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EAST TIMOR, INDONESIA'S
BOSNIA AND KOSOVO, EUROPEAN HYPOCRISY
by Jose Ramos-Horta, Vice President, CNRT
Writing in the Newsweek (A New Generation Draws the Line, April 19 1999,
page. 40), the British PM Tony Blair begins: "We have learnt by bitter
experience not to appease dictators..." and concludes: " We need to enter a
new millennium where dictators know that they cannot get away with ethnic
cleansing or repress their peoples with impunity. In this conflict we are
fighting...for values. For a new internationalism where the brutal
repression of whole ethnic groups will no longer be tolerated. For a world
where those responsible for such crimes have nowhere to hide."
He is referring of course to Kosovo and Serbia. Not to East Timor and
Indonesia. Lofty proclamation and believable if it had not come from the
leader of a government that having being elected on a platform of a "moral
and ethical foreign policy" has in fact granted more weapons export
licences to the Indonesian military than the previous conservative government.
On Kosovo, the NATO alliance demand Serbian complete troop withdrawal and
an international military presence. On East Timor, an extension of an
European power but inhabited by people of darker skin, illegally occupied,
the Tony Blair government refuses to demand Indonesian troop withdrawal.
On Kosovo, there are no UN Security Council resolutions supporting
self-determination for the Kosovars. The right of the people of East Timor
to self-determination has been recognized by the world community. The UN
Security Council and General Assembly have condemned the invasion of East
Timor and demanded Indonesia's withdrawal. The Europeans have accepted
Serbia's sovereignty over Kosovo. They have never recognised Indonesia's
annexation of East Timor. Serbia is bombed to stone age for its ethnic
cleansing of Kosovars. Indonesia receives mild rebukes for its 23 year
ethnic cleansing of East Timorese and is granted hundreds of millions of
dollars in weapons and billions in loans, development assistance, and grants.
In Australia, Foreign Minister Alexander Downer continues an old Australian
tradition of apologising for, and appeasing the Indonesian military and of
covering up Indonesian crimes lest the Australian public, incensed by the
truth, rocks the cozy relationship between the white elites of the two
countries. A report on the latest Indonesian army massacre of East Timorese
civilians in Liquica sits on Downer's desk. In November 1991, more than 200
and maybe as many as 500 innocent East Timorese were murdered in
cold-blood. The Australian government reaction was to do damage control for
its friends in Jakarta through cover-up, half-truth, distortion, lies.
Should we be surprised by this cynical attitude when they behave with equal
cowardice when their own people, Australian journalists, were murdered?
Most people would say, this is a country that has no principles and guts.
The Howard government was quick in offering to accept refugees from far
away Kosovo. Yet, hundreds of East Timorese asylum seekers have been for
years waiting to be granted a permanent residence so that they can resume a
normal life.
In the case of East Timor the NATO countries and others like Australia need
only to pursue a much simpler "military" option...cancel all military
deliveries, training, joint exercises and expel all Indonesian military
attaches. Advisory to peace loving friends around the world:
a. Picket Indonesian Embassies, identify the military attaches, check their
addresses. Picket their "private" addresses. Their "private" addresses are
usually espionage hideouts from where they harass East Timorese exiles and
spy on supporters. Politely but persuasively invite them to leave your
country.
b. Send messages to travel agents around the world advising them not to
take bookings for Bali. Boycott Garuda, Boycott Bali.
c. Urge the World Bank, IMF, European Commission, US Congress to freeze all
financial transfers to Jakarta.
We do not have NATO smart bombs that too often hit the wrong target. We do
not have sophisticated stealth planes. But we have the power of the world
citizenry; we are humanity's conscience. We owe it to the East Timorese who
have lost their lives, to our relatives and friends murdered in cold blood.
We owe it humanity so that despots are warned that justice will catch up
with them. So appeal to all to help in this fight for justice.
19 APRIL 1999
JOSE RAMOS-HORTA
1996 NOBEL PEACE PRIZE LAUREATE
*************Slutt************
Knut Rognes