Transition & reconstruction

Poverty could breed violence, warns Gusmao

Lusa - April 21, 2004

Viseu, Portugal -- Economic difficulties in the world's newest nation, East Timor, are a potential source of violence, President Xanana Gusmao has warned.

"Difficulties and discomfort" are faced by many Timorese, due to sluggish economic growth, and the country's young people are disillusioned due to high unemployment, Gusmao told reporters Tuesday on the margins of a conference on the Portuguese language.

"We are aware of all this, but we cannot impose stability only through law.

We have to do it through more participation of sections of society that could resort to violence".

Gusmao, who began a week-long visit to Portugal on Monday, downplayed the threat of outbreaks of violence in his country, noting the phenomenon was universal.

Timor Gap

East Timor president rebukes Australia over oil dispute

Associated Press - April 27, 2004

Lisbon -- East Timor's president lashed out at Australia, saying in an interview published Tuesday that Canberra had snatched oil reserves that belong to his country.

In an interview with the Portuguese newspaper Publico, President Xanana Gusmao added his voice to the increasingly public spat between the countries over a disputed oil field in the Timor Sea.

"It's a disgrace," Gusmao was quoted as saying. He said Australia was "using all the dirty tactics it can" to prevent East Timor from obtaining exploration rights to what he estimated was up to US$9 billion worth of oil.

"They steal from us and then they hold conferences about transparency, anti-corruption," Gusmao was quoted as saying. "We're creating a wave of noisy protest so that the world can see what's going on. It's inadmissible."

The two neighbors are attempting to negotiate a maritime boundary. The boundary's location will determine how much each nation can claim from among billions of dollars' worth of oil and gas under the sea between them.

East Timor, a former Portuguese colony that is one of the world's poorest nations, has previously accused wealthy Australia of dragging out the talks so it can reap the benefits of a lucrative interim agreement.

Australia has accused East Timor of trying to whip up sympathy and controversy while the negotiations are continuing. East Timor has also criticized Australia's refusal to take the dispute to an international court.

Under United Nations maritime law, wherever neighboring claims overlap, countries must negotiate a water boundary halfway between their coastlines.

But in 2002, Australia withdrew from the international tribunal governing the maritime law, enabling it to retain control of a large portion of the disputed region, 150 kilometers from East Timor and 400 kilometers from Australia.

The tempest in the Timor Sea

Asia Times - April 24, 2004

Alan Boyd, Sydney -- Benefactor or bully? Australia has been portrayed as both in its protracted standoff with tiny East Timor over US$30 billion worth of deep-sea oil and gas reserves. So uneven is the contest, between the richest and poorest nations on the southern rim of the Pacific, that Canberra was always going to come off worse in the public relations battle.

"It is, quite literally, a matter of life and death," Timorese Prime Minister Mari Alkatiri declared in one of the more excitable quotations to come from the latest negotiations, which ended inconclusively in Dili on Thursday. "Timor-Leste loses $1 million a day due to Australia's unlawful exploitation of resources in the disputed area. That is too many lost and wasted lives," he said.

Five years ago, Australia was hell-bent on saving those same lives when it intervened in the militia war between Indonesian special forces and Timorese guerrillas, using hard cash and military firepower to eventually secure independence for the eastern half of the island of Timor.

It later conceded 90 percent of royalties from the most accessible of two continental fields that contain an estimated 20 trillion cubic feet of gas in the Timor Sea, the narrow shipping lane separating East Timor from Australian's northern outpost of Darwin. Each country has taken up its entitlement under the United Nations Convention on the Law of the Sea to claim a sea boundary of 200 nautical miles off its coastline. But at the closest point between the land masses, the sea is only 230 nautical miles wide, resulting in overlapping claims.

The agreed solution was to share the proceeds. Millions of dollars are already being funneled from a Joint Petroleum Development Area (JPDA) operated by the $3.3 billion ConocoPhillips consortium in the Bayu-Undan field. But Alkatiri said this week that Dili would not ratify an International Unitization Agreement (IUA) confirming the arrangement because it would in effect be shut out of a second drilling field, known as Greater Sunrise, that is believed to have far better prospects.

The sticking point is a 1975 agreement Australia initialed with Indonesia after Jakarta's bloody takeover of the former Portuguese colony that delineated the maritime border as a step toward the eventual recovery of seabed resources. Under the treaty, Australia's border extends to the edge of the continental shelf, maintaining a policy, widely accepted internationally at the time, that Canberra had pursued since 1953.

Indonesia's own boundaries with Australia were delineated on the same basis.

A December 1989 deal, which became known as the Timor Gap Treaty, provided for joint administration of the overlapping territory and divided all revenues 50:50, though in practice, the exploitation of resources was hampered by a host of investment issues tied to Timor's oblique diplomatic status.

Former colonial master Portugal, which never accepted Indonesian sovereignty of East Timor, challenged the 1989 treaty in the International Court of Justice in 1995. The court decided Lisbon had a case, but concluded it had no jurisdiction over the issue.

Significantly, the court suggested that Portugal should have been negotiating directly with Indonesia, thus implying that there were doubts over the legitimacy of the 1975 invasion -- and by implication, the 1989 treaty with Australia.

Undeterred, Canberra has continued to recognize the jurisdiction of the 1975 border delineation that provides the basis for the treaty. This is not surprising, as the agreement cedes 82 percent of the Greater Sunrise field to Australia, while the remaining 18 percent of the field lies in uncontested Timorese waters.

East Timor maintains that neither agreement is viable because Indonesia's occupation was illegal and wants the border to be repositioned at the midway-point line to comply with the International Law of the Sea.

Accepting the jurisdiction of the United Nations maritime- resources law would mean that about two-thirds of the gas deposits would come under Timorese sovereignty, leaving Australia as the poorer partner. By some estimates, East Timor would gain another $10 billion.

Dili undoubtedly has won the sympathy vote, but its options for recourse are limited. Failure to ratify the JPDA will merely play into Australian hands, as there is less urgency in Canberra to start drilling in the contested fields.

Greater Sunrise is not due to enter the production phase until 2009, leaving Australia with ample time to build a case internationally with the help of the oil industry as reserves dwindle elsewhere on the globe.

And Australia, unlike East Timor, does have other energy sources. There are even doubts in some circles that Greater Sunrise will live up its billing, as most recent drillings in the North West Shelf, Australia's existing continental reservoir, have not met expectations.

Prospects for outside arbitration, the course now favored by Dili, are equally dim. Canberra announced in 2002 that it would no longer submit to rulings by the International Court of Justice on maritime boundaries.

"Australia is not the only country to avoid international jurisdiction when it feels the law is against it. The rule of law is not only for weakest and the poorest. The powerful nation should be the example," Alkatiri said of the treaty pullout.

However, there are doubts in some legal circles that East Timor would win even if it did secure an arbitration hearing, as the physical characteristics of the shallow Timor Sea appear to offer Australia a potential let-out. The requirement under the Law of the Sea for equal boundaries is only applied when the two countries concerned share a continental shelf. In this instance they don't: only Australia is actually on the shelf. Hence bilateral treaties would probably take precedence, shifting the legal focus back to the contested 1975 accord, and Canberra's apparent stalling tactics.

Dili charged during the latest talks that Australia was deliberately stringing the negotiations out as long as possible by insisting that the two sides meet only twice a year. East Timor asked for monthly negotiations, but was rebuffed.

Brinkmanship or not, the failure to resolve an issue that is arguably impeding East Timor's economic development has attracted the attention of the international community, handing Dili another sympathy vote.

Last month 53 US congressmen petitioned Canberra to move the talks forward "fairly and expeditiously". European legislators have been vocal in their criticism of Canberra, as have religious and aid groups within Australia.

Australian Foreign Affairs Minister Alexander Downer is undaunted. "They see it as a useful way of strengthening their negotiating hand by accusing us of bullying and being aggressive," Downer said dismissively of the Timorese publicity offensive.

Yet for all of its apparent complacency, Canberra is also playing a high-stakes economic game. If realized, the Timor Gap windfall will be big enough to supply Darwin with gas for 1,000 years.

While Australia has unilaterally awarded exploration licenses in Greater Sunrise, there are few prospects for actual production until the legal uncertainties have been removed. One lingering problem is a leftover from the Portuguese era: US-based PetroTimor contends that it was granted exploration licenses by Lisbon in 1974 and is prepared to defend these rights in court. Last month the company filed a lawsuit in the United States against an East Timorese politician who, it alleged, had been paid $2 million to advance the cause of an energy multinational in potential licensing blocks in the Gap. Alkatiri warned this week that East Timor would prosecute any oil companies operating within the joint exploration field without Dili's authority if it were later awarded sovereignty under a boundaries review. The oil industry appears to have gotten the message, with Australian energy group Woodside Petroleum declaring it will scrap its $5 billion oil and gas development in the Timor Sea unless the IUA is ratified by Dili's parliament.

Canberra's motives in recognizing Indonesian sovereignty over East Timor in 1975 against the flow of international opinion and securing the boundaries treaty, were undoubtedly self-serving. But there is more to its stance than a simple desire to safeguard commercial interests.

Australian foreign policies have historically been driven by the need for a stable neighbor to help protect the thinly populated northern coastline, especially as the demise of the Suharto regime and spreading secession struggles have created doubts over the long-term cohesion of the Indonesian archipelago.

For reasons of geography, East Timor will remain firmly within the Australian sphere of interest. Canberra has pledged almost $100 million worth of development aid in the next three years to hammer this message home.

There is little room for flexibility in Australia's territorial policies, as a midway split in the Timor Gap would inevitably force the renegotiation of adjoining agreements with Indonesia and Papua New Guinea that also carry economic implications.

Australia will still have to make the first move, as East Timor is very much the minor partner. But despite the rhetoric, there is growing confidence that a solution will be found, reflecting a belief in some quarters that the real Timor gap is a communication one.

"Good diplomacy depends on each side making an appreciable effort to understand the parameters of the argument. In my view, the Timorese set themselves an unrealistic target at the outset, perhaps as a consequence of flawed legal advice, that will be impossible to attain," said a diplomat.

"I believe it would be churlish to expect Australia to make further territorial concessions. [But] this doesn't preclude an economic solution from a development standpoint ... offering some more economic incentives in return for a signed IUA."

Timor trying to win sympathy over oil claims: Downer

Agence France Presse - April 24, 2004

Sydney -- Australian Foreign Minister Alexander Downer accused East Timor of trying to stir up sympathy over its claims for a greater share of oil and gas revenues from the Timor Sea oil reserves.

The two countries are in dispute over the seabed boundary between the two countries, the drawing of which divides control of an estimated 30 billion dollars (22 billion US) in royalties from the oil and gas deposits.

"The tactic here is to try to create public controversy in Australia by a lot of emotive criticism of Australia," he told commercial television here Sunday.

Downer said Australia had been incredibly generous to East Timor, but in the battle for revenues Australia would stand by its rights.

Australia wants East Timor to honour an agreement signed last year covering the disputed multi-billion dollar Greater Sunrise field, which the former Indonesian province has so far refused.

East Timor regards the Timor Sea revenue as a lifeline that can end the fledgling nation's dependence on international aid.

Australia wants to keep the maritime border agreed with Jakarta after Indonesia invaded East Timor in 1975, which would give it the lion's share of the reserves.

But Dili argues that Jakarta only agreed to that deal in exchange for Canberra's recognition of its illegal annexation of East Timor and the border should lie at the mid-point between the two countries, in line with standard international practice.

Prime Minister Mari Alkatiri has said Dili is unlikely to ratify an interim revenue-sharing deal on the Timor Sea reserves because it gives East Timor only 18 percent of revenues while handing Canberra 82 percent.

Downer said East Timor would receive 90 percent of government revenue from a joint development area, whereas a previous deal with Indonesia would have resulted in a 50-50 split.

"In the end when two countries are adjacent with each other, if one is richer than the other that isn't an argument for the poorer country being able to take territory from the richer country," Downer added.

Undersea resources - Winds of change for East Timor

South China Morning Post - April 23, 2004

Alisa Newman Hood -- Barely two years after achieving independence, East Timor is learning to navigate the stormy seas of new nationhood in more ways than one. Its population, the most destitute in Asia, continues to suffer the typical scourges of the desperately poor: widespread unemployment, illiteracy, high infant mortality and short life expectancy.

Compounding East Timor's plight is its make-or-break struggle with Australia for control of the vast oil and gas resources of the Timor Sea -- a struggle which, at least until recently, seemed to favour the powerful neighbour. But as the two sat down this week for their first formal round of maritime boundary negotiations, the tide may be turning.

East Timor is eagerly anticipating revenues from Bayu-Undan, the large gas field in the Timor Sea that begins production this year. If managed properly, the funds will not only improve the lives of the East Timorese but also decrease the country's reliance on foreign -- including Australian - aid, thus giving a small but significant boost to East Timor's bargaining leverage for the remaining riches of the Timor Sea. More importantly, East Timor's important friends around the world have, of late, been lending their voices in support of the new nation's push for permanent maritime boundaries -- in a public, though polite, expression of outrage at a blatant moral injustice.

In March 2002, as the international community prepared to celebrate East Timor's formal independence two months later, Australia quietly withdrew from all mandatory dispute resolution procedures used to settle maritime boundaries. In the months that followed, Australia's lack of interest in settling a permanent boundary through negotiation also became evident. East Timor seemed doomed to endless rounds of fruitless talks.

But East Timor is gaining ground, if not yet sea. Early last month, 54 members of the US Congress wrote to Australian Prime Minister John Howard to urge his government to engage in good faith maritime boundary negotiations with East Timor. In light of close ties between Australia and the United States, the letter is sure to have made an impression in Canberra.

A few weeks later, The Age, a leading Australian newspaper, published an editorial that advocated "a fair deal for East Timor". It stated in no uncertain terms that Australia has a "moral obligation" to deal fairly with East Timor on the maritime boundary issue. And at its national conference in January, the opposition Australian Labor Party pledged that, if elected, it would negotiate in good faith with East Timor in full accordance with international law.

Clearly, this issue -- as critical as it is for the entire nation of East Timor -- cannot hope to resonate with anything more than a very narrow segment of the American and Australian electorates. However, the strength of the East Timorese and their supporters around the globe should not be underestimated. After all, there were few among us who, as late as the mid-1990s, could have predicted that this small, but resilient population would prevail in an even fiercer contest over an even larger neighbour.

Alisa Newman Hood served as a legal adviser to the prime minister of East Timor from 2002 until recently. The views expressed here are the author's own.

Gusmao launches fierce attack on Australia's attitude

ABC Radio - April 23, 2004

Alison Roberts,Lisbon -- East Timor's President Xanana Gusmao has launched a fierce attack on Australia's attitude in its dealings with the fledgling country.

Mr Gusmao said there was an unequal struggle with Australia to secure oil and gas resources.

In a speech in Lisbon, he said that battle was only comparable to the Timorese fight to free themselves from Indonesian domination.

East Timor won independence and became the world's newest country in 2002. But its relations with Australia are already complex.

Resentment

Australia sent many of the peacekeepers who helped smooth the territory's transition to independence and its development will depend on economic ties with its larger neighbour.

But a dispute over oil and gas resources in the sea between them is souring relations.

There has long been resentment on the part of the Timorese that Australia in 1989 secured significant concessions from Indonesia after recognising its sovereignty over the territory.

This week, a first round of talks on the issue ended with little progress made.

East Timor insists the boundary should be midway between the countries while Australia says the line should follow its own far-reaching continental shelf.

Talks are to restart in September but Australia has begun exploiting several disputed fields.

On Thursday during an official visit for the 30th anniversary of the Portuguese revolution, Mr Gusmao accused Australia of usurping his country's resources.

Mr Gusmao has already warned that his country, one of the world's poorest, could become a failed state like Haiti if Australia achieves its goals.

In East Timor, feelings are running high, with hundreds protesting outside the Australian embassy in recent days.

Gusmao compares oil dispute to independence struggle

Lusa - April 22, 2004

Lisbon -- President Xanana Gusmao of East Timor said Thursday that his country's "unequal struggle" with Australia over disputed offshore hydrocarbon resources bore parallels with Dili's independence fight against Indonesia.

"Today, with the ending of occupation by Indonesia, we come up against the wrongful seizure of our natural resources by Australia", Gusmao told a conference at Lisbon University on "The Building of Timor".

Gusmao, who is on a visit to Portugal, accused Canberra earlier this week of "trying to steal" offshore riches from the newly independent nation.

A first round of sea border negotiations between Timor and Australia wound up Thursday in Dili without making significant progress, an anonymous source involved in the process told Lusa.

A second round of talks will take place in September, the same source said.

East Timor fuming over Australia's plans for oil

Asia Pulse - April 22, 2004

Hobart -- The East Timorese were fuming over Australia's plans to steal their oil and gas reserves in the Timor Sea, Australian Greens Senator Bob Brown said today.

Australia and East Timor began talks earlier this week to establish a permanent maritime boundary in the oil-rich Timor Sea.

The drawing of the boundary will divide up control of the estimated A$30 billion (US$21 million) in royalties from Timor Sea oil and gas deposits, including the multi-billion dollar Greater Sunrise field.

Australia has already won an 82 per cent slice of the Greater Sunrise royalties in a previous deal, but this is yet to be ratified by the East Timorese parliament.

East Timor wants the new seabed boundary no further away than halfway between the two countries -- but Australia would lose potentially billions of dollars in royalties.

Senator Brown, who has just returned from a two-day trip to Dili, said the talks would end today without a resolution.

"What I have discovered in East Timor is that the East Timorese are fuming over the theft of their oil and gas reserves in the Timor sea," he told reporters in Hobart.

"They are all on East Timor's side of the halfway mark. They are East Timor's resource for developing the country. The Australian government is saying on the one hand that East Timor has to stop its dependency on aid and get on its own two feet, but on the other hand we are going to take the resource that gives you the revenues to build schools, to build hospitals, to pave roads, to have security."

Senator Brown said the issue should go to international arbitration. "But the Howard government has said we won't allow that, we won't go to the international court of justice because we know this is unjust," he said.

He said the appropriate deal would be for Australia to help develop the oil fields, but recognise they belong to East Timor.

"The talks in Dili have achieved nothing except to point out the government of Prime Minister Mari Alkatiri not going to ratify this agreement," Senator Brown said.

"I met Prime Minister Alkatiri yesterday and I can assure the Australian government that East Timor is not about to relent on this, nor should it."

He called on Opposition Leader Mark Latham to abide by Labor's policy to bring justice and a fair go into negotiating the sea boundaries with East Timor.

"Labor should promise to implement that policy, if elected," he said. "That will provide the circuit-breaker here."

Australia refuses arbitration to settle boundary dispute

Agence France Presse - April 22, 2004

Sydney -- Australian Foreign Minister Alexander Downer rejected appeals to settle a maritime boundary dispute with East Timor in international courts Thursday and lashed critics who accuse Canberra of bullying its impoverished neighbour.

Downer said "outsiders" were not needed to settle the boundary dispute, which will determine who controls billions of dollars in oil and gas reserves in the Timor Sea.

"We can negotiate this thing with the East Timorese," Downer told reporters. "We don't need outsiders' help to do that, we don't need outside help to assist us to negotiate our maritime boundaries."

In March 2002, Australia withdrew from the International Tribunal for the Law of the Sea before the dispute reached the arbiter in what East Timor Prime Minister Mari Alkatiri described as "a hostile act".

Downer accused Greens senator Bob Brown, a staunch critic of Australia's stance who has just returned from a trip to the East Timor capital Dili, of disloyalty for suggesting Canberra submit to an international court.

"He should be on Australia's side," Downer said. "I hope all of our senators would back Australia; if he doesn't back Australia ... (if he) wants to back foreigners, well I don't think Australians would appreciate that."

Alkatiri has said Dili is unlikely to ratify an interim revenue- sharing deal on the Timor Sea oil and gas reserves because gives East Timor only 18 percent of revenues while handing Canberra 82 percent. East Timor regards the Timor Sea revenue as a lifeline that can end the nation's dependence on international aid.

Australia wants to keep the maritime border it agreed with Jakarta after Indonesia invaded East Timor in 1975, which would give it the lion's share of the reserves.

Dili argues that Jakarta only agreed to that deal in exchange for Canberra's recognition of its illegal annexation of East Timor and the border should lie at the mid-point between the two countries, in line with standard international practice.

Talks aimed at settling the border dispute are scheduled to wrap up in Dili Friday but a resolution appears unlikely, with East Timor accusing Australia of dragging its feet so it can make the most of the lucrative interim revenue-sharing arrangement.

The Timor Gap

SBS Dateline - April 21, 2004

Now to East Timor, where for the last three days, teams from there and Australia have been in bitter negotiations over where our sea boundaries lie and who will control the oil and gas royalties within them, worth an estimated $30 billion. This has been an ongoing issue between the two countries, which to date has been handled reasonably amicably. But now there seems to have been a radical change of mood with anti-Australian sentiment rising by the day. Mark Davis spent the last few days in the capital, Dili, amongst the protesters, politicians and negotiators battling over the spoils.

Reporter: Mark Davis

It's crunch time for East Timor, foreign aid is rapidly drying up and next month the UN will finally withdraw its security forces. President Xanana Gusmao knows better than most the crisis East Timor will soon be facing. For Gusmao this school in the hills above Dili is just one corner of the looming problem. There'll be barely enough to pay the teachers and virtually nothing to fix the still ruined classrooms.

Xanana Gusmao, East Timor president (Translation): Today we are still begging. They give us money with a smile and say "Take it", We have no money.

There's a new bitterness here. The dream that East Timor's natural resources would rescue the countries as the aid disappeared is rapidly fading.

Xanana Gusmao (Translation): You might have heard that we have oil, kerosene and gas in our sea that people want to steal. They are the resources that can help us to fix everything.

While various deals have been signed with Australia regarding the oilfields that lie between the two countries, Xanana has publicly barely uttered a critical word. Until very recently his Prime Minister has presented those deals to the public as not ideal, but at least reasonable. Xanana's venom on this day, a couple of weeks ago, was a bolt out of the blue.

Xanana Gusmao (Translation): Australia is a rich country. A rich country which recognised our past integration. After that, Ali Alatas and Gareth Evans flew over East Timor drinking champagne and signing the agreement to steal our oil.

Protester (Translation): You don't understand what I'm saying. This petrol zone is mine and that is yours. Understand?

For many of the activists here the Australians have always been plotting to steal East Timor's oil. The dramatic difference now is that their President and Prime Minister are joining in the chorus. PROTESTER: Australia is cheating.

The Timor Sea Treaty signed between Australia and the new East Timorees Government in 1992 was condemned at the time by many of the organisers here. The treaty was seen as selling out East Timor's full maritime boundaries for a short-sighted gain. Although not said today, those deals were negotiated by Prime Minister Mari Alkatiri.

Mark Davis: Was that in retrospect a mistake?

Mari Alkatiri, East Timor Prime Minister: Yeah, because this is temporary agreement. That's why we can sign it before the maritime boundaries. If this only was a real show of goodwill and good faith from our side.

Mark Davis: Do you believe that good faith has not been returned, was to your expectation that Australia would have progressed on these other fronts.

Mari Alkatiri: In the beginning it was various starting points in the negotiations. We knew we had one, two, three years to go. I still believe that Australia will realise that there's no way than to submit to the rule of law.

Sorting out a maritime boundary between the two nations was never going to be easy or fast. In 1972 Australia settled on a sea border with Indonesia.

Portugal, which then controlled East Timor was not a party and hence the so-called Timor gap in the border. After the Indonesian invasion, Australia and Indonesia agreed, not on formal borders, but on a joint exploitation zone splitting profits 50/50. After independence it was essentially this zone that Australia and East Timor negotiated over. It was agreed that 90% of oil profits would go to East Timor, still without defining any maritime border over an area much less than what East Timor claims is its rightful territory. Australia retained it's oil field west of the joint development zone and most of its Sunrise field to the east, 80% of it. Mario Carrascalou was a senior opposition figure who opposed East Timor signing the treaty.

Mario Carrascalou: Demonsrate against the government, second against the parliament and then in the third place against Australia.

Mark Davis: The Government in East Timor, demonstrate against this government?

Mario Carrascalou: Yes.

Mark Davis: Because why, because it was their deal.

Mario Carrascalao: Because they are the one that brought -- signed the agreement and brought this through the parliament, and the parliament ratified it. And now, why should we blame Australia?

Mark Davis: So in your opinion the issue of the maritime boundary should have been settled before there was any discussion about sharing the oil resources.

Mario Carrascalou: No doubt about that and I also am aware that it was not so difficult but in order to have a good relationship with any other country here in the region, you have to take and give. Everybody had to realise that, that you cannot just force the position to be accepted by other sides. I believe we can reach a better agreement, a fair agreement to both sides.

Whether it was a good deal or a bad deal it was certainly Mari Alkatiri's deal, and for the Australian negotiators at this week's maritime boundary talks, it's a deal that the Prime Minister is now trying to get out of.

The dollars have started to flow to East Timor from the joint development area.

But, a second agreement covering Australia's principle area of interest, Greater Sunrise, signed by Alkatiri last year has not been presented to his parliament for ratification. A frustrating blockage for Australia, which has already begun negotiating with companies to develop the field.

Mark Davis: Is this why the relationship has deteriorated quite recently because Australia is issuing licences for Greater Sunrise.

Mari Alkatiri: I think the situation is only between the Prime Minister, Mari Alkatiri and the Government of Australia, not between the two people.

Mark Davis: I'm sure it's not. Both people have interest in what the boundaries are, both people's have interest in the proceeds of these fields. At that meeting, November 2002, you -- Mr Downer did put very firmly that as far as he was concerned there was an agreement on Greater Sunrise.

You appeared to agree with that, although you were firm on maritime borders, you didn't want to question the 80/20 split on Greater Sunrise, pending to Maritime boundary discussions.

But it's unlikely there'll be any agreements coming out of this week's maritime boundary discussions. At Alkatiri's side is Peter Galbraith his constant advisor through four years of oil and border negotiations.

Their strategy has been a high-risk one, do the best deal possibly on the joint development area and leave the bigger fight over borders and rich oilfields until later in an international court if necessary.

Mark Davis: Is that part of the strategy to get enough assets to play a tougher hand later? Peter Galbraith: Absolutely. The idea was to pocket as much of the revenues as possible and there are to leave East Timor in a position where it had a stronger hand for future negotiations about areas outside the JPDA, Buffalo, Corallina and Laminaria on the west, and Sunrise on the east.

Galbraith's and Alkatiri's strategy of dealing with broader boundaries later took a turn for the worse when Australia withdrew itself from the jurisdiction of the International court of justice.

Peter Galbraith: The fact is you never withdraw from the jurisdiction of the court unless you think your case is weak.

Mark Davis: Would you ever anticipate that Australia would withdraw from the subsection International Court of Justice jurisdiction.

Peter Galbraith: The Australians from time to time in the negotiations under the Timor Sea Treaty, said that they might do so, frankly I didn't believe it because I had an imagine of Australia as one of those countries like the Scandinavian countries that was very law-abiding, believing in the United Nations a kind of good Government country in the world and I thought what they did was completely out of character.

Relationships here have soured dramatically in recent months and will probably only get worse today as Alkatiri announces that East Timor will legally challenge any company that deals with Australia in the Greater Sunrise field.

Mark Davis: Any response? Very strong opening sir, do you imagine there's much room for discussion after that speech.

Mari Alkatiri: The room is too big.

Mark Davis: Too big? Yeah. There was a stunned silence, do you imagine there will be much discussion now?

Mari Alkatiri: It's better to be transparent, to be clear, to be straight forward. This is the only way to convince the other side that we are here to negotiate, but in good faith.

Mark Davis: Is this a new stage in the discussions to be so frank, so forward.

Mari Alkatiri: This is my style.

Mark Davis: Now that Australia has withdrawn from the International Court of Justice, what strategy do you have, what leverage do you have to persuade Australia to make any changes whatsoever to the agreement.

Mari Alkatiri: Of course as leading figure in all this negotiation from East Timor's side I have my strategy. But, unfortunately I cannot disclose it.

Politics in East Timor is almost a one-party affair. Alkatiri's group enjoy an overwhelming majority and opposition voices can be lonely ones.

Politician, (Translation): Now everyone is calling Australia a thief. Australians are stealing oil, they're thieves, but we're not.

The debate on the maritime boundaries and the previous treaties that have been signed has become even more complicated by a bribery scandal that broke in March. In a statement of claim filed in the US, Oceanic Explorations which believes it holds an old title to the Timor Sea claims that Alkatiri received $2.5 million from ConocoPhillips to secure leases in the joint development area agreed to by East Timor and Australia.

ConocoPhillips and Alkatiri both regard these allegations as baseless.

Mark Davis: These negotiations are now entering the most important stage for you being the maritime boundaries that are somewhat overshadowed by another controversy, which is another oil company has accused you of accepting bribes or you have been influenced to sign these papers.

Mari Alkatiri: I already make clear my position, I denied everything and I'm not in a position to challenge them to come with facts.

Unfortunately, I was not presented or defended in court. Very unfortunate. I would prefer them to accuse me and put me in a place to defend it to. It's important that I -- they insist that it was made intentionally. Their lawyer made it intentionally and was based on an America laws. I can't do too much to attack them. I've been watching them through my lawyers, trying to get some opportunity to react. Now I challenge them publicly to come with facts and try to accuse me in the court or everywhere.

The Oceanic claim is not convincing in itself but it does provide some detail. It gives the names of two bank branches in Darwin and bank account numbers through which they claim the money was paid.

Mark Davis: It's a terrible slander if it's not true. There is a reasonable amount of information, bank accounts, payment details, dates.

Mari Alkatiri: You have a bank account, you pay for your key to the school with cheques, or to a supermarket and you use cheques to pay something.

Of course the bank account is open. The numbers remain open. But, those amounts are for money that were really talking about, is completely false.

Please come with these facts. I know quite well how much money I had, maximum, in this bank account. I never had more than a few thousand, very few thousand.

Mario Carrascalou's son works for Petrotimor a subsidiary of Oceanic, but says there's no family interest in either company. He knows nothing of the charges but believes the allegations have affected the Government's recent behaviour.

Mark Davis: When did this talk about Australia being a thief and stealing, when did this start.

Mario Carrascalou: It is just, perhaps, one month ago, we start to see in the papers a statement made by Dr Mari Alkatiri saying that, they say that the Australian Government, always mention the Australian Government because Alkatiri try to make a difference between the Australian Government and people, they used it to make a statement. This is about a month ago.

It's quite recent. Almost two years, they considered us the opposition, as the one who tried to sabotage everything in East Timor, by voting against this also. The country needs money.

Mark Davis: Why is it starting now, why is this quite aggressive talk about Australia starting now. Has anything changed?

Mario Carrascalou: I do not know what really happened, but if you -- even because the allegations, some bribes, it was after that. This demonstration perhaps is a way, also to get the attention of the people from something.

Something must be behind that. Everybody knows that the credibility of this Government, it's losing its credibility. Last meeting with the country in East Timor there was some problem, we realise that, so perhaps they wanted to show that they are carrying, taking care of the future of our people. Perhaps this is to create a new face, new image, who knows.

Mark Davis: Or a new enemy.

The Oceanic claim also makes an explosive accusation about the Australian embassy in East Timor, they claim that payments to many Timorese politicians were made inside the Australian embassy in Dili to relinquish their oil rights. The Australian Department of Foreign Affairs categorically denies the claim. The allegation concerning the Australian embassy did not include Alkatiri at all but it did include other parliamentary members.

Mark Davis: One of the accusations in those court documents is that the Australian embassy was involved in handing over...

Mari Alkatiri: Do you believe?

Mark Davis: It's not for me. It sounds credible there's individual names.

It's true it is a scandal of massive proportions it involves the Australian Government, embassy, politicians in East Timor...

Mari Alkatiri: All of it is rubbish.

Mark Davis: It would negate all negotiations and agreements that had gone on. Have you asked the Australian Government for their response to those allegations, have you asked them for any information regarding those claims?

Mari Alkatiri: No, not at all because I didn't believe. Because if they were really able to say that I received bribes, an amount of $2.5 million...

Mark Davis: Leaving that on the side.

Mari Alkatiri: The same line, I know it's not true it's false. It's frivolous. Why could I believe other kind of allegations?

Oil, like it seems to everywhere, is building clouds of suspicion and distrust. With billions of dollars at stake, these now strains between Australia and East Timor aren't likely to be getting any better any time soon.

Greens pessimistic about oil negotiations

Kyodo News - April 21, 2004

Dili -- Australian Green Party leader Bob Brown said in Dili on Wednesday he is pessimistic about negotiations between East Timor and Australia over the disputed maritime boundary between the two countries.

Talking to reporters after meeting with East Timor Prime Minister Mari Alkatiri, Brown said Australia would not change its mind on the boundary.

"I don't think the negotiation this week will succeed because I don't think the Australian government is listening to (East) Timor," Brown said, adding he was "embarrassed as a member of the Australian Parliament" that his government was not listening.

"We are doing the wrong thing," he said. Brown, during two days in East Timor, met with Alkatiri, as well as nongovernmental organizations and ordinary East Timorese, explaining Australian opposition parties are "fully in favor" of East Timor on the border issue.

Admitting the Labor Party backed the government, despite their stated policies of opposition last month, Brown charged the Labor Party itself was under the pressure from the oil companies that want to maintain their access to the rich oil fields in the area of dispute.

"So, I want to challenge the Labor Party when I go back to Australia to put a distance between themselves and the government, to stick by their own policy, so that we can renegotiate if there is a change in government," Brown said.

Commenting on the Australian delegation now in East Timor for negotiations, he said: "I believe the Australian delegation came here with its mind shut. They did not know what to say, they did not know how to listen. This is no way to negotiate."

On the coming election in Australia, he said that if the Labor Party wins he is going to pressure Labor to change the government policy in "to have a fair and just" maritime boundary with East Timor.

Before leaving for Australia this afternoon, Brown joined protesters marching to Hotel Timor, the site of the boundary negotiations.

The talks, in which East Timor wants Australia to change the "unfair" sea boundary negotiated when East Timor became an independent country into a more equitable sharing of the massive oil resources in the Timor Sea. Australia has so far rejected East Timor's requests.

Timorese: 'We only want what is rightfully ours'

Green Left Weekly - April 21, 2004

Last month, the Australian government released new offshore areas for companies to bid for petroleum exploration permits. This includes territory that is much closer to East Timor's coast than to Australia, which East Timor's government claims as part of our national territory.

Your government wrote that "Australia does not accept the East Timorese claim to the extent that it overlaps areas over which Australia exerts jurisdiction. Australia has exercised exclusive sovereign rights over this area for an extended period of time, and has notified East Timor that it will continue to do so." We appreciate your honesty in admitting that your current exploitation of contested areas is a direct continuation of Australia's support for and profiting from Indonesia's illegal occupation of our land. But we do not appreciate your brute-power approach.

It is not up to Australia alone to "accept" East Timor's claim -- this is a matter to be resolved through negotiations or, if these do not succeed, by an impartial legal process. It is a question of right, not might.

Unlike Australia, we are not a "lucky country". One-third of our people gave their lives for our independence, resisting and eventually overcoming a brutal invasion and occupation by Indonesia. Although your government finally came to our assistance when independence was almost assured in 1999, we remember that between 1975 and 1998 Australia gave diplomatic, military and political support to Indonesia's illegal annexation.

One significant factor in Australia's decision to abandon our people, who had helped you so much during World War II, was that you believed Australia would have easier access to Timor Sea petroleum under an Indonesian-controlled regime. Australia still bears the shame that you were more interested in oil money than human lives.

Although we cannot forget, we are ready to move on. Now that East Timor has achieved independence, we want respectful, friendly and mutually beneficial relations with our neighbours. We expect and hope that Australia and Indonesia have the same wish.

We do not ask for reparations -- we accept conciliation in the pursuit of justice for many of the individuals and governments who committed or abetted crimes against our people. But we cannot and will not compromise the sovereignty that so many East Timorese struggled and died for.

Generosity Australians think of yourselves as generous toward East Timor, and we believe that most Australian people genuinely want to help, and are rightfully proud of the role you played in the International Force for East Timor. It is in your interests, as well as ours, that East Timor succeeds as a democracy, with economic, political and social conditions that will allow our people to enjoy peace, justice, and adequate levels of health and education. As well as making our lives better, this will prevent the need for refugees to flee to safer lands, or for the international community to mount another crisis response intervention.

But when it comes to the Timor Sea, your generosity rings hollow. Since our liberation in 1999, Australia has been collecting money from the Laminaria-Corallina oil field, far closer to our shores than to yours. Your government has taken in more than US$1 billion in revenues from this area, and we have received nothing.

During the same period, Australian aid programs in East Timor have cost you about $100 million, with some additional expenses for your soldiers here (although you would have paid and fed those soldiers even if they stayed home). During 2003, the Commonwealth collected about US$172 million from Laminaria- Corallina, more than twice our government's entire budget.

In reality, East Timor is the largest international donor to Australia. The relatively small amounts you spend to help us do not compare with what you are stealing from us. We face a $126 million deficit during the next three years because Bayu-Undan revenues will be later than international advisers predicted. But the Laminaria revenues could fill that deficit 10 times over, freeing us from dependence on foreign aid or becoming trapped in a vicious cycle of debt.

Australia is a wealthy country, with a high standard of living and vast amounts of natural resources. East Timor, on the other hand, suffers the legacy of centuries of colonialism and war. The petroleum deposits are our one significant material resource. Our people are dying of malaria and tuberculosis; many of us have not had the chance to learn to read; our roads, housing, water, electricity and other services are far below what any Australian would tolerate. We are just beginning to develop our economy, as we prepare for future generations when our oil and gas has been used up.

Although maternal mortality is 150 times higher in East Timor than it is in Australia, we do not ask for your charity. We only want what is rightfully ours under international law.

Under pressure from your government, oil companies and the United Nations, our post-independence government signed and ratified the Timor Sea Treaty. Many of us believe that this is a bad treaty, not sufficiently protective of East Timor's rights and resources.

We see the Timor Sea Treaty as a direct descendent of the illegal 1989 Timor Gap Treaty, when your government profited from our suffering by conspiring with Indonesia to sell our resources.

The Timor Sea Treaty is now law, and we recognise that East Timor, as a sovereign nation, should follow the law and keep its word. The signers of the Timor Sea Treaty were "convinced" that it would "provide a firm foundation for continuing and strengthening the friendly relations between Australia and East Timor", but this has not been the case.

We are disappointed that Australia has not kept its word to respect our independence and to work in good faith for a permanent maritime boundary.

Negotiation and justice Thirty years ago, Australia and Indonesia delimited the seabed between your two nations (albeit intruding into our territory as well), after less than three years of discussions.

Delimitation of the East Timor-Australia boundary should not take even this long -- it is a much shorter line, and much of the preliminary work has already been done. The only obstacle is Australia's unwillingness to come to the table in good faith, with the desire to reach a fair and just agreement.

Two months before we became independent, your government withdrew from legal processes for resolving maritime boundary disputes. We learned from this action that you expect Australia to profit more from an inherently unbalanced bilateral process than if an impartial arbiter decides on the basis of law. In other words, you want no referee to ensure that the rules are followed and the game is fair.

Australian officials say that you "prefer negotiation to litigation". At first, we understood this to mean that you prefer to use your greater size, wealth, experience and flexibility to bully us, rather than allow East Timor to employ internationally accepted legal principles, administered by a third party.

But we now realise that even this was naive -- you do not even want to negotiate. It would be more honest to say that you prefer occupation by force to relating to East Timor as a sovereign nation.

We thought foreign occupation of our territory had ended in 1999. We did not expect to emerge from Indonesia's bloody occupation of our land only to face Australia's greedy occupation of our sea. We believed that Australia, with its democratic traditions and lofty ideals, would be more moral and less ruthless than Suharto's military regime.

We ask Australia It is not too late for Australia to re-establish a friendly relationship with East Timor. But time, like the Laminaria-Corallina oil reserve, is running out. We request the Australian government to take the following actions:

1. Respect our independent and sovereign state. Our government's legitimacy and authority are equal to yours. We may be small and new, but we are just as much a nation as you are.

2. Negotiate a fair maritime boundary, including seabed and water column economic zones, with East Timor, according to contemporary legal principles as expressed in the United Nations Convention on the Law of the Sea, based on a median line. If both sides approach the process in good faith, it should take no more than three years to reach an agreement.

We ask Australia to meet monthly or as often as East Timor's government requests, since your resources are far greater than ours, and our need for a solution is more pressing than yours.

3. Rejoin the maritime boundary dispute resolution mechanisms of the International Tribunal for the Law of the Sea and the International Court of Justice, so that East Timor and Australia will have boundaries consistent with the law if negotiations do not result in a just and prompt solution.

4. Stop issuing new exploration licenses in seabed territory that is closer to East Timor than to Australia. During each of the last three years, including last month, Australia offered such areas to oil companies, and your government signed one contract as recently as February 23. This is our property, and you have no right to sell it.

5. Deposit all revenues received by the Australian government -- including taxes and rents -- from Laminaria-Corallina, Buffalo, Greater Sunrise, and other petroleum fields that are closer to East Timor than they are to Australia into an escrow account. When a permanent seabed boundary is established, this account will be divided appropriately between our two nations. Australia has already received more than US$1 billion from Laminaria- Corallina and other fields since 1999, which should also be put into escrow.

Timorese demand: 'Stop stealing our oil'

Green Left Weekly - April 21, 2004

Jon Lamb -- The recently formed Movement Against the Occupation of the Timor Sea (MKOT) staged a series of peaceful demonstrations in Dili on April 14-16, demanding an end to the theft of East Timor's oil and gas resources.

Some 500 protesters gathered outside the Australian embassy on April 14, carrying banners and placards declaring "John Howard thief!" and "Stop stealing our oil, Australia". A strong police presence and roadblocks prevented many from reaching the protest.

Around 300 protesters also turned out on April 15 and 16, chanting, dancing and speaking out against the bullying of the Australian government.

MKOT organised the protests to coincide with talks in Dili between the governments of Australia and East Timor on the maritime boundary. The Australian government has repeatedly refused to accept East Timor's legitimate claim that the boundary be set along the median point between the two countries.

To further frustrate the East Timorese government, the Australian government has also declined to have more regular negotiations to resolve the boundary issue sooner.

MKOT criticised the Australian government for unilaterally issuing licenses in the contested Greater Sunrise field following the passing of the Greater Sunrise Unitisation Agreement Implementation Bill 2004 in Canberra on March 29.

The East Timorese parliament has refused to ratify a similar bill, claiming that this will cede up to US$8 billion in revenue to Australia that should rightfully flow to East Timor.

The formation of MKOT on April 7 is an exciting development in East Timorese politics, bringing together a dynamic range of human rights, student, worker, environment and advocacy organisations and individuals. MKOT is planning further actions and is calling for solidarity.

Timor turns up pressure over boundary negotiations

ABC The World Today - April 19, 2004

Tanya Nolan: East Timor and Australia will this afternoon start nearly a week of talks, on the increasingly tense issue of a permanent maritime boundary.

And in the lead-up to the meeting in Dili, East Timor has turned up the pressure by threatening not to ratify an agreement for a seabed oil and gas project, worth $8 billion. From Canberra, Graeme Dobell reports.

Graeme Dobell: The language from East Timor is getting tougher.

Mari Alkatiri: Sometime, even between friends, between good friends, we have a lot of differences, and when there is a lot of money involved it is much easier to have differences between friends.

Graeme Dobell: Prime Minister Mari Alkatiri says he no longer thinks of the Australian Government as a good partner.

Mari Alkatiri: Suddenly, I realise that when billions of dollars are involved, they became really bad partners.

Graeme Dobell: The East Timor leader is getting increasingly sharp in the language he uses to describe a deal his Government signed last year to allow the development of the Greater Sunrise oil and gas field in the Timor Sea.

About 80 per cent of the proceeds from the massive project will go to Australia. The Australian Parliament has ratified the so- called Unitisation Agreement, but Prime Minister Alkatiri now says he won't put the deal to his Parliament to be ratified.

Australia's Foreign Minister, Alexander Downer, says East Timor should carry through and legally ratify what it signed up to.

Alexander Downer: We reached an agreement with them last year, and I flew to Dili and I signed that agreement with the East Timorese Government, one of their ministers signed it, but in the presence of Prime Minister Alkatari and President Xanana Gusmao. And having reached an agreement with them, and signed an agreement, we wouldn't have signed it if we didn't think it was a worthy agreement, and I guess they wouldn't have either.

Graeme Dobell: The hint from Dili, from Mari Alkatiri though, is that any ratification will be linked to progress on negotiations to define a permanent seabed boundary between Australia and East Timor, which he thinks should give much more territory to East Timor.

Mari Alkatiri: I'm still working to get Australia to change its position, because when I had decided to sign the agreements, it was with good faith and I would like to keep this good faith alive, and I would like to really change the whole situation to make it possible to have it ratified by our Parliament.

Graeme Dobell: The threat that ratification may not happen has already brought a counter-threat from the energy giant, Woodside Petroleum, that it will not go ahead with development of the Greater Sunrise field.

East Timor is using the ratification issue to put pressure on Australia in boundary negotiations which resume in Dili this afternoon.

East Timor says that a final boundary should be set at the midpoint of the Timor Sea, half way between Australia and Timor. That would move the Greater Sunrise field from Australia's control to East Timor.

Canberra's response is that a far more favourable for Australia boundary would be drawn based on the reach of Australia's continental shelf, a determining factor in past negotiations with Papua New Guinea and Indonesia.

The Dili talks will give a clearer indication of how closely East Timor is going to tie ratification of the Greater Sunrise deal to a final border settlement with Australia.

Tanya Nolan: Foreign Affairs Correspondent Graeme Dobell.

East Timor, Australia oil talks begin

Agence France Presse - April 19, 2004

Dili -- Tiny East Timor has launched another swingeing attack on Australia as the two countries begin formal talks to settle their sea border and the ownership of billions of dollars in offshore oil and gas revenues.

Prime Minister Mari Alkatiri said the issue is "a matter of life and death" for his country, which was Asia's poorest nation upon independence in May 2002.

In what was described as a "welcome statement," he said a boundary determined "in accordance with established principles of international law" would triple East Timor's income.

"Concretely, it means the money to immunise and educate every child in Timor-Leste [East Timor]. It means more children will reach the age of five years. It means more lives spent productively. It is, quite literally, a matter of life and death," Alkatiri told delegates. The prime minister, according to a statement released by his office, called for urgent negotiations to reach a deal.

"Timor-Leste loses one million dollars a day due to Australia's unlawful exploitation of resources in the disputed area. That is too many lost and wasted lives," he said, calling for monthly talks.

Australia wants to keep the border which was agreed with Jakarta after Indonesia invaded East Timor in 1975. This would give it the lion's share of oil and gas reserves.

East Timor says the border should lie at the mid-point between the two countries, in line with international practice.

Alkatiri says Dili will not ratify an interim deal called the International Unitisation Agreement (IUA) because it gives East Timor only 18% of revenues from the Greater Sunrise field while handing Canberra 82%.

Alkatiri said East Timor was prepared to let any international tribunal decide the matter on the merits.

In March 2002 Australia withdrew from the International Tribunal for the Law of the Sea before the dispute reached the arbiter.

"Australia is not the only country to avoid international jurisdiction when it feels the law is against it. The rule of law is not only for weakest and the poorest. The powerful nation should be the example," Alkatiri said.

Canberra's policy has also come under fire from Australian critics. In the latest attack, the Catholic Commission for Justice, Development and Peace accused the government of bullying East Timor and making a "greedy grab" for energy revenues.

Alkatiri repeated criticism of Canberra for unilaterally taking resources from disputed parts of Greater Sunrise by awarding exploration licences.

He said he was confident of a fair outcome on sea borders eventually. "But we fear that, when this happens, all the petroleum will already be gone from our areas. This unjust result robs too many of our children of their future."

Alkatiri said energy companies operating in any part of the disputed area would have no rights if a boundary review later placed this area within East Timor. "Further, Timor-Leste will prosecute to the full extent of the law those that operate illegally in its maritime areas..."

Last week Australian energy giant Woodside warned it would scrap a multi-billion dollar oil and gas development in the Timor Sea unless East Timor ratifies the IUA.

Alkatiri said Australia acknowledged the existence of a disputed area when it signed the IUA but now cited its longstanding "occupation" of the area while East Timor was an Indonesian province.

"Indonesia's annexation of Timor-Leste was illegal and the fruit of that illegal act cannot be valid. Timor-Leste can not be deprived of its rights or territory because of a crime," he said. The talks are to wind up on Thursday.

Timorese fury at 'immoral oil grab'

The Guardian - April 19, 2004

David Fickling, Sydney -- East Timor risks becoming "another Haiti" because of an attempt by Australia to exploit offshore oil and gas reserves between the two countries, according to its president, Xanana Gusmao.

Mr Gusmao, who led East Timor's fight for independence from Indonesia, said the country would be at risk if Australian plans to exploit oil and gas fields claimed by Dili went ahead.

"It makes the difference to our future," he said. "We would not like to be a failed state. Without all this we will be another Haiti, another Liberia, another Solomon Islands, and we do not want that," he told the Guardian.

An Australian Green party senator, Bob Brown, has accused Canberra of blackmail and robbery in its attempts to take control of two slices of the $30 billion (16.6 billion Pounds) Timor Sea reserves, while demonstrators in Dili this week likened the claim to the 1975 Indonesian invasion of their country.

Mr Gusmao said the reserves could make the difference between viability and failure for East Timor. "How can we prevent poverty if we don't have money? How can we reduce disease, how can we stabilise the country, how can we strengthen the democratic process, how can we strengthen tolerance ... if we don't have money?" he asked.

The president said international donors, including Britain, were putting pressure on his government to exploit the reserves but had not offered any help in the dispute with Canberra.

With much of its infrastructure destroyed by violence that accompanied its 1999 independence referendum, East Timor is one of the poorest countries in the world. One in three people is dead by the age of 40, more than half of adults are illiterate, only one in three houses has electricity and one in five has drinking water.

The Timor Sea reserves, which lie in an area where the sea boundary between Australia and East Timor has never been settled, are its greatest hope for development.

Dili claims its long-term tax revenues from the area would rise from $4 billion to $12 billion if an equitable boundary were drawn, but Australia has already started exploiting several disputed fields.

Mr Brown, who will go to Dili next week to observe the next round of boundary negotiations, said Canberra's behaviour was immoral and short-sighted.

"We have got the richest country in our region robbing the poorest," he said. "People in East Timor had thought that Australia was their only friend in the region, but now they discover that the arm we put around their back was picking their pockets."

Protests outside the Australian embassy in Dili this week drew nearly 1,000 demonstrators. Joco Sarmento, of the movement against the occupation of the Timor Sea, said popular feeling against the Australian government was running high. "People are thinking that it's a second invasion," he said.

Under maritime law, sea boundaries should be drawn along the median line between countries -- which would leave all the oil and gas in Dili's hands.

In practice Australia is likely to earn more than twice as much from the reserves as East Timor. Such boundary disputes are normally decided by the international court of justice and the international tribunal on the law of the sea, but Australia left both groups two months before East Timor became independent in 2002.

During the occupation Australia recognised Jakarta's sovereignty. In return it was granted the 1989 Timor Gap treaty which settled the status of the Timorese boundary until 1999.

Australia accused of of bully tactics in oil row

Agence France Presse - April 19, 2004

Sydney -- Australia was on Monday accused of bullying impoverished East Timor about the division of revenue from a multi-billion dollar oil and gas field as talks to establish boundaries began in Dili.

The Catholic Commission for Justice, Development and Peace also accused the government of making a "greedy grab" for Timor Sea oil revenue to the detriment of East Timor. The estabishment of a permanent maritime boundary will divide up control of the estimated $30 billion in royalties from Timor Sea oil and gas deposits, including the multi-billion Greater Sunrise field.

Australia won an 82 percent slice of the Greater Sunrise royalties in a previous deal, but this is yet to be ratified by East Timor, whose Prime Minister Mari Alkatiri has warned ratification could be withheld if Australia does not negotiate in good faith.

East Timor wants the new seabed boundary no further than half way between the two countries, a division which would potentially cost Australia billions of dollars in royalties.

The commission's executive officer Marc Purcell said under the International Law of the Sea, the boundary should be drawn in the sea halfway between the two countries, handing East Timor two- thirds of the oil revenues.

But the Australian government had refused to submit to the international "umpire", the International Court of Justice (ICJ), to resolve the dispute, he said.

"If a line were drawn half way in the sea between the two countries, two thirds of these riches would lie closer to East Timor and, according to the International Law of the Sea, be rightfully theirs," Purcell added.

He said on the issue of oil, Australia had "done the dirty" on East Timor by pulling out of the ICJ, the tribunal which oversees agreement of international maritime boundaries.

Canberra was afraid that if it went to arbitration, the umpire would find in favour of the East Timorese, he said.

The commission also believes Canberra has been dragging its feet in talks, preferring to meet only twice a year for boundary talks, while the East Timorese wanted to meet monthly.

"Negotiations, which should only take a couple of years at most, will instead only be finished when our grandchildren are heading for retirement and the oil and gas fields under Australia's control have dried up," Purcell said.

Australian Greens Senator Bob Brown said protests were planned at the Australian embassy in Dili about the division of the resources on Tuesday following a demonstration involving several hundred protesters at the embassy last week.

East Timor's first lady, Australian-born Kirsty Sword-Gusmao, wife of President Xanan Gusmao, urged Australians to support a "fair go for East Timor" in the negotiations which she said were key to a prosperous economic future for the country.

The line share

The Australian - April 20, 2004

Nigel Wilson -- Australia is being painted as a bully and an ogre for refusing to accept an East Timor argument that a maritime boundary should be negotiated that gives East Timor control of potentially billions of dollars in oil and gas revenues.

After all, it's the land of plenty pitted against the newly formed East Timor, the world's youngest nation, a country desperately in need of cash.

The population of fewer than 1 million relies almost entirely on foreign aid and the UN peacekeeping force is scheduled to leave the country mid-2005, a time frame that almost certainly means the executive and judicial arms of government will not be fully effective.

But when $US30 billion ($40 billion) in revenues is up for grabs, emotional arguments tend to lose traction against the letter of the law. This remains the case even when an institution as powerful as the US Congress looks to apply moral pressure.

Last month 53 members of the House of Representatives sent a letter to the Australian Government urging it to move fairly and expeditiously in the boundary negotiations. Nevertheless, in recent weeks the Howard Government has firmly maintained its position that the critical boundary between the two countries should reflect the extent of Australia's continental shelf.

East Timor, like Indonesia before it, is calling for a line to be agreed that is halfway between the two countries (the median line). Of course, both sides stand to forsake billions in oil revenue if they accede to the other's claim.

As official talks on the boundary began in Dili yesterday Gillian Triggs, director of the University of Melbourne's Institute for Comparative and International Law, said the Howard Government's case was strong and maintained the arguments put up by East Timor contained a significant number of myths.

Triggs says international tribunals have found that it is not the job of international law to "refashion nature". Nor does equity necessarily require equality, she adds.

Triggs is also critical of Peter Galbraith, the Minister for the Timor Sea in the UN Transitional Administration for East Timor, which guided the new country to independence in May 2002.

Galbraith, son of famed international economic theorist J. K. Galbraith and a prominent internationalist in his own right with experience in Bosnia and Iraq, has been trenchant in his view that Australia is obliged by international law to accept a maritime boundary that runs along the median line between the two countries.

He was the intellectual backbone behind Mari Alkatiri, now East Timor's Prime Minister, in negotiations before independence that led to an agreement that East Timor would have 90 per cent of the revenues from a so-called joint petroleum development area in the Timor Sea northwest of Darwin. He is also involved with the East Timorese boundary negotiating team.

Triggs says Galbraith told the East Timorese what they wanted to hear but adds he is on thin ice in citing international legal authorities to back the claim for a median boundary. "International law does not require a median line where states do not have a continental shelf in common. As a matter of geology, Australia is on a continental shelf; East Timor is not," she says.

A variety of non-government organisations in Australia are backing the East Timorese, arguing that as one of the richest countries in the world Australia should not be greedy in depriving one of the poorest countries from access to a stable medium-term revenue base.

Mark Zirnsak, social justice spokesman for the Victorian and Tasmanian Uniting Church, says East Timor should have sovereignty over all the oil and natural gas deposits it has legal claim to and which are closer to East Timor than Australia. "It is in Australia's national interest that East Timor be stable and prosperous, and the revenues from the oil and gas deposits are likely to be of significant assistance to achieving that outcome," he says.

Alkatiri has accused Canberra of showing bad faith over the issue and last week indicated he may call on the US to intervene in the dispute.

"East Timor is one of the poorest countries in the world. Australia is one of the richest," Alkatiri says.

Behind the emotion there is a long history that begins before commercial oil and gas was discovered in Australia and with Indonesia just emerging from post-war colonialism, Papua New Guinea still under benign rule from Canberra and Timor being governed from Lisbon.

In 1953 Australia declared its maritime boundary to be the continental shelf. An accepted international move at the time, it caused little argument except where it ran close to other countries Indonesia, Timor and PNG.

Shortly after its 1975 East Timor invasion, Indonesia weighed into the boundary debate, deciding a border set equidistant from East Timor and Australia would best suit its interests.

It was at that time the oil and gas search in Australia was booming following discoveries of the large reservoirs off the North West Shelf which form the basis of the nation's biggest resource development and the Jabiru oilfield in the Timor Sea that ultimately produced more than 100 million barrels.

The scope of these finds made it imperative there be no doubt about the legal and fiscal framework under which exploration and development could take place in the waters to the north of Australia.

Thirteen years of negotiation followed, leading in 1989 to Indonesian foreign minister Ali Alatas and his Australian counterpart, Labor's Gareth Evans, signing the Timor Gap Treaty, memorably in an aircraft flying over the area that had been in dispute. The agreement provided for joint administration and splitting revenues 50:50 and was hailed as a significant step forward in relations between the two countries.

Yet there was a dissident voice. A US-based company, PetroTimor, argued that before the Indonesian invasion it had secured licences from the Portuguese administration in 1974 giving it rights over oil and gas exploration in the Timor Sea. PetroTimor continues to assert these rights today. Only last month it filed a suit under racketeering legislation in the US alleging another oil company paid $US2 million to a senior East Timorese politician to maintain its interest in the Timor Sea oil fields.

In reality, the Timor Sea has proved a disappointment in terms of its potential, with a relatively small number of reservoirs being discovered and some of those, including the Greater Sunrise reservoir, being technically challenging to exploit compared with the North West Shelf reservoirs.

But UN-backed estimates suggest that up to $US30 billion in revenues could be involved during the next 30 years.

When Australia led the international fight to halt the ravages of Indonesian-backed militia in East Timor in 1999, it is safe to say there was little thought given to the implications of the action for the Timor Sea Treaty.

Since his country's independence, Alkatiri has not been shy about accusing Australia of bullying East Timor and appears to have a poor opinion of Foreign Minister Alexander Downer and his handling of the petroleum issue.

He has indicated East Timor is in no hurry to ratify an agreement, already endorsed by the Australian parliament, that provides the legal and fiscal framework for a development of the Greater Sunrise reservoir by a joint venture led by Australia's second largest resources company, Woodside Petroleum.

Triggs says it was strategically unwise for Australia to have ratified the Timor Sea Treaty in 2002 without ensuring the arrangement for Greater Sunrise was in force. "While Australia has abundant natural resources, international tribunals have found that it is not the job of international law to refashion nature," she says. "It will be for Australia and East Timor to resolve their differences on a permanent seabed boundary both in good faith and with a clear understanding of the international rule of law."

As the boundary talks began in Dili yesterday, the definition of good faith seemed to depend on which side of the moral debate was taken. Publicly at least, international law was very much in the back seat.

[Nigel Wilson is The Australian's national energy writer.]

Australia under pressure over East Timor boundary

Inter Press Service - April 20, 2004

Bob Burton, Canberra -- As protests mount in East Timor, the Australian government is under increasing pressure to agree to a maritime boundary halfway between the two countries rather than a border that would deprive the world's newest nation of billions of dollars in oil revenues.

Teams of Australian and East Timorese negotiators are meeting in the East Timorese capital Dili, from Apr. 19 to 22, in an attempt to agree on a timetable for the negotiations over the sea boundary.

Last week, approximately 1,800 people protested outside the Australian Embassy in Dili over Australia's stand on the boundary issue. Further protests are planned this week.

Catholic Commission for Justice Development and Peace Executive Officer, Marc Purcell, believes that Australia is attempting to take advantage of its poor neighbor.

"Australia is being greedy. It is a grab. The Australian government can pretend 'we are negotiating in good faith' but the longer it drags on the more revenue Australia will get because of the current boundaries inherited from Indonesia," he said.

East Timorese Prime Minister Mari Alkatiri said: "Sometimes, even between friends, between good friends, we have a lot of differences, and when there is a lot of money involved it is much easier to have differences between friends."

"Suddenly, I realize that when billions of dollars are involved, they became really bad partners," he told Australian Broadcasting Corp radio.

In early March, the Australian government rushed legislation through parliament to ratify an agreement with East Timor over the proposed Greater Sunrise oil and gas project. The legislation, named the Greater Sunrise Unitization Agreement Implementation Bill 2004, divides the potential proceeds between the two countries although their sea boundary has yet to be finalized.

The agreement, signed by both countries in March 2003, divides the revenues with 82 percent of the projected 7 billion US dollars for the Australian government. Only 18 percent goes to East Timor, even though the area is far closer to its shores than to Australia's.

The project developers are a consortium of companies including Woodside, ConocoPhillips, Shell and Osaka Gas.

At the time, East Timor signed the agreement in order ensure gain immediate access to revenues from the existing but far smaller Bayu Undan field, covered under the separate Timor Sea Treaty.

Subsequently, Alkatiri has warned that East Timor's parliament would withhold ratification of the Greater Sunrise agreement if Australia does not commit itself to a speedy resolution of the maritime boundary.

Australian Greens Sen. Bob Brown has flown to Dili to meet government officials and non-government organizations to back their calls for a fair maritime boundary. "The agreement robs the poorest country in South-east Asia to line the pockets of the government and the oil corporations of the richest country in the region, Australia," Brown said.

The current budget for East Timor is 79 million US dollars, mostly from aid. The new government also faces massive challenges, since more than half of East Timor's 800,000 people live on less that 340 dollars a year.

Mortality rates for children remain a high, and the literacy rate stands at some 60 percent.

At a press conference Monday, Australian Minister for Foreign Affairs Alexander Downer dismissed the East Timorese government complaints as no more than a negotiating tactic. "They see it as a useful way of strengthening their negotiating hand by accusing us of being bullying and aggressive," he said.

"Just listening to me now and I'm absolutely calm and reasonable and just hear what they have to say and we'll participate in the negotiating process as best we know how as well. We have our own way of negotiating, which mainly isn't public. Theirs is more public, they like to negotiate publicly. We're private people, us Australians," he said.

Australia has long had its eyes on the oil deposits between the two countries.

In August 1975, three months prior to the Indonesian invasion of East Timor, the Australian ambassador to Indonesia, Richard Woolcott, had sent a cable to Canberra urging compliance with Indonesia's plans to annex East Timor.

"It would seem to me that this Department of Minerals and Energy might well have an interest in closing the present gap in the agreed sea border and this could be much more readily negotiated with Indonesia than with Portugal; or independent Portuguese Timor," he had written. "I know I am recommending a pragmatic rather than a principled stand but that is what national interest and foreign policy is all about."

After the invasion, Australia became the only nation to recognize Indonesia's annexation of East Timor and turned a blind eye to the slaughter of up to 200,000 people by the Indonesian military.

While East Timor's government is working to rebuild the shattered country, frustration with the Australian government -- which claims it only has sufficient resources to discuss the boundary issues every six months -- is growing.

Earlier this week, Alkatiri suggested that if lack of funding was preventing Australia from promptly resolving the boundary issue, then East Timor would pay Australia's costs out of future oil revenues.

Purcell argues that the Australian government position should back a swift and fair resolution of the boundary to help the new country wean itself off aid funding.

"If a line were drawn halfway in the sea between the two countries, two-thirds of these riches would lie closer to East Timor and, according to the International Law of the Sea, be rightfully theirs," he said.

Suit a distraction for nation building

Australian Financial Review - April 17, 2004

Jose Ramos-Horta -- I have been fighting for the independence of my country since the early 1970s. I lost three brothers and a sister, as well as countless friends and relatives, to the violence visited upon my people during 25 years of brutal Indonesian occupation.

About a third of the population of East Timor was killed during this period, in one of the worst genocides of the 20th century. Our nation was then laid to waste after the long-awaited exercise of our right to self-determination in 1999.

A statement of claim by US energy company Oceanic Exploration , for more than $US30 billion in damages contains allegations that members of the government of East Timor accepted bribes in relation to oil developments in the Timor Sea.

The case is a frustrating distraction from our task of nation building, to say nothing of ironic, given the recent grant without our consent of petroleum licences in the Timor Sea.

East Timor is one of the poorest nations in the world. Life expectancy is one of the world's lowest at 49 years; infant mortality is one of the highest at 12 per cent; illiteracy is 70 per cent.

Even now, after independence, we are still fighting to establish our land and maritime borders.

That said, in the two years since our independence, we have accomplished much and we are benefiting from access to the community of nations after a generation of enforced seclusion.

Since May 2002, we have been building the administration of our country on the principles of democracy, transparency and integrity.

We are nurturing not only a civil service, but also a civil society. We have been struggling to fill a legal vacuum with legislation.

Industry and development have been growing. We have been educating professionals, and 700 of the 900 schools burned down in 1999 have been rebuilt.

Our people are not starving. Our nation is peaceful and secure.

Recently, I travelled to our border with Indonesia. I was heartened to meet people in the villages and to see that they no longer live in fear. The peacekeeping forces still visually provide assurance of security.

I saw an endless landscape of green. Our rice harvest looks as if it will be a bountiful one. It is, I thought, finally East Timor's time to prosper.

But now my country faces a distraction from its all-consuming effort of nation building. The $US30 billion lawsuit filed in a US court concerns our biggest oil and gas development, the Bayu- Undan field, which lies in the East Timor-Australia joint- development area of the Timor Sea.

The defendants include ConocoPhillips (the operator of the Bayu- Undan project), the Designated Authority (the regulatory authority for the joint-development area) and Indonesia's state petroleum company. It is claimed they engaged in racketeering and conspiracy, among other things.

In the course of setting out this claim, allegations and insinuations are made against our Prime Minister, Mari Alkatiri , as well as against his family and other members of the East Timor government.

Alkatiri and his family are said to have accepted bribes totalling $US2.5 million from ConocoPhillips to ensure the latter's investment in the Timor Sea most notably through ratification of the Timor Sea Treaty, the international legal underpinning for petroleum developments in the Timor Sea.

Members of parliament are alleged to have been bribed with tens of thousands of dollars by the Australian government to the same end.

The claim by Oceanic Exploration and its Petrotimor subsidiary is grounded in an exploration concession in the Timor Sea. The concession was granted to Petrotimor in 1974 by the Portuguese colonial administration of what was then known as Portuguese Timor.

It was granted unilaterally and Australia forcefully disputed it as a violation of international law.

The Portuguese left East Timor very shortly thereafter, in 1975. We were subsequently torn by civil war and then, after Indonesian's genocidal invasion on December 7, 1975, by 25 years of brutal occupation.

Petrotimor did not seek to enforce its concession during East Timor's years of Indonesian occupation, or to challenge that occupation in any manner. Indeed, nothing was heard from Petrotimor or Oceanic Exploration until August 21, 2001, when they filed a claim in an Australian court.

They sought compensation for what they alleged was expropriation: the production-sharing contract with Phillips Petroleum in respect of an area of the Timor Sea encompassing the Bayu-Undan petroleum fields. The claim was against Phillips, as well as against Australia and the regulatory body for the Timor Sea created by the Timor Gap Treaty.

The impugned contract with Phillips had been signed in 1991, 10 years prior to the claim in an Australian court.

Months after filing this suit, Petrotimor and Oceanic Exploration returned to East Timor seeking, from our interim administration, recognition and extension of their unilaterally granted colonial concession.

At the time of this return to East Timor, we were finalising international, fiscal and contractual arrangements that would permit the Bayu-Undan development in the Timor Sea to move forward. Indeed, East Timor celebrated the start of the liquids phase of production from this field with ConocoPhillips. Bayu- Undan will provide crucial revenues in our early years of independence.

Very much unlike ConocoPhillips, Oceanic Exploration has not conducted petroleum activities in almost a decade. It claims interests in the North Aegean Sea and the East China Sea , in addition to the Timor Sea all areas subject to long-standing international maritime boundary disputes.

The statement of claim filed by Petrotimor and Oceanic is a vexatious distraction at this difficult and crucial time of East Timor's national reconstruction not least because of the spurious allegations against our Prime Minister, his family and members of our national parliament.

Petrotimor and Oceanic Exploration demand compensation three times the amount of what they allege is their "actual damage" $US10.5 billion.

In its latest financial statements, Oceanic Exploration cited $US1.9 billion as the upward estimate of revenues it might have gained from its 1974 wager in the Timor Sea.

I cannot fathom the immorality that motivated the Petrotimor- Oceanic Exploration action.

I hope the community of nations will forgive East Timor its bitterness, as it watches this cautionary tale of unilateral concession granting unfold to its potential devastation.

On February 23, 2004 , East Timor learned of Australia's unlawful grant of an exploration licence in the Greater Sunrise area of the Timor Sea.

This area was agreed by treaty with Australia in March 2003 to be one where East Timor and Australia had made maritime claims and had not yet delimited their maritime boundaries. It is the second such licence to be issued unilaterally since Australia and East Timor signed this treaty.

I can only hope that the recent claim by Petrotimor and Oceanic Exploration will bring home the importance of the security created by maritime boundaries.

[Jose Ramos-Horta Is East Timor's Minister For Foreign Affairs.]

Australia on political collision course with Timor

Radio Australia - April 19, 2004

Mark Colvin: Australia and East Timor appear to be on a potential collision course over the future of a seabed boundary between the two countries.

Officials from both countries are in Dili today for the start of new talks to resolve what's shaping up as a major thorn in bilateral relations.

East Timor is now threatening to delay ratification of a crucial oil and gas agreement, unless Australia offers it a fairer deal and a bigger share of the spoils.

And as Anne Barker reports, the $8-billion project to develop the Greater Sunrise field could be scrapped if the agreement isn't ratified soon.

Anne Barker: About the only thing East Timor and Australia can agree on in today's talks is that they're likely to drag on for years. Border talks can famously take decades, and Australia's in no hurry to speed up the process because the current arrangement already gives it majority control over vast oil and gas fields, and it's precisely because of those oil fields that East Timor's Prime Minister, Mari Alkatiri, is suddenly taking a much harder line in his dealings with Australia.

Mari Alkatiri: My first concern is to defend the interests of my people and to get better resources that belong to my people.

Anne Barker: East Timor's wish for a boundary half way between the two countries would force Australia to surrender control of the most lucrative oil fields to Dili, including the Greater Sunrise field.

East Timor has already signed an agreement that would give 80 per cent of the Greater Sunrise revenue to Australia, but it's now threatening to delay ratification in the hope of getting a better deal.

Mari Alkatiri: Timor Leste is a sovereign country. It's not Indonesia.

It's not Papua New Guinea, and as the newest countries we would like to apply the current international law. This is our right to do it.

Anne Barker: But East Timor's gamble carries an $8-billion risk. That's how much it would stand to gain if Australia agreed to the midway boundary, in accordance with international law. But if the Greater Sunrise agreement isn't ratified by the end of the year, it could fall through altogether.

Woodside Petroleum, the leading partner in the joint venture, says without the legal and fiscal certainty the agreement brings, the whole project could be scrapped.

Don Rothwell is a professor of international law at Sydney University who has a keen interest in the Timor Sea negotiations.

Don Rothwell: Given the uncertainty that now exists over this area, the fact that there's been longstanding uncertainty over a number of years about these matters, there will clearly have to become a point in time when the operators have to conclude whether they wish to stick with it, or whether they wish to withdraw for the time being, until such time as the political and legal issues are finally solved.

Anne Barker: What sort of leverage does this threat give East Timor though over Australia, if any, especially if it does jeopardise the Greater Sunrise project?

Don Rothwell: Well, legally it doesn't give East Timor any leverage at all because Australia has removed one of the major options available to East Timor to take this case before the International Court of Justice for example.

But I think it's a very important negotiating ploy, and politically it will place some pressure on Australia because now this is going to be some economic and political disadvantage for Australia because of the failure to get the unitisation agreement concluded.

It will force Australia to go back and rethink the unitisation agreement negotiations, but also in the broader sense, the issues that East Timor has raised in terms of the long term viability of the joint development zone in the Timor Sea between Australia and East Timor.

Mark Colvin: Don Rothwell, Professor of International Law at Sydney University, with Anne Barker.

Horta charges Australia stalling on maritime border talks

Lusa - April 14, 2004

Maputo -- East Timor's foreign minister, Josi Ramos Horta, has accused Australia of delaying negotiations to demarcate the two countries' maritime borders in order to drain oil- and natural gas-riches from the Sea of Timor.

Ramos Horta, speaking in the Mozambican capital Monday, said Canberra was resisting Dili's demands that negotiating rounds take place monthly, instead insisting on summit talks every six months.

A first round of negotiations is scheduled for April 19 in Dili.

"The longer the negotiations take, the better" for Australia, Ramos Horta said. "Maybe when the gas and oil come to an end, Australia will want to negotiate", he added.

Ramos Horta reiterated Dili's claims that if Canberra accepted a "median line" for the maritime border, as stipulated by international law, "East Timor would today be like Kuwait", the oil-rich Gulf emirate.

His comments came at the start of his four-day visit to Mozambique, where he will sign bilateral cooperation accords and prepare President Xanana Gusmco's visit to Maputo in July.

Ramos Horta announced that Dili, which currently has only seven diplomatic missions abroad, would open four new embassies this year in Mozambique, China, Japan and Thailand.

Timor may call on US in gas field row

The Australian - April 13, 2004

Nigel Wilson -- East Timor says it may call on the US to broker a deal with Australia on maritime boundaries that would give it access to billions of dollars in oil and gas revenues now under Australian jurisdiction.

At the same time, East Timor Prime Minister Mari Alkatiri says his parliament will not ratify an agreement with Australia that is essential for the development of the Greater Sunrise gas field 550km northwest of Darwin in the Timor Sea.

Dr Alkatiri told the ABC that East Timor was not happy with the so-called International Unitisation Agreement on Greater Sunrise, because it would receive only 18 per cent of revenue from the development.

The agreement was ratified by the Australian parliament last month. The second round of official talks on the boundary are scheduled to begin in Dili on Monday.

Asked his position on seeking US intervention, Dr Alkatiri said third-party involvement might be necessary. "East Timor is one of the poorest countries in the world; Australia is one of the richest." Only a third party could pressure Canberra into accepting arbitration on the boundary issue.

East Timor says there has never been a boundary between the two countries and argues that boundaries struck between Australia and Indonesia offshore of East Timor are illegal. Dr Alkatiri repeated his claim that Canberra had not shown good faith on the issue, and called on Australians to object to the plan. "I trust the Australian people, the Australian politicians, academics and all of the Australians of goodwill, and I think they can really influence the Government," he said.

A spokesman for Woodside Petroleum, which leads the group seeking to develop Greater Sunrise, said last night the agreement on legal and fiscal terms ratified by the Australian parliament was essential for the project to proceed. Unless East Timor ratified the agreement, there would be no development.

Timor gas development threatened by border dispute

Agence France Presse - April 13, 2004

Sydney -- Energy giant Woodside has warned it will scrap a multi-billion dollar oil and gas development in the Timor Sea unless East Timor ratified a controversial border treaty with Australia.

East Timor Prime Minister Mari Alkatiri has accused Prime Minister John Howard's government of bad faith towards its impoverished neigbour over the long-running dispute about maritime boundaries in the resource-rich Timor Sea.

Alkatiri says Dili will not ratify an interim deal called the International Unitisation Agreement (IUA) because it gives East Timor only 18 percent of revenues from the Greater Sunrise oil field while handing Canberra 82 percent.

"I always considered the Howard Government as a good partners but suddenly I realised that when billions of dollars are involved they became really bad partners," Alkatiri told ABC television.

Alkatiri said his parliamentary collegues would not ratify the IUA, which was signed late last year. "It doesn't make sense now ... to table the IUA [in] parliament for ratification," he said.

Woodside Petroleum, the lead company in a joint venture preparing to spend seven billion Australian dollars (5.32 billion US dollars) developing Greater Sunrise, said the IUA was needed for the project to go ahead.

"It provides us with the legal and fiscal certainty we need to proceed," a Woodside spokesman said. "Without it the development cannot proceed and will not go ahead."

Greater Sunrise is expected to generate at least 10 billion dollars in all and East Timor regards it as a lifeline that can end the nation's dependence on international aid.

David and Goliath battle it out over sea of riches

South China Morning Post - April 1, 2004

Peter Kammerer -- The tussle between East Timor and Australia for oil and gas reserves under the Timor Sea is becoming markedly vocal and tactical.

For East Timor, as poor as it is new, the potential revenues represent the difference between poverty and prosperity for its 1 million people. Australia, the wealthiest nation in the region with 20 times the population, officially looks on the issue as a matter of sovereignty.

But East Timor activists accuse Australia of arrogance for its tough stand in negotiations on the disputed maritime boundary, under which the reserves -- particularly in the Greater Sunrise field -- are located.

They allege its withdrawal in March 2002 -- two months before East Timor's independence from Indonesia -- from the International Court of Justice and the International Tribunal for the Law of the Sea was a ploy to prevent an independent ruling on the dispute.

Once the boundary dispute has been resolved, the Timor Sea Treaty, which came into force a year ago, ensures East Timor will get 90 per cent of revenues and Australia the remainder.

East Timor's Prime Minister Mari Alkatiri claimed yesterday that Australia had broken international law on Monday by releasing for auction further oil and gas exploration acreage in the contested area. He said the move was contrary to the Greater Sunrise unitisation agreement, approved on the same day by the Australian parliament, but yet to be backed by East Timor.

"International law requires that Australia exercise restraint in disputed maritime areas," Mr Alkatiri said. "Australia's unilateral exploitation of our resources in the Timor Sea is inconsistent with the spirit and the letter of the Greater Sunrise International Unitisation Agreement."

The treaty gives Australia rights to 82 per cent of the field's revenues until the two countries can decide where their boundary lies. Oil experts estimate the deposits are worth US$ 5 billion.

Mr Alkatiri said the exploration acreage was about twice as close to East Timor as it was to Australia and on his country's side of the median line between the nations.

He claimed the bill passed on Monday explicitly stated that the part of the field to be developed lay in an area claimed by both countries and that Australia should refrain from unilateral exploitation in disputed areas.

Australia awarded exploration licences in the disputed area in February and last April. Mr Alkatiri claimed the country had derived more than US$ 1.5 billion in tax revenue from the Laminaria-Corallina fields, also in the contested area and in the western part of the Timor Sea.

He said East Timor had proposed monthly meetings to end the border dispute, but Australia had said it could meet only twice a year.

There was no reaction from Australia to the allegations. But Australian international law expert Gillian Triggs said the country was not acting out of financial greed. Australia was being careful over discussions with East Timor so as not to jeopardise its sovereignty, she said, adding that under international law and on the basis of much of the case law, Australia had a claim to its continental shelf.

Australia's greedy oil deals in East Timor

The Nation (Thailand) - April 1, 2004

Canberra's insistence on a bilateral resolution to sea border issue is not fair

As the world's newest country, East Timor faced a steep learning curve when it gained independence in 2002. And among the first and harshest lessons it learned was that when it comes to international relations, there are no such things as true friends, only self interests. Dili's relationship with Canberra is a case in point. Australia won deserved plaudits for the leading role it played in ending the Jakarta-inspired bloodshed on the half island in 1999 and for eventually ushering East Timor through to independence. But any thoughts Dili might have had about maintaining a 'little brother' relationship with its much larger neighbour must surely have been knocked out over the past couple of years.

Australian Foreign Minister Alexander Downer made that all too clear in a conversation with East Timor Prime Minister Mari Alkatiri last year. 'We are very tough,' Downer told Alkatari, according to a leaked transcript of their meeting. 'We don?t care if you give information to the media. Let me give you a tutorial in politics -- there's not a chance [of you getting your wish],' he reportedly said. What the two were talking about was the gas fields that lie under the sea that separates East Timor from Australia and which are the island?s only real economic asset and its only hope of financial security. Downer's bullying tone was not unusual -- it has typified Australia's negotiations on the gas fields.

Last year, the two governments sealed the Timor Sea Treaty giving East Timor 90 per cent of the revenues from a joint-development area, where one field, Bayu Undan, is ready for development. But Australia held up ratification of the deal until East Timor agreed to Canberra's terms for sharing revenues from the much larger Greater Sunrise field, which holds 59 per cent of Timor's petroleum reserves and is expected to generate US$8 billion (Bt320 billion) in revenue over the next four decades. With the threat that developers would pull out of Bayu Undan and deprive cash-strapped East Timor of much needed funds, Australia was able to obtain its demand for more than an 80 per-cent share of revenue from Greater Sunrise until the two countries settle where their maritime boundary should fall.

Australia wants to keep the maritime border agreed with Jakarta after Indonesia invaded East Timor in 1975, which would give it the lion's share of the reserves. But that deal was a transparent pay-off from Jakarta for Canberra's recognition of its illegal annexation of East Timor and Dili says the border should lie at the mid-point between the two countries, in line with standard international practice. Such recognition would put all of Greater Sunrise inside East Timor's waters. Australia, however, refused to accept any decisions by independent arbitrators such as the International Court of Justice, thus leaving tiny East Timor at the mercy of bilateral negotiations.

By repeatedly threatening to stall development of nearly all of Timor's gas reserves Canberra eventually got what it wanted. And on Monday this week the Australian Parliament signed a treaty that gives Canberra interim rights to 82 per cent of the Greater Sunrise revenues until the two countries settle where their maritime boundary should fall. Crucially, however, it provides no timeframe for settling the border issue.

Canberra is essentially robbing East Timor -- the poorest country in Southeast Asia -- of billions of dollars, and perhaps even more distastefully, dressing it up as an act of generosity.

If Australia had really taken the high road it would have agreed to international arbitration of the border, dropped the numerous tax breaks that it insisted on for its developers and worked toward a fair and equal share of the spoils.

Australia likes to claim it has an 'enlightened' approach to foreign affairs. It is this that justifies its condemnation of Southeast Asian dealings with the junta in Burma, Vietnam's human rights record and Malaysian logging practices. Yet its harsh dealings with asylum seekers, its stalling over paying compensation for the epic Ok Tedi mining disaster in Papua New Guinea and now East Timor undermine whatever pretensions it has to a 'principled-based' approach to international dealings.

Sadly, it also raises questions about Australia's involvement in East Timor in 1999, one of Canberra's biggest foreign-affairs successes in decades. Was it really just about gas and oil?

Justice & reconciliation

Wiranto and Timor Leste

Jakarta Post - April 30, 2004

David Jardine -- In the commentary Wiranto must face the storm by Pitan Daslani (The Jakarta Post, April, 26) there appears a truly astonishing paragraph, "Everybody put the blame on Wiranto as well as the Indonesian Military (TNI) and the police, despite their self-sacrificing devotion to the conception of the Republic of Timor Leste."

Self-sacrificing devotion? Pardon me? They were devoted to bringing to the new state into being? This flies in the face of all the evidence. It is an insult to the intelligence.

I suggest Pitan just sits down and coolly examines the record, which will show that Wiranto and TNI were instrumental in the creation and sustenance of the murderous pro-Jakarta militias such as attacks led by the self-proclaimed nationalist hero Eurico Gutteres and these militias were abetted throughout by the Indonesian Military, in particular units such as Battalions 744 and 745.

Command responsibility rested with Wiranto as the head of the Armed Forces at the time, as any international court would readily prove. I suggest that Pitan goes back and looks at some of the news footage of the time and sees for himself how Indonesian soldiers and police simply stood by and let the militias burn, loot and kill. The Indonesian security forces were wholly responsible for this situation.

East Timor was, after all, under martial law at the time! What Wiranto's book says I do not know but I can readily guess. It will be the usual gruel of obfuscation and plausible denial, the workings of a very dishonest mind.

East Timor: Still waiting for justice

Green Left Weekly - April 28, 2004

Jon Lamb -- Human rights and solidarity organisations are deeply concerned by the Golkar party's nomination of General Wiranto for president of Indonesia. Wiranto, the former head of the Indonesian military, was indicted in February 2003 for his role in coordinating the 1999 terror campaign in East Timor, conducted by the Indonesian military and its militia proxies.

According to the Dili Special Panel (a joint East Timor-United Nations court), Wiranto was responsible for "the crimes against humanity of murder, deportation and persecution" that took place before and after the August 1999 independence ballot.

In a statement released on April 21 by the US-based East Timor Action Network, spokesperson John M Miller said: "Wiranto's rise in Indonesian politics speaks volumes about the failure of the United Nations, the US and other countries to act quickly and forcefully for justice. The cycle of impunity continues; those responsible for the devastation in East Timor are now directing similar campaigns in Aceh and Papua."

Miller added that the UN should "revisit the recommendation to establish an international tribunal for East Timor made by the UN's Commission of Inquiry in January 2002". He called for the withholding of all US military assistance to Indonesia until Wiranto and other Indonesian military figures are brought to justice in a legitimate and transparent judicial process.

"It is difficult to imagine a more ruthless protege of the former dictator Suharto than General Wiranto", Max Lane, chairperson of Action in Solidarity with Asia and the Pacific told Green Left Weekly. "He and other Indonesian generals and colonels have been able to get off scot-free for the crimes against humanity that they committed in East Timor ... crimes they are repeating in the towns and villages of Aceh, Papua and elsewhere", Lane said.

In pursuit of improved ties with the Indonesian military, the US and Australian governments have refused to question or criticise the nomination of Wiranto. "We can work with anybody that comes out from a free [election] process", US ambassador Ralph Boyce told reporters on April 21.

Australian foreign minister, Alexander Downer, argued that raising concerns about the Wiranto nomination would harm relations between Canberra and Jakarta. According to the April 22 Melbourne Age, Downer said: "If we started attacking General Wiranto, that might turn out to be a bit of an election winner for him, so we won't comment." Federal Labor leader Mark Latham, has likewise refused to comment.

Downer has also signalled that Wiranto and the Indonesian military have the Howard government's blessing by stating that Wiranto's nomination "reflects a view in some parts of Indonesia that they need to get back to strength and decisiveness in government and they would see General Wiranto as a former head of the Indonesian military as that type of a person".

Wiranto's nomination comes just days after the supreme court in Indonesia upheld charges against the last Indonesian-installed governor of East Timor, Abilio Osario Soares. Soares is the only figure of note to be sentenced by the ad hoc Human Rights Court in Indonesia for the 1999 terror campaign.

"I have been made a scapegoat and sacrificed to save the Indonesian military ... justice in the republic is only for the powerful and those with money", Soares told reporters in Jakarta on April 16. Head of the Indonesian Legal Aid and Human Rights Association Hendardi said that the verdict was "discriminatory and insidious", and that "justice has not been done for the East Timorese victims who have suffered arbitrary torture and death".

A detailed report released on April 14 by Amnesty International and the Dili-based Judicial System Monitoring Program stressed that "perpetrators of crimes against humanity and other serious crimes committed in Timor Leste in 1999 will escape justice unless the UN acts to fulfill its commitment to bring them to account". The report also states that "while the UN is dragging its heels, those responsible for grave crimes in Timor Leste are free and, in many cases, are in active military or police service. It is therefore no surprise that the patterns, if not the scale, of violations witnessed in East Timor have since been repeated elsewhere in Indonesia".

East Timor's hybrid court

Tempo - April 27-May 3, 2004

Rachland Nashidik -- The past is catching up with General (ret) Wiranto. The Serious Crimes Unit (SCU) of the Attorney General's Office of East Timor (now Timor Leste) has proposed a legal motion for the arrest of the former defense and security minister/Indonesian Military commander.

Wiranto, who was just elected as the Golkar Party presidential candidate, may blame this on a set-up designed by his domestic political rivals. If he adopts this move, it is obviously insufficient to prevent the power of history from depriving him too much of his future life. The only way is to face it right now.

Moreover, SCU's motion was not presented on the day when Wiranto officially became the Golkar Party's presidential candidate. An arrest warrant has actually been sought since February last year. It was after SCU, led by Siri Frigaard, listed Wiranto as suspect of serious crimes in East Timor along with six other Indonesian high-ranking military officers.

According to the foreign media, nearly 2,000 people died in a scorched-earth operation believed to have been conducted by militiamen with Jakarta's design and consent following the victory of East Timor's referendum in 1999.

Frigaard's attempt is now carried on by Nicholas Koumjian, new SCU chairman. He is optimistic that the pieces of evidence at his disposal will prompt the Dili District Court to approve the arrest warrant for Wiranto.

If Koumjian's statement is true, this is bad news for Wiranto. He must think twice before deciding to travel abroad. It is because as specified in The Princeton Principles on Universal Jurisdiction, every country is obliged by international law to capture and extradite suspects of serious crimes, including crimes against humanity and war crimes. This obligation binds all signatories to multilateral agreements after World War II, especially the Geneva Convention of 1949.

In other words, once the arrest warrant for Wiranto is issued, it cannot be resolved through the dynamics of bilateral relations between Indonesia and East Timor.

From the beginning, Jakarta has failed in exerting pressure on Dili to cancel the legal action against Wiranto. But the SCU in fact cannot just bow to Dili because it is an extension of the United Nations. Originally, the SCU was formed by the United Nations Transitional Authority in East Timor (UNTAET), based on UN Security Council resolution No. 1272 dated October 25, 1999.

After East Timor gained freedom, UNTAET was dissolved. However, the SCU was retained by UN Security Council resolution No. 1410 dated May 17, 2002 on the establishment of the United Nations Mission of Support in East Timor (Unmiset). Since then, the UN has assigned the SCU to the East Timor Attorney General's Office. The Chairman of SCU is concurrently the Deputy Attorney General of East Timor.

Apart from the SCU, the UN also set up a Special Panel for Serious Crimes, comprising two international justices and a national judge. It is to the justice panel posted in the Dili District Court that Koumjian addressed his request for approval of Wiranto's arrest.

It is worth noting that by forming the SCU and the special panel, the UN is actually operating a hybrid court in East Timor-like the one being tried out in Cambodia. The internationalized national court is seen as capable of administering fair and independent trials as well as impartial justice, at a lower cost than that in the UN international ad-hoc tribunals in Rwanda and the former Yugoslavia.

What does it mean to Indonesia? We should not forget that the UN once threatened to set up the same international ad-hoc tribunal in Indonesia.

But the threat eased off after Jakarta established an East Timor Human Rights Violations Investigating Commission and a human rights tribunal. There is a very slim possibility for the UN to reconsider the formation of an international tribunal for Indonesia, among others for reasons of realism of international ties and very high cost. But the UN apparently cannot only keep silent while the Indonesian court has been unable to break the circle of impunity in the East Timor case. That has made the UN hybrid court's mission the only alternative after its failure to create an international tribunal.

As Defense & Security Minister/TNI Commander in the period of upheaval in East Timor in 1999, Wiranto was not contained on the list of defendants in Indonesia's human rights tribunal. It is just the basic issue today: the absence of exhaustive domestic remedies for Wiranto makes him the most exposed to the mission of the UN hybrid court. The principle of double jeopardy, or ne bis in idem, has no way of leaving him free from the UN judicial threat, because no tribunal in Indonesia has ever exonerated him or found him guilty.

From East Timor, a demand for international justice is lurking inconspicuously. We can oppose it but have no way of preventing it. The only means of ridding Indonesia of the East Timor issue is to let justice find its way. The Indonesian government's obligation is to guarantee the protection and fulfillment of his legal rights in the judicial process so that he can prove his innocence to the maximum.

[Rachland Nashidik is the program director of Indonesian Human Rights Monitor (Impartial).]

UN dragging its feet in seeking justice: Amnesty

Agence France Presse - April 14, 2004

Amnesty International has accused the United Nations of dragging its feet in bringing Indonesian officers to justice for the army-backed militia atrocities in East Timor in 1999.

The human rights group, in a joint report with East Timor non- governmental body the Judicial System Monitoring Program (JSMP), said the UN Security Council should seriously consider setting up an international criminal tribunal.

"While the UN is dragging its heels, those responsible for grave crimes in Timor-Leste [East Timor] are free and in many cases are in active military or police service," said the report received Wednesday in Jakarta. "It is therefore no surprise that the patterns, if not the scale of violations witnessed in Timor-Leste have since been repeated elsewhere in Indonesia."

The report said a human rights court set up by Indonesia to try offenders was "fundamentally flawed." Out of 18 people brought to trial, only six were convicted and ordered jailed and they are free pending final appeals.

Amnesty and JSMP said a special crimes court in East Timor "is hampered by limited capacity, the uncertain commitment of the Timor-Leste government to the process and, crucially, Indonesia's refusal to cooperate with it."

The court, at the request of UN-funded prosecutors, has indicted 369 suspects but more than three-quarters are in Indonesia, which refuses to hand anyone over for trial.

Among those indicted is former armed forces commander Wiranto, a presidential hopeful in Indonesia's July election. He denies wrongdoing.

East Timor's President Xanana Gusmao opposes the indictments, saying his country's priority is good relations with giant neighbour Indonesia.

Indonesia invaded the former Portuguese colony in 1975 but authorised the UN to hold an independence referendum in August 1999. However pro-Jakarta local militias, organised and armed by Indonesian soldiers, terrorised independence supporters before and after East Timorese voted overwhelmingly to break away from Indonesia. Up to 1,500 civilians were killed and some 70 percent of the country's buildings were destroyed.

"In 1999 the UN and individual governments expressed horror at the violence in Timor-Leste, but four years on, interest in supporting investigations and prosecutions has waned," the report said. "Moreover, Indonesia appears to be under little pressure to cooperate."

Amnesty and JSMP urged the UN Security Council to increase support for the serious crimes process in East Timor and explore "effective alternatives" to the Indonesian court. They said the UN should immediately establish an independent committee to assess obstacles to achieving justice and make recommendations to the Security Council.

"Among the options that must now be seriously considered is the establishment of an international criminal tribunal as recommended by the UN's own International Commission of Inquiry on East Timor in January 2000," the report said. It urged individual governments to be prepared to arrest and extradite to East Timor individuals who have been indicted there.

Court struggles to deliver justice for 1999 deaths

Associated Press - April 4, 2004

Dili -- Sitting in his cramped jail cell, Joanico Gusmao readily admits he helped torch a village and stabbed to death a pro- independence supporter during the violence that enveloped East Timor in 1999.

But the 28-year-old farmer wonders why he's languishing in prison while the commanders who ordered the killing and hundreds of others remain free. One indicted suspect, retired Indonesian army chief, Gen. Wiranto, is running for president of his country.

"There is no justice in my case," Gusmao, who was sentenced in February to seven years in jail, told The Associated Press from prison. "Those who should be here are those who directed this violence like Wiranto ... and the other generals in Jakarta," he said. "They are free to raise their families while I'm here like a bird in a cage. I've accepted responsibility. What about them?"

Gusmao's case and that of dozens of other low-level militiamen jailed in Dili highlight the glaring disparities in the United Nations' effort to prosecute the worst offenses in East Timor.

Human rights courts set up in the newly independent nation to prosecute crimes against humanity during the fight for independence have had mixed results. Fifty people have been convicted, but the country's leaders are reluctant to pursue the worst perpetrators in Indonesia, fearing it would hurt relations with their former occupier.

"If this process is cut short as we fear may happen, it's not only a travesty of justice but could seriously set back the reconciliation process for East Timor," said Ross Clarke of the Judicial System Monitoring Program in Dili.

The Indonesian military and its proxy militias laid waste to much of East Timor when the territory's people voted overwhelmingly to break free of Indonesia in a UN-organized referendum in 1999, setting off an orgy of violence that left nearly 1,500 dead.

East Timor won its independence in May 2002, following four centuries of Portuguese colonial rule and 24 years of brutal Indonesian occupation.

The Serious Crimes Unit -- funded and staffed by the UN but under the authority of the East Timorese government -- has been praised for indicting 369 people for human rights violations. It has also exposed the role of the Indonesian government in the violence, including how the military funded, armed and trained anti- independence militias on East Timor.

The unit's successes, however, have been diminished by the fact that 281 of those indicted -- including nearly 100 Indonesian generals and soldiers -- have escaped trial. All 50 suspects convicted by the Special Panel For Serious Crimes, in contrast, have been Timorese -- many of them poor and uneducated.

Jakarta has rejected requests to extradite Indonesian suspects. And efforts to apprehend suspects through Interpol, the International Criminal Police Organization, have also bogged down.

The UN last month released new details on its case against Gen. Wiranto, hoping to hasten his arrest and prosecution. The general, however, is going ahead with his presidential campaign and dismisses the indictment as a political ploy.

Some rights activists said the problems originate from UN Secretary-General Kofi Annan's decision in 2000 to forego an international tribunal like that used for the former Yugoslavia and Rwanda in favor of establishing courts in Indonesia and Dili.

A tribunal, they say, would have been better financed, more independent and had greater authority to detain suspects -- though it couldn't have forced Indonesia to hand them over. The Indonesian rights court in Jakarta was widely dismissed as a whitewash after it convicted only six of the 18 Indonesian military and government officials charged. All remain free pending their appeals.

In Dili, the unit was slowed in the first 18 months by mismanagement and a lack of funds and judges, rights groups said. Defense teams were hurt by witnesses too scared to testify and a shortage of qualified Timorese attorneys.

As the unit prepares to scale down in May along with the rest of the UN mission, about 50% of 1,400 murder cases have yet to be investigated. The unit's mandate will likely be extended a year, but many cases could still end up in the hands of an ill-equipped East Timorese judiciary.

The UN acknowledges that many cases have yet to be tried but says the process has served the cause of justice. "We've achieved some significant convictions and helped build the capacity of the East Timor judicial system," said Nicholas Koumjian, the unit's deputy prosecutor general. "The evidence also provides a history of East Timor and helped establish the truth."

Human rights trials

Wiranto rights trial unlikely

Jakarta Post - April 19, 2004

Wahyoe Boediwardhana, Denpasar -- East Timor Attorney General Longinus Montero said on Sunday the trial of former Indonesian Military chief Gen (ret) Wiranto for his alleged role in crimes against humanity and war crimes in the former Indonesian province might not materialize due to lack of evidence.

Although prosecutors have submitted additional evidence to support Wiranto's indictment, Montero acknowledged it would not provide the Dili District Court a breakthrough to try Wiranto.

"As a prosecutor, I hope the court will accept the indictment. However, if the court refuses it I already have an answer for the public," he said on the sidelines of a visit here.

If the court rejects the indictment, East Timor state prosecutors would no longer continue to level charges at Wiranto with regard to gross human rights violations that occurred before and after a UN-sanctioned ballot that resulted in a unanimous vote for independence in 1999.

Montero said previously that prosecutors had, in February 2003 and January 2004, tried to take Wiranto to court for similar crimes. The judges threw both indictments out, claiming that the prosecutors had failed to present sufficient evidence to support the serious accusations.

Prosecutors resubmitted the indictment for the third time in February this year.

Despite his pessimism, Montero claimed he had done his best. He said the latest indictment against Wiranto was supported by accounts from some 1,500 eyewitnesses and data from numerous important documents.

Wiranto's case is among 1,041 rights abuse cases currently being investigated by the East Timor Attorney General's Office. They are all related to a wave of violence that erupted in 1999.

Ex-Timor governor blasts Supreme Court ruling

Associated Press - April 17, 2004

Jakarta -- East Timor's last Indonesian-appointed governor Friday denounced a Supreme Court ruling convicting him for the 1999 bloodshed there, saying he was a scapegoat for army generals who escaped punishment.

Earlier this month, the high court upheld a three-year sentence against Jose Abilio Osorio Soares for failing to prevent the murderous rampage by Indonesia's military and pro-Jakarta militias after East Timor voted to secede in 1999 from Indonesia following 24 years of military occupation. Up to 2,000 people died and much of East Timor was destroyed.

"I have been made a scapegoat and sacrificed to save the Indonesian military," Soares told reporters in Jakarta. "Justice in this republic is only for the powerful and those with money."

Soares -- who is ethnic East Timorese -- is the first Indonesian official to be punished for the bloodshed. Three others -- all Indonesian military officers -- have had their sentences overturned by the high court in recent weeks. Rulings against two remaining defendants are expected soon. Twelve others have already been acquitted.

UN officials and other human rights groups have blamed Indonesian security forces for the mayhem, which only ended with the arrival of international peacekeepers.

Soares, who has repeatedly said he had nothing to do with the violence, claimed the court decision was timed to coincide with the coming presidential elections, in which Gen. Wiranto, who was Indonesia's military chief in 1999, is running.

Critics have alleged that Jakarta's pledge to punish those responsible is a farce, and only civilians or East Timorese militiamen -- lacking the backing of Indonesia's powerful military brass -- will be punished.

As a result, international rights groups have called on the United Nations to convene an international tribunal to try those responsible. "If I can not find justice in this country, I will seek justice in the international courts in The Hague," Soares said. He did not elaborate.

Government denies Timor trials are flawed

Radio Australia - April 15, 2004

The Indonesian government has rejected claims that it is failing to prosecute those responsible for the carnage in East Timor following its vote for independence.

Indonesia set up an ad hoc human rights court in 2001 to investigate and judge individuals suspected of crimes against humanity in East Timor in 1999.

Only six people have found guilty by the court and all are free pending appeal.

Human rights groups say the court is flawed and have called for a new international criminal tribunal to be established by the United Nations.

However, an Indonesian government spokesman, Marty Natalegawa, says Jakarta is not prepared to consider the proposal.

"Of course there are shortcomings in our national tribunal system, but it's not as if it's in such a flawed state that you want to go the international tribunal route," Mr Natalegawa said.

"If -- and it's a big if -- we were to go the international tribunal route, perhaps it can deliver the type of justice that people are looking for," he said.

"But what beneficial impact would that have on democratisation in Indonesia, on democratisation in Timor, because it is as if we are contracting out what should be our responsibility."

Pro-Indonesia militia gangs went on a rampage after East Timor's landslide vote for independence in August 1999, killing hundreds and destroying entire villages.

Activists criticise verdicts on East Timor cases

Jakarta Post - April 12, 2004

Muninggar Sri Saraswati, Jakarta -- The Supreme Court's decision find former East Timor governor Abilio Soares Jose Osorio Soares guilty of rights violations has drawn criticism from activists, who claimed the verdict was "discriminatory and insidious".

Hendardi, who heads the Indonesian Legal Aid and Human Rights Association (PBHI), said the verdict confirmed public concern that the trial was held just to appease the international community.

"Justice has not been done for the East Timorese victims who suffered arbitrary torture and death," said Hendardi, criticizing the judges for failing to apply the human rights legislation correctly.

Hendardi, who was as a lawyer for former political prisoner Xanana Gusmao, now the president of independent East Timor, also lambasted the Supreme Court for the disparities in its decisions on military/police officers and civilian officials.

"What is going on? Both the police and military were responsible for security back then," said Hendardi, referring to the period in the run-up to, during, and after the United Nations-sponsored independence referendum in Indonesia's former 27th province.

In a climate of intense international pressure, a total of 18 civilians, and military and police personnel were brought to the ad hoc human rights court for their failure to prevent the bloody rampage that killed hundreds of pro-independence East Timorese in 1999.

Most of the defendants, including Army generals, were acquitted for lack of evidence of direct involvement in the violence. But even those who were found guilty were given light sentences.

Last Thursday, the Supreme Court announced a guilty verdict against Abilio, who in 1999 was acting more as a figurehead than the governor of East Timor.

A panel of five judges upheld the verdict of lower courts that sentenced Abilio to three years in jail, far below the minimum 10 years jail term provided for by Law No. 26/2000 on the human rights court.

The guilty verdict came after the same court acquitted three senior military and police officers -- former East Timor Police chief Brig. Gen. Timbul Silaen, former Covalima Regent Col. Herman Sedyono, and former Army Special Forces (Kopassus) Tribuana Commander Lt. Col. Yayat Sudrajat.

According to the verdict, Abilio was guilty of failing to prevent and halt violence involving his subordinates that claimed the lives of East Timorese in 1999. It also stipulated that the sentence handed down was based on justice, not revenge.

The Attorney General's Office said over the weekend that it would execute the verdict after it received a copy.

"The Supreme Court verdict is final. It must be executed despite any further legal moves by the defendant or his lawyers," Attorney General's Office spokesman Kemas Yahya Rahman said.

Court upholds jail term for ex-East Timor governor

Agence France Presse - April 12, 2004

Indonesia's Supreme Court has upheld a three-year prison sentence handed to a former East Timor governor for crimes against humanity during the territory's bloody breakaway from Jakarta in 1999.

"We have not officially received the copy of the ruling but we have been informed that it has been issued and that the three- year jail sentence is upheld," said Juan Felix Tampubolon, a lawyer for ex-governor Jose Osorio Abilio Soares. Soares, an ethnic East Timorese, complained when he was sentenced in August 2002 that he had been made a scapegoat for the military-backed militia violence against independence supporters.

He was the first of 18 defendants to receive a verdict from an Indonesian human rights court, which ended up acquitting 11 security force members and one civilian.

Apart from Soares, three army officers, a former Dili police chief and a militia leader were ordered jailed but stayed free pending appeals. Rights groups described the court as largely a sham.

Tampubolon said lawyers would file a demand for a case review on behalf of Soares, who has not yet been jailed. He described the proceedings of the rights court as "in a simple word, senseless." The Supreme Court's director for crimes, Mugihardjo, confirmed the ruling on Soares but declined further comment. He could not say when the court would rule on other appellants.

Human rights lawyer Hendardi also rapped the Soares' ruling, saying it showed the trials were held just to appease the international community. The Supreme Court has rejected appeals by prosecutors against the acquittal of other defendants.

Hendardi was quoted by the Jakarta Post as saying many police and military officers remained unpunished. "Justice has not been done for the East Timorese victims who suffered arbitrary torture and death," he said.

Pro-Jakarta local militias, organised and armed by Indonesian soldiers, terrorised independence supporters before and after East Timorese voted in August 1999 to break away from Indonesian rule.

The UN says up to 1,500 civilians were killed and some 70 percent of the country's buildings were destroyed.

East Timor rights defendant cleared

Jakarta Post - April 10, 2004

Jakarta -- For the third consecutive time in recent weeks, the Supreme Court has acquitted a defendant of all charges of involvement in the 1999 mayhem in East Timor.

The panel of five judges stated that prosecutors had failed to provide convincing evidence or valid legal arguments linking Lt. Col. Yayat Sudrajat, former Liquica district military commander, with the bloodshed before and after a UN-administered ballot that resulted in East Timor's independence.

In their verdict, which was issued earlier this month, but only made public on Thursday, the judges said prosecutors could not provide evidence that Yayat had links to the pro-integration militia who attacked and murdered dozens of East Timorese civilians taking refuge in houses and churches in Liquica, Dili and Covalima between April and September 1999.

Earlier, the country's highest court exonerated former East Timor police chief and current Papua police chief Insp. Gen. Timbul Silaen and former Covalima regent Col. Herman Sedyono, overruling the ad hoc rights tribunal's guilty verdict for gross human rights violation.

Supreme Court upholds sentence to ex-Timor governor

Kyodo - April 7, 2004

Jakarta -- Indonesia's Supreme Court has upheld a special court's decision to acquit a middle-ranking officer and to sentence a senior government official on charges of gross human rights violations in East Timor in 1999 when its people voted to separate from Indonesia, court sources said late Wednesday.

A source, who asked not to be named, told Kyodo News that in a decision dated April 1, a five-member Supreme Court judicial panel upheld the Ad Hoc Human Rights Tribunal's verdict two years ago to sentence former East Timor Governor Abilio Jose Osorio Soares to three years in jail.

Soares was found guilty of "not taking proper actions to prevent violence" from happening before, during and after the 1999 UN- organized referendum on self-determination in East Timor.

The alleged violations occurred during a series of attacks against pro-independence East Timorese in the towns of Liquica, Dili and Suai between April and September of 1999, during which more than 100 people were killed and hundreds more injured.

The source, however, refused to go into more details. During the trial in the special human rights court in 2002, state prosecutors sought 10 and a half years in jail for Soares.

Separately, Supreme Judge Dirwoto told Kyodo News that the Supreme Court also upheld the special court's verdict in December 2002 to acquit Lt. Col. Yayat Sudrajat, who was a commander of a task force unit of the army's special forces command (KOPASSUS) in East Timor's capital Dili.

Prosecutors had earlier accused Sudrajat of failing to stop members of the pro-Jakarta militia Besi Merah Putih from attacking pro-independence refugees in a church in April 1999 that left five people dead and 20 others injured.

"Prosecutors failed to show even a single piece of proof over the involvement of the defendant in the violence," Dirwoto said. "There is no proof that can show a connection between the defendant and the conflicting parties in East Timor ... What happened in the incident was out of his responsibilities," he added.

A spokesman at the Attorney General's Office said he has not received a copy of the Supreme Court's decisions, but said, "We will accept whatever decision made by the court."

The Ad Hoc Human Rights Tribunal tried 18 people involving in the East Timor violence, but acquitted most of them, especially the military and police officers. In December 2002, the tribunal handed down a 10-year sentence to feared Aitarak militia leader Eurico Guterres.

Militia groups began escalating violence and intimidation against pro-independence people in April 1999 ahead of a UN-sponsored referendum Aug. 30 that year.

Soon after the announcement of the referendum results Sept. 4, 1999, the militia groups launched a campaign of violence and destruction across East Timor, which was a Portuguese colony for more than 400 years before being invaded by Indonesia in 1975.

East Timor gained independence May 20, 2002, after more than 24 years under Indonesian occupation and two and a half years under United Nations administration.

Amid some criticism over the fairness of the tribunal, East Timor's government has so far ruled out the idea of seeking justice at an international tribunal and has instead made efforts to build a close relationship with its former occupier and giant neighbor.

Indonesia

Timor will work with Wiranto if he wins: Sword-Gusmao

Agence France Presse - April 26, 2004

Melbourne -- East Timor would work with former military chief General Wiranto if he is elected Indonesian president despite his alleged war crimes, the fledgling state's first lady said Monday.

Wiranto was last week selected as the presidential candidate for the Golkar Party, which ruled Indonesia for 35 years under former President Suharto.

Wiranto has been indicted by United Nations-backed prosecutors in East Timor for backing militias who terrorised East Timor following the 1999 independence referendum in 1999 when he was Indonesia's top military officer.

Kirsty Sword-Gusmao, the Australian wife of East Timor President Xanana Gusmao, said the relationship between the two countries would not be harmed if Wiranto won the presidency in July.

"I don't think it would be significantly more challenging than with Megawati at the helm," Sword-Gusmao said, referring to current Indonesian President Megawati Sukarnoputri. "And I don't think that there's any reason to believe that Wiranto is any more hostile to East Timor's sovereignty than any other leader."

But she conceded Wiranto's election would be difficult for some East Timorese given the violence which dominated the vote for independence five years ago.

In the months surrounding the vote, pro-Jakarta militias killed an estimated 1,400 people, burned towns to the ground, destroyed 80 percent of the former Portuguese territory's infrastructure and forced or led more than a quarter of a million villagers into Indonesian-ruled West Timor.

"Clearly, he is linked emotionally to the violence [of] 1999, but I don't see that as being a huge impediment to building a constructive relationship between the two countries," Sword- Gusmao said. Indonesia is due to go to the polls elect its president on July 5.

Sword-Gusmao is winding up a two-week tour here to promote the ALOLA Foundation, an organisation she started which cares for women and children in East Timor.

News & issues

Justice under fire

The Bulletin - April 21, 2004

In the wake of The Bulletin's damning exposi of Australia's intelligence services and the attempted character assassination of Lieutenant Colonel Lance Collins, come further explosive charges against the military and its political masters. John Lyons reports.

Something very odd is happening at the top of Australia's defence forces. The men and women who have no fear of going into Iraq or East Timor on sensitive missions appear to be fearful of a different enemy -- federal parliament.

Hearings on Australia's military justice system will begin this week. The Defence Department has set up a special strike force -- an army "Tiger Team" -- to deal with the Senate hearing. It wants to take up to 20 people around the country as a rapid response unit. But there's a problem. It has indicated to the committee that it wants them to provide security, which prompted one committee member to respond: "You're meant to be protecting us, not the other way around."

Australia's defence and intelligence services are in crisis. While Prime Minister John Howard has resisted a royal commission, it is becoming increasingly clear that for the sake of a long- term cleansing of the system, the best thing he can do for the country is call one to allow a thorough, careful examination of why the system keeps going bad.

There are deep, systemic problems involving culture and accountability, but the most immediate problem is the determined 49-year-old Lieutenant Colonel Lance Collins. The biggest problem for the chief of the defence forces, General Peter Cosgrove, is that Collins is not known as a stirrer. His colleagues say he's one of the best they've worked with: loyal, smart, someone to trust in tight spots. And sprinkled throughout the defence and intelligence system, Collins has important allies.

At the top management level, however, he is distinctly unpopular. As The Bulletin revealed last week, Collins upset some in Canberra in July 1998 when he wrote an intelligence assessment (later proved accurate) warning that the Indonesian military (the TNI) were preparing to wreak havoc in East Timor during any proposed vote for independence from Indonesia.

Collins, who knew East Timor well, stated the TNI and militia were effectively the same brutal unit. While the Howard government, under pressure from Jakarta, was trying to argue that only "rogue elements" were the problem, Collins warned of the Indonesian military.

But the real damage came from his criticism of a "pro-Jakarta lobby" in the Defence Intelligence Organisation (DIO), which he argued prevented accurate assessments being sent to government. Despite Collins' unpopularity, when Howard sent 4500 Australian troops to East Timor to rebuild after the destruction by the TNI and militia, Cosgrove hand-picked Collins.

Success in Timor was Cosgrove's big chance. His nightly television appearances made him a household name, but it was Collins' daily assessments of where the troops should and should not go that ensured Interfet lost not a single soldier. Cosgrove became the TV star, Collins the anonymous intelligence chief.

On his return to Australia, Collins was told the "knives" were out and very soon he felt the biggest knife of all in his back. Someone in Canberra put his name on a Federal Police warrant, and it was quickly leaked to the media. For 25 years, Collins had been trusted with the most sensitive of Australia's (and the United States) defence secrets. He wanted an apology from his boss and former friend, Peter Cosgrove.

The report into the incident by naval barrister Captain Martin Toohey, published in full in The Bulletin last week, shows that soon after the leak, the people who signed Collins' name to the warrant knew he had been cleared by the Federal Police investigation. But four years later, no one in an official position has bothered to tell him the investigation is over and he has been cleared. In fact, three weeks ago, they downgraded his security clearance to stop him seeing the Toohey report.

Toohey, who has top-secret clearance and is trusted with extremely sensitive Defence investigations, concluded: "I find as a fact the Defence Security Branch (activated, on the balance of probabilities) by malice, at the material time failed to inform Lt Col Collins as soon as practicable after the execution of the AFP search warrant of the fact that he was not, and never had been, under investigation ... I find as a fact that the incident could have been prevented by the Assistant-Secretary -- Defence Secretary Mr Jason Browne advising Lt Col Collins, in a timely manner, of the complainant's complete lack of involvement in the security investigation."

The Toohey report made another devastating finding which neither the PM nor the chief of the DIO, Frank Lewincamp, have addressed: that because of his battle with Collins, Lewincamp "caused the flow of intelligence to East Timor to be suspended for approximately 24 hours". Until Howard reveals why Australian soldiers were endangered in this way, the issue will not go away.

After The Bulletin's revelations of the Toohey report, the PM, senior ministers and defence bureaucrats spent 24 hours planning how to react.

But a backlash over John Howard's attack on Federal Police Commissioner Mick Keelty convinced the government not to attack Collins personally.

Instead, they decided to "shoot the messenger", Captain Toohey. After receiving Toohey's report on September 7 last year, those around Cosgrove went looking for a legal opinion with which to counter it, claiming Toohey had gone outside his terms of reference. They had two problems: the devastating nature of the report, and the fact it had already been signed off by Lt Col Tina Mathewson from army headquarters.

Nonetheless, they sent it to Colonel Roger Brown, a Cambridge- educated PhD in law and Sydney magistrate. There was more bad news: on September 22, Brown's report arrived: "Captain Toohey's inquiry was in accordance with his terms of reference ... It should be noted it is a vital element of both legal and intelligence work that advisers be free to tender their advice, whether popular or not, without fear of repercussions for failing 'to toe the Party line'. Captain Toohey's findings clearly demonstrate that Lt Col Collins was denied this freedom." Brown even raised the possibility of disciplinary action against a serving officer over his treatment of Collins.

For Cosgrove, it was going from bad to worse. Defence insiders say his inner circle was devastated. They needed another opinion -- this time the Toohey report was dispatched to Colonel Richard Tracey, a Melbourne QC.

He found "there can be no doubt there have been shortcomings in his career management since his return from East Timor", but the Toohey report had "miscarried" as it had led to an investigation of "bodies external to the ADF and insofar as it has led to recommendations for action by you which you could not, lawfully, take".

Last week, Defence Minister Robert Hill released the Tracey report in an effort to discredit the Toohey report, but his media release did not mention the Brown report.

It was Tony Jones on the ABC's Lateline who, in a masterful interview, derailed the attack on the Toohey report. The government wanted to bury it, and Hill was appearing on the program to talk about the Tracey report.

He was wrong-footed when Jones asked about the Brown report. Hill was all over the place -- the best he could do was say the Brown report was only "a process matter" while the Tracey report was "the detailed analysis". This was simply untrue.

Forty-eight hours later, in media dead-time (Friday night after the TV news and newspapers had gone to press), Hill's office released the Brown report.

But a bad week was about to get worse. An email from Colonel Gary Hogan, the army's liaison to the current Senate inquiry into military justice, was leaked. It revealed that the cover-up mentality that marked the treatment of Collins was flourishing.

Hogan -- whom Cosgrove has appointed to help the Senate inquiry gain information from the army -- was in effect coaching senior Defence people on how to get around the Senate inquiry. Hogan advised those on his email list to write "Internal Working Document" on documents. The danger for Cosgrove is whether he knew of Hogan's instruction, and whether this advice constitutes a contempt of the Senate.

The email said: "All inquiry-related correspondence should be headed 'Internal Working Document' in order that the correspondence be exempt from tabling before the Committee under the Freedom of Information Act."

For John Howard, the crisis is deepening. He has got it badly wrong by appointing a former ambassador to Jakarta, Philip Flood, to run the inquiry. Flood is a classic insider, and accepted practice is that a royal commission be run by someone who has not been a key player in the very system the inquiry is examining.

For the sake of the nation's physical security, appointing a royal commission is one of the most important decisions the PM can make.

The spy chief left out in the cold

Sydney Morning Herald Opinion - April 24, 2004

Alan Ramsey -- Five years ago a brilliant man hanged himself. Five weeks ago a distinguished army officer put his career on the line in an extraordinary letter to the Prime Minister. Both men were driven by remarkably similar circumstances. Each felt betrayed by the closed, insiders' culture of Australia's intelligence community. One succumbed and took his life. The other refused to bend.

He wants a royal commission. So did the wife and the mother of the dead man. The Government is keeping its mouth shut, hoping the daily ebb and flow of political life will, inevitably, simply sweep the matter away. John Howard has not yet replied to Lieutenant-Colonel Lance Collins. How long does it take to write a letter?

I mean, it was the Prime Minister who said 11 days ago: "I have received a letter from him and I've sought some advice on that letter. And I'll give him the detailed and considered reply that the person in his position deserves." It sounded civilised but it was as cold and impersonal as Howard was dismissive.

The Prime Minister had had the letter, dated March 18, for three weeks.

It had come through military channels, all the way to his office. And then it sat there. And, no doubt, it would have gone on sitting there had it not got into the hands of The Bulletin's John Lyons. Howard's first response was, ominously, on April 13.

The next day The Bulletin published its blockbuster exclusive of Collins's pleading letter to Howard. Even more sensational was the 32-page internal report it published with the letter. Disclosure of the report represents one of the most embarrassing and more serious breaches Australia's military, domestic and analytical intelligence agencies have been forced to endure. Collins is - or was -- part of that system. So was Mervyn Jenkins, a former Australian Army intelligence officer posted to Washington in 1996 as liaison officer between Australia's Defence Intelligence Organisation (DIO) and the American CIA.

Jenkins's sin was to pass, or attempt to pass, Australian military intelligence concerning the collapse into murder and chaos of East Timor and the Indonesian military's clandestine role in organising and directing the militia units responsible. When a DIO colleague discovered in 1998 what Jenkins was doing - a later inquiry reported the colleague "accidentally opened an envelope" addressed to Jenkins "and found it contained classified 'AUSTEO' [Australian Eyes Only] material -- Jenkins's mail continued to be intercepted, without his knowledge. Jenkins, however, was doing no more, he thought, than what he was authorised to do: using his own judgement, as the senior DIO liaison officer, in passing to the Americans Australian-collected intelligence concerning East Timor and the Indonesian military.

Under the pressure of an internal investigation conducted by security officers sent from Australia to interview him, and his sense of failure at having somehow let his family down, Jenkins hanged himself on the morning of June 13, 1999 -- his 48th birthday -- at his rented Washington home. His wife found his body. A later one-man inquiry by Tony Blunn, a former head of the Australian Attorney-General's Department, was critical of the way Jenkins had been investigated and of DIO management processes. It found, unequivocally, his actions had "involved no suggestion of espionage".

It was a full 15 months after Jenkins died that Blunn's confidential inquiry concluded with a report to the then defence minister, John Moore. Three months later, and only a week or so before Moore's surprise resignation from politics, Moore released Blunn's report to Parliament. Blunn had not been required to investigate Jenkins's death -- regarded merely as a "terrible tragedy" -- only the circumstances surrounding his supposed "mishandling of classified material", which, in the end, was put down as little more than a bureaucratic and administrative cock- up.

The real point is that an intelligence analyst regarded as one of the best at what he did, died in circumstances Australians know little about, other than from a sanitised, 65-page report released after a closed inquiry in Washington and Canberra in which the names of all those involved have been deemed a matter of national security and expunged from the report.

In Britain last year, when a defence scientist committed suicide under similar internal pressures, only this time concerning the Iraq invasion, the British Government held an immediate open inquiry at which senior ministers and others were publicly called to account. Jenkins's wife and mother both sought a similar royal commission in this country, but their appeals never had an earthly of being heard by a Government hugely influenced by the opposition of the very same security agency now at the centre of the Collins affair: the Defence Intelligence Organisation.

The Bulletin disclosures, after just 10 days, already are being pushed into the background of the public consciousness for the very reason the Government has shut up about it and there is precious little other fuel to keep it alight.

You'd think just general alarm, if not outrage, at the revelations in the published 32-page security report, which was wholly supportive of Collins and his concerns about our intelligence agencies, would be enough. Not so.

Not when such sexy trivia as Howard's and Latham's plagiarism is competing for the attention of the media pack. Oh, good heavens no! The Government, of course, is doing all it can to ensure the attention stays there. With Latham, anyhow. Anywhere, in fact, but the Government's massive if disguised alarm at the disclosure of Collins's letter and publication of the damning report on his grievances with DIO and its director-general, Frank Lewincamp. That is the business of politics.

The disgrace of what has happened to Collins is no more manifest than in the fact that the report that found so massively in his favour was completed last September -- a full seven months ago -- yet, until The Bulletin published its contents 11 days ago, Collins had never been given a copy, let alone told the detail of what it contained. The officer who once headed General Peter Cosgrove's military intelligence unit in East Timor -- personally chosen by Cosgrove - has fought for four years to have his concerns properly investigated.

When they are and the subsequent report vindicates him absolutely, he is shut out by the defence security establishment, and the military generally, from seeing the report.

And what does the Prime Minister say? "Well, it's a letter [from Collins]. I'm not going to comment one way or another on the contents. I don't think people should start jumping to conclusions.

He's expressed views; he's entitled to express them. I'll give him a detailed and courteous reply." Having said that, Howard, by inference, then went on to dump all over the substance of Collins's views and the findings of the Toohey report into those views.

Howard said: "I continue to have full confidence in our intelligence agencies. They do a very good job for Australia. He's entitled as an army officer to write to me. I respect his right to do that. But I'll give him a detailed and courteous reply." But not for the time being, it seems.

And what about Collins's appeal by letter to Howard for "a full, open and wide-ranging royal commission into" Australia's intelligence agencies "and the putrefaction underneath"? Howard told reporters: "I don't think that is necessary. But as I say, I'll give the colonel a detailed and courteous and comprehensive reply. And he's served his country well and I respect that. And I'll treat the letter with the respect it deserves, given who wrote to me." How bloody unctuous, if you'll excuse me.

Neither the Prime Minister nor the Government nor the intelligence community will openly attack Collins. His record of service and his standing among very many senior people in the military will not allow that to happen.

Collins has his enemies, no question, but he has some powerful friends, too. Which is why, when Howard answers questions, we get all this slippery, slimy observance of "respect" and "courtesy" and various other platitudes about a man who has been trying for four years to be heard and waiting five weeks for a letter.

You can only wonder at why the Prime Minister even bothers. Because he's a politician, that's why.

A letter arrived this week from Bill Morrison, a former Whitlam government minister and ambassador to Jakarta in the late 1980s. It said: "Dear Alan, re Colonel Collins's criticism that longstanding intelligence dating back to mid-1998 of Indonesian military atrocities in East Timor was overlooked due to a pro- Jakarta lobby in Defence and Foreign Affairs. A couple of years ago I sent you a report I had written whilst ambassador in Jakarta. In that report I was highly critical of the role of the Indonesian Army. I told the Indonesian foreign minister, Ali Alatas, bluntly of my concerns ...

"Defence have always thought they had a special 'in' with the Indonesian military and didn't want to rock the boat. The end result was I got absolutely no response from Canberra. The pro- Indonesian lobby had prevailed. The rest is history." We shall see.

The truth about the East Timor intelligence

Melbourne Age - April 22, 2004

Hugh White -- Our key agencies got the big questions right and called the issues as they saw them.

Let's test the recent claims made by Australian Army intelligence officers about the handling of intelligence over East Timor in 1999.

The key claim is that the Defence Intelligence Organisation, under pressure from politicians or the influence of a pro-Jakarta clique in the bureaucracy, suppressed the army intelligence assessment of the role of the Indonesian military (TNI) in supporting the anti-independence militias, and provided government instead with a false account that minimised TNI's role.

I need to declare an interest. In 1999 I was deputy secretary for strategy and intelligence in the Australian Defence Headquarters and worked closely on the East Timor crisis.

But you don't need to take my word for what DIO was really saying back then. As it happens, we can all read DIO's assessments about East Timor, because a significant number of them were leaked and published in the media at the time. Those assessments were blunt. Beginning in early 1999 they informed government that TNI was actively supporting anti-independence violence, that they were arming and controlling the militias, and that these activities had at least the tacit approval of senior commanders in Jakarta.

These assessments are all on the public record -- and they confirm that DIO was saying the same as army intelligence officers claim to have been saying.

So DIO did not ignore or conceal evidence that TNI was supporting the pro-Indonesian militia in 1999. It published it, in detail.

These assessments were not good news for ministers because they posed real policy dilemmas for Australia. But there is no doubt in my mind that ministers wanted to hear the truth as the intelligence agencies saw it.

But even if they hadn't, DIO chief Frank Lewincamp would have called the issues as he saw them.

This is after all the same Frank Lewincamp who last month was praised by David Jull's parliamentary inquiry into intelligence on Iraq's weapons of mass destruction for having provided much more cautious assessments on that issue than the Government would have liked. And he repeated those views publicly last year before a Senate committee and at academic seminars.

So it is hard to make sense of the key claims behind the present fracas.

DIO and others got the big questions right, and called the issues as they saw them. There was no major disagreement between DIO and army intelligence officers on these key assessments.

So what was the problem? I think what upset some army intelligence officers was not the DIO intelligence judgement but the Government's policy response. They seem to have thought the Government was being too soft on TNI.

They perhaps thought the best response to what we knew was to break off all connection with TNI. Ministers disagreed. They didn't see how this would help the situation on the ground on East Timor. Instead Canberra wanted to preserve working relations with the Indonesian military.

The Government has been much criticised for that decision. But there were good reasons for it. For good or ill, TNI would be key to East Timor's security in the period before and after the ballot. We needed to be able to keep in touch with these people. And in the event, that proved vital when we came to deploy troops to East Timor: our contacts with TNI were critical to the success of the operation.

This desire to keep contact with TNI did -- at first -- stop the Government making public statements as critical of TNI as the facts would have warranted.

Alexander Downer, for example, played down what was known of the problem when, early in the year, he described TNI support for the militia as the work of "rogue elements".

But this did not stop the Government from taking steps to tackle the problem in other ways. At first Australia hoped to be able to avoid sending peacekeepers to East Timor, but as early as March 1999 Canberra started urging the UN to establish a full-scale peacekeeping force before the ballot. And we offered to make a large ADF contribution to such a force, precisely because we knew that TNI could not be trusted to keep the peace and ensure a fair vote.

And after the Liquica massacre in April, John Howard went to Bali to meet president B. J. Habibie specifically to urge him to get TNI under control and to accept a larger international peacekeeping presence as part of the UN mission.

But Habibie refused to surrender TNI's control of security on the ground to the UN. When his tough position was accepted by the UN, there was not much more we could do to turn him around. At the time I thought we should have pushed harder in Bali to get a military peacekeeping force on the ground, but I have to concede that the chances of success were slim.

So we did what we could -- sending more police, making high-level representations to TNI, and establishing a major evacuation plan to allow us to respond if, as we feared, it all turned bad. This was the plan that swung into action to rescue thousands of UN personnel and East Timorese.

What we did not do was to urge the UN to call off the ballot. That was probably the only step we could have taken to prevent the violence that followed the vote in early September 1999.

With hindsight some might say that would have been the right thing to do, but knowing what we knew then, it didn't seem right to deny the East Timorese their vote. Despite the tragedy of September 1999, I think so still.

Of course, like everyone else, army intelligence officers are entitled to their own views on that. But this is a question of policy, not intelligence.

[Hugh White, director of the Australian Strategic Policy Institute (aspi.org.au), writes regularly for The Age.]

'Jakarta lobby' warning

The Australian - April 21, 2004

John Kerin and Steve Lewis -- A classified document warning intelligence analysts of the risks of providing advice challenging a "pro-Jakarta lobby" in the bureaucracy was circulated within Australia's defence agencies in the late 1990s, a former senior analyst has told The Australian.

The document warned analysts they could risk their careers in providing advice that challenged the alleged lobby over Australia's appeasement of Indonesia and its position on East Timor before its dramatic vote for independence in 1999.

The document warned that there were agents of the Indonesian Government within their midst as well as senior bureaucrats who did not want to hear criticism of Jakarta.

The former analyst's disclosure has been confirmed by at least one other former intelligence officer.

It follows a claim by the intelligence whistleblower Lieutenant- Colonel Lance Collins that a pro-Jakarta lobby in the Defence Intelligence Organisation quashed his 1998 warning of violence by Indonesian-backed militia in the lead up to East Timor's independence.

The new allegation came as the Government continued to resist Lieutenant-Colonel Collins's demand it release publicly all documents relating to his claims of bungling and bias within the DIO.

Lieutenant-Colonel Collins, who on Monday stepped up his demand for a royal commission into the intelligence services, has accused the Howard Government of selectively releasing reports into his case to discredit him.

Opposition parties have supported the call for a royal commission into the intelligence services, but John Howard says it is unnecessary.

Intelligence whistleblower may sue

Melbourne Age - April 21, 2004

Mark Forbes, Canberra -- A senior army officer may sue the Howard Government over his treatment after warning of widespread failings in the intelligence system.

Prime Minister John Howard yesterday tried to deflect a statement Lieutenant-Colonel Lance Collins released on Monday attacking the Government's selective release of documents damaging to him and restating the need for a royal commission to protect national security.

Mr Howard claimed the comments reflected "a difference of opinion within the intelligence community; it's not a fight between Colonel Collins and the Government". Colonel Collins's lawyer, David Rofe, QC, said his legal team had been "disappointed" by comments made by Defence Force chief Peter Cosgrove over the past three days. General Cosgrove praised Colonel Collins's character but dismissed his concerns about alleged intelligence failures and politicisation.

"We are examining all legal issues, including compensation," Mr Rofe said. He indicated Colonel Collins would appear before a Senate inquiry into military justice.

Senators yesterday determined to issue an immediate invitation to Colonel Collins to appear before them. They will attempt to schedule his appearance next week.

In a letter to Mr Howard last month, Colonel Collins claimed he had been frustrated and victimised since raising serious concerns about flawed intelligence on East Timor. He claimed intelligence agencies "told the Government what it wanted to hear".

Sources close to Colonel Collins suggested he had not recently been offered a new military role, as claimed by General Cosgrove on Monday. Military sources said the colonel may have "passed the point of no return" with the Defence Department.

Defence Minister Robert Hill said a letter from Mr Rofe requesting the immediate release of other documents used by various reports on the complaints of Colonel Collins was "unusual". "I prefer to be open and frank on this matter," said Senator Hill, who last week stalled on releasing a report backing the allegations. "There's a lot of examination of all the information that is available -- if he's wanting something else, then we'll have a look at that as well."

Mr Howard denied the Government had attempted to discredit Colonel Collins. He would give him a "comprehensive, courteous reply".

Indonesian citizens isolated in East Timor

Tempo Interactive - April 19, 2004

Erwin Z, Jakarta -- A total of 278 Indonesian citizens currently residing in the An-Nur mosque, Dili, East Timor, have requested that the Indonesian Representatives' Office (KUKRI) in the country to pay attention to them as they have been isolated by the East Timorese authorities.

H. Arham, the coordinator for these Indonesian citizens, told Koran Tempo by phone on Sunday that since April they have had difficulty in getting food and water due to this isolation. Meanwhile, their food supplies have decreased day by day and many of their children are ill.

"The Indonesian Representatives' Office in Dili has shown a lack of attention regarding this matter," said Arham. According to Arham, the East Timorese Immigration Office head, Carlos Geronimo, had given them until to April 24 to stay in the area.

After that, they had two options, either to be relocated to somewhere else outside of the mosque or to be deported back to Indonesia.

Arham said that they all wanted to remain staying in East Timor but considered that the current situation was not very conducive for them.

The 278 Indonesians have been staying in the An-Nur mosque, the largest and the only mosque in Dili, since September 9, 1999.

According to Arham, they have built a school within the mosque area for them and the other East Timorese residing nearby. They all feel the benefits of this school. But apparently, this school does not meet the policies laid down by the East Timorese government.

If these Indonesians want to become East Timorese citizens, they have to stay in the country for five years starting from May 20, 2002.

Barrister disputes Hill's use of report

Melbourne Age - April 16, 2004

Mark Forbes, Canberra -- The barrister whose report was used to deflect allegations of intelligence failings made by a senior military analyst says his views do not invalidate those allegations.

Defence Minister Robert Hill used a review by Richard Tracey, QC, on Wednesday to undermine an investigation backing claims of intelligence failings made by Lieutenant-Colonel Lance Collins, the top army intelligence analyst for the East Timor operation.

Mr Tracey has told The Age "there is nothing in my report that is in any way critical of Collins and any suggestions, in any way, to the contrary are wrong".

Mr Tracey also said that his review was not a proper analysis or reinvestigation of Colonel Collins' criticisms, which were supported in a report by Captain Martin Toohey. He objected to media reports portraying his review as "something it's not, namely an attack on Collins".

Contradicting Senator Hill, Mr Tracey said his review looked only at the legality of a limited number of recommendations to Defence Force chief Peter Cosgrove, and did not evaluate the Toohey report.

Senator Hill yesterday reneged on releasing another legal review that had endorsed the Toohey report. His spokeswoman said that "the minister has been too busy to look at this issue today".

On Wednesday, Senator Hill said Mr Tracey's review found the Toohey inquiry had miscarried, was conducted without proper authority and lacked evidence to substantiate its findings. Mr Tracey's review was "the detailed analysis of the Toohey report", he said.

The Opposition has demanded a full judicial inquiry into the "Collins-Toohey claims" of intelligence failings. The allegations include inaccurate assessments of the pre-war threat posed by Iraq, a failure to predict the Bali bombings and a cover-up of predictions of mass killings following East Timor's independence vote.

The Toohey report found that the Defence Intelligence Organisation told the Government what it wanted to hear and was influenced by a "pro-Jakarta lobby".

Labor leader Mark Latham has said that the proliferation of reports that surfaced since Colonel Collins' criticisms highlights the need for a royal commission.

"There is a first report, a second report and now a third. That just demonstrates the need to get all these matters before an inquiry with royal commission powers to establish the facts," Mr Latham said. "Let's actually have an inquiry, an improvement in our intelligence services to get it right for the benefit of the Australian people."

Opposition defence spokesman Chris Evans said the Prime Minister's suggestion of referring the issue to the Flood inquiry into the intelligence on Iraq's weapons of mass destruction was inadequate.

The inquiry had only limited terms of reference and lacked the power to compel witnesses, he said.

"Only a full judicial inquiry can resolve the current intelligence crisis, given the independence of intelligence agencies has been called into doubt," Senator Evans said.

Mr Howard established the inquiry after revelations of unsubstantiated intelligence about Iraq's WMD and reports that intelligence experts disagreed over the threat posed by Saddam Hussein.

New report backs Collins' 'Jakarta lobby' claims

ABC AM - April 17, 2004

Hamish Robertson: Here at home, the controversy over allegations of bias and intimidation in Australia's intelligence services has deepened this morning.

A new report has been released, backing claims by top military intelligence officer, Lieutenant Colonel Lance Collins, who says he's been victimised by a "pro-Jakarta lobby" in the intelligence community.

The Defence Minister, Robert Hill, is hoping that the deep rifts within that community, especially the Defence Intelligence Organisation, will soon be allowed to heal.

But Saturday AM understands that concern expressed in several classified documents, circulated within the defence intelligence community since 1999, contain a withering critique of the DIO's reporting on Indonesia.

And that concern persists within sections of the Australian intelligence corps to this day -- with Indonesia still of critical importance to Australia's security.

Matt Brown reports from Canberra.

Matt Brown: The latest report released by the Government backs the damaging assertion by Lieutenant Colonel Lance Collins that he was victimised by a pro-Jakarta lobby in the Defence Intelligence Organisation.

Written by army reserve colonel Roger Brown, who's also a magistrate in New South Wales. It states that: "It's a vital element of both legal and intelligence work that advisors are free to tender their advice whether popular or not without fear of repercussions for failing to toe the party line."

And it adds that the findings of a previous report into the Collins affair "demonstrate that Lieutenant Colonel Collins was denied this freedom by those in the Australian defence intelligence community who did not like his opinions."

When the defence force received the results of an initial inquiry into the claims conducted by Captain Martin Toohey, it called for another legal opinion, and that report by Colonel Richard Tracey QC, found serious flaws with the Toohey report and cleared the senior management of the Defence Intelligence Organisation.

But it's now emerged that the Brown report, just released last night had found "no apparent formal defect in the Toohey report." The Defence Minister Robert Hill hopes that another secret inquiry, presently underway, will be the end of the controversy over the treatment of Lieutenant Colonel Collins.

Robert Hill: He's obviously a very capable professional. But those whom he is criticising, such as Mr Lewincamp, head of DIO, are also very respected and competent professionals.

This is the difficulty in this particular issue, and regrettably, despite going to the Inspector-General, which is what Colonel Collins requested in the first instance, the matters have not been able to be resolved to his satisfaction.

Well, now we've had that process, we've now had a military justice process, and now it's going back to the new Inspector- General, and I hope that that might bring the matters to finality.

Matt Brown: But that's unlikely, because intelligence on Indonesia is today critically important to the safety of Australians on the ground in that country and to Australia's national security.

Terrorists are still planning attacks there and Australians are still at risk of being specifically targeted by militant Islamic groups. And concern about a pro-Jakarta bias in the Australian intelligence community is not limited to Lieutenant Colonel Collins.

About a year after he circulated an estimate on East Timow warning of the violence to come and accusing senior officers in the Defence Intelligence Organisation of being biased in favour of Indonesia, another expert analyst broke ranks to denounce DIO in front of the entire intelligence community.

As Australia's military geared up to go into East Timor after the vote on independence in 1999, a top military intelligence officer, Captain Clinton Fernandez, circulated a report throughout the intelligence network, classified secret, entitled 'The credulous few.'

It contained a stinging analysis of reporting by the Defence Intelligence Organisation's Indonesia section, alleging it repeated unsupportable claims that the Indonesian military were in East Timor keeping potentially warring East Timorese factions apart, as opposed to actively and centrally controlling the murderous anti-independence militias.

Around that time, Lieutenant Colonel Collins also wrote another withering analysis of the reports from DIO's Indonesia section, classified top secret, entitled 'Beyond credulity.' It contains more detailed quotes from DIO's highly classified reports.

The two intelligence officers attracted significant support from their peers, and that's why these documents are still important today, because since they were written a further analysis has been published and circulated within and outside the defence intelligence community warning that a pro-Indonesia bias continues to affect reporting on Indonesia's troubled Aceh and Papua provinces. And concern persists about how all of this reflects on Australia's understanding of the terrorist threat in Indonesia as well.

Hamish Robertson: Matt Brown reporting.

The price of our mistakes

Sydney Morning Herald - April 17, 2004

Tom Allard -- The liberation of East Timor has frequently been cited by the Prime Minister, John Howard, as one of his proudest achievements in eight years of government. True enough, a nation was born and no Australian lives were lost in restoring order and quashing militia remnants in the ravaged former Indonesian province.

But the revelations this week by the army intelligence analyst Lieutenant-Colonel Lance Collins underscore an uncomfortable fact -- Australia long resisted standing up to Indonesian-sponsored atrocities and stumbled into a rescue mission in an alarmingly haphazard manner.

Australia's handling of the situation resulted in the unnecessary loss of East Timorese lives and left Australia's military woefully unprepared when it had to intervene.

This, ultimately, was the consequence of ignoring the intelligence warnings by Collins and others. And it is what happens when the national security apparatus becomes politicised.

That goes double when the politicisation reflects a fundamentally flawed foreign policy dating back 30 years. The misguided policy, espoused by the so-called "pro-Jakarta school" of diplomats and bureaucrats, can be summarised as appeasing the Indonesian government in the belief that, as Australia's near-neighbour with a population of 200 million, good government-to-government relations were the most important consideration.

According to Collins, he had presented evidence as far back as July 1998 of Indonesian involvement in violent militia acts against the East Timorese and warning that the situation in the province could descend into chaos.

More assessments followed, backed by intercepts by the Defence Signals Directorate from as early as February 1999 showing senior Indonesian military and defence figures were directing the militia attacks. The violence was clearly aimed at undermining the independence ballot surprisingly announced by Indonesia's then-new President B.J. Habibie after a letter from Howard urging Habibie consider special autonomy -- though not independence -- for East Timor.

The US was concerned. A senior US diplomat, Stanley Roth, met the secretary of Australia's Department of Foreign Affairs, Ashton Calvert, in February 1999, and discussed whether peacekeepers might be required to intervene in the province.

Calvert rejected the idea. That policy continued until close to the date of the independence poll, August 30. The Government's rhetoric was that there was no proof of Indonesian military involvement in militia activity, other than some "rogue elements".

As the ballot approached, Australian intelligence repeatedly warned that a pro-independence vote would spur militia violence on a scale not yet seen.

The warnings were once again discounted. Indeed, the Foreign Affairs deputy secretary, John Dauth, told parliamentary observers before the poll he was confident that, if the independence vote got up, Indonesia would leave the country quietly.

That's not what happened. Instead, there was a frightening wave of violence. As the upheaval continued in a vacuum with a limited foreign presence and little media scrutiny, Australia's diplomats made little progress in persuading Indonesia to let UN peacekeepers in to restore order.

Unprepared for the rampage that occurred in the immediate aftermath of the poll, Australia led an evacuation, instructing its troops to take no steps to act as peacekeepers in the process. In the end, it was the US that forced Indonesia to admit an international force after threatening massive economic sanctions.

According to UN figures, 1500 East Timorese died while 70 per cent of buildings in the capital, Dili, were destroyed in the three weeks between the vote and the arrival of the UN-backed Interfet deployment in late September.

Australia's relations with the US were strained. Indeed, only a year before, the US and Australia had organised a new intelligence sharing agreement which gave Australia carriage of Indonesia. Yet Australia wasn't passing on the more alarming assessments of Indonesian complicity in gang violence.

A Defence Intelligence Organisation liaison officer in Washington, Major Merv Jenkins, did slip some of this "Australian eyes only" material to his US contacts. After this was discovered, he was severely reprimanded and effectively accused of treason. In May of that year, he hanged himself in his garage.

A subsequent inquiry was highly critical of the Government's handling of the episode, although many, including Collins, believe the full story has yet to come out. A report by the navy lawyer Captain Martin Toohey into Collins's grievances found his concerns about the treatment of Jenkins were not properly addressed.

Discounting intelligence warnings about post-ballot violence in East Timor also affected military preparations. While some contingencies were in place at a tactical and operational level, the overarching strategic support was totally inadequate. It wasn't until after the vote, when the violence was in full swing, that a strategic policy unit was set up at Defence headquarters.

Former SAS commander Jim Wallace said in 2002 that Australia was ill-prepared for the operation, lacking sufficient troop transport and infrastructure and relying too much on undertrained reservists. He attributed this to the civilian strategic planners who for 15 years did little to prepare for the possibility of intervention in East Timor, seeing the Army's role primarily in terms of Australia's defence. In the end, it was the astute leadership of the Interfet commander, General Peter Cosgrove, assisted by Collins and other talented officers and soldiers, that achieved the mission's success.

Equally vital, if not more so, was the pressure brought to bear by the US to keep in line Indonesian military leaders who had been directing the militia violence during the operation. And, arguably, most important of all were the East Timorese, the vast majority of whom voted for independence.

As one military officer said this week. "We were successful because we had an army of 500,000, rather than 10,000."

Warning on East Timor was ignored

Sydney Morning Herald - April 14, 2004

Tom Allard -- As an intelligence officer at Australian theatre headquarters in Brisbane, Lieutenant-Colonel Lance Collins was charged with writing highly classified reports on East Timor.

In July 1998, he wrote a chilling assessment that the Indonesian military was sponsoring militia violence and the Indonesian province was a powder-keg.

That began a stream of alarming intelligence reports as the East Timor crisis developed. The reports included warnings there could be mass bloodshed following the independence ballot that took place a year later.

Colonel Collins was admonished by Defence policy officials in late 1998 for going beyond his brief of looking only at operational matters and for failing to understand the foreign policy relationship with Indonesia that underpinned the government's stance on East Timor.

To critics this was tantamount to saying the military intelligence network had to consider political objectives. Australia then supported Indonesia's occupation of East Timor.

But the analyses were remarkably prescient and they were all but ignored by the military's top brass.

The violence that followed profoundly disturbed Colonel Collins and, frustrated by his treatment by military insiders, led to him taking the extraordinary step of writing to then defence minister, John Moore, in 2000. His comments were passed on to Mr Moore's successor, Peter Reith.

Colonel Collins accused a pro-Jakarta lobby at the highest levels of Defence intelligence of muzzling his intelligence reports and harboured misgivings about the suicide of Defence Intelligence Officer Merv Jenkins for passing on sensitive intelligence to the US.

The intelligence related to East Timor and came as the US was worried they weren't getting the full picture on the troubled province.

Colonel Collins had served for five months as commander General Peter Cosgrove's top military intelligence adviser in East Timor. But he complained that a campaign was waged against him after his return to Australia.

This culminated in the listing of his name on a federal police search warrant in August 2001. The list of names of the warrant was leaked to the media, outing Colonel Collins as a spy, an act that cruelled his espionage career.

He sought redress through the Inspector-General of Intelligence, Bill Blick. A meeting was organised with Mr Blick, believed to have been attended by Defence Intelligence Organisation boss Frank Lewincamp.

In a Kafka-esque nightmare that followed, Mr Blick and Mr Reith said they had investigated -- using ASIO -- supposed allegations made by Colonel Collins that there was an Indonesian agent in the high ranks of the military. But Colonel Collins said the allegation was never made by him.

A second internal inquiry was then conducted by a military legal officer, Captain Martin Toohey. Captain Toohey's report, delivered in the second half of last year was damning of the treatment of Colonel Collins, reserving some of its harshest words for Mr Lewincamp.

It recommended Colonel Collins be reappointed as a military intelligence officer, commended for his work on East Timor and considered for promotion. The matter appeared to have been finally settled. But the report was ruled inadmissable.

Hill talks down intelligence bias report

ABC Lateline - April 14, 2004

Tony Jones: Back now to our top story, the Colonel Collins affair and the Government's attempts to deal with it.

As we said earlier, the Defence Minister tonight released an internal legal review by a Melbourne QC that's highly sceptical of the Collins allegations. But do we now have the whole story?

Or are there other opinions from senior military lawyers we haven't been told about? I spoke to Senator Hill in Canberra just a short time ago.

Tony Jones: Robert Hill, as the Minister responsible you must be shocked by the most serious claims made by the Army's top intelligence analyst, Lieutenant-Colonel Collins?

Senator Robert Hill, defence minister: Well, I'm disappointed that the whole matter is raising its head again, but it's Colonel Collins' right, as any citizen, to write to the Prime Minister to express grievances.

Jones: Are you shocked by his allegation though, these are very serious grievances? They're not simple matters that can just be brushed aside.

Hill: Well, his principal grievance dates back to 1998 as an Army intelligence analyst.

He had different views or different interpretations on certain events occurring in East Timor, different from some others within defence, and he was unhappy about the way in which his views were dealt with.

As a result of that, he wrote to my predecessor and asked that the matter be referred to the independent umpire, the Inspector- General for Intelligence and Security, Mr Blick, and that was duly done and he studied the matter for some two years and reported back that, although Colonel Collins's views were genuinely held, they weren't substantiated by the evidence.

Jones: Alright, what do you say to the report that was done by the reviewing officer, Captain Toohey?

Hill: Well, I don't know if it's for me to say. He was to investigate the matter as part of that military justice system, to redress the grievance. He did that and he made a lot of findings that were in support of Colonel Collins.

That was then reviewed by a senior Queens Counsel, who's a consultant to the defence legal service, who found that the evidence as presented didn't support all of those findings. You know, it's been continuing down that path within the military justice system.

So, what I'm saying is that I'm disappointed that it's still going [on], what, some six years since it started, and I'm disappointed that it's now reached the stage where Colonel Collins, who's a respected military officer, has felt that he needs to take it to the Prime Minister.

Jones: Tonight you've released the review of the Toohey report by Colonel Tracey, a Melbourne QC. Why have you done that?

Hill: Because the article in the Bulletin gave great detail to the findings of Mr Toohey and through that was very critical of other officers in the department and I believe that it's important to be fair to both sides or, you might say in this instance, all sides, and that could only be achieved if both sides of the case are on the public record.

Jones: All right, there may be more than two sides in fact. Before we go into any further detail, can I ask you another question, is Colonel Tracey's review, the one you've now made public, the only review that was done?

Hill: Well, I've talked about the AGIS reviews. If you're talking about within the military justice system...

Jones: Was it the only review that was done of Captain Toohey's report?

Hill: Ah, another legal officer, a Mr Brown, in effect processed the report as is necessary under the defence regulations.

Jones: That's Colonel Brown?

Hill: I think it's Colonel Brown, yes, Brown, anyway, who's another legal officer. And then it worked its way up the chain up to General Cosgrove because the findings of Mr Toohey went well beyond matters within the lower command chain.

Jones: But you've now released one review of the Toohey report but not the other one?

Hill: Well, I don't know that it is a review as such, that was what I was trying to say, I'm quite happy that everything's on the public record because I think after the Toohey report has been released publicly in great detail, it is important that all of the arguments are presented and understood. I'm not trying to hide from any of that, I'm trying to actually assist in that.

Jones: Will you now release the review of the Toohey report which was done by Colonel Brown, which we haven't yet seen?

Hill: Well I need to check that for privacy and so forth as I did with Mr Tracy but I don't want any secrets in this matter, I want a well-informed debate and I want all of those who have been criticised, in effect to be treated fairly.

Jones: Was it a fact that General Cosgrove was in a dilemma because he actually had two reviews of the Toohey report, one of them favourable and one of them not favourable?

Hill: No, I think what he had before him from the Melbourne QC was really the detailed analysis of the Toohey report. He sought that because of the gravity of the issues concerned.

Jones: But, Minister, this is our understanding of the situation. We've got Captain Toohey's report. It was first submitted to the commissioning lawyer, Lieutenant Colonel Tina Mathewson, she found no problem with it apparently.

It then was sent to review to another senior military lawyer, Colonel Brown. He apparently found no problem with it. It was then sent to another lawyer, a QC in Melbourne in this case. Was the military...

Hill: The consultant to the defence legal services, yes.

Jones: Was the military here shopping around for a legal report which somehow undermined what captain Toohey said?

Hill: Well, that's not the way that I read the papers today. Bear in mind I only saw these papers today for the first time because this was a matter within the military justice system.

It hadn't reached me. It would only reach me if Colonel Collins, for example, was dissatisfied with that process and in effect went to me as a form of appeal.

But on the basis of what I read today, there was no issue of shopping around. The issue was General Cosgrove being fully informed of both the law and the facts as applied to the law before he made his decisions.

Jones: Would you agree that Colonel Tracey's report tends to undermine the Toohey report or review of these matters, the investigation, whereas Colonel Brown's findings are quite different?

Hill: Yes, well, as I said the Colonel Brown one, as I read the papers, was really a process matter required under the regulations. The detailed analysis of Mr Toohey's investigation was that there was carried out by the Melbourne Queens Counsel at the request of General Cosgrove.

Jones: You're going to put the findings of all these lawyers on the table are you now, make them all public because it appears we have one, two, three, military lawyers involved here and then this is before you get to the QC who finally says that he doesn't like the Toohey report?

Hill: Well, as I said, I think you've got to be fair to everybody and I don't want to see anything hidden. I obviously have to do what I did with Tracey and check the issues of law and privacy, but subject to that, I think that the more information that's available the better.

Jones: All right, it is obviously a great embarrassment to the Government this whole thing.

Hill: No, hang on. I don't think it's an embarrassment to government. I think it's a regrettable matter that has been going since 1998 and that differences that are held within the department can reach this level. I think that that is disappointing.

Jones: Let's turn though, if you say it's not embarrassing, let's turn to some of the most serious allegations made by Colonel Collins accepted as fact by Captain Toohey, that the head of the DIO cut off the flow of intelligence to officers serving in East Timor for a period of at least 24 hours.

Hill: Well, I think firstly you've got to acknowledge, as you seem to be reluctant to do, that this has been judged by the umpire, the Inspector-General of Intelligence and Security who looked at these facts for some two years and found that the case that Colonel Collins was seeking to make against the DIO was not substantiated.

Jones: You say I'm reluctant to do that but we're going here on what we've seen in Captain Toohey's review and he accepts all this as fact. Could, if that's true, could it have put at risk the lives of Australian soldiers in East Timor if the flow of intelligence was cut off when they're in a war-like situation?

Hill: Well, if that had been a finding of the Inspector-General I would have expected it to have been recorded as such and that would have been a very serious finding.

Jones: But you don't accept it as a finding of Captain Toohey?

Hill: No, what I'm saying is you have two process here. You have the umpire who has a statutory authority, who has power to gain evidence, who's put there to give public confidence to the intelligence process, who looked at this issue for a period of two years, made a finding and reported to the Parliament and his finding in relation to DIO was that the facts weren't substantiated. His finding in relation to Colonel Collins was that he did genuinely hold these views.

Jones: Would you agree that it is a problem for the Defence Minister if a number of senior military officers, including a whole group of lawyers, appear to disagree with the Inspector- General and make a case strongly supporting the allegations that Colonel Collins has made?

Hill: Well, I think the whole thing, I've said, is regrettable, that it's been going since 1998 and it's now ending back with the successor to Mr Blick, the new Inspector-General of Intelligence and Security, who is another lawyer, a senior lawyer, from the Commonwealth Attorney-General's department.

He will now have the opportunity not only to look at Mr Blick's report but also the Toohey report and the assessments of the Toohey report. This is designed to bring public confidence to the process.

Jones: Senator Hill, we're talking a lot about process here. Let's get to the allegations because they are so serious. The allegation is that these soldiers in East Timor were cut off from the joint intelligence support system, I understand in December of 1999.

If that intelligence that included details of TNI movements or militia movements, it could have saved lives or threatened lives if they didn't have it?

Hill: You're asking me to pass judgment on a situation that occurred many years before, that has been thoroughly investigated by the proper investigating authorities both through the public system and through the military justice system. I don't think it's proper for you to ask me that and I think it would be highly improper for me to try and answer it.

Jones: Does it worry you that Captain Toohey described the head of the DIO, Frank Lewincamp, as not a credible witness because of his strong dislike for Colonel Collins?

Hill: Well, that would, of course, worry me, but the advisor to the defence legal services said that that's not substantiated by the facts.

Jones: Captain Toohey concluded that a lobby in the DIO distorts intelligence apparently because of government policy, this concerns you, which overlooks atrocities and terrorist activities committed by the TNI?

Hill: Well, this Government is not interested in distorting intelligence. The last thing I would want to do would be to try and influence DIO in any way because I need to rely on their objective professional judgments. They know that. I know that. Colonel Collins might hold that view but that is not fact.

Jones: Do you reject Colonel Collins' allegations?

Hill: I accept the determination of the umpire, Mr Blick, the statutory officer who's put in place to give the public confidence in the system. Now, I'm sorry.

I regret that this matter hasn't been able to be resolved to the satisfaction of Colonel Collins. It has now gone again to the new Inspector-General of Intelligence and Security and I hope out of that process, Colonel Collins will be satisfied.

Jones: To satisfy Colonel Collins, apparently you'd have to have a royal commission into what he regards as an entire series of intelligence failures going back many years but most recently dealing with WMD and with the Bali bombing.

Hill: Well, that was not Colonel Collins' grievance.

Jones: It is now. I'm asking you to respond to it because it is his grievance now and he's the most senior intelligence analyst in the army and he's saying there've been terrible intelligence failures?

Hill: His disappointment has led him ultimately to write to the Prime Minister and say in effect that he thinks the whole intelligence system is flawed.

Now I could say to you that we have Mr Flood looking at the issue of the intelligence agencies but my experience has been that our intelligence agencies are very professional, very competent, very genuine in their efforts and I regret that this matter hasn't been able to be resolved to the satisfaction of Colonel Collins.

But it actually was referred to the party that he asked it to be referred to, which was the Inspector-General.

Jones: Do you believe, as General Cosgrove does and wrote in his reference for Colonel Collins, that he is an honest and moral man?

Hill: I accept Cosgrove's judgment obviously. General Cosgrove, he wrote that, I think, when he was chief of the army, he obviously knew Colonel Collins well from their experience in East Timor. I don't quarrel with that at all. I don't seek to blame in this matter.

Jones: I understand what you're saying but why would an honest moral man, a man at the top of his game, the army's most senior military intelligence analyst, why would he make these sort of allegations if he didn't believe them to be true? And if he does, shouldn't that worry you as the minister?

Hill: The Inspector-General's accepted that Colonel Collins was genuine in his beliefs, but what he said after two years of investigation was that they weren't substantiated by the facts.

Obviously, Colonel Collins is dissatisfied with that outcome. He's gone through other processes to seek a different outcome.

As I said, it is now back with the new Inspector-General of Intelligence and Security. He will look at not only the previous report but also the work that's been done through the military justice system and I hope that that will satisfy Colonel Collins because we don't want this matter to go on indefinitely.

Jones: Senator Hill, we are out of time. We thank you very much for taking the time to come and talk to us tonight.

Hill: Thank you.

Colleagues defend Collins

Radio Australia - April 14, 2004

Mark Colvin: More details, meanwhile, are emerging about the character of the intelligence officer at the centre of the calls for a royal commission and the battle he fought within the Defence Force against claimed bias and intimidation.

PM has obtained details of a reference which General Peter Cosgrove apparently wrote for Lance Collins after the two served together in East Timor.

In the reference the then Chief of Army says Lance Collins has "excellent analytical capability", is an "inspirational leader" and is a "very honest, moral and loyal person with excellent discretion and tact."

Tonight, though, the Defence Minister Robert Hill says General Cosgrove was so concerned about the investigation into the Collins' complaint by Navy Captain Martin Toohey that he sought further legal advice.

The Minister says that advice found the inquiry had miscarried because it was conducted without proper jurisdictional authority. The matter has now been referred to the new Inspector General of Intelligence and Security for examination. Neither Senator Hill, nor ADF Chief General Cosgrove would agree to be interviewed on PM.

Meanwhile, former military intelligence officers who worked with Lance Collins, both in East Timor and here in Australia, have gone public, both to defend his integrity and back his calls for a royal commission into Australia's intelligence agencies. Matt Brown reports from Canberra.

Matt Brown: Lieutenant Colonel Lance Collins has won strong backing from former colleagues, and in the past, it appears, the Chief of the Defence Force.

Andrew Plunkett, the former regimental intelligence officer with Australia's special parachute regiment 3RAR, worked for Lieutenant Colonel Collins during the Australian military's bloody and dangerous mission in East Timor in 1999.

Andrew Plunkett: And he struck me as, you know, one of our best and brightest. You know, a brilliant mind and very good analytical skills and ah, it'd be a shame through all this if we were to lose such a good mind.

Matt Brown: This praise is reflected in a reference the then Chief of Army, Lieutenant General Peter Cosgrove wrote for Lance Collins after the two served together in East Timor.

PM is still trying to check the details with the Department of Defence but the general is presently on leave. The reference says "Lance Collins is very intelligent, perceptive and quick. He has excellent analytical capability and moves quickly to the core of an issue. He is an inspirational leader, and is a very honest, moral and loyal person with excellent discretion and tact".

So the man calling for a royal commission into the intelligence services has a pretty good looking CV, and Andrew Plunkett says a royal commission is essential to root out a pro-Indonesia lobby in defence intelligence and a general bias in the intelligence community favouring the policy of the government.

Plunkett: Anything else, anything less is a whitewash, an absolute whitewash, and of course, the government doesn't want anything that could be critical of it, however it's in the national interest.

Brown: The Head of the Australian Defence Association, Neil James, is reserving judgment on the current secret inquiry into Australia's intelligence services, but he fears it will prove unsatisfactory.

Neil James: It's likely in the long term that the only thing, I think, that will bring reform and satisfy the public interest will be a royal commission.

Brown: Neil James says the Collins affair has exposed the need for serious reform.

James: Let's face it, in the struggle against trans-national terrorism, intelligence is absolutely vital and to think that even in this day and age there are complacent and in some cases incompetent middle and senior managers in some of the agencies, it's just nothing short of a national disgrace.

Brown: But the former head of the International Policy Division in the Department of Defence, Allan Behm, says calls for a royal commission are going too far.

Allan Behm: Oh, I think a royal commission would be a total waste of the taxpayers' money at this point. The Government has given plenty of thought to the national intelligence arrangements and I think that the structure that's in place at the moment is appropriate to our circumstances as they are now.

Brown: Allan Behm says the analysis produced by one intelligence officer can be challenged or changed by those with a broader view, but that doesn't mean organisations like DIO are telling the Government just what it wants to hear.

Behm: I don't think that intelligence produced from further down the structure is distorted as it goes up to government, but I do think that it is mediated by having to take account of the very broad range of policy options that government always has before it.

Brown: Allan Behm does say, however, that the independence of the Australian intelligence community needs to be strengthened.

Behm: It also needs a government that is not going to use it as some kind of political tool, as we saw happen over the last couple of weeks, that the independence of the agencies has got to be respected because without that you don't retain that critical ingredient that government and the intelligence agencies must have, which is trust between the two sides.

Brown: This affair hasn't just provoked debate about a litany of Australian intelligence failures and problems within the intelligence community. It's exposed a troubling turf war being waged between senior Defence intelligence officials in Canberra, and military intelligence officers on the ground, like Lance Collins.

In 1998, when Lance Collins wrote an intelligence estimate warning of the likely violence Indonesia's armed forces would unleash when East Timor voted on independence, he also openly criticised a pro-Indonesian bias in the Defence intelligence community, maintained by a group of senior officials dubbed "the Indonesia lobby".

Allan Behm's department wrote back. Mr Behm doesn't remember the letter, but it cautioned against producing that sort of material again.

Behm: Look, the word Jakarta lobby has been around for at least 30 years, and I'm yet to determine exactly what the Jakarta lobby is.

Brown: According to the Toohey Report, published in the Bulletin magazine and disputed by the Government, the Head of the Defence Intelligence Organisation, Frank Lewincamp, "became so frustrated with the activities of Lieutenant Colonel Collins during Interfet that he caused the flow of intelligence to East Timor to be suspended for approximately 24 hours." Andrew Plunkett, then on the ground in East Timor, says any disruption was unforgivable.

Plunkett: In reading the investigation by Captain Toohey, what DIO has done, while we were deployed with Interfet, was cut off our access to intelligence on West Timor, and higher up, on TNI, the Indonesian Military, putting our lives at risk for the period that it was cut off, for just political reasons in Canberra.

Brown: The Head of DIO, Frank Lewincamp, has been unavailable for comment.

Mark Colvin: Matt Brown.

Australia blamed in East Timor report

Sydney Morning Herald - April 5, 2004

Jill Jolliffe, Dili -- An international expert says Australia "shares some responsibility" for the 1999 atrocities in East Timor, despite its leading role in the United Nations peacekeeping force.

The claim comes in a suppressed report on the violence commissioned by the UN, to which the Herald has had exclusive access. The author is Geoffrey Robinson, a prominent Canadian specialist on Indonesia who served with the UN mission in Dili in 1999.

He said that Australia and the United States had influenced the UN on backing Indonesia's demand that UN troops be kept out of East Timor before the August referendum.

"The feeble position taken during the negotiations was evidently influenced by the posture of a few powerful states," he said, adding that "[UN envoy Jamsheed Marker] has noted, for example, that UN negotiators faced strong pressure from the US and Australian governments not to push too hard on the security issue".

The author recommended that 75 senior Indonesian officials, including Wiranto, the presidential candidate and retired armed forces chief, should stand trial for war crimes. He also chided the UN for failing to bring perpetrators to justice, saying a special international court should be set up.

The controversial report was commissioned by the UN Human Rights Commission with no restrictions specified. Dr Robinson was given free access to internal UN documents. He also drew on secret Indonesian payroll documents and intercepted military cables -- held by the human rights foundation Yayasan Hak in Dili -- to demolish the idea that Indonesian Army "rogue elements" were responsible for organising the violence, an idea upheld by the Foreign Minister, Alexander Downer.

Since completion in July 2003, the report had been restricted to UN circles until Thursday, when it was given to the UN-funded Reconciliation and Truth Commission in Dili with a label advising "due discretion" in distribution. The commission's chairman, Aniceto Guterres, said it would be treated confidentially and released only after the commission finishes work in October. He refused an interview.

Dr Robinson argued that the US and Australia had been the countries "best placed" to curb Indonesian excesses, but "actually facilitated the occupation and violence" that began in 1975, showing "overt support, inaction, and silence" to abuses until 1999, in order to maintain friendly relations with Jakarta.

Dr Robinson said this complicity was continued in security arrangements for the 1999 referendum, alleging that "in spite of the mounting militia violence in early 1999 the most influential states made no serious effort to ensure that there would be effective security arrangements".

In talks in Lisbon with his Portuguese counterpart in early 1999, Mr Downer stressed Australia would not support armed peacekeepers, stating: "What we have in mind is not a heavily armed UN force landing on the shores of East Timor ... we have a consensus with the UN taking a role but not in a sense of sending in a large armed force".

The result, the Canadian expert said, was a fatally flawed treaty signed between Portugal and Indonesia in May 1999, "which placed sole responsibility for maintaining law and order in the hands of Indonesian security forces", and led to killings, arson and mass deportations after voters opted for independence.

International solidarity

Australia out of the Timor sea!

Green Left Weekly - April 28, 2004

Robyn Waite, Dili -- During April 14-16, an empty block opposite the Australian embassy in Dili became a fervent and colourful site of protest, as more than 1500 people mobilised to oppose the Australian government's violation of East Timorese sovereignty in the Timor Sea.

The peaceful demonstrations were organised by the Movement Against the Occupation of the Timor Sea (MKOTT), a new coalition of non-government organisations (NGOs), community organisations and individuals. The actions were held prior to the second round of negotiations between the Australian and East Timorese governments, which commenced on April 19, to determine a permanent maritime boundary between the two nations.

The East Timorese government has called for international law to be adhered to and for the maritime boundary to be set halfway between the two countries. The Australian government is refusing to accept this, insisting that it will continue to occupy areas of the Timor sea closer to East Timor's border, from which billions of dollars in oil and gas revenue will be reaped by Australian companies.

The mood of the demonstrations made it clear that the goodwill generated by International Force for East Timor (Interfet) troops in 1999 has been quickly eroded by the legal manoeuvring and shameless greed of Australian politicians.

Furious chants of "Australian government -- thief!" and "Aussie, Aussie, Aussie -- oil, oil, oil" punctuated the rallies. Street theatre portrayed a fat, beer-swilling Australian couple conniving to steal bread from their neighbours' back yard. An array of creative banners facing the Australian embassy carried messages such as "Fuck your petrol arrogance" and "Stop illegal occupation".

Indignation ran high as speakers demanded that the Australian government stop stalling on the maritime boundary issue, refrain from issuing exploration licenses in disputed seabed territory and cease reaping profits from existing oil fields that lie much closer to East Timor's coastline than Australia's.

The Laminaria/Corallina oil field was a particular source of resentment. Australia has already earned more than US$1 billion in revenue from this area since 1999, revenue that rightfully belongs to East Timor. This makes East Timor, one of the poorest countries in the region, Australia's largest foreign donor. Speakers pointed out that profits from Laminaria/Corallina already outstrip the costs of the Interfet operation and Australian aid programs to East Timor.

Nuno Roderiguez, coordinator of the Sahe Institute for Liberation, highlighted the resistance to the illegal occupation: "It is said that East Timor is a poor country. This is not because of a lack of resources, but because of a long history of colonisation. We became poor because our resources were taken from us by Portugal and then Indonesia. After independence, the economic reality is that we are still colonised, but this time by the Australian government.

"During 24 years of occupation we have shown the world that even though we are a small, poor country, we can defeat a powerful country like Indonesia. So again we must stand together against Australia's illegal occupation. We must encourage the international solidarity movement to work with us once more in this final struggle for independence."

Roderiguez is pleased with the success of the three-day action: "The demonstrations showed us that awareness about the Timor Sea issue is becoming more widespread. The rallies were attended by students, parliamentarians, NGOs, women's groups, cultural groups and street vendors. Everyone agreed that what we are fighting against is illegal occupation and this is very important for the movement. We have all experienced occupation before and we know how to resist it.

"The challenge for the movement now is to increase awareness and to make East Timorese people realise that this is everyone's problem -- it's in the national interest. The fact that all political parties and the president are in agreement on this issue makes things a lot easier. We all have the same objective." MKOTT is launching a community outreach program and will distribute 10,000 pamphlets to communities in Dili. The movement also aims to strengthen its links with international solidarity groups.

Roderiguez encourages Australians to support East Timor's final struggle for true independence: "The revenues from oil fields closer to East Timor rightfully belong to us, but the Australian government will use this money to benefit you as Australians. That means Australians become part of the theft and that's a big shame. The Australian government is there because it was elected by the people. If it is not representing you with this greedy Timor Sea policy, then fight against it!"

Still fighting for East Timor's sovereignty

Green Left Weekly - April 28, 2004

Sarah Stephen, Sydney -- "Each of us has to choose between being either a champion of human dignity or a collaborator with an increasingly inhuman system", Sister Susan Connelly from the Mary MacKillop Institute of East Timorese Studies told a crowd of 600 people in the Sydney Town Hall on April 21.

Connelly was one of many speakers and performers who came together to pay tribute to the life and work of Dr Andrew McNaughtan, human rights activist and former convener of the Australia-East Timor Association. McNaughton died at the age of 49 last December.

Connelly urged people to continue McNaughtan's work by taking up the defence of East Timor's right to benefit most from Timor Sea offshore oil and natural gas resources, and to oppose Canberra's attempt to steal up to 82% of the tax revenues expected to be generated from exploitation of these resources.

The East Timorese "are not asking for hand-outs", said Connelly. "They are asking that they be treated with the dignity that is rightfully theirs as a sovereign nation, and that their claims be heard according to law.

"Australia's maritime boundaries can change within one parliamentary sitting for migration purposes, and yet we are told that the borders affecting the Timor Sea resources could take many years to determine. Timor's financial viability is being jeopardised by Australian gluttony.

"The shame of waiting 25 years to come to Timor's aid will be with us for a long time. Are we to compound our cowardice by forcing them to wait even more years for economic independence?" The meeting was also addressed by Shirley Shackleton, whose husband was a journalist murdered in East Timor during the 1975 Indonesian invasion of the country; Paddy Kenneally, an Australian soldier stationed in East Timor during 1941-42; and a special guest, East Timor's "first lady" Kirsty Sword-Gusmao.

Outrage at the Australian government's attempts to steal East Timor's oil and gas resources was a theme which ran through many speeches. The event raised funds for the Alola Foundation, established by Sword-Gusmao to address the needs of East Timorese women.

Campaign demands a fair go for East Timor

Green Left Weekly - April 21, 2004

Vannessa Hearman, Melbourne -- On April 14, 50 members of the Timor Sea Justice Campaign met outside the High Court to launch the group. Comedian Rod Quantock was joined by protesters disguised as Prime Minister John Howard and foreign minister Alexander Downer. They waded in the ornamental pool, making a grab for Timorese oil, represented by black balloons.

The Timor Sea Justice Campaign aims to change Australian government policy in relation to the Timor Sea.

According to Dan Nicholson, a spokesperson for the group, the Australian government "should give East Timor a fair go", by allowing "access to the resources and revenues to which East Timor is entitled under international law".

Nicholson claims that through the oil grab, the Australian government has undermined Timorese economic independence.

The first round of talks between the two countries began on April 19 in Dili.

The Timor Sea Justice Campaign is calling on the Australian government to agree to East Timorese demands to meet monthly to settle boundaries and to adhere to international law to ensure that boundaries are drawn equidistant between the two countries.

On April 13, a snap action was also held in Darwin outside the office of Liberal federal MP David Tollner. Protesters carried placards declaring "Taking East Timor's oil -- a real Downer" and "Oils ain't ours: Don't steal East Timor's future". The action aimed to help kick-start the Timor Sea Justice Campaign in Darwin.

Activists back rejection of an oil deal with Australia

Inter Press Service - April 20, 2004

Sonny Inbaraj, Dili -- East Timorese activists have thrown their support behind their government's refusal to ratify an agreement giving Australia the lion's share of disputed oil and gas fields in the Timor Sea as talks begin here this week to demarcate the two countries' maritime boundaries.

Hundreds of East Timorese demonstrators protested late last week outside Australia's embassy, here, against what they termed as a robbery of the region's poorest country by its richest neighbor of its oil and gas resources. Bilateral talks are being held Apr. 19-22.

"This is not a war of weapons, but of words," said Joao Saramento, spokesman for the Movement Against the Occupation of the Timor Sea, which comprises non-government organizations, individuals and other civic groups in the fledgling country.

"We thought foreign occupation of our territory had ended in 1999. We did not expect to emerge from Indonesia's bloody occupation of our land only to face Australia's greedy occupation of our sea," he said.

For 25 years, East Timor was occupied by Indonesia. The Timorese, in a United Nations-sponsored referendum, opted for independence in late August 1999. But when the ballot results were announced in September 1999, Indonesian military-sponsored militias went on an orgy of terror and razed Dili to the ground.

Added Saramento: "Australia is a wealthy country, with a high standard of living and vast amounts and variety of natural resources. East Timor suffers the legacy of centuries of colonialism and war and we have only one significant material resource -- the petroleum deposits under our part of the Timor Sea."

East Timor gained independence in May 2002 after a two-year interim administration lead by the United Nations. But nearly two years after independence, the country is one of the world's poorest nations.

Earlier in the week, East Timor's Prime Minister Mari Alkatiri said his parliament would not ratify an agreement which paves the way for oil and gas fields in the Timor Sea to be developed.

Alkatiri said there has not been good faith on the part of the Australian government. "I trust the Australian people, the Australian politicians, academics and all of the Australian of goodwill and I think they can really influence the government," he said.

"They still can put pressure on the Australian government, to change the government's position," he added.

Echoing Alkatari, Saramento urged the Australian government to return what he claimed is their rightful oil and gas resources under international law. "We are not asking for charity from Australia. We only want what is rightfully ours under international law to develop our country for future generations," he said.

In March, the Australian parliament passed laws giving effect to an agreement between Australia and East Timor to develop oil and gas resources expected to generate revenues of seven billion US dollars. East Timor is not happy with the deal because it will receive only 18 percent of revenue, even though the oil and gas are far closer to the shores of East Timor than they are to Australia.

On Independence Day on May 20, 2002, Dili and Canberra signed the Timor Sea Treaty. This treaty gives East Timor 90 percent of revenues from inside the so-called Joint Petroleum Development Area (JPDA) between the two countries.

The Timor Sea Treaty would allow for the production of the " Undan area, within the JPDA, to begin with. Ninety percent of the government share of revenue would go to East Timor, which needs urgent funds to jumpstart its beleaguered economy.

But months later, Australia refused to ratify the treaty unless East Timor signed another resource-sharing agreement, the Greater Sunrise Unitization Agreement. This is an interim arrangement between East Timor and Australia to put in place a legal regime necessary for the " Undan project to progress while maritime boundaries are finalized.

In March 2003, Australia and East Timor signed the Greater Sunrise Unitization Agreement, which was ratified last month by the Australian parliament. Dili says it signed this to get movement on the " Undan accord.

Greater Sunrise lies about 450 kilometers north-west of the Australian city of Darwin and 150 kilometers south of East Timor. It contains an estimated 235 billion cubic meters of gas and 300 million barrels of condensate.

This is despite the fact that "the Greater Sunrise field is twice as close to East Timor as it is to Australia," said Darwin's Timor Sea Justice Campaign coordinator Rob Wesley-Smith.

But East Timor's maritime disputes with Australia do not end there.

Two months before East Timor's independence, Australia withdrew from the jurisdiction of the two international arbitration bodies used to settle maritime boundary disputes, the International Court of Justice and the International Tribunal on the Law of the Sea, saying it preferred "negotiation to litigation".

East Timor Foreign Minister Jose Ramos-Horta accused Australia of dragging its heels on negotiations on the disputed sea frontier between the two countries in order to drain the region of its oil and natural-gas riches.

"The longer the negotiations last, the better it is for Australia", said Ramos-Horta. "Perhaps when the gas and oil run out, then Australia will want to negotiate".

"Had Australia accepted the median line for the maritime boundary, as defined in international law, then today East Timor would be a country like Kuwait," said Ramos-Horta.

He added: "East Timor's strength in this question lies in international law. We haven't invented anything and we're going to see whether Australia is a democratic country, and whether or not it accepts international law."

While Australia is seen as the region's bully-boy in East Timor, President Xanana Gusmao is confident the current Timor Sea spat will not affect relations between the two countries.

"The Timor Sea treaty protest in front of the Australian Embassy in Dili does not affect at all the relations between Australia and East Timor," said Gusmao."There will always be problems when someone speaks about the economy, the market or natural resources."

Aid groups urge Australia to speed up Timor gas talks

Associated Press - April 16, 2004

Sydney -- A coalition of church and aid groups on Friday called for Australia to grant East Timor concessions in a border dispute over the resource-rich Timor Sea as the countries prepare for talks in Dili Monday.

The groups -- including the Catholic and Uniting Churches, Community Aid Abroad, Oxfam and the Australia-East Timor Association -- accused Canberra of stalling the talks, which are aimed at fixing a maritime border between Australia and East Timor.

East Timor wants officials to meet monthly to ensure a speedy resolution but Australia, which receives the lion's share of proceeds from Timor Sea reserves under an interim revenue-sharing deal, has said it will meet only twice a year.

"Negotiations, which should only take a couple of years, will instead only be finished when our grandchildren are heading for retirement and the oil and gas field under Australia's control have dried up," said Marc Purcell, from the Catholic Commission for Justice Development and Peace.

East Timor Prime Minister Mari Alkatiri has said Dili is unlikely to ratify the interim deal, known as the International Unitisation Agreement (IUA), because it gives East Timor only 18 percent of revenues while handing Canberra 82 percent.

East Timor regards the Timor Sea revenue as a lifeline that can end the nation's dependence on international aid.

Australia wants to keep the maritime border agreed with Jakarta after Indonesia invaded East Timor in 1975, which would give it the lion's share of the reserves.

But Dili argues that Jakarta only agreed to that deal in exchange for Canberra's recognition of its illegal annexation of East Timor and the border should lie at the mid-point between the two countries, in line with standard international practice.

In March 2002, Australia withdrew from the International Tribunal for the Law of the Sea before the dispute reached the arbiter.

The coalition called for Australia to resubmit to the international tribunal to dispell the impression that it is bullying its impoverished neighbour.

"If the Australian government drags out negotiations it will get an estimated eight billion US dollars worth of revenue from the oil and gas deposits under dispute, while East Timor will only get four billion US dollars," it said in a statement.

Darwin rally decries Timor gas deal

ABC News Online - April 13, 2004

About a dozen people have rallied outside the Darwin office of the Member for Solomon this morning, to protest against Australia's treatment of East Timor in oil and gas negotiations.

East Timor's Prime Minister Mari Alkitiri has indicated his parliament will not be ratifying an agreement that allows the oil and gas reserves to be developed.

The deal gives East Timor about 18 per cent of revenue from the fields. The country is currently disputing sea bed and maritime boundaries.

Rob Wesley Smith, from the Timor Sea Justice Coalition, says Australia has behaved like a brutal coloniser. "We believe that the Australian people will not accept this rip off ... denying them their economic future," he said.

"The problem has been that they haven't been able to get to the Australian people because [Prime Minister John Howard] and [Foreign Minister Alexander Downer] lied when they said East Timor was getting 90 per cent of everything. "It's just not true."

International relations

A look behind the 'Jakarta Lobby'

Mark Colvin: One of the key claims in the Collins case is the statement by the Lieutenant Colonel that Australian Defence intelligence on East Timor was distorted by a pro-Jakarta lobby.

The term "Jakarta lobby" has a long history in Canberra and our Foreign Affairs Correspondent Graeme Dobell has been looking at its impact during the violent months surrounding East Timor's independence vote in 1999.

Graeme Dobell: The term "Jakarta lobby" was first applied to Indonesia specialists at the Australian National University in Canberra 30 years, but the claim of a pro-Jakarta mindset has just as often been levelled at Australian diplomats, especially in the agonised debate about the invasion of East Timor in 1975.

The new claim is that the Defence Department was also afflicted in the tense period surrounding the United Nations ballot in East Timor in August 1999. Professor James Cotton of the Australian Defence Force Academy on the factors underlying a pro-Jakarta habit of mind.

James Cotton: Well whichever way you look at it, Indonesia is the key country. It's the key country strategically in geographical terms. It's the core country of the South-East Asian regional organisation, ASEAN. For two generations, managing the relationship with Indonesia has been a key concern of governments of both persuasions in Canberra.

So putting another objective ahead of that particular priority is going to be a very, very difficult wrench and one suspects that some people, when confronted with this choice, simply hope for the best.

Graeme Dobell: The caution about Indonesia is evident in the history of the period published by Australia's Foreign Affairs Department, which maintains the view that it's impossible to know to what extent the militia violence in Timor was sanctioned or ordered from Jakarta.

The Foreign Affairs version is that Canberra judged it extremely likely there'd be violence after the UN ballot, but did not anticipate the sheer scale of the disaster.

The version from the Defence Department is different and hints at the Collins' frustration with a perceived Jakarta lobby. The military view, offered in a report by the Auditor-General, is that Defence had no mandate to plan for a peacekeeping operation in East Timor which did not assume Indonesian agreement. Further, the Auditor-General found Defence planning and pre-positioning of troops in Darwin, close to Timor, was constrained by diplomatic considerations.

Despite the deterioration in East Timor in the period leading up to the vote, Defence said there was no government strategic requirement for the Defence Force to be able to form or lead an international peacekeeping coalition force. Was that the narrow vision of a pro-Jakarta lobby? Professor James Cotton.

James Cotton: I mean the Government's own document on Timor policy has a number of propositions in there. It says that basically the Army high command in Indonesia, or some members of the high command, were running the militias. It says that Australia had very little prospect of changing Indonesia's policy on East Timor.

Nevertheless, Australians were put in harm's way in East Timor with the expectation, I think, that there was very little prospect other than a major upheaval with the advent of an independence vote. That's how it turned out. We were very, very lucky that no Australians were killed or injured in East Timor because this could have very easily happened.

Graeme Dobell: Does the evidence now suggest that Australia was lucky in East Timor, that there was both an intelligence and a policy failure in East Timor, before Australia's troops went in?

James Cotton: Well we know from the National Audit Inquiry of 2002 that the Defence organisation was specifically prohibited from planning for an operation of the kind that became Interfet. They were to look at some other alternatives -- the extraction of international personnel, or perhaps the participation in a peacekeeping force sometime after the independence ballot, but not for the kind of operation that Interfet became.

I mean this was, in some ways, to hamstring the organisation, to prevent them from planning for the very operation that in the event occurred. So yes, the fact that it all turned out the way it did was considerable luck.

Mark Colvin: Professor James Cotton of the Australian Defence Force Academy.

Agents of Indonesian influence

The Australian - April 16, 2004

Scott Burchill -- Just as fish cannot perceive the sea, humans are often unaware of the ideas and influences that shape their thoughts. Contested political arguments and dubious moral preferences are often presupposed rather than critically examined.

For government officials who prioritised "good relations with Jakarta" above all other diplomatic considerations, characterising this position as an example of the influence of a pro-Jakarta lobby can induce cognitive dissonance and denial.

Allan Behm, on this page yesterday, appears to be suffering from this complaint. In an effort to discredit the claims of Lance Collins and the report of Martin Toohey, which both express concern about the corrupting influence of the Jakarta lobby on intelligence advice to the Australian Government, Behm provides a classic example of the problem Collins, Toohey and others have identified.

Behm's strategy has three components: deny the existence of a Jakarta lobby; claim that Canberra has no choice but to deal with other governments, no matter how unsavoury they are; then argue that governments, "not unelected officials", make foreign policy decisions. Each part deserves to be unpacked.

No concept of conspiracy is required to trace the influence of the Jakarta lobby in Australia's intelligence services, the foreign affairs bureaucracy, journalism and academe.

For the entire period of the Suharto dictatorship, their common cause was to maintain good relations with Jakarta; deflect criticisms of Suharto's brutality as anti-Indonesian and racism (Richard Woolcott); downplay gross human rights violations by the Indonesian military, such as the 1991 Dili massacre, as "aberrant acts" (Gareth Evans); and portray the case for East Timor's independence as a lost cause (Evans and Woolcott).

The lobby worked hard to disguise the nature of Suharto's rule, the illegitimacy of his grisly rise to power and the behaviour of his armed forces (TNI) in East Timor. In one extreme example, Suharto -- whose bloody record, according to the CIA, bears comparison with Stalin, Hitler and Mao -- was described as "a monster of the Left's imagination" (Greg Sheridan).

To deal with other governments, it is not necessary to train with their worst killers and human rights violators (Indonesia's special forces, Kopassus). Nor is it clear how conspiring with another government to thwart the legitimate aspirations for self-determination of another people (the East Timorese) was in Australia's national interests.

When Beam reluctantly concedes that "some policy advisers might have paid undue deference to Jakarta's sensitivities", it is not explained that this meant opposing, and consequently delaying, democracy in Indonesia and East Timor's independence at an enormous cost in lives and suffering for both countries.

The claim that officials are absolved of all responsibility for government decisions based solely on their advice is as bizarre as it is unethical. As Behm well knows, governments often rely entirely on the advice of bureaucrats who can ruthlessly exploit this dependence to further their personal and political agendas.

We are all responsible for the predictable consequences of our actions; public servants are no exception. One degree of separation from decision-making is a paltry excuse for failure and a hollow moral refuge.

It is clear that the Jakarta lobby in the defence department successfully buried Collins's prediction that the TNI would incite militia violence in East Timor after the ballot in September 1999. It wasn't consistent with their nonsensical line about "rogue elements".

Instead of praising Collins for getting it right, he has been denied promotion, had his career destroyed and found his character assassinated by his employer. Behm's interventions only compound the outrage.

Just as no one expected a member of the Soviet Politburo to remark about the influence of communism on their decision-making during the Cold War, it is no surprise that members of the Jakarta lobby fail to notice the effects of preferences and assumptions they have so completely internalised.

[Scott Burchill is lecturer in international relations at Deakin University in Melbourne.]

Business & investment

Temptation island

Business Review Weekly - April 1, 2004

Brad Howarth -- The newest nation is struggling to its feet, but little will happen without foreign investment.

East Timor is one of Australia's nearest neighbors, but economically the two countries could hardly be further apart. Four hundred years of Portuguese colonialism, followed by 24 years of oppression under Indonesian rule, during which an estimated 200,000 people died, has left the fledgling country the poorest in South-East Asia and among the 10 poorest in the world. It has the basic infrastructure, health care, and education standards of a Third World country. The nation's future depends on royalties from the rich natural resources, valued at more than $US30 billion, that lie off East Timor's south coast, and its ability to attract foreign investment from countries such as Australia. But this investment is far from certain.

The East Timorese paid a terrible price for choosing independence from Indonesia in August 1999. Pro-Indonesia militia groups killed hundreds of people and destroyed more than 70% of the country's public buildings.

On May 20, 2002, the country celebrated its independence. Now the task of rebuilding the nation of 950,000 rests with an alliance of the United Nations, the World Bank, foreign donors, non- government organisations, and a domestic Government seriously short of experience.

East Timor's Foreign Minister, Jose Ramos-Horta, a Nobel Peace Prize winner, says the country's predicament is rooted in history. "We are only independent for two years, starting from literally ground zero, from destruction and profound trauma caused by 25 years of war and humiliation of the people. Neither Portugal nor Indonesia cared much in preparing the country for independence, because neither ever contemplated that Timor should be independent. So there were similarities in the two countries' approach -- that is, to make the people here illiterate and dependent on them."

Rebuilding began in 1999 with the assistance of the UN Transitional Administration in East Timor (Untaet), which was superseded in May 2002 by the UN Mission of Support in East Timor (Unmiset). This mission was to be phased out by May 20, 2004, but has been extended by another year.

Since independence, the East Timorese Government has begun a substantial program of economic and physical reconstruction, based on a 20-year national development plan. Its vision includes halving or eliminating poverty within 20 years, while improving literacy. The Government is spending 30% of its national budget of less than $US80 million on health and education. Domestic revenue contributes only half of the national budget; the rest is supplied by donor countries under the stewardship of the World Bank. Many non-government agencies also are running assistance and development programs. The country needs all the assistance it can get; an estimated 35% of children are underweight and half the women and young children suffer from iron-deficiency anaemia. East Timor is among the countries with the highest rates of leprosy and polio. World Vision is operating emergency food relief programs in six regions to alleviate the effects of recent droughts, and Habitat for Humanity has micro-loan schemes to assist people in reconstructing the estimated 85% of houses destroyed.

East Timor's long-term success will depend on how effectively it exploits its natural resources and attracts foreign investors from countries such as Australia. Its main resources include oil and gas fields in the Timor Sea, fisheries, a strong local coffee industry, and its tourism potential.

But nothing will happen without foreign investment.

An immediate concern for the local economy is the phasing out of Unmiset and withdrawal of high-spending international workers. East Timor's Prime Minister, Mari Alkatiri, is confident the economy can ride out the changes; it has confounded predictions of negative growth for the past two years.

According to the World Bank, East Timor's gross domestic product increased by 5% for the year ended June 30, 2002, but decreased by 2% in the following year. A further 2% decline is expected for the year to June 30, 2004. But Alkatiri believes that strengthening small businesses and improving agricultural productivity will mean that, at worst, the country will report zero growth in gross domestic product. He says the economy has already survived the reduction of Unmiset numbers from 7000 in 2000, to 2500 today, without serious disruption.

The East Timor country chief for the World Bank, Elisabeth Huybens, says the scaling down of Unmiset will be felt most in the service industry, such as hotels and restaurants, which are mainly in the capital, Dili. There will also be an effect on wages, which the UN presence has inflated to above-average levels for the region. However, Huybens agrees with Alkatiri that the economy is more robust than most economists believe. "The number of trucks lining up at the port is getting bigger, not smaller," she says.

"That has nothing to do with the UN presence. There is also a lot of private construction going on that has little to do with the UN presence."

Of greater concern to Alkatiri are delays in revenue from the Bayu-Undan oil and gas field, caused by technical difficulties. He says: "It means that we still need assistance from development partners -- our donors -- for some three to four more years."

So far, the country has accepted no loans from the World Bank. Alkatiri says the Government did not want to borrow its way into an unmanageable situation. However, it is now working with the World Bank on a feasibility study for future borrowings.

Security concerns

The state of the economy is a concern for foreign investors, but security is more pressing. The peace since the arrival of UN troops was shattered by riots in December 2002. Much of the violence was directed against Alkatiri, and resulted in the destruction of property belonging to him and his family. (Alkatiri has since been mired in bribery allegations, accused by the United States resources company Oceanic of accepting up to $US2.5 million in exchange for granting development rights to a rival US company, ConocoPhillips. Alkatiri has denied the allegations.) The rioters, reportedly pro-Indonesia militia, also attacked Australian-owned businesses, including the Hello Mister Supermarket, Chubb Security and Harvey World Travel. The UN Security Council recently extended the peacekeeping mission to May 2005. Up to 150 soldiers will remain in East Timor, with 150 police and 400 advisers and support personnel.

Another headache for foreign companies is the state of East Timor's legal system. The country's company law was passed only in March, and its investment law is being finalised now. Insurance and bankruptcy laws are still being developed. Laws relating to property title have only recently been enacted.

Huybens says this may worsen any economic problems arising from the reduction in the UN presence. "Given that the legislative framework is not really ready, given that the land and property legislation is not ready yet either, it is hard to see how the leaving of the UN would be [offset] by considerable foreign investment.

"That being said, the Government is very focused on getting it all together. It's a country with a lot of challenges, but a lot of opportunities as well, and I am quite positive about this country and the commitment needed to make it work."

The Government is also creating a new agency that will act as "one-stop shop" for foreign investors. This is expected to be open by mid-year, to streamline the process of interacting with East Timor's bureaucracy.

Fledgling legal system

Equally important as the legal framework is the need for the judicial system to function properly. In the past, the judiciary has been accused of favoring locals over foreigners. Ramos-Horta himself has been critical of the judiciary, but says the problems stem from judges who are inexperienced and overworked.

The ANZ Banking Group experienced this problem in December 2002, when its Dili branch manager, Kirk McNamara, was charged with theft. At the time, McNamara was living in a house owned by Bader Alkatiri, brother of the Prime Minister. The house had been renovated by the ANZ, but was looted and burnt in the December 2002 riots, and there was a dispute over who was responsible for the cost of its restoration. McNamara was subsequently charged with stealing window frames and doors from the house, but was acquitted.

The ANZ's managing director for the Pacific region, Rob Lyon, says the legal wrangling continues. "That's one of the issues that make it difficult to do business there: the lack of a legal framework under which we can operate. And it's not only in cases like this, where there is confusion about legal obligations and rights. There is no land tenure that you can build a banking situation on. We couldn't take a mortgage over a property."

The ANZ opened its Dili branch in early 2001 after urging from the UN, based on its success in operating banks in other Third World countries in the Asia-Pacific region. The company spent $3 million upfront, simultaneously implementing automatic teller machines and an electronic payments network. Lyon says the branch performed well early, thanks to the strong international presence, but business has declined in line with the withdrawal of foreigners. He hopes business will improve as resources money starts to flow in. So far, ANZ has spent more than $5 million on the branch, and Lyon expects a profit within the next 12 months.

ANZ is one of three banks operating in East Timor. It is aiming at business customers, but Lyon says the East Timorese population lacks business acumen; Australians or Chinese run many of the businesses. "There are not a lot of businesses that they [East Timorese] run themselves," Lyon says.

"[Before independence] a lot of the commerce was done by Indonesians, and when they walked out there wasn't a lot left behind. There's not a thriving private sector; that is what East Timor has still got to develop."

Another problem for Lyon is East Timor's 1% tax on revenue. "That makes it that much harder to get ahead ... They need to gain an understanding of what business expects. There's a fair bit of naivety about why people would go there."

Retail experiment

Retailer Harvey Norman chose not to continue with its East Timor experiment. Executive chairman Gerry Harvey closed the Dili store in December last year, after three years of losses. "It went all right to start with, and then it became obvious there was just no future in being there," Harvey says. Harvey Norman also had an interesting encounter with East Timor's legal system, after the store manager (a former employee from Darwin) allegedly stole between $200,000 and $300,000. Harvey says legal loopholes mean the perpetrator has not been charged in either East Timor or Australia.

Should the Government get its legal system in place, various opportunities will open for foreign investors. Ramos-Horta says East Timor's designation as a Least Developed Nation allows it to export, tariff-free, to Australia, New Zealand and the European Union, providing investors with open markets for goods produced in East Timor.

Agriculture, resources development and tourism are the three sectors the Government is concentrating on for foreign investment. Coffee is proving to be the most lucrative export commodity, with exports of about 6000 tonnes representing most of the country's $US7 million in exports in 2003.

There are no estimates for 2004. Lack of industrialisation is working in the country's favor, as the absence of modern pesticides and fertilisers allows it to market its coffee as 100% organic. The coffee industry is one of East Timor's biggest employers, with 6000 people involved. Its clients include the international cafe chain Starbucks. Ramos-Horta says there are similar opportunities with other crops.

But Timor's oil and gas resources will bring the greatest benefit, delivering an expected $US100 million a year to the Government for 20 years. But production has already been delayed, and further complications may arise from opposing claims by Australia, East Timor and Indonesia regarding seabed territory and subsequent ownership of oil and gas fields [see panel, page 51]. Even when the oil starts flowing, there are few precedents of countries using money from resources to raise the living standards of its people. Alkatiri says his Govern-ment is following the Norwegian model, where the money is kept in trust to produce an ongoing income for the country.

Natural resources may bring money to East Timor, but they are unlikely to directly create many jobs. With unemployment at 20% or higher in urban areas, developing East Timor's fledgling tourism industry has become very important. Alkatiri says the Government is hoping to attract low-volume, high-value tourists in a way that will set the country apart from other popular destinations such as Bali and Phuket.

Local tourism operators say East Timor offers some of the world's best diving experiences, unspoilt beaches and scenic mountain terrain. The coastal waters are unpolluted, and the coral reefs are among the most pristine in the world.

Ann Turner, co-owner of the Dili dive expedition operator The FreeFlow, says this is being recognised in the international diving community. "We're not looking at thousands of dive tourists in one year yet, but we are getting up to the hundreds, which from zero is pretty fast growth," Turner says.

The FreeFlow employs five local staff, and Turner says that although the Government has been supportive, dealing with local bureaucracy can be tedious. "They've only been independent for two years, and they don't always get it right. But there is definitely a feeling from the Timorese Government that businesses such as ours are welcome to invest here.

They understand that tourism ... can play a very important role in the Timorese economy, not the least in employment for the youth."

The FreeFlow has joined the handful of East Timorese tour operators to form a tourism association, to cross-promote services and work together at trade shows to raise awareness of East Timor's tourism products.

The Melbourne adventure travel company Intrepid Travel ran three tours to East Timor in 2003, and is planning another five this year. However, spokesperson Heidi Skjonnemand says East Timor is unlikely to rival the popularity of Thailand or Bali.

"In East Timor they don't yet have a real tourism infrastructure," Skjonnemand says. "It is also still relatively expensive in comparison to other parts of South-East Asia."

People

Sharp focus, clear-cut aims for Timor

Canberra Times - April 24, 2004

By anyone's standards, it's been a long day. The flight to Australia, the burden of intermittent media commitments, the trip to Sydney's Taronga Zoo with two screaming toddlers. It's her birthday, too, and no call yet from hubby, President Xanana Gusmao. Yet Kirsty Sword Gusmao, first lady of the fledgling nation of East Timor, is undaunted. "Xanana always either forgets my birthday or gets the date wrong. But, you know, I guess he's got a few other things on his mind."Sword Gusmao also has plenty on her mind.

Articulate and highly intelligent, she is inevitably drawn into comment on issues of geopolitical significance.

Top of the agenda this week has been the Australian Government's shiftiness over maritime boundaries -- a so-called "greedy grab" for Timor Sea oil which could cost her adopted nation billions in oil revenue.

"When you consider that Australia is one of the richest countries in the world and East Timor has just been rated the poorest country in East Asia, it's pretty clear which country is in more urgent need of the resources in the Timor Sea," Sword Gusmao says.

"Consider that 12 per cent of East Timorese children die before their fifth birthday, that most people don't have access to clean water, that many schools are still without roofs. It's really important that we rebuild the country with a firm economic base. Clearly, those oil resources are vital to being able to guarantee that base."

While Sword Gusmao clearly views the macro- and micro-dynamics of nation-building as inextricably entwined, it's grassroots issues which are the primary reason for her trip to Australia.

In particular, she's come to promote the Alola Foundation, whose broad aim is to boost the quality of life of East Timorese women, and the Friendship Schools Program, an initiative fostering links between Australian and East Timorese schools. As a former Melbourne girl who has devoted 11 years to helping the people of East Timor, she's a natural link between indigenous East Timorese causes and the West.

Kirsty Sword married Xanana Gusmao in July 2000. They have two children, Alexandre, 3, and Kay Olok, aged 18 months. The story of their affair is straight out of a work of spy fiction.Sword, a Jakarta-based English teacher, had become interested in the plight of East Timor under Indonesian occupation. Adopting the pseudonym Ruby Blade, she facilitated communications between the East Timorese resistance and its jailed counterparts in Indonesia. It was in a dank Indonesian prison that she met Gusmao, the charismatic leader of East Timor's Falantil guerrilla movement.

Though 20 years apart in age, the seeds of romance were sown.Today, the President and first lady live in a modest residence in the hills above Dili. They eschew the trappings of status, and rarely enjoy an idle moment.

Social life is an almost entirely foreign concept. But then, things have long been that way for both of them.

"It's virtually impossible to be Kirsty's friend unless you work with her," says Sarah Niner, a Melbourne-based director of the Alola Foundation and biographer of Xanana Gusmao (the biography is currently being marked as a PHD thesis and is yet to be published).

Niner met Sword when she was first researching Gusmao's biography.

Gusmao was in jail, and Sword was feverishly enacting her role as a key liaison between the two disparate groups of East Timorese resistance. The two women quickly became friends.

"Now, as then, Kirsty just has no spare time. People have this romantic idea that she's the first lady so she must be hopping around doing all these lovely things. The truth is, she's the hardest-working person I know.

"To be her friend, you've got to work with her. There's no time for anything else. You can't go out and have facials. She's too busy.

You've got to sit down and write a proposal to the World Bank for money to set up a breastfeeding-awareness program. That's how you become friends with Kirsty."

A picture is forming here of a cool-tempered individual with a level of commitment most of us could only aspire to. But has Niner ever seen her close friend lose her cool?

"No, I've never seen her blow her top. She's worked in human rights all her life, so obviously she's got a strong sense of outrage. She was really angry about Alola being kidnapped. But she funnels the outrage into action, into strategy."

Juliana "Alola" dos Santos was abducted aged 15 in the violence which followed East Timor's Popular Consultation (independence vote) in 1999.

She remains captive in West Timor, having been paraded as a "war trophy" and repeatedly raped by members of a militia group.

Formed in 2001, the organisation named in Alola's honour continues the delicate process of lobbying for her release. It also seeks to protect and support other victims of gender-based violence.

"There's a very high incidence of domestic violence in East Timor," Sword Gusmao laments. "It's another issue that we're trying to address through our work."

More recently, the Alola Foundation has widened its agenda to focus on the needs of East Timorese women generally.

'Nowadays our focus is more broadly on issues that concern East Timorese women, their children and their families," Sword Gusmao explains. "We have a national breastfeeding association of East Timor that works closely with women at a grassroots level to promote the benefits of breast milk.

"We also have an economic- empowerment program which is promoting East Timorese handicrafts. These are very much the domain of East Timorese women, particularly the poorest rural women. We're trying to find an export market for these handicrafts." One of the great ironies of life in East Timor has been the drying up of the domestic market for handicrafts. Paradoxically, the Indonesian military were a major source of sales during their occupation. UN and Australian forces would also typically buy a selection to take home as souvenirs.

But with the UN presence being scaled down, demand is on the wane.

The most popular form of local handicraft is the "Tai", a hand- woven length of cloth worn as a traditional dress. The enormously complex dyed garments can take one woman a full year to make. Alola is attempting to stimulate interest in Tais among high-end collectors of indigenous art, with a stall at the Sydney Aboriginal and Oceanic Art Fair in May.

Outside of the Alola Foundation, Sword Gusmao's energy is taken up with the Friendship Schools Program. Launched a year ago at her alma mater, Eaglehawk Primary School near Bendigo, the program seeks to develop cross-cultural understanding between young people in Australia and East Timor.

"Kids in this country are extremely keen to be able to help refurbish and in some cases rebuild schools so that kids have got exercise books and pencils -- and even roofs. In Timor, these things are not to be taken for granted.

"It's tremendously rewarding for Australian kids to know that the fruits of their fund-raising activities are having concrete benefits and that they can have a long-term relationship with the kids who are the beneficiaries of their hard work. It's not just a one-off donation. They can actually build relationships and hopefully at one point have exchanges of students and teachers and build some really meaningful bonds."

In a nation where the pupil/teacher ratio stands at 62, every little bit helps. And that pretty much sums up the Kirsty Sword Gusmao approach to nation-building. One small initiative at a time. One building block after another.

But what about the future? Will she still call the tiny nation of East Timor home long after her husband has hung up his presidential boots?

"Yeah, yeah. I'm sure I'll spend extended periods of time in Australia as well, because obviously it's where my roots are. But yeah, I feel that East Timor is my home. It's the place where I've given birth to my kids, and where they'll grow up and be educated, so it definitely feels like home and it's definitely the place I'm committed to."

Above all, Sword Gusmao remains committed to life with Xanana -- though the commitment must get stretched a little when he fails to call on her birthday. National hero or not, some things a husband simply can't afford to forget.

'Actually, this year I got my birthday cake on the 18th of March. He got the day and the month wrong but, you know, I forgive him. It was actually quite a happy misfortune because he's away in Portugal while I'm in Australia. We wouldn't have been together anyway, so we got to eat the birthday cake together with the kids, which was great."

East Timor media monitoring

April 1, 2004

Suara Timur Lorosae -- The Prime Minister lawyer, Aderito Soares, said that he's not interested in money but he wants to help the Prime Minister and Members of the National Parliament who have requested his services to defend them over the bribery allegations. He said that he wants to help those that are really working hard for this nation. Mr Soares said that he has filed suit in the Dili court, but that he is still waiting for the decision from the court in Washington.

The President of the National Timorese Party (PNT), Dr Abilio Araujo, said that in his opinion, Timor-Leste has the potential to develop locally produced goods if the Government implements a new policy. He said that the Government has to implement new policies to help the grow of the economy quickly.

The President of the Truth and Reconciliation Commission (CAVR), Aniceto Guterres Lopes, said that the objective of the Truth and Reconciliation Committee was to "build a bridge in support of the people, and create respect and liberty for everyone". He said that the people need to overcome the past, and look to the future to help our children find a better solution. Mr Lopes said that the past still hurts, but that our people stood up and showed courage, and gave us all hope for the future.

Timor Post -- The President of the Asset Loro Sa'e, Oscar Lima, said he promises consumers that he will fix whatever worries they have over the malfunctioning of their phone lines, faxes and internet. He said that Timor Telecom is carrying repairs to building sites that still need rehabilitation, especially in the District of Liquica where there is no mobile phone coverage yet. Mr Lima said that he is aware that the price o TT are higher when compared to Indonesia.

A Member of the National Parliament for Klibur Oan Timor Asuwain ? Association of Timor Heroes (KOTA), Clementino dos Reis Amaral, said that members of the National Parliament are never on time for work. He said their role is to solve important issues for the benefit of the population, and there is never time to discuss issues due to lateness. He considers this "corruption on time" practiced by members of the National Parliament who are turning up to work at 11am when the arrival time stipulated is 9am. Mr Amaral said that tax payers are paying the salary of Parliamentarians and they need to be at work on time. That's what they were elected for, he said.

April 2, 2004

Suara Timur Lorosae -- (source: Australia media) The controversial law paving the way to develop oil and gas fields in the Timor Sea passed the Senate yesterday, pushed through by Federal Government with the help of the ALP. The Greater Sunrise Unitisation Agreement Implementation Bill 2004 and Customs Tariff Amendment (Greater Sunrise) Bill 2004 were passed 49 votes to 11. The laws give effect to an agreement between Australia and East Timor to develop and commercialise oil and gas resources in the Sunrise and Troubadour fields, collectively known as Greater Sunrise. But the agreement may be blocked by the East Timor government, which is disputing its seabed and maritime boundaries with Australia and wants more than its 18 percent share of the revenue.

President Gloria Arroyo yesterday administered the oath of office to five ambassadors, several other government officials, and officers of private organizations at the Ceremonial Hall of Malacanang. The new envoy to Timor-Leste is Farita Aguilucho Ong, ambassador to the Democratic Republic of Timor-Leste.

Imagine General Wiranto, of East Timor fame, becoming the president of Indonesia, writes Hugh White. Churchill caught the complexity of democracy in his famous line about it being the worst way to choose a government, except for all the other ways. Indonesia will be demonstrating both sides of this aphorism over the next few months. The good news is that Indonesia is about to choose its next government through peaceful elections. The bad news is that the outcome is unlikely to be good, and could be quite bad ? for Indonesia and for ourselves.

Australia's security depends on an Indonesia that is stable, prosperous, cohesive and democratic. It seems our changes of getting all four are slim. A president Wiranto in Jakarta's Istana Merdeka would be a major problem for Indonesia's relationship with the Us Washington can hardly afford to alienate the leader of the world's largest Muslim nation, but ir would come under domestic pressure to keep Wiranto at arms length because of his alleged human rights violations.

For Australia the consequences could be even worse. Sensitivities about East timor and the events of 1999 persist both in Australia and in Indonesia. So Canberra has understandably taken a slow, patient approach to rebuilding closer links with Jakarta. A Wiranto presidency would make that process much harder, and might well throw it into reverse.

Three men aged between 26 and 28 were sentenced by Dili District Court to 25 years imprisonment for the killing of 24-year old Jose Conio Fernandes Xavier, whose body was found at Dili Stadium last week. The daily paper reported that six people also had been detained in connection to Xavier's death.

A lawyer representing the Social Democratic Party (PSD), Vital dos Santos, said that he has filed a lawsuit against Semanario (Portuguese newspaper published once a week) and Leandro Isaac (used to be the Vice-President of PSd and responsible for the infrastructure) because of an interview given by Leandro Issac saying that PSD had received USD$50,000 from Petrotimor during political campaigns. Mr dos Santos said that Leandro Isaac's attitude shows that he (Leandro) wants to damage the credibility of PSD. Mr dos Santos said that PSD wants Semanario and Leandro Isaac to apologise through the local media within seven days, or face the consequences.

Timor Post -- A statement from the office of the Prime Minister Mari Alkatiri, said that Australia was in breach of a 2003 agreement signed with Timor on the carving up of Greater Sunrise gas and oil field. The Dili government said last week that Australia's "unilateral action highlights the need for the establishments of permanent maritime borders in the Timor Sea". A further round of bilateral talks on the disputed boundaries takes place April 19 in Dili. Meanwhile the Ambassador of Australia in Timor-Leste, Paul Foley, met the Prime Minister (yesterday). The meeting lasted 30 minutes, and after, the Australian ambassador said that they had discussed the issues concerning the two countries.

The Vice-Minister of Health, Luis Lobato, said that the Health Ministry has set up a working group to better coordinate with all NGO's working in the area of health. He said that the objective is to have better coordination between the Ministry of Health and the NGO's. Mr Lobato said that this is an opportunity for the NGO's to report on their activities around the country, and share ideas and views on how to deliver better health services throughout the country.

VOX Populi (weekly newspaper) -- Debate on the whereabouts of USD13, 8 million of Timor Gap revenue The weekly Vox Populi reported that participants on a workshop on the Timor Gap, held last week in Dili, demanded to know the whereabouts of US$13,8 million of Timor Gap revenue. The article said that issue on revenue's intensified as they learned that over US$10 million from the Timor Sea was deposited in the US Central Bank. According to TL's Director for Management and Investment, Cristiano Gusmco, the decision to save the oil and gas revenues was made by UNTAET. Vox Populi also reported that the Secretary of State for Tourism and Natural Resources, Jose Teixeira, said that presently, the revenue from the Timor Sea is US$40 million. Mr teixeira said the US$40 million had been withdrawn from the USA, being deposited in TL's Bank and Payment Authority ? BPA.

The General Prosecutor, Longuinhos Monteiro, said that he's not included in the team of lawyers set up to defend the Prime Minister against the alleged bribery accusation made by Oceanic Exploration and Petrotimor. Mr Longuinhos said that he hasn't seen any documents, and he'll wait until the documents are brought to him to take action. Mr Longuinhos said that as General Prosecutor as it states in the Constitution that he will take action if the defamation is proved. He said that he needs to look at the evidence first to know whether the accusation is made against the nation or against the Prime Minister as an individual.

April 5, 2004

Suara Timur Lorosae -- East Timor, a soccer powerhouse in Asia. Sounds like a joke? Well, for those aged under 14, the country's youth squad is the team to beat. Winning this year's Rivelino Cup in Japan, the 16-member junior soccer team travelled to Korea before returning home.

Playing outside their hometown of Dili is still something very new for these boys from East Timor. But despite the unfamiliar surroundings, the 16-member team has managed to win every single game in their first outing on the international stage at this year's Rivelino Cup held in Hiroshima, Japan.

Behind their remarkable success is 47-year-old Korean Kim Shin- hwan.

When Kim first met these boys, they were playing with ruptured soccer balls barefoot in their neighbourhood but the potential was there. That potential is resulting in win after win and this match against a skilled Korean elementary school team was no exception.

The Sub-District Administrator of Alas,District of Manufahe, Longuinhos Tilman, said that 100 children in the Sub-District of Alas, District of Manufahe, from Auberliko, Tua-Laran, Nabularan and Wekakaku-Oan, in the Sub-District of Alas cannot attend school because they live too far away. He said that education is important for the future, and a meeting is being scheduled with the population in the area to find a quick solution for their children to be able to attend school.

The Head of the Clean Water Project in the Sub-District of Same, District of Manufahe, Martinho da Silva, said that 567 members of the population from the village in Ladiki have access to clean water now. He said the project was funded by the World Bank through the Community Empowerment Project (CEP). He said the financial support with an amount of USD$6, 279 allowed the villagers to build four water tanks and laid 1,800 meters of pipe under ground.

No relevant stories in Timor Post today

April 6, 2004

Timor Post -- A Member of the National Parliament from Democratic Party (PD), Rui Menezes, said that the Democratic Party is shocked to find that the Prime Minister, Dr Mari Alkatiri does not want to face the National Parliament and explained to the nation the allegation made against him by a petrol company. He said that the allegation against the Prime Minister is damaging and as dirtying the entire Timorese image. Mr Menezes said that PD gives the full support to a filed court case in America to find whether or not the Prime Minister received the money.

Meanwhile the Democratic Party has requested the National Parliament and the President to remove the political immunity from the Prime Minister for him to be able to respond to the accusation of the alleged bribery by ConocoPhillips.

A Member of the National Parliament for Fretilin, Elizario Ferreira, said that the Democratic Party had recently campaigned against the Government of Timor-Leste in the District of Bobonaro with the consent of the President, Xanana GusmC#o. He said the report sent by the District Administrator, Ernesto Barreto, says that PD party members said that the President was the main organizer for the injurious campaign against the Government. Mr Ferreira said that during the meeting Mariano Sabino said to the people that Xanana GusmC#o had sent them (PD) to persuade the people and be ready for the election, because he (Xanana) does not like Fretilin, and also dislikes the Prime Minister Mari Alkatiri because he is an Islam.

Suara Timur Lorosae -- The Brigadier General of the F-FDTL, Taur Matan Ruak, said that with the end of UNMISET mission in May 20 the security is being handed over to the F-FDTL. But the F-FDTL has not been consulted on whether they were ready to accept or not.

Brigadier Ruak said that it is a huge responsibility, but we have to accept it otherwise we will never be able to assume the responsibility. Brigadier Ruak said that when we fought for the independence we were never asked if we were ready or not, but we did resist for 24 years.

During a workshop in Gleno for better quality of coffee organized by the Japanese NGO Peace Winds in Timor-Leste, the Coordinator, Yuki Yamamoto, said that one of the main objectives of the workshop is to teach people how to acquire better quality of coffee. He said that the objective of the NGO is also to help establish the economy of Timor-Leste.

The Director for the National Institute for Public Administration (INAP), Florindo Pereira, said that 25 public servants from the Districts of Same, Ainaro, Aileu and Viqueque are receiving project management training.

He said that the training is being conducted in cooperation with the District Development Officer (DDO) and Community Development Officer (CDO). Mr Pereira said that the management training consists of how to prepare and manage, and finance the project.

East Timorese President Xanana Gusmao's wife, Kirsty Sword Gusmao, will be the guest of honour at a benefit night at the Sydney Town Hall on April 12.

The event will raise funds for the Alola Foundation, which was set up by Kirsty to assist the women of East Timor. A wide range of musicians, writers, poets, comedians and some well-known local identities will come together on the night.

Various unions, politicians, local councils, community groups, some student associations and political organizations have been quick off the mark to offer logistical support.

April 7, 2004

Timor Post -- The Prime Minister, Dr Mari Alkatiri, said that he will not face the Colombo court in the United States because he's not a witness but a citizen being alleged of bribery by Oceanic Exploration and Petrotimor. The Prime Minister said that the petrol company doesn't have concrete facts to accuse him, and people inside Timor-Leste are trying to demonstrate otherwise.

The Prime minister, Dr Mari Alkatiri, said that he has no doubt that the opposition parties are frustrated, shouting and crying because they are not in Government, and are trying to read the constitution but donb what the opposition wants is a National Unity Government. But the opposition has not succeeded as they tried a Constitutional coud db because of their failure they formed the National Platform for Unity which has died, and now the opposition is trying again to take political immunity. The Prime Minister said it is best for the opposition to sit quietly, not to get frustrated and stop talking nonsense.

The Vice-Minister of Health, Luis Lobato, said people need to understand the Dili Hospital situation because the hospital has only five doctors. He said that the doctors cannot to attend everyone, as working there each day doctors have over 500 patients seeking medical treatment. As part of the continuing investigation on the Lospalos incident the President, Xanana Gusmao, visited TL's Defence Force Headquarters in Dili and held a meeting with Brigadier Taur Matan Ruak and other F-FDTL members. The President said that the purpose of the investigation is to find out the root of the problem within the defense force and not to point fingers at who's wrong or right. The President said that part of the report of the investigation will be made available to the public and the rest would be handed to the government.

Meanwhile the Brigadier General, Taur Matan Ruak, said that so far 59 members of the defense force had been investigated. He added that it would take 60 days to conclude the investigation and prepare the report.

The Minister of Justice, Domingos Maria Sarmento, said that the court procedures in Oe-Cussi are not currently operating because the Investigating Judge had to go to Portugal for training. He said that because of this a panel of judges has not been set up in Oe-Cussi.

Despite sporadic delays and mix-ups at the polls, international monitors praised Indonesia Tuesday for holding parliamentary elections that were peaceful and proceeded with few serious problems. The vote on Monday was Indonesiab election since the fall of longtime dictator Soeharto in 1998, and foreign monitors said they had not observed any irregularities that could affect the outcome.

After the ceremony for new managers the Vice-minister of Development and Environment, Abel Ximenes, said that managers is not only for the private sector but importantly is for them to be able to secure the national economy.

He said that for this reason the Government has paid attention to the private sector, because they are the spinal cord for the economy of this country.

Suara Timur Lorosae -- The President of the National Parliament, Francisco Guterres (Lu Olo), said that I does not believe that the President, Xanana Gusmao, has given guidance to the Democratic Party (PD) to campaign against the Prime Minister Dr Mari Alkatiri. He said that the initiative was taken by PD to use the President's name.

During a Presidential visit to the pre-secondary school in the Sub-District of Laulara, District of Aileu, the President, Xanana Gusmao, asked the students why was it that Australia has stolen USD$1 billion worth of oil from the Timor Sea? The President said that the oil in the Timor Sea is causing a problem and the students need to study, because in future they will have to deal with the Timor resources. President Gusmao said to the students that the Government of Australia is stealing the Timor resources (oil) but the people of Australia and Timor-Leste are great friends, and that the leadership will continue to build the relationship for the future.

April 8, 2004

Lusa -- East Timor: Changes in UN practice needed to pre-empt genocides -- PM Alkatiri Dili, April 7 (Lusa) -- East Timor's prime minister, Mari Alkatiri, recalling the genocide in Rwanda and the slaughter of his own people under Indonesian occupation, called Wednesday for changes in the working of the United Nations to preclude future tragedies.

"We have no doubts that we can only avoid these types of events if changes are made in the United Nations system", which "sometimes blocks up", Alkatiri told a gathering of dignitaries in Dili to mark the 10th anniversary of the Rwanda bloodbath.

to Australia for its rapid military intervention in 1999 to quell the scorched-earth campaign unleashed by pro-Indonesian militias at the time of the territory's independence plebiscite. As to East Timor's contribution to peace, Alkatiri said Dili had assumed, after "24 years of suffering" under Jakarta, "a firm commitment to avoid, at all costs, the repetition of new internal conflicts". He also underlined his government's engagement in a good- neighbour policy with Indonesia and its commitment to reconciliation at home.

Timor Post -- During the ceremony for the opening of the Timor Intitute of Development Studies (TIDS) the President of Timor- Leste, Xanana Gusmao, said that Timorese are smart people and are able to learn quick, but are lazy for not applying and developing what they have learned. He said that its important for the Timorese to face reality and follow the process for the future.

April 12, 2004

Timor Post -- A member for the committee responsible for the protest against the Government of Australia (over the exploration of the natural resources in the Timor Sea), Manuel Mendonca, said that the Government of Australia is acting like an egoist and has stolen a lot of gas and oil from the Greater Sunrise field. He said that's why Australia does not want to define quickly the maritime boundaries that divide the two nations.

Mr Mendonca said that because of this the people of Timor-Leste should stand up and shout against any decision taken by the Australian Government and not allow them to steal our resources. (The protesters are from the National University of Timor-Leste (UNTL) and the Faculty of Politics (FISPOL).

No relevant news on STL today

April 13, 2004

Timor Post -- A Member of Fretilin at the National Parliament, Francisco Branco, said that the reason for the Government to order a search in the Mosque in Dili was because there are many illegal migrants entering the country. He said that many migrants had entered the country without legal documentation, and the police had to act according to the information they received. Mr Branco said that the reason to search the Mosque was that people who are residing in the Mosque are foreigners and they have to decide whether or not to become Timorese citizens.

Timor-Leste's Immigration Officers searched last week the Indonesian mosque in Dili to certify the numbers of Indonesians living in the compound. The Immigration Commissioner, Carlos Jeronimo, said that the search found only 200 Indonesians out of 301, adding that the whereabouts of the other 101 was not known. Mr Jeronimo also said that the search was aimed to keep track of any foreigners illegally entering Timor-Leste. Meanwhile the Muslim religious leader of the Mosque, Haji Arham, thanked the immigration office for the search but hoped for clearer clarification in the future adding that the people have been considering Timorese citizenship.

The Minister of Foreign Affairs and Cooperation, Dr Ramos Horta, said that Bishop Belo's statement could affect the development of TL's economy.

On April 1 the Bishop was reported as saying that a new conflict would rise after the withdrawal of the UN. Dr Horta said that a statement made by the Portuguese President about holding a dialogue with the terrorists was a 'weak position'.

Meanwhile a Member of the Democratic Party (PD), Rui Menezes said that comments made by the Bishop Carlos Filipe Ximenes Belo is a fact and in reality the country is confronting this situation. Mr Menezes said that the Bishop's words reflect the current economic and political situation in the country. Mr Menezes said that the Bishop has sent a signal to the leadership of this country that the economic situation in Timor-Leste is deteriorating.

In his Easter message to the nation the President, Xanana Gusmao, made an appeal to the Timorese population and the youth to continue to put all efforts to build Timor-Leste, and that the 'process and the state is still vulnerable'.

The President reminded everybody to hold on to the principle of democracy, and respect of human rights for the well being of the country. President Gusmao said that the two pamphlets currently circulating in Dili are meat (by certain people who are not considered Timorese) to destroy the peace and stability achieved by this country. The President said that the police are investigating those responsible for such documents. President Gusmao called on the youth who are planning to hold a demonstration in front of the Australian Embassy on April 14, 15, 16 and 19 to be careful and not to allow those responsible for December 04 2002 riots to lead to such an incident.

A Member of the National Parliament, Jacinto da Costa, said that the Ministry of Health has received lots of money from donors around the globe, but when patients seek medical treatment at the National Hospital in Dili there are no drugs (medicine). He said that people who sought medical treatment over the Easter period said that the National Hospital had no medicine to be administered.

Suara Timur Lorosae -- In a lengthy interview published in today's edition the Prime Minister, Dr Mari Alkatiri, said that his critics have no capacity to follow the process closely, and all they want instead is to create problems without trying to understand the government programs. The Prime Minister said that the opposition since the beginning has used religion as an excuse for a long time, and some at the National Parliament said that he (PM) was not born in Timor.

Dr Alkatiri said that some considered themselves as intellectuals but its time for them to recognize and start learning from other people. The Prime Minister said that he challenges Petrotimor, Oceanic Exploration and their wrangler (cowboys) in Timor-Leste to present evidence.

Questioned about the impact that allegations may have caused within the donors community the Prime Minister said that the donors know him well, better than the ones in the opposition, and this has not affected anything. Dr Alkatiri said that donors also know that the opposition are the ones who have been talking too much.

In relation to the campaign made by the Democratic Party (PD) the Prime Minister said that the opposition (PD) still does not have political maturity, and they are looking always for a coat hanger. They used the President and International Republic Institute (IRI) as their coat hangers. Dr Alkatiri said that the President is not a coat hanger for them or anyone to use as they like.

The opposition has started with a dirty campaign, when it's not yet time for it, using religion and other means against him. The Prime minister said that if they (the opposition) don't have the capacity to do politics better for them to do something else.

April 15, 2004

Suara Timur Lorosae -- A new campaign to pressure the Australian government into changing its policy over gas and oil production in the Timor Sea has been launched in Melbourne. The Australian Parliament passed laws putting an agreement between Australia and East Timor to develop oil and gas resources into effect last month.

The Timor Sea Justice Campaign says there are no permanent maritime boundaries between Australia and East Timor, and Australia is currently taking 72 per cent of the money from the Timor Sea Gas and Oil reserves. Campaign spokesperson Dan Nicholson says Australia will take more than 10 billion dollars over the next 30 years, with most of it coming from operations in fields which are closer to East Timor than Australia. He says they hope to change the government's mind ahead of talks between Australia and East Timor in Dili on April the 19th.

A human rights expert has called for new charges to be laid against senior Indonesian leaders, based on war crimes evidence salvaged from smoldering barracks during their army's 1999 retreat from East Timor. Canadian Geoffrey Robinson made the call in a report. It is the most damning and rigorous assessment to date of the violence accompanying the UN referendum in which East Timorese voted overwhelming to end over two decades of Indonesian occupation.

The Geneva-based UN Office of the High Commissioner for Human Rights contracted the report in 2002, but the UN has refused to release it publicly since completion in July 2003. Robinson called for charges against 75 Indonesian officers and politicians, including figures not previously implicated.

These include three members of the 1999 cabinet and the present minister for National security in the Megawati government, retired general A.M. Hendropryono.

The Minister of Health, Dr Rui Maria de Araujo, said that 8 containers containing out of date drugs (medicine) will be burned in Tibar (outskirts of Dili) today. He said that most of the drugs that have expired are aspirins, paracetamol and antibiotics. Meanwhile four ambulances (donated by Australia during the transitional period in 2000) have stopped servicing. The Minister of Health said that the main reason for the four ambulances not to run is that they don't have spare parts for the ambulances, and the maintenance costs too much.

A catholic Sister in the Sub-District of Bobonaro, Maria Rosa Tilman Pereira, said that an eye specialist from Australia was able to restore the vision back to 65 members of the population in the Sub-District of Bobonaro. She said that people are happy and thank the eye specialist for his generosity.

Sister Pereira said that the eye specialist was able to supply glasses for as little as USD$2 to patients with weak eyesight.

Timor Post -- The Minister of Health, Dr Rui Maria de Araujo, said a project presented by his Ministry has been approved to establish an oxygen plant (factory) in Timor-Leste to supply to the entire country hospitals. The minister said that his Ministry is currently working with a private sector to establish the oxygen plant.

East Timor's Foreign Minister, Jose Ramos Horta, has paid tribute to Mozambique's support of his country's long independence struggle against Indonesia. Speaking at the inauguration of Timor's new embassy in Maputo, Ramos Horta said Dili had chosen Mozambique for its first African diplomatic mission because of its historic solidarity with the fledgling Asian nation.

The National Director for Food Production in the Ministry of Agriculture, Deolindo da Silva, said that 35 farmers from the Districts of Manatuto, Baucau and Lospalos are receiving training from the Ministry of Agriculture on how to produce better quality of rice. He said that the objective of the ministry of Agriculture is for the farmers to identify the better quality rice seeds for them to plant. Mr da Silva said that the training will facilitate the farmers in future to identify the seeds and pass or share their knowledge with other farmers.

April 16, 2004

Timor Post -- The Prime Minister, Dr Mari Alkatiri, said after a meeting with the President, Xanana Gusmao that they discussed the Timor Sea issue and the strategy for the upcoming meeting on April 19. The Prime Minister said that their routine weekly meeting gave him the opportunity also to speak about security after the UNMISET end of mission on May 20.

Civil servants from East Timor are to receive training in Mozambique in the near future, Dili's Foreign Minister has announced on a visit to African nations.

Jose Ramos Horta, speaking Wednesday after a meeting with President Joaquim Chissano, said middle to top-tier officials from Timor's public administration and interior ministries would be trained under the 1999 bilateral cooperation accord. Chissano and Ramos Horta also discussed the June visit of President Xanana GusmC#o, who will be attending the next summit of the African, Caribbean and Pacific group of countries in the Mozambican capital.

The President, Xanana Gusmao, said that the Timor Sea treaty protest in front of the Australian Embassy in Dili (organized by civil society) does not affect at all the relations between Australia and Timor-Leste. The President said that there will always be problems when someone speaks about the economy, the market or natural resources.

Suara Timur Lorosae -- The Special Panel for the Serious Crimes Unit (SPSC) staff have taken a holiday from April the 9-26. According to today's edition of the paper a press release sent by JSMP states that the Judge Coordinator said that the decision was taken collectively because is within their rights to have a holiday.

April 19, 2004

Suara Timur Lorosae -- On April 14, 50 members of the Timor Sea Justice Campaign met outside the High Court to launch the group. Comedian Rod Quantock was joined by protesters disguised as Prime Minister John Howard and Foreign Minister Alexander Downer.

They waded in the ornamental pool, making a grab for Timorese oil, represented by black balloons. The Timor Sea Justice Campaign aims to change Australian Government policy in relation to the Timor sea. The Timor Sea Campaign is calling on the Australian Government to agree to East Timorese demands to meet monthly to settle boundaries and to adhere to international law to ensure that boundaries are drawn equidistant between the two countries.

The Catholic Church has accused the Australian Government of trying to rob East Timor of billions of dollars-worth of oil and gas by forcing it into an unfair agreement. The two countries will begin talks in Dili on the issue of a permanent maritime boundary in the resource-rich East Timor Sea.

Australia has already ratified an agreement with East Timor over use of the Greater Sunrise oil and gas field, one of the region's biggest, worth around $ 8 billion dollars. But Marc Purcell, the Executive Officer of the Melbourne Catholic Commission for Justice, Development and Peace, said the East Timorese government has now decided not to ratify that treaty. b government, having signed the document, is saying they're not going to ratify it and they're really holding back from doing this because they feel they're being bullied by Australia in regards to access to their oil and gas deposits in the general area of the Timor Sea," he said. Mr Purcell said the East Timorese also want to scrap an interim maritime boundary which it's claimed gives Australia an unfair share of the area's resources. "Most of the oil lies closer to East Timor than Australia. If you drew a line in the middle of the Timor Sea, according to international law, those oil and gas deposits would fall within East Timor control. The problem is that the Australian government is holding fast to an interim agreement which really it negotiated many years ago with Indonesia when it was occupying East Timor," he said.

The Head of the Secondary School Don Martinho da Costa Lopes in the District of Maliana, Estanislau Baptista, said according to the Constitution of the Democratic Republic of Timor-Leste the official language is Portuguese.

The teachers need time to learn how to write and speak to be able to teach the students. Mr Baptista said that people throughout the country have been learning the Portuguese language but it has been difficult to teach to the students born during the Indonesian occupation.

Timor Post -- The Head of the Department for Development of Small and Medium Enterprise in Timor-Leste, Antonio da Costa, said that the Catholic Institute of International Relation (CIIR) has trained a group of women to produce marmalade from the fruits produced locally. He said that representatives from five different districts have received the training to produce marmalade from bananas, pineapple and pawpaw fruit.

April 21, 2004

Timor Post -- The Prime Minister, Dr Mari Alkatiri, said that the authorities will control the situation after the end of the UNMISET mission in Timor-Leste on May 20. (The Bishop of Dili, D Ximenes Belo, said that the situation in Timor-Leste could get worse after the UNMISET mission ends on May 20). The Prime Minister said that the former Bishop has the right to express his own personal opinion, but if things go wrong the authorities are here to be in control.

A Member of Fretilin at the National Parliament, Vicente Faria, said that it's not the time for members of the National Parliament to tame each other to do the job they were elected for. He said that it has been very difficult and most times you hardly find a member of the Parliament to debate laws within the Commissions. Mr Faria said that this shows that Members of the National Parliament don't know yet their role as the people's representative in the Parliament.

The Prime Minister, Dr Mari Alkatiri, said that the Government has no plans to adopt laws to regulate the goods and commodities prices. He said that it is not wise for the Government to establish a law to control the prices otherwise a black-market will be created, because the shops shelves will be empty.

Tight control to increase revenues, say Alkatiri

After a meeting with donors countries (yesterday) the Prime Minister, Dr Mari Alkatiri, said that the reason for the Government to control expenditures, is, because it has to increase the revenues. He said that it was a promise made to the donors last year to exercise tight control and reduce the costs.

Suara Timur Lorosae -- The Sub-District Administrator of Balibo, Manuel da Cruz, said that the Government, through the RESPECT program, has given support to the community in the village of Rai-Ulun, Sub-District of Balibo, to rehabilitate the community center and also cattle for each family in the village.

April 22, 2004

Vox Populi (Weekly Newspaper) -- In this week's edition the paper published a lengthy article about corruption written by the Vox populi journalists Nuno Moreira, Azinha, Gantry Meilana and Pedruco. The article says that corruption has been within the Institutions of the Government of Timor-Leste for a while, but the Inspector General report says that only 51 cases of presumed corruption was found.

The Article says that the Inspector General, Mariano Lopes, comments have not caused a reaction from the Government or the intention to clean corruption practices within the Government of the Republic of Timor-Leste.

The article says that if the Government does not take any strong measures to clean corruption then it will grow on and on. If the Government takes measures what will the Government use as a base in what law or regulation?

The newspaper says that the Prime Minister said that this new Government has set concrete plans to combat corruption if it s practiced within the public service. According to the paper the Prime Minister said that if any public servant is involved in corruption practices within his work environment then they will act according to the law.

The article says that the Prime Minister, Dr Mari Alkatiri, said that while investigating it is not reasonable to published, and we should wait for the conclusion. The article says that the Prime Minister said that the Inspector General should not have published the presumption of the alleged corruption report. The Prime Minister said, according to the article, so far no evidence of corruption was found within certain Government Institutions, only allegations but no evidence.

The President of the Social Democratic Party (PSD), Mario Viegas Carrascalao, said that the accusation made by Leandro Isaac (the former Vice-President of PSD) that his party received USD$ 50,000 from the Petrotimor company is a slander campaign aimed to destroy PSD. Mr Carrascalao said that he thinks Leandro Isaac is crazy. Mr Carrascalao said that if Leandro Isaac says that he has proves that PSD received money from Petrotimor then he should present it. Mr Carrascalao said that Leandro Isaac was the Vice- President at that time, and to whom was the money given? Maybe Petrotimor gave the money to Leandro, because he did not receive any.

He said if you want to know the issue better, than ask Leandro and Petrotimor

The former Vice-president of the Social Democratic Party (PSD), Leandro Isaac, said that he is ready to answer if the party (PSD) decides to take him to court, and he is not afraid because he has the evidence. Mr Issac said that everyone at the National Political Commission knows about it.

Timor Post -- A reverend from the Church World Service (CWS), Daniel Marcal, said that 200 youths attended a workshop organized by the CWS on HIV/AIDS in the Sub-District of Maubara. He said that the objective of the workshop was to inform and educate the youth about HIV/AIDS. Mr Marcal said that similar workshops were conducted in the Districts of Maliana, Lospalos, Aileu, Liquica and Dili.

The Minister of Interior, Rogerio Tiago Lobato, said that there are a few people with bad faith who would like to plant a bomb in the Portuguese bank, BNU. He said that his visit to BNU is to guarantee security. Mr Lobato said that his Ministry, through the National police Force (PNTL), will strengthen the security to BNU, because they heard that some people are planning to attack and bomb the bank. Mr Lobato said that the National Police are investigating the threat, which he thinks could have come from people whose application for credit was rejected by the bank.

The Court Prosecutor in the District of Baucau, Domingos Barreto, said that the court in the District of Baucau has 1,541 cases pending since 2002, because there s not enough Judges. He said that apart from those there are another 1000 cases under investigation. Mr Barreto said that at the moment the Court in Baucau only has two judges which makes it difficult for them to work.

Suara Timur Lorosae -- The President of the National parliament, Lu Olo, said that he does not believe that people will start killing each other with the end of the UNMISET mission on May 20. He said that people have suffered enough for the last 24 years and what they want now is to live in peace.

April 23, 2004

Timor Post -- During a meeting with the Prime Minister, Dr Mari Alkatiri and the Vice-Minister for Foreign Affairs, Olimpio Branco, the leader of the Green s Senator, Bob Brown, conveyed the Australian people's regret over their government's negotiations on the Timor Sea oil and gas exploration. The Senator said that Australia is rich in oil and gas, which provides enough revenues for the country and should not take TL's wealth. Senator Brown said that if his party wins the majority of the seats in the coming elections in Australia he would like to ratify the policy on the Timor Gap.

The Senator said that although his country has been supporting Timor-Leste, at the same time it has been stealing it's resources.

The Minister of Interior, Rogerio Lobato, paid a visit to the Rapid Response Unit (RRU) headquarters due to the complaints from members of the unit regarding food. The Minister said that he did not see anything wrong with the food, and met the catering company to ensure the continued quality standards of food and encourage the purchase of local produces because it was much cheaper. Meanwhile the Rapid Response Unit carried out a raid (last week), which ended with the confiscation of 26 homemade bombs and one person was injured when police shot in self- defense. According to the Minister of Interior the man had in his possession a machete and tried to attack the police.

The Prime Minister, Dr Mari Alkatiri, left Timor-Leste on an official visit to Kuwait with a delegation comprised of 25 people. The Prime Minister and the delegation will fly from Denpasar, Bali, to Kuwait in the private jet of the King of Kuwait. In Kuwait the delegation will meet with various identities and business people.

During a ceremony for the graduation of 16 nurses from 3 Districts, the Minister of Health, Dr Rui Maria de Araujo, said to the nurses that the responsibility is in their hands to attend and care for the patients.

The Minister said that the nurses need to be humble, so to be able to learn and guide their fellow workers who have not done the course. Dr Araujo said that the main virtue for any of us is to have patience and achieve good results.

The District Administrator of Baucau, Micaela Ximenes, said that the aim of the workshop is to make the civil servants understand better the rules and regulations of public servants. She said that it s important for the public servants to understand that during working hours they cannot participate in public or political campaigns.

Suara Timur Lorosae -- According to (yesterday's) edition of the newspaper, smuggling of sandalwood from Timor-Leste to Atambua is on the rise due to the involvement of the Indonesian Maritime and Air Police Unit. The paper says that a local resident who does not want to be identified said a member of the Maritime and Air Police Unit with the initials Brada AB helped in the smuggle of 3.8-ton of sandalwood. The paper says that the same person had been involved in helping people crossing to and from Timor-Leste. The smuggling of sandalwood and people to and from Timor-Leste is done through Atapupu Harbor and has been noticed by the local population for some time now.

The Minister of Interior, Rogerio Tiago Lobato, said that with the end of UNMISET mission on May 20 the National Police Force will be ready to give and maintain security. The Minister made an appeal to the population not to be afraid and not listen to rumors. Mr Lobato said that the National Police Force is more than ready to act in any emergency.

The Vice-District Administrator of Ainaro, Manuel Pereira, said that the Government of Japan will support the Government of Timor-Leste in the rehabilitation of the main road that leads to the District of Suai, which also includes the District of Ainaro. He said that a team from Japan and the Philippines surveyed for 3 months and drew a plan for the roads, which will be presented to the Government of Timor-Leste. Mr Pereira said that the information he received says that the roads will start being rehabilitated in July or August this year.

Damning testimony and documentary evidence against Indonesia's former armed forces commander Wiranto has for the first time been released by the Un-funded Serious Crimes Unit in East Timor. The 92-page evidence summary squarely blames former general Wiranto and his subordinates for the carnage in East Timor in 1999. Wiranto's de facto or effective control over the militia is demonstrated by evidence that the militias were formed, funded, armed and controlled by the Indonesian army with the knowledge of the accused, says the summary, released this week (Monday night). Citing overwhelming evidence , the summary adds that the military often either assisted in the militia violence or stood by and let it happen . It notes that military and government documents from 1998 and 1999 proved some militia members were in fact enlisted Indonesian soldiers. These militias, controlled by the military, wreaked havoc in East Timor in the months before and after the 1999 independence referendum, killing as many as 1500 East Timorese. The UN mission chief in East Timor at the time, Ian Martin, is quoted regarding a meeting with Wiranto in 1999. I clearly recall General Wiranto telling me that if Falintil (the independence guerrillas) was ready to surrender its weapons to the Indonesian police, he could guarantee that the militia would be disarmed in two days, Mr Martin said.

The Secretary of State for the Council of Ministers, Gregorio de Sousa, said that the Council of Ministers (this week) debated the Investment Law which is divided in two: internal investment and another for the external investment. He said that the Council of Ministers agreed with the Investment Law but it needs some adjustments before it is brought back to the CM in two or three weeks.

April 26, 2004

Timor Post -- Today's edition of the newspaper says that the Government of Kuwait wants to help the Government of Timor-Leste with development, and wants to participate in the Timor-Leste Development Partners Meeting (TLDPM) scheduled for May 17-19. The newspaper said that an agreement was reached between the Prime Minister, Dr Mari Alkatiri and the Vice-Prime Minister who is also the Vice-Minister of Interior, Sheikh Nawat Al-Ahmad Al- Jaber Al-Sabah, at Bayan Palace in Kuwait City. During the meeting the Vice-Prime Minister of Kuwait congratulated the people of Timor-Leste for their resistance in the struggle and achieving the Independence. The Vice-Minister of Kuwait said that he hopes the people of Timor-Leste will work together for the progress of the nation. The Prime Minister, Dr Mari Alkatiri, said that he hopes the Government of Kuwait will support the people of Timor-Leste.

Today's edition of the paper carried a story that says 5 members of Falintil the Forgas de Defesa de Timor-Leste (F-FDTL) have been awarded certificates after the conclusion of training as military observers.

The paper says that the training was conducted by UNNO based in the District of Bobonaro.

Suara Timur Lorosae -- The Head of the Power Station in the Sub- District of Hatolia, District of Ermera, Annanias Horta, said that the Sub-District of Hatolia has been without electricity for the last three months, due to the shortage caused by lightning. He said that a report was sent to Dili, but so far they have no positive response.

The coordinator for the Water Supply and Sanitation (WSS) in the Sub-District of Ainaro, Elidio de Araujo, said that the population in the Sub-District of Ainaro does not have access to clean water. He said that a proposal was sent to the Government requesting assistance but the Government has not responded. He said that water is not the only problem the community faces but also the main road is in bad condition.

The Sub-District Administrator of Laga, Francisco da Costa Belo, said that the local Government has plans to repair the local market for people to be able to sell their products. He said that the market rehabilitation will start on May 17, and also another 3 new markets are planned to open. The Sub-District Administrator of Maubisse, District of Ainaro, Jose Mendonga Koto Moruk, said that the teachers are facing a dilemma for not having a place to live and being able to teach children in the sub-district school. He said that the teachers have to walk long distances every day, because the school is far from the village. Mr Koto Moruk said that there have been many protests from the parents as some teachers live in the District of Ainaro, and have to travel to Maubisse just to teach every day.

The Minister of Foreign Affairs, Jose Ramos Horta, said to the international community and Timor-Leste that Wiranto does not have the credibility to be the president of Indonesia. The Minister said that it is up to the people of Indonesia to elect the right person to lead their country. Dr Horta said that he sees either Susilo Banbang Yudhoyono or President Megawati as the only two figures who have the potential and credibility to be the President of Indonesia. The Minister also said that it would be difficulty for Indonesia to cooperate with countries like TL, Australia, EU and the US. The Minister said that if Wiranto is elected then he would have difficulties in traveling abroad and that could discredit Indonesia internationally.

Today's edition of the newspaper says that 16 people detained by the National Police Force (PNTL) and the Rapid Response Unit in Hera on April 19 are suspected of being involved in "ninja" activities. They have appeared in the local court. The newspaper says that the sixteen suspects are being tried for possessing firearms, home made guns, hand grenades, arrows, spears as well as the Singaporean flag, video cassettes, phones and TNI uniforms. The Paper reports that one of the suspects, with the initials of AC, is the coordinator of the group CPD-RDTL in the Hera region.

April 27, 2004

Suara Timur Lorosae -- It is tempting to shrug off the decision by Golkar, the Indonesian party that did the best in this month s general election, to choose General Wiranto as its candidate for the presidential poll in July. Indonesia, the world s most populous Muslim nation, certainly needs a strong hand at the tiller after drifting under Megawati Sukarnoputri, the current president.

General Wiranto, a former defence minister and a moderate in both politics and religion, seems to fit the job description perfectly. He might even be good at fighting terrorism. However, there are good reasons why Golkar should never have picked him and why Indonesian voters should not choose him now. One can leave aside the argument that General Wiranto, like Golkar, represents a return to the past, although he was a pillar of the discredited Suharto regime in the 1990s. It is possible to forget his populist economic policies. One can even ignore his reluctance to step down on the orders of a democratically elected president in 2000. Of far greater significance is that General Wiranto has been indicted by United Nations prosecutors in East Timor for crimes against humanity. He is accused of command responsibility for killings by troops and pro-Jakarta militias in 1999, when inhabitants voted in a referendum for independence. The evidence cannot be lightly dismissed. Documents suggest that under General Wiranto the Indonesian military armed, trained and controlled the militiamen.

General Wiranto denies wrongdoing, but he has a case to answer. The fact that the Indonesian government finds it politically inexpedient to arrest him, or the others indicted, does not make him innocent. Nor does the fact that he did not personally take part in the killings. (Australian Media)

The Australian Government is continuing the disgraceful 30-year bipartisan foreign policy of utter disregard for the people of East Timor. The second round of negotiations with the East Timorese government to settle the maritime boundary between the two countries began on April 19. No negotiation should be necessary, however international maritime law is perfectly clear: the boundary lies on the median line. The Coalition Government is determined to steal as much as it can get its grubby hands on from within East Timor's desperate needs for funds to rebuild the country and establish a future for its people that is free from poverty, disease, illiteracy and unemployment The Australian government has its greedy eyes fixed firmly on the $30 billion in potential revenue from oil and gas reserves in the Timor Sea. This policy of blatant theft is exactly the attitude maintained by the Australian government today. As the Timorese people pointed out, Australia s actions amount to a second invasion of their country. There is growing international pressure against the federal government's bullying of and blatant theft from its close neighbour. In March, 53 members of the US Congress sent a letter to the Australian government urging a fair resolution of the boundary dispute. Peter Galbraith, minister for the Timor Sea in the UN Transitional Administration for East Timor, has also insisted that Australia must accept the median line as the boundary. The Australian government should pay every cent it owes to the people of East Timor. This includes not only revenue generated through theft of East Timor's oil and gas in the Timor Sea, but also reparations for the total destruction of East Timor under the Australian-backed Indonesian occupation. Such massive allocation of funds would not be aid but the repayment of debt. There will be no justice for the Timorese people until the Australian government takes responsibility and provides compensation for its massive theft, lies and complicity in genocide. (Australia Media)

The opposition party at the National Parliament Social Democratic Party (PSD) and Timorese Association of Social Democrats (ASDT) opposed the President, Xanana Gusmco's, statement in Portugal that he wants to talk with the international terrorist network Al-Qaeda. A member of the ASDT at the National Parliament, Feliciano de Fatima, said that many people have died because of their terrorist acts and to talk one needs to have a strategy in place. A Member from the PSD at the National Parliament, Joco Gongalves, said that it s a very controversial issue when one looks at the Al-Qaeda terrorist acts around the world and many innocent people have died. He said that he does not agree, because this gives them recognition in their acts of terrorism.

Timor Post -- Human rights and solidarity organisations are deeply concerned by the Golkar party's nomination of General Wiranto for President of Indonesia. It is difficult to imagine a more ruthless protigi of the former dictator Suharto than General Wiranto , Max Lane, chairperson of Action in Solidarity with Asia and the Pacific told Green Left Weekly. He and other Indonesian generals and colonels have been able to get off scot-free for the crimes against humanity that they committed in East Timor&crimes they are repeating in the towns and villages of Aceh, Papua and elsewhere, Lane said. In pursuit of improved ties with the Indonesian military, the US and Australian governments have refused to question or criticise the nomination of Wiranto. We can work with anybody that comes out from a free election process, US ambassador Ralph Boyce told reporters on April 21.

Australian foreign minister, Alexander Downer, argued that raising concerns about Wiranto s nomination would harm relations between Canberra and Jakarta.

According to the April 22 Melbourne Age, Downer said: If we started attacking General Wiranto, that might turn out to be a bit of an election winner for him, so we won t comment. Downer has also signalled that Wiranto and the Indonesian military have the Howard government s blessing by stating that Wiranto's nomination reflects a view in some parts of Indonesia that they need to get back to strength and decisiveness in government and they would see General Wiranto as a former head of the Indonesian military as that type of person. (Green Left Weekly)

The President of the Democratic Republic of Timor-Leste, Xanana Gusmco, said that he sees talks with Al-Qaeda as a way to combat terrorism. The President said that at times, talk are denied but a point is reached where "it is necessary". The President pointed to a talks proposed by the Timorese in 1983, which were rejected by the Indonesian government but forced to accept it later in1999.

April 28, 2004

Suara Timur Lorosae -- Returning from an official visit to Kuwait the Prime Minister, Dr Mari Alkatiri, said that a delegation from Kuwait will visit Timor-Leste and to participate in the Timor-Leste Development Partners Meeting (TLDPM) on May 17-19. The Prime Minister said that members of the Government of Kuwait from the development area and petrol company will visit the territory. Dr Alkatiri said that the Government of Kuwait wants to support the Government of Timor-Leste with its National Development Plan in the areas of education, agriculture and health.

The Minister of Interior, Rogerio Tiago Lobato, said that Cornelio Gama, known as L-7 (ex-Falintil fighter), does not have the right to threaten the National Police, just because he fought in the liberation war. The Minister said otherwise he will be arrested in accordance to the law of this country.

Mr Lobato said that L-7 used a Government vehicle for a weekend outing to Same, without the proper documentation required to travel. The Minister said that L-7, who used to be the Police adviser, no longer holds the portfolio, because the only thing he did was to worry about his salary and never presented an internal report.

The National Police Commissioner, Paulo de Fatima Martins, said that the recent violence that constantly occurs on the border between Timor-Leste and Indonesia is because of the constant people crossing from Timor-Leste. The Police Commissioner gave an example of recent events citing the four Timorese who were detained by TNI not long ago for not having the proper travel documents from the police, and were later released. Mr Martins said that 20 Indonesians were arrested for crossing the border to TL without official documents when they were attending the funeral of a family member. The Commissioner said that only one crossing point gate is operating at the moment on the border while the other check points are under police patrol by both countries.

The Vice-president of the Commission C responsible for the economy and finance at the National Parliament, Manuel Tilman, said that he wants to know the purpose of the Prime Minister Mari Alkatiri?s visit to Kuwait. Mr Tilman said that according to the information he has received from Portugal the Prime Minister is seeking support from Kuwait to invest in the Timor Sea.

Timor Post -- The Minister of Interior, Rogerio Tiago Lobato, said that the National Police Force (PNTL) did not beat people indiscriminately in a recent operation. The Police action is to give security and stability to the population.

A Member of the National Parliament, Maria de Fatima Vaz, said during a plenary session said that drunk Police members of the Border Patrol Unit (BPU) stationed in Batugade, beat indiscriminately the population in Batugade. She said that the Police have shown a bad attitude towards the population, when people put their trust on them to maintain security throughout the country. Ms Vaz said that members of the Border Patrol Unit also used mace spray gas, which caused some members of the population to have a rash in their eyes.

The Prime Minister, Dr Mari Alkatiri, said after his arrival from an Official visit to Kuwait that the Government of Timor-Leste has plans to open an Embassy in Kuwait. The Prime Minister said that it's important for the Government of Timor-Leste to open an Embassy in the Middle East.

A Member of the National Parliament, Rui Menezes, said that residents from the suburbs of Dili have been saying that every night they chase the "ninjas" only to find that they seem to disappear mainly in cars like the Tatasumo.

Mr Menezes said that the Tatasumo are cars owned by the government. He also said that the Parliament had already requested the Minister of Interior, Rogerio Tiago Lobato, to address the issue of "ninjas" in the National Parliament in order to clarify this issue once and for all since he had all the information, but he has not been available. Mr Menezes said that statements made by Lobato have been controversial and leaves one in doubt, noting that the Minister first appealed for the people to work with the police, then he asked the population not to worry about the security in their communities.

April 29, 2004

Jakarta Post -- Merpati airline will resume flying the Kupang-Darwin route in cooperation with an Australian regional airline, the state-owned airline announced on Wednesday.

"The memorandum of understanding (MOU) between Merpati and Airnorth will be signed on Thursday in Kupang. The cooperation will take the form of joint service and profit sharing," Merpati spokeswoman Yanine Helga Warokka said in a media statement made available to The Jakarta Post. "The MOU will be signed by Merpati's executive vice president, Toto Nursatyo, and Airnorth chief executive officer Michael Bridge." Merpati stopped flying the route, which was established in the 1970s, in 2000 due to its inability to meet stringent aviation regulations set by Australia. The joint service cooperation means that Merpati, as the traffic rights owner, will be responsible for baggage, cargo, passengers and ground handling in Kupang, while Airnorth will take responsibility in Darwin. Airnorth will also provide air crew and in-flight services.

Airnorth's fleet consists of Brazilian-made, 30-seat Embraer EMB120 using twin turboprop engines. Ticketing will be handled jointly by the two airlines, with equal profit sharing. Flights will resume on June 15 and will be offered Tuesdays and Saturdays. Airfare has been set at US$130 per passenger.

Timor Post -- The Vice-President of the National Parliament, Jacob Fernandes, said that the National Parliament gives full support to the National Police Force (PNTL) for stopping Cornelio Gama (known as L-7) for using a government car without proper documentation. He said that there?s no one in Timor-Leste above the law.

No relevant stories in today edition of STL

April 30, 2004

Timor Post -- Responding to critics from the opposition in the National Parliament about the international community losing their trust in the Government of Timor-Leste, the Prime Minister, Dr Mari Alkatiri, said that the donors will continue to support and trust even further the Government of Timor-Leste. The Prime Minister said that he's very optimistic and it's best for the opposition to stop with their nonsense. The Prime Minister said that if the opposition was governing the country the donors would have gone long ago. The Prime Minister said those who are talking don't know, and do not have the capacity to talk.

The Secretary of State for Labor and Solidarity, Arsenio Paixco Bano, said that 1,300 people have registered in his Department for a chance to work abroad. He said that so far his Department has interviewed 200 out of the 1,300 who have registered.

In Lisbon on an official visit the President of the National Parliament, Lu Olo, said that the Portuguese Speaking Community (CPLP) has given full support to the Government of Timor-Leste regarding the Timor Sea issue. Mr Olo said that CPLP will prepare a strategy to support Timor-Leste in the upcoming meeting scheduled for July.

Suara Timur Lorsae -- The Australian Ambassador in Timor-Leste, Paul Foley, has donated an amount of AUS$70,000 (US$50,000) to the Judicial System Monitoring Program (JSMP) to carry out its work in protecting human rights and monitoring the justice sector.

This is the third donation from AusAid to JSMP amounting to AUST$200,000. The Newspaper says that the donation is part of AusAid's small grants programs that covers human rights and judicial issues. (JSMP was established in 2001 with a focus on the judicial sector processes in the Dili, Baucau and Oecussi District courts).

The Prosecutor General, Longuinhos Monteiro, said that he has delivered the draft law for Amnesty to the Commission A in the National Parliament.

Mr Longuinhos said that it's important for Timor-Leste to have an Amnesty law, and it's a matter for the Commission to set it as a priority or not. Mr Longuinhos said that Members of the Commission raised various contradictory points within the draft law that are not in accordance with the present Constitution of the Democratic Republic of Timor-Leste.

[Compiled by Jose Filipe External Affairs World Bank, Dili Office.]