Peter Boyle
Commenting on the Australian troop deployment to East Timor on May 31, the Australian's Paul Kelly said, "this intervention is both military and political. Its primary purpose was to respond to East Timor's security crisis ... But this is not just a military intervention. It is a highly political intervention ... It transcends the domain of law and order and penetrates to East Timor's political crisis. In this sense Australia is operating as a regional power or a potential hegemon that shapes security and political outcomes.
"This language is unpalatable to many. Yet it is the reality. It is new experimental territory for Australia. We are evolving as a regional power and discovering the risks and dividends in the exercise of that power. We have taken complete charge of law and order in East Timor and its domestic power struggle is conducted against the backdrop of our unstated pressure."
Is this imperialist fantasy or the "unpalatable" truth?
It is a fact that the 2000-plus Australian, New Zealand, Portugese and Malaysian "peace-keeping" force is there at the formal invitation of the government of Timor-Leste. The May 24 invitation was signed by PM Mari Alkatiri, President Xanana Gusmao and the speaker of the parliament, Francisco Guterres Lu'Olo.
There are reports claiming that in earlier discussions in the East Timorese cabinet, the prime minister may have argued against suggestions of an earlier invitation for foreign military intervention, but by May 24 it appears there was agreement.
Two weeks before the invitation, the Australian government had readied significant military forces, and had been having discussions with the East Timorese government about a possible invitation. The Australian military presence off the coast of East Timor during the ruling Fretilin party's congress, on May 17-19, exerted political pressure on Alkatiri, and may have encouraged actions by various forces that sharpened what was already a serious fracturing of the army and police.
At present there appears to be support from across the political spectrum in East Timor for a foreign peacekeeper intervention. While this is understandable because of the threat of a fratricidal civil war between factions of the country's armed forces (the leaders of which are mostly former national liberation movement fighters), this is not a situation like in 1999 when the international solidarity movement wholeheartedly campaigned for military intervention against the militia massacres being organised by the occupying Indonesian military.
As the US-based East Timor and Indonesia Action Network (ETAN) said on May 27, "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 ... 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."
The political attacks on the Fretilin government by Australian PM John Howard has put many long-time solidarity activists on alert against imperialist manipulation of the conflict in the armed forces and leadership of the Timorese government. The blatant attempts by East Timorese foreign minister Jose Ramos Horta and Gusmao to blame the crisis on Alkatiri, while presenting themselves as a more Canberra-friendly alternative, have added to this alarm.
Tim O'Connor, director of AID/WATCH (which critically monitors Australia's aid programs) has warned against Canberra's meddling. "Australia's focus in Timor must be to protect the democratic rights of the East Timorese people. International armed forces from Australia and other invited nations are there as peacekeepers. The neutrality required in this role must not be undermined by political point-scoring, such as we have seen in recent days by John Howard and Alexander Downer."
The Howard government's attempt to blame the current crisis solely on the Fretilin government is hypocritical, as it is an expression of the failure of a bureaucratic state-building project carried out under the strict supervision of the United Nations Transitional East Timor Authority with considerable Australian involvement.
After seven years of best-practice United Nations/International Monetary Fund/World Bank capitalist state building, 40% of the population is on an average income of below 55 cents a day, 70% are struggling to survive through subsistence agriculture and most youth in the capital Dili are unemployed.
The East Timorese leadership including Gusmao, Ramos Horta and Alkatiri went along with this, consciously demobilising the national liberation movement in the process. The Fretilin leadership and a thin layer of their political supporters were given jobs in the civil and military service of the new bureaucratic state apparatus, the rest were forced to fend for themselves.
The international advisers who came and went with their four-wheel drives left behind this startling advice for the poorest nation in Asia: average wage levels — for the few East Timorese who are wage-earners — need to be lowered to the level of neighbouring Indonesia. International aid began tapering off sharply after 2001, while actual oil revenue is still just a trickle. So far, East Timor has accumulated about US$500 million in its petroleum fund, but has a potential revenue of US$15-25 billion from oil and gas resources over the next 20 years.
It is no surprise that there's a crisis in East Timor today. It's also hardly surprising that in the midst of this, Australian imperialism has launched a campaign to get a more compliant government in place.
According to Tim Anderson, a solidarity activist and academic, a destabilisation campaign accompanied several important disputes between the Timorese government and global business interests. "The dispute over oil and gas is well known. Mari Alkatiri had the support of all parties [in East Timor] in driving a hard line with the Howard government. Many believe the Timorese were still robbed by a deal Howard continues to call 'generous'.
"Less well known are the disputes over agriculture, where Australia and the World Bank refused to help rehabilitate and build the Timorese rice industry, and refused to support use of aid money for grain silos. Under Alkatiri, the Timorese have reduced their rice import dependence from two-thirds to one-third of domestic consumption.
"After independence an expensive phone service, run by Telstra, was replaced by a government joint venture with a Portuguese company. And following a popular campaign, Timor Leste remains one of the few 'debt-free' poor countries. Alkatiri's consideration here, as economic manager, was to retain some control over the country's budget, and the building of public institutions.
"In 2005, there was a Church-led dispute over the apparent relegation of religious education to 'voluntary' status in schools. The dispute was resolved, but not before it had become the focus of an open campaign to remove Alkatiri, who was branded a communist." During this dispute some East Timorese were alarmed to see that the US Embassy (and possibly also Australia) providing material support (such as portable toilets) to the demonstrators, effectively backing an opposition movement.
"Over 2004-06, the Alkatiri government secured the services of dozens of Cuban doctors, and several hundred young Timorese students are now in Cuba, studying medicine free of charge. No-one criticises this valuable assistance, but the US does all it can to undermine Cuban policy.
"It is worth remembering that the suggested 'communist' politics of Fretilin in 1975 was a major reason for US support for the Indonesian invasion and occupation. Australia followed suit. Today the 'communist' tag is again used by [rebel army leader Alfredo Alves] Reinado to target the Fretilin government."
Anderson warns that while the "current intervention may be necessary, if it has been legitimately called for by the East Timorese government", it is also "a great danger for the country's democracy. Australian people, who strongly supported independence for the people of Timor Leste, should watch Howard's latest intervention very closely."
From Green Left Weekly, June 7, 2006.
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