Patriotism versus truth

Comments by President B.J. Habibie, Gen. Wiranto and the Indonesian Democratic Party of Struggle (PDI Struggle) adviser Kwik Kian Gie, in The Jakarta Post Feb. 24 edition perpetuate the dogma that East Timor was "integrated", not "occupied".

Indonesian annexation of East Timor in 1975 was, according to Habibie, an act of "charity". East Timor, asserted Wiranto, was "an integral part of Indonesia". Kwik Kian Gie proposed all Indonesia be allowed to vote on East Timor's independence, presupposing that all Indonesia had legal and moral rights over East Timor.

An analogy with former Portuguese colony Angola illustrates the absurdity of Kwik's proposal. The losers of the civil war in Angola in 1975 appealed to South Africa for assistance. South Africa immediately re-equipped the defeated army and bolstered it with South African "volunteers".

Imagine if South Africa had then mounted a full scale invasion of Angola and organized its Angolan rebel allies to vote for Angola's "integration" into South Africa. Imagine if, after 23 years of guerrilla warfare against Angolan independence fighters, South Africa had finally agreed to a referendum. Would all South Africans be entitled to vote on Angola's independence? If many South Africans had been transplanted in Angola to boost support for integration, would they be entitled to vote?

Habibie's, Wiranto's and Kwik's comments suggest integration with Indonesia was widely supported in East Timor in 1975. However, East Timor's civil war in August 1975 was fought between Uniao Democratica Timorense (UDT) and Fretilin, neither of whom initially supported integration with Indonesia.

Fretilin won the war in less than three weeks. Conflict was then revived in September 1975 because the defeated UDT forces were bolstered by Indonesian equipment and "volunteers". This is why the new war from September to December 1975 was only fought in the far west of East Timor, next to the Indonesian border (Then in December, Indonesia itself invaded Dili).

It was only UDT and Apodeti supporters who eventually signed East Timor's integration with Indonesia. Most Fretilin supporters had, at that time, fled to the mountains. There they carried out a full-scale guerrilla war until famine in 1977 and new, low- flying U.S. bombers ("broncos") in 1978 forced mass surrenders.

Since Fretilin fighters and supporters were able to win the civil war in less than three weeks and were able to carry out a full-scale guerrilla war against Indonesia for three years, they surely represented a large proportion of the population. Would they have viewed Indonesia's annexation as "charity" and democratically conducted "integration"?

Habibie's, Wiranto's and Kwik's comments reflect admirable patriotism. But which is more beneficial to Indonesia in the long run: a patriotic myth or a painful truth about Indonesia's moral and legal rights in East Timor?

TERRY RUSSELL

Jakarta