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Political parties & human rights & social justice in our region
East Timor Friendship Association and Australia West Papua Association Media Statement - August 20, 2010
In a joint announcement today, the Australia West Papua Association-SA and the Australia East Timor Friendship Association SA Inc called on Australians to vote for parties that will give a priority to human rights in our region in the forthcoming federal election.
On 3 August, they sent a list of 5 questions to candidates of the major political parties about what they would be prepared to do about important justice and human rights issues in the Asia Pacific region. The questions were sent to the candidates of the Liberal, Labor, Australian Democrats, the Greens, Family First and Socialist Alliance parties. (The full text of the letter is below).
The questions were as follows:
1. If elected, would you be willing to seek or support a move by the Australian Government to review the oil and gas treaty (CMATS) that exists between Australia and Timor Leste to ensure that the Timorese are given a fair share of the tax revenues from the oil and gas in the Timor Sea?
(Currently, Timor Leste receives less than its entitlement due to an agreement forced on it by the Howard Government. The Rudd and Gillard Governments have not changed this situation).
2. Would you support an Australian Government initiative to obtain justice for the five victims of Balibo and their families?
3. Are you prepared to support the cessation of all cooperation with the TNI (the Indonesian military) and KOPASSUS (the TNI division with the worst history of human rights abuses) until all officers accused of serious violations against human rights have been brought to justice?
4. Would you support the Australian Government raising this issue in the UN, asking all nations to halt all military cooperation with KOPASSUS and the TNI until all the war criminals in their ranks have been brought to justice through an international tribunal?
5. Would you support the Australian Government seeking a UN administered plebiscite in West Papua so that the people can determine their own political future with all TNI personnel removed from the territory beforehand to prevent the carnage and destruction that occurred in Timor Leste in 1999?
The parties that committed to agreeing to support all the actions in the questions were the Socialist Alliance and the Australian Democrats. Both have had a commitment over many years to justice and human rights for those who have suffered repression at the hands of KOPASSUS and the TNI.
While the Greens candidates did not answer all the questions, they do have policies to support changing the scandalous situation whereby Timor Leste receives less than its fair share of the profits from the oil and gas in the Timor Sea and are also committed to supporting the demand by Timor Leste that it have an oil refinery erected on its soil. The Greens have a policy to support self determination for the people of West Papua.
Family First did not answer any questions, but expressed friendship and support for Timor Leste.
The Associations received no response whatsoever from either of Australia's two major political parties, the Liberal Party and the ALP. It is acknowledged that both parties have supported aid programs to Timor Leste, but remain silent on issues like bringing TNI criminals to justice, changing the scandalous oil and gas agreement with Timor Leste that sees profits that rightly belong to the poorest nation in the region being taken by the wealthiest.
Further, the two major parties have a long history of cooperation with the TNI, refusing support independence for Timor Leste until 1999 and have refused to support a process for self determination for the people of West Papua. They are both committed to the Lombok Treaty with the Indonesian Republic, which opposes any breakup of the Indonesian Republic even though the TNI is committing gross human rights abuses in West Papua, Acheh and parts of the original Indonesia eg Maluku (the Moluccas).
The two associations in the next few days will disseminate the results of this exercise to its members, members of other human rights groups and the public at large and will urge them to put human rights in the region high on their priority when they vote on election day and give their preferences to the Socialist Alliance, the Australian Democrats and the Greens.
The Committees of both associations urge all Australians to lobby all political parties to ensure that the next parliament will have a greater commitment to international social justice and human rights than has been the case with previous parliaments.
Australia East Timor Friendship
Association SA INC
PO Box 240
Goodwood Sa 5034 Australia
Email: aetfa.sa@gmail.com
Australia West Papua Association
- SA
PO Box 29
Kilkenny Sa 5009 Australia
E-mail: info@awpa-sa.org.au
3 August 2010
Name
Address
Dear
The Australia-East Timor Friendship Association of SA (AETFA) and the Australia West Papua Association SA (AWPA have longstanding concerns over injustices inflicted on the peoples of Timor Leste and West Papua.
We take the opportunity of the forthcoming election to seek the support of prospective members of the Australian Parliament to rectify a number of injustices which should be amenable to any Australian Government committed to human rights.
AETFA and AWPA would be greatly encouraged if we could obtain a pledge from parliamentary candidates to seek or support government action on these injustices, should they succeed in being elected.
One concern is the inequitable distribution of oil revenue from the Greater Sunrise project in the Timor Sea. Under duress, the Government of Timor Leste has agreed to a treaty with Australia which overrides the entitlement they would normally receive under international maritime law (the UN Convention of the Law of the Sea), and grants them only 50% of tax revenues from Greater Sunrise. Furthermore the Timor Leste Government is bound by the treaty not to seek reconsideration of maritime boundaries for fifty years.
We would be greatly encouraged if candidates for the Australian Parliament would give a commitment to seek or support a revisiting of the Treaty on Certain Maritime Arrangements in the Timor Sea (CMATS Treaty).
We also seek the views of parliamentary candidates on achieving justice for the five Australian journalists murdered by the Indonesian military (TNI) in Balibo in 1975. After Australian Governments had repeatedly supported the absurd proposition that all five journalists were killed in crossfire, the facts have been clearly set out in the findings of the NSW coroner that Indonesian Special Forces deliberately killed the five Australian journalists at Balibo in 1975.
The coroner recommended that federal authorities consider prosecuting two individuals. Although technically the decision on whether to prosecute lies with the Australian Federal Police (AFP) & the Public Prosecutor; it is virtually certain that the AFP will base any such decision on political advice.
It is well documented that the TNI has been responsible for the deaths of at least 183,000 East Timorese between 1975-1999, hundreds of thousands of West Papuans since 1962, along with huge numbers of Achehnese and citizens of Indonesia itself since 1965.
When the two major parties
in this country are putting an emphasis on law and order in Australia,
it seems logical that the same principle should apply to the peoples in
our region as well, and that Australia should not
support governments or organisations
that commit genocide and other gross crimes against humanity.
Furthermore, it is our belief that Australia should not stay quiet on the issue of seeking justice for the East Timorese and West Papuan peoples over the multiple war crimes and crimes against humanity committed by the TNI and its most abusive element, KOPASSUS.
No senior Indonesian military personnel have ever been prosecuted in stark contrast to war-criminals in Bosnia, Rwanda or Cambodia. An International War Crimes Tribunal has yet to be set up to deal with the crimes by the TNI.
Accordingly we would be grateful for your response to the following questions:
1. If elected, would you be willing to seek or support a move by the Australian Government to review the CMATS treaty to ensure that the people of Timor Leste are given a fair share of tax revenues from the oil and gas in the Timor Sea?
2. Would you support an Australian Government initiative to obtain justice for the five victims of Balibo and their families?
3. Are you prepared to support the cessation of all cooperation with the TNI and KOPASSUS until all officers accused of serious violations against human rights have been brought to justice?
4. Would you support the Australian Government raising this issue in the UN, asking all nations to halt all military cooperation with KOPASSUS and the TNI until all the war criminals in their ranks have been brought to justice through an international tribunal?
5. Would you support the Australian Government seeking a UN administered plebiscite in West Papua, with all TNI personnel removed from the territory to prevent the carnage and destruction that occurred in Timor Leste in 1999?
The Committees seek replies to these questions before the elections because we will be sending information to our members and other similar organisations that promote human rights and social justice, advising voters on the response of political parties to these questions.
We want to be confident that the next parliament will have a greater commitment to international social justice and human rights than has been the case with previous parliaments.
Yours faithfully
Andrew (Andy) Alcock
Information Officer
Australia East Timor Friendship
Association (SA) Inc
Phone: 08 83710480
Email: andyalcock@internode.on.net
Dave Arkins
Secretary
Australia West Papua Association
(SA)
Phone: (08) 83454480
Email: dave-arkins@bigpond.com.au
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