By Jon Land
After the fall of Indonesian dictator Suharto in May, the independence struggle in East Timor entered a new phase; a major obstacle to freedom was removed. In Australia, the Howard government and the Labor opposition welcomed Suharto's decision to step down, hoping his departure would stabilise Indonesia's political, social and economic crises.
Initial statements by new President B.J. Habibie indicated that there was to be a new approach on the issue of East Timor, with talk of greater freedom, autonomy and a reduced military presence. Australian foreign affairs minister Alexander Downer welcomed this supposed change, while continuing to express the government's view that East Timor was an integral part of Indonesia. East Timor "is obviously a very divided place", Downer observed, and "there is no point trying to resolve the issue with a quick fix".
Political and social unrest has continued in Indonesia and the East Timorese remain defiant with their demand for independence. In response, last month Downer announced the federal government's "historic" policy change on East Timor, acknowledging that the people of East Timor should have the right to carry out an unspecified act of self-determination after a lengthy period of autonomy. The preferred option is that East Timor remain part of what Prime Minister John Howard terms an "understanding Indonesia".
This was followed by the announcement by the Indonesian government that the People's Consultative Assembly, Indonesia's parliament, would consider letting East Timor go altogether after elections to be held in June, if the people of East Timor rejected its offer of autonomy.
ALP looks ahead
The latest twist has been the public exposure of a rift within the Labor Party over its past policies on East Timor and relations with the Suharto dictatorship. Media reports on February 5 quoted comments made by Labor's foreign affairs spokesperson Laurie Brereton, made at a meeting of the Queensland branch of the Australian Institute of International Affairs, in which he was highly critical of the record of previous Labor governments.
Brereton was strongly rebuked by his ministerial predecessor, Gareth Evans, and by Labor leader Kim Beazley. Beazley claimed "[Labor] took a very strong stand with our Indonesian colleagues on the human rights issues" in East Timor.
There have been reports that Brereton and Evans have been at odds ever since Brereton began the push last November for a Senate inquiry into the 1975 murder of Australian journalists at Balibo by Indonesian troops, and into past and present government policies towards East Timor. The Senate agreed to the inquiry in December, minus terms of reference relating to the Balibo deaths.
Brereton's efforts are part of a shift intended to distance Labor from its past record in case East Timor gains independence. It is hoped the change will place a future Labor government in a more favourable light when negotiating with an independent East Timorese government over such things as foreign investment or a new Timor Gap oil treaty.
Labor adopted a resolution supporting a "process" of self-determination for East Timor at its national conference in January 1998 (returning to it's pre-1984 policy). It failed to actively campaign on this new policy. In fact, Labor did the opposite.
Less than a week after Suharto relinquished the presidency, Labor voted with the Coalition in the Senate against Australian Greens senator Bob Brown's motions calling for the Indonesian government to release resistance leader Xanana Gusmao and all other Indonesian and East Timorese political prisoners, and allow East Timor a free vote on self-determination, including the option of unfettered independence, and for the Australian government to suspend military assistance to Indonesia until fair and free elections have been held.
It was not until just before the federal election in October that Labor began to openly espouse its January '98 policy on East Timor. So silent had Labor been about support for "negotiations towards self-determination" that many media reports heralded Labor's statements on the issue as a new and major policy shift.
Labor's shift was motivated by the need to differentiate itself more clearly from the Coalition on foreign policy issues. It also signalled a more astute analysis by Labor's policy advisers of the rapidly changing conditions within East Timor, where large mobilisations demanding independence were taking place regularly. These mass rallies reflected the overwhelming sentiment of the East Timorese people.
Continuing protests and riots within Indonesia during the latter half of 1998 further weakened the Habibie regime and the military, whose role in suppressing student activists was widely condemned by prominent liberal opposition leaders and democracy activists.
Howard government
The Howard government stood by its position of continuing the closest possible links with the Indonesian military. "Our position is that the military contact we have with the Indonesian armed forces has been a very useful vehicle for us to encourage the exercise of restraint ... and our view is that by and large the military have exercised restraint", said Downer.
Both Labor and Liberal have pushed the line that close ties between the Australian Defence Force and the Indonesian army will help professionalise Indonesian soldiers and make them more conscious of human rights. Indiscriminate killings in recent weeks in Aceh and the arming of anti-independence militias in East Timor disprove this.
While military training exercises with Indonesia were suspended in October, defence minister John Moore went to great lengths to explain that this was by mutual agreement, because Indonesia could not afford to cover the cost of the exercises.
The Howard government has failed to act on new evidence relating to the deaths of the journalists at Balibo in 1975. While it called on Tom Sherman to investigate new allegations (further to his first investigation) that the journalists were executed by the Indonesian military, the sincerity of the government's search for the truth is questionable.
On his recent overseas trip, Downer declined to meet with relatives of the two British-born journalists murdered at Balibo. He dismissed their requests, stating: "These people are making allegations of Australian governments which I had no part of ... I wasn't even a member of parliament, I was barely out of university in 1975. I can speak from my own experience as foreign minister [and] we have done nothing but be completely open on this issue."
The policies of the ALP and the Australian government are being rendered increasingly irrelevant by the rapid pace of events in Indonesia and East Timor. This will be exacerbated by the recent talks on the status of East Timor at the United Nations.
The national coordinator of Action in Solidarity with Indonesia and East Timor, Max Lane, told Green Left Weekly: "If Labor and the Coalition were serious about supporting the East Timorese people, they would revoke their formal recognition of Indonesia's sovereignty over East Timor. As well, defence ties and economic aid to Indonesia would be suspended indefinitely until all Indonesian troops are withdrawn from East Timor, the pro-Jakarta militias they have created in East Timor, are disarmed and Xanana Gusmao and all other East Timorese political prisoners are released.
"Both Labor and the Coalition should support the immediate granting of bridging visas to the 1500 East Timorese asylum seekers, and provide special rehabilitation, education and training programs to enable them to play a role in re-building East Timor. This should be funded by a levy on Australian companies who have profited through exploiting cheap labour and resources in Indonesia and East Timor."
Lane concluded by saying, "Until these and other concrete measures are carried out, Labor's and the Coalition government's words about the situation of the East Timorese people will remain shallow and meaningless."
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