East Timor status<\/p>\n
The year was 1978, the time 1 p.m., the location, Parliament
\nHouse, Canberra. The then Australian prime minister, Malcolm
\nFraser, had just told me his government would recognize
\nIndonesia's presence in East Timor from de facto to de jure
\nstatus after bilateral talks between Indonesia and Australia on
\nthe seabed boundaries between Timor and Australia had been
\nresumed.<\/p>\n
My lovely escort from the Australian foreign office could not
\nfight off her sleepiness and had long gone so that I was left
\nalone to file my report.<\/p>\n
Bilateral relations had cooled down, causing a diplomatic
\nimpasse at that time when Indonesian ambassador Nur Mathias and
\nMalcolm Fraser both refused to touch the sensitive issue.<\/p>\n
As a reporter, I was delighted to break the ice and thus also
\ncontribute to news dissemination of regional, if not
\ninternational, significance worthy of appearing in the Straits
\nTimes and quoted by the Australian Associated Press (AAP).<\/p>\n
The following morning I also had an opportunity to interview
\nthe then head of the opposition, Bill Hayden who later became
\nAustralia's governor general. I asked him if Australia felt
\nIndonesia was a threat to Australia's security.<\/p>\n
Now more than 20 years later, I have in front of me a big
\npolitical chessboard on East Timor which contains so many
\ncomplicated possibilities that would surely make Utut, Anand or
\nKarpov happy for finding the right move.<\/p>\n
But in politics, of course, everything is different when
\ndishonesty may lead to the best solution. What amazes me is that
\nalmost nobody has reminded us of the fact that the origin of the
\nEast Timor crisis, as with any other major national issues, lies
\nwith the ousted head of state for allowing the sending of
\nIndonesian troops at that time.<\/p>\n
Only one should bear in mind the cold war atmosphere was then
\nstill raging and there was fear among western powers that the
\nterritory, left vacant by the Portuguese administration, would
\ninvite a big power from the north to infiltrate and be assisted
\nby leftist elements in Indonesia.<\/p>\n
Strategic, rather than human rights, considerations were
\napparently the deciding factor for the invasion.<\/p>\n
With shock, I notice that the Portuguese left only two pawns
\nfor hard thinking and hard working Ali Alatas to play with, to
\nsubmit the case to the new People's Consultative Assembly (MPR)
\nafter the general election (which is a bad move) or to cut
\nrelations altogether, hoping for a stalemate.<\/p>\n
Habibie himself, after thorough analysis, shrugged his
\nshoulders and signified he did not mind giving up, but then again
\nhis chances for reelection may vanish. Political parties with a
\nhuge number of supporters in the territory are against
\nindependent status for the barren former colony.<\/p>\n
The White Rooks and double Bishops are isolated and only the
\nQueen (Armed Forces) can still roam around freely.<\/p>\n
What they all seem to have overlooked is the fact that the
\nreferee comes from Brooklyn and that the game is played in New
\nYork, not in Surakarta!<\/p>\n
I have a strong hunch that the saber -- rattling, as it were
\n-- will end up in a UN supervised referendum, something not
\nwelcomed by East Timor strategist Alatas. I only hope that
\nhistory writers will not liken the episode to the Anschlus of
\nAustria by the Germans, Mongolia by the Japanese and the Black
\nSea states by Stalin.<\/p>\n
I believe that after the end of the forceful honeymoon and the
\nterritory struggling as an independent state, it will rejoin
\nIndonesia under a mutually beneficial cooperation scheme.<\/p>\n
GANDHI SUKARDI<\/p>\n
Jakarta<\/p>", "url": "https:\/\/jawawa.id\/newsitem\/east-timor-status-1447893297", "image": "" }, "sponsor": "Okusi Associates", "sponsor_url": "https:\/\/okusiassociates.com" }