>from: [EMAIL PROTECTED] >Subject: Indonesia -EastWest Timor >Date: Mon, 28 Aug 2000 > >Guardian Weekly . August 10-16, 2000 The Observer > "Rebels risk Indonesia's wrath" > By Ian Williams >--------------------------------------------------- >Erson Wenda stands on a ridge above the remote Baliem Valley, >gesturing wildly with his arms, tears in his eyes. "The soldiers came >from over there. They took people from my village, tying their hands, >and brought them to these holes." > >He bends forward, his hands behind him, re-enacting what happened >when 11 of his terrified neighbours were shot and dumped into shallow >graves on the ridge. > >A silent crowd gathers as he continues his story. A tribesman, >wearing only a codpiece and feathers in his hair, stamps his spear >and utters a deep moan. An old man in soiled shorts steps forward, >pointing to bullet wounds in his thigh and foot. > >Rain suddenly sweeps in across the valley. Everyone scrambles for >shelter. The man's words now compete with rain on the tin roof: "They >hacked the bodies before they threw them into the holes." > >For the first time, the full horror of Indonesian rule in Irian Jaya >(or West Papua, as Papuans prefer to call it) is emerging. > >For more than 30 years Jakarta fought a dirty war against the rebel >group OPM and anyone thought to sympathise with them. Thousands are >thought to have died. Only now are villagers coming forward to have >their reports documented by human rights workers in the highland >capital of Wamena. > >"We're not scared any more. Before, if you as much as mentioned the >rebels you'd be killed. People would be terrorised for as much as >writing down their name. People were scared to even use the word >Papua," says Yafet Yelemaken, who is gathering the evidence. > >Years of repression now fuel an urgent desire for independence. The >Baliem Valley is technically still an area of military operations, >but suddenly the hated Indonesian military has disappeared. > >All along the bumpy road that threads through the valley, villagers >have set up their own security posts. Groups of men in bare feet and >tattered clothes spring to attention as strangers approach. They >brandish the ancient weapons of the Dani tribe that dominates this >valley: bows and arrows, spears and crude knives. > >Veteran members of the OPM emerge from the hills, wearing >feathered head-dresses, necklaces of giant boar's teeth and enormous >gourds over their loins. "We're not afraid. Not now," they insist. > >In Jayapura the independence movement organised its most >forthright challenge yet. Hundreds flooded the city centre last week >for the raising of the outlawed Morning Star flag. The only sign of >Indonesian authority was a solitary and bemused traffic policeman. > >Indonesia's President Abdurrahman Wahid has said he will never let >Irian Jaya go. Yet in the valley and here in Jayapura it looked too >late, as black-clad militiamen, forbidden flags on their breasts, >paraded openly. > >These men policed the port with sticks and knives when a refugee >ship arrived from Ambon. At first nobody was allowed ashore. The few >eventually permitted to land for medical treatment were escorted, >menacingly, by those same militiamen. > >One pro-Indonesian businessmen was reportedly kidnapped and beaten >by militiamen. Chinese shop owners have been threatened. > >At the local human rights office, long-standing critics of >Indonesia's heavy-handed rule were deeply uneasy, drawing parallels >with strife-torn Ambon and East Timor. > >"This is a time-bomb waiting to explode. I'm afraid it's all going to >end in tragedy," said Albert Rumbekwan, one activist. And then >cryptically: "Why are we accepting favours from our enemies?" > >Among those "favours" is cash for the militia, from a disturbing >source. The self-proclaimed "Big Leader" of the West Papua >independence movement, who runs the militia, is 62-year-old Theys >Eluay, a tall, imposing man with a shock of white hair. He was once a >member of the ruling Golkar party and voted for integration with >Indonesia in a dubious 1969 plebiscite of local leaders. For 30 years >he kept quiet about Indonesia's human rights abuses. > >More sinister is his main source of money: Yorris Raweyai, deputy >head of an Indonesian youth organisation with close ties to the >Indonesian army and ex-President Suharto. > >Yorris's youth organisation is involved in gambling, prostitution >and protection rackets. In the past it was used by the military for >the dirty work that they preferred to avoid: Yorris is awaiting trial >over an attack in 1996 on the headquarters of Megawati Sukarnoputri, >then an opposition leader. > >Now it is his money funding Eluay, his West Papuan separatist >movement and their militia, which claims to be 7,000-strong. > >"The people are hungry for freedom, and that seems to matter more to >them than the personalities fighting for it," says Mr Rumbekwan. > >More worrying, Mr Rumbekwan's office has received reports of rival >"red and white" militias, loyal to Jakarta, being trained by the >military in other cities. > >Unlike East Timor, or Ambon, Irian Jaya has rich reserves of minerals >and metals. The Grasberg mine, in the mountains of this wild >province, has the world's biggest gold deposit. Freeport McMoran, the >American firm that runs it, is Indonesia's single biggest taxpayer. > >Economically, the province is vital to Indonesia. The fear among >human rights groups in Jayapura is that some powers in Jakarta want >to create conditions to justify a military crackdown or to unleash >chaos to undermine President Wahid's dwindling credibility. The >parallels with East Timor and Ambon are frightening indeed. > >The Observer > > ********* > >from: [EMAIL PROTECTED] >Subject: East/West Timor >Date: Tue, 29 Aug 2000 > Via: Sydney Morning Herald . August 26, 2000 > > "A prosperous future" > By Lindsay Murdoch >----------------------------------- > >A World Bank report acknowledges that the scale and shock of the UN >spending does not match the distortions that come with it. "It's a >very big bubble. UN spending accounts for 20 per cent of GDP," said >Sarah Cliffe, chief of the World Bank's mission in Dili. > >The bank has given small loans to each village to be spent at the >discretion of elders. But the population of Dili is still double what >it was before last year's violence, creating hardship and social >problems. > >Despite the presence of armed UN peacekeepers and police, unemployed >gangs of youths still fight on Dili streets. The UN has traced some >of the worst trouble-makers to a breakaway group of Gusmao's former >guerrillas. > >The lure of the UN money has attracted hundreds of entrepreneurs, >many of them Australians, who have opened restaurants, supermarkets, >hotels, car hire firms and other businesses that will suffer, if not >collapse, when the UN operation winds down and Timorese take control. > >An estimated 75 per cent of Timorese are subsistence farmers, eating >hand to mouth. Few of them have so far benefited from the arrival of >the UN. > >The UN's development co-ordinator in East Timor, Finn Reske-Nielsen, >says the UN's artificial economy is a serious problem. "There has got >to be a development strategy aimed at economic development for the >short to medium term," he said. "And agriculture must become the >mainstream of that." > >A former Jakarta-appointed Governor of East Timor, Mario Carrascalao, >says the territory's coffee production should double in the next two >or three years. > >"We have the best coffee in the world," he said. "At the moment >48,000 hectares of plantations are being worked. That is nothing. We >can easily go up to 100,000 hectares, and that will create a lot of >jobs for a lot of people." > >During Indonesia's occupation huge tracts of fertile land were not >farmed because of the security situation. > >De Mello says experts have told him that, given limited quantities >of fertiliser and high quality seed, East Timor could quickly >become self-sufficient in rice and maize. > >More than anything else, East Timor's economic viability will depend >on talks with Australia over oil and gas revenues from the Timor Gap, >the resource-rich seabed between the two nations. But Gusmao has >asked Timorese and UN planners not to factor a big windfall from >Timor gap royalties into their calculations. > >"East Timor has a lot of potential in the areas of tourism, >agriculture and fishing," said Mari Alkatari, the Minister for >Economic Affairs in the country's transitional cabinet set up by the >UN. "It would be bad for us to create a sort of cargo-cult mentality >where all our thinking is on the Timor Gap," he said. "If money comes >from oil or gas in the Timor Gap it will be a bonus but we won't be >counting on it." > >Ramos Horta says the Timor Gap's potential is linked to development >of industry in the Northern Territory. "Yes you have to be realistic >about that," he said. > >He cites some estimates that East Timor will receive more than $200 >million in oil revenue and $300 million from natural gas in the Timor >Gap within a few years. > >He predicts the negotiations with Australia will greatly favour East >Timor. "The Australians will tell you they are being most flexible," >he said. "Without negotiating the sea boundaries, we believe >Australia will agree with our basic principle that the middle line in >the exclusive economic zone is the boundary. This means that at least >90 per cent of revenues from the Timor Gap would come to East Timor." > >One of Gusmao's biggest worries is security for his people, >especially after a recently stepped up campaign by pro-Jakarta >militia to destabilise the border between East Timor and Indonesian >West Timor. > >But he shows a remarkable ability to forgive Indonesia, developing a >warm relationship with its reformist president, Abdurrahman Wahid, >who has apologised to East Timor for atrocities committed by >Indonesia and has promised to disband the militia. > >Gusmao realises how important it will be for East Timor's future to >have good relations with its giant neighbour and to be able to put >aside the lingering hatred. > >"If you really want peace, if you really want stability, we have to >put everything behind us," he said. "If not you will live under some >kind of spell. You cannot see the future. You cannot work towards the >future." > >Isn't that tough? "Yes, of course, yes. But we learned during 24 >years that we can win despite the odds being against us. They were >killing our people ... but we found the better way was to ... bring >them to our side. They joined with us in the jungle. They died like >heroes with us." > >Gusmao plans to create an army of perhaps 3,000 to 5,000. The core of >the ranks will be his former guerrilla fighters, who have been bored >and restless since they came out of the mountains last September and >October. "We will feel nothing without a sense of security," he said. > >Carrascalao says there are many in Indonesia "who want to create >instability so they can say Indonesia's rule was better". > >"Why do you think they destroyed everything when they left? They >didn't want to leave anything behind to make it easier for the >Timorese ... they formed the militia groups to create a situation >conducive to civil war." > >The Carrascalaos are one of the most prominent of only 20 to 30 >families that make-up East Timor's political elite. > >It will be mostly from the existing elite families that Timorese will >elect members of a constituent assembly at UN-supervised elections, >to be held possibly between August and December next year. > >Joao Carrascalao, Mario's brother, who is Infrastructure Minister in >the transitional cabinet, says there is a determination among East >Timor's emerging politicians to establish a government of national >unity, involving all the significant parties, for several years. > >"Things could easily go back to the fighting of the mid-1970s, >especially if people don't have a strong vision of unity," he said. > >The main political parties that have re-emerged are Fretilin, >the revolutionary group once headed by Gusmao that fought for >independence, and the UDT, whose fighters assisted the 1975 >Indonesian invasion of East Timor. > >A new centre-right Social Democratic Party was formed last week with >the Gusmao's blessing . It aims to offer an alternative to what it >calls "revivalism of the past". > >A Western diplomat monitoring East Timor said: "Normally it is a >recipe for disaster to expect former enemies to work together. But >one factor brought them together: the behaviour of Indonesia after >the invasion." > >A small group of Timorese leaders surrounding Gusmao are anxiously >waiting to take charge of their new country. But in interviews none >of them underplays the enormous challenges. They speak candidly about >the difficulties solving issues such as land ownership. Thousands of >properties are in dispute. > >Foreign investors will lack the confidence to spend money until they >are settled. Some claims date back to the Portuguese days. > >Questions fundamental to East Timor's future are being argued >passionately. What should the national language be, Portuguese or >English? Should there be a presidential system, like Indonesia's, or >a parliamentary system based on the English model? People are deeply >traumatised. > >In Dili, a group of women with newborn babies seek counselling; they >want to know whether they should baptise their babies, conceived >during rapes by Indonesian soldiers. When Gusmao goes into towns or >villages he tells his people to be patient, to understand that >independence did not suddenly arrive with the departure of the >Indonesians. > >"I tell them to be humble, to accept that we are not perfect." > >UN officials and diplomats in East Timor say the emerging state is >lucky to have leaders such as Gusmao and Ramos Horta. > >But strains are already taking their toll. Gusmao has angered some >party leaders by denouncing what he calls their inappropriate >ambitions for power at a time East Timor needs national unity. > >"[Gusmao] has his faults like everybody else, but he understands his >own limitations," said a Western diplomat based at a Dili mission. >"He cares deeply about the fate of his people. He has an ability to >listen and compromise. He will be able to tap an enormous amount of >international goodwill for his new country." > >Like most East Timorese. Maria Lourdes de Sousa, 40, has a horror >story. At the height of last year's rampaging by pro-Jakarta militia >she had to run the gauntlet of mobs to reach West Timor with her >lawyer husband and four children. > >The militia were hunting her because she had worked for the UN. At >a checkpoint thugs tried to drag her two-year-old son from the car. >"I held on and held on ... it was frightening," she said. The boy >still carries the scars. > >Several weeks ago, days before she gave birth to her fifth child, she >sat for an exam to select 50 trainee diplomats. "I never imagined I >would ever be a diplomat, but I passed," said the face of the new >East Timor. > >******* END ******** > >Sydney Morning Herald . August 26, 2000 > >"War crimes lawyer to study 1975 invasion" > By MARK DODD, Herald Correspondent in Dili >------------------------------------------------------ > >A senior United Nations prosecutor investigating Indonesian war >crimes in East Timor will compile a report on atrocities committed >after the bloody 1975 invasion in which up to 200,000 Timorese were >killed. > >Mr Mohamed Ottman, the UN Chief Prosecutor in East Timor, a Tanzanian >lawyer and former chief prosecutor at the Rwandan International >Criminal Tribunal will lead the team examining whether there was a >systematic campaign of violence. > >The former Australian consul in Dili and expert on East Timor, Mr >James Dunn, will help compile the report, which will be essential in >proving crimes against humanity stemming from political violence >leading up to and after last year's referendum. > >"In order to prove crimes against humanity, you need to to prove a >pattern of systematic and widespread attacks against a civilian >population," said the UN's human rights chief in Dili, Mr Patrick >Burgess. > >He said that under international law, militia killings such as the >Suai cathedral massacre on September 6 last year in which up to 200 >people died, did not alone prove a case for crimes against humanity, >but a criminal case of mass murder. > >A systematic pattern of violence directed against East Timorese >civilians by Indonesian troops stemming back to 1975 would help prove >the more serious charge of war crimes or crimes against humanity. > >It is understood that once a case is established for crimes >against humanity, international warrants are likely to be issued >against a number of senior Indonesian military commanders. This >process is expected to be completed before East Timor gains >full independence next year, but the biggest challenge facing UN >prosecutors will be to bring the alleged perpetrators from Indonesia >to East Timor. > >Earlier this year, the United Nations Transitional Administration in >East Timor established a Serious Crimes Unit to hear six categories >of crimes including war crimes, crimes against humanity, torture, >rape and murder. > >Mr Ottman who arrived in East Timor earlier this month. > >Mr Dunn said crimes committed by Indonesian forces in East Timor from >1975 to 1998 ranked alongside the worst excesses of Nazi Germany. > >They included a series of massacres at Dili wharf in December 1975 in >which several hundred East Timorese men and women were shot and their >bodies dumped into the sea. The victims included Australian >journalist Roger East and the wife of former Fretilin leader Nicolai >Lobato. Soldiers from airborne Battalion 502, the same battalion now >deployed opposite Australian peacekeepers at Balibo, were allegedly >responsible. > >Other mass killings to be investigated include the slaughter of >Liquica's ethnic Chinese community and the murder of up to 1,200 >people in Bobonaro in 1976. > >Mr Dunn said he was aware of hundreds of individual cases of rape >and torture committed by Indonesian soldiers, including eyewitnesses >to a case in which a 15-year-old girl was raped and then thrown into >a crocodile pit in Dili. > >Other atrocities included the infamous 1991 Dili Massacre at Santa >Cruz cemetery in which Indonesian troops opened fire on unarmed >protesters killing as many as 271 people. > >****** END ******* > >Sydney Morning Herald . August 26, 2000 > >"Time for fortress Australia to change attitude on Timor" >By Hamish McDonald, Foreign Editor >----------------------------------------------------------- > >In May the leader of the East Timor independence movement, Xanana >Gusmao, was in Canberra and heading into a meeting with Dr Ashton >Calvert, the head of the Department of Foreign Affairs and Trade >(DFAT). > >A federal police officer intercepted the legendary freedom fighter >with a message, looking embarrassed: the Department felt it was >inappropriate for Gusmao to bring his Australian adviser, Canberra >barrister Bernard Collaery, to the meeting. > >Mr Gusmao decided - out of gratitude for Australia's role in last >year's military intervention against Indonesian-sponsored militia >violence and a wish for continuing co-operation with Canberra - to >swallow the snub and went into the meeting alone. > >As East Timor marks the first anniversary next Wednesday of its pro- >independence vote, there is a feeling among many close observers >that the Australian Government, and some senior officials of DFAT in >particular, have not yet fully adjusted to the fact that a new nation >with its own leadership is emerging on our northern approaches. > >The National Council of Timorese Resistance, or CNRT, the >independence coalition now holding a congress to debate the future >state, is known to be irked by negative briefings given by DFAT about >its leaders like Mr Gusmao and Mr Jose Ramos Horta, or about their >prospects of establishing a lasting democracy. > >The Australian Consulate in Dili, set up as a virtual fortress on the >edge of town in the fraught months before last year's ballot, remains >a closed bunker compared to the diplomatic missions set up by >Portugal and other countries. > >It is to be hoped that the Foreign Minister, Mr Downer, sweeps aside >these misgivings and sets a new tone for the emerging relationship >when he goes to Dili and joins well-wishers like Nelson Mandela for >the anniversary. > >Certainly the picture of the new state likely to emerge from the >United Nations humidicrib in one or two years from now is becoming a >little clearer: > >It will almost certainly be led by Mr Gusmao, who has cast aside >diffidence about going for the presidency in next year's elections, >and in preparation has just stepped down from a military role in the >resistance force Falintil. > >An important concern could be the lack of open politics, rather than >too much, as some analysts fear. Mr Gusmao has talked of a 10-year >moratorium on all-out political contest during the nation's building >phase. Intended or not, this could lead to one-party politics and >corruption. East Timor should be encouraged to start as it means to >continue, with constant scrutiny and criticism of its leaders. > >East Timor will have its own army, thanks largely to Jakarta's >inability to stop diehard military elements setting out to undermine >the new nation, by guerilla raids and trying to split the CNRT >coalition. It will need continuing Australian and other military >support for years. > >Mr Gusmao's leadership has taken a difficult decision in choosing as >a national language Portuguese - spoken only by an older 15 per cent >of the population - over Indonesian. But it is a right one: East >Timor is independent because it was Portuguese, and has to reinforce >its national identity. > >Accepting East Timor with all its peculiar legacies, and exerting the >utmost diplomatic, aid and military efforts to have it securely >launched into independence is now Canberra's duty. A foreign affairs >department that was backing autonomy within Indonesia as the best >outcome right up to the eve of last year's ballot has to be seen as >fully on side. " JC > > > > > _______________________________________ KOMINFORM P.O. Box 66 00841 Helsinki - Finland +358-40-7177941, fax +358-9-7591081 e-mail [EMAIL PROTECTED] http://www.kominf.pp.fi _______________________________________ [EMAIL PROTECTED] Subscribe/unsubscribe messages mailto:[EMAIL PROTECTED] [EMAIL PROTECTED] [EMAIL PROTECTED] [EMAIL PROTECTED] ________________________________________
