Goanet next meets in Goa: January 7, 4 pm (meeting point: Kala Academy canteen).
Goanet founder Herman Carneiro will be there. See you there!
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SOME OF US on Goanet have often been giving one side of the story over
East Timor. This is something picked up from the journal *Media
Development* issue 2/2003, which tells the story from another perspective.
Any comments?
One of the 20th century's biggest wars -- in terms of the
per capita deaths -- arose from the 1975 Indonesian invasion of
East Timor....
In 1974, the Portuguese military rebelled and overthrew
their government in Lisbon. The cost of fighting their
African colonial wars was bankrupting the country and
wrecking the military. The African colinies were put on
the path to independence. Half a globe away, little
thought was given to East Timor, one of the poorest parts
of that empire. The Portuguese wanted to get out as quickly
as possible, even thought little had been done to prepare
the colony for independence.
East Timor was in the middle of the island chain of
Indonesia. Indonesia was worried that a flourishing
democracy could create an incentive for parts of its own
country also to seek independence. On the other hand, if
an independent East Timor collapsed, then this could
create scope for the communist provision of aid and
so East Timor could become the 'Cuba of the South
Pacific'.
Indonesia's aggressive intentions were endorsed by
Australia. George Whitlam's Labour Government also feared
that East Timor could become a communist stronghold.
Besides, a continuous theme in Australian foreign policy
since Suharto's 1965 military takeover was to keep on
good terms with Indonesia while ignoring its appalling human
rights record.Meanwhile, the United States had been
driven out of Vietnam in April 1975 and so was also worried
about the risk of another communist victory...
This article is by Keith Suter, vice president of the International
Commission of Jurists (NSW).
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