A third of the people of East Timor were put to death by the Suharto dictatorship during Indonesia's 24-year occupation. Yet the American media skirted this epic crime until shortly before the 1999 referendum...     John Pilger 19Feb01

1999 proved to be decisive for East Timor's independence:

January 27: Le Monde June 99 "[O]n 27 January Jakarta [Habbie] dropped a bombshell. If the Timorese did not accept the [degree of] autonomy they were being offered, the government would have to ask the People's Consultative Assembly (MPR), to be elected in June, to rescind the 1976 decision to integrate East Timor ... the offer seemed too good to be true." May 5 Indonesia, Portugal and the UN agree that East Timor should decide their future vis-a-via direct ballot. August 30, East Timorese participate in a UN sponsored referendum and vote overwhelmingly to be an independent country. September 4 -- announcement of vote results East Timor anti-independence militias, backed by the Indonesian army, begin a campaign of murder, arson, and forced expulsions. September 6: Militia even hit the Red Cross mid-September: The silence from Washington is noticeable October 19, the day the UN found a mass grave, the Indonesian parliament               accepted the East Timor vote for independence.

Australia led the UN force into East Timor in September 99. An Aussie carries a child who fainted from lack of food. The food lines are for rice.

East Timor an Independent Nation "Much of its infrastructure lies in ruins, destroyed by anti-independence militia gangs after the territory voted to break away from Indonesia in a U.N.-sponsored referendum in 1999."   WSJ 13jun01 The pre-vote preparations for the forthcoming September "massacre" by the army-trained East Timorese militia is covered by Chomsky (Le Monde Oct '99)

October 20, 1999, the day after Parliament granted independence to East Timor, Wahid was voted president by the Consultative Assembly or MPR. It is newly elected President Wahid, not Habbie (who is discredited with "losing East Timor"), who has to deal with the international concern that is now widespread:

International outrage over the September '99 violence in East Timor undermined the tremendous political power of General Wiranto. The (former) head of the armed forces AND minister of defense came under immediate pressure for the role of the military in the rampage against the independence movement. It was difficult for Wahid to fire Wiranto:

President Wahid made the decision to suspend General Wiranto only hours after saying he could keep his job as security minister.   BBC 14feb00

Wiranto eventually resigned as Security Chief on 16may00. A time line on Wiranto's fall from power is given by Businessweek 14Feb00.

According to a February 2001 article in a web site representing the Fourth International, the political alliances necessary to impeach Wahid in 2001 began with the dismissal of Wiranto in 2000. This article, and others, support the view that Megawati's PDP-P party and the old Suharto party, Golkar, are likely to be the center of power in the future. Megawati is not regarded as a strong individual. Despite being the daughter of left-leaning Sukarno, she is a regarded as a "fierce nationalist" widely expected to protect the military. East Timor's independence obviously inspired the already active successionist movements in Aceh and West Papua, but, if Megawati lives up (or down) to her reputation, the likelihood of another province breaking free of Javanese control may be small.

As of 2001 calls for an International Tribunal to investigate crimes against humanity during the September 1999 rampage by East Timorese militia continue.

    OIL   and the Timor Gap Treaty
  Lasting monument to the Presidency of Wahid:

In talks in Jakarta last week, Indonesian representatives agreed that following the separation of East Timor from Indonesia, the area covered by the Treaty was now outside Indonesia's jurisdiction and that the Treaty ceased to be in force as between Australia and Indonesia when Indonesian authority over East Timor transferred to the United Nations.   We wish to place on record the Australian Government's appreciation of Indonesia's constructive approach to these talks.   Australia and UNTAET Timor Gap Agreement