[Congressional Record Volume 140, Number 108 (Monday, August 8, 1994)]
[Extensions of Remarks]
[Page E]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Printing Office [www.gpo.gov]


[Congressional Record: August 8, 1994]
From the Congressional Record Online via GPO Access [wais.access.gpo.gov]

 
           PRESSURE INDONESIA TO END OCCUPATION OF EAST TIMOR

                                 ______


                           HON. NITA M. LOWEY

                              of new york

                    in the house of representatives

                         Monday, August 8, 1994

  Mrs. LOWEY. Mr. Speaker, I rise today to share with my colleagues 
testimony I recently submitted to the United Nations Special Committee 
on Decolonization in behalf of the people of East Timor.
  It is now 19 years since Indonesia seized control of East Timor and 
began its systematic oppression of the people of that territory. The 
East Timorese are denied the basic freedoms we almost take for granted: 
The right to speak, to freely assemble, and to have a say in their own 
governance.
  In my testimony, I called upon the United Nations to take a strong 
position against the Indonesian occupation and the abuse of human 
rights that has sustained it.
  I note here that the Foreign Operations appropriations bill that 
recently emerged from conference and passed the House takes a strong 
stand against the occupation and for the people of East Timor. It 
continues the ban on IMET [International Military and Education 
Training] funding for Indonesia, a ban put in place to protest human 
rights violations in East Timor. It also bans the transfer of light 
arms to Indonesia (arms that could be used in the repression of the 
Timorese) until the Secretary of State is able to report significant 
progress toward eliminating human rights abuses.
  Moreover, House Appropriations Committee Chairman David Obey 
announced at the conference that unless the situation in East Timor 
improves, he will push for even harsher sanctions against Indonesia 
next year. In short, the U.S. Congress has taken a strong stand on this 
basic issue of human rights. I hope that the Government of Indonesia is 
paying attention.

Testimony Before the United Nations Special Committee on Decolonization

       Mr. Chairman, members of the Committee of 24, thank you for 
     this opportunity to address the Special Committee on 
     Decolonization.
       The fundamental right of a people to choose its own 
     government has always had strong resonance for Americans. The 
     principle of self-determination is rooted in the idealism of 
     Woodrow Wilson, and codified in the Charter of the United 
     Nations. Coupled with decolonization, it has been a major 
     force of democratization around the world.
       It is clear that the people of East Timor have never known 
     this right; they have never had the opportunity to elect 
     their own officials or to determine their own futures. They 
     were freed in 1975 from Portugal's colonial control only 
     to be burdened with Indonesian domination less than a year 
     later. Numerous human rights abuses now add greatly to the 
     outrage we must feel at their situation.
       As a United Nations member and a world leader, the United 
     States must help to enforce the U.N. Charter. As a democracy, 
     we take particular interest in its self-determination 
     provisions. In both of these roles, we must take a strong and 
     coherent stand against the Indonesian repression in East 
     Timor.
       In the past, the United States has opted for a balancing 
     act; we have weighed economic and military goals against 
     humanitarian ones, hoping that cooperation with the 
     Indonesian government would induce it to expand human rights. 
     Administrations since 1975 have taken this approach, and it 
     has failed. According to reports from international human 
     rights groups including Amnesty International and Asia Watch, 
     the Indonesian government has not seriously investigated 
     human rights claims or moved toward compliance with 1993 
     recommendations of the United Nations Commission on Human 
     Rights in East Timor.
       Mr. Chairman, the United Nations must now take a stronger 
     stand. Rather than allowing ourselves to be put off by the 
     possible consequences of antagonizing Indonesia, we should 
     recall the successful stands we have taken against repression 
     elsewhere. Our stubborn insistence on human rights guarantees 
     have in many instances let us watch as governments changed 
     and their people reclaimed their rights.
       As the Commission on Human Rights has done in the past, we 
     must continue to urge Indonesia to open East Timor to 
     investigators and journalists. Their reports are invaluable 
     in pointing out to the rest of the world the Indonesian 
     government's weaknesses and lack of support at home.
       Indonesia is clearly concerned with its public image; a 
     judge sentenced Fernando Araujo in 1992 to nine years 
     imprisonment for ``disgracing the nation in the eyes of the 
     international community.'' We must make clear to Indonesia 
     that the way to eliminate embarrassing criticism is not to 
     suppress the critics but to reform treatment of the accused 
     and prisoners.
       Reports alone are not enough, though they help to rally 
     international support. We must also be willing to press hard 
     to ensure that Indonesia's leaders act on the Commission's 
     recommendations, that they are not only aware of their 
     failings but also working to correct them. They must 
     recognize the rights of the Timorese people, and we must 
     oblige them to do so. As the United States House 
     Appropriations Committee has urged, we must put force behind 
     our words, for example, by completely cutting off arms sales 
     until they comply.
       As the imprisoned leader of the East Timorese independence 
     movement, Xanana Gusmao said, ``The so-called Indonesian 
     provisional government was formed over the corpses of the 
     Timorese massacred,'' in December 1975. Despite the 
     Indonesian government's claims to the contrary, there has 
     been no valid act of Timorese self-determination. Nor can 
     ``cultural differences'' obscure the government's abuses. 
     Detention of prisoners without legitimate trials and 
     government complicity in massacres is criminal wherever in 
     the world they occur.
       We must solidify our position. Indonesia must be made to 
     recognize that the human rights of the Timorese, and of its 
     own citizens, are non-negotiable. Only a referendum among the 
     East Timorese themselves can legitimately determine their 
     status. Until the people's votes are counted and their voices 
     heard, the international community and its principle of self-
     determination cannot be satisfied.
       Mr. Chairman, I appeal to this Committee and to the rest of 
     the World to recognize the clear danger to universal human 
     rights that Indonesia's flagrant violations present. In 
     standing up for the rights of the East Timorese, we will be 
     standing for the rights of all free peoples.

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