Our moment of shame<\/p>\n
For a nation that prides itself on being one of the few in the
\nworld to constitutionally enshrine the principle of \"just and
\ncivilized humanity\", Indonesians should be appalled by events
\ncurrently taking place in East Timor.<\/p>\n
After two weeks of death and destruction in the wake of the
\nAug. 30 referendum, United Nations officials believe there are
\npresently some 200,000 displaced persons attempting to find
\nrefuge in the hills of East Timor. This is a conservative
\nestimate. The aid group East Timor International Support Center
\n(ETISC) puts the number of refugees much higher, at some 300,000
\nto 400,000 people. According to the group, refugees are believed
\nto be scattered in clusters across East Timor, deprived of food,
\nwater, shelter and even the most basic health care.<\/p>\n
Far from finding the safety they are seeking, however, even in
\nflight these people continue to be hunted by the armed pro-
\nJakarta militias which set off the killing and burning spree. And
\nneither is this murderous hunt confined to East Timor itself.<\/p>\n
Agence France Presse, quoting local sources, reports that the
\nterror campaign has begun to move across the border into the
\nprovince of East Nusa Tenggara. Atambua, a normally placid border
\ntown in the western half of the island of Timor and currently
\nhome to more than 100,000 refugees from East Timor, has become a
\nlawless place of gunfire, murder and kidnaping. Two people were
\nrecently shot dead by unidentified gunmen near a market in the
\ntown, and another person was reportedly kidnaped.<\/p>\n
Considering the circumstances, the fear that pro-Jakarta
\nmilitias are hunting down East Timorese refugees, seeking out
\nproindependence supporters in particular, and abducting them or
\nkilling them like animals appears to be well founded.<\/p>\n
Worst of all, as far as Indonesia's good standing in the
\ninternational community is concerned, the belief that elements of
\nthe Indonesian Army are involved in planning and carrying out the
\ncarnage continues to gain credence in the eyes of the world.<\/p>\n
One international observer, Dr. Andrew McNaughton from ETISC,
\nsaid: \" ... there is no doubt the Indonesian Army is engaged in
\nan attempted genocide; a final solution against the people of
\nEast Timor. We don't use these words lightly, (but) the way in
\nwhich this has been put together shows that it has been planned
\nfor weeks and months as a major operation.\"<\/p>\n
Whether such suspicions reflect reality, the fact remains that
\nthe Indonesian Military (TNI) has been unable to quell the
\nviolence, the killing and the destruction, even after martial law
\nin East Timor was declared. Given TNI's success in crushing such
\nmajor uprisings as the aborted 1965 communist coup, such an
\ninability is difficult to accept and gives rise to the suspicion
\nthat this seeming incompetence is purposeful.<\/p>\n
Whatever the case, there is one way the Indonesian Military
\ncan reclaim its reputation and good name; that is by accepting
\nthe establishment of an independent commission of inquiry to
\ninvestigate the entire East Timor affair. Whatever the outcome of
\nsuch an investigation, all those guilty of human rights abuses in
\nEast Timor must be brought to account for their crimes in an
\nindependent tribunal, without regard to person or position.<\/p>\n
However, the most urgent need is for Jakarta to do everything
\nwithin its power to stop the violence in East Timor, and agree
\nwithout delay to airdrop food and other emergency supplies to the
\nhundreds of thousands of refugees who are suffering inhuman
\nhardships in the hinterland of East Timor. Only by living up to
\nits professed adherence to the basic principle of civilized
\nhumanitarianism can Indonesia begin to regain some of its lost
\nprestige.<\/p>",
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"sponsor": "Okusi Associates",
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