From: Indonesia Publications/Task Force <apakabar@igc.org>
Newsgroups: soc.culture.portuguese
Date: 19 Jul 92 10:21 PDT
Subject: East Timor Newsbriefs July 19
Nf-ID: #N:cdp:1591800206:000:31275
Nf-From: cdp.UUCP!apakabar    Jul 19 10:21:00 1992


From: Indonesia Publications/Task Force <apakabar>
Subject: East Timor Newsbriefs July 19



Forwarded by Asia Watch:

July 15, 1992

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE

      ASIA WATCH CAUTIONS DONORS ON HUMAN RIGHTS

Asia Watch today warned that failure of the donor community to seriously 
address human rights concerns in Indonesia at this week's conference of 
the Consultative Group on Indonesia (CGI) will have adverse consequences 
for Indonesia's development in three ways:

-- Continuing human rights violations in East Timor, Aceh and Irian Jaya 
will only serve to strengthen nationalist sentiment and support for 
independence in these regions, creating conditions detrimental to development.

-- Continuing restrictions on freedom of expression will prevent correctives 
or alterations to bad development policies and programs.

-- Continuing harassment of non-governmental organizations (NGOs) will weaken
popular participation in the development process, a stated objective of 
bilateral and multilateral donors.

The New York-based human rights organization said that the thousands of East
Timorese who turned out for the demonstration on November 12, 1991 showed
that human rights abuses in East Timor had alienated a whole generation of 
East Timorese who have grown up under Indonesian rule. The failure to resolve 
the unanswered questions about the dead and missing following the Dili 
massacre and the savage sentences handed down to those accused of planning 
the November 12 demonstration have intensified nationalist feelings, as shown 
by the willingness of East Timorese students throughout Indonesia to risk 
arrest a week after the massacre by protesting the killings. 

Surveillance of East Timorese has increased since the massacre, not only in 
East Timor but in Indonesia proper as well.  Beginning this week, every East 
Timorese studying in Bali was called to local military headquarters for 
questioning about his or her political views (orally and in writing), 
further fuelling resentment. 

Policies and practices aimed at restricting fundamental rights of the East 
Timorese have not only overshadowed Indonesia's development program in East 
Timor but have virtually ensured the lack of local cooperation.

In Aceh, the counterinsurgency campaign against members of the armed
separatist organization, Aceh Merdeka, left over a thousand dead and 
disappeared, most of them civilians, between 1989-91, and a policy of 
summarily executing suspected leaders of the guerrilla organization remains 
in place. The army has refused to cooperate with relatives seeking 
information about family members last seen over a year ago in
military custody, and no officer or soldier has been prosecuted for 
human rights offenses.

Freedom of expression, assembly, association and movement in Aceh and 
East Timor remain at least as restricted as in Burma or Vietnam. In June, 
a report on trials of Aceh Merdeka suspects by the respected human rights 
organization, the Indonesian Legal Aid Foundation, was banned by the 
Attorney General.

Restrictions on freedom of expression more generally prevent criticism of 
and correctives to harmful or poorly-conceived policies and programs. In 
Sumatra, an organization helping villagers to protest against pollution 
by a pulp and rayon plant was briefly banned in late 1991, and its
members continue to face harassment. Widespread corruption by the President's 
family is off-limits to serious criticism by the local press. 
  
Donor countries as well as multilateral lending institutions such as the 
World Bank have repeatedly expressed their belief in the importance of 
NGOs, yet Indonesian NGOs are under attack from the government as never 
before.  Last March, members of environmental and labor NGOs in North Sumatra 
were summoned for lengthy questioning and interrogation about the activities 
and funding of their organizations after helping organize workers to campaign 
for better working conditions.  Of greater concern, the Minister of the 
Interior in April banned NGOs from accepting aid from Dutch funding 
organizations which themselves receive aid from the Dutch
government.  That ban, a result of Indonesia's anger over Dutch efforts to 
condition aid on respect for human rights, threatens the autonomy and 
fiscal base of many important Indonesian NGOs.

Members of the Consultative Group on Indonesia now meeting in Paris have 
an obligation to raise human rights issues, given the circumstances of 
CGI's birth: Indonesia's unilateral dissolution of its Dutch-chaired 
predecessor, the Inter-Governmental Group on Indonesia (IGGI),
on the grounds that the Netherlands had been too critical of human rights 
violations in East Timor.

But there should be a recognition, above and beyond CGI's origins, that 
respect for human rights is integral to the development process. While 
individual donors readily acknowledge the linkage privately, it is crucial 
for Indonesia to get the message publicly.

For More Information
Sidney Jones (212) 972-8400

     Asia Watch was founded in 1985 to monitor and promote internationally 
recognized human rights in Asia.  The Chair is Jack Greenberg and the Vice 
Chairs are Harriet Rabb and Orville Schell. The Executive Director is Sidney 
Jones and the Washington Director is Mike Jendrzejczyk. 

     Asia Watch is part of Human Rights Watch, which also includes Africa 
Watch, Americas Watch, Helsinki Watch, Middle East Watch and the Fund for 
Free Expression.  The Chair of Human Rights Watch is Robert L. Bernstein 
and the Vice Chair is Adrian DeWind. Aryeh Neier is Executive Director and 
Kenneth Roth is Deputy Director. Holly Burkhalter is Washington Director.



   DPA, Lisbon, July 17 - Portugal said Friday it is going to block a
proposed cooperation agreement between the European Community and ASEAN
(Association of South East Asian Nations) on account of its conflict
with Indonesia over East Timor.
   The five-year agreement was due to be signed Monday at a session of
E.C. foreign ministers.
   A foreign ministry spokesman said Portugal was willing to make
separate agreements with individual ASEAN members but not with Indonesia
which took posession of East Timor, a former Portuguese colony, in 1975.
   The annexation was never internationally recognized and Portugal has
accused Indonesia of carrying out several massacres among the
population.
   "Portugal is not going to sign an agreement with a country which does
not respect human rights," said spokesman Fernando Balsinha.


    Reuter, Jakarta, July 18 - Dutch foreign minister Hans Van den Broek
said on Saturday that the European Community would not be dragged into a
dispute between Portugal and Indonesia over East Timor.
    EC member Portugal, whose colonial rule of East Timor preceded an
invasion by Indonesia in 1975, has waged a long diplomatic battle over
Jakarta's annexation of the impoverished territory.
    "The European Community takes the stand that this is...a dispute
between Indonesia and Portugal and would in no way like to undermine the
efforts that are being (made) by the Secretary-General of the United
Nations together with the parties to find a solution," Van den Broek
told reporters after meeting Indonesia's President Suharto.
    Earlier this week, Portuguese Foreign Minister Joao de Deus Pinheiro
said Lisbon would block an EC pact with the Association of South East
Asian Nations (ASEAN), due to be signed in October, unless Indonesia
improved its human rights record.
    "I have pledged to our Indonesian partners that we will do our
utmost to see to it that the negotiations between ASEAN and the EC about
a new trade and cooperation agreement will be finalised by that time,"
Van den Broek said.
    He urged the international community to take a balanced view of the
situation in East Timor, where a dwindling guerrilla army is still
battling Jakarta rule, and for Indonesia to understand the world's
concern over human rights.
    It was his own country's outcry over the East Timor killings that
prompted Indonesia last March to refuse any more aid from its former
colonial rulers.
    He said his government regretted the decision but that his official
three-day visit had provided a "new impulse" to bilateral relations.



    Reuter, Paris, Alan Raybould, July 17 - Indonesia has been promised 
all the aid it needs for 1992/93 and is not looking for help from the 
Netherlands, the former colonial power that was a major donor, Indonesian 
Economics Minister Radius Prawiro said on Friday.
    The Netherlands coordinated aid for Indonesia for 24 years from 1968
but threatened to cut off assistance after a massacre of civilians by
troops last November in East Timor, a former Portuguese territory
annexed by Indonesia.
    In retaliation, Indonesia said in March that it did not want any
more aid from the Dutch.
    The Netherlands was absent from the two-day aid meeting that the
World Bank agreed to chair here on Thursday and Friday.
    The Bank said in a statement that the countries and multilateral
agencies present promised Indonesia aid worth $4.94 billion for the
1992-93 fiscal year that began on April 1.
    Asked at a news conference whether he expected any aid from the
Dutch in 1992/93, Radius said: "We are not expecting any aid this year
because we have been able to get our support from this meeting, fully.
In fact, even slightly more than we expected."
    But he stressed that relations with the Netherlands "are becoming
very good, even better than before."
    Trade was normal and Dutch investment in Indonesia was continuing,
he said.
    The World Bank had estimated prior to the meeting that Indonesia
would require some $4.8 billion in external assistance in 1992/93.
    A Japanese embassy official in Jakarta said on Friday Japan pledged
$1.32 billion at the meeting, with another $500 million to come from
Japan's Export and Import bank.
    Radius said Japan's contribution was much the same as last year and
that new donor countries compensated at this meeting for the funds that
would now be lacking from the Netherlands.
    There was no mention of human rights in the statement issued by the
World Bank, and Gautam Kaji, the Bank's Vice President with
responsibility for East Asia, told the news conference the meeting had
been about economics, not politics.
    He said that donors were unanimous in their praise of Indonesia's
macroeconomic programme and that the country had made great strides in
reducing poverty.
    "(This) makes Indonesia stand out in comparison to a number of
developing countries," Kaji said.
    But he pointed out that its per capita income was only $570, and,
while it was on its way to becoming a middle-income country, it would
still need external aid for some years to come. "However well it has
done, it still has a long way to go."


   AFP, Jakarta, July 18 - Visiting Dutch Foreign Minister Hans van den
Broek called Saturday for open-mindedness in finding solutions to the problems
facing the former Portuguese colony of East Timor.
   Van den Broek told journalists after meeting with Indonesian President
Suharto that there had been contacts between Indonesia and the European
Community (E.C.) over developments in East Timor.
   However, he said that it was more important that "there is an
open-mindedness on both sides" with Jakarta understanding "the genuine
concerns" existing abroad for the unresolved situation in East Timor.
   Van den Broek was the second Dutch minister, after Trade Secretary Yvonne
van Rooy, to visit since the Indonesian government in March called for the
cessation of Dutch development aid to Indonesia.
   Van den Broek also said the E.C. should take a balanced view on the
situation in East Timor and that Indonesia and Portugal should continue
dialogue towards reaching a solution.



Forwarded from GreenNet reg.easttimor conference:
Topic 351AI publication on ET
gn:amnestyisreg.easttimor 4:14 pm  Jul 17, 1992

Amnesty International report on East Timor

INDONESIA/EAST TIMOR
The Suppression of Dissent

JULY 1992             SUMMARY           AI INDEX: ASA 21/09/92

In November 1991, an estimated 100 people taking part in a funeral
procession were shot by Indonesian troops at the Santa Cruz cemetery near
Dili in East Timor. In response to strong international protest the
Indonesian government insisted that the massacre was a regrettable but
isolated incident, which did not "in any way reflect the policy of the
Government of Indonesia". However, for more than 20 years Amnesty
International has documented gross and systematic human rights violations
not only in East Timor but throughout Indonesia. The evidence suggests that
a clear and persistent pattern of human rights violations has been
practised by the Indonesian authorities as a means for suppressing
political dissent.

     In regions where the government is combating armed opposition groups,
the merest suspicion of sympathy with the opposition cause is sufficient to
define individuals or their relatives as targets for "disappearance" or
extra-judicial execution by the military. In Aceh and North Sumatra an
estimated 2,000 civilians are believed to have been illegally killed since
1989. In East Timor, countless real or suspected political activists had
been killed or "disappeared" before the Santa Cruz massacre. Hundreds of
people have been arrested since 1989 in Aceh, North Sumatra, Irian Jaya and
East Timor on suspicion of pro-independence activity. Many have been
detained without trial for months on end. Severe forms of torture are
routinely inflicted on political prisoners, sometimes resulting in death.

     Peaceful protest, including demonstration against human rights
violations, has been treated as "subversive activity" by the authorities.
Those who voice even the mildest criticism of government policy have been
dubbed opponents of the state. More than 150 alleged government opponents
are prisoners of conscience or possible prisoners of conscience, held
throughout Indonesia and East Timor. The majority are serving lengthy
sentences after conviction in unfair trials. Hundreds of other political
prisoners have also been sentenced to years of imprisonment in unfair
trials. At least 29 political prisoners have been judicially executed since
1985, most of them elderly men who had served more than twenty years in
jail for suspected membership of the Communist Party of Indonesia (PKI).

      The Indonesian Government has repeatedly stated that military and
police officials are punished when found guilty of human rights violations,
but Amnesty International knows of only a handful of such cases. Prior to
the Santa Cruz massacre all those known to have been tried were police
officers accused of ill-treating criminal suspects and they had generally
received light sentences. After the massacre the government announced a
series of unprecedented investigative and disciplinary measures. By June
1992 a number of officers had been dismissed or transferred from their
posts and ten military men had been convicted in military courts for their
actions during the massacre. However, the soldiers were tried before a
military tribunal and the charges against them were primarily disciplinary,
rather than criminal. None of those tried was charged with murder, only one
was charged with ill-treatment and all were sentenced to short terms of
imprisonment.

     The government has persistently obstructed the monitoring of human
rights in Indonesia and East Timor. National human rights organizations
have been subject to intimidation. Individual human rights advocates have
been arrested and tortured. Human rights protesters have been charged with
subversion and sentenced to long terms of imprisonment after unfair trials.
Access to the country by international organizations wishing to investigate
human rights violations continues to be severely restricted or denied
outright. Since the Santa Cruz massacre East Timor has been effectively
closed to human rights investigators despite a February 1992 appeal by the
United Nations Commission on Human Rights. The appeal called upon the
Indonesian Government "to facilitate access to East Timor for additional
humanitarian organizations and for human rights organizations" Despite many
requests, Amnesty International has not been permitted to visit Indonesia
or East Timor for more than 17 years.

     The Indonesian Government has persistently failed to respond
substantively to detailed reports of human rights violations. It has
instead preferred to issue generalized statements about national
sovereignty and to question the universality of international human rights
principles. For example, In February 1992 President Suharto rejected
attempts by some governments to link economic aid to human rights issues.
He stated that attempts to impose human rights "based on foreign values"
would not flourish and would constitute a "violation of the human rights of
that nation's people and the sovereignty rights of that nation".

     Amnesty International believes that the right to life is fundamental
and universal. Likewise, the rights to freedom from arbitrary detention,
torture or "disappearance" by state forces transcend national boundaries
and apply equally to all human beings. State abrogation from responsibility
to uphold these rights cannot be justified under any circumstances. Amnesty
International appeals to the Indonesian Government to take decisive action
to prevent human rights violations and to implement the preventive and
other measures set forth at the end of this report. It believes that, if
implemented, these measures would serve to protect basic human rights in
Indonesia and East Timor.

This report summarizes a 27-page document (8,741 words), Indonesia/East
Timor: The Suppression of Dissent (AI Index: ASA 21/09/92), issued by
Amnesty International in July 1992.  Anyone wanting further details or to
take action on this issue should consult the full document.

INTERNATIONAL SECRETARIAT, 1 EASTON STREET, LONDON WC1X 8DJ,
UNITED KINGDOM
+44-71-413-5500
E-mail: amnestyis@gn.apc.org


Forwarded from GreenNet reg.easttimor conference:
Topic 357Ozorio Soares to become governor?
gn:tapolreg.easttimor12:11 pm  Jul 18, 1992
Ozorio Soares to be governor?

Portuguese Radio reported Thursday 16 July 1992 that Abilio
Ozorio Soares, currently bupati of Manatuto, has been
appointed to become the next governor of East Timor.

Soares is known as a leader of Apodeti, the pro-integration
party. Reports of his appointment have not been seen elsewhere
which makes us wonder whether Portuguese Radio may have
wrongly interpreted a decision by the East Timor Provincial
Assembly (DPRD) as being the final decision. Even though the
DPRD may have voted for him, the decision rests with Interior
Minister Rudini and Suharto.

A fierce battle has raged between the military and senior East
Timorese officials over the governorship. The military want
deputy governor Saridjo, an army man, to take the post while
the others have demanded a 'native son'. Golkar in East Timor
has come out in support of three Timorese candidates, with
Soares the front-runner. This makes it likely that a vote in
the DPRD would reflect that view.

If the Soares story proves correct, this may well be seen as
a further swipe from Suharto at the army.

TAPOL



Forwarded from GreenNet reg.easttimor conference:
Topic 350INDONESIA MAY FACE JURISTS FOR EAST TIMOR MASSACRE
peg:esintonreg.easttimor 5:56 pm  Jul 19, 1992

AUCKLAND: 19 July 1992 by David Robie in the Sunday Star

Human rights advocates are planning a "people's tribunal" of
international jurists to put Indonesia on trial over violations in East
Timor.

The hearing is expected to be convened in Bangkok in September
to coincide with the Non-aligned Movement summit in Jakarta.

Concern over the ambivalent Indonesian response to last
November's massacre of un-armed mourners in an East Timorese
cemetery, when a young New Zealander died, the advocates hope
to increase international pressure on the Suharto regime.

A Timorese campaigner visiting Auckland last week revealed the
plan and also appealed for an international investigation into the
Santa Cruz massacre.

"After Kuwait, Timor is now the big test for international human
rights," says Agio Pereira, project officer of the Sydney-based East
Timor Relief Association. "The people's tribunal could be a
catalyst for justice and self-determination."

Pereira says a peace plan advocated by a former United Nations
envoy, Jose Ramos-Horta, and other Timorese resistance leaders
was the best hope for his country's future. Both the New Zealand
and Australian governments have reacted coolly to the proposal.

Supporters of East Timor self-determination are pressing for the
release of a confidential report submitted to the UN Secretary-
General Boutros Boutros-Ghali, by his personal envoy Amos
Wako.

The envoy visited East Timor in February and is understood to
have written a "blistering critique" of the Indonesian Government.

During recent months Indonesian judges have imposed harsh
sentences on five Timorese protesters who were fired on, while
handing out relatively mild punishments to Indonesian soldiers
accused over the shootings.

Last week, a 29-year old student leader, Gregorio da Cunha
Saldanha, was jailed for life for having organised the protest which
lead to the massacre.

Military tribunals have sentenced nine soldiers and one policeman
to jail terms ranging from eight to 20 months for "violating military
regulations" during the demonstration.

Although an official Indonesian report put the death toll at 50 -
including New Zealand student Kamal Bamadhaj - independent
sources, human rights agencies and eyewitness journalists have
estimated at least 150 died.

"We believe the actual figure is 198 killed, based on hospital
records, mothers' testimony and the number of disappearances,"
claims Pereira. "Seven victims were actually buried under an
asphalt road.

"New Zealand should ask questions about the dead and missing."

The New York-based international rights group Asia Watch has
condemned the light punishments imposed on soldiers, saying the
courts martial were "stage managed" to appease international
criticism.

The trials revealed a "sloppy, ill-prepared, ill-informed, poorly
disciplined and poorly led army," says the Asia Watch report,
adding that they did nothing to "pierce the secrecy surrounding
how the shooting started or what happened to the bodies of those
killed."

[Posted for David Robie by Eve Sinton peg:esinton]



Forwarded from GreenNet reg.easttimor conference:
Topic 351Canadian views on CGI
cscheinerreg.easttimor12:51 pm  Jul 18, 1992

CANADIAN PARLIAMENTARIANS FOR EAST TIMOR URGE GOVERNMENT TO
PRESS FOR SUSPENSION OF AID AT CONSULTATIVE GROUP ON INDONESIA

House of Commons / Chambre des Communes, Ottawa, Canada

For Immediate Release: July 15, 1992

Parliamentarians for East Timor (P.E.T.) is an all party group seeking to
end the brutal military occupation of East Timor.

To that end we are requesting that Canada press for suspension of aid at
the Consultative Group on Indonesia (CGI) hearings in Paris to be held on
July 16 and 17, 1992.

The CGI, formerly known as the Inter-Governmental Group on Indonesia
(IGGI), last year granted Indonesia $4.75 billion U.S. in aid,
accounting for 20% of the country's annual budget. Last year, Canada
donated $46 million Canadian and is expected to give a similar amount
again this year. P.E.T. feels that Canada should encourage donor
countries (see list) to link bi-lateral aid to Indonesia on the condition
that human rights and U.N. resolutions with regard to East Timor are
respected.

The Suharto government has made it clear that it rejects any linkage
between human rights and aid. This spring Indonesia suspended all Dutch
aid because of Holland's policy of conditionality. The World Bank has
replaced Holland as chair of the CGI. Other Paris clubs chaired by the
World Bank have halted aid as a result of human rights abuses to such
countries as Kenya, Malawi and Togo.

The human rights situation in East Timor has deteriorated considerably.
Since the November 12th massacre of over 140 Timorese at the Santa Cruz
cemetery in Dili, foreign press, human rights observers and tourists
have been banned access, to the territory. The new military commander of
East Timor, General Sjafei said "...if something similar to the 12
November event were to happen under my leadership, the number of victims
would probably be higher."  Several Timorese have been sentenced to long
prison terms of up to fifteen years for participating in peaceful
demonstrations in Jakarta and Dili. Amnesty International and Asia Watch
have condemned the report into the massacre released by the Indonesian
Commission of Inquiry, as "fatally flawed."

The Indonesian government continues to defy United Nations resolutions
calling on them to withdraw without delay its armed forces from East
Timor.

The U.S. House of Representatives voted on June 25th to suspend military
aid to Indonesia. A bill currently before the U.S. Congress (H.R.5176)
would eliminate all economic aid to Indonesia.

P.E.T. is calling on the government to take a leading role in promoting
its policy of linking foreign aid with human rights by pressing for
suspension of aid at the CGI.

Signed by:

Dawn Black, M.P.
Ray Funk, M.P.
Beryl Gaffney, M.P.
John Manley, M.P.
Dan Heap, M.P.
Lynn Hunter, M.P.
David Kilgour, M.P.
Christine Stewart, M.P.
lan Waddell, M.P.
David MacDonald, M.P.
Howard McCurdy, M.P.
David Stupich, M.P.
Svend Robinson, M.P.
Rey Pagtakhan, M.P.

For more information call 613-995-7325.

----------------------------------------------------

East Timor Alert Network / Canada:

For Immediate News Release: 15 July 1992
For more information: Peter Monet, 613-567-6187; David Webster,
416-539-9589; Elaine Briere, 604-264-9973

OTTAWA - The East Timor Alert Network today called on Canada to end its
economic aid to Indonesia and urge other countries attending tomorrow's
Inaugural meeting of the Consultative Group on Indonesia to do the same.

The Network, a five-year old national solidarity organization based in
Vancouver, called on the Canadian government to use the two-day meeting
of the C.G.I. as a forum to advance the linkage between foreign aid and
human rights. Canada suspended $30 million in aid to Indonesia in
December to protest against the November 12, 1991, unprovoked massacre of
civilians in East Timor by Indonesian soldiers, but still gives Indonesia
$46 million annually.

In the aftermath of the massacre, which drew widespread international
condemnation, the Indonesian government promised to prosecute those
responsible for the killings. However, Indonesian soldiers have received
little more than a slap on the wrist, while the heaviest sentences have
been meted out to East Timorese survivors of the massacre. The longest
sentence given to a soldier was twenty months in prison, while several
massacre survivors have been found guilty of subversion and jailed. One
of them, 29-year old dissident Gregorio da Cunha Saldanha, was sentenced
to life imprisonment. Amnesty International, Asia Watch and other human
rights organizations and independent observers have condemned the
government's response as "unacceptable" and "a whitewash."

Indonesia recently dissolved the Inter-Governmental Group on Indonesia
(IGGI), which has traditionally overseen the disbursement of Western aid
to that country, saying that it was doing an because IGGI chair Holland
was trying to make aid conditional on respect for human rights. The
C.G.I. was then formed as a now donor forum and is chaired by the World
Bank. It is meeting in Paris on July 16 and 17.

Since the human rights situation in East Timor has only grown worse in
the six months since Canada's partial aid suspension, the Network has
called for all remaining Canadian aid to Indonesia to be slashed until
Indonesia agrees to respect human rights in East Timor and to accede to
United Nations resolutions supporting East Timor's right to
self-determination. (East Timor was invaded by Indonesia in 1975 and has
been occupied ever since in defiance of UN resolutions. One in three East
Timorese have died since the invasion, according to Amnesty international
and sources in the Catholic Church in East Timor.)

The East Timor Alert Network further called on Canadian representatives
at the meeting to push other countries to link their aid to Indonesia to
that country's respect for human rights, particularly in occupied East
Timor. The European Community recently endorsed the principle of linking
aid and human rights, and a bill now before the United States Congress
(H.R.5176) would eliminate all military and economic aid to Indonesia.

Canada has taken a leading role in promoting the principle of linked aid.
Now is the time to follow words with deeds and impose aid sanctions
against Indonesia, one of the most brutal human rights violators in the
world.



Forwarded from GreenNet reg.easttimor conference:
Topic 352Petition presented to Downing Str
gn:tapolreg.easttimor 9:42 pm  Jul 16, 1992

Petition presented to Downing Street

The following Press Release was issued by the British
Coalition for East Timor on 15 July 1992:

On Wednesday, July 15, a small group of people including Ann
Clwyd MP, Fr Sarath Wasanta and the East Timorese refugee
Estevao Cabral, representing the British Coalition for East
Timor, knocked at the door of No 10 Downing Street and
presented a petition on East Timor to the Prime Minister, John
Major. This symbolic act was the culmination of months of
campaigning since the massacre of 150 peaceful demonstrators
by Indonesian soldiers on November 12, 1991, at a cemetery in
Dili, the capital of East Timor.

Many hundreds of people representing all levels of society
gave their names to the petition. Among the Church
representatives, politicians and academics who signed were
Archbishop Michael Bowen, Bishop John Rawsthorne, Abbots
Dominic Gaisford and David Charlesworth, Professor Michael
Dummett, and the rock band, U2.

The petition reflects the increasing concern felt by many over
the delay in effective action by the international community
following the draconian sentences given to East Timorese
survivors of the massacre (up to life imprisonment) and the
token sentences (maximum, 18 months) meted out to soldiers who
carried out the slaughter. However, despite widespread
condemnation of human rights abuses in East Timor, the
Consultative Group on Indonesia meets in Paris this week (16-
17 July) to agree to further substantial aid to Indonesia. The
petition demands that a full international investigation into
the Santa Cruz massacre take place, that future aid be
conditional on the withdrawal of the Indonesian army, and true
Timorese representatives be involved in all negotiations about
their future.

In Timor itself, there has, of late, been a rigorous
suppression of all dissent. Bishop Belo, the Catholic
Ordinary, has forcefully asked that the next governor of East
Timor should be East Timorese. Reliable sources suggest that
the next incumbent will be an Indonesian general.

./