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Thanks to all who have donated so far.

I’ve long admired ETAN’s work.... ETAN has conducted some of the most effective grassroots campaigns I know. With limited resources, they helped free a nation and fundamentally changed policy toward one of the U.S.’s closest and most repressive allies, Indonesia.

—Amy Goodman, host of “Democracy Now!”

Kissinger redux

Henry Kissinger's callousness about mass murder should come as no surprise to anyone who has followed his career. Kissinger appears on a recently released tape of a conversation with  then-President Richard Nixon saying in 1973:

"that helping Soviet Jews emigrate and thus escape oppression by a totalitarian regime — a huge issue at the time — was 'not an objective of American foreign policy.'

'And if they put Jews into gas chambers in the Soviet Union,' he added, 'it is not an American concern. Maybe a humanitarian concern.'

Just a few years later, in December 1975, Kissinger and President Gerald Ford were in Jakarta giving the go ahead to Indonesia's invasion of East Timor. Kissinger would guarantee continuation of weapons shipments. According to Timor-Leste's Commission for Reception, Truth and Reconciliation as many as 180,000 people died as a result.  For more on Kissinger's role in East Timor click here.

ETAN Letter to Rep Patrick Kennedy on leaving Congress

December 13, 2010 

Rep. Patrick Kennedy
U.S. House of Representatives
Washington, DC 20515
Via fax

Dear Representative Kennedy,

As the Executive Committee of the East Timor and Indonesia Action Network, we write to wish you the best in your post-Congressional career and to express our deep gratitude for your tireless work in solidarity with the people of East Timor and Indonesia during your 16-year tenure in the U.S. House of Representatives. Over those years, we have greatly valued our collaboration with you, as you initiated numerous congressional letters, resolutions and legislation to protect and promote human rights in the region. It is heartening to see a public servant work so tirelessly in support of justice and the rights of others, not for personal gain or public acclaim but simply because it is the right thing to do.

President Suharto underscored the efficacy of your work in the House in an angry letter to President Clinton shortly after the bill’s introduction, canceling a planned purchase of nine F-16 planes from the US government and withdrawing from participation in the Expanded International Military Education and Training (E-IMET) program.

Shortly after your arrival in Washington, you established yourself as one of the key House leaders on human rights and related issues in Indonesia and East Timor. You visited East Timor in 1996 to support Bishop Belo on his return to his homeland after he received the Nobel Peace Prize. In 1997, you introduced bold and important legislation – the Indonesia Military Assistance Accountability Act (HR 1132) – baring government-to-government weapons sales and some military training until critical human rights improvements in East Timor and Indonesia were achieved. 

Indonesia’s President Suharto underscored the efficacy of your work in the House in an angry letter to President Clinton shortly after the bill’s introduction, canceling a planned purchase of nine F-16 planes from the US government and withdrawing from participation in the Expanded International Military Education and Training (E-IMET) program. 

The introduction of HR 1132 is only one among many examples of your leadership in Congressional efforts to maintain and expand restrictions on arms sales and military training for Indonesia – efforts that put Indonesia on notice that international support for their illegal occupation of East Timor was beginning to crumble.  In 1998, you lead efforts which placed the U.S. Congress firmly on record as supporting self-determination for East Timor. 

Over time, your efforts gave critical support to the broad-based pro-democracy movement that ended the reign of the Indonesian dictator Suharto and helped enable East Timor’s historic referendum for independence in 1999. 

Over the ten years since East Timor’s independence vote, you have demonstrated your commitment in support of a strong and stable East Timor (Timor-Leste). Throughout the 2000’s, you continued to shine a spotlight on events in East Timor. You urged your colleagues and the administration to strongly support the UN mission as the country continued to rebuild during its transition to full independence. You advocated for meaningful U.S. assistance to East Timor and supported its demand for its rightful share of natural resources in negotiations with neighboring Australia. You have also been outspoken in your support for justice and accountability for the many atrocities and crimes against humanity committed by U.S.-backed Indonesian forces during the occupation.

Finally, we are appreciate for your efforts to draw attention to the human rights crisis in West Papua through among other initiatives, your recent sponsorship of HRes 1355, calling for the release of political prisoners and greater access for international organizations to West Papua. We know that this issue remains particularly important to you and we hope we can continue to work together to ensure justice and peace for the people of West Papua as you enter this new chapter of your life and career. 

Wishing you all the best in this holiday season,

Sincerely,

John M. Miller, National Coordinator

For ETAN

Congratulations to Shirley Shackleton

Congratulations to Shirley Shackleton for winning Australia's Walkley Book Award for The Circle of Silence: A personal testimony before, during and after Balibo. Copies are available from ETAN.

The award citation says in part:

"This book is testimony to her work in East Timor, and an insight into a defining time in that country's history. Such struggles have their personal sides, however, and this book is also a remarkable personal narrative, interspersed with poetry, that details the other careers Shackleton juggled while maintaining an abiding focus on justice in East Timor."

From judges' comments:

Shirley Shackleton's book is an exceptional personal narrative in this year's field of rich Australian journalism, history and analysis. It is exceptional because of its raw intellectual honesty forged from murder and massacre in East Timor during a cover-up which prevailed for 25 years. It is exceptional because it confronts then exposes blind-eyed Australian diplomacy. It confronts then exposes self-censorship posing as journalism, because of the Australia/US/Indonesia geopolitical logic which required it.

From ordinary human expectations, the author's personal story -- with sometimes brutal self-assessment -- evolves from self-pity and grief over the 1975 murders at Balibo and Dili to a campaign to raise public consciousness about atrocities which decimated the people of East Timor. The consequence of that raised consciousness? Independence for East Timor in 2002 and a measure of belated redemption for Australia and the international community. The Circle of Silence is Shirley Shackleton's testimony from her life's darkest hour at the death of her husband Greg to vindication and relief at the survival of a people who struggled for their freedom.

35th Anniversary of U.S.-backed Indonesian Invasion of East Timor

Today, December 7, 2010, marks the 35th anniversary of the U.S.-backed Indonesian invasion of East Timor. On the 30th anniversary of Indonesia's full-scale assault on Timor, ETAN

"called on the world to listen to East Timor’s victims and act on their demands for justice. The group also urged the United States government to formally acknowledge its past support for Indonesia’s brutal military occupation of East Timor, and for the international community to learn from this history and never repeat the same crimes."

December 7 invasion day, via Timor Archives

It is well-documented that the Indonesian military launched its 1975 invasion just hours after then President Ford and Secretary of State Henry Kissinger gave their explicit permission to go ahead. They reassured Suharto that U.S. military support would continue, despite U.S. law and Indonesia's treaty obligations. U.S. weapons, military training and political support enabled Indonesia to seize the territory and maintain its occupation for 24 years. These brutal events claimed the lives of up to 200,000 people.

The report of Timor-Leste's Commission for Reception, Truth and Reconciliation (known by its Portuguese initials, CAVR) thoroughly documents the impact of the Indonesia's illegal invasion and occupation.
While the report was long ago officially delivered to the U.S. and other governments, the CAVR's recommendations to the international community remain largely ignored. anniversary. Despite being urged to do so, President Obama did not address these issues during his recent visit to Jakarta.

Kopassus troops

We continue to urge the U.S. government and Congress to seriously respond to the report by holding hearings and formally acknowledge the U.S. role in the suffering of the East Timorese and Indonesian peoples. The U.S. and others who backed Indonesia should apologize and provide reparations. The U.S. should work to establish an international tribunal to try those most responsible the heinous crimes committed in Timor-Leste from 1975-1999 and withhold support for Indonesia's security forces especially their most brutal units - including Kopassus, as recommended by the CAVR to encourage genuine accountability and promote reform. These forces continue to terrorize the people of West Papua.

We highlight some of the CAVR's  most pertinent recommendations after the jump.