Peter --------------------------------------------------------------------------- THE embattled people of East Timor need our help. For nearly 25 years they have suffered under the brutal military tyranny of Indonesia. As a direct result, more than 200 000 Timorese were slaughtered or died of starvation. Now thousands more are dying as the Indonesian army and the militias it supports refuse to accept the demand for independence from the overwhelming majority of the population.
This United Nations-backed poll resulted in 78% of the voters -- despite vicious intimidation and the fact that thousands of Timorese have been driven into exile over the years -- voting for independence. Armed militias had made it plain that anyone voting for independence would suffer the consequences. But the people believed in the international community -- in the United Nations which acted in the name of all of us.
It was not the first time the people of East Timor have been abandoned in this way to a bloody fate. It happened in 1975, when the collapsing Portuguese empire declared the right of independence to all its colonies. East Timor did not have long to celebrate. Within weeks the Indonesian army marched in. The United States, Britain and Australia, all of whom had supported the particularly bloody military coup which brought General Thojib Suharto to power in Indodesia in 1965 did nothing. And they ensured that the UN did nothing. It is estimated that between half a million and a million Indonesians died within a year as a result.
Indonesia's military are geared toward the maintenance of internal (and colonial) order. Yet Britain and the United States continued to supply the weapons used to repress and often exterminate opposition throughout this archipeligo of 6 000 inhabited islands. Apart from East Timor, there are independence movements on Irian Jaya, Aceh and in oil-rich East Kalimantan.
This is the political reason that the thieving thugs who control Indonesia do not want to allow independence for East Timor. The economic reason is also quite straightforward: oil. There are almost certainly large reserves of oil off the coast of East Timor. Should this former Portuguese 'overseas territory' become independent, the corrupt rulers of Indonesia would lose lucrative royalty payments.
In the 24 years since seizing control of East Timor from the retreating Portuguese, the Indonesian regime has not only slaughtered, tortured and imprisoned anyone daring to oppose Indonesian rule, it has also deported thousands of Timorese. At the same time, it shipped in thousands of 'reliable' Indonesians from other areas, giving them free land in East Timor. It is from among these settlers that the militias have been recruited where they have not simply been Indonesian soldiers dressed in civilian clothes.
The UN, dominated by countries such as the US which also has the blood of the Timorese on its hands, has proved impotent. It is time for democrats, socialists and workers everywhere to rally to the support of the Timorese people. As a first step, we should demand that all trade and diplomatic ties with the butchers of Indonesia be broken. Isolate the mass murderers.