End of a forced marriage
It has turned out to be a one-sided love affair, which sooner or later would end in separation. Only the neighbors were asking why it had to cost thousands of lives and unnecessary bloodshed. And why should it have to last more than two decades, victimize so many innocent children and deprive them of their future? Not to mention the miserable fate of the refugees.
More importantly, who should be blamed for such a tragic chapter in the nation's history? The nation was told Indonesian troops were sent in at the request of the local people to rescue them from foreign tyranny. The latest UN supervised referendum shows that almost 80 percent of its population opted for independence, free from the rigid semi-dictatorial domination under the former Soeharto regime.
Yes, I am lamenting over East Timor, which was abandoned by its former Portuguese rulers, and occupied by Indonesia in 1976 and later declared its 27th province. Diplomatic efforts did not convince the international community that Indonesia's step was legal. This has proved to be a shameful debacle. Indonesian foreign policy efforts sound like nice, empty diplomatic promises, although in good faith.
It was an unforgivable policy mistake from the outset not to allow the East Timorese people and other groups in the country to form political parties and be given the chance to express whatever aspirations they still entertained as to their own future. The policy of repression, void of democratic rights, political and cultural freedom, has never worked. If there were political parties there, the pro and antiindependence forces would not have resorted to violence and would have learned to settle their disputes in a civilized manner, precisely as the state ideology of Pancasila calls for. They could have entered a coalition in political sense.
Indonesian leaders accused others of colonial domination, not realizing that invading a neighbor's territory without international consent violated international law and human rights. The policy makers underestimated international relations. Now that the axe has fallen in favor of an independent East Timor domestically, there is no need to bring the case before the People's Consultative Assembly for its approval, since the territory is no longer under Indonesia's jurisdiction -- officially never has been. The people's choice can not be altered by the Assembly.
It now returns to the UN nongoverning territories authority. It is Indonesia's duty to prevent the past referendum conditions from deteriorating into another civil strife.
The whole world is now closely watching to see if independent East Timor will be willing to cooperate with its powerful neighbors Indonesia and Australia and become a member of ASEAN or, most likely, fall under the influence of NATO, and become a new military base of a superpower.
GANDHI SUKARDI
Jakarta