East Timor:
A step to independence

The UN Security Council decision to sponsor an international peace-
keeping force in East Timor is an important step towards ending the 
slaughter of the East Timorese and advancing their struggle for political 
independence of East Timor. For the first time Prime Minister Howard 
publicly acknowledged the aim of independence for East Timor. In his 
Address to the Nation last Sunday he said that "Our aim is a situation in 
East Timor where the UN can supervise the peaceful transition to 
independence of that territory."

These events follow the overwhelming vote of the East Timor people who 
rejected the proposal of the Indonesian Government for autonomy within the 
Indonesian state.

From around the world came support for the cause of the East Timorese 
people which was enormously boosted by the reports of the bloody killings, 
the burning of people's homes, the sacking of Dili and other atrocities, 
carried out by the Indonesian puppet forces — the militias.

But the path to independence will not be really cleared until all the 
Indonesian military forces have withdrawn and the militias disarmed. That 
remains a major and immediate demand of the many organisations in Australia 
which have consistently supported East Timorese independence.

The UN peace-keepers should also oversee the withdrawal of all Indonesian 
military forces. 

While the trade unions have lifted their bans on trade shipments to 
Indonesia and on Garuda Airlines, the ACTU in a press release on Monday 
(Sept 20) said that "The ACTU remains prepared to recommend a reimposition 
of the bans should Indonesia not uphold the commitments given to the UN" by 
the Indonesian Government.

Of immediate concern is the plight of the tens of thousands of refugees who 
have been forced into the hills or into West Timor.

They urgently need food aid and medical supplies and a commitment from 
Indonesia that it will facilitate the repatriation to East Timor of all who 
have been abducted by the militias or who sought refuge from the killings 
by crossing into West Timor.

The Indonesian Government should be called upon to allow Red Cross and 
other aid workers into the refugee camps in which tens of thousands have 
been accommodated.

Another immediate task is the rebuilding of homes, schools and community 
facilities — the infrastructure that was wantonly destroyed by the 
militias while the Indonesian armed forces condoned or even participated in 
this vandalism.

Real independence

In time, governmental administration has to be set up. The UN forces can 
assist with this but it must not be accomplished on the basis of "Big 
Brother" telling or controlling what the East Timorese should do and how 
they should do it.

East Timorese independence must become real both politically and 
economically otherwise the East Timorese, having got rid of one master, 
could find themselves with another.

The East Timorese people have their own political organisations and they 
must be facilitated in their work and helped in the most difficult of all 
circumstances to lead and build a truly independent East Timor.

The establishment of a free and independent trade union movement is part of 
this process.

Those who have committed the unspeakable atrocities against the East 
Timorese people must be called to account, but this is, in the first place, 
a task for a new East Timorese Government and/or a new government in 
Indonesia.

While the demands made on Indonesia in regard to East Timor were fully 
justified because East Timor had been invaded and annexed against the will 
of the East Timorese people, the sovereignty of both Indonesia and now the 
new East Timor must be respected.

East Timor belongs to the East Timorese, not to any other country or 
transnational corporation wanting to control the oil resources in the Timor 
Gap.

In addition to government aid to help rebuild East Timor, many 
organisations are raising funds to assist. For example the ACT Trades and 
Labour Council and Amnesty International held a fundraising function in 
Canberra last Monday.

Until such time as it is clear that the aspirations of the East Timorese 
people to independence are being fulfilled by Indonesia and by others who 
may have an interest in controlling the region for their own political or 
strategic reasons, it is as well that all those who have backed the 
struggle of the East Timorese people should "keep their powder dry".

The ACTU has called for a "continuation of the consumer boycott until the 
Indonesian military withdraws and the repatriation of refugees is secured."

The most recent dramatic struggle of the East Timorese people was preceded 
by the mass demonstrations of Indonesian workers, students and farmers 
which led to the overthrow of the Suharto dictatorship.

While elections have been held in Indonesia, the future direction of the 
struggle for a progressive renewal of Indonesia is unclear.

US interests

There are outside forces, and this includes the Australian Government as 
well as the US, which are manoeuvring to force Indonesian politics in a 
direction which suits the interests of the big corporations who determine 
the policies of both the Australian and US Governments.

For example, it is reported that in August foreign high-flying aircraft 
carried out reconnaissance flights, without the prior permission of the 
Indonesian Government. These flights were over East Timor, Aceh and Ambon -
- three trouble spots in the region — and the Indonesian military failed 
to intercept or identify them.

Whose planes where they? The US Navy had only recently carried out 
manoeuvres with the navies of Malaysia, Singapore, Indonesia and Thailand, 
and the USS Constellation was anchored in Singapore.

Former US Secretary of State, Henry Kissinger gave an assessment in the 
past that Indonesia's "geographic location and resources are of major 
strategic importance".

In 1965 when General Suharto seized power over the massacred bodies of at 
least 500,000 members of Indonesia's Communist Party the US called it a 
"glean of light in Asia".

The hegemony of the US in the Indian Ocean is in doubt if the political 
left in Indonesia comes to power and places restrictions on the movement of 
US naval vessels through Indonesian waters.

The events in East Timor and the actions of the Australian Government in 
assembling a substantial military force in Darwin months ago, long before 
the East Timorese voted for independence, may not be unconnected with these 
wider considerations.