From: cscheiner@igc.apc.org (Charles Scheiner)
Newsgroups: soc.culture.portuguese
Subject: Emergency Action on East Timor
Date: 10 Sep 92 08:27:00 GMT
Nf-ID: #N:cdp:1591800225:000:6177
Nf-From: cdp.UUCP!cscheiner    Sep 10 01:27:00 1992


From: Charles Scheiner <cscheiner>
Subject: Emergency Action on East Timor

East Timor Action Network / U.S.

PO Box 1182, White Plains, NY 10602   
(914)428-7299   fax:(914)428-7383
cscheiner@igc.apc.org

September 9, 1992

***** EMERGENCY IMMEDIATE ACTION ALERT *****

Senate to decide on military aid to Indonesia next week

The Indonesian government, corporate lobbyists, and the Bush 
administration are lobbying Congress heavily to get $2.3 million in IMET 
military training restored to the Foreign Aid appropriations bill. 
Although this money was unanimously deleted by the House of Represen- 
tatives in protest of Indonesia's massacres in East Timor, there is a 
danger that the Senate may restore it.  Letters and calls are needed 
immediately to:

Senator Patrick J. Leahy (Democrat, Vermont)
SR-433 Russell Senate Office Building, Washington, DC  20510
202-224-7209

Leahy is chairman of the Foreign Operations Subcommittee of the Senate 
Appropriations Committee. Although he was previously committed to 
canceling IMET, recent information indicates that he might be hedging, 
agreeing to give Indonesia the money if they meet certain weak 
conditions. He should be urged to stand firm.

Senator Robert Byrd (Democrat, West Virginia)
SH-311 Hart Senate Office Building, Washington, DC  20510
202-224-7200

Byrd chairs the full Appropriations Committee. He is likely to act as an 
advocate for Indonesia unless he hears from a lot of people. As a 
Committee chairman, he has a national constituency, so contact him even 
if you're not from West Virginia.

Senator Tom Harkin (Democrat, Iowa)
SH-531 Hart Senate Office Building, Washington, DC  20510
202-225-3254

Harkin has a good record on human rights in general and East Timor in 
particular. He needs support in his advocacy so that he can say that 
there is a national consistency in support of cutting aid to Indonesia.

The following is a letter sent to Senator Leahy by the East Timor Action 
Network. It mentions most of the key points.

Please communicate anything you learn to the East Timor Action Network. 
Thank you. This is the most crucial test and the most important 
opportunity we have had so far.

Charles Scheiner, Coordinator, ETAN



Dear Senator Leahy:

As you know, your Appropriations Subcommittee on Foreign Operations will 
be considering H.R.5368, the Foreign Aid Appropriations Bill, in the next 
week or so. Among the issues you will decide is whether to sustain the 
House's deletion of International Military Education and Training (IMET) 
funds for Indonesia.

The East Timor Action Network was formed at the beginning of 1992 by 
Americans outraged over the Santa Cruz massacre last November 12, when 
Indonesian soldiers methodically fired into an unarmed memorial 
procession and killed over 150 people. We have around 400 active members 
in more than 30 states, including Vermont. As they contact their Senators 
and Representatives, our members have been encouraged by the responses 
from both Democrats and Republicans. Senator Specter, for example, has 
written his constituents that he will oppose IMET funding. Both at the 
grassroots and in Washington, people are ready to take action to end the 
long nightmare of the people of East Timor.

We were encouraged to hear from several of our Vermont members that you 
have committed yourself to prohibiting IMET funding. However, in a letter 
you wrote to Robin Lloyd of the Burlington Peace Coalition on August 12, 
you talk about making such aid conditional on the administration's 
certification that Indonesia has met the requirements you placed in the 
Congressional Record on April 1, 1992. We are upset by this apparent 
weakening of your commitment, and urge you to reject such a compromise.

Your April 1 statement requested a report by August 1 that Indonesia had 
met various human rights documentation and access requirements. But the 
issue is not to document human rights violations, but to end them. 
Furthermore, Indonesia's actions since the Santa Cruz massacre, and 
especially during the Non-Aligned Conference last week, make it clear 
that President Suharto has no intention of listening to the protests of 
the international community.

The IMET funding provides an opportunity to save American taxpayers' 
money and act for human rights at the same time. Through its conduct over 
the years, and especially during and after the Santa Cruz massacre, the 
Suharto regime has forfeited any right to military aid from the United 
States. Our government has provided weapons and training for this 
military government since took power in 1965 -- the means for killing 
over a million people, including 200,000 (one-third of the population) in 
East Timor.

Since Indonesia invaded East Timor in 1975, Jakarta has sent more than 
2,600 military officers to the United States for training under IMET. 
American citizens and taxpayers we have been unwitting partners in 
genocide. It is past time for this to stop.

We urge you to prohibit the use of foreign aid money to train Indonesian
soldiers. It is too late for conditions and certifications.

By cutting IMET, the United States government can help bring the benefits 
of the New World Order to the people of East Timor. We urge you to do 
this, and to go future to restrict arms sales and other benefits to the 
Indonesian regime, as outlined by H.R.5176, a "Bill to Promote 
Self-Determination for East Timor." That bill restricts aid, trade, and 
weapons sales until Indonesia complies with U.N. resolutions calling for 
withdrawal from East Timor and a U.N.-supervised plebiscite to allow the 
people there to determine their own political future. Although I realize 
that this broader signal is outside the scope of your Subcommittee, it 
can be included in the committee report and in the discussion on the 
Senate floor. You, or other Senators, could offer such an amendment.

Thank you very much for your consideration, and I would appreciate 
hearing your position on this question. Please feel free to contact the 
East Timor Action Network if we can be of any service.

Sincerely,


Charles Scheiner, coordinator
East Timor Action Network
Newsgroups: soc.culture.portuguese