Appalling article on East Timor by fmr Indonesian Ambassador Richard Woolcott
'[Fmr Indonesian President] Habibie considered it illogical for Indonesia to go on subsidising a costly autonomy which might well lead to independence. He had said privately to colleagues: "Why do we have this problem when we have a mountain of other problems? Do we get any oil? No. Do we get gold? No. All we get is rocks. If the East Timorese are ungrateful after what we have done for them, why should we hang on?"'

Woolcott takes this statement by Habibie at face value, as if it is indeed true that East Timor would be 'grateful' for what has been described as the worst genocide in proportion to population since the Holocaust, ie 200,000 dead out of a population of 600,000.

There is of course no mention of or allusion to this genocide in Woolcott's article, which is entirely phrased in terms of 'interests'. 'It was not in Australia's or South-East Asia's interest in 1975 for an unstable, left-wing, independent East Timor to appear. This may also be true of 2003', says Woolcott. Such is the morality of Ambassadors, States and Governments. Genocide does not rate a mention but 'interests' are all important, and those 'interests' are most certainly not the interests of the people concerned.

Appalling article on East Timor by fmr Indonesian Ambassador Richard Woolcott
'[Fmr Indonesian President] Habibie considered it illogical for Indonesia to go on subsidising a costly autonomy which might well lead to independence. He had said privately to colleagues: "Why do we have this problem when we have a mountain of other problems? Do we get any oil? No. Do we get gold? No. All we get is rocks. If the East Timorese are ungrateful after what we have done for them, why should we hang on?"'

Woolcott takes this statement by Habibie at face value, as if it is indeed true that East Timor would be 'grateful' for what has been described as the worst genocide in proportion to population since the Holocaust, ie 200,000 dead out of a population of 600,000.

There is of course no mention of or allusion to this genocide in Woolcott's article, which is entirely phrased in terms of 'interests'. 'It was not in Australia's or South-East Asia's interest in 1975 for an unstable, left-wing, independent East Timor to appear. This may also be true of 2003', says Woolcott. Such is the morality of Ambassadors, States and Governments. Genocide does not rate a mention but 'interests' are all important, and those 'interests' are most certainly not the interests of the people concerned.