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East Timor: Genocide in Paradise
By Matthew Jardine with introduction by Noam Chomsky
Odonian Press, 1995
Reviewed by Jon Lamb Matthew Jardine is a US-based journalist and researcher who visited East Timor in July 1992, six months after the Dili massacre. In this easy-to-read book, Jardine provides an informative history of the East Timorese fight for self-determination and justice. Drawing on a wide range of references, resources and interviews, he gives a detailed yet concise account of the 20-year-long barbaric and illegal occupation of East Timor by the Suharto dictatorship. Jardine also clearly portrays the direct influence of Western powers in providing the regime with the necessary material and political support. Australia and the United States are quite rightly highlighted as the main accomplices. The right of the East Timorese to a nation of their own, Jardine explains, has been sacrificed in order to secure closer economic and strategic ties with one of the most brutal regimes in modern history. The role of the US following the invasion was instrumental in blocking Fretilin's UN representative, Jose Ramos Horta, from gaining greater international support for East Timor. As the US ambassador to the UN, Patrick Moynihan boasted, "The [US] Department of State desired that the United Nations prove utterly ineffective in whatever means it undertook. This task was given to me, and I carried it forward with no inconsiderable success." The Ford administration also dramatically increased direct military aid to Indonesia to quicken the pace of "integration". The Australian government's response has also been central to diffusing international scrutiny. Whitlam knew well in advance that a bloody invasion would take place. He had worked arduously at fostering a close relationship with Suharto. As he stated, "It goes without saying that the number one [foreign policy] goal of my government is to strengthen relations with Indonesia". Fraser continued this strategic direction in foreign policy, doubling military assistance to Indonesia between 1975 and 1981. In January 1978, Australia became the only Western nation to grant Indonesia recognition of its sovereignty over East Timor, thus paving the way for the eventual signing of the Timor Gap Treaty. The concluding chapters of East Timor: Genocide in Paradise covers recent developments within East Timor, including the role of FALINTIL, CNRM, the Diplomatic Coordinating Commission and the Clandestine Front. Jardine also looks at the growing international campaign by human rights and solidarity groups in support of a free East Timor and points out that this support is coming at a crucial time for the independence movement. Jardine presents an interesting array of facts, quotes and figures, and provides an invaluable reference guide to the solidarity activist or anyone wondering why the Timorese people have been denied justice for so long. It makes a good accompaniment to other recently published books on East Timor, such as A Critical View of Western Journalism and Scholarship on East Timor by Gunn and Lee.