The Islamic version of email... 1246Islam enters the stone age. GALLUP ÷ Someone shattered The Independent's glbutt entrance doors late Wednesday. At about 10 p.m., an unknown individual...
artie morty
You are completely correct, I should not sound surprised about it; after the war the whole of New Guinea just dropped off our radar of awareness, Australians were barely aware of Eastern Papua which was still under Australian control until 1975.
Yep, except East Timor's was much quicker - from what I've been informed I don;t think the Americans found out about the Gap oil until Portugal Oil made the announcement in the mid 1960s.. There was evidence being gathered in East Timor about the pre-1975 activities of what is now Conoco Philips sponsoring the 1975 invasion; then getting the oil license after East Timor became part of Indonesia. Although the 1991 Dili mbuttacre got some overseas media attention , it was dying down untill 1996 when two East Timorese got the Nobel Peace Prize. Unable to stop media attention, the oil company decided it was safer to allow East Timor have its independence than risk the media digging too deep. The company supported the establishment of a political party with the same name as the resistance movement, half the East Timorese didn't even realise it was a different organisation untill after the elections. And needless to say, the company got in and made strong friendships with certain people who became President & PM.. and hey presto, East Timor decided to keep the same oil company as the Indonesian's had invited in.
It is a shame that all the fine talk of Melanesian political reforms disappeared, replaced by a government system designed by the UN and US. But, at least the Javanese military is gone; and from now on its a East Timor domestic issue of corruption for them to do or not do something about.
