From: ST101019@brownvm.brown.edu
Newsgroups: soc.culture.asean
Subject: Timor
Date: 17 Apr 1992 04:50:23 GMT
Organization: Brown University
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Especially interesting in this article are the remarks by Theo Syafei.
A teaser : Anyone who ignores the Indonesian army will be shot down.
Also note Aussie hypocrisy.
========================================================================
Date:    Tue, 14 Apr 1992 18:59:27 EDT
From: "Bruno"
Subject: Letter to _the Australian_ re: East Timor

The following is a letter written in response to an editorial
in the Australian which came down very favorably on Indonesia's
response to the latest massacre.  The paper, which has been supportive
of Indonesia's position in the past, cut this to a few paragraphs.
With some modification, it could be used in response to many such
apologetic commentaries.  Please feel free to use it or material from
it.

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

We are appalled at _the Australian's_ shameless apology for the
Suharto regime's response to the Dili massacre in the editorial
published (2/3/92).

The suggestion that the Indonesian government's decision to put a
few soldiers on trial has little to do with international
pressure is clearly wrong.  No "groundswell of outrage" occurred
within the Indonesian government.  Nor is it true that the
National Commission of Inquiry's report was anything other than a
whitewash.

Indonesia has been far more concerned with arresting East
Timorese protesters than it has been with taking any action
against the soldiers involved in the massacre.  Dozens of East
Timorese in Dili and Jakarta were rounded up after the massacre.
Of those still detained, 8 even now stand charges of subversion,
which carries the death penalty.  Conducting the massacre was bad
enough, killing people for surviving it is much worse.  We can be
sure that the eight soldiers charged will face a far lighter
penalty.

Although such actors as the U.S. State Department have been
urging Indonesia to take action against those involved in order
to neutralize international criticism, Indonesia succeeded in
resisting such pressure for four long months.  Only last week did
the Suharto regime relent and announce the decision to try the
soldiers.  It is unsurprising that Indonesia's Foreign Minister
Ali Alatas, whose job is to smooth out foreign relations in
delicate situations, should appear to express concern.
Nevertheless, his tepid expressions of regret hardly constitute a
"groundswell of outrage."

Far more characteristic was the speech of the Commander in Chief
of the Armed Forces, Try Sutrisno, who bluntly stated that anyone
who dares to "ignore the Indonesian army" will have "to be shot
shot down, and we will shoot them."  Army commanders continue to
express such sentiments.  According to _TEMPO_, Brigadier-General
Theo Syafei, who in a much lauded move replaced General Warouw,
stated in late February that "if anyone mentions anti-integration,
that's where I draw the line, and I will hunt them down."

_The Australian's_ enthusiastic approval of Indonesia's own
National Investigation Commission's report is crippled by its
lack of accuracy on two salient points.  Firstly, far from
deviating from initial army death tolls, it merely reaffirmed
them.  On November 14th, General Try Sutrisno made the front page
of the _International Herald Tribune_ with his estimate that
about 50 people were killed in the incident.  Only later did the
army revise the death toll downward to 19.  The report, then,
contained the illusion of contradiction the army line, while in
reality supporting it.

Secondly, the weak criticisms of the soldier's actions in the
report were overshadowed by the blame it placed on the mourners
themselves.  The marchers, the report said, had behaved in a
"wild and unruly" manner, and had "ridiculed the security
apparatus."  If blaming the victims was not enough, the report
sought to justify the massacre by insisting that a private had
been wounded in a stabbing.  Seven foreign witnesses agreed that
"no physical provocation whatsoever" occurred.  Despite pretenses
to objectivity, the report, which Amnesty International has
called "fatally flawed," is truly nothing more than one more
attempt to defuse mounting international pressure.

_The Australian_ is correct in saying that for all who value
"stability" in Southeast Asia the Indonesian response must indeed
be "heartening."  Indeed, the more successful Indonesia is in its
efforts to lobby sympathetic foreign governments to ignore its
continuing blatant violations of human rights, the more the
regional status quo will be upheld.  Yet for those who value
"human rights" and "democracy," Indonesia's response can only be
seen as the very worst of insults.

signed,  Ian Whitchurch (Australia) and Lorne Rider (America).

East Timor Peace Mission, Darwin, Australia

2/5/92