- The United States offered full and direct approval to
Indonesia's 1975 invasion of East Timor, a move by then-president Suharto
which consigned the territory to 25 years of oppression, official documents
released Thursday show.
The documents prove conclusively for the first time that the United States
gave a 'green light' to the invasion, the opening salvo in an occupation
that cost the lives of up to 200,000 East Timorese.
General Suharto briefed US president Gerald Ford and his secretary of state
Henry Kissinger on his plans for the former Portuguese colony hours before
the invasion, according to documents collected by George Washington University's
National Security Archive.
When Ford and Kissinger called in Jakarta on their way back from a summit
in Beijing on December 6, 1975, Suharto claimed that in the interests of
Asia and regional stability, he had to bring stability to East Timor, to
which Portugal was trying to grant autonomy.
"We want your understanding if we deem it necessary to take rapid
or drastic action," Suharto told his visitors, according to a long
classified State Department cable.
Ford replied: "We will understand and will not press you on the issue.
We understand the problem you have and the intentions you have."
Kissinger, who has denied the subject of Timor came up during the talks,
appeared to be concerned about the domestic political implications of an
Indonesian invasion.
"It is important that whatever you do succeeds quickly, we would be
able to influence the reaction in America if whatever happens, happens
after we return.
"The president will be back on Monday at 2:00 pm Jakarta time. We
understand your problem and the need to move quickly but I am only saying
that it would be better, if it were done after we returned."
The invasion took place on December 7, the day after the Ford-Suharto meeting.
Kissinger has consistently rejected criticism of the Ford Administration's
conduct on East Timor.
During a launch in 1995 for his book "Diplomacy," Kissinger said
at a New York hotel it was perhaps "regrettable" that for US
officials, the implications of Indonesia's Timor policy were lost in a
blizzard of geopolitical issues following the Vietnam War.
"Timor was never discussed with us when we were in Indonesia,"
Kissinger said, according to a transcript of the meeting distributed by
the East Timor Action network -- which advocated independence for East
Timor.
"At the airport as we were leaving, the Indonesians told us that they
were going to occupy the Portuguese colony of Timor. To us that did not
seem like a very significant event."
The documents also show that Kissinger was concerned at the use of US weapons
by Indonesia during the East Timor invasion.
By law, the arms could only be used in self defense, but it appears that
Kissinger was concerned mostly on the interpretation of the legislation
-- not the use of the weapons.
"It depends on how we construe it, whether it is in self-defense or
is a foreign operation," he is quoted as saying.
The eastern part of the island of Timor, situated north of the Australian
coast, was invaded by Jakarta in 1975 and annexed the following year.
After a 25-year independence campaign and guerrilla war, the territory
voted overwhelmingly for independence in August 1999 in a referendum which
triggered a wave of murderous violence by pro-Jakarta militias.
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