Independence - one year on

East Timor: Bleating hearts

The Bulletin (with Newsweek) - May 28, 2003

As the do-gooders move on, carpetbaggers and corrupt locals are left to count the loot. Eric Ellis discovers that most East Timorese are wondering what went wrong a year after independence.

In East Timor, men are men and it's the goats who may well be nervous. An unsavoury yarn about the antics of a platoon of bored UN civilian police in the country's Oecussi enclave and a family of goats is one of many hoary stories swirling around Dili. The United Nations mission in East Timor denies anything untoward took place in Oecussi last year. But it is true that a posse of "civpols" were transferred home from their $US200-a-day peacekeeping jobs well before their contracts expired. And it is also true that East Timorese goats are now sniggeringly known as "Jordanian war brides".

Political correctness seems to have been left at home by East Timor's 3000-strong foreign community of misfits, mercenaries and missionaries. Whether one is in the "Bumcrack Bar", a bloodhouse patronised by Northern Territorian hard men in Stubbies and blue singlets, or "Fort Shit-Scared", Australia's heavily fortified diplomatic compound, or "The Pussy Bar", preferred latte-drinking locale of twentysomething Portuguese women, East Timor's goldfish bowl is a heady cocktail of Humpty Doo, Angola and the Algarve -- against a south seas backdrop. If one misses home, there is always the Mr Whippy van, imported from Australia and luring customers with, of course, Greensleeves.

Apocryphal or otherwise, the Oecussi story and similar tales keep these well-heeled malaes (foreigners) titillated as they plan their exit strategies to save the next war-torn hellhole. Iraq? Congo? Aceh? But not before a luxury holiday in nearby Bali or Kakadu, both just a per diem away, or six months' income for many East Timorese. But a year after the radical chic of the liberation struggle and as the sympathy-for-East-Timor honeymoon loses its lustre, dark rumours swirl among East Timorese. Of expensive houses in Darwin bought for senior government officials by prospective foreign investors. Of government goons roughing up foreign businessmen -- notably a Malaysian scrap-metal merchant occupying a prime Dili oceanside site -- then running them out of town. Or of the alleged $US 20,000 backhander payable to compliant judges of dubious competence for favourable rulings.

Prime Minister Mari Alkatiri told The Bulletin he wants to be known as running one of the world's toughest anti-corruption administrations: "I challenge anyone to prove there is official corruption in East Timor."

Of course, it's not all bad news. The steady return of Dili's Chinese community, which before the 1975 Indonesian invasion was 50,000-strong and the backbone of the economy, has been encouraging. The mostly Hakka community -- returning from exile in Australia, Macau and Hong Kong -- numbers 4000 and, after playing a key role in East Timor's independence day parade, they are reconstituting their cultural centre-cum-chamber of commerce and opening businesses or reclaiming holdings purloined during Jakarta's military occupation. At night, their elders gather in the shallows of Dili's Areia Branca beach, 5km east of town beneath the famous Jesus Christ statue, where the talk is of opportunity, of making money and of Sydney property prices.

Positive, too, has been the quick restoration of calm -- East Timor now has one of the world's lowest crime rates -- following last December's riots, which destroyed Dili's downtown, killed two and threatened to unwind four years of solid work in law and order. Blamed by the government on "militia", with a sub-text suggesting Indonesian agents, the riots were in reality a warning sign that East Timor's 800,000 people are increasingly impatient that prosperity has not arrived with independence.

According to Elizabeth Huybens, the World Bank's Dili representative, East Timorese are poorer this year than last, with a per capita income of just $US450. Huybens attributes this to the steady departure of highly paid UN personnel, taking with them their "false economy" that was a $US bonanza for Timorese and for many Australian firms. A year ago most of these, mainly from the Northern Territory, were pledging their long-haul commitment to East Timor. Today they are nowhere to be found. But frustrations remain, and there are many. Four years of a UN presence has failed to deliver adequate power, water and sanitation. The few businesses operating here also grumble about Timor Telecom, a recent joint venture of local businessmen and Portugal Telecom.

Timor Telecom took over from Telstra, which wired Australia's Interfet forces in 1999. While Telstra may be much criticised in Australia, it provided East Timor with a world-class phone service.

No longer. Timor Telecom is not only prohibitively expensive but unreliable. Only half the calls connect first time and there's no mobile-roaming capability. Complains one Australian hotel-owner: "East Timor went from having a first-world telephone service to the third world overnight."

Worrying, too, is the ruling Fretilin party's readiness to use its overwhelming parliamentary majority when consensus might be more appropriate in a struggling new nation. Both locals and foreign diplomats worry that East Timor's commitment to democracy may falter, that it might be "doing a Cambodia", where UN- sponsored elections in 1993 are long forgotten in Hun Sen's effective one-party state in Phnom Penh today. Indeed, scores stored up for 25 years in this over-politicised hothouse are now being settled.

Despite resistance from President Xanana Gusmao, the past year has featured not-so-subtle efforts by Fretilin, the unpopular Alkatiri's dominant party, to stamp its version of history on the country. May 20 wasn't actually the first birthday of independence but, said banners around Dili, of the restoration of independence, a reference to Fretilin's brief, unrecognised rule between Portugal's exit and Indonesia's invasion. Timor Lorosae, last year's officially declared name of the new nation, which means "rising sun of the east", has been changed to Timor Leste -- Portuguese for East Timor. That's a nod to the so-called Mozambique Clique led by Alkatiri himself, who fought Fretilin's campaign from Maputo.

Then there's the official references to "Presidente Nicolau Lobato", the official name of Dili airport and of a main street in the capital. Lobato was a Fretilin leader but he was never president.

Fascinating, too, is the diplomatic struggle between Lisbon and Canberra for influence in East Timor. Neither side say they are in battle but it's clear each have their own agendas. In shades of the former Soviet Union, Portuguese government radio blares out from speakers across the main square, as the families of old colonial government officials count their $US300 monthly pensions sent from Lisbon. Where Australia's fortress-like embassy is halfway to the airport for an easier getaway if things turn ugly again, Portugal's is next door to the government's offices, where Alkatiri and his clique are said to lead the anti-Australian lobby.

It's in those government offices where Canberra is cast as a bully for its inflexible position on Timor Sea oil and gas royalties, which promise a $40bn bonanza when -- or rather if -- production begins.

With difficulty to the Australian ear, that criticism is spoken in Portuguese, East Timor's official language. That and the pensions are probably enough to assuage Lisbon's colonial guilt. As for Canberra, it doesn't want another failed Pacific state on its doorstep, suggesting some leeway on the Timor Sea boundaries is in the offing.

Timor grapples with past as it marks first anniversary

Associated Press - May 19, 2003

Maumeta -- Cancio dos Santos readily admits he joined pro-Jakarta militias and torched three homes in East Timor when it voted for independence from Indonesia in 1999.

But instead of being sent to jail, the 30-year-old farmer has been forgiven after apologizing to his victims during a recent truth and reconciliation meeting. "There won't be a problem in the future," said Maumeta's village chief, Silvin Ribeiro dos Santos. "The bad feelings toward him have vanished. People don't want to carry this hatred forward."

In some countries, Dos Santos's case might be seen as a miscarriage of justice. But in East Timor, which on Tuesday celebrates its first anniversary as an independent nation, it is a small victory in the country's battle to balance calls for justice with the realities of prosecuting the thousands responsible for its bloody past.

The work of the UN-sponsored Commission for Reception, Truth and Reconciliation has been widely praised as a good way to dole out justice in war-torn countries where legal systems are often unable to cope with the volume of cases.

The United Nations, which administered East Timor in its run-up to independence on May 20 last year, established two systems to provide justice for crimes linked to the 1999 violence.

The Serious Crimes Unit investigates and indicts those responsible for the most serious offenses -- murder, rape, torture and forced displacement. They are then prosecuted in court. Lesser crimes like arson, robbery and theft are handled by the commission.

The Indonesian military along with their militia proxies laid waste to much of East Timor when it voted overwhelmingly to break from Jakarta in a UN-sponsored referendum in 1999. More than 1,500 people were killed, 250,000 were forced from their homes and much of the county's infrastructure was sacked.

Top Indonesian military officials believed ultimately responsible for the violence are beyond the reach of the East Timor panels, because Jakarta has said it wouldn't extradite any of them. After intense international pressure, Indonesia agreed to put on trial 18 Indonesian military and government officials for their role in the bloodshed, which only stopped after international peacekeepers arrived.

But the Jakarta trials have been widely criticized as a farce, with only five of the defendants convicted. They all remain free on appeal.

In East Timor, the reconciliation commission has completed 200 hearings across the country in the past year, and plans to dispatch with another 1,000 cases next year.

There are more than 20 similar commissions in other countries with violent pasts -- like Chile, South Africa and Sierra Leone -- but East Timor's is the only one that can dole out justice.

"If not for this, the victim could remain angry and it could cause further problems," said Patrick Burgess, chief UN legal adviser to the commission. "The purpose of this is to avoid future violence."

The hearings incorporate many traditional customs and beliefs. Coconut water is sprinkled to purify the ground, and a chicken is sacrificed and its entrails then read to determine if the hearing should continue.

Defendants are made to sit opposite their victims, acknowledge their crimes and ask for forgiveness. Victims are given an opportunity to explain their suffering and question the defendant.

Villagers and victims then join the commission in handing down a sentence -- ranging from an apology to rebuilding burnt homes. After this, the defendant receives immunity from future prosecution.

"At the heart of the hearings are traditional ceremonies and rituals that the people know and respect," said Ben Larke, a UN staffer who advises the commission.

Jose Nunes Serrao, a farmer injured when militiamen stormed a church in April 1999, killing 22 refugees hiding there, said he would be willing to take part in a hearing with his attackers.

"I could embrace these people as long as they came to me and acknowledged their acts," he said. "It is by the grace of God that I'm alive. If I can pass that blessing onto the people who did these things, then I'd be doing my duty [to God]."

However, Serrao, who still bears a scar on his neck from a machete, says that those who commissioned the attack should be punished and complains that justice is not being done.

The Special Crimes Unit has indicted 250 people, among them several senior Indonesian military officials living in Jakarta. East Timor's courts, however, have so far convicted just 30 of them. UN officials concede they will probably never catch many of the highest ranking defendants, including Indonesia's former military chief Gen. Wiranto.

President Xanana Gusmao has been criticized for failing to support the indictments against the Indonesian officials. He says that relations with the county's former occupier and giant neighbor are more important.

"There are a lot of people who sense that justice is not being done," said Serrao. "To get true justice, you not only need to convict those who committed the crimes but also those who commissioned them," he said. "We're still waiting."

While no one expects the truth and reconciliation commission to deal with all the minor crimes committed in 1999 violence, it has successfully promoted forgiveness within communities.

Cancio dos Santos said since his hearing he is no longer a pariah in the village, 30 kilometers west of the capital, Dili. "I feel happy," he said, as he helped villagers haul rice and build bamboo decorations for independence celebrations. "I've been forgiven. I can walk freely now without fear."

Muted celebrations to mark one year of nationhood

Radio Australia - May 20, 2003

Twelve months ago there was great fanfare when East Timor was declared the world's newest nation. But today the celebrations were muted as President Xanana Gusamo lamented the nation's problems in his address to the East Timorese people. The President says despite gaining freedom, high unemployment and extreme poverty are still prevalent in East Timor and he's pointed the finger of blame at local politicians and bureacrats. And in a veiled reference to last December's violent riots in Dili which were reportedly aimed at toppling the government, the President has called for a united front to move forward.

Presenter/Interviewer: Maryann Keady, Dili

Speakers: East Timorese marching band; Jose Texeira, East Timor's Minister for Investment and Tourism; Xavier Dos Amaral, leader of East Timor's ASDT party

Keady: While the music and marching bands were on show to celebrate a year of Independence, the President's speech highlighted the need for co-operation within the country, not just internally, but between the international and local community.

Speaking of the need of an "improved environment of mutual trust and genuine co-operation" between the United Nations and Timorese, he said national stability was the number one goal and said the violence of December 4th could not be considered a barometer of the situation inside the country.

But just prior to today's show of unity, opposition figures came out and blasted a report by UN police that purported to show them behind large demonstrations attempting to disrupt the day. Xavier Dos Amaral, the leader of ASDT and one of the people named in a memo shown on local TV has rejected out of hand suggestions he is planning unrest.

Amaral: "I know nothing, my conscience, and I am the first one in [19]74 20th May, to declare that Timor must be independent. It means an independent nation with free from oppression from abroad, to be free to talk what they want to talk, what they feel right and create a democracy. So I think that we give all that we will make independence on this and to claim a land of peace and harmony. So how can I to provoke the war?"

Keady: It was just another chapter in the political intrigue that characterises Independent Timor, the country that on Independence must deal with the range of interests within the country, a result of its UN status.

It's unclear whether the President's statements on December 4th -- emphasising the need for the country to move on from that day -- will satisfy large sections of the community. There has been no official report handed down by the UN, the government or the parliament into those behind events, despite repeated requests. And today was not without its own "external" threat.

The Australian government issued a travel warning of a possible terrorist threat, just before Independence, a warning that Foreign Minister Jose Ramos Horta in a press release, rejected out of hand, saying as Timor and Australia did not share intelligence resources, it was hard to determine the nature of such a threat, but the government of Timor Leste believed it to be extremely low.

It reflects the complex relationship emerging between the two neighbours and the challenges ahead for East Timor regarding regional security and the relationship with its Timor Sea Treaty partner.

Responding to criticisms that a year on, Timor had gone slow on investment, and failed to provide necessary economic stimulus, Timor's Minister for Investment and Tourism, Jose Texeira said what was needed was closer co-operation between the governments of Timor and Australia on trade issues.

Texeira: "What I think needs to occur more is I think there needs to be more substantive government to government discussion in relation to attracting foreign direct investment from Australia into Timor Leste in a more substantive fashion. I don't believe that Timor Leste has seen the best of the investment that it can attract from Australia. I believe that a time is yet to come in the area of tourism for example, Australia can be a substantive tourism investor, in the area of the support to the oil and gas industry is another area. In the area of agri-business Australia could be a substantive investor in this country. We have not seen that yet."

Muted celebrations mark East Timor's first birthday

Agence France Presse - May 20, 2003

East Timor, the world's newest nation, marked its first birthday but President Xanana Gusmao found little to celebrate.

East Timor was Asia's poorest country when it declared independence one year ago, after 31 months of United Nations stewardship and 24 years of often brutal Indonesian rule. Gusmao, in a national address Tuesday, summed up the problems bluntly.

"There is little food on the hearth; agricultural crops are either not sold or sold at extremely low prices; the price of imported goods are an insult to the purchasing power of the population," he said.

"There is no prospect for employment for the youth and both the legal and the infrastructural conditions of the country do not attract investors."

Half the population lacks any formal education, youth unemployment is high and two out of five people live on less than 55 cents a day.

The former anti-Indonesia guerrilla chief, in a progress report, said East Timor's 800,000 people are facing "enormous difficulties." He took legislators, bureaucrats, politicians and the people themselves to task.

Parliament should assert its independence from the government, Gusmao said, and debate the people's problems. "Some members of parliament have been wasting time airing their dirty laundry there, as if the parliament was a public sanitary facility..."

Many local administrators were unaware of problems because they never left their offices. Freedom was the greatest gain from independence but "we are not making good use of democracy" and politicians are "not yet fully mature."

Every political act must respect the constitution, he said. "And this means that there must not be any reason for violence, there must not be any desires to stage coups d'etat and, not least, there must not be any intention to shut down the port, the airport and the borders."

It was unclear what Gusmao was referring to. But organised riots in Dili last December, in which two people died and many buildings were destroyed, were described by one minister as an attempt to topple the government.

The riots were followed by attacks on civilians near the border in January and February in which at total of seven were killed. The attacks were widely blamed on pro-Jakarta former militiamen crossing from Indonesian West Timor.

The president also urged people to stop relying on foreign aid and to help themselves. "We have lost the sense of duty to participate and we expect the state to do it all."

He called for a move to grassroots democracy including the holding of local government elections. "It is necessary that the people start to participate, that they also start to solve their own problems, that they start to feel, individually or as a group, that they are also actors in the development of the country," he said.

Speaking later at a ceremony to mark the anniversary, Gusmao said policies in the coming year "must take into account the fact that the difficult living conditions of our people are the weakest link of this increasingly more difficult process of nation- building."

Oil and gas developments in the Timor Sea will provide a lifeline in the future. Under a treaty with Australia in March, the country in two or three years will receive revenues of around 50-100 million dollars a year -- almost enough to cover the national budget.

Poverty, economy trouble East Timorese

Associated Press - May 19, 2003

Michael Casey, Dili -- A year after independence, dozens of burned-out buildings dot East Timor's capital -- haunting reminders of the country's bloody history.

Unemployed men hang out on Dili street corners hawking phone cards, oranges and cigarettes. In the countryside, residents live on as little as 55 cents a day. Clean water and electricity are luxuries most do without.

The impoverished state of this half-island has cast a shadow over celebrations planned for Tuesday, its first anniversary of independence.

On Monday, a few people danced in the streets and a church service was held at the Dili Cathedral. Flowers were laid at the Santa Cruz cemetery -- where 200 people were killed by Indonesian soldiers in 1991.

Timorese say they are glad to be free of the gunfire, militias and repression that marked Indonesia's 24-year occupation. But they complain an economic payout from independence -- jobs, housing and basic services -- is overdue.

"Under the Indonesian government, we were physically oppressed. We were beaten up," said Nelson Belo, a prominent activist who was jailed by the Indonesians. "But at least people could produce goods and sell them. Now, no one has money to buy anything."

After four centuries of Portuguese rule and Indonesia's brutal reign, East Timorese voted for independence in a 1999 UN- sponsored referendum. The Indonesian military and its proxy militias responded by laying waste to the former province, killing 1,500 Timorese and forcing 300,000 from their homes.

The United Nations administered the country for 2 1/2 years and then handed it to the Timorese on May 20, 2002. Global leaders welcomed the arrival of the world's newest nation but the jubilation didn't last.

In December, riots broke out in the capital after police opened fire on angry protesters. Crowds torched dozens of buildings -- including the residence of Prime Minister Mari Alkatiri. Two people were killed and dozens injured.

A month later, alleged militiamen attacked the village of Atsabe and killed six people. Then, gunmen shot up a bus near the border with Indonesia, killing two people.

Despite the setbacks, most diplomats and Timorese leaders say the government is progressing -- establishing democratic institutions, addressing past rights abuses and strengthening relations with Indonesia.

"There is bound to be some letdown after the euphoria if you look at May 2002 as a starting point," said US Ambassador Grover Joseph Rees. "But if you look at what people were saying in 1997 or after the campaign of terror in September 1999, you've got to say things are a lot better," he said. "East Timor has the potential to be a model for other countries in the developing world, a model of good government, free-market economy, inclusive democracy and acceptance of universal values."

Parliament is up and running, seven universities are open and civic groups are thriving.

UN and Timorese prosecutors have indicted 261 people for human rights abuses in 1999 and convicted more than 30, despite a parallel process in Indonesia that human rights groups have called a whitewash.

A former torture center has been transformed into a truth and reconciliation commission and a military headquarters into an arts center.

About 270,000 of the 300,000 refugees who fled over the border to Indonesia in 1999 have returned home.

President Xanana Gusmao acknowledged the difficulties but called on his fellow Timorese citizens to be patient. A former freedom fighter and the country's most popular politician, Gusmao said the country was "moving in the right direction."

The first year "has been a good lesson that our government can use in the next year," he told The Associated Press. "People understand the difficulties."

Outside of Dili, basic services remain woefully inadequate. Only four of 13 districts have phone service, 75 percent don't have electricity and 60 percent don't have access to clean water.

Many ministries are hampered by a lack of experienced staff, the worst being the judiciary. Courts don't function for weeks, inexperienced judges ignore or misinterpret the law and jails are crowded with defendants never charged with a crime, rights activists say.

Foreign investors have been scared off by the country's high wages, red tape, legal uncertainty and security concerns. As a result, the World Bank and others predict the economy will shrink in 2003 by 2.9 percent. Unemployment estimates reach 80 percent.

"Foreign investors are not very confident about the future," said Jose Rodrigues Jardin, the head of Timor Telecom, the country's largest foreign investor, which plans to spend $50 million over 15 years. "There is political instability," he said. "People have no jobs. Just look at what happened in December. What happens when the United Nations leaves?"

On Monday, the UN Security Council voted unanimously to extend the UN peacekeeping mission's mandate for another year. The United Nations Mission of Support in East Timor, known as UNMISET, bolsters the country's administration and law enforcement and helps secure its border with Indonesia.

There are fears among Timorese that militia members -- some who remain across the border in Indonesia -- may launch attacks once UN peacekeepers leave in June 2004, testing a newly formed Timorese army.

Cesarina Soares, a 29-year-old mother of five, says her family can afford only one meal a day. But she says life is better now than before, when the Indonesian army jailed her husband six times on charges of being a rebel spy and militias burned down her home. "Independence is good," she said. "We can't pay for our own home. But we feel free. We feel proud."

East Timor one year on

Asia Times - May 20, 2003

Jill Jolliffe, Dili -- On May 20 last year the Democratic Republic of East Timor became the first new nation of the second millennium. In the presence of United Nations Secretary General Kofi Annan, then US president Bill Clinton and various heads of state, the crowd roared as President Xanana Gusmao and Indonesia's President Megawati Sukarnoputri raised their hands in friendship, signifying that the bitter memory of Jakarta's 24- year military occupation was behind them.

The glamour faded quickly. The media departed, foreign personnel left in droves, and East Timor faced the hard task of surviving alone. At its head as president stood Gusmao, a former guerrilla commander, while lawyer Mari Alkatiri was prime minister. His nationalist Fretilin party had won 58 percent of the vote in parliamentary elections in 2001.

The territory was administered before independence by the United Nations Transitional Administration in East Timor (UNTAET), after peacekeeping troops secured the territory from marauding Indonesian-backed militiamen in 1999.

Post-independence, the United Nations Mission of Support in East Timor (UNMISET), has a mainly advisory role, although it retains control over police and defense forces. The past 12 months have seemed the longest in the life of any new nation.

East Timor came to independence as one of the poorest countries in Asia. According to the National Planning Commission, two out of five people did not have sufficient means to cover their basic needs, three out of every five adults were illiterate, and around 8-9 percent of children died before the age of one.

Mariano dos Anjos grimaces with pain as he adjusts the bamboo pole laden with fruit that bears down on his shoulders. He is one of a band of child coolies in the streets of Dili. Mariano is 10 years old, but his frame is that of a seven or eight-year-old. He has a worn, adult face. He carries 20 strings of five tangerines, weighing about 10 kilograms in all, which he sells to foreigners.

The child laborers are the belated casualties of East Timor's traumatic succession to independence. Mariano sells an uncomplicated product, although the weight he carries endangers his bone development. Other boys sell movies on CD-Rom, which UN peacekeepers devour in bulk (including pornographic productions, known as "jiggy-jiggy"), and sometimes the children themselves are the product. Like street kids everywhere, they are vulnerable to the human predators whose presence follows wars as surely as night follows day.

Johanna Eriksson Takyo of the United Nations' Children Fund estimates that there are about 120 street kids between seven and 18 years working and sleeping on the streets of the capital, and another 200-300 who work but return home to sleep. "It can't compare with Calcutta or Bombay," she said, "but it's a significant number for a small city like Dili."

Poverty is most felt in the countryside, and the year was marked by discontent from the rural unemployed, especially ex- guerrillas, who expected independence to deliver instant rewards. There has been an upsurge of animist cults, such as The Sacred Family in Baucau, and Colimau 2000 near the West Timor border. Mixing Christian liturgies with voodoo-like invocations, they conduct animal sacrifices and preach that guerrilla heroes killed during the war with Indonesia will emerge from the jungle. In the village of Fohoream, one sect toured a Timorese couple as Jesus Christ and the Virgin Mary. Illiterate villagers paid $2 for the privilege of kissing the hands of the thronged figures.

But in the past year it was the urban discontent expressed in violent rioting in Dili on December 4 that most shocked, sending some foreign investors scurrying. Its true authors are unknown -- a promised government report has not materialized. It was possibly an aborted coup against the Alkatiri government, whose critics see it as dogmatic and undemocratic and oppose its decision to make Portuguese an official language.

Many wondered then whether the new nation was going to get through its first year. Would it lapse into the severe infighting and violence that had marked its sad and traumatic history since Portugal announced it would decolonize in April 1974, or was this a mere blip on the radar screen? It did survive because the East Timorese are a pragmatic people with a strong cultural identity, factors that overruled the temptation to extremism and intolerance. They were deeply shocked at the depth and extent of the violence. Shops were burnt down, along with the prime minister's residence, and the parliament building and a mosque were attacked in a day in which the mob ran out of control in the streets. UN peacekeepers and police failed to intervene, leading to growing criticism of UNMISET.

In the following period, politicians moderated their rhetoric and went out of their way to work together. "It was a wake-up call," one diplomat commented, "East Timor was in danger of becoming a one-party state."

In January new alarm bells rang as militia groups from West Timor raided border villages, after almost two years of peace at the frontier. Seven people were killed at Atsabe, on the central border, and in February there was a further attack, at Atabae in the north. A bus was fired on, killing two. UN peacekeepers tracking the militia unit clashed with it days later, killing one and capturing four.

Under a UN Security Council resolution, prosecutors from the Serious Crimes Unit (SCU) have the task of bringing to justice those responsible for the murders, arson attacks and deportations which accompanied the 1999 referendum and the Indonesian army's subsequent scorched earth withdrawal.

Since beginning work the SCU has indicted 247 people accused of crimes against humanity. Of these, 169 (over 65 percent) are at large in Indonesia, and despite Megawati's newfound friendship with the East Timorese, her government has consistently refused to hand them over. They include former defense chief General Wiranto, who was indicted on February 24.

The failure of justice to be seen to be done means that the trauma many East Timorese suffered in 1999 remains raw, affecting the credibility of the local justice system. The work of the Commission for Reception, Truth and Reconciliation has alleviated the situation, but is seen as insufficient.

Modelled on South Africa's truth and reconciliation commission, it has held village hearings nationwide during the past year to reconcile those who fought on different sides during the conflict with Indonesia. Its work is applauded, but the cry of "justice before reconciliation" -- meaning Indonesian officers who ordered the violence should be tried -- remains in force among the common people.

The year was not all doom and gloom, however. In April, Australia and East Timor signed a $25 billion deal to jointly exploit offshore hydrocarbon resources. The first substantial income, which will underwrite future budgets, should register around 2006.

Elizabeth Huybens of the World Bank sees two lean years ahead for East Timor. "The winding down of the UNTAET mission and the slowing down of reconstruction means growth has declined sharply," she stated.

Yet she sees the government as having taken "major strides" towards delivering services to isolated areas, and lists recent achievements: soaring child vaccination rates, increased medical attendance at births (child and maternal mortality rates being a major problem), and more children attending school nationwide than ever attended under the Indonesian occupation.

"I don't want to underestimate the challenges," she concludes, "but I think the East Timorese are focused and can make things work, so long as nobody expects miracles."

After years of war and terror, the East Timorese no longer believe in miracles. They're just crossing their fingers that next year will be better.

West Timor/refugees

Home is where your heart is

Herald Sun (Melbourne) - May 24, 2003

John Hamilton -- Hilton Lay is a nine-year-old kid with a cheeky grin and one passion in life -- Essendon. His proudest possession is a Bombers scarf. He's about as Australian as my own two sons. They, luckily, were born here. But Hilton was born in East Timor, and that's the big problem.

The fact he came to Australia when he was 11 months old and was weaned on Vegemite on toast before graduating to a Four 'N' Twenty pie at the footy makes not the slightest difference. Hilton's family face being kicked out of Australia because they are no longer considered refugees.

As East Timor this week celebrated the first anniversary of its independence, East Timorese who fled to Australia in the early 1990s to escape the violence that racked the land had little to celebrate.

Some 1479 refugees who live in Australia -- most in Melbourne -- have been told they can no longer sustain a claim that they are refugees and must go home.

The delay occurred after 1995 when the Refugee Review Tribunal raised questions on whether East Timorese refugees should not instead apply for citizenship of Portugal, which administered East Timor for more than 250 years until Indonesian occupation in 1975.

A specially-convened bench of the Administrative Appeals Tribunal in October 2000 heard a test case and decided the asylum seeker was a refugee and not entitled to Portuguese nationality. But the applications were not dealt with until after independence was declared last year. The first 168 were all refused protection.

A total of 1671 East Timorese were initially affected. Today 192 have either gone back to East Timor voluntarily or have been allowed to stay here after establishing they have married Australians, or provided grounds for the issuing of business visas.

But Hilton Lay, the Bombers fan, his mum and most of his family, like most of the other 1479 East Timorese, have been told by the Immigration Department they will have to go.

Next week the Lays will take their case before the Refugee Review Tribunal. It's a long process and usually unsuccessful. So far 350 East Timorese have been given their orders again: you have to go.

The Federal Government has decided that treating East Timorese differently from other asylum seekers would be discriminatory. But the federal Opposition plans to move next month in the Senate to introduce a Bill to create a special humanitarian visa class conferring permanent residency status on the 1497 who are still here.

IN a double hit, every unsuccessful applicant is being given a $1000 bill by the Immigration Department for the tribunal review. These are not rich people. The Bracks Government has stepped in with a $50,000 grant to help them with legal aid for their appeals. "If the fee is not paid, you will owe a debt to the Commonwealth of Australia and you might be unable to obtain a visa in the future," a department letter says.

They are told they have a limited right to seek review of the decision by the Federal Court, Federal Magistrates Court and/or the High Court and "it is very much in your interest to get legal advice before you decide to seek review by the courts".

The only other course is to appeal directly to Immigration Minister Philip Ruddock on humanitarian grounds. A spokesman for the Minister said a substantial proportion of those who had been turned down by the tribunal had sought intervention by the Minister and there was "a stack of them on his desk".

The Minister has intervened in favour of some cases -- he did not have the figures -- and in these the $1000 fee was waived. Cases such as an East Timorese who has married an Australian and had children born here. But it was difficult to intervene in cases "where there is a young fit person with no family here and who could return easily to East Timor".

The East Timorese who came here have been in limbo for far too long. I met Hilton, his mother Filomena and his sisters Cidalia, 18, Elizabeth, 14, and Lizia, 12, at the Richmond West primary school this week, in the shadow of the housing commission flats where they live. Mrs Lay is separated from her husband, Zeferino, who has a job recycling clothes.

The girls, neat in their Presentation College green blazers, all went to school at Richmond West before going on to secondary school. There are two other children. Zelia, 21, works part time at Village Cinemas and Felicidade, 16, attends MacRobertson Girls High. They live with an uncle.

Cidalia was 10 when the family fled to Australia at the end of 1994. "We were from Suai," she says in her Aussie accent. "The violence was starting and the Indonesians were really mean to us. They were raping women, doing terrible things ... dad and mum decided to get out. We got to Bali, applied for refugee status, and then came to Australia where we already had friends and relations ... They helped us.

"All us kids feel Australian. Australia is our home. We grew up here. We can't even speak our own language now, basically. I want to go into international hotel management when I leave school, Felicidade wants to be a lawyer and Zelia's really interested in becoming a private detective."

Shy Lizia, who was three when she arrived here, says: "I think I'd like to become an author or a poet." And Hilton? "I'd like to play footy," he says with a cheeky grin.

"If we go back, there is nothing for us in East Timor," says Mrs Lay, Cidalia interpreting. "There are no jobs, no education for the children. Our house was destroyed by the militia. Nothing is left. Now ... we just feel nervous. What is to become of us?"

Peter Lord is principal of the Richmond West school. It is across the road, ironically, from the All Nations hotel built in 1870, about the time this country gave birth to the notion of an Australian fair go.

"Fifty per cent of our school population of 190 are East Timorese," he says. "We have 22 students from 15 different families who are now before the Immigration Department or the Refugee Review Tribunal. All the children are settled and happy at school ... they have established strong connections with their peer groups. They are all Aussie kids with no memories or connection to East Timor ... They have come here to escape persecution. To send them back will be another form of persecution. In my judgment these kids will grow up to be fine Australian citizens. They should be allowed to stay."

Peter Lord looks forward to school recess each Monday. You see, he's a Bombers fan, too, and Hilton likes to take the head aside to discuss the finer points of the weekend's game. He'd like to continue his chats, if he's not run out of the country by the end of this season.

Timor Gap

Timor's tutorial in oil politics

Asia Times - May 21, 2003

Quinton Temby, Perth -- At an international conference on regional security held in East Timor last year, the frustration of many Timorese officials was obvious. It was just over two years since East Timor had voted for independence from Indonesia and been ravaged by its scorched earth retribution. But the frustration wasn't directed at Indonesia.

The problem was Australia. East Timor's wealthiest neighbor had positioned itself to be the main beneficiary of a treaty to divide the rich oil and natural-gas reserves of the Timor Sea. One East Timorese Foreign Ministry official was so dismayed at Australia's stance that he dropped his diplomatic guard in front of the other delegates to implore the Australian representative to see that Timor is poor, Australia is rich and that its division of the reserves is "very unfair".

"It's hard to tell our people that the colonization will never end, even if we achieve our independence," he said. The Australian representative, former diplomat and now academic Alan Dupont, responded with what has become a familiar "tutorial in politics" for East Timor: "Unfortunately," he said, "international relations is not based on emotion or equity. It's based on hard-nosed reality."

But if the East Timorese had ever believed this, they might never have won their independence. After 24 years of struggle against Indonesian occupation, East Timor celebrated its formal independence on May 20 last year. It formally became the newest nation in the world and the poorest in Asia. The departing Indonesian military and militia had left public facilities destroyed, the electricity grid sabotaged and whole villages burned. Since then East Timor has been in a state of rehabilitation and repair, starting from a poverty level equal to that of Rwanda and ending up with an unhealthy reliance on foreign aid. But there is a once-in-a-generation chance out of this poverty and dependency with the Timor Sea oil and gas.

The Timor Sea, however, is disputed territory. Australia claims the seabed as part of its continental shelf, which it says extends to the Timor Trough, just 50 nautical miles off the coast of East Timor. East Timor challenges this claim -- which would put all of the reserves in Australian territory -- pointing to the principle of a midway line between the two nations. Unable to agree on maritime boundaries, a controversial Timor Sea Treaty to share the reserves was signed on East Timor's first day of independence. But on the same day, East Timor's prime minister, Mari Alkatiri, announced that his country still claims its entitlement to permanent maritime boundaries -- boundaries which would void the treaty just signed. As such, the prizefight for resources between the region's richest and poorest countries had become official.

On one side of the dispute, with such a low level of development it would be akin to sovereign suicide if East Timor were to accept Australia's maritime claim, forgoing its only significant source of income. On the other side, Australia fears that East Timor's claim would unsettle the adjacent Australia-Indonesia boundary by making it look ungenerous. This boundary gives about three-quarters of the seabed to Australia, in a deal in which Indonesia's former foreign minister and law-of-the-sea expert Dr Mochtar Kusumaatmadja said his country had been "taken to the cleaners". The Australian fear was conceded a few days after the Timor Sea Treaty was signed when Foreign Minister Alexander Downer said of the East Timorese, "As I have explained to them, our maritime boundaries with Indonesia cover several thousand kilometers. That is a very, very big issue for us and we are not in the game of renegotiating them."

But the Australians had an even greater reason to fear East Timor's boundary claim. Prior to the signing of the treaty, a growing body of legal advice was indicating that the new nation's maritime boundary rights might encompass all of the resources which are claimed by Australia under the Timor Sea Treaty. This development culminated with the maneuverings of Petrotimor, a US-based oil company vying for a stake in the Timor Sea. The company had commissioned an opinion on East Timor's potential maritime rights by two authorities in the area: Vaughan Lowe, professor of International Law at Oxford University, and Christopher Carleton, head of the Law of the Sea Division at the UK Hydrographic Office.

The Lowe opinion argued that Australia's proposed treaty would prevent East Timor from establishing its rightful maritime boundaries in accordance with international law. This meant that under the treaty, almost 60 percent of East Timor's resources -- some US$20 billion worth of oil and gas -- would go to Australia. Petrotimor urged the Timorese government to reject the treaty and submit its boundary dispute to the International Court of Justice in The Hague. The company would fund the legal action, in return for a 10 percent cut of the oil and gas revenue if it was successful.

Justifiably, there was skepticism of Petrotimor's speculative scheme. The United Nations Transitional Administration in East Timor dismissed the offer. The legal argument, however, was taken seriously on both sides of the Timor Sea. Two days before the offer was made public by Petrotimor in the East Timorese capital Dili, Australia secretly exempted itself from maritime boundary dispute resolution in the International Tribunal for the Law of the Sea and the International Court of Justice. According to an Australian government National Interest Analysis, this was done secretly because "public knowledge of the proposed action could have led other countries to preempt the declaration by commencing an action against Australia in relation to sea-boundary delimitation". The government's view was that "maritime boundary disputes are best resolved through negotiation and not litigation". Soon-to-be prime minister Alkatiri described the Australian move as "an unfriendly act".

With the threat of international arbitration out of the way and with pressure on East Timor to secure revenue independent of foreign donors and the World Bank, Australia has been able to ram through its lopsided treaty. The disparity in the negotiating resources of the two countries has been symbolically stark. East Timor retained two young Western lawyers funded by the United Nations; the Australians always had an extensive, high-powered team of lawyers, advisors and negotiators. On one occasion, on short notice they swept into Dili under the command of Foreign Minister Downer, a huddle of large white men in dark suits. Four-wheel-drives slammed to a halt outside East Timor's main government building as the Australians charged into the cabinet room.

Behind the closed doors Australia's foreign minister was patronizing and arrogant. According to a leaked transcript of the negotiating session, Downer said, "If I was in your position I would focus on revenue for your new and poor country and how to [progress] without compromising your integrity. To call us a big bully is a grotesque simplification of Australia. We had a cozy economic agreement with Indonesia; we bailed East Timor out with no economic benefit."

By this point in time Prime Minister Alkatiri was almost resigned to the fact that Australia had no intention of agreeing to maritime boundaries. So he tried to increase East Timor's share of the oil and gas. In rejecting this move, Downer threatened to tear up the treaty. "We don't have to exploit the resources, they can stay there for 20, 40, 50 years," he said. Later, Downer warned, "We are very tough. We will not care if you give information to the media. Let me give you a tutorial in politics -- not a chance."

For the Timorese, however, their entire history since Indonesia's invasion in 1975 has been a tutorial in Australia's morally dismal politics. It was Australia's then ambassador to Indonesia, Richard Woolcott, who encouraged his government to support the invasion at least in part because it would be easier to negotiate maritime boundaries with Indonesia. This would be, he coyly said in a cable that was leaked, in the interests of the Department of Minerals and Energy.

After years of wrangling, the Timor Gap Treaty, in effect appropriating East Timor's oil and gas, was signed between Australia and Indonesia in 1989. For supporters of East Timor the agreement marks a historic low point in Australian foreign policy. For Xanana Gusmao, East Timor's guerrilla leader and future president, the agreement was a "total betrayal". Speaking to Australian radio from his mountain hideout in 1991 he said: "Australia has been an accomplice in the genocide perpetrated by the occupation forces, because the interests which Australia wanted to secure with the annexation of East Timor to Indonesia are so evident. The best proof is the Timor Gap agreement."

This is the "cozy economic agreement" to which the Australian foreign minister referred when he was trying to force East Timor to accept the new Timor Sea Treaty as its replacement. Although Australia has characterized the new treaty as a generous gift to East Timor, it's basically the same agreement as before, though not as cozy. The major change is that within a Joint Petroleum Development Area (which excludes most of the disputed petroleum) East Timor will receive 90 percent of the revenue. With Conoco Phillips' Bayu Undan gas-field development, which began production last year, this will be worth about $3 billion over 15 years to East Timor, allowing the government to function after donors withdraw and, it is hoped, avoid going into debt.

Falling mostly outside of the joint development area are the largest fields, known collectively as Greater Sunrise and operated by Woodside Australian Energy. Eighty-two percent of the revenue from these fields will go to Australia. Although they won't be developed for several years, it was a successful Australian strategy, promoted by Woodside and its partner Shell, to hold up the supposedly interim treaty for months -- putting the Bayu Undan development at risk -- until its division of Greater Sunrise was clinched.

Inevitably, all this sharing in the Timor Sea has been restricted to the petroleum reserves on East Timor's side of the midpoint between the two countries. The rich reserves that lie on Australia's side are not under dispute.

Australia's legacy of exploitation, bound to Indonesia's torturous occupation, is well known in East Timor. Much was forgiven, however, in September 1999 when Australia led a United Nations peacekeeping force to usher out Indonesian military and militia that had destroyed the place in retribution for its vote for independence. But this humanitarian intervention has since been degraded by the suspicion that the Australian government has used it to secure its theft of what amounts to more than half of East Timor's natural wealth.

If petroleum wasn't a motivation for coming to East Timor's aid in 1999, Australia has since been caught calling on a payback for the peacekeepers, when its foreign minister complained during negotiations that Australia had "bailed East Timor out with no economic benefit". But perhaps there was a benefit. In November 1999, with peacekeepers on the ground and Timor still smoldering, Australia received its first big windfall from the Timor Sea as billions of dollars of oil began pumping out of Woodside's highly disputed Laminaria and Corallina reserves.

At this time East Timor must have been the most devastated nation on Earth. Seventy percent of its infrastructure had been destroyed and most of its people had been driven from their homes. According to the United Nations Development Program, East Timor had the lowest income per head in the world. Nevertheless, from 1999 to 2002 the Australian government took an estimated $1.2 billion in revenue from Laminaria-Corallina. For the same period Australia gave East Timor $200 million in aid.

Australia's hardball treatment of East Timor has embittered its relationship with its tiny neighbor. But publicly, East Timor has remained diplomatic and optimistic. The Timor Sea Treaty finally came into force on April 2, with Prime Minister Alkatiri saying that "as a temporary revenue-sharing arrangement, the treaty represents a good interim measure until maritime boundaries are agreed".

But it's in Australia's interests to delay a boundary agreement until the Timor Sea reserves have been drained. This way, Australia can continue to give millions in aid with one hand and take billions in oil with the other. Quinton Temby was a freelance correspondent for Deutsche Welle and Radio Australia during East Timor's first year of independence.

Justice & reconciliation

Timor Leste's Premier wants war crimes court

Associated Press - May 31, 2003

Dili -- Timor Leste's Prime Minister yesterday called for the establishment of an international tribunal in a neutral country to try Indonesian military officers for the bloodshed that swept the territory when it voted to break from Jakarta in 1999.

Mr Mari Alkatiri also criticised the trials of 18 senior Indonesian officials in Jakarta over their alleged roles in the violence, which left up to 2,000 people dead.

"I am not satisfied [with the Jakarta trials]," he told reporters after meeting with President Xanana Gusmao. "They are like a piece of theatre." The Jakarta trials, which followed intense international pressure on Indonesia to prosecute those responsible, have so far acquitted 12 suspects and convicted five, who got sentences from three to 10 years.

Mr Alkatiri's comments will likely cheer local and foreign rights activists, who have also criticised the Jakarta trials and called on Mr Gusmao to push for the prosecution of the Indonesian officials in an international war crimes tribunal.

Mr Alkatiri said there was "an obligation to establish an international tribunal in a neutral country to punish and bring to justice the perpetrators". He did not elaborate.

The Prime Minister said he and several ministers were travelling to Jakarta on June 10 and would discuss the issue of an international tribunal with President Megawati Sukarnoputri.

Indonesian troops and their militia proxies destroyed much of Timor Leste and killed up to 2,000 people before and after a UN- sponsored independence referendum in 1999.

Mr Gusmao had said that maintaining ties with Indonesia was more important than pursuing justice for those accused in the violence, which only stopped when international peacekeeping troops arrived in Timor Leste.

Prosecutors in the capital Dili are pursuing their own war crimes trials. They have indicted nearly 250 people, including the former chief of the Indonesian military, General Wiranto. Thirty people -- mostly former militiamen -- have been convicted.

Militias may escape justice over 1999 atrocities

Radio Australia - May 26, 2003

The UN Special Crimes Unit in East Timor has charged former militia commander, Joao Tavares, and four Indonesian TNI, or military, officers for atrocities in the territory before and after a UN sponsored vote for independence from Indonesia in August 1999. They are among 32 people, including 15 TNI soldiers, accused of murder, torture, persecution and other crimes. No arrests have been made and with all of those indicted living in Indonesia, there are serious doubts that they will ever face an East Timorese court.

Eric MacDonald, UN prosecutor in East Timor

MacDonald: It is significant because of the accused targetted by this indictment. You have first of all, the overall leader of all the militias in East Timor back in 1999, Joao Tavares that is charged, and also you have the Lieutenant Colonel Siagian, who is the commander of the TNI for the district of Bobonaro. You also have Lieutenant Sutrisno, who was the intelligence commander also for the district of Bobonaro that are charged. So these are basically big wigs are being accused with this indictment.

Lopresti: But none of these people are in East Timor, they're in Indonesia I presume?

MacDonald: Yes that's right.

Lopresti: How will they be arrested?

MacDonald: Right now the only way that we can arrest these people is once we have the arrest warrants if they come back to East Timor they will be arrested. Warrants will also be sent to Interpol so if they travel to other countries they can be arrested there and be extradited to East Timor eventually.

Lopresti: But if they stay in Indonesia they can escape arrest?

MacDonald: That's right.

Lopresti: So has this been a complete waste of time for the United Nations? Has it been a waste of energy?

MacDonald: I don't think so, you had atrocities committed back in 1999, you've had a whole country destabilised and you've had basically victims, because of their political views, killed. Now obviously the family members of these victims were affected by this and it's affected the whole country. And I think these indictments show that first of all the international community does not tolerate such crimes and number two, it might bring a sense of closure for the victims' families. Now we have East Timorese nationals coming back from West Timor almost every month and some of them do get arrested and are brought before the special panel to be tried.

Lopresti: But certainly the more significant people that you've indicted like Tavares, they're unlikely to return to East Timor would you not agree?

MacDonald: Well I don't know, I don't know, maybe, maybe not, we will see in the future what happens. But for sure if Mr Joao Tavares wants to come back to East Timor well eventually he will be arrested and hopefully brought before justice.

Lopresti: And what are the chances of Jakarta cooperating with the unit? I mean Indonesia has already refused to hand over any suspects previously indicted by the UN?

MacDonald: Obviously these are discussions that will be I guess between the government of East Timor and Indonesia and they will have to, I don't know, address this issue in the future.

Lopresti: If they never come to justice what do you think the implications are for East Timor?

MacDonald: Well the implications are that at least the international community did recognise that atrocities were committed to such an extent that some of them were crimes against humanity and we did do something about it. We have filed indictments and the international community recognises these as very serious offences.

UN indicts General Wiranto for crimes against humanity

Radio Australia - May 26, 2003

The United Nations Serious Crimes Unit has indicted General Wiranto, the former governor of East Timor, Abilio Soares and six other senior military officers, for murder and persecution in the lead-up to East Timor's independence in 1999. But with the Indonesian Government unlikely to hand any of the men over for trial, will justice ever be done?

Wirajuda: The court that deals with the past human rights abuses in East Timor is basically a national process. It's not at all an international tribunal. Yes they are assisted by the UN mission in East Timor, but they don't have international jurisdiction and for that matter legally they don't have the capacity to reach non-East Timorese.

Sabapathy: Indonesia's Foreign Minister, Hassan Wirajuda at a press conference in Kuala Lumpur effectively stating that Jakarta would ignore the UN indictment. This response is not unusual. Earlier indictments of some 170 people, including Indonesian troops and militiamen in the UN case of crimes against humanity did not materialise in trial with Jakarta refusing to handover the men. In fact so ineffective has been the UN serious crime unit in getting the perpetrators of murder and persecution to trial, that Asmara Nababan, the former secretary-general of the Human Rights Commission of Indonesia sees its indictments as mere gestures.

Nababan: This is a challenge actually and questioned by many human rights activities in Indonesia, as well as in East Timor how UN are able to materialise their indictments. It is a big question. People feel that special units crimes only give a political gesture, not really want to prosecute the case.

Sabapathy: The violence that followed East Timor's referendum on independence left some 1,000 people dead and another 20,000 forcibly deported to Indonesian West Timor. The UN Serious Crimes Unit maintains that the pro-Jakarta milita groups that waged a campaign of terror were funded, aided and abetted by the Indonesian armed forces or TNI.

UN prosecutor, Stuart Alford says as the then head of the TNI, General Wiranto has ultimate responsibility for the violence, but admits that that general may never go to trial.

Alford: I think we accept now that it's going to require something outside of East Timor from if I can say the wider international community to see any movements and any progress in bringing these men before a court.

Sabapathy: But in an international environment consumed by the uncertainty of a looming war over Iraq, what chance of it forcing the hand of Jakarta? Mr Nababan believes it's still up to the United Nations to push Indonesia to respect the UN court proceedings and he believes it's time for it to call upon the Security Council to set up an international court on East Timor.

Nababan: As far as I know, that the recommendation of internationals inquiry for East Timor set up by the general- secretary in '99, it's clearly recommended that the Security Council to establish international court for East Timor.

Sabapathy: And nothing has come out of that?

Nababan: Nothing has come out of that, but I think this is the moment for the general secretary to put that again in the Security Council agenda.

Rights court acquits general of Timor rights abuses

Agence France Presse - May 22, 2003

A state-appointed human rights court acquitted the former commander of Indonesian troops in East Timor of crimes against humanity in the territory in 1999, prompting protests by rights groups.

The "dignity and position of Brigadier General Tono Suratman should be restored to him" following the verdict, said Chief Judge Andi Samsan Nganro.

Suratman was the 11th member of the police or military to be acquitted over the savage military-backed militia violence against East Timorese independence supporters.

Suratman, a member of the Kopassus special forces, thanked the judges for "a fair trial." He encouraged soldiers, including those now mounting an assault against separatist rebels in Aceh province, never to hesitate in performing their duties.

Human rights groups have derided the court, which was set up to deflect pressure for an internationl tribunal into the bloodshed, as a sham.

Suratman was accused of having failed to prevent or control violence at a refugee-packed church in Liquica on April 6, 1999 and at a refugee-packed residence in Dili on April 17 that year. A total of 20 people were killed at Liquica while 12 died in the attack on the residence of pro-independence leader Manuel Carrascalao in Dili.

Judge Nganro said prosecutors had not proved that any members of the armed forces who were under Suratman's command were involved in the massacres. He said that victims who testified in court had contradicted each other over the identity of the soldiers they said had taken part.

The court has now acquitted 11 security force members and one civilian. Five people -- two army officers, a former Dili police chief, the former civilian governor and an ex-militia chief -- have been ordered jailed. All are free pending appeals. One general is still awaiting a verdict.

Munarman, who heads the Indonesia Legal Aid foundation, said the verdict was "not surprising." "The construction of the ad hoc rights court is clearly aimed at trapping the perpetrators at the scene, not those who gave the command," he said. Human rights activist Munir also said he was not surprised by the verdict on Suratman.

"The human rights trials, from the beginning, have only been the government's means to declare that high-ranking officials are immune from the law," he told AFP.

"Sure, they are being put on trial but they know from the beginning that in the end they will walk free and the civil servants and the East Timorese militia will be sacrificed."

Pro-Jakarta local militiamen organised by the Indonesian army waged a campaign of intimidation before East Timorese voted in August 1999 for independence, and a scorched-earth revenge campaign afterwards. At least 1,000 people are estimated to have died and whole towns were burnt to the ground.

Prosecutors in East Timor have separately indicted Suratman and numerous other Indonesian officers for crimes against humanity, but Jakarta refuses to hand any of them over.

Human rights/law

Amnesty says weak justice system in Timor undermined rights

Agence France Presse - May 28, 2003

London -- A weak judicial system in newly independent East Timor undermined human rights there last year, Amnesty International said Wednesday.

The London-based rights watchdog, in its report on 2002, said the new country inherited an incomplete institutional and legal framework which could not fully protect human rights.

"The rights of victims and suspects, including children, were undermined by the weak justice system and the police used excessive force in response to public disturbances," Amnesty said.

Police opened fire during riots last December 4 in Dili. Two people were killed during the unrest.

Amnesty said delays and inconsistencies in the administration of justice contributed to security problems in prisons and there was "continued reliance on non-official justice mechanisms."

It said women and other vulnerable groups were at particular risk of discrimination in this system.

Amnesty said flaws in the judicial system meant children were detained, often for minor offences, for months before trial.

Foreign Minister Jose Ramos-Horta has admitted that the judiciary is the weakest institution in the poverty-stricken nation, which became independent in May 2002.

Economy & investment

Businessman in Dili jail despite legal win

Melbourne Age - May 31, 2003

Jill Jolliffe, Dili -- A Chinese-Malaysian businessman who won a case of illegal arrest against East Timorese police has been re- arrested and jailed within 24 hours of the court decision.

The case of Wong Kee Jin, a scrap merchant who has worked in Dili since 2001, won national attention after Prime Minister Mari Alkatiri went to his scrapyard on February 19 and ordered his arrest.

No warrant was issued, and United Nations police later ordered East Timorese officers to free him for lack of evidence. The Government has since closed his business.

On Thursday judge Carmelita Moniz upheld Wong's claim of illegal arrest. He testified that he had been kicked by one of the Prime Minister's bodyguards, who called him "monkey". His court victory opened the way for a civil action against the police and the bodyguard.

He was re-arrested at dawn yesterday on charges of illegal export of scrap metal. About 12 police dragged him from his bedroom in a Dili hotel in handcuffs.

Prosecutor Longuinhos Monteiro said he was aware UN legal officers had met several times over the case. "Why should they treat Wong as a special case?" he asked, "the UN is here to support the East Timorese, not bandits. I will make sure that this guy faces justice in this country." He said investigators had strong evidence against Wong, but that his company should not have been closed down.

Wong was being held in a grubby three-metre-square cell shared with three Timorese youths. He showed The Age welts on his wrists from the handcuffs. "There is no evidence against me," he said. He will spend the weekend in jail after lawyer Benevides Correia Barros lost a bid for an early court hearing.

Opposition parties have said the case is an abuse of power. There have been allegations that rival commercial interests are behind Wong's troubles.

The Dili business registry shows that Scrap Metal, a rival company headed by Jose Galucho, was registered in January. It is reportedly linked to the pro-Government Veterans Association.

Before Wong's first arrest, Industry Minister Cesar Moreira had written to the company granting it an exclusive franchise to salvage scrap metal, although Timorese law forbids monopolies.

Dili case exposes jitters among investors

Melbourne Age - May 28, 2003

Jill Jolliffe, Dili -- A court case in which a bodyguard of East Timorese Prime Minister Mari Alkatiri is said to have kicked a Chinese-Malaysian businessman, calling him a monkey, is being closely watched by foreign investors.

Wong Kee Jin testified in a Dili court on Monday that the incident occurred in the presence of Mr Alkatiri, who then had him arrested without a warrant.

The Government denies the allegations, but the case has gripped the nation. Mr Wong is claiming wrongful arrest and opposition parties have raised the case in Parliament. A verdict will be handed down tomorrow.

Mr Wong's Singapore-based WGS Metal Enterprise company was granted a UN franchise in 2001 to collect its metal and plastic waste until September 2003.

He alleged that two men came to his scrapyard on April 19 in a car without a number plate. They refused to show identification, but one said he was a Government minister. An argument followed, during which the same man, Deputy Commerce Minister Arlindo Rangel, phoned Mr Alkatiri, who arrived with his bodyguards and allegedly said: "Don't you know who I am? I'm the Prime Minister and can have you expelled".

Australian hotelier Danny Lee witnessed the scene and told the court that a bodyguard kicked Mr Wong, shouting "stand up straight, monkey, and show respect for my boss, monkey".

Mr Alkatiri then called police to arrest Mr Wong, who said he was roughly handled and handcuffed. A UN police officer intervened at Dili police station, freeing him for lack of evidence. The Government has since closed his business.

In an interview with The Age, Mr Rangel contested Mr Wong's testimony. "It was the other way round," he said. "He was very aggressive." The incident came as foreign investors are experiencing increased difficulties with the Government. Mr Lee said he was thinking of closing his hotel. "We feel very insecure", he said.

Local media monitoring

East Timor local media monitoring

UMISET - May 19-30, 2003

Suara Timor Lorosae reported that Prime Minister Mari Alkatiri said that the United Nations is obliged to set up an International Tribunal for crimes against humanity, not the Government nor the people of Timor-Leste. According to Mr Alkatiri the international community and the United Nations must do something to deliver justice to those responsible for gross human right abuses committed during 24 years of Indonesian rule. Mr Alkatiri said that if the Government or the people of Timor- Leste take action, it might create a negative impact on bilateral relations between Timor-Leste and Indonesia. The Prime Minister told the press this after the meeting with President Xanana Gusmao, yesterday at Palacio das Cinzas.

The first Ambassador to Australia, Mr Jorge da Conceicao Teme, gave his credentials to the Australian Governor General, Sir Gai Clin, yesterday in Canberra. Interviewed by phone, Mr Teme explained that he spent 20 minutes of formal discussions with the Governor General. The Governor General reiterated Australia's assistance to Timor-Leste in various sectors, including the education sector.

The Attorney General, Mr Longuinhos Monteiro told the press that the Atabae incident was organized by a certain group within the country. According to Mr Monteiro his conclusion was based on interrogations carried out by his office on six suspects detained in Atambua. Mr Monteiro also said that his office will continue to investigate the involvement of the "certain groups" mentioned by the suspects. (The Atabae incident occurred on February 24, 2003 in the Sub-District of Atabae. One bus passenger and a dump truck were assaulted by an armed gang. The incident caused several injuries and deaths).

President Xanana Gusmao delivered a speech on the occasion of the Day of International Peacekeepers yesterday at Palacio das Cinzas. President Xanana said that last September, Timor-Leste became the 191st member of the United Nations and took its place at the General Assembly. He said with this membership comes heavy responsibilities including the right to vote on important issues affecting the world today. He said even though Timor-Leste is a tiny nation and as yet is still the youngest member of the United Nations family, its is already in a small and humble way making a contribution to peacekeeping missions elsewhere, such as in the Congo. President Xanana hopes that one day Timor-Leste will contribute more fully to ensure that peace is secured not only in our region, but throughout the world. The Timor Post reported that the UN Police Commander, Mr Peter Miller, yesterday finshed his role in Timor-Leste. The Timor-Leste National Police Commander, Mr Paulo de Fatima Martins, in his farewell speech said that Mr Miller had given a great contribution in his 18 months mission to the development of the Timor-Leste's Police institution.

President Xanana Gusmao spoke during the occasion of the Day of International Peacekeepers yesterday at Palacio das Cinzas saying that Timor-Leste join with the rest of the world to pay tribute to all UN Peacekeepers for their service in the protection and promotion of peace. He said Timor-Leste had had the privilege of being assisted by peacekeeping missions.

Timor Post also covered the same story as described in STL about Prime Minister Mari Alkatiri's comments on the set up of an International Tribunal to try the 1999 crimes against humanity in Timor-Leste.

In a badly translated piece the Timor Post reported Kofi Annan's speech on the occasion of the Day of International Peacekeepers as saying that the International Peacekeeping mission "delivers time" and "means to end a conflict because it gives peace chance".

May 29, 2003

Suara Timor Lorosae reported that the Minister for Interior Affairs, Mr Rogerio Lobato, said that the Border Police will increase its surveillance of the border between Timor-Leste and Indonesia. Mr Lobato took this decision after he received reports about an increasing number of robberies of Timor-Leste's livestock and sandal wood by its neighbor West Timor.

Vice-Minister for Development and Environment, Mr Abel Ximenes, told the press on Tuesday that UNDP will disburse the RESPECT (Recovery Stability for Ex-Combatants and Community in East Timor) fund of $100,000 for each district in order to boost the rural economy, mainly to support those under the poverty line in remote areas. The amount cited above will be given according to proposals submitted by the community and the feasibility of the proposals.

The Deputy Coordinator of the Veterans and former Combatants Commission (CAVF_CAAC), Mr Andre da Costa Belo, met with the Speaker of the Parliament, Mr Francisco Guterres Lu-Olo, at the Parliament building to present information about the Commission's work. Mr Belo also asked the former combatants and veterans now in high positions in the Government, Parliament and other Institutions to complete the assessment forms provided by the CAVF-CAAC Commission. In response Mr Lu-Olo suggest that it would be easier for the Commission to carry out their task if the Commission could decide on a time for all the high ranking officials to complete the assessment forms simultaneously.

The Director of the Dili National Hospital, Mr Antonio Caleres Junior, said that he has received information from the Department of Health that a SARS (Severe Acute Respiratory Syndrome) carrier arrived from Bali yesterday at Nicolao Lobato's International airport. Mr Junior did not disclose the suspected SARS carrier's identity.

The Secretary of State for the Council of Ministers Affairs, Mr Gregorio de Sousa, told the press yesterday that the Council of Ministers has agreed to pass the Draft Bill for Investment. The Bill was proposed by the Minister of Economy, Development and Environment, Mr Mari Alkatiri yesterday during the regular meeting. According to Mr Sousa the Bill will be submitted to the Parliament for approval. (STL did not go into details about the contents of the Bill).

The Timor Post reported that representatives of over 90 American religious groups have called on the United States Government to support the creation of an international court to try the perpetrators of violence in Timor-Leste. The issue of the International War Crimes Court has been raised in response to the Indonesian ad-hoc court for Timor-Leste, labeled by many as a "sham". They urged the United States to actively work with its UN Security Council partners to approve a resolution creating an international court for Timor-Leste.

The Draft Bill for Investment was finalized by the Council of Ministers as reported in STL.

The Speaker of the Parliament, Mr Francisco Guterres Lu-Olo, registered as a member of the Veterans and former Combatants Association as described in STL.

The Chairman of the Commission for Internal Security and Foreign Affairs in the Parliament, Mr Jose Manuel Fernandes, told Timor Post that the creation of a new special police force is on the Government planning agenda. According to Mr Fernandes, there needs to be a consensus regarding the definition of the special police force's role.

May 26, 2003

Suara Timor Lorosae reported that President Xanana Gusmao said that the decentralization of government should start from the bottom (local power for example sucos, aldeias) as stipulated in the Constitution. He said, however, that what is actually happening is centralised governance with a tendency to diminish the local power. President Xanana Gusmao said this on Saturday, in a workshop with the topic "Local Power". The workshop was undertaken with the President's initiative to consult the people in 13 districts regarding local empowerment.

The Speaker of the National Parliament, Mr Francisco Guterres Lu-Olo told the press on Saturday at the National Dialogue that the National Dialogue Commission's input is highly appreciated by both the Parliament and the Government. According to Mr Lu-Olo, the community aspirations collected by the Commission in 13 districts will be considered and reflected in the Draft Law for the local governance.

The United Nations Secretary General Kofi Annan has named the High Commissioner for Human Rights, Mr Sergio Vieira de Mello, as his special representative for Iraq. The choice clears the way for the world body to begin fleshing out its role in Iraq's reconstruction. Mr Annan announced his choice of the veteran UN diplomat for the newly created post in a letter to the UN Security Council.

An AP report by Michael Casey in the STL English column reports: "Poverty, economy trouble East Timor". Mr Casey describes Timor- Leste's situation before and after independence. He interviewed a variety of people including diplomats, the business sector and ordinary people. The article covers a range of issues from militia at the border to the Judicial System, the Timor Telecom, and the country's economy, etc.

The Timor Post reported that President Xanana Gusmao said that the situation during the struggle for independence is very different to the situation today. He said: "Now people want to work with a full stomach" In response to the community demand to form Timor-Leste into 3 or 4 regions, the Minister for State Administration, Mrs Ana Pessoa, said that community demand can not fulfiled because it would need a lot of money and qualified human resources to carry this out. Both, President Xanana Gusmao and Minister Ana Pessoa made their comments during Saturday's Workshop on "Local Power" held by the National Dialogue Commission.

President Xanana Gusmao told in the workshop that the CPD-RDTL has no rights to claim the 1975 Constitution be restored because the proclaimers of the 1975 Independence are still alive and the 1975 Constitution is not appropriate for 2002. This statement was made by the President in response to the CPD-RDTL objections regarding this second national dialogue. (The first national dialogue talked about the CPD-RDTL claims for the restoration of the 1975 Constitution).

May 23, 2003

Suara Timor Lorosae reported that the Government's General Inspector, Mr Mariano Lopes da Cruz, yesterday met with Prime Minister Mari Alkatiri to report on inspections currently being carried out by his auditing department. Mr. Cruz said inspections had begun in the Customs Service and at the Commission of Reception, Truth and Reconciliation. Mr. Cruz told reporters that his meeting with the Prime Minister was routine, aimed at up dating the Prime Minister and seeking guidance.

President Xanana Gusmao appealed the international community to assist East Timorese refugees in West Timor. Since the refugees' status was lifted by the Indonesian Government, most of the East Timorese refugees have been living in bad conditions in their camps. According to President Xanana, he fears that the international community may be unwilling to assist because of militia presence in the camps.

On Thursday, the Central Jakarta District Court acquitted Brig. Gen. Tono Suratman, a former military commander in East Timor, of crimes against humanity in the territory in 1999. News agencies reported. Presiding judge Andi Samsan Nganro said the "dignity and position of Brig. Gen. Tono Suratman should be restored to him". In a previous hearing, prosecutor Gabriel Simangunsong demanded a sentence of 10 years imprisonment for the former commander of the Dili military resort Wira Dharma 164.

Bishop Belo has again voiced concern about the increasing of the use of Indonesian language among the youth. He said that Timor- Leste has decided to adopt Portuguese and Tetum as its official and national language, however the youth tends to use Indonesian language rather than Portuguese. He urged the Portuguese Government to launch a Portuguese language campaign. Only 10% of the population of 950,000 speak Portuguese. Tetum, one of the sixteen main dialects spoken in the country, is the other official language of the nation.

At a workshop at Hotel Timor yesterday, the Deputy of UNMISET, Sukehiro Hasegawa, had said that he hopes that all vulnerable communities will have the access to clean water. Mr Hasegawa predicted that in the year 2015, all households will have the access to clean water. He said the access to clean water will automatically improve their living standards. (STL did not mention the topic of the workshop).

Timor Post reported that the opposition parties proposed a resolution to the Parliament to recognize Mr Francisco Xavier do Amaral as the first President. However the ruling party through its Faction Speaker, Mr Francisco Branco, rejected the Opposition's resolution and said "let the history speak out, not politicians". The National Parliament made its objection clear when the result of a plenary voting session was 38 in favor, 7 objections and 11 abstain. As a result of this vote the Opposition Parties' resolution did not pass.

The Timor-Leste's Police Commander, Mr Paulo de Fatima Martins, told Timor Post yesterday at his office that foreign passport holders are not allowed to take part in any political activity in this country. Mr Martins said that he had already given the order to Immigration Police to identify those persons involved in the demonstration during the Independence Day.

Prime Minister Mari Alkatiri held a emergency meeting with the former Indonesian civil servants yesterday at his office. During the meeting the Prime Minister said that the Government will not take any decision regarding the former Indonesian civil servants severance pay. According to Mr Alkatiri the Indonesian Government and the United Nations must take responsibility regarding this matter.

May 21, 2003

The Timor Post reported that President Xanana Gusmao acknowledged that development in the country is happening slowly. He said that after three years it is time to sit together to redefine priorities to reduce poverty. President Xanana Gusmao said this yesterday during the celebration of the Independence Day at Government Palace.

During the commemoration of the Independence Day and the 29th anniversary of Fretilin yesterday, the Secretary General of Fretilin, Mr Mari Alkatiri said that the proclamation of independence is once and forever. He explained by saying that the proclamation of independence was done on November 28, 1975, therefore the May 20, 2002 was the restoration of independence already proclaimed.

The Speaker of the National Parliament, Mr Lu-Olo, said that Timor-Leste has made a slow but sure progress towards its bright future. He acknowledged the challenges facing his country but he feel confident that Timor-Leste will get the benefit of its efforts in future.

During the commemoration of Timor-Leste first anniversary yesterday, there was a demonstration carried out by Aceh Independence Movement activists and Timor-Leste pro Aceh Independence activists at Government Palace. Demonstrators carried banners and one banner said: "Where is your promise President Megawati? Neither a drop will fall in Aceh, if I become President of Indonesia". This banner reflected the promise that Megawati made during her run for the presidency. The demonstration began when President Xanana Gusmao and other distinguished guests left the venue. In response to the demonstration, Prime Minister Mari Alkatiri said "I think the Aceh issue must be solved within an Indonesian context."The Prime Minister was then quoted in the article as saying that he did not think that the world recognized Indonesia's unity. He said the Timor-Leste issue was quite different, because East Timor was never a part of the Dutch colonies. He said the conflict in Aceh should be settled in a peaceful way, not a military operation.

Suara Timor Lorosae reported that Timor-Leste National Police guardsblocked entry to the parade ground in front of the government Palace of former combatants.This meant they could not take part in the ceremony. The former combatants urged police to give them access, however it was not possible due to security reasons, said Mr. Ruben B. Carvalho, a member of the Government's Independence Day organizing committee.

STL also reported on the demonstration carried out by the Aceh Independence Move'ment activists in front of the Government Palace during yesterday's commemoration.

The President of the Timorese Nationalist Party, Mr Abilio Araujo and his sister Mrs Alianca de Araujo, a member of the Parliament from TNP, were taken to the court by Poy Cholor Company (an entertainment company). Mr Abilio and his sister Alianca were accused of business fraud. According to the lawyers representing Poy Cholor, Mr Abilio had a liquor and beverage import business deal with Poy Cholor. The lawyers claimed that a problem arose when Mr Abilio failed to delivered goods for which he had been paid. STL also reported on the commemoration of the Fretilin's 29th anniversary at their office in Comoro.

May 19, 2003

In an exclusive interview with Suara Timor Lorosae, President Xanana Gusmao said that there are a lot of priorities on the agenda, but there is a need to emphasize the economy. He said that community products have to have an access to the local market in order to obtain cash money to improve their life. According to the President, to some extent we have a number of laws and regulations published electronically, unfortunately the illiterate people in the rural areas really don't know about that. He said that the Parliament should be taking the initiative to draw up new laws. Instead he said that all draft regulations come from the Government and the legislators in the Parliament are simply waiting to put up their hands to vote.The President also said that the judiciary system has already been established, however, is not yet performing well. Mr. Xanana Gusmao appealed to the Judges to put the national interest above their personal interest in serving this country.

The Executive Director of the East Timor Study Group, Mr. Joao Mariano Saldanha, said that one year after independence, the Government of Timor-Leste is trying to stem the downturn in economic growth. He said it was negative 2% last year and is expected to shrink to approximately negative 2.5% this year . Mr. Saldanha posed the question: Why, when there has been $2,3 billion in donors' aid between fiscal years of 1999 and 2003, why did this not off-set the negative economic growth.

Under a misleading headline that said "The World Bank has limited the Government's movements", there is an interview with Mario Carrascalao. Mr Carrascalao said that the World Bank was the coordinator of the donors assistance fund, but the Government was responsible for its own programmes. Mr Carrascalao criticized the Government for the lack of transparance and accountability.

President Xanana Gusmao told Timor Post in an exclusive interview that Timor-Leste's Political Party leaders must be conscientious and mature in their behavior, especially when making comments in the media. According to the President the political party leaders are the ones that the people need to rely upon to serve the nation.

The Secretary General of the Democratic Party, Mr Mariano Sabino said that this year's independence commemoration will have an atmosphere of greater freedom now that we are an independent and democratic nation. In an exclusive interview Mr Sabino reminisced about the past when the young generation sought political asylum at embassies in Jakarta and held demonstrations calling for independence.

Six ladies have fled home from starvation. The six ladies from the Taiboko's Village, Sub-District of Pante Makasar, District of Oecusse now are struggling for their survival in Dili. They are looking for assistance at the Commission for Reception, Truth and Reconciliation office in Balide.

Book/film reviews

Timor's freedom worth waiting for

Illawarra Mercury (Australia) - May 23, 2003

Chantal Rumble -- As East Timor celebrates its first year of independence, Batemans Bay human rights campaigner James Dunn has launched a book about the country's extraordinary road to freedom.

East Timor: A Rough Passage to Independence, was launched by NSW Premier Bob Carr in NSW Parliament House last night.

The extraordinary book tells the story of political intrigue and the secret deals which shaped the country for so many years, and the dedicated individuals, governments and international bodies who eventually freed the tiny nation from 450 years of foreign rule.

Mr Dunn, a regular Mercury columnist, is one of Australia's leading human rights campaigners and has lobbied for East Timor since he was a consul there 40 years ago. "It's always been a matter of conscience to write about Timor, " he said. "I know the awful consequences of war better than most people."

Last year, when East Timor at last stepped free of colonial rule, Mr Dunn was there beside the country's president, Xanana Gusmao. He was also introduced to Bill Clinton, but he said that was "no big deal". "To me it was walking among the people. It was happening and they were so excited. It brought tears to my eyes again and again," he said.

He witnessed the atrocities of the Indonesian invasion and lost many close friends in the bloodshed. He has seen individuals and governments lie, break promises, and betray the East Timorese people. But the hardship has only strengthened Mr Dunn's resolve to change things.

"One of the big lessons of the Timor situation [is that] you should never give up hope because something can really happen in the end. The end may take a long time but it's worthwhile waiting for," he said.