East Timor - The springs of justice

To remember the depth and extent of the East Timorese suffering may become, in Johann Metz's terms, a dangerous memory, one that will not let us rest. Memory will not permit us to 'put it all behind us', as Bob Hawke urged us in the 1980s. Grief, in Walter Brueggemann's terms, is a revolutionary act. It declares that something awful and serious has happened and may be still occurring. Long ago Moses' grief for Israel led him to cry "Let my people go!" That cry challenged the dominant culture's ideology and refused to concede that everything was going well. Similarly grief over East Timor may lead us to challenge the modern pharaohs' reassurance that if all is not quite right yet, it soon will be.The powers of this world urge us to grieve politely and briefly. Grieving that is prolonged or too loud is deemed unhealthy, likely to disturb peace, harmony and reconciliation. But contrast the spirit of Moses who grieved for Israel, or the spirit of Jesus who grieved for Lazarus and wept over Jerusalem. Each dared to challenge the power of death. We in modern Australia are being challenged to hear the call to remember and grieve.

For the East Timorese, the most important action we can take is to remember. And just as important is to grieve. Memory and grief will guard us against too easy an acceptance of 'reality' defined by the wise of this world. From memory and grief justice springs.

Reasons are not far to find:

• The East Timorese experienced the loosening of the colonial chains, only to be quickly and cruelly re-colonised. Liberation as experienced by many peoples in post-war Asia and Africa, including the Indonesians, was never accorded in East Timor.
• The East Timorese had scarcely begun a self-conscious political life before being robbed of the opportunity to become the architects of their social, cultural and economic development.
• Although there was general agreement that East Timor's future should be determined by the East Timorese, this opportunity has been denied till now.
• As many as 200,000 people have perished through a variety of causes since the 1975 invasion by Indonesia.
• The East Timorese people have been traumatised by war, relocation, hunger, unemployment, loss of basic human rights, torture, intimidation, extra-judicial killings, disappearances of loved ones, economic and cultural oppression, poor health and inadequate educational resources. As one priest observed: "Year by year, month by month, day by day, the people slowly die".
• Torture, intimidation, disappearances and killings are still occurring, though these are rarely reported in mainstream media. Young people are specially targeted by Indonesian oppression.
• Massacres of East Timorese were not isolated events. They occurred at Lacluta (1981), Kraras (1983), Same (1985), and Santa Cruz (1991). The well publicised Santa Cruz events of November 1991 are a microcosm of the East Timorese tragedy.
• Indonesia has embarked on a policy of cultural destruction, banning the use of Tetum as a language of instruction and promoting the immigration of Javanese and Balinese villagers to Timor. The immigrant Indonesian population is estimated at 180,000 out of a total of 830,000 in East Timor today. Most economic activity is controlled by Indonesians. Poverty and unemployment levels among local people are high.
• The welfare needs of orphans, widows, families of prisoners, the unemployed, the poor and the tortured are all enormous.

According to Amnesty International, the international community, including Australia, shares responsibility for human rights abuses in East Timor. Our complicity ranges from silence in the face of specific abuses to continuing to supply military equipment and training to Indonesians. Joint exercises with Indonesian units known for their human rights abuses, continue. Trade, too, continues as usual. There is no concerted international pressure on Indonesia.

Real access to East Timor remains unavailable. Visiting delegations are closely watched. Many East Timorese are tortured, imprisoned or mistreated for gathering information such as appears in this article.

East Timor is, as Sr Kath O'Connor remarks, the land of Nicodemus. The broken, the brave and the grieving whisper the truth in darkness and danger.Our first task is to listen attentively to what the East Timorese are saying at risk to their lives. Our second is the work of solidarity and finding ways to let the Timorese know that we have heard.

One avenue of contact is through Sr Kath and Christians in Solidarity with East Timor. CISET responds to the plea of the East Timorese that we remember, grieve with them and together seek justice and peace.

Above material is from the Uniya Newsletter: used with permission.

The Cardoner, © Copyright 1995 by Jack Otto.