Precedence: bulk Australian Broadcasting Corp. AM New hour transcript Thursday, September 16, 1999 8:23 a.m. Tension in Jakarta COMPERE: East Timor's anti-independence militia have now been seen on the streets of Jakarta, threatening pro-independence East Timorese and foreign journalists. There were scenes which seemed quite out of place in the Indonesian capital, as Geoff Thompson reports from Jakarta. GEOFF THOMPSON: An angry young man in a pro-autonomy T-shirt denounces Xanana Gusmao. Nearby, another man stands wearing a T-shirt bearing the name of Mahidi, one of East Timor's notorious anti-independence militias - red berets and army fatigues. And foreign journalists are warned to leave. These pro-autonomy protesters then break into a run to chase what they claim are pro-independence provocateurs. It looks and sounds like Dili, but it's in the heart of Jakarta, a city in which small, angry protests with different angry agendas are becoming frequent if not well attended. The Indonesian media is discussing nationalism, jingoism and anti-Australian sentiment. In its latest bulletin to Australian citizens in Indonesia, the Australian Embassy in Jakarta says that it, the consulate in Bali, and a number of Australian businesses have received threatening telephone calls, including bomb threats. But is anti-foreigner sentiment, and in particular anti-Australian sentiment, representative of Indonesian public opinion at this sensitive time? That is the question that cannot yet be answered. What we do know is that this question is about to be sorely tested when thousands of Australian troops lead the UN's peacekeeping force into East Timor to tackle the violence by militia who have the support of the Indonesian military which still remains in the territory. Indeed the UN already knows very well that several militia commanders are serving officers in the Indonesian military, and so it's hard to imagine just how the peace-enforcers will avoid some sort of conflict with the Indonesian military. Political analyst Soedjati Djiwandono thinks that the complete withdrawal of the Indonesian military is the only real answer. SOEDJATI DJIWANDONO: Well, I hope that the first thing the UN peacekeeping forces - what they would do first is to disarm these people - would disarm the people of both groups, both the pro-integration and pro-independence East Timorese. Without disarming them, yes the possibility is real that somebody might shoot at you, and you would retaliate, and there will be a conflict, and you have to deal with the Indonesian military. GEOFF THOMPSON: I think the world wants peacekeeping troops in East Timor. But now that that is a reality, the questions have to be in turn to how it will work in practice while the Indonesian military remains in East Timor. SOEDJATI DJIWANDONO: That's why in the first place I would like to see the Indonesian military withdrawn totally from East Timor. ---------- SiaR WEBSITE: http://apchr.murdoch.edu.au/minihub/siarlist/maillist.html
