Timor Question - July '98

If a person has access to and has read the right literature, s/he would be forgiven for thinking that the world was fully aware of the East Timor problem and the ,main question would be, ‘Why does no-one do anything?’ The illegal invasion and subsequent genocide carried out by western-trained Indonesian troops has been covered by high-profile figures such as Noam Chomsky and John Pilger who could expect to reach large audiences and perhaps stir some feelings to action. The truth, unfortunately for those who have fallen or are still fighting in East Timor, is less clear-cut, for whilst those exposing the atrocities have some sphere of influence over the intelligentsia, they have long since been dismissed by governments as irritating left-wing intellectual. It is the governments on all sides who perpetuate the situation. The Western ones supplying arms and training to the Indonesian Death-Squads and the Indonesian one continuing to violate the U.N. resolutions as well as the basic human rights of the Timorese people.