By Wendy Robertson
Last year, the socialist youth organisation Resistance launched an Australia-wide campaign in support of East Timor's independence. The highlight of the campaign was the October 15 National Day of Action, mobilising 1300 high school students, university students, workers and East Timorese in cities all around the country.
We demonstrated in opposition to the Australian government's support of the Indonesian occupation of East Timor and showed our determination to fight Australian oil companies drilling in the Timor Sea.
This year Resistance will continue its campaign and has called another National Day of Action for May 13, under the banner "Free East Timor — No Military Ties with Suharto".
History of resistance
On November 12, 1991, in Dili, the capital of East Timor, several thousand Timorese youth marched to the Santa Cruz cemetery to protest against the murder of young student radical Sebastio Gomez. This peaceful march was attacked by Indonesian soldiers and security forces, resulting in the deaths of more than 200 people. Hundreds more were wounded.
While massacres are common in East Timor, the presence of foreign journalists on November 12 meant that millions of people around the world saw the video footage of Indonesian troops opening fire and beating those who were wounded and couldn't escape. Public opinion was outraged by the actions of the Indonesian regime.
The Indonesian government blamed the victims for the slaughter. Speaking about the Dili massacre, Indonesian General Try Sutrisno made the infamous comment, "These people should be shot, and we will shoot them". In return for his comments, he received a promotion.
Australian foreign affairs minister Gareth Evans claimed that the massacre was an "aberration", not part of Indonesian government policy to systematically wipe out all resistance by the East Timorese people. This has been typical of the Labor government's attitude to the Suharto dictatorship.
Massacres and suppression have characterised the entire 19-year Indonesian occupation of East Timor. Since the invasion in 1975, it is estimated that at least 200,000 East Timorese have been killed — one third of the population. Expressions of East Timorese culture are prohibited; in schools, students must speak Indonesian and learn Indonesian history.
In 1994, when Try Sutrisno visited Australia, Resistance joined with other groups to organise a large and angry demonstration opposing the brutal Indonesian occupation of East Timor and the Australian government's complicity with the Suharto regime.
Despite the repression, the resistance movement in East Timor is gathering strength. The Dili march symbolised the continuing determination of the East Timorese people, in particular the youth, to fight for freedom and independence from Indonesian rule.
ALP betrayal
Resistance has focused its campaign on condemning the Indonesian occupation of East Timor and exposing the Australian government's complicity. The key demand of the October 15 National Day of Action was "Australia out of the Timor Gap".
The Australian government plays a key role in justifying and maintaining the brutal Indonesian occupation. Before the invasion, the Australian Prime Minister Gough Whitlam met with Suharto and made it clear he supported the incorporation of East Timor into Indonesia.
More recently, Prime Minister Paul Keating was described as "our comrade in arms" by Indonesia's ambassador to Canberra after Keating returned from Washington, where he called on the United States to go softer on Jakarta's atrocious human rights record.
The signing of the Timor Gap Treaty between the Australian and Indonesian governments in 1989 has allowed Australian oil companies to steal East Timor's natural resources. The treaty is against international law, as Indonesia is not recognised by the United Nations as sovereign over East Timor. Despite many UN resolutions, no action has been taken to force Indonesia out of East Timor and to stop the systematic abuse of human rights of East Timorese by the Indonesian regime.
The Australian government will not act against Indonesia because support for the Suharto dictatorship is profitable. The oil in the Timor Gap is now estimated to be greater than that in Bass Strait. Today, Indonesia is Australia's eighth largest export market and direct Australian investment is over $1.3 billion. More than 120 Australian companies are active in Indonesia.
Cut military ties!
Economic and military ties go hand in hand with military ties. Australia has closer bilateral military ties with Indonesia than with any other country. While continuing to campaign against the Timor Gap Treaty, the Resistance National Day of Action on May 13 this year will focus on exposing the military ties between the Australian and Indonesian governments.
The Resistance campaign to cut military ties with Suharto will involve the National Day of Action, a petition campaign against the Timor Gap Treaty and campaign stalls on campuses and on the streets. In February and March there will be public forums with East Timorese and Australian speakers on the latest political, diplomatic and solidarity developments.
Resistance has invited guest speakers from the struggle in East Timor and the struggle against the Suharto dictatorship within Indonesia, to its national conference in July, and in conjunction with AKSI (Indonesia Solidarity Action) is planning a national speaking tour by Indonesian and East Timorese activists.
Currently, the Australian Defence Force trains the elite Kopassus commando unit, responsible for brutal acts of violence within East Timor and Indonesia. More military cooperation is on the ALP government's agenda.
Prime Minister Keating has invited the Indonesian military to participate in Kangaroo '95, the largest ever war games on Australian soil. Joint naval and air force training exercises are set to increase. Gareth Evans has approved in principle a deal to sell $100 million worth of combat rifles to the Suharto dictatorship.
Resistance Sydney branch organiser Trish Corcoran says, "As activists in Australia, we have a responsibility to campaign against the role of the Australian government and businesses in East Timor, and in support of East Timor's independence. In 1995, there is even more reason to continue the struggle. The year began in East Timor with demonstrations and arrests, and activists from East Timor have told Resistance that Indonesian troops parade the streets shouting that they will repeat the massacre of November 1991 should the people try such protests again.
"While East Timorese youth continue to struggle against the Indonesian military occupation, young people in Australia must also fight. We call on everyone, particularly young people, to join the struggle and help build the National Day of Action on May 13."