EAST TIMOR: The meaning of reconciliation
DILI — On July 19, an Indonesian investigation team arrived here to interview witnesses to the worst atrocities that took place from April to September last year. These include the Liquica massacre in April, the massacre of refugees and two priests at the Suai Catholic Church, the invasion and burning of Bishop Carlos Belo's residence, the murder of refugees in resistance leader Manuel Carrascalao's Dili house and the murder of Dutch journalist Sander Thoenes in September in Dili's Becora area.
The interviews are related to the cases being prosecuted by the attorney-general's office in Jakarta against Â鶹´«Ã½ of the Indonesian military.
The Liquica area, an hour's drive west of Dili, used to be a popular tourist spot. In April, Liquica made headlines around the world after the slaughter of refugees sheltering in Father Rafael's house by the Besi Merah Putih militia. The bodies were disposed of in Lagua, a lagoon in Maubara, half an hour's drive west of Liquica.
There is a lot of talk in East Timor about reconciliation. But places like Liquica, Lagua and the cavernous ruins in Dili and other towns are stark reminders of what was allowed to occur here.
Before the August referendum, there was no shortage of media coverage of the militia's threats to carry out a scorched earth policy in East Timor. Yet the May 5 agreement signed in New York left security in the hands of the Indonesian security forces, despite evidence of its cooperation with the pro-integration militias.
The capitalist powers who control the United Nations did nothing until a mass movement around the world made it an unsustainable position. The posters distributed by the UN, pledging to stay after the ballot, proved to be lies. Its officials were evacuated to Australia.
The people of East Timor are now being preached to by religious and political leaders to forgive those who participated in the attacks upon them and to reconcile with them. They are advised by highly paid trainers and consultants on how to "manage" anger and recognise the signs of trauma in themselves.
The destruction of East Timor was immense. Some political leaders, even from the radical spectrum of politics here, argue that it would be unrealistic to put those responsible for war crimes on trial, because Australia, the US and other countries which supported Indonesia would also have to be put on trial.
In early July, a team arrived from Indonesia to list Indonesian assets left behind, such as the airport and the Hotel Mahkota (now a burnt out shell). The people's response to the team's visit, reported in the Timor Post, was hostile.
To ask a people to forgive and forget after such immense destruction is to ask a great deal. Yet, visits by militia leaders, notably Eurico Guterres, are hosted by the UN transitional administration and suspected murderers involved in the violence last September still have not been tried in the East Timorese justice system.
Violent beatings and other attacks upon returning pro-autonomy supporters show the anger and resentment of a people whose lives have been tragically altered by last September's events. A man and his son, accused of being pro-autonomy supporters, were hospitalised last month in Same after a severe beating. A returning militia member was seriously injured in April when a crowd wielding machetes attacked him in the Pantai Kelapa area of western Dili.
This sort of rough justice will continue if the East Timorese people's anger is not channelled into a politically organised campaign to demand an international trial of Indonesian generals and the top echelons of the militias.
There is an Indonesian troop build-up in West Papua and the creation of militias similar to those in East Timor, and there is evidence of Indonesian military involvement in attacks on Christians in Ambon. In this light, the regional and international impact of campaign to try the Indonesian war criminals and their backers can help prevent the experience of East Timor being repeated.
COMMENT BY VANJA TANAJA