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East Timor News Digest 12 - August 5-11, 2002
Lusa - August 8, 2002
President Xanana Gusmao and Prime Minister Mari Alkatiri urged
East Timor's students Thursday to aid the new nation's
reconstruction and development through "mature" and
"constructive" debate and political participation.
The appeals, made at a national student seminar at Dili's
university, came two days after hundreds of students demonstrated
in the capital, some clashing with police, against planned
tuition hikes.
Associated Press - August 6, 2002
Dili -- Students clashed with police Tuesday in East Timor over
plans to increase fees at the new country's main university.
About 300 students gathered outside the government building in
the capital following news that annual fees at East Timor
National University would jump from 15 to 100 dollars.
The demonstration turned violent, when protesters started
throwing rocks and plastic bottles at local and international
police officers guarding the building. No one was hurt or
arrested, students said. Police could not be reached for comment.
"We are having these problems because of the government's poor
policies," said Sebastiao Markues Soares, a university student.
"My parents can't afford to pay my fees. They don't have a job."
The protest was the second in two days by students upset over
rising prices and unemployment in the newly independent country.
East Timor is Asia's poorest nation and its independence from on
May 20 was greeted by questions of how it would survive without
the continued assistance of foreign donors.
Since then, many businesses in Dili have suffered as the UN
transitional administration scaled back its presence on the
half-island state.
Hikes in prices of fuel and basic foodstuffs such as rice and
vegetables are also expected.
West Timor/refugees
Government & politics
Justice & reconciliation
Human rights trials
Human rights/law
Indonesia
News & issues
East Timor local press
Students/youth
Leaders appeal to students for 'constructive' debate
Students protest school fee hike, rising prices
West Timor/refugees
Locals shun presence of more refugees from Kupang
Jakarta Post - August 12, 2002
Yemris Fointuna, Kupang -- The threat of violence is imminent in East Nusa Tenggara province as residents in North Central Timor Regency have objected to the presence of more East Timorese Indonesian refugees in their area as part of the government's sponsored resettlement program.
Hundreds of refugees, comprising at least 85 families, have been relocated to the Ponu resettlement area in Biboki Anleu subdistrict, North Central Timor, from Noelbaki camps in the provincial capital of Kupang.
But the people of North Central Timor and their regency administration have objected to the relocation of refugees in their area, even though it has already been approved by local regency military commander Lt. Col. Bambang Supriyanto.
"We object to the presence of hundreds of refugees dispatched from Kupang because there are another 10,000 refugees from the Oecusi area who will be relocated to the Ponu resettlement area," said North Central Timor Regent Hengki Sakunab.
The Oecusi area is located in newly independent East Timor and borders North Central Timor in Indonesia. The relocated refugees are mostly those from Los Palos district in East Timor, which officially declared its independence from Indonesia last May.
Speaking to The Jakarta Post on Saturday, Regent Hengki said the limited area in his regency to accommodate huge numbers of refugees was another reason for his administration to reject new resettlers.
"We only want to receive East Timorese Indonesian refugees from Oecusi because their character and culture are very similar with people in North Central Timor, which will smoothen the process of assimilation between refugees and locals," he added.
Opposition has also been voiced by residents from Ponu, who demonstrated on Friday at the North Central Timor legislative council for six hours to protest the refugee resettlement in their region.
The protesters criticized the local military for resettling the refugees without obtaining approval from local government and community leaders.
The head of Biboki Anleu subdistrict, P.D. Afeanpah, said he had conveyed the demands of the demonstrators to the North Central Timor military chief, but he had ignored them and gone ahead with the relocation.
"People here have told the local military chief not to bring in refugees from other places to Ponu, but he quietly registered and relocated 85 families of refugees to the resettlement area," Afeanpah said.
Kris Manahet, a senior councillor from North Central Timor, gave backing to the stance held by local residents, saying there were still many other complicated problems that the city's administration had to resolve.
"The local government not only has to deal with refugees. There are many other jobs that need to be done. So, don't pose us with new problems," he added.
However, Kupang's Wirasakti Military Commander Col. Moeswarno Moesanip defended the move by his subordinate to resettle hundreds of refugees to Ponu.
He told the Post the relocation was made because the resettlement area was still vacant and uninhabited.
Thousands of East Timorese Indonesian refugees in East Nusa Tenggara were given until August 31 to return to East Timor or stay in Indonesia by joining its resettlement programs.
| Government & politics |
Lusa - August 9, 2002
East Timorese President Xanana Gusmao and Prime Minister Mari Alkatiri, seeking political detente, held a first meeting Friday to discuss "sensitive" policy issues before government action.
"This is a system we are introducing at the prime minister's request", Gusmao told Lusa in Dili after the first of what is expected to become regular meetings. "We consider that bills of a certain sensitivity and of greater difficulty in management should undergo more consultation", said Gusmao, who has recently butted heads with Alkatiri's cabinet and Fretilin parliamentary majority.
Friday's talks centered on land and property legislation under consideration in the cabinet. Both Gusmao and Alkatiri have acknowledged publically that there had been a lack of dialogue between the new nation's fledgling democratic institutions.
In recent weeks, Gusmao criticized and delayed promulgation of the government's budget and vetoed tax-hiking legislation.
| Justice & reconciliation |
Lusa - August 7, 2002
East Timorese government and UN officials held a fourth, unannounced round of reconciliation and repatriation talks with former anti-independence militia chief Joao Tavares Tuesday in the border town of Batugade, Dili's UN mission said Wednesday.
In a communique, UNMISET said Dili had turned down Tavares' earlier proposal for the creation of "transit camps" in East Timor for the repatriation of thousands of refugees still in Indonesian West Timor. The government's refusal of the camps aimed to "avoid conflicts" through the concentration of returnees, the communique said.
Despite his "disappointment", UNMISET said Tavares, the leader of the former umbrella organization of pro-Indonesian militias, had requested another meeting, this time with Dili's senior leaders.
Government officials, contacted by Lusa, said they were unaware of the meeting Tuesday and of any formal decision to refuse Tavares' request for transit camps, an option Dili has been reluctant to embrace. Three earlier meetings of Tavares with Dili and UN officials were publicly announced prior to the border encounters.
| Human rights trials |
Associated Press - August 11, 2002
Jakarta -- Civilians slaughtered as they hid in churches. Independence leaders assassinated in their homes. Entire villages burned to the ground.
The first verdicts in the trials of 18 alleged perpetrators of these and other atrocities in East Timor are expected to come this week. If there are convictions, it will be the first time that high-ranking officials in the Indonesian military are punished for decades of abuses.
Critics doubt that Indonesia's politicized courts can deliver justice and say they are a poor substitute for an international tribunal, like those established for Rwanda and the former Yugloslavia.
They say Indonesia's failures range from weak indictments to inept and inexperienced prosecutors to a government unwilling to present an accurate picture of its role in the violence.
"Sometimes it seems like this is a formality," said Agung Yudhawiranata, a court observer for the Indonesian rights group Institute for Policy Research and Advocacy. "It's not that they can't run a good trial. It's that they are unwilling."
Nearly 1,000 East Timorese were killed by the Indonesian military and their militia proxies in 1999 both before and after voters approved a UN-sponsored independence ballot. East Timor became independent May 20.
Another 250,000 Timorese were forced from their homes into squalid refugee camps in Indonesia's West Timor. Eighty percent of East Timor was destroyed.
Jakarta is under intense pressure to deliver punishment, and verdicts are expected in three of the 12 trials next week -- those of a former Timorese governor, a Timorese police chief and five middle-ranking police and soldiers.
All seven are charged with allowing subordinates to commit violence. Prosecutors have asked for sentences of 10 years and ten-and-a-half years, only six months more than the minimum allowed under Indonesian law.
The US has hinted guilty verdicts could lead to a resumption of military ties cut off since 1999. The UN has warned that failure to punish those responsible could lead to an international tribunal -- something proposed but scrapped in 1999.
Indonesian prosecutors said they are confident they will get guilty verdicts and prove critics wrong. "We are serious, and there will be convictions," said Harry Ismi, one of 24 prosecutors in the trials. "If there isn't, the good name of Indonesia will be finished. There will be many more victims."
But rights activists have derided the courts as a sham. Indonesia ignored its own rights commission, which recommended prosecuting many high-profile defendants, including the country's former military chief Gen. Wiranto. It limited the scope of the trials to a few months in 1999 in three East Timorese towns.
Last year, Indonesia all but stopped cooperating with its UN counterparts prosecuting war crimes in East Timor. It refused to share information or act on arrest warrants issued by those courts, which were set up by the UN provisional administration that ran East Timor for two-and-a-half years before independence.
East Timor courts have issued 117 indictments, 80% of them for Timorese suspects and 25 convictions.
The Jakarta trials -- played out since March in cramped and sweltering courtrooms -- are fraught with shortcomings, critics say. The indictments play down the role of the military and charge the defendants with negligence, not active commission of crimes. The cases typically have no physical evidence and witnesses are mostly defense-friendly government and military bureaucrats.
Only four of the 34 witnesses have been East Timorese. Only one -- Manuel Carrascalao, whose son was killed when a militia mob attacked his home -- have linked the defendants to any crime. At least 13 others have told UN officials they are too scared to come to Jakarta.
Dominggas dos Santos Mouzinho was refused a translator and heckled by soldiers during her testimony. Amelio Barreto told The Associated Press that he was threatened by militia leader and current defendant Eurico Guterres when he arrived to testify. "I felt that I was on trial, not the suspects," Barreto said.
Rights groups say the trials have created a distorted picture, in which the Indonesian military were outgunned bystanders in the middle of civil war. The real villains, according to court testimony, were the Indonesian politicians who supported Timorese independence and the UN
There's been little testimony about how Indonesian forces formed, funded and fought alongside the militias in Timor.
"If the judges acquit the defendants, the international outrage is certain," said Sydney Jones of the Brussels-based International Crisis Group. "But even if they convict the gravity of what occurred in East Timor will remain hidden, and the concept of crimes against humanity will be trivialized."
Agence France Presse - August 9, 2002
Jakarta -- Indonesian prosecutors lacked evidence to lay charges against powerful former armed forces commander General Wiranto over the violence in East Timor, the country's former attorney general said.
The revelation Thursday night by Marzuki Darusman appears to contradict statements made in 1999 by then-president Abdurrahman Wahid, and Wiranto's lawyers, that Wiranto was suspended from the cabinet pending further investigation of his involvement in the violence that devastated East Timor that year.
"I didn't think there was any substantive evidence to start prosecution at that time but this agreement was conditional on any disclosures that might arise in a judicial proceeding," Darusman said at the launch of a new book about East Timor's separation from Indonesia.
Wahid suspended Wiranto -- effectively sacking him -- from his position as top security minister in February 2000 following a national human rights commission inquiry which found him responsible for failing to ensure security surrounding East Timor's referendum on independence.
The report recommended Wiranto be formally investigated. "This is to allow the process of investigation to go on, to find out whether or not he is innocent," Wahid said at the time.
Darusman said Thursday that although prosecutors followed up the human rights commission's recommendation to investigate other suspects, a case against Wiranto "was not really opened in the first place." He said Wahid consulted with the attorney general's office before making his separate decision to suspend Wiranto.
"It was entirely the president's decision to make that decision to request the resignation of Mr. Wiranto at the same time when we decided that prosecuting Mr. Wiranto would be ineffective because of the existing evidence," Darusman said.
But Darusman also indicated that Wiranto had contacted Wahid ahead of the decision to suspend him.
"Factually, there were some initial inquiries by Mr. Wiranto through the president that he wanted to be assured that that was the end of it, that no requests no, whatever, pressures or demands were to be made again on him, including in that sense prosecutions with the East Timor case," Darusman told reporters.
Eighteen former soldiers, police, militiamen and government officials are on trial or facing trial in Jakarta for alleged human rights violations. The cases are the outcome of the original human rights commission probe.
Testifying as a witness at one of the trials earlier this year, Wiranto said Indonesian security forces faced a "Mission Impossible" in East Timor because of what he called a 23-year conflict between those opposed and those in support of Indonesia.
Wiranto was not asked about widespread international accusations that the Indonesian military and senior Jakarta officials actually organised and directed the militia violence against independence supporters.
The violence led to the deaths of more than 1,000 people, the forced deportation or fleeing of more than 250,000 East Timand the destruction of much of East Timor's infrastructure.
Agence France Presse - August 8, 2002
Jakarta -- A former militia boss accused of inciting a massacre in East Timor in 1999 on Thursday denied allegations by a compatriot that he had ordered his men to attack pro-independence supporters.
"It is not true, not right, that I have ordered for them to be eliminated," an emotional Eurico Gutteres told an ad hoc rights tribunal at the Central Jakarta district court, commenting on the testimony of Manuel Viegas Carrascalao.
Carrascalao, a former legislator under the Indonesian administration who turned into a pro-independence leader after 1992, said that on April 17, 1999, he had heard Gutteres on the radio, exhorting militiamen rallying in Dili to kill pro- independence leaders and their families.
Armed militias attacked Carrascalao's refugee-packed house in Dili after the rally, leaving at least 12 people dead, including Carrascalao's 16-year-old son.
Carrascalao said that on April 17 he was on the way to the airport to leave Dili when he heard Gutteres on the radio, haranguing his men at the rally in front of the governor's office.
"Eurico, I really remember, was making threats, that the Carrascalao family should be killed," said the witness, an older brother of former East Timor governor Mario Viegas Carrascalao.
He was escorted from the courtroom by two UN officials and several Indonesian escorts after his testimony. Carrascalao also testified in two other East Timor human rights trials this week.
"It is not true ... that I said: Kill Manuel Carrascalao," said Gutteres, who appeared in court wearing military fatigues of the Pro-Integration Fighters (PPI), an umbrella group of pro- Indonesian militias in East Timor. "I am not that evil," added Guterres, 28, who was deputy commander of the PPI as well as boss of the feared Aitarak (Thorn) militia group based in Dili.
military elements, waged a campaign of terror and revenge before and after East Timor's vote for independence from Indonesia on August 30, 1999. At least 1,000 East Timorese are estimated to have died and whole towns were burnt to the ground.
Guterres is accused of failing to take "appropriate action to prevent and stop his subordinates from attacking and killing" the refugees. He faces penalties ranging from 10 years in jail to the death penalty if convicted of gross human rights violations.
Guterres is one of 18 soldiers, policemen or civilians now facing or due to face trial at the rights court.
In another session at the same court building, a panel of judges decided to proceed with the trial of the former Kopassus special forces commander in East Timor, Lieutenant Colonel Yayat Sudrajat, brushing aside the legal arguments of his lawyers who said the court had no authority to hear the case.
Two other separate panels of judges heard lawyers comment on the prosecutor's final argument in the case of former East Timor police Chief Brigadier General Timbul Silaen, and in that of five police and military officers who had served in the East Timor town of Suai.
Silaen is to hear the verdict in his case next Thursday while a date for the verdict in the case of the five officers was yet to be announced.
Jakarta Post - August 9, 2002
Tiarma Siboro, Jakarta -- A pro-Jakarta East Timorese leader told the Rights Tribunal on Thursday that the Indonesian Military (TNI) did nothing to stop armed militias from attacking the residence of proindependence leader Manuel Viegas Carrascalao on April 17, 1999.
Basilio Araujo, who worked as a translator for former East Timor governor Abilio Jose Osorio Soares, said not a single member of security personnel tried to stop militia groups, even though "they were holding sharp weapons and homemade guns, and threatening people taking refuge in Carrascalao's house."
He also confirmed Carrascalao's statement that prior to the attack, pro-Jakarta militia commanders Eurico Gutteres and Joao Tavares made a speech urging militia members to "silence the Carrascalao family."
"As a local administration employee, I attended the ceremony held at the Governor [Abilio]'s office, marking the establishment of Pamswakarsa on April 17. All Pamswakarsa members were also present ... they were, among others, the Aitarak, the Mahidi, and the Besi Merah-Putih," Basilio said, referring to several pro- Jakarta militia groups.
Basilio was testifying against pro-Jakarta militia commander Eurico Gutteres, who is charged with committing gross human rights violations in East Timor before, during and after the 1999 independence ballot. If proven guilty, he will face a minimum sentence of at least 10 years' imprisonment.
He said he was with East Timor military commander Tono Suratman when Carrascalao arrived at Tono's house to ask for protection immediately after militia members attacked Carrascalao's house.
"I knew when they attacked and burned Pak Manuel's house because I saw smoke billowing from it," said Basilio, adding that his house was located only 500 meters to one kilometer away from Carrascalao's. "But I didn't see that Pak Danrem insisted on helping him. I didn't see it," Basilio said, referring to Tono Suratman.
During the attack, some 12 people, including Carrascalao's 16- year-old son Manelito Carrascalao, were killed, while dozens of others were reported missing. Tono is also a defendant in the same court.
Earlier, Carrascalao also testified against Eurico, blaming militia members for the violence that killed his son.
Both Eurico and his defense lawyers, however, turned the courtroom into a trial of Carrascalao, attacking him with a flurry of questions. That prompted presiding judge Helen Hutapea to warn Eurico and his lawyers that Carrascalao was not the defendant but a witness.
"This is not the trial of Pak Manuel. He is not a defendant here, so don't ask any questions that attack him," Helen said.
Lusa - August 7, 2002
President Xanana Gusmao Wednesday defended his controversial request for an Indonesian court trying human rights crimes committed in East Timor to show clemency in one case, saying he was simply seeking uniformity of justice and had not interfered in Indonesia's internal affairs.
"In my declaration I did not say that Abilio was not guilty", Gusmao said, referring to Dili's former Indonesian governor, Abilio Soares. "I simply made it known that I did not agree" with the prosecution's request for a 10-1/2-year sentence "because I know the process".
He reaffirmed that he did not consider Soares, tried for not having impeded anti-independence militia massacres in 1999, as one of those most responsible for the wave of violence that killed more than 1,000 East Timorese.
Soares is one of 18 Indonesian officials and military officers on trial in Jakarta for human rights crimes committed in East Timor. Gusmao, in remarks made on his return to Dili from an official visit and a summit of leaders of Portuguese-speaking countries in Brazil, also denied that he had interfered in internal Indonesian affairs by writing to the Jakarta court, seeking clemency for Soares, last month.
"As a Timorese citizen, involved in reconciliation, when I preach reconciliation, justice and amnesty here [in East Timor], I want to follow the process" in Indonesia, he said. His initiative, Gusmao stressed, aimed solely to seek uniformity "of values, moral paradigms and justice" on both sides of the border, noting that both Dili and Jakarta were living processes of democratization.
News of Gusmao's July 26 letter to the Jakarta court broke during his absence in Brazil, triggering angry responses from other Timorese leaders and some human rights organizations. In one reaction, Prime Minister Mari Alkatiri said Gusmao's initiative could be "unconstitutional" as he had signed the letter as East Timor's president.
The public disagreement is only the latest clash between Alkatiri and Gusmao, who recently delayed promulgation of the government's budget and vetoed a tax-hike bill.
In a separate trial at Jakarta's special human rights court Wednesday, a judge suspended the session when a prominent East Timorese prosecution witness, businessman Manuel Carrascalao, burst into tears. Carrascalao broke down on describing the April 17, 1999, attack on his Dili home that killed at least 12 people, including a 16-year-old son.
He testified that Indonesian soldiers dressed as civilians had joined anti-independence militias in the attack on his home, where hundreds of panicked civilians had sought shelter from earlier rampages. Indonesian soldiers, especially the elite Kopassus commandos, killed Timorese civilians "like they were mowing lawns", Carrascalao said.
Agence France Presse - August 6, 2002
Jakarta -- The former mayor of the East Timor capital Dili denied Tuesday that pro-Jakarta militia groups during Indonesian rule received any aid from the government or the military.
Matheus Moie told a human rights court that the militias, formed in each of East Timor's 13 districts in early 1999, were independent and voluntary groups which did not receive pay from the government.
"There was no aid or assistance whatsoever from the government for the PPI because there was no official decree concerning their existence," Moie said.
He was testifying at the trial of Lieutenant Colonel Sujarwo, a former Dili military commander accused of gross human rights violations during the militia violence in the territory in 1999.
The PPI is the Indonesian acronym for the Integration Fighters' Force, an umbrella organization for the various militia groups.
Moie said that the militias also received no guidance from the military. But some members were former partisans and soldiers who had the experience to train them.
Many parties, including the United Nations, have said the militias were set up, nurtured and supported by elements of the Indonesian armed forces to foil an independence vote.
The militias launched a campaign of terror and intimidation before the vote on August 30, 1999, and a revenge campaign after East Timorese voted overwhelmingly to split from Indonesia.
At least 1,000 East Timorese are estimated to have died that year and whole towns were burnt to the ground.
Some 15 people were killed in attacks by army-backed militias on the refugee-packed Dili diocese and the residence of the bishop.
Suwarjo is one of 18 soldiers, policemen or civilians now facing trial at the rights court for crimes against humanity in East Timor. First verdicts are expected next week.
Indonesia set up the rights court to deflect pressure for a UN tribunal into the slaughter. It is being closely watched by the world for proof that Jakarta will punish those behind the violence.
Agence France Presse - August 7, 2002
Jakarta -- A leading former East Timorese independence supporter wept Wednesday as he recalled the death of his son in a 1999 militia attack on his refugee-packed home in Dili.
Judges at Indonesia's human rights court briefly halted proceedings as Manuel Carrascalao sobbed uncontrollably.
He told the court that the Indonesian army, especially the Kopassus special forces, were to blame for the violence across East Timor that year. Soldiers killed people "just as if they were cutting grass," he added.
Carrascalao, a brother of former East Timor governor Mario Viegas Carrascalao, said: "The military became very cruel to the people, especially in the 1980s, after Prabowo came to East Timor." He was referring to Prabowo Subianto, a son-in-law of former president Suharto and a leader of Kopassus at the time.
When asked by the judges who was to blame for the violence before and after the August vote to break from Indonesia, Carrascalao replied: "The Kopassus."
He described it as the fiercest military unit in Timor which had acted cruelly against local people. "I was initially a supporter of the Indonesian armed forces ... but after seeing their increasing cruelty, I gradually distanced myself from them," Carrascalao said.
He said resentment of the military was one of the major reasons behind opposition to Indonesian rule in East Timor.
Carrascalao also said soldiers, although not in uniform, were among the attackers of his refugee-filled home in Dili on April 17, 1999. "Some of the militias were not East Timorese, and who else but soldiers would those non-East Timorese be?" Carrascalao said.
He also said he believed the militias received training from the Indonesian military because otherwise "how can they get such skills?"
Hundreds of militia members, some armed with firearms, attacked Carrascalao's home after attending a pro-Indonesia rally in front of the governor's office. Some 136 refugees were holed up in the house at that time, many of whom had been there for more than three weeks.
Officials and court documents said 12 people, including Carrascalao's youngest son Manuelito, were killed. Carrascalao himself speculated that up to 60 people might have perished.
Carrascalao was testifying in the case of Lieutenant Colonel Hulman Gultom, the Dili district police commander at the time. Gultom is one of 18 officers, officials and civilians facing trials over gross human rights violations in East Timor in 1999.
At a separate trial lawyers for the former military chief in East Timor, Colonel Nur Muis, said the human rights court had no authority to try him on charges of ignoring the massacre of at least 39 civilians.
The court has no authority to hear cases of rights abuses in East Timor because it was set up after the violence, the lawyers said. This breached constitutional and other safeguards against retroactive legislation, they argued.
The militias, created and supported by Indonesian military elements, waged a campaign of intimidation before the vote and of revenge afterwards. At least 1,000 East Timorese are estimated to have died in 1999 and whole towns were burnt to the ground.
Indonesia set up the court to deflect pressure for a UN tribunal into the violence and the first verdicts are expected next week. It is being closely watched by the world for proof that Jakarta will punish those behind the violence.
Jakarta Post - August 6, 2002
Tiarma Siboro, Jakarta -- Former East Timor independence leader Manuel Viegas Carrascalao told the Human Rights Tribunal on Monday that the Indonesian Military did nothing to prevent the bloody violence against proindependence East Timorese in the run-up to the 1999 referendum.
"The military authorities were intent on killing me and refused to take action against the militiamen when they attacked my house and killed dozens of people who were taking refuge there, including my son.
"Even Pak Tono Suratman, who at the time was the East Timor military commander, just laughed at me and did not do anything to prevent the attack when I went to his house and asked for protection," Carrascalao said.
Carrascalao was testifying against defendant Lt. Col. Endar Priyanto, former Dili military district commander, who is accused of gross human rights violations for his failure to prevent pro- Jakarta militias from attacking his residence on April 17, 1999. At least 12 people were killed, including Manuel's 16-year-old son Manelito Carrascalao. If proven, the charge carries a minimum sentence of ten years imprisonment.
Carrascalao's testimony was surprising even for the judges because he was the first high-level proindependence leader to testify before the tribunal that has charged 18 Indonesian officials with crimes against humanity. The trial is in connection with the violence that occurred in East Timor when the former Indonesian territory voted for independence in a referendum in August 1999.
Carrascalao blamed the militia and Indonesian soldiers for attacking his residence and accused top officials of not attempting to prevent the violence.
According to Carrascalao, pro-Jakarta militiamen attacked his residence after they held a ceremony marking the establishment of Pamswakarsa at the governor's office. Witnessing the ceremony were former East Timor governor Abilio Jose Osorio Soares; Tono Suratman; Maj. Gen. Adam Damiri, former Udayana Military commander; Maj. Gen. Zaky Anwar Makarim, former chief of the Armed Forces Intelligence Body (BIA); and Lt. Gen. (ret) Kiki Syahnakrie, former military emergency commander in East Timor.
"It was between 10am and 12am when the ceremony took place. And at the time, I was driving to Comoro Airport to pick up my wife. Then I heard on the radio that Eurico Gutteres, the militia's commander, made a speech inciting his members to kill me.
"But none of these generals, ... none of them, including Kiki Syahnakrie, tried to stop it even though he [Kiki] knew that these militiamen might kill his nephew [Manelito]," Carrascalao said. "For your information, your honor, Kiki's wife is my wife's cousin," he was quick to add.
According to Carrascalao, he immediately returned to Dili when he knew that the militiamen were on the way to his house at Jl. Dr. Antonio de Calvarho No. 13. He decided to go to Tono's house first in an attempt to ask for protection, considering there were some 136 proindependence people who were taking refuge at his house.
"In spite of that, Tono did not do anything but just laughed. He said that he had to remain neutral and asked me to seek protection from CNRT," Carrascalao said, referring to proindependence National Council for East Timor Resistance.
Tono, whose trial was held on Monday in a different courtroom, later denied Carrascalao's accusations and said he was a neutral party during the fighting. "Carrascalao came to me to ask for weapons. I didn't give him the weapons. I didn't give weapons to either pro- or anti-independence groups." Tono told reporters.
Earlier in a day, Carrascalao also gave a brief testimony for former East Timor police chief Brig. Gen. Timbul Silaen, saying that "all Indonesian generals wanted me to die, except this gentleman [Timbul Silaen]."
| Human rights/law |
The Australian - August 10, 2002
Paul Toohey -- East Timor's 40-odd lawyers are on strike. The judges and registry staff have all gone home. In the words of one Australian lawyer working in Dili, the courthouse is abandoned "but for two sleepy policemen".
East Timor lawyer's association president Benevides Correia Barros said lawyers would not work until East Timorese border officials and police recognised that the bad old days, when they did as they pleased, were over.
The problem began in February when Customs Service Control -- the border police -- seized cigarettes worth $US1200 belonging to a small-time trader, Marsal dos Santos.
It was claimed he had not paid import duty but his lawyers argued Mr dos Santos, who was nabbed well inside the East Timor border near Balibo, had bought the cigarettes inside the country and they were legal. At a preliminary mediation hearing, lawyers asked for the cigarettes -- believed to be the clove-scented killer, Gudang Garam -- back. This was refused so the matter went to court. Customs was ordered to send a representative on three occasions, but each time no one showed.
Finally, a judgment was made in favour of the trader and the cigarettes ordered to be returned. But customs still refused to give them back.
"There are three arrogant border control officers who say they do not obey East Timorese law," says Mr Correia Barros. "They say they prefer Portuguese law."
A judge issued an arrest warrant for the three customs officers but, says the lawyer, "the police won't go and arrest them. The judge and we don't know why. If police get a court order, they have to obey it. This is crazy."
President Xanana Gusmao stepped in on the four-day-old strike yesterday afternoon. Mr Correia Barros said the President promised to call the Police Commissioner immediately to order the customs officials' arrest.
The lawyers say they will stay on strike until the cigarettes are returned and the customs officers arrested.
| Indonesia |
Antara - August 8, 2002
Atambua -- The Belu district military command on Thursday succeeded in foiling an attempt to smuggle around 1.8 tons of kerosene to East Timor.
The smugglers were to take the kerosene across the border at Silawan, East Tasifeto sub-district, Belu district, East Nusa Tenggara (NTT).
If the fuel oil smuggling attempt had been successful, it would certainly have affected the Belu people's kerosene supply because their fuel oil stock, provided by state-owned oil company Pertamina, was only enough to meet the local people's need.
"Until now Belu has always had an adequate supply of fuel oil. If the smuggling attempt was not stopped, the district would no doubt suffer a shortage," head of the Pertamina Deport in Atapupu, Kardino, said in Atambua.
He said, last July Pertamina supplied l,968 kiloliters of gasoline, 1,589 kiloliters of diesel fuel oil and 1,250 kiloliters of kerosene to Belu district.
How many kiloliters of fuel oil Pertamina would provide for Belu district this month (August) was still unknown as the supply activity was still underway.
| News & issues |
Scotland on Sunday - August 11, 2002
Camillo Fracassini -- The suspected killers of a Scottish journalist murdered in East Timor 27 years ago have escaped a war crimes trial in the UK, Scotland on Sunday can reveal.
Government lawyers recently investigated and ruled out the possibility of bringing three men from Indonesia to Britain to stand trial for the killing of Malcolm Rennie, from Renfrewshire. The television reporter was one of five journalists murdered after Indonesian forces invaded East Timor
The suspects -- one of whom is a former Indonesian government minister -- have been named by the United Nations as wanted for the murders.
Despite new laws allowing foreign nationals to be prosecuted in Britain for war crimes, the government has concluded that the law would not apply in this case, and that it would be almost impossible to extradite the suspects.
Rennie and his colleagues were murdered in October 1975 in the town of Balibo, during undercover raids by Indonesian forces which preceded annexation of East Timor. The country had won independence from Portugal earlier that year.
It is believed they were killed in cold blood to stop their film of the special forces incursion reaching the outside world.
In 2000, investigators from the UN said they had enough evidence to arrest three suspects for the Balibo murders. They named three men, former Indonesian Cabinet minister Yunus Yosfiah, Christoforus da Silva, an Indonesian, and Domingos Bere, an East Timorese.
The three deny involvement and Indonesia has refused to hand them over for trial. The family of Rennie urged the British government to intervene.
Oona King, MP for the London constituency of Bethnal Green, asked the Home Office to use its powers of "universal jurisdiction" over grave breaches of the Geneva Convention.
The Home Office reply says for the law to apply, the killings "must take place during international armed conflict between parties to the Convention". Rennie's murder took place during a covert operation which preceded the invasion.
The letter adds: "If the perpetrators were in Indonesia, it would be extremely difficult to bring them to the UK to face trial, as there is no extradition treaty in place between the UK and Indonesia."
Margaret Wilson, Rennie's cousin, last night condemned the lack of political will to bring his killers to justice. She said: "There is a lack of political will to push this forward for political reasons. Nobody wants to go out of their way to antagonise the Indonesians when we are still selling arms to them.
"Nevertheless, this is about more than prosecuting the people responsible for Malcolm's murder. There must be a wider judicial inquiry into the way this matter was handled by the British government. We are not going to give up."
The Home Office decision not to attempt to bring the three to trial in Britain is the latest twist in the 27-year campaign for justice by relatives of the dead men, who became known as the Balibo Five.
In another development, British government documents relating to the killings -- which Rennie's family were told had been destroyed -- have been found and will be handed over to them next month.
Rennie's family hope the documents will finally prove their long-held suspicion that the UK and Australian governments knew Indonesian action against East Timor was imminent but failed to warn British nationals to get out.
One of the documents is known to contain minutes of a meeting between a Foreign and Commonwealth Office official and Jose Ramos-Horta, the former leader of the Timorese resistance movement in 1976.
It is claimed Ramos-Horta -- who went on to win the Nobel peace prize -- told the British government, which insisted the men died in crossfire, that they had been murdered.
Wilson said: "My fear is that any information which might be embarrassing for the government will be deemed classified and not be released.
The Australian - August 5, 2002
Don Greenlees, Jakarta -- Fifty-six Sri Lankan asylum-seekers who landed in East Timor en route to New Zealand in a 14 metre fishing boat will be prevented from continuing their journey and will have claims to refugee status processed in East Timor.
International humanitarian agencies won the agreement of the East Timorese Government to process the asylum-seekers in Dili during a late-night meeting with Prime Minister Mari Alkatiri on Friday. The 56 men on the boat were then brought ashore, ending a five- day wait in Dili harbour.
After 40 days at sea, the asylum-seekers have been given food and medical attention in a refugee transit centre in the west of Dili, originally set up to manage the flow of East Timorese refugees coming back from West Timor.
A spokesman for the UN High Commissioner for Refugees in Dili said yesterday that Mr Alkatiri had indicated he would not permit the men to continue their journey because the vessel was unsafe.
The East Timorese Government has also been under pressure from Australia and New Zealand to prevent the vessel from departing.
"It was dangerously overcrowded and ill-equipped for the journey," said the UNHCR spokesman. "The East Timorese Government has been fully co-operative and I believe they have compassion for these people. I think it's also for that reason they believe it would be wrong for that boat to be allowed to continue."
The asylum-seekers occupied virtually all the space above and below the decks, and had insufficient numbers of life rafts.
Despite the length of time at sea, the men, aged from their mid- teens to their 50s, were in relatively good physical condition when brought ashore late on Friday night.
Officers from the UNHCR and the International Office of Migration are due to start interviewing the group later this week in order to process their claims.
So far, there are no indications why the men made the journey from Sri Lanka, although officials in contact with the group said it was apparent they were "desperately poor". If any of the group declares a desire to go back to Sri Lanka, the IOM could arrange for their return quickly. Otherwise, claims for refugee status will be processed.
In the event these claims were not successful, it would be up the East Timorese Government to decide whether to allow them to stay, seek to deport them to Sri Lanka, or try to find another country willing to accept them.
| East Timor local press |
UMISET - August 9, 2002
Timor Post today reported that Prime Minister, Mari Alkatiri, appealed to students to support the government in the development of a better future, calling it democratic participation.
Avelino Coelho (PST) denied allegations made by PM Mari Alkatiri of his party's support of the student's demonstration three days ago.
TP reported that the head of Dili District Court, Aderito Tilman, said that the court is awaiting instructions from the government on the Border Control case.
Three Audian residents were badly beaten last night, at around 8pm, by ETPS officers.
Fifteen people were treated for injuries at the Dili National Hospital yesterday when the truck they were travelling in overturned in Tibar, in the outskirts of Dili.
The paper reported that the Dili District Administration continues with its Tidy Town program.
The paper ran a story on a public information campaign encouraging residents of Ainaro and Aileu Districts to pay electricity fees.
TP reported that residents of Ainaro District are organizing sports events to celebrate the third referendum anniversary scheduled for 4 September.
Suara Timor Lorosa'e front page ran a story on President Xanana Gusmco'stalk during the II Congress organized by the University Students Council yesterday by saying "when we speak about the new context, new political situation in our country this means we are already an independent nation. Congress, debates, and workshops are all important but we shall not only think about these. More important is to think about everyday activities in our lives because if we don't think carefully we make mistakes."
PM Mari Alkatiri has reportedly stated that Prosecutor Longuinhos has put in an appeal to the High Court regarding the Border Control case. The Prosecutor-General, reported STL, has disputed such a statement.
PM Mari Alkatiri has stated that the National Parliament will ratify the Convention on all forms of Discrimination against Women.
Aderito Tilman, the Head of Dili Court, stressed that the Court's executives will maintain their position on the Border Control case. The paper reported on the judge's strike, which began 6 August.
STL reported that water canals throughout Dili are full of dirt.
STL has reported that six thousand businesses have registered with the Trade and Industry in East Timor. The paper suggests that all business must acquire a license to be able to operate in East Timor.
Minister of Foreign Affairs and Cooperation, Jose Ramos-Horta, says he is not clear about the status of the Floating Boat from Thailand. Mr. Horta said that if the boat wants to remain in East Timor the owner will have to sit and discuss this option with the government.
August 8, 2002
Timor Post front page story reported MP for Commission A, Alexander Corte-Real, as saying that only members of parliament have the power to remove government officials from office. This in reference to the students protests calling on PM Alkatiri to step down from office.
The paper reported that the strike being held by lawyers is due to government interference with the court's ruling.
A man was sentenced to two months prison for throwing rocks and damaging car's windows last June.
TP reported that upon his arrival, in Dili, President Xanana Gusmco defended the letter he sent to the Jakarta ad-hoc tribunal saying that the letter did not interfere with Indonesia's Internal Affairs, that it sought only uniformity in judicial processes. "In my declaration I did not say that Abilio was not guilty," Mr. Gusmco said. "I simply made it known that I did not agree with the prosecution's request for a 10 1/2 year sentence because I know the process," he added.
Deputy Police Commissioner, Julio Hornai, said recruitment of new police officers is currently weak because they must follow a criteria. Mr. Horani said the previous recruitment done by the International Police was based on numbers and not on qualifications.
ETPS Commissioner, Paulo Fatima Martins, has been quoted as saying that East Timorese police officers will take charge of immigration issues in early September.
The paper reported that a delegation of 5 university students addressed the National Parliament last Tuesday regarding various issues including higher university fees.
MP Mariano Sabino Lopes (PD) is quoted as saying that the government should make regulations based on the needs of the people and according to economic realities.
It is reported that the mobile clinics in Atsabe, Ermera district lack transport and communications.
A trader wants to take the Border Control Department to court on grounds of overcharging goods brought into the country.
Residents of Laga, in Baucau sub-district are reporting shortage of drinking water.
Eighty 80 Timorese have attended a training course on children's health in order to maintain the services provided by the health department. UNICEF and the government sponsored the training.
TP reported that Atsabe residents in Ermera district are living in fear of Colimau Group 2000 because on 17 July approximately 45 people from that group assaulted seven local residents.
August 7, 2002
Suara Timor Lorosa'e front page reported that the 19-staff of the Community Empowerment and Local Governance Project (CEP) protested yesterday against the selection process used in the recruitment of staff.
The paper reported again on the protest held by students yesterday regarding higher fees as well as other issues including the Border Control court case. The students called on Prime Minister, Mari Alkatiri, to step down from government.
STL reported on the strike held by lawyers because of government [Mari Alkatiri] interference with the court's rulings.
The vice-president of the Commission on Culture, Education Youth and Sports, Fransisco Geronimo, says the Parliament should have established laws on education already.
STL reported that a request made by Joao Tavares for the setting up of a Transit Center for those refugees returning with him has been declined by the government of East Timor because it can create jealousy within the community.
Minister of Education, Culture, Youth and Sports, Armindo Maia, has been quoted as saying that Timorese students will still be sent to Indonesia to further their education. He says his department will look for quality rather than quantity contrary to the Indonesian Education system.
A 9-year-old girl was sexually abused by her uncle last Thursday in Liquiga district while her parents had gone to the hospital.
Two young boys aged approximately 12 years old were badly beaten by traders at Comoro market for stealing goods.
The Rector of Dili University, Lucas da Costa, is quoted as saying that he believes the Minister of Finance focuses only on taxation rather than looking into the real economy living condition of many East Timorese.
Jose da Costa Ximenes, a Dili judge, says Prime Minister, Mari Alkatiri, should not make comments without knowing about court proceedings [referring to Border Control court case].
Minister of Finance, Maria Madalena Boavida, said that for the first time the tribunal has opposed a decision made by the Government.
STL reported that PKF Japanese engineers have been training Timorese construction workers in Tasi Tolo, Dili.
NB: No Timor Post today.
August 6, 2002
Timor Post ran a front page story on the demonstration held yesterday by university students and lawyers who demanded an end to the current court process on goods seized by Border Control officers. In the same article TP reported that Prime Minister Mari Alkatiri had agreed to meet with the demonstrators.
MP Francisco Xavier do Amaral has been quoted as saying that penalties should be enforced for those found guilty of illegally importing cigarettes. Meanwhile 19 lawyers addressed the National Parliament yesterday about the illegal goods seized by Border Control Officers court case being heard by the Dili District Court.
TP reported that East Timor Police Service (ETPS) Commissioner, Paulo Fatima Martins, has denied allegations that some ETPS officers were former pro-Indonesia militia members. Secretary of State for Electricity and Water, Egidio de Jesus, said that South Ocean Pacific Applied Commission (SOPAC) has requested East Timor to become its member with the support of the Asia Development Bank.
Chief of Commissions A of the National Parliament of East Timor, Vicente da Silva Guterres, stressed that the country's judicial system is not operating accurately.
Doctors at the National Hospital in Dili demanded personal security following an attempt to kill a doctor at the hospital last week.
PARENTIL Political Party President, Flaviano Pereira, is reported as saying that the Government has to create new government structures in the sub-districts.
Suara Timor Lorosa'e front page reported Prime Minister, Mari Alkatiri, Minister of Internal Administration and Vice-Minister of Justice as saying that the court case being heard by the Dili District Court on the goods seized by Border Control officers is not correct. In the same article the head of Dili District Court, Aderito Tilman, states that he disagree with the governments' opinion on the case.
The East Timor Lawyers Association called for a "strike" due to the Border Control's decision not to follow the Courts orders. The association made an appeal to the Prime Minister, Mari Alkatiri, to show respect for the jurisdiction of the Courts.
STL reported that MP Joco Gongalves (PSD) is disappointed that the Parliament has not addressed the issue of Immigration Law for the country in a letter sent by his party.
The owner of Cafe Timor in Dili, Cesaltina dos Santos, denies allegations that her business runs a discotheque and a brothel.
Prime Minister Mari Alkatri says the government is using article 28 of the Constitution, which states that citizens have the right to appeal. He also said that given that there are no higher judicial bodies, the government had to interfere in this instance.
STL reported that local residents are complaining that foreigners are dominating the small labor industry in Dili.
The Prime Minister has been quoted as saying that UNHCR is still investigating the Sri Lankans refugee's status.
Public Defender Coordinator, Sergio Hornai, says his department wants to establish a new law to stop citizens who do not belong to a political party of speaking about them.
The Council of Minister discussed a commerce code to be implemented. The council also analyzed and debated the first diploma project, considered crucial to promote foreign investment in the country.
August 5, 2002
Timor Post front page says President Xanana Gusmco should not ask the Jakarta Ad-Hoc Tribunal to give a light sentence to East Timor's former governor, Abilio Osorio, because it is an independent tribunal.
MP Joco Gongalves (PSD) was quoted as saying that it is an advantage for East Timor to be part of CPLP because it will strengthen relationships with other Portuguese speaking nations.
MP Jose Andrade has been quoted as saying that the Colimau 2000 group in no longer operational in East Timor.
A security officer at the Dili National Hospital said a hospital guard prevented a group of people from murdering a doctor on Thursday (1 August 2002). The mob accused the doctor of causing the death of a family member.
A truck driver has been accused by his wife of trying to run- over her younger brother while driving his motorcycle in Delta- Comoro last Saturday (3 August 2002).
The paper reported that a law on tree-cutting and land-burning must be put in place urgently.
The paper reported that FRETILIN's Vice-representative for Lautem district, Zaret da Silva, said that Lautem residents are upset with their MP and want him replaced in parliament. He also agreed with President Xanana Gusmco's veto of the 20% increase in sales tax.
Liquiga Administrator has been quoted as saying that there are no more Colimau 2000 group in Liquiga District.
Timor Post ran a story in which it says that East Timorese women need to further develop their skills in various areas to contribute to the country's development.
Suara Timor Lorosa'e's front page reported that East Timorese government officials should not use government vehicles as private vehicles because this creates jealousy in the community.
Minister for Foreign Affairs and Cooperation, Jose Ramos-Horta, congratulated Sergio Vieira de Mello on his appointment as the new Head of the United Nations Human Rights Commission.
Former Bishop of the Diocese of Dili, Dom. Joaquim Ribeiro, is reported as having passed-away in Evora-Portugal on Saturday (3 August 2002) aged 84.
MP Eusebio Guterres was quoted as saying that his party (PD) disagrees with the agreement signed between East Timor and Australia on the Greater Sunrise Gas Field saying that it is not fair that Australia is posed to get 80 per cent from it. In the same article PM Mari Alkatiri said he believes East Timor will get 100 per cent from the Greater Sunrise Gas Field. MP Eusebio Guterres refers to it "as a mystery".
STL reported the Director of PT Rosario, Julio Alvaro, as saying that in the next 15 months telecommunication will be operating throughout the territory according to an agreement signed between Portugal and East Timor.
The paper also quoted the Secretary for Transport and Telecommunication as saying that his department is planning to buy a sea-ferry from Indonesia to assist with the current sea- ferry, Emperor, operating between Dili, Atauro and Oecussi.
A defense lawyer from LIBERTA, a Legal Association, Vital dos Santos, said the letter sent by President Xanana Gusmao to Jakarta's Ad-Hoc Tribunal asking a light sentence for former East Timorese governor, Abilio Osorio, is not correct because the tribunal's proceeding are still in progress.
On 9 August 2002, President Xanana Gusmco will hand certificates to the best Elementary School, Junior High School and Senior High School graduates in East Timor, said Marcos da Costa Santos, an Official of the Department of Culture of the Ministry of Education, Youth, Sports and Culture.
Secretary of Trade and Industry, Arlindo Rangel, said that the Department did not put restrictions on investors to join industries in East Timor.
[Drafted by UNMISET Spokesperson's Office]