PM - 17/09/1999: US journalist awaits charges after arrest in Dili
ABC RADIO
US journalist awaits charges after arrest in Dili
PM - Friday, September 17, 1999 6:19
COMPERE: The American journalist and Timor activist, Alan Nairn, has
now been in detention by Indonesian Security Forces since Tuesday.
Now in Kupang, West Timor, he's expecting to be formally charged
soon. Nairn witnessed the 1991 Dili massacre and was banned from
entering East Timor for his pains. However, he has been back several
times since and was picked up on the streets of Dili by soldiers
earlier this week.From the Immigration Centre in Kupang where he's
being held, Alan Nairn spoke to Annie White.
ALAN NAIRN: Along the way over the days I've been interrogated by
many people from Army Intelligence, Police Intelligence, Kopassus,
now Immigration and they say that I will either be deported or I will
be tried on two counts, each carrying a penalty, a maximum penalty,
of five years in prison. And this morning Mr Syahrir, the Immigration
Chief here, informed me that under instructions from the provincial
Chief Justice, they were moving ahead with a court case, prosecution,
against me. And just a few minutes ago someone from the police, a
plain-clothed agent from the police, arrived to talk to Syahrir about
the case. They have all said it's up to Jakarta, in the end.
Specifically up to General Wiranto to make the final decision.
ANNIE WHITE: What would you be charged with?
ALAN NAIRN: Em, I think basically being in Indonesia and in occupied
Timor in violation of the ban against me. I've been on the black list
since 1991, since I survived the Dili massacre and was banned as a
threat to national security. Er, that would be the essence of it.
ANNIE WHITE: You were quite relaxed earlier in the week when you had
been picked up. Are you more concerned now?
ALAN NAIRN: Well, I ... since I'm a foreigner and a journalist,
particularly an American, I'm not in the kind of danger that a
Timorese or Indonesian would be ... I don't know what they're going
to do with me but, you know, we'll see. It's very unfortunate that I
can't be on the streets of Dili anymore. I may have been the last
foreigner, maybe the last journalist, who was out there and these are
just moments of maximum terror for the Timorese.When I was picked up
on Tuesday and held at the Koram military headquarters in Dili, you
could see that half the base was full of uniformed Aitarak
militiamen, and I asked one of the officers there, Lieutenant Colonel
Willem, whether they were Aitarak and he said yes, they are. They're
based here, they live here. He said they're here so we can control
them.Oh, I was brought for interrogation several times over to Polda,
police headquarters, and there you could also see Aitarak going in
and out of the Intelligence and Operations rooms. When I was flown to
Kupong on an army chartered plane, most of the - along with military
escorts - most of the plane was filled up with plain-clothed men
wielding long rifles, pistols and knives, some of whom I recognised
from the streets of Dili as having been street level militia leaders.
But it turned out, as my military escorts explained to me, that all
of these people were police Intel (phonetic), Indonesian personnel
who had finished their assignment in East Timor and were now being
rotated out. So it couldn't be more clear the link between the total
integration among the army, the police and the militias.
ANNIE WHITE: Has there been any change in the mood of the people
holding you in recent days with the expected arrival in East Timor of
the peace keepers?
ALAN NAIRN: Well, when I was in Timor the officers and soldiers with
whom I spoke about it were very nonchalant about the fact that a
peace keeping force was due to arrive. They didn't really seem to
have much problem with it. As they saw it, their mission in Timor was
finishing up, you know the militias, the militia terror, that was ...
they'd completed their task and they were about to leave. Here in
Kupang, since I've been detained at Immigration as we've talked over
time and as the staff and the officers have heard about why I've been
detained and heard about the background of the case, that has seemed
to affect their attitude over time as people hear about that. I feel
very comfortable, especially more so as time goes on.
COMPERE: Alan Nairn, the American journalist and independent East
Timor activist, speaking from the Immigration Compound where he's
being held in Kupang, West Timor. He was speaking to Annie White.
A9 1999 Australian Broadcasting Corporation
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