"The meeting between Suharto and Whitlam was held in Jogjakarta early in
September [1974]. At the time Indonesia was taking soundings on the
Timor question from its neighbours and other powers. What happened in
Jogjakarta was summed up by Peter Hastings in _Australian Outlook_ with
the comment that, uninvited, Whitlam 'practically gave East Timor to
Indonesia'. The impression was conveyed that Indonesia could do what
best suited it in Timor and Australia would not object. As a political
scientist at the University of Indonesia, Juwano Sudarsono, told me in
Jakarta on 24 February 1975, 'The Australian Government will, at the
least, tolerate subversive operations [by Indonesia in Timor]. But if
the Australian press shouts about it then the Australian Government will
have to do something. But would it do more than verbally criticise
Indonesia and at the same time tolerate Indonesian subversion? There is
a high degree of co-operation between Australia and Indonesia at
present. Mr Whitlam may have to put up with criticism from the left of
his party. However, Timor is not a major issue in Australian politics,
certainly not an election issue. So the Australian Government will
allow Indonesia to do, to a certain extent anyway, what it likes with
Timor'. "
- from Bill Nicol's _Timor: The Stillborn Nation_, 1978.
paradoxically perhaps, the close relationship between Indonesia and
Australia was fashioned by the Australian Labor Party as a way of
loosening its dependance on what was deemed an unreliable ally, the US.
the reliance of the Liberals on the US seems however undiminished, but
the basic path set down by Whitlam is unchanged: make some noises of
concern and do nothing, least of all put at risk trade and military
ties.
Angela
_________
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