Australian troops in East Timor

Nova Poerwadi's article History binds RI and Australia published in The Jakarta Post on Oct. 13, 1999 is full of all sorts of Indonesian misconceptions about what is happening in East Timor.

Mr. Poerwadi's assertion that Australia is involved "in dictating (Indonesian) domestic policy" belies the reality of what Australian troops are doing in East Timor. He makes the increasingly common mistake of confusing UN troops for Australian troops.

The Australian troops are there under the auspices of the United Nations. This is the key point because the UN has never recognized Indonesia's sovereign claims over East Timor. Poerwadi seems to ignore this fact. Given this reality, it is hardly a case of Australia dictating domestic policy to Indonesia. It is a case of the UN pressuring Indonesia over what, as far as the UN is concerned, is not domestic policy because it does not recognize East Timor as part of Indonesia.

Mr. Poerwadi then adds his own simplistic views on the matter by failing to distinguish between different groups within Australian society. He asserts that while "Canberra has insisted that their quarrel has never been with the Indonesian people, conditions on the ground were much different". He then goes on to talk about protests at Indonesian missions and union boycotts, as if the Australian government was behind these. Clearly, Mr. Poerwadi cannot distinguish between the Australian government, Australian labor unions and those who choose to protest.

Furthermore, Mr. Poerwadi asserts that Westerners (who, if we believe Mr. Poerwadi, all share the same history and views) fail to understand how deep Indonesian mistrust of Westerners is because Westerners have never been subject to systematic racism. This demonstrates an awesome lack of knowledge of history. European history is one long example of racism and racist wars. Indonesia freed itself from colonial oppression just over 50 years ago, about the same time that Europe was freeing itself from occupation by Nazi Germany, where racism was one of the government's central platforms. Indeed, no Indonesian under the age of 50 has lived under the oppression of another power, although all of them have lived under the oppression of a nasty regime.

Nor is Mr. Poerwadi's comparison of the republican debate in Australia and Indonesia's presidential election anywhere close to the mark. The republican debate in Australia is over whether to replace its monarch as head of state -- a largely ceremonial position in all but the most extreme of circumstances. It is not a debate on whether Australia should become "self-ruling people". Australians have ruled themselves since the turn of the century.

There is no doubt that Australia has badly handled the East Timor crisis and will pay the price for doing so. And certainly Australian Prime Minister John Howard's provocative and ill- considered comments on the so-called "Howard Doctrine" did not help and were an embarrassment.

Indonesians have a right to be angry over this. But they should be very clear about what they are angry about. The troops in East Timor are there because the international community, not just Australia -- through the UN Security Council -- wanted an end to the bloodshed.

Blaming Australia for it will not take away Indonesia's shame. Indonesia would be better off asking itself why almost 90 percent of East Timorese voted to separate from it. Then, hopefully, these mistakes can be avoided in other parts of the country and Indonesians can all work toward building the democratic and prosperous future they are entitled to.