British made combat aircraft are leading the attack on the WORLD NEWS East Timor liberation fighters of FALINTIL. John Major's Tory government is becoming a main ally for Indonesia's Suharto regime. The "Free East Timor Tour" offers the labour movement a chance to respond to this by beginning to organise a broad-based campaign on the twin themes of the right to self determination for East Timor and an end to British arms sales. PAUL WALKER reports. NOVEMBER 12 will be the second anniversary of the Santa Cruz massacre in Dili, the capital of occupied East Timor. On that day the Indonesian army murdered 200 peaceful demonstrators at a memorial meeting in a cemetry.
Indonesia invaded East Timor in December 1975 and have maintained a bloody and brutal occupation ever since. The East Timorese, against overwhelming odds, have fought politically and militarily against the occupation at a high cost. It is estimated that about 200,000 of the 700.000 East Timorese have died as Butcher regime: Indonesian dictator Suharto (centre with friends that has ensued. 210. a result of the invasion and the struggle From the 27 October to 14 November two represenatives of the the struggle for self determination in East Timor will be speaking at over twenty meetings in BritThe speakers are Maria Braz, who is active within the East Timorese Womens Movement and Jose Amorim, who recently fled Inodnesia after taking part in pro-independence protests in Jakarta. Jose is the European head of the National Council of Maubere Resistance (CNRM), which is the umbrella organisation representing East Timorese reThe tour has come to Britain to highlight the increasingly important role of British imperialism in Indonesia. British investment there has begun to rise rapidly in the last few years. In addition British Aeropsace have recently won orders for 20 Hawk combat aircraft which have a role in fighting the East Timorese Liberation Army, FALINTIL (Forcas Armadas de Libertacao de Timor Leste).
It is argued, correctly, by the CNRM leadership that, whilst the military struggle has a role, self determination will not simply be won through the barrel of a gun. Indonesia is the world's fourth largest country - it would take a miracle for FALINTIL to comprehensively defeat ABRI, the Indonesian army.
Yet it is not impossible that a combination of military and political struggle could persuade the Indonesians to leave. Part of the political struggle has to be to build an international solidarity movement for East Timorese self determination centred on those country with a direct interest.
There are already strong campaigns developing in Portugal, Sweden, Japan and the United States, and these are leading to increased political pressure on Jakarta. The current role of Britain is to step into and exploit the gaps that are left by the success of these campaigns and to give political, moral and military support to the Indonesian leadership.
The Coalition for East Timor is the organisation which aims to place East Timor higher on Britain's political agenda. The tour and the Coalition demand and deserve the support of the labour movement and all internationalists.
SOCIALIST OUTLOOK No. 51, October 30 1993, Page 11