A campaign for an open door for all Timorese
By Max Lane
Jakarta's long war against East Timor may be (officially) over and may now be less of a "foreign policy issue" in formal Australian-Indonesian relations. But justice is still a long way away for the East Timorese; not only for those living in the devastated country itself, but also for those who sought shelter in Australia.
The Australian government still refuses to allow any of the East Timorese refugees, even those who have set down roots in Australia, to stay, and is threatening them with deportation. It seems that Canberra is not content with having supported the occupation of East Timor for so long; it wants to continue its disgraceful conduct.
In response, Action in Solidarity with Indonesia and East Timor (ASIET) has issued a call for May 13 to become a national day of action for "Justice for the East Timorese people, Justice for all refugees". The day would involve rallies and public meetings in cities across Australia to spread the message about how the federal government continues to betray the East Timorese people.
ASIET has been campaigning against Australian governments' betrayal of the East Timorese since the group's formation in 1990. It will continue to do so until East Timor achieves formal independence and its people achieve a socially just society.
The bi-partisan policy of the Coalition and Labor parties, both of which developed a "special relationship" with Jakarta at the behest of the Australia-Indonesia Business Council and the Australian Chamber of Manufactures, has cost many East Timorese lives.
Refugees
But the Timorese have not only been the victims of military repression and business greed in their own country. They have also been victims of the Coalition-Labor-One Nation policy of discrimination against refugees. More than 1600 East Timorese refugees fled the violence that escalated in East Timor after the 1991 Santa Cruz massacre and, from the very beginning, these people were subjected to Australian government cruelty.
Refugee Review Tribunal judgements repeatedly determined that the asylum seekers would be subject to persecution if they were returned to East Timor. Yet the Australian government fought at every stage against every decision to allow them to stay here.
Unable to claim that the East Timorese were not genuine refugees, both Coalition and Labor governments claimed that they had the right to live in Portugal and so should move there instead.
Meanwhile, the fate of these 1600 people was left hanging. Many had no access to health care or a decent income. They had to be sustained by the Timorese community in Australia, which is far from wealthy.
The federal government has now given up its attempt to send the East Timorese refugees back to Portugal, but it still wants them out of Australia; they won't be allowed permanent residency here.
The government is seeking to have every case involving a refugee from East Timor returned to the Refugee Review Tribunal, precisely at a time when persecution in East Timor has ended and it will be impossible for the East Timorese to be legally classed as "refugees".
The government can't even claim that its harsh attitude to the East Timorese refugees is offset by generosity in aid to East Timor. According to a statement issued by foreign minister Alexander Downer on December 18, the Australian government has committed to spend a total of $75 million in this financial year on emergency, humanitarian, administration and reconstruction aid to East Timor. This is a miserly 7.5% of the $1 billion the government expects to collect from the "Timor Tax" and nowhere near what East Timor needs.
An open door
The government's policy against East Timorese refugees was designed as a show of support for Jakarta. But it was also part of an increasingly hardened attitude against those from the Third World who enter Australia "without permission".
Easy access to Australia for refugees from anywhere in the world — whether fleeing persecution and war or poverty — should be a basic form of human solidarity. Yet the Coalition government has introduced laws criminalising all those desperate people fleeing misery and suffering.
ASIET believes that the East Timorese refugees should be allowed to stay if they wish. Any Timorese person should be able to enter Australia for transit to other countries, for visits, for study or for work, without requiring a visa beforehand. They should be issued visas automatically on arrival in Australia, just as New Zealanders have been able to do for many years. And there should be scholarships provided (at least 1000 of them) to East Timorese who wish to study here.
This is the very least that the Australian government can do, after all it has done to help the destruction of East Timor. Combined with repealing all the recent racist and discriminatory laws against refugees, this would also be a first step towards justice for all refugees.
Join with us and support the national day of action on May 13: Justice for the East Timorese people! Justice for all refugees!
[Max Lane is the national chairperson of ASIET.]