Just four years after the vote for independence in East Timor, the country's first lady, Kirsty Sword Gusmao, believes the country's peace is still too fragile to enter into the politics of the region.

The Melbourne-born wife of East Timor's first president, Xanana Gusmao, said she believed it was more appropriate to support West Papua and Aceh against the Indonesian military privately rather than publicly.

"I think it's all a question of timing," Sword Gusmao said at a launch of her book, A Woman of Independence, on Wednesday night at the Manly Art Gallery and Museum.

"I can't speak on behalf of the Government of East Timor but as a private citizen of East Timor I can say I have a great deal of sympathy for that cause and continue to follow it with great interest.

"[But] I think it would be very unwise for East Timor to put its neck out for causes like that in West Papua at present. The reality is that East Timor is newly independent. You could say its peace and that independence are somewhat fragile.

"It would be foolhardy in my view for the East Timorese to put in jeopardy the security and peace they fought so hard for and paid the ultimate price for, to express solidarity with a cause which I don't think would really make the difference between the winning and the losing of their struggle."

The Angus and Robertson Manly launch was one of only two Sydney events marking the release of Sword Gusmao's account of her life as East Timorese resistance supporter, activist and romance with the former guerilla leader Gusmao.

Interviewed by former Manly MP Peter Macdonald, who served as a medical co-ordinator for Timor Aid, the 37-year-old mother of two said she thought Australia's involvement with the US in the war against Iraq had more impact on Indonesian relations than support of East Timor.

"I think that today we are obviously living in a very different geopolitical situation than in '95 and the East Timor leadership see the importance of building a constructive new relationship with Indonesia based on shared values," she said.

"There are probably certain sections of the Indonesian community that will not easily forget what happened in East Timor and will continue to vent that and feel bitterness about it.

"But in terms of Australia's relationship with Indonesia I don't think the stance Australia took in relation to East Timor in 1999 would have long-term adverse effects.

"There are probably a lot of other factors which are far more decisive in shaping that relationship with Indonesia today."