PROTESTS force Indonesian backdown
PROTESTS & SOLIDARITY Keep up the pressure

by Lynne Androniki

Whilst Habibie's announcement that Indonesia will accept a UN peace keeping 
force provides some light and hope for the East Timorese people, the dark 
days of the past two weeks have brought tens of thousands onto the streets 
in protest at the savage Indonesian massacres. Across Australia and in 
other countries, countless actions of solidarity and protest have taken 
place. The Australian Government's role has come in for strong criticism. 
Belatedly the UN and other governments have been forced to act.

The Indonesian military portrayed the recent situation in East Timor as 
being one of chaos, when in fact it was a carefully orchestrated and 
revengeful pursuit of key independence supporters coupled with the brutal 
slaughter of civilians in key pro-independence areas.

There has been the forced removal of tens of thousands of East Timorese to 
various parts of Indonesia, carefully planned prior to the independence 
ballot taking place.

Time will reveal the death toll from the slaughter. Time will reveal how 
many are dying from starvation and disease. Time will show whether anything 
remains standing and operational in East Timor.

The Australian Government and the UN knew this was going to happen.

It was made very clear to Foreign Affairs Minister Downer while he was in 
East Timor that the Indonesian military had a clear and brutal plan. 

But Downer and other Australian leaders lobbied the Indonesian Government 
and the Indonesian Armed Forces to take control of the situation in East 
Timor. But they were already in control and Downer's appeals resulted only 
in more battalions being sent to the area, increasing the scale of violence 
and destruction.

The Indonesian rulers have always spoken about their occupation of West 
Papua, East Timor and Aceh as being part of an almost ancient historical 
notion of a united Indonesian archipelago and that the Indonesian Armed 
Forces had to be strong in these areas so that they could stop separatist 
movements from destroying the glorious Indonesian dream. But "greater 
Indonesia" had, in fact, been first created by the Dutch colonialists. An 
independent Indonesia had inheritted these territories from colonial times.

These areas are resource rich and over the years the Indonesian political 
elite, with GOLKAR as the political force and the Armed Forces as the 
military back up, have appropriated, controlled and exploited these 
resources. The government did not bring economic development or benefits to 
the people of these regions nor did it fulfill their calls for autonomy let 
alone independence. 

And while the Australian Government talks about the Indonesian political 
and economic elite having to save face, the elite themselves are talking 
about how to maintain and strengthen their control of the wealth.

Why then has the US not stepped in with all its talk of human rights and 
freedom?

Why would they help? The US and other major capitalist powers refused to 
act because they do not consider East Timor to be strategically and 
economically important. 

The Governments of Australia and the US supported the bloody seizure of 
power by Suharto in 1965 and gave the Suharto dictatorship endless 
political, economic and military support in the decades that followed. 
Indonesia was built up as a major anti-communist ally in the Asian region. 
Both governments connived at Indonesia's invasion and take-over of East 
Timor in 1975.

Only now are many Australians becoming aware of the immense financial, 
political and military support that Australian Governments have given to 
the Indonesian military in the past three decades.

Back in 1975 the Australian Government's words and actions made it clear we 
would not assist the East Timorese should Indonesia invade, especially as 
Indonesia had gained US support. There is little difference in the 
situation today and very recently the Australian Government made it clear 
to Indonesia (through PM Howard's speech to Habibie in April) that 
Australia was not supporting independence for East Timor.

Blood is also on the hands of successive Australian Governments which for 
more than three decades connived at the suppression of the rights of the 
Indonesian people and then recognised Suharto's annexation of East Timor. 
They have repeatedly betrayed the East Timorese people who staunchly 
assisted Australia's military forces during the war against Japan. 

The East Timorese people are indeed a people betrayed by Australian 
governments. But the Australian people by their mass solidarity actions are 
helping to retrieve Australia's honour in just the same way that they 
helped the Indonesian people win their independence from the Dutch 
colonialists following WW II.