This second book oi IPJET comes out at a crucial moment of East Timor s struggle

or self-determination. The economic, social and political turmoil in Indonesia, culminating

n Suharto s fall, has changed completely the environment of that struggle, but not its

raison d 8tre. I shall begin this introduction with a short explanation of why we have to

intensify our efforts for East Timor s liberation. Only then shall I dedicate some words tc

this book and its origin.

When Habibie took office as President of Indonesia someone in an Internet

~ewsgroup said he was no more than a ~unar~ w . At least concerning his basic stance

~n the question of East Timor, he seems to justify that nickname. In his own words or

Lhrough the mouth of his (previously Suharto s) Foreign Minister Alatas, he keeps saying,

as Suharto did, that East Timor is as an integral part of Indonesia, and that its annexation

is irreversible. Up to this point, nothing new.

What is indeed new is that Habibie and Alatas, forced by a stronger than ever

East Timorese resistance to the occupation, a growing solidarity with the Timor cause

among the Indonesian democratic opposition and signs that the United States and Western Europe are reviewing their position on the issue, have unwillingly brought the question

of the political status of the territory to the scene. For more than twenty years East Timor

was, according to the dictatorship in Jakarta, an internal affair of Indonesia. They were at

most prepared to discuss the human rights situation in the territory -this did not mean

that they were willing to improve it. Every time Suharto and Alatas mentioned East

Timor, theieemphasis was on the so-called development Indonesia was bringing to the