Asia Times: A tense changing of the guard



	September 18, 1999	atimes.com

Indonesia Crisis

A tense changing of the guard
By Kafil Yamin

JAKARTA - The Indonesian military began withdrawing its troops from East Timor on Friday as Australia prepared to deploy soldiers from a multinational force tasked to restore order in the devastated territory.

''This is not a retreat,'' says Indonesian armed forces commander General Wiranto, adding that the military is adjusting the size of its presence in accordance with whatever role it is to be given by the United Nations in the multilateral force.

There are currently one Indonesian marine unit and 12 army battalions in East Timor, as well as 8,000 police and 5,000 members of the local military command.

The first batch of the Australian-led International Force in East Timor (Interfet) is expected to arrive in Dili either on Sunday or Monday, while the Interfet Commander, Australian Major General David Cosgrove, is reported to be flying to the East Timorese capital on Saturday to meet with Indonesian military officials.

Over the next few days and weeks, the 8,000-strong contingent, comprised of 4,500 Australian troops along with thousands of others from Thailand, the Philippines, France, the United States and other nations, should be in place in East Timor.

The Indonesian military has been internationally condemned for its involvement in the violence that has gripped East Timor for the past two weeks. Unsurprisingly, East Timorese leaders have criticized a decision by President B J Habibie to have the Indonesian army participate in the Australian-led multinational force which the UN Security Council authorized on Wednesday.

But as Indonesian soldiers began leaving the former Portuguese colony which Indonesia annexed as its 27th province 23 years ago, East Timorese militias in border towns vowed to fight until they reclaim their homeland. The army-backed militias, which have sown terror in East Timor before and after the independence referendum, are reported to be particularly targeting Australians.

They have warned the Interfet to be neutral in carrying out their mission ''if they do not want to have problems''. ''We will not disturb them [the multinational force] as long they do not disturb us,'' said Eurico Gueterres, vice commander of the pro-integration forces. ''We have more right to this land than they do. We belong here. We are the real masters of this land. But we will accept them if they play a good role.''

To many Indonesians, the withdrawal of the national military from East Timor is a big blow to their sense of nationalism, not only because the government caved in under international pressure, but also because Australia, accused of openly interfering with Jakarta's internal affairs, is taking a leading role in East Timor.

Indonesia's relations with Australia, ironically one of the few countries which recognized Jakarta's rule in East Timor, have hit a low after the Habibie government abrogated a four-year security agreement with Canberra. The move was made in response to Australia's decision to freeze its technical military cooperation with its northern neighbor, and as Jakarta authorities put it, Australia's negative attitude toward Indonesia over East Timor issue.

Anti-Australia sentiment has spread over Indonesia's major cities in the last few weeks. Almost every day this week in Jakarta, demonstrators marched to the Australian embassy to protest the country's ''hostile moves''.

As emotions run high, several Australian companies in Indonesia are taking precautions. Coal mining company PT Kaltim Prima Coal in Sangatta, East Kalimantan, has sent home 100 dependents of Australian staff and contractors. Broken Hill Proprietary Co, with interests in steel, energy and mining, evacuated 50 expatriate staff from East Kalimantan's largest town of Balikpapan.

Anger is not soley directed at foreign interlopers, however. Habibie's decision to allow foreign troops on East Timor, made under extreme pressure from the international community, has angered not only the military and civilian leaders but local newspaper publishers as well. ''It is evident that Australia's role in the East Timor problem has been driven by its political interest, not by sincere humanity,'' the Rakyat Merdeka newspaper said in an editorial. ''So it is not East Timor's separation from Indonesia that we are very much concerned with, but the fact that the territory is falling under a rule that is not its own.''

Perhaps the most scathing attack has come from the Jakarta Post. Holding President Habibie and General Wiranto responsible for the loss of military control of East Timor, it said Indonesians as a nation have suffered one international indignity after another the past two weeks. ''There are yet more indignities to come, at least for the narrow-minded nationalists in this country,'' it said in its editorial on Friday.

''If the arrival this weekend of the multinational force is to be the greatest humiliation of all, pray that this will be the last one. By now, we hope our leaders have truly learned their lessons well: that as a self-respecting nation and member of the international community we must respect universal humanitarian values and live up to our responsibilities.''

(Inter Press Service)

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©1999 Asia Times Online Co., Ltd.