Abstract

Out of East Timor

In a seismic political shift that augurs trouble for General Suharto, the Commander in Chief of U.S. Pacific forces has privately told Congressional officials that the time has come for Indonesia to get out of East Timor. For the past twenty years the United States has helped Jakarta kill Timorese. But now, in the face of growing grass-roots resistance both in Timor and this country, Admiral Richard Macke has concluded that the Timor occupation has become more trouble than it is worth. According to accounts from officials who have discussed the matter with him-accounts that Admiral Macke, did not deny-Macke told friends on Capitol Hill this May that Indonesia's continued presence in East Timor, long supported and armed by Washington in defiance of the UN Security Council resolutions calling on it to withdraw "without delay," has now become a liability.