Paras Indonesia, 05, 30 2006 @ 09:23 pm
ETAN Statement on East Timor Violence
Posted by: Roy Tupai
The following statement is via the website of the New York-based East Timor and
Indonesia Action Network (ETAN).
Statement by ETAN on the Current Violence in Timor-Leste
May 27, 2006 - We have watched the unfolding situation in Timor-Leste this past
week with deep concern. We do not believe that events had to escalate to this point.
Like others, we do not have complete information about the current situation and its
causes. Below are our initial reflections:
The intervention by foreign military and police forces is a sad event for Timor-Leste,
whose hard-won political independence has had to be laid aside we hope for only a
short time because leaders and state institutions have been unable to manage
certain violent elements of the population and security forces.
Now that foreign forces are being deployed -- at the request of Timor-Leste's
government, with the stated support of rebel leaders, and the welcome by most of a
terrified population -- we hope that they serve their intended purpose in quelling the
violence and allowing negotiations and a peaceful resolution, as well as the
identification and arrest of those who have committed crimes.
Outside intervention is a temporary solution at best. Timor-Leste must find ways, with
respectful support from the international community, to deal with problems in a
manner that will not require troops.
Statements by Australian government leaders that providing security assistance
entitles them to influence over Timor-Leste’s government are undemocratic,
paternalistic, and unhelpful. Who governs Timor-Leste is a decision to be made by its
people within its constitution.
Key countries -- including those now sending troops and police -- must examine their
roles in relation to the new nation, including the training provided to Timor-Leste’s
security forces. Australia bears special responsibility for Timor’s underdevelopment
by refusing to return revenues, totaling billions of dollars, from the disputed petroleum
fields in the Timor Sea, including Laminaria-Corallina, and by bullying Timor-Leste into
forsaking revenues that should rightfully belong to it under current international law
and practice. As in 1999, we must not forget that the Australian government’s
actions have contributed to the situations their peacekeepers have now been sent to
correct. Australia should not view its current assistance to Timor-Leste as a favor, to
be repaid, but instead as a partial repayment for the debt Australia owes the Timorese
people for its help during WW II and for Australia's deep complicity in Indonesia's
invasion and occupation.
Independent Timor-Leste had a violent birth. The legacy of Indonesian occupation left
the people of the new nation deeply traumatized and impoverished, without
governmental institutions and experience. Those who orchestrated, implemented and
aided the illegal occupation have never been held accountable.
We wonder if international and Timorese failures to ensure justice have led some in
Timor-Leste to believe that their own use of violence would be met with similar
impunity. As described in the recent report of Timor-Leste's Commission for
Reception, Truth and Reconciliation (CAVR), several countries - among them U.S.,
U.K., and Australia - bear a special responsibility to ensure justice and accountability
due to their action and inaction from 1975 on. Reparations, as called for by the CAVR,
would help alleviate the poverty and joblessness that have fueled some of the unrest.
It must not be forgotten that despite its many problems, the transition from occupation
to UN administration to independence has been relatively peaceful, especially when
compared to the experiences of many other post-colonial countries. We hope that the
recent violence -- which appears to have complex causes -- proves to be an
exception.
We urge the key political, security force and other actors in the current crisis to
evaluate their own actions and recommit themselves to the spirit of national unity and
public service, which so ably provided the foundation for the independence movement.
Timor-Leste needs to examine whether or not it wants a military and, if so, what is its
purpose. In addition to addressing the past, the CAVR report provides useful
recommendations for implementing rule of law and improving justice and
accountability in independent Timor-Leste.
We urge the international community and the UN, especially the Security Council, to
work with Timor-Leste to complete the nation-building and development tasks to which
they have already committed. If Timor-Leste is to become the success story it has
already been portrayed as, further international support is necessary. However, this
support must be given in an honest spirit that supports real self-determination and
empowers the Timorese people to take full charge of their own destiny.
--------
ETAN advocates for democracy, justice and human rights for East Timor and
Indonesia. ETAN calls for an international tribunal to prosecute crimes against
humanity committed in East Timor from 1975 to 1999 and for restrictions on U.S.
military assistance to Indonesia until there is genuine reform of its security forces.
see also ETAN Statement on Recent Events in Timor-Leste; Country Fragile,
International Assistance, Justice Still Needed
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