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East Timor News Digest 16 - September 2-8, 2002
Timor Gap| Birth of a nation |
Lusa - September 2, 2002
East Timor's religious leader has said that the Timorese people are "disenchanted" after three months of independence.
Bishop Carlos Ximenes Belo was cited by a Chilean newspaper Monday as saying that the Timorese, "are now suffering disenchantment and disillusion, as they thought that with independence, they would obtain all".
"Schools don't work, there is no material or teachers. At the level of transport and communications, everything lacks", lamented the Catholic prelate in the newspaper article.
The Bishop of Dili, a 1996 Nobel Peace laureate, called for "the effort and work of each person" in Timor. Belo is due to meet Chilean President Ricardo Lagos Monday.
| Timor Gap |
Australian Financial Review - September 2, 2002
Mari Alkatiri -- It is a truism of the developing world that the blessing of petroleum wealth can be a curse. Nigeria, Papua New Guinea, Venezuela and many other countries have learnt this the hard way.
The equitable, sustainable and transparent management of petroleum revenues is a heavy responsibility. East Timor is one country that might soon enjoy this mixed blessing -- the Timor Sea is rich in natural gas.
East Timor is soon set to gain petroleum revenues that can deliver the country from a poverty unimaginable to most Australians. Yet it is the Australian Parliament that will choose whether East Timor will be given this responsibility -- or whether East Timor will, yet again, have to wait for true independence.
On May 20 this year, the day the world recognised East Timor's hard-fought struggle for self-determination, the prime ministers of Australia and East Timor signed the Timor Sea Treaty in Dili.
That treaty is now before the Australian Parliament for its formal ratification, hopefully by the end of September.
Much has been said over the past months about the Timor Sea, but one thing is sure: the East Timorese people desperately need the revenues that will flow soon after Parliament approves of the treaty.
Forty-one per cent of East Timorese live on less than one Australian dollar a day. Illiteracy is widespread, life expectancy is low, infant mortality rates are unacceptably high.
Diseases eradicated from or greatly reduced in Australia generations ago -- tuberculosis and dengue fever, for example -- are widespread killers.
But from 2004, when the first major royalty cheques come to East Timor from treaty investment, new hospitals, schools and infrastructure can be built; water supply and sanitation can be improved; and Timorese children can have a future of opportunity, not deprivation.
Projected annual revenues to East Timor from just one of the gas fields in the treaty area, Bayu-Undan, start at $US70 million in 2004, peaking at $US300 million in 2013 and continuing until 2020. As far as oil-producing nations go, these figures look fairly modest -- until you realise that right now, in 2002, East Timor's entire annual budget is just $US77 million -- $US30 million of which represents aid from donors.
In short, well-managed petroleum revenues will be East Timor's lucky break -- but a lucky break which, after decades of suffering at the hands of others, could hardly be more deserved.
The Timor Sea Treaty, which gives East Timor 90 per cent of petroleum revenues from one part of the Timor Sea, has its critics. Some say it is too generous to East Timor, and that East Timor should be entitled to only 50 per cent of revenues.
Others say that it is not generous at all, because Australia is exploiting other parts of the Timor Sea to which East Timor has a claim under international law.
Like all negotiated texts, the treaty represents a number of compromises. Neither side is entirely happy, but both sides are satisfied.
And the investors are also satisfied. A fact that seems to get lost among the rarefied legal debates is that without the treaty, the petroleum companies, which are only just beginning to commit to investment in the Timor Sea, would go elsewhere.
If the Australian Parliament does not approve the treaty, there will be nothing happening in the Timor Sea -- just some competing claims under international law and a whole lot of uncertainty.
In a fickle and oversupplied world gas market, that uncertainty might deter investment for decades to come, perhaps forever.
If investors are turned away from the Timor Sea, revenues to Australia will certainly diminish; but tiny, poor East Timor will have lost perhaps its most promising chance to wean itself off donor assistance.
The treaty, although a temporary arrangement, will jump-start petroleum investment and give East Timor and Australia the time they need to determine permanent boundaries.
On behalf of the elected Government of East Timor, I signed the treaty on May 20 because it represents the best deal for my people. It delivers important revenues in the near term without inhibiting our maritime boundary claims.
This means that when East Timor and Australia sit down at the negotiating table to work out permanent maritime boundaries -- a process to which both countries are committed, and which we expect will begin in the coming months - East Timor will start with a clean slate.
On that clean slate the East Timorese people can begin to write the story of their future -- a future not just of political freedom, but of true well-being, true friendship with Australia and the responsibility of true economic independence.
[Mari Alkatiri is the Prime Minister of East Timor.]
| Justice & reconciliation |
Lusa - September 3, 2002
Bishop Carlos Ximenes Belo has called to East Timor's political leaders and the international community to begin moves to establish an international court to try those responsible for the violence in Timor in 1999.
In a note sent to Lusa Monday, Bishop Belo says that the recent trials and acquittals in Jakarta of Indonesian security officers have not brought justice against those responsible for the deadly wave of violence unleashed in Timor before and after the independence ballot of August 30, 1999.
"We call to the international community, in this case the UN Security Council, to take the necessary steps to create an international tribunal", said Belo, a 1996 Nobel Peace laureate.
Evidence from witnesses and facts uncovered by an Indonesian inquiry commission, as well as the UN's own international inquiry, was not used by the recent special human rights court in Jakarta, Belo said.
The UN inquiry's findings were presented to the security Council, Belo said, and found Indonesia responsible for the violence of 1999 and likewise responsible for guaranteeing trials of its officials.
Timor's leaders should speak with "one voice" in their demands for the setting up of an international criminal court, said Bishop Belo.
| Human rights trials |
Green Left Weekly - September 4, 2002
Vannessa Hearman -- On August 15 an Indonesian court convicted Abilio Soares, the former Jakarta-appointed governor of East Timor, of failing to rein in subordinates in September 1999 as pro-Jakarta militias rampaged, killing at least 1000 East Timorese. However, the court acquitted the Indonesian military and police commanders who were responsible for maintaining public security during the 1999 East Timor massacres.
The defendants were former Indonesian police commander for East Timor, Brigadier General Timbul Silaen; former district administrator, Colonel Herman Sedyono; former district military commander, Liliek Koeshadianto; former district police commander Gatot Subiyaktoro; former district military command chief-of- staff Captain Achmad Syamsudin and former territorial military commander, Lieutenant Sugito. Amnesty International and the Judicial System Monitoring Program (JSMP), an international NGO based in Dili which monitored all the Indonesian trials, stated in their joint August 15 press release that it was time for the UN to reconsider its decision not to hold an international war crimes tribunal for East Timor. The UN had supported Jakarta's persistence in holding trials in Indonesia, and argued that those clamouring for an international tribunal, including many prominent East Timorese such as Bishop Belo, should wait for the outcome of the trials.
This position of the UN Transitional Administration for East Timor (UNTAET) under the leadership of Brazilian Sergio Vieira de Mello caused a great deal of disquiet among East Timorese and foreigners alike during his term as head of UNTAET from 2000 to 2002.
Despite a memorandum of understanding signed between Indonesia and East Timor in 2000 agreeing to cooperate on investigations of serious crimes committed in 1999 in East Timor, the Indonesian attorney general's office has not been very cooperative. <%0> UNTAET was also reluctant to pressure Indonesia in the interest of fostering good relations between the two countries. Xanana Gusmao had commented over the course of 2001 that an international tribunal was not a priority for the East Timorese leadership. In the trial of Soares, Gusmao personally wrote a letter to the court arguing for leniency.
Silaen furnished letters to the court from East Timorese leaders such as member of parliament Leandro Isaac formerly of UDT and now reincarnated in the Social Democratic Party (PSD) vouching to Silean's "good character".
Criticisms were levelled at the Indonesian trials before they even began. JSMP and Amnesty contended that among some of the problems plaguing the trials were inadequate protection for the East Timorese witnesses, some of whom declined to attend due to security concerns.
Supreme Court Justice Syafiuddin Kartasasmita, the judge originally appointed to lead the trials was assassinated and Tommy Suharto, son of the deposed President Suharto, was charged with masterminding the killing. Kartasasmita had presided over a case in which Tommy was the defendant.
A number of the judges appointed to preside over the trials were academics with little experience of trying serious crimes. In February, Amnesty International queried their qualifications.
Amnesty and other human rights organisations are not alone in their concern. The UN and the US government have expressed concern with the outcome of the trials. The United Nations Commission for Human Rights argued that the timeframe covered by the trials, April to September 1999, failed to cover the entire period in which human rights abuses were carried out by the Indonesian security forces and the militias.
The Bush administration, while expressing disappointment with the outcome of the trials, has not shown any indication of putting on hold its plans to resume military aid to Indonesia.
Under the terms of reference of the trials, agreed to by President Megawati Sukarnoputri in August 2001, the defendants would not be accused of direct personal involvement but of failing to take "appropriate measures" to control the behaviour of subordinates. The underlying assumption was that the conflict was intra-Timorese and there was no active involvement of the Indonesian military or civilian administration.
A number of reports, including that of the UN special committee led by Costa Rican judge Sonia Picado in December 1999, the Indonesian investigating committee KPP-HAM released in early 2000 and that by James Dunn commissioned by the Serious Crimes Investigation Unit of UNTAET in 2001, all pointed to active support and involvement by the Indonesian military in the training and arming of the East Timorese anti-independence militias.
The Indonesian newspaper Kompas quoting Suhardi Soemomoeljono, legal representative of prominent Aitarak militia leader Eurico Guterres, saying he thought the outcome of the trials would be highly unsettling for the militia leaders currently still in West Timor as it could be argued that they would be made scapegoats to appease the international community, while Indonesian military and police officers could get off scot-free.
Emboldened and very much guided by the terms of reference of the trials, the defence took an attacking position and during the trial in Jakarta, the UN was called upon to compensate Indonesians and Indonesian soldiers who lost their lives "defending human rights and the East Timorese people". The panel of judges agreed, going as far as arguing that the "good name" and "dignity" of the defendants had to be restored. There were no similar public calls for compensation for the East Timorese coming from the UN when it was in charge of administration in East Timor. While there was much resentment among Indonesian military officials and their supporters over the formation of the ad hoc court, it served the purpose of taking the pressure off the UN Security Council from authorising an international tribunal for Indonesian war crimes in East Timor. More significantly, the entire legal infrastructure involved in the ad hoc court's trials never questioned the Indonesian military's version of events. This bodes ill for any attempts to restrain the Indonesian military in Aceh and West Papua.
Indonesian human rights activist Munir, who chaired the KPP-HAM fact-finding team in 1999, considered that the acquittal of Silaen was "an extraordinary act in ignoring the community's desire to construct a more civilised society [and] a serious threat to the protection of human rights".
World Socialist Web Site - August 29, 2002
Peter Symonds -- The outcome of the first trials by an Indonesian court over the massacres in East Timor in 1999, prior to and following the UN-sponsored vote on independence, has proved to be a farce. According to UN figures, at least 1,000 East Timorese were killed by pro-Indonesian militia groups, backed by the Indonesian armed forces (TNI), in an effort to intimidate and terrorise pro-independence supporters.
Abilio Soares, the former Indonesian governor of East Timor, was convicted on August 14 of having failed to control his subordinates and prevent the slaughter of more than 100 people in four separate incidents. He was sentenced to just three years in jail, even though the statutory minimum for crimes against humanity under Indonesian law is 10 years.
The following day, the same ad hoc human rights court dismissed all charges against former East Timor police chief Timbul Silaen and five co-defendants-five middle-ranking officers-over the massacre of 27 civilians, including three Roman Catholic priests, in a church in the town of Suai on September 6, 1999. The judges found that there was no evidence linking Timbul or the others to the Suai murders.
The verdicts have provoked an outcry among human rights groups and activists inside Indonesia and internationally. Hendardi, a lawyer with the Indonesian Legal Aid and Human Rights Association, criticised the Soares sentence saying: "The judges are contemptuous of the law by issuing such a light sentence". Amnesty International issued a statement declaring that "the trials were seriously flawed, have not been performed in accordance with international standards, and have delivered neither truth nor justice."
The ad hoc human rights court was only established last year by President Megawati Sukarnoputri after the UN Security Council threatened to establish an international tribunal to prosecute those responsible for the violence in East Timor in 1999. From the outset, the court's mandate was severely circumscribed, dealing only with a limited number of cases in three of East Timor's 13 districts in the months of April and September. In all, 18 civilians and military officers have been charged but the defendants do not include any of the military top brass.
The court was heavily weighted in favour of the military from the start. According to the US-based Human Rights Watch, "Twelve obscure academics were appointed ... some of whom had associations with senior army officers. Only one of the judges is believed to have any particular expertise in international human rights law, and he is one of those with ties to the military."
The military made its attitude clear from the outset. On the first day of the trials, a number of top generals including then TNI chief Admiral Widodo Adiscipto and army chief-of-staff General Endiatono Sutarto appeared in court to offer "moral support" to those on trial. The military show of force in the courtroom was aimed at intimidating the judges, prosecutors and witnesses. Fearing for their safety, a number of witnesses simply refused to appear in court.
There has been widespread condemnation of the failure of the prosecutors to present available evidence or to effectively cross-examine witnesses. Amnesty International noted: "Key evidence regarding the direct involvement of the Indonesian security forces in committing serious crimes was not presented in court. Such evidence has been well attested by expert investigations including by Indonesia's own Commission of Inquiry on Human Rights Violations in East Timor, the UN International Commission of Inquiry and in investigations carried out by the UN Serious Crimes Unit in East Timor."
Commenting on the Soares verdict, Human Rights Watch official Sidney Jones stated: "When you consider the fact that the prosecution presented almost no evidence, it's as much a travesty of justice that he was convicted as if he was acquitted." In other words, the decision to convict Soares and release the police and military officers was made on political grounds, not on the legal merits of the case.
Political implications
The failure of the court to make even token convictions of the TNI officers directly involved in the East Timor violence is a sharp indication of the degree to which the military has reestablished its political position after being forced onto the defensive by the ousting of Suharto in 1998.
The court rulings are even more striking, given that it could have been predicted in advance that the verdicts would renew the clamour for the UN to establish its own tribunal on East Timor- the very measure that the establishment of the Indonesian court was meant to avoid. The former head of the UN mission to East Timor, Ian Martin, has described the legal proceedings in Jakarta as "an inversion of reality" and called on the "international community" to ensure that justice was served. UN High Commissioner for Human Rights, Mary Robinson, pointedly visited the site of the Suai massacre last weekend and issued a call for an international court to examine human rights violations in the former Indonesian province.
The official reaction in East Timor is divided. President Xanana Gusmao, who has called for "reconciliation" and sought to reestablish ties with Jakarta, is in part responsible for the light sentence handed out to Soares. Arguing that the military not the governor was responsible for the slaughter, Gusmao made a formal appeal to the court calling for leniency. Aware of the widespread anger over the trial result, other members of the government are calling for a UN tribunal.
The criticisms have largely been ignored in Jakarta. The Attorney General's Office filed an appeal last week in the Supreme Court over the acquittal of the six police and army officers. However, given the weakness of the prosecution case, any appeal is likely to have limited success. Moreover the verdicts in the remaining cases are likely to follow a similar pattern. As Amnesty International observed, "the indictments issued and initial proceedings in these cases are similarly flawed."
One reason for confidence in Indonesian ruling circles lies in the muted response from Washington. Under the guise of its "global war on terrorism," the Bush administration has been pushing hard for the reestablishment of close ties to the TNI as part of plans to strengthen the US strategic position in South East Asia. Following the violence in East Timor in 1999, the US Congress placed a ban on the provision of financial or other assistance to the Indonesian military, until those responsible were brought to justice. The trials were regarded in Jakarta as a means for lifting the ban.
Last week US State Department spokesman Philip Reeker issued a mild official criticism of the outcome. "Without commenting on the specific verdicts," he said, "the US is nevertheless disappointed that prosecutors in these cases did not fully use the resources available to them from the UN." He noted that the US welcomed the creation of the Indonesian court and was committed to building a closer relationship with Indonesia, including its military. He made no suggestion that the US would support the formation of a UN tribunal, calling instead on the Indonesian government to ensure that a more effective prosecution is mounted in the remaining cases.
The Bush administration has strongly indicated that the remaining restrictions on US-Indonesian military ties will be lifted. US Secretary of State Colin Powell visited Jakarta in early August and announced US assistance for a broad counterterrorism program involving at least $50 million over two years. Most of the funding will go to the police, but $4 million from a newly- created Defence Department fund designed to avoid the Congressional ban, will go directly to the military. Just prior to Powell's visit, the US Senate Appropriations Committee voted to lift the current restriction on the provision of training to the Indonesian military.
Any push in the UN Security Council for the establishment of international tribunal on East Timor would require the support of the Bush administration. Even if such a body were finally established, its terms of reference would be just as tailored to political requirements as the ad hoc court in Jakarta. None of the major powers want a full and thorough investigation into the brutal crimes of the TNI in East Timor or elsewhere in Indonesia, as it would raise too many questions about their own involvement.
Washington was centrally responsible for installing the Suharto dictatorship in the bloody military coup of 1965-66, which led to the slaughter of at least half a million people. For more than three decades, successive US administration relied on Suharto as a key linchpin in South East Asia and turned a blind eye to all of the junta's atrocities. In the case of East Timor, the Ford administration gave tacit support for the Indonesian occupation of the former Portuguese colony in 1975, which led to the loss of an estimated 200,000 lives over the next quarter century.
Whatever the outcome of the deliberations in the UN, the East Timorese people will not achieve any genuine justice through an international tribunal set up under its auspices.
| News & issues |
One News - September 7, 2002
Phil Goff -- The Foreign Minister Phil Goff says it is a matter of shame that New Zealand, Australia and the United States did not strongly oppose the Indonesian invasion of East Timor in the 1970's.
He has released classified papers on the invasion ahead of visits this month by the Timorese President Xanana Gusmao and foreign minister Dr Jose Ramos-Horta.
Mr Goff says the papers show too little attention was paid to human rights abuses and New Zealand, Australia and the United States share some responsibility for the suffering of the East Timorese.
He says they should have been outspoken in their condemnation of Indonesia's planned invasion, but instead either implicitly or explicitly gave the green light for it to go ahead.
Phil Goff says while the past cannot be forgotten, it should be recognised that New Zealand and Australia have made a huge contribution to East Timor since the 1999 independence referendum.
CNN - September 2, 2002
Dili -- The fledgling nation of East Timor risks being exploited by organized crime and developing institutionalized corruption, because of its poverty and rudimentary legal system.
The head of the Australian Federal Police, Mick Kelty, said Sunday East Timor could be vulnerable to drug traffickers, money launderers and those engaged in the sexual exploitation of children.
The warning comes two days after East Timor's President Xanana Gusmao urged his people to focus on the task of nation-building in the face of a growing law and order problem.
In a national televised address marking his first 100 days in power, Gusmao said East Timor still had no laws on immigration and citizenship or public prosecution.
"If we continue to roam, with no strength to enforce the law right at the beginning of our independence, by the time corruption develops deep roots it will be most difficult to combat it," Reuters reports Gusmao saying. He also urged the police not to use violence to enforce the law.
"We should all remember that we have just come out of 25 years of a situation where violence became part of our way of being ... and that the reaction of the people is still pronouncedly aggressive."
Kelty, who on Sunday opened a permanent office of the AFP in the capital, Dili, said only one month ago East Timor had its first contact with people smuggling with the unlawful arrival of a boatload of Sri Lankan nationals.
He said the Australian police would help the East Timorese monitor crime trends and help it gain access to criminal intelligence.
"An important first priority for the office will be to assist with East Timor's application to become a member of the international policing organization Interpol," Kelty said.
Police training
The office will also provide expert advice and help with training East Timorese police. More than 500 AFP officers have been in East Timor since June 1999 working on community policing, investigations, and training.
East Timor was under Portuguese colonial rule for 400 years before being annexed by Indonesia in 1974. After an independence ballot in August 1999 descended into anarchy, the United Nations took control of the region's administration until it achieved full independence on May 20 this year.
During Indonesia's occupation, many educated East Timorese fled abroad. Some have since returned, but the country still lacks skilled administrators and civil servants.
| International relations |
Xinhua - September 5, 2002
Jakarta -- The Indonesian government will host the 55th session of the World Health Organization (WHO) Regional Committee for South-East Asia Region on September 11-13, according to an official release here Thursday.
The meeting, which will discuss, among other things, the "global fund to fight AIDS, tuberculosis and malaria," will be opened by WHO Director-General Gro Harlem Brundtland and attended by health ministers and senior officials from 10 member countries in the South-East Asia, the release said.
The ten countries comprising WHO's South-East Asia region are Bangladesh, Bhutan, the Democratic People's Republic of Korea, India, Indonesia, Maldives, Myanmar, Nepal, Sri Lanka and Thailand.
For the first time, the East Timor health minister and several officials of the new nation will be present at the meeting as observers.that we can have a useful, maybe a very important, at least useful positive influence in that process, and that is very much, I think, part of helping to strengthen democracy in Indonesia," he added.
Wolfowitz, who served as US ambassador to Jakarta in the early 1990s, noted that to create contacts with the Indonesian military was going to be a challenge to make sure that it assisted the forces of reform and did not let all human rights abusers in the past continue their abusive ways.
He said one of the major constitutional amendments made by Indonesian legislators was the acceleration of the departure of military representatives from the legislative assembly because it was a very healthy step and something that the US would certainly encourage." I think, if you bring an Indonesian officer to this country to participate in kinds of programs that we have officers from many nations participating in, they will learn a lot more about the role of the military in a democratic society than they will if they just stay within their narrow circle," he said.
But for the moment, he said, Washington seemed to prefer to only cooperate with the police, as evidenced by the US government's pledge to provide the Indonesian Police with some US$31 million for training and assistance through 2004.
He said some US$16 million would be extended to the police in fiscal year 2002 for additional capacity-building, including establishing a special counter-terrorism unit.
Meanwhile, if approved by Congress, in fiscal year 2003, the US government would like to provide some US$400,000 for the International Military Education and Training (IMET) for the Indonesian military, he said.
Washington and Jakarta are figuring out ways for the assistance to be used most effectively, he said. And, "We are also required by law to make sure that if we're assisting units, that those units be [evaluated] for human rights concerns. So it is not something where there is a plan ready to go but there are resources and we are trying to develop a plan," he added.
Regarding the military cooperation with Indonesia, he emphasized that the US would be more interested in restoring the IMET where training is much more focused on the institutions and structures of the military.
"In our system, that means institutions and structures of a democratic military, so there is a great deal about civil- military relations. There is a great deal about good leadership, ethical behavior," he explained.
Regarding how Indonesian President Megawati Soekarnoputri's administration is handling the terrorist issue in Indonesia, he said that according to the general feeling of his country, especially by the director of the Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI) and other agencies of the US government, Indonesia is working fairly hard on it and is doing a decent job.
| People |
Sydney Morning Herald - September 2, 2002
[Kirsty Sword was a resistance fighter who became the First Lady. Now comes the hard part. Susan Wyndham profiles the wife of the East Timorese leader.]
When Indonesia invaded East Timor in 1975 and Xanana Gusmao joined the guerilla fight for his country's independence, Kirsty Sword was a nine-year-old Melbourne schoolgirl learning ballet and Indonesian -- her first step towards becoming Ruby Blade, underground Resistance worker, and Kirsty Sword Gusmao, First Lady of East Timor.
The bravery (a few call it irresponsibility) of her information smuggling for the East Timorese and her romance by letter and phone with an imprisoned Gusmao made the young Australian woman a textbook heroine.
"Her work for the East Timorese Resistance helped to change the course of history," said Caroline Jones on ABC television as Gusmao announced he would stand for president in last April's election. "She was a fantastic undercover agent for us ... That woman is perfect," Jose Ramos Horta, now East Timor's Foreign Minister, said then. "She is like a modern-day Nancy Wake -- a true humanitarian who risked her life on a day-to-day basis," says Sydney journalist Laura Demasi, who interviewed her for a new book about outstanding Australian women, The Ladies' Room.
Sword says there's nothing heroic about her. An interview has to be scheduled around breastfeeding her new baby -- a brother to two-year-old Alexandre -- named Kay Olok after Gusmao's paternal grandfather. Her own brother, a gardener on Victoria's Mornington Peninsula, is visiting and there are other guests around as she talks to yet another journalist on her mobile phone, the easiest way to communicate in a country with little infrastructure.
On Friday, Gusmao addressed his people on the achievements of the first 100 days of independence, and the many challenges that remain in rebuilding the country. Twelve-hour days in his office leave him little time for his wife and children at home in the hills outside Dili. "It's hard balancing a role that demands so much from him as father of a nation and also a family," says Sword, who at 36 is 20 years younger than Gusmao. "But it helps keep things in perspective for him to come home at the end of the day and be forced to watch Sesame Street and see a new life and personality budding."
Although Sword is well aware she was not elected, she has used her prominence for causes such as the Alola Foundation, founded last year to help victims of sexual violence, and a UN-backed project on infant mortality and women's death during childbirth. Before her own baby's birth, her days were consumed with phone calls, letters and meetings with women's groups, visiting foreign dignitaries and friends of East Timor. "I end most days with a list of 10 messages that people want urgently conveyed to Xanana."
Even on maternity leave, the demands continue. On the day we speak, a request for help with school expenses has arrived from a girl in Dili, and Sword is arranging delivery of 200 tables and chairs donated by her old primary school in Bendigo. Oddly, that's where her interest in Indonesia, and so East Timor, began.
The daughter of two Melbourne primary school teachers, Sword learned her first few words of Indonesian from her father. When she was eight the family moved to Bendigo, which had become a centre of Indonesian language and culture thanks to several committed teachers. At Melbourne University and then Monash, Sword majored in Indonesian studies and worked for Inside Indonesia magazine, which often criticised the Soeharto regime.
She was "enchanted" by her first trip to Bali and Java in the '80s but it wasn't until she returned with contacts among Indonesian dissidents and East Timorese refugees that she began to realise the country "wasn't all palm trees, gamelan music and papaya juice on the beach".
Sword went to East Timor as researcher and translator on Cold Blood, an English documentary that covered the "breaking point" in 1991 when a Portuguese parliamentary delegation was due to visit and prepare for a referendum on independence. Witness to weeks of terror and intimidation as the Indonesian military intervened, she interviewed students, clergy and others desperate for a sympathetic listener.
While she was in England working on post-production, hundreds of East Timorese, including people she had met, were massacred during a funeral procession at Santa Cruz. That pushed her to move to Jakarta, where she took part-time jobs teaching English and did voluntary work for non-government organisations with ties to East Timor.
She is diplomatic about Australia's long support for Indonesia's occupation of Timor. "It wasn't just a case of Australia preferring to turn a blind eye to blatant human rights abuses but the whole international community -- anyone with a trade relationship with Indonesia. At times it was frustrating. It wasn't possible to talk openly and you were a bit of a leper working on things that were not favourable to the regime.
"I had to be very careful but by nature I'm not someone who pushes barrows. My close friends wouldn't classify me as politically driven. But I was responding to a call from my conscience and I felt that as a white foreigner I was in a position to do something, however small. It was important for my personal development but for East Timor it was one small contribution among many people."
Sword's quiet manner made her an ideal undercover agent. Even at university she had been asked to translate papers from Gusmao for East Timorese acquaintances. In Jakarta, she was seen as a valuable contact for her sympathy, skills and access to email.
Despite the code name Ruby Blade, she says, "I wasn't doing anything glamorous. I'd go to a five-star hotel to pass on a report to a UN rapporteur or fax a letter from Xanana to Bill Clinton from the local telecommunications office." Gusmao, who was jailed for life in Jakarta in 1993, valued her discretion and with her help was able to run the resistance from his cell. "He was quite demanding as a boss, let's put it that way, starting then and it hasn't really stopped. At times I wanted East Timor to go away, just for a day or two," she says with a tired little laugh.
Their love grew out of a shared passion for East Timor and often made Sword nervous. For a start, Gusmao was already married to an East Timorese woman, with two children, though they had moved to Melbourne for safety and had not seen him for years.
"At times I felt I was his way of living life vicariously," says Sword. "He saw prison as a necessary sacrifice for the struggle but it was very difficult personally because he's extremely gregarious and he loves nature and living life to the full and he was unable to do that for seven years."
There was no certainty that Gusmao would ever be released but the couple found a kind of intimacy through letters, tapes, photographs (the first he saw was of her back) and a mobile phone she smuggled into his cell in 1995 by bribing a warden. She sent him books and painting materials, taught him English, and enjoyed his sense of humour. "Sometimes we were on the phone to each other 10 times a day so it was like living in the same house."
They first met at Christmas 1994, when Sword pretended to visit an Australian "uncle" in the prison and was able to spend a little time with Gusmao under the watch of wardens and prisoners. That was it for another four years, when Soeharto's fall led to some relaxation of the rules.
Meanwhile, Sword realised it was only time before her work was discovered and she was thrown out of the country. After helping students seek asylum with foreign embassies, and organising demonstrations that put her in contact with possible pro- Indonesia collaborators, she also thought her phone was tapped.
So she went home to Melbourne but found her head still full of East Timor and Gusmao.
When he was released into house arrest and then freed in 1999, Sword returned to Jakarta and helped set up an office to assist Gusmao. Suddenly she was organising political and diplomatic meetings, acting as interpreter, preparing reports for foreign governments and hearing that, as East Timor voted for independence, massacres had killed people such as the nun who had been her guide there. "I lost six kilos and looked like a stick," she says.
But the following year she and Gusmao married in Dili and she gave birth to Alexandre. She is accepted as one of his family and has an expat network, including friends from Melbourne who work in Dili. While she's comfortable in the local culture, she has heard whisperings about the "foreign" First Lady and was stabbed in a robbery last year. She says, "I have by no means adopted all aspects of an East Timorese way of life, practices and traditions. Many of them run counter to deeply held beliefs I have, such as those relating to childbirth, health and superstition."
Australia could offer more to the scarred country in the way of official assistance, she believes. "There's much more pledged to PNG and others in the region. But at the community level I'm constantly overwhelmed at the extent of the goodwill. My uncle in Maryborough, one of the poorest towns in Victoria, called a meeting of people interested in forming an East Timor friendship group and hundreds turned up."
Although Gusmao could be re-elected for a second five-year term, he has long talked about his dream of growing pumpkins. Sword says firmly, "I would prefer he stopped after five years. I hope our life could become a little less intense: Xanana would like the farming life and for me, I'd like a holiday house down by the beach. I'm still Australian."
[The Ladies' Room: Stories Behind Some of Australia's Most Fascinating Women by Laura Demasi is published by HarperCollins, $24.95.]
| East Timor press reviews |
UNMISET - September 2-4, 2002
On the front page of Suara Timor Lorosa, East Timor's President, Xanana Gusmco appealed to all Timorese to burn candles and pray for the victims of 4th of September 1999 as its third anniversary approaches.
STL reported that last Thursday the Portuguese ambassador to Jakarta Ana Gomes, visited the Timorese refugees in Atambua in which she stated that the second visit of President Gusmco to West Timor has strengthen the relationship between the two countries.
The paper reported that last Monday, Baucau police officers confiscated 6-truck load of sandalwood on the way from Baucau to Dili.
On Saturday, members of the Malaysia mission celebrated the country's 45- independence day at Hotel Timor. President, Xanana Gusmco and family, Brigadier General Taur Matan Ruak and others members of government were present at the event.
The paper reported that the Dili National Hospital treats around 40-50 children of cholera related diseases a day in its emergency ward.
STL also reported that a child hit by a car driven by the vice- minister of health, Luis Lobato passed away last month. The Minister of Health has requested an investigation into the case.
President of NP Francisco "Lu Olo" Guterress was quoted as saying that the political party, FRETILIN is ready to accept anyone who wishes to join the party reported Timor Post.
The military advisor L-7 was quoted as saying that former Falintil has a right to be looked after by the East Timor Government. He also said that the government should give jobs to former Falintil members so they can live comfortably following the earlier suffering.
The Department of Health will launch its polio promotion this month with its National Immunization campaign for the babies under the age of five.
Minister of Education Youth and Sport, Armindo Maia officially opened the first Developmental Information Management System Project in Vila Verde Dili today.
TP has reported that Coffee owners, businessmen and workers have complaint of plunging coffee prices.
September 3, 2002
Timor Post's front page reported that Border Control Officers have threaten to call a strike if Dili District Tribunal goes ahead with a court process on goods confiscated by their department about 4 months ago.
MP Alexandre Corte-Real (FRETILIN) says that due to internal conflict within UDT, some of its members are now joining his political party.
MP Clementino Amaral (KOTA) has justified the declaration made by his party member, Manuel Tilman on members CPD-RDTL was not done in the name of the party.
Prime Minister Mari Alkatiri stated that the government would soon control the prices in the markets. Mr. Alkatiri said the government has requests business owners to balance their goods to suit market prices.
MP Francisco Xavier was quoted as saying that ASDT and FRETILIN will from now on celebrate together the founding dates of the two parties on 11 September.
MP Eusebio Guterres (PD) noted that the recruitment of doctors to study in overseas has to go through a public process in order to avoid corrupt practices in this country.
CPD-RDTL General Coordinator, Aitahan Matak has announced that he will take court action against MP Manuel Tilman (KOTA) for calling members of his group CPD-RDTL animals, in particular crocodiles.
TP reported that United Nation International Children Fund (UNICEF) has donated computers to the Department of Education and Culture.
Secretary of State for Labour and Solidarity, Arsenio Bano announced that about 5,000 East Timorese will join the labor force overseas, namely, Malaysia, Korea and Singapore.
Ainaro district Administrator has requested a Domestic Violence Campaign in that district.
It is reported that Aileu residents would like to elect their district administrator through an electoral process.
Suara Timor Lorosae's front page reported that FDTL Chief of Staff, Mayor Lere Anan has requested Captain Amico to reconsider his resignation from FDTL. Amico has considered resigning from his post citing that there are too many problems within Falintil-FDTL and he does not want a bad record on his name.
It reported that Indonesians are entering the enclave of Oecussi without passports or authorized documents.
Minister of Education, Culture, Youth and Sports, Armindo Maia stated that his department is seeking more scholarship for Timorese students.
The Head of Dili Hospital, Americo Santos reported that around 40-45 people receive treatment at the hospital every week.
Judge Manuel Exposto has been quoted as saying that an investigation needs to be done for the Becora prison escapees. In the same article ETPS Commissioner, Paulo Martins stated that only 23-prisoners are still at large.
Vice Minister of Health, Luis Lobato said he is ready to accept the demands of the dead man's family who he accidentally hit with his car in June.
STL reported that the Floating Resort Boat has not yet notified the Taxation Office about its activities.
FALINTIL Izolado and Kolimau 2000 have build their headquarters close to each other in Turiscai, Mindelo, and Osnaka in Same district.
A CPD-RDTL Delegation met with President Gusmco to discuss about the commission as discussed in the last meeting with the President and its members. Aitahan Matak said the decision for the establishment of 2 commissions has not been accomplished yet.
September 4, 2002
Suara Timor Lorosae front page reported on the credentials presented to President Gusmco by the new South Korea Ambassador to East Timor, Byong-Hyo Lim. The event took place yesterday at the President's office.
It is reported that the Five-Nations attending the Regional Security Seminar Options for East Timor are from the United States, Papua New Guinea, Australia, Thailand and Indonesia. Discussions will be held on the regional security options for East Timor between 4/9-7/9 at Timor Hotel in Dili.
It is claimed that people in Dili are not caring at all to maintain the city's cleanliness even though the government had already established a rubbish compound and are cleaning the town, reports STL.
The head of Dili Morgue, Mateus Araujo Martins said that at least up to four bodies are kept in the local morgue daily for up to three days because the deceased person's family travels too far to collect the bodies. STL reported that in many cases the nuns have to collected the bodies for burial.
MP, Anotonio Ximenes (PDC) has observed that many Timorese leaders in the government are claiming to be the ones who has contributed for the struggle of East Timor. But many are holding foreign passports. So in times of trouble they are the first to leave the country, because they have the money and the right documents. They forget the people who have really suffered. This is what is happening here in the country right now. Mr. Ximenes wants to remind government officials that they are there to serve the people not the opposite.
The Secretary General of Hati Foundation, Octavio Soares rejects allegations made by Antonio da Silva that the foundation has made millions of dollars by selling Timorese orphan children in Kupang, West Timor. Antonio da Silva claims to be Hati Foundation Coordinator in Kupang but Ocatvio Soares has also denied the latter.
Prosecutor General, Longuinhos Monteiro said that the goods delivered by the border control officers and accompany by him to Dili District Tribunal yesterday did not make it to its destination. Border control officers telephoned him later claiming the goods were not delivered because there were too many journalists waiting on the tribunal doorsteps. Mr. Longuinhos has now refused to accompany the officers with the goods to the tribunal reported Timor Post.
TP also reported on the credential presented to President Xanana Gusmco from the new South Korea ambassador to East Timor, Byong- Hyo Lim. The event saw the presence of Minister of Foreign Affairs and Cooperation, Jose Ramos-Horta.
TP reported that East Timor Red Cross (ETRC) will operate in all the districts including Oecussi Enclave says the Director of ETRC, Gusmco Dias Ximenes.
It has been reported that a naked thief has broken into a house in Vila-Verde and Tuana-Laran in Dili taking with him some cash and gold jewelleries.
It is reported that IMF disagrees with the government in controlling the prices of household commodities.
Minister of Transport, Communication and Public Works, Ovidio de Jesus Amaral announced that in 15-months the telecommunication network would be functioning in the 13 districts.
It is claimed that 3000 people who have joined FRETILIN in a ceremony in Ermera last week are not from UDT party. They were FRETILIN sympathizers.
Meanwhile UDT President, Joco Carrascalco, stressed that those people who join a political party must be of political interest and not of material interest.
A former member of a foundation named "Coragco Imaculada de Maria" said during the Indonesian occupation members of this organisation was addressed as Colimau 2000 because they were part of the church and were seen as against Indonesia presence in East Timor. This person goes on saying that the current Colimau Group is against the church.
Oscar Lima, Director of PT Surik Mas Loro Sae informed that many foreign investors have traveled to East Timor to look into investments in the country. Mr. Lima added that many of these investors already did a survey to see the feasibility of investments here.
East Timor Micro Finance Bank will officially open a branch in Ermera district in two weeks time.
Please Note: An article on Timor Post yesterday on Domestic Violence should be as follows: ETPS Commissioner Paulo Martins, announced that Ainaro will be the first district to start with a domestic violence campaign adding that the campaign will go to all the districts. Speaking at a meeting on Monday, with representatives from UNDP, Fokupers and the advisor on Gender and Equality for the Prime Minister, Domingas Alves, Mr. Martins stressed that domestic violence has increased in the country.
He says it is important to hold the campaign to stop violence against women.
Ainaro Administrative Officer had previously requested a campaign on domestic violence in that district. Domestic violence reports show it is low in Ainaro district.
[Drafted by UNMISET Spokespersons Office]