MIM NOTES 195	October 1, 1999

U$ props up Indonesian fascists
by MC53 and MC17

The U.$. has backed the Indonesian occupation of East Timor from 
the beginning. It has given political, economic and military 
support to the Indonesian dictatorship of President Suharto and to 
President Habibie. U.$. arms sales to Indonesia have totaled more 
than $1.1 billion dollars and two decades' worth of U.$. arm 
shipments account for 90% of Indonesia's military hardware.(1) 
Commercial arms sales from the united snakes for just the next 
year are expected to total about $16 million. (2) The u.$. has a 
number of economic programs in Indonesia which total close to $490 
million.(3)

The united snakes has propped up the Indonesian military 
dictatorship to ensure surplus value extraction from the world's 
fourth most populated country. Because the profit-stake is so big 
in Indonesia and because independence movements only hurt 
imperialism, the United Snakes supported Indonesian fascism.

Habibie's September 12 concession to the U.N. will logically mean 
that the imperialists have the green light to renege on the 
September 9th threat of freezing $470,000 a year military training 
programs and officer exchange programs.

In 1997, the U.$. congress allocated an additional $45 million in 
aid to the Indonesian dictatorship, with $100,000 aimed at 
military training alone.(4) The total bailout package following 
the dive of Indonesia's rupiah totaled $43 billion. Indonesia's 
total foreign debt is approximately $140 billion. The so-called 
aid given to the Indonesian dictatorship serves several purposes 
for the imperialists.

So how does this arrangement serve the imperialists?

First, imperialism must export capital as a means to extract 
superprofits from Third World workers. Imperialist corporations 
set up factories -- like Nike -- to profit off of cheap Indonesian 
labor. The so-called aid helps develop infrastructure that makes 
the sweat shops and plantations more efficient in their 
exploitation.

Second, the imperialist backers of so-called aid are able to 
extract additional surplus value from the workers in the form of 
interest paid on loans. The Indonesian government must pay huge 
amounts of interest to the big Amerikan, European and Japanese 
banks every year. These interest payments will leap again in the 
next few years, ensuring greater dependency and lack of funds to 
provide for the needs of the people. This is a typical 
international imperialist financing scheme that leads to greater 
impoverishment for the people in the imperialist colonies and neo-
colonies and riches for the imperialists and their lackeys.

Third, the so-called aid helps to develop the fascist puppet 
military that represses the masses in their struggle for freedom 
and justice. The comprador class uses part of the so-called aid to 
build its own wealth off exploitation. The Suharto regime, deposed 
by mass protests, is still being investigated for having pilfered 
money during its decades in power. In the last 30 years about 90 
Third World countries have received loans from the IMF, 48 are no 
better off and 32 are actually poorer.

The so-called aid given by the imperialists and their agencies 
only serves the interests of the oppressor, it does not assist the 
masses in moving closer to earning the value of their labor power.

In a nifty trick designed to ensure u.$. economic prosperity, $25 
million was offered by the U.S. Department of Agriculture 
earmarked last year for purchase of U.S. food (and the quantities 
and products will be determined by the USDA). This is a common 
policy of u.s. aid to Third World countries. It ensures dependency 
while keeping the money within the U.$.(3) The Export-Import Bank 
of the United States (Ex-Im Bank) provides short-term export 
financing of up to $1 billion for U.S. exports to Indonesia to 
further back up this dependency strategy. According to the Ex-Im's 
own description "Ex-Im Bank is an independent U.S. government 
agency that helps to sustain American jobs by financing U.S. 
exports to emerging markets that otherwise would not go forward. 
In fiscal year 1997, Ex-Im Bank supported $15 billion in U.S. 
exports."(3)

Notes:
1. Christian Science Monitor 10/10/94, p. 18.
2. The New York Times 10 September 1999, p. A1.
3. www.indonesiatoday.com/a3/j6/y2mar98. html
4.http://amadeus.inesc.pt:80/~jota/Timor/TimorNews/Mar97/Indo.not.
concerned.with.US.proposal.to.stop.aid