Australian veterans blast Canberra over treatment of Timor

[dArKeR]

A group of Australians who fought in East Timor in World War II has launched an advertising campaign condemning Canberra for its treatment of Dili in negotiations over lucrative oil and gas resources under the Timor Sea.
The veterans credit locals with saving their lives during their battle against the Japanese in 1941 and 1942.

But they claim Australia's insistence that it control the lion's share of the undersea resources was unfair.

"I fought for Australia. I risked my life so that we could live in a fair and just world," says one in the advertisements which are being broadcast in the lead-up to Anzac Day -- Australia's veterans' day -- on April 25.

http://www.taipeitimes.com/News/world/archives/2005/04/19/2003251094

[Matilda]

1. I'm so pleased to see this.

Our treatment of the East Timorese is a disgrace, and something that
should embarrass every Australian. They have so little, and we have
so much by comparison, to move boundaries to steal their oil is
disgusting. We owe them a great deal, far more than we've ever even
tried to repay.

And Howard is wrong to say that we stepped in and saved them - sure,
but only after the worst of the Indonesian attacks had taken place
and thousands had died. Too little, too late.

[rman]

2. It's an embarrasment to the world,

which is why we hear so little about it.
It's a typical case of 'the MSM makes it easy for us to forget'; just the fact that it is very rarely mentioned (if at all) creates in the public mind the notion that it isn't very important.
And all the West is complicit, ie arms sales to Indonesia to enable them to continue this genocide.

[struggle4progress]

3. kick