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KOLOM SUPANGKAT:
WHY ON EARTH IS INDONESIA HOLDING ITS OWN SAVIOUR?
Politics is politics, whether it is on international or national stage. Like
the old say-
ing goes: in politics we have strange bedfellows. We never say never in
politics.
I am talking about Realpolitik or Practical Politics, not political science.
Politics is as resourceful as the actors themselves, a good politician never
runs
short of ideas, for good or for worse. They always have ideas, nothing but
ideas.
I am very disappointed with the Indonesian politicos, they are short of ideas
on
this East Timor issue so that Britain and Australia have to interfere to break
the
deadlock in the Tripartite.
However, there is still an opening for them to put a finesse or savoir-faire
by in-
volving Xanana Gusmao who is being condemned for 20 years as a common
criminal. At the sentencing of Xanana, there was no single soul left from the
1945 generation of independence fighters except for Suharto himself and Ru-
dini. Nobody appreciated Xanana as an independence fighter they once were.
Vice President Try Sutrisno branded Xanana as "a rat".
Independence struggle is still a struggle even against Indonesia, the champion
of independence struggle in Asia and Africa. The Cold War has turned them in-
to an ultra-rightist power thanks to the ultra-leftist PKI.
Indonesia never admitted being used by the US, they claimed to have rid of the
PKI on its own without American help. Right now I don't want to go into this
controversial issue about who is using whom in the Cold War era, especially
about this abortive coup d'etat.
The US never asked Indonesia to do its things in East Timor, neither Henry
Kis-
singer nor President Ford ever alerted Suharto on the danger of communism from
East Timor. According to the Indonesian Intelligence who accompanied Raja
Maria
Concalves to the UN in December 1975, it was them who asked the US for help
in East Timor for an "umbrella protection" like the maneuvering of the Seventh
Fleet to scare off the Chinese and the Soviet Armada.
The Cold War is over, the political constellation in the world has changed
drastical-
ly. But Suharto and his generals are still deeply embedded in the Cold War
era,
eventhough there is no longer the dreaded communist danger for take-over. They
are prisoners of their own false belief.
I see Xanana as the prospective saviour of Indonesia. But Jakarta feels
threaten-
ed by the humiliation of the implementation of self-determination formulated
by the
UN Decolonization Committee respected all over the world. The result would
be predictably a loss for the integrationists supported by Jakarta.
Indonesia could use Xanana as its saviour by giving him the amnesty and
letting
him together with other leaders of Dilli and Bishop Belo, Lopes da Cruz, Mario
Carrascalao, Raja Maria Concalves, Abilio Araujo, Abilio Soares, dos Amaral,
could be confronted on the round table with Ramos Horta, Joao Carrascalao,
Mari Alkateri to set up a provisional regime under United Nations auspices..
Let the East Timorese do the self-determination their way without intervention
neither from Indonesia nor from other outside powers except the UN.
Australia and Great Britain have sponsored new ideas, the implementation of
which depends on Xanana and all East Timorese leaders now still under Indone-
sia's control. As far as I am concerned Xanana is an idependence fighter who
deserved to be released on his own recognizance right away.
H.S. Hidayat Supangkat
New York
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Didistribusikan tgl. 26 Feb 1999 jam 22:07:27 GMT+1
oleh: Indonesia Daily News Online <[EMAIL PROTECTED]>
http://www.Indo-News.com/
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