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Indonesia East Timor
The East Timor conflict that began in the mid-1970s
represented a somewhat different case. East Timor--then
the
colony of Portuguese Timor--was not claimed as a natural
part of
Indonesia after independence, as Irian Jaya had been. Upon
its
departure in early December 1975, the Portuguese colonial
administration turned over its arms to the leftist, antiIndonesian Fretilin faction. After fighting had broken out
among
various political factions in the colony and Fretilin had
declared East Timor's independence, Indonesian military
forces,
comprising ten battalions, invaded East Timor on December
7. The
Indonesian government took the position that because
Portugal was
unable to reestablish effective control over its colony,
it was
necessary for Indonesian forces to restore order at the
request
of local political leaders. A provisional government
petitioned
Indonesia for incorporation, and East Timor became the
nation's
twenty-seventh province--Timor Timur--in July 1976.
Thereafter,
ABRI's military campaign against Fretilin guerrillas in
the
province was treated as an internal security operation to
subdue
armed insurgents. It should be noted, however, that many
foreign
observers believe that the majority of East Timorese did
not
truly support integration. A succession of United States
government administrations have maintained a continuous
policy
that the United States accepted the integration of East
Timor
into Indonesia, although not recognizing that the
referendum that
took place on the issue was legitimate.
By 1988 the situation in East Timor had changed
dramatically,
with emphasis on rural development, civic action, and
improvement
of the economic infrastructure. Over half of the military
forces
in the province were involved in civic action missions,
including
infrastructure construction, teaching, and agricultural
training.
Although incidents of unrest sometimes occurred in Dili,
they
generally reflected economic grievances and social
conflict
brought about by high expectations for employment and
social
infrastructures that had not had sufficient time to
develop.
Ironically, after hundreds of years under a colonial
regime that
left a legacy of 5 percent literacy, the greatly improved
level
of education of Timorese youth brought a classic example
of
unfulfilled rising expectations. Coupled with economic
domination
by non-Timorese migrants, discontent made exploitation of
the
situation by the small number of remaining Fretilin
supporters
inevitable. Periodic heavy-handed army security operations
also
fueled opposition.
Tragically, a major incident occurred in Dili in
November
1991 in which at least 50 and perhaps more than 100
civilians
were killed or wounded by army troops reacting to a
political
demonstration. Unprecedented national and international
attention
as well as a changing view of ABRI's role in society
prompted
Suharto to take the extraordinary step in his supreme
commander's
role to appoint the first-ever National Investigation
Commission
to look into the incident, identify those at fault, and
take
corrective action. In its preliminary report in December
1991,
the commission found that the army had overreacted to
provocation
and had used "excessive force" contrary to established
procedures. Based on the findings of a separate Military
Honor
Council, in February 1992, the army chief of staff
directed that
five officers be censured, at least eight soldiers and
officers
be court-martialed for major offenses, and six senior
officers in
the chain of command be relieved of their posts. To its
credit,
the army itself reacted with anger and dismay to the
incident and
supported the subsequent disciplinary actions taken
against army
personnel. Within six months of the incident, three senior
officers were dismissed, two others were relieved from
active
duty, another was suspended, and four junior officers were
sentenced to jail terms of between eight and fourteen
months.
The army and the government, both subjected to intense
international as well as domestic scrutiny (the incident
was
extensively and openly covered in the press), realized
their
higher responsibilities and responded in a mature and
conciliatory manner to their critics at home and abroad.
It may
well be that this incident, which provoked the most
significant
controversy since the 1965 coup attempt, will prove to
have been
a watershed in the way ABRI viewed its role in society and
was in
turn viewed by the populace. Suharto's initiative in
directing
investigative efforts, which emphasized his role as
supreme
commander of the armed forces, was a dramatic assertion of
his
continuing authority over the armed forces leadership,
most of
whom were twenty years younger than he. His public
apologies for
the incident also emphasized the embarrassment it had
caused
Indonesia.
Data as of November 1992
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