Jakarta – Assembly Speaker Amien Rais said on Monday that the nation must accept the fact that its former province of East Timor had become the world's newest country, reports said.

Amien, speaking in Cirebon, West Java, said that despite emotional trauma and psychological burdens due to international pressures, arrogance of several foreign countries and allegations of an unfair ballot during the 1999 UN-sponsored referendum thatled to East Timor breakaway from Indonesia, the people have to accept the fact that the territory is no longer part of the country.

"I think that in spite of what has happened, we have to let it go. We are reminiscing the past ... we forgive but we must not forget. This is very important because the issue has become a national trauma, and it must never happen again in the future," Amien said as quoted by Antara.

"We have to recall the history so we don't make the same mistakes in the future. Don't let it happen to other provinces such as Papua, Aceh, Maluku or other provinces. East Timor tragic incident must be the first and last thing to ever happened to ourcountry," he said.

Amien further urged the Indonesians to gradually forge good ties with East Timor. "In the end we hope that Indonesia willhave a strong ties with East Timor like with other Asian countries," Amien added.