Indonesia Tries to Pull ‘Thorn’ of Timor

When Indonesian soldiers parachuted into East Timor in 1975, in an invasion carried out with tacit U.S. approval, Marxist guerrillas in the island territory were there to greet them with a withering barrage of bullets. Many of the paratroopers died before hitting the ground.

That was the beginning of a 24-year association that has never gotten much friendlier. It turned the former Portuguese colony into what Indonesian presidential candidate Amien Rais has called “a thorn in our flesh.”

The world’s attention was drawn to East Timor in 1996, when the Nobel Peace Prize went to two of the most prominent campaigners for its independence, Roman Catholic Bishop Carlos Ximenes Belo and Jose Ramos-Horta. And now Indonesia is trying to deal with this “thorn.”

In a 180-degree reversal of policy, President B. J. Habibie said Jan. 27 that Jakarta is willing to give East Timor autonomy, including its own flag, parliament and political system. He added that if the East Timorese reject the offer, Indonesia will consider walking away, which would open the door for independence. East Timorese danced in the streets of Dili, their capital.

But the euphoria didn’t last long. Tensions and violence have increased between the vast majority of the 830,000 East Timorese who want independence and those who favor integration with Indonesia.

Elements of both sides are armed. Sporadic, low-level fighting continues to pit separatists against pro-Indonesia loyalists, the Indonesian army and army-equipped militias. Western diplomats warn that a sudden withdrawal of the 15,000 Indonesian troops in the territory--even though they are despised by most East Timorese--could lead to renewed civil war.

“There’s a strong element of ‘Let Timor go, they’re only Catholics anyway’ in the Indonesian attitude,” sociologist Wimar Witoelar said. “But handing it back unilaterally would not only raise the specter of violence, it would be disrespectful to the Timorese after killing them and raping them for all these years.”

However, there is some urgency for Habibie. In June, Indonesians will elect a new parliament whose members will choose a president in October. A new president and parliament could take a harder line and backtrack on Habibie’s offer if a deal isn’t in place by the election.

Indonesia, the world’s most populous Muslim nation, annexed East Timor in 1976, though the United Nations and most countries never accepted it as Indonesia’s 27th province. Since then, fighting and starvation have claimed the lives of about 10,000 Indonesian soldiers and more than 200,000 East Timorese.

While the rest of Indonesia was a Dutch colony, East Timor, beginning in 1701, was a colony of Portugal, which found its sandalwood useful. Lisbon paid little attention to its distant acquisition, and on the eve of World War II--and a Japanese occupation that lasted from 1942 to 1945--Dili had no electricity, water supply, telephones or paved roads.

The overthrow of Lisbon’s right-wing dictatorship in 1974 led to East Timor’s sudden decolonization. The former colony was engulfed in a civil war that seemed likely to bring the Marxist Revolutionary Front for an Independent East Timor to power.

On Dec. 7, 1975, Indonesia’s anti-Communist president, Suharto, fearing another Cuba, sent his troops into Dili. The United States and Australia gave Suharto unspoken approval for the invasion, which turned out to be unusually brutal. In 1977, Indonesian Foreign Minister Adam Malik said 50,000 to 80,000 people might have been killed. “It was war,” he said. “Then what is the big fuss?”

In truth, the Indonesian presence in East Timor has always resembled an occupation, and civil rights abuses--including the 1991 massacre of about 100 unarmed civilians at a Dili cemetery, which was captured on film by British journalists--led to international condemnation that culminated with the Nobel nod to the two activists.

Habibie’s offer amounts to a take-it-or-leave-it deal: broad autonomy with no hope of independence, or independence next year. It does not support a referendum or transitional period. Many Western diplomats believe that autonomy is the best option, and all but the most radical separatists agree that East Timor would have a tough time surviving on its own.

It has virtually no industry and produces little of value except coffee. Half the gross domestic product--$113 million last year--comes from government spending, much of it to pay the salaries of 24,000 civil servants. Only 1,000 East Timorese have university degrees.

The autonomy offer “may be the best way for now,” said Mario Carascalao, an East Timorese who was the Jakarta-appointed governor of the territory from 1982 to 1992, “as long as the Timorese have the right to choose their eventual destiny, for independence or whatever.”

Indonesia, however, doesn’t want to continue to pour money in and then have the East Timorese, after a five- or 10-year transition period, decide they want independence.

As part of Habibie’s concession package, rebel leader Jose Alexandre “Xanana” Gusmao, who was sentenced to a 20-year prison term in 1992, was released from prison in Jakarta on Wednesday and placed under house arrest.

Habibie hopes to have a detailed autonomy plan ready in April. But without a referendum, it is unclear how the East Timorese can make their sentiments known. Gusmao says only a popular vote can prevent East Timor from being cast into uncertain limbo “like Palestine.”