Australian Neo-Colonialism in East Timor By William Hardiker

Australian Neo-Colonialism in East Timor

By William Hardiker

Al-Jazeerah, June 28, 2006

The Howard government wants to force regime change in East Timor, replacing the government of Prime Minister Mari Alkatiri with an administration more amenable to Australia’s requirements.

The two month old rebellion by sacked army officials and police deserters in East Timor has led to the deployment of an Australian military “peace keeping force” in the capital Dili. Ostensibly for humanitarian reasons, the Australian military presence is in fact to ensure Australia’s economic interests in the region are not jeopardized. The deployment has been accompanied by a media campaign in Australia denouncing and demonizing the democratically elected Prime Minister, Mari Alkatiri.

Australian academic, Helen Hill author of “stirring of Nationalism in East Timor”, argued in a recent newspaper article that the reason Alkatiri is hated by the Howard government is because “whilst being the only East Timorese leader standing up to Australian government bullying tactics, he has also been building links with Asian countries such as Malaysia, China, Cuba, Brazil and former colonial power, Portugal. To help diversify East Timor’s economic ties”.

Alkatiri’s ideology flies in the face of Australian Prime Minister John Howard’s neo-conservative government. He is an “economic nationalist” who aspires to a State owned petroleum company assisted by China, Brazil and Malaysia which will enable East Timor to benefit from its own oil and gas. Alkatiri has also spoken out against privatization of electricity and succeeded in setting up a “single desk” pharmaceutical store despite opposition from the World Bank. He has also refused too take conditional aid from The World Bank and the IMF, invited Cuban doctors to work in rural health centres and help in the establishment of a new medical school. This and the fact that Alkatiri was educated and spent 24 years in exile in Marxist Mozambique have been grounds to attack him by opponents in Australia as hallmarks of a communist leader. To all intents and purposes, Alkatiri is simply implementing good and decent policy which is fair for all the people of East Timor not dissimilar to Hugo Chavez in Venezuela. Speaking on ABC radio recently, James Dunn, an advisor to the United Nations in East Timor (UNMET), described Alkatiri as “a politician who had close relations with the people and an efficient worker and good bureaucrat”.

In contrast to Mari Alkatiri, the rebel leader Major Alfredo Reinado, a former exile in Australia is believed to have been trained at the National Defence Academy in Canberra. He is Australia’s preferred candidate for the Prime Ministership.

The Australian presence in Dili has nothing to do with humanitarian reasons. The deployment has nothing to do with restoring peace and stability. Like the recent intervention into the affairs of the Solomon Islands, it is in fact an act of neo-colonial aggression to further Australian economic and strategic interests in the region. The Howard government wants to force regime change in East Timor, replacing the government of Prime Minister Alkatiri with one more subservient. The key factor is the control of oil and gas. Alkatiri’s “crime” is that he has refused to immediately buckle to Australia’s demands over the huge oil and gas deposits in the Timor Sea and that he has been liaising and seeking economic and political support from Australia’s rivals in Europe and Asia.

The truth in regards to the present situation in East Timor is being blanketed by the media and all political parties within Australia have comprehensively failed to make they’re objections heard in relation to the governments undemocratic and unjust activities.

Earth, a planet hungry for peace

Apartheid Wall


The Israeli Land-Grab Apartheid Wall built inside the Palestinian territories, here separating Abu Dis from occupied East Jerusalem. (IPC, 7/4/04).

The Israeli apartheid (security) wall around Palestinian population centers in the West Bank, like a Python. (Alquds,10/25/03).

Opinions expressed in various sections are the sole responsibility of their authors and they may not represent Al-Jazeerah's.

editor@aljazeerah.info