Birth of a nation

Travel: dallying in Dili

Far Eastern Economic Review - August 29, 2002

Stewart Taggart in Dili and Lor -- Times have changed for Commandante Elias Falour. Once he was a leader in the East Timorese guerrilla resistance. Today he has an official job, district commander of East Timor's national defence force in the town of Los Palos -- and a lot less to do. With the Indonesians gone, there isn't much to defend against. And in any case, United Nations forces still patrol much of the country.

Given this, Falour happily turns away from listening to his radio, and willingly assigns three of his men to show the way to Tutuala, a village on the eastern tip of the world's newest country. From there, we get a stunning view of a rainforest peak towering over green valleys that flow down to the Timor Sea. It's an almost impenetrable area, and it was once a favoured hideout for Xanana Gusmao as he led his 24-year insurgency against Indonesia.

Gusmao is now East Timor's first elected president, and has new enemies to fight. Top of the list is poverty. East Timor's new leaders are focusing on new sources of revenue, one of which is tourism. Visitors, though, will have to be hardy: The logistics can be daunting, and the infrastructure is rudimentary. Outside Dili, for instance, lodgings can be spartan and roads are often little more than dirt tracks. The upside is that East Timor has yet to suffer the sort of tourist development that has marred so many other places in the region. East Timor has other unique tourist resources, too, Gusmao believes. One of his ideas is that former guerrillas like Falour might one day guide people like me to backcountry rainforests like those around Tutuala. "Trekking through East Timor's misty mountains, no ecotourist could wish for a better guide than a former Falintil fighter," Gusmao has said. "To him, every bush and blade of grass is an old friend."

When I visited Falour, he hadn't heard of this particular idea. But he liked it. And if hikers show up eager to hit the backcountry with their backpacks, he'll do his best to help, he told me. Falour's three soldiers seemed happy enough just to escape the barracks. But as they filled our car with cigarette smoke, they wondered if I was tough enough for the seven-hour hike to the rainforest peak above Tutuala. An arm-wrestle proved inconclusive. In the end, lack of time settled the debate.

After dropping off the soldiers back at their barracks, I took a bone-jarring 35-kilometre drive down a rutted track to the coast. There, I dug for crabs on the beach with Felipe Maria Doceo. "If our national leadership thinks tourism is a good thing, then it's fine with me," says Doceo, a village leader in the tiny settlement of Lore on the Timor Sea. As we talk, a few cows wandered along in front of Lore's small strip of thatched huts, which look out over an empty beach and gentle waves.

Visitors might well be tempted to come and spend some time here on this beach, even if the facilities are a bit primitive, but the real draw is a little inland from here -- a virtually untouched, 225-square-kilometre rainforest known as the Lore Reserve. Sadly, the reserve is virtually unique in East Timor. Over more than 400 years of Portuguese and Indonesian control, nearly all of East Timor's native forests, particularly its sandalwood, were gutted by extensive logging.

Nonetheless, gems like the Lore Reserve remain. Another is the 2,964-metre Mount Tatamailau, south of Dili. From the small market village of Hato-Builiko, a four-wheel-drive track heads uphill through fields of corn, cassava and coffee, and then through young forests and finally across barren rock and heath. At the summit, reached after a five-hour hike, there's a small Catholic shrine. From there, on a clear day, it's possible to see across the entire 45-kilometre breadth of the country.

Back in Dili a few days later, former television cameraman Wayne Lovell makes a final check of my dive gear. We're at a local dive spot known as K41, and we head off into the surf. Down below, a coral wall drops hundreds of metres into the depths. On its vertical flanks, filter-feeding fan and plate corals harvest the passing current for nutrients, while clown fish, long-finned bat fish and brilliant red-lion fish bob in and out of the coral's rocky nooks and crags. "There's a lot of fish I see every day out here that I still can't identify," Lovell tells me after we go ashore. Thumbing through his three-volume set of tropical fish reference books, I have to agree.

Rainforest, mountains, reefs -- East Timor's got them all. And now it also has peace and independence. Is that going to be enough to lure travellers? Time will tell. For his part, Lovell has made up his mind about East Timor: It's paradise. After a 10-year career in TV news, travelling to nightmarish hellholes like Mogadishu, Somalia and Bosnia, Lovell is living the life he long dreamed about -- operating a dive shop on a remote tropical island. Like so many others in East Timor these days, he's enjoying the change.

In freedom's footsteps

Sunday Telegraph Magazine (Sydney) - August 18, 2002

We are in the back of an old Toyota Ute, heading for the hillside village of Ermera. It is only about 100km from the East Timorese capital, Dili, but the road is rough and winding. Wild dogs sleep by the warm road or run out in front of us as we dodge enormous potholes. I can just make out the coconut trees merging into coffee plantations, the bamboo huts becoming stone dwellings, as we climb higher towards the tallest mountain in Timor, Mt Ramalou.

It is dark when we arrive. Gas lanterns light tin sheds that double as market stalls where men gather to drink beer and chat. We are directed to a restaurant where a crowd is gathering to watch a Jackie Chan film. The Timorese are big fans of martial arts -- the Falitil freedom fighters began as a martial arts group.

We are greeted like old friends and, with some prompting, strike up a conversation with Peter. Not yet 20, he has recently been made a police officer in the serious crimes unit of Dili, charged with bringing war criminals to justice. But he has trouble talking about his job and looks down as if ashamed when he explains he's trying to be re-assigned.

After dinner we are taken to an abandoned house to bunk for the night. Candle-lit, it is so dark I can barely make out the front steps. But in the following morning's soft light I find a gorgeous house with tiled floors, wooden shutters and a white, Portuguese-style exterior. It is hard to believe someone could leave this behind.

Then I recall a story I heard only a few days earlier. Maria, an East Timorese woman on her way home from Australia, told me of her sister-in-law who had her pregnant belly slashed, and the baby removed and killed in front of her. The stricken mother was left to bleed to death. Maria also lost her first husband. He remains one of the "disappeared" taken by the Indonesian militia but whose bodies are yet to be found. There are many such stories. Locals say Indonesian solders were paid $20 for every scalp. Fear was a part of life.

But today Ermera and its people are on top of the world. Their new President, Xanana Gusmao, has come to visit, touching every hand that is put in front of him, kissing every face. Teenagers hang out on the street till well after dark, free from the curfew that has plagued most of their lives. They whistle to each other, check out the talent. Couples on motorbikes fly the East Timorese flag from the handlebars. And we are moving on.

In Taci Tolu, closer to Dili, we hear that, despite the strict Roman Catholic upbringing, pre-marital sex is common among the young and there are fears of an AIDS epidemic. Safe sex is not considered an option when condoms cost money.

Many teens eschew the old ways. Marriage is not a priority. Some harbour the familiar Western dream of becoming rock stars. I meet an all-girl group, the Tony Pererra Band. The quintet learned music by ear and had been together for just a month before playing the "Big Gig" -- the independence celebrations concert in May. They had boyfriends, but "maybe would marry them in three million years". "Before, when Indonesia was here, we couldn't play music, we couldn't do anything," one of the group said. "Now, we have had our Independence Day, we are free, we can do anything, go anywhere and everywhere."

We head for Los Polos, a mountain town in the north-east highlands. On the way, roadside stalls sell everything from rice in little cane baskets to pumpkins, melons and monkeys. And every village has a war memorial, the new flag taking pride of place above it.

The bridge into Los Polos is down, so we walk into town in search of its famed market and run into a gang of teenage boys.

With more than 50 per cent of the population illiterate, it's not surprising they're not at school. Girls, if they're lucky, can go in the afternoons -- they must take care of younger siblings while their mothers work in the fields. Boys can go all day, but the trouble is keeping them there.

The boys of Los Polos -- a town virtually destroyed by fighting -- wear T-shirts emblazoned with images of Che Guevara, Kurt Cobain, Bob Marley, even Osama Bin Laden. Freedom fighters and rebels everywhere are heroes. One of the boys has a guitar and plays us some of his own songs, about a place in his heart for the right girl.

Throughout East Timor even very young boys keep roosters. The kings of the back yard, they herald a new day, make a nice meal or could be a prize fighter. Handfed corn and regularly groomed, they're encouraged to fight other roosters as training for big bouts.

When Timorese lived as tribes in forests, they were gifts from the Mother Earth and Father Star, the first star seen at night. The rooster started the day with its crowing, the buffalo held the tools needed for the day, the dog would show the way through the forest. Once the rooster crowed again, signifying the end of the working day, the dog would lead the way back to the campsite. If the rooster didn't crow in the morning, it was believed danger lay ahead, and the family would stay home.

Now, as refugees who fled in 1999 are forced to return, they discover a severe lack of infrastructure: food shortages, 80 per cent unemployment, regular blackouts, patchy phone lines and destroyed homes occupied by squatters. Land disputes choke the courts.

And as the world's focus shifts from East Timor, Western companies muscle in. The tiny nation's production of rice, corn and soybeans is almost completely organic, but foreign companies are offering inducements to buy fertilisers and genetically modified crops.

The last stands of native sandalwood were taken by the Indonesians when they left in 1999. Re-planting of the burnt-out plains could take years, but who will fund it when even basic health care is scarce? And how do you tell a man with six hungry children he should recycle?

With change comes opportunity and cost. However with careful planning this beautiful country could preserve its cultural heritage and resist fast-food chains and dumped Western products. It is now free to decide.

Transition & reconstruction

Anti-UN protests in East Timor

Melbourne Age - August 22, 2002

Jill Jolliffe, Dili -- East Timor's new government faced a second day of protests yesterday, when a dissident political party demonstrated outside government offices.

Among the crowd were remnants of a group of 2000 former independence fighters who held an unauthorised military parade in Dili on Tuesday.

Yesterday's protest, involving about 500 people, was staged in front of the main government offices near the Dili waterfront. The building also houses offices of the United Nations Mission to Support East Timor.

At first it appeared the protesters would try to force their way in to the building, but leaders of the dissident party, the CPD- RDTL, quickly brought them under control.

The crowd shouted anti-UN slogans and demanded that the government set a date for a day of national dialogue on the problems of former resistance soldiers. Thousands of the veterans are now unemployed and, they say, forgotten.

Most of the demonstrators were country people from the east of the territory. They travelled to Dili on Sunday in a convoy of more than 100 trucks crowded with former soldiers wearing uniforms. Families of victims of a 1983 massacre at the town of Kraras carried a banner demanding that the perpetrators be tried. More than 180 people were allegedly killed by an Indonesian firing squad in September of that year.

Protest organiser Jacob Correia read a list of demands, which included the end of UN control of the East Timorese and defence forces, which are not yet in the hands of the newly independent government. He repeatedly accused the UN of exercising "neo- colonial" control over East Timor.

A delegation of the protesters met government officials, and Foreign Minister Jose Ramos Horta later announced that President Xanana Gusmao and Prime Minster Mari Alkatiri would see them today.

In two days of demonstrations, the CPD-RDTL, formerly considered a pariah movement, has flexed its muscles.

At official ceremonies on Tuesday for the 27th anniversary of the formation of the guerrilla army Falintil, Dr Alkatiri indicated his willingness to make concessions. He promised a series of measures to help the many problems of former guerrillas.

Past struggle recalled on anniversary of armed resistance

Lusa - August 20, 2002

The commander of the East Timor Defense Force (ETDF) said Tuesday that the Dili government should build a monument to honor resistance fighters killed in the independence struggle against Indonesia and also clarify who fought as FALINTIL guerillas.

Brigadier-General Taur Matan Ruak, commander of the ETDF, was speaking at a ceremony in Dili to mark the 27th anniversary of the creation of FALINTIL, the ex-armed wing of the Timorese resistance movement.

"I want to remind the government that in the last two years, the most complex and controversial matter has been ex-FALINTIL members", said Matan Ruak, who added that the government should begin to identify who was, and who wasn't a member of the armed resistance.

Separately, an ex-guerilla commander strongly criticized the United Nations, the international community and Timor's defense forces in a speech also commemorating FALINTIL's anniversary. Ologari Assuain told a crowd of around 2000 that the ETDF was an organization "imposed by foreigners". The former UNTAET administration and Timorese National Resistance Council were responsible for current instability, Assuain said.

Foreign Minister Jose Ramos Horta told the crowd "we are all human" and said dialog was the best option. Ramos Horta appealed to all, especially the young, not to succumb to xenophobia as support of the international community was crucial to Timor's future.

Dili's foreign minister told Lusa he was surprised at the inflammatory tone of Assuain's address, saying that this could incite violence. However, such extreme views were "normal" in the light of Timor's experience and dialog must always be kept up, he added.

Guerrillas take to the streets of Dili again

Melbourne Age - August 21, 2002

Jill Jolliffe -- Most of Dili's shops were closed and shuttered yesterday as about 2000 former guerrilla fighters put on a show of force against the Fretilin government of Prime Minister Mari Alkatiri.

The occasion was the 27th anniversary of the formation of Falintil (a Portuguese acronym for Armed Forces for the Liberation of Independent East Timor), the resistance army that fought Indonesian military occupation between 1975 and 1999.

The long haired, camouflage-clad force, which rolled into town in a large convoy from country districts on Sunday, held an unauthorised parade in central Dili yesterday.

The keynote speaker was former Baucau commander Oligari Aswain, who fiercly denounced European influence in East Timor's affairs and demanded a greater share of power for the veterans.

The demonstration was held to rival a government-sponsored Falintil anniversary celebration later in the day. The steam was taken off the show by the appearance of Bishop Carlos Belo and Foreign Minister Jose Ramos Horta who urged the rebel veterans to talk to the government and reject violence.

The action was coordinated by the dissident CDP-RDTL party of Antonio Aitahan Matak, once described by UN administrator Sergio Vieira de Mello as an agitator in the pay of Indonesia.

Two members of his movement were arrested in 2001 for an alleged assassination bid against independence leader Xanana Gusmao, now President of East Timor. The accusations were later dropped.

Labour issues

A new labour code for the world's newest country

World of work - No. 43, June 2002

East Timor has come a long way since the establishment of the United Nations Transitional Administration in the country, in 1999. The world's newest State has emerged, and in May of this year, a new labour code was signed into force. The new code, developed in consultation with the ILO InFocus Programme on Dialogue (IFP Dialogue) and the Regional Office for Asia and the Pacific, provides for a comprehensive and fair labour relations system based on fundamental ILO principles. The goal: to help create jobs and to provide basic standards -- from sick leave to equality among men and women.

DILI, East Timor -- In a country recently emerging from devastating political strife, how do you create labour standards? That is the work of the ILO, and in East Timor, new rules on hours of work, sick leave, maternity benefits, child labour, dispute settlement, and equal treatment of women, are now enshrined in law.

The development of the new labour code for East Timor is part of the ILO project on strengthening and improving labour relations in East Timor (SIMPLAR), funded by the US Department of Labor. The project aims to contribute to East Timor's social and economic progress through the establishment and operation of an effective labour relations system. In the future, the ILO, mainly through SIMPLAR, will continue working with government, workers' and employers' organizations -- building capacity to use social dialogue to achieve results which benefit all three.

Another project focuses on skills and employability, and creating employment opportunities through vocational training. Funded by the Portuguese Government and implemented by the ILO InFocus Programme on Crisis Response and Reconstruction, the project began in October 2001.

"The labour code must be used, and used well," said ILO Regional Director for Asia and the Pacific, Yasuyuki Nodera at a May Day ceremony here launching the code. "If any one of the tripartite partners is not able to use the code properly, then it is quite possible that the principles it upholds won't flow through into the day-to-day practice of labour relations."

Gagan Rajbhandari, the ILO representative in Dili, spoke to World of Work about the employment situation in East Timor and the ILO's work there.

How would you characterize the employment situation in East Timor?

East Timor is an agrarian society with a largely subsistence economy in which much of the production is consumed by the producers [home consumption]. About 76 per cent of the people live in rural areas, and the poor among them account for 85 per cent of the nation's poor. East Timor has a young population, with about 48 per cent below the age of 17. The labour force participation rate is about 74 per cent overall, and a little over 50 per cent for women. About three-quarters of those employed are in agriculture. Open unemployment, a recent phenomenon, especially among youth, is in excess of 16 per cent. Entrepreneurial, technical, and vocational skills are lacking in every sector of the East Timorese economy. The proposed national development plan stresses that one of the most important challenges for East Timor, both currently and in the foreseeable future, is to create jobs -- both in the formal and the informal sectors -- to meet the needs of the country's youth. Some 15,000 to 20,000 young East Timorese enter the working-age population each year, far more than the anticipated number of jobs in the public sector.

What are the most urgent labour issues to be dealt with by the Government of East Timor? Is child labour one of them?

Lack of productive skills and lack of remunerative employment opportunities are urgent issues. The Government is also keen to develop legislative provisions for social security, and occupational safety and health. It faces another challenge in terms of bringing ex-combatants back into the main stream of the national development process. Until recently, the absence of a formal labour law framework made dealing with labour disputes difficult. However, the new labour code was promulgated on 1 May 2002. The Government of East Timor has also indicated its interest in becoming an ILO member State, and is keen to ratify the ILO's eight fundamental Conventions.

Children help adults with household work and on farms. More recently we have begun to see children working on the streets -- particularly in the capital city Dili. About 200 to 300 children sell VCDs in the streets and wash cars. A UNICEF study has found that most of these children are trying to escape domestic violence and/or poverty at home. In many cases their parents [or care providers] have sent them there to generate extra income for the family.

What are the main obstacles encountered by the Government in terms of labour and employment?

The Government lacks technical expertise and resources to respond to issues related to labour and employment. To help address the need for employment, the East Timorese National Development Plan argues for an extension of the current on-the-job training undertaken in informal economy workshops throughout the country. It also calls for employers in the formal sector to design and implement basic training programmes, and to further the development of existing donor and church programmes in vocational training. The plan also proposes that the Government establish a unit responsible for technical and vocational education and training. In fact, the new labour code requires the Department of Labour and Solidarity to establish a Division of Vocational Training and Employment, with three units, covering skills development and upgrading, employment services, and labour market assessment. Community-based training centres will also be set up in the countryside, to train people in the skills needed in the local informal economy and to provide advice on employment. These centres will also provide basic services to match people, skills, and jobs.

What are the most promising development sectors for job creation in East Timor? Is tourism one of them and why?

The areas most likely to grow include the informal economy, micro- and small enterprises, and the service sector. Tourism is one of the target industries, but it is a challenge. Both infrastructure and training are needed.

How is the ILO assisting the Government of East Timor regarding employment and labour-related issues? Can you briefly mention the main areas of focus of the ILO programme in East Timor?

All of the ILO activities in East Timor are designed to make sure that decent and productive work is part of life for the citizens of this new nation. One of the first steps was, of course, to provide a legal framework for better labour relations, in the form of a labour code. We now have a technical cooperation project focusing on helping the Government of East Timor, and employers and workers to implement this code. Another project will work with employers and workers, encouraging them to use social dialogue to improve labour relations. Cost-effective training is the key aim of another project, working to make sure that the unemployed and other vulnerable groups can develop the skills they need to find decent, sustainable employment.

[World of work is the the magazine of the International Labour Organisation (ILO).]

Human rights trials

UN's Robinson to take Timor concerns to Security Council

Reuters - August 23, 2002

Dili -- UN human rights chief Mary Robinson arrived in East Timor on Friday condemning Indonesia's trials over atrocities in the territory in 1999 and said she would take her concerns to the UN Security Council.

It is the second trip to the territory by the UN high commissioner for human rights since the UN-sponsored independence ballot in August 1999 when East Timor voted overwhelmingly to split from Indonesia, unleashing a wave of killings and destruction by pro-Jakarta militias.

Jakarta's special human rights court last week delivered its first verdicts in a string of cases linked to the carnage, acquitting a former East Timor police chief and five other security officers of crimes against humanity, and giving an ex- governor a jail sentence far shorter than prosecutors had requested.

"The results were not satisfying ... in terms of international human rights standards," Robinson told reporters at Dili airport. "This will attract world attention and we will take this to an international forum and the United Nations Security Council," she said without elaborating.

Robinson is on a two-day visit to Dili as part of a final trip to Asia before leaving office next month. She will later address the newly independent territory's parliament and meet several rights groups.

She also plans to travel to the coastal town of Liquica on Saturday to hear the first public confessions from perpetrators of the violence and visit the border town of Suai where 27 people were killed in a church massacre just days after the independence vote.

Catholic priest Father Jovito do Rego Araujo, vice chairman of East Timor's Truth and Reconciliation Commission, said he hoped Robinson's visit would remind the world of the people's struggle for justice.

"Her visit is very important because she has deep concern for the people of East Timor who are still trying to convince the international community who the real perpetrators of the violence are," he said.

Robinson's August 18-25 trip precedes her handover of her position to Sergio Vieira de Mello, a Brazilian veteran of the UN refugee agency and former head of the UN administration in East Timor. Before coming to East Timor Robinson visited China and Cambodia.

The UN estimates more than 1,000 people were killed in the 1999 violence carried out by gangs of militiamen with backing from elements of the Indonesian military.

The former Portuguese territory was declared formally independent in May this year when UN Secretary General Kofi Annan handed over power to former guerrilla leader Xanana Gusmao.

Indonesian tribunal: justice or political diversion?

Posted August 21, 2002

James Dunn -- At last Indonesia's human rights tribunal has begun passing verdicts on the 18 accused who have appeared before it.

The first to be sentenced was Abilio Soares, the last Governor of East Timor under Indonesian rule. Six other officers, including the Polri Chief, Brigadier General Timbul Silaen and Colonel Sediono have been acquitted.

Sediono's acquittal is astonishing. This Kopassus officer was identified by several eyewitnesses as one of those giving orders at the attack on the church at Suai. In the circumstances the sentence imposed on Abilio Soares (if it withstands appeal) is more appropriate, but the terms in which it was delivered are deeply troubling. Soares was accused of having permitted the violence, not of having played a role in organising it.

In an extraordinary move, nor was this charge laid against the TNI officers This tribunal was promised soon after Wahid assumed the Indonesian presidency, the case for a trial having been reinforced in a damning report on the events of 1999 by a special Indonesian human rights commission team (KPP HAM).

However, it was not a popular decision with most of Jakarta's politicians, many of whom still had a smouldering resentment at the humiliating loss of East Timor to the Republic. It was a resentment based on a serious misunderstanding, on the distorted TNI accounts of what lay behind the violence that erupted in East Timor in 1999, and who was responsible.

The proposal for a tribunal was strongly resisted by leading TNI generals from the outset, for it was bound to increase popular demands for a comprehensive reform of Indonesia's armed forces. However, thanks to international pressure and demands from Indonesia's courageous NGOs, those most concerned at the TNI's capacity to evade the promised reforms, an Indonesian special court was at last established -- though only after long delays, with obvious reluctance, and with a limited mandate.

The outcome of this tribunal is of greater importance than has been generally acknowledged. The first concern is of course justice for the victims, the people of East Timor where, in a highly organised operation in September 1999, 74% of all buildings and houses were destroyed or severely damaged, and well over half the population was deported or forced to flee to the mountains.

In the months leading up to the InterFET intrusion, more than 1,000 East Timorese were murdered, and many others became victims of torture or sexual assault. The outcome of these trials will have a wide-ranging impact.

In the first instance it will have an impact on Indonesia's relations with the new Democratic Republic of East Timor, as well as on the Canberra-Jakarta relationship. If the tribunal were to lead to a full exposure of the TNI's role in setting up the militia, it would follow that the UN and Australia would be exonerated from blame for the loss of Indonesia's 27th province. It would confront the Indonesian political establishment, and also the regional Southeast Asian community with the indisputable facts, raising the curtain, as it were, on the TNI's brutal past.

At this point the prospects of such a revelation are not good. By confining its investigations to a period between April and September 1999, the tribunal's terms of reference seemed to have closed off the trail of responsibility, shielding those senior generals who set up the militia as an instrument of violent intimidation.

The tribunal has been dealing with four specific crimes against humanity that were committed between April and September 1999. Many Timorese were killed before April, and some even after the InterFET arrival. Two of the worst killings, the brutal Maliana atrocity, and the Oecussi massacre, in which TNI officers played leading roles, were not been brought to the attention of the Tribunal, although TNI officers played key roles in these assaults.

The TNI officers who appeared before the Tribunal were confined to a handful of senior officers the most senior being the regional (Udayana) commander, Major General Adam Damiri, Brigadier General (now major general) Mahidin Simbolon, the East Timor territorial commander, Colonel Tono Suratman (now a brigadier general) and Police Chief Timbul Silaen (who has also been promoted).

Key generals, Major General Syafrei Syamsuddin, who drew up the plans for the militia para-military force, and Major General Zacky Anwar Makarim, who acted as the link between the field operations and TNI headquarters, were not on the list of indictments. Nor was Major General Hendropriyono, now Indonesia's intelligence chief, who played an important role in relation to intelligence aspects of the TNI's militia operation.

And there are other senior officers who have apparently been allowed to escape the net. Little attention has being given to Major General Mahidin Simbolon, who played a key organizational in the TNI led campaign of massive destruction that followed the declaration of the results of the plebiscite on 4 September 1999. Simbolon is currently Indonesia's military commander in West Papua, the appointment to this sensitive post suggesting that the Indonesian military command did not take the charges against him seriously.

Although these officers, and General Wiranto himself, were implicated in the findings of the original Indonesian Human Rights Commission (KPP HAM) report, they were apparently excluded by the Tribunal's prosecutors. To have included them would have implicated Indonesia's top military commanders in this conspiracy to sabotage the UN monitored plebiscite, if you like, this act of state terrorism.

Understandably, there is considerable scepticism, within Indonesia as well as abroad, about what this tribunal will achieve. None of its panel of judges was an expert on crimes against humanity law. They are mostly academic lawyers with little practical experience. Nor were there human rights specialists among the large team of prosecutors.

Exploiting, it would seem, these professional shortcomings, the TNI general staff has engaged in an exercise of blatant intimidation, with senior officers, including the head of Kopassus (the special forces which played a key role in the conspiracy) turning up in strength at the tribunal sessions, as a mark of support for the indicted military officers.

As if that was not enough, a band of noisy followers of Eurico Guterres from time to time demonstrated outside the court. This behaviour seemed designed to minimise the risk that the outcome of the tribunal would harm the standing of the military whose role in Indonesian society has been under close scrutiny.

The proceedings and outcome of this tribunal raises some concerns for Australia. Defence lawyers persistently argued that the TNI were merely responding to an international conspiracy to mislead the East Timorese people, and detach the territory from Indonesia. The UN intervention had provoked conflict between Timorese groups, so the arguments went. It was also claimed that it was the UN and not the Indonesian military that was responsible for security; an absurd and cynical claim in the light of persistent Indonesian refusals (from Wiranto himself) to allow in a peacekeeping force at that time.

Prosecution arguments also followed these lines, so that the thrust of the charges was not that the defendants were behind the abuses, but that they had failed to prevent them from taking place. If the tribunal outcome reflects this line of argument, it will hardly resolve the issue; nor will it be conducive to an improvement of relations between Canberra and Jakarta.

As this strategy hinges on blaming international interference for the events of 1999, Australia could end up being tagged the scapegoat of the affair, with the grievances so carefully nourished by the TNI being formally endorsed. It would be a shameful slight on the work of the United Nations, especially UNAMET which was meticulous in the carrying out of its mandate, under difficult and provocative conditions. Indeed, the legitimacy of the entire UN intervention could be called into question.

It was my conclusion, on the basis of compelling evidence, that East Timor's notorious militia operation was essentially a conspiracy engineered by senior Kopassus officers. It was an operation that enjoyed Wiranto's knowledge and approval, if not his direct involvement. It is important that the Indonesian political establishment -- and the international community at large -- face up to the existence of this conspiracy and find some way of exposing those responsible, if the Jakarta Tribunal fails to expose what was a campaign of state terrorism.

If Indonesia's military command, and Kopassus, with its appalling past record of human rights abuses, is untouched by the Tribunal's findings, it could pose a serious setback to democracy in Indonesia, and to regional security. For this reason we need to keep some form of international tribunal on the agenda, so that this serious case of state terrorism can be properly investigated in order to clear the air.

In view of the difficulty in getting agreement by the Security Council to a trial process, perhaps the best answer would be to set up a tribunal in the form of a judicial enquiry (rather like our royal commission) with the aim of producing a substantive report on what crimes against humanity were committed in 1999, and on those responsible for them.

It might not be possible to bring those indicted to trial, but it would impact on their careers and their standing in their home country where there is continuing public pressure to bring the military under tighter control. It would also serve as an authoritative international statement on the affair, put pressure on the Government of Indonesia to reconsider its findings and at least those responsible for this campaign of terrorism would be exposed to the international community, as well as the political establishment in Indonesia.

The UN intervention in East Timor has been one of the world body's most significant achievements. Surely, therefore, we cannot let the matter rest with the unacceptable outcome of the Indonesian tribunal. It is necessary as a matter of justice for those Timorese who have suffered, but it is also important to clear up any doubts about the role of the United Nations in facilitating this self-determination process, the highly commendable role UN agencies have played in bringing justice and peace to East Timor, after 24 years of harsh occupation.

The case is even stronger for East Timor, if the new nation is to develop an enduring harmonious relationship with its large neighbour. That relationship needs as its foundation a mutual acceptance of the way events involving both countries have unfolded since 1975.

[James Dunn UNTAET's Expert on Crimes Against Humanity in East Timor, 2000-2001. 17 August 2002.]

Australia to discuss verdicts with East Timor

Radio Australia - August 20, 2002

[Australia is to talk to East Timor about Indonesia's acquittal of army officers accused of human rights crimes in East Timor. Australia's Foreign Minister says Canberra is concerned about the decision by Indonesia's Human Rights Court to clear six officers over their role in the 1999 violence. The line from Australia's Defence Minister, though, is that Australia will continue to repair military ties with Indonesia.]

Graeme Dobell, Canberra

Transcript:

Dobell: East Timor says it's a farce. Australia expresses concern. The target is Indonesia's Human Rights Court, set up to judge the violence that swept East Timor three years ago. The court last week convicted an East Timorese, the former Governor, Abilio Soares, of failing to prevent the violence, and sentenced him to three years jail. But the court cleared six Indonesian officers accused of human rights crimes, particularly in the massacre of civilians at the Catholic Church at Suai. Expressing disquiet at the acquittal, Australia's Foreign Minister, Alexander Downer rejected one argument put by the Indonesian military -- that the violence was actually caused by the United Nations involvement in East Timor.

Downer: We obviously don't accept the proposition that the violence had been started by the international community. By that one would essentially mean the United Nations' presence there. Clearly that wasn't the case. In fact the international community did everything it possibly could to try to stem the violence and a lot of the United Nations' civilian police did a very heroic job including some Australians during that period. So we don't accept that as a proposition. I think I won't add to what I've said already, we'll make sure that we follow this issue very closely which we're doing. We have some concerns about what has happened in the last week or so. We nevertheless think it's very important to talk to the East Timorese themselves about this and get some sense of what they feel about it and how they feel this issue can be taken forward, how they would like it to be taken forward. We won't necessarily do what they want or try to do what they want or argue what they want but I think to be respectful we should talk to the East Timorese about it.

Dobell: Australia's Defence Minister, Robert Hill, says Indonesia has given international assurances that its legal system will deal with crimes committed in East Timor. Senator Hill says the acquittals have provoked widespread claims that the Indonesian system is not effective, but he says this claim is premature. For the Defence Minister, the continuing priority is to rebuild the defence relationship with Indonesia that was shattered in East Timor during the 1999 violence.

Hill: We are supporting Indonesia through a relatively modest defence cooperation program. We are also trying to rebuild a defence relationship because we build that can contribute to regional stability. There is a respect within Indonesia for the Australian Defence Force. We believe to walk away from that opportunity is not Australia's national interest. So the short answer to the question is, no we are not reviewing that relationship. At the moment we are actually seeking to build upon it.

Dobell: The Indonesian court decision has produced renewed calls for the United Nations to set up a special tribunal to deal with East Timor. But Foreign Minister Alexander Downer sees little chance of the UN being able to act.

Downer: Whatever one's sentiments about an international tribunal are it would be very hard to establish an international tribunal. That could only be done through as I understand it, through a resolution of the United Nations Security Council. You'd obviously have to get the support of all five of the permanent members of the Security Council as well as a majority of members of the Security Council. I think that would be difficult unless the Indonesians were prepared to support the establishment of an international tribunal and I suspect their argument at the moment is that they have their own process.

Timor violence prosecutors reject US criticism

Reuters - August 20, 2002

Jerry Norton, Jakarta -- US criticism of Indonesian prosecutors over verdicts in East Timor human rights cases was out of line and would be better directed at judges in the case, a spokesman for the Attorney General's Office said on Tuesday.

Last week, in a process Washington has linked to the resumption of normal military ties, an Indonesian court found a former East Timor police chief and five security officers not guilty of crimes linked to the violence surrounding the 1999 referendum on East Timor's independence from Indonesia.

And a former governor of what is now an independent country was sentenced to three years' jail for crimes against humanity despite prosecution demands for 10-and-a-half years.

A US State Department statement on Monday said Washington was "disappointed that prosecutors in these cases did not fully use the resources and evidence available to them from the United Nations and elsewhere."

"Which evidence?" Indonesian Attorney General spokesman Barman Zahir said. "If they want to criticise be specific. We have used all the evidence and resources for the Timor cases. The United Nations did not fully help in terms of presenting witnesses from East Timor.

"Why do they always blame the prosecutors?" he told Reuters. "Judges are not gods ... they too make mistakes. I think the judges are not critical enough in making the decision."

The United Nations estimates that violence by pro-Jakarta militias backed by elements of the armed forces killed more than 1,000 Timorese in 1999. The United States responded by cutting military ties with Indonesia, the world's fourth most populous nation.

But on a visit to Indonesia earlier this month US Secretary of State Colin Powell announced a $50 million package for Indonesia, most of it for the police but also for military training in counter-terrorism and military-civilian relations.

However, he and other US officials have said normalisation of ties requires Indonesia's military to respect civilian authority and human rights and accountability for past actions.

The State Department statement said establishment of the tribunal judging the East Timor incidents "represented a bold step towards punishing the perpetrators of past atrocities ... We strongly encourage the Indonesian government to build on that positive step by mounting effective and credible prosecutions of the remaining cases."

Some human rights groups have dismissed the trials as a farce because Indonesia's military leaders at the time of the Timor violence were not brought to book.

US critical of weak evidence in war crimes trials

Sydney Morning Herald - August 21, 2002

Matthew Moore, Jakarta -- The United States has criticised Indonesia's acquittal of six out of seven people accused of war crimes in East Timor, highlighting the prosecution's failure to build a case good enough to get convictions.

The State Department's deputy spokesman for Indonesia, Philip Reeker, said the US was "disappointed that prosecutors in these cases did not fully use the resources and evidence available to them from the UN and elsewhere in documenting atrocities that occurred in East Timor".

However, the US praised Indonesia for establishing the human rights court, calling it "a bold step towards punishing the perpetrators of past atrocities as well as those who might consider new violations of human rights in Aceh and elsewhere".

The warning over Aceh came after the Indonesian Government delayed by almost four months its plans for a renewed military offensive against separatist rebels.

Indonesia this week announced its plans to delay until December 7, the end of the fasting month of Ramadan, its ultimatum to the Free Aceh Movement (GAM) to accept autonomous home rule as a pre-condition for negotiation.

"If by then they have not shown a positive attitude ... and conditions become uncertain and dangerous, the Government will take stern action, including intensifying military operations, in order to maintain Indonesia's sovereignty and integrity," said Indonesia's senior security minister, Susilo Bambang Yudhoyono.

For Indonesia though, there are serious risks of renewed international censure if their forces commit human rights abuses as part of a new offensive. More than 800 people have been been killed this year in Aceh, home of 4 million people.

A series of demonstrations and a strike were set in train by the pro-independence forces to coincide with Indonesia's national day on Saturday.

At one demonstration on Monday, a 28-year-old Australian, Lawrence Lawson, from Victoria, was arrested. He will be deported within a week for using his video-recorder to film protesters outside the police station.

"I have been charged for misuse of my visa and for filming police. I filmed police and I am not allowed to do that. I was not fully aware of the law," he said by phone yesterday.

Mr Lawson said he had been in Jakarta working on a documentary with an Arabic film crew and had gone to Aceh as a tourist. Police had confiscated his camera but said they would return it with the tape. Mr Lawson said he was exhausted after being interviewed over two days, but he was not harmed.

Indonesia foreign minister defends East Timor trials

Associated Press - August 19, 2002

Jakarta -- Relations with the US will not be affected by the acquittal of six defendants allegedly involved in the violence that engulfed East Timor in 1999, Indonesia's foreign minister said Monday.

Two special courts ruled Thursday that there was no evidence to show that a general and five other officers allowed subordinates to take part in massacres in the former Indonesian province. A day earlier, another court found a former governor guilty, but sentenced him to only three years in jail.

The verdicts were roundly criticized by rights activists and foreign governments.

A former US ambassador to Indonesia suggested the verdicts could jeopardize the country's efforts to re-establish military ties with the US

But Foreign Minister Hassan Wirayuda dismissed this and suggested that criticism of the trials was unfair. "There has not been any negative impact on our relationship with the United States, including their plan to help us," Wirayuda said. "The trials must be respected. The international community is prejudiced."

Eleven more military and government officials are on trial for allowing the violence in East Timor. Nearly 1,000 were killed by the Indonesian military and its proxy militias after voters approved an independence referendum in 1999.

US criticizes prosecutors in East Timor trials

Reuters - August 19, 2002

Washington -- The United States on Monday criticized the Indonesian prosecutors who failed to secure convictions for six out of seven security officials charged with crimes against humanity in East Timor.

"Without commenting on the specific verdicts, which are subject to appeal, the United States is nevertheless disappointed that prosecutors in these cases did not fully use the resources and evidence available to them from the United Nations and elsewhere," State Department spokesman Philip Reeker said in a written statement.

Last Thursday an Indonesian court ruled that a former East Timor police chief and five other security officers were not guilty of crimes linked to the rampage of violence over an independence referendum in East Timor in 1999. The former Portuguese colony was then ruled by Jakarta.

The previous day the court, set up last year amid international pressure for Jakarta to punish those responsible for the rampage, had sentenced a former governor, on trial for his life, to three years in jail.

Reeker noted that the United States had welcomed the creation of the tribunal and was committed to building a closer relationship with Indonesia, including with its military.

But he added: "We strongly encourage the Indonesian government to build on that positive step by mounting effective and credible prosecutions of the remaining cases that meet international standards of justice and utilize the wealth of available evidence to bring to justice perpetrators of atrocities in East Timor." Earlier this month US Secretary of State Colin Powell announced a $50 million package for Indonesia, most of it for the police but also for military training in counterterrorism and military- civilian relations.

Editorial: Justice at ICC if None in Jakarta

Sydney Morning Herald - August 19, 2002

The acquittal of six members of Indonesia's security forces on charges arising from the horrific massacre of three East Timorese priests and the scores of civilians they were sheltering implies, incorrectly, a credible defence. Instead, the six walked free because the prosecution failed to prove its case through weak, incomplete arguments and a paucity of witnesses and other evidence. As such, the trial delivered neither truth nor justice and makes a mockery of the Indonesian Government's pledge to punish those responsible for the 1999 carnage in East Timor.

Under international law a sovereign nation must be given the opportunity to try its own citizens before charges of crimes against humanity can be referred to the recently convened International Criminal Court at The Hague.

Human rights abuses in the former East Timor have not been referred to an international tribunal, specifically to give Jakarta a chance to demonstrate accountability and meaningful reforms within the most notorious units of its armed forces. Fifteen verdicts are yet to be handed down in cases arising from the violence which wrecked East Timor's infrastructure and killed at least 1000 people after the United Nations-sponsored referendum of September 1999 which overwhelming rejected Indonesian rule. Yet, the acquittal last week of the "Suai five" and their superior officer will thoroughly discredit Indonesia's specially convened human rights court. The sole guilty verdict to date has been brought down against the only East Timorese defendant, former governor Abilio Soares, who claims he is a scapegoat. Such uneven justice will revive pressure for international human rights trials, in spite of the jurisdictional and practical challenges.

Indonesia's own investigators last year recounted a terrible chain of events in which Indonesian police and soldiers directed the slaughter inside the Suai church grounds, beginning with the shooting and hacking to death of three Catholic priests who had tried to shield their parishioners. An Indonesian officer supervised the disposal of scores of bodies, some of children as young as five. Indonesian investigators listed 32 individuals as responsible for numerous "grave human rights abuses" across East Timor, many committed by the local militia units they armed and controlled. Politically, the Indonesian Government has little to gain by parading members of the powerful armed forced through the courts. The Indonesian public strongly supported the occupation of East Timor and consider the trials a national humiliation.

Internationally, however, Indonesia's armed forces have been largely isolated since the Timor rampage, with the resumption of military ties with the West conditional on credible trials. Yet the United States recently announced $US50 million in new military aid to Jakarta. Washington now needs to enlist the Indonesian armed forces in the "war on terrorism", fearing links between Islamic groups in Indonesia and the al-Qaeda network. Unfortunately, it appears justice for the East Timorese is now at risk of being sidelined by the new strategic agenda of the US.

Activists call for international tribunal on East Timor

Jakarta Post - August 20, 2002

Jakarta -- Human rights activists pledged on Monday to step up a global campaign for the establishment of an international tribunal for those involved in the mayhem in East Timor in 1999, saying Indonesia's human rights court was inconsistent and not independent.

"Having observed the unreliable proceedings of local trials unfold, we want to launch a campaign to try those alleged to have carried out human rights abuses in East Timor at an international tribunal," Daniel Panjaitan, an activist at Jakarta Legal Aid Institute, told a seminar here.

He said the whole trial process was untrustworthy, citing the fact that even before the tribunal began, the attorney general dropped charges against Gen. (ret) Wiranto, who was in charge of the Indonesian Military (TNI) when the violence prevailed.

When the hearings began, he added, prosecutors were seemingly reluctant to bring in many key witnesses. Only two victim witnesses appeared in court.

Prosecutors were also unwilling to disclose links between prointegration militias, the Army and the government, despite their close affiliation, he said.

In a bizarre verdict, the ad hoc court sentenced on Wednesday former East Timor Governor Abilio Jose Osorio Soares to three years in jail, far below the minimum punishment of 10 years according to Law No. 26/2000 on Human Rights Tribunal. A day later, the court sparked fiercer criticism for acquitting former East Timor Police chief Brig. Gen. Timbul Silaen and five military officers from all charges.

"Court proceedings do not meet international standards. The United Nations [UN] could bring such cases to an international tribunal," Daniel said.

Noted lawyer Todung Mulya Lubis agreed that the current trials had too many flaws, ranging from weak evidence presented by prosecutors to the fact that judges didn't carry out field checks in East Timor. "With such flaws, there is a growing hope to set up an international tribunal," he said at the seminar.

He believed the international community would also consider cutting loans for Indonesia because of the controversial verdicts. "I'm sure the US, the International Monetary Fund [IMF], and the Consultative Group on Indonesia [CGI] will question Indonesia about the accountability of its human rights court before deciding to issue loans," he said.

But Sidney Jones from the International Crisis Group said the demand for an international tribunal might face resistance from the UN Security Council, which is authorized to recommend whether the trial takes place.

"The US may not support the idea because it needs Indonesia to support the war against terrorism. Russia and China may veto the idea as they also have human rights abuse records," she said.

Supreme Justice Benyamin Mangkoedilaga supported Jones' argument, saying that an international tribunal for human rights abuses in East Timor was unlikely due to the nebis en idem principle, which bars a person from standing a second trial for the same charges.

Benyamin, former chairman of the team preparing the ad hoc tribunal, added the human rights trials had met international standards. "The international tribunal for Rwanda was unavoidable because it failed to set up human rights trials at home. This situation, of course, is totally different from our own," he said.

"Remember, an international tribunal is only supplementary should a domestic trial fail to proceed." Benyamin said it was prosecutors who should be blamed for the controversial verdicts.

"The judges have opened chances for prosecutors to support their charges. But we cannot force the judges to decide other than what they see in the court," he said.

Separately, Minister of Foreign Affairs Hassan Wirayuda called on the international community to refrain from commenting on the ongoing human rights tribunal as the legal process is not over yet. "I hope foreign observers will not make immediate comments on the continuing legal process," Hassan told a press conference on Monday.

He underlined that the human rights tribunal in Jakarta may have been the first in Asia and it was important to bear in mind that Indonesia had no experience in handling such trials. The minister dismissed speculation that the government had intervened in the ad hoc tribunal.

During her meeting with visiting delegates of the United States Congress later in the day, President Megawati Soekarnoputri reiterated the government's stance to stay out of the human rights tribunal process.

"We asked about the tribunal and she said it was the job for the court," the head of the delegation Paul Cleveland said afterwards.

However, he refused to comment on whether the recent verdicts would affect the ongoing process to restore military ties with Indonesia. The Congress banned military assistance to Indonesia following the bloody 1999 mayhem in East Timor.

Australia urged to prosecute Indonesians in Timor bloodshed

Radio Australia - August 19, 2002

The Australian Government has been told it has an obligation to support the establishment of an international tribunal to prosecute those Indonesians involved in the 1999 bloodshed in East Timor.

The United Nations Secretary General is considering a tribunal following last week's aquittal in an Indonesian court of several officers allegedly involved in the pro-Indonesian militia riot, which killed hundreds of people.

The former head of the UN's mission to Timor, Ian Martin says Australia promised the East Timorese that justice would be done.

But he's worried many countries won't support a tribunal because they want to re-establish strong military ties with Indonesia.

I'm afraid there may be an attempt to pretend that these proceedings have been serious when unfortunately they've been anything but serious.

News & issues

Over 50 escapees still at large after Friday jailbreak

Lusa - August 19, 2002

More than 50 prisoners who escaped from Dili's main prison Friday, after a riot apparently provoked by anger at hold-ups in the processing of inmates` cases, remained on the run Monday.

Timorese police sources told Lusa that of the 179 inmates who escaped from the Becora jail, 102 returned to the institution after meeting with government representatives Friday. Of the remaining 77 escapees, 23 "were caught or voluntarily presented themselves" to the authorities, the same sources added.

Police continue their efforts to recapture a remaining 54 prisoners. Timor's minister of internal administration, Rogerio Lobato, told Lusa that he had made a television appeal "to all the prisoners to return voluntarily" to Becora prison. "If they do this, they will receive special treatment ... If they escape and do not return, we will have to enlist the help of the people", said Lobato.

Friday's mass breakout prompted the head of the UN mission in Timor (UNMISET), Indian diplomat Kamalesh Sharma, to cut short an official visit to Thailand and the Philippines and return to Dili for contacts with the government.

A statement released by UNMISET said that the talks with senior Timorese ministers focussed on ways of bolstering prison and judicial sector administration. "In is fully recognized that an accessible, equitable and efficient judicial system is critical for the functioning of state", read the UN statement.

A Timorese government source contacted by Lusa said that some elements of UNMISET were pressing for the recruitment of judges and legal specialists who were "fluent in Indonesian". The UN mission was seeking to bring in legal officials from Asia, in preference to Portuguese-speaking countries, the same source said, as most of Timor's judges were trained in Indonesia and a concerted effort was being made to restrict the use of Portuguese in Timor's courts.

People

A dutiful life

Sunday Telegraph Magazine (Sydney) - August 18, 2002

[As the fledgling nation of East Timor finds its feet, Maree Curtis talks to Kirsty Sword, the Australian-born former spy playing first lady to a legend. And photographer Nicole Cleary takes her camera on a road trip through the aftermath of independence.]

Just before Melbourne-born Kirsty Sword Gusmao became first lady of the world's newest nation three months ago, a friend gave her a gift, a T-shirt which reads: "Living with a saint is far more gruelling than being one." As we speak, the "saint" in question -- the first president of the independent nation of East Timor, Jose Alexandre Gusmao, the legendary Xanana, resistance leader, hero, freedom fighter -- is being annoying in the background, his deep voice vying for his wife's attention. Which is what prompts Sword to mention the T-shirt. "I can verify that it is certainly the case."

A moment later she excuses herself. Sword is speaking on a mobile phone because there is no telephone service in East Timor. She is in the office of the presidential home, a cluster of small bungalows at Balibur in the hills above the capital Dili, where she lives with Xanana, their two-year-old son Alexandre, and a variety of helpers, volunteers, bodyguards and houseguests. Much of the affairs of state are carried out here.

Although it wouldn't be untrue to describe 36-year-old Sword's life as a fairytale, the word -- like her title First Lady -- tends to conjure images far removed from the reality of life as the wife of the president of one of the world's smallest and poorest nations. The story is without doubt romantic. Sword, codenamed Ruby Blade, met and fell in love with her husband while working as an undercover agent (she hates the word spy) for the East Timorese resistance movement of which he was leader.

But the road to independence has cost East Timor. After almost 500 years of occupation by Portugal and a brief civil war the tiny country was invaded by Indonesia in 1975. In 24 years of Indonesian occupation a third of its people, more than 250,000, died from disease, starvation or violence. Then, in 1999, Dili was virtually destroyed by the burning, looting and massacres that followed the independence vote. As Sword says, her life is more daunting than glamorous.

"I'm sorry," says Sword, returning to our conversation. "Xanana was shoving something under my nose that needed to be done immediately. I can't even get half an hour quietly on the phone to myself." Her voice rings with mild exasperation.

Along with the more traditional roles, meeting-and-greeting and playing hostess to VIP guests, Sword carries a heavy workload. As well as lobbying the new government for financial support and official recognition for the office of first lady, an imprimatur she believes necessary if she is to do any good, she is the founder and head of the Alola Foundation. The foundation supports programs broadly described as women's issues. Sword is also her husband's principal, private, social and every other type of secretary. This, apparently, is the gruelling bit referred to on her T-shirt.

"Of course, I admire him tremendously." Her husband, the saint. "But I've worked closely with him for years, particularly when he was under house arrest [after being released from prison in Indonesia in 1999], and I've come to know where his weaknesses lie." Sword is laughing but you sense that at moments like these she could happily strangle the national hero.

"There are some aspects of the way he operates that don't suit him very well for the role of president. He is not a born manager and he has no notion of the importance of administration. Why would you when you spent 18 years in the bush? But I see all these other sides of him that other people don't see. Still, I suppose it would be somewhat odd living with a hero who didn't have a human side."

If Sword sounds a little weary, who could blame her. On top of her workload and the difficulties of living in a country with an average temperature in the 30s, without telephones, where the electricity is notoriously unreliable and where more than half the population lives in poverty, Sword is pregnant with her second child, due any day now.

Sword, like many others, has worked hard to help bring about freedom for her adopted country, but independence has not brought her personal freedom. In the same way that her husband is a reluctant president, she has taken on the role of first lady more out of duty than desire.

Given a choice, the Gusmaos would be living in rural East Timor painting, writing poetry, tending cows and growing pumpkins. "For many years we have had the prospect looming of Xanana becoming president and I guess we both accepted that we probably didn't have any choice in this whole matter of whether we take on these roles or not. Just as he feels ill-equipped to fulfil the role, so do I. But I guess nothing prepares you for the role of president or first lady of a nation."

Reluctant she may be, but now that she has committed herself to the job, Sword has every intention of being an active member of East Timor's new order. She is definitely more Hillary Clinton than Barbara Bush. "The needs are tremendous and I would like to think that I can respond in some way to the call to do something of a practical nature to help the people and alleviate poverty."

In an interview with the ABC's Australian Story earlier this year, in which Sword spoke about her undercover work for the first time, former freedom fighter and Nobel peace laureate Jose Ramos Horta, East Timor's new foreign minister, described her as indispensable to the resistance movement. She is, he said, "reliable, discreet, humble". "That woman is perfect." Others have called her a true heroine, but Sword scoffs at the idea.

"Basically, I was just responding to the needs I could see in front of me. I was not doing it to be a hero, I was doing it as a human being with a conscience. There is nothing heroic about responding when a group of people come to you and say, 'this is our story, can you help us?' Once I started to get involved there was tremendous gratification in actually being able to do something. It was a good feeling because I admire the East Timorese people tremendously."

Following the ABC program, Sword was criticised for admitting she had worked as a spy while employed by an aid agency, potentially endangering the lives and work of other such organisations and their staff around the world who are already viewed with suspicion by jittery foreign regimes.

"I think the use of the word spy is rather unfortunate. Working on human rights issues does not make you a spy. The program really did portray accurately the role I played and I think there was an overreaction by some people. Let's face it, any aid work is political and anyone who says that it's not is deceiving themselves and deceiving others.

"My employers at the Overseas Service Bureau knew the work I was doing and were extremely sympathetic. There was no deception happening. I was working on a contract basis, I was not a full- time, fully fledged staff member so I was not subject to the normal codes of conduct etc which apply to other aid workers. My employers weren't in breach of any code of ethics, nor was I. I was simply an individual who was concerned and acting on her conscience."

Just how a nice girl from the Melbourne suburb of Northcote turned into a spy -- sorry, undercover agent -- running secret messages under the noses of the Indonesian police and army, was, apparently, more accident than design.

Fluent in Indonesian after completing a degree at the University of Melbourne in the late 1980s, Sword went to Bali for a holiday and fell in love with the place, as she puts it. In 1991, she was approached by Yorkshire Television to work as a researcher and interpreter for a documentary they were making on East Timor.

Soon after leaving the country, the Dili massacre took place and many of those filmed for the documentary were killed. It affected Sword profoundly. "I basically packed up my bags and went to Jakarta."

As well as her work with the aid organisation, Sword taught English and used the money she earned to finance her clandestine activities, which mainly involved carrying communication for the resistance. "I was a bit of a bridge between the different elements of the resistance inside East Timor and in Indonesia. Often it was really rather menial, getting documents from one place to another and doing it safely. I moved into it gradually. It was after I made contact with Xanana and he asked me to do things for him, that I realised that I was in pretty deep. Up until that time I had taken it as a bit of a side interest. After that it really did became the main thing in my life. I was deeply involved in the resistance long before I actually met Xanana."

Xanana Gusmao had been arrested and imprisoned in Jakarta in 1992 after almost 18 years living and fighting in the bush. Sword did not meet him until 1994. In order to do so she arranged to visit an Australian in the jail who agreed to pretend he was her uncle. "I shook hands with Xanana and I had to pretend that I wasn't particularly interested in him."

They managed little more than polite conversation and what she calls "a small amount of intimacy, given the circumstances". It would be more than four years before she saw him again. "We had very regular communication via letter. Xanana is a very warm, open person who is very generous with his feelings and his emotions. He communicates very well through the written word and I guess I'm similar. We were able to get to know one another in a way that probably wouldn't have been possible if we were different personalities."

There were, however, times then, as now, when she wondered if all the sacrifices were worth the price. "Sometimes, particularly in the early '90s, it seemed very unlikely that East Timor was going to get its independence and it was quite a job to maintain motivation and spirit. But, like Xanana and the East Timorese people, I always believed so strongly in the justness of the cause. I believed in my heart of hearts that sooner or later the world would see the truth and see the light and that this moment would come about."

Few of Sword's friends were surprised that she fell in love with the dashing resistance leader. Although 20 years her senior, Gusmao's good looks are obvious and his charisma is legendary. Her mother, Rosalie, claims to have known before Sword was even aware of it herself.

Gusmao managed the resistance from prison for seven years and, once released in 1999, Sword became his secretary. At the time Gusmao was married. His wife of 28 years, Emilia Baptista, had moved to Australia with their two sons in 1990, two years before he was imprisoned. Gusmao divorced his wife after he was released and, in July 2000, married Sword. She gave birth to Alexandre two months later.

Sword is, without doubt, widely admired by the East Timorese, but not everyone is comfortable with a foreigner as first lady. She is aware of the mumblings but dismisses them as insignificant. "I'm sure I have my detractors, you always will in these situations. But I'm certainly not confronted by them on a daily basis and my experience is that people are warm and welcoming and very happy that I am engaged and committed to the same huge job that they are."

If the money for her job as first lady is not forthcoming, Sword will have more than enough on her hands with the Alola Foundation. "I don't think it is any more violent here than any other society and given the level of economic disadvantage and unemployment I think the East Timorese are doing really well. But obviously this is a country with a violent past and there are some dangerous precedents set because of the military dominance over such a long time. Unless you raise these issues and bring about a gradual change in the way women are viewed, you are never going to eradicate violence against women."

Sword was attacked and stabbed in the leg with a screwdriver about a year ago while walking down the street with her mother and Alexandre. Her bag was stolen and she required a trip to hospital to bandage the wound. "It was not politically motivated. There was a spate of attacks on foreigners at the time and I think it had a lot to do with the stage of political development. There was a feeling that the UN was here to stay and I think the Timorese people were feeling disempowered at many levels and some decided to take out their frustrations on internationals."

She hates the restriction on her life, but these days she has bodyguards. "They are a really wonderful bunch of people. I appreciate them very much but it took a lot of getting used to. I am a very independent person who values being able to be spontaneous. I like to jump in my car and drive to just clear my head but I can't do that any more. It's just a whole new way of approaching your life."

Sword, of course, knew she was marrying a man who would always belong to his people, and while she remains completely committed to her role as first lady, she admits she occasionally allows herself to dream. "We have fantasised in the last couple of years about what it could be like if he had managed to avoid this fate of being president. We would like to travel around East Timor as ordinary citizens, and paint and draw and write and indulge all those creative pursuits. Grow pumpkins. We have cows, but they don't actually live with us. They were donated to us and they are being cared for until such time as we find a plot of land." She is not kidding herself that it may be any time soon.

East Timor press reviews

East Timor Press Review

UNMISET - August 16, 19-21

Suara Timor Lorosa'e front page reported on the sentence handed down to the former Indonesian governor to East Timor Abilio Osorio by Jakarta Ad Hoc Human Rights Tribunal.

Minister of Transport, Communications and Public Works, Ovidio de Jesus Amaral, signed an agreement at the Dili Port, with Indonesian government officials that sees the establishment of a ferry line operating between Dili, Atazro, Oecussi and Los Palos.

STL reported on the United Nations Human Rights Commissioner concerns following the verdict of Indonesia Ad-Hoc tribunal.

FDTL Brigadier General, Taur Matan Ruak, stated that FDTL has no plans to commemorate Falintil Day on 20 August because the force's budget is very limited. BrigGen Ruak stressed that the government can also celebrate this day and that it is not only the Army's day.

It is reported that the former Agriculture and Local Government Office in Dili has now turned into an emergency market.

The Commission for Reception Truth and Reconciliation has been given authority to investigate Humans Rights violations committed in East Timor since 1974 up until 1999, reports STL.

MP Jose Andrade has affirmed that he is 100 per cent sure that former pro-Indonesia militia head, Joco Tavares, will not come back to East Timor.

On the District News page STL reported that residents of Lakluta sub-district are complaining about constant power shortage.

A football field in Ainaro village is now turned into a market place.

German Technology Cooperation together with Canadian Development Agency (CIDA) began working on water supply for residents in Viqueque district.

Rice farmer will get a generator for water irrigation of fields in Same District as part of the 2002/2003 budget.

Secretary of State for Electricity and Water, Egidio de Jesus, informed that the Asian Pacific Nations and donor countries are willing to help East Timor in the establishing of a water supply system for the new country, reported Timor Post.

Dili residents are complaining that constant power cuts are damaging their electricity equipment. Meanwhile the Secretary of State for Electricity and Water, Egidio de Jesus, noted that electricity users must pay their bills to avoid electricity cuts.

MP, Pedro da Costa Martires (PSD), says infrastructure is not properly in place yet to carry its services in the districts and sub-districts as established by the central government.

TP reported that the President of the Democratic Party, Antonio Ximenes, stated that the government should not waste more time on persuading former militias members to return to East Timor.

Pedro Gomes (ASDT) says the government must sit and talk with members of CPD-RDTL.

A former Falintil commander known as "Comandante Ular" says one cannot deny Falintil Day.

On a separate TP article "Comandante Ular" stressed that the Colimau Group 2000 has been receiving support from the Indonesian military the same way former pro-Indonesian groups were formed in order to discredited the resistance movement.

It is reported that local residents in Bidau Tokobarro by the Dili National Hospital, were frightened by gunshots fired in the area yesterday, reported TP.

The Elementary School in Gleno, Ermera District, rehabilitated by the Canadian Development Agency (CIDA) and International Organization for Migration (IOM), was inaugurated by the Head of CIDA Mr.Drew Kutchen Gold, on tuesday. The school has been renamed Nino Konis Santana, reported TP.

August 19, 2002

Suara Timor Lorosa'e front page reported that former Indonesian Governor to East Timor, Mario Viegas Carrascalco, as saying that the Jakarta Ad Hoc tribunal has not been fair.

In the same article the paper reported on a demonstration held by East Timorese last Saturday in front of the Dili Hotel appealing for the establishment of an International Tribunal. The event coincided with Indonesia's Independence Day being observed by Indonesia's Ambassador for East Timor and other guests at the hotel.

STL reported on various opinions regarding the Jakarta Ad Hoc Tribunal: MP Clementino Amaral says that Abilio Osorio has been used as a scapegoat. Indonesia will loose its credibility with the international community.

Minister for Foreign Affairs and Cooperation, Josi Ramos-Horta, said "I am sad because a Timorese [Abilio Osorio] as we all know was not responsible directly for the violence committed by other people." Mr. Horta stated that he will speak to the Prime Minister, Mari Alkatiri, the President and to the Council of Ministers about the verdict and also to evaluate the Ad Hoc Tribunal process. Mr. Horta has already had a meeting with the president (17/8) to discuss the tribunal's verdict. The government and the President will meet to discuss the same issue.

Father Juvito do Rego has been quoted as saying that one must be realistic about the establishment of an International Tribunal in the country because the judicial system and many institutions in East Timor have just been created themselves.

A student was found dead in the early hours of Saturday in Meti- Aut, Dili. The victim died in a motorbike accident.

It is reported that the police shot three prisoners last Friday at Becora prison. One prisoner is undergoing medical treatment at the National Hospital in Dili, reported STL.

Vice-Minister of Justice, Domingos Maria Sarmento, said the Jakarta Ad Hoc Tribunal has been a farce and aimed at covering up Indonesia's mistakes.

The Ah Hoc Humans Rights Tribunal in Jakarta should not only try the Timorese people said the Secretary-General of PST, Avelino Coelho reported Timor Post.

The visit of the Japanese Defense Minister,Gen Nakatani, was reported on TP's front page. The paper says the Minister's was accompanied by a delegation of 23 officials.

It is reported at least 5,000 RDTL members from Dili will be joined by 180,000 former FALINTIL, CDP-RDTL members from all the districts to celebrate FALINTIL Day tomorrow, 20 August, at the Democracy Park in Dili, said Antonio Ai Tahan Matak.

Gregorio Saldanha, President of OJETIL, a youth organization, has appealed for its members not to participate in the ceremony of the "Restoration of FALINTIL" because according to the constitution FDTL/Falintil, ETPS and PKS are the security forces of East Timor.

The Minister for Internal Administration, Rogerio Lobato, stated that the government would provide assistant to FALINTIL widows through an organization.

East Timor's Police Commissioner Paulo Martins said demonstrations could be held with the authorization of the police.

Advocacy judge Aniceto Neves, says that they will meet with the United Nations Head of Humans Rights, Mary Robinson during her visit to East Timor. Mr. Neves says members of his organizations will raise the verdict of the Jakarta Ad Hoc tribunal as well as the establishment for an International Tribunal in East Timor with the High Commissioner.

August 20, 2002

In Timor Post front Page it is reported that Brigadier General, Taur Matan Ruak, has denied that FDTL/FALINTIL will have dual functions in East Timor.

In a separate article TP reported that although East Timor became a democratic nation, the Government of the Democracy Republic of East Timor (RDTL) had not authorized former FALINTIL members to officially commemorate FALINTIL Day. Minister for Internal Administration, Rogerio Lobato, said that until yesterday the former FALINTIL members had not asked the government for permission to participate in the event.

The Chief of FDTL, Colonel Lere Anang has been quoted as saying that officially there is only one Defense Force in the country. Any forces created by the CPD-RDTL group will not be part of the new defense force.

Minister for Foreign Affairs and Cooperation, Jose Ramos-Horta, stated that Japan has been the biggest donor nation for East Timor since 1999. In the same article President Xanana Gusmco emphasized that Japan has requested that the East Timorese government places greater emphasis on the Agriculture Sector and in Infrastructure in the rebuilding of East Timor.

Three members of Partido Socialista Democratio (PSD) met with President Xanana Gusmco and informed the president that the current social and political problems emerging are caused because decentralization has not started in the districts.

ETPS deputy-commissioner, Julio Hornai, informed that at least 630 nationals and International police would provide security for FALINTIL Day commemorations.

District page reports

In Maliana it is reported that approximately 34 local residents have passed tests to join FDTL.

Twenty-five Baucau district residents including heads of village left East Timor to Thailand today to attend a 2-week training in Agriculture, Fishing and Health.

Minister for Foreign Affairs, Jose Ramos-Horta, proclaimed today as a public holiday in all districts to commemorate FALINTIL Day because today is an historic day. Mr. Horta added that 20 August is a day of national unity and that all Timorese must unit, reported Suara Timor Lorosa'e.

Before his departure, Japanese Defense Minister, General Nakatami, stated he hopes that diplomatic relations between Indonesian and East Timor will remain strong for the future of the two nations.

The Speaker of National Parliament, Francisco Guterres, said that FALINTIL was created with a mission, to liberate East Timor from the imperialist nations. He said, "My feelings are very strong because it was on 20 August that FALINTIL was born with a mission, to liberate the nation and its people from the imperialism of other nations. This a historic day that must be commemorated, to raise the flag, and remember those FALINTIL warriors that died during in the resistance."

East Timor Police Commissioner, Paulo Martins, has stated that East Timorese Police officers are ready to provide security on FALINTIL Day.

STL reported that the 50 prisoners that fled Becora prison are still at large after the Friday jailbreak.

STL reported that President Xanana Gusmco has been presented with a project proposal for a power station to be built in Iralalaro (Lospalos) by PNT president Abilio de Araujo. A 5-year old boy has reportedly drowned in Tasi Tolu beach last Sunday. Australians recovered the body a few hours after the accident.

MP Milena Pires (PSD) has resigned from parliament stating that there are other functions to assume in the developing of East Timor.

An alliance of local NGO's is demanding the establishing of an International Tribunal following the verdict last week by the Jakarta Ad Hoc Tribunal.

The East Timorese Government in Dili has confiscated twenty tones of sandalwood. Minister of Agriculture, Estanislau da Silva, said, "We found sandalwood accumulated in various locations which indicates it is for export."

It is reported that Hong Kong millionaire, Eric Hotung, will soon become the honorary Economic Ambassador of East Timor.

August 21, 2002

In his speech at during FALINTIL Day Celebrations', East Timor's President Xanana Gusmco, called all Timorese not to be arrogant and to stop saying that they are the heroes of East Timor's liberation. The President stated the struggle of East Timor involved all Timorese people, from children to the elderly, reported Timor Post.

Brigadier General, Taur Matan Ruak, yesterday requested that the government build a military cemetery for East Timor's war-heroes.

In his speech, Prime Minister Mari Alkatiri, stated that the government would build a national monument in remembrance of the fallen heroes of East Timor.

The Bishop of the Diocese of Dili, Dom. Carlos Ximenes Belo has been quoted as saying that FALINTIL has already accomplished its mission in liberating the people of East Timor after 24 years of war. The bishop said that the time is now for all the Timorese to free themselves from hatred and revenge and live as one in the new nation. In yesterday's homily the bishop added. "In this celebration, the government, parliament, President, the church and the civil society must sit together and talk in order to prevent more division amongst us."

It has been reported that some nurses at the national hospital's operations theatre are traumatized by allegations of the sexual abuse of a female patient by a on-duty nurse two weeks ago.

Twenty-one Baucau residents have reportedly passed the police recruitment test. Among them, seven are women.

It is reported that the Commission for Reception, Truth and Reconciliation has not yet gathered information on human rights violations in Lospalos, Baucau, Manatuto and Viqueque.

Suara Timor Lorosa'e reported on Brigadier General, Taur Matan Ruak's, call on the government to build a national monument in East Timor for those who died during the 24-years of resistance war. Mr. Ruak said the construction of a monument in memory of those who died during the resistance struggle and the identity of those who belonged to FALINTIL must be treated by the government as a matter of urgency. In the same article Taur said that national security depends on the government as well as on all Timorese citizens.

STL reported on President Xanana message in which he said, "I appeal to all East Timorese in all walks of life. If we all love this country we cannot measure the suffering we all faced during the struggle. Because we cannot be arrogant and claim to be heroes because the true heroes are the common people of this country."

Minister for Internal Affairs and Cooperation, Jose Ramos-Horta, stated at a separate event in Dili at the Democracy Park that, CPD-RDTL and the government need to dialog about the fate of FALINTIL Veterans and also on past ideologies. In the same article Prime Minister, Mari Alkatiri, congratulated CPD-RDTL members in accepting a dialog.

In yesterday's homily STL reported the Bishop of Dili as saying that there are big challenges ahead now that East Timor has been liberated. Dom Carlos Filipe Belo said, "No more foreigners are going to come and dictate East Timor's destiny. We all know that East Timor is a poor small country. Therefore we cannot continue speaking about ideologies and liberation theory when what the people need is daily food, health, education, and development." The bishop added that many Timorese died resisting the struggle. But also the civil population from the villages (men, women, children and the elders) all contributed with the armed forces for the liberation of East Timor during 24 years until independence.

A former FALINTIL commander was very critical of the UN, the international community and the government during a speech of more than an hour at the Democracy Park in Dili. Ologari Asuain recalled his version of history of the last 25-year, especially during the transition period, reported STL. Ologari Asuwain said that there are many problems inherited from the former UN mission, UNTAET, headed by the creation of national armed forces of East Timor (FALINTIL/FDTL) and the police.

For Olgari Asuain, FDTL is an "organization imposed by foreigners" and a "new colonizing force". The police force "has a colonizer attitude and repressive nothing more than foreigners collaborators".

He said UNTAET and CNRT (now extinct) are responsible for the instability, not CPD-RDTL -- referring to problems inherited during the transition, reported STL.

Prime Minister, Mari Alkatiri announced that Malaysia's Prime Minister, Mahhatir Muhammad, has planned to visit East Timor and signed an agreement between two-countries on various issues including the support for young Timorese students to continue their studies at Malaysia University.

[Drafted by the UNMISET Spokesperson's Office]

Book/film reviews

Book review: Tracing the pain of East Timorese

Jakarta Post - August 18, 2002

[Bitter Dawn: East Timor, A People's Story; by Irena Cristalis; ZED Books, London, 2002; 286 pages. Reviewed by Carmel Budiardjo, Contributor, London.]

After three years of breathtaking changes, transforming it from a down-trodden, occupied country to the first newly independent state of the 21st millennium, East Timor has become the subject of a flood of books, dissecting the fortunes and misfortunes of the country from many angles.

It is a subject that casts a penetrating light in particular on the malicious efforts by the Indonesian military to counter the decision by then president B.J. Habibie to allow the East Timorese to decide whether they wanted to accept special autonomy or extricate themselves from their Indonesian tormentors.

Bitter Dawn can be counted as possibly the best account of the tragic events that preceded and followed in the wake of the ballot on August 30, 1999, when 80 percent of the country's infrastructure was left in ruins and a quarter of the population was forced to abandon their homes and become refugees in West Timor.

Cristalis' prose is lucid, making this a highly readable book full of drama and tenderness for the victims of these terrible events. She spent most of the year before the ballot in East Timor, traveling widely and using her remarkable journalistic skills to understand a people deeply traumatized by 23 years of Indonesian occupation and daring to hope that at last things would change.

While her commitment to East Timor's righteous cause is never in doubt, her frank and sometimes critical accounts of the people she met -- local commanders of Falintil, the armed resistance, leaders of the Catholic church, human rights activists, militia fighters and ordinary people, as well as UN officials -- leave the reader with a refreshing sense of diversity that challenges the often stereotyped accounts of a people united around a common cause. The book is studded with beautifully crafted portraits of a number of individuals trying to adjust to the situation, the euphoria that greeted the decision to hold a "popular consultation", which was rapidly overtaken by fear and apprehension as army-backed militia groups took control in many parts of the country, compelling over 200,000 East Timorese to flee their homes and become "internally displaced people" (IDP).

One major turning point was on April 6, 1999 when dozens of innocent civilians were murdered in the Liquica Church massacre. It was intended to ram home the message that churches could no longer be regarded as sanctuaries.

The massacre was also intended, the author argues, to disrupt talks underway at the UN in New York to agree on the modalities for the ballot.

Her account of a visit to Liquica to attend a mass on the Sunday after the massacre vividly portrays the depth of the fear gripping the population. Even with Bishop Belo there to take the mass, the people held back and trickled very slowly into the church. This was the first time, Belo later said, that he turned up to an empty church.

Eleven days later, the home of Manuel Carrascalao in Dili, where dozens of Timorese were taking refuge, was attacked by the Aitarak militia under the command of Eurico Guterres (whose trial is now underway in Jakarta).

This was intended to convey the message that "turncoats" like Carrascalao who had switched from supporting integration with Indonesia to supporting independence were in the sights of the killers.

One of her constant companions was Antero Bendito da Silva, the head of the East Timor Students Council which had responded to the reform rallies in Indonesia that drove Soeharto from power in May 1998 by mounting a nationwide "open forum" campaign.

But da Silva was so obsessed with thinking about conflict resolution and designing future education projects for the Timorese that he often seemed blissfully unaware of the chaos and danger surrounding him and needed to be rescued many times.

Another of the author's favorite characters, Mana Lou, an irrepressible "secular nun", is fondly portrayed. She pursues her own brand of grassroots Catholicism, dedicated to trying to restore people's sense of self-esteem and identity which, she says, is what faith is all about.

This put her at loggerheads with Bishop Belo on the one hand and Falintil leaders on the other. Dubbed by some the "Joan of Arc" of East Timor, she tried as things grew worse to persuade militia members of the folly of their ways while organizing food and medicine for the thousands of IDPs around Liquica.

Another fascinating character who pops up regularly is a Falintil commander known as L7, a flamboyant guerrilla, fond of delivering speeches, of being the center of attention and a heavy drinker, when supplies were available.

Yet with all that, he was the proud head of a Catholic youth organization, Sagrada Familia (Sacred Family) that claimed (justifiably, she was told) to have a membership of 60,000.

The author is no faint-heart and visited some of the most dangerous places in the country as the ballot drew near. A constant theme is her puzzlement at the failure of members of the UN mission, UNAMET, to take seriously the threats of the militia, on behalf of their military paymasters, to plunge the country into chaos, should the vote swing heavily in favor of independence.

When East Timor descended into chaos and mayhem erupted just before the ballot results were due to be announced, hundreds of foreign and Indonesian journalists fled the country in the face of constant harassment.

The intention was clear; to ensure that the coming events would not be reported. But the author and a tiny handful of journalists refused to leave.

She managed, with another Dutch journalist, to make her way to the UNAMET compound where scores of East Timorese had taken refuge, inside the compound and in an adjacent building.

As Dili burned and most of the country was reduced to ruins and as 250,000 East Timorese were herded into trucks and boats and taken to West Timor, the UN was forced to wait till President Habibie in Jakarta took the decision, after nearly three weeks of violence, to allow intervention by an international force. Even in the depths of such a crisis, the Security Council decided that a decision to send in foreign troops could not be taken without Jakarta's approval.

Bitter Dawn recounts the closing chapter of UNAMET's mission with careful attention to detail and colored by the writer's own emotions and frustrations. For anyone wanting to know how it felt to live through these events, this is the book to read.