APSN | Kopassus veterans mark 40 years since Indonesia's invasion of East Timor

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Kopassus veterans mark 40 years since Indonesia's invasion of East Timor

ABC News - December 8, 2015

Australia received East Timor 'hit list' before Indonesian invasion – ABC Radio Australia. November 27, 2015
The interview that changed a nation: 1990 meeting with rebel leader Xanana Gusmao in jungle hideout – ABC News. November 12, 2015
Australia knew about Indonesia's napalm plans in Timor Leste – WA Today. May 8, 2015
Attorney-General appeals against the release of secret diplomatic information on East Timor – Sydney Morning Herald. November 17, 2014
Timor Leste atrocities not forgotten – Jakarta Post. October 20, 2014

Adam Harvey – The 40th anniversary of Indonesia's invasion of East Timor was marked yesterday with a small commemoration at the headquarters of the nation's Kopassus special forces.

The special forces soldiers saw the worst of the fighting in the months following the landings in Dili on December 7, 1975.

Following a naval bombardment, hundreds of paratroopers were dropped into Dili, beginning a brutal conflict and guerrilla war that did not fully end until East Timorese independence in 1999.

More than 100,000 Timorese died in the conflict, which ended only when Indonesia allowed a referendum on independence in 1999. It was a controversial war notable for many human rights abuses, but there is little discussion about it in Indonesia.

At the event yesterday, veterans watched a video presentation that showed them as fit young men. They are now all in their 60s and 70s and some of them can barely walk.

Indonesian government minister Luhut Panjaitan was a Kopassus commando in East Timor and was the main attraction at yesterday's commemoration. "Forty years ago we went out for operation in East Timor from this building – of course there are a lot of memories," he said.

Rafendi Jamin, the director of the Human Rights Working Group Indonesia, is one of the few Indonesians who know the significance of December 7. "It's not something that's remembered by the general public at all," he said.

'We tried our best to carry out our duty'

Mr Panjaitan said he and his fellow commandos thought they were doing the right thing in a global fight against communism.

In December 1975, as the special forces mission began against East Timor's left-wing government, US secretary of state Henry Kissinger was in Jakarta for talks with Indonesian president Suharto.

"Kissinger was visiting Jakarta actually giving a green light for the operation because of the fear of communism," said Mr Panjaitan.

"That was the briefing that we received. So when the next day we were blamed, it was politics, I learned that. We were blamed for things while we tried our best to carry out our duty."

Mr Jarmin agrees that in 1975, Indonesia was in step with the West. The Australian Government made no objection to the invasion.

"It was really part of the Cold War," he said. "The anti-communist regime of Indonesia at the time, in 1975, was happily joining forces with Australia and the West."

Source: http://www.abc.net.au/news/2015-12-08/indonesia-marks-invasion-of-east-timor/7008858.