Independent Aceh will be isolated: Lee Kuan Yew

Agence France Presse. December 13, 1999

AN independent Aceh would be isolated because no country wants to see it break away from Indonesia and it would not be recognized by others, Singapore statesman Lee Kuan Yew said.

"No country in Southeast Asia will recognize it ... I doubt if America will, I doubt if China or Russia will, so it will become like Biafra," he said in an interview with satellite broadcaster CNBC Asia aired late Sunday.

Biafra broke away from Nigeria in 1967 but failed to survive as a separate state and was ultimately subdued after a civil war.

Lee also cited the case of the Turkish-Cypriot northern part of the Mediterranean island of Cyprus occupied by Turkey in 1974 which is recognised only by Ankara as an example of a "dormant" state.

Asked about the possibility of Indonesia breaking up, Lee said: "I would not say it is a strong possibility but it is a possibility."

But Lee said an independent Aceh would be isolated "because nobody wants and nobody sees any benefit from them breaking off" from Indonesia."

The armed independence struggle in Aceh, an oil- and gas-rich province in Sumatra island, has gained new momentum after East Timor broke away and reformist Muslim leader Abdurrahman Wahid was elected Indonesia's president.

Indonesia relinquished authority over East Timor, a former Portuguese colony it invaded in 1975, to the United Nations in October following a UN-held ballot in August which produced an overwhelming vote for independence.

Wahid has ruled out an independence option for Aceh.

Lee, asked about the East Timor saga, maintained the territory's separation from Indonesia "wasn't necessary."

"Nobody was pressing Indonesia for East Timor's independence. Everybody, meaning the Europeans and Portuguese, the Australians and Americans, was pressing for more autonomy.

"Then the last president, President Habibie, decided that he would give them either autonomy or they get out, and they got out," Lee said. Return Home