Indonesian Atrocities

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 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 at Darwin is possible, despite the low powered transmitter used in East Timor).

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."

World attention was focused on Indonesian atrocities in East Timor with the release of the Dunn Report in Australia. Mr Dunn, former Australian Consal to Dili and director of the Foreign Affairs Group of the Legislative Research Service of the Australian Parliament, interviewed East Timorese refugees in Lisbon, and his report details many Indonesian atrocities. Mr Dunn has given evidence before the US Congress Committee on International Relations on these atrocities.

Mart Reyners