Celtic countries used to train Indonesian killersThis document includes:Sale of Hawks to Indonesia condemnedManx government issues bland excuses UK MOD admit training Indonesian killers
Sale of Hawks condemnedThe 1997 AGM of the Celtic League condemned UK plans to complete an order for Hawk warplanes which will be used to further Indonesian repression in East Timor.Representatives pledged all Celtic League branches to oppose the sale. The League's General Secretary told the meeting that the decision showed Robin Cook's recent commitment to respect and campaign for International Human Rights was a farce and the UK was showing the same contempt as the Indonesians for the rights of native peoples. The League's Welsh and Manx branches were urged to continue to publicise the use of the RAF base at Valley to train personnel for the murderous Indonesian regime. RAF Valley uses facilities in other parts of Wales, and Ronaldsway on the Isle of Man. Manx government prevaricate over training issueRAF will continue to be allowed access to Island airfield facility to train Indonesian military thugs.The Manx government has replied to correspondence from the Celtic League concerning the use of Ronaldsway Airport in the Isle of Man by Hawk trainers from RAF Valley in Anglesey. The Celtic League had asserted that the facility should be denied on moral grounds as Valley was being used in a contract to train Indonesian air crews. We enclosed graphic detail of the Indonesian human rights record in the occupied East Timor territory and also cited the distress the probable usage by Indonesian military personnel had caused to Island resident 'Minna' Rennie whose son, a journalist for Channel 9 TV Australia, was brutally murdered by the Indonesian military in 1975. Mr. David North, Manx Minister of Transport has, unconvincingly, asserted that the Manx authorities cannot identify the nationality of aircrew using the facility and, again unconvincingly, cited safety considerations as justification for continuing the RAFs usage. Mr. Norths weak evasions are a stark contrast to the attitude of Mrs. Rennie who despite being in her mid seventies is determined if necessary to travel to Australia to publicise the murder of her son and other journalists by the Indonesians. Meanwhile a parallel query to Welsh Secretary William Hague has been passed to the Ministry of Defence for "direct reply". Last month the MOD initially denied that aircrew were being trained at Valley but subsequently this was 'corrected'. The League had supplied similar graphic evidence of Rights abuse to the Welsh Office and indicated that the arrangement to train Indonesian military personnel at was morally offensive to the Celtic people. J.B. Moffatt, General Secretary.15/8/96 MOD "own up" to training of Indonesian Military - 24-09-96"Precise details" of multi million pound training deal with Indonesian military regime withheld.The Ministry of Defence has confirmed that Indonesian aircrew are trained at an air base in Wales. The conformation contradicts earlier denials that were given to UK journalists when the Celtic League made the allegation some months ago. The MOD say "precise details" of the training are "confidential between governments" however it is certain that the aircrew use the base facility at Valley, and the airfield at Ronaldsway in the Isle of Man for simulated landing approaches. The League also believe that units from Valley including Indonesian aircrew are detached to firing ranges in the S. Wales area where training in the ground attack capabilities of the aircraft are given. The Celtic League has criticised both the UK and Manx governments over the training at a time when the Indonesian human rights record and oppression of the indigenous people of East Timor are under scrutiny. The Hawk is believed to be a key componet of the Indonesian military's counter insurgency effort in the war in East Timor and human rights activists attacked and disabled a Hawk aircraft destined for the territory at B. Aerospaces Warton (Lancashire) plant in January 1995. The MOD insists that there is "no evidence that British supplied defence equipment has been used in East Timor". This statement however flys in the face of all the evidence. Reputable British journalists have reported watching bombing raids carried out by the British Aerospace supplied aircraft. During the repression in Indonesia over 200,000 people, a third of the indigenous population, have been killed in one of the most brutal acts of genocide since W.W. 2. The Celtic League will continue to press the MOD for specific detail of any offensive training provided to Indonesian crews and will try to establish if Indonesian crewmen are allowed to fly solo operations to firing ranges at Pembrey in Wales. Meanwhile the Manx government which has to date refused to accept that Indonesian aircrew could be identified with the Valley based aircraft using the airfield at Ronaldsway will again be asked to withhold the facility. For one Manx resident the argument has more that a moral imperative. Seventy Five year old Minna Rennie's son Malcolm was murdered in 1975 when, as a journalist with Australian TV station Channel 9, he and another colleague filmed atrocities committed by Indonesian invasion forces in East Timor. Mrs. Rennie feels bitter that the British and Australian governments have ignored the deaths and now trade with her son's murderers! J.B. Moffatt
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