One man’s

view of Timor

The Timor: Stillborn Nation. By Bill Nicol. Published by Vista Books, 1978. 5A8.95 paperback, $11.95 library edition.

In his preface. Bill Nicol prom ises the reader an account ‘of what really went on behind the scenes’ in the struggle for the future of East Timor, and there are many suggestions in the book that other observers of the events of 1974-75 were naive or incompetent.

Unfortunately, however,

Nicol’s own study, while con

taining some interesting

material based on his inter views with leading personali ties in the conflict, is tendentious in the extreme, based either on thin, unreliable and in many cases unverifiable sources, or upon his own highly

dubious interpretations.

The faults in the book are really summed up in his treat ment of Fretilin. Nicols is con cerned to explode the myths that have been created about its popularity, grass-roots activity and adherence to prin ciple. But what could have been an appropriate corrective to over-enthusiastic accounts of Fretilin degenerates into a grotesque caricature of the or ganisation and its leaders, who

are presented in such Machia vellian terms that we may be excused for thinking we are reading a hostile study of Lenin and the Bolsheviks.

This technique forces Nicols into countless contradictions, perhaps the most glaring of which is his description of Ramos Horta, Fretilin’s roving ambassador and its best known figure abroad, as a sinister figure who ‘preferred to be a back-room power broker rather than out on a limb in public’!

What suffers most from Nicol’s approach (apart from accuracy) is the social and in ternational relations back ground to the Timor tragedy, which is treated cursorily and

without analysis. Although, for

example, several of those inter viewed by Nicols referred to Indonesian fears of the re gional impact inside and out side Indonesia itself of Timorese independence, he makes no effort to assess this factor or the ultimate regional significance of Indonesia’s invasion. But then anyone who can claim that the pro- Indonesian Apodeti wanted autonomous status for Timor such as that enjoyed by West Irian(!), is hardly equipped to handle such issues.

My paperback copy fell to pieces before. I had finished reading it. Rex Mortimer.

Available from Vista Books, PO Box 336, Camberwell, Australia 3124.

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