Campaign for an Independent East Timor (South Australia) Inc.
(Affiliated to the International Federation for East Timor, the East Timor
Relief Association, the Free Timor Coalition and the Australian Coalition
for a Free East Timor)
c/o Development Education Centre first floor 220 Victoria Square
ADELAIDE, SOUTH AUSTRALIA 5000
ATTENTION: CHIEF OF STAFF
MEDIA STATEMENT: 7 DECEMBER 1999 FOR IMMEDIATE USE
WHITLAM'S REWRITE OF HISTORY SHAMES AUSTRALIA ON EAST TIMOR'S INVASION DAY
The Information Officer of the Campaign for an Independent East Timor,
Andrew Alcock, released the statement below following the remarks of
former Australian PM Gough Whitlam to the Senate Foreign Affairs inquiry
into East Timor:
"Former Australian Gough Whitlam has badly damaged his reputation and
shamed the nation by the misleading comments he has made about his role in
the East Timor tragedy to a Senate Foreign Affairs inquiry. He tried to
make out a case that East Timor was "safe and peaceful" when he visited in
March 1982 and that "the situation only deteriorated after that".
If that was true, it might make his role look a little better. The fact is
that it bears no resemblance to the truth. On the day of Indonesia's full
scale invasion on 7 December 1975, the first massacres occurred. On the
Dili Wharf, people were lined up by the military. Witnesses were forced to
count as soldiers shot their victims and their bodies dropped into the
water.
By November 1976, Indonesian aid workers visiting East Timor reported that
at least 100,000 had died since Indonesia's illegal invasion. In April
1977, even Adam Malik, then Indonesia's Foreign Minister, admitted that
50,000 or 80,000 had been killed. Even if the former PM did not have these
figures, he knew about the atrocities that the Indonesian military had
committed against West Papuans. That was why they sought refuge in PNG in
the period before PNG's independence.
Mr Whitlam did not admit that his 1982 trip to East Timor was financed by
the Indonesian dictatorship. Everywhere he went he was accompanied by the
top brass who ensured that he saw what they wanted him to see. When he met
the one person who did tell him what was really happening in East Timor,
the head of the Catholic Church, Monsignor da Costa Lopes, he chose not to
believe him. The church leader told Whitlam that there was a famine in East
Timor because of the Indonesian military strategies.
Mr Whitlam later went to the UN and urged the General Assembly to remove
the topic of East Timor from its agenda. At the same time, he branded da
Costa Lopes a liar because he had not seen people suffering because of the
famine that the . This was a particularly cowardly action because he was
attacking a very courageous person who took great personal risks to save
lives at a time when the Indonesian regime kept East Timor closed off from
the outside world.
The claim by Gough Whitlam that the East Timorese would have voted for
integration in 1982 and that the real turning point of strong opposition
against the occupation came after the Santa Cruz (Dili) Massacre is also
rather fanciful.
There had already been major massacres before that time eg the 1975 Dili
Wharf Massacre (200 dead) and the 1981 St Anthony's Massacre near Lacluta
(500 dead). In addition, James Dunn, the former Australian Consul to East
Timor also reported of massacres in Suai, Aileu and Quelicai during
1976-77. Further, there was widespread opposition to Indonesia's illegal
occupation mounted by FALANTIL, East Timor's resistance force.
Mr Whitlam's claim that sending Australian troops to East Timor before
Indonesia's would have been a declaration of war on Indonesia is a flawed
argument. East Timor was never accepted officially to be part of Indonesia
by the international community only by Australia; initially by Malcolm
Fraser and Andrew Peacock and thereafter accepted by every other Australian
government since. (This recognition has not been repealed even now -
presumably because of the disgraceful Timor Gap Treaty).
The East Timor solidarity movement never called for Australian armed
intervention in the early days or later. It called for an international
boycott of all military cooperation with the Suharto regime and trade
sanctions against it until it withdrew from Timor and observed basic human
rights.
The sad fact is that Whitlam, who behaved with reasonable decency on issues
like Vietnam and Aboriginal rights, was prepared to go along with the
recommendation of Richard Woolcott, Australia's former ambassador to
Indonesia and former head of the Foreign Affairs Department, to give the
sly wink to Suharto's dirty war against East Timor. Woolcott's cables to
the Whitlam Government reveal that he suggested this approach to obtain
East Timor's resources on the cheap.
No amount of history rewriting will alter the fact that there is East
Timorese blood on his hands - as well as those of Malcolm Fraser, Andrew
Peacock, Bob Hawke, Bill Hayden, Gareth Evans and Paul Keating. There is
even some on the hands of John Howard and Alexander Downer, but they
redeemed themselves a little because they finally were spurred into action
after the pace of genocide quickened following Timor's referendum
It would be far more positive for the images of these former leaders and
our nation as a whole, if they were to admit their mistakes and advocated
strong support for the rebuilding of the nation and the courageous people
of East Timor, rather than dishonest attempts to rewrite history".
Andrew (Andy) Alcock (Information Officer)
Phone: 61 8 83710480 (home) 61 8 82053259 (work)
Pager: 61 8 82734382
Facsimile: 61 8 82236509
Email: [EMAIL PROTECTED] [EMAIL PROTECTED]
YOU CAN HELP EAST TIMOR TO REBUILD
SUPPORT THE FOLLOWING EVENTS:
* THURSDAY 9 DECEMBER 1999 8PM
MUSICAL: "CHRISTMAS CROSSES THE RIVER"
St Theodore's Church Hall
Cnr Swaine Ave & Prescott Tce, Dulwich
Presented by the Mandela Drama Group (affiliated to the Romero Group)
$10 $6 (concession) (Proceeds to support East Timor Projects)
* SATURDAY 11 DECEMBER 1999 7PM
"ROAD TOWARDS INDEPENDENCE IN EAST TIMOR" DINNER
Ukrainian Community Hall
66 Orsmond St, Hindmarsh
Performers include Sabor Latino & Pedras Negras
Ring 84457292 for further information
(organised by the Organising Committee of the East Timorese in SA)
DONATE MATERIALS TO EAST TIMOR
The East Timorese need the most basic items. They have especially
requested of the following items:
exercise books writing pads art materials toiletries
household items
If you can help, please contact:
Miriam Tonkin: 82956481 or Crystelle Halliday: 83731121
or leave the items at the Australian Education Union
163 Greenhill Rd, Parkside by Christmas Eve
Campaign for an Independent East Timor (Sth Australia) Inc., c/o DEG,
first floor Torrens House, 220 Victoria Square, ADELAIDE, SA 5000
Telephone: (08) 84101022 Fax: 82215940
Secretary: Bob Hanney 83443511 Chairperson: Richie Gunn 82981550
Email: [EMAIL PROTECTED]
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