Picket calls for disarming of militia
By Liam Mitchell
SYDNEY — A picket outside the Sydney offices of Garuda Airlines on April 15 demanded that the Indonesian government disarm the pro-integration militias responsible for massacres in Liquica and other parts of East Timor and that the regime withdraw its military from East Timor.
The picket, which was called by Action in Solidarity with Indonesia and East Timor (ASIET), the Australia East Timor Association (AETA), Fretilin and Amnesty International, attracted some 40 people. Participants condemned the Australian government's support for the Indonesian government's occupation of East Timor and the role of the military in Indonesian society.
Max Lane, national coordinator of ASIET, spoke of the ties between the East Timorese independence movement and the democracy movement in Indonesia, saying that the Indonesian government is threatening supporters of Timorese independence. The People's Democratic Party (PRD) has been threatened with banning for its opposition to the elections taking place in East Timor.
Speakers from AETA and Amnesty International spoke of the killings that have taken place in East Timor and the risk to people's lives posed by the militia. Fretilin representatives Estanislau da Silva and Naldo Rai addressed the gathering, calling for international action to aid the Timorese people.