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Letter to Kofi Annan, Secretary-General, United Nations, New York, New York 10020
September 17, 1999
Dear Secretary-General Annan,
Assuming the UN international forces will stop the violence the East Timor, Indonesia will honor the vote favoring independence, the UN will arrange for transitional government for East Timor, and will relinquish control to an independent East Timor government, the independent government will owe a tremendous debt to the UN.
I STRONGLY URGE THE UN TO REQUIRE THE NEW EAST TIMOR GOVERNMENT TO ENDORSE THE UN DECLARATION OF HUMAN RIGHTS AND INCORPORATE THE FREEDOMS IN THEIR LAWS. I URGE THE UN NOT TO TURN OVER THE GOVERNMENT TO THEM UNTIL THEY DO ADOPT SUCH LAWS.
The Vatican claims it never accepted Indonesia's conquering of East Timor. What standing does the Vatican think it has in the world? Consequently, with more than 90% of the citizens being Roman Catholic, the Vatican hierarchy in East Timor and elsewhere in the world has been agitating for independence there since 1975. The Vatican shares responsibility for the more than 200,000 East Timorese who have been killed by the Muslim militia or the Roman Catholic guerillas.
Since 1975, Indonesia withstood pressure from Catholic leaders to make many Catholic doctrines the law in East Timor. Indonesia did enact a law which makes it a crime to criticize Catholic doctrine or officials. Hitler enacted such a law as a part of the 1933 Concordat with Pope Pius XI. It is standard Vatican practice to do this when it can. A Muslim citizen in East Timor questioned the Catholic doctrine of the Virgin Many and was sentenced to 4 to 6 years in jail. The Muslims in East Timor and throughout Indonesia hate this law and would expect an independent East Timor to be a theocracy.
Just as Pope John Paul II has influenced presidents Reagan and Bush to help the Vatican take over Poland and Slovakia, he influenced president Clinton to help Slovenia and Croatia become ethnically pure Roman Catholic nations. For years the pope and Catholic leaders, such as Papal Knight Congressman Henry Hyde, have been prodding Clinton to help East Timor to be independent. Clinton finally agreed to do so and turned his media staff loss to prepare US citizens to endorse sending US troops to East Timor. He has pressured the UN to take steps to free East Timor.
Sincerely,
James M. O'Hara
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