I think with the shadow over his morality, Clinton has zero chance of the Nobel peace prize.

Sharkfin,
your opinion of the capabilities of the Indonesian Military is somewhat over generous for an Army that has not really been tested in a theatre of war, unless you count defenceless civilians in Aceh and 24 years trying to snuff out the East Timorese Resistance.

The groups that Australia encountered near the border, retreated when faced with Australian trained troops they found weren't unarmed journalists.

Besides, in the event that Indonesia did decide to take Australia on they would have found they had bitten off more than they could chew.

The last thing we would need would be the US to save us; with their record of collateral damage we would really be in deep doodo.

No,absolutely not. I have just finished reading "From the Place of the Dead: Bishop Belo and the Struggle for East Timor". The United States,Australia and the Vatican are responsible for the deaths of thousands. And now there's West Papua !!

@maracas1:

WRT East Timorese petroleum fund, it's good idea if the East Timorese govt spread that money to local people so they could start consuming. With no domestic industry and with ET's imports mostly coming from Indonesia, most of that money will arrive into the hands of Indonesian exporters anyway.

WRT Habibie's motives, from his speeches prior to the referendum, it is clear that his intentions and expectations of holding the referendum was to kick East Timor out of Indonesia since it is becoming an unaffordable blackhole for central govt subsidies.

WRT to Howard's letter, well Howard is not the creator of the concept of "referendum". We were very familiar with that concept. The main reason for Habibie's decision to give independence to ET is his belief that ET was not part of Indonesia's original 1945 territorial claim and hence can be disposed (or acquired) at our leisure.

WRT to referendum results, I can say the same about the results of Western Australia's 1933 referendum to secede from Commonwealth of Australia, in which 68% of Western Australians voted for independence. This really shows how low Western Australians view Canberra rule. You were lucky King George V refused to grant separate status and that Western Australians were die-hard loyalists of the British crown, despite their disdain for Canberra rule.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Secessionism_in_Western_Australia#1933_referendum

WRT to Australian INTERFET presence in 1999, Australian soldiers in ET were just tourists who were picked-up from the airport, given accomodation, and driven on sightseeing tours by Indonesian soldiers. As INTERFET commander General Peter Cosgrove said, Oz soldiers were "invited guests of Indonesian govt" which is the case for three months until ET was officially expelled from Indonesia by Act of Indonesian Parliament in November 1999.

Indonesia planned to withdraw from ET anyways, but we did not mind to baby-sit some Aussie tourists.

PICS OF OZ TOURISTS BEING SHOWN AROUND EAST TIMOR BY INDONESIAN SOLDIERS:
http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v291/purnomor/purnomor/UT0007469.jpg
http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v291/purnomor/purnomor/UT0007414.jpg

Had we want to crush the INTERFET, we would have easily massacred them since there were 20,000 Indonesian troops in ET compared with 2,000 INTERFET soldiers.

@maracas1:

WRT to Oz support for Indonesia during our war of independence, it was interesting that a small section of the Oz population (the leftist dock workers and labour unions) supported us against the Dutch. This is thanks to the leadership and agitation of a small number of Indonesian leftist agitators who convinced the Oz leftists to support Indonesian cause.

These people were political prisoners of the Dutch colonial regime, who were brought to Australia by the Dutch to escape the Japanese invasion. In Queensland, NSW, and Victoria, these Indonesians eventually mixed with the local leftist associations. Many married Australian women. Eventually, they managed to get the Oz leftists to support Indonesian independence fight after the war. Just shows how a small number of Indonesians can influence politics in Western countries.

BTW LOL, you sound too young to be alive in 1940s. ;)

Proud to be Indonesian:

You express pretty extreme Nationalism in your efforts to obscure the motivations of President Habibe and John Howard.
Both these leaders were well aware of how Indonesia conducted the 1967 'referendum' in West Papua and how the Indonesians used a combination of deception,bribery and intimidation to achieve the result which was not in fact a true referendum of the people, but a consensus of appointed 'representatives'

Indonesia proceeded to intimidate the Timorese indicating to them in no uncertain terms that there would be bloodshed if they opted for Independence. so much for your assertion that Indonesia wanted to 'kick out Timor from Indonesia'.

After the referendum, the TNI/kopassus led pro Indonesian Militias wreaked havoc as they proceeded to murder people who were known to have campaigned for Independence whilst the Indonesian Military stood by and watched when they were supposed to be enforcing law-and-order

With Reference to the fighting prowess of Indonesian Troops who have never been tested in a war,but practice on unarmed women and children and old people the ratio of 10 to 1 in Indonesia's favour is insufficient against Australian Troops who do not massacre unarmed civiliams,seeking sanctuary in a church.

Your research on the assistance of the Australian Left to the cause of Indonesian Independence and analysis does not reflect the reality of the solidarity between Australians and Indonesian Activists. The relationships endured well into Independence until Suharto's bloody military terror that systematically murdered anyone suspected of left politics.

Thank you for the compliment ( that I sound young, not born before 1940) I have been retired for the last 11 years from 36 years work on the waterfront.