7-05-06, 9:06 am
From the earliest days of its formation in 2002 as an independent state with a government led by Fretilin, the Australian government has been seeking ways to undermine the elected government of East Timor. It aim is to replace it with one that would comply with Australian policies and do its bidding.
A former Portuguese general Alfredo Assuncao who commanded a UN force in East Timor told a Portuguese newspaper recently that, 'what interests the Australians most is oil and gas So what better way to control these enormously rich resources than to be physically present and control the country's political system?' He went on to say that the Australians always wanted to control everything and everyone in East Timor but had been frustrated because President Xanana Gusmao and Mari Alkatiri had shown a united front. 'The break-up of this union is opening the way for them to take control of the country.'
The establishment of a military base under the control of Australian forces and available inevitably for use by the United States forces as a forward base for US troops, tanks, aircraft, missiles and warships, has always been a major objective.
Military base
The Sydney Morning Herald (SMH) (22/6/06) reported that an Australian base was to be established in East Timor and that the Australian Government had already tendered for the construction of the base. It would house 3,000 troops and be equipped with all mod cons. The SMH report said that the base would be maintained for 15 months but it is unlikely that such a substantial base would be established for such a short space of time. The base has to be seen on the background of the general situation in the Asia-Pacific region. It would be used not only to impose and maintain a colonialist regime in East Timor but is also aimed against Indonesia and the Asian mainland. The Australian and US Governments are preparing, step by step, for a big war in Asia within the next 15-20 years or less. In October 2005 former military adviser to the Howard Government Ross Babbage published a booklet Preparing Australia's Defence for 2020. He wrote of the possibility of a 'major war in Asia in the 2020 timeframe'.
A forward base in East Timor fits snuggly into this plan. However, the emergence of a Fretilin Government with Alkatiri as Prime Minister, to whom independence meant real independence and not some new form of colonisation, threatens these ambitions.
The Fretilin Government proceeded to implement social and economic policies without resort to the shackling loans, 'market forces' economics and privatisation policies of the IMF and World Bank. Furthermore, Prime Minister Alkatiri stood up to the bullying and threats of Australia's Foreign Minister Alexander Downer over the control and revenue sharing of East Timor's oil and gas resources.
Gas and oil
In a situation when control of oil and gas supplies, exploration and pipelines has become a major international issue and when the former almost complete control by US and British companies is being challenged, control of East Timor's considerable oil and gas resources is a significant issue. Indonesian and East Timor oil and natural gas supplies may become a critical source of supply to Australia and the United States in the future.
These are all major reasons behind the Australian Government's determination to remove Mari Alkatiri as Prime Minister and to destroy Fretilin as the major progressive and government force in East Timor's political life.
The first signs of this conspiracy against East Timor were evident when the US and Australia urged the scaling down of the UN mission in East Timor following the vote of independence and the election of the Fretlin Government. This may seem to be a contradiction but the maintenance of a strong UN mission for a longer could have created an obstacle to the events which have now unfolded.
Once the UN was removed as an effective presence the way was cleared for other preparations to be put in train. The main objectives were and are the removal of Mari Alkatiri as Prime Minister, the weakening of Fretilin as the majority Party and its eventual replacement by other political forces and leaders who will be amendable to the political and economic policies favoured by the Australian Government.
Hamish McDonald writing in the SMH (June 24-25, 2006) said that Ramos Horta and Xanana Gusmao think that 'once Alkatiri and his authoritarian clique, who were exiles in Mozambique, are prised from office, and the United Nations is called in to supervise parliamentary elections next April, they will launch a new, inclusive political party. This, they hope, will recapture the spirit of the all-party National Resistance Committee which guided the East Timorese through the vote for independence in 1999 The perceived fault is more Fretilin's Leninist organisation By Tuesday of [last] week, Gusmao and Ramos Horta had closed what they hoped was a fail-proof trap.'
Long-term objective
This coincides with the long term objective of the Australian government and was behind the earlier use of Australian troops at the time of East Timor's independence in 2001. It appeared at the time that the Howard Government had, all of a sudden, become genuinely committed to the independence struggle of the savagely suppressed population of East Timor. But this conversion was never the truth of the matter.
East Timorese willing to work under the direction of the Australian and US coup planners had to be found and put in place. Some of these have already been revealed in the present deliberately created crisis.
Media bias
The media was brought in to assist. This is an essential ingredient so that thousands of unsuspecting citizens are brainwashed by mythical promises and deliberate lies to cover up the real intentions of those who are directing the coup from centres that are not revealed.
The reports of the extraordinarily biased ABC journalists were clearly part of the campaign to remove Mari Alkatiri and to promote dissident forces who would work closely with Australia.
A 7.30 Report interview of Mari Alkatiri by Kerry O'Brien was remarkable for its viciousness and bias. Similarly a Four Corners program on the East Timor situation presented by Liz Jackson either reveals the influence of the extreme right-wingers government appointees to the ABC Board by the Howard Government or that in other ways ABC journalists have been recruited to play a part in the Australian Government's coup agenda. Anne Barker, the ABC's journalist in Dili is another who is equally biased in her reporting.
All major Australian newspapers and their journalists have played a similar role. They have consistently demonised Mari Alkatiri and promoted any and every rumour that is biased against the elected government. They have no intention of upholding democracy when a government that is not to their liking is elected.
The media promoted the story that Fretilin government forces had massacred 60 civilians which were said to be buried in a mass grave in Dili. It was claimed that a church official had a list of the victims. However, it was subsequently found that there was no list and no massacre. The story was quietly dropped except by continuing innuendo of killings and rampage alleged to be the responsibility of the government whereas most have been carried out by the forces attempting to stage the coup.
Events are being turned on their head. For example, the burning and looting in Dili which is being carried out by those opposed to the government is blamed on Mari Alkatiri. The victim is blamed while the perpetrators are supported and their crimes covered up.
Creating social conflicts
Another characteristic of coup plots is the stirring up of social conflicts, the organisation of demonstrators to take part in actions on the streets and make demands which slot into the coup objectives.
Although there is little by way of ethnic differences in East Timor, an alleged conflict between Western and Eastern parts of the country was manufactured.
There is still widespread unemployment in East Timor. It remains one of the poorest countries. It is therefore not difficult to stir up the unemployed and poor sections of the population, especially young people, who can, perhaps for payment, be persuaded to jump on a truck, wave a slogan and chant a chorus of demands.
It was not long before the anti-government demonstrators appeared with well prepared banners. The demonstrators were obviously organised from some undisclosed centre and by political organisations that wish to remain in the shadows for the present.
Similar movements have appeared in a number of other countries where anti-government coups have been organised, sometimes successfully. The so-called 'orange' revolution in the Ukraine is one example. There, thousands of demonstrators were paid to stay in the square in Kharkov to make it appear that there was mass support for the coup organisers. In Poland demonstrators were successful in bringing the extreme right-wing Lech Walesa to power (for a time). Similar demonstrations in Venezuela attempted to overthrow the democratically elected government of Hugo Chavez.
It is perhaps a weakness of the Fretilin Party that it delayed for more than a month to enlist the active, on the streets, participation of its supporters. Parliamentary action has to be backed by popular mass action.
Role of troops
Another essential part of the coup taking place against the government of East Timor was the introduction of a large contingent of Australian and NZ troops. The presence of Malaysian and Portuguese troops is mere camouflage to help cover the real intentions of the Australian and NZ Governments. As Portuguese General Alfredo Assuncao said, 'what better way to control these enormously rich resources than to be physically present and control the country's political system?'
The extremely rapid deployment of Australian troops to East Timor with naval vessels on standby awaiting the signal show that the Australian Government knew how events were about to unfold and had planned accordingly over a long period of time.
As in other countries secret intelligence agents or 'Special forces' trained in advance for the task would have not only kept the government informed but were active in the recruitment of local forces, in creating pliant NGOs, in spotting weak political elements in government or in the public service so as to paralyse government counter measures.
Journalist John Martinkus in an article headlined 'An Attempted Coup in East Timor?' (Worldpress June 25, 2006) reported that 'in April 2005 the commander of F-FDTL, Brigadier Taur Matan Ruak had been approached to lead a coup. He rejected the offer. Again early this year he was approached and requested to lead a coup in a meeting with two prominent East Timorese leaders and two foreign nationals. Again he refused One of his leading deputies, Lieutenant Colonel Falur Rate Laek, a former regional commander from Falintil (the armed wing of Fretilin) and a veteran of the war against Indonesia, was also approached by the same two local leaders and foreign nationals. He also refused and reported the incident to his command. Due to the sensitivity of the information and the implications for the current situation the nationalities of the foreigners was not revealed.'
A task given to the Australian military forces set down in the Rules of Engagement agreed between Australia and the East Timor Government, was to disarm the soldiers who had rebelled against the army and police forces loyal to the government.
However, immediately upon the arrival of the Australian forces, officers hot-footed it into the hills where the mutinous soldiers were located, not to disarm them, as had been agreed in the rules of engagement but to talk and no doubt drink the beer that Major Reinado had suggested they bring with them.
Church role
The Catholic Church is also playing an anti-government role in the present situation although it should welcome the fact that the Alkatiri Fretilin government adopted and was implementing an anti-poverty program. It has improved health and education services.
The Church's current role contrasts with the time when Archbishop Bello became a figurehead in the struggle for independence. Part of the change may be found in the fact that the Catholic Church is dominant in East Timor and the prolonged occupation of East Timor by Muslim Indonesia would have undermined its control. It continues to fight for its 'souls' in the new situation. Mari Alkatiri is alleged to be a Muslim.
As far back as 1999 The Guardian wrote of 'Australia's imperialist ambitions cloaked in humanitarian pretences'. The Government had announced what was called the 'Howard Doctrine' at the time. It made clear the Australian Government's intention to play a 'Deputy Sheriff' role to the United States.
The Australian Government said that even before the referendum in East Timor in which the East Timorese people voted for independence, it had ' made ready an additional brigade of the Australian army in case Australian forces were needed for peacekeeping operations in East Timor. As a result we were able to respond immediately to the UN request, not only to participate but to lead the multinational force.'
The same advance preparations were made for intervention this year. Once again the real intentions are being obscured by humanitarian pretences.
If Australia's real intentions are successful it will be a tragedy for the East Timorese people who will again be reduced to a colony not of Indonesia but of Australia. Unfortunately, some who played a worthy part in the struggle for independence from Indonesia are now, as a result of confusion, blindness or malice, about to sell their country's independence to the new colonial power in the South Pacific.
People in the news:
Jose Ramos-Horta, East Timor's Foreign Minister and Defence Minister. He has made abundantly clear his opposition to Mari Alkatiri and his preference for 'market forces' economics. He spent much of his time during the Indonesian occupation in Australia.
Kirsty Sword-Gusamao, the wife of Xanana Gusmao is Australian born. She first worked in Indonesia on appointment by the Australian Volunteers International (AVI). The webpage of this organisation says its 'involvement in governance related positions has grown. Volunteers have been assigned as economic and social planners, lawyers, accountants, administrators and information technologists. In recent years AVI has worked in the public sector reform and in support of the concept of 'good governance' it works collaboratively with key stakeholders ' Although not having any elected position Kirsty Sword-Gusmao has made a number of statements on ABC radio and TV which accord with the interests of those attempting to bring down the government.
Alfredo Reinado the officer who staged the army rebellion, lived for some years in Australia and received military training at the Canberra military academy. He has received considerable and favourable coverage by the Australian media.
Luis Gutteres, East Timor's Ambassador to the US and the UN is a member of Fretilin. He put his name forward as an opponent of Mari Alkatiri for the position of General Secretary of Fretilin at the time of Fretilin's Congress in June but failed to obtain the necessary 20 signatures to enable him to stand. He has recently remained in the background but is being put forward, among others, by Ramos Horta as a replacement for Mari Alkatiri.
All of these persons have received considerable and favourable coverage by the Australian media contrasting with the demonisation of Mari Alkatiri and any others who remain solid in their support of the elected government.
The role of Xanana Gusamao who became the recognised leader of the struggle against Indonesian occupation is not fully clear but in effect his actions and statements reveal a lack of support for the democratically elected government and for those who fought together with him in the resistance movement. He is also dancing to the tune of the Australian colonialists.
--Peter Symon is general secretary of the Communist Party of Australia.
From the Guardian
