Editorial:
A case of good and evil

Every society is made up mainly of people of goodwill, those who want 
only good things for themselves and others, who would do a good turn rather 
than a bad one. They have a collective spirit and are generous. They 
welcome and help others in need and at times of difficulty.

But there are others who can only be described as scum. They don't care a 
damn for others and look only for ways to take down the unfortunate. Those 
in need can be taken advantage of and are a source of their profit. They 
have no sense of the collective. Their only concern is their individual 
selves.

This is by way of introduction to the story that the UN has ordered the 
closure of a hotel, the Dili Lodge, set up by a group of Darwin 
businessmen. The hotel is reportedly selling cans of beer (imported into 
East Timor tax free) for $3 while paying local East Timorese labour at the 
rate of $4 per day. One of those running the show is the former Chief 
Minister of the Northern Territory, Shane Stone. He is now the President of 
the Liberal Party. It seems entirely appropriate for that Party to have 
such a figure at its head.

The Lodge has become a watering hole for UN staff, military personnel and 
unsavoury carpetbaggers who are flooding into East Timor to suck the blood 
of the East Timorese people as they struggle to get on their feet following 
25 years of oppression.

It is reported that the Dili Lodge is also a place of prostitution — 
another form of exploitation of the impoverished.

The Lodge is probably one of the few places left in Dili with a roof 
because it was the barracks of the Indonesian armed forces up to the point 
of their withdrawal. How was it possible for this building to be made 
available for this purpose? Was it approved by the Australian command 
leading the Interfet force?

It should have been made immediately available for the East Timorese 
administration, or to provide temporary shelter for those whose houses had 
been burnt down.

But the Dili Lodge is not the only business waxing fat on the misery of the 
East Timorese people. The Financial Review (9/12/99) reports that 
Darwin is becoming a boom town winning contracts to supply the UN 
administration and the military forces with everything from plastic sheets, 
to soap and motor cars. Of course, the motor cars are not for the East 
Timorese but the new occupiers. They plan a long stay and intend to become 
the new colonialists as they attempt to make East Timor safe for the 
Australian imperialists and their allies.

Another scandalous episode in the recent past is the attempt of former 
Prime Minister, Gough Whitlam, to exonerate himself and, by implication, 
all others in successive Australian Governments who covered up the 
situation in East Timor and supported the Indonesian invasion and 
occupation. Whitlam was speaking before the Senate Foreign Affairs inquiry 
into East Timor.

Apart from Whitlam's recital of events, which was less than the truth, he 
continued to justify Australia's shameful support for the Suharto military 
fascist dictatorship. Australian Governments were prepared to sacrifice the 
East Timorese people on the alter of maintaining Suharto in power as a 
bastion of stability and anti-communism in SE Asia. It also meant dividing 
up East Timorese oil with the Indonesians.

These episodes have to be compared with those of Australian workers, trade 
unionists and many dedicated community helpers who, without payment for 
their labour, are constructing a number of pre-fabricated long houses for 
storage and as homes, are raising money, collecting clothing, foodstuffs, 
medical supplies, etc.

These are the real Australians — that part of the community  which is 
motivated by goodwill, generosity, and are willing to help others at their 
time of need.

Readers will make their own judgement about the others — those "business-
men" and politicians who have blood on their hands just as surely as the 
Indonesian military which actually fired the weapons against the East 
Timorese.