East Timor at issue

East Timor at issue

The issue of East Timor cannot be separated from solutions
that favor helping the people's welfare. Reading various reports
and articles on East Timor in The Jakarta Post reminded me of my
stay in Madison, Wisconsin, four years ago. It was in the summer
during the Southeast Asia Summer Institute, including a program
showing films from Southeast Asian countries.

While reading a list of films to be shown, I was surprised
that a film from East Timor was designated separately from the
heading of Indonesia. I asked the organizer, East Timor Action
Network, why it was not included in the Indonesian section. They
told me that it depended on your perspective.

I was not in the mood for arguing, so I entered the building
to see the film on the Santa Cruz massacre in 1991. Before the
movie, they distributed fliers, pamphlets, brochures and
articles: We must keep telling so people know the truth, the
testimony of Fatima Gusmao, an East Timorese woman; To resist is
to win statements by Jose Alexandre "Xanana" Gusmao, leader of
the East Timorese Resistance; East Timor: Death of a nation by
John Pilger and Indonesia: Mass extermination and the
consolidation of authoritarian power by Carmel Budiardjo.

It was one-sided information brought to the public in the hope
of attracting international awareness on the issue of East Timor.
Outsiders would be content and satisfied if there was something
very bad going on in our country. None of the many international
organizations which support the independence of East Timor gave
any assistance to halt the many riots, or gave a hand to the
people suffering in the dispute called mahidi -- life or death
for integration or proindependence. Indonesia has always taken
the blame for wrongdoing in the troubled province.

Since East Timor is part of Indonesia, it is our obligation to
solve the East Timorese people's problems, and not let them be
encumbered by them. Indonesia is neither an imperialist nor
colonial country. We would not have sent our troops to East Timor
in December 1975 without help from the United States, Britain and
Australia.

We urge the finding of solutions that can uplift the welfare
of the East Timorese. But to let them choose the option offered
by the Habibie administration would only make the issue worse.

HAFIANSYAH MEGE

Jakarta