E. Nusa Tenggara demands involvement in negotiations on Timor Gap Treaty

East Timor's demand for a new negotiation with Australia to replace the Timor Gap Treaty must also involve people in East Nusa Tenggara because the treaty covers an area belonging to that Indonesian province, according to the chairman of the Care West Timor Foundation,Ferdi Tanoni.

Ferdi said in Kupang, the capital of East Nusa Tenggara, on Friday that his party agreed that the Timor Gap Treaty must be amended following the succession of East Timor from Indonesia last year, but he reminded Australia and E. Timor to involve East Nusa Tenggara, which borders with E. Timor.

He noted that the Timor Gap Treaty, signed between Indonesia and Australia in 1989 to explore oil and gas in the Timor sea, covers a triangle area, involving Australia, East Timor and West Nusa Tenggara.

He warned that if Australia and East Timor did not involve East Nusa Tenggara or Indonesia, the treaty could serve as a time bomb in the future relations among Australia, East Timor and Indonesia.

The East Timor National Resistance Council (CNRT) said on Tuesday that the new East Timor government to be formed next year wanted to replace the Timor Gap Treaty with a new treaty altogether, and redefine its sea boundary with Australia.

CNRT claimed that the sea boundary should be defined right in the middle between East Timor and Australia, and thereby the so-called development area shared by Australia and Indonesia in the Timor Gap Treaty would belong to East Timor.

The head of CNRT economic planning division, Meri'e Aikatiri, is currently in Canberra to discuss the matter. She was accompanied Peter Galbraith, an official of the United Nations Transitional Administration for East Timor (UNTAET).

Aikatiri was quoted by The Australian that the new treaty should be defined based on the to-be-negotiated sea boundary between East Timor and Australia.

The Australian government, according to The Australian, is willing to re-negotiate the treaty, but not the sea boundary. (*)