rob wrote:
> One gut feeling I've recently acquired (as
> opposed to my contempt for Australian policy makers, which goes back
> somewhat further) is that Falintil were deliberately quiet throughout.
> They might not be the military equal of Kopassus, but their apparently
> absolute abstention from aggro might indicate either orders/promises from
> outside or (shudder) the (strategically tenable) view that the rest of
> the world wasn't going to help at all unless murder unto the meek was
> being seen to be done by western TV viewers.
it's more than a gut feeling. it has much to do with the political changes within the independance movement over the last decade or so, especially the last couple of years.
here's an excerpt from a Wildcat article written in May, 1999.
"Indonesia/ East Timor: the next 'hot-spot' " the rest at: http://www.rhein-neckar.de/~wildcat/easttim.html
"On May 5, Indonesia signed an agreement with Portugal and the UN over the statute of autonomy and the preparation for and conduct of a ballot of the East Timorese by the UN (in effect, a referendum to be held on August 7th or 8th) on the future of East Timor: autonomy in Indonesia or independence. Whereas parts of the population in East Timor remain terrorized, the leaders of the "liberation"organisations have mutated to statesmen, following the enormous boost to their standing through the negotiations. Xanana Gusmao, head of Falintil (the armed section of the Fretilin) and president of the CNRT (Conselho National de Resistancia Timorese), still in jail in Jakarta, has prohibited the students in Dili from organising demonstrations against the terror of the militias: "We thus must all contribute to this process [the preparation of the poll] following the orientations of the UN team. To this end, I reiterate my appeal to all to remain calm. I reiterate my appeal to the youths of Dili to obey orders and demand that they act responsibly and with discipline."(5)
Instead of placing the future of East Timor in the hands of the "youth of Dili" he and other 'leaders' hope for a future as statesmen with a state of their own, and demands the dispatching of an armed peace-keepers to East Timor. They don't even baulk at openly demanding an invasion by NATO. Jose Ramos Horta, in an interview with The Gazette, a provincial newspaper in Iowa, said: "The NATO intervention would be the first one in 50 years that can be argued is on purely humanitarian grounds". The article continues: "Ramos-Horta said he wished the United States or other NATO members would give his home nation of some 800,000 people the same kind of help they are giving Kosovo."(6) The Prime Minister of Portugal, Antonio Guiterres, responded: The participation of Portugal in the NATO actions in Bosnia and Yugoslavia give the country the "ethical authority" to demand the intervention of the UN into East Timor.(7) "
Angela _________