[Marxism] Australia wants Alkatiri out?

["Emerson Tung" <emerson.tung@xxxxxxxxx>]

http://www.zmag.org/content/showarticle.cfm?SectionID=44&ItemID=10356

Timor
by Maryann Keady; May 31, 2006

   Three years ago, I wrote a piece talking about attempts to oust
Prime Minister Mari Alkatiri in East Timor, then a new struggling
independent nation. I wrote that I believed the US and Australia were
determined to oust the Timorese leader, due to his hardline stance on
oil and gas, his determination not to take out international loans,
and their desire to see Australia friendly President Xanana Gusmao
take power.

   Three years later, I am unhappy to say that the events I have
predicted are currently taking shape. The patriotic Australia media,
that has unquestionably fallen into line over every part of John
Howard's Pacific agenda - including the Solomon's excursion - is now
trumpeting the ousting of Alkatiri, a man who has gamely defied
Australia's claims over it's oil and gas, many of the paper's foreign
editors clearly more in tune with the exhortations of Australia's
Department of Foreign Affairs and Trade than the sentiments among
Timorese.

   I arrived in Dili just as the first riots broke out on April 28
this year- and as an eyewitness at the front of the unrest, the very
young soldiers seemed to have outside help - believed to be local
politicians and 'outsiders'. Most onlookers cited the ability of the
dissident soldiers to go from an unarmed vocal group, to hundreds
brandishing sticks and weapons, as raising locals' suspicions that
this was not an 'organic' protest. I interviewed many people - from
Fretlin insiders, to opposition politicians and local journalists -
and not one ruled out the fact that the riots had been hijacked for
'other' purposes. The Prime Minister himself stated so. In a speech on
the 7th of May, he called it a coup - and said that 'foreigners and
outsiders' were trying once again to divide the nation. I reported
this for ABC Radio - and was asked if I had the translation wrong. I
patiently explained no - we had carefully gone through the speech word
for word, and anyone with any knowledge of Timorese politics would
understand that is precisely what the Prime Minister meant. No other
media had bothered to go to the event - the Australian media
preferring to hang out with the rebel soldiers or Australian diplomats
that all wanted Alkatiri 'gone'.

   Since his election, Alkatiri had sidelined the most important
figure in Timorese politics - President Xanana Gusmao - and the
tension between the two has been readily apparent. Alkatiri, has a
different view to Gusmao about how the country's development should
take place - slowly, without 'rich men feasting behind doors' was the
way he described it to me, a steady structure of development the way
to develop a truly independent nation. His ability to defend Timor's
oil and gas interests against an aggressive Australia and powerful
business interests, and his development of a Petroleum Fund to protect
Timor's oil money from future corruption never accorded  with the
caricature created by his  Australian and American detractors of a
'corrupt dictator.'

   The campaign to oust Alkatiri began at least four years ago - I
recorded the date after an American official started leaking me
stories of Alkatiri's corruption while I was freelancing for ABC
Radio. I investigated the claims - and came up with nought - but was
more concerned with the tenor of criticism by American and Australian
officials that clearly suggested that they were wanting to get rid of
this 'troublesome' Prime Minister. Like Somare, he was not doing
things their way. After interviewing the major political leaders - it
was clear that many would stop at nothing to get rid of Timor's first
Prime Minister.  President Xanana Gusmao, three years ago, did not
rule out dissolving parliament and forming a 'national unity
government'.

   Gusmao and his supporters (including Jose Ramos-Horta) have
privately called Alkatiri an 'Angolan communist' with his idea of slow
paced development not something Gusmao and his Australian supporters
agree with. Other than that, it is hard to work out why President
Gusmao would allow forces to unconstitutionally remove this Prime
Minister. In Timor, many see Gusmao at fault here, for disagreeing
with the Prime Minister over the sacking of the soldiers (it should
have been resolved in private) while others see him as the architect
of the whole fiasco, his frustration with his limited political role
allowing him to be convinced by his Australian advisors to embark on a
needlessly bloody coup.

   In the last few days we have heard from young Timorese writers
currently at the Sydney Writer's Festival. They have a different take
from the Australian media on what is happening in Timor. Take this
quote by one young writer:

   '… it is suspicious and questionable. It is difficult to analyse
why Australia wants to go there. I think it is driven by concerns over
Australia's economic security, including the oil under the sea, rather
than concern for the people of East Timor. 'I am scared it is less
about East Timor's security than Australia's security and interests.'

   Gil Gutteres, the head of Timor's journalists association TILJA
similarly last month said old style fears of communism, and economic
interests of Australia were driving the anti-Alkatiri campaign, and
were behind the violence.  In fact, there is hardly a person in Timor
that doesn't understand that this is about big politics - helped by
internal figures wanting to control the oil and gas pie.

   And yet the Australian press is full of 'our boys' doing us proud.
This does not equate with sentiment on the ground, or answer the
question as to where the rebel forces could have received support for
this foolhardy campaign that has led to many Timorese being
frightened, distressed and homeless.

   Just this evening, witnesses spoke of Australian army personnel
standing by while militia fired on a church in Belide. During the
early violence, not one UN soldier intervened to stop the small band
of rioters, and the recent actions of the Australian troops add fuel
to speculation that they are letting Timor burn.

   Alkatiri, for his part is refusing to step aside, saying that only
Fretlin, his party, can ask him to resign. If he does go, the Timorese
have the Australian media to thank for their unquestioning support of
this coup. Perhaps they can explain to the starving citizens (that
were already ignored by Australia for 25 years) why Australia now
controls their oil and gas. More importantly, the politicians in Timor
that have been party to the violence will have to explain to the
people their involvement in this latest chapter of its traumatic
history.

   Maryann Keady is an Australian radio producer and journalist who
has reported from Dili since 2002. She is currently a professional
associate at Columbia University's Weatherhead Institute looking at US
Foreign Policy and China.

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