MADELEINE BLACKWELL, the director of Matebian Nia Lian (Voices of Souls), a play by the East Timorese Cultural Group currently being performed in Melbourne's Theatreworks, believes that the story of East Timor reveals ugly truths about the nature of Australian society. In this article, she backgrounds the ongoing show trial of Timorese resistance leader Xanana Gusmao, who was arrested by the Indonesian military last year, and the long struggle for that country's independence.
Indonesia's brutal invasion and occupation have resulted in the death of a third of Timor's population. There is not one family, one fibre of society or culture that remains intact, untorn. Those still alive form a terrorised population of around 400,000.
In 1989 the Catholic bishop of Dili, Monsignor Belo, wrote UN Secretary General Perez de Cuellar urging the UN to organise a referendum so the world could hear the view of the Timorese people. His anguished appeal, "We are dying as a people and as a nation", found no reply.
For most of the 17 years since the invasion, Indonesia had virtually sealed off East Timor from the rest of the world while it conducted its military operations. Then on November 12, 1991, Indonesian troops fired on hundreds of unarmed Timorese demonstrators as they gathered at Santa Cruz cemetery in Dili for a memorial mass in honour of Sebastiao Gomes, a youth who had been shot by troops some days before.
This was by no means the first massacre the Indonesians had carried out in East Timor, but it was the first "televised" one. Foreign journalists also bore witness to the horrors of occupied Timor and lived to tell their stories and show incriminating footage.
The indifference of most of the world's leaders to East Timor's plight is not innocent. Resistance leader Xanana Gusmao pointed to the implications of the lack of international concern.
"It is because of this that our action is indispensable", he said in November 1991. "We need to show the world that, backed by international complicity, a people are being wiped out. Backed by the political cynicism of many 'democratic' governments, the universal principles and the resolutions of the UN continue to be intolerably and abusively disrespected. We will fight for Timorese participation in the dialogue under the auspices of the UN."
This "indispensable action" of which he speaks has
taken form over the last 17 years of struggle. The courage of the East Timorese people's resistance, their untiring commitment to their fight for freedom, finds its symbol in Xanana Gusmao. The dialogue he speaks of here is a plea to be listened to and to participate in negotiations for a peaceful resolution of East Timor's future.
Ironically, as this struggle has moved more and more towards a political solution, Xanana Gusmao has been captured and put on trial by the Indonesian military, who do not seem prepared for any diplomatic and peaceful solution at all. Their newly appointed commander, General Syafei, states: " The enemy is everywhere, in the towns which we control as well as in the bush. Xanana is just a symbol."
It is this symbol that Indonesia has put on trial. In doing so, it relies on the established support of its allies.
The United Nations has never recognised Indonesia's annexation of East Timor and regards Portugal as the legal administrative authority. In spite of having adopted at least 10 resolutions defending Timor's right to self-determination and calling for the immediate withdrawal of Indonesian troops, it has failed to stir the world into action.
After the 1975 invasion, the United States ambassador to the United Nations, Daniel P. Moynihan, was instructed to block UN resolutions that were in favour of East Timor's right to self-
determination. He actually boasts in his memoirs, "The US wished things to turn out as they did and worked to bring this about. The State Department desired that the UN prove wholly ineffective in whatever measures it undertook. This task was given to me and I carried it out with no inconsiderable success."
By contrast, within four months of the Iraqi invasion of Kuwait, the UN Security Council adopted a dozen resolutions. Pressure on the Security Council to adopt these resolutions took place as the US moved more than 250,000 troops into the Middle East, making the launching of a devastating war in the name of the UN inevitable.
"Big countries cannot invade little countries and get away with it", said Bob Hawke, referring to Kuwait.
During the rehearsal of Matebian Nia Lian, co-director James McCaughey wrote to foreign affairs minister Gareth Evans for an explanation of Australia's position on East Timor. The reply came:
"The Australian government recognises the sovereign authority of Indonesia over East Timor. De jure recognition by the then Coalition government first took effect in February 1979.
"That recognition was maintained by the Labor government which came to office in 1983 and was explicitly confirmed in a statement to parliament on August 22, 1985 by former Prime Minister Hawke".
Australia's betrayal goes back quite a long way. Prime Minister Gough Whitlam informed President Suharto of Australia's acceptance for the integration of Timor in September 1974, claiming that an independent East Timor was unviable and a threat to regional security but that it should decide its own future.
At Balibo five Australian journalists were killed by Indonesian soldiers in October 1975 while witnessing military incursions into East Timor. Their deaths provoked no official inquiry or protest. The following month, Fretilin declared independence. A week later Indonesia unleashed the full-scale invasion.
US President Ford and Secretary of State Henry Kissinger left Jakarta less than 24 hours prior to that invasion, leaving their embassy instructions not to involve itself in the matter and to cut down its reporting on Timor. The US ambassador's view was that if Indonesia was to invade it should do so "effectively, quickly and not use our equipment". Yet at the time 90% of Indonesian military equipment came from the US.
This was 1975. The US intervention in Indochina had collapsed, and Washington enjoyed close accord with the staunchly anti-communist Suharto government.
In July 1976 Prime Minister Malcolm Fraser was told during discussions with the Ford administration and Pentagon officials that "if Australia's relations with Indonesia worsened it could hinder US strategy for the region".
But the end of the Cold War has changed international relations. Neither the US nor Australia can use the "Soviet threat" as an excuse for overlooking human rights violations committed by US allies.
Nevertheless for the Hawke and Keating governments the rights of the Timorese — in fact the very lives of the Timorese — have been overshadowed by the enticing prospects of closer political and economic ties with Indonesia.
Australian business has about $1 billion invested there, mostly in resource projects like gold, oil and uranium mining. In 1991-92 Australia gave $113 million in aid to Indonesia, and there is an ongoing program of "defence cooperation" which includes joint military exercises, exchange of officers, exchange of intelligence and regular consultation.
On December 11, 1989, flying in an official plane above the Timor Gap that divides Australia from Timor, Gareth Evans and Indonesian foreign minister Ali Alitas drank champagne with their entourages to celebrate the signing of the Timor Gap oil agreement.
Evans had argued in Parliament that there is no obligation in international law not to recognise territorial acquisition by force. Especially when oil is involved.