06/11/2007 12:04:38 PM EDT

THE SUNDAY HERALD

Readers Views

Debt of dishonour

THE government of Indonesia owes the UK an estimated USdollars-1billion for past arms sales. This debt helped Suharto to entrench his power against political opposition and viciously to suppress independence movements in East Timor, Aceh and West Papua.

The continued existence of this debt is a moral offence. Having armed a criminal regime against its citizens, the UK is now, in effect, asking those citizens to repay the cost of those arms.

It is not just the UK which upholds immoral debt claims: the closets of all the G8 countries contain similar skeletons. The silence of the G8 communique on these debts is damning. We call on Gordon Brown to break this silence.

Ben Young Jubilee Scotland Edinburgh

Paul Barber Tapol: The Indonesia Human Rights Campaign Surrey