From long resistance to ballot in East Timor

From long resistance to ballot in East Timor

JAKARTA (JP): Minister of Foreign Affairs Ali Alatas announced
in January that the East Timorese would be given the option of
remaining a part of Indonesia with wide-ranging autonomy or
independence.

President B.J. Habibie offered the second option in response
to Australian Prime Minister John Howard's proposal of a
referendum.

The independence movement began when the "Flower Revolution"
erupted in Portugal on April 25, 1974. This led all of the
country's colonies in Asia and Africa, including East Timor, to
launch a revolt for independence.

Less than a month later, Gen. Antonio de Spinola, who took
control in Portugal in a coup, declared democratic rights would
be accorded all its colonies, giving the East Timorese the green
light to establish political parties. The colony was also given
three options: autonomy under Portuguese rule, independence or
integration with Indonesia.

The five political parties set up by the East Timorese were
the communist Fretilin, which supported independence; Unicao
Democratia Timorense (UDT), which favored autonomy; and
Associacao Popular Democratica de Timor (Apodeti), Klibur Oan
Timor Aswain (KOTA) and the Trabalhista labor party, all of which
supported integration with Indonesia.

Civil war in East Timor erupted in 1974. The dominant Fretilin
killed thousands of East Timorese rivals. The Portuguese
administration moved from Dili to Atauro Island, north of the
provincial capital.

Then president Soeharto met with former Australian minister
Gouh Whitlam in Dieng, Wonosobo, Central Java, on Sept. 5, 1974.
Whitlam pledged Australia's support for East Timor's integration
into Indonesia. The U.S. also gave its approval, fearing a new
communist enclave in Asia.

The Indonesian Military launched the Seroja operation on Dec.
7, 1975 to fight the Fretilin regime, which declared East Timor's
independence on Nov. 28, 1975. Thousands of Fretilin rebels and
Indonesian troops were killed and crippled in the operation.

East Timor's other four political parties declared the
territory's integration into Indonesia on Nov. 29, 1975. The
integration was strengthened in a decree issued by the People's
Consultative Assembly on July 17, 1976.

The government then began financing development in its 27th
province, while continuing military operations to crush
separatists.

But new roads and schools failed to negate reports of human
rights abuses allegedly committed by the military. Many residents
joined the separatist movement to fight Indonesian soldiers.

Indonesia lost the international diplomatic battle in its
attempts to find a permanent solution to the East Timor issue.

The UN passed a number of resolutions on East Timor, including
UN Resolution No. 384 on Dec. 22, 1975, which called on Indonesia
to pull its troops out of East Timor.

As reports of rights violations decreased in the 1980s, the
East Timor issue was dropped a number times from the UN General
Assembly's agenda. At the 1982 UN General Assembly, the number of
countries opposing the territory's integration into Indonesia
decreased to 50 from 75 in 1975. Talks between Indonesia and
Portugal then began under the auspices of the UN.

East Timor again found itself in the international spotlight
when hundreds of East Timorese were killed by soldiers in Santa
Cruz on Nov. 12, 1991.

Former military commander Gen. (ret) Try Sutrisno set up a
team to investigate the incident. The chief of the East Timor
Military District, Col. R. Warouw, was discharged from the
military, and Maj. Gen. Sintong Pandjaitan, who was also held
responsible for the tragedy, was made inactive.

Since then Governor Jose Abilio Soares and Dili Bishop Carlos
Filipe Ximenes Belo repeatedly proposed special autonomy for East
Timor. The proposals were rejected by the Soeharto regime.

Following informal meetings between East Timorese leaders
overseas in 1993 and 1994, the UN organized the All-Inclusive
Intra-East Timorese Dialog in Austria in a move to encourage
reconciliation among East Timorese leaders, including Belo,
Abilio and Lopez da Cruz, Indonesia's ambassador at large on East
Timor. Subsequent talks produced few results.

Belo and Jose Ramos-Horta, an East Timorese leader living in
exile, won the Noble Peace Prize in 1996 -- a further blow to the
Indonesian government.

Following Soeharto's resignation on May 21, 1997, the military
agreed to gradually withdraw its troops from the territory and
Alatas offered the province a special status with extended
autonomy during the UN-sponsored tripartite talks with Portugal
last August. The offer was accepted by Portugal and the UN.

Indonesia and Portugal, under the auspices of UN Secretary-
General Kofi Annan, agreed on May 5, 1999 to hold the direct
ballot on East Timor's future.

The UN Mission in East Timor is organizing the ballot and is
scheduled to announce the results on Sept. 7, 1999. (rms)