Indonesia denies abuses in Timor

Indonesia denies abuses in Timor

By Jon Land

Indonesian authorities have reacted angrily to a film by British journalist Max Stahl which documents a second massacre soon after the shootings at Santa Cruz cemetery in Dili on November 12, 1991.

Stahl, who appeared on the ABC's Foreign Correspondent program on July 12, told of how he entered East Timor at the end of 1993 and interviewed survivors of the massacre as well as Konis Santana, the head of the Timorese armed resistance.

The program, which was beamed into Indonesia from Australia on July 14, details the killing of over 300 people who were either stoned to death or administered lethal injections of formaldehyde at a military hospital in Dili. Indonesian foreign affairs spokesperson Irawan Abidin maintains that only 50 people were killed, and that claims contrary to this are "innuendos, half truths and lies".

The film, Death of a Nation, which was co-produced by Stahl and John Pilger, was the first time the second massacre had been exposed. On July 8, after Channel 9 screened an unedited version of Death of a Nation in a late night time slot, there were 3000 telephone calls from people wanting to assist East Timor solidarity groups.

According to Gil Scrine, the film's distributor, $30,000 has been pledged to help with East Timor campaign and aid work. "This shows the issue of East Timor is a growing concern for the Australian public," Scrine told Green Left.

Xanana Gusmao, leader of the East Timorese resistance, condemned the close economic ties, between the Indonesian and Australian governments. He said that a "million dollar bridge" has been put ahead of the lives of the East Timorese people.

Gusmao recently meet with his wife and children for the time since 1975. In a statement smuggled out of Indonesia, he said that negotiations with Indonesia could only come about after a referendum to allow the the East Timorese to determine their future.

From GLW issue 151