East Timor is big news today. With approximately 80% of the population voting for independence in a recent referendum, militia forces began a campaign of terror that has led to the presence of UN security forces in the region to maintain order. But where did all this come from? Contrary to the views presented in the mainstream media, historical events do not occur in a vacuum. Well then, why is this happening?
East Timor, a small island 300 miles north of Australia, used to be a Portuguese colony. In 1974 Portugal began to dismantle its colonial holdings. East Timor was to become an independent state. Indonesia, on the other hand, had other plans.
On December 6, 1971 President Ford and Secretary of State Henry Kissinger met with Indonesian President Suharto in the Indonesian capital of Jakarta. The following day, on December 7, Indonesian forces invaded the East Timor capital of Dili. 90% of the weapons used in the invasion were made in the US and sold to Indonesia, supposedly for defense purposes only. Within a year 60,000 Timorese were dead. The Ford administration proceeded to more than double its military assistance to Indonesia the following year. Within 3 years 200,000 people out of a pre-invasion population of 600,000 were dead. The UN Security Council condemned the invasion and ordered Indonesia to withdraw, but they were ignored. UN Ambassador at the time, Daniel Patrick Moynihan explained in his 1978 memoir why the UN was unable to affect the situation in East Timor:
"The United States wished things to turn out as they did, and worked to bring this about. The Department of State desired that the United Nations prove utterly ineffective in whatever measures it undertook. This task was given to me, and I carried it forward with no inconsiderable success."
Indonesia did not allow foreigners into East Timor until 1988. In 1991 American journalists Alan Nairn and Amy Goodman witnessed the massacre of 271 East Timorese at a cemetery during a memorial procession for Sebastiau Gomes, a young man who was killed by Indonesian forces as he walked out of a church. The soldiers used US made M-16 machine guns.
Today, the Timorese are still fighting for independence. The Indonesian military still uses US made weapons. The United Nations still does not officially recognize the Indonesian occupation of East Timor. As many as 700,000 Timorese have been killed in the almost 24 years of Indonesian military rule.
"We cannot undo the past, but should at least be willing to recognize what we have done, and to face the moral responsibility of saving the remnants and providing ample reparations, a pathetic gesture of compensation for terrible crimes"
-- Noam Chomsky
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