Date sent: Mon, 06 Sep 1999 23:31:37 +1000 From: John Percy <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> Send reply to: [EMAIL PROTECTED] To: [EMAIL PROTECTED] Subject: Urgent action needed on East Timor September 6, 1999 Dear friends, Urgent action is required from progressive and democratic forces around the world to counter the bloodbath being perpetrated in East Timor by the Indonesian Army and their thugs. We urge you to organise or support demonstrations, pickets, vigils outside Indonesian Embassies and Consulates or the offices of Garuda Airlines. Daily demonstrations are taking place around Australia, with nationally coordinated actions scheduled for September 10 and September 11. These actions have been called by East Timorese organisations in Australia, the Australian trade union movement, the National Union of Students, and Action in Solidarity with Indonesia and East Timor. Resistance, the socialist youth organisation, has called for a national walkout of high school students to join the protests on Friday September 10. We ask that these dates be made International Days of Action demanding that the Indonesian Army Stop the Bloodbath, Withdraw from East Timor, and Recognise the vote for an Independent East Timor, and that governments support the request of the East Timorese for troops to assist with the withdrawal of the Indonesian military.. Attached below is a statement issued today by the National Executive of the Democratic Socialist Party of Australia. Also attached is a statement from the Indonesian Peoples Democratic Party. Please circulate these statements widely. Further information is available from the web site of ASIET: http://www.peg.apc.org/~asiet. (Please note that ASIET's web site will soon be moving to http://www.asiet.org.au/ The following articles from the issue of Green Left Weekly printed today contain useful background information on what's happening in East Timor and Indonesia. If you don't have easy access to the web and would prefer to have these articles emailed to you, send a message to Green Left Weekly: [EMAIL PROTECTED] Militias on the offensive around East Timor, By Sam King (from Dili) http://www.greenleft.org.au/current/375p15.htm East Timor: what role for peacekeepers? By Jon Land http://www.greenleft.org.au/current/375p3.htm One more battle won (editorial) http://www.greenleft.org.au/current/375p3b.htm How Indonesia tried to rig the vote, By Stephen Marks http://www.greenleft.org.au/current/375p19.htm A party's incredible journey (5 weeks with the PRD) By Max Lane http://www.greenleft.org.au/current/375p16.htm Dita Sari: Rely on the strength of the people, By Jonathan Singer http://www.greenleft.org.au/current/375p17.htm In solidarity, John Percy National Secretary Democratic Socialist Party Australia [EMAIL PROTECTED] ______________________________________ UN/Australia must act NOW to stop bloodbath in East Timor! Statement by the National Executive of the Democratic Socialist Party (September 6, 1999) The Democratic Socialist Party calls on all supporters of democracy to mobilise to demand that the Australian government insist that the United Nations authorise the immediate dispatch of Australian troops to East Timor. The task of these troops must be to assist the East Timorese resistance forces to stop the current bloodbath being organised by the Indonesian armed forces (TNI) and police (Polri). This can only be achieved through the disarming of the pro-Jakarta terror gangs. In addition, these troops must supervise the rapid withdrawal of all Indonesian military and police personnel from East Timor so as to enable the East Timorese to take full control of their nation's affairs. All East Timorese national liberation forces have called for immediate UN-authorised military intervention in East Timor to stop the TNI/Polri-organised bloodbath. If the United Nations Security Council continues to argue that an international military force cannot be sent to East Timor without the Indonesian government's agreement, then the Australian government should act unilaterally and send its armed forces into East Timor to end the TNI/Polri-organised terror campaign. The argument that the UN cannot authorise the sending of an armed security force to East Timor without the Indonesian government's approval is utterly hypocritical since the UN has never recognised Indonesia's claim of sovereignty over East Timor. In the August 30 ballot the overwhelming majority of the East Timorese nation, in the face of a massive campaign of intimidation by TNI/Polri-directed terror gangs (``pro-integration militias''), clearly expressed their desire for independence from the Indonesian state. Prime Minister Howard and Foreign Minister Downer also make the argument that Australian military forces cannot be sent to help the East Timorese people halt the TNI/Polri's campaign terror and mass murder without Jakarta's (that is, without the Indonesian military's) prior agreement. This stance is simply the continuation of the policy that Australian governments, both Labor and Liberal, have had for 24 years of sacrificing the democratic rights of the East Timorese people to collaboration with the Indonesian military. That is why they refuse to break off Australia's ties with the Indonesian military (including immediately ending the training of TNI officers). The aim of this policy is to maintain a ``secure environment'' for Australian big business in both Indonesia and East Timor. Howard and Downer know that maintaining Indonesia as a ``secure environment'' for big business requires maintaining the TNI/Polri's dictatorial control over Indonesia's improvised population. They are therefore unwilling to take any action that will politically weaken the Indonesian military, even if these means that tens of thousands of East Timorese are murdered by the TNI/Polri and its East Timorese puppet gangs. Stop the bloodbath in East Timor! Disarm the pro-Jakarta terror gangs! Indonesian troops/police out now! UN/Australian troops into East Timor NOW! Break all military ties with Indonesia! Recognise the independence of East Timor! _____________________________ Political Statement By the CENTRAL LEADERSHIP COMMITTEE OF THE PEOPLE'S DEMOCRATIC PARTY (KPP-PRD) On Military Violence in East Timor Monday 6 September 1999 No. 02/B/KPP-PRD/Sta./IX/'99 The Direct Ballot on whether the East Timorese accept or reject the proposed special autonomy announced in the UN Headquarter in New York and the UNAMET Headquarter on Saturday, September 4, 1999 resulted in 344,580 votes (78.5%) rejecting proposed special autonomy for its separation from Indonesia. While the rest 94.388 votes (21.5%) accepting the proposed autonomy and be part of the Unitary States of the Republic of Indonesia. This result has clearly indicated how the majority of the people of East Timor want to become an independent nation, like the option agreed in the New York Agreement: " ACCEPT Do you accept the proposed special autonomy for East Timor within the Unitary State of the Republic of Indonesia? OR " REJECT Do you reject the proposed special autonomy for East Timor, leading to East Timor's separation from Indonesia?" With such a result, we the People's Democratic Party states: a. We congratulate the majority of the East Timorese who reject the proposed special autonomy and vote for their independence from Indonesia. The East Timorese deserve such congratulation and support, as the terror and intimidation for the last six months was not able their spirit of struggle for their independence. b. Call for all sides to respect the result of the Direct Ballot and the choice of the majority of the East Timorese people for their independence. In terms of de jure and de facto we have to support the independence of the East Timorese they expressed in the result of the Direct Ballot. c. Push the Habibie administration to recognise the result of the Direct Ballot and respect the choice of the East Timorese people for independence. The Indonesian government does not need to wait for the next stage namely the Parliamentary General Assembly (Sidang Umum MPR). The Parliamentary General Assembly has no right to determine the future of the East Timorese. The authority of the Parliamentary General Assembly is to pull out or abolish the law on the integration of East Timor with Indonesia. d. Call for Indonesian Government to obey the New York Agreement in keeping the security in East Timor, that those responsible for it from the Indonesia side is only the police. There must be immediate withdrawal of the military forces as the Direct Ballot is announced. (Article 5, Memorandum UN Secretary General Kofi Annan, May 4 1999) e. Call for Indonesia Government to stop all kinds of support to the pro integration militia. f. Push the Indonesian Government to withdraw all military personnel as soon as possible and stop sending military units to East Timor. g. Ask for the United Nations to immediately send the peace keeping forces to East Timor for guaranteeing the safety of the East Timorese. The people united will never be defeated!!! Jakarta, September 6, 1999 Central Leadership Committee PRD Faisol Riza Ida Nassim Mh Chairman Secretary Peoples Democratic Party (KPP-PRD) Jl. Jend. Basuki Rahmat No. 7B, Cipinang Muara Jakarta INDONESIA 13420 Tel: 021-8561542/9113801 Fax: 021-8561542 E-mail: [EMAIL PROTECTED] _____________________________________ 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
