DATE=9/1/1999
TYPE=U-S OPINION ROUNDUP
TITLE=EAST TIMOR ELECTION
NUMBER=6-11450
BYLINE=ANDREW GUTHRIE
DATELINE=WASHINGTON
EDITOR=ASSIGNMENTS
TELEPHONE=619-3335
CONTENT=
TEXT: This week's vote on the troubled island of East
Timor, part of the Indonesian archipelago, has
attracted a good deal of attention in the United
States. We get a sampling of editorial comment now
from ___________ in today's U-S Opinion Roundup.
TEXT: For roughly four hundred years East Timor was a
territory of Portugal, but when that waning European
power gave up its overseas empire in 1975, the
Indonesian army invaded from the Western part of the
island and took control.
About a year later, Indonesia annexed East Timor
against the will of a majority of its people. During
the first few years after annexation, more than 200-
thousand people on East Timor were killed by the
Indonesian army, or died of wounds, disease, or
starvation.
Finally, with a change of government in Jakarta last
year, the East Timorese were granted the opportunity
to vote for independence, or autonomy-under-Indonesia,
in a United Nations-monitored plebiscite. Official
results will not be known for several more days but a
large turnout, despite weeks of pre-vote violence by
pro-Indonesian armed militias, appears to indicate a
victory for the pro-Independence forces.
The violence leading up to the vote, and the
balloting's importance, have been the subject of
several editorials, like this one, in The Los Angeles
Times.
VOICE The region appears to have won its freedom at
the ballot box. If confirmed by the final
count, the process of severing ties with Jakarta
and building an independent nation will start
from scratch. .. So poor that it will start at
the bottom rung of the world's economic ladder,
East Timor won't have it easy. Aside from the
prospect of offshore oil, it has no substantial
natural resources. The economy and the society
itself will have to be rebuilt, brick by brick,
by a largely illiterate population. But the
years of resistance have given the territory
some strong leaders, including the head of the
National Council of Timorese Resistance, Xanana
Gusma. . The community of nations should
provide outside aid and expertise.
TEXT: From New Jersey's capital, The Trenton Times
says many U-S citizens who never bother to vote could
derive some inspiration from the poor people of this
troubled little South Pacific island.
VOICE: At great personal risk, East Timorese are
flocking to the polls to vote on independence
from Indonesia. . So far, under the watchful
eye of United Nations observers, the balloting
has taken place with few incidents. However,
during the weeks leading up to the historic
vote, armed thugs attacked East Timorese
independence activists . in an attempt to scare
them and their supporters away from the polls.
. Incidents like these ought to wake up
Americans to the reality that the democratic
process which guarantees our freedom cannot be
taken for granted.
TEXT: An object lesson for Americans in the East Timor
story from The Trenton Times.
Denver's Rocky Mountain News expresses concern over
the security situation in this column by the paper's
senior foreign affairs writer, Holger Jensen.
VOICE: Although most East Timorese are expected to
vote for independence, anti-independence leaders
warn of another civil war if the vote doesn't go
their way. . Australia, the closest of Western
nations to Indonesia, is eyeing the security
situation with some alarm. The Darwin-based
First Army Brigade, just across the Timor Sea,
has been placed on its highest state of
readiness since the Vietnam War. And there is
talk of sending U-S troops. . Earlier this
month, the Melbourne Age . quoted high-level
diplomatic sources, as saying the GIs would be
used for "peace enforcement" as distinct from U-
N "peacekeeping."
TEXT: The San Francisco Chronicle is also worried
about the security situation in East Timor.
VOICE: The escalating violence in the weeks leading
up to the election suggests the conflict will
not necessarily be settled at the ballot box.
There is a very real threat of . civil war if
the renegade pro-Jakarta militias refuse to
accept defeat. . The polite term for U-S policy
toward East Timor over the years would be
pragmatic. The United States and Australia
tacitly allowed Indonesian President Suharto to
invade East Timor in 1975 and then declare it
the country's 27th province after the collapse of
the Portuguese Empire. What followed was one of
the most gruesome mass slaughters of the
century.
TEXT: In the U-S Midwest, The Detroit Free Press adds
these sentiments:
VOICE: The enthusiasm engendered by a free election
should inspire anyone who embraces democratic
concepts. .. The East Timorese seem to have
embraced the notion that freedom to control
their own destiny is worth the hardship
independence will bring.
TEXT: With that opinion from the Detroit Free Press,
we conclude this sampling of comment from the
editorial pages of Tuesday's U-S newspapers.
NEB/ANG/gm
01-Sep-1999 12:04 PM EDT (01-Sep-1999 1604 UTC)
NNNN
Source: Voice of America
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