DUKUNGAN SENYAP NEGARA ASING DALAM OPERASI SEROJA TIMOR TIMUR 1975-1978: ANALISIS BERDASARKAN DOKUMEN ARSIP AS DAN DOKUMEN VISUAL FOTO

FOREIGN COUNTRIES' SILENT SUPPORT IN OPERATION

SEROJA IN EAST TIMOR 1975-1978: AN ANALYSIS

BASED ON US ARCHIVE DOCUMENTS AND VISUAL PHOTOGRAPHS

Studi ini mengintegrasikan analisis dokumen deklasifikasi dengan verifikasi dokumen visual foto militer untuk mengkaji keterlibatan aktif Amerika Serikat dan Australia dalam Operasi Seroja di Timor Timur pada periode 1975-1978, sebuah pendekatan yang belum diterapkan dalam historiografi topik ini. Melalui metode historis kritis yang mencakup heuristik, kritik sumber, interpretasi dan historiografi, penelitian ini menganalisis dokumen yang mengacu pada National Security Archive dan History State Goverment, khususnya dokumen Memorandum of Conversation Ford-Kissinger-Soeharto pada tanggal 6 Desember 1975. Hasil penelitian ini menunjukkan bahwa Amerika Serikat memberikan persetujuan politik tingkat tinggi sehari sebelum invasi berlangsung, serta melanjutkan program bantuan militer meskipun terdapat penangguhan resmi, serta memasok alutsista termasuk pesawat OV-10F Bronco yang aktif digunakan dalam fase pembersihan 1977-1978. Hal ini disusul oleh Australia yang memberikan dukungan diplomatik yang berpuncak pada pengakuan de facto integrasi Timor Timur pada 1978, sampai dengan pengakuan de jure pada tahun 1979. Penelitian ini menyimpulkan bahwa keterlibatan kedua negara bersifat aktif dan strategis, bukan hanya sekedar bersikap diam, dan menempatkan

This study integrates the analysis of declassified documents with the verification of visual documents of military photographs to examine the active involvement of the United States and Australia in Operation Seroja in East Timor in the period 1975 1978, an approach that has not been applied in the historiography of this topic. Using critical historical methods that include heuristics, source criticism, interpretation and historiography, this study analyzes documents referring to the National Security Archive and the History of the State Government, especially the Ford-Kissinger-Soeharto Memorandum of Conversation on December 6, 1975. The results of this study show that the United States provided high-level political approval the day before the invasion took place, and continued the military aid program despite the official suspension, and supplied defense equipment including the OV-10F Bronco aircraft that were actively used in the 1977-1978 cleanup phase. This was then followed by Australia, which provided diplomatic support that culminated in the de facto recognition of East Timor's integration in 1978, up to de jure recognition in 1979. This study concludes that the involvement of both countries was active and strategic, not just a silent one, and v places Operation Seroja as a real manifestation of the geopolitical dynamics of the Cold War in Southeast Asia.