Tony Hall: “while I support the majority of the provisions in H.R. 3121, which makes various technical amendments to the Foreign…”

“while I support the majority of the provisions in H.R. 3121, which makes various technical amendments to the Foreign Assistance Act and the Arms Export Control Act, I strongly oppose the section which authorizes the resumption of International Military and Education Training [IMET] funds for Indonesia. I have been protesting the human rights abuses in East Timor for some time now. Last December marked the 20th anniversary of Indonesian invasion of East Timor. Recently, the situation on the ground there has been getting worse not better. It is sobering to reflect that over the last 20 years at least 100,000 and perhaps more than 200,000 people have been killed out of a population of less than 700,000. While the vast majority of these deaths took place before 1980, harsh repression continues. The world witnessed this first hand when the 1991 Santa Cruz massacre in which the Indonesian military killed over 200 unarmed individuals was recorded by journalists. Congress banned IMET funding for Indonesia to protest human rights abuses in East Timor. The situation has not improved and the U.S. Congress should not change this policy. It is my hope that we can prevent the funding of IMET for Indonesia in the appropriations process.”