Timor deal may fragment Indonesia
M.D. Nalapat
Sunday Times of India
May 2, 1999.
Title: Timor deal may fragment Indonesia
Author: M.D. Nalapat
Publication: Sunday Times of India
Date: May 2, 1999.
The agreement to be signed next week by Indonesian President B.J.
Habibie on East Timor may in the next few years lead to the
fragmentation of Indonesia amid much blood- shed. Thus far, the
country's 85 per cent Muslim population has been largely tolerant of
religious minorities, because of the multi-ethnic, multi-faith nature
of Indonesia.
The country has 583 distinct ethnic groups in its 200 million
population, as well as significant concentrations of Hindus,
Christians and Buddhists. Independence for East Timor may result in
similar demands being raised by other territories, notably Aceh, Irian
Jaya and Bali.
The East Timor agitation has long been fanned by the former colonial
power, Portugal. It is a measure of the degeneration of the United
Nations that this country is given equal status with Indonesia in
discussing the fate and future East Timor. This is akin to the United
Kingdom being asked to mediate on issues relating to India, a
proposition endorsed solely by the U.K.- centric Clinton White House
so far. By rolling back to the "rights" of the colonial era, the
U.N. has created a dangerous new precedent under pressure from NATO.
Not surprisingly, in the region only Australia is pushing hard
(together with the NATO states) for an independent East Timor that in
effect will be a NATO protectorate.
Together with Diego Garcia, now under illegal U.K. occupation, such a
neo-colony could serve as a base for NATO forces operating in the
Indian Ocean. This would increase the capability of the European
alliance to intervene in this sensitive part of Asia, decades after
they withdrew from it thanks to decolonisation. By agreeing to the
NATO diktat, President Habibe has revealed his undemocratic status.
No elected head of government would have been permitted to com-
promise national security in this manner. Interestingly, the nation's
most popular leader, Megawati Sukarnoputri, is firmly against
independence for East Timor.
By encouraging a Christian-majority province to push for independence,
the U.N. is putting at risk minorities elsewhere in Indonesia thanks
to the upsurge of Muslim fanaticism that the Timor agitation has
caused. Indonesia together with India - two countries with the
largest Muslim populations in the world has been oasis of secular
calm. Unless East Timor remains within Indonesia, that will be
threatened. For the sake of naval and other bases, NATO is putting at
risk a unique experiment in ethnic togetherness.
Besides Christians, and possibly Hindus and Buddhists, many Muslims
too are likely to attempt to break away from Jakarta once East Timor
gets statehood. This is because the people of Indonesia are fractured
into numerous groups, many with only a short history of living
peacefully together. Already, riots have broken out between different
groups in over a dozen of Indonesia's 27 provinces and territories.
The ongoing economic turmoil will make these frictions worse.
Sadly, New Delhi has thus far watched silently as a nominated head of
a friendly government prepares to launch a process that could spell
the doom of his state. India has an immense stake in Indonesia's
continuance as a multi-religious society wedded to tolerance. Else
the flames from the growing fanaticism in this once- proud nation may
reach Indian shores, just as those from the Talibanised regimes to
India's west have. If not publicly, then privately Indonesia needs to
be warned against the catastrophe that will follow the breaking away
of East Timor.
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