Much of the world's press considered Sunday's inauguration of independence for East Timor from Indonesia to be a historic event.

But leading Indonesian publications such as Bernas, Kedaulatan Rakyat, Suara Merdeka, Detikcom and Koridor.com ignored it altogether.

They preferred such leading items as Indonesia's victory in the Thomas Cup badminton competition and the possibility of English football star David Beckham being fit to play against Cameroon on Sunday.

Elsewhere there was scathing criticism for the heavy security given to Indonesian President Megawati Sukarnoputri who attended the ceremonies.

"The visit of President Megawati Sukarnoputri to Dili could have been a turning point for Indonesia's international reputation but has turned into a problem of its own," Media Indonesia said in an editorial.

"Indonesia keeps stumbling into the same old disease, the disease of blowing up small things and trying to belittle things that should have been big... this is a bitter lesson for us."

Praise

There was encouragement for East Timor's President Xanana Gusmao for giving part of his speech in Indonesian.

Gusmao's decision to make part of his speech in Indonesian was well-received in some quarters

The paper Suara Pembaruan reported favourably on the gesture and ran a picture of Gusmao applauding the handover.

Media Indonesia quoted him as saying in Indonesian: "We have already made clear that we will work together with Indonesia to make a better future."

Media Indonesia did not fail to notice that President Megawati "was the last head of state to arrive at the place of honour".

It added that she was "directly led by Xanana to a seat and was applauded by around 250,000 East Timorese..."

Megawati under fire

Republika reported on the controversy caused by President Megawati's decision to attend the inauguration ceremony.

The paper said members of Indonesia's House of Representatives had called on Megawati not to go to the East Timorese capital Dili.

It quoted the chairman of a parliamentary commission, Ibrahim Ambong, as saying that "we will certainly be asking what benefit this visit will bring to us".

All this is meaningless. Why does it have to be Xanana?

War veteran quoted in Jawa Pos

Mr Ambong was also quoted as saying that the issues of Indonesian property in East Timor and compensation for veterans of Indonesia's 24-year occupation and their families would be raised.

The plight of the "Seroja veterans" (named after the code-name for Indonesia's 1975 invasion, Operation Seroja) was highlighted elsewhere in the press.

Both Kompas and Jawa Pos carried long reports on calls for compensation and demonstrations by veterans.

Jawa Pos made much of the veterans' "tears, talk of betrayal by the politicians, and the pathos of the disabled".

It quoted a scarred veteran as saying in "trembling voice":

"All this is meaningless. Why does it have to be Xanana?"

BBC Monitoring, based in Caversham in southern England, selects and translates information from radio, television, press, news agencies and the Internet from 150 countries in more than 70 languages.