U.S. Should Change Policy on East Timor

(July 16, 1998 )

Issue:

Since the resignation of Indonesian President Suharto, pressure has been building for a resolution of the political status of East Timor. For 22 years the United States has tacitly supported Indonesia's military occupation of East Timor, but the climate on Capitol Hill finally appears to be changing. On July 10 the Senate passed a resolution (S. Res. 237) to support democracy in Indonesia and self-determination in East Timor. A similar resolution is pending in the House. Passage of resolutions by both chambers would send a strong message to the Administration that it is time to change its policy on East Timor.

Background:

In 1975, East Timor was emerging from 400 years of Portuguese colonial control and moving toward independence. But Indonesian troops invaded and began a military occupation that has resulted in the deaths of nearly 250,000 East Timorese. Indonesia claims East Timor as its 27th province, but the East Timorese have never accepted this status.

The United Nations has condemned the invasion of East Timor in eight General Assembly resolutions and two Security Council resolutions. At the 1997 session of the U.N. Commission on Human Rights, the United States co-sponsored a resolution calling for Indonesia to comply with the directives of the U.N. resolutions. In recent years the U.N. has sponsored negotiations between the governments of Indonesia and Portugal with the aim of achieving an internationally acceptable settlement of the political status of East Timor. However, East Timor has never been represented in these discussions.

The departure of Suharto has revived hope of self-determination for East Timor. The goal is an internationally supervised referendum allowing East Timorese to choose their own future. Suharto's successor, President Jusuf Habibie, has offered East Timor an ill-defined "special status," but still refuses to allow a referendum. Since Suharto's resignation, thousands of people have marched in the East Timorese capital, Dili, and East Timorese students have demonstrated in Jakarta, the Indonesian capital, demanding that a referendum be held. Several demonstrators as well as innocent bystanders have been shot and killed by Indonesian troops.

United States policy has been to accept the incorporation of East Timor into Indonesia while acknowledging that no valid act of self-determination has taken place. Washington has given material support to Indonesia's occupation. Ninety-five percent of the armaments used by the Indonesian military in the invasion were supplied by the United States. U.S. forces have held 41 training exercises with the Indonesian military's special forces, including courses in counterinsurgency techniques, psychological warfare and military operations in urban areas. These special forces are responsible for some of the worst human rights abuses in East Timor.

The Clinton Administration has failed to speak out consistently for the basic human rights and self- determination of the East Timorese. In a March 31 letter to Madeleine Albright, Rep. Gilman (R-N.Y.), chair of the House International Relations Committee, urged that U.S. policy be clarified by stating that the "U.S. does not regard the 1976 incorporation of East Timor into Indonesia as irrevocable."

Suggested Actions:

(1) Urge your Representative to co-sponsor and support House Concurrent Resolution 258, introduced by Reps. Lowey (D-N.Y.), Porter (R-Ill.), Smith (R-N.J.), and Lantos (D-Calif.). The resolution calls on the United States to:

• support an internationally supervised referendum on the political status of East Timor;
• recognize the need for direct Timorese participation in the U.N.-sponsored tripartite talks (involving Indonesia, Portugal, and the U.N.);
• work actively, through U.S. allies and the United Nations, to realize the directives of existing U.N. resolutions on East Timor.

While the resolution is now the focus, two pieces of legislation also deserve support. The Indonesia Human Rights Before Military Assistance Act (H.R. 3918) would freeze the transfer of all U.S. weapons, spare parts and ammunition for Indonesia's military until a popularly elected government emerges in Indonesia and until substantial human rights improvements take place in Indonesia and East Timor. The International Military Training Accountability Act (H.R. 3802) would close loopholes concerning U.S. military training of Indonesian troops, banning all such aid.

Honorable ________
U.S. House of Representatives
Washington, DC 20515

Congressional switchboard: (202) 224-3121. You may also want to call or visit your House member in his or her district office during the summer recess that begins Aug. 10.

(2) Write President Clinton and urge him to undertake diplomatic efforts on behalf of East Timorese self-determination as part of the U.S. agenda with Indonesia. Ask the President to stop U.S. military aid and training and the sale of arms to Indonesia as long as the government of Indonesia continues its de facto military occupation of East Timor.

President Bill Clinton
The White House
Washington, DC 20500
Fax: (202) 456-2461

For additional background, see "Occupation of East Timor Concerns U.S. Church Community," SPL Asia Pacific, 2nd Quarter, 1997.

General Assembly Guidance

The 207th General Assembly (1995) adopted a resolution on East Timor that "calls on the United States government to cease military aid and to place an embargo on the sale of arms to Indonesia." The Assembly also voiced its concern to Indonesian partner churches over oppression in East Timor.