Transition & reconstruction

Teens rebuild their lives in East Timor

Australian Associated Press - September 10, 2002

Sharon Labi, Dili -- They idolise Britney Spears, watch lots of TV and worry about what to wear to school. But one disturbing truth sets these teenage girls apart from others their age -- most have been raped and many have witnessed the torture and murder of family members.

It is only now that months after East Timor's independence that they are speaking of a positive future. They have full confidence in their new leader, President Xanana Gusmao, who like many of them, springs from a small fishing village on the country's stunning coastline. These are the chosen ones, the brightest of their eight or so siblings, who've been sent to school in Dili with the weight of their family's expectations on their shoulders. It's not cheap and tuition alone eats up one-sixth of the meagre average monthly wage of $US65. Then there are living expenses to be paid to the family members who house them. But these village kids are making good. They are learning to read and write and even to speak a few words of English. And they have the luxury of sitting on a lounge and watching TV in the evenings. Sixteen-year-old Lucia Soares Dos Santos left her family in the village of Manatuto several years ago to live with her aunt in Dili so she could be educated at Yayasan Kristal, a private Dili high school. Their electricity supply is intermittent and they have no running water. Her parents work in the fields to fund her tuition -- about $A18 a month plus living expenses -- and she is obliged to help domestically as part of her boarding arrangements. "I was in Manatuto at the time when the militia came. I took refuge up in the hills and lost relatives. My house was not burnt but everything inside was stolen," Lucia says through an interpreter. "I feel very angry, feel hurt when people talk about Indonesians. They killed a lot of people, raped a lot of women."

Ermenegilda Da Costa Laurentina is the eighth of 10 children and left her family behind in Los Palos to live in Dili with an older sister. Through television, she has been exposed to teen pop idols such as Britney Spears but also to other countries, fuelling an interest to travel. Ermenegilda says she has seen footage of Australian cities and wishes Dili could be as clean, with the same level of infrastructure. If she had money, she'd invest in her education. Ermenegilda is part of the new generation keen to learn. The conditions at Yayasan Kristal are not great. Classrooms are often locked, leaving hundreds of students milling about on footpaths because of kids from a rival school nearby threatening violence. When the school does open, students attend either in the morning or the afternoon because the buildings are not big enough to accommodate all 1,000 of them at the same time. The wooden chairs and tables are dusty, the floors strewn with rubbish, but there is a lengthy waiting list because of a shortage of schools in the East Timorese capital. "I'd like to see the school and the facilities here improved," Ermenegilda says. "The facilities here are very poor, and there are a lot of students who want to come to school but they get no financial assistance."

Ermenegilda says she feels sad and angry that the militia Forced her family to flee from Los Palos, but now recognises that the suffering was necessary to gain freedom and independence. But she agonises over her cultural identity and is determined not to adopt the culture of foreigners who have, in the past three years ahead of the independence, been prevalent in the tiny nation. She wants to go to university to study mathematics -- her favourite subject -- but that all depends on her family's finances and whether or not she can find a job to fund the fees.

Other teenage girls tell of their time on the run, and later as refugees after the Indonesian-backed militia rampaged through their homes, stealing whatever they wanted and torching the rest. Lucas Denari, 17, says his family's suffering began long before the militia tore through in 1998-99.

"Many family members were killed, tortured, raped," he says. "When my family members think about it, they still have a lot of hatred about what happened. "I feel the same, but now I understand that this is part of the history of East Timor. It's in the past now and I want to move forward." Lucas, from the village of Suai in the western part of East Timor, lives with his uncle and aunt in Dili and has been away from his family for seven years. But he says he's used to it now. It is the sacrifices of parents back in the villages that are enabling a new generation to develop a thirst for learning and dreams of one day having a career. Just like other teenagers.

Government & politics

Former Indonesian bureaucrats expected to receive pay soon

Agence France Presse - September 9, 2002

A special fund to compensate former Indonesian government employees and pensioners in East Timor expects to make its first payments next month, a founder of the fund said Monday.

Lakhan Mehrotra, Jakarta ambassador for the UN Mission of Support in East Timor, said he expects the start of payments will act as an incentive for up to 40,000 East Timorese still in Indonesian West Timor to return home.

He told AFP he hopes the initial disbursements will also encourage additional donations because the fund, created last November, has not obtained the ten million in contributions considered the minimum for its viability.

The current contributions of 5.5 million dollars will allow initial payments to pensioners and some other employees of the former Indonesian administration in East Timor, Mehrotra said.

The fund, administered by the UN development agency in East Timor, requires approval of the new East Timor government before disbursements begin, he said.

"Subject to their approval we should be starting in October," said Mehrotra, who established the fund with Indonesia's Co- ordinating Minister for People's Welfare, Yusuf Kalla. Mehrotra estimated about 16,000 East Timorese, a large number of them pensioners, could receive the first payments.

Pensioners stopped receiving their Indonesian benefits once East Timor became independent on May 20 after a period of UN administration.

The new fund is considered a key incentive for enticing former government workers still across the border in Indonesia to return home.

"The key to solving the issue of the refugees once and for all is to pay some kind of compensation," said Ana Gomes, Portugal's ambassador to Jakarta who recently returned from the West Timor towns of Kupang and Atambua, where she visited the refugee camps.

Most of those who remain in West Timor are soldiers, police, teachers and other former government officials and their families who continue to receive Indonesian salaries, Gomes said.

Returning soldiers already receive a lump sum payment from the Indonesian military, she said, but the others -- a majority of whom want to go home -- are reluctant to do so without also getting financial compensation to replace the Indonesian salaries they would no longer receive in East Timor, one of Asia's poorest nations.

"My plea has always been that this is a humanitarian problem," Mehrotra said.

Indonesia has already provided two million dollars to the fund. The rest of the 5.5 million received so far has come from Australia, Portugal and the European commission.

"We have appealed to many other donors," Mehrotra said. "I won't say that it's satisfactory but I'd say that it's a good start."

Those remaining in West Timor are the last of at least 250,000 East Timorese who fled or were forced across the border as part of a scorched-earth policy carried out by Indonesian security forces and their militias after East Timor's 1999 vote for independence.

Justice & reconciliation

Forgiveness in East Timor's villages

Australian Associated Press - September 10, 2002

Sharon Labi, Fatuk-Hun -- The red juice of the betel nut stains her teeth and runs down her chin, settling in the cracks of her lips and the wrinkles of her weathered face. Maria Jose Barrato has no idea how old she is; her guess is at least 80, and it shows. Her tiny frame, hunched back, deep-lined face and stringy white hair are constant reminders of decades exposed to war, murder, rape and abuse at the hands of East Timor's aggressors.

She says chewing betel nut keeps her teeth in place and her mouth fresh. Never mind that she has just a handful of rotting, discoloured teeth, barely enough to eat with. But then again, there's not much food to go round.

Barrato lives in the village of Fatuk-hun, where she has defied East Timor's pitiful life expectancy of about 50. Here there is no electricity, no running water, and a lack of nutritious food. Homes have been destroyed twice in recent years, torched by the militia who destroyed everything in sight. But the children play happily, oblivious to their itchy heads and running noses. They line up in single file and wait patiently for their guests to help themselves to lunch and a dessert of green pancakes filled with shredded coconut and honey before eating themselves.

Barrato is the village elder in Fatuk-hun, just 28km from East Timor's capital Dili, yet well over an hour's drive away because of the narrow, pot-holed roads. Burnt-out buses line the route, and huts along the way still display faded posters with pictures of their hero, independence leader Xanana Gusmao, now East Timor's president. Vota Xanana, they urge. But there is also tranquility. Buzzing dragon flies flit among the branches of the pretty pink bougainvillea trees, and children line the sides of roads selling bottles of water, bunches of bananas and firewood.

As a child, Barrato played in the coffee plantations and worked the fields with her parents. One of the old generation who still speaks Portuguese rather than one of the 37 East Timorese dialects, Barrato says her childhood was filled with struggle and hardship. "The Portuguese came into the village, they stole our sacred items and dumped them into the sea," she says.

Ask her about the Indonesians and she turns her back and raises her hand to cover her face, a gesture of scorn for those who murdered her loved ones. But still she won't express hatred. Hatred is too harsh and the East Timorese, who are devout Catholics, are the forgiving type.

"The Indonesians were much worse than the Portuguese. They burnt our houses, there were killings and they stole goods from people," Barrato says. "They murdered many members of my family." When the Indonesians invaded East Timor in 1975 and later rampaged through Fatuk-hun, murdering Barrato's parents, brothers and sisters, she fled until she found a hole in the ground beside a large tree. There she hid, catching sleep among the snakes as the sound of gunfire and bombs came closer to her hideout.

She fled again and eventually found a cave which was to become her home. She guesses she spent a few years hiding inside before deeming it safe to return to her village. "I've seen a lot of prisoners, it's been a waste of human life," Barrato says. "My son was saying I shouldn't talk like that, shouldn't criticise the Portuguese and Indonesians like that. But I tell him to shut his mouth because I've earned the right to talk." When she can muster the energy, she visits the Santa Cruz cemetery in Dili -- the scene of the 1991 Dili massacre and the place where her family is buried. There she kneels on their crumbling tombstones and prays. Her story is common in East Timor.

There are few families who have not experienced murder and rape and theft at the hands of the Portuguese, Indonesians and, more recently, the Indonesian-backed militia. In this village of 55 families, there is hope that independence earlier this year will bring a better life, but many say it hasn't changed much yet. They still grow coffee, rice and cassava. The average wage in East Timor is $120 a month, but in Fatuk-hun many families survive on between $550 and $920 a year.

And with no contraception or understanding of it, families are producing, on average, eight to ten children. Distraught at having lost their homes at the hands of the militia in 1998-99, they won't talk about living conditions. They won't reveal how many rooms they have, nor how many children sleep together.

There is no high school in Fatuk-hun and families often send only the brightest of the clan to be educated in Dili. But when tuition at a private Dili high school costs around $18 a month, plus living expenses, many villagers are forced to forego an education for their children.

But there is some new-found hope in Fatuk-hun. Australian Margaret Flower, a retired widow from Adelaide, donated about $100,000 through aid organisation PLAN Australia to build a pre- school there. Mrs Flower was in Fatuk-hun to officially open the two-classroom school but, like the rest of the village, it has no electricity and no running water, at least for now. It does, however, provide shelter from the scorching sun for children aged three to seven. There are no blackboards, just wooden tables and chairs sheltered by a sturdy bamboo structure. Further down the rocky slope is the primary school. With no trained teachers, children are not yet learning to read and write. But that is about to change, with Mrs Flower due to provide another donation through PLAN for teacher training.

One little girl, three-year-old Nyly, says she wants to be a teacher when she is older. Most kids offer the same answer because they know no other professions. Farm life has been their world. Nyly walks to and from school each day by herself, something most parents of a three-year-old would never risk in western countries. In almost a whisper she says in her native East Timorese dialect of Tetun that she likes to draw, sing and dance. She has two brothers and two sisters and says her mama spends most of her time cooking rice. "Dada is a farmer and he makes money to help us go to school," she says. "He farms coffee and corn and vegetables."

Pre-school teacher Ermelinda Soares says the school has brought the village's children together in a safe and happy environment. Soares looks older than her 28 years, her hectic life consumed with the care of five children, a husband, a home and a field. She teaches at the school in the morning and works the field in the afternoon while her farmer husband travels long distances trying to sell vegetables. "I'm happy because I'm working. Teaching is good for me because there are no other jobs," Soares says. She is learning to read and write and teaches the kids to sing and dance. On pink paper, she draws outlines of flowers and distributes the few coloured pencils in the classroom so the children can colour them in. But Soares's responsibilities are a burden. Until recently a refugee in West Timor, she brings home $ 120 each month in wages through a PLAN subsidy, but she says there's never enough money for the family to live on.

Mateus Marques, a 28-year-old cassava farmer, is the community chief. He speaks briefly of the hardships but says they are not overcome by grief at the actions of the Indonesian-backed militia. "We tr

to put the militia behind us and get on with life," he says. The two biggest issues facing the village are unemployment and water. Villagers trek for an hour each way to the nearest river to get water but that provides just enough for the children. "My dream is to have clean water throughout the community. If we can get access to water, it will improve our income because we will be able to plant more things," Marques says.

When it comes to money, much depends on the going price for coffee, the main cash crop. Villagers were once paid 90 cents a kilo for coffee; last year it was one fifth of that, leaving already struggling families with greater financial worries.

Marques is married but unlike his fellow villagers, has no children yet. He says the new pre-school has created a happier and more optimistic mood in the village and he, like others, volunteers to help renovate the primary school. Once their two hours of tuition are up for the day, pre-school children gather with their parents and siblings for a rare community lunch to thank their Australian donor.

Soares sits on the wooden chair and waits for her eldest child to bring the youngest of her two babies to be breastfed. It is here that Barrato approaches Mrs Flower, two years her junior, clasps her hands together and bows her head slightly in an emotional gesture of gratitude. The old woman, once known as the Liurai, the elected head of the community, explains that the new facility will give her grandchildren and great grandchildren opportunities that she never had. "I had no opportunities to go to school, I'm illiterate," Barrato says. "I grew potatoes, coffee, corn, rice. There's a new generation and it will be educated. I am happy that the children are coming to school so they can become somebody one day." And she's delighted the school is in the centre of the village so children don't have to walk long distances on narrow roads busy with crowded buses and four-wheel drives. There was not much traffic in her day, Barrato says, and now it scares her. After her encounter with Barrato, Margaret Flower said she felt immense sadness at the contrast between their two lives. "I felt terrible because we have had so much opportunity and so much good food in our lives and she hasn't," Mrs Flower said. "She would have had a very hard life. I felt sadness really."

[The author visited East Timor courtesy of PLAN Australia.]

Human rights trials

Timor witnesses fail to appear in Jakarta trials

Radio Australia - September 10, 2002

An Indonesian prosecutor has proposed that controversial human rights trials be moved to Dili, the capital of neighbouring East Timor.

Prosecutor Gabriel Simangunsong says it is difficult to get witnesses from the fledgling country to testify in Jakarta.

According to the state Antara news agency, the prosecutor was replying to the judges who had asked why it was so difficult to get East Timorese witnesses to testify.

At the trial of East Timor military chief Brigadier General Tono Suratman, Mr Simangunsong said that none of the East Timorese witnesses had given him a reply as to whether they were willing to testify.

Earlier, at the same court, a separate trial of Lieutenant Colonel Endar Priyanto, a former Dili district military chief, had to be postponed following the absence of witnesses from East Timor. None of 12 witnesses summonsed -- including Nobel laureate Bishop Carlos Bello -- appeared in court.

Priyanto is accused of gross rights violations by failing to prevent or halt several incidents of violence by pro-Indonesian militias in April and September 1999.

The AFP news agency said it was not clear why the witnesses failed to appear, but in earlier cases some potential East Timorese witnesses expressed fears for their safety while in Jakarta.

Priyanto and Suratman are two of 18 military and police officers, government officials and civilians who have been on trial for gross human rights violations related to the violence in East Timor in 1999.

The court has already acquitted a police general and five army or police officers and sentenced a former governor to just three years in jail, sparking widespread criticism here and abroad.

In 1999, militias created and supported by Indonesian military elements waged a campaign of intimidation before East Timor's August 30 vote for independence from Jakarta and took revenge fterwards. At least 1,000 East Timorese are estimated to have died with whole towns were burnt to the ground.

Human rights/law

Ex-militiaman gets 20-year sentence for murders

Lusa - September 11, 2002

A Dili court has sentenced a Timorese man who belonged to a pro- Indonesian militia to twenty years imprisonment for three murders that he committed in 1999, it was announced Wednesday.

The Special Panel for Serious Crimes of the Dili District Court found 32-year-old Armando dos Santos guilty this week of murdering a pro-independence supporter in the Liquiga district in March 1999. Dos Santos, who was a member of Besih Merah Putih militia, was also convicted of two other murders in April of the same year: one near the Luiquiga church and another at the Dili home of independence leader Manuel Carrascalao.

Judges said that at the time the accused committed the murders, various Timorese and Indonesians were involved in systematic attacks against the population of East Timor.

There was, however, no evidence that dos Santos had been involved in this organized violence, said the judges, who also decided the accused should not be charged with crimes against humanity.

Judge shortage in East Timor

Radio Australia - September 10, 2002

East Timor's foreign minister Jose Ramos-Horta says the country's fledgling judicial and prison systems are frail because there are insufficient judges.

He has told Radio New Zealand that judges appointed by the United Nations two years ago were without basic education in law and only a few had law degrees.

Mr Ramos-Horta said the UN should have controlled the justice system until sufficient judges had been trained. Crowding in East Timor's jails has meant that lengthy prison terms are common for petty crimes.

East Timor became fully independent on May 20 this year, less than three years after holding a UN-supervised referendum in which voters overwhelmingly opted to break away from Indonesia.

News & issues

Timorese who don't want to go back

Sydney Morning Herald - September 14, 2002

Nick O'malley -- Fresh out of a Dili jail, Edit Horta, sister-in-law of East Timor's foreign minister, Jose Ramos Horta, island-hopped to Darwin in 1994.

She was pregnant and had an eight-year-old son in tow, but the need to escape Indonesia's oppressive rule and be reunited with her three daughters, who escaped two years earlier, kept her going.

Today she fears the Australian Government will split her family and send her and her two youngest children, Sarah, eight and Ricky, 16, back to Dili.

Her eldest children, Natasha, 22, Melissa, 20 and Carolina, 17, have already won Australian citizenship, but Mrs Horta, 43, has lived in bureaucratic limbo since her arrival in Australia.

For a time Mrs Horta, her family and 1800 other East Timorese who fled to Australia, were considered Portuguese citizens; now they are asylum seekers.

Their Indonesian passports are invalid, and they have no East Timorese papers. There is no embassy to which they could apply even if they did want them. They don't.

"Why [must] I go back?" Mrs Horta asks. "There is no home there, no medicine, no job, no school, no electricity, no water in [East Timor]. I have to start again."

Mrs Horta's life in East Timor was harsh and filled with terror. She was jailed for helping foreign journalists contact resistance fighters.

Now she has a job at a Petersham restaurant and a home in Cabramatta. She is estranged from her husband and his family, and her children speak English and would find East Timor alien.

Melissa is appalled at the thought she could lose her family. "It hasn't fully hit me yet, we are still hoping," she said. "Sarah is fully Australian, she doesn't even speak Tetum, she has never even been [home]."

Earlier this year the Immigration Department announced the situation in East Timor had stabilised enough for it to investigate the community's claims for permanent protection, and last month the community received letters letting them know decisions were pending.

The community's leader, Carlos Pereia, says that unless the Immigration Minister, Philip Ruddock, uses his special powers to grant them special dispensation, it is unlikely they will gain protection or residency.

A spokeswoman for the Immigration Department confirmed yesterday that the community would "soon" learn if their applications had been successful, but would not specify when.

"It must be born in mind that the minister is under no obligation to use or consider using this power [special dispensation] in this particular case," she said. "It is not unreasonable to expect people who are found not to be refugees to return home when their country is safe and secure."

In Indonesia, a generation of 'orphans' from East Timor

Christian Science Monitor - September 10, 2002

Dan Murphy, Wonosobo -- Maya Friera's letter home is filled with re-assurances for her parents. The 8-year-old promises she's studying hard and saying her prayers every day.

What she'd most like from home, she says, is a picture of Mom and Dad. "It's been a long time since I came here," she says, sitting under a pavilion at the Wonosobo, Central Java, orphanage she shares with 52 other East Timorese children. "I miss them."

Maya is one of an estimated 1,900 East Timorese "orphans" separated from their parents in September 1999, when the former Indonesian province voted for independence. In response, the Indonesian military drove 200,000 East Timorese from their homes into Indonesian West Timor, dividing thousands of families.

Though international attention has focused on Indonesian courts' faltering effort to account for the brutal withdrawal, the children's stories are a reminder of the lingering wounds left by Indonesia's 25-year occupation of the tiny country.

More than distance separates many of these children from their parents. Maya - along with 156 other children -- is in the care of the Timoimor Hope Foundation, which has farmed out children to various facilities in Java. The foundation is run by Octavio Soares, an exiled East Timorese who supported the territory's integration into Indonesia. The political ties of the foundation have led to suspicion and angry confrontations between Soares and the United Nations, and in a few cases, delays in reuniting children with parents.

"Some of these kids are a little brainwashed. They've been told that life in East Timor is horrible, so they're so worried about what could happen to them if they go home," says Choosin Ngaotheppitak, a representative for the UN High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR) in Jakarta.

The commissioner is currently helping 22 East Timorese parents who've responded to a radio and information campaign to reunite with their children.

Over the past year, 21 children have been returned to their parents.

Dr. Soares claims that he has a legal right to keep the children, based on documents the parents signed when he took custody. Moreover, the foundation and its supporters in the East Timorese exile community say many of these parents don't really want their children back.

The UN, he says, fails to understand East Timorese culture, in which it is common for families to give up children to those who can better provide for them.

"The UNHCR has been spreading bad stories about me," says Soares, who delayed the return of 18 children for more than a year until the Indonesian government intervened. "The UN doesn't care if these kids go to school. They want to send them back into terrible conditions."

Uncertain future

Arid and poor, East Timor is a tiny land of 700,000 people that saw most of its infrastructure disappear during the Indonesian withdrawal. The young nation is short of members of almost every profession, including teachers.

All signs are that the children are well treated at the Wonosobo facility, a simple three-building complex amid the terraced rice paddies of central Java.

While the younger boys play soccer on a dirt lot after school, a group of boys and girls practice a line dance to an Indonesian disco hit.

Augustina Soares, 11, and Christina dos Reyes 10, who met in a West Timor refugee camp, say they're very happy to be in Java. But there is a striking similarity to the way they answer questions on the subject of home and their families.

"We'll go home when we graduate from school," says Augustina. "That's right," says Christina. "We'll go home when we finish school." A third child, a boy of about 10 who has drifted over from the dancing, chimes in: "If we go home too soon, we'll never be smart."

Both girls say it's much safer in Java. "Maybe if it was safe, I would go home for a visit," says Augustina.

The children's future is uncertain, since the whereabouts of most of their parents, almost all of whom signed their children over to the foundation when they were living in overcrowded, disease- ridden refugee camps in West Timor, aren't known.

Pasqual Soares Pinto and his wife, Teresa Mascarinahas Trindade, are one of the success stories.

They felt they had no choice but to give their children up when Soares approached them in November 1999. They had been living in West Timor's teeming Noelbaki refugee camp. There was little food and less clean water, and they watched in horror as dozens of their neighbors' kids succumbed to malaria, diarrhea, and malnutrition.

Mr. Pinto says Soares promised to get his children -- Lidya, now 13, and Gilberto, now 8 -- into a good Catholic school in Java. "I felt sick to be sending my children away ... but I felt good that I was taking my children out of danger."

The couple returned to Viquegue on the eastern tip of the island, in February 2000, but had lost track of Soares. After a year, they despaired of ever tracking down their children. Then in early 2001, they heard from a friend that the UN had united a neighbor's family. With help from the UNHCR they traced the children to convents in Java, where they'd been placed by Soares.

After six months of negotiations, he released the children. "I had cried so much," says Mrs. Trindade, the children's mother. "I couldn't be happy without them." The parents say they are satisfied that the children were well looked after while in Soares's care.

Ulterior motives?

Soares's past ties have fed rumors that he's interested in more than the children's welfare.

His uncle Abilio Soares, whose portrait hangs proudly in the foundations small Jakarta office, was the last governor of Indonesian East Timor. Earlier this month, Abilio was sentenced to three years in jail for failing to take action to stop crimes against humanity in 1999.

Some have speculated that Soares wants to bring up children who will oppose East Timorese independence -- a claim that isn't hurt by the banner iin his Java office celebrating "integration" day.

"Maybe the idea was for them to go and help [reclaim] Timor back some day," says the UN's Mr. Ngaotheppitak.

Soares denies the allegation. "East Timor is finished for me," he says. "I have no political agenda -- only my responsibility to these children."

East Timor's stolen children

SBS Dateline - September 4, 2002

[It's three years since the violence that accompanied East Timor's vote for independence. Then, thousands of men, women and children fled at gunpoint to the relative safety of West Timor and beyond. Now, most have returned to play their part in rebuilding East Timor. But some can't come home. They are mostly children, held by fanatical Indonesian nationalists still angry over the loss of the former province. David O'Shea reports on East Timor's stolen children.]

Reporter: David O'Shea

Here in the hills of West Java, unfinished business in East Timor's struggle for independence. Children from the world's newest nation are being held here, thousands of kilometres from their homeland, in a kind of unofficial orphanage for refugees. Only they're not orphans. They're not even refugees.

Zakaria was 11 when he was taken from East Timor. He's had no contact with his parents for three years. The last time Johnny saw his mother and father, he was only five. They are just two of thousands of children wrenched from their families during the chaos that was East Timor in 1999.

Almost every family in East Timor was torn apart in the violence that accompanied the march to independence. After the vote, the Indonesian military and their militia proxies set about destroying East Timor. Hundreds of thousands of people fled or were forced over the border into West Timor. Many parents surrendered their children to people who promised to take care of them in Indonesia. They were told that, when the dust had settled, their children would be returned.

Zakaria (Translation): When Timor was in chaos in '99, we were about to sit our final exams. My teacher said to me "Zak, if you want to be safe then come to school in Java. Once Timor is peaceful, you'll come back. School in Java first." So I went with that Javanese man, Mr Budianto. He brought me to the East Timorese people here. He took me to the boat and then here.

The schoolteacher brought him to this man, Hasan Basri, who is now Zakaria's protector, or kidnapper, depending on your perspective. He's an East Timorese Muslim, who's been based in Java for about 10 years. Basri was a key figure in the forced evacuations from East Timor and he's now holding his charges captive.

Hasan Basri (Translation): I'll never give them up. Even if the Indonesian government comes, I won't give them up. Even if the police come, I won't give them up.

For two years, Basri shuffled Zakaria and the other children around West Java. They were constantly on the move. With the help of local villagers, Basri is now building them a more permanent home. He runs the Lemorai Foundation, which purports to care for Muslim refugees from East Timor, a charity that raises money from sympathetic Indonesians. Kirsty Sword Gusmao is East Timor's First Lady, the Australian wife of President Xanana Gusmao.

Reporter: Why would you call Hasan Basri of the Lemorai Foundation a kidnapper?

Kirsty Sword Gusmao, refugee activist: Because, essentially, he, you know, from all the accounts, he's an unscrupulous character who is profiting from the misfortune of a group of people.

Mrs Gusmao is a vocal advocate for East Timorese children stranded in Indonesia.

Kirsty Sword Gusmao: To add insult to injury, the parents that have now returned to East Timor have, you know, have been denied their right to be reunited with their children.

Hasan Basri argues that the children are much better off in his care and that their parents would be proud of their educational achievements.

Hasan Basri (Translation): Indonesians are proud if their kids are schooled in America. It's the same here if their kids are schooled in Java. They must continue school. I hope they are successful.

8-year-old Johnny now attends a local primary school with Saddam Hussein, Hasan Basri's son. Every Monday morning at assembly, they raise the Indonesian flag and sing the national anthem. They've never seen their own country's flag. Johnny can't even remember his family name. Two months ago, a Dutch television journalist discovered these children. When she interviewed Johnny, he was obviously suffering.

Johnny (Translation): I wanted to meet Mummy.

Journalist: Why couldn't you meet your mummy?

Johnny: They said the war was still on, so I couldn't go there. They said I could see my mummy later.

It turns out that Johnny and Zakaria have no idea of the reality of independent East Timor. Hasan Basri is keeping them very much in the dark.

Reporter (Translation): Do you want to return to East Timor?

Zakaria (Translation): Yes, I do, but later, when East Timor is safe. Once we're sure it's peaceful we'll return.

Reporter: But it's already peaceful.

Zakaria: But I want to see a photo of my family. If possible, I need a photo of my family.

Reporter: What do you mean, a photo of your family?

Zakaria: So I know my family are still there. So we have a family to return to. I'm afraid they won't be there.

Reporter: And what about you? Where are your family?

Johnny (Translation): In Venilale. My family are in Atambua.

Reporter: Venilale or Atambua?

Johnny: Atambua. Saddam's mum says they have moved to Atambua. They've moved. But someone from East Timor said they were dead.

But Hasan Basri knows very well that Johnny's family is still alive and, what's more, they want him and his 16-year-old sister Nur back. A few months ago, their father came to West Java to look for his children, but Basri says he was too busy to meet him. Johnny's father returned to Timor without even seeing his son and daughter.

Hasan Basri (Translation): It's not that I didn't let them meet. It's not that. At the time there was a crisis that was beyond my control. I had no money. I had refugees ... 248 souls had just landed. So I couldn't balance it all. It's not that I couldn't be bothered.

Reporter: That's what you said.

Hasan Basri: What I meant was ... It's a long way.

Reporter: Not to mention from Dili!

Hasan Basri: well, given the conditions, it couldn't happen. I had hundreds of refugees arriving.

Nur (Translation): I don't know why. Maybe he was tired at the time. I don't know.

Reporter (Translation): Who was tired?

Nur: Mr Hasan. Maybe that's why he didn't let me see my father.

Reporter: I think it's Hasan's responsibility to let you see your parents. Don't you agree?

Nur: Yes, he should. Yes, but I don't know why he didn't want to tell me that my father had come and then take him to the school to see me. He never told me. He only told me after the holidays. After I went to Bandung. He just said it casually. "Your father came here." "Oh, really?" That's all I was told.

Reporter (Translation): When did you last hear from your parents?

Zakaria (Translation): I haven't heard from them. I know nothing.

Johnny: Me either.

Reporter: Since you got here, you've heard nothing?

Johnny: No.

Reporter: Have you sent a letter?

Johnny: No.

Reporter: Why?

Johnny: Don't know. No letter.

Reporter: Why don't you send one?

Johnny: Don't know.

Reporter: Don't you want to send one?

Johnny: No.

Reporter: Why not?

Johnny: I don't know where they are. I don't know yet.

Reporter: Do you mean, once you've heard from your parents you'll go? (Both nod)

Zakaria: There has to be a photo so we can see that our parents are still alive.

When the children heard I wanted to try and find their families in East Timor, they started writing letters to their loved ones. Johnny's sister Nur was only brought here recently. Until then, she'd had no contact with her little brother.

Nur (Translation): When I saw him I asked "Where's Johnny?" Then they said the boy before me was Johnny. "Oh, it's him!" He then went into the room and I followed him. I asked him what it was like living here. "It's okay." "If we don't study or make the next grade we get a beating." I said "Really?" Then I asked him if he still remembered Mum. What she looked like and what her name was. He said he did. And our brothers and sisters? He said yes. Then he burst into tears. Then Aunty came in and asked what was wrong. I said "Nothing, just talking." But Johnny was crying.

I found Zakaria's family easily. They're still living in the same house, just outside Dili. This was the first time they'd heard any news of their son since he was taken away and a lot has changed. He's lost two sisters while he's been in Java.

Johnny's father (Translation): He's asking after Antonia, but Antonia is dead. She just died.

Johnny's mother: She died here two years ago. She died on June 15th.

The whole village is sharing their grief.

Aunt: Antonia, Antonia, poor thing. Iria, write back and tell them that Antonia is dead. Maria ... No, don't! He's all alone and so far away. All his family is here and he's on his own there. So we're sad.

But the most surprising news for his parents is that their son has become a Muslim.

Johnny's mother (Translation): We are shocked because he left here a Catholic. He's alone there so he has to conform to their beliefs. Whatever they say, he has to follow. He must do as they say because he's alone there. We're a bit sad because he left here a Catholic.

Four hours away in Venilale, the man who transformed Zakaria is well known. Hasan Basri spent time here, converting local people to Islam. This is where he met Johnny and Nur and where I found their cousins. They can remember Hasan Basri's sales pitch.

Johnny's cousin (Translation): Basically, everything would be better. We'd get money, food, clothes ... Even money for school. It would all be free. We were told we had to convert and everything would be fine.

Now all they want is for Johnny and Nur to be prised away from Hasan Basri.

Johnny's cousin (Translation): We want them to come back to Timor so we can be together, just like before. Before, when we were together, we were always happy. We played and had a lot of fun. Now with only three of us, we don't play, so we miss them.

The family has approached the United Nations High Commission for Refugees in Dili for assistance. But Jake Moreland says the UNHCR is not able to offer much help.

Jake Moreland: We agree that it's moved painfully slowly. So far, only a few over 1,000 have returned so far, most of those from the camps in West Timor. Our priority cases are in Java in the orphanages and, you're right, it's moving very slowly.

The UNHCR in Jakarta is the agency responsible for tracking down and returning the stolen children.

Kemala Ahwil Angraeni, UNHCR Jakarta: We have already repatriated around now 13, more than 13 children!

But how many remain here, in Java?

Kemala Ahwil Angraeni: Quite a number.

Over 1,500, no?

Kemala Ahwil Angraeni: That was ah, that was last time, almost how many months ago, two months ago, that we recounted it 1,501.

So now it's 1,501 minus 13.

Kemala Ahwil Angraeni: Yeah.

It's not much of a success rate.

Kemala Ahwil Angraeni: No, of course not, but we showed to the international community that we did it, you know.

Jake Moreland says only the Indonesian Government has the power to take on the kidnappers.

Jake Moreland: The director for human rights within the Indonesian ministry for foreign affairs, Dr Puja has said that Indonesia will repatriate these children to East Timor.

Dr Puja: We are not really in a hurry.

Dr Puja says the Government is reluctant to push too hard.

Dr Puja: We cannot just force all the children, thousands of them, same place and then we force them to be returned. I don't think UNHCR will do this. See, because they are also working on certain procedures.

Back in West Java, Hasan Basri has organised a party to celebrate Indonesia's Independence Day. It's an opportunity to remind the children how lucky they are to be here. Basri knows that the government will be reluctant to challenge him so long as he shows his patriotism. Basri is exploiting public sympathy for those who fought for East Timor's integration with Indonesia. He's even making the children's release conditional on the government giving military and militia leaders immunity from prosecution.

Hasan Basri (Translation): The human rights cases must be closed, including Eurico Guterres, the colonels, Abilio...

Reporter: Close them? What do you mean "close"?

Hasan Basri: I mean there's no need to press charges. If that isn't done, I don't think the East Timorese in Indonesia will return.

Kirsty Sword Gusmao: There is this view that persists which is that really the East Timorese didn't know what they were doing when they opted for independence, and essentially they would be better off if they had stayed with Indonesia, and I think the interests of people like these kidnappers are served by those views amongst the public in Indonesia.

Reporter: How long should we be waiting for this problem to be resolved?

Kemala Ahwil Angraeni: I don't know.

Reporter: Two years, five years, 10 years?

Kemala Ahwil Angraeni: No, no. We'll, we'll do it, maybe this year.

Reporter: You think so?

Kemala Ahwil Angraeni: I think so. Why not? We have no...

Reporter: Because Hasan Basri won't be cooperating to that timetable.

Kemala Ahwil Angraeni: Oh, we don't know yet. We don't know yet. But we will try anyway. Don't be so pessimistic. I'm not pessimistic. We are optimistic that some, you know, these children will return.

Nur (Translation): I don't know what he thinks of those who want to go home. I think he said the parents must make contact first. Thy must send a letter or come here. Only then can we be taken back. Otherwise we'll jut go back to East Timor some other day.

Hasan Basri (Translation): So, no matter what, even if they come with signatures or photos of parents, I won't give them up.

Reporter (Translation): What if people from the UNHCR come here?

Hasan Basri: I won't give them up. Not even if the UNHCR come with the police. I won't give them up.

Beastly act lands diggers in strife

The Mercury - September 9, 2002

Jamie Walker -- According to the army, it began as a Melbourne Cup day joke. Hot and bored, a group of Australian soldiers spotted two Timorese boys herding water buffalo along a sun-blasted street fronting the Battalion Support Group compound in Dili, East Timor.

A private wrapped a US dollar note around a rock and threw it to the children.

What transpired next would set soldier against soldier, stir suspicion of a cover-up and force action from the highest level of army command in Dili, and, 10 months on, continues to cause ructions.

Military police have dubbed it "Buffalo-gate" and the conspiracy theories have been given weight by the destruction of a videotape of one of the prepubescent boys pretending to -- or actually -- performing obscene acts on a water buffalo, with the encouragement of the onlooking Australians.

At least six soldiers from the frontline 2nd battalion Royal Australian Regiment were involved in the incident on November 6 last year. Two of them, the private who provided the dollar bill and the other with the video camera, were charged with prejudicial behaviour.

In the first instance, they received what amounted to a slap on the wrists: four days' restriction of privileges, denying them canteen visits and their beer ration. The army says neither man was responsible for inducing the Timorese boy to behave improperly.

The child had been paid to "ride the buffalo like a horse", apparently in the high jinks of Melbourne Cup day, insists Director of Personnel (Operations) Colonel Terry McCullagh. As he did so, one of the soldiers fetched his camera and began videoing.

The evidence after that is "contradictory", Colonel McCullagh concedes.

A lieutenant who saw the tape, but did not witness the incident, says it showed the boy lifting the animal's tail and pretending "as if he was sticking his hand into the anus".

Other witness statements refer of the boy having his hands in proximity of the buffalo's "backside", and of his fondling its "udders".

Colonel McCullagh says the conclusion of the lieutenant -- the men's platoon commander -- was that the child may have been "hamming it up" for the camera.

"In my opinion, the video did not show any lewd, distasteful acts, and it did not depict the rumours as told to me," the lieutenant says in his written statement. From the audio, however, he could hear the watching troops laughing.

Colonel McCullagh says it would be "fair to say that the boy was encouraged to continue what he was doing ... by the soldiers".

Some of their fellow Diggers didn't see the joke when the video was passed around the compound. Complaints were made and on November 22, the two privates pleaded guilty at a disciplinary hearing.

Evidence was not heard from the boy; he could not be identified or traced.

The penalty was reviewed and confirmed by an army legal officer in Dili on November 30.

And there the matter should have ended -- except that rumours began flying of a fix, fuelled by the fact that the military police had not been called in to investigate. It didn't help that the videotape had been returned to its owner, who promptly destroyed it.

Word reached the Australian national commander in Dili, Colonel David Chalmers, who referred the case to the military police.

But as sources familiar with the investigation point out, the key piece of evidence -- the videotape of the incident -- was by now beyond reach.

Colonel Chalmers considered sending the miscreant soldiers home but, finding the case had been handled according to law, settled for a further warning.

He also sent a rocket to the battalion HQ, reminding commanding officer Lieutenant-Colonel Angus Campbell of the reporting and management protocols.

Colonel McCullagh insists the file is now closed, but it has left a stale taste, especially among MPs who believe they should have been involved earlier in the process.

"I think there is a suspicion in many minds that there was a strategy from the outset to deal with this matter quietly, and that meant the video was never going to be adduced into evidence," says one.

Colonel McCullagh denies this, saying: "There is no error in law by the tape being destroyed."

He maintains the case is isolated and does not reflect on the general state of discipline among Australian troops in East Timor.

East Timor press reviews

East Timor Press Review

UNMISET - September 6, 10-12, 2002

Timor Post front page reported President Xanana Gusmco as saying that it is not easy to establish an International Tribunal in East Timor.

In the front page TP reported on Prime Minister Mari Alkatiri's reaction to the Border Control case saying that it has raised a big polemic in East Timor. Prime Minister noted that Dili District Tribunal accused BC as being at fault and ordered ETPS to execute BC but no action has been taken due to the government intervention. Due to the intervention the government requested Prosecutor General, Longuinhos Monteiro to hand over the goods confiscated by BC to the tribunal, which rejected the word "hand over". When journalists asked Mr. Alkatiri about the language used he replied, "they can execute themselves."

A man was reported as saying that an ETPS officer beat him yesterday when he stopped under a police officer order. He was then beaten again by three officers at one of the police stations when he tried to complain about the incident. The man said the three officers also threatened to kill him reported TP.

Minister of Health, Rui Maria de Araujo informed that his department has already presented the executive cabinet the four programs of health focusing on the campaign to fight against HIV/AIDS, and the control of health goods in the market so that they are not outdated.

It is reported that, for the security of a new nation like East Timor, there are both positive and negative aspects of investment which should be considered in order avoid social conflict.

It is reported that 3 international doctors, 2 Indonesians and 1 Filipino, have ended their contract. Local doctors have replaced them.

Oscar Lima a local businessman, announced that Portugal International Timor Telecom will replace Telstra on February 2003.

TP reported on the ETPS Border Patrol offices in Bobonaro, Maliana District last Monday that arrested a former militiaman who was involved in crimes committed in September 1999, said Deputy Commander of Bobonaro district ETPS, Semedio Talo Mau.

ETPS Commissioner, Paul Fatima Martins stated that the East Timor Police Service must work together with the Australian and Indonesian Police to prevent people from illegally entering and leaving the country.

MP Jacob Fernandes (FRETILIN) announced that five Parliament members were invited to commemorate the third anniversary of Suai Massacre this Friday. In the same article Mr. Fernandes said the tribunal has the responsibility to solve the Border Control case.

Suara Timor Lorosa'e front page reported that Prosecutor General, Longuinhos Monteiro said there are indications that Indonesian Intelligent services are operating in East Timor to spy on Aceh and West Papua citizens. In the same article the Head of Indonesia's Political Department, Chalief Akbar, denied these allegations but stated he is aware there are people from Aceh and West Papua in the country on business matters and not because of political motivation.

It is reported that a letter from Jakarta's AdHoc Tribuanl was sent to Timorese eyewitnesses to testify in the Jakarta tribunal, but Prosecutor General, Longuinhos Monteiro has stated that the United Stated has banned eyewitnesses from testifying in the Tribunal saying that it's budget does not cover international staff accompanying Timorese to Jakarta.

President Gusmco has been quoted as saying that "in order to establish an international tribunal we must decide if our judges can perform in the international tribunal". The President has also stressed, "Dialogue is needed for the establishment of an International Tribunal because when we require the support of people from overseas, we must think of who is going to pay them, who is going to support the establishment of the tribunal. Will it be UN, United States, Europe or Indonesia?" Mr. Gusmco added that at times NGOs' demand too much and he appeals to NGOs and the civil society to raise all these questions on the establishment of an International Tribuanl.

It is reported that Prosecutor General Longuinhos Monteiro made a phone call to the West Timor District Military Commander to cancel the meeting between the head of former pro-Indonesia group Joco Tavares and East Timor government officials. He claimed that Dili Tribunal did not receive a letter of request from Mr.Tavares about the meeting. Longuinhos Monteiro said the meeting must be coordinated with the tribunal in order to avoid Tavares being arrested.

Minister of Internal Administration, Rogerio Lobato has been quoted as saying that only FRETILIN people are entitled to be in charge of the administration all the way to the chefe sucos/head of villages. He said those who are not FRETILIN members couldn't be in charge of the administration. In the same article, Aileu district Administrator, Maria Paixco announced that she would step down as head of that district because of statements made by her superior (Rogerio Lobato) and because she is not a FRETILIN member.

It is reported that Merpati Airlines will soon provide services from Kupang to Dili and Baucau.

September 10, 2002

Suara Timor Lorosa'e front page reported Parliament President Francisco "Lu-Olo" Guterres as saying that only FRETILIN are entitle to raise the party's flag. Mr. Guterres was refering to members of CPD-RDTL who intends to raise FRETILIN flag on September 11.

Joco Saldanha, a Timorese member of East Timor Study Group, says the 20% tax increase will discourage foreign investors to East Timor.

It is reported that on Monday Prime Minister, Mari Alkatiri visited the Timor Gap exploration location of Bayu Undan accompanied by Minister of Transport, Telecommunication, and Public Works, Ovidio Amaral, Minister of finance, Madalena Boavida and other government officials. President of Philips Petroleum, Mr. Steven Brann also traveled with the delegation. Upon his return from the field trip, Mr. Alkatiri said he went to see the project himself and met a few Timorese who are currently working on the rig. Mr. Alkatiri added that he invited President Gusmco and President of the Parliament to join him on the visit trip but they could not go because of work.

President Xanana Gusmco yesterday met with members of CAVR and four main points were reached during the meeting. They are Repatriation, Reconciliation, Refugees and Amnesty. Present at the meeting were representatives from IOM, UNHCR and UNICEF.

STL reported that a former member of Besi Merah Putih (BMP) militia group, Armando, was sentenced to 20 years in jail yesterday by Dili District Tribunal for violence committed in the country during 1999.

Dili Traffic Police Officer, Jose Xavier Pereira announced that from January to August 2002, 754 cases of traffic accidents were recorded including 11 deaths.

Director of East Timor Electricity, Virgilio Guterres stated that the total income of electricity bills from consumers for the fiscal year of 2001/2002 reached US$411.125,63 dollars.

Former Aileu District Administrator, Maria Paixao was officially sworn in as Member of Parliament yesterday. Mrs. Paixco replaced Milena Pires of the Social Democratic Party (PSD) who resigned from her seat last month.

CPD-RDTL secretary-general, Aitahan Matak says if a dialogue will not eventuate, people from all the districts will come and protest in Dili again. Aitahan Matak said that he had received many letters from the people demanding a national dialogue between CPD-RDTL, the Government and the Parliament. The people have also requested UN recognition of Falintil because without Falintil, RDTL would not exist. Aitahan Matak said he met with President Gusmco on Monday and requested the dialogue for Wednesday.

The Manager of German Technical Cooperation Astrid Paape announced that 80% of water supply has been rehabilitated in the district of Viqueque.

NB: No Timor Post today

September 11, 2002

Timor Post's front page reported that the president of the National Parliament, Francisco "Lu-Olo" Guterres stressed for the community to maintain Fretilin in order to rebuild this new country. According to Mr. Guterres, Fretilin's Central Committee Central already has a plant to develop this country strategically.

TP reported that the National Parliament sent a letter of condolence to the Portuguese Embassy on the demise of Brigadier General, Paulo Pereira Guerreiro last Sunday.

A Timorese businessman, Jorge Serrano said that business people are happy with the suggestion by the Prime Minister, for foreign businessman to carry out their businesses here in partnership with locals.

East Timor's Police Commissioner, Paulo Fatima Martins announced that there are at least twenty-five prisoners still at large.

According to the Border Control case, MP Leandro Isac stated that this is the time that the president should intervene. Failing which the tribunal will be effective and will lose the respect from the people and secondly the people will not respect future decisions undertaken by the tribunal. MP, Lucia Lobato (ASDT) stressed that the establishing of an international tribunal in East Timor will not be easy and cheap. Mrs. Lobato said it will also take a long time reported Timor Post

FRETILIN's President, Francisco Guterres said the party is celebrating its 28th anniversary with from 6am to 10am when the flag is raised followed by a competition and a cultural performance till afternoon. Mr. Guterres said the even will end with the hoisting of the flag at the end of the day. Franciso Guterres said all the political parties were invited to commemorate this historic day. Guterres said, 'ASDT was only an association and because Indonesia planned to invade East Timor and it was in this context that ASDT became FRETILIN in order to bring all the people and groups support to fight the invaders.'

Suara Timor Lorosae's front page also reported on the protests by East Timorese businesspeople against investments from Japan.

The head of the Commission Reception of Truth and Reconciliation, Aniceto Guterres, said that the national dialog initiated by President Xanana Gusmco, stressed that various components within the nation will need to work together in order to develop country.

The paper reported that the Australian Development Scholarship (ADS) and New Zealand Agency for International Development Study Award (NZAID) would award 23 scholarships to East Timorese nationals. 20 scholarships are available for study in Australia and 3 for New Zealand with academic terms starting from February 2003.

Minister of Foreign Affairs and Cooperation, Jose Ramos-Horta stated that East Timor is still not ready to have its own justice system because it does not have suitably qualified personnel yet.

The Don Bosco Organization and Indonesian History Body plan to work together to create a suitable model to educate street children.

The director of East Timor's Motor Cooperation, Elias Correira Boavida met and presented Prime Minister, Mari Alkatiri an electricity project for Iralalaru in Lospalos District. Mr. Boavida stressed that his project was a separate proposal from Abilio de Araujo reported STL.

It is reported that former leader of the pro-Indonesia group FPDK, Eusebio Lopes and a refugee with the name of Merita Gongalves of Maliana district have come in and out of East Timor.

MP Josi Manuel (FRETILIN) said Minister of Internal Administration, Rogerio Lobato will soon establish the decentralization program in the districts according to the wish of the people.

Residends of Kmanek vila in Taibessi, Dili are complaining of water shortages. One local resident said she has to go to a friend house to use the water for washing and baths.

Residents in Dili are complaining that the constant cut of electricity is affecting their work and study. A post office worker said the constant power cuts is delaying the mail and loosing customers. Another person who is attending a month computer course said this problem would lead him to loose the course and the money he paid because the time will be expired soon.

September 12, 2002

Suara Timor Lorosae's front page ran a two-story on the first anniversary of 11 September terrorist attack. President Xanana Gusmco, Prime Minister, Mari Alkatiri, Parliament President, Francisco Guterres along with ambassadors and diplomats participated in the 1st commemoration of 11 September tragedy at the US embassy in Dili. In her welcoming speech, Ms.Shari Villarosa said 'United State is not the only victim of terrorism. Many countries around the world have experience terrorism including East Timor." Ms. Villarosa also added that US would never forget the sympathy and attention from all people around the world as well as East Timor. Candles were lit in memory of those who passed in the attack.

In a separate article, Prime Minister, Mari Alkatiri stated that East Timor government supports the United Stated to eliminate terrorism. But Mr. Alkatiri stressed that East Timor government would disagree with the United States if terrorism is identified as part of a religion or ethnic group.

National Parliament President, Francisco "Lu-Olo"Guterres stated that 11 September is also a significant date to FRETILIN. This year marked the 28th anniversary of the transformation of ASDT to FRETILIN. Mr.

Guterres personally thanked all the leaders including, Bishops Belo and Basilio and Xanana Gusmco who was also part of the Central Committee and Commander of FRETILIN commanders who had smartly managed a strategy in carrying the struggle for the national liberation.

It is reported that in an interview with Radio NZ, Minister of Foreign Affairs and Cooperation, Josi Ramos-Horta stated that it is too early to establish a Judiciary System in East Timor. Meanwhile the head of Dili District Tribunal, Aderito Tilman says it is unethical for the minister to make such comment about his country in another nation.

Timor Post front page carried a picture of the US ambassador to East Timor, Shari Villarosa, President Gusmco, Prime Minister, Alkatiri and Parliament President Francisco Guterres with lit candles in memory of those who passed away on 11 September tragedy. Speaking at the event, President Gusmco said the tragedy of 11 September 2001 is against humanity and it has created an environment of distrust between nations.

Mr. Gusmco added that he feels saddened that people are talking about globalization, concepts of global villages advance in technologies but people still feels threatened.

On the commemoration of the 28th anniversary of FRETILIN Parliament President, Francisco "Lu-Olo" Guterres appealed to all the sympathizers and militants of the party to come together to build the nation for a better future reported Timor Post.

Also on the commemoration of the party, Secretary- General Mari Alkatiri stated that FRETILIN would fight to eradicate poverty.

TP reported that the Australian embassy was closed due to terrorism threats. It is not known when the embassy will resumed its work due to the threats. It is reported that precaution must be taken between 12 and 20 September.

ETPS Commissioner Paulo Martins said that up until now, the police are not yet in charge of the immigration law. His department is waiting for the government to pass the law. Mr. Martins added they would have a tight control on people entering East Timor illegally. He also informed that 24 ETPS members have been selected to work in this area.

Commissioner Paul Martins also explained that the Border Control case needs time to be resolved. Mr. Martins said if the Dili District Tribunal issue arrest orders to the three Border control officials, it would have to be carried out by UNPOL because the police force is still under UN supervision.

Deputy Commander of Bobonaro District Police, Talo Mau reported that the Border Police patrol have arrested a former militia on the Border who was allegedly involved in the violence of 1999.

Director of Electricity, Virgilio Guterres stated that the constant power cuts is due to lack of the generator capacity. Virgilio said that when the new electricity equipment arrives it would make a big change in the operation of electricity in Dili.

[Drafted by the UNMISET Spokespersons Office]

Book/film reviews

Book review: Tactical omissions

Australian Book Review - September 2002

[The following review of Don Greenlees and Robert Garran, "Deliverance: The Inside Story of East Timor's Fight for Freedom" (Allen & Unwin), is by John Martinkus. It was published in Australian Book Review, September 2002, No 244, pp 24-5, and is reproduced here with the kind permission of both the author and of the Editor, Mr Peter Rose.]

The account of the events surrounding East Timor's liberation from Indonesia by News Limited journalists Don Greenless and Robert Garran is subtitled "The inside story of East Timor's fight for freedom". Dealing as it does primarily with the diplomatic machinations of the Indonesian and Australian governments in that period, it would be fair to say the subtitle should read "The inside story of those who worked against East Timor's fight for freedom".

By detailing the story of East Timor's transition to independence from the perspective of Jakarta and Canberra, the two reporters run dangerously close to echoing the perceptions of these two governments. The book reads in some parts like press releases from, alternately, the Australian Department of Foreign Affairs and Trade (DFAT) and the Indonesian state newsagency, Antara. A well-placed former Australian army officer remarked to me that, after reading the book, he came away "almost feeling sorry for the TNI [Indonesian Army]".

In many ways, this account offers glimpses into events in the inner sanctums of Habibie and Howard that have not been recounted elsewhere, and therein lies its historical value. However, it is full of blithe, incorrect assumptions that mirror the lines being pushed by the two main players at the time for their own ends.

On page 44, they relate the death of a schoolteacher in East Timor in December 1998. They state that he was killed by Falintil pro-independence guerillas. In East Timor, at the time, it was well known that the killers were Indonesian military posing as Falintil. It is a small point, but not in the context that this example of a so-called Falintil atrocity was cited by Australian government representatives to explain away the rise of the militia.

Similarly, the authors' account of what happened in the village of Alas in November 1998 is a replica of the DFAT version of events. They disregard an episode widely viewed as the beginning of the arming of civilian militia in East Timor as pro- independence propaganda. The reported death of fifty independence supporters, and the destruction of houses and property in the town as reprisal for a Falintil attack, predated the Australian government's letter of support for eventual self-determination and Habibie's offer of a ballot in early 1999. Because of that, Australian officials were still in the habit of downplaying the excesses of the Indonesian military. Greenlees and Garran follow the Foreign Affairs line that only nine people were killed, including three Indonesian soldiers. This was the assessment of DFAT, based on the report of its military attache, who visited the town for half an hour in the presence of TNI, and the ICRC who also visited in the presence of the military. Journalists in East Timor, myself included, were receiving a very different picture, composed of armed militia controlling the town and killings occurring. That impression was reinforced when I was among the first three journalists to enter the town two weeks later. The militia were very much in control, to the extent that they tried to kill my guide. Contrary to the authors' claim, parts of the town were burnt down, and the remaining population were under armed guard in the school. The authors then use this incident as an example, claiming: "It would not be the last time a description of a violent event and estimates of dead or injured would prove to be greatly exaggerated."

That Greenlees and Garran unquestionably take the DFAT line on this incident, though neither of them was present in East Timor, and dismiss out of hand many contrary accounts, weakens many of the other claims in their book. One has to ask what other information in the book they have accepted uncritically from diplomatic sources with their own agendas.

Sometimes this works both ways. The account of Howard's letter to Habibie, and the latter's response -- offering the possibility of self-determination for the East Timorese -- is interesting. It reveals that Howard had no intention of proposing independence for East Timor. He simply wanted to defuse the issue and delay any process of self-determination. It makes Howard's subsequent grandstanding on the East Timor issue rather hollow. By his own admission early in 1999, he was prepared to postpone their fate for another ten years.

The strength of the authors' diplomatic connections again comes into focus with the reference to the suggestion of US Assistant Secretary of State for East Asian and Pacific Affairs, Stanley Roth, to Ashton Calvert, Secretary of DFAT, that the peacekeeping option had to be pursued. Note that this was in a meeting in late February. The agreement that gave the Indonesian state control of security had not yet been signed. Why, then, is the reader subjected to a spirited defence of Calvert's reasons for rejecting Roth's overtures regarding the need for peacekeepers? With the benefit of hindsight -- and this book surely has that, appearing three years after the events -- it is obvious that Calvert's thinking was wrong and led, according to the UN, to the deaths of 1500 East Timorese immediately after the ballot. So why do the authors expend so much effort defending him?

The book has a tendency to represent the Indonesian military in a sympathetic light. A great deal of attention is paid to the concept of "Bumihangas". Greenlees and Garran explain that the concept of the "scorched earth" policy "was nearly as old as the Indonesian republic; indeed, it featured in Indonesian military doctrine". So what? Does the fact that the Indonesian military dynamited pubic buildings during its retreat from Bandung in 1946, to deny the city to the Dutch, have any relevance as to why the Indonesian military destroyed East Timor while they retreated in September 1999?

There are many small examples in the book of the way the authors downplay or belittle the direct involvement of senior military figures and redirect the blame towards the militia. When they do blame the Indonesian military, they go out of their way to explain how upset and humiliated the Indonesian military were. How upset and humiliated the East Timorese were after twenty-four years of murder, rape and theft at the hands of the same Indonesian military is barely touched upon.

The authors refer to the "allegations that tens of thousands of East Timorese were forced to leave against their will". They are, of course, talking about the forced deportation of 250,000 East Timorese across the border to West Timor after the announcement of the ballot. As someone who was present in Dili whilst this was taking place (Don Greenlees left the day after the announcement of the ballot, along with all but twenty-seven foreign journalists), I can say that there was nothing "alleged" about the columns of people forced at gunpoint by the Indonesian military that I encountered. Nor was there anything alleged about the Indonesian air force C-130s that deported people to West Timor, or the hundreds of military trucks used to move people out of the Indonesian navy ships in the harbour to which those at gunpoint were being marched.

It is these small, frequent references in the book, giving the benefit of the doubt to the Indonesian line, that are insidious. You've got to wonder if the authors seek to distort the history of what happened in order to diminish the role played by the Indonesian military. There is a word for this. It's called revisionism.

Unfortunately, it doesn't end there. The near rebellion in the UN compound to prevent an evacuation by the UN staff, who were abandoning the East Timorese to their fate, is represented as having been an order from Ian Martin, the very man who ordered the evacuation. It is interesting to note that the only people Greenlees and Garran quote in relation to the period when they were not present are UN officials, DFAT officials and Indonesian military. The other foreigners in Dili during this period are dismissed, as are the East Timorese, because their testimony would jeopardise the hypothesis that it was mainly the militia who were responsible for the destruction.

At best, the authors concede that some members of the Indonesian police and the military broke ranks and joined the militia. This fits comfortably with the shifting of blame for the sacking of Dili away from the Indonesian military, a process we are still seeing in the tribunal in Jakarta, and one that seems to be succeeding.

Lastly, it is worth mentioning one more tactical omission, this time on the part of Garran. Interestingly, he makes no reference to the Australian Army briefing given to then Defence Minister John Moore in Oecusse in December 1999, at which Garran was present. Intelligence Captain Andrew Plunkett outlined in detail how Indonesian military and police had rounded up and killed nearly fifty men in the enclave before the arrival of the Australian peacekeeping force. Plunkett was reprimanded for his candour, and not a word has been heard from the Australian military about it since. I was told later that the briefing had been "off the record", although it clearly had not been, and myself and Geoff Thompson from the ABC duly filed the information. How much more "off the record" material regarding the Indonesian military's direct involvement in the violence didn't make it into this "inside story"?