East Timor: Suharto snubs Mandela
By Jill Hickson
On August 17, Indonesian Independence Day, the Indonesian minister of justice, Oetoeyo Oesman, announced that the 20-year prison sentence of Xanana Gusmao, president of the National Council for Maubere Resistance (CNRM), would be reduced by three months. Oesman also made vague comments about Xanana's imprisonment being reviewed after the year 2000.
This ridiculous "concession" of three months came after widespread speculation that Xanana would be released, as requested by South African President Nelson Mandela.
The speculation was fuelled by internet postings by human rights activists asserting that Xanana would be released and that Suharto's top Timorese official, roving Ambassador Francisco Lopez da Cruz , was about to desert the dictatorship.
These postings were contradicted, however, by statements issued by top dictatorship officials asserting that Xanana is a criminal. Suharto's cabinet secretary told the Indonesian media that FRETILIN, one of the main East Timorese resistance organisations, had killed many people while Xanana was its chairperson. From the beginning, the Suharto regime indicated it would take a hard line on Mandela's request for Xanana's release.
On August 16, Jose Ramos Horta, Xanana's representative outside East Timor, told Lisbon's TSF radio, "I was not expecting him to be released, because Xanana Gusmao will not go into exile". The rumours circulated on the internet had speculated that Xanana would be exiled after he was released. "He has always rejected this solution and would only accept this if he could participate directly in the current negotiations sponsored by the United Nations' secretary general", Ramos Horta said.
The issue of Mandela's intervention in the East Timor issue first arose after he visited Suharto in Jakarta in mid-August. During that visit Mandela asked to meet Xanana. Suharto agreed but apparently insisted that Lopez da Cruz also attend the meeting.
Mandela's announcement on July 22 that he had asked to meet Xanana was a public relations victory for the East Timorese. According to Mandela's office, the meeting was "in conformity with the South African government's commitment to promoting human rights and the peaceful resolution of conflicts".
In a media briefing in Lisbon at the time, Ramos Horta noted that this was further recognition that Xanana is a political leader, not a criminal as alleged by Jakarta.
The diplomatic impact of the meeting was reinforced by Mandela's invitation to Ramos Horta to meet with him in South Africa. Mandela announced that he had already invited President Sampaio of Portugal to visit South Africa, and that he had spoken to the UN secretary general, Kofi Annan, about the situation in East Timor. Bishop of Dili, Filipe Ximenes Belo, will also visit South Africa soon, at Mandela's invitation.
In a joint media conference with Ramos Horta, Mandela stressed that South Africa is seeking to make a genuine contribution to Kofi Annan's efforts in the tripartite dialogue with Portugal and Indonesia.
Ramos Horta emphasised to Mandela that any negotiations must involve both Xanana and Bishop Belo, who he said embody East Timorese national consensus.
On July 30, Mandela confirmed that he had asked Suharto to release Xanana. "You will understand that we cannot normalise the situation in East Timor unless all the political leaders, including Mr Gusmao, are free", he told reporters in Pretoria.
Despite the enhanced profile for Xanana following Mandela's intervention, Suharto is showing no signs of softening his position on East Timor. The vague suggestion by Indonesia's justice minister that Xanana might be released is a old Suharto tactic to lull people into inactivity by suggesting that a concession is inevitable.
"The Mandela intervention has definitely increased the profile of Xanana and East Timor", national coordinator of Action in Solidarity with Indonesia and East Timor, Max Lane, told participants at a national ASIET conference held in Sydney last weekend. "But to get Suharto to shift his position, the movement to get rid of Suharto altogether needs to become stronger. The stronger the Indonesian and East Timorese resistance movements are, the more the west will be frightened of radical change and the more pressure it will put on Suharto to make concessions. The US in particular wants to pre-empt any upheavals." Lane concluded, "The replacement of Suharto by a truly democratic government would be the best guarantee of freedom for all Indonesians and East Timorese."