Self-determination in East Timor

Ian Martin

This unique inside account traces events in East Timor in 1999. Ian Martin, the UN Secretary-General's special representative in East Timor, describes what led President Habibie to offer the East Timorese a choice between autonomy within Indonesia and full independence. Martin considers whether the UN was wise to proceed as it did despite Indonesia's refusal to cede respondibility for security during this period.

Lynne Rienner, ISBN 158826033X (pbk), August 2001, US$ 12.95

A dirty little war

John Martinkus

The previously untold eyewitness story of Indonesia's sustained campaign of terror from 1997 to 1999 against one of Australia's closest neighbours. Written with urgency and compassion by a world renowned Australian journalist, it is a story filled with drama, horror and political intrigue. Foreword by Xanana Gusmao.

Random House Australia, 2001, 428pp, ISBN 1-74051-016-X (pbk), Rrp AU$ 24.95

Bitter flowers, sweet flowers

Richard Tanter, Mark Selden, Stephen R Shalom (eds)

East Timor's independence constitutes one of the final and most poignant moments in a long and bitter history of European colonisation and decolonisation. East Timor provides a litmus test for issues of international responsibility, posing questions of double standards in unusually clear-cut form. Eyewitness accounts of 1999 supplement essays on the changing character of the Indonesian state and on the international dimensions.

Pluto Press Australia, 2001, ISBN 1-86403-170-0 (pbk), Rrp AU$32.95; Rowman & Littlefield, 2001, 304pp, ISBN 0742509680 (pbk).

Kill the radio

Dorothea Rosa Herliany

In a strongly patriarchal society, such rage and aggression as we find in these poems is remarkable. For many readers, not only Indonesians by any means, these emotions offer them a previously unknown potential for liberation. (Harry Aveling). A bilingual edition, edited and translated by Harry Aveling, with drawings by Agung Kurniawan.

Magelang (Indonesia): Indonesiatera, 2001, 127pp, ISBN 979-9375-23-1 (pbk), contact email tera@magelang.wasantara.net.id, tel +62-293-325 630

Secrets need words: Indonesian poetry, 1966-1998

Harry Aveling (translator)

'Indonesia's future is two-hundred million gaping mouths./ Indonesia's future is 15-watt light globes, some white and some black, lighting alternately./ Indonesia's future is a game of Ping Pong, going on all day and all night with a ball shaped like a goose egg./ Give/ Indonesia/ Back/ to me.' This bilingual anthology introduces readers to the political complexities and samizdat poetic salvos that marked the Suharto era. Short introductory notes and excellent translations throughout. (Publishers Weekly)

Ohio Univ Pr, 2001, ISBN 0896802167 (pbk), US$26.00

Representing the Japanese Occupation of Indonesia

Remco Raben (ed)

These personal testimonies and public images of the years 1942-45 is not a history of war and occupation. Instead it offers a survey of the way in which Indonesia, Japan, and the Netherlands have shaped the memory of that episode. Comparison of the memories in the three countries brings out national patterns of memory, as they are expressed from the most personal level of oral testimony to the most public representation in monuments and films.

Waanders, June 2000, 240pp, ISBN 9040093466 (pbk), US$50

On-line

East Timor: Justice past, present and future

Amnesty International

UN Security Council Resolution 1272 tasked Untaet, among other things, with institutionalising the rule of law in order to promote and protect human rights. This comprehensive report warns that the task has not been completed, and new patterns of human rights violations are emerging. It contains recommendations for Untaet, the East Timor constituent assembly, and the international community.

Amnesty International ASA 57/001/2001 , 27 July 2001 (www.amnesty.org)

East Timor's political parties and groupings

Pat Walsh

A comprehensive set of briefing notes, with contact details, for all the political parties taking part in East Timor's August 2001 election. Based on interviews with party leaders themselves.

Australian Council for Overseas Aid, April 2001 ( www.acfoa.asn)

International Crisis Group

1. Indonesian - US military ties

Contrary to strict US Congress conditions on the resumption of military aid to Indonesia following severe rights violations in East Timor, the Bush Administration has requested an expansion of the International Military Education and Training (IMET) program. ICG Indonesia Project Director Harold Couch warns that 'dropping tough conditions in the near future would send exactly the wrong message to Indonesia on military reform, the role of the armed forces in society and its conduct in conditions of turmoil especially in provinces like Aceh and Irian Jaya.' (17 July 2001)

2. Bad debt: The politics of financial reform in Indonesia (13 March 2001)

3. Aceh: Why military force won't bring lasting peace (12 June 2001)

4. Aceh: Can autonomy stem the conflict? (27 June 2001)

5. Communal violence in Indonesia: Lessons from Kalimantan (27 June 2001)

All ICG reports: www.crisisweb.org

ExxonMobil and the Indonesian armed forces

Robert Jereski

Full title: 'The conflict in Aceh, and US interests in promoting a free market, stability and human rights in South East Asia: An examination of the context and impacts of ExxonMobil's security arrangements with the Indonesian armed forces'. An appendix provides a nearly exhaustive listing of the findings of human rights organisations, the State Department, the UN and other publicly available sources, about human rights violations committed by the armed forces in Aceh, some of whom ExxonMobil hires. Robert Jereski is the former executive director of the International Forum for Aceh.

June 2001 (preventconflict.org/portal/main/research/jereski.htm - Harvard University Humanitarian Policy and Conflict Studies Program portal)

Foreign Relations of the US, 1964-68

US State Department

Volume XXVI of the documentary histories, sub-titled 'Indonesia; Malaysia-Singapore; Philippines', includes significant new documentation on the Indonesian armys campaign against the Indonesia Communist Party (PKI) in 1965-66, which brought to power the dictator Suharto. The CIA attempted to withdraw this volume from circulation, but it was posted on the internet anyway by George Washington University.

27 July 2001 (www.gwu.edu/~nsarchiv/)

Indonesia's transformation and the stability of Southeast Asia

Angel Rabasa & Peter Chalk

This Rand report considers the most likely short-term scenario for Indonesia to be a variant of military rule, an Islamic-dominated government, or national disintegration. One of several conservative US think tank reports on Indonesia and Southeast Asia this year (see also the Council on Foreign Relations report at www.cfr.org/p/cpub.html#taskforce), it urges re-engagement with the Indonesian military and support for Indonesia's 'stability and territorial integrity'.

July 2001 (www.rand.org/publications/MR/MR1344/)