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/** reg.easttimor: 407.0 **/
** Topic: FOET(WA) Media Release 17/12/95 **
** Written 11:46 PM Dec 17, 1995 by woodruff@uniwa.uwa.edu.au in cdp:reg.easttimor **
From: Justin <woodruff@uniwa.uwa.edu.au>

Friends of East Timor (WA) has just concluded a meeting which condemns the security treaty to be signed in Jakarta tomorrow

17 December 1995. Media Release

This condemnation is for the following reasons-

1. Blatent disregard for Australian democratic processes

2. Shameless immorality of back-door deals with a vicious military dictatorship

3. Blatent disregard for Indonesian and East Timorese pleas for democracy and freedom

4. To be pro-Indonesian military is to be Anti-Indonesian people

This security treaty calls into question issues relationg to Australia's democratic process. For 18 months Keating and Suharto secretly hatched this agreement allowing for no debate, discussion, or consultation in the Australian parliament or elsewhere. Even the timing of the announcement, days before Christmas, has been designed to minimise criticism and concern. An addded concern related to this treaty is the development of further restrictions on the media under the D-Notice system. Unedr the government's current proposals, outlets which publish information that the government deems to be 'sensitive' will incur fines of up to one million dollars, or $12,000 for the individual journalist. This will further stifle questions regarding the Indonesian military in East Timor and elsewhere.

This treaty between Canberra and Jakarta typifies the sneaky, insidious relationship being forged behind the backs of the Australian and Indonesian people.

At a time when Austarlians, Indonesians, and East Timorese are united in finding a just solution to the war in East Timor, Keating ignorespleas for democracy and freedom in the region.

An Indonesian participant in the recent occupation of the Dutch Embassy said in an interview, while in hiding in Jakarta, "We [Indonesians and East Timorese] hugged, we were crying, so we all really felt that we weer joined in the same struggle, that we were solidly united".

Keating repeatedly claims to be pro-Indonesian, yet he has aligned his government with a vicious military dictatorship which is routinely condemned by the United Nations and independent human rights organisations.

This security treaty is not pro-Indonesian, it will do nothing for the overwhelming majority of Indonesians who are gagged and controlled by the powerful Indonesian armed forces.