Australia’s neo-colonial intervention in Timor
AUSTRALIA SENT troops to East Timor in May following
another armed deployment in the Solomon Islands. Despite media claims,
prime minister John Howard is not conducting a ‘humanitarian’ mission.
Howard represents Australian big business, which wants to exploit
natural resources in the region and enhance its geo-strategic interests,
in competition with rivals, like Portugal. The lives of impoverished
workers and youth across the vast region are just so much small change
in the cynical schemes of Australian capitalism and other powers.
The trigger to recent turmoil in East Timor (now
renamed Timor-Leste) was the dismissal of 600 striking soldiers from the
Timorese armed forces in March. This led to clashes with forces loyal to
the prime minister, Mari Alkatiri. On 12 May, Howard sent warships to
the Timor Sea and later, on ‘invitation’ from East Timor’s government,
troops to the island. A new UN force will be deployed early next year,
in advance of the May 2007 presidential and legislative elections.
How could one of the world’s newest countries,
created with much international fanfare, have so quickly hit crisis?
The 1974 Portuguese revolution, which overthrew the
right-wing junta in Lisbon, ended long years of colonial rule over East
Timor. This raised hopes of real independence amongst Timor’s people.
But the dream was soon cruelly snuffed out. The right-wing Indonesian
dictator, General Suharto, launched an invasion of the resources-rich
island. Over 20 years of brutal Indonesian rule saw the catastrophic
loss of 200,000 lives in Timor and the impoverishment of its people.
Australia and the US backed Suharto’s invasion.
During the cold war, Suharto – the butcher of hundreds of thousands of
Indonesian Communist Party members in the 1960s – was a key ally. East
Timor was important for geo-strategic reasons and its huge oil and gas
resources. Canberra governments, both Liberal and Labor, cajoled
Indonesia into giving Australian big business preferential access, at
the expense of the Timorese people.
The mass movement that overthrew Suharto’s brutal
dictatorship in the late 1990s gave a huge boost to the national
liberation struggle. However, having shifted to the right, the leaders
of Fretelin – the political wing of the Timorese independence movement –
appealed to outside imperialist powers to end Indonesian rule.
In 1999, Howard sent in troops as pro-Indonesian
militias slaughtered the pro-independence Timorese and devastated much
of the country. Howard was keen to block any attempts by other powers,
particularly Portugal, to step in and gain favourable access to the
Timor Sea’s natural resources. A 7,500-strong UN force (with Australian
troops making up more than half) went to Timor in 2000.
East Timor formally won independence in May 2002.
Australia bullied the new regime to win favourable trade deals giving it
access to oil and gas resources. Australia gets $1m a day from oil and
gas in the Timor Sea. Portuguese big business, like Delta (coffee
company) and CGD bank, also exploit the former colony.
In 1999, the Socialist Party and Alternativa
Socialista (CWI Australia and Portugal respectively) opposed imperialist
intervention into East Timor. They called for democratically-controlled
self-defence by workers and youth in Timor, and for a class appeal to
workers in Indonesia, Australia and across the region to aid their
struggle.
Opposing intervention was a minority view at the
time, when Howard and the media whipped up a mood that ‘something must
be done’ to stop the rampaging pro-Indonesian militias in Timor. The
Democratic Socialist Party (DSP) in Australia, and the Left Bloc and
Communist Party in Portugal, gave way to the propaganda and championed
imperialist intervention. In May 2006, the DSP (now renamed Democratic
Socialist Perspective) opposed Howard’s intervention into Timor. But
what has changed since 1999?
East Timor is again wracked by violent conflict and
remains the poorest country in South-East Asia. UN involvement has not
bettered the lives of the less than one million Timorese. Around 40% of
the population live below the poverty line and half have no access to
safe drinking water. Under UN guidance, the new state was created with
inbuilt divisions: many former guerrilla fighters were kept out of the
new Timorese army and Suharto-era personnel dominated the new police
force.
These facts, and the Iraq war, mean that the public
mood in Australia is not the same as in 1999. Many workers and youth see
through the lies and propaganda that preceded the US-led invasion and
occupation of Iraq. Although many Australians reluctantly saw no
alternative to sending troops in to Timor this May, many are also
suspicious of Howard’s motives or oppose him on this issue.
UN forces were scaled down in May 2005, largely
under US pressure, leaving a ‘small political mission’. But Australia
and the US became worried about Timor’s negotiations with EU states and
China over possible energy deals. For Canberra, Alkatiri is considered
too close to Portugal and is a threat to Australian capitalism’s
interests.
Exploiting recent clashes in Timor, Howard
despatched a heavily armed force of 2,000 troops. But they failed to
stop widespread violence by gangs of jobless youth linked to various
factions. Over 100,000 Timorese are homeless. Howard’s main objective is
to bolster the position of Australian capitalism, to see off rival
imperialist powers, and to force ‘regime change’ in Dili.
The Australian press, echoing the position of
Howard’s government, denounces Alkatiri as a ‘dangerous Marxist’ who
brought East Timor to disaster. The truth is that Alkatiri, like Xanana
Gusmão, and other leaders of Fretelin, long ago ditched any left
policies and embraced capitalism and the rule of the ‘international
community’ (ie imperialist powers). The Murdoch-owned press want
Alkatiri removed so a figure more amenable to Australian big business
can be put in his place. During June, protests were allowed outside the
government buildings in Dili demanding Alkatiri steps down.
The Australian media refer to the intervention into
the Solomon Islands as an example to be copied in Timor. In 2003, Howard
sent troops to the Solomon Islands, claiming the country was a ‘failing
state’ (see Socialism Today No.77, September 2003). Australia
imposed its Regional Assistance Mission to the Solomon Islands (RAMSI),
which means Australian forces hold the key sectors of the state,
including running the defence forces, prisons and finances. A
privatisation programme plunged islanders into greater poverty.
This year’s elections to the Solomon Islands
parliament led to riots amid accusations that the new prime minister,
Snyder Rini, rigged the polls. Howard sent in hundreds more troops to
safeguard Australian capitalism’s interests and to quickly bundle out
Snyder Rini. But reflecting the population’s anger at Australian
meddling, the new prime minister put in Rini’s place accused Howard’s
government of bullying.
As well as facing growing local opposition to
Australian troops in East Timor and the Solomon Islands, Howard’s
government is in danger of heading towards severe ‘imperial
overstretch’. The regional power also has its eye on Fiji, Nauru,
Vanuatu and other islands. It is meddling in Papua New Guinea (a former
Australian colony), imposing an ‘enhanced co-operation programme’,
involving policing, the economy, border controls and the courts. But
getting drawn into vast, unstable and corrupt PNG could be disastrous.
Australian forces are also committed to the US-led
occupation of Afghanistan and Iraq. A few years ago, president Bush
bluntly described Howard’s government as his ‘deputy sheriff’ in the
Asia-Pacific. The US largely backs Australian imperialist policy. In
return, the superpower expects to benefit from Australia’s access to
resources in the region and to supply troops for US military adventures.
The limits of Australian imperialist power, however,
are seen in its relations with Indonesia. Relations between the two
countries were severely strained after Australia sent troops to Timor in
1999. But Canberra still has to deal carefully with the world’s fourth
most populous country, an important, albeit weakened, regional player.
Indonesia is also Australia’s eleventh largest export market.
The two countries are currently negotiating a
‘security treaty’. It is in the interests of Australian big business
that multi-national and multi-ethnic Indonesia holds together, even if
this means trampling on the rights of oppressed peoples. Howard’s
government recently signalled that it opposes self-determination for
West Papua. This area is rich in natural resources but its poverty rates
are double the national average in Indonesia. Freeport goldmine in West
Papua is 40% owned by Rio Tinto, a part Australian-owned company.
Violent conflict, social and economic
disintegration, imperialist interventions, widespread poverty,
joblessness, endemic corruption: all these deep-seated problems will
wrack Asia-Pacific for as long as the region remains in the confines of
the capitalist system. Only a mass struggle uniting all workers, the
poor and youth, to overthrow local elites and the profit system, and to
expel imperialism, can find a way out of the deep crisis.
Niall Mulholland
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