Sorry, I was away for over two weeks, and am only just back. What's been happening in East Timor is NOT unexpected, alas, it was forseeable, and we were duely warned, even if no one would have believed that they would sink to such depths of barbarity.

Not that we didn't know to what bestialities human beings were capable of. And we were all aware of the mediocre moral qualities of General Wiranto's army. But we never expected them to be THAT crude, as to so brazenly demask themselves before the world community, not only vilifying the name of the army (that wasn't really more vilifiable than it already was), but also that of Indonesians in general. Today, I as Indonesian feel like what the Germans must have felt when the world learned all the details about Auschwitz.

What's happening to the East Timorese is a repeat of the scenario of 1965-1966. In other words, the Indonesian military has not learned one iota from the ideological bankruptcy of 33 years New Order regime. All this sweet talk about the army undergoing reform and adapting to democratic rules of government has been nothing other than lip service.

When General Wiranto warned, a month ago, that going on with the Referendum would lead to violence in East Timor, he was actually threatening that he would unleash exactly this act of scorched earth and massacre of civilians which we are witnessing now. It is premeditated genocide!

Now there is only one thing that we can still do:

And please, please try to get this done BEFORE he manages to usurp the Indonesian presidency.....

If there is any peoples in the world today, which justify one to be proud of the human race, then it is the East Timorese for their valiant 24-year struggle and their courage at the Referendum. If we allow that the East Timorese are wiped out as is now happening, then none of us is any better than Wiranto and his thugs.

-- Waruno