Australia owes East Timor an apology

Australia has committed millions to East Timor in the hope of keeping Chinese influence contained. But if we expect Dili’s friendship, Australia must start acting like a friend writes HAYLEY SORENSEN

Australian Prime Minister Scott Morrison and East Timor Prime Minister Taur Matan Ruak exchange presents at the end of a bilateral meeting in Dili, East Timor on Friday. Picture: AAP Image/Lukas Coch

SCOTT Morrison made his first visit to East Timor as prime minister this week and he took with him bundles of cash.

There was a promise to help foot the bill to upgrade a naval base and to pay for an underwater cable to “transform” the country’s internet services as well as the gift of two Guardian Class Patrol Boats.

It’s part of Australia’s plan to buy Timorese loyalty and counter what it sees as growing Chinese influence on our northern neighbour.

There are concerns China will bankroll an expensive plan to process gas from the Greater Sunrise oilfields in Timor rather than in Darwin or offshore. Australia fears that an Timor heavily indebted to China could be persuaded to allow China to maintain a military presence there.

But there’s a far more cost effective option available to Morrison than trying to buy off Dili’s friendship with boats.

An apology, and respect.

The prosecution of Australian spy “Witness K” and his lawyer Bernard Collaery is the latest in a long list of insults we should apologise for. If Canberra expects Dili to be its friend, we should first start acting like one.

Witness K and Collaery are facing prosecution for allegedly leaking material showing Australia bugged East Timor in 2004 to gain an advantage in the border negotiations.

That spying revelation helped Timor have the maritime border agreement redrawn, increasing its share of Greater Sunrise revenue from 50 per cent to at least 70 per cent. That’s still a pretty miserly deal for the Timorese, given the field falls entirely within their side of the redrawn borders.

To the East Timorese, the whistleblowing Witness K is a hero and his prosecution by Australia is an insult and an injustice.

Timorese-born Northern Territory MLA Sandra Nelson this week gave a blunt assessment of Timorese views of Australia.

The “average Timorese person on the street” resented Australia, she said.

“They are very sympathetic and empathetic towards Bernard Collaery and Witness K.

“They do see them as being supporters of Timor, risking their lives essentially and professional careers to look out for the best interests of Timor and the Timorese people.”

But Australia’s appalling record of mistreatment of our northern neighbour stretches long before the cabinet room was bugged.

Timorese history is punctuated by invasions — the Indonesian invasion of 1975 which led to the bloody 24 year occupation and the Portuguese invasion of the 17th Century.

In between was the Australian invasion.

Thousands of Timorese died as a direct result of the decision by Australia to invade then-neutral Portuguese Timor in 1941, drawing it into a war it had no interest in participating in.

And while Australia casts itself as a hero in East Timor’s transition to independence, our leaders did not always support a free Timor.

Documents released in 1999 show former Labor prime minister Gough Whitlam told Indonesia’s president Suharto in 1974 that he backed Indonesia’s annexation of its neighbour. Indonesia invaded the following year, setting off a 24-year genocide that resulted in 102,000 conflict-related deaths. While Australia’s role in leading the INTERFET peacekeeping force which helped bring stability after the 1999 referendum is appreciated ad never forgotten by the Timorese, it doesn’t wipe away the sins of our past.

An apology, earnestly given for the appalling things Australia’s leaders have done in the name of our “national interest”, would go a long way.

Treating our neighbour with fairness and respect isn’t an act of charity, but an act of justice.

If Australia is as concerned as it seems about the prospect of a Chinese influenced Timor, an apology seems a small price to pay.

It’s in our national interest.

Hayley Sorensen is Sunday Territorian columnist and former English editor of The Dili Weekly.