The Forum > Article Comments > Downer will not be able to rewrite history in East Timor > Comments
Downer will not be able to rewrite history in East Timor : Comments
By Bruce Haigh, published 23/7/2008If Australia wants to have a reasonably healthy long-term relationship with Indonesia, unpleasant matters need to be dealt with.
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I'm sure the East Timor activity was winked at in Jakarta, at least at the operational levels where winking would work in those circumstances.
Getting Indonesia to finally understand it was not welcome among East Timorese was the real aim of Australian policy. Making it possible for them to leave with some credibility intact was an essential ingredient of that process. No one condones military mob behaviour (least of all ordinary Indonesians), but the outcome of the crisis was the desirable one. Can't we leave it at that?