Don't Ignore East Timor

THE NOVEMBER 12 massacre of 100 men, women and children in East Timor by the Indonesian army was unusual only because there were American witnesses to the crime. Since Indonesia's 1976 occupation of the island, 200,000 people, or roughly a third of East Timor's population, have been killed by the army or starved by the Indonesian occupiers.

Amy Goodman '79, a news editor for WBAI/Pacifica Radio, and Allan Nairn, a reporter for the New Yorker, who both spoke last night at the Kennedy School, witnessed the November 12 massacre and were nearly killed themselves by the Indonesian soldiers. The soldiers beat the reporters with the butts of their M-16s, fracturing Nairn's skull, The two journalists believe that it is only the fact that they are American that saved their lives.

Goodman and Nairn arrived in East Timor, which is off the North coast of Australia, to cover the visit of a United Nations/Portuguese team investigating the island's political future. Portugal ruled the island for 270 years until its withdrawal in 1975.

The investigation was cancelled by the Portuguese due to the tension it created in East Timor. The army threatened to kill anybody who would meet with the delegation. One senior officer told villagers in the Venilale region that if they spoke to the foreign delegates, everyone between the ages of 10 and 45 would be shot. They said that the army had already dug mass graves.

On November 12, 1992, thousands of Timorese gathered for a procession and demonstration in memory of Sebastiao Gomes, a young man who was killed for speaking out against the Indonesian government. They met at the church in Dili, East Timor, in which Gomes had sought refuge and where he was found by the Indonesian soldiers. His blood was still caked on the church steps.

The people in the procession proceded from the church to the Santa Cruz cemetery, carrying banners and shouting for the independence of East Timor. After the procession reached the Dili cemetary, the Timorese noticed that soldiers had closed off the street and were marching towards the demonstrators.

The soldiers, in formation, raised their M-16s and took aim at the procession. They opened fire directly into the dense crowd of men, women and children. The Indonesian government claims that only 19 people were killed. Eyewitnesses to the massacre (and Amnesty International) say that about 100 were killed and hundreds more were wounded.

GOODMAN AND Nairn's report has provoked an international outcry against the Indonesian government. The Netherlands, the former colonial rulers of Indonesia, suspended all aid--totalling some $100 million--pending the outcome of an Indonesian investigation into the massacre. Representative Ronald Machtley (R-R.I.) has sponsored a bill to cut off US military aid to Indonesia. A letter to President bush signed by 50 congressmen urged him to reconsider Indonesian sovereignty over East Timor. Current U.S. aid to Indonesia totals $50 million. But the support of the U.S. government for the Indonesian regime is far more valuable than that figure would indicate, as it enables Jakarta to secure $5 billion annually from American and European sources.

The U.S. State Department, however, is not in favor of any suspension of American aid because it, "contributes to the professionalism of the military and exposes it to democratic and humanitarian standards," according to a State Department spokesman.

Furthermore, the U.S. government accepted the official Indonesian account of the massacre, minimizing the political damage to Jakarta from the massacre.

The United States bears a particular responsibility to the people of East Timor because it sanctioned and encouraged their 16-year occupation by Indonesia. Our government even supported Indonesia's occupation of East Timor even before it happened. The invasion of East Timor occurred on December 7, 1975, the day after President Ford and Secretary of State Kissinger visited Jakarta and were informed of the planned invasion. Despite the fact that 90 percent of Indonesia's arms came from the U.S., they raised no objection to the plan.

The invasion, and the Ford administration's tacit approval, violated the terms of a 1958 U.S.-Indonesian accord which stated that U.S. arms could not be used for external agression. After the annexation of East Timor, Kissinger said that "we understand Indonesia's position."

When a junior officer in the State Department reported the violation, his superior ordered the report shredded, so that there would not be a record of the government's duplicity on the issue.

THE INTERNATIONAL awareness prompted by last November's massacre has not brought an end to the strife in East Timor. Clashes between groups at odds over Indonesia's presence persist. As of February 26 this year, Indonesia instituted a ban on any foreign journalists entering East Timor.

The Bush administration should not ignore the illegal occupation of East Timor just because it is not as rich as Kuwait. East Timor is as deserving of self-determination as the Arab sheikdom or the former republics of the former Soviet empire. Its oil resources, so coveted by the Indonesian and Australian governments, would guarantee it economic stability. There are dozens of nations of smaller size in the UN.

In this period in which dozens of peoples are finally seeing the end of military rule, it would be appropriate for our president to be on the side of those struggling for self-determination for East Timor, rather than extending the dreadful status quo.