Fretilin Declares Independence and Indonesia Invades'

During September 1975 the Portugese Governor and his administration left for the isaldn of Atauro in Dili harbour, and Fretilin filled the administrative vacuum left behind. Later in the month UDT and Apodeti joined forces, together with minority parties, to form Mrac, the Anti-Communist Revolutionary Movement. In the following months, fierce fighting between Fretilin and Mrac forces, supported by Indonesia, broke out along the East-Timor-Indonesian Timor border.

A NZ TV 1 team managed to shoot film of Fretilin operations around the border town of [unclear: Batugade.] However, five Australian TV newsmen were shot dead in the neighbouring town of Balibo on October 16 when it came under attack from combined UDT-Apodeti forces led by Indonesian troops.

On November 28, 1975, Fretilin gave up waiting for the Portugese to negotiate a programme of decolonisation and unilaterally declared independence. They knew an Indonesian invasion was imminent

Indonesian response to East Timor's indegive them diplomatic recognition and assistance if they became independent.

President Francisco Xavier do Amaral told the people: "If we must fight and die for our freedom we will now do so as free men and women." Even as he spoke Indonesian soldiers were capturing the town at Atabae, after five days of shelling by warships off the coast and an amphibious landing of five tanks.

Indonesian response to East Timor's independence was not long in coming. On December 5, Indonesia's Foreign Minister, Adam Malik, summoned the ambassadors of Asean countries, Australia, New Zealand, Portugal, the USA and the Soviet Union and warned them "not to be surprised" by any developments which might take place in East Timor. Then in the early hours of Sunday December 7, Indonesia began a full-scale invasion, when at least six Indonesian warships, several dozen planes and hundreds of paratroops and marines launched a massive attack on Dili.

The Indonesians were obviously hoping to get the Timor problem' out of the way by the end of the year, but Fretilin resistance was strong and had so much support from the Timorese people that a second much larger invasion was carried out on Christmas Day involving from 15,000 to 20,000 top Javanese troops. Yet today Indonesia still only controls very few towns and villages. Radio Maubere reported on February 25 this year that 2094 Indonesian soldiers were killed and more wounded in fighting south-west and west of Dili between November 23 and February 23. (Radio Maubere is the national radio of the Democratic Republic of East Timor. Reception in Darwin is possible, despite the low powered transmitter used in East Timor). Indonesian military success in East Timor has been so abysmal because Fretilin is well organised in guerilla warfare. The mountainous interior of the country is well suited for guerilla warfare, as demonstrated in the Second World War, when fewer than 400 Australian troops succeeded in holding down 20,000 Japanese troops, killing 1500 of them and losing only 40 of their own men. About 40,000 Timorese were killed by the Japanese because they had helped the Australians.

Since the invasion of East Timor, Indonesia has kept a tight blockade on the territory, yet reports of Indonesian atrocities continually filter out. A pro-Indonesian Timorese, Lopes da Cruz, during a press conference in Jakarta in February 1975, admitted that 60,000 Timorese had been killed because of "Indonesian excesses."

Timor

World attention has recently been focused on Indonesian atrocities in East Timor with the release of the Dunn Report in Australia. Mr Dunn, former Australian Consul to Dili and director of the Foreign Affairs Group of the Legislative Research Service of the Australian Parliament, interviewed East Timorese refugees in Lisbon last January, and his report details many Indonesian atrocities. Mr Dunn has recently given evidence before the US Congress Committee on International Relations on these atrocities Italian Senator Lelio Basso, who played a leading role in the Bertrand Russell War Crimes Tribunal on Vietnam, has also indicated that he and other formed members of the Russell Tribunal are keen to set up a similar war crimes tribunal in Europe to investigate Indonesian aggressionpage 7against East Timor.

Yet the New Zealand Prime Minister remains too ill-informed to comment.

'I Respect your right to Self-Determination, as long as you Decide to Join Us.'