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DATE=8/31/1999
TYPE=CORRESPONDENT REPORT
TITLE=EAST TIMOR COUNT (L-O)
NUMBER=2-253287
BYLINE=BRONWYN CURRAN
DATELINE=JAKARTA
INTERNET=YES
CONTENT=
VOICED AT:
INTRO:  Indonesia has deemed Monday's ballot on East 
Timor independence -- fair, despite dozens of 
allegations of irregularities from pro-Indonesia 
groups.  Meanwhile, officials have finished counting 
votes cast in Indonesian provinces outside East Timor.  
As Bronwyn Curran reports from Jakarta, the counted 
ballot papers are being flown to the East Timor 
capital Dili, where the remaining votes will take up 
to a week to be tallied.
TEXT:  Almost four-thousand East Timorese cast their 
votes in the Indonesian cities of Ujung Pandang, 
Surabaya, Denpasar, Yogyakarta, and the capital, 
Jakarta.
Ballot boxes arrived (Tuesday) in Jakarta from the 
four other cities, where officials from the United 
Nations-affiliated International Organization for 
Migration spent more than four-hours counting them.
Alfred Corteck heads the Organization in Indonesia.  
He says the Jakarta vote count will be kept secret 
until the final tally is ready, still several days 
away.
            // CORTECK ACT //
      Well, we are expected to have them within a 
      week, if we are lucky five-days.
            // END ACT //
Mr. Corteck says voter turnout in centers outside East 
Timor was around 93-percent, just short of the 98-per-
cent U-N officials are quoting in the territory 
itself.
While the military and most of the Indonesian 
government have stayed quiet since Monday's ballot, 
Foreign Minister Ali Alatas has expressed optimism for 
a peaceful outcome, and described the conduct of the 
ballot as -- fair.
This is despite a long list of irregularities which 
pro-Indonesia groups allege were committed by U-N 
staff.  The Pro-Indonesia "United Front for East Timor 
Autonomy" has accused the U-N mission overseeing the 
ballot of bias, encouraging voters to choose 
independence, and of sowing seeds of conflict in the 
territory.
A government spokesman has condemned the statement as 
inflammatory.  But, Minister Alatas says some 
irregularities will be investigated.   (SIGNED)
NEB/BC/GC/RAE
31-Aug-1999 09:33 AM LOC (31-Aug-1999 1333 UTC)
NNNN
Source: Voice of America
.