By Marina Cameron
On November 9, supporters of a free East Timor will march in cities around Australia to commemorate the anniversary of the massacre by Indonesian troops of a peaceful demonstration in Dili, East Timor, on November 12, 1991.
Pictures like those of East Timorese being shot and beaten as they tried to run away, and of a young man trying comfort his friend slowly bleeding to death in Santa Cruz Cemetery were beamed around the world following the massacre. They graphically illustrated the way of life for East Timorese under Indonesian occupation since 1975.
In their money-grubbing grab for Timor Gap oil and a friendly business relationship with Indonesia, successive Labor and Liberal Australian governments have turned their backs on the East Timorese, and on those who continue to be persecuted and die fighting for democracy in Indonesia itself.
As Jakarta and Canberra have drawn closer, it has been necessary to tie off loose ends — to deny, hide away or palm off anything that might expose the bloody reality behind the relationship. Such has been the case with the most embarrassing of "loose ends" — the arrival in this country of East Timorese claiming to have been brutally abused, and requesting refugee status from the Australian government.
In 1994, East Timorese in Australia linked up with solidarity activists to protest the visit of Indonesian General Try Sutrisno to Australia. Later that year, the then Labor federal government was forced to reject General Herman Mantiri as ambassador to Australia because of fear of further protests (Mantiri had publicly justified the Dili massacre as "quite proper"). Labor then began trying to deal with the refugee embarrassment.
Until 1994, the Australian government had stated unrepentantly that East Timorese were Indonesian citizens. While the United Nations officially recognises Portugal, the former colonial power in East Timor, as the legal administrator of East Timor (with acknowledged responsibility to de-colonise the country), the Australian government is one of only a handful in the world that recognise Indonesia's forceful incorporation of East Timor.
Since 1994, however, the Australian government has been straining to find some legal way out of granting visas to the more than 1350 East Timorese seeking permission to stay here, and any others that arrive. It did a back-flip and foreign affairs minister Gareth Evans and immigration minister Nick Bolkus began to argue that East Timorese could not apply for refugee status in Australia because they were still citizens of Portugal.
Under international law, a country to which refugees have fled does not have to grant them permanency if another country, in which they have a legal right of residence, accepts them. However, Portugal will only accept East Timorese who go willingly, and the majority of East Timorese in Australia are unwilling to go, either because it is so distant from their homeland, or because they have already been in Australia for years and wish to stay.
Sister Kath O'Connor, coordinator of Christians in Solidarity with East Timor (CISET) and a member of the Christian Sanctuary Network, told Green Left Weekly: " The immigration department is in the process of deciding whether the East Timorese in Australia are Portuguese citizens and therefore whether they are eligible to even apply for refugee status. If not they will deport them. There is a case currently before the Federal Court and the government has reserved its decision until that case is over. We hope to hear back on that in the next month."
O'Connor points out that, "until 1994 the East Timorese had the same rights in applying for refugee status as any other people coming in. The Coalition government (which in 1994 said that the Portuguese loophole was a most hypocritical claim on behalf of Labor PM Keating) have done a 360 degree turn and now say that this is quite valid. The Coalition government is simply following the line set by the Labor government. The government should give the East Timorese the right to apply for refugee status, and be eligible for the same processes as anybody else."
In a further attempt to erase the problem of East Timorese refugee status, the Liberals' first federal budget included cuts to the Asylum Seekers Assistance Fund, to which the Red Cross contributes. This will leave those waiting to have their case heard by the Refugee Review Tribunal with no income support of any kind.
The constant uncertainty faced by East Timorese currently in Australia is taking its toll. Some refugees have been here since 1991, trying to reconstruct their lives, and still face the possibility of deportation. "The tension and stress that this is causing, long after they thought that things would be settled and they would be on their feet, and after all that they have faced already, is unbearable in some cases", O'Connor said.
Max Lane, national coordinator of Action in Solidarity with Indonesia and East Timor (ASIET) argues that the fact that successive Australian governments have supported Indonesia's brutal occupation of East Timor, all in the name of securing more economic and political influence in the region, makes even greater this government's responsibility to accept and provide for the East Timorese refugees.
Lane told Green left Weekly: "The public protests that have brought the East Timor issue to light, and the recent legitimation of East Timor's claim to independence by the Nobel Peace Prize awards to Jose Ramos Horta and Bishop Belo, continue to put pressure on the Australian government. The campaign for an independent East Timor here will continue to publicise the serious hardship and possibility of deportation faced by the refugees, and to demand that they be allowed to stay."
Given the current attacks on immigration, including cuts to the Family Reunion category and the introduction of tighter English language tests, Lane says that "it is not enough to ask that East Timorese be considered as part of a general immigration intake. They are coming here to escape a war perpetrated with the support of the Australian government, and face certain persecution and even death if they return. They are refugees and should be treated as such."
The immediate solution, Lane says, would be to "create of a special visa class for the East Timorese, as was done for those Chinese in Australia after the Tiananmen Square massacre — a more politically expedient case in the eyes of the government. In the end, however, it will be up to ordinary people in this country to challenge the government, join the campaign for a free East Timor and protect the right of East Timor refugees to stay in Australia."
[For further information on the campaign, contact CISET on (02) 9745 3423 or ASIET on (02) 9690 1230. See pages 29-31 for details of upcoming East Timor solidarity events in your city.]