Letter: East Timor violence

Sir: Your report on the continuing tragedy of East Timor ("East Timor moves closer to civil war", 6 April) is a chilling case of dej`a vu.

East Timor is being pushed by the Indonesians once again in the cynical games that they play.

Prior to the invasion of 1975 there had been a deliberate Indonesian policy of destabilisation and propaganda portraying the East Timorese as communists, having first ensured that the Indonesians alone controlled all news to the outside world by murdering five Australian-based tv men on the border at Balibo. Two were British citizens.

Once the Indonesians had a monopoly of news they were free to present their view that all who opposed them were communist, regardless of the truth.

A civil war was engineered by the Indonesians in much the same way as they are now, in an attempt to present their invasion as being the fireman putting out the fire. In fact they are the fireman throwing petrol on the flames.

Richard Lloyd Parry's article made reference to the 200,000 East Timorese who were murdered subsequent to the first Indonesian invasion.

I truly hope that history will not be repeating itself, but knowing the Indonesian government, I wonder what may be in store.

R L WILLOTT

Claines,

Hereford & Worcester