Gud Onya maracas1

You're ahead on balanced facts.

While PTBI is to commended on his mastery of Indo-centric, rightwing, fiction :)

Pete

maracas1,

when your military maps no longer show the land on which I live as "South Irian" and not Australia, I will stop thinking of you and your ilk as Javanese Imperialists....

SapperK9

I think there's a little confusion.

Don't you mean PTBI's/PTBI's Javanese military maps of "South Irian"? (Presumably Singapore and Malaysia are marked as "North Irian" ;)

maracas1 is, after all, an Aussie.

Pete

Still gives us the ignoble attribute of being part of the Javanese empire....

@maracas1:

You display quite naive mindset in believing that Howard can somehow arrange Indonesian govt policies. I think you should expand your horizons beyond your usual Oz-centric mindset. The fact is, Oz is a country with little power beyond its borders (except some limited power in nearby weak or failed states like PNG, ET, or Solomon Islands).

The origins of Habibie's decision to grant independence to East Timor can be found quite clearly in his autobiography, "Detik-detik yang Menentukan". His speeches prior to referendum also quite clearly indicates his eagerness to rid ET from Indonesia.

That's why ET President Ramos-Horta is so friendly towards Indonesia. He is thankful that the Indonesian govt decided to give ET its independence in 1999. He felt indebted to our country for this. Without Habibie's good grace, Ramos-Horta would still be rotting in some Melbourne apartment instead of the "president" he is today.

WRT to post-referendum violence, I believe it is the result of genuine anger from pro-Indonesian East Timorese (making-up a quarter of the population) combined with the arsonistic hobby of East Timorese (remember, 70% of Dili was burned down in a fortnight by East Timorese themselves in 2006 over some wage dispute).

For this violence, unfortunately the blame can be placed squarely into the hands of President Habibie for deciding to hold the referendum too quickly. He made his sudden decision without sufficient coordination and preparation from all parties involved, particularly the military. Hence, the security preparation was woefully inadequate to stop the usual ET arson habit.

Remember, thousands of Oz troops failed miserably in preventing 70% of Dili from being burned down by East Timorse themselves in 2006.

WRT to Oz troops, luckily Oz Army was not led by an unwise "hothead" like yourself. The wise General Cosgrove realised that INTERFET in ET were guests of the Indonesian govt, there to familiarise themselves to ET prior to taking over law and order responsibilities from Indonesian forces which planned to withdraw completely in November 1999.

As Gen Cosgrove said in farewell ceremony for Indonesian soldiers, the success of INTERFET mission is wholly thanks to the great assistance and cooperation of the "excellent" Indonesia armed forces.

WRT to Indonesian leftists, unfortunately Indonesian leftists did not share your "sympathy". The PKI (Indonesian Communist Party) were the most enthusiastic in launching Confrontation against the British neo-colonialists and imperialists (NEKOLIM) in Malaysia. Indonesian communist volunteers were responsible for the deaths of some Oz soldiers in that conflict.

@SapperK9:

Well, you can stop thinking about that now, since we never make any map calling Australia as "South Irian". LOL, where does that hilarious myth came from?