Indonesia’s Forgotten War The Hidden History of East Timor

Judul	:	Indonesia’s Forgotten War The Hidden History of East Timor
Penulis	:	John G. Taylor
Penerbit	:	Zed Books Ltd.
Bahasa	:	Inggris
Tahun Cetak	:	1991
Halaman	:	230
ISBN	:	0 949138 66 5
Harga	:	Rp. 130.000
Status	:	Ada

Some wars make the world’s headlines; others do not. This book is about a war on a remote island, north of Australia and two thousand miles east of Djakarta. It is a war that has never completely stopped since Indonesia fisrt invanded East Timor in December 1975. The reasons for silence, as this book makes clear, lie not just distance, but in the economic geopolitical interest of the leading powers in the region: Indonesia has the world’s fifth largest population, huge oil and other natural resources and a crucial strategic location. Little wonder the USA, Japan and Australia have sought to downplay this forgotten war.

But the issue will not go away. News of atrocities continue to reach the outside world. Portugal, the former colonial ruler of the island, has never recognised Indonesia’s occupation. The people of East Timor – utterly different in language, religion and culture from largely Muslim Indonesia – have never ceased to resist.

Like Iraq’s invansion of Kuwait, the illegality and brutality of the Indonesian attempt to pacify the island raise issues of the enforceability of United Nations resolutions and respect for human rights, as well as the specific East Timorese demand for self-determination.

John G. Taylor is Principal Lecturer in Social Sciences at the South Bank Polytechnic, London, where he is also Director of the Centrer for Chinese Studies. He edits Timor Link for the Catholic Institute of International relations.