[asia-apec 1292] Socialist Party of East Timor Statement; PRD Jakarta office firebombed

[John Percy]

Socialist Party of East Timor Statement; PRD Jakarta office firebombed

From
Democratic Socialist Party
Australia
dsp at dsp.org.au

September 10, 1999

Dear friends,

Attached below are two important statements from East Timor and
Indonesia:

1. A statement on the current situation in East Timor by the Socialist
Party of Timor (PST) issued September 9 by the PST Delegation in
Jakarta, signed by Antonio Lopes, Chairperson.

2. A statement on the firebombing attack on the Peoples Democratic Party
(PRD) Jakarta office issued September 10 by the PRD Central Leadership
Committee, signed by Faisol Riza, Chairperson, and Ida Nasim Mh,
Secretary.

Could you please circulate these as widely as you can.

We will continue to take the liberty of emailing you the most important
and urgent information and statements while the crisis situation in East
Timor and Indonesia continues. If you would like more extensive
information emailed to you, we invite you to subscribe to the Democratic
Socialist Party's email information list, DS_NET. Just send an email
message to dhell at ozemail.com.au asking to subscribe.

Word just to hand as this posting is being sent:
* 40,000 people attended a lunchtime rally, stopwork and march in
Melbourne today to protest the Indonesian military bloodbath in East
Timor.
* High school students walked out of school to attend rallies in all
capital cities.

Further information is available from the web site of ASIET:
http://www.peg.apc.org/~asiet.

Also note that the email address and web site location of the Democratic
Socialist Party of Australia have changed. Could all our friends please
adjust their address lists, and change the links on their web pages.

All mail for the DSP should now be sent to: dsp at dsp.org.au.

Our web site is now located at: http://www.dsp.org.au/

The addresses and web sites of Green Left Weekly, Resistance, and Links
magazine have also changed.

Green Left Weekly:
glw at greenleft.org.au.
http://www.greenleft.org.au/

Resistance:
resistance at greenleft.org.au.
http://www.greenleft.org.au/resistance/

Links:
links at dsp.org.au.
http://www.dsp.org.au/links/

Comradely greetings,

John Percy
national secretary
Democratic Socialist Party
Australia

______________

PST statement on current situation in East Timor

Socialist Party of Timor (PST)
PST Asia Pacific External Delegation, Jakarta, Indonesia
Statement, 9 September, 1999

Considering:

1. That the May 5 Tripartite agreement placing security in East Timor in
the hands of Indonesia has brought the East Timorese people to the edge
of extermination;

2. That the responsibility for security and order given to the
Indonesian government and security apparatus has not been carried
according to the expectations of the international community;

3. That the presence of the Indonesian National Army (TNI) and Police
(POLRI) in East Timor is worsening the situation with more civilians
losing their lives;

4. That the TNI and Police have misused their authority and have taken
sides with the militia to massacre and to carry out a scorched earth
policy;

5. That the Military Emergency that the Indonesian government has
declared is a purely cosmetic measure. This measure is aimed at
isolating the Timorese people in their own country with the aim of being
able to organise another referendum under the supervision of Asian
Pacific nations and not the UN.

6. That the refugees crossing the East Timorese border are not doing so
voluntarily, especially not the pro-independence East Timorese people,
but are being forced to do so by the TNI and POLRI and that the East
Timorese people are not being afforded protection from any quarter

STANCE

Based on these considerations the PST Delegation based in Jakarta states
on behalf of the PST Central Committee:

1. Rejects the presence of the Indonesian military in East Timor as they
are responsible for all the massacres and the total destruction of East
Timor and its people;

2. That the responsibility for security that was given to the Indonesian
government, in particular the TNI and POLRI, should be withdrawn as this
situation is providing the opportunity for these forces to wreak revenge
for the losses that they perceive they have suffered in East Timor;

3. Condemns the antidemocratic, and unsportive attitude of the
pro-autonomy forces that have been backed up by the TNI and POLRI;

4. Condemns all forms of killings and systematic destruction being
carried out by the TNI, Police and militia against the East Timorese
people;

5. Condemns all forms of violence and coercion used by the TNI and POLRI
against the East Timorese people to force them to leave their homeland;

6. Condemns the revenge being carried out by the TNI, Police and Militia
following their defeat I n the referendum;

DEMANDS:

The above stance leads us to make the following demands:

1. That the UN and international community take firm, speedy and
effective measures to force Indonesia, the TNI and POLRI to withdraw
from East Timor and disband the militias;

2. To carry out economic and diplomatic sanctions against Indonesia if
the violence and massacres continue;

3. To carry out the UN ultimatum to send an International Peacekeeping
Force because the 48 hours have passed without any improvement in the
situation, instead the killings are more rampant and there are more
refugees flooding across the border and the infrastructure of East Timor
is being subjected to total paralysis;

4. That the Portuguese government be held responsible for the danger and
destruction being inflicted on the East Timorese people because they
signed the May 5 agreement which is bringing about the destruction of
the East Timorese people;

5. That Portugal use all diplomatic means to convince the countries
grouped in NATO to force Indonesia, its TNI and POLRI to withdraw from
East Timor in order to protect the East Timorese nation which is
threatened by the violence and killings of TNI POLRI and militia in the
region.

6. That all the humanitarian NGOs under the auspices of the UN (such as
the UNHCR and others) render full assistance to the East Timorese
refugees so that all their basic needs, such as food and medicines and
medical teams be met, so that they can fully recover and finally return
to their homes.

Jakarta, 9 September 1999
PST Delegation in Jakarta
Antonio Lopes, Chairperson.

______________________________

CENTRAL LEADERSHIP COMMITTEE OF THE PEOPLE'S DEMOCRATIC PARTY (KPP -
PRD)

Jl. Jend. Basuki Rahmat No. 7B Jakarta Timur, Tel/fax 8561542
E-mail:prd at centrin.net.id

Press Statement

PRD's HEAD OFFICE BOMBED WITH MOLOTOV COCKTAILS BY SOME UNIDENTIFIED
PEOPLE

After two days of being terrorized by rocks thrown, the head office of
the PRD was finally attacked with Molotov cocktails and burned.
According to an eyewitness from the block security guard named Begi,
this terror attack happened at 01.45 (twenty minutes after the last
guest from Moestopo University had gone home). The bombing was done by
some unidentified people driving a blue car with police number D 622 Z.
Still according to the eyewitness, this car was actually driven around
the PRD's head office for about 5 times. The damage caused by this
terror attack included: the front door and windows was burned, window
glass was broken, one banner of the PRD was burned, and also the
electricity installation of the office was damaged.

It can be seen clearly that the terror was done for political reasons.
>From the damages caused by the burning, and the process of the burning
itself, the terror was done by thugs paid by the New Order regime that
for these long efforts by all ways to stop all political activities of
PRD. We deemed that this terror is really related with the political
activities taken by PRD, especially, the PRD's activities in recent
days. First, our discussion and political statements on the East Timor
issue where the PRD supported the result of the ballot that was won by
the independence group. Second, our discussion, political statements,
and mass actions in rejecting the National Safety and Security Law.

However, the terror will never stop the political activities of the PRD,
which aims to fight for and maintain real democracy in Indonesia.
Actions of terror will even strengthen our belief that the New Order
Regime and its next generation should be resisted until its defeat.

For this terror we call for your solidarity support by making political
statements or taking action on this issue.

Jakarta 10 September, 1999 (02.12 AM)

Central Leadership Committee of the People's Democratic Party (KPP-PRD)

Faisol Riza Chairperson
Ida Nasim Mh Secretary

______________________