On Keating article

Sat, 02/09/2008 2:16 PM | Opinion

I would like to comment on Paul Keating's article (The Jakarta Post, Feb. 4)

Keating is right when he portrays himself as one of Soeharto's old blokes. Actually, he was more than "on friendly terms with Soeharto": he was his accomplice by turning a blind eye to the countless violations of human rights perpetrated by the Soeharto regime all the time he was prime minister of Australia.

Keating's view of the invasion of East Timor as "not expansionist. It had everything to do with national security and nothing to do with territory", is very personal and contradicts Soeharto's own declarations after the invasion.

Besides, the fact that Keating does not say a word about the 200,000 East Timorese victims of the Indonesian Army is eloquent.

Keating simply does not pay attention to the many victims of the Soeharto military regime. He had no compassion for their suffering and those of their relatives at the time, and still does not show any. He does not consider human rights to be something important.

Australia, as a leading power in the Asia Pacific, could have acted less cowardly by exerting pressure on the Soeharto regime, by linking economic cooperation to respect of human rights. This did not occur under Paul Keating's prime ministry.

PHILIPPE BORSA
Tawangsari, Central Java

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