[NYTr] Australian troops exposed as occupation force in East Timor

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Workers World - Sep 6, 2007 issue
http://www.workers.org/2007/world/east-timor-0906


Australian troops exposed as occupation force in East Timor

By John Catalinotto

Recent events in East Timor have exposed the role 1,500 Australian
troops are playing there as an army of occupation.

In a political maneuver, pro-Australian officials in East Timor have
violated the constitution in order to keep Fretilin, the main party
that fought for liberation, out of the government. Fretilin leaders
called the maneuver a “constitutional coup” and have opened a popular
struggle in an attempt to reverse it.

East Timor, which is about the size of Massachusetts, now has a
population of almost 1 million. It occupies the eastern half of an
island on the southeastern end of the Indonesian archipelago in the
Indian Ocean, about 200 miles from Australia’s northern coast.

U.S. progressives know of East Timor mainly for its people’s
23-year-long struggle against a brutal occupation by the Indonesian
military regime that started in 1975 and was backed by Washington.

Under the leadership of Fretilin, the people of East Timor had won
independence from Portugal earlier in 1975 in the aftermath of a
progressive revolution in Portugal itself. Following the U.S.-backed
Indonesian invasion later that year, Fretilin organized resistance to
the Indonesian occupiers.

The Indonesian military carried out a genocidal policy against the
Timorese, killing some 200,000 people.

The military regime was ousted in Indonesia itself in 1998. In August
1999 East Timor voted for independence in a referendum. The Indonesian
occupiers had to pull out, but their agents in East Timor—organized in
armed militias—fought a last-ditch battle against the poorly armed
Timorese people.

At the time, many progressives and even Timorese independence fighters
welcomed a United Nations intervention force, led by Australia, hoping
it would end the fighting and save lives. But capitalist Australia is a
junior partner to U.S. imperialism in the South Pacific/Indian Ocean
region, as was shown by Australia’s intervention in Iraq and
Afghanistan.

Australia defends and protects the interests of imperialist
corporations that exploit the raw materials of nearby South Pacific
islands, including the Bougainville autonomous region of Papua New
Guinea. In East Timor, this means preventing a really sovereign
government from ruling in Dili, the East Timorese capital. It also
means facilitating the exploitation of oil fields in the seas between
East Timor and Australia by imperialist corporations.

The constitutional coup

Using its military and economic power as leverage, the Australian
regime has actively undermined Fretilin’s position. Australian
conniving has succeeded in pulling some former Timorese independence
leaders into the imperialist orbit. This includes the current
president, Jose Ramos-Horta—who has gone so far as to publicly support
the U.S. occupation of Iraq—and the person currently named prime
minister, Xanana Gusmao. Their break with the independence movement and
collaboration with Australia has undermined the sovereignty of the
Timorese people.

Fretilin, which led the independence struggle against both the
Portuguese and the Indonesians, retains tremendous popular support.
Though Fretilin lost the 55-percent parliamentary majority it had won
in 2001, it still was the leading party in the parliamentary election
this June 30, winning 29 percent of the vote. According to the
constitution, Fretilin should have been invited to name the new prime
minister and form the government.

Though Fretilin offered to form a broad government representing all
parties, Ramos-Horta violated the constitution and asked Gusmao to form
the government with an anti-Fretilin coalition.

In an Aug. 6 statement, Fretilin’s Political Commission said
Ramos-Horta’s invitation to Gusmao was contrary to the constitution and
deprived the Timorese people of their choice. Fretilin said it would
take all legal actions necessary to reverse this maneuver. There
followed mass demonstrations in and around Dili protesting the new
regime, with Fretilin slogans calling Gusmao a traitor. Australian
troops intervened against the demonstrations.

In a statement on Aug. 21, Fretilin Sec-retary General Mari Alkatiri
denounced the Australian troops occupying his country, saying, “They
had better go home because they are not neutral.” Alkatiri, a former
prime minister, is considered the political leader most committed to
defending Timorese sovereignty. He has fought for a better deal for
East Timor regarding the offshore oil and is always demonized by the
Australian government and the right-wing media owned by Rupert Murdoch.

Australian troops particularly angered the Timorese when they ripped
down Fretilin flags and used them to wipe their backsides. Since the
flag is not simply a party banner but that of East Timor’s liberation
struggle, Timorese objected angrily to this insult. Australian
authorities publicly apologized, blaming “rogue soldiers.” But Fretilin
leaders refused to accept Australia’s explanation, showing that the
Australian intervention has long outlived its welcome in East Timor.

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