7 September 1999
E&OE……………………………………………………………………………………
SUBJECTS: East Timor
LYNEHAM:
Prime Minister, welcome again to Nightline.
PRIME MINISTER:
Pleasure.
LYNEHAM:
How close is President Habibie tonight to agreeing to a UN peacekeeping force in East Timor?
PRIME MINISTER:
That’s very hard to read. We are putting maximum pressure, the international community is. Our simple message now is to Indonesia, you must put your own house in order by stopping the violence and if you can’t or won’t then you must let in an international force that will do that. That is our single aim at the present time.
LYNEHAM:
The declaration of martial law there is that a fair dinkum attempt to get control or just a trick to buy more time do you think?
PRIME MINISTER:
I can’t read that. I think it’s very hard to know. I’d like to believe it means something. I’ll only believe it means something if it produces results. What is needed from Indonesia now to avoid massive international censure is a demonstration now and over the next 24 and 48 hours that the situation on the ground in East Timor has improved. Now, it doesn’t matter how many declarations are made unless that happens the rest of the world is going to condemn Indonesia and her international reputation will be done enormous damage.
LYNEHAM:
Okay. Let’s say that the martial law situation does not change the violence, the disorder on the ground, what happens then?
PRIME MINISTER:
Well, we would hope that there’d be enough international pressure to persuade the Indonesian Government to accept an international peacekeeping force. And Australia will contribute in a leading way to that force. I have already told the United Nations we would contribute up to 2,000 Australian troops.
LYNEHAM:
How quickly?
PRIME MINISTER:
We could deploy them within 48 to 72 hours because we have been preparing for this eventuality for months. And the fact that we would be able to deploy what would be the largest assembly of Australian troops overseas in more than 30 years within 48 to 72 hours is the course we have been planning and preparing and anticipating this eventuality now for months.
LYNEHAM:
But under what conditions Prime Minister?
PRIME MINISTER:
We would only deploy them if it were under a United Nations mandate, if the Indonesian Government agreed and if there were other countries of sufficient commitment also involved then I believe that last condition could easily be fulfilled.
LYNEHAM:
But can you be sure that Jakarta’s agreement would mean anything to the military leaders in East Timor? There’s over 20,000 fully armed troops there.
PRIME MINISTER:
Indeed and that is one of the reasons why people who just at random say go in and do something without accepting that that involves in effect going to war with Indonesia why they’re so wrong. Of course we need the consent of the Indonesian Government. I don’t believe that if that consent were given and given that there would be a significant number of significant countries involved in the peacekeeping force that there would be a significant degree of resistance from dissident elements in East Timor. But you can’t rule it out. Any peacekeeping operation is dangerous. Every time you send Australian troops overseas there is danger that is why you never send them overseas carelessly and you never send them overseas without being satisfied that they have the maximum protection consistent with the fact that they could be involved in a theatre of war.
LYNEHAM:
But how much risk are you prepared to take on behalf of the East Timorese people?
PRIME MINISTER:
It’s a question of balancing risk. I am prepared, and I think the Australian community is prepared, to support very strongly Australian troops being involved in a leading role in a peacekeeping operation. The Australian community on the other hand does not want us to go to war with Indonesia.
LYNEHAM:
And what about our ally, the United States?
PRIME MINISTER:
Well, we hope the Americans will join. And I am hopeful indeed a little more than hopeful, I am a bit more optimistic that they will. I told President Clinton last night that the Australian people would not understand the situation where given our past history of helping the Americans we were involved and they weren’t.
LYNEHAM:
So you don’t have to face the question you think of what will I do if the Americans don’t join in?
PRIME MINISTER:
Well, I am optimistic they will but our commitment is solid. If there is a peacekeeping force we will be there, we will assume a leadership role. We need the United Nations sanction, we need Indonesian permission otherwise we are at war with Indonesia and that’s unacceptable. And we want a reasonable number of other countries and we have had good indications from the New Zealanders, Canadians, the British are prepared to make a small contribution and I understand that the Thais and also possibly the Malaysians and the Philippinos would be involved.
LYNEHAM:
Prime Minister, we have all seen and heard the appalling news reports from East Timor. What ‘s your advice about what’s happening off camera? I mean, are we really dealing with mass slaughter here?
PRIME MINISTER:
It’s very mixed. I get contradictory reports. Look, there has been an unacceptable loss of life, there has been indiscriminate killing, there has been an unwillingness on the part of the Indonesian authorities to assert proper control. And I, you know, again say that that is what the Indonesian Government must do to retrieve its international reputation.
LYNEHAM:
Prime Minister, thanks for your time.
PRIME MINISTER:
Pleasure.
[ends]