THE TIMOR QUESTION

Is Indonesia about to fall apart?

On top of the chaos in East Timor, there are armed independence movements in Aceh and Irian Jaya, and serious outbreaks of communal violence in East Java, Borneo and the Spice Islands. Much depends on the election of the next president this autumn. Indonesia may yet disintegrate, but the process is not inevitable in that the country will follow its own unpredictable political pattern.

Are Falintil really so squeaky clean?

Most guerrilla armies have their darker side butdespite efforts by the Indonesians to depict them as left-wing bandits, no mud has stuck. During the 24-year civil war the guerrillas have never indulged in terrorism, either in East Timor or Indonesia. Partly this is due to the influence if the Catholic church but for the past 10 years of its struggle Falintil has been a token military force.