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Salient. Official Newspaper of the Victoria University Students' Association. Vol 41 No. 21. August 28 1978

[Introduction]

Photo of Fretilin people's army

Fretilin organized a people's army first against the [unclear: Portuguese] colonialists and now against the Indonesian invaders.

The Indonesian Government has been claiming ever since the East Timor war started in December 1975 that it is on the verge of winning. Yet the troops, military hardware and advisers are still pouring in. Indonesian estimates of the number of Fretilin (Revolutionary Front for an Independent East Timor) guerillas left have ranged successively from virtually none, 200, 600, about 2,000, 400, to last year's claim that 60,000 surrendered. The Indonesian Government continues to assert that East Timor is rightfully a part of Indonesia and calls for Timorese support for its "reconstruction programme".

The people of East Timor have cause to be suspicious. 60,000 of their number appear to have been killed in the early stages of the war, constituting one of the highest mortality rates per head of population in any war the world has known.

President Suharto of Indonesia recently made his first visit to the island since the invasion began. He arrived late on July 16 and left less than 24 hours later. Independent journalists who accompanied him have confirmed the hurried nature of the visit and the extreme nervousness of the military. While Fretilin maintained its harassment of the occupying forces surrounding the capital Dili, Suharto inspected boy scouts and girl guides in front of a silent and captive audience, and spoke to the appointed puppet Provincial Assembly.

He announced: "The urgent matter is the restoration of peace and order." Translated a little less literally, this can be read to mean the Fretilin forces still command too much support and the bloodshed will have to continue before any other "benefits" of Indonesian occupation accrue to the Timorese people.