U.S. president William Clinton argued in a speech in Washington, D.C., September 9 that the stakes for imperialism are broader than East Timor alone, also having repercussions for stability and imperialist investments in Indonesia and the Asian region as a whole. Indonesia, Clinton said, "is the fourth-largest country in the world and the largest Islamic country.… It has the capacity…to swamp its neighbors in a sea of disorder if it fails." He demanded: "If Indonesia does not end the violence, it must invite — it must invite — the international community to assist in restoring security."
Amid reports of splits in the government and military, and a possible coup against Indonesian president B.J. Habibe, the initial action of the Indonesian regime was to refuse to allow imperialist forces into East Timor and instead impose martial law there. In response, Canberra and Wellington, backed increasingly by Washington and other imperialist governments, stepped up their pressure on the Indonesian regime to allow their troops in.
Clinton suspended all military ties with Indonesia and hinted at economic sanctions. He warned that Indonesia's economy would be "crashed by this if they don't fix it" because foreign investment would collapse, and "the economic consequences for them are going to be very dire." The World Bank and International Monetary Fund (IMF) threatened to cut off further lending, with the IMF delaying payment of its next loan of $450 million.
Following Washington's lead, Wellington also cut its military collaboration, Britain suspended arms sales, and Canberra canceled three joint military exercises with Indonesia. Alongside this, an international occupation force began to be put together.
While initiated by Canberra, this force faltered until Washington gave it the go-ahead. Then a range of governments indicated their willingness to be part of it, and ultimately Jakarta relented. The Australian government has already committed 2,000 of the 5,000 troops it has on short-notice standby, while Wellington is initially sending 350 troops. Both governments already have warships in waters near East Timor, as have Washington and London.
Washington has indicated it will provide communications and intelligence services and the troops needed to operate and defend them on the ground, and planes to transport troops from other countries. British foreign secretary Robin Cook reported that 250 British army Nepalese Gurkha troops were ready to go within days to East Timor. The Portuguese government, the former colonial power in East Timor, has indicated its participation, as have officials in Canada, France, Sweden, Japan, and Brazil.
Many of Indonesia's Southeast Asian neighbors initially held back from condemning Jakarta. But by the end of the APEC gathering officials of Malaysia, Singapore, Thailand, and the Philippines had agreed to be part of the imperialist-led occupation.
To rally support behind military intervention, the capitalist politicians are relying on the impact on public opinion of the reign of terror being carried out in East Timor.
East Timorese independence leader Jose Ramos-Horta flew to Auckland to lobby APEC leaders to intervene immediately, without waiting for Indonesian agreement. Daily protest demonstrations outside APEC venues here also focused on demanding the imperialist powers act more urgently against Jakarta.
UN Human Rights Commissioner Mary Robinson called for a war crimes tribunal to investigate human rights violations in East Timor. On September 12 the Indonesian government bowed to this pressure and agreed to allow a multinational force to be sent to East Timor, under the auspices of the United Nations.
A day earlier, the Jakarta Post reported that Indonesia's main political parties had called on the government to freeze diplomatic ties with Canberra because of "Australia's intervention in Indonesia's domestic affairs," and that "a wave of rallies against Australia" had taken place in Jakarta and other major Indonesian cities. The Indonesian regime has often tried to justify its 24-year occupation of East Timor by portraying it as a nationalist measure in defense of Indonesian sovereignty.
The intervention forces assembled by Australia and New Zealand are their largest since the Vietnam war. It marks a new step in the rulers' drive in both countries to reestablish their prerogative, since their defeat in Vietnam, to intervene militarily against working people in the broader region.
A full-page opinion piece in the New Zealand Herald, written by Sydney Morning Herald correspondent David Lague, called for a dramatic increase in Australia's forces and for a more aggressive military stance in Asia. Lague opined, "the survival of Indonesia is far from clear, the threat of war looms in the Taiwan Strait, tension between India and Pakistan could erupt into serious conflict, and belligerent North Korea remains dangerously unpredictable. It is now a matter of some urgency to rebuild the Australian military."
A debate has been occurring in the New Zealand parliament about the character of its armed forces, with the government accusing opposition parties of "trying to deny New Zealand a role in world affairs."
Driving these steps to use military power is the need for the imperialist rulers to protect their investments in the region — to ensure payment on the immense debts owed by the semi-colonial countries to international financial institutions, while extracting more profits from the labor of workers and farmers and forcing open the door for imperialist companies to buy up factories, banks, and land.
Janet Roth and Michael Tucker are members of the Service & Food Workers Union in Auckland.
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