Terror In East Timor

Judul	:	Terror In East Timor
Penerbit	:	Newsweek The International Newsmagazine
Bahasa	:	Inggris
Tanggal Cetak	:	20 September 1999
Halaman	:	60
ISSN	:	0163-7061
Harga	:	Rp. 60.000
Status	:	Ada

Content of magazine World Affairs East Timor:

Terror in the Streets, The ‘Clinton Doctrine’ is tested by murderous pro-Indonesian militias by Jeffrey Bartholet. Now comes East Timor, where upwards of a a quarter of the territory’s 850.000 people were on the run last week. The capital Dili was an apocalyptic landscape. “The downtown core has been burnt, looted, pillaged,” said David Wimhurst, a U.N. spokeman. “One of the largest banks has been burnt down. The radio station has been burnt. The university has been burnt and our workshop and cars are going up to flames.”

Why Sydney Is Sreaming, Australia’s sense of loss in East Timor goes back decades. Foreign Minister Alexander Downer says Australia now face its toughest foreign conundrum since the Vietnam War. Against sentiment for East Timor it must balance strategically critical ties to Indonesia, a huge archipelago standing between Australia and the rest of the world. By 1979, Australia had effectively recognized Indonesia control over East Timor in talks over undersea oil and gas reserves of the Timor Gap. Later, Australia began controversial joint militery exercises with Indonesia troops, including the Kopassus Special Forces that led the 1975 invasion of East Timor. Depending his 1995 defense treaty with Soeharto, former prime minister Paul Keating said, “We are not going to hock the entire Indonesia relationship on Timor.”

Blame it on Habibie, A leading opposition figure says the world shouldn’t confuse the discredited government with the Indonesia people by Megawati Sukarnoputri. Indonesea’s International reputation has suffered terribly as a result of the human tragedy in East Timor. The daily barrage of news about our country and people portrays us as a nation that loves to kill and torture. Friends and and associates abroad report thet Indonesias are subjected to taunts and disdain everywhere that go. We are accused of mureder, torture and violations of basic human rights. The outside world seems to belive that we have lost our sense of humanity. It is as if the tragedy of East Timor has not claimed enough victim-now the whole.