Death in custody
I'd like to bring to the attention some points I feel may be of significance and importance to members of the public, and also other Aboriginal organisations, concerning the recent death in custody of Anthony John Welsh at the Remand Centre, Long Bay on June 19.
For too long there have been questions left unanswered concerning the deaths of our people, our Brothers and Sisters in custody. I think everybody thought that because a Royal Commission was held the deaths would cease. There has been 19 cases since then, and in each case nothing was resolved.
Now is the time to act. Now is the time for something to be done. Let's not let justice be overlooked as it has on numerous occasions.
My name is Albert Steven Ryan. I am 31 years old and am of Aboriginal descent. I a currently waiting on Appeal against the severity of the sentence imposed upon me on April 7, 1993. I have been in custody at the remand centre since March 16, 1992.
I am head sweeper on the middle of 12 wing and also a representative of the Inmate Committee for Aboriginals, which was established in 1992 as one of the recommendations of the Royal Commission.
In March there was a murder of another inmate on the middle landing. Because of this, security of the gaol was tightened, especially in the wings, with full access only being given to the sweepers.
Now we come to the case of Anthony John Welsh, a young Aboriginal man of 24 years of age who had been picked up for a domestic violence order, prohibited drugs and escaping from lawful custody. He was placed in the cells of Blacktown Police Station where he informed them he was suicidal.
He was put in an observation cell, then taken to the Reception Centre at Long Bay and transferred to the Remand Centre.
I was called down to the wing manager's office and informed that we had received another Aboriginal inmate, Brian Welsh's brother, and that he was contemplating suicide.
I suggested that Anthony and Brian should share a cell. That was arranged and they both went into Cell 16 on the landing where the majority of Koori inmates are housed.
On the following morning, the wing was cleared but there was no duty or care given by any officer to make sure no-one was still in their cells. At 11.30am the lunch time muster was held, with all inmates returning to the wing for Sunday dinner.
At 12.45pm the muster bell rings and everyone told to clear the wing. All cells were locked and presumably empty and the landing cleared at 1pm. Sometime after 2pm there is a "Welsh" paged on the loud speaker for a visit.
Brian Welsh goes to see if it was for him, but it was for Anthony. There is no sign of Anthony outside, so the wing was informed to check out his cell, where it was discovered that Anthony was supposedly hanging from the window by a sheet.
Here we have a young man, in the centre for less than 24 hours, had suicidal tendencies, and presumably carried out these intentions. Along with others I keep asking myself why? Why was this allowed to happen? Why wasn't he closely monitored?
Albert Steven Ryan
Melbourne
[Edited for length.]
Justice for East Timor
This is a copy of a letter I sent today to the local (Darwin) Indonesian consulate and to President Suharto.
I heard today of the "military exercise" which took place on July 14 at the University of Dili, East Timor. The university was surrounded, 3 students were killed, 11 wounded and at least 70 students arrested and gaoled.
The day before the killings and bloodshed, members of the military had harassed or "made fun of" two nuns (who had applied for entrance to the university) — mocking the women and the Catholic religion. The women were protected by students at the university. Perhaps the students over-retaliated, especially when they discovered these two were intel agents acting as "agents provocateurs". However, it is only your soldiers who surround people and commit cold-blooded murder, as they did.
Another recent shooting of a 17-year-old innocent boy "Marcelo" in the region of Uelau (west of Kampung), in which soldiers shot him, then leaned him against a tree and blasted out his heart, illustrates as well that the root of the problem of East Timor is the presence of the Indonesian military, and nothing else.
The local population's demand for justice to be brought to Marcelo's murderers has been ignored by the Indonesian authorities since early May.
What will happen to the murders of the three students killed two days ago? Will they be sent to Bali for two weeks vacation, like those responsible for the hundreds killed in the Dili massacre? Why were 11 students injured and 70 imprisoned — for religious or for political reasons? Are they being tortured? Or now that they are in gaol, with the whole world looking on with incredulity, do you perhaps not know quite what to do with them?
Please answer these questions, addressing your letter to "letters", 91×ÔÅÄÂÛ̳ Weekly. I'm sure its Australia-wide readership would be eager to hear what you have to say.
Sally-Anne Watson
Student Supporters of East Timor
Casuarina NT
East Timor
This letter is another "thanks" for the continuing coverage of the struggle to free East Timor, especially the recent conference in Manila.
I have just sent off a copy of your recent East Timor cover issue (#147), to my friend Elaine Briere in Canada. Readers of GLW will have seen her photos of pre-invasion East Timor. They are stunning photographs. Little did she know when she took the pictures in 1974, that the Indonesian regime that is still in power today, would invade killing a third of the population, many of those she had photographed.
Today Elaine Briere is still active and has built up a solidarity network in Canada we can only admire. Canadian policy on East Timor and Indonesia is much the same as that of the Australian government. It is interesting too that Canada and Australia share the brutal history of destruction of indigenous people when Europeans invaded.
The ease with which the Australian government has come to accept the 1975 invasion ("take over" in government speak) says much about our own history.
So this is a letter of appreciation of what you are about. I urge all GLW readers to get involved in regional issues where Australia is playing a direct part in destroying lives, whether it is in collaboration with the Suharto regime over East Timor, or Bougainville, or justice issues here in Australia.
Stephen Langford (and eight others)
Secretary, Australia-East Timor Association NSW
Soviet Union and WWII
I would like to bring to the attention of your readers some aspects of a recent event which received less than full coverage in the media.
According to recent TV news, demolition of the Friendship Bridge over the river Elbe at Torgau in Germany has commenced. This was the sight of one of WWII's most famous photographs of jubilant Soviet and American forces meeting up on April 25, 1945. It was a powerful symbol of the Grand Alliance and its victory over Nazi Germany. In recent times the bridge had, apparently, fallen into disrepair and needed to be destroyed. End of story?
Not at all. According to an item on Deutsche Welle's TV news, carried on SBS on June 20, there had been a campaign mounted locally to save the bridge as an important historical monument. However, neither the federal nor the regional government were prepared to pick up the modest $5 million to restore it. They were happy, on the other hand, to kick in the $41.5 million needed to demolish it. In order to avoid any protests from the local people, the first pylon was blown up at night.
The only possible sense that can be made out of this event, where a wealthy country seems hell-bent on destroying part of its history, is that it is yet another attempt to expunge, downplay or distort the decisive role played by the Soviet Union in defeating fascism in Europe during WWII. A lot of pseudo-historical studies and documentaries are being circulated at the moment with this same apparent aim.
George Orwell was only ten years out with the title of his novel 1984 with its frightening depiction of a regime in which history is rewritten to serve the interests of the powerful.
Robert Briton
Largs Bay SA
Greens WA
As a member of the Greens WA, I want to take issue with some comments made by Christabel Chamarette in your cover story in #149 on women, power and politics.
Christabel is quoted as saying that "The Greens(WA) is really a 'small is beautiful' story where failure equals success. I hope it will keep meaning that ... We're a very small group that started on January 1, 1990, with a commitment to challenge the current political system and the current political agenda. We didn't essentially want to get into parliament ..."
When we started up we were not a very small group. The Greens WA consisted of over 200 members and many more hundreds of supporters. Our party was the result of a merger of the WA Greens Party, the Alternative Coalition, the Green Earth Alliance and the Valentine Peace Group. The latter was not an organisation, but a network of supporters of Senator Jo Valentine, who was our endorsed candidate for the 1990 Senate election.
At the end of that election, we had over 700 members, twice the number that we currently have. Over 2000 members and supporters helped in that campaign to get Jo Valentine re-elected as our senator.
I was a member of the Greens WA preferences negotiating group. Our group was responsible for arranging five preference agreements to ensure that failure did not occur. Three written preference agreements were made with the Australian Democrats, the Labor Party and the National Party. There were also two verbal agreements on preferences made with the DSP and the Pensioners Party.
At least three weeks before election day, we knew, provided that our primary vote was almost equal to the Democrats, that we would win on preferences.
The overwhelming majority of party members, in campaigns for state upper house seats and for Dee Margetts' campaign for the senate in the last federal election, campaigned to win. We aim for success, not failure.
Jan Jermalinski
Carlisle WA