Ms Jill Jolliffe letter (30/12/94) may have been merely bemusing if it were not so misleading.

Baucau is not Portuguese territory, technically or otherwise. Portugal abdicate it's responsibility to the East Timorese in it's haste to get out of it's unpleasant colonial war in 1975.

Resolutions by the UN General Assembly do not determine sovereignty. International law is far more pragmatic than that. The Portuguese Government does not presume to grant visas to territory or allow East Timorese the right of settlement in Portugal.

Even the Portuguese Government has acknowledged Indonesia's de-facto control of East Timor. Some countries are holding back de-jure recognition (legal), pending a resolution of the dispute between Portugal and Indonesia.

The Portuguese Government has not been willing to engage in meaningful negotiations with the Indonesian Government, which may help improve the lot of the East Timorese. It has cut diplomatic relations with Indonesia and contends itself with carping at the side.

In contrast, Australian diplomats have been involved on the ground in East Timor, facilitating humanitarian programs, monitoring human rights abuses and assisting journalist working in East Timor.

The Portuguese have taken the high moral position of challenging Indonesia to the last drop of East Timorese blood.

The Age, 6 January 1995 

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