History for Newbies: the Invasion of East Timor by the Indonesian Military, 1975
Posted by Socrates in communism, East Timor, Indonesia, Marxism, Socrates, UN at 2:07 pm | 
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(If you were a communist, the year 1975 was a great year for you. There were Marxist uprisings all over the world: in East Timor, Laos, Cambodia, Portugal, Angola, Nicaragua, Italy [Red Brigades], Argentina [Montoneros], and even in America [the Weather Underground]. Plus, Vietnam fell to the communists. It was a heady year for Marxism).
All liberals have pre-set, concrete narratives about historical events, including East Timor (which is near Indonesia) in 1975.
Want to give hard-core liberals (especially American university students) fits? Mention East Timor and talk about how Marxism was overthrown there, and “thank God that it was!” They’ll have aneurysms and turn purple.
What the liberals claim about East Timor: “Peaceful democratic socialists” (i.e., far-leftists/Marxists, called “The Revolutionary Front for an Independent East Timor” [FRETILIN], which was supported by Cuba and the Soviet Union) tried to install “democracy” in the “newly-liberated ex-colony” of East Timor in 1975, but “evil fascists” from next-door Indonesia invaded East Timor before they could do so, and the fascists stole democracy from “the people” and murdered children and cute little puppies in the process. How dare they! (Even worse: America and Australia aided the Indonesian government in its actions in East Timor! How dare White people do that! White people are always stealing democracy from the people!) [1].
What really happened in East Timor: In April 1974, leftists overthrew the right-wing government of Portugal, of which East Timor was a colony. In late 1975, taking advantage of political instability, far-leftists declared East Timor to be theirs. Indonesia, located next door to East Timor and then controlled by the Right, said “hey, not so fast, commies, you’re not gonna communize East Timor, right next door to us!” and so the Indonesian military invaded East Timor in Dec. 1975. Three years later East Timor was totally occupied by Indonesia. The Indonesian president, General Suharto, was an anti-communist who spent years fighting communism in his country (greatly angering the international Left, including the UN, which yelled loudly about the Indonesian occupation of East Timor). But the primary reason that the international Left hated General Suharto was because he stopped an attempted communist coup in Indonesia in 1965 and afterwards he wiped out (killed) the entire Indonesian Communist Party (PKI). How dare he kill sweet, innocent, lovable commies! What chutzpah. (Do any of you readers have a dog named “Suharto”? I’ll bet you do).
East Timor eventually “embraced democracy,” but there is still Left vs. Right political violence in East Timor even today — so the trouble remains.
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[1] FRETILIN actually started the fight with Indonesia by declaring a civil war (i.e., a “general armed insurrection against all traitors and enemies of the people”) in East Timor on Aug. 15, 1975. Indonesia no doubt saw “another Cuba” shaping up next door, and acted accordingly.