Australia put its armed forces on alert the weekend ahead of the East Timor referendum to evacuate Australians and other foreign nationals after the vote on the future of the territory.

The Defence Minister, John Moore, said the order was "necessary and prudent" in view of increasing violence and intimidation in the lead-up to the referendum.

The Foreign Minister, Alexander Downer, told parliament he had warned his Indonesian counterpart, Ali Alatas, that any threat of death or violence against Australians in East Timor was completely unnacceptable.

Australian Foreign Minister Alexander Downer: Warning to counterpart

The consequences of harm to any Australian would be "very serious indeed" - a statement welcomed by organisations representing the 20,000 East Timorese living in Australia.

They watch with dismay the daily television news films of violence and killings in their homeland, and they are, in the main, appalled at Australia's readiness to leave Indonesia's armed forces (TNI) responsible for keeping the peace between winners and losers after the poll.

Given the military's record, they say, this is a deeply disturbing prospect. Stephen Langford, of the Australia-East Timor Association, is blunt: "The Indonesian army is utterly untrustworthy. If they say they'll withdraw from the island, you can be certain they will stay put."

UN peacekeepers

In Sydney, Estaneslau da Silva, of the National Council of Timor Resistance, says the TNI has connived disgracefully in refusing to disarm the murderous pro-autonomy militias or even to try to bring them under control.

Mr Da Silva says the UN presence in East Timor gives only an illusion of security for Monday's ballot. What is required is a UN military peacekeeping force and he cannot understand why Australia seems content to stand back and watch the making of a possible catastrophe.

Australia should tell Jakarta forcefully, he says, that some areas of economic policy will be "targeted" if the violence continues. Policy analysts in Canberra say Mr Downer is already looking at Australia's options in maintaining military links and the millions spent in aid to Indonesia.

The East Timor referendum - and what happens after it - presents Australia with one of the most demanding challenges in foreign policy for decades. Yet public debate has been slight possibly because, since Indonesia invaded the island in 1975, successive Labor Party and conservative coalition governments have been reluctant to offend the authorities in Jakarta.

John Howard: "Troops only go with UN approval"

The evidence of newspaper reports, editorials, letters and analysts, however, suggests strongly that Australians have no enthusiasm for military involvement in this issue.

The Prime Minister, John Howard, says troops will go only with UN and Indonesian approval. Any other approach would be absurd because it would mean invading the country.