Letter from Max Lane to East Timorese activists and supporters in Sydney, Australia Dear friends of East Timor, I am writing to you at this time of suffering, crisis and struggle in East Timor to reaffirm the commitment of all the activists of ASIET to campaign in solidarity with the East Timorese people. The recent actions and manoeuvres of the Habibie regime and the Indonesian military and the brutal, cruel and terroristic campaigns of the ABRI backed terror gang militias once again emphasise the necessity of increasing pressure from organised and mobilised public opinion. Habibie was forced to retreat on the question of East Timor last January as a result of the struggle of the East Timorese people and of international solidarity pressure. Now the Indonesian regime and military is trying to take back what has been squeezed out of it. ASIET commits itself to escalating its activities and its support for other groups' activities in support of East Timor. ASIET will be organising weekly and emergency pickets of the Indonesian consulate and the Indonesian Trade Promotion Centre in Sydney and Melbourne and will be organising emergency speak-outs in other cities. ASIET is calling for large FREE EAST TIMOR rallies at the start of all May Day marches and rallies in Australia and for supporters of East Timor to help form big FREE EAST TIMOR contingents in the May Day marches. We would like to work together with CNRT, FRETILIN, UDT and all East Timorese activists and all East Timorese solidarity groups to make these contingents as big as possible. ASIET restates its commitment to help make the International Day of Solidarity with Indonesian and East Timorese Students on May 22 as big as possible. In all these campaigns, ASIET supports the following demands: (1) that the Indonesian armed forces (ABRI) immediately disarm the ABRI-backed terror gangs and withdraw all its forces from East Timor (2) that a United Nations presence be allowed in East Timor to monitor this withdrawal (3) that there be a U.N. supervised referendum on self-determination in East Timor as soon as possible (4) that the Australian government immediately suspend all military ties with Jakarta (5) that the Australian government immediately end its recognition of Indonesian sovereignty over East Timor, which is also the position of the United Nations resolutions We look forward to working with you on making the FREE EAST TIMOR rally and contingent at May Day and the International Day of Solidarity with East Timorese and Indonesian Students as successful as possible. Yours in solidarity, Max Lane, National Coordinator, ASIET ACTION IN SOLIDARITY WITH INDONESIA AND EAST TIMOR (ASIET) P.O. BOX 458, BROADWAY NSW 2007, AUSTRALIA. Telephone: 61-(0)2-96901230 Fax: 61-(0)2-96901381 Email: [EMAIL PROTECTED] Webpage: http://www.peg.apc.org/~asiet Free all kidnap victims of the military! No more military in politics! Bring to justice all New Order violators of human rights! Free Xanana Gusmao! Free Budiman Sujatmiko! Free Dita Sari! Free all political prisoners in Indonesia and East Timor! Unban the books of Pramoedya Ananta Toer! -- Leftlink - Australia's Broad Left Mailing List mailto:[EMAIL PROTECTED] http://www.alexia.net.au/~www/mhutton/index.html Sponsored by Melbourne's New International Bookshop Subscribe: mailto:[EMAIL PROTECTED]?Body=subscribe%20leftlink Unsubscribe: mailto:[EMAIL PROTECTED]?Body=unsubscribe%20leftlink
