
Issue No 14		21 May 1999

Letters to the Editor

Timor: Look at the Map!

Dear Editor,

Could all those people currently advocating for that fashionable cause - East Timorese Independance - please take a look at the map?

Sure, Djarkarta has handled the province with exemplary brutality and incompetance (or so it seems. But that's a matter to be addressed and a problem to be solved, rather than a reason for instituting what can only be a fiction.

East Timor is a territory about half as big again as Tasmania, completely embedded in the chain of islands that comprise Indonesia. It is separated from West Timor by one of those silly colonial-era lines on a map. And, evidently, independence is not the desire of a substantial proportion of the people who live there. What sort of independence could they possibly achieve? Will they have their own army? Sign a military pact with China, perhaps?

Or is it possible that the whole push for East Timorese independence is being powered by some part of the international oil cartel, seeking to abscond with a significant part of Indonesia's oil resources?

Let's advocate for what is possible - a measure of regional autonomy, and assistance for the institution of good regional government within an Indonesian democracy.

Simon Hasleton

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Issue 14 contents

Interview: Madame President
The new President of the NSW Legislative Council Meredith Burgmann has spent most of her life opposing authority. Now she has a chance to exercise it.

Unions: The ACTU Faces the Labour Hire Challenge
The enormous growth in labour hire and contracting out employment is creating a big challenge for unions worldwide.

History: The Wartime Women�s Employment Board
During World War II policy makers were forced to embraqce a unique wage-fixing method.

Labour Review: What's New from the Information Centre
View the latest issue of Labour Review, Labor Council's fortnightly newsletter for unions.

Review: Origlass Biographer Keeps Red Flag Flying
The self proclaimed 'ultra-democrat', Hall Greenland, has described his relationship with the Balmain legend Nick Origlass as "Freudian".

International: Paddy's Payback
But for the Timorese many Australian diggers, like retired wharfie Paddy Kenneally, would have died at the hands of the Japanese during WW2. Now it's time to return the favour...

Campus: Tales from the Frontline
This week's successful VSU protests seem to have killed off Kemp's ideological agenda. We go live to the protest

» Call For IR Crisis Talks as Country Conference Looms

» Workers Sacked for Body Hire

» British Union Secures Free Net Access

» Cab Charge Wars: SBS Workers Fight for Their Lives

» State Wage Case Smooth - Except for Brack

» FOI Loopholes Could Leave Public Servants Exposed

» Drug Summit Misses Tokin� Gesture

» Public Will Lose Again From Rail Sackings

» Robin Hood Strikes Again

» CPSU shows it cares�

» Unions Take Action on Timor, Stolen Generation

» Guest Report

» Sport

» Trades Hall

» Piers Watch

» Faction Calls Miss Point

» Don't Ignore the Class Divide

» Timor: Look at the Map!

» Songs of the Revolution Feedback

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