Subject: Anthony Lewis: Kissinger's ghost haunts
East Timor
Date: Sat, 11 Sep 1999 11:21:46 EDT
From: Joyo@aol.comThe Age [Melbourne] Sunday, September 12, 1999
Kissinger's ghost
By ANTHONY LEWIS
THE savagery taking place in East Timor is something besides a human disaster. It
carries a profound lesson for international affairs: the price that can be paid for
Kissingerian ``realism''.
Henry Kissinger, then United States Secretary of State, and President Gerald Ford
visited the tyrant ruler of Indonesia, President Suharto, in December 1975. Kissinger knew
Suharto planned to invade East Timor. He made no objection, on the ground that it would be
unrealistic to offend Indonesia.
The day after he and Ford left, the Indonesians invaded. They used arms obtained from
US aid: a violation of American law. That was pointed out to Kissinger in a cable from his
State Department aides, but he angrily rejected the point.
``I know what the law is,'' he told a staff meeting when he got back to Washington,
``but how can it be in the US national interest for us to ... kick the Indonesians in the
teeth?''
That was Kissingerian realism: the view that the US should overlook brutalities by
friendly authoritarian regimes because they provided ``stability''. Thus Kissinger
supported Augusto Pinochet in Chile and the Shah in Iran.
The people of East Timor have paid a heavy price for that realism. In the invasion and
subsequent occupation, a third of the population of 600,000 died. The Indonesian military
carried out, over many years, what the Financial Times of London called ``unspeakable
atrocities''. Now, after voting overwhelmingly for independence, thousands have been
driven out of their country by militiamen armed by Indonesia.
Indonesia has also paid heavily for its seizure of East Timor, and it is going to pay a
lot more. The stubborn East Timorese insistence on independence has inspired other remote
areas of the archipelago state to rebellion. And what foreign company will want to invest
in a country that, apart from human concerns, cannot control its own military? The United
Nations and the entire international community have been badly hurt by the debacle in East
Timor. Having led the way to the referendum, they relied on Indonesian promises to
maintain security because - once again - they did not want to offend the Government.
Now UN employees have been killed and UN offices sacked by the militia forces. The
international community has been made to look hapless against a ragtag challenge. And the
only response by the UN Security Council so far has been to send a mission: not to East
Timor but to Jakarta.
The international community has been so silent about all that has happened in East
Timor over the past 24 years, and so feeble, that it has a responsibility to act firmly
now. Many responses are available.
The US should immediately end all programs involving the Indonesian military: training,
sharing of intelligence, military aid. Indonesia's military is either covertly supporting
the militiamen or has failed to oppose their rampage, violating many assurances.
The International Monetary Fund and the World Bank are heavily involved in keeping the
Indonesian economy afloat. The country has asked for $US71 billion ($A110 billion) in
funding this year from the two institutions. Further tranches should be withheld until
legitimate order is restored in East Timor. If those measures do not bring the Indonesian
Government and military leaders to their senses, it will be necessary - quickly - to send
in an international peacekeeping force.
American political leaders, especially, should reflect on the larger lesson. Ignoring
human realities may not, after all, be ``realistic''. The Shah did not bring stability to
Iran; his policies opened the way to a virulently anti-American regime. Pinochet awaits
justice in the British courts.
Using American troops abroad is always, rightly, a delicate decision. But it is not so
hard to speak out, and the voice of American leaders carries weight. In Bosnia America
learned the price of failing to speak out promptly against aggression. The price of
silence on East Timor remains to be calculated.
Anthony Lewis, twice winner of the Pulitzer Prize, writes on international affairs for
The New York Times, where this first appeared.
Henry Kissinger
and East Timor
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