[Kaimee]: 5.Random Essays.History: East Timor - Australian Outcry

‘Many citizens of Australia were outraged by the massacre of east Timorese dissidents in Dili in November, 1991, and demanded that the government take stronger action against Indonesia...’ Examine the relationship between Australians and Timorese in the twentieth century. What factors have influenced official Australian government policy towards East Timor?


The official government policy towards East Timor independence has always centred on the profit available rather than on any ethical issues involved. Many Australian citizens were largely unaware of the situation in East Timor until the footage of the Dili 1991 ‘Santa Cruz’ massacre was released, and then demanded that the government take action on behalf of East Timor. However, the Australian government was not only not protecting the East Timorese but was, along with much of Europe and the US, supporting and selling weapons to Indonesia, the invaders. Initially, Australia supported the Indonesian claim to East Timor as, aside from the profit they had to gain, there was a continuous fear of Indonesian invasion in Australia but one of the main and most commonly known reasons for the Australian government’s policy in this matter was the oil that they would otherwise be unable to obtain. Even after East Timor has successfully gained its independence, the Australian government has exerted great pressure to maintain the rights to East Timorese oil, greatly diminishing East Timor’s only hope at financial recovery.

East Timor declared its independence from its colonial rulers, the Portuguese, on November 28, 1975. In 1975 on December 7th, only 9 days later, East Timor was invaded by Indonesia. The US, Australia, and many parts of Europe not only supported the Indonesian rule, but sold them weapons. Even though 200,000 East Timorese had died in the 25 years since the Indonesian invasion , it took until a referendum in 1999 for a reluctant Australian government to help East Timor once again become an independent country, and then only once massive protests had taken place here in Australia. With East Timor under the rule of Suharto, the Australian government had made a deal with Suharto to say that instead of going by the ‘Law of the Sea’, as set out in the United Nations Convention , they would instead have the seabed boundary set so that Australia had rights to drill for some of the billions of dollars worth of oil in East Timor’s rich Laminaria Corallina oil field.

The exploitation of the East Timorese oil is seen by many Australian citizens as highly unethical and a misuse of Australia’s power. In World War II, 40, 000 East Timorese died helping defend Australia against the Japanese . Thirty years later Australia stood by and watched as Indonesia invaded East Timor, then made deals with the Indonesians to steal a major source of income and most probably East Timor’s only way to financial surety.

After East Timor’s reinstated independence and the removal of Indonesian rule, the oil rights went under debate but the Australian government maintained that the agreement made by Suharto’s government was binding. Australia weakened their hold slightly by lowering tax on several smaller oil areas, providing a small but much needed revenue for the East Timorese, but refused to give up or renegotiate the seabed borders Suharto had agreed to. East Timor, in its dire need of the short term funds was forced to agree to this, and today continues to fight for their oil rights. Since 1999 our government has received approximately 1 billion dollars in taxes from these oil fields, money which we have no right to, and which is more than four times the amount of aid given to the Timorese people . Australia has undergone much criticism from the UN and various countries and organisations and will continue to do so until the oil and profits are returned to, or at least shared fairly with their rightful owners, the Timorese. 

One of the factors that forced the Australian government to give way and aid the Timorese was that the Australian Catholic community protested so strongly. They were against the classing of East Timor as the same culture as Indonesia, which was one of the ‘arguments’ heard for supporting Suharto and Indonesia’s continued rule. Contrary to this argument is the fact that Indonesia is made up of many small islands, each with remarkably different cultures and customs and was colonised by the Dutch and allowed to retain its various native cultures. East Timor, however, was colonised by the Portuguese and heavily converted to Catholicism, 93% of its people being Catholic, and only 7% Muslim or other.

During Indonesia’s invasion of East Timor many of the population were brutally massacred in an attempt to wipe out all resistance and cultures opposed to the Indonesians. Now, restored to independence, not only does East Timor fight for its continued independence and survival, but all around the world the catholic community fights for the continued Timorese catholic religion and re-immersion in Portuguese culture and language . The Australian catholic community were some of the strongest protestors against Australia’s support of Indonesia against the catholic East Timor and are still campaigning for Catholic East Timorese rights today. As late as last year there have been letter writing campaigns to grant Catholic East Timorese asylum seekers be allowed to stay in Australia and in December, 2002 the Archbishop was presented with 40,000 signatures on a national petition for the East Timorese . The Catholic community’s petitions have played a large part in forcing the government to participate in the peacekeeping forces.

The Australian government treated the East Timorese people unfairly and continues to do so today, while ironically claiming credit as one of the most involved countries in the peacekeeping force. They condoned the massacre of hundreds of people merely for profit and fear of the larger force and only capitulated at the mass protesting and criticism from Australian citizens and the governments of other countries. The Australian government may have sent peacekeeping forces to East Timor and helped evict the Indonesian rulers but we still hold oil fields we have absolutely no right to as they lie in East Timorese waters. The Australian governments policy, whether official or not, was not based on ethical values, merely on profit and the cowardice that made them fear an Indonesian invasion back home and would not have changed at all if not for the loud outcry from its citizens.

© Kate-Aimee Conrick. All rights reserved!