Film on East Timor sparks ire in South Africa

JAKARTA (JP): The airing of the Death of a Nation, a documentary film about East Timor, on South African television has sparked ire among the Moslem community there who say it could harm relations between Jakarta and Pretoria.

A statement signed by South African National Assembly member Imam Gassan Solomon and the head of the Moslem Judicial Council, asserted the sharp reaction on the part of the half-million Moslems of Indonesian origin, in Cape Town and other areas.

"Dishonest and damaging journalism of the kind which this film is trying to propagate can only be detrimental to the millions of historically marginalized blacks in South Africa who can benefit from good relations between South Africa and Indonesia," they said in a recent statement, a copy of which the Ministry of Foreign Affairs made available yesterday.

South African privately run television station, NNN, aired the film on Sept. 19 despite prior objections from the Moslem Judicial Council, which called it "part of the Portuguese conspiracy against Indonesia".

Produced by Australian journalist John Pilger and British filmmaker Max Stahl, the film accuses government soldiers of killing survivors of the 1991 Dili incident when troops opened fire on unarmed demonstrators. The official death toll was 50, but others put this number much higher.

The film alleges that some 200 survivors of the bloody incident were taken to a military hospital where they were brutally murdered.

When the film was released early last year, Indonesian Minister of Foreign Affairs Ali Alatas called it "too sensationalistic and unbelievable" and void of factual evidence.

The former Portuguese colony of East Timor was integrated as Indonesia's 27th province in 1976. (mds)