A
collection of recent statements and news on the plan to send a Japanese
Self-Defense Force (SDF) to join the Peace Keeping Force (PKF) in East
Timor.
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Up-Dated: Jan 24, 2002
NEW = Added to BACK DOOR Website since last Monday's Emailout
Bahasa
Indonesia/Malay:
Jan
22 Shige: Jepang dan TL: Luka Kekerasan Sulit Dilupakan
Artikel ditambahkan tanggal 22 Januari
2002
"Seandainya pemerintah Jepang sungguh
mau membangun hubungan bilateral yang baik dengan Timor Lorosae,
langkah
awal adalah pengakuan kesalahan atas perbuatan dan kebijakannya pada
masa
lalu yang kejam, baik pada masa Perang Dunia II maupun masa pendudukan
militer Indonesia di mana pemerintah Jepang selalu mendukungnya, dan
meminta
maaf kepada rakyat Timor Lorosae. Mungkin ada yang mengatakan (pejabat
Japan Mission dan UNTAET?) bahwa Pasukan Bela Diri berbeda
dengan
tentara Kaisar Jepang dulu yang terkenal dengan fasisme paksaan,
kekerasan
keji dan metode-metode teror. Atau, Pasukan Bela Diri adalah pasukan
yang
semata-mata mengajar ilmu “bela diri”. Tetapi kenyataannya, itu adalah
penjelmaan kembali tentara Kaisar Jepang yang pernah membantai
kira-kira
20,000,000 jiwa di kawasan Asia-Pasifik, termasuk sekitar 40,000
jiwa di Timor Lorosae selama Perang Dunia II." Takahashi Shigehito,
Perwakilan East Timor Desk, Konferensi Uskup Katolik Jepang
Jan
10 Shige: Japan & ET: Wounds of Violence are Hard to Forget
Article added Jan 22
"If the Government of Japan really wanted
to build a good bilateral relationship with Timor Lorosae, the first
step
it should take is to acknowledge the mistakes of its brutal policies
and
actions toward the people in the past, both during WWII, and during the
Indonesian military occupation - which Japan’s government consistently
supported it - and ask the pardon of the people of Timor Lorosae. There
may be those that say that the Self-Defense Forces is different
from the Imperial Japanese Army of the past, infamous for its fascist
coercion,
and its shameless, terrorist methods. Or, they may say that the
Self-Defense
Forces is only going to teach the science of “self-defense”. In fact,
however,
the SDF is a reincarnation of the army of the Japanese Emperor, the
army
that claimed the lives of some 20 million people in the Asia-Pacific
region
during WWII, including around 40,000 people in
Timor
Lorosae." Takahashi Shigehito, Resident Representative of East
Timor
Desk, Catholic Bishops’ Conference of Japan
Dec
8 ETNGOs: Commemoration Day of the Commencement of the Pacific War
Letter added Jan 24
"The Pacific War which was begun by the
Imperial Nation of Japan on 8 December sixty years ago, cost around 40,000
innocent lives in East Timor during the time period of three and
half
years of the military occupation of the Emperor of Japan. ... History
is
very important in order to build a better future. For that reason,
mistakes
of the past have to be straighten out before steps can be made forward.
If not, human history has already proven similar mistakes will be
repeated.
... We are aware that Japan is the largest donor
nation for the East Timor Trust Fund and has given major attention
to the reconstruction of East Timor.
And
we too would like to express our gratitude for this assistance.
However,
this assistance may not simply cover up the wounds that have been
inflicted
by the Japanese military on this land of East Timor. If there is no
justice,
there can be no betterment of life." Representatives
of 20 East Timorese Non-Government Organisations (NGOs)
Nov
3 Age: Timor's Haunted Women Article added Nov 7
"They’re cruel! We don’t want Japanese
soldiers back here!” Marta Pereira, one of around 1000 surviving
ETimorese
women who were used as sex slaves, or “comfort women”,
by the Japanese military
“We see it as an important issue - despite
their old age, these women are still suffering, ... We struggled 24
years
to get Indonesian troops out of here, and now we’re being asked to accept
Japanese troops. Japanese support should be in another form. It’s
ugly
to have troops here when no apology has yet been made.” Natalia de
Jesus
Cesaltino, Fokupers
Nov
1 Inglis: UN and Tokyo agree on dispatch of Japanese troops to ETimor
Article added Nov 7
"The Japanese government announced on
October 22 that a 600-member Self-Defense Force engineering
battalion
would be sent to East Timor next spring. ... twelve
Timorese NGOs, organizations (involved in such fields as human rights,
women’s issues, student mobilization, international aid monitoring,
etc.)
issued a statement opposing the SDF dispatch and urging Japan to
instead
use its political and economic influence with Indonesia to bring about
the normalization of conditions along the border with Indonesian West
Timor.
... most of the world’s people, if given a choice, would opt for a
twenty-first
century with one less, rather than one more, military armed to the
teeth
and waiting for war." Jean Inglis, member of the Japanese solidarity
network
October
2001 IAI: SDF Dispatch to the PKF in ETimor: “Aid with a face”?
Article added Nov 19
"East Timor thus becomes the target zone
in which the [Japanese] Self-Defense Force aims to advance its
own
priorities. But toward whom should we [Japan] be turning our face? The
people who were made to suffer by the Japanese
Army
in World War II, the people who suffered from
the Indonesian invasion, the people who still live under the threat
of violence by the pro-Jakarta militia, and the people who are working
to build their land into a new country. To protect its own
interests,
Japan supported Indonesia’s invasion of East Timor and turned a blind
eye
to the slaughter carried out by the Indonesian military. The crimes we
have committed against the people of East Timor (including the crime of
indifference) are not such as can be erased by aid given after
independence.
But if, even so, we want to help East Timor in some way, we have to
start
by listening to the East Timorese. The statement
of the twelve East Timorese NGOs on the issue of the SDF dispatch
is
one such voice." Namba Mitsuru
Sep
3 ETimorese NGOs write to Japanese PM re SDF Letter
added
Sep 6
"The Japanese government has shown their
concern for East Timor’s reconstruction and has contributed the largest
amount of funds to the Trust Fund for East Timor. Drawing from our
experience
of the past and view of the present, we offer the following views: *
The
Japanese government must publicly acknowledge that past policies have
caused
great suffering to the East Timorese people. ... * The plan to send a
Japanese
Self-Defense Force to join the PKF in East Timor should be abandoned.
...
* There is no need to introduce a new military contingent from Japan to
the international troops now present in East Timor. ... * We believe
that
security problems around East Timor’s border will not be solved by
increasing
the PKF." Yayasan HAK; Kdadalak
Suli
Mutu Institute; Gerakan Mahasiswa Pro Demokrasi; Grupo Feto Foin Sae
Timor
Lorosa’e; East Timor Women Against
Violence;
East
Timor Students Solidarity Council;
Sa’he
Institute for Liberation; Fokupers;
LBH “Ukun Rasik An”; Lao Hamutuk;
Centro
Desenvolvimento Economia Popular; Fundacao Haburas.
Until
Sep 7 TETA: No! to the Dispatch of Japanese SDF to ETimor
Release updated Sep 7
"Free
East Timor! National Coalition, Japan, is against the current
Japanese
government plan to send the Self Defence Force (SDF) to East Timor as
part
of PKF, issued a statement in mid-July,
and we are currently doing a FAX campagin against the plan. While
knowing
that Xanana and Horta
said OK to the sending of SDF and understanding it, we cannot agree
with
the dispatch of SDF. Please read the following and, if you agree to our
stand, please act on with us to stop sending SDF. ... Last but not
least,
during WWII, Japanese army occupied East Timor and many Timorese
suffered
forced labour and sex slavery. Japanese government did nothing about
this."
Kyo
Kageura, Tokyo East Timor Association
Jul
29 Matsuno: Japan's Self-Defense Force face up to the militia?--NO WAY!
Analysis added Aug 4
"Wherever in the world the trouble spot
might be, the Government wants to send the SDF only to score political
points, and certainly in the case of East Timor it has never given
serious
thought to securing peace. ... By this scenario, Japan can achieve its
diplomatic targets. Firstly, contributing to this UN PKO will allow
Japan
to push more strongly its bid for a permanent seat on the UN Security
Council.
Secondly, Japan can protect its interests in
Indonesia
by avoiding being dragged into an open conflict with Indonesian
politicians
and generals. Contributing to peace in East Timor is not a matter of
consideration
in Japanese diplomacy and therefore it will be the first thing to be
compromised
when it is found to be at odds with Japan's relations with Indonesia."
Akihisa
Matsuno, Osaka University of Foreign Studies
Jul
16 Free East Timor Japan Coalition letter to the Defense Agency
Letter added Aug 4
"At this time we ask that you reexamine
the proposal now being considered to send Self Defense Force troops to
East Timor. ... In recent years the Japanese Government has eschewed
forthright
debate on the constitutionality of the Self Defense Forces and has
instead
sought to gain recognition-by-default of the SDF through having it
participate
in United Nations peacekeeping operations, in which context it is
treated
just like the armies of other countries. On the other hand, moves to
set
up a specialized organization, separate from the SDF, to deal with
aspects
of refugee relief, cease-fire and referendum observation in conflict
areas
have been pushed into the shadows where they have ground to a stop. For
the government to act in this way is to jeopardize the rule of law that
constitutes the very foundation of any democratic state; this is
suicidal."
Free
East Timor Japan Coalition
Jul
16 KY: 2 Japan GSDF officials to visit E. Timor News
added
July 17
"Two Ground Self-Defense Force (GSDF)
officials will shortly visit East Timor to collect information on the
state
of security in the territory, Japan’s Defense Agency said Monday. ...
The
two are also expected to gather information about PKO in East Timor,
given
agency chief Gen Nakatani’s desire to study plans to dispatch personnel
of the Self-Defense Forces in the event of new PKO there." Kyodo
Jun
30 JCCJP: Japanese church leaders oppose Japanese troops in East Timor
Position statement added July 10
"Most Japanese people want Japan to
contribute
to world peace first and foremost by strictly adhering to its
war-renouncing
“peace constitution.” ... The present government plan to send the SDF
to
join a peace keeping operation in East is directly opposed to theses,
the
fervently held wishes of our people. Furthermore, this newly planned
dispatch
of Japanese troops to East Timor is particularly callous in light of
the
Government’s refusal to this day to fully acknowledge, apologize for,
or
compensate the army’s sex slaves and other victims of Japan’s
occupation
of East Timor during the Pacific War." Japanese Catholic Council for
Justice
and Peace
Feb
12 Xanana: Symposium on “Reconciliation, Tolerance, Human Rights and
Elections”
Speech added Feb 15
"We believe that after the rebellion of
the Manufahi, the Timorese People, obviously still divided by kingdoms,
lived an era of a better relationship among themselves until the period
before the Japanese invasion. The Japanese invasion, from 1942 to 1945,
was another test to the courage of the Timorese people which
concurrently
managed to live with the invaders while maintaining a determination to
fight its presence. I am from the generation post-Japanese invasion.
From
this period until the Indonesian invasion 30 years went by." President
Xanana
Dec
10 2000 KY: ETimor: 2 ex-sex slaves break silence at NGO tribunal
Added Dec 11
"Two East Timorese women broke over half
a century of silence Sunday and told of their ordeals as sex slaves of
the Imperial Japanese Army at a mock tribunal to try the Japanese
government
over its responsibility for the recruitment of so-called ''comfort
women''
before and during World War II." Kyodo
Dec
8 2000 DPA: Women demand apology & compensation for War-time
Japanese
mistreatment Added Dec 9
"The Japanese government, which failed
to respond to the tribunal's invitation to participate in the event,
continues
to deny any legal responsibility for the suffering of the former
comfort
women. Sexual violence committed by the Japanese Imperial Army was
hardly
touched by the 1946-1948 International Military Tribunal for the Far
East
in Tokyo, set up by the Allied Forces after the war." Deutsche
Presse-Agentur
1999
Gunn: Timor Loro Sae: 500 Years - Wartime Timor: 1942-45
Book extract added July 10
"Many Timorese including liurai paid with
their lives [at the hands of Japanese military 1942-45] either for
standing
neutral or for alleged support of Australian guerrillas. ... The number
of Timorese who died during the war is impossible to calculate with
precision
but is of the order of 40-70,000 out of a total prewar population of
around
450,000. The disruption to native agriculture and the breakdown of
prewar
society stemming from the harsh system of food collection and corvees
imposed
by the Japanese inevitably led to famine and other hardships, including
debilitating disease. ... The issues of Japanese wartime compensation
including
the claims of so-called "comfort women" or sexual slavery in Timor
first
became public in 1997 but only in the Macau media where it was taken up
by Jose Ramos-Horta speaking on behalf of the Timorese people."
Geoffrey
C. Gunn, author, Timor Loro Sae: 500 Years
Sept
27 1999 Noam Chomsky: East Timor Retrospective - An overview and lessons
Analysis added Dec 28
"The story does
not begin in 1975. East Timor had not been overlooked by the planners
of
the postwar world. The territory should be granted independence,
Roosevelt's
senior adviser Sumner Welles mused, but "it would certainly take a
thousand
years." With an awe-inspiring display of courage and fortitude, the
people
of East Timor have struggled to confound that cynical prediction,
enduring
monstrous disasters. Perhaps 50,000 lost their lives protecting a small
contingent of Australian commandoes fighting the Japanese; their
heroism
may have saved Australia from Japanese invasion. A third of the
population
were victims of the first years of the 1975 Indonesian invasion, many
more
since." Noam Chomsky
BD: Sexual & related Violence as a weapon of war - A collection of recent articles and news
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