Labor Party backs self-determination for East Timor<\/p>\n
SYDNEY, Australia (AFP): East Timor's separatist movement
\nwelcomed on Wednesday a major policy shift by Australia's Labor
\nopposition backing talks leading to self-determination for the
\ntroubled province.<\/p>\n
The policy, unveiled by Labor's foreign affairs spokesman
\nLaurie Brereton on Tuesday ahead of elections on Oct. 3, conceded
\na succession of governments including Labor ones were wrong in
\nsupporting Indonesia's annexation of the former Portuguese colony
\nfollowing the 1975 invasion.<\/p>\n
The new policy also calls for the immediate release of
\npolitical prisoners such as resistance leader Xanana Gusmao, for
\na special envoy on East Timor and for increased financial
\nassistance.<\/p>\n
Brereton said resolution of the unrest in East Timor was
\nunlikely without negotiations towards self-determination, and
\nadmitted Labor's new approach was a far cry from when the party
\nwas last in government.<\/p>\n
\"It is a substantial change and it is one that we believe is
\nentirely appropriate as we try and take advantage of the
\nopportunity of putting right one of the great tragedies on our
\ndoorstep,\" Brereton said. \"I don't believe East Timor is unviable
\nas a stand-alone nation.\"<\/p>\n
He said it was an issue with which successive administrations,
\nwhether coalition or Labor, had all had great difficulty.<\/p>\n
East Timor's resistance movement spokesman in Australia, Nobel
\nLaureate Jose Ramos Horta, welcomed Labor's position, which he
\nsaid followed years of Australian complicity in the annexation
\nand occupation of East Timor.<\/p>\n
It also followed \"many years of lies, half truths, omissions\"
\nand even vindictiveness by Canberra towards the region, he said.<\/p>\n
\"All of that we are prepared to put back if Australia were to
\nrecommend such policy as recommended now by the Labor Party,\"
\nRamos Horta told ABC radio.<\/p>\n
\"When you acknowledge that Australia was wrong for too long,
\nit required courage and humility to say that we were wrong, let's
\nchange. So they cannot but be highly commended for this
\ncourageous stance.\"<\/p>\n
An Australian commitment to a referendum on independence was
\nthe crucial issue because it would ensure stability, he said.<\/p>\n
The Darwin-based East Timorese International Support Center
\nsaid in a letter to Brereton that wounds suffered by East
\nTimorese under past Labor governments \"still fester.\"<\/p>\n
It urged Labor if it won government to review Australia's
\nmilitary ties with Indonesia \"in order to give substance to your
\npromises yesterday.\"<\/p>\n
The center said it was alarmed by reports that Canberra
\nintended to maintain close links with the Indonesian military
\ndespite evidence it has committed atrocities throughout Indonesia
\nand East Timor.<\/p>\n
Ramos Horta also challenged Australia's conservative
\ngovernment to commit itself to a referendum on East Timorese
\nindependence.<\/p>\n
But his call was rejected by Foreign Minister Alexander
\nDowner, who said improving the situation in East Timor was better
\ndone by encouraging the Indonesian government and creating a
\ndialog about the area's future.<\/p>\n
Downer also rejected Labor's new policy.<\/p>\n
\"I don't think anyone should take seriously Labor's position,
\nthey had 13 years to address this issue and stood on the shores
\nof Australia and just stared at East Timor,\" Downer said.<\/p>\n
Under the government of then Labor prime minister Robert Hawke
\nin 1985, Australia was the first Western country to recognize
\nJakarta's sovereignty over East Timor prior to signing a treaty
\nto share revenue from oil exploration in the Timor Gap with
\nIndonesia.<\/p>",
"url": "https:\/\/jawawa.id\/newsitem\/labor-party-backs-self-determination-for-east-timor-1447893297",
"image": ""
},
"sponsor": "Okusi Associates",
"sponsor_url": "https:\/\/okusiassociates.com"
}