From: rich@pencil.cs.missouri.edu (Rich Winkel)
Subject: Suharto visit protested in New York City
Followup-To: alt.activism.d
Originator: rich@pencil.cs.missouri.edu
Organization: PACH
Date: Tue, 29 Sep 1992 00:32:37 GMT

/** reg.easttimor: 356.0 **/
** Topic: Suharto Picketed in New York **
** Written  6:26 pm  Sep 27, 1992 by cscheiner in cdp:reg.easttimor **
Suharto visit protested in New York City

On Friday, September 25, Indonesian President/General Suharto was hosted at 
New York's Waldorf Astoria hotel by the American business community. Several 
hundred corporate leaders attended a gala dinner in his honor organized by 
the American-Indonesian Chamber of Commerce, the Asia Society, and the 
US-Asian Council.

In spite of the cold rain, about thirty supporters of East Timor stood in 
front of the luxury hotel for four hours, holding signs and chanting "Free 
East Timor" and other appropriate slogans. We also distributed flyers (text 
below) to people attending the event and to passers-by. Many were surprised 
to learn that a man responsible for hundreds of thousands of deaths was 
being feted within feet of where they were standing. Some picketers wore 
Balinese wooden masks, while others carried signs with slightly-modified 
copies of the full-page ads Indonesia's corporate supporters had run in the 
New York Times the day before.

Access to the dinner was tightly controlled, with only invited media and 
guests being allowed. However, all inside knew of our presence, as we stood 
just outside the entrance next to their event. Two dozen nervous Indonesian 
security men patrolled the entrance and the mezzanine of the hotel, 
springing to tense readiness every time someone went in the door. 
Nevertheless, there was some dialogue between those inside and out.

The demonstration was covered by Portuguese and alternative U.S. media. It 
was organized on short notice by the East Timor Action Network/United 
States. The following is the text of the leaflet distributed at the 
demonstration:

==================================

PRESIDENT SUHARTO: GET YOUR TROOPS OUT OF EAST TIMOR

Indonesian President General Suharto is speaking tonight at a dinner 
sponsored by the American business community. He wants a close relationship 
with American corporations, but is also concerned about his public image: 
oil and mining companies paid $180,000 to support his government with 
full-page ads on the back of all four sections of yesterday's New York Times.

At the United Nations yesterday, General Suharto called for an international 
order "free from war and poverty, intolerance and injustice," and he spoke 
against "aggression and foreign occupation" and "policies of hegemony and 
domination."

We hope he can hear his own words.

When Suharto took over Indonesia 27 years ago, the U.S. CIA helped his 
military kill up to a million dissidents. In 1975, Indonesian troops invaded 
the tiny neighboring half-island of East Timor, and have killed 200,000 
people, one-third of the population. Last November 12, they murdered over 
140 people in a peaceful demonstration in Dili - and then arrested the 
demonstrators, sentencing them to as much as life in prison. Since that 
massacre, military and civilian rulers over East Timor have been replaced by 
men taking an even harder line, and repression has increased markedly.

The United States is Indonesia's principal source of weapons and diplomatic 
cover. But Congress is now making military training conditional on human 
rights improvements. The American people must press our government, and 
General Suharto, to end the occupation. American corporations should not 
support a government which invades and oppresses a small neighboring country.

Tomorrow, negotiations begin between the Indonesian and Portuguese foreign 
ministers here in New York. We fervently hope they lead to a peaceful 
settlement. The talks must include East Timorese representatives, for only 
they can decide their own political future.

The East Timorese cannot demonstrate against the policies of General 
Suharto: they would be shot. It is up to us. Tell the U.S. and Indonesian 
governments that the killing must stop. Call your Congressperson, Senators, 
and the White House to demand an end to U.S. aid and arms sales to Indonesia.

East Timor Action Network/US
PO Box 1182, White Plains, NY 10602  (914)428-7299   fax (914)428-7383

** End of text from cdp:reg.easttimor **

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