Letter: Funds for brutality

Karl Hayden
Monday 02 November 1998 19:02 EST
Comments

Your support helps us to tell the story

From reproductive rights to climate change to Big Tech, The Independent is on the ground when the story is developing. Whether it's investigating the financials of Elon Musk's pro-Trump PAC or producing our latest documentary, 'The A Word', which shines a light on the American women fighting for reproductive rights, we know how important it is to parse out the facts from the messaging.

At such a critical moment in US history, we need reporters on the ground. Your donation allows us to keep sending journalists to speak to both sides of the story.

The Independent is trusted by Americans across the entire political spectrum. And unlike many other quality news outlets, we choose not to lock Americans out of our reporting and analysis with paywalls. We believe quality journalism should be available to everyone, paid for by those who can afford it.

Your support makes all the difference.

Sir: It is truly disturbing to read that the Indonesian troop withdrawal from the occupied territory of East Timor has been nothing more than a sham.

Two scenarios now present themselves.One is that President B J Habibie was not sincere when he promised the troop reduction and there is little difference between him and his mentor, the odious General Suharto. The other is more sinister. If Habibie was sincere and troop levels have not reduced following his instruction, we have a de facto military junta in Indonesia who are using a very sophisticated approach to fool the world into thinking that they are prepared to bring about political reforms.

Either way, I now understand the nature of Indonesian terrorism in East Timor following the very excellent reports of your correspondent Richard Lloyd Parry.

KARL HAYDEN

Dublin

Join our commenting forum

Join thought-provoking conversations, follow other Independent readers and see their replies

Comments

Thank you for registering

Please refresh the page or navigate to another page on the site to be automatically logged inPlease refresh your browser to be logged in