Opinion Articles

*Why don't the Australians come to help us?
By Carmel Hanson RSJ
Carmel Hanson is a Sister of St Joseph, a psychologist and a solicitor who has visited East Timor several times, leading workshops addressing trauma, healing and reconciliation.

"Why don't the Australians come to help us?" These words were spoken to me in 1995 by an elderly man in a remote village in East Timor .

The country was still occupied by the Indonesians and the East Timorese could not understand why Australia had not liberated them. In village after village, the same question: my sister or uncle, mother or brother was tortured or killed by the Japanese for protecting the Australian soldiers in World War II. Why don't the Australians come to help us?

I would stammer some inadequate response. For the first time I was ashamed to be an Australian.

After the burning and killings in East Timor in 1999 it seemed that there was a chance for Australia to redeem itself. Our troops eventually arrived and liberated the people. With pride I witnessed the friendship and respect between our forces and the people. So many ordinary Australians went to East Timor to share skills and to be part of the empowerment of this tiny nation. Walking down the ravaged main street of Dili the people spoke of freedom, of friendship, of hope.

Such feelings were short lived.

Since independence East Timor has struggled. Overseas donors have been very generous but have dictated policy. The market has been liberalised and all state support dismantled. Coffee and rice, the two main industries in East Timor , have failed. Families are starving. Last month the East Timorese newspaper Suara Timor Loro Sa'e reported that 53 people had died of starvation in a remote village and that people are flocking to Dili in a vain attempt to seek employment. Malnutrition levels in Dili are the highest in the country.

Such facts fill me with sadness. What has happened to those many proud and hope-filled families I worked with in the remote regions of East Timor ? Is it time to start again to conscientise myself and others about the new East Timor ?

In 2000, when donors from all over the world were flocking into East Timor and making all the decisions, a young East Timorese stated a simple fact. He said, “We have gained our freedom but we have lost our country.”

Have we contributed to this loss? From 1975 onwards thousands of Australians lobbied for a free East Timor . Is it now time for us to lobby for the empowerment of the people? We have the power to liberate the East Timorese people by giving them just revenue from Timor Sea gas and oil reserves. Why the reluctance?

I hear the old man asking me,” Why doesn't Australia help us?” I see the sad eyes of the young man bemoaning the loss of his country. I pray that Australians will have the generosity to share justly so that every East Timorese can say, “Because the Australians helped us we have gained not only our freedom but also our country.”