EDITORIAL Reforms needed in Indonesia, East
Timor
Jesuit Fr. Raymond Schroths elegant essay on Indonesia is
not just another portrait of life in a distant land. It challenges us to
comprehend, in heart and soul, that the human family is one; to realize that no
hope or joy, injustice or aggression, is played out in one part of the human
family without influencing the rest of the race.
Whether we call it interdependence or the mystical body of Christ,
all of us, east, west, north, south, rich, poor, white, yellow or black, are
going to find our way in the 21st century together or not at all. Thus,
Indonesias current suffering is our own.
Deep inside we have recognized for years our common bonds with the
rest of humanity. Yet this is also a new moment. A new awareness settled on us
in the late 1960s when we first witnessed the spectacular image of an
earthrise from the moon.
That precious moment spoke of our vulnerability and loneliness:
all there together, all life we have ever known, hanging in vast darkness. One
planet. Where from and to where were we headed?
Our emerging awareness has been accelerated by technological
advances, from satellites to CNN, from cable to a worldwide network of Web
sites. No geography. Just transmissions among peoples. No borders, no nations,
no distances.
We experience the globalization of world economies. Whether we
approach this with trepidation or embrace, its existence is not to be denied.
We are left to make of it what we will.
Our own nations economy and foreign policies influence the
lives and fates of the entire human family far more than the 5 percent our
population represents. Most of us live in spectacular abundance. This decadence
is matched by our considerable ignorance of the ways of our planetary brothers
and sisters.
Indonesia is currently commemorating its 53rd anniversary of
independence from Dutch colonialism. The celebration has been punctuated by the
fall of Suharto, the U.S.-supported dictator who ruled the entire archipelago
as a despot for more than three decades. Ironically, this child of national
independence presided over colonizing another nation, neighboring East
Timor.
The new regime in Jakarta has publicly committed to building
a just, open and democratic society, and this we applaud.
Suhartos successor, President B.J. Habibie, has apologized for past
transgressions -- but this is not enough. Apologies should be accompanied by
acts of justice and the political will to punish perpetrators of injustice.
In supporting Suharto, our own government turned a blind eye to
many rights violations as it profited from the areas rich oil fields and
other natural resources.
The United States scarcely objected to the Indonesian invasion and
occupation of East Timor that claimed the lives of over 200,000 Timorese, one-
third of the population. In fact, Indonesia launched its invasion only hours
after President Ford and Henry Kissinger left following an official meeting
with Suharto in Jakarta. The United States then doubled military aid to
Indonesia, blocked the United Nations from taking effective enforcement action
and continued to sell new weapons, particularly helicopters, to Indonesia for
the next two decades.
Since 1975 the United States has sold more than $1.1 billion worth
of weaponry to Indonesia.
Last month Habibie said he would consider granting a special
status of autonomy to East Timor. He also released 15 of the several
hundred East Timorese being held in Indonesian jails, at military bases and
police stations. Yet hours later Indonesian troops assaulted a peaceful East
Timorese demonstration in Jakarta, taking hundreds away in buses.
The East Timorese people need the chance to choose their own
destiny. They must be allowed to vote freely under international supervision
and without the presence of an occupying military.
On the positive side, the U.S. Senate on July 10 passed Resolution
237, which urges the Clinton administration to work actively, through the
United Nations and with United States allies, to carry out the directives of
existing United Nations resolutions on East Timor and to support an
internationally supervised referendum on self-determination.
The resolution also encourages Indonesia to institute
genuine democratic and economic reforms ... and to promote and protect the
human rights and fundamental freedoms of all the people of Indonesia and East
Timor.
But we cant leave the fate of Indonesia to our government.
Our personal refusal to respond would be a failure to live up to our humanity,
a failure to understand who, on earth, we are.
National Catholic Reporter, August 28,
1998
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