriorated rapidly, the use of of UN forces would be considered.
An Australian official said today that because of the sovereignty issues at stake, it could take a "cataclysmic" breakdown of law and order in East Timor for Jakarta to allow outside intervention before November.
Australia's Foreign Minister, Mr Alexander Downer, has for months defended Indonesia's refusal to agree to an armed international peacekeeping force.
If violence escalates dramatically, the Indonesian Government might want to soften international condemnation of its failure to bring anti-independence militias under control.
Canberra, too, has a lot at stake. If East Timor degenerates into civil war, the Federal Opposition will attack Mr Downer for his earlier efforts to help quell international calls for outside intervention.
Mr Downer was quick, after the relatively peaceful conduct of the self-determination ballot on Monday, to say he had been vindicated, but this assertion has been undermined by the violence of recent days.