TNI fortified by West's approach to East Timor

TNI fortified by West's approach to East Timor

By Amir Sidharta

JAKARTA (JP): Following the announcement of the result of the
Aug. 30 East Timor direct ballot on Sept. 4, 1999, pro-Indonesia
militia, armed with homemade and other weapons, wreaked immense
havoc in East Timor, pushing Dili into chaos.

They attacked the headquarters of the United Nations Mission
in East Timor (UNAMET), burned villages and shot at refugees.
They even attacked a Red Cross compound and burned the home of
Bishop Carlos Felipe Ximenes Belo.

Meanwhile, Indonesian police assigned to maintain law and
order in the territory, stood by and watched without reacting
adequately against the militia's violent acts. It was only after
the UN Security Council met on the issue on Sept. 6, that the
military acted the following day, and this was even following an
Indonesian Military decision to impose martial law in the region.

The United Nations' humanitarian concern over the violence
happening in East Timor led to a demand to dispatch an
international peacekeeping force in the region.

While Australia prepared to send their troops, hundreds of
Australians took to the streets, and groups even burned the
Indonesian flag.

These actions led to a negative reaction from groups of
Indonesian students, who protested against the United Nations and
the West, in particular Australia.

Whereas in the past they would protest against Soeharto, and
the dual function of the Indonesian Military and their presence
in the House of Representatives, this time they blamed President
B.J. Habibie for offering the option of independence to East
Timor.

However, at the same time, they accused UNAMET of manipulating
the ballots and lying about the situation in the region.

Citing the 1978 decree of the People's Consultative Assembly
which incorporated East Timor into Indonesia, politicians,
including reformist politicians, insisted that based on that
decree, East Timor was still part of the sovereign state of
Indonesia.

Many Indonesians are now condemning the people of East Timor,
who have opted for their independence, for being ungrateful for
the enormous material and moral support that Indonesia channeled
into the region to ensure development.

Due to government-regulated less than impartial information
available about East Timor, little do they know that a major part
of the funds channeled to the region was used to ensure a firm
grip on power and maintain a repressive military presence.

Now, they could not care less about the real reason
why the East Timorese opted for independence as opposed to
becoming part of Indonesia.

The threat of aggression against Indonesia has triggered a
potent narrow nationalism within certain segments of Indonesian
society, causing them to forget who their real enemy actually is.

This nationalistic fervor has overshadowed the fact that the
decision of the East Timorese people to become independent from
Indonesia was made through a democratic process, which is
something for which they themselves struggled for prior to the
fall of Soeharto's oppressive regime.

It has also led students to overlook two of their main
enemies: Soeharto and the role of the military in politics. They
are the ones to blame for starting and causing all of East
Timor's problems.

They turn a blind eye to the fact that the 1978 Parliamentary
Act which legitimizes Indonesia's annexation of East Timor was a
product of the New Order regime, and should be reviewed in a
highly critical manner.

Whereas in the past, students fought idealistically for the
people in the name of humanity and democracy, today the issue has
been degraded to plain and blind nationalism.

This blind nationalism causes people to tend to tolerate and
even accept the mistakes of the New Order regime, and forget
about their demands for democracy and their concern for humanity
and justice.

In effect, although this nationalism seems to undermine
Habibie's position, it may strengthen the military and the status
quo's grip on power.

Therefore, it may be important for the international community
to reconsider their approach in condemning the horrendous
violence that has happened and might still be continuing in East
Timor. The international community should shift the focus of
their widely-directed political condemnation against Indonesia
and the Indonesian people, to condemnation based on humanitarian
concerns, directed only against the excesses of the New Order
regime, including Habibie's incompetent government and the
military.

By following this course of action, the international
community will avoid triggering outbreaks of blind and narrow
nationalism, which will only strengthen the military and the
status quo's position.

This approach may also remind the Indonesian people that their
struggle is against the mistakes of the New Order and Habibie's
supposedly "reformist" rule, and not against democracy, justice
and humanity.

Only by working together with the Indonesian people, can the
world help to put and end to a tyranny that has been allowed to
continue for 33 years.

The writer is an observer of political affairs.