An Outsider Looking In
Os vossos amigos nao vos esquecem.
by Chris Gelken

For additional photographs of East Timor atrocities, click here.

December 5th, 1997 -- Hong Kong (APJP) -- To Americans it is the day that will live in infamy. To the East Timorese it the day that their newly lit flame of independence and freedom was cruelly extinguished. The day the world decided to forget about them.

Well, perhaps that is not completely true. It is more likely the decision had been made in advance. The Indonesian invasion of East Timor wasn't completely unexpected. Advance units of the Indonesian army were already in the country.

In anticipation of a full scale attack, some foreigners began evacuating the East Timorese capital, Dili, on December 4th. In one of those coincidences and 'magic' bullet acts of chance, December 4th, 1975, was the day that then US President Gerald Ford and Henry Kissinger were due to arrive in Jakarta.

It wasn't until Ford's aircraft was airborne and en-route to Hawaii that the 'real' invasion began. The purpose of Ford's visit was apparently to give the 'big wink' to Suharto and his generals. Not unlike, one might be moved to say, April Glaspie's gentle nudge to Saddam Hussein.

The invasion troops were brutal. There is plenty of documented evidence to draw the conclusion that what happened in East Timor was (and to a degree still is) state-sponsored genocide. And they were using weapons made in the US and Europe. Apparently Kissinger was mad as hell. He'd reached an agreement with the Indonesians that US hardware would not be used in the attack. Let's face it, it would be embarrassing if some freelance photographer for Time or Newsweek got a picture of troops using American supplied equipment to slaughter women and children.

It wasn't the first time, nor will it be the last that poorly trained thugs in military uniforms carrying weapons made in the West have gone into 'battle' against unarmed civilians. But as the NRA would be quick to point out, it isn't the gun that kills, it is the hand that carries it. Yeah, but even the NRA has opinions on selling guns to known criminals. Governments, obviously, do not.

Officially, Portugal is still the sovereign power in East Timor. I remember interviewing the Portuguese envoy to Thailand a few years ago. He corrected my use of the term 'asylum seekers' for the East Timorese who manage to escape the horrors of their homeland by first storming foreign embassies in Jakarta.

"How does one seek asylum in one's own country," the envoy asked?

Okay, if Lisbon still considers East Timor part of its sovereign territory, why the hell hasn't Portugal and its so-called European allies taken firmer action to force Indonesia to abide by United Nations resolutions to quit the territory?

Trade. Business. Money. Influence. Strategic military interests. Screw the little guy.

While Britain and the United States have blood on their hands, perhaps the biggest hypocrite in the rape and torture of East Timor is Australia. The quote at the top of this column is in Portuguese. It was taken from leaflets dropped by Royal Australian planes over East Timor in 1943. It means "your friends do not forget you."

The messages were dropped in gratitude and recognition of the part East Timorese guerrillas played in protecting Australian commando units operating against the Japanese. In actions to protect their 'Anglo' friends the East Timorese took horrendous losses. Many in combat, but mostly innocents killed in reprisals by the Japanese Imperial Army. But it is widely accepted that their sacrifice perhaps prevented a Japanese invasion of Northern Australia. Indirectly, the US probably owes a debt of gratitude to the East Timorese. A Pacific with a Japanese occupied Northern Australia would have taken more marine lives to liberate.

Australia not only forgot its friends, it now joins efforts to prop up the regime that dominates them.

You know, sometimes when I am patiently standing in line at the immigration counter at some airport or other, I wonder what it must be like to be a government VIP. Red carpet, gun salutes, limo from the tarmac to the Presidential suite at the best hotel in town.

It passes the time to dream of the privileges that would accompany stepping into the shoes of someone who for reasons of political expediency has studiously ignored, quietly condoned, actively collaborated, or actually committed crimes against humanity. And let's not forget those who beat their breasts in anguish and issue strong condemnations along with export licences and end user certificates.

If I went next door and killed my neighbor I would be reviled as a murderer and get 20 years to life. If I wiped out a sizeable percentage of the population of some Third World nation I would probably be called a 'President' and get an IMF Gold Card. It doesn't strike me as being entirely fair. Does it you?