The Timor Man (68 page)

Next would be the purchase of the Skyhawks. These contracts would be lucrative while the aircraft themselves would be very demanding of their newly trained pilots. Both squadrons had been approved by the Americans under the US Department of Defence Military Sales Program, as were the Broncos. These were state of the art aircraft and he knew that it would be best for the separatist forces that the question of Independence be resolved before the A-4 Skyhawks were delivered as these attack bombers were to be armed with air-to-surface Sidewinder missiles, Bullpups and an array of ground attack guns which could destroy all of his ground support in a very limited time. It would all be too much for his poorly equipped allies.

Day by day, even against the tremendous odds with which they were faced, FRETILIN's political and military strength had continued to improve. The majority of East Timorese now fell in behind the party's village programs where they had won considerable support away from the UDT. Their brave resistance against superior numbers of well-armed Indonesian combat troops had increased their following threefold in less than a few months swelling their ranks beyond expectation.

The General knew that it was imperative that the East Timorese become one united force and under one leader if they were to succeed. The fractured policies of the fledgling political parties confused more than united his people. He hoped that as FRETILIN had put its former ASDT mantle aside and was winning so much support, that there would soon be only one major political and military force to lead his country to its rightful destiny.

Seda considered Indonesia's unofficial political arm in East Timor, Apodeti and felt reasonably confident that whatever these sympathizers and agents had actually been able to achieve had not resulted in any real threat to his people. Whatever military information had been disseminated to the Indonesian commands he had also given to FRETILIN intelligence. Apodeti's following was restricted to a few hundred as everyone knew that they supported Indonesia's annexation only because of their close financial ties to prominent Jakarta businessmen. At worst, he believed, they would continue to act as a fifth column although, from the reports he'd examined which had passed over his desk, they were beginning to acquire some small arms supplies from across the border. He would put an end to that!

Taking the files and placing them in his briefcase, a recent present from his mistress in Tebet, Seda left the Ministry of Defence building and headed directly to his own. This was going to be one hell of a year, he thought, as the driver pushed through the heavy traffic flow along Jalan Thamrin and into Jenderal Sudirman. He reflected on the recent visit to Hong Kong, where he and Stephen had discussed the invasion and what it would mean to their
kongsi
arrangement.

“
Shall we close it down?
” the Australian had asked.

“
Why?
” Seda had replied, surprised at the suggestion. “
This could only mean further opportunities!
”

“
But the ABRI forces will have it all wound up very quickly and then they will find themselves with an oversupply of just about everything they have in the field, in their warehouses everywhere, not to mention orders not yet filled
.”

The General had spoken convincingly of future projects, the Skyhawk and other orders, and the non-military supplies which would be required once full annexation had taken place in East Timor.

Coleman had sat there quietly, listening, even appearing almost disinterested, Seda had thought at the time. Maybe his partner was becoming bored with the company now he was wealthy? As his Mercedes moved slowly around the Prapantja area Seda decided to have Umar pay more attention to the Australian's other activi

ties. Just in case.

 

Stephen sat at his desk going over the mountain of information that had piled up over the past year. He couldn't believe that the time had passed so quickly. As he started to recollect the year's highlights, he had to agree that it did, in fact, feel more like two years had passed and not just one, trying to understand just how far behind they'd slipped since Hart had left the company.

They had advertised, of course, but after a number of interviews none of the applicants really had what he needed in an administrative assistant. His local staff couldn't even understand the systems put into place by Hart. The filing and accounting had become so intertwined; nobody could understand where it started and where it finished due to the complexity of the methods the man had initiated for the company's records.

“Stuff it!” he said, leaning back into the chair and rubbing his forehead.

He rested from the laborious task for a few moments and then rose, leaving the pile of documents all over his teak desk as he stepped over two more cartons of similar records which had been delivered from his Thamrin office several days before. Coleman had promised himself that he would attack the paperwork and simplify the system so that he and the others could understand and operate the records more easily.

After twelve hours straight examining the illogical sequences that had been put in place by his former employee he'd decided that it may just be easier if the whole mess was just burned! He went upstairs and showered. An hour later Coleman stood comfortably at the Captains' Bar and observed that he was alone. Not that he minded the privacy, acknowledging that he was early and at any moment the bar would begin to fill with the regulars who frequented the Mandarin Hotel's main lobby drinking hole. Out in the main hotel foyer he could see some of the embassy crowd gathering before proceeding upstairs to the
cordon bleu
restaurant where a trade delegation was holding one of their many functions. It had been some time since he'd had an invitation to one of these luncheons, he recalled, watching one or two familiar faces pass through the marbled space.

Stephen thought he identified one of the men who waved to him and so he returned the gesture, only to discover that there had been someone else on the other side of the glass partition who'd been the object of the man's attention. It'd been like this ever since he'd returned from Hong Kong and found Wanti collapsed.

Any expatriate community feeds off itself and there was nothing more than an ugly rumour to throw them into a feeding frenzy, he acknowledged. Invitations to embassy functions dwindled away in frequency and even some of his Indonesian friends' wives had put him socially off limits as they too sympathized with his wife's condition.

Stephen could understand their negative attitudes. He just didn't enjoy being held responsible for what had happened and being treated like a pariah. He hadn't even heard any more from Anderson and this really surprised him considering the
kongsi
association with Seda continued without any real hiccups. Stephen had almost convinced himself that they had decided to leave him alone as now the tide had turned considerably in Timor. The separatist forces continued to successfully resist the greater forces of the Indonesian military even after annexation was officially passed through the Indonesian Parliament.

Stephen had spent numerous sleepless nights justifying his decision to stay on with the General and risk the wrath of the men in Canberra. He now believed that one of his assumptions had been correct. The Australians were fence sitting, waiting to see if Seda could pull it off.

As the FRETILIN forces had grown from strength to strength, the international community had seen world opinion move behind the separatists who had now declared their own independence and continued to amaze the foreign press with their displays of courage and resilience faced with such a formidable enemy.

Even the punishing devastation inflicted by the Broncos couldn't stop the movement from strengthening its position in the villages where the party members threw down their weapons to help work the fields whenever there was a lull in the aerial attacks.

Now that the American Government had put a temporary halt to the supply of the two squadrons of Skyhawks, knowing that the independence movement could not survive such punishing aerial bombardment these aircraft were built to deliver, there appeared to be a growing possibility that the Indonesians would be obliged to withdraw to their own side of the border. Even the United Nations was heading for a vote in favour of an Indonesian withdrawal.

Stephen didn't mind forgoing the commissions he and Seda would have earned from the aircraft contracts should they be cancelled. He imagined that the General was relieved when the news had been broken to him although outwardly he would have to appear displeased.

He was no longer puzzled by Seda's incredible ability to display such obvious loyalty to the Indonesians whilst plotting the resistance by the very groups he had publicly sworn to assist defeat. Stephen knew that he would be inviting his own demise should he ever infer that he knew what the General had done and who had informed him!

A New Zealander he'd met and shared a few drinks with while out in the islands entered the bar and Stephen put these things momentarily out of his mind to greet the man. Stephen needed to look after whatever friends he still had as their number was rapidly dwindling.

 

 

Timor-Timur

Refugees flooded into Australia and the newspapers had a field day printing their reports describing atrocities carried out by the Indonesian troops on the poor villagers and hill tribes.

The Cubans had all but disappeared from the fighting arena as, without Fidel's financial support, they could not remain any longer. Things were bad enough back home in Havana and by the end of 1978 their violent incursion into Timor was but a memory, some thought a myth.

Nathan had been pleased, knowing that their continued presence would provoke the Australians into supporting the invasion and, in consequence, when the butchers were all repatriated during the first months of that year, he breathed a sigh of relief.

He needed something to go right for a change, the struggle was not proceeding with the support he'd envisaged and he now felt betrayed by both the Americans and Australians. Even the British had now decided to enter the debate insisting that the Indonesian annexation was to be considered beneficial not only to the long term welfare of the Timorese but also in its regional context.

Having made the statement the British Ambassador had stood back and witnessed the British Aerospace Company sign contracts to provide eight Hawk ground attack aircraft for the Indonesian air force. He had hoped when the UN vote had taken place that world opinion would force the Indonesian troops out.

It hadn't. The UN General Assembly rejected the integration and instead called for an act of self-determination to be held in East Timor. The voting record, he'd read, was sixty-seven in favour, twenty-six against with forty-seven abstentions.

He knew that, if only they could hold on, the dream would be theirs!

Although FRETILIN had been relatively successful the sheer weight of numbers now entering the area from Indonesia's base camps started to change the course of the war. The Americans had cleverly devised a scheme to circumvent their own Congress again and now the sixteen Indonesian pilots were flying sorties in their new Skyhawks with devastating results.

The guerrilla bands hid in the mountainous regions but their numbers were severely reduced by the pounding inflicted on their camps as the new aircraft located their targets and destroyed the FRETILIN supply centres with ease.

The General had been outraged when he discovered that the AURI Chief of Air Staff had received his orders directly from the President, to arrange for his pilots to proceed secretly, from where they had been trained in the United States, to a location in a friendly Moslem country on the Mediterranean. At first, Seda had not believed their cunning, and their ability to put aside religious dogma, when the need arose.

The Indonesian pilots took delivery of their first squadron of fighters directly from Israel which, in turn, received replacement aircraft from the Americans. The Israeli pilots were amused at the irony of it all, but understood the necessity of maintaining their solid relationships with their US supporters. They volunteered to fly the aircraft on their first leg directly into the hostile Arab neighbouring state, where a quick hand-over was conducted before the grinning pilots returned home under instruction to maintain the utmost secrecy regarding their mission. They had not been informed, of course, as to the final destination of their Skyhawks but they soon understood when they read press reports of the aircraft's use against the poorly armed resistance fighters in Timor.