The Current Violence in Timor-Leste
Statement by the East Timor and Indonesia Action Network (ETAN) on May 27, 2006
We have watched the unfolding situation in Timor-Leste this past week with
deep concern. We do not believe that events had to escalate to this point.
Like others, we do not have complete information about the current situation
and its causes. Below are our initial reflections:
The intervention by foreign military and police forces is a sad event for
Timor-Leste, whose hard-won political independence has had to be laid aside -
we hope for only a short time - because leaders and state institutions have
been unable to manage certain violent elements of the population and security
forces.
Now that foreign forces are being deployed -- at the request of Timor-Leste's
government, with the stated support of rebel leaders, and the welcome by most
of a terrified population -- we hope that they serve their intended purpose in
quelling the violence and allowing negotiations and a peaceful resolution, as
well as the identification and arrest of those who have committed crimes.
Outside intervention is a temporary solution at best. Timor-Leste must find
ways, with respectful support from the international community, to deal with
problems in a manner that will not require troops.
Statements by Australian government leaders that providing security assistance
entitles them to influence over Timor-Leste's government are undemocratic,
paternalistic, and unhelpful. Who governs Timor-Leste is a decision to be made
by its people within its constitution.
Key countries -- including those now sending troops and police -- must examine
their roles in relation to the new nation, including the training provided to
Timor-Leste's security forces. Australia bears special responsibility for
Timor's underdevelopment by refusing to return revenues, totaling billions of
dollars, from the disputed petroleum fields in the Timor Sea, including
Laminaria-Corallina, and by bullying Timor-Leste into forsaking revenues that
should rightfully belong to it under current international law and practice.
As in 1999, we must not forget that the Australian government's actions have
contributed to the situations their peacekeepers have now been sent to
correct. Australia should not view its current assistance to Timor-Leste as a
favor, to be repaid, but instead as a partial repayment for the debt Australia
owes the Timorese people for its help during WW II and for Australia's deep
complicity in Indonesia's invasion and occupation.
Independent Timor-Leste had a violent birth. The legacy of Indonesian
occupation left the people of the new nation deeply traumatized and
impoverished, without governmental institutions and experience. Those who
orchestrated, implemented and aided the illegal occupation have never been
held accountable.We wonder if international and Timorese failures to ensure
justice have led some in Timor-Leste to believe that their own use of violence
would be met with similar impunity. As described in the recent report of
Timor-Leste's Commission for Reception, Truth and Reconciliation (CAVR),
several countries - among them U.S., U.K., and Australia - bear a special
responsibility to ensure justice and accountability due to their action and
inaction from 1975 on. Reparations, as called for by the CAVR, would help
alleviate the poverty and joblessness that have fueled some of the unrest.
It must not be forgotten that despite its many problems, the transition from
occupation to UN administration to independence has been relatively peaceful,
especially when compared to the experiences of many other post-colonial
countries. We hope that the recent violence -- which appears to have complex
causes -- proves to be an exception. We urge the key political, security force
and other actors in the current crisis to evaluate their own actions and
recommit themselves to the spirit of national unity and public service, which
so ably provided the foundation for the independence movement. Timor-Leste
needs to examine whether or not it wants a military and, if so, what is its
purpose. In addition to addressing the past, the CAVR report provides useful
recommendations for implementing rule of law and improving justice and
accountability in independent Timor-Leste.
We urge the international community and the UN, especially the Security
Council, to work with Timor-Leste to complete the nation-building and
development tasks to which they have already committed. If Timor-Leste is to
become the success story it has already been portrayed as, further
international support is necessary. However, this support must be given in an
honest spirit that supports real self-determination and empowers the Timorese
people to take full charge of their own destiny.
ETAN advocates for democracy, justice and human rights for East Timor and
Indonesia. ETAN calls for an international tribunal to prosecute crimes
against humanity committed in East Timor from 1975 to 1999 and for
restrictions on U.S. military assistance to Indonesia until there is genuine
reform of its security forces.
For additional background, see https://www.etan.org and https://www.etan.org%3ewww.etan.org/
May 2006
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