Subject: LUSA: Former Australian consul says Jakarta
"puts Timorese against Timorese"
Date: Mon, 25 Jan 1999 10:29:49 -0500
From: "John M. Miller" <fbp@igc.apc.org>25 JAN 99 - 08:51 East Timor:
Former Australian consul to Dili says Jakarta "puts Timorese against Timorese"
Lisbon, Jan 25 (Lusa) - A former Australian consul to East Timor said in Lisbon last
week it was Jakarta's present strategy to "put Timorese against Timorese." James
Dunn, who was based in East Timor when the territory was invaded by Indonesia in December
1975, made the remark during a conference on Timorese Women and International Law that
ended in the Portuguese capital on Sunday.
Dunn said that a senior Indonesian source had revealed the new strategy to him during a
recent visit to Jakarta, adding that the Indonesian regime was providing pro-annexation
forces in East Timor with weapons.
Dunn urged the United Nations to send representatives to East Timor to monitor
Indonesian troops stationed in the territory off northern Australia. The former Australian
consul said he was sceptical about Jakarta's autonomy proposal for East Timor. "There
exists no tradition of autonomy in Indonesia," Dunn said, adding, "autonomy with
nepotism and repression is no autonomy." Dunn urged US President Bill Clinton to
increase pressure on Jakarta over the issue of self-determination for East Timor. The
former consul based in Dili, capital of East Timor, also said that according to witness
reports many East Timorese women were sexually abused by invading Indonesian soldiers in
December 1975, adding those responsibile for human rights violations in East Timor should
stand trial, similar to developments in Bosnia and Herzegovina and Rwanda. Lusa/Fim
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