The grandeur of democracy in action was brought profoundly home as the people of East Timor went to the polls to vote on independence from Indonesia. They braved intimidation, distance, climate, terrain and poverty to do so in an extraordinarily high turnout, after the long years of repression and weeks of harassment from militias backed by the Indonesian army. Their voting recalled that in South Africa's first parliamentary elections five years ago as an affirmation of peaceful democratic choice. Although counting is not expected to be complete until early next week, it must be presumed from the virtually 100 per cent turnout, that the vote will be strongly in favour of independence, rejecting the autonomy favoured by the Indonesian army and the militias. Despite the peacefulness of Monday's voting, there were disquieting indications yesterday that these forces may be preparing to reject the result because of supposed irregularities in the voting procedures. International observers, and the United Nations Mission in East Timor, have made no such complaints, even if they have not yet pronounced the election fair. But the presumption is that they will do so in coming days.
The scene is set, therefore, for a tension-filled week to come as the results are awaited. Already yesterday, the militias were back fully armed on the streets and in the villages, seemingly acting with impunity so far as the Indonesian army is concerned. Faced with the prospect of the autonomists rejecting the result, this arrangement looks increasingly bizarre. UNAMET is not in a position to enforce security if order breaks down in the wake of a pro-independence result. It is clear that elements within the military are keen to invent an excuse to reject it, even if they have lost all moral force after the peaceful conduct of the vote and the expected decisive result.
It would fall to the UN Security Council to assert its authority in the event of such a provocation. Major regional powers such as Australia are reported to have rejected the idea of putting in a security force before the Indonesian consultative assembly meets in November to endorse the result. But it is precisely during this vacuum period that the result could be subverted. Maximum pressure must be exerted on the Indonesian government to prevent this happening. It was good to hear the foreign minister, Mr Ali Alatas, describe the voting as fair yesterday - a hopeful sign that his government will stick by the commitment to respect the result. But many suspect the Indonesian armed forces take a different view, based on their long occupation of East Timor and a fear that were it to become independent, a dangerous precedent would be set for other fissiparous territories in this vast country. The Minister for Foreign Affairs, Mr Andrews, has played an important role in East Timor, representing a European Union mandate overseeing the referendum and Ireland's involvement with the issue. He will have to help maintain the pressure on Jakarta to respect the result and facilitate the likely transition to independence. If this requires urgent UN action, he should not hesitate to call for it.