U. Colorado-area Man Reflects on East Timor
By Jessika Fruchter
Colorado Daily (U. Colorado)
05/21/2002

(U-WIRE) BOULDER, Colo. — In the early morning hours of August 30, 1999, thousands on the small island of East Timor, near Indonesia, lined up shoulder-to-shoulder to cast their votes — a right that many Americans have been accused of taking for granted.

Faced with a history rich in violence and oppression, the East Timorese stepped up to show the world they wanted an end to violence and the Indonesian occupation.

Now, after three years of interim United Nations governance, the East Timorese are celebrating that independence, as East Timor on Monday became the world's newest nation.

Longtime Boulder, Colo., resident Dan Winters witnessed history-in-the-making in 1999 when he made his first trip to East Timor and served as one of 275 United Nations election observers during the vote for independence.

After learning of repeated violence against the East Timorese that was backed by the U.S.-supported Indonesian government, Winters said he felt compelled to get involved.

"The United States was supplying weapons to Indonesia and training them in guerilla tactics," Winters said. "I remember thinking that the U.S. is so complicit in such a horrible crime, it's my obligation to speak out in whatever way I could."

Indonesia invaded East Timor in 1975, after Portugal abandoned the colony. During the Indonesian occupation an estimated 200,000 East Timorese were killed, Winters said.

"It was the largest proportional genocide in history," he said.

As widely reported from White House documents released last year and previously kept secret, the initial invasion was approved by then- U.S. President Gerald Ford and Secretary of State Henry Kissinger, though both denied involvement at the time.

During that time the United States was reportedly supplying Indonesia with the majority of its arms. The United States continued its support of Indonesia right through the Clinton Administration.

"(Clinton) kept funding and training the Indonesian military until the violence became so apparent and so egregious that he could no longer continue," Winters said. "The international community has greatly questioned Clinton's role in the last 7 or 8 years."

The violence resumed after the August 30 vote.

"As soon as the vote was over the country was ravaged (by the Indonesian militia)," Winters recalled. "Sixty percent of the country was destroyed."

That event prompted the United States to cut off military training and weapons sales to Indonesia.

"What's most outrageous," he added, "is that the Pentagon is now pushing to go back and reestablish military relations."

Earlier this month U.S. Defense Secretary Donald Rumsfeld declared his intention to reestablish ties with Indonesia, citing the prevention of terrorism. He has said al Qaeda terrorist cells may be operating in Indonesia, which is the largest Muslim country in the world.

Winters calls the Bush Administration's plan a "ploy."

He said a more likely motivation is potential military sales, as well as the investment of corporations like Nike that operate in Indonesia.

While East Timor, one of the poorest countries in the world, still has a long road ahead before reaching total economic and military independence, Winters says the small nation serves as an inspiration for other would-be nations seeking autonomy.

"We really need to acknowledge the courage and tenacity that the people of East Timor had," Winters said. "Indonesia was supported by the strongest country in the world."

"The odds were really astronomical," he added. "Those are the same odds that the Palestinians are facing today. If they can look at the East Timorese odds then my message to the Palestinians ... is to hang in there."

Copyright ©2002 Colorado Daily via UWire

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