TIMMAS21 93-04.DOC - East Timor Action Network/U.S.

Documents on East Timor from 

PeaceNet and Connected Computer Networks 

Volume 21: February 15 – April 10, 1993 

Published by: 

East Timor Action Network / U.S. 

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TABLE OF CONTENTS 

XANANA GUSMÃO’S TRIAL CONTINUES ...................................................................................................... 6 

PORTUGUESE PARLIAMEN T: TRIAL IS ILLEGAL..............................................................................................6 

XANANA LAWYER COURT STATEMENT...........................................................................................................6 

XANANA REKINDLES EXPECTATION OVER HIS TRIAL IN DILI .......................................................................7 

XANANA’S LAWYER USES ALATAS’S ARGUMENT............................................................................................8 

RAMOS HORTA AGREES TO TESTIFY .............................................................................................................9 

INDONESIAN UN MISSION CHIEF MEETS XANANA .....................................................................................10 

FOUR WITNESSES HEARD AT XANANA TRIAL ON FEB. 15 ............................................................................10 

XANANA’S LAWYER UNDER PRESSURE........................................................................................................10 

GUSMÃO ADMITS ‘DEATH’ EVIDENCE..........................................................................................................11 

XANANA CONFOUNDS HIS LAWYER ............................................................................................................11 

AUSTRALIAN CASH SENT TO FRETILIN: WITNESS........................................................................................12 

FORMER REBEL NOW “INDONESIAN CITIZEN”............................................................................................12 

XANANA: A LEADER WHO DOES NOT APPEAR BEATEN ................................................................................12 

FRETILIN ‘GOT AID FROM AUSTRALIA’ ........................................................................................................14 

MATE-BIAN NEWS COMMENTS ON COVERAGE OF XANANA TRIAL ..............................................................14 

XANANA: THE TRIAL OF JUSTICE.................................................................................................................15 

RETICENT WITNESSES.................................................................................................................................16 

TRIAL RESUMES TODAY...............................................................................................................................16

Page 2 East Timor Documents, Volume 21. February 15 - April 10, 1993. 

SATURNINO DA COSTA BELO BRAVELY CRIES OUT .....................................................................................17 

SOS RE: SATURNINO’S CONDITION ............................................................................................................18 

BACKGROUND ON SATURNINO...................................................................................................................18 

SATURNINO’S ‘TESTIMONY’ USED IN COURT...............................................................................................20 

NOTHING DELIBERATE ABOUT DELAY IN TRIAL ..........................................................................................20 

XANANA TRIAL DRAGS ON ..........................................................................................................................20 

DEFENCE WITNESSES HEARD .....................................................................................................................21 

EVENTS INSIDE EAST TIMOR.................................................................................................................... 21 

WHO’S WHO IN THE RESISTANCE...............................................................................................................21 

CNRM CHRISTMAS MESSAGE......................................................................................................................21 

STATE OF WAR: A DIARY..............................................................................................................................22 

FIGHTING AND ARRESTS IN FIVE MUNICIPALITIES.....................................................................................26 

ALIAS CORTHE.............................................................................................................................................26 

VIDEO OF XANANA CIRCULATES AROUND TIMORESE SCHOOLS ................................................................27 

THE OLD MISSIONARY’S MONOLOGUE .......................................................................................................27 

BELO: TIMOR LIKE THE AZORES, MADEIRA, PUERTO RICO .........................................................................27 

EAST TIMOR PADDY FIELDS NEGLECTED ....................................................................................................29 

AROUND THE TRIAL.....................................................................................................................................30 

SIX TIMORESE REBELS SURRENDER WITH BOWS AND ARROWS................................................................30 

RESISTANCE LEADERS ANSWER QUESTIONS..............................................................................................30 

MA’HUNU VOWS TO CONTINUE THE STRUGGLE..........................................................................................32 

NEW BAR ON EAST TIMORESE GOING OVERSEAS? .....................................................................................33 

LIKE IT OR QUIT TIMOR, GOVERNOR TELLS PRIESTS..................................................................................33 

AUSTRALIAN INVESTS IN DILI GARMENT BUSINESS ...................................................................................34 

EAST TIMOR’S CATHOLIC PRIEST AGAIN DENOUNCES ABUSES ..................................................................34 

RESISTANCE GROUP DEN OUNCES INDONESIAN ATROCITIES ....................................................................34 

PROPAGATION OF ISLAM IN DILI ...............................................................................................................35 

INDONESIA TO CHANGE MILITARY ROLE IN EAST TIMOR...........................................................................35 

MILITARY REDUCTION IN EAST TIMOR?......................................................................................................35 

TIMORESE REBEL SURRENDERS TO INDONESIAN MILITARY ......................................................................35 

FOUR INDONESIAN SOLDIERS KILLED BY “FRETILIN” (BBC) .......................................................................36 

EDI: TROOPS KILLED WON’T DELAY WITHDRAWAL.....................................................................................36 

CNRM COMMUNIQUÉ ON XANANA, OSORIO...............................................................................................37 

MORE INDONESIAN DEATHS IN TIMOR ......................................................................................................37 

NEW TORTURE CHARGED AGAINST INDONESIA .........................................................................................37 

SYAFEI BECOMES UDAYANA COMMANDER..................................................................................................38 

DEMONSTRATION PLANNED IN DILI? .........................................................................................................38 

YOUNG PEOPLE DEMONSTRATE IN DILI .....................................................................................................38 

ARMY CHANGES IN TIMOR..........................................................................................................................38 

MA’HUNU CAPTURED................................................................................................................................. 39 

QUESTIONS SURROUND MA’HUNU CAPTURE..............................................................................................39 

ACTION ALERT TO PREVENT MA HUNU TORTURE........................................................................................39 

STATEMENT BY JOSE RAMOS-HORTA ..........................................................................................................40 

FURTHER EXCERPTS FROM WIRES ON EAST TIMOR DEVELOPMENTS:........................................................40 

REACTIONS TO MA HUNU CAPTURE ............................................................................................................40 

HARSH BLOW TO THE RESISTANCE.............................................................................................................41 

MA’HUNU CAPTURED IN BATTLE..................................................................................................................41 

MORE WEAPONS FLOW TO INDONESIA.................................................................................................... 42 

PORTUGAL PROTESTS LONDON-JAKARTA MILITARY PLANES DEAL.............................................................42

East Timor Documents, Volume 21. February 15 - April 10, 1993. Page 3 

SOUTHEAST ASIAN NAVIES GROWING BIGGER...........................................................................................42 

INDONESIA NO THREAT TO ITS NEIGHBORS ..............................................................................................42 

PORTUGAL PROTESTS AT GERMAN ARMS SALE ...........................................................................................43 

GERMANY SELLS WAR SHIPS TO INDONESIA..............................................................................................43 

KOHL IN TOKYO CHASTISED FOR ARMS SALE.............................................................................................43 

NGOS PROTEST WARSHIP DEAL TO KOHL...................................................................................................44 

PERPETRATORS OF VIOLENCE ARE UNLIKELY CHAMPIONS OF PEACE .......................................................44 

DEMONSTRATION AT BRITISH AEROSPACE................................................................................................45 

GERMAN EMBASSY REPLIES TO CANADA ....................................................................................................45 

PROSPECTS FOR MORE HAWK SALES FROM BAE ........................................................................................45 

SUHARTO “RE-ELECTED”, TRY IS NEW V.P............................................................................................. 46 

PETITION SUPPORT SWELLS FOR SUHARTO ................................................................................................46 

ENVOY AT UN TOLD TO CAMPAIGN FOR TIMOR ACCEPTANCE ....................................................................46 

GEN. TRY KEEPS MUM ABOUT ACCEPTING V-P NOMINATION .....................................................................46 

SUDRADJAT LOCALLY TRAINED...................................................................................................................47 

NEW ABRI CHIEF A TIMOR VETERAN ...........................................................................................................47 

STUDENTS DETAINED FOR DEMO ..............................................................................................................47 

STUDENTS ARRESTED AS SUHARTO ACCEPTS TRY......................................................................................47 

SUHARTO STILL SILENT ON VICE-PRESIDENT.............................................................................................48 

TRY SUTRISNO IS TRUSTED SUHARTO MAN, DEVOUT MUSLIM ..................................................................48 

THE END GAME FOR INDONESIA’S SUHARTO .............................................................................................48 

SUHARTO ANNOUNCES NEW CABINET.......................................................................................................50 

PROFILES OF KEY MEN IN NEW SUHARTO CABI NET ...................................................................................51 

ABRI REASSERTS SELF.................................................................................................................................51 

SUHARTO EXCLUDES ARMY FROM CABINET................................................................................................52 

SUHARTO TO ATTEND G7 SUMMIT? ............................................................................................................52 

INDONESIA’S NEW AMBASSADOR TO INDIA ...............................................................................................53 

HUMAN RIGHTS: BACKGROUND PAPERS.................................................................................................. 54 

INDONESIA/EAST TIMOR A NEW ORDER? HUMAN RIGHTS IN 1992 (AI)......................................................54 

THE HUMAN RIGHTS CRISIS IN EAST TIMOR: REGIONAL AND GLOBAL PERSPECTIVES..............................56 

BACKGROUND TO THE CURRENT HUMAN RIGHTS SITUATION (FROM CANADA) .........................................59 

INDONESIA’S JUSTICE SYSTEM VIOLATES BASIC RIGHTS ...........................................................................62 

PRISONERS FACE TORTURE, SAYS HUMAN RIGHTS GROUP........................................................................62 

HUMAN RIGHTS LAW BODY RECEIVES AWARD ...........................................................................................63 

UN HUMAN RIGHTS COMMISSION PASSES STRONG RESOLUTION .......................................................... 64 

THE JAKARTA REGIME AND ITS GENEVA COMMITMENTS............................................................................64 

EAST TIMOR REBEL LEADER PLEADS FOR U.N. SUPPORT............................................................................64 

URGE YOUR GOVERNMENT TO SUPPORT EAST TIMOR AT THE UN HUMAN RIGHTS COMMISSION .............64 

CLOSED EYES ON EAST TIMOR...................................................................................................................65 

UNHRC STATEMENT OF CONSTANCIO PINTO ..............................................................................................66 

UNHRC STATEMENT BY ABE BARRETO SOARES ...........................................................................................67 

CNRM UPDATE.............................................................................................................................................67 

INDONESIA SUFFERS HUMILIATING DEFEAT AT UN ....................................................................................68 

AUSTRALIA’S UN VOTE ‘A SURPRISE’ ..........................................................................................................69 

UN SLAMS DILI KILLERS’ JAIL TERMS ........................................................................................................69 

U.N. CRITICIZES INDONESIA ABOUT EAST TIMOR.......................................................................................69 

INDONESIA REJECTS UNHRC RESOLUTION ON ET .....................................................................................70 

INDONESIA, DESERVEDLY REBUKED ..........................................................................................................71 

ACTION ALERT ON INDONESIAN RESPONSE TO UNHRC RESOLUTION .......................................................71


INDONESIA LOSES GEN EVA VOTE..............................................................................................................73 

SELECTIVE FOCUS ON HUMAN RIGHTS CRITICISED ...................................................................................73 

UN ROUND-UP OF UNHRC SESSION ..........................................................................................................76 

EUROPEAN POSITIONS AT UNHRC .............................................................................................................76 

U.S. CONCERN OVER EAST TIMOR MAY SIGNAL ASIAN POLICY CHANGE ...................................................76 

SOME TIMORESE BEING GROOMED FOR INDONESIA.................................................................................77 

INDONESIA ASKS NON-ALIGNED COUNTRIES TO SUPPORT REPRESSION .................................................77 

CHAIRMAN OF COMMISSION ON HUMAN RIGHTS ANNOUNCES SEVEN SPECIAL RAPPORTEURS..............78 

TIMOR CONTROVERSY AT BANGKOK HUMAN RIGHTS MEETING ............................................................ 78 

ROW OVER NGO ACCREDITATION...............................................................................................................78 

GROUPS PLEDGE TO BOOST EAST TIMOR FIGHT.........................................................................................78 

HUMAN RIGHTS MEETING IN BANGKOK - IS IT A SHAM?............................................................................79 

HUMAN RIGHTS VALUES – EASTERN, WESTERN OR UNIVERSAL?................................................................79 

NGOS BANNED FROM ASIAN MEETING......................................................................................................80 

NEED FOR REGIONAL HUMAN RIGHTS MECHANISM STRESSED ................................................................81 

HUMAN RIGHTS: INDONESIA HITS BACK AT CRITICS .................................................................................81 

ASSISTANT S-G FOR HUMAN RIGHTS STRESSES ASIAN CONTRIBUTION TO WORLD CONFERENCE ...........82 

BANGKOK DECLARATION ............................................................................................................................82 

ASIA-PACIFIC STATES SET STRONG AGENDA ..............................................................................................84 

BBC ON BANGKOK DECLARATION AND TIMOR ...........................................................................................85 

JOSÉ RAMOS HORTA SAYS HE PLANS TO RETURN TO EAST TIMOR.............................................................86 

CONTINUING TALKS BETW EEN INDONESIA AND PORTUGAL................................................................... 87 

JAPANESE GROUPS URGE UN SECRETARY-GENERAL TO REDOUBLE EFFORTS ...........................................87 

CHURCH TO MEDIATE TIMOR TALKS?.........................................................................................................88 

ROME AWAITS THE TIMORESE.....................................................................................................................89 

VATICAN MEDIATION NOT CONFIRMED BY FOREI GN OFFICE.....................................................................89 

ALATAS STEPS “BACKWARD” TOWARDS ROME ?..........................................................................................90 

INDONESIA SAYS PORTUGAL UNHELPFUL OVER TIMOR .............................................................................90 

DIPLOMACY VERSUS LOGIC OF WAR..........................................................................................................90 

AMOS WAKO RETURNS TO EAST TIMOR .................................................................................................. 91 

SECRETARY-GENERAL TO SEND PERSONAL ENVOY TO INDONESIA AND EAST TIMOR...............................91 

JAKARTA ASKED TO REVEAL ALL FROM PROBE OF 1991 DILI INCIDENT.....................................................91 

JAKARTA’S HANDLING OF THE AMOS WAKO VISIT......................................................................................92 

AMOS WAKO’S RETURN VISIT TO INDONESIA.............................................................................................92 

WAKO: “MY DOOR IS OPEN”........................................................................................................................93 

AMOS WAKO MEETS XANANA AND MAU HUNU............................................................................................93 

RADIO AUSTRALIA ON WAKO VISIT............................................................................................................93 

UN ENVOY IN TALKS WITH XANANA...........................................................................................................93 

EVENTS IN CANADA................................................................................................................................... 94 

FIVE DAYS IN EAST TIMOR ..........................................................................................................................94 

EAST TIMOR UPDATE FROM ETAN/TORONTO ..............................................................................................94 

CANADIAN GOVERNMENT ON XANANA......................................................................................................95 

EAST TIMOR ALERT NETWORK / CANADA NEWSLETTER, FEB. 1993.............................................................96 

UPDATE FROM EAST TIMOR ALERT NETWORK/CANADA..............................................................................98 

EVENTS IN EUROPE; EUROPEAN LEADERS VISIT INDONESIA ................................................................. 99 

SWITZERLAND’S POSITION ON EAST TIMOR ...............................................................................................99 

LACK OF UNEQUIVOCAL SUPPORT FROM EC ............................................................................................. 100 

MOREIRA INTERVIEW: PORTUGUESE GOV’T VIEWS................................................................................... 100


KOHL TO RAISE TIMOR ISSUE WITH SUHARTO ......................................................................................... 102 

LETTER TO FRENCH FOREIGN MINISTRY .................................................................................................. 102 

POSSIBLE VOTE IN EP ............................................................................................................................... 102 

NEW PAPAL AMBASSADOR TO LISBON ...................................................................................................... 102 

EP: XANANA TRIAL ILLEGAL....................................................................................................................... 102 

EAST TIMOR MOTION WINS UK COMMONS SUPPORT ............................................................................... 103 

FRETILIN SATISFIED WITH PORTUGAL ...................................................................................................... 103 

DENMARK WANTS EC OBSERVER FOR EAST TIMOR .................................................................................. 103 

EURO-MPS’ VISIT AWAITS GREEN LIGHT................................................................................................... 103 

BRITISH FM DOUGLAS HURD TO VISIT JAKARTA....................................................................................... 103 

WITH THE TIMORESE BUT WITHOUT FRETILIN AT EC HEARING................................................................ 104 

REPORT FROM FRENCH SOLIDARITY MOVEMENT..................................................................................... 104 

EVENTS IN THE UNITED STATES............................................................................................................ 105 

REPORT FROM EAST TIMOR ACTION NETWORK / U.S. TO THE SOLIDARITY MEETING.............................. 105 

SILENT GENOCIDE: EAST TIMOR STRUGGLES FOR GLOBAL ATTENTION – AND FOR ITS LIFE ................... 105 

SENATOR PELL STATEMENT ON EAST TIMOR............................................................................................. 106 

US STATE DEPARTMENT’S ANNUAL REPORT ON HUMAN RIGHTS PRACTICES IN INDONESIA................... 107 

TIME TO END AN ATROCITY....................................................................................................................... 115 

EAST TIMORESE WANT THEIR CONQUERORS OUT .................................................................................... 116 

ACTION ALERT: THE LAST CHANCE FOR THE HOUSE HUNGER COMMITTEE !............................................ 116 

SPEAKING TOUR: EAST TIMOR – A NEW GENERATION OF RESISTANCE.................................................... 117 

TIMOR’S UNTELEVISED TERROR................................................................................................................ 117 

ETAN/US NEWSLETTER # 5......................................................................................................................... 119 

INÍCIO DA DIGRESSÃO TIMORENSE PELOS EUA....................................................................................... 120 

EAST TIMOR: SOARES WRITES TO CLINTON .............................................................................................. 121 

TIMORESE EXILE ACTIVITIES................................................................................................................. 121 

THE “FREEDOM FOR XANANA, FREEDOM FOR TIMOR” COMMISSION ....................................................... 121 

SOME EXILES: HORTA HAS NEVER BEEN MANDATED................................................................................ 121 

FRETILIN/AUSTRALIA WANTS MOVEMENT RESTRUCTURED ...................................................................... 122 

FRETILIN WITHOUT MAU HUNU................................................................................................................ 122 

TIMORESE RESISTANCE TRIES TO AVOID DIVISIONS ............................................................................... 123 

MISCELLANEOUS ARTICLES ................................................................................................................... 123 

SYAFEI ON MILITARY OPERATIONS IN EAST TIMOR FROM 1975................................................................ 123 

INFORMATION WANTED ON ENVIRONMENTAL IMPLICATIONS OF THE INDONESIAN OCCUPATION ........ 123 

EAST TIMOR COMPUTER WAR GAME ......................................................................................................... 124 

AUSTRALIAN TV STARTS BROADCASTING TO SOUTHEAST ASIA................................................................. 124 

PRESS COMMUNIQUÉ FROM THE INTERNATIONAL SOLIDARITY MOVEMENT............................................ 124 

YEAR OF THE SANDALWOOD EXHIBITION, LISBON................................................................................... 125 

EVANS FACES PROTEST OVER TIMOR........................................................................................................ 125 

DEBATE: PORTUGUESE TEACHERS RESOLUTION ON EAST TIMOR ............................................................ 125 

ASIA BOLDLY TAKING ON THE WEST......................................................................................................... 131 

RELIGIOUS CONFLICT DISINFORMATION QUERY ..................................................................................... 132 

LOBBYING FOR EAST TIMOR IN BRAZIL.................................................................................................... 132 

RESOURCES............................................................................................................................................. 132 

TAPOL BULLETIN CONTENTS, APRIL 1993 .................................................................................................. 132 

FIRST PLAY BY TIMORESE CULTURAL GROUP ............................................................................................ 133 

AUSTRALIAN BID TO SAVE THE TETUM LANGUAGE.................................................................................... 133 

ANNOUNCEMENT OF NEW PRIVATE ‘INDONESIA’ AND ‘EASTTIMOR’ LISTS............................................... 133


XANANA GUSMÃO’S 

TRIAL CONTINUES 

PORTUGUESE PARLIAMENT: 

TRIAL IS ILLEGAL 

Publico 3 February 1993. By Angela Silva. 

Original Portuguese. abridged 

(Lisbon) The Assembly of the Republic 

yesterday unanimously passed a vote of 

“vehement repudiation of the pursuance of 

Xanana Gusmão’s trial,” considering it to be 

“unjust, unlawful, biased, and gravely 

offensive to human dignity and to the internationally 

recognised rights of the people of 

East Timor.” The vote, proposed by all the 

members of the parliamentary Commission 

on the Situation in East Timor, alerts the 

UN Human Rights Commission to the 

“urgency of the Presidency’s statement on 

East Timor being respected.” Furthermore, 

it asks non- governmental organisations and 

the Portuguese Lawyers’ Council “that they 

collaborate in the restoration of the violated 

international juridical order.” 

In the preamble to the vote, Xanana’s 

trial is considered “an abusive attempt to 

impose, upon the international community, 

the qualification of the resistance as a 

question of domestic jurisdiction, thereby 

passively bringing about acceptance of the 

subjugation and integration” of the territory 

of East Timor. In this regard, the Assembly 

of the Republic requests Parliaments and 

Governments, “especially those of the 

United States and Australia, that they urgently 

proceed to an evaluation of the disparities 

between the policies imposed on the 

people of Timor and the Universal 

Declaration of Human Rights and principles 

of self-determination and independence of 

peoples, embodied in the UN Charter.” 

This vote came from the Parliamentary 

Commission on East Timor which is now 

chaired, since just a few days ago, by the 

Christian-Democrat deputy Adriano Moreira, 

substituting the Social-Democrat Vitor 

Crespo. 

XANANA LAWYER COURT 

STATEMENT 

Delivered 3 February, 1993 

DOCUMENT: EKSEPSI DELIVERED BY 

XANANA’S LAWYER, SUDJONO AT DILI 

TRIAL. 

Law Office Sudjono and Partners 

Counselor: Prof. Sahetbi, SH, Dr. Lubby 

Loqman, SH, MH 

No. 500/SP/I/93 

E K S E P S I in response to LIST OF 

THE PROSECUTION’S CHARGES 

No.: PDM - 90/DILI/01/199325 January 

1993 

A. IDENTITY OF THE ACCUSED 

Name in Full: JOSE ALEXANDRE 

GUSMÃO alias KAY RALA GUSMÃO 

Al XANANA 

Place and Date of Birth: Manatuto, East 

Timor, 20 June 1946 

Age: 46 years 

Sex: Male 

Nationality/Citizenship: Indonesian 

Place of Residence: West Lahane, RT. 2 

RK. 1, West Dili sub-district, District of 

Dili 

Religion: Catholic 

Employment: GPK (Gerombolan Pengacau 

Keamanan: rebel/secessionist/ disturber 

of common safety) 

Education: Liceu (Senior High School) 

B. HELD BY THE INVESTIGATING 

OFFICER 

Since November 20 1992 Extended Detention 

by General Prosecutor/ Indonesian 

Attorneys Office, Dili from 10 December 

1992 to 18 January 1993. Detention extended 

by Dili District Court as of 19 January 


C. TYPE OF DETENTION 

Detained in Prison 

Respected Judge, Beloved Prosecution: 

INTRODUCTION: 

Before the trial begins, allow us to present 

an eksepsi in response to the charges 

laid by the Public Prosecutor as included in 

the List of Charges No. -90/PDM/ 

DILI/01/1993, 25 January, 1993. 

The charges laid against the accused are 

inextricably linked to administrative law, in 

particular from the concept of the emergence 

of a state. The contract theory is one of the 

theories concerning the emergence of states, 

a theory which has been illustrated in the 

emergence of ex-Soviet or ex- 

Czechoslovakian states. Likewise, states 

formerly colonized by Portugal. 

The emergence of a state is not only 

based on contract but also relates to the 

history of a particular group of people. The 

emergence of the Indonesian state, for example, 

is not based on contract between 

states but on the common history of a people 

from a certain location/geographic area. 

States also emerge out of radical change 

often referred to as revolution. Thus, states 

may emerge from either peaceful or violent 

processes. 

A GLANCE AT THE TIMOR PROBLEM 

Since the departure of the Portuguese 

colonial government, there has been no East 

Timorese state. The conditions for establishing 

a state are that it must constitute 

a people, a geographic area and a government. 

Other conditions include other countries’ 

recognition (of the new state). East 

Timor only has a geographic area and a 

people, but no government. 

Nevertheless, recognition by other 

countries has been present in the form of 

United Nations recognition. Recognition by 

other states tends to be the dominant factor 

in determining the formation of new states. 

At present (the validity/legality of) the integration 

of East Timor remains in question. 

Following the departure of the Portuguese 

colonial government, several groups of 

people formed parties which had varying 

aspirations regarding the nature of the administration 

of East Timor. These aspirations 

included the desire to integrate with 

Indonesia, and the desire to form a separate 

state. Presently, these groups maintain their 

respective followings, and are in possession 

of weapons formerly belonging to the ex- 

Portuguese colonial administration. The 

group aspiring to integration received assistance 

from the Republic of Indonesia. The 

group desiring a separate state received assistance 

from overseas. The group desiring a 

separate state was known as Fretilin, led by 

the accused. A leadership body was formed, 

thus fulfilling the conditions necessary for 

establishing a state. 

Another group refused to accept the establishing 

of an independent East Timorese 

state. This group wanted to integrate with 

Indonesia. Armed conflict broke out between 

these two groups. 

The leadership of several groups then 

approached the Indonesian government to 

request integration as soon as possible. 

Attempts were made to hold a referendum. 

Whether this referendum was selfinitiated 

or carried out by other people remains 

a question. Was not a neutral third 

party not required to oversee such a referendum? 

The ‘non-integration’ group continued to 

question the validity of the referendum. 

Moreover, according to the referendum results, 

the majority of people chose to integrate 

with the Republic of Indonesia. 

At this stage, the United Nations continued 

to question the validity of the general 

election (referendum). Was the decision 

taken by the four parties excluding Fretilin a 

pure manifestation of the will of the people 

of the ex-Portuguese colony? This may 

relate to the fact that, due to the poor level 

of education of the (majority of ) people left


by the Portuguese colonial government, 

decision making power rested with their 

leaders. 

The group which opposed integration 

(‘non-integration group’) considered the result 

of the referendum invalid. Thus, this 

group, of which the accused was leader, did 

not recognise the Indonesian rule. 

We may compare this situation with Indonesia’s 

annexation of West Irian. Although 

this discredited Indonesia internationally, 

West Irian was formerly a Dutch 

colony. Juridically, therefore, Indonesia’s 

annexation was recognised internationally, 

and was not really questioned by anyone 

but the Dutch government. 

THE JURISDICTION OF THE COURT 

These events occurred long before the 

declaration of East Timor’s integration into 

Indonesia (i.e.: before 1976). 

Basic to the accused’s beliefs are his refusal 

to recognise the act o integration, and 

thus the jurisdiction of this court to try him 

is questionable. 

Additionally, the list of charges notes 

that the accused carried out (illegal) activities 

between July 17 1976 and November 20 

1992. This is beyond the existing facts. 

The existing facts are presented as follows: 

1. 1942-5 Dutch East Indies occupied by 

the Japanese military regime. East Timor 

included in the area of occupation. 

2. 17 August 1945 Indonesian people proclaim 

independence. Area encompassed 

by Indonesia as yet unclear. 

3. August 1945 East Timorese people began 

to revolt against Portuguese colonialism 

but were crushed by the Portuguese. 

4. 27 December 1949 Surrender of Dutch 

sovereignty of Indonesia. Indonesia accompanies 

all that was former Dutch 

East Indies, not including East Timor 

which was still under Portuguese colonial 

rule. 

5. April-May 1974 Portuguese government 

planed to grant democratic rights to its 

colonies, including East Timor. 

6. September-October 1974 Discussion 

concerning the decolonisation of East 

Timor held for the first time between the 

Portuguese and Indonesian governments. 

7. May-November 1974 Five East Timorese 

political parties organise themselves for 

self-government. 

8. March 1975 Plans to hold a referendum 

are thwarted by the Portuguese military. 

Fretilin begins its activities. UDT also 

begins to stage demonstrations demanding 

integration with Indonesia. 

9. 20 August 1975 Fretilin controls a large 

area of East Timor. 

10. 26 August 1975 The Portuguese colonial 

government leaves East Timor. Various 

groups claim to control the ex-Portuguese 

territory. 

11. 28 November 1975 Fretilin declares East 

Timorese independence. 

12. 29 November 1975 Portuguese government 

announces that in three months 

East TImor will gain administrative independence. 

13. 30 November 1975 Four other parties 

also proclaim their independence and 

approach Indonesia to integrate. 

14. 15 January 1976 A United Nations 

delegate (Vittorio Winspeare Gucciardi) 

visits Indonesia and meets with Adam 

Malik to enquire about the situation in 

East Timor. 

15. 20-22 January 1976 UN delegate visits 

Dili to meet with leaders, including 

Fretilin leaders, in various parts of East 

Timor. Following this the UN delegate 

visited Australia to meet with Fretilin 

members. 

16. April-May 1976 A letter sent to the UN 

requests that the imminent election be 

observed. 

17. May 1976 Election held and the result is 

the choice to integrate with Indonesia. 

18. 5 June 1976 Timorese delegation visits 

Jakarta to present a petition requesting 

East Timor’s integration with Indonesia. 

19. 23 June 1976 Fact-finding team led by 

Indonesian Internal Affairs Minister 

(Amir Machmud) visits East Timor to 

inspect the situation there. 

20. 17 July 1976 President Suharto announces 

East Timor as the 27th Province 

of Indonesia. 

21. End 1978 Discussion about the integration 

of East Timor held in the UN. 

As evident in the above chronology, 

Fretilin did not agree to integration from the 

beginning, and that they wanted to establish 

a separate state. The will to establish 

independent states emerged at the end of 

World War II, when even the Timorese 

people had begun to oppose the Portuguese 

colonial government. 

The group of which the accused was 

leader existed within the ex-Portuguese 

colonial territory. This group maintained 

their desire for free state, independent of all 

other countries. 

The proclamation of self-governance by 

groups led by the accused was based on 

their conviction to maintain/uphold their 

power. According to the existing facts, the 

actions of the accused and his followers 

show a desire for self-governance and , according 

to administrative law, did not recognise 

the new legal system. 

Because the Indonesian government’s 

presence in the ex-Portuguese colonial 

territory was not recognised (by Fretilin), all 

existing institutions were considered nonexistent, 

including the court currently trying 

the accused. The present court only came 

into existence long after the void of 

governance in the ex-Portuguese colony. The 

group opposed to integration and led by the 

accused already existed (before Indonesian 

annexation). 

The activities carried out by the accused 

began in 1975 and were carried out on a 

continual basis. Claims in the list of charges 

as to the accused’s actions beginning in 1976 

are false. 

Thus we conclude that this court has no 

authority to try the accused. We request 

that the Dili District Court declare itself 

without the authority to try the accused in 

the trial proposed by the Dili State Public 

Prosecutor No. PDM/90 /DILI/01/1993 

based on fact and according to the current 

constitution. 

I thank you for your attention and 

wisdom. 

Sudjono 

3 February 1993 

Translated by Bibi and Emma for MANIC 

(Marrickville Activists Network for International 

Social Change). 

XANANA REKINDLES 

EXPECTATION OVER HIS 

TRIAL IN DILI 

BRILLIANT & EDUCATED 

Diario de Noticias 4 February 1993 By 

Oscar Mascarenhas. Translated from 

Portuguese. unabridged 

(Dili) Xanana Gusmão is not unprovided 

for with regards his defence. His lawyer, 

Sudjono, made it clear yesterday in the Dili 

courtroom that he will fight every legal inch 

of the way throughout the proceedings. 

The defence strategy is being overseen by 

Loebby Loqman, a respected university 

professor from Jakarta, specialist in matters 

related to the Anti-Subversion Law. Perhaps 

for this reason Xanana, in a mood different 

from that of the first day, asked that the 

journalists “wait until the end of the 

proceedings.” 

In black, white and grey checkered shirt 

with rolled up sleeves, Xanana left the cell 

yesterday under a smaller escort. He looked 

spiritedly, with head slightly inclined, to the 

right and behind, towards the journalists. He 

didn’t look right and then left until he 

reached the courtroom, to which he had been 

summoned by the judge. 

With determination he crossed the tiny 

lawn, clouds of minute grasshoppers rising


with each step. It was Xanana who led his 

escort. 

“You must attend this process until the 

end,” he said in English in a good loud voice, 

head lowered and left arm raised as if to 

wave good-bye. Was he addressing the 

international press? Or, not knowing Indonesian 

Bahasa, was he sending a message to 

the local journalists? The defence lawyer 

later told the journalists that the prisoner’s 

gesture had not been prearranged. 

Xanana entered the courtroom and was 

before the judge for 22 minutes. 17 of those 

he spent listening to his lawyer’s response 

to the public prosecutor’s indictment, which 

had been read on Monday. He returned to 

his cell, waving his hand when a Portuguese 

reporter asked how he was feeling, to await 

his reappearance in court the following day. 

The judge had ordered two days 

adjournment for the prosecutor to reply to 

the procedural matter raised by the defence. 

Contrary to what we had officially been 

informed, there will be a session on Friday. 

A little more than a quarter of an hour 

was enough for Sudjono to say that the Indonesian 

court lacks legitimacy to try 

Xanana. It was what could be called an 

historic intervention, because Sudjono recalled 

the various steps of Timor’s international 

situation from 1974 onwards, and the 

word referendum was included several times 

in his speech. Sudjono explained to the 

journalists that the stage of having to answer 

the prosecutor’s accusations had not yet 

been reached. At this time, he opted for 

counter-attack, aimed at the court itself. But 

Xanana declared himself to be Indonesian at 

the outset of the trial when he identified 

himself to the judge. Sudjono smiled: “Even 

if he says he is Indonesian, this does not 

mean that the court has the competence to 

try him.” Amused, he revealed a trump card 

in his hand - “At the right moment I’ll ask 

the prosecutor to prove that Xanana is 

Indonesian. I want to see just how he proposes 

to do that.” 

Might not the lawyer be bringing personal 

problems down upon himself by employing 

a defence based upon questioning 

the legitimacy of Indonesia’s presence in 

Timor? “Only God knows that,” he replies 

jokingly: “I am a fanatical Moslem, I can but 

believe in God...” He did not, however, 

reveal his own view on the problem of East 

Timor: “I am a professional lawyer and that 

question is a political one. It goes beyond 

my profession.” 

Sudjono receives no remuneration for his 

work and even pays the costs of the trial. 

And what costs! As well as his own hotel 

expenses in Dili for at least two months, he 

has to foot the bill for Prof. Loebby 

Loqman’s attendance as well as that of the 

young lawyers Bhismoko and Iwan Pradana, 

his assistants. Pointing to Pradana, Sudjono 

laughs and says: “And this one certainly 

needs to earn his living because he has a sixmonth-old 

son....” 

Why did he take on this case? “For humanitarian 

reasons,” he replied, striking his 

breast. And, as if to say “that’s just the 

way I am,” he added “Just lately I had the 

joy of saving someone from the hangman’s 

noose, in Malaysia.” 

For him the primary objective is not to 

win or lose the case: “My main motivation 

is to fight with the law, as best I can. Success 

or failure is of secondary importance.” 

He speaks to Xanana in English, and has 

already met with him in prison seven times. 

He offered him this line of defence and the 

prisoner had no objections. But Xanana 

speaks poor English. “So do I,” Sudjono 

laughs. Someone expressed surprise that 

Xanana speaks to quietly, in court. “But he 

always speaks quietly!,” retorted Sudjono. 

“It is his politeness. He is a brilliant and 

well mannered man.” The defence lawyer 

appears to be fascinated by Xanana’s personality: 

“He’s like an artist. He is particularly 

brilliant in the way he thinks and the 

way he understands. He seems more an intellectual 

than a rebel.” 

When they told him that the news had 

said that Xanana’s cell had an Indian carpet 

and marble washbasin, the lawyer burst into 

laughter: “All I said was that he is being well 

treated...” 

Sudjono’s intervention surprised the international 

observers, but was considered 

“very good,” by both the presiding judge, 

Christian Javanese Hyeronimus Godang, 

and the leader of the public prosecutor’s 

bench, Moslem Ketut Swara from Bali. An 

Australian reporter met with bafflement on 

the other end of the line when sending 

through his report for editing: “We understand 

what you are saying,” they said, “We 

just don’t see what it is that the lawyer’s 

aiming at.” It is, after all, quite simple: the 

Indonesian Moslem lawyer, who has never 

seen Timor, working with an essentially 

Dutch penal code, outlined a strategy just in 

the same way a good Portuguese lawyer, 

expert in international law, would do. 

XANANA’S LAWYER USES 

ALATAS’S ARGUMENT 

Publico 4 February 1993 Byline : Adelino 

Gomes Translated from Portuguese unabridged 

(Dili) A reversal of position, or simply a 

procedural incident? Xanana’s lawyer insists 

he is just a professional, but his strategy, 

yesterday, could have been the first 

sign that Jakarta is going to have difficulty 

in trying the Timorese ex- leader as a 

common criminal. 

Only tomorrow will the public prosecutor 

reply to the procedural incident raised 

by Xanana Gusmão’s defence counsel, lawyer 

Sudjono, in his 9-page intervention 

which, by questioning the Dili Tribunal’s 

competence to try the defendant, represents 

the first attempt to shake the logic of the 

Indonesian authorities’ juridical construction 

of the entire proceedings. The judges will 

then spend almost a week studying the 

arguments presented by both sides, before 

announcing their decision on 11 February. 

The defence lawyer upholds his argument 

on two main grounds: Fretilin’s fight for 

Timor’s independence had already started 

when Suharto proclaimed the territory 

Indonesia’s 17th province, and the guerrillas 

never having recognised the Dili Tribunal’s 

jurisdiction. 

“He must have read the book on the East 

Timor question, distributed a few months 

ago by the Indonesian Foreign Ministry,” 

commented foreign observers at the end of 

the trial’s second hearing. It had lasted just 

22 minutes and comprised of Sudjono’s 

intervention, the prosecutor’s request for 

the hearing to be again suspended, and the 

judges’ concession of just one day. 

The document on which Sudjono based 

his arguments for his first public appearance 

in Xanana’s defence, had been specially 

prepared for the Non-Aligned Countries’ 

Summit held in September in Jakarta. It 

constituted “the best legal justification for 

the occupation, produced by the Indonesians 

until now,” thought one press correspondent 

based in the Indonesian capital, 

impressed by the defence lawyer’s astuteness 

in employing the arguments of Ali 

Alatas himself against the basis of the 

prosecutor’s position. 

It should be emphasized here that Sudjono 

did not contest the competence of the 

Dili Tribunal to try this case. He asked the 

court to accept that it does not have the 

authority. Or, to repeat the comments made 

by an observer to Publico, “He gave the Indonesian 

legal system a chance to decide for 

itself.” 

Xanana’s defence counsel chose, therefore, 

“cooperation” rather than 

“confrontation,” in contrast to, for example, 

the Timorese Fernando Araujo and Francisco 

Miranda Branco, when they declared 

themselves Portuguese and rejected Indonesia’s 

laws and courts, during their trial last 

year in Jakarta. They were given heavy 

sentences for allegedly encouraging activities 

in opposition to the regime, while members 

of the resistance. To this end, the lawyer 

minimized the effects of Xanana’s 

statement, during the first hearing, in which 

he identified himself as Indonesian.


Although a source linked to the proceedings 

admitted that “that is an obstacle which the 

defence is going to have to remove,” it 

would seem that Sudjono is relying on legal 

rather than political logic prevailing. 

“The crimes of which Xanana is accused 

were committed while he was leader of an 

organisation which never accepted integration. 

The fact that he identified himself as 

Indonesian cannot go against him, when it is 

his responsibility in acts committed over the 

past 17 years, and not today, that is being 

investigated,” argues a diplomat who is 

following the proceedings in Dili. And, in 

this respect, he could be referring to the 

lawyer when, yesterday, he said to foreign 

reporters here that “there is a right time for 

each legal question to be raised.” 

Sudjono, who revealed to Publico that he 

accepted the case purely for humanitarian 

reasons and without any kind of remuneration, 

insists that he sees his whole performance 

in this trial as being within the 

strict limits of a professional relationship. 

He says he studied Timor’s recent history 

only when he became defence lawyer for 

Agapito Cardoso last year, and insists on 

not revealing any political view on the 

subject. 

However, this is not stopping him from 

scrutinizing every legal hypothesis possible, 

even when it would have sensitive political 

implications for the Suharto regime. “De 

facto, Timor belongs to Indonesia. But, de 

jure, the international community refuses to 

accept integration,” he said during a long 

meeting with the foreign press, during which 

he agreed to make some small revelations 

about his visits to Xanana. 

Hope, until we die 

Sudjono’s team consists of the university 

professor of law, Prof. Loqman, a known 

and respected Indonesian critic of the Anti- 

Subversion Law. It is practically impossible 

for western observers to this trial to imagine 

that the Dili Tribunal would recognise its 

incompetence to try Xanana. It will, 

therefore, be impossible for the defence to 

invoke the political nature of the “crimes” of 

which his client is accused by the Indonesian 

state. But Sudjono suggests he may 

have new surprises in store, when he says 

that he will bring out Xanana’s testimony 

“at the right time.” 

By asking the reporters in English yesterdays 

to “wait until the end of the trial,” 

Xanana must have wanted to indicate that 

he has confidence in the lawyers and that 

everyone, starting with the Timorese, was 

wrong when, seeing Xanana apathetic, 

“Indonesian,” and “disturber of the peace,” 

at the first hearing, they regarded him as a 

warrior who had given up the fight. Good 

news for the Timorese, about 200 of whom 

gathered again yesterday in the street in 

front of the court, in spite of the dissuasive 

presence of, this time, groups of Indonesians 

in civilian clothing, armed with sticks 

measuring about one and a half metres long 

and 3 centimetres in diameter. 

Indifferent to the danger, some awaited 

the reporters to transmit a message of resistance. 

“They drugged the old man. We are 

very sad because he declared himself Indonesian,” 

said two demonstrators quietly, as 

the Publico’s correspondent passed by. 

“Don’t abandon us. We want independence, 

we don’t want integration.” 

In the middle of the road, towards the 

cathedral, under the violent blaze of the 

morning sun, the voice of a middle- aged 

woman sounds like a cry of anger: “We will 

hope until we die.” Only she knows 

whether it was meant for the world, or for 

the ears of her own compatriots. 

Calendar of the Trial 

Day 5 - Prosecutor’s reply to the 

procedural incident raised yesterday by 

the defence. 

Day 11 - Court’s decision on the incident 

Days 15 to 25 - Listening to testimonies. 

Possible start of Xanana’s testimony. 

Days 26 & 27 - Xanana to be questioned. 

Days 4 to 10 March - Proceedings continue, 

and final statements. 

Day 20 or 21 - Sentencing. 

RAMOS HORTA 

AGREES TO TESTIFY 

The following is the text of a letter faxed by 

José Ramos Horta in Geneva to Sudjono, 

the Indonesian defence lawyer of Xanana 

Gusmão, on 11 February 1993, in response 

to a request that he testify at Xanana’s trial 

as a defence witness: 

Dear Mr. Sudjono, 

I acknowledge receipt of your fax of 9 

February 1993 and thank you for your efforts 

in trying to obtain clearance from the 

competent authorities to enable me to testify 

in Dili as a defence witness. 

While I wish to reiterate my interest in 

attending the proceedings, let me make the 

following points clear from the outset: 

1. Indonesia does not have any jurisdiction 

in East Timor and therefore the trial of 

Xanana Gusmão is illegal under international 

law. Xanana has neither 

committed a crime under international 

law nor under Indonesian law, since East 

Timor is NOT a territory of Indonesia. 

2. Indonesia has occupied East Timor illegally 

since 1975 in breach of provisions 

of the United Nations Charter on the 

non-use of force in international relations. 

This has also been in defiance of two 

Security Council and eight General 

Assembly resolutions which reaffirm the 

right of the people of East Timor to selfdetermination 

and independence, and call 

on the government of Indonesia to 

withdraw from East Timor. 

3. As a direst consequence of the invasion 

and occupation of East Timor by Indonesian 

armed forces in 1975, the people 

of the territory have not been able to exercise 

their inalienable right to self-determination. 

Having stated these points, which I 

would ask you to read to the court, I remain 

ready to travel to my homeland, East Timor, 

at short notice. There, together with Xanana 

Gusmão and my... [one line left out in the 

copy we have]... help, you will prove 

beyond doubt that Xanana Gusmão and all 

our compatriots, who have been fighting for 

self-determination, independence and freedom, 

have not violated any laws of any 

country. We will prove that they should 

therefore be set free and Indonesia should 

begin its disengagement from East Timor 

and work for a true resolution of this conflict 

for the future of peace and prosperity 

of East Timor and the Indonesian people. 

This would be in line with the true spirit of 

understanding which should prevail amongst 

our regional family and which we ardently 

desire. 

I remain in Geneva until 14 March, attending 

the UN Commission on Human 

Rights where, for your information, East 

Timor has been the most talked about issue. 

Yours sincerely, 

José RAMOS HORTA 

XANANA INDIFFERENT TO RAMOS 

HORTA OFFER 

Publico, From the Portuguese unabridged 

(Lisbon) The announcement that the 

representative abroad of the Maubere Resistance 

National Council (CNRM), Mr. 

Ramos Horta, could be a witness in Xanana 

Gusmão’s trial was received yesterday with 

indifference by the latter. According to the 

defence lawyer, S.H. Sudjono, who passed 

the information on, Xanana just said “I myself 

am my best witness.” 

The reaction of the Timorese armed resistance’s 

former leader surprised Sudjono 

who, in a letter to which Lusa’s special envoy 

to Dili had access, thanked Ramos 

Horta’s offer to travel to Timor’s capital in 

order to testify at the trial. 

The CNRM’s representative, currently 

in Geneva for the UN Human Rights 

Commission, offered to testify as “enemy 

number one abroad” of the Jakarta regime,


and was prepared to go to Dili with a group 

of celebrities and reporters, in order to 

“transform the court into an international 

forum for the defence of the Maubere people.” 

As well as expressing appreciation for 

the offer to stand as witness, Mr. Sudjono 

pointed out in his reply to Ramos Horta 

that entering the territory would be 

“difficult” for him, but promised to make 

every effort to ensure his presence in the 

Dili court. 

Forced to Testify 

Those giving evidence for the prosecution 

against Xanana Gusmão will probably start 

being called next Monday. This information 

was given to Lusa by an unidentified 

“Timorese source,” according to which most 

of the witnesses were arrested after 

Xanana’s capture and, under torture, forced 

to agree to give evidence. 

According to the same source, the deponents 

for the prosecution were even made to 

swear loyalty to Suharto and given instructions 

by the Indonesian authorities 

with regards the content of their testimony 

before the court trying the Timorese former 

leader. 

INDONESIAN UN MISSION 

CHIEF MEETS XANANA 

Jawa Pos, 13 February 1993.Abridged. 

Comment: This is an important item about a 

visit to Dili of Nugroho Wisnumurti, head of 

Indonesia’s mission to the UN in New York. 

Much of what happened in Nugroho’s 

discussions in Dili is left unsaid but the 

impression is that the visit was part of the 

preparation for Indonesia’s strategy being 

planned for the meeting in Rome on 20 April 

between Indonesia and Portugal. 

There are reports circulating in Jakarta that 

Indonesia intends to take Xanana to Rome, 

although how they think they can pull this off 

is difficult to imagine. 

Also, we have seen reports in the Portuguese 

press that Bishop Belo is likely to be in Rome 

at the time of the talks in order to play a 

part. Several newspapers have given 

credence to this story while others like 

Publico, usually up front with reporting 

about East Timor, have treated the report 

with a considerable amount of skepticism. 

– TAPOL 

Although he did not carry out his plan to 

attend a session of the Xanana Gusmão trial 

now under way in Dili, Indonesia ‘s head of 

UN mission in New York, Nugroho 

Wisnumurti had the opportunity of having a 

private meeting with the Fretilin leader at 

the police detention centre. 

Nugroho told Jawa Pos that he had held a 

frank discussion with Xanana who had made 

it clear that he is ready to help the 

Indonesian government on the question of 

East Timor at the UN. 

During a 90-minute meeting with Xanana 

- which Nugroho admitted was somewhat 

hampered by language because Xanana does 

not speak English well - Xanana had spoken 

very frankly and openly. Nugroho hoped 

that this was a sign of goodwill on Xanana’s 

part and was not a manoeuvre to promote 

his own interests. 

Asked what he discussed with Xanana, 

Nugroho said that they had discussed a 

number of things but “my main purpose 

was to get to know him in connection with 

my work at the UN, so as to provide information 

to the international community, via 

the UN, about East Timor.” 

Asked how Xanana had responded, 

Nugroho said: “Very well indeed. He spoke 

very openly and said he would like to help 

the Indonesian government reach a solution 

to the question of East Timor at the UN. I 

am sorry I cannot say more than this because 

many of the things we discussed were 

matters of substance.” 

Nugroho also said that the conversation 

with Xanana had convinced him that what 

Xanana had said on Indonesian TV was indeed 

true. “Portugal’s assessment that the 

various statements made recently by 

Xanana were made under duress from the 

Indonesian government is quite wrong.” 

Asked whether he had discussed the trial 

with Xanana, Nugroho said that Xanana told 

him he would speak in court about his 

position. 

During the visit to Dili, Nugroho also 

held a lengthy discussion with the military 

commander, Brig.Gen. Theo Syafei [who, as 

reg.easttimor readers will recall, recently 

called for the talks between Indonesia and 

Portugal to be halted] as well as having a 

meeting Bishop Belo. 

FOUR WITNESSES HEARD AT 

XANANA TRIAL ON FEB. 15 

According to an AFP report filed from 

Dili, four witnesses were heard today, 15 

February, at the Xanana Gusmão trial which 

opened on 1 February. Three were members 

of the armed forces and the fourth was an 

East Timorese member of the police, Agusto 

Pereira, in whose house Xanana Gusmão 

was taking refuge when he was captured on 

20 November last. 

First to testify was Private João Jesus 

Costa, member of the special force which 

captured Xanana, who told the court he 

found a Minimi rifle and an FN-45 pistol in 

Xanana’s room. He said the weapons belong 

to the armed forces; this was corroborated 

by a statement from ABRI’s Support Arms 

department. 

Agusto Pereira confirmed that the two 

weapons were Xanana’s. 

According to a written statement, army 

commander Brig.Gen. Theo Syafei, told the 

court the army lost several [sic] weapons 

from 1975 to 1989 during engagements with 

Fretilin units. 

Two other witnesses, Captain Kadio and 

police chief Sergeant Made Maja, told the 

court they were guarding the Dili TV station 

in 1980 when it was attacked by about 100 

Fretilin members, killing two policemen and 

wounding several others. The attackers were 

driven back with the help of security forces 

from nearby posts and 15 people were 

arrested. 

The trial was adjourned till tomorrow, 

Tuesday. 

XANANA’S LAWYER UNDER 

PRESSURE 

Publico, Lisbon 16 February 1993 

Remark: Portuguese journalists who were in 

Dili last week for Xanana’s trial reported 

that his lawyer, Sudjono, was having greater 

difficulty communicating with his client who 

had become far less talkative than before. 

This change seems to have occurred after 

Xanana called out to journalists on the 

second day of his trial, asking them to follow 

the proceedings to the end. 

Sudjono last week contacted José Ramos- 

Horta inviting him to testify as a defence 

witness at the trial of Xanana. We hope to 

publish more details about this shortly. 

SUDJONO NOT CONTACTABLE 

– CDPM 

XANANA’S LAWYER MOVES TO A 

HOTEL WITH NO TELEPHONE 

The Indonesian defence lawyer of 

Xanana Gusmão cannot be contacted. Sudjono 

suddenly moved from the hotel where 

he was staying in Dili and transferred to a 

tiny hotel without a telephone, in Liquica, 

outside the capital, Dili. 

Contacted by the agency LUSA, the 

Hotel Mahkota receptionist in Dili said that 

Sudjono checked out of the hotel last 

Thursday, the day the Portuguese journalists 

left Dili. 

According to sources close to the trial, 

Sudjono’s move to a hotel in Liquica, which 

Timorese refugees in Lisbon say is nothing 

more than a restaurant with a couple of 

rooms, coincides with an intensification of 

pressure from Jakarta on Xanana’s lawyer. 

After last Thursday’s court hearing just 

before leaving Dili, the Portuguese journal-


ists made arrangements with Sudjono to 

stay in contact with him. He expressed a 

willingness to do so, as he has done up to 

now, saying nothing about any intention to 

move to a hotel without a telephone. 

GUSMÃO ADMITS ‘DEATH’ 

EVIDENCE 

The Melbourne Age, 16 February 93 By 

Lindsay Murdoch, Southeast Asia Correspondent, 

Full text 

The East Timor guerrilla leader, Mr. José 

“Xanana” Gusmão, today admitted evidence 

that could make him liable to a death 

sentence under Indonesian law. 

Indonesian prosecutors said Mr. Gusmão 

was in possession of a high-powered automatic 

rifle and pistol when he was arrested 

in Dili, the East Timorese capital, on 

20November last year. 

When asked in court whether evidence 

about the weapons was correct, Mr. 

Gusmão replied in Portuguese: “Right.” 

Under a 1951 Indonesian law the offence 

carries a maximum penalty of death. 

The evidence by an arresting soldier, Indonesian 

special forces Private João Jesus 

Costa, was the first for the prosecution at 

the trial which opened today after preliminary 

hearings. 

Mr. Gusmão has pleaded not guilty to 

rebellion, conspiracy and the weapons 

charges. 

Diplomats observing the trial had 

speculated that Indonesia did not intend to 

execute Mr. Gusmão, since the rebellion 

charges he faces come under the country’s 

criminal law and not harsher subversion 

laws. 

The policeman owner of a house in which 

Mr. Gusmão was arrested, Mr. Agusto 

Pereira, told the court that Mr. Gusmão 

confided in him that he felt “responsible” 

for the violence in Dili in November 1991 

when Indonesian soldiers opened fire on 

pro-independence demonstrators, killing and 

wounding scores of people. 

When Mr. Pereira finished giving his 

evidence Mr. Gusmão said through an interpreter 

that he knew the witness well and 

agreed with what he had said. 

Mr. Gusmão, 45, the leader of the 

Fretilin guerrilla group fighting to end 

Indonesian rule of the former Portuguese 

territory, complained to his counsel during 

today’s three-hour hearing about what he 

described as aggressive questioning of witnesses 

by one of three judges hearing the 

case. 

His chief counsel, Mr. Sudjono, said Mr. 

Gusmão was in good health. He was being 

treated well at a jail in Dili where he spent 

much of his time playing dominoes with a 

guard. 

Mr. Sudjono said after the hearing he 

would appeal against a decision of the court 

last week to refuse his application challenging 

its right to hear the case as Fretilin had 

been fighting against Indonesian rule since 

1975. 

The appeal will be heard by the 

Indonesian High Court sitting in West 

Timor. 

Mr. Gusmão’s lawyers appeared to be 

basing their case on the jurisdiction issue, 

challenging a prosecution claim that East 

Timorese were willing to integrate with 

Indonesia in 1975. 

Asked about Mr. Gusmão’s admission 

on the weapons Mr. Sudjono said: “I have 

an idea Xanana had the guns long before 

1975.” 

In dismissing the jurisdiction issue last 

week the judges noted that Mr. Gusmão had 

admitted in court that he was an Indonesian 

national and his profession was the leader of 

the “security disturbance movement.” 

Mr. Pereira, a Timorese, told the court he 

was a distant relative by marriage to Mr. 

Gusmão whom he had known since 1981. 

He said he first “picked up” Mr. Gusmão 

in 1981 after receiving a message from Mr. 

Constâncio Pinto, the main organiser of the 

demonstration in 1991 that turned into the 

Dili massacre. 

Mr. Pinto, a central and controversial 

figure in the East Timor resistance movement, 

is now believed to be in Lisbon, 

Portugal. Mr. Pereira said Mr. Gusmão 

asked him last year to build a secret bunker 

behind a cupboard in his house. 

He said Mr. Gusmão paid for the bunker 

and had lived there for some time before his 

arrest. 

Private Costa said he went to the house 

with 21 other soldiers at 6am on 20 

November, 1992, after earlier arresting an 

informant. He said he found Mr. Gusmão 

hiding in the bunker and confronted him 

with a gun. 

Mr. Gusmão put his hands in the air and 

surrendered without a struggle. 

The weapons in Mr. Gusmão’s possession 

had been issued by the Indonesian 

military, the court was told. 

A prosecutor read to the court a statement 

from the East Timor military command 

detailing the loss of weapons from 

military compounds between 1979 and 

1984. 

Two Dili policemen testified that Fretilin 

guerrillas attacked the television station in 

Dili in 1980. Two officers were killed and 

several other people wounded in the attack. 

Asked about the evidence Mr. Gusmão 

said he was not there at the time. 

XANANA CONFOUNDS HIS 

LAWYER 

The Age 17 Feb. 1993.By Lindsay Murdoch, 

Southeast Asia Correspondent. Slightly 

abridged. Some well known facts omitted. 

(Dili, Monday) East Timorese resistance 

leader Mr. José “Xanana” Gusmão today 

accepted responsibility for the killing of 

Indonesians by his guerrillas as his lawyer 

said his case was virtually lost. 

The lawyer, Mr. Sudjono, told diplomats 

he would consider his representation a success 

if Mr. Gusmão escaped execution and 

received life imprisonment on the charges he 

faces [...] 

During the second day of prosecution 

evidence, Mr. Sudjono pleaded with Mr. 

Gusmão not to admit responsibility for 

[the] alleged attacks, but he refused. 

“I shook him and said, ‘Do you understand 

the process... do you understand?” 

Mr. Sudjono said later. “But Xanana said 

yes he understood.” 

Mr. Sudjono said he was certain Mr. 

Gusmão had a strategy. “But I don’t know 

what it is,” he said. 

“This is a big question for me... why he 

is confessing. I think he is very clever. 

Maybe when the moment is right he will 

take action.” 

Mr. Sudjono said he considered an appeal 

he intended to make to the High Court 

challenging the right of the Dili court to hear 

the charges had little, if any, chance of 

success. Appeals to Indonesia’s High Court 

[sic - should be High Courts] are rarely 

successful. 

[...]Speaking outside the court, Mr. 

Sudjono shrugged his shoulders and said: 

“What can I do? I will try to talk with my 

client tomorrow. Maybe we can talk about a 

global strategy and a narrow strategy.” 

Mr. Gusmão’s frank and solemn admissions 

today surprised court observers. 

Asked about evidence that Fretilin had 

carried out attacks including the burning of 

houses and the killing of soldiers in 1982, 

Mr. Gusmão told the court: “I don’t want 

to tell the story in detail but I admit that I 

have responsibility for these incidents.” 

Since three Indonesian judges started to 

hear evidence yesterday, Mr. Gusmão has 

spent much of the time in his cell writing 

notes. 

Mr. Sudjono said Mr. Gusmão asked him 

to get the trial over with as soon as possible. 

He has refused to see members of his 

family, who are watching the proceedings at 

the back of the court. 

Mr. Gusmão, 45, told Mr. Sudjono: 

“Please don’t involve my family in the case. 

I do not want to see them.”


Although Mr. Gusmão has pleaded not 

guilty to the charges he appears unwilling to 

challenge the prosecution case.[...] 

Witnesses today told the court of numerous 

Fretilin attacks between 1979 and last 

year. 

A provincial civil servant, Mr. Martinho 

Fernandez, 46, told the court Fretilin 

guerrillas attacked and killed 14 Indonesian 

soldiers in Viqueque district in 1982. The 

soldiers were tortured and had their penises 

cut off, he said. 

Mr. Fernandez, who went to a 

Portuguese school in Dili with Mr. Gusmão 

but split with him in 1975, testified that 

Fretilin burnt 300 houses in Viqueque between 

1982 and 1983, forcing 1000 villagers 

to live in the jungle. 

Witnesses told the court about an attack 

on an Indonesian soldier who was drinking 

in a cafe on in the coastal town of Baucau in 

October last year. The man died after being 

shot nine times. 

Asked about the attack, Mr. Gusmão 

said: “I agree with the witnesses’ statement. 

It was done by my men.” 

A teacher, Mr. Islamat Widodo, 46, told 

the court Fretilin killed his 12 year old 

daughter at Baucau in 1990. He said he was 

later told by the military his daughter’s 

killer was a Fretilin member, David Alex. 

Asked about the attack, Mr. Gusmão 

said he neither denied nor agreed with the 

evidence. But he said: “It is true David Alex 

is one of my men.” 

During the court’s sitting hours Mr. 

Gusmão appears disinterested in Mr. 

Sudjono’s handling of the case. 

AUSTRALIAN CASH SENT TO 

FRETILIN: WITNESS 

Age (Melbourne, Australia) February 18, 

1993. By Lindsay Murdoch, SE Asian 

correspondent, Dili, Wednesday 

[unabridged] 

A prosecution witness in the trial of East 

Timor resistance leader, Mr. José ‘Xanana’ 

Gusmão has alleged that his Fretilin fighters 

received money from supporters in 

Australia. Mr. Oscar Lima, an East Timor 

businessman, has told Indonesian prosecutors 

that money was regularly passed to 

Fretilin representatives by Australians 

posing as tourists in Kupang, West Timor. 

Mr. Lima is listed to give evidence at the 

trial of Mr. Gusmão on charges of rebellion, 

conspiracy and possession of illegal 

weapons. Mr. Gusmão, who has pleaded 

not guilty, faces a possible death sentence. 

Court sources say that prosecutors had evidence 

from Mr. Lima and other witnesses 

that money from sources in Australia was 

used in part to buy weapons and ammunition 

for Fretilin, which has been waging a 

guerrilla campaign against Indonesia’s rule 

since 1975. Some weapons were supplied 

by arms dealers in Java, according to evidence 

said to have been gathered by prosecutors. 

Mr. Gusmão admitted in court on 

Monday that he had an automatic rifle and 

pistol when arrested in a Dili policeman’s 

house last November. The weapons had 

been originally issued to the Indonesian 

army, the court heard. It will be up to 

prosecutors to decide whether to introduce 

evidence about Fretilin funding into Mr. 

Gusmão’s trial. 

Mr. Gusmão’s chief counsel, Mr. 

Sudjono, was expected to meet Mr. Gusmão 

in his cell in Dili tonight in an attempt to 

stop him confessing to allegations being 

presented during the trial which began 

hearing evidence on Monday. Mr. Sudjono 

said today that Mr. Gusmão felt that as 

Fretilin’s supreme commander he accepted 

responsibility for the actions of his men. 

The trial allegations include claims that 

Fretilin attacked & killed Indonesian soldiers 

and burnt villagers to force people into the 

jungle. Mr. Sudjono said he had asked 

prosecutors at a meeting this morning to 

help him find defence witnesses but had 

been told that this was not possible. Mr. 

Sudjono said Mr. Gusmão became angry 

earlier this week when one of the three trial 

judges pressed a Timorese witness for 

answers. “Xanana said he was on trial, not 

anybody else,” Mr. Sudjono said. 

Mr. Sudjono said that he had refused a 

request by Fretilin’s international representative, 

Mr. José Ramos Horta, who lives in 

Australia, to appear as a witness. The trial 

will resume tomorrow. 

FORMER REBEL NOW 

“INDONESIAN CITIZEN” 

The Age (Melbourne), February 19, 1993. 

By Lindsay Murdoch 

East Timor guerrilla leader, Mr. José 

“Xanana” Gusmão, today nodded in agreement 

when one of his former platoon commanders 

described himself as an Indonesian 

citizen. 

Mr. Antonio Sadres Da Silva, 33, alias 

Maukalo, told Mr. Gusmão’s trial in Dili 

that until 1991, when he was captured by 

Indonesian forces, he considered his nationality 

to be Portuguese. 

“I am now Indonesian,” he said as Mr. 

Gusmão nodded and smiled. 

Later, when the court adjourned, Mr. 

Gusmão said he was “sorry” when asked by 

reporters if he had a message for the world. 

Mr. Gusmão, leader of the East Timor 

resistance group, Fretilin, has pleaded not 

guilty to charges of rebellion, conspiracy 

and possessing illegal weapons. He faces 

possible execution. Fretilin has been fighting 

Indonesia’s rule of the former Portuguese 

territory since 1975. 

In an earlier hearing, Mr. Gusmão, 45, 

described himself as “Indonesian,” something 

Fretilin supporters overseas used to 

claim he had been tortured. 

Mr. Da Silva testified that between 1975 

and 1991 he was involved in 17 attacks 

against the Indonesian military and villages, 

including the massacre in 1988 of 14 soldiers 

who were found with their penises cut off. 

He said he was following the orders of 

his superiors. 

Mr. Da Silva, who is not under arrest, 

said he attacked some villages “to show 

people in the cities that FALINTIL 

(Fretilin’s armed wing) is still active.” 

Mr. Da Silva testified that he had never 

received a direct order from Mr. Gusmão 

although he had heard him outline the aims 

of the group’s armed struggle. 

An East Timor businessman, Mr. Oscar 

Lima, 40, told the court that several years 

ago, he passed a message to Mr. Gusmão 

that a Catholic priest in Dili, Father Mario 

Belo, wanted to give $500 to the Fretilin 

leader. 

An earlier hearing was told that another 

Catholic priest had sent a message to a 

Fretilin supporter to pick up Mr. Gusmão 

on one occasion. 

Mr. Lima said he was a former Fretilin 

commander but left the group because it was 

dissatisfied with his service. Mr. Lima is not 

under arrest. 

Prosecutors did not introduce into evidence 

claims made by Mr. Lima in statements 

to police that Australian tourists in 

West Timor regularly passed money to 

Fretilin representatives. 

The trial will resume next Monday. 

XANANA: A LEADER WHO 

DOES NOT APPEAR BEAT EN 

Sydney Morning Herald 20th February 1993 

Byline: Lindsay Murdoch Dateline: Dili. 

Unabridged 

(In Dili the population clings to a faint 

hope of independence for East Timor, as 

Herald correspondent Lindsay Murdoch reports.) 

Xanana Gusmão is remarkably co-operative 

for somebody facing the possibility 

of execution. 

No crime, it seems, is too grave for him 

to admit responsibility, including mass 

murder. 

But the leader of East Timor’s resistance 

movement does not appear beaten.


He looks his accusers dead straight in the 

eye, as if unrepentant, perhaps even a touch 

arrogant. The paradox of Xanana’s trial on 

rebellion and other charges, which began in 

East Timor this week, is that a massive legal 

case prepared against him by Indonesia 

serves to prove him by Indonesia serves to 

prove what Xanana himself apparently 

want the world to know: he, and nobody 

else, has led the guerilla campaign against 

Indonesia’s rule since 1979. 

José Alexandre Gusmão, better known as 

Xanana, is tall and lean with a wispy, 

greying beard. When the court heard witnesses 

tell this week of gruesome acts 

committed by his men, Xanana showed no 

emotion and sat staring nonchalantly at the 

ceiling. 

Xanana, 45, is an enigma. Wily and resourceful, 

as he has shown to Indonesia’s 

cost in the past, he will remain a key player 

in the future of East Timor no matte what 

the trial’s outcome. 

Maybe he has a surprise up his sleeve. 

It is easy to be seduced by the charm of 

Dili, capital of the 18,900 square-kilometer 

East Timor at the south-eastern extremity of 

the sprawling Indonesian archipelago. 

Young children splash gaily on white, 

sandy beaches, Hawkers walk the eucalyptus-lined 

streets selling fresh fish tied to a 

pole. Give him a day or two and old John, 

the waiter at the beachfront Turismo Hotel, 

will arrange a delightful Portuguese meal, 

complete with chilled rose. 

But sullen faces of the dark-skinned and 

lightly-built Timorese reveal a population in 

deep mourning, clinging to the faint hope of 

some sort of independence. 

East Timor has been a dirty little war. It 

still is in some ways, although the number 

of Xanana’s guerrillas in the jungle has 

dwindled and the nature of the struggle has 

changed. 

A large number of Timorese do not accept 

Indonesia’s 1976 annexation of the 

former Portuguese colony, according to 

Timorese quoted this week by Catholic 

priests. 

The head of the Roman Catholic church 

in East Timor, Bishop Carlos Ximenes Belo, 

says history shows Timorese people to be 

brave. “But now they are closed in their 

hearts. There is this pressure. Yeah, the 

word is sad. They are sad because of the 

situation... there is no change in the history 

of the repression,” he says. 

According to the Timorese, military and 

police agents are everywhere, listening to 

conversations, watching people and creating 

an environment in which people perceive it 

dangerous to be seen talking to foreigners or 

to gather in small groups. 

“People are afraid to walk freely,” 

Bishop Belo said. “Everywhere there are 

military from the territorial operation. They 

are building houses and going to live in 

villages. The people do not feel free.” 

Dark, wet-season clouds hide peaks of 

mountains where in 1942 the Timorese 

helped Australian commandos resist advancing 

Japanese forces; and Xanana’s 

Frente Revolutionaria de Timor-Leste 

Independente (Fretilin) still plays cat-andmouse 

with up to 12 Indonesian military 

battalions. 

Dili’s Santa Cruz Cemetery is cluttered 

with graves up to a century old. People 

come silently and often to mourn dozens of 

independence supporters killed when 

Indonesian soldiers opened fire there in 

November 1991. They light candles and 

spread flower petals on an unmarked grave 

with a large iron cross. 

The Catholic Motael Church facing the 

sea, has been a haven for student activists 

wanted by the police or the military. Its 

mass is always packed to overflowing. Some 

of the people wear black armbands or black 

cloth pinned to their chests. A young man, 

about 20, wants to talk. Shaking with 

nerves, he says to call him “Materuin.” 

“I am not Fretilin. I represent many 

young people of East Timor,” he says. “Our 

fight is not with the Indonesian constitution. 

We have no quarrel with it. Our fight is for 

some independence.” 

Materuin has rehearsed his speech well. 

Xanana, the freedom fighter, has a strategy. 

Wait and see. The Timorese know Xanana is 

under pressure. The struggle goes on. 

I find Bishop Belo pacing the balcony of 

his re-roofed colonial house, engrossed in 

the Bible. He is deeply disturbed about reports 

he has received from villages about 

bizarre ceremonies during which Timorese 

are forced by Indonesian soldiers to drink 

animal blood. 

People named on military lists as Fretilin 

sympathisers are gathered together, 

sometimes as many as 200 at a time. The 

blood of a chicken, cow or goat is mixed 

with wine or whisky. People are forced to 

drink it and make a note declaring their acceptance 

of Indonesia’s integration. 

Bishop Belo says the oath is an untrue 

version of a traditional pact taken by 

Timorese leaders to end tribal wars. Rival 

leaders would mix their blood with palm 

wine and drink it in an oath to mark the end 

of hostilities. 

Since the 1991 Santa Crux massacre, 

Indonesia’s East Timor military commander, 

Brigadier General Theo Syafei, has 

implemented a hardline campaign designed 

to break the will of the resistance while 

pushing ahead with the development of 

roads, bridges and other infrastructure. 

The military claims in propaganda that 

the crackdown has worked. It says virtually 

all of Fretilin’s able fighters have surrendered. 

The United Nations does not recognise 

Indonesia’s sovereignty of East Timor. A 

vote on the question has been postponed 

each year since 1982 to give Indonesia and 

Portugal the chance to solve the issue under 

the auspices of the UN Secretary-General. 

Talks between the two countries are due to 

resume in April. 

The overriding consideration for Jakarta 

in any change of policy on East Timor, according 

to diplomats, would be not to create 

an impression that the Government would 

tolerate disintegration of any part of 

Indonesia. 

Renewed international pressure would be 

put on Jakarta if Xanana were sentenced to 

death. Australia, which recognises 

Indonesia’s annexation of East Timor, 

would be among the countries forced by 

popular opinion at home to protest against 

an execution. 

Remark: This is a report filed from Dili - ET 

by RM, who is now in Dili to file report for 

The Age and Sydney Morning Herald about 

the progress of Indonesian illegal trial of 

Xanana Gusmão. The interesting points to 

note here are 1. that the Bishop of ET, Don 

Carlos Ximenes Belo, is becoming 

outspoken on the political situation inside the 

country; 2. that Xanana Gusmão shows no 

sign of being beaten; 3. that the young 

people are trying to let the journalists know 

what is going on beyond the farce of peace 

and development; and, the feeling of the ET 

people about this of the Indonesian military 

manipulation of this fake trial. 

COMMENT FROM AGIO PEREIRA 

Since the capture of Xanana Gusmão, the 

Catholic Church of East Timor has been 

forced to fill the gap of speaking against the 

Indonesian occupation of East Timor. The 

Bishop of ET, Carlos Ximenes Belo, is 

trying his best to do that. Bishop Belo, too, 

must watch his back, because he is only 

Bishop of Lorium and the Pope is not necessarily 

his best supporter when it comes to 

open criticism of the abuse of Human Rights 

and the illegal occupation of East Timor. 

This seems to be the reason why Bishop 

Belo adopted a pragmatic approach when he 

needs to tackle the political angle of the 

issue of the Indonesian illegal occupation of 

East Timor. His suggestion made two weeks 

ago to a journalist that an ‘autonomy’ would 

be a good way out, must be seen in this 

context. Bishop Belo said that after 

reiterating that the situation has indeed 

deteriorated since the capture of Xanana 

Gusmão. He said that arrests, imprisonments 

and torture of the Timorese 

people by the Indonesian military have de-


teriorated. The Indonesian generals are 

trying to ‘hook’ him into the political debate 

so that he can be forced to leave East Timor 

like they succeeded with Belo’s 

predecessor, the late courageous Mgr. 

Lopes. 

The territorial operation: weakness or 

strength? 

Bishop Belo talks about the ‘territorial 

operation’ now being carried out in ET by 

the Indonesian military. This is aimed at 

what brig. gen. Theo Syafei also refers to as 

the operation to turn all villages of ET into 

‘merdeka’ - the red and white flag or 

Indonesianisation of ET. And, this is to be 

accomplish with the ‘help’ of 12 battalions 

of Indonesian troops. 

Over the 17 years of occupation, the 

Timorese have been forced to endure the 

consequences of about a dozen operations 

beginning with ‘Operasi Komodo’ of 1974. 

So, this is just another one. If anything, the 

Timorese are already more than prepared to 

deal with this situation. 

One new element introduced by Theo 

Syafei is the infamous manipulation of the 

‘blood oath’ also refers to in this article of 

Lindsay Murdoch. LM quotes Bishop Belo 

as saying that “the oath is an UNTRUE 

version of a traditional pact taken by 




of hostilities.” The Bishop is quite right. 

What he does not say though, is that, the 

reason why it is “an untrue version of a 

traditional pact” is precisely because these 

‘blood oath’ which have been reported, are 

celebrated between the Timorese themselves, 

NOT between the Timorese and the 

Indonesian generals! I should let you use 

your own imagination... 

FRETILIN ‘GOT AID 

FROM AUSTRALIA’ 

The Age 23 Feb. 1993 Byline: Lindsay 

Murdoch Dateline: Dili Unabridged 

The East Timor resistance group, 

Fretilin, sent secret requests for arms to 

supporters in Australia, a court in Dili was 

told today. 

Mr. Antonio Campos, a former Fretilin 

radio operator, said Mr. José “Xanana” 

Gusmão, that before he was arrested in 

1987, he was frequently in contact with 

Australia via radio, passing information such 

as Fretilin operations and the “beating of 

people by Indonesian troops.” 

One of three judges hearing charges 

against Mr. Gusmão interrupted and asked a 

non-related question when Mr. Campos 

mentioned the beatings. 

Later, Mr. Campos was asked by another 

judge if he had seen Fretilin guerrillas kill 

villagers in a “cruel and sadistic way.” 

“Yes,” he replied. “Who would those 

people have been?” - “Spies.” 

Mr. Campos said he knew of orders from 

Mr. Gusmão to burn the houses of certain 

villagers who were “unsympathetic” to the 

Fretilin cause. Mr. Campos said Mr. 

Gusmão had ordered the death penalty for 

any Fretilin member who raped villagers. He 

had never heard of the sentence being carried 

out. 

Mr. Gusmão, 45, has pleaded not guilty 

to charges of rebellion, conspiracy and possessing 

illegal weapons. He faces possible 

execution. 

Indonesian prosecutors have alleged that 

Mr. Gusmão set up a secret communication 

network between Dili and groups overseas, 

including some in Australia. 

Among people named as having been in 

contact with Mr. Gusmão through the network 

are Fretilin’s Australian-based representative, 

Mr. José Ramos-Horta, and two 

other people in Australia, João Carrascalao 

and “Vasco” in Darwin. 

Prosecutors have claimed that Fretilin 

supporters in Australian regularly sent 

money to the group via couriers posing as 

tourists in Kupang, West Timor. 

Fretilin’s deputy leader, Mr. José Da 

Costa, testified today that Mr. Gusmão ordered 

Fretilin sympathisers to organise the 

demonstration in Dili in November 1991 

during which Indonesian troops opened fire 

and killed and wounded scores of people. 

Mr. Da Costa said Mr. Gusmão’s intention 

was to promote Fretilin’s cause internationally. 

Mr. Da Costa testified that Fretilin’s 

attacks on the Indonesian military during the 

1980s were carried out on Mr. Gusmão’s 

orders. 

He said Mr. Gusmão directed and led one 

attack during which 16 Indonesian soldiers 

were killed. 

Asked about Mr. Da Costa’s evidence, 

Mr. Gusmão said he had known the witness 

for a long time and verified his evidence. 

Mr. Gusmão also agreed with the evidence 

of Mr. Campos. 

SHADOWS OVER THE TIMOR 

SIDESHOW 

The following is an Editorial Opinion by the 

same newspaper on the same day. 

No one, except José “Xanana” Gusmão 

himself, knows what ploy, if any, he is using 

at his trial in East Timor. Is the captured 

Fretilin leader’s apparent indifference to the 

prosecution case unfolding against him a 

sign of a behind-the-scenes deal? Does it 

reflect mistreatment and threats, or a wish 

for martyrdom? “Xanana” Gusmão is telling 

nobody. 

The best that can be hoped for, as some 

diplomats suspect, is that Mr. Gusmão is 

controlling at least some of the sticks of a 

wayang shadow puppet show that sees him 

face trial (Jakarta insists on that) but then 

able, openly, to play a role in high-level 

negotiations. It seems almost much to hope 

for after the years of killings, not least the 

1991 Dili massacre, and continuing tension 

and alleged persecution. But it would not be 

a bad result for the Indonesian Government, 

either. 

The worst outcome for President Suharto 

would be for Mr. Gusmão to be sentenced 

to death. He would become a renewed focus 

of dissent and support for Fretilin, which is 

showing continued resilience under new 

leadership. 

Official claims of flagging support are 

weakened by the remaining strong 

Indonesian military presence on Timor, 

continuing arrests and reports of soldiers’ 

deaths. 

International clamor would force even 

Canberra - maintaining a close relationship 

with Indonesia since the Gusmão hearing - 

to reconsider Australia’s official position. 

Talks between Portugal and Indonesia under 

the United Nations, due to resume in April, 

would be lucky to survive. 

The Suharto Government cannot wish to 

return to ostracism. Whatever the trial’s 

outcome, the Timorese will remain dissatisfied 

(Mr. Ali Alatas’ “sharp stone” in the 

national shoe) unless an accommodation can 

be reached. 

The resistance movement’s offer last 

year, with limited autonomy and before a 

referendum, was starting point. It recognised 

that neither armed revolt nor official 

repression can win the day. 

MATE-BIAN NEWS 

COMMENTS ON COVERAGE 

OF XANANA TRIAL 

23 February 1993 

1. This farce called “Xanana’s trial” is 

now closed to a conclusion. It will be, of 

course, a guilty verdict! 

2. As this ‘trial’ progresses, one can see 

that the news coverage from Australia has 

been good. Lindsay Murdoch, writing for 

The Age and Sydney Morning Herald, has 

been able to send regular articles covering 

the ‘trials’ and the environment surrounding 

it. His interviews of Bishop Belo has, once 

again, put Bishop Belo at odds with the 

generals, including ‘general’ Abilio Osorio 

who seems to be very upset with Bishop 

Belo’s statements.


3. Osorio has been active puppet used by 

the Indonesian generals to state what they 

want so that the outside world can perceive 

that pro-Indonesian things in East Timor are 

“under the control of Timorese.” However, 

being a ‘handicapped’ puppet often he is 

out of tune and signals messages that are not 

necessarily shiny for the Indonesians! 

4. Malcolm Booker, Canberra Times (16 

Feb. 1993) wrote that “any departure from 

fair judicial trial would be difficult to hide"- 

referring to this so-called trial of Xanana. 

Although I do not share Malcom’s 

confidence in this Indonesian general’s 

“trial” because it is, from the outset, illegal 

and an insult to any legal system which 

claims to be based on fairness and justice, I 

must add that Malcolm was right. In spite 

of a very well orchestrated farce, as the days 

pass, what Malcolm call’s “departure from 

fairness” are (inevitably) emerging. One 

example was the report filed by Lindsay 

Murdoch, The Age, 23 Feb. 1993. He 

recalled that “one of the three judges hearing 

charges against Mr. Gusmão interrupted and 

asked a non-related question when Mr. 

Campos (supposedly witness for the 

prosecutor) mentioned the (Indonesian) 

beatings. Later, Mr. Campos was asked by 

another judge if he had seen Fretilin guerrillas 

kill villagers in a “cruel and sadistic 

way.” “Yes” he replied. “Who would those 

people have been?” - “Spies.” 

Mr. Campos later said things that certainly 

made the prosecutors unhappy. He 

said that “Mr. Gusmão had ordered death 

penalty for any Fretilin member who raped 

villagers.” 

5. Lindsay Murdoch made a point in his 

weekend coverage (SMH, 20 Feb., 1993) 

that the legal case prepared by Indonesia 

against Xanana serves to prove that 

“Xanana and nobody else, has led the 

guerilla campaign against Indonesia’s rule 

since 1979.” This has emerged in the last 

five days of this ‘trial.’ And, I believe, it 

helps to keep the Australian government 

very worried about the “sentence” for 

Xanana because the Australian government 

seems to argue that Xanana is the vehicle for 

“reconciliation” and the generals of Jakarta 

should not waste this opportunity. As 

Xanana, through the eyes of prosecutors’ 

witnesses, emerges more and more as the 

real moving force and “The Real Leader,” 

this kind of argument equally gains weight. 

6. The “trial” of Xanana has also allowing 

the Australian journalists to comment much 

more on East Timor in the light of 

international law. This has never happened 

in the past and, I believe, it has become a 

good vehicle to educate the Aussie journos 

on the illegality of the Indonesian occupation 

as opposed to the official line of “real 

politiks.” 

7. The involvement of priests in the 

struggle, although NOT in a military sense 

but in a nationalistic sense, is nothing new. 

The Indonesian generals do not it well. In 

the early days of Bishop Belo’s reign, the 

Catholic Church of East Timor issue a very 

strong statement appealing to the world to 

stop the cultural, social and religious 

genocide of the Timorese people, perpetrated 

by Indonesia. Until now, the Church 

of East Timor refuses to be integrated into 

KAWI (the Indonesian Conference of 

Churches) as a political statement to preserve 

the dignity and unity of the Timorese 

people. All these are obvious political 

statement. The Indonesian generals, 

knowing this, are trying to build up a dossier 

to destroy the power of the Timorese 

priests in controlling the Timorese Church. 

They already sent to East Timor Fr. 

Wanandy, the brother of Yusuf Wanandy, 

director of CSIS (Central of Strategic 

International Studies) of Indonesian government, 

just to infiltrate the inside power 

of the Timorese priests and spy on them. 

The more they accuse the priests, the more 

the world will know through the reports 

from Australian and other foreign journalists 

that the Resistance against the occupation 

is, indeed, well embedded in the Timorese 

society. 

8. Stay with us, IN THE QUI VIVE!!! 

XANANA: THE TRIAL OF 

JUSTICE 

Article by Agio Pereira, Fretilin/Australia, 

February 23, 1993 

Xanana Gusmão is not a myth. Xanana is 

a man of rare courage and determination, 

intellect and vision. Even his enemies are 

compelled to recognise that. 

If one says that about Xanana Gusmão 

today, the people of East Timor and the 

Indonesian armed forces do fully agree with 

it. 

The problem is, it is also not easy, for 

those abroad, to understand Xanana’s kind 

of Human dimension. This is made particularly 

more difficult at a time when he is 

going through a test which is, after all,, an 

extremely difficult experience, not only for 

him, but for many others whom, in one way 

or another, have been part of this unique 

dynamic in the Timorese politics which one 

can simply call: XANANISM. 

What is that that makes Xanana what he 

is? 

Since Xanana’s capture by the occupationists 

of the Homeland of the Timorese 

people, incredible things, worse than 

Xanana’s capture itself, have taken place, 

almost simultaneously. 

Leaders have come out and accused 

Xanana of involvement in absurd plans; 

Journalists have written about “the end of 

the myth"; and opportunists have given interviews 

and written articles which by all 

means, can either help the Indonesian generals 

‘bury’ Xanana and/or bury the facts 

that made him a national figure of East 

Timor and a prestigious guerilla leader of the 

world. 

And... all this is done in the name of the 

struggle of the suffering people of East 


It is, therefore, vital for all the Timorese 

to help sustain the dignity of a struggle 

which Xanana and thousands of Timorese 

man, women and children help sustain in 

almost 18 years, against all odds. 

The statement sent by the courageous 

Timorese Women in East Timor and the 

students organisations for non-violent actions 

to the outside world was precisely 

aimed at safeguarding this dignity. They 

took risks, exposing their own lives to the 

guns of the occupationist, but they did because 

they believe the dignity of the 

Timorese suffering people must be safeguarded 

in this difficult times. 

The youth in East Timor, defying the 

now highly sophisticated repressive machine 

of the Indonesian generals, continue to 

approach foreigners to let them know the 

truth that lies beyond Turismo Hotel and 

Portuguese wines in Dili. 

In a message sent from East Timor to 

Mate-Bian News, a young Timorese said 

this about Xanana’s current situation: 

“we, in East Timor, don’t believe a word 

of what the Indonesian military are trying to 

force Xanana to say. You, out there, all you 

can do to help is to fight for Xanana to 

regain a breeding space; and, when he is free 

like you out there, you then can criticize 

what he does or says...” 

These are words of people who know 

exactly what is “Indonesian torture and 

systematic repression.” They did not read it 

in newspapers or studied it in the universities. 

They live it day and night. 

As Prof. Kooijmans, the special rapporteur 

of the United Nations (now the 

foreign Affairs Minister of Netherlands) 

that went to East Timor in November 1991 

said in his report, in East Timor torture is “a 

matter of routine.” 

What Xanana has managed to successfully 

personified is precisely the best way 

to deal with this systematic torture and long 

term environment of degradation of human 

dignity. Xanana urges the Timorese to use 

their available resources to resist the occupation 

in a sustainable way, and, at the same 

time, to try to find ways to build and 

accumulate new resources to crack the occupation 

when time is due.


When Xanana articulates the strategy of 

the Resistance, he shows tremendous maturity 

and vision. He does not show any 

sign of hatred against Indonesia. If anything, 

he shows in depth understanding of the 

geographical and geopolitical problems 

which East Timor faces by virtue of its 

natural existence. 

When Xanana articulates his vision, he 

shows a rare understanding of the Human 

nature of his struggle for the liberation of 

East Timorese people; he shows it in such a 

way that he extends it also to the Indonesian 

soldiers, the Portuguese people and the rest 

of the world. 

When Xanana articulates the pros and 

cons of the organisational structure of the 

Timorese Resistance, he does not diminish 

the role of all leaders by avoiding harsh 

criticism, when criticism is due. This in turn, 

have made him unpopular amongst some 

leaders and extremely admired by the people 

of East Timor. 

Xanana believes in democracy. As a result 

of his seventeen years of schooling in 

his University which he often calls “The 

Mountains of East Timor,” Xanana have 

learnt to love the form of democracy which 

he proudly terms: MAUBERE. 

This is the strength of Xananism which 

many find it heard to grasp. After all, one 

may ask, how can one understands it, if one 

does not live Maubere’s reality like Xanana 

does? 

This so-called ‘trial’ of Xanana is shaking 

the blood pressure of many people. Many 

wish that Xanana walks into the Indonesian 

courtroom and start to behave like a “Steve 

Biko” in Cry Freedom, challenging the 

Indonesian generals from day one to the end. 

Others have said that Xanana would have 

been a hero if he was killed. 

But Xananism, it seems, sees the reality 

of the Mauberes inside ET. It may see the 

same problem as those outside, but the focus 

of its telescope is directed to the 

Maubere people suffering under the 

Indonesian in this already 18 years of barbarous 

military occupation. Xanananism 

will never forget that there are already 

200,000 Timorese heroes. There is no need 

for an extra one! 

One of the peculiar aspect of Xananism 

is the clear understanding of the strength and 

weaknesses of the enemy’s strategy of 

occupation, both within the enemy’s camp 

itself, and the implementation of this strategy 

amongst the Timorese people. It is this 

in depth understanding of the dynamics of 

the enemy’s camp that allows Xanana to sit 

in the Indonesian courtroom and, as Lindsay 

Murdoch reported to the Sydney Morning 

Herald (Saturday, 20 Feb. 93), “he looks his 

accusers dead straight in the eye, as if 

unrepentant, perhaps even a touch 

arrogant.” 

That is, very briefly, what makes Xanana 

what he is today: a national figure with a 

strength that blew out the Indonesian 

barriers and brought the struggle of the 

Maubere into the main stream politics of the 

outside world. It has been Xananism that 

inspired all activists for East Timor in the 

last decade in this outside world. It will 

continue to do so, until the end of occupation, 

even though, some politicians are trying 

to score cheap political mileage at the 

expense of Xanana’s silence. The cheap 

political points are no points at all: 

Xanana’s behaviour and statements seen 

and made since his capture, often are conveniently 

ignored by the opportunists that 

try to use the ‘gap’ left by Xanana’s capture 

to score cheap political points. Apart 

from other things, 

- when a journalist asked him if he would 

make an appeal to his guerilla fighters to 

surrender, Xanana simply said that “they 

never fought for myself"; 

- asked whether those still in the mountains 

can continue the struggle Xanana said 

that “he (Ma’hunu) can continue the 

struggle if he wants to; he has the conditions 

to do so"; 

- at the end of a forced interview given to 

a Portuguese journalist in which Xanana 

made some ambiguous pro-Indonesian remarks 

in the presence of almost three dozens 

Indonesian military security officers, 

Xanana confided to the journalist that “if I 

was free, the answers would be different"; 

- Xanana, for the first time since his fake 

trial started in the first day of February, 

asked the journalists, in English, to stay 

until the end of the trial. That obviously 

cost him another session of psychological 

torture by the Indonesian generals. The 

following session, Xanana came into the 

‘trial’ with his faced covered, for the first 

time too; 

These are some points which are necessary 

to make an objective assessment of 

Xanana in the mouth of the ‘lion.’ 

Xanana has been put on trial, not only by 

the Indonesian generals against all suffering 

and determination he endures for about 18 

years now to fight for justice for his people 

and the world; but, worse then that, he has 

been put on trial by people who often call 

themselves “a freedom fighter.” 

The trial of Xanana is, indeed, a trial of 

justice! 

RETICENT WITNESSES 

The Nation (Thailand), Feb. 25 93 

Unabridged 

(AFP, Jakarta) - East Timor pro-independence 

leader Xanana Gusmão’s defence 

lawyer has said people are afraid to testify 

on behalf of his client, according to press 

reports yesterday. 

“Most of those who could become witnesses 

are afraid to do so,” the Rupublika 

daily quoted Defence Lawyer Sudjono as 

saying in Dili, East Timor. 

“In line with the prevailing regulations, I 

will keep on trying to get a defence witness,” 

Sudjono added. 

The lawyer said Gusmão did not want 

any family members used as character witnesses. 

TRIAL RESUMES TODAY 

The following is a transcript of ABC TV - 

The World at Noon, 4 Mar. 1993 

NEWSREADER: In Indonesia (sic) the 

trial of East Timor independence leader 

Xanana Gusmão resumes today. Into its 

second month it shows no sign of winding 

up. The prosecution is scheduled to produce 

more witnesses is support of numerous 

charges against the 46-year-old rebel leader. 

Xanana Gusmão hasn’t contested any of the 

testimony which is our Indonesian 

correspondent Ian MacIntosh reports is 

making the job of defending increasingly him 

difficult. 

IAN MACINTOSH: When the Dili district 

court began hearing Indonesia’s case 

against Xanana Gusmão more than a month 

ago the court house the street outside were 

packed. But the panel of three judges currently 

examining prosecution witnesses has 

conducted few sittings in the past fortnight 

and the crowds have dwindled. Xanana 

Gusmão has heard a string of witnesses 

testified against him, among them followers 

such as his captured former deputy José da 

Costa. He described Mr. Gusmão long 

leadership of the armed struggle against 

Indonesian rule in East Timor, of their attacks 

against military and civilian targets and 

Fretilin’s alleged links with backers in 

Australia and elsewhere overseas. 

Predictably most of the evidence has been 

damaging to the defendant and more so because 

Mr. Gusmão has agreed with the testimony 

of each witness. His counsel 

Sudjono concedes the defence is facing a 

new impossible task even before his client 

takes the witness stand. And those in the 

public gallery among them western diplomats, 

Xanana Gusmão’s parents are left to 

speculate on the eventual sentence. The man 

who acquired legendary status during his


years in East Timor’s mountains and jungles 

faces prison term of between 20 years and 

life. For the firearms possession charge 

carries a maximum death penalty. Whilst the 

trial of Xanana Gusmão drags on the future 

of the independence movement in East 

Timor remains in question, There is no 

doubt his capture dealt a serious blow to 

Fretilin but local sources say the movement 

has not been broken. Independent 

information on those still holding out in the 

province’s (sic) rugged interior is virtually 

impossible to obtain. despite some recent 

clashes there is general agreement the small 

groups of armed rebels no longer represent a 

serious security threat to the Indonesian 

administration. The authorities claim to have 

greatly reduced Fretilin influence following 

Xanana Gusmão November capture. But 

reliable evidence indicates some opposition 

to Jakarta’s 17 year rule is continuing with 

negotiation and diplomatic pressure likely to 

be its future focus. 

Video: Xanana shows signs of stress looking 

up to ceiling. Pictures of his parents in court 

were also shown. A Falintil flag and a pistol 

gun was also shown. Later they led him to a 

green car with tinted windows. 

SATURNINO DA COSTA 

BELO BRAVELY CRIES OUT 

The following fax was received by the East 

Timor Action Network/US from an East 

Timorese nationalist in Jakarta on the 

morning of Friday, March 5. It is repeated 

here in its entirety, except for the deletion of 

the name of the sender: 

Urgently I want to inform you that my 

friend Saturnino da Costa Belo, a witness in 

the Xanana Trial yesterday in Dili (4 March 

1993), took the opportunity to act and 

showed to the world the East Timor 

people’s aspirations. He stood up, held up 

his arms in a victory symbol, and said 

loudly “Live East Timor! Live the Maubere 

People! Indonesia must respect human 

rights in East Timor.” There was a little 

confusion yesterday in the Dili court. The 

police doctor said Saturnino was ill. But he 

wasn’t ill. He wanted to do that in front of 

some diplomats, representatives of the 

British Embassy, and members of the 

International Jurists who are attending the 

trial. 

The judges decided to interrupt the trial 

for 45 minutes. 

The police took my friend Saturnino, and 

in the prison’s car, the police beat him, 

according to the information I received soon 

afterwards. I believe it because it is habitual 

experience. Saturnino was punished by 15 

years, his trial without advocate or lawyers, 

carried out in Baucau city. In need your 

attention about his situation now. 

Warm embraces to all 

the solidarity friends, 

(name removed) 

Radio Australia News, Thursday March 4, 

11.00 pm (AEST) 

The trial of East Timorese independence 

leader, Xanana Gusmão, in Dili has been 

disrupted by a witness for the prosecution. 

He shouted pro-Fretilin slogans and greeted 

Mr. Gusmão causing the hearing to be adjourned. 

Mr. Gusmão faces charges of rebellion, 

conspiracy, separatist activity and 

possession of firearms. 

When the hearing resumed, an army 

doctor testified that the witness, Saturnino 

da Costa Belo was not fit to continue. He 

has been in gaol in Baucau, west of Dili, 

after receiving a 9 year sentence for involvement 

in the demonstration that preceded 

the November 1991 Dili massacre. 

Mr. Gusmão’s trial resumes next 

Thursday. (March 12) 

‘VIVA INDEPENDENCE’ RINGS OUT 

IN DILI COURT 

TAPOL issued the following Press Release 

today, 4 March 1993: 

An East Timorese, Saturnino da Costa 

Belo, who was present in the Dili court 

today to attend the trial of the resistance 

leader Xanana Gusmão stunned the court 

when he suddenly stood up and shouted: 

Viva East Timor, Viva Xanana, Viva independence!.’ 

He had been summoned to testify 

as a prosecution witness. His action 

caused uproar; proceedings were suspended 

as he was hustled out of court. An hour 

later, a doctor came to inform the court that 

the witness was ‘unfit to appear.’ 

It is highly likely that Saturnino will be 

subjected to maltreatment and torture for his 

act of defiance so pressure is needed to 

protect him. 

Saturnino da Costa Belo is himself 

serving a nine-year sentence, having been 

tried in Baucau, East Timor, in June last 

year under the anti-subversion law for involvement 

in the demonstration in Dili on 

12 November 1991. At the commencement 

of his own trial, he told the court that he did 

not want to be defended by an Indonesian 

lawyer and would only agree to being 

defended by a Fretilin lawyer. The court 

appointed a duty solicitor to handle his 

case. 

At an earlier hearing of the trial, Xanana 

Gusmão was severely reprimanded by the 

presiding judge for waving to his parents 

and his sister who were present in court. 

After waving, he placed two fingers on his 

lips, as a signal for keeping silent. The judge 

warned him that it was “very impolite 

indeed” to wave to anyone in court and 

ordered him to apologise. Xanana said 

nothing in response. According to Kompas 

which reported the incident [26.II.1993], his 

parents were very upset over what had 

happened. His younger sister, Felomena 

Gusmão, burst into tears, and shouted: 

“Fancy telling him off for waving to his 

parents!” 

XANANA GUSMÃO SHOW TRIAL: 

WITNESS’ FINAL(?) CRY FOR 

FREEDOM 

José Gusmão, CNRM/Darwin, on 5 March, 

adds: 

* At the continuing show trial of Xanana 

Gusmão in Dili, East Timor, ABC Radio 

reported last night that a witness for the 

Indonesian military shouted pro-East Timor 

slogans. 

* After the court reconvened an hour 

later, an army doctor said that the brave 

witness, Saturnino da Costa Belo, was not 

fit to continue. 

* We demand to know what happened to 

Mr. Belo during that hour to make him unable 

to continue. What kind of tortures were 

inflicted. 

* We call on all international human 

rights bodies and governments of good will 

to urgently make intense representatives for 

the welfare of Mr. Belo. 

* Indonesia’s appalling and increasingly 

well-known record of torture and massive 

human rights violations in East Timor indicates 

that the Xanana Gusmão show trial 

will continue to be a farce until all witnesses 

are in 24-hour care of the International Red 

Cross and free to leave for a third country. 

We call on Australia to offer help and 

SANCTUARY! 

LONG LIVE EAST TIMOR IN DILI 

COURT 

Written by FRETILIN Committee in NSW 

(peg:nswfretilin) on reg.easttimor on 6 

March 1993. 

The following is a transcript of ATVI ( a new 

satellite TV for the Asian region) run by 

ABC. 

NEWSREADER:....(missing bits). The 

anti-Indonesian protest took place in the 

court in Dili after Ian MacIntosh filed that 

report. He joined us by telephone with details. 

IAN MACINTOSH: According to 

sources the second prosecution witness 

called Saturnino Da Costa Belo walked in 

saluted put his FIST IN THE AIR and 

yelled LONG LIVE EAST TIMOR, LONG 

LIVE INDEPENDENCE. The sources said 

he then attempted to shake Xanana 

Gusmão’s hand but the defendant declined


to do. Asked his name Saturnino responded 

by saying that he was present to defend 

EAST TIMORESE INDEPENDENCE and 

HUMAN RIGHTS. 

The hearing was then adjourned for 15 

minutes and an hour later when it was resumed 

AN ARMY DOCTOR stated that 

the witness was not FIT TO CONTINUE. 

SATURNINO has been in jail as we understand 

at Baucau, west of Dili after he 

received last year, a 9-year sentence for 

involvement in the demonstration which 

preceded the November 1991 Dili massacre. 

Earlier in today’s hearing Luis Cardoso, 46, 

testified that he had supplied Fretilin with 

food and medicine and last year transported 

and sheltered the defendant. Xanana 

Gusmão told the court the evidence given 

was true. His trial will resume next 

Thursday. 

WITNESS FOR XANANA FORCES 

COURT TO ADJOURN 

Jakarta Post, 5 March 1993 

Only the section dealing with Saturnino’s act 

of defiance. Saturnino was actually 

summoned by the prosecution, not by the 

defence. 

(Dili, East Timor) A witness in the trial 

of Fretilin separatist (sic) movement leader 

José Alexandre “Xanana” Gusmão refused 

yesterday to answer the presiding judge’s 

questions and accused the government of 

ignoring human rights in the province (sic). 

The trial was then suspended. 

Saturnino da Costa Belo, 32, the second 

witness to testify in yesterday’s session, 

yelled Viva Timor Leste (Portuguese for 

‘Long live East Timor’) while looking at 

Xanana with his eyes glistening with tears. 

The witness then approached Xanana in 

his effort to shake hands with the Fretilin 

leader, but Xanana refused to shake hands 

with him and gestured ordering him to calm 

down. 

Saturnino ignored Xanana’s gesture, 

leading Presiding Judge Hieronymus Godang 

to pound his gavel and order him to sit 

down. 

“I want you to sit down,” the judge said. 

The witness however continued to stand 

until the court officials led him to his seat. 

Saturnino then kept silent when the 

presiding judge repeatedly asked him his 

identity. Suddenly the witness stood up and 

yelled, “I ask the government of Indonesia 

to respect human rights in East Timor.” 

Hieronymus later suspended the session 

for 45 minutes and ordered the prosecutor 

to call a doctor to examine the witness. 

After examining the witness, Dr. Musadek 

Ishac from the East Timor police said that 

Saturnino had a mental disorder. The judge 

then adjourned the session till next 

Thursday. 

SOS RE: SATURNINO’S 

CONDITION 

From Ines at Fretilin/NSW, 6 March 1993 

It is highly likely that Saturnino was 

mistreated after his courageous statement in 

court. There are reports that he was dragged 

out of the court. We appeal to anyone who 

is able to find more information on 

Saturnino after yesterday’s events so that 

we can once again start some action internationally. 

We will keep you posted if further 

news comes to hand. Stay in touch for 

further action. 

TO RESIST IS TO WIN. 

BACKGROUND ON 

SATURNINO 

From Peace is Possible in East Timor, 5 

March 1993 Dateline: Lisbon Translated 

from Portuguese unabridged 

The case of Saturnino da Costa Belo, the 

Timorese who shouted out in favour of East 

Timor’s independence in the court where he 

was supposed to testify against Xanana, 

reveals the methods used by the Indonesians 

in order to come up with such witnesses. 

Even though foreign journalists have been 

stopped from attending the trial, and 

therefore rendering such acts of courage 

practically useless, Saturnino da Costa Belo 

refused to play the part he had been given. 

Saturnino da Costa Belo had been held in 

Indonesian prisons from 1986 to 1990, 

serving a total of four years. He was re-arrested 

on 30 November 1991 in Baucau, at 

the same time as his younger brothers, 

Alcino Vital Freitas and Custodio Freitas, 

on charges of having links with the guerrilla. 

At the time of his arrest the Indonesian 

soldiers looted his home, stealing everything 

from a gold moon and macassar swords 

(objects of traditional Timorese value) to 

clothes. 

Saturnino and his brothers were subjected 

to ill- treatment, especially beatings. After a 

few weeks, Alcino and Custodio were 

released. Saturnino remained in detention 

awaiting trial. 

He was taken before the Baucau court in 

1992, but rejected the 9- year prison sentence 

which the court passed. So he was 

taken for torture: “beatings, and his mouth 

squeezed with a pliers until it bled.” A new 

trial was set for 19 November, this time in 

Kupang (Indonesian Timor). 

Meanwhile, during guerrilla activity on 5 

October in Baucau, an Indonesian officer 

was killed for his weapon inside a hotel. The 

hotel is situated between the market and the 

police post, there being about 20 metres 

between them. General Syafei, Military 

Commander of East Timor, in a statement to 

the newspaper Kompas, said there had been 

a guerrilla attack in Baucau, that there had 

been no Indonesian casualties, but that an 

AR16 weapon had been captured, and two 

terrorists had been killed. 

It is known from a Timorese source that, 

in unclear circumstances, a young man was 

received a bullet wound and a child was 

killed. It would appear that the child was 

crushed in the general confusion caused by 

the shooting. The young man wounded was 

Alcino Vital Freitas, Saturnino’s brother. He 

was first taken by car to the military 

hospital but, once identified, he was taken 

from the hospital by soldiers and killed 

three days later, on 8 October, in Liamari: 

“he was nailed, like Jesus Christ, and cut to 

death little by little,” a Timorese wrote. 

Another young man, Domingos, was 

wounded in the leg by a bullet about 500 

metres from the hotel in Uma Lima. He was 

shot and killed the following day, next to the 

Indonesian flag pole (merah putih) by 315 

Battalion soldiers. 

Numerous arrests (over 200 by 10 

October, according to one witness) followed, 

including that of Sebastião Fraga 

Freitas, son of Mateus and Madalena 

Freitas. He was captured on 6 October at 

around 5 pm by Battalion 315 soldiers, in 

Ossaluga (Samalari), as he returned home 

from work (opening an irrigation canal for 

Father Locatelli). Sebastião subsequently 

disappeared and it is feared he has been 

killed. 

On 17 October, Alcino’s 60-year-old 

father, Afonso Freitas, his daughter, and his 

daughter-in-law were all arrested in 

Ossaluga. 

In Samalari, between 70 and 80 people - 

men, women, young and old,- were arrested. 

Among them was the former Liurai 

(traditional leader) and ex-DPR (deputy, 

appointed by the Indonesians) Manuel 

Marcal Sequeira, with his wife and their 

children, later given conditional release. 

Some of those said to have been 

“released,” were actually transferred to 

Battalion 315 military posts in Uailili, 

Gariwai, Uatona and Buibau, and forced to 

act as scouts for the military in their search 

for others who had fled. The majority of 

detainees was tortured. 

After these events, Saturnino da Costa 

Belo disappeared from Baucau prison, only 

to reappear now in Dili to testify against 

Xanana. It is not known whether his trial, 

set for November in Kupang, ever took 

place. 

Apart from Saturnino himself, among 

those believed to be most in danger of re-


prisals following Saturnino’s statements at 

Xanana’s trial, are: 

Custodio Freitas, his brother, living in 

Baucau 

Afonso Freitas, his father, and other 

relatives, living in Ossaluga (Samalari, 

Baucau). 

LETTERS FROM SATURNINO 

10 September 1992 Dateline: prison in 

Baucau. Translated from Portuguese. 

unabridged 

Letter to IPJET Secretary General, Pedro 

Pinto Leite 

“My respectful and best wishes. In spite 

of being imprisoned in the infernal 

Indonesian cell in which, not on rare occasions, 

I am beaten up and subjected to other 

kinds of punishment, I felt greatly relieved 

from pain when, at the end of August, I received 

the letter sent to us. However, the 

copies of the letters to the UN Secretary 

General and the Indonesian Minister of 

Justice have still not arrived - I believe my 

seven compatriots must have them. 

I should also tell you that it is the second 

time that I am in prison. The first was from 

1986 to 1990, when I was sentenced to four 

years imprisonment. But it is the first time I 

have received a letter from an organisation 

sympathizing with our martyrised and 

defenceless people’s struggle. 

In spite of being in this painful situation, 

I feel more and more encouraged and 

stimulated by the warmth of solidarity from 

the IPJET in general, and from you in particular, 

since this gesture of solidarity 

constitutes moral support not only for me 

but also for my people. 

My most sincere thanks go to all the 

IPJET members, and especially to the organization’s 

Secretary General, for the 

solidarity shown and the efforts made to 

defend my People’s cause, and protect 

me/us from the unjust sentences of 

Indonesia’s laws. I hope, and I am fully 

confident, that the IPJET, of which you are 

Secretary General, will continue to make 

untiring efforts, through the means available 

to you, to secure my/our protection and to 

fight for my/our release from Indonesian 

prison. I am sure you will do everything 

possible to defend my People’s right, and to 

free it from Indonesian captivity, since my 

People rejects, with the annexation of its 

Motherland to the Republic of Indonesia. 

I enclose a copy of the letter addressed to 

the Prime Minister. I hope you will intercede 

with him and the Government so 

they might heed my cry. 

With sincere consideration and respect, 

Saturnino da Costa Belo 

Letter to Portuguese Prime Minister: 

His Excellency, the Portuguese Prime 

Minister Mr. Anibal Cavaco Silva. 

Excellency, 

May I first offer you my respectful and 

best wishes. I have the honour of writing 

this insignificant letter in order to inform 

your excellency of my situation: I was captured 

by Indonesian forces on 30 November 

1991, together with my two younger brothers, 

Alcino Freitas Vital and Custodio 

Freitas. We were accused of being in contact 

with the guerrilla and of subversion. Some 

weeks later, my two brothers were released, 

while I continue to be held, now in the 

Baucau Prison. 

I would also like to inform your excellency 

that, at the time of our capture, our 

personal belongings, ranging from an ordinary 

pair of sports shorts to a gold moon 

and macassar swords, of traditional value, 

were stolen by the Indonesian soldiers and 

their collaborators. All we have left are the 

clothes on our backs, and not even the 

slightest article has been returned to us. 

I have been taken before the Indonesian 

Court in Baucau eight times already, where I 

was given a 9-year sentence. However, I did 

not accept their sentence, not only because 

the trials are nothing but a farce, but above 

all because I am not an Indonesian citizen 

and have never acknowledged to one, to be 

now sentenced by Indonesian law. Within 

international legality, I am still legally a 

Portuguese citizen and identify myself as 

such. Since I would not accept the sentence 

passed, the proceedings have been 

transferred to the Kupang Court, Indonesian 

Timor, and the trial is set for 19 November 

next. 

At the time of my previous trials I was 

tortured with beatings and with pliers, 

applied to my mouth and squeezed until it 

bled. I was also ordered to undress, and 

wearing only underpants, forced to lie on 

the ground. 

Assistance from international and humanitarian 

organisations was non-existent, 

given that they were not allowed to give it. 

In this regard, I request your excellency, 

the Prime Minister and the Government to 

afford me the most active, maximum diplomatic 

protection, within international law 

which still supports Portugal and its responsibility. 

Furthermore, I ask that 

through the Dutch Government, which represents 

Portugal’s interests in Indonesia, I 

am given real assistance, given that because 

of the break in diplomatic relations between 

the two countries, Portugal is unable to give 

me any direct help. 

With sincere respect and gratitude, 

Saturnino da Costa Belo 

PORTUGUESE PM CAVACO 

RESPONDS 

Publico 24 March 1993 Dateline : Lisbon 

Byline : A.G. Translated from Portuguese 

unabridged 

Yesterday, Prime Minister Cavaco Silva 

promised to intercede with the International 

Red Cross to investigate the whereabouts of 

Saturnino Belo, a Timorese prisoner sentenced 

to 12 years’ imprisonment. Since, on 

5 March, he shouted out in favour of independence 

for East Timor in front of the 

judges hearing the case in Dili against former 

Resistance leader Xanana Gusmão, 

Saturnino’s whereabouts are unknown. 

Cavaco Silva also agreed to speak to his 

Dutch counterpart about the situation of 

Saturnino Belo, whose letter reached the 

PM via a delegation of the “Freedom for 

Xanana, Freedom for Timor” Commission, 

founded in January this year, and the 

Honorary Chairman of which is the 

Timorese poet Fernando Sylvan. 

In the letter, dated 10 September, Belo 

says he had been subjected to torture, says 

that he is legally still a Portuguese citizen, 

asks Portugal for “maximum diplomatic 

protection,” and that he be given “real help” 

through Holland, which represents 

Portuguese interests following the break in 

relations with Indonesia in the wake of the 

invasion of Timor on 7 December 1975. 

The delegation, consisting of Fernando 

Sylvan, Ana Nunes (from the “Peace is 

Possible in East Timor” organisation), and 

Luisa Teotonio Pereira (from the CDPM - 

the Maubere People’s Rights Commission) 

emphasized to the PM the need for the 

European Presidency’s representation in 

Jakarta to visit Xanana Gusmão and other 

political prisoners. 

Meanwhile, Indonesian sources established 

for the first time a link between the 

fate of Xanana Gusmão - whose sentence 

(originally expected to be passed at the end 

of last week) has been successively delayed 

- and the outcome of the talks between 

Portugal and Indonesia. Yesterday, a member 

of the Indonesian diplomatic corps in 

Holland told the Lusa agency that the sentence 

will only be passed after the next 

round of talks, scheduled for 20 April in 

Rome. He was, in this way, indirectly supporting 

the criticisms levelled by Portugal 

and other countries about the unjust nature 

of the trial. 

On Monday, 22 March, during an audience 

held at the request of the solidarity organisation 

CDPM, Foreign Minister Durão 

Barroso said there had been no contact 

whatsoever with the St. Egidio community, 

which has been mentioned in the last few 

weeks as possible mediator on the Timor 

question. It was at this religious commu-


nity’s facilities in Rome that the 

Mozambique peace talks were held, between 

the Frelimo government and Renamo. 

“The CDPM is not against the initiative 

in principle,” said Luisa Teotonio Pereira to 

Publico, “but the differences existing 

between the internal characteristics of the 

Mozambique conflict and the Timor question, 

whose main and irreplaceable focal 

point for solution is at the UN, must be 

made clear.” 

At the conclusion of the one and a half 

hour audience, the CDPM left convinced 

that Portuguese diplomacy did have 

“finally, a consistent strategy” for Timor. 

“Only putting it into practice will show 

whether it is good or bad,” said a spokesperson 

for the solidarity organisation. 

SATURNINO’S ‘TESTIMONY’ 

USED IN COURT 

TAPOL REPORT, 21 MARCH 1993 

At a hearing of the Xanana Gusmão trial 

in Dili on 11 March, the presiding-judge 

announced that one of the witnesses, 

Saturnino da Costa Belo, who was to have 

appeared on that day, was ‘too mentally 

disturbed’ to appear. The prosecution was 

therefore given permission to read out the 

‘verbatim report’ of his interrogation. 

[Kompas, 12 March 1993] 

This is an outrageous abuse of 

Saturnino’s basic rights. When Saturnino 

appeared in court on 4 March, he used the 

opportunity to shout pro-independence slogans, 

clearly signalling that he was refusing 

to testify. 

The document read out in court has him 

‘testifying’ about alleged attacks by guerrilla 

units in Baucau in 1984 when villagers were 

allegedly killed, their possessions looted and 

their houses burned to the ground. Saturnino 

allegedly also ‘confessed’ that he acted as a 

courier between the guerrillas and the 

clandestine movement. 

The press report of Saturnino’s 

“testimony” used in his absence does not 

say whether it was challenged by the defence 

lawyer, Sudjono, as a gross infringement 

of court proceedings. He may well 

have done so and the press was ‘advised’ 

not to report it. Testimony ‘in absentia’ can 

only be used in very exceptional circumstances. 

It is evident from what has happened 

that Saturnino’s act of defiance 

spiked a hole in the prosecution’s case, as 

evidence he was expected to give was lost. 

Having declared him “mad” and therefore 

“unfit to appear” a week earlier, the court 

knew very well that he would not be allowed 

to appear yet summoned him nevertheless 

then went through the farce of being 

told that he could not appear, so as to be 

able to use his highly suspect interrogation 

report. 

This incident again highlights the fact that 

Saturnino’s life is in grave danger. TAPOL 

has been informed that a request by an 

International Red Cross delegate to meet 

Saturnino following his appearance in court 

on 4 March has been turned down. 

TAPOL has today written to the British 

government asking that the Indonesian authorities 

be pressed to allow the International 

Red Cross immediate access to Saturnino. 

NOTHING DELIBERATE 

ABOUT DELAY IN TRIAL 

Kompas 17 March 1993 Dateline: Dili 

Abridged 

Comment: No doubt this denial is made to 

hide an embarrassing truth. I would link the 

timing rather to the forthcoming talks in 

Rome on 20 April. It may be that the regime 

does not want Xanana to speak in open 

court before the talks commence. – TAPOL 

The Public Relations chief of the Dili 

district court, Amir Pane, said that the court 

was not purposely dragging out the Xanana 

Gusmão trial. If things have slowed down, it 

is purely for technical reasons. 

At first the court fixed a rapid timetable 

with four or five hearings a week but this 

happened only in the first weeks. Since 

then, hearings have been less frequent, first 

three times a week, then twice a week and 

now only once a week. 

Defence lawyer Sudjono has told the 

presiding-judge that things are becoming 

slower and slower. Judge Godang says the 

court has other things to do and he himself 

who is chairman of the court has various 

duties that he cannot desert. 

The timetable was only a plan and can 

change at any time and anyway the court 

wants to give the prosecution more time to 

summon witnesses. “They don’t all live in 

Dili. Some live in Baucau, Lospalos, Same, 

Aileu and even Bali,” said Pane 

The court also needs to keep fresh. Haste 

will not give the court the chance to try 

Xanana properly. 

But Pane is certain that the trial will end 

before the 120 days from Xanana’s arrest 

runs out.*) All that is left is to hear a few 

remaining witnesses and then some a-decharge 

witnesses (for the defence). Then the 

defendant will be cross-examined, the 

prosecutor will read his summing-up and 

demand for sentence, then the defence will 

speak, after which will come the verdict. 

“The court has cut down the number of 

witnesses to be heard from the original 

thirty as some are not relevant to the case.” 

The defence lawyer said he has no 

problem with the slower programme. “This 

is a test of resilience and stamina. I am ready 

to deal with it. I am not asking the court to 

speed things up.” His client, Xanana, whom 

he regularly meets, is also of the same 

opinion. 

Sudjono confirmed that two a-de-charge 

witnesses will testify in court. The two men 

knew Xanana when he was a young boy. 

But Sudjono would not reveal their names. 

“I want everything to proceed smoothly,” 

he said. 

*There must be something wrong here. 120 

days from 20 November ends on 18 March. 

XANANA TRIAL DRAGS ON 

Kompas 19 March 1993 Dateline: Dili 

Abridged 

Comment: The list of prosecution witnesses 

revised from thirty down to ‘about twenty’ 

still listed Gregorio da Cunha Saldanha and 

Francisco Miranda Branco, both serving 

long sentences, as being due to testify. 

However, they will not after all appear in 

court as it was announced on 18 March that 

no further witnesses summoned by the 

prosecution would appear. The change of 

plan is likely to be because of Saturnino’s 

act of defiance in court on 4 March, to avoid 

giving the chance to any other East 

Timorese to use the court in the same way. 

Regarding the appearance of defence 

witnesses, Sudjono, the defence lawyer has 

spoken repeatedly of the reluctance of 

Timorese to appear for the defence. He has 

refused so far to divulge the identities of the 

two who are scheduled to appear. – TAPOL 

Witness Armando da Silva (23 years old) 

told the court hearing the case of Xanana 

Gusmão in Dili that the accused was sent an 

appeal by the Indonesian government, 

signed by governor Mario Carrascalao and 

military commander, Brig.Gen Warouw, to 

come down from the hills in 1990. This was 

discussed with his followers but his reply 

was that he could not surrender as he totally 

rejected integration. Xanana had also told 

him he could accept some other form such 

as autonomy. 

Armando da Silva is described as a government 

employee and former head of 

FITUN, the clandestine organisation which 

maintained contact with Xanana in the hills. 

FITUN had 170 young members helping 

Xanana in the towns and providing a 

‘bridge’ between the urban centres and the 

bush. 

The witness told the court that every 

time he met Xanana he had been given instructions 

about organising a large-scale 

demonstration to welcome the visiting 

Portuguese MPs. But I didn’t do this, he 

said, as by this time FITUN had broken up


and disbanded. He said he had asked Xanana 

what the purpose of the demonstration was 

and had been told that it was to show to the 

outside world that “we still exist.” Xanana 

had always said the clandestine organisation 

should maintain discipline, not indulge in 

violence, maintain mutual respect and never 

act without permission. 

The witness told the court he never implemented 

anything Xanana had asked him 

to do as he believed that none of this could 

be achieved and in any case, he dissolved 

FITUN in August 1991. 

Xanana told the court he knew the witness 

and confirmed his testimony. 

The court announced that it has completed 

the hearing of (prosecution) witnesses. 

The hearings will resume on 

Thursday 1 April to hear witnesses presented 

by the defence (a de charge). 

DEFENCE WITNESSES 

HEARD 

wire services, 1 April 1993 

Note that the court will convene on a 

Monday for the first time in weeks to hear 

the second defence witness. That will make it 

possible for Amos Wako to be present. Nice 

management! They could of course have 

heard the two defence witnesses on 

Thursday as originally planned but it is neat 

to have a hearing to convince the UN Sec- 

Gen’s envoy just how ‘fair’ Xanana’s trial 

is. – TAPOL 

The Dili district court hearing the trial of 

Xanana Gusmão, heard testimony from the 

first defence witness (a-de-charge). He was a 

38-year old farmer, José da Conceicão who 

told the court he was a member of Fretilin in 

the late seventies. 

The witness told the court that Xanana 

Gusmão had always treated prisoners well, 

including members of the Indonesian army. 

He mentioned one occasion when Xanana 

Gusmão overruled other guerrillas who 

wanted to execute a captured army sergeant 

and how he had treated the sergeant’s 

wounds. 

The next court hearing will be on 

Monday, 5 April, to hear another defence 

witness. 

EVENTS INSIDE EAST 

TIMOR 

WHO’S WHO IN THE 

RESISTANCE 

Publico, Translated from Portuguese unabridged 

(Lisbon) In a document dated 28 

November 1992, but which is entitled “20th 

November Statement” (date on which 

Xanana Gusmão was captured), the new 

Timorese leader, Ma’Hunu Bulerek 

Karathayano- Bukar (Antonio João Gomes 

da Costa, as he is named on his Portuguese 

birth certificate) made public the highest 

ranks in the Resistance and Fretilin. The text 

was received in Portugal via a recording 

transmitted by Radio Nova, but its written 

version arrived only now. It had been 

included in a package of documents 

delivered in Dili to the Independente and 

Publico reporters by “Corthe,” spokesman 

for the interior’s Clandestine Front. 

In spite of the unclear formulation of 

some of the decisions taken, especially regarding 

the role of the Maubere Resistance 

National Council (CNRM), it would appear 

that “prisoner of war” Xanana Gusmão’s 

functions as Resistance leader have been 

“frozen,” and power within the territory has 

passed to a so-called Politico-Military 

Commission of the Resistance (CPM-R). 

This was described as a “tactical/operational 

mechanism” which takes action, while being 

the “arm of the Falintil commander concept 

on the ground.” Its motto, just as it appears 

in the document, is “talks without preconditions, 

sponsored by the UN,” in order 

to achieve “an internationally acceptable 

solution to the East Timor problem.” 

The other decisions point to the reappearance 

of Fretilin as directing structure of 

the struggle, (in contrast to Xanana, who in 

1989 gave up the duties he was fulfilling in 

this party, Ma’Hunu has taken on its leadership) 

and to a strengthening of the position 

of José Ramos Horta, with whom 

Ma’Hunu now “coordinates” the struggle on 

the internal level. The non-partisan nature of 

the Falintil (armed wing of the Resistance) is 

maintained. 

Leader of the Resistance & Falintil 

Commander: Kay Rala Xanana Gusmão 

(functions “frozen”). 

Maubere Resistance National Council 

(CNRM): Ma’Hunu. 

CNRM Special Representative Abroad: 

José Ramos Horta 

Politico-Military Commission of the 

Resistance (CPM-R): Ma’Hunu* 

Fretilin Directive Commission (CDF): 

Ma’Hunu (Secretary); Lu-Olo and Konis 

Santana (Vice- Secretaries). 

Falintil General Staff: Taur Matan Ruak 

(subordinate to Ma’Hunu) 

*Responsible “for the struggle on an internal 

level,” “in coordination with the 

CNRM Special Representative abroad. 

CNRM CHRISTMAS 

MESSAGE 

Maubere Resistance National Council - 

CNRM 

Fretilin Directive Commission - CDF 

20 December, 1992 

Dear fellow Timorese and companions in 

the struggle of the armed front in the bush, 

in the clandestine front in the towns and 

cities of our violated country’s soil, in the 

diplomatic front abroad, and friends of the 

Timorese people all over the world: 

Following the imprisonment of our 

Commander Kay Rala Xanana Gusmão on 

20 November 1992, I am addressing you, 

this Christmas time, to send you all our 

warm wishes for a Holy Christmas and 

Happy New Year 1993, and to ask that you 

continue to fight for the Christmas feast of 

the Timorese, for life, and the right to live as 

human beings, as a People and as a Nation. 

For many, and above all for Indonesia, 

our fight for the Maubere People’s rights 

suffered a considerable defeat on 20 

November 1992, but for the true children of 

East Timor it was a day of great victory for 

our struggle, for the following reasons: 

l. With the arrest of our companion 

Xanana Gusmão, the Maubere People’s 

Resistance acquired a concrete symbol, in 

accordance with the 20th November 

Declaration, i.e. KAY RALA XANANA 

GUSMÃO, Symbol of Timorese 

Resistance. 

2. The arrest of our companion Xanana 

Gusmão, and that of the many other companions 

of the Clandestine Resistance, as 

well as the publication by the invading 

authority itself of the names of thousands of 

Timorese in the clandestine front, including 

important public officials such as the current 

governor, Abilio Osorio, municipal and 

administrative post officials, soldiers, police, 

and the occupiers’ own spies, demonstrates 

to the world and to the Indonesians 

themselves, the strength of the clandestine 

front, which truly represents the intimate 

will of a people. 

3. The “surrender,” or the reporting to 

the Indonesians of thousands of clandestine 

members, does not signify to us a defeat, 

but rather heroism, since the flame of love 

for one’s country is not put out by a couple 

of songs, and their struggle will intensify, in


one way or another, to an ever greater 

extent. 

4. The heathen form of taking an oath, 

drinking a mixture containing blood, is an 

attitude against the Catholic Church. 

Consequently, by forcing the Catholic 

Timorese to practice these heathen acts, the 

Javanese are forcing the faithful to violate 

their own Faith, weakening the “good relationship” 

(according to them) between 

Indonesia and the Catholic Church. 

5. This all means condemnation of 

Indonesian policy itself, forcing itself to let 

go of Timorese soil, leaving this poor people 

to live according to its right. 

So that we continue united, so that Jesus 

is born for the Timorese people, its right as 

a people and nation recognised soon, we 

would like to send the following messages to 

you: 

l. A sincere thank you to all, without exception, 

big and small, rich and poor, for all 

the collaboration with regards our companion 

Xanana Gusmão, Symbol of 

Timorese Resistance, with a request that 

this collaboration continue and grow. 

2. Everyone should bear in mind that our 

companion Xanana Gusmão’s functions 

have been frozen, in accordance with the 

20th November Declaration. For this reason, 

any statement which he makes must not be 

considered as coming from the CNRM. 

3. To the prisoners and their families, as 

well as to those persecuted, especially to 

the young people, we extend to you our 

moral and spiritual unity, and urge you to 

muster up COURAGE, according to each 

individual’s faith. 

4. We wish to remind everyone that the 

Indonesians are Moslems, and they want to 

destroy the Catholic Church. Do not, therefore, 

give in easily to their proposals with 

regards the heathen practices or any other 

kind of collaboration. 

I end with a big festive season embrace 

for all! The fight continues! To fight is to 

win! Victory is ours! 

The mountain of our occupied motherland 

East Timor, 20 December 1992. 

The CNRM 

(signature) Ma’Hunu Bulerek 

Karathavano (Bukar) Secretary of the CDF 

STATE OF WAR: A DIARY 

Independente, 19 February 1993 

By Ines Serra Lopes. Translated from 


Wednesday, 3 February 

The beauty of the island is unforgettable, 

and the approach by air exceeded all 

expectations. Timor is the loveliest of 

places. 

I arrived in Timor today. I came with Rui 

Moreira (Lusa, Brussels) from Jakarta. I 

landed at Dili airport inside the cockpit of 

the place, beside an Indonesian pilot who, 

after spending 2 years in Luanda, working 

for Taag, had acquired a considerable 

Portuguese vocabulary. The only subject 

which the pilots (there were two) would not 

talk about was politics. “I not like,” said the 

one who spoke no Portuguese. 

We were met at the airport by colleagues 

and authorities. We came straight to the 

Hotel Turismo. After a lunch of grilled fish, 

a long day began. They asked us to go to the 

Indonesian hotel, the Makhota, to be 

“introduced” (to report, in the original version) 

to the Indonesian who was to be responsible 

for us in Dili: Kosky Zakaria. 

Zakaria, was insistent: if you want to 

return for the end of Xanana’s trial, then 

you must not write anything against 

Indonesia. You have to stick to the “facts.” 

And be quite objective. At the end of the 

conversation, on that Wednesday afternoon, 

Kosky announced that perhaps we would 

have to leave the following Saturday, just 

three days away. Basically, what he was 

saying was that it all depended on our behaviour. 

We would have the chance to realise 

that he meant what he said. 

On my return from the interview, 

Adelino Gomes was waiting for me. We 

went to the cathedral, to the anniversary 

mass for Msgr. Ximenes Belo, Bishop of 

Dili. The cathedral was impressively full. Of 

sorrowful and poor faces. Then came the 

endless line of people wanting to greet the 

Bishop. Humble and barefooted, they kissed 

his hand and shyly congratulated him. 

Outside I heard the first cry for help: “.. 

The people of Timor are suffering. We are 

just waiting for Portugal. Only Portugal can 

help us.. All the Timorese people are going 

to die. When is Portugal coming?” The tone 

and content (to which there was no answer) 

was to be repeated from the mouths of old 

and young, throughout the coming days in 

Timor. The key words, repeated again and 

again were: The Portuguese man (the 

“malae”) will be coming soon). 

The “malae” did not come at the time of 

the “Lusitania Express.” The “malae” did 

not come on a parliamentary delegation 

visit. But the Timorese wait and trust: the 

“malae” has to come. He’ll be here soon...I 

felt a knot in my throat, a shiver, when I 

heard the question and the insistence: the 

Portuguese man is coming. Isn’t he? 

Teresinha believes that the Portuguese 

are not coming. She emigrated to Australia, 

and only came back to Dili to visit her 

family. She speaks perfect Portuguese, as 

did many people between the ages of 20 and 

30 with whom we spoke. Teresinha does 

not want to talk about politics. She says 

that in Timor there are both good and bad 

things. She admits she would prefer to keep 

quiet about the bad things. Of the good 

things, she laughs and can only remember 

her family that she left behind. 

Back at the hotel, we scarcely have time 

enough to go to our rooms. Xanana 

Gusmão’s lawyer is waiting for us to have 

dinner. We go to the restaurant. Sudjono 

takes along his two assistants. It is a long 

conversation. Sudjono confirms that he was 

indicated to Xanana by the police, but that 

Xanana could have chosen any other lawyer 

from among the seven that the police proposed 

to him. I don’t know if I believe this. 

The man seems to be sincere. But faces, in 

these parts, are almost impenetrable. 

There are two certainties: Sudjono knows 

very little about Timor and about the 

guerrilla. And we know nothing about the 

strategy of Xanana Gusmão’s defence, except 

that, obviously, Sudjono knows that 

the Indonesian court is going to reject his 

objection on grounds of incompetence. 

Sudjono is maintaining that, firstly, the 

anti- integrationist group to which Xanana 

belonged and in which he was accepted as 

leader, never recognised Indonesian sovereignty 

over the territory, formerly colonized 

by Portugal; secondly, until the present 

time, the international community, especially 

via the UN, has not recognised integration 

of East Timor; thirdly, that Xanana 

Gusmão’s “activities” had begun before the 

facts described in the indictment, i.e., before 

17 July 1976, the aim being not to attack 

Indonesia, but to achieve Timor’s independence. 

The lawyer assures me he will appeal 

against the decision which will be given the 

following week. He also says he believes it 

very important for us to stay and hear the 

testimonies, above all that of Xanana himself. 

I think so too. 

Thursday, 4 February 

There is no trial session today. I am 

staying in Dili, even though a group of 

Portuguese journalists are going to visit 

Baucau. I want to try to make some contacts, 

and to make up for the loss of time - 

two precious days - caused by the visa delay 

in Amsterdam. 

Straight after breakfast Petrus Suryadi 

appears. He is an Indonesian journalist, 

“Europe correspondent,” for the Jakarta 

daily “Suara Pembaruan.” He lives in 

Holland and used his considerable influence 

to get many of us over here, through his 

friend in Lisbon, Nuno Rocha, who untiringly 

helped us to get entry permits. 

As well as being a journalist, Petrus 

Suryadi is a strong man of the Indonesian 

regime. His sister is married to one of 

Jakarta’s most powerful generals. With even


more power, and one more star on his 

shoulder, than the well-known Armed 

Forces’ spokesman, Brig. Gen. Nurhadi 

Purwosaputro, the famous General Nurhadi 

to whom we all turned when the visas 

threatened not to be forthcoming. 

I could not have felt worse seeing Suryadi 

this morning, just when I thought I could 

have walk around on my own, to see and to 

hear. Worse was to come, however: Petrus 

announced that I had to report to Zakaria, 

my inquisitor of the previous evening. 

Suryadi asked me what I would like to 

see. Off the top of my head, I said what 

seemed the most innocent - the Dili market 

place. When we arrived, I told Suryadi that 

it would be best to leave the car and driver 

and go in on foot. Petrus Suryadi did not 

agree. He ordered the driver to drive on into 

the market. Desperately sounding the horn, 

through narrow pedestrian paths. And I was 

feeling so bad, from on high, behind the 

smoked colored windows of the jeep. I 

forced him to stop, and said I would continue 

on foot. Petrus followed me and tried 

to make me go back to the jeep. I refused. 

To the relief of both of us, we left there for 

the Hotel Makhota, to meet up with Kosky. 

Even Kosky was preferable to visiting the 

market in a jeep. The Makhota is the 

Indonesian hotel par excellence, made by the 

Indonesians for the Indonesians. All prior 

advice we had received recommended us not 

to stay there. Even with the 50 per cent 

discount the hotel had offered us. At the 

Makhota, nobody is there just by chance: in 

the lobby there are at least half a dozen 

informers and Intel (Indonesian intelligence) 

agents. In the front garden, hidden among 

the trees and foliage, live the spies who, day 

and night, watch the comings and goings of 

the road to the hotel and the Dili diocese, 

just right next to it. 

I went up to the first floor, with Suryadi, 

to Kosky Zakaria’s room/office, where I had 

been yesterday with Rui Moreira. The 

Ministry of Information’s representative - 

who had been introduced to me the day before 

as the person responsible for security 

in Timor during the trial of Xanana Gusmão 

- unreeled his threats: no journalist would be 

allowed to return for the final week of the 

trial if s/he had been writing anything against 

Indonesia. Just as I had done the day before, 

I stuck to my ground: I repeated that I 

wanted facts and figures. The indictment, 

the objection, and the translations of the 

penal code and penal procedures code. I said 

I was going to the court, to speak to one of 

the judges. Kosky Zakaria said I could and, 

without realizing my surprise, wrote a 

letter, on government-headed paper, 

“ordering” the court through his spokesman, 

Judge Hitzbullah, to grant me trial 

documents. We parted and I went off to the 

Dili court, escorted by Petrus Suryadi. 

Hitzbullah is an Indonesian judge, of 

medium height, with mustache, and friendly 

appearance. He received us, listened to 

Suryadi attentively and smiled effusively. 

Then, more serious, he read the letter, and 

said no. A determined no, not very Moslem. 

A convinced no, which an hour of arguing 

and a bit of shouting did not manage to 

reverse. In the middle of the conversation, 

Hitzbullah left the office to talk to the 

presiding judge, and Petrus Suryadi went 

straight to the desk to look for the 

documents which the judge had refused me. 

A little later, Judge Hitzbullah, in almost 

non-existent English, offered his apology. It 

was nothing personal. I asked him how long 

he had been at the Dili court and, without 

waiting for the translation, he replied: 1986. 

“And how long do you expect to stay for 

now?,” I kidded. He laughed and shrugged 

his shoulders. God, or the Indonesian 

Minister of Justice would have to decide. 

But he would not hand over the trial 

documents. “I’m sorry,” he repeated. 

With a copy of the indictment under 

Suryadi’s arm, we went to the Resende 

Hotel to look for Espedito, the supposed 

translator of the indictment, to whom 

Suryadi was doing me the favour of introducing. 

I refused his services, in spite of 

Espedito’s excellent arguments in his own 

favour. He had little more than primary 

school. But, to compensate, he has got a 

brother with a Law degree! The osmosis of 

family knowledge did not convince me and I 

rejected Espedito and his translations. 

Suryadi, visibly annoyed, left me at the 

hotel. He had to go to Jakarta. I breathed a 

sigh of relief and left on foot. I passed by 

the Bishop’s house, but D. Ximenes was 

not in and the reception was, to say the 

least, cold. I left a message saying that I 

would be back. 

After a very long walk around the bay, I 

finally arrived at the Motael church. I was 

received by an employee, whose welcome 

made the previous one at the Bishop’s 

house seem like it had been warm and intimate! 

None of the priests was in, and he 

did not know where they were. I went back 

to the diocese, the Ecclesiastic Tribunal. I 

crossed through the muddy side entrance, 

by the low wall (which encircles the whole 

block) looking right on to the spies in the 

next street - where the Makhota Hotel is. 

No priest was in there either. Through the 

kitchen window, two old employees, who 

only spoke the local dialect Tetun, discouraged 

me from waiting. 

I left the diocese and saw the taxi driver, 

who had been following me since I had left 

the hotel on foot over an hour before. I gave 

in to tiredness and to the young driver’s 

persistence and, indicating that I surrendered, 

got into the car. I asked him where we 

were going. He didn’t understand - he didn’t 

speak Portuguese. I repeated in English. He, 

who had been following me, ought to know 

where it was that I wanted to and could go. 

The driver thought he understood: I was a 

tourist and wanted him to show me the 

sights of the city. He took me inside Dili, 

showed me the police headquarters, where 

Xanana was supposedly being held. He 

showed me the market, open 24 hours a 

day. It was a far more wild market than the 

one Suryadi had taken me to hours before. 

He took me to the house of the Osorio 

family, where the former leader was 

captured. Afterwards, inevitably, to the 

Santa Cruz cemetery. When he finally understood 

that I was a “wartawan” 

(journalist), he refused to stop at the 

cemetery so I could take photos, and we 

suddenly started back for the hotel. On the 

way he explained that, if the “others” were 

to see him, he would be arrested. With his 

hand hidden from the view from the street, 

he made the international sign for fear. 

Once again I left the hotel on foot. I met a 

young boy scout, carrying books. He spoke 

to me in Portuguese and accompanied me as 

far as the Ecclesiastic Tribunal. Father José 

Antonio Costa wasn’t in. Neither, 

apparently, was Father Leão. I could feel 

the stares of the informers on my back as I 

left. My companion apologised. I could not 

be walking around the streets of Dili as a 

foreigner, especially a journalist, and more 

especially being Portuguese. One of the 

spies followed behind the boy scout. 

Another overtook me, half turning around. 

He said “boa tarde” (good afternoon) to 

confirm that I was Portuguese, then disappeared 

around the next corner, only to appear 

again later. 

I decided to go back and try one more 

time: the priest was having a nap. I sat 

down on the veranda that joins the two diocesan 

buildings. Three old and honest tables, 

each with four chairs, all in the shade. I 

decided not to move from there before 

speaking to the Vicar-General, Father José 

Antonio. 

While I waited, I thought about a talk I’d 

had a few hours earlier, in another place 

enveloped by the stares paid by Indonesia. 

Amid a lion’s mane of hair and a somewhat 

frightening face, a gentle smile appeared 

when I said who I was. “We knew you were 

coming,” said the dark little lion, hidden 

behind a column of an old Dili building. 

He told me how life was in the bush, 

where he had been until the month before. 

Far from the adventures one imagines, life in 

the mountains is spent in holes, very near 

the villages, sometimes inside the villages 

themselves, too near the Indonesians. In


holes dug in the ground, inside and outside 

houses, watched by the people who, in turn, 

are watched by Indonesia. 

I showed him news from the previous 

day’s Diario de Noticias. The headline read 

that Ma’Hunu, Xanana Gusmão’s substitute 

in the leadership of the guerrilla, would 

give himself up within the next two months. 

The article had been based on statements 

made by the governor, Abilio Osorio. That 

was clear in the article, but the Timorese did 

not want to read more. With eyes filled with 

tears, he replied: “Lies! Lies! Lies!” I tried 

to explain that they were just the governor’s 

statements. He was deaf to my words and 

repeated: “Lies!” He did not read on. He 

told me about his brother who had been 

“caught,” and about whom there was now 

no news. He told me that in his village, 

when the soldiers hear that a certain Manuel 

is working for the resistance, they arrest, interrogate 

and torture all the Manuels, until 

they find the Manuel they are looking for. 

Many confess to deeds they know nothing 

of. Many die. “It’s better to die for Timor,” 

said the young man, like one who is explaining 

the inexplicable. 

Father José Antonio awoke and received 

me in the same cane chairs. Cautious, he 

confirmed only what he could. He spoke a 

lot about the Timorese Church and teaching 

in Timor. Portuguese, which until a few 

years ago had been the language in which the 

young Timorese were taught, right from 

their first year at primary school, had been 

banned by Indonesia. Portuguese became the 

language of the Resistance, and of the antiintegrationists. 

José Antonio Costa is just 

another Timorese priest who knows the 

regime and prefers not to talk about it. 

Later on, I would be told the story of a 

seminarist in Baucau, who started to teach 

his classes in Portuguese. When leaving after 

the first lesson, the seminarist was called by 

the Indonesian police. “He was left with a 

disfigured face,” they told me. The lessons 

in Portuguese ended that very same day... 

When I interviewed the governor, Abilio 

Osorio, I told him the story. He did not 

even try to deny it, and insinuated with 

malice: “It couldn’t only have been on 

account of the Portuguese...” Why such 

words, when the Bishop of Dili publicly 

affirms that torture is routinely used in 

Timor? 

When Timorese start speaking to us in 

English so as to pretend they do not know 

how to speak the language detested by the 

Suharto regime...; when the Governor insinuates 

that torture is justified...; when all 

this happens, we are left with no doubts 

whatsoever: we are not in the 27th province 

of Indonesia. We are in East Timor, the 

territory occupied 17 years ago by 

Indonesia’s force and violence. 

Friday, 5 February 

In court in the morning, Xanana enters 

covering his face with his hand. He remains 

like this almost throughout the hearing. 

A walk through Dili, with a carefully 

chosen itinerary, led to contact with someone 

who says he is in the resistance. He 

brought messages, communiqués from the 

Maubere Resistance National Council 

(CNRM), introducing himself as the new 

spokesman for the CNRM and for his 

leader, Ma’Hunu. He goes by the name of 

Corthe (taken from the initial letters in a 

phrase which, in English, means Reasoning 

elevates all men), and we talked for hours. 

We asked many intense questions. The 

replies were plausible. We had to be sure. 

A further meeting was arranged for the 

next day, in a conveniently public place. 

Then we would see. The greatest risk was 

falling into an Indonesian ambush. You can’t 

play games with these people. 

On our way back to the hotel, over a 

dozen taxis refused to stop. Finally, one 

does. He speaks Portuguese, as usual, and 

says his name is Martinho. He asks if we 

are reporters. Whether we already know 

about the situation in Timor. On arrival at 

the hotel he looks through his wallet, saying 

that he has something for us. He doesn’t 

find what he wants and suggests he delivers 

it the following day. At what time? As we 

had planned to go to the 6 am mass at the 

Cathedral, we tell him he could come and 

pick us up before six and take us to the 

Cathedral. 

It has been quite a day, and the weariness 

is beginning to tell. But the day is not over 

yet. Henri Sobroto, yet another “journalist” 

which the Indonesian government sends to 

us as a “guide,” calls a meeting with all of us 

Portuguese. The evening before, we had 

asked our “colleague” Sobroto to request the 

government to allow us to extend our stay. 

This would be the only way we could get to 

be present at a little of Xanana Gusmão’s 

real trial. Until today, the sessions had only 

been procedural formalities. We insisted on 

the need to hear the witnesses and Xanana 

Gusmão himself. On orders from above, the 

visas, originally for 28 days, had all been 

transformed into 10-day permits. The first 

of us to arrive could now only stay until the 

Monday. 

With a formal tone, Sobroto called the 

meeting, and announced that our stay could 

not be extended. In fact, all to the contrary - 

the Portuguese journalists would have to 

leave Dili and Indonesia in a few hours time, 

the following morning. Only one or two of 

us, as yet not named, would be allowed to 

stay on. 

We asked what the reason for the expulsion 

was. The answer was immediate: 

bad behaviour, both written and spoken, 

against Indonesia. We quickly came to the 

conclusion that the ones chosen to stay 

ought to accept that choice, and there should 

be no question of solidarity with the others 

leaving. It was more important that at least 

someone was staying in Dili. We calculated 

that the choice would be one of the 

televisions, one of the radios, or the Lusa 

news agency. 

The hotel bill was paid. Some packed 

their suitcases. Around 3 am, General 

Nurhadi, Armed Forces’ spokesman, called 

the hotel from Jakarta, stating that there had 

been some mistake, that no one would be 

expelled. Five minutes later, my old acquaintance 

Kosky Zakaria appeared, giving 

apologies, explaining that it had been 

nothing more than a “crossed wires,” and 

that we could all stay in Dili for the agreed 

10 days. Good night. 

Saturday, 6 February 

I leave for the 6 o’clock mass alone and 

late. The taxi driver Martinho was waiting 

for me, as we had agreed, with engine 

running. He stops in front of the hotel the 

moment I come down the stairs. I get in and 

ask him to go quickly to the Cathedral. 

Martinho seems to be making a point of 

driving at a snail’s pace. He asks about my 

colleague Adelino Gomes, with me the 

previous day. He wants to know whether 

we now have information, whether we have 

already been contacted. I do not like the 

conversation. I ask him to hurry up, and say 

that I have neither contacts nor information, 

and do not know what he is talking about. I 

remind him that the yesterday he had said 

he had something to hand over to us. 

The driver becomes silent. I don’t know 

exactly what I’m sorry about. Could it be 

that, yesterday, one of us said too much? I 

don’t want to be afraid. I realise that we are 

traveling in the opposite direction to the 

cathedral. Irritatingly insistent, he once again 

asks about our contacts. I order him to stop 

the car. He carries on. He ignores me and 

then comes out with: “the clandestine 

network wants a meeting with you tonight.” 

I tell him that I want no part of any meeting 

or clandestine network. I want him to stop 

the car. I want to go to the cathedral. I want 

to hit him. My insults have no effect. I am 

taken through streets in Dili which I don’t 

recognise, far from the cathedral. I get the 

impression that we are almost on the 

outskirts of the city. I see two soldiers on 

the next corner and, at that moment, the 

sight of them is actually a relief to me. I 

open the door and say I’m getting out of the 

moving car. The soldiers look at us, and the 

driver stops near them. I leave the car, 

slamming the door behind me. I had spent 

40 minutes being driven around Dili.


I get another taxi. He turns left in order to 

turn back. At the end of the street I see my 

taxi driver. He is talking through the window 

with a face I recognise: one of the diocese 

spies, with his lettuce- green T-shirt. I 

breathe a sigh of relief. The cathedral is 

empty and mass finished long ago. I return 

to the hotel. I’ve missed my meeting. I get a 

phone call; another meeting is set. Once 

again, I cannot go with the group. I need 

antibiotics as I have a sore throat - just as 

well, I’ll tell less lies. I have a rest. The 

phone calls start at breakfast time: reporters 

from Associated Press and other agencies, 

and some newspapers, are looking for 

confirmation - were we expelled or not? A 

dispatch from Antara (Indonesian news 

agency) says that, not only were we not 

expelled, but that some of us had wanted to 

bring forward our departure date. The lie 

exceeds the limits, even in a hypocritical 

diplomatic perspective. The worst thing 

though, is that all past experience 

discourages making any statement to 

Indonesian journalists. In fact the headlines 

in today’s “Voice of Timor” are about our 

expulsion, and we did not give them the 

story. I just make a short statement to AP. 

Once again, the meeting fails to happen. 

But I am told about Maria. She is Timorese. 

She needs money. She has to have various 

surgical operations. She had been with the 

resistance and was arrested. She had sewn 

up her trousers, as she had been advised, 

only unsewing them once a day when she 

was alone. She went around unnoticed for a 

while, but her day arrived. She was 

repeatedly raped, in different ways. 

However, the final, merciless blow came 

when she was raped with a branch of a tree. 

Only God knows why he didn’t let her die 

then. She is alive, and trying to reconstruct, 

through different surgery, what is left after 

the violence, the rest of her body, torn in 

pieces. Her belly has been cut and stitched 

together, and is to be re-cut and re-stitched, 

in an attempt to repair what the insane and 

unstoppable violence tried to destroy. 

Maria says it was God who spared her. 

I try to find Corthe, the CNRM spokesman 

we met yesterday. It’s impossible, and 

I cannot carry on now. I will just have to 

wait for a while. 

Sunday, 7 February 

D. Ximenes Belo said mass at 6 am, in 

the gardens of his residence. Hundreds 

(maybe thousands?) have squashed themselves 

into the rooms, down the stairs, into 

the gardens. It is a sung mass. There is still 

the sensation that, just as all the other 

masses in Timor, this is also a mass for the 

souls of the dead. The only difference is that 

here, at the end, their names remain a secret. 

Suddenly, during the mass, dozens of 

bicycle bells are heard. I don’t know 

whether it is on purpose but, at the same 

time, the governor of Timor and his staff of 

several dozen people pass happily in front 

of the garden where the prayers are being 

said. They noisily ring the bells of their bicycles 

as they go. The praying Timorese 

don’t even look around. No one seems to 

hear. They are used to being provoked. 

A visit to the Motael Church at the time 

of the mass, said in Indonesian Bahasa, 

puzzles us somewhat. The Indonesian 

Catholics there appear, after all, as devote as 

the Timorese. It is true, however, that there 

are far fewer spies around when this mass is 

over and people are leaving. It is also true 

that here the faithful are well dressed, and 

come and go in jeeps of the latest model. 

But it is also here that a family persuades a 

little child of three or four years old to come 

over and give me a picture of Jesus Christ in 

the countryside, without any message at all. 

After a visit to the Santa Cruz cemetery, 

at which police and troops stopped us from 

taking any photographs, we went to yet 

another mass at the cathedral. In between 

the church visits, we had time enough for a 

short and illuminating talk with a young 

Timorese on the Areia Branca beach. He 

introduced himself as a teacher, and spoke 

very quietly. Regarding the situation of the 

Timorese, he said “Our silence says it all.” 

He asked us to pretend we had been 

speaking in English to him and, as he left us, 

said in a good loud voice “Bye Bye” (in 

English). 

Monday, 8 February 

We went up to Ermera, the old city, on 

the top of the mountain. There we met 

Domingos Soares, a 4l- year-old priest, who 

does not hide the fact that the Indonesians 

do not like him. He explains that the occupiers 

tried to kill the people of Ermera, 

moving the town from the mountain top 

down to the valley, where the still rain 

waters, the heat and paludism would exterminate 

the population. He suggests that 

this particular battle was won by the people 

who, in spite of being forced on several occasions 

to go down to the new city, would 

return up the mountain to their old houses 

to sleep. Now, it seems that little more than 

some businesses are working down in the 

torrid valley of pre-fabricated houses. The 

mountain, in the Ermera zone, is beautiful. 

The magnificent view and the coffee trees 

that line the road under the mountain are 

really breathtaking. There is cassava, and 

incredible vegetation framing the way up the 

mountainside. Sometimes I have to try hard 

so as not to forget we are in Timor. On our 

way down, back to Dili, we stop briefly in a 

village of just a few houses called Rai Lako. 

To my surprise, the first person I approach 

to speak to asks me in good Portuguese 

whether we are Portuguese. He shies away 

at the sight of our guide - a Timorese 

working for the Indonesians, which is 

obvious a mile away. 

A woman comes forward with her son in 

her arms for a photograph. I took her to be 

the man’s wife. Only later, through someone 

in the local resistance, I would find out that 

her husband has been missing since the 12 

November massacre. The man in the village 

with her was her father, who for security 

reasons won’t be identified. He has already 

been arrested, interrogated and tortured 

many times. So many times that now he 

says no more than “good afternoon” to me. 

Two tall, good-looking Timorese men 

approach from across the road. They speak 

very good Portuguese and, in contrast to the 

old embittered man, they want to talk. I ask 

one of them his name. The conversation is 

quick, and always under the watchful eye of 

our esteemed guide, Mr. Soares who has to 

submit a daily report on our comings and 

goings and contacts. I take note of the name 

the Timorese, but only later, once back in 

the car, do I realise that he said his name 

was Domingos da Silva Soares - the name of 

the priest with whom we had just spoken 

up in Ermera. Timor is like that! 

Tuesday, 9 February 

I am thinking about Francisco, my most 

recent Timorese friend. I would like to be 

with him now, in the cemetery, to attend the 

funeral of his 6-year- old son. But my friend 

almost cried yesterday when I told him of 

my intention. “Please, don’t go to the 

funeral!.” This is because being Portuguese 

in Timor, and being seen next to a Timorese, 

could easily be reason enough to lead to 

interrogations, and to put someone’s life at 

risk. 

Later on, I have the good fortune to meet 

two remarkable people, about whom I can 

only say just that - that they are remarkable. 

For about an hour we spoke together very 

quietly - someone is always on guard at the 

window, watching outside. They are 

witnesses to the Santa Cruz massacre. 

Speaking softly, one of them described how 

the bodies of the young people were dragged 

along to uncovered trucks, some dead, and 

others only God knows if they were still 

alive. She confides that it is true, the bodies 

are in Tibar, a valley on the other side of the 

mountains, in front of which the Pope, John 

Paul II, prayed with the Timorese. It is not 

possible to go there. There is a detour in the 

road leading to Ermera, but the troops do 

not allow anyone to go that way. And, 

above the mounds that are common graves, 

next to a stream, five military posts, 

situated up on the neighbouring mountains,


are watching day and night for anything that 

moves. 

Later that same day, I heard the most 

complete version of the massacre. After 

taking the bodies away from the cemetery, 

battalions of soldiers took away the young 

people who had been in the demonstration. 

Using the same system of uncovered trucks, 

they transported hundreds of Timorese to 

Tibar, on the night of 12/13 November. 

There they shot them in cold blood. The 

young people were seen in Comoro, sitting 

in the trucks escorted by the army troops. 

They numbered around 300, in addition to 

those who had already lost their lives in the 

cemetery itself, at least 180. 

I was told about what was said in confidence 

by a remorseful Indonesian official, 

who was unable to sleep, had lost his peace 

of mind and conscience, and who had still 

not managed to get transferred away from 

Dili, away from the nightmare that pursued 

him. 

Another witness recalls that, the evening 

before, and during the 12th November itself, 

the Timor radio station Loro Sae, controlled 

by the Javanese military, invited the young 

Timorese to join in the walk to place 

flowers in the cemetery. The Suharto regime 

seems to have been preparing to catch the 

resisters all in one go. 

Wednesday, 10 February 

It was by chance that we met once more 

with the CNRM spokesman, Corthe, in the 

presence of a sponsor to vouch for him. The 

sponsor was a reliable one, worthy of credit. 

Corthe was genuine. For hours Corthe and 

his companions told us about the days in 

Dili, stories about the mountain, the state of 

the resistance. They spoke about Xanana 

Gusmão, the plan to get him to New York 

last December to take part in the talks 

between Durão Barroso and Ali Alatas. 

They assured us that Boutros Ghali was not 

only aware of this intention but was 

sponsoring it. They said that Xanana let 

himself to be taken, precisely because he 

expected the UN Secretary General to 

intervene. 

They told how it had all happened, and 

who had given the information which led to 

Xanana’s capture: a girl by the name of 

Moniz, the girlfriend of Jorge Araujo, Abilio 

Araujo’s nephew. After Xanana’s arrest, 

she went on to Jakarta and never came back. 

It had been her van that had been used so 

many times by the guerrilla to carry 

guerrillas, provisions and messages back and 

forth. One of those present explained and 

dissected the various phases through which 

the resistance has gone: the armed stage, the 

period of strength of clandestine movement, 

the current phase of the diplomatic struggle 

abroad, in which associations, support 

groups, etc. need to be encouraged to put 

pressure on the powerful countries. And he 

concluded, while Corthe lowered his eyes,: 

“Here, now, we are just trying to survive. 

Just that.” After tense hours of murmured 

talk, Corthe and the others asked on behalf 

of Timor. They transmitted to us just one 

certainty: that without the international 

community and without Portugal, the days 

of Timor and the Timorese are numbered. 

FIGHTING AND ARRESTS IN 

FIVE MUNICIPALITIES 

Publico, 8 February 1993 Translated from 


The Timorese resistance unleashed a 

series of armed attacks on Thursday, 4th, in 

the Baucau and Los Palos (east), Viqueque 

(south east) and Same (central) municipalities, 

which resulted in at least two killed 

and an unspecified number of wounded 

among the passengers of a bus, belonging to 

the Indonesian company Nusantara, Publico 

learned. At around the same time, 

Indonesian security forces arrested three 

seminarists in Ermera. 

Fundraising 

The confrontation in Viqueque took place 

among the Kabo, Baso and Lugaca villages, 

and is said to have been aimed at the 

collection of money and provisions. A 

religious source assured Publico that no 

Indonesian soldiers were killed, so contradicting 

information previously supplied by 

other sources. “No guerrilla has come down 

from the forest,” says a well placed source, 

who wished to remain anonymous. He went 

on to explain that, in the repentance ceremonies, 

which take place in various parts of 

the territory, the military authorities use 

“town people.” 

The confrontations last week coincided 

with the third day of the trial of Xanana 

Gusmão, former resistance leader, who will 

only return to the courtroom next Thursday, 

11 February, the date on which the judges 

will reply to the judicial incident introduced 

by the defence. He argues that the Dili 

Court and, by extension, all Indonesian 

courts, do not have the competence to try 

him. 

In addition to Xanana’s arrest, the resistance 

is said to have been weakened by the 

capture of hundreds of people, also on 20 

November 1992, according to a Timorese 

who supports integration but is critical of 

the methods used by Suharto’s armed 

forces. According to the same source, who 

was allegedly quoting an Indonesian official, 

the real number of those killed in the Santa 

Cruz cemetery in November 1991 was 500 - 

ten times more than the figure quoted in the 

official enquiry. 

ALIAS CORTHE 

Publico, 12 February 1993 By Adelino 

Gomes Original lang.: Portuguese. unabridged 

(Dili) A man with no face, no name and 

no age, Corthe comes down to the capital in 

search of the “four Portuguese journalists.” 

News of their arrival had been passed 

through the resistance’s grapevine to the 

mountain. He treads without leaving a track; 

he speaks without raising his voice; he 

passes in the street without any feature 

being evident, to linger in the memory. 

These characteristics are appropriate for the 

job he has done since l2 September last as 

the CNRM (Maubere Resistance National 

Council) spokesman in the interior, and link 

to the outside. 

Corthe is the first figure that emerges 

from the resistance structure, reorganized 

following Xanana Gusmão’s capture. He 

comes from the side of Ma’Hunu, the new 

guerrilla leader, pursued, surrounded, with 

neither clothing nor money, or enough 

weapons for the five Indonesian battalions 

hurled into an intensive search of the region 

in which he is believed to be. 

Alatas wants his head before meeting 

with Durão Barroso on 20 April, just as he 

had Xanana’s, before the 17 December talks. 

The troops had been within a hairbreadth of 

capturing him on the 5th - two weeks before 

the first meeting between the two ministers 

in New York - in a battle in which one of his 

most loyal men, Commander Ma’Luli, was 

killed. 

Ma’Hunu lost communication equipment, 

weapon, left behind documents, but 

managed to escape. “The people are in his 

care,” says Corthe, although it is not possible 

to know for sure whether it is the 

hunted leader’s presence which gives the 

population confidence, or if it is the latter 

which protects and comes to the aid of the 

leader. 

“You can tell the whole world that 

Ma’Hunu is not surrendering,” says Corthe 

to the Publico, in response to Timorese 

Governor Abilio Osorio’s recent statements 

in Dili, guaranteeing that surrender was 

imminent. He admits that the resistance 

never before went through such a period of 

weakness on the organisational level. But he 

rapidly resorts to complicated, worn out 

phrases to make his point, saying that “it is 

not only the CNRM which Jakarta will have 

to defeat in order to consolidate its presence 

here, but the entire population.” 

Just as the writers of the ‘50s, Corthe 

has chosen a principle of the Greeks for his 

life’s maxim or guiding motto: “Reasoning 

elevates all men.” And it is in these words 

that the mystery of his alias is unveiled:


“Corthe” consists of the first letter of each 

word of that sentence (in Portuguese). He 

faithfully repeats for the exterior the speech 

approved in September by the CNRM. It 

seems very far from the catastrophic vision 

which many, both in and outside the territory, 

continue provide of Xanana’s arrest. 

He repeats: Xanana was arrested as he prepared 

to flee from Dili on his way to New 

York. It was decided that his appearance at 

the headquarters of the UN, during the 

Alatas/Barroso talks, could constitute a 

psychological whiplash, capable of bringing 

a breath of fresh air to the international 

community. 

Did Xanana betray? “If (Commander-in- 

Chief of the Armed Forces) Try Sutrisno, 

(General) Murdani, or even Suharto got into 

the hands of the CNRM, they would be 

making the same statements as Xanana.” 

Carried away by the propaganda speech, he 

even admits that victory will be theirs 

“soon.” But what prevail are formulae used 

by Timorese common sense when the resistance 

is being spoken of. Sprinkled with a 

certain fatal note like those of a people 

destined for great deeds: “Even if only one 

woman is left, she will not get lost half way 

along the road.” 

The main question for the resistance today 

is how to wake up the international 

community. For Ma’Hunu’s adviser, 

Portugal has only to persevere to the very 

end with its statute of administering power. 

Why not share it with its ally the USA? 

Hunu wrote to Bill Clinton, says his 

spokesman, impressed by the fact that the 

US allowed “one people to invade another 

people.” 

Corthe leaves us, as discreetly as when 

he arrived, but not without first taking an 

address book and odd bits and pieces, and 

dictating for the world four of the most 

immediate priorities: a tape recorder, 

medicines for the stomach and headaches, 

two dictionaries - English/Portuguese, the 

other just Portuguese. Somewhere in the 

Centre or East of the territory - the places in 

which the guerrilla leaders are to be found - 

Ma’Hunu will carry on hiding. “60 metres 

away from the enemy,” Corthe assures us. 

He did not delay in leaving for the interior. 

Silent and discreet. 

VIDEO OF XANANA 

CIRCULATES AROUND 

TIMORESE SCHOOLS 

Publico 11 February 1993 Dateline: Lisbon 

Translated from Portuguese unabridged 

Yesterday, a Church source in Dili, 

quoted by the Lusa agency’s Rui Moreira, 

revealed that a video film containing pictures 

of and statements by Xanana Gusmão, 

which was made after his capture, is being 

shown in schools in East Timor. The video, 

which started being shown on 11 January in 

schools and villages in the territory’s interior, 

was made by the Indonesian Armed 

Forces. It shows pictures of Xanana’s arrest, 

and different conversations between 

the former resistance leader and local 

authority officials, namely, Governor Abilio 

Osorio. The film also includes Xanana 

Gusmão’s appeal to the guerrillas, and another 

addressed to youngsters for them not 

to follow his example but to concentrate on 

their studies. 

THE OLD MISSIONARY’S 

MONOLOGUE 

Publico 11 February 1993 Dateline : Dili 

Byline : Adelino Gomes Translated from 

Portuguese unabridged 

For nearly an hour, his voice breathy, he 

spoke of the Timorese, the Church he belongs 

to, the Pope, Indonesia. And of 

Portugal, from which, he says, the Timorese 

expect so much. Above all, that Portugal 

“does not ever recognise integration.” Like 

all the sources in East Timor, he will remain 

nameless and faceless. He will just be “a 

man in the heart of the Timorese,” as he 

says. 

It’s like a spider on an insect. These 

people cannot do anything else. He fought 

20 years, waiting for help to arrive. No one 

ever sent a bazooka, a missile, a mine here. 

The condemnation was timid, of a genocide 

in direct line with that of Pol Pot in 

Cambodia, and Hitler in Germany. I wish to 

say to Mario Soares, Durão Barroso, and 

the other ministers: How can we abandon 

thousands of Timorese? Are those 200,000 

dead Timorese not 200,000 dead Portuguese 

- Timorese/Portuguese? In Portugal they say 

that they abandoned these poor things, and 

that Indonesia took the right action, 

otherwise communism would have installed 

itself here. The communist forces in Angola 

and Mozambique never carried out such 

butchery in those enormous countries. 

Portugal should be stronger. The 

Government seems to ask for permission to 

speak each time it mentions the case. 

Portugal never officially left Timor. The 

departure of Lemos Pires (governor) was a 

wise move. Had he stayed, he would have 

been humiliated, like Vassalo e Silva 

(governor of Goa at the time of the Indian 

invasion). All the Timorese stood up for 

him, even today. Do we say that Portugal 

was delivered into Napoleon’s hands because 

João VI abandoned Lisbon and sought 

refuge in Brazil? It was our bad luck. 

Portuguese sovereignty was maintained 

there. 

The government must never recognise it 

(integration with Indonesia). If it were to do 

so, it would be the greatest shameful act 

since the time Afonso Henriques proclaimed 

independence. It would be as mad as 

handing over a growing child to a savage 

beast. Let it never recognise integration. The 

idea of an autonomy along the lines of the 

Azores is being spoken of. That would be a 

contemptuous solution which would result 

in the people hating Portugal even more than 

Indonesia. Is it with betrayal that the 

Portuguese intend to preserve their culture 

and inheritance? It is true that (after 

Xanana’s arrest) a man with a name is 

lacking. But the people knows what it 

wants. Indonesia was condemned (by the 

UN Security Council) in 1975. Can we allow 

the criminal to be rewarded? We would 

not have done as much as this people has 

done, if we had been invaded by the Spanish 

or French. Neither would we have lived this 

historical experience with such faith. 

BELO: TIMOR LIKE THE 

AZORES, MADEIRA, PUERTO 

RICO 

Publico, 12 February 1993. By Adelino 

Gomes. Translated from Portuguese. unabridged 

(Dili) He acknowledges that “in a way” 

he is a resister. The repentance ceremonies 

are fabrications, he accuses. He confesses 

that he still has not understood Xanana’s 

radical change in prison. He complains of 

the silence from Soares, Cavaco, the 

Assembly, fellow dioceses in Portugal. He 

has abandoned the idea of a referendum and 

today supports a certain kind of autonomy. 

He is 45-year-old Carlos Filipe Ximenes 

Belo. 

Publico: During an interview by the 

SIC/TSF, Xanana Gusmão admitted he 

gave your name as being linked to the 

resistance. Have the Indonesian authorities 

reacted to that? In what way? 

Ximenes Belo: Xanana has the right to say 

that I belong to the resistance. Personally, I 

do not consider myself as belonging to the 

resistance, if we are referring to a political, 

armed, military resistance. 

Q.: What kind of resistance then? 

A.: It is more a statement of values. 

Spiritual values and a certain resistance, 

defending the religious, cultural, ethnic 

identity of the people. That, yes. As far as 

the Government’s reaction is concerned, 

they have not said anything to me until 

now.


Q.: Has the human rights situation in East 

Timor improved or worsened since 

Xanana’s arrest? How many have been 

arrested? 

A.: There are arrests in all the municipalities. 

I have no information as to how many; 

some. I cannot say that the human rights 

situation has worsened. It was always 

something continuous. Lately, what it more 

noticeable is the violation of people’s consciences 

- forcing them to confess to being 

part of the clandestine network when they 

are not, never were, nor formally took any 

part in it. They forced people to sign their 

names, drinking goat’s or dog’s blood, like 

what happened in Baucau. This is authentic 

abuse. 

Q.: Have you visited Xanana since he was 

transferred to Dili? 

A.: Never. 

Q.: Why not? 

A.: I made attempts, asked for information. 

I was given to understand that it was out of 

the question. 

Q.: What about the other prisoners, among 

whom are Xanana’s mother and one of 

his sisters, as well as the mother and 

nephews of Abilio Araujo? 

A.: Regarding the first ones, I have not visited 

them yet, but the vicar-general has. I 

visited the other group (Abilio Araujo’s 

family) on 17 January, and even celebrated 

mass. They are awaiting trial, but are in 

good spirits. I have also visited Abilio 

Araujo’s mother. She was on her own with 

eight grandchildren, plus all the nephews. 

One could see she is a morally resistant 

women. 

Q.: What is your interpretation of Xanana’s 

declaring himself Indonesian, and a 

“disturber of the peace” (the name the 

Indonesian military give to the 

guerrillas)? 

A.: I don’t know what to say. It is a 

mystery to me. I try to ask and find out just 

to what extent he did, in fact, do an aboutturn. 

All this is a game. We do not know, it 

is still a mystery. 

Q.: We have heard, in the street, some 

people saying that he is a traitor. Do you 

think this is so? 

A.: The simple fact that he left documents 

behind with people’s names on, makes one 

think. A leader should not do that. All over 

the world, in Tamil, in Afghanistan, the 

leaders kill themselves or run, they react. He 

didn’t even react. He allowed himself to be 

caught just like that, with documents. 

Concessions on both sides 

Q.: Xanana’s capture meant a great victory 

for Indonesia. Governor Abilio Osorio 

has said he is convinced that within 2 

months the same will happen to 

Ma’Hunu. If that were to happen, would 

it mean the end of the resistance? 

A.: I do not think so. Xanana is just a man. 

Maybe the armed resistance could finish. 

But this psychological, cultural resistance, 

as a people, takes time. 

Q.: Do you mean to say that, even if the 

guerrilla were to end, you could not say 

that the resistance in the territory had 

come to an end? 

A.: For as long as the people exist, no. The 

people will maintain its identity, with its 

legends, traditions, and its way of being. 

Q.: Ali Alatas and Durão Barroso are going 

to meet in April in Rome, under UN 

auspices. What advice would you give to 

each one if you were given the 

opportunity? 

A.: That they arrive at a solution. There 

have to be concessions, both on the 

Indonesian and on the Portuguese side. That 

they give some ground. I always say: 

Portugal and Indonesia should be on good 

terms and, then, that Timor should have 

peace and tranquillity. For this to happen, 

an effort must be made by both sides. 

Q.: What solution do you see, today, for East 


A.: An autonomous region. I have asked for 

information about the Azores and Madeira. 

I have already read what there is on Macau. 

It would be something of this nature. Or like 

Puerto Rico within the US. 

Q.: An autonomy which evolves towards 

independence, like what happened to 

Singapore? 

A.: Let’s first get a certain autonomy. We 

have not got that far yet... 

Q.: In Indonesia’s current situation, would 

the regime or the generals be in a position 

to make a concession of this kind 

without creating dangerous precedents? 

A.: There was an article in the Integration 

Law which gave Timor a special place for 

development later. If Indonesia wants to get 

rid of this stone in its shoe, it will have to 

reach this conclusion. It would also do the 

Timorese good to feel a little free, masters or 

their own land. 

Q.: Do you think that, if Portugal, Indonesia 

and the UN reached a solution of this 

kind, the Timorese would accept it? 

A.: You ought to ask the Timorese that 

question. The first step would be: a certain 

amount of autonomy, and then we could see 

about other things - the establishment of 

Portuguese culture, Indonesian culture. So 

we would be like a bridge linking Portugal 

and Indonesia. 

Q.: Why did you drop the “pure and hard” 

idea of the referendum? Was it not the 

theoretically most correct and fair solution? 

A.: In theory it is the most correct and fair. 

But I ask you this: How did Portugal view 

this referendum? President Mario Soares did 

not even dare to answer my letter. He did 

not reply at all. Therefore, it means that not 

even Portugal considered it. 

Q.: President Mario Soares never spoke to 

you? 

A.: He spoke to me when he was Prime 

Minister. 

Q.: In 1985. 

A.: In 1985, in the Nuncio’s offices in 

Lisbon. But when I was there the last time, 

in 1990, he only sent an adviser to say that 

he had received my letter and thanked me. 

But I never received a written reply on the 

referendum. 

Q.: Did you have any contact on this issue 

with the present government of Prof. 

Cavaco Silva? 

A.: No, not up to now. Only in 1990, someone, 

what was his name, Queiroz... And he 

said that they were continuing to take the 

Timor problem to the UN. Nothing else. 

Q.: And did the Assembly of the Republic 

never contact you? 

A.: Not until now. When I was there, I was 

also in touch with a Mr. Sousa Lara in 

Estoril. He also wanted information about 


Q.: There are indications that Indonesia is 

preparing to put the case of Timor to the 

vote of the UN General Assembly next 

summer. If this were so, it is admissible 

that Portugal could lose the vote. What 

would you do in that case? Would you 

advise the Timorese to conform, if that 

were the wish of the international community, 

expressed by that vote? 

A.: Before saying that they ought to conform, 

we too want some advantage points: 

an autonomous region. With regards con-


forming, history is in motion, and the people 

who might conform today might not 

conform in say 100 years time. 

Q.: Where did Indonesia go wrong in winning 

over the hearts of the Timorese? 

A.: Its basis was violence. And then, it did 

not consult the people. No matter how 

backward a people might be, it does have its 

dignity. Saying “Now you are all 

Indonesians” - people will not accept in this 

way. 

Q.: But, as you know, one of Indonesia’s 

main arguments is that, in 1976, firstly, 

the majority of the population asked for 

the intervention, through the Balibo 

Declaration. Then, through its representatives, 

it accepted Timor as the 27th 

province. Was this a puppet show? 

A.: In 1976 I was in Macau. But in 1975 I 

went to Atamboa with the UDT and 

Apodeti refugees. I was a seminarist. They 

always say majority. But what majority? 

They have no facts to back this up. Who 

had elected that assembly which made the 

request for integration? If there were deputies, 

there ought to have been elections. 

Now I ask: were there election? And these 

deputies - who were they representing? As 

far as the 4 parties are concerned, I think 

that (the Balibo Declaration) was written 

out of fear. They were being ousted by 

Fretilin. They had no way out except to 

turn to Indonesia, who took them in. 

Q.: The masses said in Bahasa are well 

attended. Have you noticed an increase in 

the Indonesian faithful? 

A.: In Timor there are many Indonesians 

from the various provinces, like civil servants, 

teachers, soldiers, police. 

Q.: Is there real religious freedom in 


A.: There is freedom. However, what we see 

is that, as the military and the government 

recognise the strength of the Catholic 

Church’s influence, they look for ways, and 

above all the military, of persecuting the 

Church in a veiled way: arresting catechists, 

brothers, the priests’ intimate helpers in the 

parishes; stopping the young people from 

attending liturgical meetings and acts. In 

Bobonaro, a military commander even said: 

“And what are you going to do at mass? In 

the church they don’t give you a sack of 

rice, as we do every Sunday.” 

Q.: Are there indications that a transmigration 

policy is getting underway to 

solve the problem of Timor? 

A.: A transmigration program does, in fact, 

exist. Not only here in Timor. It is all over 

Indonesia. I do not think it is necessary to 

send people here to occupy vacant lands. 

The government should, in the first place, 

promote the Timorese here. 

Q.: Have any Church properties been 

confiscated? 

A.: Not up to now. 

Q.: The San José School has been closed, 

and Portuguese is practically no longer 

taught in Timor. Were you forced to take 

that decision? 

A.: I was not forced. The educational services 

published a closure decree. But I must 

confess that I have not originated any official 

document saying that it closed. There 

was a problem of the teachers,’ students’ 

and parents’ physical safety. There was a 

shortage of teachers for the schools. And 

finally, what was the diocese on its own 

doing here, organising the teaching, when it 

should be the Portuguese Government’s responsibility? 

If it had wanted to defend 

Portugal’s cultural and historic interests, 

then Portugal’s presence here in Timor 

ought to have taken a few steps in that direction. 

Seventeen years have gone by, and 

nothing’s been done in this respect. What 

we teach is still with books from 1972-73. 

Q.: What concrete initiative could Portugal 

take in order to spread its language and 

culture? 

A.: Perhaps the Foreign Ministry entering in 

contact with Indonesia, so as to maintain 

this official teaching, just as they maintain 

here the teaching of German and English, in 

the last years of high school. 

Q.: As you know, that was part of a package 

in negotiations 10 years ago at the UN. 

Nothing can advance on its own, without 

everything else going ahead too. With 

regards the Portuguese Catholic Church, 

what can it do specifically to help the 

Timorese? 

A.: It could organise a “twin” for the diocese 

of Dili, in order to with help the financial 

aspect, maintenance of schools, seminaries, 

health clinics, and, at the same time, with 

the recycling of our priests. Some have been 

here since 1972 and have never left. They 

could go for 3 or 6-month courses in 

Portugal, and return with more incentive for 

work. 

Q.: At the moment, the Vatican is taking 

some initiative on Timor. What suggestions 

would you give? 

A.: I do not know. I am no diplomat, and I 

do not know what the diplomatic corridors 

are cooking up for Timor. I always suggest 

that the Vatican bears in mind this aspiration 

of the people of Timor to be as it is. 

But, the world is so complicated that, 

sometimes, the Vatican cannot resolve 

bearing in mind aspects of the Indonesian 

Church as well as diplomatic aspects. 

Q.: Were you ever physically afraid? 

A.: No, not physically. I know that this is a 

place in which any day I could be found 

with a bullet in me. To die and stop 

speaking, and stop walking, I am not afraid 

of. 

EAST TIMOR PADDY FIELDS 

NEGLECTED 

February 12 1993 Jakarta Post news brief 

Dateline: Dili 

Remark: It is virtually certain that former 

tillers of this unused land are the tens of 

thousands of people driven into armycontrolled 

settlements in the late 1970s. This 

report gives the lie to Jakarta’s claims that 

Indonesian control has served the East 

Timorese better than Portuguese control. – 

TAPOL 

Some 48,000 hectares of rice fields built 

during the Portuguese colonial era in East 

Timor have been left uncultivated since 

Portugal left the region 16 years ago. 

Chief of the provincial office of the 

Ministry of Agriculture Naek Haloman 

Nababan told the Jakarta Post here yesterday 

that the large number of idle paddy 

fields has contributed to the failure of the 

province to be self-sufficient in food. “East 

Timor still has to import 25,000 tons of rice 

from outside the province every year,” he 

said. 

Nababan confirmed that only 15,000 

hectares of the 63,000 ha. of rice fields 

established by the Portuguese were cultivated 

by farmers. 

The uncultivated rice fields have turned 

into unproductive land overgrown by coarse 

grass and shrubbery. Irrigation facilities built 

during the colonial era have also been 

overgrown.


AROUND THE TRIAL 

Publico 12 February 1993 Dateline: Lisbon 

Translated from Portuguese abridged 

Timor’s Robinson Crusoes 

They number 51 all told: 47 boys and 4 

girls. They found refuge in the mountain 

after fleeing the 12 November 1991 massacre. 

With neither clothing nor medicines, 

they roam through Timor’s green countryside 

like zombies, waiting for a time which 

never comes. Maria died in the fighting of 5 

December, when the troops almost captured 

the new resistance leader, Ma’Hunu. 

Irmenegilde, Carla and Sandra are still left, 

living a fascinating experience for the past 

year, like oriental Robinson Crusoes, for 

whom the enemy’s savagery makes surrender 

more feared than the thousand sacrifices 

they have to make as guerrillas. 

In the Line of Fire 

Another group of youngsters are paying 

the price, a year later, of having been heroes 

in Santa Cruz on 12 November. There are 24 

of them. The military have sent them to 

serve in the very front lines of the battalions 

which, in the territory’s interior, have for 

some time been surrounding the weakened 

guerrilla. They have to go in first - right into 

the firing line. Greater cruelty could not be 

invented, claims an angry Church source. It 

is not known into which battalions they 

were enlisted. 

SIX TIMORESE REBELS 

SURRENDER WITH BOWS 

AND ARROWS 

Reuter, Jakarta, Feb. 16 

Six rebels armed with a gun, a grenade and 

bows and arrows surrendered to Indonesian 

troops in the former Portuguese colony of 

East Timor, a military spokesman said on 

Tuesday. 

“They came to us and gave themselves 

up with their weapons,” the spokesman told 

Reuters by telephone from Dili, capital of 


He said the six surrendered on Monday 

in Malisaga village, west of Dili. 

The military spokesman said all were 

members of the Fretilin separatist group and 

had laid down arms in response to an appeal 

from their captured leader Xanana Gusmão. 

Xanana, who was seized on November 

20, is being tried for leading the campaign to 

win East Timor’s independence from 

Indonesia. The charge carries a maximum 

penalty of life imprisonment. 

Xanana issued a hand-written appeal to 

his followers shortly after his capture, asking 

them to give themselves up to the government 

which has declared an amnesty. 

Human rights groups have expressed 

concern that the appeal might have been 

wrung from Xanana under pressure. 

Fretilin was blamed by Jakarta for masterminding 

events which led to troops firing 

into a crowd of mourners in Dili in 1991. 

Witnesses said up to 180 people were killed 

in the firing, but Jakarta puts the toll at 50 

dead and 66 missing. 

Indonesia invaded East Timor in 1975 

and annexed it the following year in a move 

which is still not recognised by the United 

Nations. 

RESISTANCE LEADERS 

ANSWER QUESTIONS 

The following document was produced by 

the National Council for Maubere Resistance 

in February 1993: 

The Resistance leaders of East Timor 

here answer some important questions often 

asked by journalists, academics, politicians, 

diplomats, students and many interested 

individuals. The responses of these three 

East Timorese leaders represent the official 

stand of the National Council of Maubere 

Resistance (CNRM). 

They are: 

• Mr. Xanana GUSMÃO, Resistance 

Leader of East Timor, 

• Mr. Ma’hunu Bulerek KARATHAYNO 

(also known as BUKAR), deputy Leader 

of the Resistance (now Leader “ad interim” 

since the capture of Mr. Xanana 

Gusmão) and Commander of the National 

Liberation Armed Forces of East Timor 

(FALINTIL), and 

• Mr. José RAMOS-HORTA, Sp ecial 

Representative of the National Council of 

Maubere Resistance. 

QUESTIONS AND ANSWERS 

I. The National Council of Maubere 

Resistance - CNRM 

Question: What is the National Council of 

Maubere Resistance? 

Answer: The National Council of 

Maubere Resistance (CNRM) is based 

within East Timor and is the supreme organisation 

representing all East Timorese 

people. It comprises the Commander of 

FALINTIL, the Secretary of the Directive 

Commission of FRETILIN and the 

Executive Secretary of the CNRM for the 

Clandestine Front which encompasses a 

large number of underground groups that 

operate in the occupied cities and towns. 

FRETILIN (Frente Revolucionaria de 

Timor Leste Independente) is the largest 

political force in East Timor today and is 

based on social democracy. The next largest 

force is the UDT, the União Democràtica 

Timorense (Timor Democratic Union) and 

this also opposes integration with 

Indonesia. There is no party in East Timor 

which supports integration. 

The CNRM is a non-partisan, non-ideological 

body. It is equivalent to a coalition 

government, encompassing all East 

Timorese nationalist political parties and 

organisations struggling for self-determination 

and independence. 

FALINTIL is a non-partisan army owing 

loyalty only to the CNRM and to no political 

group. This non-partisanship helps to 

consolidate national unity and guarantees 

that, as in all democratic states, the army 

swears loyalty only to the Constitution, the 

elected Parliament and the Government. It 

will not allow itself to be the tool of one 

group or another as happens in Indonesia 

today. 

Question: What is the role of the Special 

Representative? 

Answer: The Special Representative is 

the international spokesperson for the 

Resistance. He is vested with full powers to 

represent the CNRM internationally and 

appoints Resistance representatives for 

other countries. He also chooses personal 

aides to assist him in discharging his responsibilities. 

Within the strategic consensus of the 

Resistance, the Special Representative undertakes 

diplomatic initiatives. In view of 

the special circumstances of the Resistance 

in East Timor, the Special Representative 

has exceptional powers to initiate policies 

without prior consultation and approval by 

the leadership within the country. 

II. The struggle for self-determination: 

historical, diplomatic and legal foundations 

Question: What is the basis of your claims to 

Independence? 

Answer: East Timor has never been a 

part of what is today called the Republic of 

Indonesia: neither in the period of the Dutch 

and Portuguese colonisations of the region 

nor before the arrival of European powers. 

On independence, the Republic of Indonesia 

based itself on the area colonized by the 

Dutch, claiming the same political 

boundaries. But the Republic of Indonesia is 

in reality only a geographical term which 

encompasses over 250 distinct nationalities, 

thrown together by the Dutch for simple 

administrative expediency. 

For 500 years, the people of East Timor 

were colonized by the Portuguese. With 

them they brought the Catholic faith together 

with their Latin culture and values, 

which combined with East Timorese animist


beliefs and rituals which had existed for over 

a thousand years. Throughout that period, 

there was little or no contact between the 

people of East Timor and the peoples and 

rulers in the remote islands of Java or 

Sumatra. 

We are a different country and a different 

people: we have our own history and 

culture; our own languages and values; and 

our own religion and perception of material 

values. 

Indonesia claimed to be the successor 

State to only the Dutch East Indies. This 

was the basis of Indonesia’s claims to exist. 

However, through its invasion and annexation 

of East Timor which was never a part 

of the Dutch East Indies, Indonesia substantially 

weakened its own legal arguments. 

It laid itself open to the challenge by the 

West Papuans, who rightly consider that the 

Javanese colonialists have no more right to 

colonize them than did the Dutch, and by 

the people of Aceh (North Sumatra) who 

have absolutely nothing in common with the 

Javanese. 

Last, but not least, our right to self-determination 

is well established in international 

law and in ten United Nations’ 

resolutions. We refer only to the two binding 

Security Council Resolutions, Res. 384 

(1975) and Res. 389 (1976), which reaffirmed 

our right to self-determination and 

independence. 

Question: Indonesia claims to have built 

roads, schools, hospitals etc. Aren’t you 

satisfied? 

Answer: First of all, this is not a competition 

between the colonial rule of the 

Portuguese and that of the Indonesians. We 

are not here to choose one from the other, 

but to seek our own rule, as is our right. 

Second, the Indonesian government, in 

building all these schools and roads and 

hospitals seeks merely to fool the outside 

world that East Timor is happily integrated 

with Indonesia. Ironically these are the very 

arguments that the colonial powers used in 

the past against their subjects who yearned 

for freedom. Indonesia seems to have learnt 

all the colonial tricks and are now practicing 

them on us. 

Give us a thousand miles of freedom, 

rather than a thousand miles of roads, which 

our people cannot use anyway: to travel 

from one village to another we need a special 

permit. Allow us to build our own schools 

of thought and to care for our sick and 

elderly in hospitals that we build ourselves, 

as poor as they may be. 

But above all leave us alone: we are not 

fighting for the Portuguese colonisers or for 

a better Indonesian neo-colonialist. 

III. The Resistance Peace Proposals 

Question: What is your negotiating stand for 

resolving the conflict? 

Answer: We again reaffirm our readiness 

to enter into a process of dialogue with 

Indonesia and Portugal under UN auspices 

and without pre-conditions. The aim of such 

a dialogue would be to explore all possible 

avenues conducive to an internationally 

acceptable solution to the problem of East 


The CNRM Special Representative presented 

a comprehensive peace proposal to 

the European Parliament in Brussels in 

April 1992, to the Council on Foreign 

Relations in New York in May 1992 and 

later to the UN . 

The Peace Proposal is in three phases: 

* Phase One, which would last for about 

two years, would involve all three parties 

working with the UN to implement a wide 

range of “confidence building measures.” 

These measures will necessarily include a 

drastic scaling down of the presence of 

Indonesian troops and weaponry in East 

Timor, together with the introduction of a 

significant UN presence in the territory . 

* Phase Two, lasting between five and 

ten years, would be a period of genuine 

political autonomy based on ample powers 

vested in a local, democratically elected 

People’s Assembly. 

* Phase Three, the final phase, would see 

a referendum to determine the final status of 

the territory. 

This is our policy and remains valid. We 

believe that this represents the best possible 

prescription for a resolution of the conflict. 

It allows time for a cooling-off period in 

which all sides should try to prove their 

good-faith; it will also allow Indonesia to 

save face. 

Indonesia should seize the olive branch 

we are now offering. It has only to gain. It is 

obvious now that the invasion of East 

Timor was a colossal mistake: the occupation 

has sapped so much of Indonesia’s energy 

and resources. If Indonesia withdraws 

from East Timor, it would be able to regain 

its international reputation as a peace-loving 

country and not be threatening to its smaller 

neighbours such as Malaysia and Singapore. 

Moreover, an independent East Timor will 

be an asset for Indonesia, for ASEAN and 

the whole region in many ways. 

IV. Foreign Relations of an independent 

East Timor 

Question: Can you outline the foreign 

relations policy of an independent East 


Answer: We can assure everyone that the 

government of an independent East Timor 

will apply for membership in ASEAN and 

the South Pacific Forum within days of our 

independence. This will be a top priority. 

East Timor will maintain close ties with 

Portugal and the rest of Europe. We are a 

crossroads of three cultures and religions: 

Melanesian which binds us to our brothers 

and sisters of the South Pacific region; 

Malay-Polynesian which reminds us that 

many of our peoples trace their origins to 

South East Asia; and after five hundred 

years of Portuguese-catholic influence, we 

are a distinct nation-state in the region since 

we have a special understanding and 

relationship with the European Community. 

indeed an independent East Timor will be a 

valuable advocate of the region’s interests in 

that forum. 

The majority of East Timorese resident 

outside the country, are based in Australia. 

East Timorese have a special understanding 

of white Australians and this will serve as a 

bridge between Australia and the South 

Pacific island states as well as between 

Australia and South East Asia. 

We will not have a standing army. For 

our external security, we will rely on a 

Treaty of Neutrality to be guaranteed by the 

permanent members of the Security Council. 

We will endeavor with the UN and our 

neighbours to declare the seas surrounding 

East Timor a Zone of Peace and work 

towards total demilitarization of the entire 

South East Asia and South Pacific regions. 

V. Domestic policies 

Question: What is your vision of an independent 

East Timor on a domestic level? 

Can East Timor survive economically? 

Answer: These two questions beg a long 

answer. We have divided up the responses 

according to the subject matter. 

a. Rule of law First and foremost, we will 

endeavor to build a strong democratic state 

based on the rule of law which must 

emanate from the will of the people expressed 

through free and democratic elections. 

b. Freedom of Expression We will encourage 

a free, independent, aggressive and 

responsible media as the voice of the people: 

a media that informs and educates. We 

believe that there can be no foreign interests 

controlling the local media. However, we are 

conscious that there will not be much 

private wealth to support an independent 

media. In order to avoid monopolies, we 

would try incorporate an obligation on the 

State to allocate funds in support of the 

media written into the Constitution. 

In order to ensure the independence of 

the media, the Constitution and the laws of 

the country should state that government 

interference in the editorial policies of the 

press and their day to day operations is inadmissible. 

In final analysis, we believe the


media should be as independent as the judiciary. 

c. Human Rights From day one of independence, 

all international human rights 

treaties which would open up East Timor 

for international scrutiny will be submitted 

to the Parliament for ratification. We believe 

that human rights transcend boundaries and 

prevail over state sovereignty. No 

government can hide under the cover of 

“domestic jurisdiction” when it comes to 

human rights. We will actively work with 

like-minded countries, NGOs and the media 

to strengthen the UN human rights machinery. 

We will actively support the creation 

of an international human rights court. 

We will seek the cooperation of UN human 

rights agencies as well as of NGOs such 

as Amnesty International, the International 

Commission of Jurists and Asia Watch to 

advise and assist us in our own efforts to 

promote respect for human rights and the 

rule of law in our country. 

From the first, we will proclaim a general 

amnesty and national reconciliation. To be 

true to ourselves, we will forgive our worst 

enemies. For a society to be healthy, sane 

and happy, it cannot be based on hatred and 

revenge. 

d. Economic policies and priorities East 

Timor is a relatively small country. But 

with an area of 18,889 km2 and a total 

population of 700,000 (1974 figures), it is at 

least equal, if not larger, in size and 

population than at least 30 independent 

states members of the UN. For instance, it 

is almost ten times the size of Luxembourg 

and has twice the population. It is sixty 

times larger than the Seychelles. 

In terms of natural resources, East Timor 

is potentially self-sufficient in most agricultural 

goods, meat and fish. It also has large 

oil reserves and other minerals. 

On the economic front, we will channel 

our resources into food production in order 

to feed our people. We will seek the cooperation 

of the UN Specialized Agencies such 

as the FAO, World Food Program, UNDP. 

However, all our policies will be a result of 

close consultation with the people in each 

region, town and village in East Timor. 

In addition, in cooperation with the FAO 

and other international bodies, we will initiate 

a massive reforestation program to 

replant our forests and save our environment. 

Regarding the “Timor Gap Treaty” we 

will look at its terms, seek clarification and 

renegotiate if necessary. The sea boundary 

dispute will have to be settled through an 

international tribunal. We will seek international 

partnership in mineral explorations 

such as oil, but we will not sacrifice our own 

environment for short term gains. 

The civil war in 1975, and the subsequent 

invasion, up-rooted thousands of peoples. 

Properties were abandoned, destroyed or 

sold at unfair prices. This situation will have 

to be redressed. 

e. Education and health We believe in free 

education and health care for our people. 

The money saved from not having a 

standing army will be well used in these 

areas. At least 40% of our resources will be 

allocated to our best resource - our people - 

through massive investment in health and 

education. 

With the cooperation of WHO we will 

seek to eradicate malaria, tuberculosis and 

other preventable diseases within a decade. 

f. Indonesian settlers It is estimated that 

over 100,000 Indonesians are now living in 

East Timor. Most are poor Indonesians who 

came to our country looking for a better life. 

We would not be true to ourselves if we 

were to turn our backs on our poor 

neighbours. 

Indonesian migrants in East Timor will be 

welcome to stay and, with us, build a better 

home for us all. They have brought with 

them the wealth of their culture which can 

enrich the whole community. 

CNRM, February 1993. 

MA’HUNU VOWS TO 

CONTINUE THE STRUGGLE 

Lisbon, Feb. 19 (IPS) – The guerrillas of 

the East Timorese resistance movement will 

continue the armed struggle against the 

Indonesian authorities, despite the capture 

and trial of their former leader, Xanana 

Gusmão, according to a rebel communiqué 

released here Friday. 

In a letter addressed to “Portuguese 

journalists,” the new leader of East Timor’s 

rebels, Antonio João Gomes da Costa, or 

commander “Ma’hunu,” denied recent 

claims by the governor of East Timor, 

Abilio Soares, that his group had abandoned 

the armed struggle. 

The former leader of the Timorese resistance, 

Xanana Gusmão, who launched the 

armed struggle for independence from 

Indonesia in 1976, was arrested in the East 

Timorese capital, Dili, last November. 

East Timor, a former Portuguese colony, 

was invaded by Indonesian troops in 1975. 

In a statement filmed by the Indonesian 

army a week after his capture, Gusmão expressed 

regret for his actions, declared 

himself an Indonesian, and recognised 

Jakarta’s claims on East Timor, despite the 

fact that these have not been recognized by 

the United Nations. 

Gusmão’s trial began in Dili towards the 

end of January, in the presence of foreign 

journalists. 

In his letter to the press, the new rebel 

leader, Antonio Gomes, says he addressed 

his statement to journalists because “we’re 

in the same trench defending Timorese 

rights” and fighting against a “barbarous 

occupation by the ASEAN hawks,” a reference 

to the organisation of south east Asian 

countries. 

The letter describes East Timorese governor 

Abilio Soares, a former sergeant in the 

Portuguese colonial army, as “an accomplice 

to genocide” (estimated at 210,000 people 

by amnesty international) and a staunch 

defender of Indonesian expansionism. 

“Surrender, no. dialogue, yes. Because 

we’re fighting for peace in East Timor,” 

Gomes stressed. 

The letter recalls that the Timorese resistance 

movement exists because Indonesia 

still refuses to abide by a 1975 U.N. 

security council resolution. 

The resolution calls for Jakarta’s withdrawal 

from East Timor and appoints 

Portugal as “administrative power in the 

territory until a referendum on autonomy is 

held.” 

The East Timorese resistance “reaffirms 

its support for the position of the administrative 

power and for the cause of peace and 

the right to self-determination” of the 

people of East Timor, concludes the rebel 

leader’s letter. 

TEXT OF COMMUNIQUÉ 

Diario de Noticias 19 February 1993 

Original lang. Portuguese. abridged 

... 

“Dear Portuguese Journalists, 

You are going away from this bloodstained 

land, where the language of Camoes 

is still maintained. Our best wishes go with 

you. We are sure that, in the case of you 

four journalists, we are addressing people 

who speak on the same pitch as ourselves, 

that is, in defence of the legitimate Timorese 

cause. In fact, to remember the solidarity 

with East Timor of the Lusitanian soil and 

hearts is something which fills the 

humiliated but heroic Maubere People with 

pride, in their battle for the independence of 

this land, which cradled Xanana Gusmão. 

I believe that the presence here of you 

four journalists constituted another facet of 

what was expressed last year by the 

Lusitania Express - a gesture of solidarity 

against the barbarous occupation of the 

ASEAN hawks and its disgraceful consequences. 

Following this line of thinking, I 

proposed to go ahead, address you four 

journalists, and request that you make public 

the attached document. On account of the 

time limitations and conditions surrounding 

my duties, I have been unable to approach 

at any length questions in which the


Resistance are engaged in the interior. 

However, it is my duty to let it be known 

about the developments, which are summed 

up by what Mr. Mario Carrascalao inferred, 

and I quote: “Annihilation of the Resistance 

is a complex matter.” This puts paid to Mr. 

Abilio Osorio’s view, in his contact with 

you, that: “Only two months are needed.” 

The very presence in the territory of 15 operational 

battalions, and the rigorously carried 

out control by the military are, in 

themselves, a reflection of the evolution of 

the conflict. Osorio was merely playing the 

role of accomplice to the genocide, while a 

persistent defender of annexation and, above 

all, an acolyte of the hard line. We do admit 

our weakness in the military operations 

theatre. But the popular support behind 

independence, sets the dominant tone in the 

political situation of this occupied East 

Timor. Proof of this is the very location of 

Xanana’s capture, i.e. Dili itself. Further 

evidence is the vast array of Timorese 

names contained in a list that surfaced 

following the arrest of Xanana. Another fact 

is the arrest in Dili in January 1992 of Mau- 

Hodu (José da Costa). This situation affirms 

that, if the occupiers violence is at its most, 

then Timorese nationalism is invincible. In 

other words, the tree of Our Country’s 

Liberation continues to push out its roots 

through to succeeding generations. On the 

other hand, the no-boundary solidarity with 

Timor, for peace, is noticeable. I remind 

Paul Moore, lobby Bill Clinton. Other 

personalities have appeared on the scene 

from, e.g. the Anglican Church, South Africa 

and Northern Ireland. Portugal has, 

therefore, widened its support base for the 

Timorese cause. So peace is possible, 

because the annihilation of the Resistance is 

a complex matter. 

I will finish here. I am sure that you four 

will understand the need to make public our 

(the CNRM’s) thinking, contained in the 20 

November Declaration and in the attached 

communiqué. In the name of the fighters for 

the Maubere People’s Country, I take your 

stay here as a clear gesture of solidarity with 

Xanana, of which we are proud. Our best 

wishes accompany this letter. 

With the greatest respect, 

Ma’hunu Bulerek Karathayano (Bukar). 

In the CNRM and CDF communiqué, 

Ma’hunu analyses Xanana’s trial and the 

statement made by the “eloquent Abilio 

Osorio Soares before foreign journalists, e.g. 

Portuguese.” Abilio promised Ma’Hunu’s 

surrender within two months, and his reply 

was not long in coming: “No surrender! We 

reject surrender because it is the language of 

the hard, militarist line, which Abilio Osorio 

upholds by maintaining the presence of the 

occupying troops in East Timor. Talks, yes! 

This we do support because we fight for 

peace for East Timor and its people.” The 

communiqué adds that the referendum for 

East Timor “should result from the 

indispensable involvement of Timorese 

representatives in the talks without preconditions, 

sponsored by the UN.” 

Regarding the trial of Xanana Gusmão, the 

Resistance “demands Jakarta to immediately 

and unconditionally release the prisoner of 

war,” appeals for Boutros Ghali’s 

intervention in order to secure protection for 

Xanana by “legal, diplomatic and moral 

means,” and “again reaffirms its recognition 

of Ray Kala Xanana Gusmão as the symbol 

of Timorese Resistance, his functions as 

Resistance Leader and Falintil Commander 

being frozen.” The Resistance “reaffirms its 

wholehearted support for the administrating 

power’s position in favour of peace and the 

heroic Maubere People’s right to selfdetermination.” 

NEW BAR ON EAST 

TIMORESE GOING 

OVERSEAS? 

UPI, Jakarta, Feb. 23 - Young people in 

the troubled province of East Timor will not 

be sent overseas for study or sporting 

events because of earlier defections by 

Timorese youths, a newspaper reported 

Tuesday. 

The Media Indonesia newspaper said Tri 

Swartana, chief youth and sports official in 

East Timor, told reporters there were no 

plans to allow Timorese youths to go 

abroad. 

Swartana was quoted as saying the move 

was made to avoid defections by East 

Timorese youths because it would “bring a 

bad image to the country.” 

East Timor, 1,500 miles east of Jakarta, 

is a former Portuguese colony annexed by 

Indonesia soon after Lisbon ended its colonial 

rule in 1975. The United Nations still 

does not recognize Indonesia’s sovereignty 

over the territory of 750,000 people. 

Indonesia suffered a major diplomatic 

setback when government troops opened 

fire on unarmed demonstrators in East 

Timor Nov. 12, 1991, killing at least 50 

people by official count. Another 66 people 

remain unaccounted for following the incident, 

which brought widespread international 

criticism of the Jakarta government. 

In 1991, four East Timorese soccer players 

defected from an Indonesian-sponsored 

soccer team visiting Darwin, Australia and 

sought political asylum through the 

Portuguese embassy in Canberra. 

Two more East Timorese youths defected 

to Canada in 1992 during a student 

exchange program, Swartanta said. 

The defecting East Timorese soccer 

players said at the time they faced retribution 

by Indonesia’s security forces if they 

returned to East Timor due to their political 

involvement. 

LIKE IT OR QUIT TIMOR, 

GOVERNOR TELLS PRIESTS 

The Age (Melbourne) 23 Feb. 93 Dateline: 

Dili, East Timor Byline: Lindsay Murdoch 

unabridged 

The East Timor Governor, Mr. Abilio 

Soares, has bluntly told Roman Catholic 

priests in the former Portuguese colony to 

leave if they opposed Indonesian policies. 

Speaking in Dili, the East Timor capital, 

Mr. Soares said he would not resign or listen 

to complaints from church leaders such as 

Bishop Carlos Belo, who claimed in an 

interview last week that Timorese were been 

tortured and force succumb to the 

Indonesia’s integration of the territory. 

“If Bishop Belo thinks integration is 

being forced on the people, it is his opinion 

but not my opinion. If somebody does not 

agree with us they should go,” said Mr. 

Soares, who was appointed Governor by 

Jakarta last year. 

Bishop Belo, head of the Church in East 

Timor, said last week that Indonesian 

military was using “psychological torture” 

to force people to abandon support for the 

Resistance group Fretilin and agree with 

Indonesia’s integration. 

The methods used included forcing 

people to drink animals’ blood, a version of 

a traditional Timorese peace pact among 

tribal leaders, he said. 

More than 90% of East Timor’s 100,000 

people are Catholic. 

In an interview this weekend, Mr. Soares 

denied that there was disharmony between 

the Church and the other two pillars of East 

Timor, the military and the provincial 

government. 

“If the are some persons in the church 

who what they like we cannot categorize 

them as the Church as a whole,” Mr. Soares 

said. 

“You cannot say the Church is against or 

protesting because of the statements of the 

priests. The Church is made of both the 

congregation and priests.” 

Mr. Soares is a long time supporter of 

Indonesia’s 1976 annexation of East Timor. 

One of his brothers was killed by Fretilin in 

the late 1970s. 

Mr. Soares said Fretilin was now a spent 

force with only 60 armed men left in the 

jungle. He strongly defended the presence in 

East Timor of 10 Indonesian military 

battalions, saying they were necessary for 

the province’s development (sic).


Mr. Soares said the military had informed 

him it intended to reduce its troop strength 

in East Timor beginning in March. But he 

said he would prefer that the troops remain 

to assist in projects such as irrigation and 

housing, particularly in remote areas. 

“I don’t know how many troops will 

leave,” he said. 

Bishop Belo said last week that troop 

withdrawals should be the first confidencebuilding 

measure to allow Timorese to feel 

free of repression. 

Mr. Soares, asked if he would like to see 

East Timor get some sort of autonomy, said 

“I have no problem with the present conditions... 

(but) if we think we would like to 

ask for further autonomy I don’t have to let 

anybody know. It is our right to discuss 

autonomy with the Indonesian 

Government.” 

Some western diplomats have speculated 

that Jakarta is considering limited autonomy 

for East Timor as part of a settlement that 

would remove the question from the United 

Nations agenda. The UN does not recognise 

Indonesia’s sovereignty of East Timor. 

Mr. Soares said that if arrested the 

Fretilin leader, Mr. José “Xanana” Gusmão 

now on trial in Dili, was sentenced to death, 

the penalty should carried out. But he said 

he did not think the court would impose the 

sentenced as Mr. Gusmão was charged with 

rebellion not subversion. 

Mr. Gusmão’s trial is scheduled to resume 

tomorrow. 

The Sydney Morning Herald also carried a 

shorter version of the story. 

AUSTRALIAN INVESTS IN DILI 

GARMENT BUSINESS 

Jakarta Post 23 February 1993 unabridged 

An Australian investor, attracted by East 

Timor’s cheap labour costs, has agreed to 

establish a business cooperation with a 

garment company in Dili. 

Between 1,000 and 1,500 local people 

will be recruited for the project which is 

scheduled to start next month, director of 

CV Tira Octora, Fatmawati Sultan told 

journalists. 

This will be the first Australian investment 

in East Timor. 

She said her Australian business partner 

had stopped his business in Australia because 

he could not afford the high labour 

costs. He had to pay each worker the 

equivalent of Rp10,000 (US$4.80) per hour 

in his country she said 

She refused to say how much the East 

Timorese workers to be deployed would 

receive but she said the average minimum 

daily labour cost in Indonesia is about 

Rp2,500 (US$1.2). 

Fatmawati said that she was arranging her 

visa to enter Australia . She said a visit to 

the site could allow her to see her partner’s 

machines which would later be sent to Dili 

after the cooperation accord was signed. 

More than 50 East Timorese had been 

trained to operate the sewing machines but 

the project needs more skilled workers who 

cannot be found in the province, she said. 

Consequently she would have to bring 

skilled workers from outside East Timor. 

she said her partner would send designs. 

Fatmawati said that the economic cooperation 

was sponsored by a minister of the 

Northern territory who had visited her stand 

in an exhibition in the south Sulawesi capital 

of Ujung Pandang recently. The minister 

was interested in her work and had invited 

her to visit Darwin she said . 

Manuel Carrascalao head of the provincial 

chamber of industry and commerce, said 

on a separate occasion that the government 

encouraged local business men to cultivate 

economic cooperation with ones from 

Australia. 

“If the government does not support 

such cooperation, the businessmen will 

never be able to invest in East Timor. 

EAST TIMOR’S CATHOLIC 

PRIEST AGAIN DENOUNCES 

ABUSES 

Press release from CNRM at the 

Commission on Human Rights in Geneva, 1 

March 1993 

Bishop Carlos Ximenes Belo, head of the 

Catholic church of East Timor, told Radio 

Australia on 28 February 1993 of his anger 

over public ceremonies where East Timorese 

are forced to renounce past links with the 

Independence movement. He repeated 

earlier charges that human rights continue to 

be abused in the former Portuguese colony. 

Radio Australia’s Ian MacIntosh in Dili 

quoted the Bishop as saying it was the 

church’s moral and spiritual duty to speak 

out against human rights abuse and injustice. 

At the ceremonies to which Bishop Belo 

was referring, East Timorese are required to 

drink chicken or animal blood mixed with 

wine, then sign an oath of allegiance. The 

Indonesian authorities say it is a traditional 

Timorese oath of peace. The Bishop said 

such ceremonies have taken place in all the 

districts of East Timor. 

“For me and for us from the church, this 

is a form of pressure on the people, forcing 

them to say what they don’t want to say.” 

He also told Radio Australia that beatings 

and torture were continuing. The church has 

collected data and he would soon write to 

the UN if the abuses continue. 

The Bishop offered his own solution to 

break out of the pattern of violence that has 

plagued the territory for so long. “Give the 

Timorese some kind of autonomy. In 

Indonesia they don’t like to talk about this 

but we must try to find a solution,” he said. 

Asked whether political events in Jakarta 

this month - when Suharto will be 

appointed president for a sixth term on 10 

March -would provide impetus for change, 

the Bishop sounded pessimistic. He said 

that he held his present post for ten years 

during which time nothing had changed. 

RESISTANCE GROUP 

DENOUNCES INDONESIAN 

ATROCITIES 

by victor ego ducrot 

Geneva, Mar. 4 (IPS) – Indonesian occupation 

forces have been forcing people in 

East Timor to drink human blood in a pledge 

of allegiance to the Jakarta regime, a 

Timorese resistance group told the United 

Nations Thursday. 

The blood pledge is an ancient religious 

rite which had long fallen into disuse in the 

region. the vast majority of the Maubere 

(Timorese) are Catholics. 

The charge made by the Maubere 

National Resistance Council (CNRM) was 

substantiated by a video cassette shown 

here by the Portuguese delegation at the UN 

Human Rights Commission. 

The video, produced by the Indonesians 

themselves, showed people being forced to 

have their blood extracted. 

The blood was blessed by the leader of 

an ancient religious cult before being emptied 

into a recipient where it was mixed with 

that of other persons and alcohol. 

The Timorese were then forced to drink 

the mixture while an Indonesian official 

dressed in civilian clothing read a document 

stating that the act signified a pledge of 

loyalty to the Jakarta regime. 

José Ramos-Horta, the CNRM’s international 

representative, said that it was “a 

barbarous act through which the Indonesians 

are exposing the Timorese to contagion by 

aids (acquired immune deficiency syndrome) 

and other infections.” 

“After seeing this, the international 

community can no longer have doubts about 

doing something against the systematic 

human rights violations which the 

Indonesian authorities are committing,” 

Ramos-Horta said Thursday. 

The CNRM is a political and military 

organization which groups all the forces 

fighting for the self-determination and independence 

for East Timor. 

Ramos-Horta said that the umbrella 

group was trying to get the international


community to condemn the “inhuman repression” 

perpetrated by the Indonesian 

regime against the Mauberes. 

The CNRM spokesman is participating 

in the 49th session of the UN Human Rights 

Commission, which ends on Mar. 12. 

He said the Council was trying to get the 

Commission to appoint a special rapporteur 

to investigate the human rights situation in 


On Feb. 25, a former inmate of 

Indonesian jails, Domingos Seixas, explained 

to the commission the mechanisms used by 

Jakarta to repress the Maubere population. 

Seixas, who now lives in Portugal, revealed 

the cruelty to which political prisoners 

are subjected in Indonesian prisons and 

said that he and many others, who also testified 

before the United Nations, suffered 

reprisals and persecution. 

Ramos-Horta recalled that the international 

human rights organization, Amnesty 

International, had reported that the 

Indonesian forces killed 200,000 people in 

East Timor between 1975, when they invaded 

the territory, and 1981. 

This represents “almost a third of the 

population of East Timor,” he said. 

According to a document distributed here 

by the CNRM, Indonesia has subjected the 

territory to a colonial and repressive regime 

since the 1975 invasion. Jakarta annexed it 

in 1976. 

East Timor was colonized by the 

Portuguese 500 years ago and there is no 

historical element linking it to what is now 

the republic of Indonesia, the document 

stated. 

Portugal has expressed its support, at the 

United Nations, for the Mauberes’ call for 

self-determination and has repeatedly asked 

the international community to take steps to 

end the repression. 

PROPAGATION OF 

ISLAM IN DILI 

Jakarta Post, 13 March 1993. Brief news 

item, unabridged. Dateline: Dili 

For the first time in history, an exhibition 

of Islamic books is being held in East Timor, 

a predominantly Christian province (sic). 

The three-day exhibition, organised by 

the Agency for the Development of Library 

of Indonesian Mosques, in cooperation with 

the An-Nur mosque in Kampung Alor, Dili, 

was opened Thursday by the chairman of 

the An-Nur Foundation, Umar Balafif. 

He said that the exhibition which also 

features books on technology, was a new 

step in the propagation of Islam in East 

Timor, especially in Dili, Antara news 

agency reported. 

INDONESIA TO CHANGE 

MILITARY ROLE IN EAST 

TIMOR 

(Reuters, DILI, East Timor, March 15) 

Indonesia is preparing to end its special 

military command in East Timor and cut the 

number of troops in the Portuguese colony 

it invaded 17 years ago. 

East Indonesian military commander 

Major General Suwardi said on Monday 

East Timor would soon change over to the 

ordinary military command used in the rest 

of the 16,000-island archipelago. 

“If things are okay we can soon break it 

(the special military command) up,” he told 

reporters after installing a new army commander 

in the local capital Dili. 

There will only be eight battalions by 

next month and six by October, from 10 at 

the end of last year, military sources in Dili 

said. 

A battalion has about 600 soldiers. 

Since the invasion of East Timor and its 

subsequent annexation in 1976, Jakarta has 

faced constant international criticism of its 

human rights policy there. 

It has tried to win international approval 

of its rule, still unrecognized by the United 

Nations. But world opinion turned further 

against it after Indonesian troops killed up 

to 180 people in Dili by firing into a crowd 

of mourners on November 12, 1991. 

Jakarta says it is trying to develop the 

territory after centuries of Portuguese neglect 

and most East Timorese want to remain 

part of Indonesia. 

With the arrest late last year of the leader 

of the Fretilin rebel movement, diplomats 

said the military could no longer justify the 

large numbers of troops in the impoverished 

territory. 

Military commander Suwardi said a team 

of high ranking officers from Jakarta military 

headquarters were in East Timor to assess 

the situation. 

“None of the remaining soldiers will 

belong to combat battalions. They will be 

from territorial units,” an army officer said. 

The territorial troops are meant to help 

with civilian projects and efforts to develop 

East Timor’s economy. 

MILITARY REDUCTION IN 

EAST TIMOR? 

Radio Australia, 2am news 17th March 

1993 Dateline: Jakarta Unabridged 

The following is a partial transcript of news 

broadcast. Material dealing with the 

UNHRC resolution is elsewhere. 

READER: Indonesia has rejected United 

Nations criticism of its human rights record 

in East Timor... At the same time the military 

authorities in for former Portuguese 

colony has taken what they say is a step 

towards winding up the Special Operation 

Command responsible for armed forces activities 

there since 1989. 

IAN MacINTOSH: 

But the Indonesian press has all but ignored 

the Geneva vote and the authorities 

appeared to be pressing ahead with steps 

they believe offer proof that the situation in 

the trouble province in improving. Whilst 

East Timor’s Roman Catholic Bishop 

Monsignor Carlos Belo and other sources 

have recently accused Jakarta of continuing 

human rights abuses, the Indonesian military 

says its began the process of reducing its 

command presence and the troops strength 

in the former Portuguese colony. 

I what might otherwise have been a routine 

event the local army commander just 

been rotated, with the officer-in-charge of 

the military region which includes East 

Timor, major general Suwardi who attended 

the hand over ceremony saying preparations 

had began to wind up the special command 

in charge forces of operations in the 

province for the past 4 years. 

Officials says if things go smoothly and 

the security situation permits, that command, 

currently headed by Brigadier Theo 

Syafei should cease to function in coming 

weeks. And they say troop numbers are to 

be further reduced with 8 territorial and 2 

local battalions remaining by next month. 

That would amount to just over 6000 

troops. But western military analysts estimate 

that support personnel and other detachments 

still leave the total armed forces 

presence at closer to 12,000. Despite official 

claims that armed opposition to Indonesian 

rule in East Timor no longer represent a 

significant threat. 

TIMORESE REBEL 

SURRENDERS TO 

INDONESIAN MILITARY 

(Reuter, DILI, East Timor, March 18) 

Another East Timorese rebel has surrendered 

to Indonesian armed forces in the 

territory, military sources said on Thursday. 

Sebastião Mariano, 37, a member of the 

Fretilin guerrilla movement, gave himself up 

to the army in the village of Same on 

Wednesday. 

“He came to us with his rifle after 

roaming across hilly areas outside the capital 

Dili for some time,” an army officer said. 

The dwindling Fretilin group, which 

wants independence for the former 

Portuguese colony, has fought against 

Jakarta’s rule for the past 17 years.


Indonesian troops invaded the territory 

in 1975 and annexed it the following year, a 

move not recognised by the United Nations. 

Fretilin’s top man Xanana Gusmão is 

currently on trial on charges of promoting 

separatism, which carries a maximum 

penalty of life imprisonment. Several other 

rebels surrendered following his capture last 

November. 

The government says Xanana’s movement 

masterminded events which led to an 

army massacre in Dili in November 1991. 

Witnesses said up to 180 people were 

killed when troops fired into a crowd 

mourning the earlier death of an independence 

sympathizer. Jakarta put the death toll 

at 50 and listed 66 as missing. 

FOUR INDONESIAN 

SOLDIERS KILLED BY 

“FRETILIN” (BBC) 

BBC 19 March 1993 Language : Indonesian 

(abridged) 

The Indonesian Armed Forces (ABRI) 

issued an statement saying that 4 Indonesian 

soldiers have been killed recently by Fretilin 

guerrillas in the area of Lospalos (eastern 

part of ET). General Edi Sudradjat, the 

Commander in Chief of the Armed 

Forces/Defence Minister reiterated that, 

despite this event, ABRI will proceed with 

the withdrawal of the special forces from 

East Timor as planned. 

This seems to me a new move as opposed to 

the usually reserved attitude from the 

military regarding issuing information to the 

public about their casualties. Is this just a 

tactic in response to the recent UNHRC 

resolution? On the other hand, this might be 

just another pretext/tactic to justify the delay 

of the ‘planned withdrawal’ of their special 

forces. I still recall that they’ve been talking 

about this plan since last year. 

– John MacD. 

REUTERS REPORT 

(Reuters, Jakarta, March 19) East 

Timorese rebels killed four people including 

two soldiers in an attack in the former 

Portuguese colony, Indonesia’s Antara news 

agency reported on Friday. 

It quoted the military as saying the other 

two victims of Wednesday’s attack were 

students doing field work in Los Palos, 

about 200 km (120 miles) east of the 

Timorese capital of Dili. 

The rebels of Fretilin, which wants to set 

up an independent East Timor, have fought 

Jakarta’s rule for the past 17 years. 

Indonesian troops invaded the territory 

in 1975 after the departure of its colonial 

rulers and annexed it the following year, a 

move not recognised by the United Nations. 

AFP: TROOPS KILLED IN 

GUERRILLA AMBUSH 

Comment: Note that the Xanana Gusmão 

trial originally scheduled to end on 20 

March is now likely to drag for at least 

another month. Hearings are now taking 

place only once a week, making it obvious 

that the authorities do not want it to end 

before the next round of talks between 

Indonesia and Portugal scheduled to take 

place in Rome on 20 April. 

It is very likely that Indonesian casualties 

were higher than acknowledged in this 

report. – TAPOL 

According to an AFP report from Jakarta 

on 19 March 1993, two Indonesian soldiers 

and two students were killed in an ambush 

by East Timorese guerrillas in Los Palos on 

Wednesday. An army spokesman, Lt. 

Colonel Panggih, described the two students 

as being from a group carrying out field 

work but AFP said that according to sources 

in East Timor, the students, both from Java, 

were members of a student regiment. The 

army did not disclose the size of the group 

that mounted the ambush. 

Armed forces commander-in-chief 

General Edi Sudradjat said that the ambush 

would not alter plans to disband the special 

military command, Kolakops, in East 

Timor. He declined to say when this would 

happen but said it would not be before the 

trial of Xanana Gusmão has ended. The trial 

is expected to end in late April at the 

earliest. 

CNRM: NINE SOLDIERS KILLED IN 

LOS PALOS 

News from protected sources inside East 

Timor, April 3. 

On March 29, 1993, guerrillas killed nine 

Indonesian soldiers in Los Palos, cutting 

their throats with knives in a nighttime 

ambush. No guerrillas were killed. The 

soldiers’ weapons were taken to the jungle 

by the guerrillas. 

The administrator in Los Palos, José 

Valente, mentioned the incident in the 

Indonesian newspaper, but he denied that 

people were killed. 

EDI: TROOPS KILLED WON’T 

DELAY WITHDRAWAL 

By Ian MacIntosh, International Report, 

Radio Australia, Monday 22 March 1993. 

ANNOUNCER: The head of Indonesia’s 

armed forces believes last week’s attack on 

troops stationed in East Timor will not affect 

the government’s plans to disband its 

Special Command in the province. 

General Edi Sudradjat was speaking after 

being sworn-in to serve concurrently as 

Defence Minister in Indonesia’s new 

Cabinet. 

Ian MacIntosh reports from Jakarta ... 

MACINTOSH: Talking to reporters 

after his swearing-in by President Suharto, 

General Edi said the attack near the town of 

Los Palos in the eastern part of the Province 

on Wednesday night, would not change 

Jakarta’s plan to reduce East Timor’s 

special operational command. He said the 

incident was not a serious one. 

He reiterated recent military claims that 

the pro- independence movement - Fretilin - 

no longer pose a serious threat and that the 

security situation in the former Portuguese 

colony was stable. 

But it is known that small groups of 

armed rebels are still operating from East 

Timor’s forest and mountains. The Los 

Palos attack appears to confirm this belief. 

Earlier, a military spokesman reported 

that two soldiers and two university students 

were shot dead. They appeared to 

have been attacked, near the town, by what 

was described as elements of the pro-independence 

rebel movement. 

A spokesman said the students who were 

named were from Java and had been 

involved in field work in East Timor. The 

dead soldiers were not identified. 

According to reliable local sources, the 

four were killed when a van in which they 

were travelling was ambushed soon after 

they left evening prayers at a local mosque. 

And the sources had a different description 

of the dead students, some claiming they 

were members of a university military 

training corp. 

The release of the armed forces statement 

just 24 hours after the attack contrasted 

with the time it normally takes for the 

Indonesian military to confirm such incidents. 

That prompted some speculation that the 

latest bloodshed might affect the proposed 

downgrading of the military command to the 

size of a normal provincial military 

administration. 

But General Edi’s subsequent remarks 

prove otherwise. 

The Armed forces commander and 

Defence Minister did not say when the 

command which begun in 1989, was to be 

disbanded. However, he indicated it would 

happen after the current trial of the East 

Timorese independent leader, Xanana 

Gusmão. 

For many months now, Indonesian officials 

have also been foreshadowing a reduction 

in troop numbers as part of the 

plan. However, General Edi made no mention 

of the pullout when he made his comments.


Earlier last week, some officials had said 

the number of battalion stationed in East 

Timor would be reduced to eight with two 

local battalions, next month. That would 

amount to just over 6,000 troops. 

However, military analysts estimate that 

with support personnel and other security 

detachments in East Timor, the total armed 

forces present would still be in the order of 

10 to 12,000. 

CNRM COMMUNIQUÉ ON 

XANANA, OSORIO 

March 21, 1993. Translated from 

Portuguese; unabridged 

Communiqué from the Maubere Resistance 

National Council (CNRM), Fretilin Directive 

Commission (CDF): 

“The CNRM, based in the mountains of 

occupied East Timor, wishes to make public 

its position vis-a-vis the most recent developments 

concerning two questions: 

firstly, the trial of our companion Kay Rala 

Xanana Gusmão at the hands of Indonesian 

justice; secondly, the statement made by the 

eloquent Abilio Osorio Soares to foreign 

journalists, including, e.g., Portuguese. 

With regards the Xanana Gusmão case, 

the CNRM rejects any kind of proceedings 

by the judiciary of our Motherland’s occupier 

against prisoner of war Xanana 

Gusmão. Furthermore, it considers the argumentation, 

on which it intends to base the 

accusations against Xanana Gusmão, to be 

totally lacking in legal substance. 

The basis of the CNRM’s position is 

derived from the fact that the subject of East 

Timor, in which Xanana Gusmão’s case is 

interwoven, is an international question, 

because of: 

l. the UN’s recognition of the Timorese 

People’s right to self-determination and 

independence; 

2. From Portugal’s internationally recognised 

legal/political position, as administrating 

power, it should be reiterated 

that: 

a) it maintains the Timorese question 

under the protection of the UN Charter, 

b) it reaffirms its position on the decolonisation 

process of East Timor, so 

brutally interrupted by the 1975 

Indonesian invasion, while endeavoring in 

every way to achieve for the Timorese 

People the free exercise of their right to 

self-determination and independence, in 

accordance with the Constitution of the 

Portuguese Republic. 

3. Xanana Gusmão’s trial is implicated in 

the legitimate Timorese cause, to which 

the positions taken by certain wellknown 

people with responsibilities connected 

to the East Timor problem bear 

witness: 

a) Portugal’s Head of State, Dr. Mario 

Soares, demanding that Jakarta immediately 

and unconditionally release the Timorese 

Resistance leader Kay Rala Xanana 

Gusmão; 

b) UN Secretary General Dr. Boutros 

Boutros Ghali advocating the involvement 

of the man, now a prisoner, incommunicado, 

in the hands of the Indonesian military, in 

the talks aimed at finding an internationally 

acceptable solution to the East Timor 

problem. 

We have, therefore, strong evidence 

which questions the legitimacy of the 

Xanana Gusmão case, and makes both the 

prisoner’s trial and Indonesia’s argumentation 

void of any juridical value, as for example, 

the charge of “rebellion,” as one of 

the pillars supporting the accusations 

against Xanana Gusmão. 

It is from within this framework, therefore, 

that the CNRM drew its position: 

1. It demands the immediate and unconditional 

release of the prisoner of war, 

symbol of Timorese Resistance, our companion 

and dear brother Kay Rala Xanana 

Gusmão. 

2. It appeals to the UN Secretary General 

to use his good offices to secure the 

protection of Xanana Gusmão by legal, 

diplomatic and moral means. 

3. It reaffirms its recognition of Kay Rala 

Xanana Gusmão as the symbol of the 

Timorese Resistance, his functions as Head 

of the Resistance and Commander of the 

Falintil being frozen. 

4. It reaffirms that it fully supports the 

administrative power’s positions in favour 

of peace and the right to self-determination 

for the Heroic Maubere People. 

So, in answer to Abilio Osorio: 

1. No surrender! We reject surrender because 

that is the language of the hard-line, 

the militarist line, which Abilio Osorio corroborates 

by maintaining the presence of the 

occupier’s troops in East Timor. 

2. Talks, yes! This we do affirm, because 

we are fighting for peace for East Timor and 

its People. 

We reaffirm, therefore, our backing for 

the demands of the administrating power’s 

government (Portugal): 

A REFERENDUM for East Timor, 

which should result from the involvement of 

Timorese representatives in the UN 

sponsored talks without pre-conditions. In 

this way, a fair and lasting peace can be 

achieved, in the Motherland of all Timorese. 

Motherland or Death! The fight continues 

on all fronts! 

Headquarters of the Maubere Resistance 

National Council, in this 18th year of 

struggle against Indonesian occupation for a 

free and independent Timor. 

CNRM 

(Ma’Hunu’s signature) 

Ma’hunu Bulerek Karathayano (Bukar) 

Secretary-CDF” 

MORE INDONESIAN DEAT HS 

IN TIMOR 

BBC, March 29 

Comment: It marks a new phase when 

reports of Indonesian casualties are coming 

from Indonesian sources, not the guerrillas. 

For reasons not unrelated presumably to 

their case for a continued presence in East 

Timor, the army has reversed its tactics 

about admission of casualties in the war. 

According to the BBC’s Adam Brooks 

filing from Jakarta, military sources in 

Jakarta say that six soldiers serving in East 

Timor are missing, feared dead, after an 

ambush by pro- independence guerrillas last 

week. The attack took place near Iliomar 

and indicates that armed resistance is 

continuing despite army statements that the 

guerrillas no longer pose a threat to security. 

While there has been no official confirmation 

of the report, senior military sources 

in Jakarta are quoted as saying the attack 

occurred early on 22 March, when a squad 

of nine soldiers was ambushed outside 

Iliomar. [Iliomar is on the south coast, some 

fifty kms south-west by road from 

Lospalos.] Three survived the attack while 

the other six are missing, feared dead. 

Another report of the same incident 

claims that the nine soldiers were all stabbed 

to death while they were sleeping and that 

eight weapons were seized by the guerrillas 

during the attack. A local district chief, 

named Maukoni, was mentioned as the 

source of the report. 

This comes little more than a week after 

the Indonesian army confirmed that four of 

their men were killed when their truck was 

ambushed near Lospalos. 

NEW TORTURE CHARGED 

AGAINST INDONESIA 

Letter to New York Times; March 31, 1993 

To the Editor: 

“Indonesia, Deservedly Rebuked” 

(Topics of The Times, March 17) commends 

the Clinton Administration’s policy 

change on the situation in the former 

Portuguese colony East Timor. The 

Administration, unlike its predecessor, 

supported a resolution at the United 

Nations Human Rights Commission in 

Geneva expressing “deep concern” over 

human rights abuses in East Timor.


You note that the resolution “asks 

Indonesia to cooperate (which Jakarta says 

it will) with a U.N. inquiry into charges of 

torture and secret executions on the island,” 

which is occupied by Indonesia. Such 

cooperation could not be more timely, but 

much more is needed. I have received 

information from authoritative sources with 

whom I made acquaintance when I visited 

the region in late 1989 that indicate severe 

abuse of East Timor’s resistance leader 

Xanana Gusmão, who was captured by 

Indonesian forces last November and is on 

trial for political offenses. 

There had been charges of torture and 

coercion of Mr. Gusmão, with the 

Indonesians having members of his family at 

their mercy. Now, my source say, “the 

Indonesians are trying to break down 

Gusmão, to the point of his losing his 

mind.” Last month, the Roman Catholic 

Bishop of East Timor, Carlos Ximenes 

Belo, stated that people arrested in the wake 

of Mr. Gusmão’s capture were being 

subjected to “all types of torture.” This, and 

the situation of Mr. Gusmão, should be high 

on the agenda of the Clinton Administration 

and the United Nations as they pursue the 

East Timor matter with Indonesia. 

(Rev.) Paul Moore Jr. New York, 

March 24, l993 

The writer was Episcopal Bishop of 

New York, 1972-89. 

SYAFEI BECOMES UDAYANA 

COMMANDER 

Sources: UPI, Jakarta, 31 March 1993 and 

Suara Pembaruan, Dili, 16 March 1993. 

Summarised only. 

Brig. General Theo Syafei was today 

installed as commander of the Udayana regional 

military command based in Bali. This 

command covers East Timor. 

Syafei has been commander of Kolakops 

in East Timor since the month after the Dili 

massacre of 12 November 1991. Shortly 

before Syafei’s promotion to become regional 

military commander, the commandership 

of the Wira Dharma sub-regional 

command, 164/Korem in East Timor, 

changed hands from Colonel Dunija to 

Colonel Suntoro. This is reportedly in 

preparation for the dissolution of Kolakops, 

the special army command in control of East 


At the installation ceremony in Dili of 

the new Korem commander, Theo Syafei’s 

predecessor as commander in Bali, Major- 

General Suwardi, said that Kolakops is 

likely to be disbanded after the end of the 

Xanana Gusmão trial. 

General Edi Sudradjat who was is Bali to 

install Syafei in his new post also said that 

Lieut. General Wismoyo Arismundar, 

brother-in-law of President Suharto, will 

shortly be appointed chief-of-staff of the 

army, currently still being held by General 

Edi himself. 

DEMONSTRATION PLANNED 

IN DILI? 

Portugal’s independent TV station, SIC- 

TV, announced last night (April 6) that 

young East Timorese were planning to hold 

a demonstration outside the Bishop’s residence 

this morning, Wednesday, when UN 

envoy Amos Wako was scheduled to visit 

the Bishop. We have been informed that SIC 

broadcast the voice of someone in Dili 

expressing their determination to hold the 

demonstration. 

It is disturbing to see that such an event, 

if indeed it was planned, should have been 

made public in such a way unless those in 

charge felt that giving it publicity might 

provide protection for the demonstrators. 

No news has yet been received that any 

demonstration actually took place. 

Other reports about the Wako visit say 

that he met Xanana Gusmão and Mau Hunu 

in Dili. We have also heard that he asked to 

meet Saturnino da Costa Belo (who shouted 

slogans of defiance in the Xanana trial courtroom 

on 4 March) but there is no news that 

Wako did actually meet him. 

TAPOL 

YOUNG PEOPLE 

DEMONSTRATE IN DILI 

Publico 7 April 1993 Dateline : Lisbon 


According to a (Portuguese) independent 

TV channel (SIC) evening news program, 

Timorese Resistance sources reported yesterday 

that young people held a demonstration 

that morning in the area around residence 

of Msgr. Ximenes Belo, Bishop of 

Dili. The protest was reportedly connected 

with the capture on Saturday by the 

Indonesian authorities of Ma’hunu, Xanana 

Gusmão’s successor as leader of the armed 

Resistance. The same sources added that the 

young people are prepared for anything, 

even to die. 

ARMY CHANGES IN TIMOR 

TAPOL report, 7 April 1993 

The following is based on several media 

reports, mainly Tempo April 3 1993 and 

Jakarta Post April 1 1993. In the past few 

days a number of new army commanders 

have been appointed around the country, 

with special attention going to the changes in 

and around East Timor: 

Particular attention is given to two 

changes in East Timor. First is the appointment 

of Colonel Soentoro to replace 

Colonel Dunidja as commander of the East 

Timor sub-regional command, Korem 

164/Wira Dharma. Prior to this appointment, 

Colonel Soentoro was intelligence 

assistant to the commander of the 

Udayana/IX regional military command 

based in Bali. 

The appointment of Col. Soentoro is 

consistently reported as being a step in the 

direction of the disbandment of Kolakops, 

the special military command in East Timor 

of which Brig-Gen. Theo Syafei has been 

commander since December 1991. 

In Bali, Brig. General Theo Syafei has 

meanwhile been appointed commander of 

the Udayana/IX regional military command, 

putting him in overall control of military 

operations in East Timor as this regional 

command covers East Timor. He has not 

handed over the commandership of 

Kolakops to anyone, meaning presumably 

that he will hang on to that post until its 

formal dissolution, when Colonel Soentoro 

will take full control in what some senior 

officers have referred to as a ‘Korem-plus’ 

or beefed-up Korem as compared with korems 

elsewhere. 

Reporting these changes, Tempo of 3 

April 1993 says of Theo Syafei that he has 

spent “most of his military career in East 

Timor.” 

Jakarta Post of 1 April 1993 quotes Theo 

Syafei, after his installation as Udayana 

chief, as saying the army will go ahead with 

its plan to dismantle its special operation 

[i.e. Kolakops] in East Timor despite the 

continued present of armed resistance there. 

He said that both “territorial and organic” 

forces would be pulled out of East Timor 

gradually. 

“By 1995 (sic) at the latest, all the affairs 

currently being handled by the military 

should already be transferred to the local 

government,” he said, after the installation 

ceremony. 

JP reports also that Theo retains his post 

as chief of the special operational command 

in East Timor to oversee the withdrawal of 

the combat troops which have been stationed 

there since 1976 (sic).


He said that there are 13 to 14 pockets of 

“security disturbing groups,” possessing 

104 weapons and spread out in five regencies 

but “militarily they are insignificant.” 

For more information about the precise 

nature of the army’s territorial operations in 

East Timor, as spelt out by Brig.Gen Theo 

Syafei himself, see “The true aim of 

territorial operations” in the latest issue of 

TAPOL Bulletin, No 116, April 1993. 

MA’HUNU CAPTURED 

First reports, April 5 

According to ABC Radio National, 

broadcast just after 4PM Australian EST 

April 5, Indonesian forces captured Mau 

Hunu on Sunday. 

According to an AFP report from Jakarta 

which we have not yet seen ourselves, Mau 

Hunu was captured somewhere in the interior 

on Saturday evening 3 April. Portuguese 

radio this morning broadcast an interview 

with José Ramos-Horta in Sydney who 

confirmed the report, saying that Mau Hunu 

had been betrayed. 

(UPI, Jakarta, April 5) Veteran East 

Timor resistance fighter Ma Hunu has been 

captured and is undergoing interrogation, a 

military spokesman in the troubled province 

said Monday. 

Hunu had taken over the leadership of 

East Timor’s Fretilin guerrilla following the 

arrest late last year of the group’s leader, 

Xanana Gusmão. 

The 43-year-old Hunu was captured 

Saturday without resistance by Indonesian 

forces in a rural house with the help of local 

villagers, Maj. L. Simbolon said. The troops 

also seized a number of rifles and 

ammunition, he said. 

Hunu was being interrogated in East 

Timor capital of Dili, Simbolon said. 

With the capture of Hunu - who is the 

son of a Portuguese and originally was 

named Antonio Gomes Da Costa - 

Indonesia marked a major success in its bid 

to quell the last remnants of the Fretilin 

guerrillas. 

Hunu reportedly was the last major 

Fretilin leader at large following the capture 

of top guerrilla leader Xanana in November. 

(Reuter, Sydney, April 5) East Timorese 

rebels exiled in Australia, shocked by the 

capture of their second leader in five months 

by Indonesian forces, said on Monday the 

guerrillas had moved swiftly to find a 

replacement. 

Indonesian officials said on Monday that 

rebel Fretilin leader Antonio Gomes da 

Costa had been caught in a weekend raid of a 

safe house in Ainaro village, about 50 km 

(31 miles) south of Dili, East Timor’s 

capital. 

Rebel sources said that after the capture 

of da Costa, known by his nom de guerre 

Ma’hunu, the top post had been taken over 

by second-ranking Konis Santana, a former 

student in his 30s who had joined Fretilin in 

1981. 

“While it may be terrible news, the imprisonment 

of another of our leaders is not 

going to see the resistance collapse,” said 

high-ranking Australian-based rebel official 

José Ramos Horta. 

Da Costa, 44, intensified the war after 

Gusmão’s capture. Rebels in January said 

they had killed at least 78 Indonesian soldiers 

and officers in six clashes between 

November 27 and December 23 last year. 

Da Costa’s capture was announced as 

Amos Wako, personal envoy of U.N. 

Secretary General Boutros Boutros-Ghali, 

began a visit to Indonesia for a fact-finding 

mission on the shooting. 

The human rights group Amnesty 

International, expressing fears that Da Costa 

would be tortured, called on Jakarta to allow 

him immediate access to lawyers, his family 

and the International Committee of the Red 

Cross. 

“There are grave concerns given the past 

ill treatment of Fretilin prisoners,” said 

Amnesty’s Australian director Andre 

Frankovits. 

“It is our experience that the first 72 

hours of incommunicado detention are the 

most dangerous.” 

QUESTIONS SURROUND 

MA’HUNU CAPTURE 

‘PM’ ABC Radio (Australia) 5 April 1993 

6pm. Jakarta correspondent Ian 

MacIntosh, Full transcript 

Ian MacIntosh: 

Ever since the East Timorese independence 

leader XG was captured last 

November, Indonesian military officials 

have been insisting the network supporting 

Fretilin and other opponents of Jakarta’s 

rule in the province were severely weakened. 

In early February East Timor’s civilian 

governor, Abilio Soares, boasted to 

Portuguese journalists that the authorities 

knew the whereabouts of Antonio Gomes 

da Costa, XG’s successor as Fretilin commander 

and predicted he’d surrender within 

two months. Last Saturday night, just two 

months later, the military says da Costa was 

captured alone in a hideout 55 km south of 

Dili after a tip-off from a local villager. 

Whilst the arrest of the man generally 

known by his nom de guerre, Ma’hunu, is 

yet to be independently confirmed, it 

appears to represent another serious blow 

to East Timor’s independence movement. 

According to sources close to Fretilin, 

Ma’hunu had served with the group’s armed 

wing for much of the time since Indonesia 

annexed the territory 17 years ago. More 

recently he’d been XG’s deputy, and as 

such was fully versed in the rebels’ 

strategies and policies. The sources indicate 

that when Mr. Gusmão shifted his attention 

to seeking support in the towns in recent 

years, Ma’hunu was effectively in charge of 

Fretilin’s armed operations in East Timor’s 

forests and mountains. 

But his reported capture has raised many 

questions, to which few answers have yet 

been provided. Colonel Suntoro, the military’s 

deputy commander in Dili, has 

claimed that Ma’hunu had been holed up in 

his hideout since January and was separated 

from his men. If that is the case it raises the 

question of whether XG’s successor was in 

effective command during a period when 

guerrillas carried out attacks on Indonesian 

troops which claimed the lives of at least 

eight soldiers. His reported arrest also 

comes at a time when East Timor is back in 

the international spotlight. A personal 

envoy of UN Secretary General Dr. Boutros 

Ghali, on a return mission to Indonesia to 

further examine the human rights situation in 

the province, travelled to Dili to today for 

two days of talks there. The envoy, Amos 

Wako, is to report back to the secretary 

general before Dr. Boutros Ghali holds talks 

on East Timor later this month in Rome 

with the foreign ministers of Portugal and 

Indonesia. And as the interrogation was 

beginning in Dili of the man local officials 

say is Antonio Gomes da Costa, alias 

Ma’hunu, his predecessor, XG, was back in 

court for the 14th session of his trial on 

rebellion, conspiracy, separatist and 

firearms charges. 

ACTION ALERT TO PREVENT 

MA HUNU TORTURE 

April 5 1993. Case IDN/TIM 050493 

The International Secretariat of 

OMCT/SOS-Torture calls upon you to intervene 

on behalf of the following situation 

in Indonesia/East Timor. 

Brief description of the situation: 

According to information received from 

TAPOL, a member of our network, during 

the weekend the Indonesian Military arrested 

Mr. Antonio GOMES DA COSTA, 

44, (also known as Ma’hunu), the leader of 

the FRETILIN movement in East Timor. 

Mr. DA COSTA, who assumed leadership 

of FRETILIN following the arrest of 

its leader Xanana GUSMÃO in November


1992, was reportedly arrested in Ainaro 

Village, some 50km south of Dili, the capital 

of East Timor, following a weekend raid on 

a safe house. 

Given that torture is regularly used 

against detainees, and particularly against 

members and suspected members of opposition 

groups, this arrest gives rise to 

genuine fears for the physical and psychological 

integrity of Mr. DA COSTA. In this 

context, it should be remembered that 

Xanana Gusmão, the jailed leader of 

FRETILIN, appeared on television shortly 

after his arrest bearing what some witnesses 

claimed to be signs of torture and illtreatment. 

The Indonesian authorities have accused 

FRETILIN of being behind the peaceful 

demonstration in November 1991, which 

ended in bloodshed when the Indonesian 

authorities opened fire on the demonstrators, 

killing some 180 and wounding many 

others. Following this massacre, the government 

jailed some civilians for up to 15 

years while those actually involved in the 

shooting received very lenient sentences. 

Action requested: 

Please write to the Indonesian authorities 

immediately demanding that they ensure the 

personal safety of Mr. Antonio GOMES 

DA COSTA at all times and guarantee his 

physical and psychological integrity and 

urge that his family and international 

observers have access to him. 

Insist that he be brought before a fair and 

impartial tribunal and that his procedural 

rights, including his right to legal counsel of 

his own choice, be guaranteed at all times in 

accordance with international standards. 

Demand that they ensure the respect for 

human rights and fundamental freedoms in 

East Timor at all times in accordance with 

international standards. 

Please inform the authorities in your respective 

countries, the UN, the European 

Community and other inter-governmental 

and non- governmental organisations urging 

them to intervene both at the national and 

international levels so that appropriate 

measures are adopted to put an end to human 

rights violations in East Timor and to 

ensure the respect for human rights and 

fundamental freedoms in East Timor and 

Indonesia at all times. Urge them also to 

intervene in order to ensure that Mr. 

Antonio GOMES DA COSTA be brought 

before a fair and impartial tribunal and that 

his legal rights be guaranteed at all times. 

Addresses: 

President Suharto, Bina Graha, Jalan 

Veteran 17, Jakarta, Indonesia. Tlx 44469 

Attn. pres. Suharto and Tlx : 44283 

Let. Ismail Saleh, Minister of Justice, 

Jalan Rasuna Said, Kav 6-7, Kuningan, 

Kuningen, Jakarta Selatan, Indonesia. Tlx : 

44404 DITJENIM IA - Fax : 62 21 32 1625 

General Kunarto, Chief of the National 

Police, Kepala Kepolisian RI, Markas Besar 

Kepolisian RI JI, Trunojoyo 13, Kebayoran 

Baru, Jakarta Selatan, Indonesia. 

General Try Sutrisno, Commander of the 

Armed Forces, Markas Besar Abri, 

Cilangkap, East Jakarta, Indonesia. Fax : 62 

21 36 1471 / 62 21 37 8144 / 62 21 35 6404 

Ali Alatas, Minister of Foreign Affairs, 

Kementerian Luar Negeri, Jalan Tamam 

Pejambon 6, Jakarta, Indonesia. Tlx 44205 

His Excellency, The Ambassador of the 

Republic of Indonesia, 8 Darwin Ave., 

Yarralumla (Ambassador to Australia) 

EAST TIMOR 

Abilio Osorio Soares, Governor of East 

Timor, Gubernur KDH Tk.1 Timor Timur, 

Jalan Inpantal D. Hendrikue, Dili, East 

Timor 

Brig. Gen. Theo Syafei, Military 

Commander for East Timor, Markas Besar 

Korem 164, Dili, Timor Timur, East Timor 

Geneva, 5 April 1993 

Please inform us of any action undertaken, 

(kindly quote the code number of our 

appeal in any related correspondence). 

STATEMENT BY JOSE 

RAMOS-HORTA 

From the Special Representative of the East 

Timorese Resistance abroad, in Sydney. 

Original document, 5 April 1993 

News of the capture of Ma’hunu, the 

resistance leader of East Timor is now 

confirmed. As in the case of his predecessor, 

Xanana Gusmão, there are well-grounded 

fears that he will be tortured to extract 

confessions. 

“I call upon the Indonesian government 

to provide immediate, unrestricted access to 

Ma’hunu by independent international 

organisations,” Mr. Ramos-Horta said today. 

“Jakarta must abandon the show-trial 

methods they have been using to try to deal 

with the legitimate resistance of the East 

Timorese people.” 

As with the capture of Xanana, 

Ma’Hunu’s capture in no way diminishes 

the strength and determination of the 

Resistance. With serenity and determination 

the leadership of the East Timorese 

resistance, both inside and outside the 

country, will continue the struggle. 

On the diplomatic front, substantial gains 

have been made in spite of the capture of 

Xanana. The new arrest of another leader, if 

anything, will once again highlight the 

occupation and the need for a negotiated 

settlement of the conflict in East Timor. 

Australia media inquiries for José Ramos- 

Horta: Margherita Tracanelli 

(02) 369 2676 (phone) (02) 389 2488 

(fax) 

FURTHER EXCERPTS FROM 

WIRES ON EAST TIMOR 

DEVELOPMENTS: 

UPI, Jakarta, April 5 

In Lisbon, Portuguese authorities and 

supporters of Hunu said his detention by 

Indonesian troops would not end unrest in 

the area. 

“The cause of East Timor is on-going,” 

said Portuguese President Mario Soares. 

“When a people is sacrificed and is brutally 

treated by a cruel dictatorship, the people 

always win out in the end.” 

Portuguese Foreign Minister José Durão 

Barroso said in Luxembourg Monday that 

Hunu’s arrest would not make negotiations 

any easier. 

“Things were already difficult, so obviously 

this arrest will not help. Certainly it 

will create a less favourable climate for 

talks,” he said. 

REACTIONS TO MA HUNU 

CAPTURE 



Mario Soares (Portuguese President): 

“This is not the end of the Resistance 

and, essentially, it changes nothing, i.e. the 

fact that Indonesia is a dictatorship and does 

not respect human rights in the territory of 

East Timor. (...) Portugal should continue to 

defend the application of international 

resolutions with regards the condemnation 

of Indonesia’s behaviour.” 

Cavaco Silva (Prime Minister): 

“I hope this is not one more of 

Indonesia’s schemes, saying that on one side 

there are the politicians and diplomats and 

on the other there are the military. 

Something similar happened before the 

meeting in New York, with Xanana 

Gusmão’s arrest (...) That would not be 

good for the negotiations between Portugal 

and Indonesia.” 

Durão Barroso (Foreign Minister): 

“The news gives us no satisfaction, and 

just confirms that the situation in the territory 

gives rise to concern. (...) Any settlement 

for the question will be reached 

through diplomatic means and, therefore, the 

facts of the situation are unaltered by this 

arrest, just as it was by the arrest of Xanana 

Gusmão.” 

Adriano Moreira (Pres. Parliamentary 

Commission on East Timor):


“The arrest of Ma’hunu demonstrates 

that Indonesia is extremely active in eliminating 

the external signs of Resistance, because 

it links this outward show of reducing 

the Resistance to the international campaign 

to show that the population adheres to the 

invader, when there is no relationship 

between the two circumstances at all.” 

Ramos Horta (spokesman for Maubere 

Resistance National Council): 

“On the international front, the 

Resistance was unaffected by Xanana 

Gusmão’s arrest. Also, our diplomatic position 

was not affected. Therefore, neither 

will Ma’Hunu’s capture have a negative 

effect on our strategy. (...) Time, as well as 

international circumstances, are in our favour.” 

Mari Alkatiri (member of Fretilin’s exterior 

delegation): 

“The Indonesians were clearly in hot 

pursuit of Ma’hunu, especially bearing in 

mind the Amos Wako visit, but also on account 

of the forthcoming Rome negotiations. 

Nothing surprises me. The situation in East 

Timor is quite difficult, and when there is a 

17-year long guerrilla war in such a small a 

territory, any commander is at risk of being 

captured.” 

Vicente Guterres (Political Commission 

President of the Timorese Democratic 

Union - UDT): 

“What has happened highlights an 

enormous military pressure of the 

Indonesian Government, namely on the UN, 

Portugal, the Resistance, and the Timorese 

people.” 

Abilio Osorio (Governor of East Timor): 

“You can almost say that he surrendered, 

because he came and hid in a house among 

the people, right in the town, and then they 

sent for the troops to come. They went 

there and he surrendered.” 

Francisco Lopes da Cruz (Pres. Suharto’s 

special adviser on East Timor): 

“Going on information from the people, 

and with the cooperation of that same civilian 

population, the armed forces easily located 

the place where (Ma’hunu) was and, 

naturally, arrested him.” 

HARSH BLOW TO THE 

RESISTANCE 

Diario de Noticias 6 April 1993 Dateline : 

Lisbon Byline : Antonio Sampaio and João 

Pedro Henriques Translated from 

Portuguese abridged 

The Timorese Resistance suffered a 

further blow with the arrest of Xanana’s 

successor, Ma’hunu. Timorese leaders 

abroad are pointing at the almost unheard of 

Konis Santana as the new leader. Again, 

Jakarta chose the eve of an Alatas-Barroso 

meeting to arrest the Resistance leader. 

Ma’hunu, Xanana’s successor in the 

leadership of Timorese Resistance, was arrested 

on Saturday night in a house in 

Manufasi, Ainaro, 55 kilometres from Dili. 

He reportedly did not resist arrest, in spite 

of allegedly being in possession of a (USmade) 

M-16 machine gun and 60 rounds of 

ammunition. On Sunday he was taken to 

Dili. 

Yesterday, Mario Carrascalao, former 

Governor of East Timor (appointed by 

Jakarta), told the Diario de Noticias (DN) 

that Ma’hunu was informed on by a 

Timorese, whose initials are said to be F.A. 

However, the betrayal scenario - similar 

to that of Xanana’s capture less than 5 

months ago - was denied by analysts of the 

situation in Timor, living in Australia. 

These same analysts, contacted by the 

DN, stated that Jakarta could be “selling” 

this version of events in order to refute any 

claim that information which led to 

Ma’Hunu’s detention was obtained through 

torture of Timorese prisoners, while at the 

same time claiming to the world that the 

Timorese people are behind Indonesia, and 

not behind self- determination or independence, 

- just 15 days before a new meeting 

between Lisbon’s and Jakarta’s diplomatic 

chiefs. 

According to Mario Carrascalao, it is 

unlikely that Ma’hunu (Timorese name of 

Antonio João Gomes da Costa) would take 

part in the same kind of repentance ceremonies 

as Xanana. The newly arrested 

Timorese leader “is a true man of arms,” 

contrary to Xanana, who is “much more sophisticated” 

and has “greater mental 

flexibility,” said the former Governor, who 

knows both men personally. “I do not believe 

that he will publicly show any repentance,” 

he pointed out. 

The news of Xanana’s successor’s arrest 

hit Australia’s Timorese community like a 

bombshell, and there were some immediate 

reactions, especially since some of the main 

leaders of the Resistance abroad are living in 

Darwin and Sydney: Alfredo Borges 

Ferreira and Mari Alkatiri (both Fretilin), as 

well as José Ramos Horta (special representative 

of the CNRM). 

In the wake of the news, and after time 

for confirming the reports, emergency 

meetings were organised, and it was then 

that the name of Konis Santana was indicated 

as Ma’Hunu’s successor. Mario 

Carrascalao told the DN he did not know 

the new leader: “That must be his nom de 

guerre. The only Santana I met in Timor was 

a priest of Indian origin,” he added. 

Dead and Resisters: 

Among the over 60 founding members of 

Fretilin, the following are still alive: abroad - 

José Ramos Horta, Mari Alkatiri, José Luis 

Guterres, Antonio Araujo, Antonio 

Barbosa, Francisco Joaquim Babo; inside 

Timor there are still - Filomena Paixao de 

Jesus, Alarico Fernandes, Abel Ximenes, 

Mariano Bonapartes Soares and Octavio 

Araujo. 

Regarding those who have died, were 

imprisoned, or chose to go over to the 

Indonesian side: Xavier do Amaral, Alarico 

Fernandes, and Leopoldo, “betrayed” the 

Timorese and embraced prointegrationist 

ideas; Borja da Costa, shot on Dili’s quayside 

on 7 December 1975; Justino da Costa 

Mota, arrested in 1975, died later in Lisbon; 

Mariano Bonaparte Soares, arrested in 1975, 

released, later re-arrested, and still in prison; 

Joaquim Urbano Saldanha, Maria do Ceu 

Pereira and Afonso de Araujo, killed in 

1979; José Sirilo Nunes, killed in Viqueque 

during a surround- annihilate operation in 

1979; Afonso Redentor de Araujo, killed in 

1979 after being arrested earlier that same 

year; Nicolau Lobato, killed on 31 December 

1978; Eduardo dos Anjos, killed in action in 

1980; Juvenal Inacio, disappeared in 1988; 

Ma’hunu, arrested on 3 April 1993. 

MA’HUNU CAPTURED IN 

BATTLE 

Seminario 8 April 1993 Original language: 

Portuguese Storytype: abridged translation 

According to a report in Seminario, 8 

April 1993, Ma’hunu was captured after a 

violent clash between guerrillas and the 

army. The information comes from José 

Ramos Horta who was contacted in Sydney 

by Seminario. He explained that he had received 

information from the interior which 

spoke of confrontation between guerrillas 

and a military platoon. The capture occurred 

last Saturday in Manufahi in the region of 

Ainaro, 56 km to the south of Dili, 

following a betrayal by a local inhabitant 

named Fernando Araujo (a well-known 

collaborator with the Indonesians). 

According to Ramos Horta, Ma’hunu 

was together with 20 guerrillas. Following 

the betrayal, a platoon of 30-40 Indonesian 

soldiers surrounded the area and started 

firing. As a result, 7 guerrillas and 4 Indo 

soldiers were killed and Ma’hunu was 

captured. 

Two months ago Abilio Osorio Soares 

told Portuguese journalists visiting the 

territory that Ma’hunu would be captured 

in 2 months time: he said he would surrender. 

No successor to Ma’hunu has yet been 

designated. Mari Alkatiri, a Fretilin leader, 

told Seminario that there were 3 candidates,


Konis Santana, Lu-Ulo, acting Secretary 

General of the Fretilin Committee, and Ru 

Materuak. 

MORE WEAPONS FLOW 

TO INDONESIA 

PORTUGAL PROTESTS 

LONDON-JAKARTA MILITARY 

PLANES DEAL 

Diario de Noticias 5 February 1993 

Dateline : Lisbon Original Lang.: 


The Diario de Noticias learned that last 

week the Foreign Ministry sent a letter of 

protest to the British Government over the 

sale of 44 Hawk military aircraft to 

Indonesia. The protest was sent as soon as 

Portuguese diplomatic channels confirmed 

the completion of the contract. With regards 

the offer to Indonesia of 39 warships by 

Germany, a source contacted by the DN 

recalled that the Portuguese Government 

had made known its concerns to Bonn when 

the contract was first being negotiated in 

1992. It was given guarantees that one of the 

contract’s clauses would be that the ships 

would not be employed in military actions 

against East Timor. 

SOUTHEAST ASIAN NAVIES 

GROWING BIGGER 

By Moses Manoharan 

(Reuter, Jakarta, Feb. 9) Southeast Asian 

navies are beefing-up in a strategic region 

made jittery by a power vacuum and a 

number of festering territorial disputes, 

analysts said. 

Indonesia’s purchase of 39 aging German 

naval vessels highlighted the trend in the 

region, where some of the world’s busiest 

sealanes are located and a dispute over the 

Spratly islands is on the boil, defence 

analysts said. 

Last month, Philippine President Fidel 

Ramos said the islands, in the South China 

Sea, were a possible flashpoint which had 

provoked “a mini-arms race of sorts.” 

A Japanese Defence Ministry official 

said there had been a vacuum in the area 

since the balance of power maintained by 

the United States and the former Soviet 

Union broke down. 

“Border disputes that remained quiet 

under the presence of the two superpowers 

have now surfaced as sensitive issues. The 

buildup in naval power can be seen as a result 

of this,” said the official, who declined 

to be named. 

Kensuke Ebata, a prominent Japanese 

defence analyst, said Indonesia’s acquisition 

was the latest move by countries in and near 

the Southeast Asian region to modernize the 

military. 

“The purchase can also be explained in 

terms of the power vacuum left in the area,” 

Ebata added. 

The potentially oil-rich Spratlys, claimed 

by China, Vietnam, Taiwan, Malaysia, the 

Philippines and Brunei are the most likely 

trouble-spot in the region. 

Chinese and Vietnamese naval forces had 

a brief clash over the islands in 1988. There 

was further tension last year when China 

announced plans to search for oil off 

Vietnam’s shores, set up a presence on a 

small island in the Spratlys and seized 

Vietnamese cargo ships sailing near southern 

China. 

Indonesia, which has no claim on the 

Spratlys, fears any military clash there 

could spill over to its Natuna island gas 

fields. 

It says its recent acquisitions are aging 

vessels from the former East Germany, 

without any blue water capability, which 

will be used for pacific purposes like transporting 

food to the nation’s far-flung islands. 

Armed forces commander, General Try 

Sutrisno, told Reuters the 39 ships would 

operate only within territorial waters. 

Jane’s Defence Weekly said the 39 

comprised 16 corvettes, nine minesweepers 

and 14 landing craft. Indonesia is also 

planning to buy two submarines to add to 

the two it has at present. 

The purchases, the biggest by Indonesia 

in recent years, are matched by other countries 

in the region. 

Singapore, whose 50-ship navy includes 

missile corvettes, landing ships and patrol 

planes, has four minehunters on order for 

1994. The first of 12 new large patrol craft 

is also due for delivery next year, analysts 

said. 

Singapore wants the United States to 

keep a strong presence in the region and 

provided the Seventh Fleet with a logistical 

headquarters after Manila closed the U.S. 

naval base at Subic Bay last year. 

In the Philippines, analyst Julius Caesar 

Parrenas of Manila’s Centre for Research 

and Communication said of the Indonesian 

purchases: “It might lead to an arms race, 

not because other countries could see 

Indonesia as a threat but because they 

would like to keep up with her.” 

Mak Joon Nam, a senior defence analyst 

at Malaysia’s state-backed institute of 

strategic and international studies, said: “It 

is a quantitative purchase rather than a 

qualitative one... if Indonesia’s intention 

was to match the defence capabilities of 

either China or Japan, it would have bought 

five new frigates instead of the second-hand 

units.” 

Malaysia is buying two frigates from 

Britain and also considering purchasing 27 

Russian-made MiG 29 fighters. 

In Taiwan, arch-foe of Beijing, defence 

analyst Richard Yang said Indonesia’s 

hardware purchases were aimed at resisting 

any threat from China and would increase 

pressure for a military buildup among Asian 

countries. 

“Indonesia has its own fears about 

Beijing’s military expansion. China is determined 

to be number one in Asia... The 

dispute over the Spratlys could lead to 

conflict,” said Yang, of the Sun Yat-sen 

Centre for Policy Studies. 

Taiwan has also been building up its 

navy in recent years to maintain a military 

balance with China, which claims sovereignty 

over the island and has refused to rule 

out the use of military force against it. 

In Beijing, a spokesman at the state-run 

China Institute of Contemporary 

International Relations said: “Some describe 

China as a tiger, claiming that Beijing dreams 

of setting up a greater China which may turn 

into the biggest tiger. 

“It seems that these people cannot go 

without an enemy.” 

INDONESIA NO THREAT TO 

ITS NEIGHBORS 

By Muklis Ali 

(Reuter, Jakarta, Feb. 11) Southeast 

Asian giant Indonesia, which is strengthening 

its military hardware, told its neighbours 

on Thursday it posed no threat to them. 

“President Suharto stressed that neighbouring 

countries do not need to worry 

about our military development,” State 

Secretary Murdiono told reporters. 

He was quoting Suharto’s comments 

during talks with Papua New Guinea Prime 

Minister Paias Wingti who is on a five-day 

visit to Indonesia with an entourage of 

nearly 200 businessmen, officials and politicians 

to promote economic cooperation. 

The two countries have long had border 

problems in the huge island of New Guinea, 

which they share. The problems are now all 

but settled but a small rebel movement 

continues to fight Indonesian rule. 

Suharto said Indonesia’s security and 

defence doctrine was based on a state ideology 

and constitution which guaranteed 

that Jakarta would not pose a threat to its 

neighbours. 

With a population of 180 million in over 

16,000 islands, Indonesia is by far the largest 

country in Southeast Asia.


It recently bought 39 second-hand 

German naval ships and is negotiating to 

buy 24 Hawk trainer planes from British 

Aerospace. It also wants to add to its fleet 

of American F-16 warplanes. 

From 1963-66, Indonesia crossed swords 

with Malaysia on Borneo island, which they 

share. British troops helped Malaysia defeat 

what was known as a policy of 

“Confrontation.” 

In 1975 Indonesian forces invaded the 

eastern half of Timor island, then a 

Portuguese colony recently abandoned by 

Lisbon. Jakarta integrated East Timor into 

Indonesia the following year, a move not 

recognised by the United Nations. 

Political analysts say that while 

Indonesia is not now seen as a belligerent, 

some countries in the region consider it a 

latent threat because of its sheer size, if 

nothing else. 

Suharto’s government says it does not 

feel threatened by other countries but must 

remain on guard for dissent at home. There 

are at least three small armed separatist 

movements in the archipelago which is home 

to a wide variety of ethnic groups. 

“But if Indonesia is disturbed certainly it 

will defend its honour,” Murdiono said. 

PORTUGAL PROTESTS AT 

GERMAN ARMS SALE 

AFP in Bonn reported on 16 February 

that Portugal has formally protested to 

Germany over the sale to Indonesia of 39 

second-hand surface warships and three new 

submarines, citing Indonesia’s ‘extremely 

regrettable’ human rights record in East 


The protest was made last Thursday but 

released Tuesday. 

German officials justify the sale by saying 

Indonesia was entitled to receive military 

equipment from Germany and that the ships 

would be partially disarmed and could only 

be used for coastal patrols, minesweeping 

and fighting pirates. 

GERMANY SELLS WAR SHIPS 

TO INDONESIA 

Brussels, Feb. 24 (IPS/Bob Mantiri) – 

reports in the German press that Bonn will 

sell 39 war ships and three submarines to 

Indonesia raised a strong protest 

Wednesday from Portugal. 

An official of the Portuguese foreign 

ministry in Lisbon said that Portugal will 

condemn Germany during the forthcoming 

EC foreign ministers meeting, scheduled for 

March 7 in Brussels. 

“Indonesia will use the war ships to 

suppress the people of East Timor,” the official 

said. East Timor is a former 

Portuguese colony, which has been annexed 

by Indonesia since 1975. According to him 

the ships could also be used against people 

in Aceh and in Irian Jaya, who are also 

fighting for their independence from Jakarta. 

The German embassy in Jakarta would 

not confirm nor deny the reports in the 

German daily ‘die woche,’ which revealed 

last week that the deal will be signed during 

the visit of chancellor Helmut Kohl to 

Indonesia, next week. Kohl is visiting 

Singapore at this moment. 

A spokesman of the Indonesian ministry 

for security and political affairs in Jakarta, 

however, said that “negotiations on the delivery 

of German war ships had already 

started last year.” 

The talks with the Bonn government 

have been conducted by the Indonesian 

minister for science and research, professor 

Rudy Habibie, who is a member of the 

board of directors of German aircraft company 

messcherschmitt. Habibie, who studied 

aviation technology in Germany, is often 

mentioned in the Indonesian press as the 

serious choice of president Suharto for the 

post of his country’s vice-president. 

The spokesman of the security and political 

affairs ministry, headed by Admiral 

Sudomo, denied that the Indonesian navy 

would use the ships against the East 

Timorese people. 

There is still resistance against Indonesia 

in East Timor. Indonesian troops recently 

caught resistance leader Xanana Gusmão, 

who, according to Amnesty International 

has been tortured while in prison. In Nov. 

1991 Indonesian soldiers killed, according to 

Amnesty International, more than 100 East 

Timorese students during an anti-Indonesian 

demonstration in the capital of Dili. 

Portugal has effectively blocked a new 

economic cooperation agreement with the 

six countries of the association of south-east 

Asian nations (ASEAN), of which Indonesia 

is a prominent member. 

It would only approve such an agreement 

if Indonesia promised not to violate human 

rights and allow a referendum, in which the 

people on East Timor could say whether 

they want independence or to remain an 

Indonesian province. 

KOHL IN TOKYO CHASTISED 

FOR ARMS SALE 

“Would You Sell Weapons to Iraq?” asks 

Japanese East Timor Support Group 

From FETJC, Feb. 28, 1993 

The Free East Timor Japan Coalition 

protested Germany’s recent sale of frigates, 

submarines and other naval vessels to 

Indonesia in a letter to Chancellor Helmut 

Kohl, currently on a 4-day visit to Japan. 

Referring to the deaths of “at least 

100,000 to 200,000 East Timorese since 

Indonesia’s 1975 invasion of the former 

Portuguese colony, and the fact that 

“Indonesia continues its military occupation 

of the territory in defiance of eight United 

Nations General Assembly and two 

Security Council resolutions,” the Japanese 

group compared the arms deal to “selling 

submarines and the like to Iraq,” which has 

been subject to international sanctions since 

its short-lived invasion of Kuwait. 

The deal involves 39 frigates, landing 

ships, and minesweepers, nearly a third of 

the former East German Navy, as well as 

three new submarines that Germany is 

building on order. The weapons transaction 

drew sharp criticism in Bonn earlier in the 

month. Norbert Gansel, Social Democratic 

Party spokesperson said: “Indonesia should 

not get any military support because of its 

involvement in East Timor,” 

Akira Matsubara, secretary of the Tokyo 

East Timor Association, one of eleven 

grassroots organizations grouped in the 

Japanese coalition, conveyed the letter to 

the German Chancellor on February 27 

through an official of the Germany Embassy 

in Tokyo. The letter cited a resolution 

passed by the Council of 

Europe banning the export of weapons to 

Indonesia in view of the human rights 

situation in East Timor. It also recalled 

Germany’s own legal restrictions on supplying 

weapons to non-NATO regions involved 

in conflicts. The recent sale, it 

stressed, “not only ignores these rulings, but 

also goes against the post-Cold War 

aspirations of the world to affirm human 

rights and disarmament.” 

While Bonn has sought to allay criticism 

with assurances that the ships would be 

“partially disarmed” and could only be used 

for coastal patrols, the Japanese group 

challenged this: “One wonders if Germany 

would have agreed to weapons sales to Iraq 

by a country that defended the sales with 

the same reasoning.” 

Free East Timor Japan Coalition c/o 

Tokyo East Timor Association Tel: 0422- 

55-7937 Fax: 0422-55-7768


NGOS PROTEST WARSHIP 

DEAL TO KOHL 

1 March 1993 Source: IMBAS 

The following letter was sent on the 24 

February to the German Chancellor, Kohl, 

protesting the sale of German war vessels to 

Indonesia at bargain prices. 

Please direct send such a protest to the 

German embassy in your home country. 

Dear Mr. Chancellor 

We are writing to express our concern 

about reports we have received regarding the 

intended sale of 39 most modern NVA 

warships (from East German Navy) to 

Indonesia. 

We wish to remind you that Indonesia 

has illegally occupied East Timor in defiance 

of numerous UN resolutions since 1975 and 

has waged a continuing war against the local 

population. 

During this time up to 200,000 people 

have lost their lives and human rights abuses 

cause continuing and serious concern. 

The deal was reported postponed after 

the Santa Cruz massacre when at least 273 

people were murdered by the Indonesian 

military. 

Since then the situation of human rights 

has not been improved and the repression 

inside East Timor is said to be as bad as in 

the late 1970s. 

The Federal Republic of Germany, like 

the UN, has never recognised the Indonesian 

annexation, and claims that it does not sell 

weapons to countries at war. Because of the 

aforesaid, Germany is in breach of its 

undertaking. 

We strongly condemn this deal. 

Furthermore we note that the vessels 

under negotiation may be sold at prices 

significantly below their actual value. 

According to the press, all 39 vessels are 

said to be sold for an amount of US$ 150 

million only, whereas only one corvette 

values US$200 million actually. This can 

only be regarded as covert military aid to a 

repressive regime. 

We call on you to investigate this matter 

and look forward to your early reply. 

Yours faithfully, 

A Paz es possivel em Timor Leste, Portugal 

Agir pour Timor, France 

Aksi Setiakawan 

Association Timor Oriental, France 

British Coalition for East Timor, UK 

CDPM 

Coordinamento Italiano dei gruppi di 

Solidarieta con il Populi Timorese, Italy 

East Timor Action Network, USA 

East Timor Alert Network, Canada 

East Timor Group Holland 

East Timor Solidarity Campaign, Ireland 

Free East Timor Japan Coalition, Japan 

Free Papua Movement 

Front Demokrasi Indonesia 

IMBAS, Germany 

Indonesian Resources Information Project, 

Holland 

International Platform of Jurists for East 


Japanese Supporting Committee for Darwin 

East Timor School 

Komitee Indonesie, Holland 

Oporto University, Portugal 

Osttimor Kommitten, Sweden 

Paz e justicia para Timor Leste, Portugal 

SOS Timor, Belgium 

Tapol, UK 

Timor Oriental a.s.b.l. Luxembourg 

XminY Founding Agency, Holland 

PERPETRATORS OF 

VIOLENCE ARE UNLIKELY 

CHAMPIONS OF PEACE 

Vancouver Sun, 1 March 1993. From 

Stephen Hume’s At Large column. 

A proposed United Nations tribunal on 

war crimes in response to the vicious civil 

war in the Balkans simply offers yet more 

proof that we’re all prisoners of our own 

delusions. 

There are as many white-collar war 

criminals among the righteous nations that 

now talk pompously about a New World 

order as there are blood-soaked rapists in 

Bosnia. 

The atrocities in the Balkans are horrific, 

but are they more horrific than the 

butchering of one-third of the indigenous 

civilian population of East Timor by our 

Indonesian trading pals? There is one obvious 

difference that is not mentioned in polite 

society. The 10,000 victims in the 

Balkans were white Europeans, while the 

200,000 killed in East Timor were not. 

Indonesia’s invasion of East Timor 

parallels Iraq’s invasion of Kuwait. Iraq was 

bombed back to a pre-industrial state to 

enforce UN resolutions, yet since 1975 

Indonesia has openly defied UN security 

council resolutions ordering it to withdraw. 

At the time of the East Timor invasion, 

the U.S. supplied Indonesia with 90 per 

cent of its weapons while sitting on the 

same security council that condemned the 

aggression. 

Since 1980, 33 per cent of the world’s 

nations have indulged in state-sanctioned 

torture. One of those cited by Amnesty 

International is another security council 

member that enjoys delivering lofty sermons 

on human rights. 

Britain’s record of torture, tainted and 

miscarried justice and human rights abuses 

in Northern Ireland leaves it in no position 

to instruct anyone else in proper conduct. 

And what legitimate moral indignation 

over war crimes may we expect from China, 

where fractious students can be crushed 

under the treads of tanks and forgotten 

overnight? 

In 1992, there were 24 wars going on 

around the world. They cost more than $50 

billion. Virtually all have been supported 

with weapons, military and economic aid 

from the sanctimonious members of the 

UN’s security council. 

In fact, while the value of development 

aid to the Third World from industrial nations 

between 1985 and 1989 was $166 

billion, the value of weapons sold there was 

$195 billion. In other words, the rich nations 

made $29 billion in the exchange. 

So far, those killed in the continuing wars 

with the weapons and expertise provided by 

the people who say they want to punish 

war criminals – I’ll only count the dead, not 

the maimed, mutilated and mentally 

impaired – amount to about 250,000, most 

of them civilian non-combatants, many of 

them children. 

Since 1980, close to six million people 

have been killed in wars financed by the 

industrial giants of the First World. 

Seventy-five per cent have been non-combatants. 

All this violence diverts money from 

education, health care and economic infrastructure 

at a rate of $2 million a minute. In 

1991, the world spent $1 trillion to equip 

and maintain 66 million soldiers in preparation 

for war. In developing countries, soldiers 

now outnumber physicians by eight 

to one. 

One of the biggest supporters of the 

butchers, villains and lunatics responsible 

for this carnage has been that loudest and 

most officious upholder of human rights, the 

United States. 

I note that of the 14 high-ranking officers 

whose troops have committed “brutal 

human rights abuses” in El Salvador, 12 

were trained by the U.S. military. 

The Centre for Defence Information in 

Washington, D.C. estimates that the U.S. 

has supplied $300 billion in weapons, 

military assistance and economic aid in the 

Third World since 1962. In all but two of 

the countries now racked by war, factions 

were armed, trained and given economic 

support by the U.S. 

Uncle Sam is in Somalia milking our 

brain-dead media for every available ounce 

of high-mindedness about the noble purpose 

of its mission. But U.S. policy is responsible 

for much of the bloody chaos that 

convulses that sorry country. 

It was the U.S. that provided dictator 

Siad Barre with $700 million in military and


economic aid so that he could wage an 

unbelievably cruel campaign of state terror 

against his people. 

Propped up by the U.S., this fool destroyed 

vital water supplies, slaughtered the 

herds of nomadic tribes and tortured and 

killed civilians on a grand scale. By the time 

he was finished, one in seven civilians had 

become a refugee. 

Rank of the U.S. among all countries in 

arms sales to Somalia since 1985? Number 

one. 

Today Somalia. Tomorrow Sudan. 

Between 1975 and 1985, despite incredible 

economic mismanagement and a campaign of 

state terror against non-Muslims that totally 

traumatized the country, fully two-thirds of 

U.S. military aid in sub-Saharan Africa went 

to the military dictatorship in Sudan. 

The real crime is war and the most dangerous 

war criminals are those who subvert 

peaceful development by selling weapons 

and feeding the conflicts that create their 

markets. 

DEMONSTRATION AT 

BRITISH AEROSPACE 

From Peace News 2365 (April 1993). 

Cherry trees for BAe 

On Saturday 6 March, more than 30 

demonstrators gathered at the British 

Aerospace (BAe) plant in Stevenage, Herts, 

in solidarity with Chris Cole (PN March 

1993) and to protest against BAe arms sales 

to Indonesia. BAe is currently finalizing a 

deal to sell up to 144 Hawk strike attack 

aircraft to Indonesia, which has occupied 

East Timor since 1975 in defiance of more 

than 10 UN resolutions. Hundreds of 

thousands of Timorese have died as a result. 

Protesters walked onto BAe property 

and at first met with no resistance, even 

when planting bulbs and a flowering 

Japanese cherry tree in the lawn in front of 

the main gate. A child-sized grave was dug 

in the lawn, with a paper headstone saying 

“Remember the dead of East Timor.” 

There were eventually seven arrests, and 

six were taken to the police station. Three 

trespassers crawled under a fence in front of 

a police officer and were chased through the 

site. Three other activists were pulled off a 

pillar inside a neighbouring BAe site as they 

were holding a banner saying “Hammer BAe 

swords into ploughshares.” 

One ARROW member was arrested near 

the main gate and driven out of town by the 

police. He refused to be dumped in the 

middle of nowhere and was driven back to 

the police station, where he was simply left 

by the side of the road. No charges were laid 

against any of the protesters who had been 

detained, though there was some rough 

handling. 

The mass trespass was organised by 

ARROW at the request of the BAe 

Ploughshares Support Group, with legal 

support by the Peace Movement Legal 

Support Unit. Our action was featured on 

Anglia and Carlton regional television news. 

Emily Johns, BAe Ploughshares, c/o 

NVRN, 162 Holloway Rd, London N7 8DQ 

GERMAN EMBASSY REPLIES 

TO CANADA 

March 18, 1993 

I think the letter speaks for itself and require 

no interpretation, ETAN/Ottawa 

Dear Madam, dear Sir, 

with reference to your letter dated March 

3, 1993 I would like to state the following. 

It is true that the Federal Republic of 

Germany sold 39 ex-National People’s 

Navy vessels to Indonesia. Although the 

term “warship” is technically correct, it 

might convey the wrong impression. The 

vessels in question are predominantly vintage-1960s 

coast patrol boats. Furthermore, 

the price you stated (US-$150 million) is 

incorrect. Unfortunately I am in no position 

to inform you about the correct amount. 

Under the terms of the contract, the 39 

vessels will be de-militarized at the expense 

of the Indonesian government, i.e. all armory 

fixed to the vessels will be dismounted. 

The vessels will be used by Indonesia to 

counter the threat posed by an increasing 

number of acts of piracy and drug-trafficking 

within its territorial waters. Because of 

the aforesaid, the contract for sale of those 

vessels does by no means constitute a covert 

military aid to Indonesia. 

I would like to emphasize the fact that in 

the past the Federal Republic of Germany 

has repeatedly protested against the human 

rights infractions committed by the 

Indonesian government and has never recognized 

the annexation of East Timor. The 

Federal Republic of Germany is unequivocally 

in line with the numerous UN resolutions 

on that matter. 

Furthermore, the contract for sale of the 

39 coast patrol vessels was completed only 

after the European Community had explicitly 

stated that the human rights situation 

had significantly improved. If the 

Federal Republic of Germany had had any 

legitimate concerns, it would not have 

concluded that deal. 


(Rainer Sulzer), First Secretary 

This letter is dated March 18, 1993; with 

regards to the last paragraph, I guess 

Germany didn’t inform its embassies of the 

vote at the UN on March 12, 1993!! 

I am curious though, of the other countries 

that wrote to their German embassies, did 

you receive a reply? 

PROSPECTS FOR MORE 

HAWK SALES FROM BAE 

From TAPOL, April 8, 1993, Storytype: 

combined 

The Indonesian airforce needs nearly 100 

more warplanes and could buy them from 

Britain if Jakarta’s conditions are met, 

Research and Technology Minister 

Bacharuddin Habibie said on Wednesday [7 

April]. 

The deal depends on British Aerospace 

giving 35 per cent of the manufacture of its 

Hawk aircraft to Indonesia’s state-run 

Industry Pesawat Terbang Nusantara 

(IPTN) and helping Jakarta acquire Britain’s 

Civil Aviation Authority airworthiness 

certificate for IPTN’s 35-seat CN-235 

transport aircraft, said Habibie. “These are 

our conditions,” he said, adding that British 

Aerospace and the British government were 

showing a willingness to cooperate. 

Talking only a day after British Foreign 

Minister Douglas Hurd visited Jakarta, 

Habibie said “It is normal that we need more 

fighter planes for our airforce. According to 

the planning . . . our airforce in the future 

could use six squadrons of Hawks. This 

means at least 96 planes,” Habibie said. 

Indonesia is currently negotiating with 

British Aerospace for 24 Hawks, worth 

about 500 million. 

A British embassy spokesperson said 

that the planes were being sold as trainers 

and the company is adamant that the aircraft 

under discussion cannot be armed. Habibie, 

however, said “The planes will be used not 

only to train pilots but also for ground 

attack.” 

Any sale of military equipment to 

Indonesia is politically sensitive because of 

concerns over the country’s human rights 

record. Two years ago Indonesian troops 

slaughtered more than 50 mourners at a funeral 


Analysts predict a possible arms race 

since Indonesia, with 180 million people and 

an air force with five squadrons of combat 

aircraft, is now matched in its defence 

purchases by several countries in the region. 

Air Chief Marshall Siboen, head of the 

airforce, who has made a number of proud 

announcements about the Hawk deal in the 

last six months, was recently replaced in the 

new cabinet. Habibie seems to be back in 

control, driving a hard bargain for the 

benefit of both sides of Indonesia’s aerospace 

industry - military and civilian.


SUHARTO 

“RE-ELECTED”, 

TRY IS NEW V.P. 

PETITION SUPPORT SWELLS 

FOR SUHARTO 

The Straits Times, February 10, 1993 

SUPPORT for the re-election of 

President Suharto continues to swell as 

more groups filed petitions of support with 

the People’s Consultative Assembly 

(MPR), according to a report in The Jakarta 

Post yesterday. 

The All-Java Association of Youth and 

Student Action and a dozen organisation 

leaders from Irian Jaya were quoted as 

saying in Jakarta that they needed President 

Suharto to stay at the helm “to ensure the 

continuity of development.” 

They also supported the role of the 

armed forces in both defence and politics 

which, they said, had maintained national 

unity and safeguarded development successfully. 

According to the newspaper, the petitions 

filed with MPR deputy speaker 

Achmad Amiruddin added to the long list of 

support for President Suharto’s renomination 

in next month’s presidential polls. 

The five political organisations making 

up the MPR, the United Development 

Party (PPP), the Golkar political grouping, 

the Indonesian Democratic Party (PDI), the 

armed forces and the Regional 

Representatives, have endorsed the reelection 

of Mr. Suharto, who has been in 

power for 25 years. 

The association’s 10-member delegation, 

led by Mr. Aly Saleh, also backed armed 

forces chief Try Sutrisno for the vicepresidential 

post. 

Mr. Saleh was quoted as saying that the 

decision to renominate Mr. Suharto and 

back General Try was taken at a recent 

congress in Linggajati, West Java. 

The association requested that its members 

be given a more political role, claiming 

that the organisation had been an ardent 

supporter of the New Order regime under 

Mr. Suharto. 

The group from Irian Jaya did not make 

any mention of the vice-presidential candidate. 

But the group sought support for Mr. 

Jannes Johan Karubaba to replace Governor 

Barnabas Suebu, whose term of office would 

end in the near future. 

MPR deputy speaker Amiruddin said 

that he could not endorse Mr. Karubaba’s 

candidacy for governor as only the Home 

Minister, Mr. Rudini, had the authority to 

do so. 

ENVOY AT UN TOLD TO 

CAMPAIGN FOR TIMOR 

ACCEPTANCE 

Jakarta Post, 16 February 1993. slightly 

abridged 

(Jakarta) President Suharto said yesterday 

Indonesia must continue with its campaign 

in the UN to gain international acceptance 

of East Timor’s integration into the 

republic. 

Suharto told the Indonesian Ambassador 

to the UN, Nugroho Wisnumurti, that as far 

as Indonesia is concerned the question of 

integration has been settled and that the 

people of East Timor have already exercised 

their right to self-determination. 

“It is then our task to inform the world 

of all the events that have taken place and of 

the real situation in East Timor,” Nugroho 

said after meeting with the President at the 

Merdeka Palace. 

The world body has yet to give its recognition 

of the 1976 integration of East 

Timor and instead continues to regard 

Portugal, the province’s colonial master for 

four centuries until 1975, as the territory’s 

administering power. 

Nugroho said East Timor has remained in 

the UN agenda since the issue was raised in 

1982 by Portugal which questioned the 

legitimacy of Indonesia’s rule over the 

territory. 

“But the issue no longer reverberates in 

the United Nations and does not attract too 

much attention,” the diplomat said, noting 

that the world body was preoccupied with 

the problems in Bosnia, Somalia, Palestine 

and Cambodia. 

He said Indonesia’s explanation of the 

tragic incident in Dili in November in 1991 

and the subsequent steps taken by the government 

were strongly appreciated by many 

UN members. 

The tragedy, in which the government 

reported that 50 East Timor demonstrators 

were killed in clashes with troops, caused an 

international uproar, prompting Indonesia to 

take drastic steps to remedy the situation 

including the removal of two army generals 

from their posts. 

Vote 

Nugroho said if the East Timor question 

was put to a vote this year, “there is a very 

slim chance for Portugal to win.” 

Many of countries that had supported 

Portugal in the past have altered their view. 

Mozambique, which had been very vocal, 

no longer raises the East Timor question, he 

said citing an example. 

Although still in the UN agenda, the East 

Timor question has been repeatedly 

postponed each year since 1982 to give 

Indonesia and Portugal a chance to resolve 

the issue under the auspices of the UN 

Secretary General. 

The foreign ministers of the two countries 

last met in the United Nations in 

December. The two agreed to meet again on 

April 20 in Rome. 

Several UN members, including some 

European Community states and Balkan 

countries have questioned Indonesia about 

East Timor but it was on the human rights 

situation in the territory and on the steps 

taken in connection with the Dili tragedy, 

Nugroho said. 

The diplomat said he had just visited 

East Timor and met with local leaders including 

Bishop Carlos Ximenes Felipe Belo. 

He also held talks with José Alexandre 

“Xanana” Gusmão, the former leader of the 

Fretilin separatist rebel movement currently 

on trial on charges of armed rebellion. 

Non-Aligned 

Nugroho yesterday reported to the 

President about he recent UN General 

Assembly, specifically on the efforts of the 

Non- Aligned Movement (NAM), currently 

chaired by Indonesia, in fighting for its interests 

in the world body. 

Nugroho said NAM’s Coordinating 

Bureau, which includes all NAM members 

working through their representatives at the 

UN, is following up on the decisions taken 

at the NAM Summit in September. 

NAM had also formed a working group, 

in compliance with the Summit’s mandate, 

to specifically look into the current efforts 

to restructure the United Nations. 

GEN. TRY KEEPS MUM 

ABOUT ACCEPTING V-P 

NOMINATION 

The Straits Times, February 18, 1993. 

BYLINE: Paul Jacob, Jakarta 

Correspondent 

Jakarta -Indonesia’s highly-respected 

army chief Edi Sudradjat will be appointed 

commander-in-chief of the country’s nearly 

500,000-strong armed forces (ABRI) tomorrow. 

Outgoing ABRI chief General Try 

Sutrisno, who appears headed for unanimous 

nomination as Indonesia’s next vicepresident, 

made the announcement at the 

military’s headquarters yesterday. 

He said Gen. Sudradjat, who at 54 is the 

oldest man appointed by President Suharto 

to the powerful position, would hold the 

post of army chief until further notice.


Gen. Try said he had no immediate announcement 

to make on impending changes 

to the chiefs of the air force, navy and police. 

He said that Gen. Sudradjat was chosen 

because he was the most senior of the 

service chiefs -all of whom hold four-star 

general rank -and because the army was the 

senior-most military service. 

Gen. Sudradjat, a trim, tall figure, succeeded 

Gen. Try as army chief in February 

1988 and was promoted to four-star rank 

the same day he took up the appointment. 

Analysts said his elevation to commander-in-chief 

reflects not only the trust 

he enjoys from the President, the military 

and political leadership, but also demonstrates 

his political astuteness. 

He will preside over an armed forces 

which exerts considerable influence over the 

country because of its historical dualfunction 

as a security force and a sociopolitical 

organisation. 

Analysts have long pointed out that one 

of the most, if not the most important factor 

Mr. Suharto uses to decide on the appointment, 

is the degree of “political confidence” 

he has in a nominee. 

Some analysts said, however, that a 

possible recurrence of Gen. Sudradjat’s 

throat cancer, which he appears to have 

overcome, could affect his tenure as ABRI 

chief. 

One analyst said Gen. Sudradjat might be 

shifted to “a less strenuous ministerial 

position” once the new Cabinet is appointed 

towards the end of March. 

Gen. Try said yesterday that a change at 

the helm of ABRI was long overdue. He 

himself should have stepped down in 1990 

on reaching the retirement age of 55 but his 

term had been extended on a yearly basis 

since then. He said that he was now 

“preparing to enter pensionable service.” 

Though asked repeatedly by journalists, 

Gen. Try declined to give a firm response to 

whether he would accept the vice-presidential 

nomination. 

The question has dogged him since the 

Indonesian Democratic Party, ABRI and the 

Muslim-based United Development Party 

announced that they were backing him for 

the position. 

SUDRADJAT LOCALLY 

TRAINED 

The Straits Times, February 18, 1993. 


Correspondent 

Jakarta -General Edi Sudradjat, the 

Indonesian army chief who becomes armed 

forces commander-in-chief tomorrow, is 

most proud of one important fact. 

“I’m a local army man,” he once told 

journalists, referring to the fact that his entire 

military training had been done within 

Indonesia. 

Gen. Sudradjat was among the first batch 

of officers to graduate from Indonesia’s elite 

National Military Academy in 1960 and his 

appointment to the military’s senior-most 

post comes just nine weeks short of his 

55th birthday. 

He also appears to have overcome a difficult 

obstacle which could have put paid to 

any advancement beyond his position as 

army chief. 

It was only in 1990 that news first surfaced 

publicly that he had throat cancer. 

Now, however, he is said to have overcome 

the problem. 

Journalists who covered his activities in 

those intervening years said that he never let 

it get in the way of his job. 

He has also remained active in sports, 

and still plays golf and tennis once a week. 

Last year, at a shooting meet attended by 

several senior ASEAN military officers, he 

walked away the champion in the rifle 

category. 

His varied experience in command-andfield 

appointments was not unrecognized. 

At a time when brigadier-general was the 

highest rank given to a regional military 

commander serving outside Java, he was one 

of the very few to attain the two-star rank 

of major-general. 

He has served and commanded units of 

the elite Special Forces and Strategic 

Reserve Command, and also served in 

peacekeeping operations in Vietnam in 

1973. 

His most difficult task in recent years 

came when he appointed a panel to probe 

the military’s conduct in the 1991 East 

Timor killings -and then meted out punishment 

to senior officers and servicemen 

found guilty of misconduct. 

Gen. Sudradjat, a Muslim and married 

with four children, has been consistently 

described as a true professional. He is highly 

regarded for his integrity and reportedly has 

outstanding ties with subordinates. 

“I do not think there is anyone who will 

argue that he is the right man for the job as 

ABRI commander. He is a true soldier, an 

outstanding commander and a respected 

leader,” said a military attaché here. 

NEW ABRI CHIEF A TIMOR 

VETERAN 

TAPOL report, 17 February 1993 

General Edi Sudradjat was today appointed 

commander-in-chief of the 

Indonesian Armed Forces (ABRI), in place 

of General Try Sutrisno who is the ABRI 

candidate for vice-president. General Try 

reached the age of retirement a year ago and 

was due to be replaced anyway. 

General Edi Sudradjat is from the elite 

red-beret Kopassus, which makes him a 

much tougher soldier than his predecessor 

who is from the corps of engineers. The new 

C-in-C is a Timor war veteran, having 

served in East Timor during the period of 

Operasi Seroja, from 1978. This is when the 

war to crush the armed resistance was at its 

height. 

STUDENTS DETAINED 

FOR DEMO 

(Jakarta, March 9 Kyodo) Indonesia’s 

military and police detained several students 

who demonstrated Tuesday against 

President Suharto’s unopposed nomination 

for a sixth five-year term, witnesses said. 

Students from several big cities, carrying 

banners, marched to the front gate of the 

People’s Consultative Assembly one day 

ahead of the legislature’s reelection of 

Suharto. 

The assembly was convened on March 1 

and will end Thursday with the swearing in 

of the president. Retired Gen. Try Sutrisno 

is certain to be elected vice president. 

The military has deployed 11,000 personnel 

to guard the assembly session. 

‘The assembly sessions are only a play 

act of democracy,’ one banner read. ‘For the 

future of the nation, we refuse Suharto,’ said 

another. 

Police and military personnel forced the 

students away from the assembly area and 

after some scuffles five were detained and 

taken away in two cars, witnesses said. 

STUDENTS ARRESTED AS 

SUHARTO ACCEPTS TRY 

Green Left #92, March 17, 1993 

Forty students demonstrated outside the 

Indonesian parliament on March 10 to protest 

against the nomination and election of 

ex- general Suharto as president. 

The demonstrators, carrying placards 

attacking recent price rises and rises in 

MPs’ salaries, were arrested as soon as they 

unfurled their banners and raised their 

placards. The parliament had been surrounded 

by army and police units for over a 

week. 

According to Green Left’s sources in 

Jakarta, the students were released the next 

morning. Among those arrested was Yenny 

Damianto, who visited Australia in 1991 to 

participate in the Beyond Borders environmental 

tour of Victorian high schools. 

Inside the parliament, the show proceeded 

as planned. This time, however, the


scenario was determined by the armed 

forces leadership rather than Suharto. The 

president was unable to get any of the parliamentary 

fractions to nominate an additional 

candidate for vice-president. The 

military’s candidate, former armed forces 

chief Try Sutrisno, was therefore elected 

unopposed (as was Suharto). 

The ongoing struggle between Suharto 

and the armed forces is now likely to focus 

on the appointment of the defence minister 

in the next Cabinet. The current minister is 

the main plotter against Suharto, ex-general 

Benny Murdani. 

The other key position to be decided is 

chief of staff of the army, the second most 

powerful position after commander in chief 

of the armed forces. Sources in Jakarta say 

that the main candidates are Suharto’s 

cousin-in-law, General Wismoyo, and 

General Feisal Tanjung, reputedly favoured 

by the anti-Suharto establishment. 

SUHARTO STILL SILENT ON 

VICE-PRESIDENT 

Green Left #91, March 10, 1993. By Max 

Lane 

The Indonesian People’s Deliberative 

Assembly (MPR) began meeting on March 

1. It is expected to re-elect Suharto as 

president and to choose a new vice-president 

sometime between March 9 and 11. 

The armed forces (ABRI) has now secured 

public statements of support for its 

candidate - outgoing ABRI commander in 

chief Try Sutrisno - from the four major 

groupings in parliament. At the same time, 

Suharto - who is more identified with monopoly 

business interests than with the 

army - has made no public statement on the 

question, continuing to fuel rumours that he 

may make a surprise announcement seeking 

support for an alternative candidate. 

Dissension continues on this issue, especially 

inside Golkar, the government 

party. Several newspaper editors were 

summoned this week by politics and security 

minister Sudomo, who reprimanded 

them for reporting on the dissension and 

disruptions that occurred during a meeting 

of the Golkar fraction in the MPR. 

According to journalistic sources in 

Jakarta, the Golkar caucus divided into a 

number of factions, and some speakers were 

heckled off the podium. In particular, the 

newspapers gave prominence to the charge 

by Mrs. Sudharmono, the wife of the 

current vice- president, that the caucus was 

no longer functioning democratically. There 

was no public airing, however, of what the 

internal disputes were about. Sudharmono is 

thought to be Suharto’s first choice for vicepresident. 

Meanwhile, observers are wondering 

whether a statement of support for Try by 

Suharto’s businessman son, Tommy 

Suharto, is a sign that Suharto is willing to 

do a deal with the army. According to Green 

Left’s sources in Jakarta, Tommy also said 

that Suharto was getting tired of ruling. This 

was immediately rejected by Suharto’s big 

businessman brother, Probosutejo. 

It is now unlikely that Suharto will make 

his position on the vice-president clear until 

he has been confirmed as president for the 

next term. Announcing surprise candidates 

at the last minute is not a new tactic for 

Suharto, and there are reports that one of 

the country’s most influential and wellconnected 

Muslim figures is saying that 

Suharto wants to nominate the new ABRI 

commander in chief, Edi Sudradjat - a move 

that theoretically might split the leadership. 

TRY SUTRISNO IS 

TRUSTED SUHARTO MAN, 

DEVOUT MUSLIM 

(Jakarta, March 11 Kyodo) His defense 

in parliament of the Indonesian troops who 

shot dozens of demonstrators in East Timor 

in November 1991 did no harm within the 

Indonesian hierarchy to the reputation of 

former armed forces commander Try 

Sutrisno. 

On Thursday, Try was officially 

‘elected’ by acclamation by the 1,000- 

member People’s Consultative Assembly, 

the country’s highest authority, as the sixth 

vice president, and the fifth during the 27- 

year regime of President Suharto. 

Prior to his election, all five factions in 

the assembly had already endorsed him as 

the sole vice presidential candidate. 

Try, who retired last month as armed 

forces chief, is known as a close supporter 

of Suharto, as well as a devout Muslim. 

Born in Surabaya, the capital of East 

Java, on November 15 1935, Try was 

brought up by Javanese parents close to the 

schools of Koranic studies, known as 

‘pesantren.’ 

Many leading Indonesian Islamic clergymen 

gave their backing for Try’s election 

as vice president. 

During the past few years, when still 

armed forces commander, Try was known 

to have visited various rural ‘pesantren’ and 

preached in mosques. 

In the past two years, Suharto has undertaken 

some pro-Muslim measures, among 

his own first pilgrimage to Mecca in late 

1991, bills to grant more time for Islamic 

teaching in the national curriculum, allowing 

Muslim girls to wear veils in class, and in 

late 1990 approving the creation of the 

Indonesian Association of Muslim 

Intellectuals, known as ICMI. 

In the military, Try’s career to the top 

began when he became a leading light at an 

army seminar in Bandung, West Java, in the 

late 1960s, the early years of Suharto’s New 

Order administration. 

From 1974 to 1978, he was military adjutant 

to Suharto before being promoted to 

chief of staff of the Udayana military command 

and commander of the Sriwijaya 

military command, which oversees several 

provinces in Sumatra, in 1982. 

He was later appointed commander of 

the Jaya military command which oversees 

Jakarta. 

After being army chief, Try became 

commander of the armed forces prior to the 

convening of the People’s Consultative 

Assembly in March 1988 to reelect Suharto 

for a fifth five-year term. 

The weekly Tempo magazine described 

him as someone who is ‘not so skillful’ at 

giving statements to the press. 

The English-language daily Jakarta Post 

said in its editorial on Wednesday that Try 

‘appears to be a rather shy, unassertive 

man.’ 

Try does not seem to have much tolerance 

of critics. He said in November that 

Indonesian advocates of human rights, democracy 

and the environment are the ‘fourth 

generation of communists.’ 

He is married with seven children. 

THE END GAME FOR 

INDONESIA’S SUHARTO 

By Jeffrey A. Winters, Ph.D., University of 

Michigan. 17 March 1993 

“The older a coconut gets, the more juice 

it has.” Mrs. Tien (“ten percent”) Suharto 

recalled this Javanese adage on the occasion 

of her husband’s 71st birthday, just one day 

before Indonesia’s carefully-staged 

plebiscite gave President Suharto’s Golkar 

Party its most recent solid victory. 

After Kim Il Sung of South Korea, 

General Suharto is the longest-reigning head 

of state in Asia today. The MPR, the 

combined houses of the Indonesian parliament, 

convened this month to hand him his 

sixth five-year term. The outcome was certain 

because Suharto directly appoints fully 

60 percent of the 1,000 seats in the MPR. 

The remaining 400 were contested in the 

June 1992 general election, with Golkar 

winning just over two-thirds. 

If Suharto has enough juice to hold on 

until 1996, he will round out three full decades 

at the helm of this island nation of 

more than 190 million people.


The Price of Stability 

One would think that the long and remarkable 

political stability under Suharto 

(purchased, in part, with the blood of upwards 

of a million people following a failed 

putsch in the mid 1960s) would be reason 

for calm. And yet, there is palpable unease 

among interested parties both in Indonesia 

and abroad. 

The reasons for this are fairly straightforward. 

Since independence at the end of 

W.W.II, the country has had only two 

presidents, with the transfer of power between 

them going rather badly. Suharto has 

played a shrewd game of elite politics, while 

doing everything he could to de-politicize 

and de-mobilize the rest of the population. 

This allowed investors, both foreign and 

domestic, to feel safe and made the 

country’s high real growth rates possible. 

But the cost has been a striking absence 

of basic political development. Suharto, 

with his allies in the military, has managed 

the country’s “politics of exclusion” personally, 

rather than through building strong 

political institutions which function no 

matter who is in power. This is what makes 

the prospect of the portly general’s departure 

so disquieting. The legacy of Suharto’s 

long and stable rule, ironically, is the real 

possibility of instability both as he leaves 

and when he is gone. 

It is this realization which explains the 

tension. And the more one hears diplomats 

and business leaders proclaiming their 

confidence in Indonesia’s ability to handle 

the coming succession, the less convinced 

and convincing they sound. 

Politics without Political Development 

Indonesians are eager to demonstrate that 

they have matured politically since the 

tumultuous years under Sukarno. There has 

not, for instance, been even a hint that the 

armed forces might replace Suharto in a 

coup. The generals stress that this transition 

must proceed according to the constitution - 

at least on the face of it. 

But no one quite knows what an election 

in Indonesia would be like if there were 

more than one viable candidate for president. 

Only the military and the government’s 

Golkar party are permitted to operate 

at the village level. The Muslim party (PPP) 

and the Democratic party (PDI) would 

surely challenge this arrangement if they 

suddenly could back their own candidates 

for president. That said, most elites in 

Indonesia shudder at the thought of a return 

to contested politics involving the masses in 

anything beyond symbolism. 

The election last June was instructive. 

The campaign among the three recognized 

parties lasted for the specified period of 

twenty-five days, followed by a week of 

“cool down” (which was hardly needed). No 

policy issues were discussed or debated. 

The biggest draw at political rallies were not 

politicians and candidates, but rather 

performers offering the Indonesian equivalent 

of country-western music. Even Vice- 

Admiral Soedibyo Rahardjo, who stepped 

down in July of 1992 as head of the general 

staff of the armed forces, lamented the poor 

quality of the election campaign. “It was a 

lot of dancing and parading, with no political 

sophistication,” he said in a private interview. 

But should such behavior be surprising 

given that ordinary Indonesians only get to 

practice their political skills for one month 

in every five-year election cycle? 

In the past, Suharto has always chosen a 

vice president who could not threaten him 

politically. Because most Indonesians cannot 

imagine a contested presidential election 

using the existing political institutions and 

practices, there has been much speculation, 

and hope, that Suharto will solve the 

immediate dilemma by breaking with the 

past and designating a clear successor when 

he chooses his next vice president. With a 

truly viable candidate in the number-two 

spot, Suharto could then step aside well before 

the 1997-98 election. This way the next 

president could assume power constitutionally 

and also have time to consolidate 

his position politically before having to face 

an election. With any luck, goes the thinking 

in elite circles, he might also block the 

emergence of opposing candidates. In short, 

if Suharto plays it the way powerful social 

groups hope he will, the vacuum problem 

could conceivably be pushed into the next 

century. 

While this scenario allows for the 

Indonesian political system to escape being 

tested fully, it shifts the political heat from 

the late 1990s to the present. 

It remains to be seen how the choice of 

former armed forces chief General Try 

Sutrisno as the country’s vice- president 

will be played out. Some immediate observations 

are possible. First, because Sutrisno 

is a Muslim, a military man, and Javanese, 

he is clearly a viable candidate for the 

presidency. Indeed, of all Suharto’s vicepresidents, 

this one has the greatest potential 

not only for ruling the country, but also 

for pushing Suharto out in the event the 

transition gets messy. Second, although 

Sutrisno is close to Suharto and enjoys the 

president’s trust, there are indications that 

he may have preferred once again to have a 

weaker vice-president – perhaps the former 

VP, Sudharmono (who is hated by much of 

the military brass) or even the energetic 

Minister for Research and Technology , 

Habibie. 

Key Considerations 

Three issues stand out most prominently 

in the dynamics surrounding succession. 

The first concerns important political divisions 

within Indonesia involving the military, 

the bureaucracy, the have and havenots, 

and Islam. None of these can be separated 

cleanly from the others. Second is 

Suharto’s own concerns about the security 

of his family once he is out of power. They 

have amassed a huge fortune, and their 

propensity for grabbing every business opportunity 

in sight is trying the patience of 

the country’s middle and upper classes. 

And third, close attention must be paid to 

the role of international economic linkages. 

Indonesia’s capital regime is one of the most 

open in the Third World, and signs of 

political instability would trigger a reaction 

from mobile capital which would destabilize 

the situation still further. 

Political Divisions 

The single greatest threat to Suharto to 

emerge since the anti-Japanese riots of 1974 

is General Benny Murdani, the recently 

retired Minister of Defense, the officer 

responsible for Indonesia’s brutal invasion 

of East Timor in 1976, and the man behind 

the “mysterious killings” in the early 1980s. 

Murdani’s strong influence within the armed 

forces has set up a divide between Suharto 

and the military that complicates the 

president’s ability to manage the country’s 

politics. To counter Murdani’s power base, 

Suharto adopted a two-pronged strategy. 

The first was to depend more on Golkar and 

one of its leading figures, Sudharmono. But 

Golkar, although strongly supported by the 

civilian bureaucracy, has proven unable to 

draw mass support with its sterile, 

technocratic policy agenda. 

Suharto has sought to compensate for 

this weakness by making overtures to longexcluded 

Muslim organizations, which have 

a far more substantial and dedicated popular 

base than Golkar. This second element of 

Suharto’s strategy is significant for two 

reasons. First, it means the country’s demobilized 

population might be re-mobilized, 

and second, it means the political role of 

Islam is being augmented considerably. 

Suharto, who is not known for his religious 

orthodoxy, made a showy pilgrimage to 

Mecca, supported the formation of ICMI, a 

Muslim intellectuals’ organization (making 

Habibie its general chairman), and 

encouraged the formation of an Islamic bank 

in Jakarta. President “Haji Mohammad” 

Suharto also established personal links with 

Mohammad Natsir, an Islamic 

fundamentalist thought to have direct ties to 

the Middle East. Opening up to the 

Muslims has necessarily signalled a 

relaxation of political controls in general,


with the results that the dominant political 

role of the military has been challenged 

publicly. 

The military do not like these developments. 

They displayed their lukewarm support 

for Sudharmono’s Golkar machine by 

suggesting repeatedly during the June 1992 

general election that people can vote for 

whomever they prefer. This was a first. 

Although Golkar’s victory was secure, ten 

seats were lost in East Java and eight in 

Central Java. Suharto had instructed his 

Golkar point man in Jakarta that he wanted 

at least 60 percent of the vote in the capital. 

Golkar got a disappointing 50 percent. In 

response to calls that the military should 

properly be in the barracks, the armed 

forces made it clear last October that its 

social-political role is constitutional and a 

reduction in the number of seats in the parliament 

reserved for officers is not necessary. 

The generals also reiterated their 

conviction that the wider Indonesian population 

should not be re-politicized at the 

village level. 

Meanwhile, Suharto’s Muslim card has 

begun to backfire– in large part because 

religious tensions in the country are inseparable 

from economic and racial jealousies. 

Ethnic- Chinese Indonesians comprise just 

three percent of the population, but control 

more than 75 percent of the wealth. They 

also happen to be mostly Christian. Last 

November a series of attacks on churches 

began in East Java and North Sumatra, 

spreading most recently to Jakarta. The reaction 

by the military to these events, which 

moderate Muslim leaders claim were 

provoked in part by fundamentalist elements 

in ICMI, has been swift. Army 

troops were deployed when churches were 

set ablaze in Jakarta. If this violence 

spreads, it will enhance the position of 

Benny Murdani in his struggle against the 

president and Sudharmono. 

The Suharto Family 

The greed of the president and his family 

emerged in the 1980s as a serious political 

liability, particularly as Suharto’s six 

children dug themselves ever more deeply 

into the country’s economy. Intelligence 

sources at the US embassy in Jakarta estimated 

in 1989 that Suharto himself was 

worth about $15 billion. With his wife and 

children the total came to about $30 billion. 

And if the president’s circle of civilian and 

military cronies was thrown in, the total 

came to $60 billion, which was roughly 

equivalent to the country’s sovereign foreign 

debt. A good portion of this private wealth 

is, to be sure, held abroad in accounts in 

Singapore and Switzerland. 

Indonesians do not get terribly ruffled 

about patronage. But they do object to blatant 

nepotism when the family members involved 

are as insatiable as Suharto’s children 

have proven to be. A little skimming is one 

thing. But entrepreneurs complain that it is 

practically impossible to do business in 

Indonesia without giving “the kids” a hefty 

cut. 

Suharto can endure the criticism and defend 

his family’s wealth as long as he is 

president. The constraint lies in what might 

happen if he steps down. He will certainly 

seek a commitment of protection from his 

chosen successor. But, as one retired general 

explained in a private interview, Suharto 

knows from his own experience trying to 

protect Sukarno and his family in the late 

1960s that such guarantees tend to fall apart 

after a year or two. 

An additional factor rarely noted when 

possible attacks on Suharto’s children are 

discussed is that their business interests are 

not a strictly domestic matter. Joint-ventures 

with powerful international players 

have been forged. This means that any post- 

Suharto campaign to undermine the 

children’s business conglomerates will necessarily 

involve confronting their highly 

influential global partners. An inexhaustive 

list of the companies with which Suharto’s 

children have invested jointly would include: 

from the U.S., AT&T, General Motors, and 

Waste Management International; from 

Japan, Marubeni, Mitsui, Showa Denko, 

Toyo Engineering, and NEC; from France, 

Alcatel; and from South Korea, KIA 

Motors. 

These arrangements raise the political and 

economic stakes of dismantling the First 

Family’s conglomerates and represent a set 

of circumstances that had no parallel when 

Sukarno and his associates fell from power 

in the mid 1960s. 

International Linkages 

The outside world constrains the political 

options in Indonesia in more ways than 

merely increasing the costs of seizing the 

assets of the president’s overstuffed children. 

The country’s deep involvement in 

international flows of goods and capital, and 

the ever-wider relocation options of those 

controlling crucial investment resources, 

mean that powerful political actors in 

Indonesia must weigh their moves carefully. 

If capital is spooked – and this applies to 

all players, both foreign and domestic, who 

are mobile transnationally – Indonesia’s 

political leaders must be prepared to endure 

the cascading destabilization that could 

result from capital flight, severe pressure on 

the rupiah, declining investment rates, 

slowed production, layoffs in industrial and 

service sectors, and a contracting tax base. 

This is the tremendous, though often 

unwitting, structural power that mobile investors 

exert in today’s international political 

economy. It is obvious that Suharto possesses 

a subtle understanding of these 

forces. It remains to be seen in the months 

and years ahead if those eager to replace him 

do as well. 

SUHARTO ANNOUNCES 

NEW CABINET 

BBC, March 20, 1993, Saturday 

Radio Republic of Indonesia in Indonesian 

Excerpts from 17th March announcement by 

President Suharto on new cabinet; live 

In the name of Allah the Merciful and the 

Compassionate, honourable journalists, my 

fellow countrymen: Peace be upon you. 

Tonight [17th March], I will announce 

my first step after my election by the 

People’s Consultative Assembly [MPR] as 

president of the Republic of Indonesia on 

11th March 1993. This pertains to the 

composition of a cabinet that I will lead... 

The cabinet under my leadership will 

strictly adhere to Pancasila as the ideological 

foundation, the 1945 Constitution as the 

constitutional foundation and the 1993 

Broad Outline of State Policies to be implemented 

during the Sixth Five-Year 

Development Plan and other MPR resolutions 

in force from 1993 to 1998, including 

MPR Resolution No 2/MPR/1978 on 

Guidelines on the Perception and 

Implementation of Pancasila or Eka 

Prasetya Pancakarsa [Sanskrit for “one 

loyalty and five aims”] as the operational 

foundation. 

By understanding these foundations, seriously 

attending to the people’s hopes and 

wishes and perceiving the spirit of the recent 

MPR General Session, I define the 

main duties and target of the cabinet in the 

next five years as follows: 

1. To continue, enhance, deepen and 

broaden national development as a means to 

implement Pancasila on the basis of the 

trilogy of development and the archipelagic 

concept to enhance national resilience and 

self-reliance. 

2. To enhance national discipline to be 

pioneered by the state apparatus with a 

view to establishing a clean and authoritative 

government that will render services to the 

Indonesian people. 

3. To institutionalize the mechanism of 

national leadership on the basis of the 1945 

Constitution, the Pancasila ideology, 

Pancasila Democracy and the Eka Prasetya 

Pancakarsa in state, national and social life. 

4. To implement a free and active foreign 

policy based on the principles of peaceful 

coexistence in bilateral, regional and global


relations for the sake of national 

development. 

5. To hold a direct, general, free and secret 

general election in 1997. 

These duties are known as Panca Krida 

Kabinet Pembangunan [Five Duties of the 

Development Cabinet] and I name the 

cabinet the Sixth Development Cabinet... 

In accordance with the constitutional 

provisions, the vice-president is an assistant 

to the President. In this regard, I assign the 

vice-president to plan and conduct supervision. 

Both internal and external supervision 

must be continuously enhanced 

until it is institutionalized. The internal supervision 

to be conducted by the Vice- 

President is to reach the first echelon of 

departments, offices of state ministers and 

non-departmental government agencies. In 

addition, the Vice-President is assigned to 

supervise large projects. Serious attention 

must be paid to ensure that external supervision 

proceeds in addition to internal supervision. 

For this purpose, the Vice- 

President’s office will accommodate all 

kinds of information from the general public 

and subsequently process and use this as a 

resource for necessary measures. 

Supervision is necessary to improve government 

control and the implementation of 

development programmes in general, and to 

prevent and suppress abuse of power, wastage 

and misappropriations. The full composition 

of the Sixth Development Cabinet 

is as follows: Minister of Home Affairs 

Yogi S. Memet Minister of Foreign Affairs 

Ali Alatas S.H. [Master of Law] Minister of 

Defence and Security Gen. Edi Sudradjat 

Minister of Justice Haji [Islamic title] 

Utoyo Usman S.H. Minister of Information 

Haji Harmoko Minister of Finance Drs 

[Master of Arts] Mari’e Muhammad 

Minister of Trade Prof Dr Satrio Budiarjo 

Yudono Minister of Industry Ir [Master in 

Engineering] T. Aribowo Minister of 

Agriculture Dr Ir Syarifudin Baharsyah 

Minister of Mining and Energy I.G. Sujana 

Minister of Forestry Ir Jamaludin 

Suryohadikusumo Minister of Public Works 

Ir Radinal Mochtar Minister of 

Communications Dr Haryanto Danudirto 

Minister of Tourism, Posts and 

Telecommunications Joop Ave 

Minister of Cooperatives and the 

Upbringing of Small Businessmen Drs 

Subiyakto (?Cakrawerdaya) Minister of 

Manpower Drs Abdul Latief 

Minister of Transmigration and Forest 

Settlements Ir Siswono Yudohusodo 

Minister of Education and Culture Dr Ir 

Wargiman Joyonegoro Minister of Health 

Prof Dr Suyudi Minister of Religious 

Affairs Dr Tarmizi Taher 

Minister of Social Affairs Mrs Dra 

[Master of Arts] Endang Kusuma Intan 

Suweno Minister/State Secretary Drs 

Murdiono 

Minister of State and Cabinet Secretary 

Drs Sayadilah Mursid MPH [Master of 

Public Health] Minister of State for 

National Development Ir Drs Ginandjar 

Planning and Chairman of the National 

Planning Development Board Kartasasmita 

Minister of State for Research and 

Technology, Chairman of the Board for 

Technological Application and Research, 

and Head of the Strategic Industrial Board 

Prof Dr Ir B.T. Habibie 

Minister of State for Food Affairs and 

Head of the Logistics Board Prof Dr Ibrahim 

Hassan 

Minister of State for Population and 

Head of the National Family Planning Board 

Dr Haji Haryono Suyono 

Minister of State for Investment and 

Chairman of the Investment Coordinating 

Board Ir Sanyoto Sastrowardoyo 

Minister of State for Agrarian Affairs and 

Chairman of the National Land Agency Ir 

Sonny Harsono Minister of State for 

People’s Housing Ir Akbar Tanjung 

Minister of State for Environment Ir 

Sarwono Kusumaatmaja Minister of State 

for Women’s Affairs Mrs Mien Sugandhi 

Minister of State for Youth and Sports 

Haryono Isman Minister of State for 

Administrative Reform T.B. Silalahi 

Coordinating Minister for Economics, 

Finance, and Industry and Development 

Supervision Prof Dr Saleh Afiff 

Coordinating Minister for Industrial and 

Trade Affairs Ir Hartarto Coordinating 

Minister for Politics and Security Susilo 

Sudarman Coordinating Minister for 

People’s Welfare Ir Azwar Anas 

In addition, there are state officials accorded 

ministerial ranks. They are: 

Governor of Bank Indonesia [Central Bank] 

Dr J. Sudrajat Jiwandono 

Commander of the Armed Forces of the 

Republic of Indonesia Gen Edi Sudrajat 

Attorney General Singgih S.H. 

I will swear in the ministers of the Sixth 

Development Cabinet, the Attorney General 

and the Governor of Bank Indonesia on 19th 

March 1993. Thank you and peace be upon 

you again. 

PROFILES OF KEY MEN IN 

NEW SUHARTO CABINET 

The Straits Times, March 18, 1993 


Correspondent 

Excerpts 

The new Indonesian Cabinet line-up, 

named by President Suharto last night, is 

aimed at pushing forward his sixth-term goal 

of maintaining tried and trusted policies for 

economic growth and political stability. The 

following are brief sketches of some of the 

key men in the line-up: 

Co-ordinating Minister for Political 

and Security Affairs: General Soesilo 

Sudarman, 64. 

A long-time Suharto ally and senior 

former military man, he was Ambassador to 

the United States from 1985 until his recall 

in 1988, when he was appointed Minister 

for Tourism, Post and Telecommunications. 

A retired three-star general, he has served 

in key command positions throughout the 

country. 

Defence and Security Minister: Gen. 

Edi Sudradjat, 54. 

In appointing the Indonesian armed 

forces chief to the concurrent position of 

Defence and Security Minister, Mr. Suharto 

has reverted to the previous practice of 

having one man hold two jobs to ensure 

greater efficiency and effectiveness. 

He is expected to eventually relinquish 

his post of army chief to deputy Wismoyo 

Arismundar. 

ABRI REASSERTS SELF 

By Leah Makabenta 

(IPS, Jakarta, March 29) The Indonesian 

military is moving ahead to secure its stake 

on the national leadership as the country 

approaches the end of the Suharto era. 

Diplomats and analysts say the armed 

forces, known by the acronym ABRI, have 

succeeded in strengthening their position in 

the complicated maneuvering for the succession 

to aging President Suharto, who was 

re-elected to a probable last five-year term 

this month. 

“The way ABRI pulled the vice-presidential 

nomination of (former ABRI commander) 

Try Sutrisno was masterful. Now it 

is in a position to take over when Suharto 

goes,” said a Jakarta-based diplomat. 

Suharto is only the second president in 

Indonesia’s 48-year post-independence 

history, taking over from President Sukarno 

after crushing a alleged Communist-led coup 

attempt in 1965. Thousands of Indonesians 

were killed in the anti-Communist purge 

that followed, and Suharto has since ruled 

the world’s fourth most populous country 

with an iron hand, with strong backing from 

ABRI. That partnership began to cool 

through Suharto’s 27-year rule, however, as 

the president built up his own power base 

to secure his successive re-elections. Suharto 

had been the only candidate in each of the 

past six presidential elections. 

The 72-year-old former general has won 

much credit for bringing political stability 

and economic prosperity to his country


after the turbulent rule of his charismatic 

predecessor. But Suharto’s patronage of big 

business interests – mostly Chinese – and 

Muslim political forces worried ABRI, 

which has a strong belief in its role as 

guardian of a unified and non- sectarian 

state. Analysts say that around the time of 

the 1988 presidential election, ABRI had 

become concerned that Suharto’s apparent 

disinclination to secure the succession 

would bring instability, growing unease over 

economic inequalities and agitation from the 

indigenous Muslim majority. Having failed 

to get Suharto to accept their vicepresidential 

choice in 1988, ABRI wanted to 

see its own man in place to ensure military 

dominance. 

Their choice fell on Try, who was once 

Suharto’s adjutant, but it is by no means 

sure that he will be the anointed successor. 

“Try is in the best position to succeed, but 

Suharto and even ABRI may have other 

ideas by then,” said a politician from the 

Christian-backed Indonesian Democratic 

Party (PDI). The drive to reassert its 

authority comes at a particularly crucial 

time for ABRI. Since 1990, internal debates 

have been going on in ABRI over its dual 

role as a civilian and military organization. 

The military’s role in politics is fiercely 

debated amid the dramatic social changes 

that Indonesia is undergoing. The country’s 

increasing wealth has brought rising 

expectations, clamor for democracy and a 

more open political system. Many analysts 

who foresee a period of instability in the 

post- Suharto era say a military successor is 

not necessarily bad. Unlike in other 

Southeast Asian countries, the military is 

not the most conservative institution here, 

said one diplomat. “The level of education 

in ABRI is quite high. They think about the 

future; they could be a more progressive 

force than the politicians in the ruling 

Golkar party,” he added. 

Even those in anti-government and progressive 

circles agree that ABRI’s success in 

putting its own vice-presidential candidate 

in place is a new, positive factor. “There is a 

faction in the army which is for social 

change, young generals of the post-Suharto 

generation,” said a former political detainee. 

“They would like to keep the establishment 

intact, but want more democratic freedoms, 

less corruption.” 

Human-rights lawyer Adnan Buyong 

Nasution said that, “Suharto now has to 

reckon with another factor. Between the 

two forces, the people watch, they don’t 

take sides, they see if there are any loopholes 

for change.” ABRI has been known to 

support the Christian-backed PDI, one of 

two officially sanctioned opposition parties. 

The other is the Muslim-led United 

Development Party (PPP). Ben Mardun, a 

PDI representative in the People’s 

Consultative Assembly (MPR) says that 

from his discussions with the military, he 

believes ABRI would be more open to democratization. 

“They want to anticipate the 

democratization process. They know that 

too much power would be very dangerous 

for them, they have to democratize,” he 

said. But analysts say ABRI has its own 

internal problems, including that of discipline. 

Many members are said to be engaged in 

business, though only on an incidental scale, 

and there are many more who reportedly 

misuse their power. When it wants to do 

something, however, ABRI can do it, said 

the diplomat. If it wants to promote 

democracy, it can do so, he added. The organization 

is also deeply divided, although 

Adnan believes it is very well united at 

present. Said Adnan: “The fact that ABRI 

was able to influence all the other factions in 

the MPR (behind Try) – the Muslims, the 

PDI, the Golkar and the regional representatives 

– showed that the army is a very 

united force now.” 

SUHARTO EXCLUDES ARMY 

FROM CABINET 

By Max Lane, Green Left News, March 30 

After having being forced to accept the 

armed forces (ABRI) vice-presidential 

candidate, Try Sutrisno, President Suharto 

has chosen a new cabinet which deliberately 

excludes figures close to ABRI. It comprises 

a select few older political cronies who have 

neither a political base nor any political 

authority in the eyes of the political elite 

and the mass of the population. 

The two key political positions went to 

retired generals of Suharto’s generation who 

owe their long and unspectacular careers to 

Suharto. The former transmigration minister, 

retired General Soesilo Sudarman, replaces 

aged retired Admiral Sudomo as minister for 

political and security affairs. The former 

governor of West Java, retired General 

Yoggie Memet, has been appointed minister 

for home affairs. 

Green Left Weekly’s Jakarta sources say 

that ABRI lobbied unsuccessfully for a 

senior political appointment for General 

Harsudiyono Hartas, ABRI’s chief spokesperson 

on political and social affairs. 

By excluding people with ABRI connections, 

Suharto is prolonging the conflict with 

military headquarters. This guarantees that 

ABRI will continue its oppositional role and 

will most likely use its representation in 

parliament to raise issues that embarrass 

Suharto. Thus the military will continue its 

contradictory role of being vocal in support 

of modest democratic reform in parliament 

and in Jakarta while implementing 

repressive measures against grassroots 

activism and against the movement for selfdetermination 


Most of the senior cabinet appointments 

in the economic and technocratic ministries 

have gone to close associates and collaborators 

of Suharto’s initial choice as vicepresident, 

industry and technology minister 

Habibie. These appointments serve Suharto 

in two ways. 

First, they keep power away from ABRI 

by concentrating control over government 

departments in the hands of those most personally 

loyal to Suharto. Second, they remove 

from the cabinet those economic 

ministers closest to the World Bank and 

IMF and who have operated as a brake on 

the extravagant commercial activities of 

Suharto’s children and cronies. 

In particular the former senior economic 

ministers, such as Ali Wardhana, fought to 

postpone or even cancel many mega-projects 

initiated by the Suharto children or 

cronies and which relied on massive commercial 

loans from private foreign banks. 

The IMF- World Bank-oriented ministers 

always tried to keep foreign borrowing 

within the limits set by the consortium of 

imperialist governments that decides annually 

upon new credits for Indonesia. 

The new ministers have a record of supporting 

state-guaranteed business megaprojects. 

So far ABRI has remained silent on the 

cabinet. Economists supporting deregulation 

and privatization (excluding privatization 

into the hands of the children and cronies) 

have stated their concerns about the cabinet. 

At the grassroots level, most concern and 

contempt has been expressed towards the 

new minister for labour, Abdul Latief. 

Latief, 53, was the founder and first chairman 

of the Young Businessmen’s 

Association in 1972-3. He is now the millionaire 

managing director of a major Jakarta 

department store business. This is the first 

time a prominent Jakarta capitalist has been 

appointed labour minister. 

Comment from John MacDougall: The 

headline is misleading. There are nine 

Armed Forces members in the Cabinet, 7 

Army, 1 Navy, 1 Air Force. 

SUHARTO TO ATTEND 

G7 SUMMIT? 

[Radio Japan/NHK 12 Mar 93] 

The Japanese government has decided to 

propose to the Group of Seven industrial 

countries that Indonesian President Suharto 

be invited to Japan just before the Tokyo 

summit in July. The government will make 

the proposal on Friday in the Group of


Seven three-day working-level meeting in 

Hong Kong. Japan will propose to invite 

President Suharto to Tokyo prior to the 

summit to consider the views of the Non- 

Aligned Movement, of which the President 

is chairman, but some industrialised nations 

are reluctant in invite Mr. Suharto to Tokyo 

as a formal participant in the summit. 

FROM BRUNO KAHN, MARCH 20: 

According to a source, G7 members have 

no intention to invite Suharto to attend the 

G7. The (non-) move is directed against the 

NAM, which is not supposed to “play in 

the big ones’ courtyard.” Inviting Suharto in 

Tokyo a few days before the summit is 

merely a face-saving gesture. 

CANADA’S BARBARA 

MCDOUGALL: INDONESIA WILL 

NOT BE AT G7 

Letter from Barbara McDougall, Secretary 

of State for External Affairs of Canada, to 

East Timor Alert Network/Toronto. Full text 

Comment: McDougall has decided not to 

seek the leadership of the Conservative 

party, now up for grabs, and will be retiring 

from politics this year. However, she seems 

to still be toeing party line on Indonesia. 


Thank you for your letter of December 9, 

1992, regarding Indonesia. 

Indonesia has not been invited to the G-7 

summit in July. In its capacity as current 

leader of the Non-Aligned Movement, 

Indonesia has requested attendance, but to 

date this has not been accepted by this 

year’s host, Japan. 

At the 1992 meeting of the United 

Nations Commission on Human Rights 

(UNCHR), Canada was instrumental in 

achieving a strongly- worded consensus text 

condemning Indonesian actions in East 

Timor and demanding an appropriate response. 

Canada intends to take a similar 

approach in concert with other like-minded 

countries during the current UNCHR in 

Geneva. This was clearly expressed to 

Foreign Minister Alatas in the context of the 

Association of Southeast Asian Nations 

Post Ministerial Conference in Manila last 

July. 

Indonesia has announced that in the 

spring of 1993 it will establish a National 

commission on Human Rights. Canada 

views this as a positive step, but is awaiting 

further information about the financing of 

this commission and the extent of its independence 

from the government. 

Thank you once again for writing to express 

your concerns. 


Barbara McDougall 

SUHARTO INTENDS TO ATTEND 

SUMMIT 

Japan Times April 8, 1993, Unabridged 

Indonesian President Suharto is determined 

to visit Tokyo to address leaders of 

the Group of seven nations in July, despite 

Japanese pressure to stay away, 

government sources said Tuesday. 

Japan sent Deputy Foreign Minister 

Koichiro Matsuura to Jakarta last weekend 

for secret talks, and proposed Suharto meet 

Prime Minister Kiichi Miyazawa as soon as 

possible. 

But Suharto, who wants to attend the 

summit as leader of the Nonaligned 

Movement and present its views, did not 

accept the offer. 

INDONESIA’S NEW 

AMBASSADOR TO INDIA 

Bio-data on Lieutenant-General Adolf 

Sahala Radjagukguk, Indonesian ambassador 

to India 

From TAPOL, March 26. 

In February 1993, Lieutenant-General 

Sahala Radjagukguk, was appointed 

Indonesia’s ambassador to India. It is important 

for the international community to 

know that this general’s hands are stained 

with the blood of the East Timorese people. 

An East Timorese refugee who was held as a 

captive at Radjagukguk’s headquarters for 

several years described him as “one of the 

most murderous Indonesian officers to do 

service in East Timor.” 

Adolf Sahala Radjagukguk graduated from 

the National Military Academy in 1961 and 

rose through the ranks as an infantry soldier 

and company commander. He served as 

commander of the sub-regional military 

command, Korem 164/Wira Dharma, 

covering the territory of East Timor, from 

March 1979 until late 1982. From 1986 

until August 1987, he again held 

responsibility for East Timor, this time as 

commander of the regional military 

command, Kodam IX/Udayana, based in 

Bali, whose territory includes East Timor. 

Thereafter he became commander of 

Kostrad, the Army’s Strategic Command 

which controls special, rapid-deployment 

infantry battalions for use in ‘troublespots,’ 

including East Timor. His last army post 

before becoming ambassador to Indonesia 

was as deputy chief-of-staff of the army. 

He is widely recognised to be a close associate 

of General Benny Murdani who 

commanded the invasion of East Timor and 

has been deeply involved in the military 

campaign against East Timor ever since. 

Radjagukguk’s tour of duty as 164/Wira 

Dharma military commander from March 

1979 until late 1982 

During the period when Lt. General, then 

Colonel, Radjagukguk commanded the East 

Timor military command, Indonesia’s war 

against the East Timorese resistance 

underwent significant change. When he took 

over, the leadership of Fretilin’s armed 

resistance had just been all but destroyed, 

culminating in the murder of Nicolau 

Lobato, chairman of Fretilin on 31 

December 1978. 

However, Fretilin forces quickly regrouped 

under their new leader, Xanana 

Gusmão and by early 1981 were again 

posing a serious challenge to the army of 

occupation, now commanded by 

Radjagukguk. The armed resistance was 

fighting under very different circumstances 

however; by now, after some 200,000 East 

Timorese had been killed during the army’s 

ground and aerial ‘encirclement and annihilation 

campaign’ of the late 1970s, most of 

the surviving population had been driven 

into encampments (pemukiman) under army 

control. Fretilin forces, now fighting a 

classic guerrilla war with highly mobile units 

against the army of occupation, were able to 

establish a network of contacts with the 

encampments where the population was 

forced to live. 

By early 1981, Fretilin forces had again 

become such a threat that Radjagukguk 

launched a huge fence-of-legs [pagar-betis] 

campaign against the guerrilla forces. During 

this campaign, tens of thousands of East 

Timorese men over 14 years old were forced 

to participate in a mass encirclement. A 

huge circle was created, covering much of 

the countryside, using East Timorese who 

moved forward in order to drive the 

guerrillas back and eventually corner them. 

As a military operation, Radjagukguk’s 

fence-of-legs was a failure, largely because 

the East Timorese required to take part did 

what they could to help guerrillas escape, 

rather than handing them over to the army. 

However, pagar betis caused serious 

hardship and more casualties for those 

forced to take part, many of whom returned 

home ill and exhausted through lack of food. 

The absence of men from their homes also 

had a devastating impact on food production 

in and around the pemukiman. 

It was this campaign that caused the then 

Apostolic Administrator of Dili, Msgr. 

Martinho da Costa Lopes, to start speaking 

out against the forces of occupation, leading 

to his eventual enforced retirement in 1983. 

Later, after leaving East Timor, Msgr. da 

Costa Lopes told TAPOL: “During the 

three months of July, August and 

September (1981), all the people, all the 

males from young boys to men in their fif-


ties, were away on these operations. They 

returned home weak and exhausted. As a 

result, the fields were not prepared for 

planting new crops... Indeed there was a 

serious shortage of food during those years, 

1981 and 1982.” [TAPOL Bulletin, No. 59, 

September 1983] 

The East Timorese refugee quoted above, 

Cristiano Costa, who is now living in 

Australia, had been captured by the army in 

1979 and was one of those forced to take 

part in the pagar betis campaign. 

After the failure of this campaign, the 

army under Radjagukguk’s command developed 

a new strategy to isolate the guerrillas 

in the bush from the centres of population 

under Indonesian control. The details 

of this strategy became known through the 

capture of nine secret military documents 

which were smuggled to the outside world. 

Some of the documents were signed by then 

colonel Radjagukguk and some by his chief 

of intelligence, Major Williem da Costa. 

They explained how the population must be 

monitored at all times, prevented from 

travelling out of the pemukiman, and forced 

to reveal the whereabouts of relatives 

fighting with the resistance. One document 

instructed troops on the conduct of interrogation 

teams towards captured guerrillas and 

the use of torture. This document 

[PROTAP/B-1/VII/1982], which was signed 

by Colonel Radjagukguk himself, became the 

basis for a major campaign by Amnesty 

International, exposing the officiallyendorsed 

use of torture by the Indonesian 

army of occupation in East Timor. 

All nine documents were reproduced in 

English translation, in The War Against East 

Timor, by Carmel Budiardjo and Liem Soei 

Liong, Zed Books, 1984. 

Hence, Lt.-General Radjagukguk’s two 

major contributions to Indonesia’s campaign 

to crush the East Timorese resistance were 

the 1981 pagar betis campaign and the 

campaign to control centres of population. 

The latter campaign continued to be the 

backbone of Indonesian strategy in East 

Timor for many years after Lt. General 

Radjagukguk ended his tour of duty as 

164/Wira Dharma Korem commander. 

London, 26 March 1993 

East Timorese wherever they are who have 

personal experience or recollections of Adolf 

Sahala Radjagukguk are kindly requested to 

write this down and send it as a response to 

this topic or, if they wish to maintain their 

anonymity, to send it in confidence to 

TAPOL, 111 Northwood Rd, Thornton 

Heath, Surrey CR7 8HW, UK 

HUMAN RIGHTS: 

BACKGROUND PAPERS 

INDONESIA/EAST TIMOR 

A NEW ORDER? 

HUMAN RIGHTS IN 1992 (AI) 

Due to space limitations, we cannot reprint 

the 20-plus page report, dated February 

1993. It is designed as AI Index: ASA 

21/03/93, and is available from Amnesty 

International offices around the world. A few 

sections follow. 

INTRODUCTION 

In the past year the Indonesian 

Government has taken a number of unprecedented 

initiatives which appear to 

signal a positive shift in its attitude toward 

human rights. Yet the grim factual record of 

human rights practice in 1992 tells a different 

story. Political killing, 

“disappearance,” torture, arbitrary detention, 

political imprisonment and the use of 

the death penalty have continued without 

significant interruption, despite intermittent 

changes in the level and nature of violations 

reported in particular regions. The violations 

have not been confined to East Timor but 

have occurred throughout the territory under 

Indonesian rule. 

Government forces extrajudicially executed 

and “disappeared” scores of alleged 

supporters of independence in Aceh and 

East Timor in 1992, as well as criminal 

suspects in Jakarta and other cities. Torture 

and ill-treatment of political detainees, 

peaceful demonstrators and criminal suspects 

continued to be common and resulted 

in some deaths. Hundreds of people were 

arrested and held without trial for up to two 

years as suspected opponents of the government. 

More than 180 suspected government 

opponents were prisoners of conscience, 

including some 30 sentenced during 

the year. At least 300 political prisoners, 

and possibly many more, continued to serve 

lengthy sentences imposed after unfair 

trials. Twenty-two political prisoners were 

judicially executed between 1985 and 1992, 

most after serving more than twenty years 

in jail, and seven political prisoners 

remained on death row. 

This report examines the record of human 

rights practice in Indonesia and East Timor 

since the Santa Cruz massacre of November 

1991. It finds that there has been no 

fundamental change in the government’s 

repressive posture toward political dissent, 

and that basic human rights continue to be 

violated in the name of national security, 

stability and order. It also finds that the 

government’s human rights initiatives, while 

certainly a step in the right direction, have 

not addressed the root causes of human 

rights abuse. The report concludes that 

human rights abuse has become institutionalized 

in Indonesia and East Timor, and 

that concrete measures are urgently needed 

to remedy the problem. To this end, 

Amnesty International offers a number of 

practical recommendations to the Indonesian 

Government and to the United Nations 

Commission on Human Rights which, if 

implemented, it believes would contribute to 

the future protection and promotion of 

human rights. 

1. AN OVERVIEW OF HUMAN RIGHTS 

IN 1992 

The gravest violations of human rights 

reported to Amnesty International in the 

past year have occurred in the context of 

counter-insurgency operations in East 

Timor and Aceh, where the government has 

continued to face both peaceful and armed 

opposition to its rule. In these areas, military 

authorities have been free to employ 

virtually any means - including unlawful 

execution, “disappearance,” arbitrary detention 

and torture - in the interest of 

maintaining national security, and destroying 

what the government calls Gerakan 

Pengacau Keamanan (Security Disruptors 

Movements). Yet, as the evidence in this 

report demonstrates, the human rights 

problem is not confined to areas of rebel 

activity. Serious violations occur throughout 

the country, including on the most populous 

island of Java and in the major cities. Here, 

too, it is the logic of national security which 

is frequently used to justify violations by 

government security forces. 

The most widely reported human rights 

abuses have occurred in East Timor, the 

former Portuguese colony invaded by 

Indonesia in 1975, and still occupied in defiance 

of United Nations General Assembly 

and Security Council resolutions. In 

Amnesty International’s view, the human 

rights situation there has not improved since 

the Santa Cruz massacre of 12 November 

1991, in which at least 100 peaceful 

demonstrators, and possibly many more, 

were killed by Indonesian forces. While 

there has been no single incident on a 

comparable scale in the past year, the 

overall pattern of human rights violations - 

encompassing short term detention, torture 

and ill-treatment of suspected political opponents, 

intermittent political killings and 

“disappearances,” long-term political imprisonment 

after unfair trials, and the intimidation 

of relatives and human rights 

workers - has continued unabated. 

Far less well known, and certainly less 

widely reported, has been the pattern of


grave violations in Aceh, where an armed 

secessionist movement, Aceh Merdeka, has 

been active since early 1989. Aceh Merdeka 

is reported to have committed some abuses 

against the civilian population; Amnesty 

International condemns these unreservedly. 

However, human rights violations by government 

forces in Aceh have been both more 

systematic and more widespread. An 

estimated 2,000 civilians, including children 

and the very elderly, have been unlawfully 

killed, sometimes in public executions; 

hundreds, possibly thousands of villagers 

have been arbitrarily arrested on the merest 

suspicion of supporting Aceh Merdeka; 

many of those detained have been held 

incommunicado for long periods, and 

subjected to ill-treatment and torture to extract 

confessions or political intelligence; 

and more than 50 have been sentenced to 

lengthy prison sentences after unfair trials, 

including some who neither used nor advocated 

violence. 

The absolute level of political killings and 

other violations reported from Aceh has 

subsided somewhat in the past year. 

However, in Amnesty International’s view, 

it would be wrong to conclude from this 

evidence that there is no longer a serious 

human rights problem in the area, or that the 

situation does not warrant urgent international 

concern. There are at least three 

reasons why. 

First, as the evidence in this report suggests, 

grave violations do continue, even if 

on a reduced scale. That the cases of political 

killing, “disappearance” and arbitrary 

arrest reported in 1992 were in the scores 

rather than the hundreds or thousands is 

small consolation to the victims, or to the 

relatives of those killed or still missing. 

Second, the relative “peace and order” which 

now prevails in Aceh does not appear to 

reflect any significant change in the policies 

or practices of the Indonesian security 

forces. It reflects, rather, a significant decline 

in open opposition to the government and a 

pervasive fear of government retribution on 

the part of ordinary people living in areas of 

suspected rebel activity. Under the 

circumstances, a pattern of grave and 

widespread violations may quickly reemerge 

in the event of renewed opposition 

to Indonesian rule. Third, thorough, independent 

and impartial investigations of the 

violations committed over the past four 

years have not yet been carried out, nor 

have the suspected perpetrators been 

brought to justice. Not only does this leave 

unresolved the fate of thousands of victims, 

it sends a clear message to the perpetrators 

that such violations can be committed with 

impunity, thereby making future violations 

even more likely to occur. 

The same combination of factors which 

has given rise to serious violations in Aceh 

and East Timor has also been evident outside 

the areas of rebel activity. Taken together, 

the pervasive rationale of national 

security, the preponderant influence of the 

military, and the failure to investigate abuses 

and bring the suspected perpetrators to 

justice, has contributed to the institutionalization 

of a pattern of grave human 

rights abuse throughout the country. 

... 

9. CONCLUSIONS AND 

RECOMMENDATIONS 

The Indonesian authorities have stated 

that the November 1991 Santa Cruz massacre 

in East Timor was an isolated incident, 

an unfortunate aberration in an otherwise 

acceptable pattern of behaviour by government 

security forces. However, the information 

available to Amnesty International 

indicates that this is far from the truth. In 

the quarter of a century since the current 

regime came to power, the Government of 

Indonesia has been responsible for a staggering 

range of violations of human rights, of 

which the November 1991 massacre was 

only one of the most widely publicized examples. 

Extrajudicial execution, 

“disappearance,” political imprisonment, 

torture and the death penalty have become 

part of an institutional repertoire for dealing 

with political dissent and other perceived 

threats to national security, stability and 

order throughout the country. Amnesty 

International believes that, unless concrete 

measures are taken promptly, there is every 

likelihood that this pattern of abuse will 

continue. 

Amnesty International offers the following 

recommendations which, if implemented, 

it believes would contribute toward the 

future protection of basic human rights in 

Indonesia and East Timor. Most of the 

recommendations are based on the 

principles and standards enshrined in international 

human rights law, particularly the 

International Covenant on Civil and Political 

Rights (ICCPR) and the Convention against 

Torture and Other Cruel, Inhuman or 

Degrading Treatment or Punishment (CAT). 

Some of the recommendations are also based 

on standards set out in the following United 

Nations (UN) instruments: The Body of 

Principles for the Protection of All Persons 

under Any Form of Detention or 

Imprisonment, adopted by the UN General 

Assembly in December 1988; and The 

Principles on the Effective Prevention and 

Investigation of Extra-Legal, Arbitrary and 

Summary Executions, adopted by the UN 

Economic and Social Council in May 1989. 

Recommendations to the Government of 

Indonesia 

To prevent the occurrence of extra-judicial 

execution, Amnesty International urges 

the government to: 

1. prohibit by law all extra-legal, arbitrary 

and summary executions and ensure that 

any such executions are recognized as 

criminal offenses and are punishable by 

penalties which take into account the 

seriousness of such offenses; 

2. invite the UN Special Rapporteur on 

summary or arbitrary executions to visit 

Indonesia and East Timor in order to 

conduct a full investigation of the human 

rights situation there; 

To protect detainees against torture, 

other ill-treatment or “disappearance,” 

Amnesty International urges the government 

to: 

3. ensure that all detainees, including those 

held for suspected national security offenses, 

are permitted prompt and regular 

access to legal counsel of their choice and 

to doctors and relatives; 

4. establish and maintain centralized public 

registers of all people detained in all parts 

of the country, to be updated on a regular 

basis and made available to detainees, 

family and lawyers; 

5. prohibit explicitly by law, all forms of 

torture and other cruel, inhuman or degrading 

treatment or punishment; and 

ensure that all such acts are recognized as 

criminal offenses and are punishable by 

appropriate penalties which take into 

account the seriousness of such offenses; 

6. take all necessary steps, including the 

effective enforcement of existing legislation 

and the introduction of further 

legislation, to ensure that statements 

extracted under torture cannot be admitted 

as evidence during legal proceedings, 

except against a person accused of torture 

as evidence that the statement was made. 

7. invite the UN Special Rapporteur on 

Torture to conduct a follow-up visit to 

Indonesia and East Timor, to assess implementation 

of the recommendations set 

out in the report of his November 1991 

visit. 

To ensure that national security interests 

are not and cannot be invoked to imprison, 

or justify execution of, people for the 

peaceful exercise of their right to freedom of 

expression, Amnesty International urges the 

government to: 

8. conduct a thorough review of all legislation 

pertaining to national security and 

public order, and promptly repeal the 

Anti-Subversion Law;


9. release immediately and unconditionally 

all those held solely for the non-violent 

expression of their political or religious 

views; 

10 take immediate steps toward the abolition 

of the death penalty, including the 

suspension of its application and commutation 

of all sentences currently imposed. 

To ensure that members of the security 

forces cannot commit human rights violations 

with impunity, Amnesty International 

urges the government to: 

11 bring to justice before a civilian court all 

members of the security forces suspected 

of committing human rights violations; 

12 ensure that all those suspected of 

committing human rights violations are 

immediately disarmed and removed from 

active service; 

13 establish an independent and impartial 

body whose duty is to initiate prompt 

and thorough investigations into all reports 

of human rights violations. 

To demonstrate commitment to international 

human rights standards, and to encourage 

their full and effective implementation, 

Amnesty International urges the 

government to: 

14 ratify or accede to the International 

Covenant on Civil and Political Rights 

(ICCPR), as well as the (first) Optional 

Protocol of the ICCPR, which permits 

the Human Rights Committee to receive 

individual complaints; 

15 ratify or accede to the Convention against 


Degrading Treatment or Punishment 

(CAT) and recognize the competence of 

the UN Committee against Torture to 

receive individual complaints (article 22), 

and to hear inter-state complaints (article 

21); 

16 permit the regular and unhindered 

monitoring of human rights in Indonesia 

and East Timor by national and international 

humanitarian and human rights 

organizations, including Amnesty 

International; 

17 Welcome international observers at political 

trials. 

Recommendations to the UN 

Commission on Human Rights 

In view of the grave concern about human 

rights in Indonesia and East Timor expressed 

in a consensus statement at the 48th 

Session of the UN Commission on Human 

Rights, and in Resolution 1992/20 of the 

44th Session of the UN Sub-Commission, 

Amnesty International urges the UN 

Commission on Human Rights to: 

1. seek a systematic follow up, through the 

UN Commission on Human Rights, to 

the January 1992 report of the Special 

Rapporteur on Torture on his visit to 

Indonesia and East Timor; 

2. seek a full report to the UN Commission 

on Human Rights by the UN Secretary- 

General regarding the results of the visit 

to East Timor in February 1992 by his 

emissary Mr. Amos Wako; 

3. encourage the Government of Indonesia 

to invite the UN Special Rapporteur on 

summary or arbitrary executions, and the 

Working Group on Arbitrary Detention, 

to visit Indonesia and East Timor in order 

to conduct full investigations of the 

human rights situation there; 

4. seek effective means whereby the regular 

monitoring of the human rights situation 

in Indonesia and East Timor under UN 

auspices can be assured. 

5. urge the Indonesian Government to 

permit the regular and unhindered 

monitoring of human rights in Indonesia 

and East Timor by national and international 

humanitarian and human rights 

organizations, including Amnesty 

International; 


to ratify or accede to the International 

Covenant on Civil and Political Rights 

(ICCPR), as well as the (first) Optional 

Protocol of the ICCPR, which permits 

the Human Rights Committee to receive 

individual complaints; 


ratify or accede to the Convention against 



(CAT) and recognize the competence of 

the UN Committee against Torture to 

receive individual complaints (article 22), 

and to hear inter-state complaints (article 

21). 

THE HUMAN RIGHTS CRISIS 

IN EAST TIMOR: REGIONAL 

AND GLOBAL 

PERSPECTIVES 

From Newsletter, February 1993, published 

by the Student Union of Hannover 

University, Germany 

by Shambhu Chopra, Jurist, member of the 

International Council of the International 

Platform of Jurist for East Timor 

Introduction 

In this paper, I have thought to focus 

upon some of the regional and global perspectives 

of the human rights crisis in East 

Timor and to offer some suggestions for 

finding a peaceful solution to this highly 

vexatious issue. The array of highly distinguished 

jurist, professors and intellectuals 

assembled here at this august gathering have, 

studied the various dimensions of the 

Indonesian occupation of East Timor and 

would be placing their analyses, deductions 

as well as their suggestions for ending the 

occupation within the scope and ambit of 

international law and the applicable international 

instruments concerning this subject. 

In my humble view, apart from the other 

legal perspectives, the human rights perspective 

is perhaps the most vital significance 

as it would also encompass the relevant 

legal questions and issues concerning us 

today, which may be brought up for discussion 

by other learned speakers. 

I have attempted to briefly focus first 

upon the human rights dimension, and then 

on the regional and global dimensions, and, 

finally, have tried to put forward for consideration 

some suggestions which could 

form the basis for deciding about a possible 

course of action for finding a permanent, 

peaceful and negotiated settlement of the 

human rights crisis in East Timor. 

At the very outset, I wish to be pardoned 

for my rather simplistic approach to this 

subject, which has indeed drawn the attention 

of very eminent jurists and scholars and 

has been studied in-depth from almost all 

angels and perspectives. As a public interest 

lawyer and as a human rights activist, it is 

rather difficult not to get emotionally 

affected whenever one thinks of the terrible 

sufferings of the East Timorese people and 

of their sad plight especially at a time when 

we are fast approaching the 21st Century. 

The Human Rights Approach 

It is a self-evident truism that almost all 

the international instruments on human 

rights existing today including the Universal 

Declaration of Human Rights, the two 

Covenants, the U.N. Charter, as well as the 

various U.N. Security Council and General 

Assembly Resolutions and Declarations 

have been violated by Indonesian 

Occupation Forces, blatantly and with 

impunity in East Timor. 

Thousands of men, women and children 

have been killed, injured or tortured ever 

since the occupation began and despite 

worldwide condemnation, the atrocities 

being committed upon the innocent people 

there continue unabated. The recent farcical 

trials of the youth arrested in November 

1991, agitations and demonstrations resulting 

in the Santa Cruz Massacre, have shown 

without any shadow of a doubt that the 

Indonesian Authorities have no desire to 

give up their hold over, and control of East 

Timor.


In my perception and to the best of my 

knowledge, the current situation in East 

Timor represents a human rights tragedy 

with few parallels in human history. The 

denial of the Right to self-determination and 

the denial of the Right to development has 

reduced the people of East Timor since the 

past four centuries, first under Portuguese 

rule and later under Indonesian rule, to a 

state of virtual slavery. Apart from the legal, 

political, economic and other considerations, 

the human rights crisis in East Timor 

remains a matter of the gravest concern and 

the world community should focus its 

attention upon it as well as to make efforts 

to stop forthwith the violations of the 

human rights of the people of East Timor. It 

is indeed a very sad commentary that 

despite the several international instruments 

of human rights in existence today, there are 

still certain peoples on this earth who are 

still suffering under colonial yoke. Any 

discussion on the legal questions of 

Indonesia’s occupation of East Timor must 

necessarily, therefore, embrace and 

encompass the human rights perspective 

since any strategy for its liberation from 

colonial rule, must take into account the full 

restoration of all the human rights of its 

native population. 

Colonization by former colonies 

To a keen observer of history and of international 

affairs, it would be apparent that 

almost all post world war II attempts at 

colonization have been made by countries 

which were former colonies themselves. We 

have the example of Tibet occupied by 

China, a former colony of Japan and 

England, and, of Western Sahara by 

Morocco, a former colony of France. East 

Timor is a colony of Indonesia and so is 

West Papua and West Irian, which was itself 

a colony of Holland. Colonization by 

Western Powers ended in the aftermath of 

World War II, following the independence of 

India in 1947. Soon thereafter, as if by cue, 

one after another almost all former colonies 

became independent. However, China’s 

occupation of Tibet is a little different from 

Indonesia’s occupation of East Timor. Tibet 

was an independent sovereign country with 

the Dalai Lama as its Head of State, before 

China forcibly occupied it. East Timor, as 

we all very well know, was under 

Portuguese control and the election process 

was underway before Indonesia occupied it. 

We also have the example of some former 

European colonies which after 

independence, got absorbed into, or merged 

with larger or bigger former colonies. For 

example, Goa’s merger with India, the cessation 

of certain French enclaves with India 

like the enclave of Pondicherry and 

Dahomey’s incorporation of the Portuguese 

enclave of Sao João Batista de Ajuda. 

However, it must be noted here that absorption 

appeared to be the only logical result 

for these enclaves, although, a small size 

or lack of economic viability cannot detract 

from the right of a former colony to achieve 

independence. And East Timor by no 

stretch of imagination, could be said to be an 

“enclave” of Portugal, just as the assumption 

of control over Hong Kong and 

Macao by China cannot be said, by the 

same yardstick, to be a part of Chinese 

territory, and their peoples cannot be 

viewed as not having any rights to self-determination. 

As Judge Nagendra Singh noted 

in the Western Sahara Case: 

“Thus even if integration of territory 

was demanded by an interested 

state, as in this case, it could not be 

had without ascertaining the freely 

expressed will of the people - the very 

sine qua non of all decolonisation.” 

(Western Sahara, Advisory Opinion, 

I.C.J. Reports 1975, Page 12 at 81). 

The Declaration on the Granting of 

Independence to Colonial Countries and 

Peoples in 1960 adopted by the General 

Assembly vide G.A. Resolution No. 1514, 

15 UN GAOR, Supp. (No. 16), UN DOC 

A/4684 (1960) first evolved this principle 

which was premised on the “necessity of 

bring to a speedy and unconditional end 

colonialism in all its forms and manifestations” 

(See preamble, para 2 Resn. No. 

1514). 

Ten years later in 1970, the legal questions 

arising in the Declaration on Colonial 

Countries were further clarified in the 

Declaration on Principles of International 

Law concerning Friendly relations and Cooperation 

among States in accordance with 

the Charter of the United Nations (G.A. 

Resn. 2625, UN. Doc. A/5217 (1970) at 

121. Here, too, it was clearly premised that 

the future status of the territory should be 

determined by the free and genuine expression 

of the will of its contemporary inhabitants. 

Based on all these considerations, 

it is my firm view that international law is 

hospitable to, and sanctions, claims of selfdetermination 

and independence by an 

ethnic community like East Timor which 

fulfills all the requirements for “self-governance,” 

as envisaged by general Assembly 

Resolution No. 1541 (XV) and General 

Assembly resolution No. 1514 of the 

United Nations. 

East Timor - A Regional Perspective 

The world is witnessing today very fast 

moving changes. The break up of the Soviet 

Union and the fall of the communist regimes 

in Eastern Europe on the one hand and the 

emergence of Namibia as an independent 

sovereign state, are harbingers of a new era 

in international affairs. The dismantling of 

the remaining bastions of apartheid in South 

Africa is another positive development in 

this direction. The firm U.N. reaction to 

Iraq’s occupation of Kuwait and the 

Security Council’s resolutions permitting 

military action to drive out Iraq’s 

occupation forces is an example of swift 

reaction to attempts or re-colonization. 

Like Iraq’s false and baseless claims of 

historical bonds with Kuwait, Indonesia too 

has tried to mask its occupation of East 

Timor on similar false and unjustifiable 

grounds. In all fairness, it should be noted 

that the U.N. General Assembly called for 

the withdrawal of Indonesian troops from 

East Timor and reaffirmed East Timor’s 

right to self-determination (See G.A. Resn. 

3485, 30 UN GAOR, Supp. (No. 34) 118, 

UN Doc. A /10034 (1975); SC Resn. 384, 

30 UN SCOR, Resolutions and Decisions 

10, UN Doc. S/Resn./384 (1975). Yet East 

Timor continues to remain firmly in control 

over it with no signs of any let up despite 

world-wide pressure and condemnation. 

While governments, scholars and diplomats 

may debate the legal questions arising 

from Indonesia’s occupation of East Timor, 

and whether or not it is limited to colonial 

situations, the ground reality is that East 

Timor continues to reel under foreign yoke. 

The sad tragedy of the situation is the East 

Timor is nobody’s baby. It holds no special 

economic or strategic interest for Western 

Powers, like Kuwait does so as to precipitate 

military retaliation to them. It also bears 

no security or humanitarian risks for any 

neighbouring country like Bangladesh which 

eventually gave birth to a new nation in 

Asia. Moreover, East Timor cannot also be 

said to be part of any larger territory of 

some sovereign state in order to bring about 

a merger or absorption into it as was the 

case with Goa, Daman and Diu, which being 

an integral part-and-parcel of India since 

ancient times, finally merged into India after 

liberation from almost four centuries of 

Portuguese occupation. 

Perhaps the nearest comparison to the 

East Timor situation could be made with 

that of the forcible occupation of Tibet by 

China. International law experts could well 

find several legal or other parallels in the 

two fact-situations, although prior to the 

Chinese occupation, Tibet was an independent 

country. China’s long occupation 

of Tibet since 1949-50 and its ethnic 

cleansing of Tibetan culture and religion has 

provoked consistent world reaction. Yet, 

there has been no tangible outcome of the 

outcry against human rights violations in 

Tibet. The Government of India, unfortunately, 

and for reasons perhaps known 

best to it, has termed China’s political 

domination and subjugation of Tibet as


China’s own internal matter although it has 

provided political asylum to the Dalai Lama 

and thousands of Tibetan refugees in India. 

Hence, it would be significant to note here 

that, given its special responsibility of 

monitoring peace and liberty world-wide, 

unless the United nations takes upon itself 

the onerous task of freeing all occupied 

territories on this Earth, fortified as it is 

with several General Assembly resolutions, 

declarations and mandates under its own 

charter, countries like East Timor, Tibet, 

Western Sahara, West Papua and all other 

colonized territories would continue to suffer 

the same fate which scores of newly 

independent countries once had to suffer in 

the colonial era. 

The Role of the United Nations 

While it is not my desire or intention to 

comment upon the functioning of the United 

Nations at this forum or even to offer a 

critique of its many successes and failures, I 

perceive that there is undoubtedly an urgent 

need today to review and to reconsider the 

question whether the World Body has 

adequately subserved the fundamental 

interests of the entire world community 

instead of only those few select nations 

which are in a strong position either to 

dominate or to influence the decision-making 

processes inside the UNO. Perhaps the 

question of enlarging the membership of the 

Security Council to make it more 

representative of the world community, as 

is being raised in many quarters, and in 

particular, by India, Germany and Japan, 

does not seem to be without sound reasoning 

or proper purpose. It might well provide 

some food for thought for the distinguished 

gathering here to seriously consider as to 

how can the Security Council be made, not 

only be more representative of peoples from 

all the continents on this globe, but also as 

to how could it be made more reflective of 

fulfilling the needs and aspirations of the 

millions of poverty-stricken, impoverished 

and subjugated peoples in many parts of the 

world. It should not, in this age and time, 

become the handmaiden of a few powerful 

western colonial power-brokers. 

A Global Perspective of the East Timor 

Crisis 

Against this backdrop, it would perhaps 

be more appropriate to view the East Timor 

issue not in isolation, but from a global 

perspective, as part of any international effort 

to bring about the liberation of men and 

women kept in bondage anywhere in this 

world. In this era of globalization, it is 

virtually impossible to keep silent anymore. 

The farcical trials of East Timorese youth in 

Jakarta following the Santa Cruz Massacre 

is no more the internal matter of Indonesia 

and East Timor alone, just as the ethnic 

cleansing of Muslims in Bosnia-Herzegovina 

is no longer the internal matter of the Serbs, 

Croats and Bosnians. Law and social justice, 

cannot be allowed to remain distant 

neighbours anywhere and at any time. It is 

for us, international lawyers and jurists and 

informed intellectuals to provide the healing 

touch to the victims of human rights 

violations, wherever it might occur, as true 

citizens of the world. And it is for this 

reasons, perhaps more than anything else, 

that an internationally acceptable, effective, 

permanent solution must be found to free all 

occupied territories in the world. This can 

be brought about, in my view, by adopting a 

global perspective towards this whole 

question of liberation of East Timor rather 

than viewing it as an isolated issue alone. A 

global approach as opposed to a narrow or 

parochialistic approach is the need of the 

hour, in this age of globalization. 

Suggestions and Conclusions 

In my presentation, I have sought to 

highlight the human rights dimension of 

Indonesia’s occupation of East Timor. It is 

my perception that the humanitarian and 

human rights concerns of the East Timor 

issue also broadly encompass the various 

legal questions and aspects relating thereto. 

No matter how much we debate and discuss 

the legal and juridical issues or questions 

from the perspective of international law, 

the quintessential question that continues to 

stare us in the face is that the battle of 

freedom that these poor people have been 

relentlessly waging against a much stronger 

adversary must be won for it is a battle for 

freedom and truth. As Lord Byron has said 

in one of his immortal poems: 

“For Freedom’s battle once begun, 

Bequeathed by bleeding syre to son, 

Though baffled oft is ever won.” 

It maybe perhaps be easy for the participants 

in this seminar to talk about the right 

to self-determination, about decolonisation, 

about human rights and freedoms available 

under the many covenants and conventions, 

declarations and resolutions of the United 

Nations General Assembly and the Security 

Council, but for the man who suffers under 

foreign and an alien regime, all such talk of 

human rights, liberty and dignity is but like 

a teasing illusion, like water is to a thirsty 

man in a desert. To me, it seems no real fun 

for us men of law to go on holding seminars 

and conferences on legal issues while ought 

remains to be done. The time to act in 

realistic and concrete terms has now come. 

Mahatma Gandhi once told someone that if 

you want to do something, do it. If you 

don’t want to do it, go to a lawyer and he 

will tell you one hundred ways of how not 

to do it. So let us now put on our thinktanks 

and do some brain-storming as to how 

we could evoke and raise world public 

opinion against the many atrocities being 

committed upon the innocent people of East 

Timor. Perhaps the most unfortunate reality 

in the present-day civilized world of ours, 

is, that despite having so many rights and 

freedoms guaranteed to us in as many 

international covenants, instruments and 

conventions, there is a total lack of 

international fora where these fundamental 

rights and freedoms could be enforced. They 

remain rights only on paper without any 

forum, court or tribunal where they could be 

enforced or implemented. For rights, 

undoubtedly, raise the whole question of 

remedies, and human rights, of whatever 

nature they may be, keep getting further 

enlarged under more and more international 

instruments; yet, sadly enough, no forum 

exists at the international level, leave alone 

the choice of choosing one’s forum, for 

enforcement of these rights, the most basic 

of which remains the right to exercise selfdetermination. 

I am convinced in my mind, 

after having considered all the approaches 

and dimensions relating to the East Timor 

issue, that our collective efforts should be 

aimed at devising mechanisms and lobbying 

strategies to bring about a peaceful, negotiated 

and bloodless transfer of power in 

East Timor. By influencing world public 

opinion on the one hand and by highlighting 

the emancipation cause of the East Timorese 

people and on the other, at all international 

and regional forums, a situation for isolation 

of Indonesia could be created. An updated 

status report on the effects of Indonesia’s 

encroachment upon East Timor’s 

sovereignty should be prepared highlighting 

the continued human rights violations there. 

An emergency meeting of the Security 

Council should be summoned for the 

immediate and unconditional withdrawal of 

Indonesian occupation forces and for 

initiating a United Nations sponsored peace 

talks for installing an interim government in 


The independence of East Timor is not 

only an idea whose time has come, it is now 

a race against time. Let us be guided in this 

battle for truth by the noble motto of 

“Satyamev Jayate,” which when translated 

from Sanskrit, means, “Truth alone shall 

triumph,” for, in the eternal battle of good 

with evil, sometimes good wins over evil 

and vice-versa, but, in the ultimate analysis, 

it is truth and truth alone, that always 

triumphs.


BACKGROUND TO THE 

CURRENT HUMAN RIGHTS 

SITUATION (FROM CANADA) 

Canada Asia Working Group to UN Human 

Rights Commission. 

East Timor achieved international 

prominence for the first time since the 1975 

Indonesian invasion on 12 November 1991, 

when soldiers opened fire on a crowd of 

unarmed civilians at the Santa Cruz cemetery 

in Dili, the capital of East Timor. At 

least 100 people, and possibly as many as 

273, were killed in the Santa Cruz massacre. 

[1] However, the Santa Cruz massacre was 

just one instance of a series of similar 

violations. 

Since Indonesian troops invaded the 

territory in December 1975, and illegally 

annexed it in July 1976, a third of the 

population has died as a result of killings, 

bombings and famine brought on by the war. 

According to Amnesty International, the 

death toll is 200,000; sources in East 

Timor’s Roman Catholic Church put the 

number at as many as 300,000 killed. [2] 

Figures compiled by the Canadian Institute 

for International Peace and Security peg the 

death rate at more than twice that of 

Cambodia under Pol Pot. [3] 

Armed resistance to Indonesian occupation 

continues, although the focus has 

shifted to non-violent clandestine actions in 

cities and villages under Indonesian rule. At 

midyear, there were around 10,000 

Indonesian soldiers in East Timor – half of 

them in territorial battalions, where their job 

is to keep control of Timorese civilians. [4] 

Brig.-Gen. Theo SYAFEI, new armed forces 

commander in East Timor, stationed 

between 40 and 60 soldiers in every village 

in the territory. [5] Repeated United 

Nations (UN) resolutions in the General 

Assembly have affirmed the right of the 

East Timorese to a free and fair act of selfdetermination, 

and have called for Indonesia 

to withdraw its troops from the territory. 

[6] In February 1991, the UN Commission 

on Human Rights made a consensus 

declaration calling on Indonesia to improve 

the human rights situation in East Timor and 

allow free access to the territory for 

humanitarian organizations and international 

human rights groups. 

Despite this call, access to East Timor 

was increasingly limited in 1992. There have 

been no official delegations allowed in since 

a brief February mission by UN envoy 

Amos Wako. [7] In 1992, requests from 

American, Australian and European 

parliamentarians to go to East Timor were 

turned down, while Amnesty International 

and Asia Watch was banned from the territory. 

East Timor was closed to the media 

throughout the year, with the exception of a 

BBC team during Indonesian elections in 

June and a Reuter correspondent in 

November. [8] Several journalists and ordinary 

tourists were expelled from East Timor 

during the year. 

The “opening” of East Timor declared by 

President Suharto in 1989 seems to have 

finally come to an end. Despite the media 

blackout, however, information continued to 

reach the outside through tourist accounts, 

and sources in the Catholic church, and the 

East Timorese resistance. Reports signalled 

an increase in repression in the year since 

the Santa Cruz massacre, despite promises 

to the international community. 

“Far from putting an end to the violations, 

the official reaction to the incident has 

been accompanied by commission of further 

serious violations, including arrest for 

political reasons, torture, ill-treatment and 

extra-judicial executions,” Amnesty 

International has noted. [9] The appointment 

of a new governor for East Timor, José 

Abilio Osorio SOARES, signalled a harder 

stance. Soares, a leader of the prointegrationist 

Apodeti party before 1975, is 

much more closely associated with the 

Indonesian military than was his predecessor, 

Mario Viegas CARRASCALAO. He 

began his rule by telling reporters that “In 

my opinion, there should have been more 

people killed (at Santa Cruz). Why did only 

that number die? Why not all the one thousand?” 

[10] 

On 2 October, the United States ended 

its $2.3 million International Military 

Education and Training (IMET) aid to 

Indonesia to protest against continuing denial 

of human rights in East Timor. [11] On 

the other hand, aid to Indonesia funneled 

through the Consultative Group on 

Indonesia (CGI) increased to $4.94 billion. 

[12] Canada’s suspension of $30 million in 

aid remained in place. 

Violations of Individual and Collective 

Rights 

Amnesty International reports that “In 

East Timor a pattern of short term detention, 

torture and ill treatment of alleged 

political opponents continues to be reported.” 

[13] Widespread arrests were reported 

before major events to prevent proindependence 

demonstrations. The last 

week of October, for instance, saw the arrest 

for short periods of 1,000 people, a 

staggering figure in a territory Indonesia 

says is pacified. [14] The arrests, announced 

by Governor Soares, were just part of a 

campaign to prevent demonstrations on the 

first anniversary of the Santa Cruz massacre, 

which also included the expulsion from 

Dili of anyone without proper identification 

cards, house-to-house searches, and a pervasive 

military presence in the streets. [15] 

Short term detentions of suspected dissidents 

invariably include intensive interrogation. 

“Forms of torture and ill-treatment 

include: electrocution; slashing with razor 

blades and knives, including inside the 

mouth; beating on the head, shins and torso 

with fists, batons, iron bars, bottles, rocks 

and lengths of electric cable; sexual molestation 

and rape; kicking with heavy military 

boots; burning with lighted cigarettes; 

threats and deliberate wounding with firearms; 

immersion for long periods in fetid 

water, isolation and sleep deprivation.” [16] 

One recent detainee was beaten with a 

wooden club, after which a soldier thrust a 

ballpoint pen into his penis. He was then 

kicked and beaten during interrogation, along 

with a group of 30 others. His experience is 

by no means untypical. [17] 

Intensified repression was also reported 

around other significant dates. “Scores” 

were arrested in February as the Indonesian 

military went on full alert to prevent the 

landing of a Portuguese ship carrying 100 

students and journalists who planned to lay 

flowers at Santa Cruz cemetery. [18] 

Hundreds of fully-armed riot troops patrolled 

Dili during the Wako visit and arrested 

several people who had been planning 

to demonstrate, including village chief Jacob 

FERNANDES. [19] 

Security also tightened during the Non 

Aligned Movement summit in Jakarta. 

Thirty-three people (mostly high school 

students) were arrested in Dili during the 

summit [20], with a further 17 arrested in 

Viqueque. [21] Twenty-five were arrested in 

Maliana and underwent 120 hours of indoctrination. 

[22] Sunday mass was cancelled 

to prevent a march on 6 September, 

when 1,000 people gathered at Dili cathedral. 

[23] 

News of earlier atrocities continued to 

come to light in 1992. In one example from 

1990, Eurosia DA SILVA ALVES, a 15- 

year old student, was killed after her genitals 

were cut off and placed in her mouth and her 

breasts cut off and placed one in each hand. 

[24] Another report tells of 20 human hearts 

being found in a box by villagers outside Dili 

in November 1991. [25] 

In October 1992, soldiers in Belo summarily 

executed Dominggus AIKARAK and 

his relative Alcino Freitas BELO. At the 

same time, several dozen others were arrested. 

Five more people were killed the 

following day. [26] Another family member, 

Saturnino da Costa BELO, was arrested 

earlier with two of his brothers and an uncle 

near Baucau earlier. He was tortured daily 

until his ears, mouth and nose bled. [27] 

Seven young men in Viqueque were 

reportedly beaten until “their faces were


black” during a two-week period in 

detention. [28] 

On 20 November, Indonesian troops 

captured Xanana GUSMÃO, leader of the 

armed resistance. Human rights organizations 

have expressed concern that he may 

have been tortured and drugged while in 

captivity. Access was not granted for the 

International Committee of the Red Cross 

until 7 December. [29] At least 60 of his 

family and associates were arrested over the 

following month in Manatuto, Dili and 

Same. [30] At least one of those detained, 

Jorge Manuel ARAUJO SERRANO, has 

reportedly been tortured to death. [31] 

Indonesia holds at least 122 East 

Timorese political prisoners (tahanan politik), 

and probably far more. [32] According 

to resistance sources, more than 500 young 

Timorese are being held in camps and the 

homes of military officers “which are in fact 

slave houses and torture centres.” [33] 

East Timorese continue to face jail simply 

for asking questions about government 

policy. Lucas Wilson BAUMAU was arrested 

for writing a letter to the Indonesian 

press that disagreed with local government 

development priorities. [34] Yoanita de 

Yesus VIEGAS GALOCHU was charged 

with slander when she wrote a letter to the 

governor asking him to protect the life of her 

imprisoned husband. [35] 

Freedom of association has also become 

more restrictive as authorities moved to 

crack down on independent youth groups 

that have sprung up in the last two years, a 

period when government policy officially 

aimed at winning the “love” of the 

Timorese. In November, the Young East 

Timorese Catholic Students Organization 

and Fitun (Tetun for “star”) officially dissolved 

themselves – almost certainly a result 

of government threats. [36] Both groups had 

been part of a youth federation that 

organized the 12 November 1991 demonstration. 

Thematic Concerns 

1. Right to development 

Indonesia has used “development” as the 

chief argument justifying its rule over East 

Timor. However, the “development” under 

way in East Timor seems aimed more at the 

development of infrastructure to reinforce 

Indonesian rule than at “the constant improvement 

of the well-being of the entire 

population” described in the UN’s declaration 

on the right to development. Further, it 

ignores “the right of peoples to self-determination 

... [and] sovereignty over their 

natural wealth and resources.” 

Indonesian-built schools teach in Bahasa 

Indonesian rather than Tetun; roads facilitate 

the movement of Indonesian troops 

more than they do the movement of a traditional 

mountain-based society; hospitals and 

administrative systems benefit Indonesian 

settlers while doing little to help most East 

Timorese. Indonesia’s highly coercive 

population control program in East Timor 

has been criticized as “tantamount to 

genocide” by the (US) National Conference 

of Catholic Bishops. 

All these things are considered 

“instruments of subjugation by the 

Timorese,” according to Peace is Possible in 

East Timor. “Economic development is, for 

the most part, dominated by monopolies 

which are in the hands of a few generals who 

practice an outdated colonialism.” [37] 

The right to control of resources is violated 

by the Timor Gap treaty between 

Indonesia and Australia, which divides the 

oil reserves (estimated at one billion barrels) 

under the Timor Sea. Drilling in the gap was 

expected to begin in December 1992. [38] 

2. Impunity 

In an unprecedented move after the Santa 

Cruz massacre last year, President Suharto 

promised that “no matter who they are, 

those found responsible for the shooting 

will be dealt with by the courts.” [39] 

However, no criminal charges have been laid 

against any of the soldiers who opened fire 

on an unarmed crowd or their commanding 

officers. Twelve soldiers were courtmartialled, 

but the charges were disciplinary 

rather than criminal and, as Asia Watch 

noted, the sentences meted out were 

“ludicrous.” [40] 

One corporal, Marthin ALAU, received a 

17-month sentence. An eyewitness reports 

seeing him kill two wounded men at Santa 

Cruz by repeatedly stabbing them. [41] He 

is also accused of cutting off the ear of one 

protester. Nine other soldiers were also 

courtmartialled, and received jail terms that 

ranged from 8 months to 18 months. 

In contrast, East Timorese survivors of 

the massacre received long jail terms under 

Indonesia’s anti-subversion law. Gregorio da 

Cunha SALDANHA received a life sentence 

for subversion, while Francisco Miranda 

BRANCO was jailed for 15 years. Carlos 

dos Santos LEMOS was sentenced to 8 

years for taking photographs of the 

demonstration. Filomeno da Silva 

FERREIRA was sentenced to 5 years, 8 

months for translating Portuguese newspaper 

articles about East Timor. Ten more 

Timorese in Dili have been jailed for up to 

10 years. In a related case, two men and a 

woman were jailed for three to five years for 

sending “secret” military papers (an 

interview with Governor Carrascalao) 

abroad. [42] 

Five Timorese students studying in 

Indonesia were also jailed under the antisubversion 

law for organizing a demonstration 

in Jakarta on 19 November 1991, including 

Fernando de ARAUJO, chair of the 

National Resistance of East Timor Students 

(RENETIL). Araujo received a 9 year sentence; 

he has been awarded the Reebok 

Human Rights award. Four other RENETIL 

members in Jakarta were also sentenced to 

as much as 10 years imprisonment. [43] 

3. Internally displaced persons 

Almost the entire population of East 

Timor has been uprooted since the 1975 invasion. 

Thousands fled to the mountains in 

the late 1970s. When they surrendered to 

Indonesian troops they were often prevented 

from returning to their ancestral 

villages or moving freely about the countryside. 

Many were forced to take part in 

Indonesian military operations against 

guerrillas. Virtually all rural Timorese are 

now living in resettlement villages, which 

they describe as “concentration camps.” 

[44] 

4. Minority and religious rights 

Annexation reduced the East Timorese to 

a tiny minority within Indonesia. The 

displacement of traditional villages has made 

room for as many as 100,000 Indonesian 

settlers and transmigrants, who threaten to 

swamp the East Timorese demographically. 

[45] “It is the new Indonesian civilization 

we are bringing. And it is not easy to civilize 

a backward people,” said one former army 

commander. [46] Bishop Belo has said that 

“we continue to die as a people and as a 

nation.” The sheer numbers killed in East 

Timor since the Indonesian invasion qualify 

as genocide against the Timorese, but the 

people are also subjected to cultural genocide: 

deliberate attempts to destroy their 

indigenous culture and their future as a 

distinct people in their own land. A full 

generation has now grown up cut off from 

their rich cultural heritage. East Timor’s 12 

separate languages now stand on the brink 

of extinction. Traditional languages, religions 

and ceremonies are now banned. Sacred lulik 

sites and objects have been destroyed. 

For many years, the Catholic church 

stood as the one tenuous source of protection 

from Indonesian repression, despite 

restrictions on its operations. An estimated 

90 per cent of the East Timorese are now 

Catholics. Since Bishop Belo’s 1989 letter 

to the UN to ask for a referendum on selfdetermination 

in East Timor, however, 

Catholic priests and churches have increasingly 

come under attack. A raid on the San 

Antonio de Motael parish church on 28 

October 1991 (in which two men were 

killed) was the precursor to the Santa Cruz 

massacre. 

“Priests and nuns have been pressured, 

closely monitored and threatened by military 

personnel as they carry out their pas-


toral duties,” according to the Indonesian 

Front for the Defence of Human Rights 

(Infight). [47] The intimidation starts with 

Bishop Belo himself, who this year was 

publicly warned by the armed forces to stay 

out of politics. [48] Belo has said that he 

fears meeting the fate of murdered El 

Salvador Archbishop Oscar Romero. 

The vicar-general of the diocese, Father 

Alberto RICARDO, spent the early days of 

1992 under intensive interrogation. By the 

end of the year, he had been sent back to 

Rome. [49] Father Hilario MADEIRA and a 

travelling companion were arrested while 

returning to East Timor from a trip to Java. 

They were threatened with guns and have 

been harassed ever since as suspected dissidents. 

[50] In Ermera, armed soldiers interrupted 

mass to arrest worshippers, and 

later arrested one of the parish’s priests at 

his home at 3 a.m. [51] Foreign missionaries 

invited by Bishop Belo have been forced to 

choose between leaving East Timor and 

becoming Indonesian citizens. In October, 

Fathers LOCATELLI, BALTAZAR AND 

João DE DEUS were accused of “being 

behind” dissent in Baucau and given this 

choice. Ever since, they have been required 

to report daily to local military 

headquarters. [52] 

Conclusions and recommendations 

In February, the government of Indonesia 

undertook to the UN Commission on 

Human Rights to improve the human rights 

situation in East Timor. Instead, it has 

intensified human rights violation in a bid to 

crush dissent. At the same time, however, 

the support for East Timor from within 

Indonesia’s democracy movement has never 

been higher than today. A statement by 

student senates throughout Java following 

the Santa Cruz massacre called on the 

government of Indonesia to withdraw its 

troops from East Timor and allow a free and 

fair act of self-determination, and called on 

foreign governments to impose “an arms 

embargo and possible economic sanctions” 

on Indonesia. [53] 

The leadership of the Timorese resistance 

movement has effectively passed to a new 

generation of activists, most of whom grew 

up under Indonesian rule. It should be clear 

that Indonesia will not win their loyalty. 

Instead, it is time to accept the calls for 

peace talks that include the East Timorese 

people. Bishop Belo’s proposal for a 

referendum on independence, or a new peace 

plan offered by the resistance this year that 

would delay independence for 7 to 12 years, 

are both ideas worth a hearing from 

Indonesia. [54] The capture of resistance 

leader Xanana Gusmão offers an 

opportunity for dialogue. If released to a 

third country, he could make a valuable 

contribution to talks on East Timor taking 

place between Indonesia and Portugal under 

UN auspices as a representative of the East 

Timorese themselves. 

The government of Canada, along with 

most western countries, has not recognized 

the de jure incorporation of East Timor into 

Indonesia. Accordingly, we recommend that 

the Canadian government: 

1. pursue initiatives towards the implementation 

of UN Resolution GA 37/30 

(1982); 

2. call for a withdrawal of Indonesian occupation 

forces from East Timor and demonstrate 

support for the right of the 

people of East Timor to a free and fair 

act of self-determination, as affirmed by 

repeated UN resolutions; 

3. call for the release of East Timorese political 

prisoners imprisoned solely for 

their opposition to Indonesian occupation 

of East Timor; At the United 

Nations, Canada should: 

4. encourage the Secretary-General of the 

UN to include representatives of the East 

Timorese people, including the National 

Council of Maubere Resistance, in talks 

held under his auspices, in accordance 

with UN resolution GA 37/30 (1982); At 

the 49th session of the UN Commission 

on Human Rights, Canada should: 

5. call for the publication of Amos Wako’s 

report on his February 1992 visit to East 

Timor and Indonesia ; 

6. under agenda items 10 and 11, raise the 

serious concerns of Canadians about the 

human rights situation in East Timor; 

7. under agenda item 12, support a resolution 

calling for full respect for human 

rights in East Timor; With regard to 

humanitarian concerns, Canada should: 

8. help apply international pressure on the 

Indonesian government to give free and 

unrestricted access to international relief 

and independent human rights agencies to 

work in East Timor, particularly 

Amnesty International. 

Notes 

[1] Amnesty International, East Timor: After 

the Massacre, 21 November 1991. The 

figure of 273 killed (with another 376 

wounded) is from a study by East Timorese 

activists released by the Lisbon-based 

ecumenical coalition Peace is Possible in 

East Timor (cited in Tapol Bulletin, 

October 1992). 

[2] Amnesty International, East Timor: 

Violations of Human Rights 1975-1984; 

Peace is Possible in East Timor, East 

Timor: The Santa Cruz Massacre (Lisbon, 

1992). 

[3] Dave Todd, “Canada mum on massacres 

of East Timor civilians” in Kitchener- 

Waterloo Record, 28 November 1991. 

[4] Reuter, June 5. 

[5] Tempo, Jakarta, 22 February 1992. 

[6] General Assembly Resolution 3485XXX 

has been reaffirmed seven times. Security 

Council Resolution 384 has been 

reaffirmed twice. 

[7] Asia Watch, Asia Watch Overview, 

December 1992. Wako’s report has still 

not been made public, despite a request by 

the Human Rights Sub-commission on 1 

September 1992. 

[8] ibid. 

[9] Amnesty International, Santa Cruz: the 

Government Response, 6 February 1992. 

[10] Linda Hossie, “Massacre merits more 

than a slap on the wrist” in The Globe and 

Mail, Toronto, 13 November 1992. 

[11] East Timor Action Network/US, news 

release, 3 October 1992. 

[12] Tapol Bulletin, August 1992. 

[13] Amnesty International, Indonesia/East 

Timor: The Suppression of Dissent, July 

1992. 

[14] David Webster, “Canada puts profits 

before rights” in Toronto Star, 12 

November 1992. 

[15] Reuter, 26 October 1992. 

[16] Amnesty International, The Suppression 

of Dissent. 

[17] ibid. 

[18] Jakarta Post, 21 February 1992. 

[19] Editor, Jakarta, 22 February. 

[20] “The poll that Indonesia dares not hold,” 

in The Economist, London, 19 September 

1992. 

[21] Tapol report, 23 September 1992. 

[22] Jawa Pos, 15 September 1992. 

[23] Tapol report, 7 September. 

[24] Pascoela Barreto testimony to Subcommission 

on Human Rights, Geneva, 14 

August 1992. 

[25] National Council of Maubere Resistance, 

news release, 19 February 1992. 

[26] Tapol report, 27 October. 

[27] Diario de Noticias, Lisbon, 25 April 

1992. 

[28] Tapol Bulletin, October 1992. 

[29] Amnesty International Urgent Action, 

10 December 1992. 

[30] Amnesty International Urgent Action, 

18 December 1992. 

[31] Amnesty International Urgent Action, 4 

December 1992. 

[32] Tapol Bulletin, October 1992. 

[33] Interview with José Ramos Horta, 

“Hidden terror in East Timor” in 

Newsweek, international edition, 1 June 

1992. 

[34] Jakarta Post, 3 April 1992. 

[35] Jakarta Post, 15 June 1992. 

[36] Suara Karya, 24 November 1991; Jawa 

Pos, 19 November 1992.


[37] East Timor: the Santa Cruz Massacre. 

[38] Reuter, 5 November 1992. 

[39] AFP, 7 February 1992. 

[40] Asia Watch Overview. 

[41] Tapol report, 7 June 1992. 

[42] War Resisters International, 1992 

Prisoners for Peace Honour Roll, 

November 1992. 

[43] Amnesty International, Fernando de 

Araujo: Prisoner of Conscience, May 

1992. 

[44] Mark Seddon, “Long-forgotten victims 

of an Asian invader” in The Times, 

London, 20 April 1991. 

[45] Hugh O’Shaughnessy, Irish Times, 

Dublin, 27 April 1991. 

[46] Colonel Kalangi, quoted in Camel 

Budiardjo and Liem Soei Liong, The War 

Against East Timor (London: Zed Books, 

1984). 

[47] Infight report, 26 June 1992. 

[48] Reuter, 29 June. 

[49] Reuter, 13 November 1992. 

[50] Amnesty International, The Suppression 

of Dissent.. 

[51] Tapol Bulletin, December 1992. 

[52] Tapol report, 27 October 1992. 

[53] Communications Forum of Student 

Senates, Bandung, 23 November 1991. 

[54] José Ramos Horta, speech to European 

Parliament, 27 April 1992. 

INDONESIA’S JUSTICE 

SYSTEM VIOLATES BASIC 

RIGHTS 

NEWS RELEASE from the Lawyers 

Committee for Human Rights, Feb. 25 

For Further Information Contact: James 

Ross, (212) 629-6170, ext. 140 

Today, the New York-based Lawyers 

Committee for Human Rights issued Broken 

Laws, Broken Bodies: Torture and the Right 

to Redress in Indonesia, a 90-page report 

that details serious failings of the Indonesian 

criminal justice system. The Lawyers 

Committee found that torture of detainees is 

“pervasive” in Indonesia and that 

procedures for redress are “ineffectual.” 

According to Michael Posner, Lawyers 

Committee Executive Director: 

“Rights violations apparent in the 

prosecution of Fretilin leader Xanana 

Gusmão and others in East Timor, 

such as incommunicado detention, are 

by no means exceptional in political 

cases. While the details of Gusmão’s 

treatment are still not known, the 

routine mistreatment of political 

detainees in Indonesia and East Timor 

has raised international concern. 

Victims of torture find that the 

protections set out under Indonesian 

law mean very little in practice.” 

Broken Laws, Broken Bodies details the 

enormous hurdles victims of torture and illegal 

detention face in seeking redress for the 

violations of their basic rights. Detainees, 

particularly those accused of political 

offenses, often find their right to legal 

counsel denied, effectively preventing them 

from raising claims of ill- treatment. 

Lawyers will be blocked by the police and 

military from meeting with clients. The 

authorities have also threatened and harassed 

lawyers, as well as lawyers’ groups, 

involved in human rights work. 

In 1981 the Indonesian government 

promulgated a new criminal procedure code 

that included greater protections for the 

rights of criminal suspects and detainees. 

Innovative provisions sought to reduce the 

likelihood of torture in Indonesian detention 

centers. “More than a decade later,” the 

Lawyers Committee’s report finds, “the 

aims of the criminal procedure law have yet 

to be fulfilled: torture and mistreatment of 

criminal and especially political detainees 

remain endemic; the likelihood for meaningful 

redress for such abuses remains slim.” 

The main avenue of redress under 

Indonesian law is the pra-peradilan (“pretrial”), 

a form of habeas corpus hearing. 

Except in rare instances, the pra-peradilan 

has been unsuccessful in upholding the 

rights of those illegally arrested, detained or 

mistreated. Moreover, as evidenced by last 

year’s trials of military personnel implicated 

in the November 1991 Dili massacre, the 

government is unwilling to seriously 

prosecute members of the military and 

police responsible for human rights violations. 

Indonesian authorities commonly take 

actions amounting to the obstruction of 

justice in order to prevent detainees from 

bringing claims of torture before the courts. 

Prosecutors knowingly fail to stop torture 

during police interrogations. They also hinder 

access of non-government physicians to 

detainees, making torture difficult to prove 

in court. Particularly in political cases, they 

have threatened detainees and their families 

who file petitions for a pra-peradilan 

hearing. 

The absence of an independent judiciary 

in Indonesia is perhaps the greatest hurdle 

to effective redress for ill-treatment. As civil 

servants functioning under the Justice 

Ministry, judges lack any real independence. 

In practice, judges see themselves as another 

arm of the government, rather than as 

impartial adjudicators of fact and law. As a 

result, except in a few non-political cases, 

Indonesian judges have gone to great lengths 

to decide in favor of the government in praperadilan 

hearings. 

The Lawyers Committee makes a number 

of recommendations to the Indonesian 

government, including urging the ratification 

of international human rights treaties, the 

repeal of the much-abused Anti-Subversion 

Law and specific changes to the criminal 

procedure code. The report notes, however, 

that: 

“The political structure of the state is the 

fundamental obstacle to the prevention of 

torture and the right to redress in Indonesia. 

Until there is a recognition of the 

importance of constitutionalism, the 

realization of separation of powers and, at 

the most basic level, government respect for 

the rule of law, there is little chance that the 

problems addressed in this report can be 

substantially met.” 

Broken Laws, Broken Bodies is based on 

a month-long Lawyers Committee factfinding 

mission to Indonesia in June and 

July 1992 and research conducted since that 

time. The Lawyers Committee delegation 

travelled to Jakarta, Bandung, Yogyakarta 

and Surabaya and met with lawyers, human 

rights activists, legal scholars, former and 

current political prisoners, journalists and 

embassy officials. In October 1992 the 

Lawyers Committee made a written request 

to the Indonesian government to send a 

delegation to Jakarta to meet with 

Indonesian officials, but to date has not received 

a reply. 

Copies of Broken Laws, Broken Bodies: 

Torture and the Right to Redress in 

Indonesia are available for $10 from LCHR, 

330 Seventh Ave., New York, NY 10001. 

Since 1978, the Lawyers Committee for 

Human Rights has worked to promote international 

human rights and refugee law and 

legal procedures in the United States and 

abroad. Its work is impartial, holding each 

government to the standard affirmed in the 

International Bill of Human Rights. 

PRISONERS FACE 

TORTURE, SAYS HUMAN 

RIGHTS GROUP 

Washington, Feb. 25 (IPS) – the 

Indonesian police and army continue to 

torture and mistreat prisoners, the New 

York-based Lawyers Committee for Human 

Rights (LCHR) charges in a report. 

“Torture pervades the criminal justice 

system of Indonesia,” says the report released 

here Thursday. 

The LCHR bases its report, ‘Broken 

Laws, Broken Bodies,’ on its month-long 

mission to the southeast Asian nation last 

year and research conducted since then. 

Yhe group says the prosecution of the 

alleged East Timorese guerrilla leader who


was captured in November and put on trial 

has been flawed by rights abuses. 

LCHR director Michael Posner charges 

that Xanana Gusmão, a founder of the 

revolutionary front for an independent East 

Timor (Fretilin), was held incommunicado 

for more than a month after his arrest in 

Dili. 

His treatment and televised repentance in 

December prompted charges by some 

human rights groups and Portuguese president 

Mario Soares that his captors had tortured 

him. 

Posner said that “while the details of 

Gusmão’s treatment are still not known, the 

routine mistreatment of political detainees in 

Indonesia and East Timor has raised 

international concern.” 

More than 60 of Gusmão’s relatives and 

alleged associates have been detained and 

held incommunicado since his arrest, says 

Posner, who stressed that Gusmão’s treatment 

was “by no means exceptional in political 

cases.” 

The government of Indonesian president 

Suharto denies that Gusmão was tortured. 

The administration recently took steps to 

improve its human rights image which was 

tarnished in Nov. 1991 when army troops 

machine-gunned pro-Fretilin demonstrators 

at Dili’s main cemetery. 

Suharto last month announced plans to 

form a national human rights body and 

hosted a U.N.-sponsored workshop on human 

rights in Jakarta. 

He, however, denounced western countries 

for using Indonesia’s human rights 

performance as a criterion for aid. 

Several countries cut assistance to Jakarta 

after the Timor massacre, and the U.S. 

congress last year cut its military training 

programme for Indonesia to protest the Dili 

killings. 

The new LCHR report deals primarily 

with the hurdles which the victims of torture 

face. 

It found that detainees, particularly those 

accused of political crimes, are often barred 

from contact with their lawyers who themselves 

are often threatened and harassed by 

the police and military authorities. 

The report notes that in 1981, Jakarta 

adopted a new criminal code which included 

greater protections for the rights of criminal 

suspects and detainees. 

The study found that more than a decade 

later, “the aims of the criminal procedure 

law have yet to be fulfilled: torture and 

mistreatment of criminals, and especially 

political detainees, remain endemic.” 

Moreover, the government has shown itself 

unwilling to seriously prosecute members 

of the police and military responsible 

for rights violations, according to the report. 

In addition, the authorities often take 

steps to prevent detainees from bringing 

torture claims before the courts, the report 

charged. 

“The greatest hurdle to effective redress 

for ill-treatment,” however, is the “absence 

of an independent judiciary in Indonesia,” 

the report says. 

“In practice, judges see themselves as 

another arm of the government, rather than 

as impartial adjudicators of fact and law,” it 

adds. 

“Until there is a recognition of the importance 

of constitutionalism, the realization 

of separation of powers and, at the 

most basic level, government respect for the 

rule of law, there is little chance that the 

problems addressed in this report can be 

substantially met,” the report says. 

HUMAN RIGHTS LAW BODY 

RECEIVES AWARD 

New York, Mar. 18 (IPS) - a Jakartabased 

human rights law organisation 

Thursday received the International Roger 

Baldwin Medal of Liberty Award here. 

The New York-based Lawyers 

Committee for Human Rights (LCHR) presented 

the Indonesian Legal Aid Foundation 

with the award which recognises 

outstanding commitments to the causes of 

civil liberties and human rights. 

The foundation provides legal aid in 

criminal and civil matters for persons unable 

to obtain a private lawyer. Most recently, it 

represented persons arrested in connection 

with the Nov. 12, 1991 massacre East 


Sukardjo Adidjojo, chair of the foundation’s 

board of trustees, and executive director 

Abdul Hakim Nusantara accepted the 

award for the foundation. 

The LCHR noted that both are lawyers 

who have worked to promote respect for 

human rights in Indonesia and for standing 

up for the rights of political detainees. And 

the LCHR charged that the foundation, 

known locally as Lembaga Bantuan Hukum 

(LBH), has been the target of government 

harassment. 

The lawyers’ committee noted that because 

the LBH receives foreign funds as a 

registered non-governmental organisation 

(NGO), the Indonesian government has accused 

it of serving foreign interests and of 

damaging Indonesia’s name abroad. 

“This year, the government has sought to 

put pressure on LBH by banning all Dutch 

assistance to Indonesian non-governmental 

organisations and tightening the laws on 

non-governmental institutions,” said the 

LCHR. 

The foundation was founded in 1971 and 

has 13 branches nationwide. Together with 

the Indonesian bar association, its lawyers 

have defended persons who have been arrested 

in connection with demonstrations 

against the East Timorese massacre. 

East Timor, a former Portuguese colony 

was invaded by Indonesian troops in Dec. 

1975, and annexed the following year. 

International human rights groups such as 

Amnesty International charge that in 

subduing East Timor, the Indonesian army 

killed as much as one-third of the Timorese 

population, or 200,000 people. 

The United Nations has sought to negotiate 

East Timor’s status in talks with 

Indonesia and Portugal. in Nov. 1991, 

Indonesian troops fired on hundreds of 

Timorese demonstrators in the capital, Dili, 

killing more than 100 people, according to 

the catholic church. 

Indonesian president Suharto dismissed 

several high-ranking officers implicated in 

the massacre, following a government 

commission’s findings. 

But the recently concluded session of the 

human rights commission in Geneva said it 

regretted that the Indonesian investigation 

had failed to identify clearly the people involved 

in ordering the massacre. 

The commission called on the Indonesian 

government to honour fully its human rights 

commitments and to ensure that the East 

Timorese in custody are treated humanely. 

According to the Lawyers’ Committee, 

the LBH has been widely involved in promoting 

human rights through education. the 

LBH has sponsored community legal education 

programmes to teach people about 

land, labour and civil rights, and to spread 

awareness about human rights. 

Asked to comment on the award, U.N. 

ambassador Wisnumurti of Indonesia said 

the recognition was testimony to the 

strength of the legal system in Indonesia. 

“Although we don’t agree with everything 

they (LBH) say, the existence of this 

organisation is important to the development 

of our society as a whole,” 

Wisnumurti said. 

The Indonesian government funded the 

Foundation for the first eight years of its 

existence. 

Actress Sigourney Weaver presented the 

award at a reception Thursday evening. 

The award is presented in alternating 

years by the American Civil Liberties Inion 

(ACLU) for civil liberties advocacy in the 

United States, and by the LCHR for work in 

advancing human rights worldwide. 

The tribute is named after Roger 

Baldwin, the founder of the ACLU who 

died in 1981, and who was a major figure in 

the civil liberties and human rights 

movements.


UN HUMAN RIGHTS 

COMMISSION PASSES 

STRONG RESOLUTION 

THE JAKARTA REGIME AND 

ITS GENEVA COMMITMENTS 

Publico 8 February 1993 Dateline : Lisbon 

Byline : A.M. Original lang.: Portuguese 

unabridged 

“Jakarta had the opportunity of demonstrating 

its willingness to cooperate with the 

UN. A year later, it is worth analyzing the 

results.” This was said on 4 March last year 

by the Chairman of the UN Human Rights 

Commission (HRC) in his statement, 

according to which Indonesia guaranteed it 

would comply with a set of demands made 

by the HRC on East Timor. A year later, 

the ecumenical association Peace is Possible 

in East Timor examined those commitments 

made in Geneva. 

In a publication presented yesterday, the 

association reveals the contrast between the 

various measures agreed to by Jakarta, and 

the real situation in the territory. 

The “clarification of the final outcome of 

the massacre” in Santa Cruz on 12 

November 1991 confirmed 18 dead, admitting 

later that there were 50 victims. 

However, lists of names drawn up by humanitarian 

organisations - already published 

by Publico (see 12 November 1992 edition) 

- confirm 271 dead, 250 missing, and 382 

wounded. 

The commitment to ensure the “fair 

treatment of Timorese prisoners” and the 

“general improvement in human rights in 

Timor” has been met with the contrast between 

the “severe sentences” passed on the 

Dili demonstrators, and the vague references 

to “punishments” given to those responsible 

for the massacre. 

Also, Indonesia’s guarantee to facilitate 

access to Timor by humanitarian and human 

rights organisations was contradicted by the 

“tightening up of the blockade.” 

In addition to the final figures, the document 

publicly divulged yesterday gives a 

complete list of those killed, missing and 

wounded following the Santa Cruz massacre. 

The aim of the publication is to enable 

the Human Rights Commission - the 49th 

session of which is meeting in Geneva - and 

the UN to use “other means” of achieving 

the objectives proposed in last year’s 

statement. 

The document “East Timor after Santa 

Cruz - Indonesia and the International 

Order,” edited in a bilingual brochure 

(French and English), was presented during 

a seminar held in Lisbon to study possible 

lines of action in relation to the Timor 

problem. The seminar, attended by about 

two dozen Timorese and people connected 

with solidarity groups, took place in the For 

Timor forum, which has been granted by 

Lisbon’s Town Hall to the Maubere 

People’s Rights Commission (CDPM), 

which also helped to organise the weekend. 

EAST TIMOR REBEL LEADER 

PLEADS FOR U.N. SUPPORT 

Geneva, Feb. 25 (IPS/Victor Ego Ducret) 

– Rebels fighting for the right to selfdetermination 

in East Timor issued a 

statement here Thursday calling on the 

Indonesian government to stop its military 

and political repression against the Timorese 

population. 

A spokesperson for the resistance 

movement in East Timor José Ramos-Horta 

said: “the Maubere national council for resistance 

(CNRM) in East Timor calls on the 

international community to support the 

Timorese fight for independence and selfdetermination 

and to condemn the inhumane 

repression of Jakarta.” 

Ramos-Horta, who is the international 

representative of the CNRM, is in Geneva 

to participate in the 49th ordinary meeting 

of the United Nations (UN) Human Rights 

Commission. 

He has issued a statement requesting the 

Commission to appoint a special rapporteur 

to investigate the situation in East Timor, 

which has been under Indonesian occupation 

since December 1975. 

Dominique Seixas, a former Indonesian 

prisoner, testified before the commission 

Thursday and described the repressive 

measures used by Jakarta against the 

Timorese population. 

He spoke of the cruel treatment and persecution 

that political prisoners such as 

himself had been subjected to. Seixas, who is 

now living in Portugal, offered his testimony 

to the commission through the auspices of 

the international federation of Christians for 

action to abolish torture (IFCAAT), a nongovernmental 

organisation based in Geneva. 

Ramos-Horta reminded the commission 

Thursday that the humanitarian organisation 

Amnesty International (AI) stated that 

between 1975 (the beginning of the 

CNRM’s struggle) and 1991, 200,000 

Timorese were killed through the repression. 

He said that this amounted to almost a 

third of the population of East Timor. He 

added that it would be a great boost for the 

CNRM if the international community 

would take effective measures, even if only 

to stop Indonesia from torturing more of the 

Timorese population. 

However, he said, countries like 

Germany and France continue to give economic 

support to the Jakarta government. 

He said: “recently, Germany sold them 30 

battle ships and France is Indonesia’s third 

most important source of aid, after japan 

and the United States.” 

Portugal, Ireland, Luxembourg, Greece 

and the former Portuguese colonies in Africa 

– like Angola and Mozambique – support 

East Timor’s demand for self-determination 

and independence. In September the United 

States Congress pronounced it was against 

giving economic aid to Indonesia. according 

to a document that was distributed in 

Geneva by the CNRM, Indonesia dominates 

East Timor through a colonial and repressive 

regime. 

“East Timor was colonized by the 

Portuguese 500 years ago and there is not a 

single historic element to tie it to the present 

Indonesian republic,” the document states. 

The government in Lisbon has backed the 

Timorese demands for independence and 

self-determination in various letters and 

statements directed at the United Nations 

secretary general Boutros Boutros-Ghali. 

The letters have been included in a report 

on the situation in East Timor that was 

presented to the U.N. human rights commission 

by Boutros Boutros-Ghali this 

month. 

This document also contains the reports 

from a Human Rights Commission work 

group on disappearances, executions and 

torture in East Timor. Reports from AI and 

the International Lawyers Commission 

(ICJ) have also been included. 

Boutros-Ghali’s document also contains 

letters and statements from the government 

of Indonesia in which it denies the reports 

on the violation of human rights in East 


In one of these letters, dated Jan. 4, the 

authorities in Jakarta confirm the arrest of 

CNRM leader Xanana Gusmão, on Nov. 20 

last year. It also states that the request by 

the International Red Cross to be allowed to 

see him will be answered at a later date. 

URGE YOUR GOVERNMENT 

TO SUPPORT EAST TIMOR 

AT THE UN HUMAN RIGHTS 

COMMISSION 

ACTION ALERT FROM THE EAST 

TIMOR ACTION NETWORK / U.S. 


A resolution on the “Situation in East 

Timor” is being introduced today at the UN 

Human Rights Commission (UNHRC) annual 

meeting in Geneva. The resolution, 

whose text is appended, was initiated by the


12 European Community countries. The 

United States, Australia, and many Third 

World countries are being asked to sponsor 

it. 

This is a strong resolution, and would be 

a tremendous improvement over the 

“consensus declaration” from last year. 

There will be a vote early next week. At this 

point, the US delegation in Geneva has not 

determined its position, with different 

members having different views. Urge them 

to sponsor, advocate and vote for the 

resolution. Last year, the US opposed 

strong action on East Timor, and was instrumental 

in sabotaging a meaningful 

resolution by the UNHRC. 

Indonesia is now the head of the Non- 

Aligned Movement and was elected a regional 

vice-chair of the UNHRC. They have 

a large delegation in Geneva which will 

strongly oppose this resolution. We must 

urge our governments, both in the US and 

other countries, to support the passage of 

this moderately-worded resolution to show 

Indonesia that the world community does 

not accept their ongoing genocide, occupation 

and repression in East Timor, and to 

encourage them to participate seriously in 

negotiations with Portugal which resume 

next month in Rome. 

In the United States, please contact the 

following: Your Congressperson and 

Senators, who should call the State Dept. 

202/224-3121 Peter Tarnoff, 

Undersecretary of State for Policy. 

(202)647-2417 Sandy Berger, Deputy Asst. 

to the Pres. for Nat’l Security Affairs. 

202/456-2883 

TEXT OF THE PROPOSED 

RESOLUTION 

SITUATION IN EAST TIMOR 

The Commission on Human Rights 

Guided by the Universal Declaration of 

Human Rights, the International Covenant 

on Human Rights and the universally accepted 

rule of international law; 

Bearing in mind the statement on the 

Situation in East Timor agreed by consensus 

by the Commission on Human Rights at its 

forty-eighth session (Doc.E/CN. 4/1992/84, 

par a. 457) following the violent incident of 

the 12 November 1991 in Dili; 

Recalling resolution 1992/20 of the Sub- 

Commission on Prevention of 

Discrimination and Protection of Minorities 

of 27 August 1992; 

Gravely concerned at continuing allegation 

on serious human rights violations and 

noting with concern in this context the reports 

Or the Special Rapporteur on Torture 

(Doc.E/CN.4/1993/26); of the Special 

Rapporteur on Extra-judicial, Summary or 

Arbitrary Executions 

(Doc.E/CN.4/1993/46), of the Working 

Group on Enforced or Involuntary 

Disappearances (Doc.E/CN.4/1993/25); 

Bearing in mind the Body of Principles 

on the Protection of all Persons subject to 

any form of detention or imprisonment endorsed 

by the General Assembly in its 

resolution 43/173 and the Principles on the 

Effective Prevention and Investigation of 

Extra-legal, Arbitrary and Summary 

Executions, endorsed by the General 

Assembly in its resolution 44/162; 

Concerned at the fact that the Indonesian 

authorities aid not respond to the provisions 

of the statement on the situation of East 

Timor agreed by consensus by the 

Commission on Human Rights at its fortyeighth 

session; 

Disappointed by the frequent denial of 

access to the territory of East Timor to human 

rights organizations as well as to some 

other relevant international observers; 

Having examined the report of the 

Secretary-General on the situation in East 

Timor (Doc.E/CN.4/1993/49); 

Recalling the relevant United Nations 

resolutions concerning East Timor 

1. Expresses its deep concern at the reports 

of continuing human rights violations in 

the territory of East Timor; 

2. Recalls that the Commission has commenced 

the decision of the Indonesian 

government to set up an enquiry 

Commission but regrets that the 

Indonesian investigation into the actions 

of the members of its security personnel 

on 12 November 1991, from which resulted 

loss of life, injuries and disappearances, 

failed to clearly identify all 

those responsible for those actions 

3. Expresses its concern over the lack of 

clear information about the number of 

people killed on 12 November 1991 and 

over the persons still unaccounted for; 

4. Regrets the disparity in the severity of 

sentences handed to those civilians not 

indicted for violent activities - who 

should have been released without delay - 

on the one hand, and to the military involved 

in the violent incident, on the 

other; 

5. Calls upon the government of Indonesia 

to honor its commitments undertaken in 

the consensus Statement adopted on 4 

March 1992 by the Commission on 

Human Rights at its 48th session; 

6. Calls upon the Indonesian Government to 

ensure that all the East Timorese in 

custody, including main opposition figures, 

be treated humanely and with their 

rights fully respected, that all trials be 

fair, just, public and recognise the right to 

proper legal representation, in accordance 

with international humanitarian law, and 

that those not involved in violent 

activities will be released without delay; 

7. Renews its call on the Indonesian 

authorities to allow access to East Timor 

for human rights organisations and additional 

humanitarian organisations; 

8. Encourages once again the Indonesian 

authorities to take the necessary steps to 

implement the recommendations presented 

by the Special Rapporteur on 

torture in its report (Doc. E/C. 

4/1992/17/Add.1) following his visit to 

Indonesia and East Timor and to keep the 

Special Rapporteur informed of the 

progress made towards their implementation; 

9. Urges the Government of Indonesia to 

invite the Special Rapporteur on Torture, 

the Special Rapporteur on Extra-judicial, 

Summary or Arbitrary Executions, the 

Working Group on Arbitrary Detention 

and the Working Group on Involuntary 

Disappearances to visit East Timor and 

to facilitate the discharge of their 

mandates; 

10. Invites the Secretary-General to transmit 

the full report of his Personal Envoy, 

Mr. Amos Wako, to the Commission on 

Human Rights; 

11. Welcomes the resumption of talks about 

the question of East Timor and 

encourages the Secretary-General to 

continue his good offices for achieving a 

just, comprehensive and internationally 

acceptable settlement of the question of 

East Timor; 

12. Decides to consider the situation in East 

Timor at its fiftieth session on the basis 

of the reports of the Special rapporteurs 

and Working Groups and that of the 

Secretary General, which would include 

an analytical compilation of all 

information received from, among others, 

Governments, intergovernmental and 

non-governmental organisations. 

CLOSED EYES 

ON EAST TIMOR 

Editorial, The Boston Globe, Friday, March 

5, 1993 

During the presidential campaign, Bill 

Clinton lamented the “unconscionable” indifference 

previous administrations displayed 

toward Indonesian violations of human 

rights in the occupied territory of East 

Timor. He promised a change in American 

policy if he were elected. 

Whether because of inertia, the confusion 

of a transition or a change of heart, US 

policy under Clinton seems to be no different 

from what it has been since the


Indonesians first invaded and occupied East 

Timor in 1975. 

Since then, as many as 200,000 

Timorese, out of a population of 700,000, 

have perished, victims of Indonesia’s 

genocidal repression. Though the United 

Nations never recognized Indonesia’s annexation 

of East Timor, successive US 

presidents bestowed arms, military training 

and diplomatic support on the Indonesian 

executioners. 

Sad to say, US delegates to a meeting of 

the UN Human Rights Commission in 

Geneva reportedly lobbied this week against 

a resolution on East Timor prepared for the 

European Community by the Portuguese 

delegation. The EC resolution calls on 

Indonesia to cease its abuse of human rights 

in East Timor, to honor its previous 

commitments, to allow access to human 

rights organizations and “to invite the 

special rapporteur on torture, the special 

rapporteur on extrajudicial, summary or 

arbitrary executions, the working groups on 

arbitrary detention and the working group 

on involuntary disappearances to visit East 

Timor.” 

Following policy guidelines established 

last fall by the Bush administration, the 

American delegates in Geneva left other 

nations’ delegates in no doubt that they 

found the Portuguese resolution too strong 

and instead wanted a mild “consensus 

statement” like the one produced last year. 

Indonesia’s crimes against humanity are 

no less repugnant than those committed in 

Bosnia or Iraq. If Clinton truly wants 

America to become a protector of human 

rights, he must change the Bush policy on 


UNHRC STATEMENT OF 

CONSTANCIO PINTO 

FOR ANTI-SLAVERY INTERNATIONAL 

Forty-Ninth Session, UN Human Rights 

Commission, Item 12 Geneva, 5 March 


Mr. Chairman Distinguished members of 

the United Nations Commission on Human 

Rights 

First, I would like to introduce myself. 

My name is Constancio Pinto and I am 

Timorese. I am one of the people who organised 

the peaceful demonstration on 12 

November 1991 in Dili, the capital of East 

Timor, where the massacre took place. 

Fortunately I escaped from Dili on 16 May 

1992 to Indonesia and then to Lisbon in 

Portugal on 11 November 1992. 

Today I am here as an eye-witness of the 

abuses of the human rights of my people 

which continued after the 12th of November 

massacre 1991. But while I am reading this 

statement I am concerned about the life of 

my wife and my son who is only one year 

old as well as the lives of my parents. To 

guarantee their safety I would like to hand 

over to this commission the list of their 

names. 

Mr. Chairman, 

Since I left them on 2 November 1991, I 

have not seen or communicated with my 

family. I do not even know if they are alive 

or not. 

I wish the United Nations Commission 

on Human Rights to take this into consideration. 

If not, I am sure my wife, my child 

and my parents will be subjected to repression 

by the Indonesian army. 

Repression is a tradition of Indonesia which 

is practiced in East Timor. 

I was one of the young people who suffered 

ill-treatment in Indonesian custody. 

When I was arrested on 25th January 1991 

at 9.30am, I was beaten by many policeman 

at the station. I was beaten for over 14 

hours until blood came from my mouth, my 

nose, my eyes and my ears. After that, I 

was taken into the “Senopati II” prison 

where I was interrogated by Captain Edy 

Suprianto and Let Colonel Gatot, the head 

of Intelligence in East Timor. In Senopati II 

I was interrogated and threatened for 4 days. 

Unfortunately I met with 13 other prisoners 

that had been detained three months before. 

David Aleong (20), Talofo Moniz (23), José 

Antonio Galucho (40), Abilio Sarmento (25) 

and Francisco Dias (55). most of them were 

young people. David, Talofo, and José 

Galucho are now in prison together with 

Alexio Gama, Grigorio Saldanha, Francisco 

Miranda, Filomena Ferreira, Juvencio 

Martins, Jacinto Alves, Carlos Lemos and 

many others. These people were subjected 

to all kinds of torture: punched and slapped, 

electric shock, burnt with cigarettes, cut 

with blades. As a consequence Abilio 

Sarmento had his jaw broken and Talofo 

suffered mental trauma. 

One week later I was released but on the 

condition that I present myself to Captain 

Edy and Colonel Gatot three times a week. 

Even then, I was continuously monitored by 

their intelligence police. That was my life 

from January to October 1991. 

At the times I had to present myself, I 

was threatened to make me denounce the 

position of Xanana Gusmão and the activities 

of the underground organisations. In the 

beginning of October 1991, one of the 

soldiers of Captain Edy Suprianto said to 

me “Let’s see who will be the hero: you or 

me?” In this case he failed. This intimidation 

happen to all Timorese people, especially 

the young. 

On 29 October, when the Indonesian 

army ambushed Motael church and killed 

Sebastião Gomes, many young people were 

detained, among them Alfonso Rangel who 

was then sentenced to 5 years in prison. 

As a result of the torture some of the 

detainees were forced to say that I was their 

leader. That is why on 1 November 1991 at 

5pm Martino Alau, an intelligence policeman, 

held a meeting in his house with other 

intelligence officials. The purpose of the 

meeting was to arrest me again and possibly 

to execute me. Fortunately I was informed 

about the meeting. 

Then, on 2 November at 3am I left my 

wife, who was 5 months pregnant and my 

parents to go into hiding around Dili, 

moving from house to house during the night 

and sometimes sleeping in the jungle, 

without knowing the situation of my family. 

After the November massacre, my picture 

was distributed to all the intelligence 

police and army, my name was published in 

the newspaper and announced over the 

television. Fortunately I had the 

opportunity to escape to Portugal. 

Mr. Chairman, 

In the massacre of 12 November 1991, 

the Indonesian army killed more than 200 

people, most of them young people, and 

wounded at least 382. 

Indonesia, after killing 200,000 Timorese 

people over the past 17 years are still not 

satisfied. From 1989 until the present day, 

the presence of a strategy to exterminate the 

Timorese people has clearly emerged, 

starting with the extermination of the youth. 

From 12 November massacre to the present 

day, many young people have been 

persecuted: some of them have been arrested 

and imprisoned; some o them are still 

persecuted. Because of that, they have had 

to leave their family, their jobs and their 

schools. 

Now with the isolation of East Timor 

from the eyes of the international community, 

the Timorese are being forced to bend 

to the will of the Indonesian army, our persecutors 

and executers. As an example are 

the trials of Mr. Xanana Gusmão’s trial and 

of the many others. Xanana Gusmão, who 

before his capture always proposed to negotiate 

with Indonesia under UN auspices 

without pre-conditions, is now the victim. 

Mr. Chairman, 

The military Commander of East Timor, 

Theo Syafei, continues to use “Operasi 

Tuntas” (operation thoroughness or operation 

once and for all). The victims of this 

operation are and will continue to be the 

young Timorese people. Hence, the extermination 

of the Timorese youth will be the 

extermination of the next generation of 

Timorese people. 

To conclude, I would like to say that, 

this time, my people are following the 

Commission of Human Rights with great 

expectation and hope for its success in re-


gard to the continuing human rights violations 

in East Timor. On the other hand, my 

people would like to hear the response of 

the Commission in the light of the 

Consensus statement made by this 

Commission on Human Rights in March 

1992, dealing with human rights violations 

in East Timor. Does this Commission think 

that Indonesian government has had any 

respect for that decision? 

Thank you Mr. Chairman. 

UNHRC STATEMENT BY ABE 

BARRETO SOARES 

Geneva, 8 March 1993 

I am grateful for the opportunity I have 

to address this Commission on behalf of the 

International Peace Bureau. 

My name is Barnabé Barreto Soares, a 

fourth-year English student from the wellknown 

Gadjah Mada University in 

Yogyakarta, Central Java, Indonesia. 

Talking about human rights abuse in East 

Timor is like “pulling a scab off an old 

wound.” For any East Timorese like me 

who experienced the brutal invasion and 

occupation of their country by the 

Indonesian military, it is hard to make a 

decision to choose between speaking out or 

not speaking out about human rights abuse 

in East Timor. I chose the latter and so I am 

here free to talk about my experience. 

Even though I am free to speak out about 

conditions in East Timor since the invasion 

in 1975, I feel rather scared as it might cause 

trouble to my family back home: my family 

could be harassed by the Indonesian military 

because of my being out-spoken. But that is 

a risk that I have to face. I was nine years 

old when East Timor was invaded by the 

Indonesian military on December 7, 1975. I 

had to flee to the countryside with my 

family to avoid the Indonesian military 

onslaught. I started a new life under 

Indonesian occupation in my father’s 

hometown after 1975 and I went to primary 

school under the Indonesian education 

system. 

Already while still a small boy living in 

my father’s hometown I began asking: “If 

the Indonesian military say that we are 

brothers and sisters, why do they kill people 

in the jungle, kill people who surrender, 

kill innocent people who know nothing 

about politics?” Let me tell you what I personally 

experienced about human rights 

violations during my childhood and while I 

was a teenager: 

* people who I knew in my father’s 

hometown ‘disappeared’ after surrendering 

to the Indonesian military; 

* relatives of mine lost their livestock; a 

close relative of my father’s discovered that 

his buffaloes had been killed by Indonesian 

soldiers. Because he protested he was accused 

of being a Fretilin member. This 

frightened him so much that he decided to 

remain silent about anything else that happened 

to him; 

* the troops often steal our people’s 

livestock to feed themselves, saying that 

this ‘helps them carry out their duties in 

East Timor; such a thing often happened to 

the inhabitants of the town where I spent 

my childhood; 

* our people had to carry a travel document 

whenever and wherever they go; 

* people were not allowed to listen to 

foreign broadcasts. If they did, they were 

punished; 

* people’s houses were raided in the 

early morning or late at night; 

* people suspected as members of 

Fretilin were arrested and put in prison. 

But one incident stands out vividly in my 

memory. One afternoon as I was playing 

football with my friends in the street, I saw 

an army truck drive past full of Hansip 

soldiers (army-trained militia). The men 

were shouting and singing and holding high 

so that everyone could see, the severed 

heads of several guerrillas. This was meant 

as a warning to all of us not to support the 

resistance. I can tell you, I felt very scared 

when I saw this terrible scene. 

When I moved to Dili in 1981 and went 

to high school, I continued to hear more and 

more stories about the atrocities committed 

by the Indonesian army. 

In 1985, before leaving for Java to continue 

my studies at university, I had to take 

a screening test, to indicate whether I was 

part of Fretilin or not. 

In 1989 I went back to East Timor for a 

holiday. I attended the Mass celebrated by 

the Pope John Paul II in Tacitolu, on the 

outskirts of Dili. Right after the Mass, there 

was a pro- independence demonstration. I 

saw the demonstrators being beaten up by 

Indonesian security forces. Later I heard 

that the demonstrators were put in jail for 

interrogation. 

I returned to East Timor again in 1991. 

My movements were closely monitored by 

the Indonesian secret police. I felt very uneasy 

in Dili. I asked myself: “If the 

Indonesian military claim that everything is 

fine in East Timor, why is there always all 

this surveillance? ” 

I left for Canada to participate in a cultural 

exchange program for three months in 

September 1991. The massacre of 

November 12 1991 in Santa Cruz, Dili, East 

Timor took place just as I was about to 

finish my program. A week after the massacre, 

I realized that the situation in East 

Timor was becoming worse and worse. I 

also realized that my friends who joined the 

East Timorese students’ organisation 

(Renetil), the group which I was associated 

with, had been arrested for conducting a 

peaceful demonstration in Jakarta, the 

Indonesian capital. They had been protesting 

about the massacre and human rights 

abuses since the invasion in 1975. 

I began to feel afraid about going back to 

Indonesia. Finally, I made up my mind to 

stay in Canada. That was the hardest decision 

I have ever made in my life. 

In my view, human rights abuses in East 

Timor cannot be separated from the East 

Timorese struggle for self- determination 

and independence. There will be more human 

rights abuses in East Timor as long as 

there is no peaceful solution for the East 

Timor problem. I really hope that the this 

UN Commission will take meaningful initiatives 

to put an end to the human rights 

violations in East Timor. 

The people of East Timor feel helpless in 

their own homeland. They look to you to do 

everything in your power to help them. 

Thank you. 


CNRM UPDATE 

As we launch into Week 6, the tactics, 

moves and strategising are poised to come 

into play again. I hardly need to say how 

important these next few days are... From 

our last Memo, you saw clearly the double 

faces of both the US and Australian delegates, 

and how the Indonesians are always 

ready to capitalize. Wheeling and dealing 

will continue to be the order of the day this 

week. 

We have had great press activity from 

friends in the US, with pressure on the 

government there. But we need a continuous 

intensive attack this week. The vote for the 

Resolution is due Wednesday. Please lobby 

your home governments. 

Now I will let the governments and 

NGOs speak for themselves... So far, East 

Timor has been raised over 22 times under 

item 12...and the item is still not closed. 

The permanent representative for 

Denmark, Jacob Esper Larsen, spoke for the 

European Community expressing the 

concern over “the lack of clear information 

about the number of people killed and over 

the persons still not accounted for, about 

the disparity of the sentences given to civilians 

on the one hand and the military on the 

other, and by the denial of access to the 

territory by human rights organizations.” 

The European Community went on to “urge 

the Indonesian authorities to honour their 

commitments and to respond fully to the 

consensus statement on East Timor.”


The Community also “trust” that all 

those in custody, such as Xanana Gusmão, 

will be treated humanely with their rights 

fully respected, that they will have fair trials 

and that the ICRC will have full access. It is 

extremely important that an EC policy 

statement mentions individual cases: the 

personal mention of Xanana is therefore 

very significant. The Community also reiterated 

its support for the talks under UN 

auspices “with full respect for the legitimate 

interests and aspirations of the East 

Timorese.” 

The head of the Canadian delegation, 

Anne Park, concurred, adding that access for 

international human rights activists and 

journalists to the territory should be expanded. 

Switzerland considered East Timor “an 

occupied territory” which is in fact the very 

first time a western country has used such 

blunt diplomatic and legal language. They 

also stressed the importance of the input of 

both NGOs and UN special rapporteurs in 

exposing the desperate human rights situation 

in East Timor. Sri Lanka, Bangladesh 

and the new Czech Republic expressed deep 

concern over the situation in East Timor in 

their submissions. 

The Australian delegation, remaining true 

to its allegiance to all things Asian, dwelt on 

the positive steps made by Indonesia in 

regard to East Timor. After praising 

President Suharto, the national commission 

of inquiry, the troop reductions, the access 

to the territory, Australia recognised that 

the “human rights situation in East Timor 

remains of concern.” After their actions last 

week we would not really have expected 

much more. 

As is to be expected, Ambassador Shunji 

Maruyama, heading the Japanese delegation, 

declared the measures taken by the 

Indonesian government since the massacre 

as “positive.” The Islamic Republic of Iran, 

in a swinging attack on western imperialism 

generally and in particular in the field of 

human rights, said that Portugal’s interest in 

East Timor was purely because it “has lost 

residuals of colonial interests there.” 

Our Timorese friends spoke passionately. 

Speaking for Anti-Slavery 

International, Constancio Pinto described 

the brutal torture to which he was subjected 

by Indonesian intelligence police and he 

spoke of his fears for his family because of 

his presence here. Abé Barreto Soares 

(International Peace Bureau) described the 

day to day violations of basic rights endured 

by the Timorese people. “In my view, 

human rights abuses in East Timor cannot 

be separated from the Timorese struggle for 

self-determination and independence.” 

José Ramos Horta (National Aboriginal 

and Islander Legal Services Secretariat) 

dwelt on “certain half truths, distortions and 

outright lies” made by the Indonesian 

delegation: “the return to ‘normalcy’ in East 

Timor ... is the on-going practice of torture, 

arbitrary arrest and detention.” Mr. Horta 

asked “Is this the progress since the 

Consensus Statement of last year’s 

Commission?” 

Siswa Santoso, an Indonesian (MRAP), 

spoke of “the culture of violence” which 

dominates society in his country, concern 

over the human rights situation in the occupied 

territories of Aceh and East Timor, 

while Alexandra Reis spoke on behalf of her 

fellow East Timorese women. She ca1led on 

the Commission to “pay special attention to 

the sufferings of our womenfolk, especially 

the atrocity of rape.” 

Support for the Timorese came from 

NGOs, both South and North. Dr. William 

Wipfler of the Anglican Consultative 

Council, spoke solely on the question of 

East Timor, describing how “the world has 

observed in virtual silence, the incredible, 

massive and barbaric genocide of that tiny 

nation.” The human rights violations in East 

Timor were also raised by Amnesty 

International, the International Indian 

Treaty Council, the International League for 

the Rights and Liberation of Peoples, the 

Commission of the Churches on 

International Affairs and the International 

Commission of Jurists. 

Keep up the struggle! 

INDONESIA SUFFERS 

HUMILIATING DEFEAT AT UN 

The following press communiqué was issued 

in Geneva on Thursday, 11 March 1993 by 

the National Council for Maubere Resistance 

(CNRM): 

Indonesia was dealt a humiliating defeat 

at the United Nations today, the penultimate 

day of the Commission on Human 

Rights, as 22 member states voted in favour 

of a resolution on East Timor. 

The Indonesians, who this year claimed 

to have been “licking their wounds” after the 

massacre of hundreds of East Timorese in 

Dili in November 1991, will be doing so 

again this afternoon. 

They seriously miscalculated the strength 

of support behind the people of East Timor, 

where the violations of human rights by the 

Indonesian forces of occupation are wellknown. 

The Commission room was packed as 

governments and NGOs alike awaited the 

outcome. The resolution, which had been 

postponed since Wednesday in order to try 

and reach an expected consensus, created the 

biggest stir yet in the Commission. 

No action vote defeated 

Last minute attempts to negotiate failed 

as Indonesia, a vice chair of the Commission 

and head of the Non-Aligned Movement, 

remained intractable to the last. Finally the 

resolution, sponsored by 24 governments 

from the European Community, the United 

States of America, the Nordic states, 

Angola, Guinea- Bissau, Mozambique, 

Costa Rica and Canada, was put to the vote. 

The Asian and Islamic countries tried to 

avoid any action by the Commission, but 

the motion present by Malaysia met with 

defeat. This is the first time a motion of 

non-action has been defeated at the 

Commission for four years. 

In the voting on the resolution, the victory 

for East Timor was resounding with 23 

votes to 12 in favour with 15 abstentions. 

Angola, Guinea-Bissau, USA, Canada, 

Russia, Costa Rica, Austria, Poland and 

Denmark all spoke out in support of East 

Timor. This spread of support was the key 

to success of the East Timor strategy. It 

successfully challenged the block vote of the 

South which has been used in the 

Commission to defeat resolutions on human 

rights in China and Tibet. 

“Stone in the shoe” 

Despite all the Indonesian delegation’s 

attempt to get rid of the “stone in their 

shoe,” the stone remains firmly entrenched. 

This will be much to the chagrin of 

President Suharto, who has been elected to a 

sixth term this week. It is clear that the 

leaders of the armed forces in Indonesia 

(ABRI) forced the delegation to adopt a 

hard position in the negotiations. ABRI ensured 

the appointment of Try Sutrisno, 

former commander-in-chief of the Armed 

Forces, as vice- president. 

“In the end only dictatorships like Iran, 

Sudan and China stood with Indonesia. All 

the democracies of the world supported us. 

Equally important, and indeed it sets a 

precedent for other issues, East Timor destroyed 

the myth of the Asian block. There 

were Latin Americans and Africans voting 

with us and important Asian and Muslim 

states that abstained,” said José Ramos 

Horta after the voting. 

The strongly-worded resolution on East 

Timor comes close on the heels of the consensus 

statement on East Timor at last 

year’s Commission. In it, the Commission 

expresses its “deep concern” at the reports 

of continuing human rights abuses in East 

Timor and calls on Indonesia to honour the 

commitments it made under the consensus 

statement of the Commission last year. 

The resolution was adopted word-for-word 

as introduced by the EC Twelve (see above).


Country voting breakdown on 11 March 

Human Rights Commission resolution 

on East Timor: 

23 In favour: Angola, Australia, Austria, 

Barbados, Brazil, Bulgaria, Canada, Chile, 

Costa Rica, Czech Republic, Finland, 

France, Germany, Guinea-Bissau, 

Mauritius, Netherlands, Poland, Portugal, 

Russian Federation, United Kingdom, USA, 

Uruguay, Zambia. 

(Uruguay added its vote on the next day, 

having been out of the hall during the vote.) 

12 Against: Bangladesh, China, Cuba, 

Gambia, India, Indonesia, Iran, Malaysia, 

Nigeria, Sri Lanka, Sudan, Syria. 

15 Abstentions: Argentina, Burundi, 

Colombia, Cyprus, Gabon, Japan, Kenya, 

Lesotho, Mauritania, Mexico, Pakistan, 

Peru, Republic of Korea, Tunisia, 

Venezuela. 

AUSTRALIA’S UN VOTE 

‘A SURPRISE’ 

13 March. Canberra Times. Unabridged 

Melbourne: In an unexpected move, 

Australia has backed a strongly worded 

United Nations Rights Commission resolution 

questioning Indonesia’s human-rights 

record in East Timor. 

Despite its vote on Thursday, the 

Department of Foreign Affairs said yesterday 

that Australia planned to make statement 

to the commission saying would have 

preferred if there had not been any vote on 

the issue. 

In a resolution applauded by humanrights 

groups and the East Timorese independence 

movement, the UNHRC in 

Geneva said it was “gravely concerned” at 

reports of continuing violations by 

Indonesian forces in East Timor and criticised 

light sentences on soldiers involved in 

the 1991 Dili massacre. 

Australia - which initially had lobbied 

against any resolution at the commission - 

voted with 22 other countries in favour of 

the resolution, which was backed by the 

European Community, the United States 

and a number of Third World countries. 

Twelve voted against and 15 abstained. 

Earlier this week, a spokesman for the 

East Timorese independence movement, 

José Ramos Horta, accused Australia of 

trying to soften a resolution critical of 

Indonesia. 

“It’s pathetic that this little country can 

be so servile to Indonesia,” Mr. Ramos 

Horta said. 

On Monday, a spokesman for the 

Department of Foreign Affairs denied the 

allegation, but said Australia preferred that a 

consensus statement on East Timor be made 

by the commission chairman, rather than the 

issue’s going to a vote. 

He said yesterday that Australia, after 

following the arguments, had decided to vote 

with the resolution, even though this was 

not its preferred option. 

He said Australia intended to explain its 

decision in a statement at the UNHRC last 

night. 

Australia had supported the resolution 

because it was consistent with support for 

fundamental standards. 

It would have preferred a consensus outcome 

“which more adequately acknowledge 

the positive steps” taken by Indonesia since 

the commission met a year ago, the 

spokesman said. 

In a statement issued yesterday in 

Geneva, Mr. Ramos Horta described the 

resolution as a humiliating defeat for 

Indonesia. The Australia Council for 

Overseas Aid, often a critic of Australia’s 

stance on human rights in East Timor, 

“warmly endorsed” the vote. 

“This vote will do much to restore public 

confidence that Australia is even-handed and 

non-selective when it comes to grave 

violations of universally accepted human 

rights,” the executive director of ACFOA, 

Russell Rollason, said. 

Thursday’s vote followed intense behind-the-scenes 

lobbying. 

The Associated Press newsagency, in a 

report from Geneva , said it was a blow for 

Jakarta, which had managed to avoid criticism 

by the commission last year and had 

campaigned hard for support form developing 

countries during this year’s six-week 

session. 

Human-rights activists in the meeting 

chamber greeted the result with jubilation. 

Indonesia’s representative described the 

charges of violations as “unwarranted 

sweeping allegations.” 

NB: The Melbourne Age and The Weekend 

Australia had similar stories. 

UN SLAMS DILI KILLERS’ 

JAIL TERMS 

Sydney Morning Herald 13th March 1993 

Unabridged 

GENEVA, Friday, AP: The UN Human 

Rights Commission today voiced concern at 

reports of continuing violations by 

Indonesian forces in East Timor and criticised 

light sentences against soldiers involved 

in 1991 massacre of pro-independence 

demonstrators. 

The commission urged Indonesia to allow 

UN experts on torture, executions and 

disappearances to enter East Timor and to 

increase access for other human rights 

monitors. 

The resolution was passed by 22 votes 

to 12. There were 15 abstentions. Western 

governments on the 53-member commission, 

including Australia, voted in favour. Most 

of Indonesia’s neighbours, including Japan, 

either voted against or abstained. 

The vote was a blow for Jakarta, which 

last year managed to avoid criticism by the 

commission and had campaigned hard for 

support from developing countries during 

this year’s six-week session. 

Indonesia described the charges of violations 

as “unwarranted sweeping allegations.” 

Human rights groups estimate that up to 

200 people were killed when Indonesian 

troops fired on mourners at a funeral in the 

East Timorese capital in Dili in November 

1991. Officially, the toll was 50. 

Ten soldiers were sentenced to up to 18 

months in jail for their role in the shootings. 

East Timorese involved in the demonstration, 

in contrast, received sentences 

from five years to life. 

U.N. CRITICIZES INDONESIA 

ABOUT EAST TIMOR 

By Paul Lewis. New York Times, Sunday 

March 14, 1993. 

UNITED NATIONS March 13 - 

Reflecting a shift in United States policy, 

the United Nations Human Rights 

Commission has adopted a resolution expressing 

“deep concern” at human rights 

violations in East Timor for the first time 

since Indonesia annexed the former 

Portuguese colony in 1975. 

With 22 nations voting in favor, 12 voting 

against and 15 abstaining, the Human 

Rights Commission also agreed on Thursday 

in Geneva to ask Indonesia to allow United 

Nations officials to visit the island to 

investigate allegations of torture, secret 

executions, religious persecution and 

continuing detention of citizens by the 

Indonesian authorities. 

East Timer was seized by Indonesia 18 

years ago, just as Portugal was preparing to 

grant the colony independence. Reports 

have persisted ever since of mistreatment of 

the territory’s mainly Roman Catholic 

inhabitants by the predominantly Muslim 

Indonesian police and armed forces. 

The issue drew international attention in 

November 1991, when the Indonesian security 

forces opened fire on a crowd of 

mourners at the funeral of a supporter of 

East Timorese independence. The government 

estimated that 50 died, but witnesses 

and local officials said troops killed at least 

180 and possibly dozens more. 

While the European Community has repeatedly 

tried to bring the matter before the


Human Rights Commission, it is the first 

time a resolution criticizing Indonesia for its 

conduct in the territory has succeeded in 

passing. 

Diplomats and human rights campaigners 

said a crucial difference this time was a 

change in policy introduced by the Clinton 

Administration which threw Washington’s 

weight behind the European drive last week. 

Under the Bush Administration, the United 

States joined Australia and Japan last year 

in blocking a resolution criticizing Indonesia. 

This time Australia also voted in favor of 

the measure criticizing Indonesia while 

Japan abstained. 

“This vote was long overdue,” said Reed 

Brody of the Washington-based 

International Human Rights Law Group 

who attended the meeting. “Despite 

Indonesia’s power and the heavy diplomatic 

pressure it exerted, the international community 

has finally gathered the courage to 

speak out.” 

The commission’s stance on East Timor 

seemed to signal a more aggressive attitude 

in denouncing human rights violations 

around the world at the annual meeting, 

which ended Friday. The commission, 

which can only bring diplomatic pressure on 

offenders by drawing attention to abuses, 

commented unfavorably on the human rights 

performance of a record 29 countries, 

compared with 21 last year. 

It also dealt with human rights abuses for 

the first time in Papua New Guinea, 

Estonia, Georgia, Latvia, Rwanda, Tajikistan 

and Togo. 

The commission broke new ground in its 

efforts to protect individuals by voting to 

station human rights monitors on the ground 

in Iraq to monitor any abuses as well as in 

former Yugoslavia. It also voted to keep 

human rights monitors in Cambodia after 

elections are held there late this spring and 

the United Nations peacekeeping force 

withdraws. 

But the United States suffered a setback 

when a resolution criticizing China for political 

repression and other rights abuses was 

blocked by China’s allies. The outgoing 

Bush Administration had sought to shield 

Beijing from such criticism, but the Clinton 

Administration took a more aggressive 

position in partnership with the 12 

European Community countries. 

The commission deplored the human 

rights situation in Myanmar, formerly 

Burma, after its investigator was denied access 

to Aung San Suu Kyi, a Nobel Peace 

laureate who has been under house arrest 

since 1991. 

It also criticized Cuba for refusing to 

admit its special investigator and adopted 

resolutions criticizing the human rights record 

of Togo, Zaire, Sudan, Afghanistan, 

Equatorial Guinea, Iran, and the truncated 

Yugoslav federation, as well as Israel’s 

military activities in southern Lebanon. 

The Commission also voted to offer aid 

to El Salvador, Guatemala, Georgia and 

Somalia to improve their justice and police 

systems. 

INDONESIA REJECTS 

UNHRC RESOLUTION ON ET 

Radio Australia News (abridged), 15 March 


The leader of the Indonesian delegation to 

Geneva, Mr. Wiryono, has stated that 

Indonesia rejects the resolution of the 

UNHR Commission on East Timor adopted 

last week against Indonesia. He expressed 

his view about the resolution saying that 

Indonesia has been ‘unfairly treated.’ He 

also said that Indonesia was disappointed 

with Australia who chose to vote this time 

against Indonesia. 

Indonesia is obviously upset with the overwhelming 

support of the big powers in 

favour of ET, including Australia, which has 

always lobbied in its favour. My question is: 

what is the main reason which pushed 

Australia this time to support the resolution? 

Was it a genuine move? Or more likely, like 

Canada, it was also ‘forced’ to back the 

resolution because of Indonesia’s 

intransigence to negotiate? I understand that 

France, and lately the USA, has been in 

favour of a strong resolution, but not 

Australia. Moreover, with the reelection of 

Keating, I don’t see any good prospects for 

a fundamental change in Australia’s position 

regarding ET. I might be wrong, but, 

assessing from his previous policy to push 

Australia towards Asia, it doesn’t seem too 

encouraging. 

JAKARTA ‘REJECTS UN RESO- 

LUTION’ (BBC) 

Comment: It is significant that it took four 

days for Jakarta to come up with an official 

response to the UN resolution condemning 

Indonesia for human rights abuses in East 

Timor and calling for investigations by UN 

special rapporteurs. We have not yet seen 

Indonesian press reports there about the 

resolution though sources say the resolution 

was widely reported in the Indonesian press 

last Friday. 

From the unfolding of events surrounding 

negotiations in Geneva in an attempt to 

adopt a chairman’s statement this year 

instead of adopting a resolution, the impression 

is that a hardline position adopted 

by the military back home made it impossible 

for diplomats in Geneva to offer any 

concessions at all. It is likely that there are 

mutual recriminations in Jakarta between 

the foreign ministry and the military over 

who should be held responsible for this 

serious setback to Indonesia’s diplomacy 

over East Timor. 

– John MacD. 

According to a BBC World Service report 

from Jakarta on 15 March, a senior foreign 

ministry official has called the UN Human 

Rights Commission resolution on East 

Timor “unfair and unacceptable.” 

The official, Wiryono Sastrohandoyo, 

told journalists on Monday that Indonesia 

has been unfairly treated. He said the move 

was against the spirit of cooperation 

achieved last year when the commission 

issued a milder document - a chairman’s 

statement. 

This year, Mr. Wiryono said, Indonesia 

had been working for a similar outcome but 

could not accept the wording of a draft 

chairman’s statement and the Commission 

instead voted through a harsher resolution. 

But he added that the resolution was not 

binding and that Indonesia rejected it. In a 

clear reference to Portugal, Mr. Wiryono 

said he felt that some European countries 

were openly engaged in scoring points off 

Indonesia and wanted to perpetuate the issue 

of East Timor. Among those who voted 

for the resolution were Portugal, the UK, 

France, the US and Australia. 

INDONESIA REJECTS UN 

CONDEMNATION (AUSTRALIAN 

TV) 

ABN TV (ATVI), 12.30am 16th March 1993. 

Transcript of news item. 

READER: Indonesia has rejected last 

week’s United Nations condemnation of its 

human rights record in East Timor. A senior 

Indonesian offical has described the


resolution of the Human Rights 

Commmission in Geneva as “unfair and 

unacceptable.” 

IAN MACINTOSH REPORTS FROM 

Jakarta: The leader of Indonesia’s delegation 

of the Geneva meeting B. Sastro Handoyo 

(his real name is Mr. Wiryono 

Sastrohandoyo), said his government had 

been “unfairly treated.” According to Mr. 

Handoyo Jakarta had been working for a 

statement by the commission chairman 

similar to one adopted last year, which he 

said his government had acted upon. 

However, Mr. Handoyo said Jakarta would 

respond favorably to a further visit to 

Indonesia and East Timor by the UN official 

and he expressed disappointment over 

Australia’s support for the strongly worded 

European community-sponsored resolution 

finally adopted. He said Indonesia had expected 

Australia to vote differently. 

INDONESIA SLAMS UN REPORT, 

WILL CLOSE SPECIAL EAST TIMOR 

COMMAND 

Jakarta, March 15 (AFP) - A high-ranking 

Indonesian official said Monday his 

country had been treated unfairly in a U.N. 

Human Rights Commission (UNHRC) 

resolution condemning Indonesia’s record in 

East Timor, as the military announced plans 

to close a special military command there. 

“We have been treated unfairly by the 

commission,” said Wiryono Sastrohandoyo, 

policy director at Indonesia’s foreign affairs 

ministry, adding that Indonesia found the 

resolution “unfair in its content and harsh in 

its language.” 

In Geneva last Thursday, the U.N. body 

adopted a resolution condemning Indonesia 

for human rights abuses in East Timor, 

saying it was deeply troubled about continuing 

violations. 

In a related development, the Indonesian 

military said it was taking steps toward 

disbanding its special command in East 


Major General Suwardi, who heads the 

Bali-based Udayana Military Command that 

oversees security in East Timor, said 

preparations were under way to wind up 

East Timor’s Military Operational 

Command, set up in 1989. 

He did not say, however, when the 

command would stop operating in the former 

Portuguese colony, whose control by 

Indonesia is still not recognized by the 


If carried out the move would leave security 

arrangements in East Timor on par 

with those in the country’s other provinces. 

The Indonesian military has said the operational 

command will be disbanded when 

the fighting troops in East Timor have all 

been replaced by territorial units. 

The UNHCR resolution, supported by 

22 countries with only 12 opposed, also expressed 

“concern at the lack of information 

about the number of people killed” when the 

Indonesian army opened fire on a crowd of 

pro-independence demonstrators in Dili, the 

East Timor capital, in November 1991. 

HUMAN RIGHTS CRITICISM 

DRIVING INDONESIA INTO A 

CORNER, SAYS GENERAL 

DPA (official German news agency) 16 

March 1993 Dateline: Jakarta Abridged 

Comment: This could be a taking a swipe at 

Suharto for “having done so much” (after 

Santa Cruz) to no avail. Edi chaired the 

Military Tribunal that meted out some 

‘punishment’ to his close buddies, causing 

quite some humiliation in army circles. It is 

more evidently a swipe at the Indonesian 

diplomatic corps for failing to “tell the 

outside world about our efforts.” – TAPOL 

Criticism of Indonesia’s human rights 

record is driving the country into a corner, 

armed forces commander, General Edi 

Sudradjat said Tuesday. 

Indonesia had done its best to uphold 

democracy, human rights and environmental 

protection but international criticism of its 

rights policies was still pouring in, he noted. 

“The criticism has driven Indonesia into a 

corner,” Edi said and added that the country 

had done its best “which is better than 

many other countries. The problem is, we 

haven’t told the outside world enough about 

our efforts.” 

The general said many countries had only 

limited knowledge of Indonesia. The UN 

last Thursday adopted a resolution 

condemning Indonesia for human rights 

abuses in East Timor. Political observers 

said the resolution was a blow for Jakarta 

after the country held an international conference 

on human rights last month. 

INDONESIA, DESERVEDLY 

REBUKED 

The New York Times, Editorial Page, March 

17, 1993 Full text. “Topics of the Times” 

An old injustice was redressed at the 

United Nations last week, thanks to a 

timely policy shift by the Clinton 

Administration. The U.N. Human Rights 

Commission voted to express “deep concern” 

over human rights abuses in East 

Timor, the former Portuguese colony that 

Indonesia invaded in 1975 and then annexed. 

That’s the first such rebuff administered to 

powerful and populous Indonesia by the 

commission. 

Last year the Bush Administration joined 

Australia and Japan in derailing a similar 

resolution to avoid offending an influential 

third-world state. But with a different signal 

from Washington, Australia voted in favor, 

Japan abstained and others found their 

courage. The result: 22 nations favored, 12 

opposed and 15 abstained on a resolution 

that asks Indonesia to cooperate (which 

Jakarta says it will) with a U.N. inquiry into 

charges of torture and secret executions on 

the island. 

Few paid much attention to East Timor 

until November 1991, when Indonesian 

soldiers killed as many as 180 mourners at 

the funeral of a Timorese opponent of 

Jakarta’s tough military rule. When 

President Suharto, just elected unopposed 

to a sixth term, subsequently spoke at the 

United Nations he volubly condemned Israel 

for its occupation of Arab lands – but said 

not a word about East Timor. Thanks to the 

Clinton Administration, it will be harder 

now for him to pretend that no problems 

exist in his own backyard. 

ACTION ALERT ON 

INDONESIAN RESPONSE TO 

UNHRC RESOLUTION 

Dear Friends: 

Tapol has prepared this statement about 

Indonesia’s avowed rejection of the resolution 

passed by the UN Commission on 

Human Rights. We have today sent a copy 

to Douglas Hurd, the UK Foreign Minister, 

and we ask readers to press their own governments 

along the same lines. 

Thanks... 

TAPOL, 17 March 1993 

EAST TIMOR: COMMISSION ON 

HUMAN RIGHTS RESOLUTION: NO 

E/CN.4/1993/97 

Since the resolution on East Timor was 

passed by the 49th Session of the UN 

Commission on Human Rights, the 

Indonesian authorities have been claiming 

that the resolution is not binding and that 

Indonesia therefore rejects it. 

Mr. Wiryono Sastrohandoyo, Director- 

General for Political Affairs at the Foreign 

Ministry, headed the Indonesian delegation 

to the United Nations in Geneva. He told 

members of the press that the move was 

against the spirit of cooperation achieved in 

last year’s Commission through the milder 

Chairman’s statement and that, this year, 

Indonesia had been working for a similar 

agreement but could not accept the wording 

of the draft presented by the resolutions’ 

co-sponsors.


While this is not the first time a State has 

taken this stance, the United Nations needs 

to take a positive stand in order to confirm 

its central role in, and its terms for, 

maintaining world harmony and peace in the 

“new world order.” In the light of this, the 

remarks of the Indonesian authorities are 

extremely disquieting. We take this opportunity 

to outline our concerns. 

1 Challenge to the United Nations 

System: Statements to the domestic and 

international press, claiming that the resolution 

is not binding, present a serious 

challenge to the whole foundation of the 

United Nations human rights mechanism. If 

such arguments are allowed to persist uncontested, 

resulting in a fundamental undermining 

of international law, the whole 

role of the United Nations and, in particular 

here, the Commission on Human Rights, 

will be threatened. The United Nations is of 

course founded in principles of international 

law and therefore must treat resolutions of 

the Commission as binding on the parties 

involved. 

2 Membership: Indonesia is a member of 

the Commission. In becoming a member, and 

embracing the Universal Declaration of 

Human Rights, a state explicitly and implicitly 

becomes a promoter of human rights 

principles through the international 

mechanisms. Therefore, as a member 

Indonesia is obliged morally, to respect and 

honour the decisions taken by the 

Commission, even when those decisions are 

against its own interests. Without the 

acceptance of this basic principle by members 

states, the Commission cannot function 

in any true sense. 

3 Moral obligation: Whether or not this is 

accepted, at the very least, the reaction of 

the Indonesian authorities should cause 

grave concern to those 23 governments who 

voted in favour of the resolution as well as 

the 15 who abstained. Even if the legal obligation 

remains open to discussion, the 

moral obligation cannot be disputed. 

4 50th Session: Indonesia is under an 

obligation to carry out the terms of the 

resolution E/CN.4/1993/97. In particularly 

its obligations appear under operative paragraphs 

5, 6, 7, 8 and 9. Since in operative 

paragraph 12, the Commission decides to 

consider the situation in East Timor on the 

basis, inter alia, of the reports of the two 

special rapporteurs and two working 

groups, the Indonesian authorities are 

obliged to allow the UN officials free access 

in order to be able to furnish such reports. 

President Suharto explained recently to 

Chancellor Helmut Kohl of Germany that 

“Indonesia was committed to meeting the 

requirements imposed by the United 

Nations” (Jakarta Post, 25.II.1993). By rejecting 

the resolution of the Commission as 

unfair, unacceptable and not binding, the 

Indonesian authorities are intimating that 

they do not consider international law to be 

binding and that the Commission, that is the 

53 member governments, has no authority. 

Contrary to the statements of President 

Suharto, the Indonesian authorities’ have 

repeatedly threatened the authority of the 

Commission: they have not honored the 

terms of the Chairman’s Consensus 

Statement of the 48th Session with which 

they did agree, they have stated that they 

will not implement proposals contained in 

the report by the United Nations Special 

Rapporteur on Torture, Mr. Peter 

Kooijmans, and now they reject the resolution. 

If this is their position, we have to ask 

the reasons for Indonesia’s membership of 

the Commission and whether, if they do not 

ever intend to honour decisions of the 

Commission and do not regard international 

law as binding on them, they should remain 

as such? 

Indonesia defends its right to reject the 

resolution on the grounds that it tried to 

negotiate a second consensus statement on 

East Timor and that co-sponsors of the 

resolution acted unfairly and were “merely 

trying to score points off Indonesia” by perpetuating 

the East Timor issue. The member 

states of the Commission will have their 

own views on the attempted negotiations. 

But clearly attempts to claim that the 

resolution is not binding because negotiations 

failed, cannot be entertained. 

When countries only use the 

Commission, and concern for human rights, 

as a political tool, the future of all peoples 

throughout the world becomes more and 

more precarious. Stances like that of 

Indonesia, if they go unquestioned, threaten 

to make a mockery of the Commission. In 

addition, member states who are genuinely 

committed to the protection and upholding 

of human rights and international law become 

incapacitated. 

The reality of the “new world order” is 

that membership of the Commission is increasingly 

important, especially politically: 

A serious consideration for the Commission. 

For the Commission to strengthen the vital 

role it has in the world, member states must 

be expected and required to honour the 

Commission and its decisions and not 

merely reap the undoubted benefits of 

membership. 

COMMENT FROM BRUNO KAHN, 

AGIR POUR TIMOR 

Mar 18, 1993 

Although I fully agree we should react 

along the broad lines of TAPOL’s statement, 

I am uncomfortable with a few details 

in this proposal: 

The United Nations is of course founded 

in principles of international law and 

therefore must treat resolutions of the 

Commission as binding on the parties involved. 

I am not sure if this is true. “Binding” is a 

legal term and I don’t know if it applies in 

this case. Remember the Security Council 

resolutions on Kuwait, which were binding 

because they were under chapter 4 of the 

UN Charter (or something like that), while 

the media pointedly recalled that those 

concerning the Occupied Territories were 

not. Similarly, I bet the two SC resolutions 

on East Timor are not “binding,” and that is 

an excuse why no action is taken. I would be 

very surprised if this HRC resolution were 

legally binding for Indonesia. Last year’s 

Consensus Statement looks much more 

binding, because Indonesia agreed to it. So I 

feel it is a safer ground to demand that 

Indonesia at least respects its own 

commitments. 

Indonesia is under an obligation to carry 

out the terms of the resolution 

E/CN.4/1993/97. In particular its obligations 

appear under operative paragraphs 5, 6, 7, 

8 and 9. Since in operative paragraph 12, 

the Commission decides to consider the 

situation in East Timor on the basis, inter 

alia, of the reports of the two special rapporteurs 

and two working groups, the 

Indonesian authorities are obliged to allow 

the UN officials free access in order to be 

able to furnish such reports. 

Same remark. I am not sure of the value 

of the term “operative.” It seems to me that 

the only “operative” paragraph is #12, 

where the word ‘decides’ appear. Just as in 

a trial, a ruling of the court may not be sufficient 

to force the loser to do something. A 

further ‘executive’ order may be necessary 

to implement the ruling if the loser is recalcitrant. 

On the contrary: 

Therefore, as a member Indonesia is 

obliged morally, to respect and honour the 

decisions taken by the Commission, even 

when those decisions are against its own 

interests. 

This moral side is a quite safe ground, 

because it doesn’t touch legal points that 

can be challenged by experts. Just as the 

‘grave concern’ of those governments who 

voted for the resolution. 

I may be wrong in my reservations, but 

I’d rather have some advice from an international 

jurist.


INDONESIA LOSES 

GENEVA VOTE 

Southam News Service (Canada), 19 March 

1993. By DAVE TODD 

Comment: Southam News feeds most major 

Canadian dailies. Todd wrote several hardhitting 

pieces on East Timor following the 

Santa Cruz massacre, accusing the government 

of complicity in genocide; his 

criticisms of Canadian “quiet diplomacy” 

are toned down substantially in this piece. 

OTTAWA Indonesia suffered a humiliating 

political defeat Thursday at the 

United Nations when it rejected Canada’s 

advice and tried to legitimize its control of 


Authority over the island of Timor, north 

of Australia, has been disputed since the 

mid-1970s when Indonesia invaded the 

eastern half of the former Portuguese colony 

it inherited through post-colonial force. 

A series of bloodbaths over many years 

followed Indonesia’s invasion of the tropical 

enclave. 

Ultimately these led to a confrontation in 

the capital, Dili, two years ago in which 

government troops killed more than a hundred 

protesters and innocent bystanders and 

provoked an international incident by 

drawing international attention to what 

happened. 

On Thursday, the UN Human Rights 

Commission in Geneva was asked to vote 

on what the world body should do about 

such concerns. One choice was to censure 

Indonesia by placing the country under a 

UN human rights watch. 

Instead, the government of Indonesia, 

part of the 53-member UN Human Rights 

Commission at present, chose to raise the 

stakes by pushing a proposition that no action 

be taken. 

Canada, which tried hard to prevent 

matters coming to a head and feels itself 

under particular pressure because of a strong 

East Timor lobby in its own backyard had 

no choice. 

It was forced to help vote down the 

Indonesian initiative. 

A second vote chastized Indonesia’s actions 

in East Timor, but fell far short of 

calling for a UN human rights monitor to go 

in. 

The Canadian government has worked 

hard to achieve a balance between human 

rights concerns in its dealings with Indonesia 

and the reality that the country represents 

one of the brightest prospects in Asia, in 

terms of Canadian commercial interests. 

But diplomatic sources say that has 

nothing to do with this decision, which in 

any case was inevitable. 

Indonesian President Suharto was 

“elected” to yet another term in office this 

week. That, as much as anything, accounts 

for the sudden, intransigent stance in 

Geneva. 

SELECTIVE FOCUS ON 

HUMAN RIGHTS CRITICISED 

From Third World Network, Mar 16, 1993 

Geneva 13 March (Chakravarthi 

Raghavan) – The United Nations Human 

Rights Commission ended Friday its sixweek 

session marked by old East-West focus 

being replaced by an emerging North- 

South one. 

This was evident in the debates and 

resolutions, both on issues of general focus 

and those relating to individual country 

situations and how they were handled. 

Some Third World delegations noted a 

tendency for the industrialized countries, 

without any specific overt coordination, by 

and large acting or voting together, though an 

individual country or group of them might 

be taking the lead in tabling resolutions or 

negotiating on them. 

The discussions and debates at the UN 

body which oversees and monitors implementation 

of the Universal Declaration of 

Human Rights and various international 

covenants has long been marked by the 

East-West ideological battles during the 

Cold war and even the détente, with each 

side picking on the other as well as the 

other’s key supporters in the South. 

These went on side by side with the efforts 

within the UN system to focus on 

various aspects of the human rights – civil, 

political, economic, social and cultural – and 

seeking to expand international cooperation 

to make the rights and their enjoyment 

meaningful. 

But with the end of the cold war, new 

battle lines appear to be forming. 

In the just concluded 49th regular session, 

the North-South divisions came to the 

fore not only over questions like ‘right to 

development,’ external debt and structural 

adjustment issues, the global macroeconomic 

environment and its impact on enjoyment of 

human rights but also over some individual 

country situations as well as the future 

orientations and procedures of the 

Commission’s work and of the way several 

of its activities are conducted. 

On the latter, the developing countries 

pushed through two resolutions one asking 

for a report on the original mandates of 

various treaty and non-treaty mechanisms 

for supervision and monitoring of the implementation 

of the instruments as well as 

international legal standards and norms of 

existing non-treaty mechanisms, the norms 

and criteria used by them in their procedures, 

as well as the criteria used by the 

Centre for Human Rights (the secretariat) on 

how in practice it channels communications 

on these subjects to existing public bodies or 

confidential procedure mechanisms. 

They also got adopted another resolution 

underscoring the need for non-selectivity, 

objectivity and impartiality in the promotion, 

protection and full protection of human 

rights and fundamental freedoms and to 

ensure that the UN and international cooperation 

efforts in this area are not used for 

political ends. 

The first was adopted by a roll call vote 

of 33 against 16 (mainly the western countries, 

while the second was adopted without 

a vote. 

The countries of the South also got a 

resolution adopted on the right of development 

and for setting up a thematic working 

group on this issue, and two others on poverty 

and debt and human rights. 

The attempts of some of the major western 

countries to pressure individual Third 

World countries to fall in line and ‘vote’ or 

‘speak’ according to their desires which, 

with the end of the Cold war appears to 

have become more blatant in some capitals, 

figured at the final plenary when Malaysia 

spoke up on this. 

The Malaysian delegate told the 

Commission that while Malaysia welcomed 

“friendly and constructive consultations” on 

the work of the delegation at this and future 

sessions, “we take strong exceptions to approaches 

made by representatives of certain 

Western countries to our authorities in 

Kuala Lumpur that in any way question the 

integrity of our national positions on issues 

before this Commission or the underlying 

purpose of our membership in the 

Commission. 

” The Malaysian delegate declined later 

to elaborate on this or name any names. 

In this speech, he made a reference to 

Malaysia having moved a ‘no action’ resolution 

on the Portuguese-EC sponsored 

resolution against Indonesia over East Timor 

(which failed), and voting for another noaction 

motion (which was adopted) against a 

US sponsored one against China. 

Earlier, the Malaysian delegate, in explaining 

the Malaysian votes on a number of 

decisions and actions had underlined the 

delegation’s “serious concern over the increasing 

tendency at politicization of human 

rights issues where certain Western 

countries use double standards and selectiveness” 

in the Commission’s work. 

“We believe,” the Malaysian delegate 

said, “that confrontational and adversarial 

approach, accompanied by various forms of 

pressure tactics by certain Western countries, 

is not conducive towards enhancing


the work of the Commission in protecting 

and promoting human rights. 

We are also against politically motivated 

moves to bypass well tested procedures 

within the Commission such as the 

Confidential procedure (under which complaints 

against individual countries are 

handled in closed sessions and meetings).” 

“We are also concerned,” the Malaysian 

said, “over the tendency on their part to 

push through resolutions that could well go 

beyond the competence and mandate of the 

Commission, while also contravening the 

UN Charter, particularly Art 2 (7) on noninterference 

in the domestic affairs of sovereign 

states. 

We fear that whole credibility of this 

Commission could be affected. 

” Malaysia also regretted that in initiating 

a number of resolutions on country 

situations, the same group of countries did 

not “deem it fit to conduct serious and adequate 

consultations” on the substance of 

their resolutions with developing countries, 

regional groups and members of the Non- 

Aligned Movement. 

“It is on the basis of a combination of all 

the factors that the Malaysian delegation did 

not go along with their resolutions on a 

number of country situations,” he said referring 

to the Malaysian sponsoring of a noaction 

resolution on East Timor and voting 

for a no-action resolution on China. 

In the case of East Timor, where last year 

the Indonesians had agreed to a Chairman’s 

statement and had been cooperating with 

UN Secretary-General, the Portuguese 

pushed through a resolution against 

Indonesia. 

the no-action motion was turned down 

by a 15- 22 vote and the resolution itself 

carried by 22 to 12. 

Most of the western countries, except for 

Japan which abstained, voted with the 

Portuguese sponsored resolution against 

Indonesia which, among others asked that 

country to receive as many as three thematic 

special rapporteurs. 

Several of the Third World countries who 

voted with Indonesia had complained at the 

way the attempts to have a compromise 

Chairman’s statement, which would have 

adequately reflected the cooperation of the 

Indonesian authorities and the actions they 

had taken, had been thwarted. 

Even Australia which voted against 

Indonesia, in explaining its vote clearly 

recognized the positive steps that Indonesia 

had taken and its regret that it had not been 

possible to agree upon a Chairman’s statement. 

On the effective functioning of the various 

human rights mechanisms, the 

Commission in a resolution asked the UN 

Secretary-General to submit to its next 

session, as also to this year’s World 

Conference on Human Rights, a report on: 

* the original mandates assigned to various 

treaty and non- treaty mechanisms for 

supervision, investigation and monitoring of 

implementation of the provisions of the 

international legal instruments and standards, 

* the international legal norms and standards 

on which existing non-treaty mechanisms 

now base their activities, as well as 

the conceptual framework, methods of work 

and procedural rules that each have deemed 

it advisable to apply in the discharge of their 

mandate, 

* the norms, criteria and practices established 

by each of the various existing 

mechanisms on the admissibility of communications 

as well as their preliminary 

consideration and evaluation, their referral to 

interest parties and the subsequent course 

followed, and 

* the criteria used in practice by the 

Centre for Human Rights to channel communications 

received on these issues either 

to existing public machinery or to bodies 

provided in the confidential procedure established 

under the ECOSOC, together with 

the legal foundations for such criteria. 

Several of the cosponsors said that over a 

period of time the varying standards and 

criteria adopted, both by the mechanisms as 

well as by the secretariat itself, have become 

glaring and appears to be weighted against 

the countries of the South depending on 

their relationships with the leading Western 

powers. 

In another resolution on strengthening of 

UN action in field of human rights through 

international cooperation, the Commission, 

among other things, 

* reiterated that by virtue of equal rights 

and self- determination of peoples, “all 

peoples have the right to determine freely, 

without external interference, their political 

systems and to pursue their economic, social 

and cultural development” and every 

State has the duty to respect that right 

within the provisions of the UN Charter, 

including respect for territorial integrity, 

* reaffirmed that promotion, protection 

and full realization of all human rights and 

fundamental freedoms should be guided by 

the principles of “non-selectivity, impartiality 

and objectivity and should not be used 

for political ends,” 

* called upon all Member States to have 

their activities for promotion and protection 

and full realization of human rights and 

fundamental freedoms, including development 

of further international cooperation in 

this area, on the UN Charter, the international 

covenants on Human rights and other 

relevant instruments and “refrain from activities 

inconsistent with this international 

legal framework,” 

* underlined the “continuing need for 

accurate, impartial and objective information 

on the political, economic and social 

situation and events in all countries,” 

* requested all human rights bodies 

within the UN system, as well as special 

rapporteurs, special representatives, independent 

experts and working groups appointed 

or set up as special procedures 

“duly to take into account the contents of 

the present resolution in carrying out their 

mandates.” 

The resolution also called upon the UN 

Secretary-General, on the basis of comments 

made by governments, to prepare and 

submit to the Commission at its next 

session, a comprehensive report on various 

ways and means of promoting international 

cooperation and strengthening UN action in 

the field of human rights “in accordance 

with the principles of non-selectivity, impartiality 

and objectivity.” 

The developing countries also turned 

back an Austrian attempt to get the 

Commission approval for a resolution calling 

for the June World Conference in Vienna 

to discuss “an emergency mechanism” to 

address serious cases that arise in between 

the Commission’s ordinary annual 

sessions.” 

The near unanimous opposition of the 

developing countries to what was seen as a 

move to bypass the normal procedures and 

set a Northern agenda, resulted in the 

adoption of a resolution in effect remitting 

the issue to the ECOSOC for its consideration. 

Asian diplomats explained that Third 

World nations had rejected the proposal 

because they sensed that the underlying 

intention was to weaken the Commission as 

a deliberative body. 

Comment: While I don’t agree with the 

interpretation, and the description of the vote 

on the ET resolution ignores the fact that 

several countries of the South voted against 

Indonesia, and key Asian countries (Japan, 

Pakistan, South Korea) abstained, this 

article still raises some issues that need 

consideration. – Charlie Scheiner, ETAN/US 

RESPONSE FROM BRUNO KAHN, 

CHARLIE SCHEINER, OTHERS 

This is a draft being circulated among 

Malaysian and other Asian activists 

We were interested to read Chakravarti 

Raghavan’s account of new North-South 

antagonisms appearing in the 49th session 

of the UN Human Rights Commission. 

Without commenting on the substance of 

his report as a whole, we would like, as 

supporters of the struggle of the East


Timorese people for self-determination, to 

address the part of this report which refers 

to the vote of a resolution condemning 

Indonesia for its repression in occupied East 

Timor. We feel this part amounts to 

disinformation and would like to kindly ask 

you to post the following clarification. 

Sincerely yours, 

(signatures) 

1. East Timor was militarily invaded by 

Indonesia at the end of 1975. This invasion, 

which blatantly violates the UN Charter, 

was condemned by two Security Council 

resolutions and eight General Assembly 

resolutions. The annexation that followed is 

not recognised by the United Nations, nor 

by most countries in the world. East Timor 

has been, and still is, on the list of non selfgoverning 

territories since 1961, and is discussed 

every summer at the UN 

Decolonisation Committee. 

2. Continuing reports of grave human 

rights violations in East Timor by the 

Indonesian armed forces, including the death 

of at least one third of the population since 

the invasion, testimonies of large scale 

massacres, disappearances, atrocities, 

tortures, rapes and other ill-treatments have 

been available for several years from East 

Timorese refugees and the East Timorese 

Catholic church. They have been publicized 

by respected human rights organisations, 

such as Amnesty International and Asia 

Watch. 

3. On 12 November, 1991, Indonesian 

troops opened fire on a peaceful demonstration 

in Dili, killing at least 271 unarmed 

civilians, according to exact lists of names 

covertly compiled by the East Timorese 

resistance. This massacre was witnessed by 

foreign journalists, who all stress its 

peaceful character and were beaten up by 

Indonesian troops. A video of the massacre 

was smuggled out of the territory and was 

widely shown under the title ‘Cold Blood,’ 

including by the Malaysian television. 

4. Now regarding Mr. Raghavan’s report: 

“In the case of East Timor, where last year 

the Indonesians had agreed to a Chairman’s 

statement and had been cooperating with 

UN Secretary-General, the Portuguese 

pushed through a resolution against 

Indonesia.” 

Disinformation #1: the draft resolution 

was sponsored not just by Portugal but by 

24 governments, including governments 

from Europe and North America, but also 

Angola, Guinea-Bissau, Mozambique and 

Costa Rica. (For the uninformed reader, 

Portugal is the UN recognised administering 

power in East Timor, as former colonial 

power which has to carry through its process 

of decolonisation, interrupted by the invasion). 

“Most of the western countries, except for 

Japan which abstained, voted with the 

Portuguese sponsored resolution against 

Indonesia which, among others asked that 

country to receive as many as three thematic 

special rapporteurs. 

Several of the Third World countries who 

voted with Indonesia had complained at the 

way the attempts to have a compromise 

Chairman’s statement, which would have 

adequately reflected the cooperation of the 

Indonesian authorities and the actions they 

had taken, had been thwarted.” 

Disinformation #2: Mr. Raghavan conveniently 

fails to mention that 9 countries of 

the South voted in favour of the resolution 

(see country breakdown below). 

Disinformation #3: the resolution requests 

the Indonesian government to let the 

mentioned special rapporteurs visit, not 

Indonesia, but illegally occupied East Timor. 

Disinformation #4: according to our 

sources, the reason why the move towards a 

consensus statement failed was not intransigence 

of the Western countries, but 

Indonesia’s own intransigence, which hampered 

attempts of its allies to water down 

the resolution into such a consensus statement. 

Disinformation #5 (the most serious): the 

‘cooperation’ of the Indonesian authorities. 

Last year’s consensus statement, agreed on 

by Indonesia, asked inter alia: 

a) “further investigation into the action of 

the security personnel on November 12, 

1991, and into the fate of those unaccounted 

for (to) clarify the remaining discrepancies, 

namely on the number of people killed and 

those missing,” 

b) “that those brought to trial are assured 

of proper legal representation and those not 

involved in violent activities are released 

without delay,” 

c) (that the Indonesian government) 

“facilitates access to East Timor (to) additional 

humanitarian organisations and human 

rights organisations,” and 

d) (that Indonesia) “improves the human 

rights situation in East Timor.” 

Relatively to these points, we would like 

to observe that: 

a) The Indonesian government still uses 

an official number of 50 victims and about 

90 ‘missing’; the families of the victims have 

yet to know were the latter were buried. A 

house-to-house survey, necessarily carried 

out in secret, found 271 names of people 

killed at Santa Cruz, 382 wounded, 250 

‘disappeared’ and 364 arrested. 

The reader may be interested by the 

following quotes of prominent Indonesians, 

showing their remorse: 

General Try Sutrisno, then Commander 

in Chief of the Armed Forces, now Vice- 

President: “Delinquents like these agitators 

must be shot, and they will be, whenever 

that is necessary.” 

General Theo Syafei, new Commander 

for East Timor after the massacre: “Under 

my command, the number of victims would 

probably have been greater.” 

General Herman Mantiri, new 

Commander for Udayana (Eastern 

Indonesia) after the massacre: the shooting 

was “appropriate.” 

Abilio Osorio Soares, the new 

“Governor” of East Timor, a civilian: “In 

my view, in fact many more should have 

died. Why only that much? Why did not all 

the thousand die?” 

b) Demonstrators from November 12 

were convicted and given sentences as harsh 

as life imprisonment for merely participating 

to or organising a peaceful demonstration, 

while the few low-ranking soldiers 

convicted in court martials got sentences 

of two years or less under typical 

charges of “firing into the crowd without 

orders to do so.” 

c) Amnesty International was refused 

access to East Timor twice since the consensus 

statement: once in November 1992 

and once in January 1993. Asia Watch has 

also been refused. 

d) The human rights situation has seriously 

worsened since the massacre, the 

territory being closed officially to foreign 

journalists and de facto to foreign visitors; 

according to reports from inside, repression 

and violations reached an unprecedented 

level last November/December, at the time 

of the capture of Xanana Gusmão, the head 

of the East Timorese resistance. The latter is 

currently enjoying a show trial in Dili, 

where he could be sentenced to death. 

Portuguese journalists admitted to observe 

the trial were ordered to leave after less than 

a week. 

It is a mockery to talk about the cooperation 

of the Indonesian authorities when, 

instead of respecting their own commitments, 

they do exactly the opposite. 

“Even Australia which voted against 

Indonesia, in explaining its vote clearly 

recognized the positive steps that Indonesia 

had taken and its regret that it had not been 

possible to agree upon a Chairman’s 

statement.” 

Disinformation #6: Mr. Raghavan fails to 

mention that Australia is a faithful ally of 

Indonesia, the only country in the world 

that recognises the annexation of East Timor 

de jure. It is currently preparing to exploit 

the oil reserves of the Timor Sea in concert 

with Indonesia, effectively robbing the 

people of East Timor of their natural 

resources, although a case pending in the 

International Court of Justice would invalidate 

the Australia-Indonesia Timor Gap 

treaty. It is not surprising that such an ally


should defend Indonesia; on the other hand, 

the fact that Australia felt compelled to vote 

for the resolution shows the dilemma that 

the Indonesia government’s conduct in East 

Timor creates for Jakarta’s supporters. 

Appendix 1: text of the UNHRC resolution 

adopted 11 March 1993. 

Appendix 2: country voting breakdown. 

UN ROUND-UP OF 

UNHRC SESSION 

HR/CN/453, Official UN Press Release 

(Excerpts) 17 March 1993 

FORTY-NINTH SESSION OF HUMAN 

RIGHTS COMMISSION 

GENEVA, 1 FEBRUARY-12 MARCH 

Appoints Special Rapporteurs on 

Occupied Territories, Sudan, Equatorial 

Guinea, Racism and Freedom of Opinion; 

Expert on Somalia 

GENEVA, 12 March (UN Information 

Service) – Following six weeks of intensive 

debate on the situation of human rights in 

the world, and the adoption of 98 resolutions 

and 16 decisions on a wide spectrum 

of human rights issues, the Commission on 

Human Rights concluded its forty-ninth 

session at Geneva this afternoon. 

... 

The Commission also expressed deep 

concern over the situation in East Timor and 

called on Indonesia to step up efforts to 

identify those killed and unaccounted for in 

East Timor, to find and punish those responsible, 

and to solicit visits to the island 

by the Commission’s Special Rapporteurs. 

Further, the Commission expressed its deep 

concern at the serious human rights violations 

in the Sudan, including summary executions, 

detention without due process, 

forced displacement of persons and torture. 

It also exp ressed its deep concern at continuing 

reports of violations of human rights 

in Iran, including the high number of 

executions, torture, the lack of guarantees of 

due process of law, and discriminatory 

treatment of certain groups of citizens for 

their religious beliefs, notably the Baha’is. 

... 

Resolutions Adopted 

With regard to the situation in East 

Timor, the Commission expressed its deep 

concern at the reports of continuing human 

rights violations, regretted that the 

Indonesian investigation into the actions of 

the members of its security personnel on 12 

November 1991 had failed to clearly identify 

all those responsible for those actions, 

and expressed its concern at the lack of information 

about the number of people killed 

on that day and those still unaccounted for. 

It called upon the Government of 

Indonesia to honour fully its human rights 

commitments, and called upon it to ensure 

that all the East Timorese in custody be 

treated humanely and with their rights fully 

respected. It urged the Government to invite 

the Special Rapporteur on the question of 

torture, the Special Rapporteur on extrajudicial, 

summary or arbitrary executions, 

the Working Group on Arbitrary Detention 

and the Working Group on Enforced or 

Involuntary Disappearances to visit East 

Timor and to facilitate the discharge of their 

mandates; and welcomed the agreement 

given by the Government to the proposal of 

the Secretary-General for a new visit to 

Indonesia and East Timor by his Personal 

Envoy in the coming months. 

EUROPEAN POSITIONS 

AT UNHRC 

From Bruno Kahn, Mar 27, 1993 

According to a diplomatic source, the EC 

countries which tried most to obstruct the 

drafting of a resolution on East Timor at the 

UN Human Rights Commission were The 

Netherlands, Great Britain and France. 

Denmark was the most supportive. 

U.S. CONCERN OVER EAST 

TIMOR MAY SIGNAL ASIAN 

POLICY CHANGE 

Los Angeles Times, April 2, 1993, By 

Charles P. Wallace, Times Staff Writer 

[Most of this article was also published in 

the London Guardian April 3, under the 

headline CLINTON SHIFT ON EAST 

TIMOR SENDS RIPPLES AROUND ASIA.] 

(DENPASAR, Indonesia) The remote 

territory of East Timor has been a thorn in 

the Indonesian government’s side for years. 

Now a Clinton Administration decision to 

adopt a tougher stance on human rights 

violations there is being seen as a possible 

precursor to a fundamental change in U.S. 

human rights policy in Asia. 

The departure came late last month in a 

little-noticed action when the United States 

joined in supporting a resolution of the U.N. 

Human Rights Commission expressing 

“deep concern” over rights violations in East 

Timor, a former Portuguese colony annexed 

by Indonesia in 1976. Under former 

Presidents Ronald Reagan and George Bush, 

the United States helped block similar 

resolutions condemning Indonesia’s behavior 


Indonesian government officials were 

reported by Asian diplomats to be stunned 

by the Clinton Administration shift. 

Further, other countries, such as China and 

Malaysia, have flatly warned the United 

States that adopting tougher human rights 

positions could cost America jobs at home 

because of probable retaliation by Asian 

countries. 

As a result, the decision on Timor is 

being studied widely around the region. 

The U.N. action called on Indonesia to 

allow international experts on torture, executions 

and disappearances to visit the island 

to investigate allegations against 

Indonesia’s military. Indonesia condemned 

the charges as “unwarranted sweeping allegations.” 

The Indonesian government has permitted 

selected diplomats and observers to visit 

the island recently to attend the carefully 

stage-managed trial of José Gusmão, 45, the 

leader of Fretilin, East Timor’s tiny 

independence movement. 

Gusmão, known by his nom de guerre, 

Xanana, is charged with fomenting revolution 

and weapons offenses. A televised confession 

that he gave before the start of the 

trial prompted diplomats to wonder 

whether he had been tortured or threatened 

by the military. 

Diplomats who have visited Timor – access 

to the island is controlled by the government 

– say Fretilin probably has fewer 

than 100 fighters after nearly two decades of 

Indonesian military rule. 

Indonesia’s annexation of East Timor has 

never won the acceptance of the United 

Nations, which has repeatedly called for the 

people to decide their own future. West 

Timor has been part of Indonesia since 

Indonesian independence after World War 

II. 

Tensions between the military and the 

local population reached a high in 

November, 1991, when troops opened fire 

on a crowd at a funeral in Dili, killing 60 to 

100 people. Four officers and six enlisted 

men were court-martialed for the killings. 

But the longest sentence handed out was 18 

months. The military has never admitted 

that more than 19 people were killed. But a 

government-appointed investigating commission 

said at least 50 people had died. 

Most diplomats expect that Gusmão will 

be given a severe sentence, which will be 

commuted by the government as a sign of its 

leniency and flexibility. 

But diplomats cautioned that, with restive 

populations elsewhere in the archipelago, 

it is unlikely that the government in 

Jakarta will go beyond that cosmetic gesture 

and grant the Timorese any degree of 

autonomy. 

GRAPHIC: Map, Indonesia, VICTOR 

KOTOWITZ / Los Angeles Times


SOME TIMORESE BEING 

GROOMED FOR INDONESIA 

From John A. MacDougall, April 2, 1993 

It’s no secret that Indonesian officialdom 

has been grooming an increasing contingent 

of educated East Timorese for its own 

‘development’ purposes inside East Timor 

and ‘diplomatic’ purposes abroad. Perhaps 

sometimes the East Timorese involved have 

indeed become ‘convinced,’ as in the expression 

‘a convinced Friend.’ But more 

often than might be thought, the East 

Timorese involved might just have been 

caught up in survival dilemmas from which 

they see no easy way to extricate themselves. 

I was reminded of this latter possibility 

when seeing an Indonesian Observer article 

dealing mainly with the recent U.N. Human 

Rights Commission proceedings. 

Salvador Ximenes, a Golkar DPR member 

from East Timor, is quoted as saying 

Indonesia fulfilled the EC’s demand to allow 

foreign journalists and international 

organizations to come to East Timor. 

The same article quotes then Interior 

Minister Rudini as saying “the first young 

Indonesian diplomat, also hailing from East 

Timor, Leonardo Gutteres, now Third 

Secretary at the Indonesian Embassy in 

Geneva” spoke at the UNHCR session. He 

is reported to have said charges by Portugal 

and NGOs re human rights in East Timor 

were out-of-date. 

Two other East Timorese representatives, 

Rui Gomes and Florentino da Cruz, 

also reportedly took the floor to respond to 

NGOs. Both gave explanations “similar to 

those given by the Indonesian delegation 

that there had been no violation of human 

rights in the province.” 

What are we to make of these various 

remarks by East Timorese? Have they become 

‘convinced Indonesians,’ or are they 

consciously engaging in yet another 

‘sandiwara’ not unlike those in the Dili 

trials? 

COMMENT FROM AN ANONYMOUS 

AUSTRALIAN FRIEND 

If “Rui Gomes” is the Ruis Gomes I 

know he is a strange character. His father is 

a Pentecostal minister in Dili who says he is 

completely apolitical. Rui has been a 

student of psychology and theology in 

Semarang and Salatiga. He was always 

distrusted by other ET students, spent a lot 

of time learning self-defence. Works at the 

National Planning Board office in Dili, but 

confesses his job description is “something 

like spying.” Always has plenty of money, 

and travels overseas fairly frequently on 

unexplained missions. Yet he has a brother 

in Sydney who has had to undergo major 

surgery on his head for torture inflicted on 

him by the Indonesian military - he was apparently 

a Fretilin supporter there till his 

escape 2 years ago. 

This story indicates not only the opportunism 

of many individuals, it also illustrates 

the lonely life that these opportunists 

have to lead among their own people. 

Secondly it indicates the phenomenon of 

families that stretch across strongly divergent 

political loyalties - as in the Carrascalao 

family and many others. I think also of 

prominent Irianese families like Kaisiepo. 

My feeling is that the balance of advantage 

is still to the resistance in such cases, 

because of the access they have to “the 

system” through these opportunistic 

individuals, whose betrayal must be limited 

by blood loyalties. Of course ABRI intel are 

aware of these risks, and that is what makes 

the life of an opportunist so much more 

miserable. 

INDONESIA ASKS NON- 

ALIGNED COUNTRIES TO 

SUPPORT REPRESSION 

From ETAN/US April 5, 1993 

Indonesia is trying to portray the struggle 

for human rights in East Timor as an effort 

by Western countries to undercut the 

sovereignty of the Third World. 

At a meeting of Non-Aligned countries 

this morning (April 5) at the UN in New 

York, Indonesia distributed a letter dated 15 

March from the UN Representative of 

Malaysia to the UN Representative of 

Indonesia. Attached to the letter was a 

statement delivered by Mr. M. Redzuan 

Kushairi (Alternate Leader of the Malaysian 

Delegation) at the conclusion of the UN 

Human Rights Commission Session in 

Geneva on March 12, as well as the “No- 

Action” motions made by Malaysia in that 

Commission regarding East Timor and 

China. (The eight pages of attachments are 

too long for me to type, but I will fax them 

to anyone who can type or scan them for 

broader circulation.) 

Some Non-Aligned countries are reluctant 

to go along with Indonesia, and there is no 

consensus within the Non-Aligned 

Movement. Please do what you can to convince 

Third World governments that human 

rights – such as freedom from murder, 

genocide, and colonial domination – are just 

as valid for people in the Non-Aligned 

world as they are for anyone else, regardless 

of the political, economic and ethnic 

composition of the oppressing nation. 

Certainly, human rights include economic 

rights for the people of the developing 

countries, and there must be major changes 

in the international economic order. But as 

we work for global economic justice, we 

must also work for the rights, indeed the 

survival, of people in territories unfortunate 

enough still to be dominated by military or 

totalitarian regimes. 

The letter reads as follows: 

Permanent Representative of Malaysia to 

the UN 

New York, 15 March 1993 

H.E. Mr. Nugroho Wisnumurti, 

Permanent Representative of Indonesia 

Your Excellency, 

Malaysia participated for the first time 

as a member of the Commission on Human 

Rights at its 49th Session in Geneva which 

concluded on Friday, 12 March 1993. 

As a developing country and member of 

the Non-Aligned Movement, the Malaysian 

delegation witnessed with serious concern 

the politicization of the Commission by 

certain Western countries. Practice of political 

selectivity and double standards was 

often accompanied by various forms of 

pressure tactics including those at the 

capital. All this prompted the Malaysian 

delegation to make a general statement of 

explanation at the conclusion of the 49th 

Session of the Commission on Human 

Rights which I am attaching herewith for 

your attention. 

As the statement raised issues that are of 

concern not only to Malaysia, but to other 

developing countries and members of the 

Non-Aligned Movement, I shall be most 

grateful if you could circulate the statement 

to members of the Non-Aligned Movement 

for their information. 

In addition, in the light of the challenges 

faced by developing countries and members 

of the Non-Aligned Movement at the 

Commission on Human Rights, I thought it 

would be useful if a meeting of the 

Coordinating Bureau of the Non-Aligned 

Movement could be convened at an earliest 

convenient date to exchange views on the 

49th Session of the Commission on Human 

Rights, which amongst others also touched 

on the World Conference on Human Rights 

to be held in Vienna later in June. I hope our 

suggestion will receive a favourable response 

from you, in your capacity as Chairman of 

the Coordinating Bureau of the Non-Aligned 

Movement. 

Please accept, Excellency, the assurances 

of my highest consideration. 

Razali Ismail 

Ambassador 

Excerpts from Malaysia’s statement at 

the close of the Human Rights 

Commission: 

We believe that with the end of the Cold 

War and East-West ideological rivalry the


time is opportune for the international 

community to approach the question of 

protecting and promoting human rights in 

the spirit of constructive dialogue and cooperation 

on the basis of objectivity, nonselectivity, 

and non politicization of issues. 

We also believe that the time has come for 

the Commission to take a more holistic approach 

to human rights and not to be too 

preoccupied with questions of individual 

rights and freedoms under the International 

Covenant on Political and Civil Rights. This 

would require the Commission to give 

serious and focused attention on efforts towards 

implementing the Declaration on the 

Right to Development, whose realization 

would facilitate the fulfillment of the goals 

of both the International Covenant on 

Economic, Social, and Cultural Rights as 

well as the International Covenant on 

Political and Civil Rights. 

... 

While we welcome the spirit of constructive 

dialogue and cooperation to enhance 

the work of the Human Rights 

Commission, the Malaysian delegation 

would like to take this opportunity to underline 

our serious concern over the increasing 

tendency at politicization of human 

rights issues where certain Western 

countries use double standards and selectivities 

in the work of the Commission. We 

believe that confrontational and adversarial 

approach, accompanied by various forms of 

pressure tactics by certain Western countries, 

is not conducive towards enhancing 

the work of the Commission in protecting 

and promoting human rights. We are also 

against politically motivated moves to bypass 

well tested procedures within the 

Commission such as the Confidential 

Procedure 1503. We are also concerned over 

the tendency on the part of certain Western 

countries to push through resolutions that 

could well go beyond the competence and 

mandate of the Commission, while also 

contravening the UN Charter particularly on 

Article 2 paragraph 7 on non interference in 

the domestic affairs of sovereign states. 

CHAIRMAN OF COMMISSION 

ON HUMAN RIGHTS 

ANNOUNCES SEVEN 

SPECIAL RAPPORTEURS 

UN Press Release, 2 April 1993, Abridged. 

Biographical Note BIO/2763 

GENEVA, 2 April (UN Information 

Service) – The Chairman of the Commission 

on Human Rights, Mohamed Ennaceur 

(Tunisia), this morning announced the 

designation of seven country or thematic 

Special Rapporteurs, as decided by the 

Commission at its recently concluded fortyninth 

session. 

They are as follows: 

– Robert Dossou (Benin), as Special 

Rapporteur on contemporary forms of racism, 

racial discrimination, xenophobia and 

related intolerance 

– Nigel S. Rodley (United Kingdom), as 

Special Rapporteur on torture (resolution 

1993/40 of 5 March). Mr. Rodley is the 

doyen of the Faculty of Law of Essex 

University, former legal counsellor for 

Amnesty International and author of numerous 

publications relating to human 

rights. 

TIMOR CONTROVERSY 

AT BANGKOK HUMAN 

RIGHTS MEETING 

ROW OVER NGO 

ACCREDITATION 

From Jean Inglis, International Federation 

for East Timor. March 30, 1993 

The issue of East Timor has been aired 

prominently in the two Thai English dailies, 

The Nation and The Bangkok Post, for a 

week, thanks to a row over NGO accreditation 

for the Asian Regional Meeting of the 

UN World Conference on Human Rights 

which opened in Bangkok on March 29 and 

to hitting remarks by East Timorese José 

Ramos Horta at an Asia-Pacific NGOs 

conference that preceded the UN meeting 

and at the Regional Meeting itself. The 

NGO in question, the International 

Federation for East Timor, was unable to be 

accredited for the UN meeting due to the 

strong objection of the Indonesian government. 

I have just returned from Bangkok and 

will try to post a sampling of the press that 

this issue got. Most encouraging has been 

the overwhelming support of other NGOs 

in Bangkok for the conference. As pressing 

as the various issues of the other NGOs 

obviously are, the spirit at Bangkok was one 

of insisting on the urgency of lobbying on 

the East Timor issue. The UN conference 

winds up Friday, and I will post you on the 

outcome when my IFET colleague, Kiyoko 

Furusawa, returns. The NGOs in Bangkok 

are very strong, very united, and very 

determined to win every bit of ground 

possible in Bangkok with a view to 

maximizing the possibilities for the Vienna 

meeting. 

GROUPS PLEDGE TO 

BOOST EAST TIMOR FIGHT 

Sydney Morning Herald, Monday March 31, 

1993. By Lindsay Murdoch, Herald SE Asia 

correspondent. Unabridged. Similar article 

in Melbourne Age, 29 March. 

(Bangkok, Sunday) East Timorese independence 

activists have won support from 

more than 100 non-government organizations 

for a public campaign in Asia against 

Indonesia’s rule of the former Portuguese 

colony. 

A Timorese leader, Mr. José Ramos 

Horta, said today the campaign would turn 

the East Timor conflict into a regional issue 

for the first time. 

“Previously we have had support in 

Australia and Europe but not in Asia. This 

is a breakthrough,” he said. The campaign 

will culminate with a three-day seminar on 

the human rights situation in East Timor in 

Manila in November. 

The E. Timor independence lobby was 

buoyed early this month when the UN 

Human Rights Commission in Geneva condemned 

Indonesia for its inaction on human 

rights in East Timor. The strength of the 

criticism surprised Jakarta, which in January 

agreed to the setting up of national 

commissions to protect human rights. 

The organizations meeting in Bangkok 

this weekend before a UN-organized 

meeting of the 49 Asian governments on 

human rights said in a statement that East 

Timor “must be made into an Asian issue.” 

The campaign would be geared towards 

negotiations to end the conflict under the 

auspices of the UN and on the basis of a 

genuine act of self-determination. 

However, strong Indonesian objection 

has prevent a major lobby group, the 

Tokyo-based International Federation of 

East Timor, being accredited at the governments 

meeting which is to prepare Asia’s 

position ahead of a world human rights 

conference in Vienna in June. 

The forum, one of the largest of its kind 

held in Asia, issued a declaration urging 

governments to agree to strengthen UN action 

on human rights, including the creation 

of a UN human rights commissioner with 

wide powers. 

It said that UN attempts over 10 years 

had made little progress in eradicating gross 

violations of human rights around the world, 

many of them perpetrated by Asian 

governments. 

The meeting of Asian governments is 

expected to close ranks against the critical 

West on human rights. Australia will attend 

this week’s meeting only as an observer, 

without voting rights, because several Asian 

governments objected to its participation on


the basis that Canberra would bring a critical 

Western perspective to the meeting. 

HUMAN RIGHTS MEETING IN 

BANGKOK - IS IT A SHAM? 

From the South East Asian Information 

Network, Chaingmai- Thailand, 29 March 

The Asian agenda for the upcoming 

World Human Rights Conference to be held 

in Vienna from June 14-25, is being set at an 

inter-governmental meeting which begins in 

Bangkok today. 

The meeting has been organised by the 

Economic and Social Commission for Asia 

and Pacific (ESCAP). There are 49 governmental 

delegates representing the Asia 

Pacific region and will for the first time 

attempt to formulate an agreed agenda for 

the conference in Vienna. 

On the discussion table are proposals to 

set up a regional mechanism to monitor, 

protect and promote human rights. The 

proposal surprisingly came from Indonesia, 

who recently hosted a pre-meeting to discuss 

human rights in the Asian region. 

Given that the Indonesian Government 

describes those of us that aim to raise issues 

such as democracy, openness, the environment 

and human rights as “fourth 

generation communists” it is vital that the 

voice of the international communities representing 

the people are heard. 

Prior to the meeting being opened today 

by Thailand’s Prime Minister Chuan 

Leekpai, there was a 4 day Asia-Pacific Non 

Government Organisation (NGO), conference 

on human rights held in order to assert 

the people’s position which will be 

presented to the inter-governmental meeting. 

240 representatives of more than 110 

NGOs from 26 countries in the region have 

put forward a detailed human rights agenda 

for the 1990’s and beyond. 

Yesterday afternoon 30, NGOs which 

have applied to participate in the intergovernmental 

meeting including the South East 

Asian Information Network were still rejected 

as negotiations between the United 

Nations organizers continued into today. 

There were 234 NGOs from the region that 

applied for participation by the March 4th 

deadline. 

The 4 day conference ended with a declaration 

from all participating delegates 

which also included challenges and recommendations. 

“We affirm our commitment to the 

principle of indivisibility and interdependence 

of human rights, be they civil, political, 

economic, social or cultural. 

The Protection of human rights concerns 

both individuals and groups. The enjoyment 

of human rights implies a degree of 

responsibility to the community. 

There must be a holistic and integrated 

approach to human rights. One set of rights 

cannot be used to bargain for another. 

Major Recommendations: 

Governments of the region must accede 

without further delay to the principal 

United Nations conventions and human 

rights instruments: 

These governments must without further 

delay remove reservations on those agreements 

to which they are a party, particularly 

the Convention on the Elimination of 

Discrimination Against Women; and: 

These international agreements must be 

given force not only in domestic law but in 

practice. 

For an establishment of a UN Special 

Commissioner for Human Rights as a new 

high-level political authority to bring a more 

effective and rapid response, coherence and 

co-ordination to the UN’s human rights 

effort. 

Improvement of current treaty monitoring 

bodies and mechanisms; and 

Support of a regional human rights 

mechanism subject to explicit guarantee of 

independence, effectiveness and public access, 

including NGOS. 

There is great concern of the blatant 

blocking of NGO participation by certain 

governments of the Asian meeting. The 

governments concerned have made it known 

that certain NGOS which have been overly 

critical of their human rights policies be 

excluded. 

Some NGOS have been given accreditation 

to attend sessions, however a majority 

of the meetings will be held in camera. As 

for the access to delegates, the main tactic 

will have to be approaching a delegate in the 

corridors of the ESCAP building, the venue 

for the session. 

If the United Nations and ESCAP, do not 

allow the voices of their constituents to be 

heard then the whole human rights 

commission will be nothing than a waste of 

tax payers money and bureaucratic nonsense. 

And what of the people who every day 

suffer from the brutality of oppressive regimes. 

The people of East Timor who were 

invaded by Indonesia in December 1975 are 

not only having to deal with their loss of 

sovereignty, but in this process of a human 

rights venue have to deal with Indonesia 

being the Chair of the Non-Aligned 

Movement . A government who has not 

been made accountable for its crimes and 

massive human rights abuse, will ensure to 

block any move for such process to take 

place. 

And what of the people in Burma? 

Whilst the State Law and Order Restoration 

Council (SLORC) continues its brutal hold 

on the country, with mass relocations of 

ethnic nationalities, rape, military 

offensives, and mass tortures within their 

cities and rural areas? Will the ESCAP 

meeting hear their voices? 

The NGO community in Asia has made 

massive moves forward to ensure their governments 

start taking the issue of human 

rights seriously. At times with great risk, 

having to face their own military and forcing 

regimes to resign. It is crucial we keep the 

pressure up and ensure that the governments 

of the region understand that human 

rights are universal. 

The South East Asian Information 

Network (SAIN) is an NGO based in 

Chiangmai-Thailand. Its mandate is to expose 

the human rights and environmental 

abuses in the region. 

HUMAN RIGHTS VALUES – 

EASTERN, WESTERN OR 

UNIVERSAL? 

by Kunda Dixit 

Bangkok, Mar. 26 (IPS) - Differing 

definitions of human rights threaten to polarize 

an Asia-Pacific regional meeting on 

human rights that begins here Monday. 

At the heart of the dispute is the argument 

that western definitions of human 

rights emphasize individual choice and civil 

liberties, while oriental cultures attach more 

value to community welfare and respect for 

elders. 

Irritated by what they say is neo-colonial 

western attitudes about democracy, Asia’s 

newly-affluent nations look set to use the 

Bangkok meeting to push for new yardsticks 

for human rights that are more rooted 

in their own culture and values. 

But the region’s activist groups, who are 

holding their own parallel meeting here this 

week, say concepts of democracy and human 

rights should be universal. 

Although the two views need not be 

mutually exclusive, it is expected to be divisive 

for the 49 countries and more than 

250 groups attending as observers. The 

Bangkok meeting will prepare for the world 

conference on human rights in Vienna in 

June. 

Leading the debate are South-East Asia’s 

newly-affluent authoritarian capitalist states 

like Singapore, Indonesia and Malaysia, and 

nations that espouse market socialism like 

China. 

They bristle when human rights and democracy 

are measured by what they say are 

standards set in Europe and the United 

States. They say a community’s right to


food, shelter and basic health care is more 

fundamental than its right to vote. 

A society must first be able to achieve a 

decent standard of living for all its people – 

something, they say, is not possible in 

Asia’s rambunctious and chaotic westernstyle 

democracies. 

But activist groups maintain that a distinction 

between individual and community 

rights is absurd. They say the suppression 

of opposition parties in Burma or the absence 

of basic freedoms in North Korea 

must be condemned by any yardstick. 

“The argument that the people can have 

bread now and ballot later is a false dichotomy,” 

argues Clarence Dias of the 

International Centre for Law in 

Development. “There is a danger that the 

people will end up having neither bread not 

ballot.” 

Dias says vigorous calls by third world 

governments at international fora in defence 

of economic and cultural safeguards for the 

underprivileged is not reflected in their 

domestic record. 

Ross Daniels of Amnesty International 

agrees. He told a forum in Bangkok last 

month it made little difference to the victim 

to be tortured in a western way or an Asian 

way. 

“Rape is not something that is done In 

Asian. Rape is rape, torture is torture, and 

human rights are human rights,” he said. 

Other activists feel that although several 

Asian countries have emerged from totalitarianism 

to elect their own leaders, multiparty 

democracy has in many cases legitimized 

the interests of the ruling classes. 

“Multi-party systems have simply 

camouflaged democratic dictatorships and 

legitimized new forms of authoritarianism,” 

says Gopal Sivakoti of the Katmandu-based 

International Institute for Human Rights, 

environment and development. “Free election 

is not the only apparatus to protect 

human rights.” 

Dazzled by the glittering economic success 

of their neighbours, people in some 

poorer Asian countries seem to yearn for 

strongman rule and agree with Singapore’s 

Lee Kuan Yew who has repeatedly told 

them too much democracy is keeping them 

poor. 

Conference host Thailand restored civilian 

democracy after a student-led uprising 

last year and is caught between joining 

fellow members of the Association of 

South-East Asian Nations (ASEAN) to oppose 

the west and to shore up its own 

commitment to democratic values. 

“Braving batons and bullets, Thais fought 

for a government free from the domination 

of the military. Against this backdrop ... the 

human rights conference is a time endeavor,” 

said Bangkok’s the Nation newspaper on 

Friday. 

Nut human rights activist groups say 

inter-governmental meetings like the world 

conference in Vienna will be little more than 

a rubber stamping exercise since nation 

states will not allow discussion of rights 

violations of another member country. 

“There is no room for discussing specific 

national issues at these meetings, that is 

why the activities of non-governmental organisations 

is so important,” says Dias. 

“They are the only ones who can raise 

abuses like East Timor, Bhutan or Burma.” 

Asian non-governmental groups are 

holding their own forum at Bangkok’s 

Chulalongkorn university this week to prepare 

a common strategy for the Vienna conference 

and are coming up with a conference 

statement highlighting their concerns. 

Vitit Muntarbhorn of Chulalongkorn’s 

law faculty says the theory that economic 

development should precede democracy is 

flawed, and so is the argument that human 

rights is a western concept or that it is a 

country’s own business. 

Sums up Vitit: “no, economic development 

and democracy have to go together. 

We say no, human rights is universal. And 

no, human rights is not a nation’s internal 

affair: it joins hands across borders, it is a 

human solidarity issue.” 

NGOS BANNED FROM 

ASIAN MEETING 

The Nation (Bangkok), March 30, 1993 

Slightly Abridged by Jean Inglis 

Organizers side with Indonesia in East 

Timor row 

Comment: Only one of the two NGOs mentioned, 

IFET, actually applied. The 

“rejection” of the other NGO, Free East 

Timor Coalition (sic), is, I would guess, a 

rejection from a list of NGOs in the area 

which the UN Centre drew up on its own 

initiative and presented to the governments. 

Evidently 30 NGOs in all were rejected, and 

efforts are being made to find out who they 

are. – Jean Inglis, FET-JC 

Two Japan-based non governmental organizations 

(NGOs) campaigning for East 

Timor have been barred from participating 

in the Asia Regional Meeting for the Second 

World Conference on Human Rights that 

started in Bangkok yesterday. 

John Pace, the World Conference’s coordinator, 

without naming any countries, 

admitted that “one government” had opposed 

their participation while another 

supported their presence at the conference. 

It was, however, understood that the opposing 

party was Indonesia and the proponent 

was Japan. 

“It may not be an amicable solution to 

ban their participation but the organizing 

committees felt it was a necessary thing.” 

said Pace without elaborating. 

One of the NGOs barred is the 

International Federation for East Timor, 

which is associated with the United Nations 

Department of Public Information. The 

NGO consists of 17 organizations from 12 

countries with an interest in the decolonization 

process in East Timor. The 

other organization is the Free East Timor 

Coalition. 

Both NGOs had initially obtained accreditation 

from the United Nations to attend 

the Asian Meeting. 

Informed sources at the conference said 

Indonesia threatened to walk out of the conference 

if representatives from these NGOs 

were allowed to join the meeting. 

The sources added that the organizers 

bowed to the requests of the Indonesian 

government because they did not want to 

jeopardize the chances of UN Special 

Representative Amos Wako, assigned by 

UN Secretary General Boutros Boutros 

Ghali to investigate human rights abuses in 


A Timorese delegate attending the conference 

as an adviser to the International 

Services for Human Rights called the 

Indonesian government’s opposition to the 

presence of the two NGOs a tactical mistake. 

“Why are they so afraid of little girls 

from Japan who are innocent and can do no 

harm?” asked José Ramos Horta, referring to 

the representatives of the two human rights 

groups. 

At the conference, Malaysia rallied together 

with Indonesia and warned Western 

countries against imposing their standard of 

human rights on Asian countries. 

In response, Horta said if other government 

representatives were stronger in their 

commitment to protect human rights, such 

an “embarrassment” on the part of 

Indonesia would not have occurred. 

The five-day regional meeting with representatives 

from 49 countries will seek to 

formulate an Asian agenda for the forthcoming 

World Conference on Human Rights 

in Vienna between June 1425. 

The meeting will also try to form an intergovernmental 

Asian Human Rights 

Commission. The Asia-Pacific region currently 

stands out for not having a mechanism 

to address and protect human rights. 

The head of the Indonesian delegation, 

Wiryono, yesterday called on Asian countries 

gathered at the Asia Regional Meeting


to adopt a balanced approach to human 

rights issues. 

Wiryono, director-general of the 

Indonesian Foreign Ministry’s political department, 

urged the Asian group to promote 

and protect human rights as suggested at the 

last Human Rights commission, meeting by 

taking fully into account the level of 

political, economic, social and cultural development 

of each country in the region. 

He emphasized that NGO activities 

should be confined to human rights concerns 

and not those involving political motives. 

Addressing the plenary session yesterday, 

Wiryono said the balanced approach, 

which he claimed to be in accordance with 

the principles embodied in the Universal 

Declaration on Human Rights, should express 

a symmetry between respect for the 

fundamental freedom of individuals on one 

hand and respect for the individual’s duties 

and responsibilities to society and the State 

on the other. 

“Without the balance, the right of society 

as a whole is rendered moot and this could 

lead to social upheaval and even anarchy,” 

he said. 

“The view that is prevalent in Asia is 

that the human being is both an individual 

and a member of society. His existence 

therefore can only become meaningful when 

he functions in a social environment,” he 

said. 

He stressed that Jakarta subscribed to 

social responsibility as well as to human 

rights. 

Wiryono also rapped the international 

community for its lack of sensitivity to political, 

economic, social and cultural diversity 

in the world. 

“When this diversity is disregarded, as it 

often is, then we are confronted by imbalances 

in the expression of human rights 

concerns which are characterized by politicization, 

selectivity, double standards and 

discrimination,” he said. 

He attacked the West for using human 

rights as a condition for economic cooperation. 

“The full realization of civil and political 

rights without the enjoyment of economic, 

social and cultural right is impossible,” he 

argued. 

He said human rights questions were essentially 

ethical and moral in nature and any 

approach to these questions which was not 

motivated by a sincere desire to protect the 

fundamental rights, but by disguised 

political purposes, could not be justified. 

José Ramos Horta of the East Timor resistance, 

referring to Wiryono’s statement 

that human rights must take into account 

cultural diversity, said it was an old argument 

that had been used time after time by 

Jakarta to freely arrest, kill, imprison and to 

rob their own people with impunity. 

José said he agreed with Jakarta’s argument 

that human rights issues should not be 

misused to protect a country’s economic 

interests, but he suggested that Indonesia 

could retaliate against those countries by 

halting oil and gas sales to other countries 

that violated human rights. 

The East Timor resistance leader stressed 

that claims made by Third World leaders 

that food was needed before freedom was 

just and excuse for dictators to remain in 

power. 

“In many cases, and in many countries of 

Asia, the governments mortgage the wellbeing 

and the future of their countries to 

multilateral lending agencies, ” he said. 

NEED FOR REGIONAL 

HUMAN RIGHTS MECHANISM 

STRESSED 

Bangkok, Mar. 30 (IPS) - Amid the sharp 

exchanges between Asia-Pacific governments 

and human rights groups meeting 

here this week, there seems to be much 

agreement, for contrasting reasons, on the 

need to set up a regional mechanism to 

promote human rights. 

The Philippine delegation to the Asia- 

Pacific regional conference on human rights, 

now on its second day in Bangkok, argued 

this was a matter of enlightened selfinterest. 

Because Asia does not have a regional 

mechanism to redress human rights violations 

when national institutions fail, such 

complaints are brought to the notice of the 

world at large, said ambassador Hector 

Villaroel. 

“We may not like it ... but we cannot see 

how we can prevent this situation when we 

do not have a regional arrangement, like the 

Latin American and African groups, to 

interpose between us and the world at 

large,” he said. 

The Indonesians, who have taken a tough 

stance on the human rights issue, favour the 

idea of setting up such “regional 

arrangements.” 

Delegation head Ambassador S. Wiryono 

underscored in his speech Monday the 

resolutions of the U.N. Commission on 

Human Rights encouraging Asia-Pacific 

countries to establish a mechanism to promote 

and protect human rights in the region. 

This enthusiasm for a regional human 

rights formula comes in part from the realization 

that the Asia-Pacific is the only region 

in the world without such an international 

arrangement. 

This also highlights the region’s 

“disappointingly poor” rate of adherence to 

international human rights conventions. 

According to Amnesty International, 

more than half of Asia-Pacific countries 

have not ratified the two international human 

rights covenants or the convention 

against torture. Only eight countries in the 

region have ratified all three. 

In their ‘Bangkok declaration,’ non-governmental 

groups which held their own regional 

meeting here last week urged Asia- 

Pacific governments to accede to the main 

U.N. human rights agreements without 

further delay. 

The declaration added these international 

instruments must be given force not only in 

domestic law, “but more importantly in 

practice.” 

There was also widespread support for 

the view that national mechanisms are crucial 

to effective implementation of international 

human rights pacts. 

“The first line of defiance for human 

rights is on the national level and i believe 

we should focus significant attention on 

how to strengthen national human rights 

protection,” said Ibrahima Fall, U.N. assistant 

secretary-general for human rights. 

“It is essential to remain clear that the 

effective promotion and protection of human 

rights depends on the commitment of 

governments to pursue them,” said Villaroel. 

But the matter of national responsibility 

has two sides and continues to provoke 

much debate. 

On the one hand, this underscores the 

principle of national sovereignty which 

Asian governments prefer to stress. 

This means, as Indonesia puts it, that 

regional human rights mechanisms must take 

fully into account “the geographical 

complexity, diversity and vastness of the 

region, as well as their stability, economic 

development and social progress.” 

Non-governmental groups prefer to emphasize 

the accountability of governments 

to the international community. 

“Human rights is a matter of international 

concern, an international responsibility,” 

said Amnesty International’s Ed Garcia. 

National sovereignty is not an adequate 

defence when gross human rights violations 

and abuses are taking place, he added. 

HUMAN RIGHTS: INDONESIA 

HITS BACK AT CRITICS 

by Yuli Ismartono 

Bangkok, Mar. 30 (IPS) - Indonesia, 

often targeted as one of south-east Asia’s 

worst human rights offenders, is hitting back 

at its critics saying freedom from hunger and 

illiteracy should precede political freedoms.


“The full realization of civil and political 

rights without the enjoyment of economic, 

social and cultural rights is impossible,” said 

S. Wiryono, head of the Indonesian 

delegation to this week’s Asia-Pacific 

meeting on human rights in Bangkok. 

“How can one express one’s opinions 

freely if one is illiterate? How can one enjoy 

the right to property if one languishes below 

the poverty line? And how can one exercise 

his right to free association in a labour union 

if one is unemployed?” he asked. 

Wiryono said concern over human rights 

should go beyond simple condemnation and 

should address the root causes of such 

violations, hence the importance attached by 

Asian countries to the right to development. 

International forums, in his view, mostly 

emphasize the civil and political aspects of 

human rights at the expense of economic, 

social and cultural aspects. 

Wiryono decried the misuse of human 

rights conditionalities for economic cooperation 

and assistance. 

“This practice does not only mitigate 

against the right to development, it also 

presupposes that human rights violations 

happen only in the recipient countries and 

never in the donor countries,” he said. 

Last year, the Suharto government ceased 

all aid programmes from the Netherlands 

because of Dutch criticism of its policy on 


Jakarta also disbanded the Netherlandsled 

international governmental group on 

Indonesia (IGGI) which had been crucial in 

mobilizing economic aid to Indonesia following 

the 1965 event which left the country 

close to bankruptcy. 

A new consultative group led by the 

World Bank and the Manila-based Asian 

Development Bank (ADB) now coordinates 

development aid to Indonesia. 

Along with other member states of the 

Association of South-East Asian Nations 

(ASEAN), Indonesia recorded an impressive 

economic growth in the past two decades. 

Wiryono said international concerns on 

human rights are often expressed without 

taking into account political, economic, social 

and cultural diversity, causing imbalances 

marked by “politicization, selectivity, 

double standards and discrimination.” 

“Too often, Asian countries have been 

the target of unfair censure,” the Indonesian 

delegate said. 

He said there is a need for a balanced 

approach in accordance with the universal 

declaration on human rights, but there 

should be a symmetry between respect for 

the fundamental freedom of individuals on 

one hand and respect for the individual’s 

duties and responsibilities to society and the 

state on the other. 

The prevalent view in Asia, according to 

Wiryono, is that the human being is both an 

individual and a member of society. 

“Therefore it is imperative that the Asian 

group urge the world human rights 

conference (to be held in Vienna in June) to 

effectively ensure once and for all the indivisibility 

and interdependence of all aspects 

of human rights,” said Wiryono. 

ASSISTANT S-G FOR HUMAN 

RIGHTS STRESSES ASIAN 

CONTRIBUTION TO WORLD 

CONFERENCE 

UN Press Release, 1 April 1993 

BANGKOK, 1 April (UN Information 

Service) – Ibrahima Fall, Assistant 

Secretary-General for Human Rights and 

Secretary-General of the World Conference 

on Human Rights, today addressed a number 

of issues linked to the World Conference 

on Human Rights and its preparatory 

process, at a press conference held at the 

new United Nations Conference Centre. 

The World Conference, preceded by 

three regional meetings (the first held in 

Tunis in November 1992, the second in San 

José in January, and the third taking place 

this week in Bangkok) and four sessions of 

the Preparatory Committee, will be held in 

Vienna from 14 to 25 June. 

Mr. Fall outlined the main objectives of 

the Conference, which are as follows: 

• To review and assess the progress made 

in the field of human rights since the 

adoption of the Universal Declaration of 

Human Rights in 1948; 

• To identify obstacles which have hindered 

this progress; 

• To examine the link between development 

and the enjoyment of human rights; 

and 

• To make proposals for the improvement 

of human rights standards and instruments, 

for an increased effectiveness of 

United Nations methods and mechanisms 

and to ensure adequate resources for 

United Nations human rights activities. 

Mr. Fall emphasized the important impact 

that the result of the Asian meeting 

would have on the final outcome of the 

World Conference. The significance of that 

contribution was due in part to the timing of 

the Asian meeting, which followed the two 

other regional meetings and could, therefore, 

benefit from their experience, and preceded 

the last session of the Preparatory 

Committee, scheduled for April in Geneva. 

It was also linked to the diversity of the 

Asian continent and to the different levels of 

development reached by the countries 

participating in the meeting. 

That diversity would enrich, in particular, 

the debate on the relation between development, 

democracy and human rights. 

Mr. Fall stated that while controversy in 

the field of human rights could not be 

avoided, the present argument opposing 

proponents of civil and political rights on 

one side and advocates of economic, social 

and cultural rights on the other was unfounded 

since neither set of rights could 

exist without the other. Stressing the indivisibility 

of human rights, he pointed out 

that, originally, there was to be only one 

International Covenant on Human Rights. 

Political considerations had led to the 

adoption of two separate Covenants, one on 

Political and Civil Rights, and the other on 

Economic, Social and Cultural Rights. A 

legitimate point for discussion, however, 

was the lack of optional protocols to the 

second Covenant. 

Mechanisms had been proposed to enhance 

the implementation of existing human 

rights instruments, he said, among them, the 

creation of an international penal court and 

the appointment of a United Nations special 

commissioner for human rights. Referring to 

the Secretary-General’s “An Agenda for 

Peace” report and its recommendations for 

the application of preventive diplomacy, 

Mr. Fall also mentioned the possibility of 

setting up a rapid and flexible system by 

which the United Nations would respond to 

cases of massive human rights violations. 

Such a system could include a roster of 

independent experts whom the Secretary- 

General could use at short notice. 

BANGKOK DECLARATION 

Adopted 2 April 1993 

This is the full text of the Declaration 

adopted by the Ministers and representatives 

of Asian States, who met at Bangkok from 

29 March to 2 April 1993, pursuant to 

General Assembly resolution 46/116 of 17 

December 1991 in the context of preparations 

for the World Conference on Human 

rights. 

Emphasizing the significance of the 

World Conference on Human Rights, which 

provides an invaluable opportunity to review 

all aspects of human rights and ensure 

a just and balanced approach thereto, 

Recognizing the contribution that can be 

made to the World Conference by Asian 

countries with their diverse and rich cultures 

and traditions, 

Welcoming the increased attention being 

paid to human rights in the international 

community, 

Reaffirming their commitment to principles 

contained in the Charter of the United


Nations and the Universal Declaration on 

Human Rights, 

Recalling that in the Charter of the 

United Nations the question of universal 

observance and promotion of human rights 

and fundamental freedoms has been rightly 

placed within the context of international 

cooperation, 

Noting the progress made in the codification 

of human rights instruments, and in 

the establishment of international human 

rights mechanisms, while expressing concern 

that these mechanisms relate mainly to one 

category of rights, 

Emphasizing that ratification of international 

human rights instruments, particularly 

the International Covenant on Civil and 

Political Rights and the International 

Covenant on Economic, Social and Cultural 

Rights, by all States should be further encouraged, 

Reaffirming the principles of respect for 

national sovereignty, territorial integrity and 

non-interference in the internal affairs of 

States, 

Stressing the universality, objectivity and 

non- selectivity of all human rights and the 

need to avoid the application of double 

standards in the implementation of human 

rights and its politicization, 

Recognizing that the promotion of human 

rights should be encouraged by cooperation 

and consensus, and not through confrontation 

and the imposition of incompatible 

values, 

Reiterating the interdependence and indivisibility 

of economic, social, cultural, civil 

and political rights, and the inherent 

interrelationship between development, 

democracy, universal enjoyment of all human 

rights, and social justice which must be 

addressed in an integrated and balanced 

manner, 

Recalling that the Declaration on the 

Right to Development has recognized the 

right to development as a universal and 

inalienable right and an integral part of 

fundamental human rights, 

Emphasizing that endeavours to move 

towards the creation of uniform international 

human rights norms must go hand in 

hand with endeavours to work towards a 

just and fair world economic order, 

Convinced that economic and social progress 

facilitates the growing trend towards 

democracy and the promotion and protection 

of human rights, 

Stressing the importance of education and 

training in human rights at the national, 

regional and international levels and the need 

for international cooperation aimed at 

overcoming the lack of public awareness of 

human rights, 

1. Reaffirm their commitment to the 

principles contained in the Charter of the 

United Nations and the Universal 

Declaration on Human Rights as well as the 

full realization of all human rights 

throughout the world; 

2. Underline the essential need to create 

favourable conditions for effective enjoyment 

of human rights at both the national 

and international levels; 

3. Stress the urgent need to democratize 

the United Nations system, eliminate selectivity 

and improve procedures and 

mechanisms in order to strengthen international 

cooperation, based on principles of 

equality and mutual respect, and ensure a 

positive, balanced and non-confrontational 

approach in addressing and realizing all aspects 

of human rights; 

4. Discourage any attempt to use human 

rights as a conditionality for extending development 

assistance; 

5. Emphasize the principles of respect 

for national sovereignty and territorial integrity 

as well as non-interference in the 

internal affairs of States, and the non-use of 

human rights as an instrument of political 

pressure; 

6. Reiterate that all countries, large and 

small, have the right to determine their 

political systems, control and freely utilize 

their resources, and freely pursue their economic, 

social and cultural development; 

7. Stress the universality, objectivity and 

non-selectivity of all human rights and the 

need to avoid the application of double 

standards in the implementation of human 

rights and its politicization, and that no 

violation of human rights can be justified; 

8. Recognize that while human rights are 

universal in nature, they must be considered 

in the context of a dynamic and evolving 

process of international norm-setting, 

bearing in mind the significance of national 

and regional particularities and various 

historical, cultural and religious 

backgrounds; 

9. Recognize further that States have the 

primary responsibility for the promotion 

and protection of human rights through appropriate 

infrastructure and mechanisms, 

and also recognize that remedies must be 

sought and provided primarily through such 

mechanisms and procedures; 

10. Reaffirm the interdependence and 

indivisibility of economic, social, cultural, 

civil and political rights, and the need to give 

equal emphasis to all categories of human 

rights; 

11. Emphasize the importance of guaranteeing 

the human rights and fundamental 

freedoms of vulnerable groups such as 

ethnic, national, racial, religious and linguistic 

minorities, migrant workers, disabled 

persons, indigenous peoples, refugees and 

displaced persons; 

12. Reiterate that self-determination is a 

principle of international law and a universal 

right recognized by the United Nations for 

peoples under alien or colonial domination 

or foreign occupation, by virtue of which 

they can freely determine their political 

status and freely pursue their economic, 

social and cultural development, and that its 

denial constitutes a grave violation of human 

rights; 

13. Stress that the right to self-determination 

is applicable to peoples under alien 

or colonial domination or foreign occupation, 

and should not be used to undermine 

the territorial integrity, national sovereignty 

and political independence of States; 

14. Express concern over all forms of 

violation of human rights, including manifestations 

of racial discrimination, racism, 

apartheid, colonialism, foreign aggression 

and occupation, and the establishment of 

illegal settlements in occupied territories, as 

well as the recent resurgence of neo- nazism, 

xenophobia and ethnic cleansing; 

15. Underline the need for taking effective 

international measures in order to 

guarantee and monitor the implementation 

of human rights standards and effective and 

legal protection of people under foreign occupation; 

16. Strongly affirm their support for the 

legitimate struggle of the Palestinian people 

to restore their national and inalienable 

rights to self-determination and independence, 

and demand an immediate end to the 

grave violations of human rights in the 

Palestinian, Syrian Golan and other occupied 

Arab territories including Jerusalem; 

17. Reaffirm the right to development, as 

established in the Declaration on the Right 

to Development, as a universal and 

inalienable right and an integral part of 

fundamental human rights, which must be 

realized through international cooperation, 

respect for fundamental human rights, the 

establishment of a monitoring mechanism 

and the creation of essential international 

conditions for the realization of such right; 

18. Recognize that the main obstacle to 

the realization of the right to development 

lie at the international macroeconomic level, 

as reflected in the widening gap between the 

North and the South, the rich and the poor; 

19. Affirm that poverty is one of the 

major obstacles hindering the full enjoyment 

of human rights; 

20. Affirm also the need to develop the 

right of humankind regarding a clean, safe 

and healthy environment; 

21. Note that terrorism, in all its forms 

and manifestations, as distinguished from 

the legitimate struggle of peoples under 

colonial or alien domination or foreign occupation, 

has emerged as one of the most 

dangerous threats to the enjoyment of hu-


man rights and democracy, threatening the 

territorial integrity and security of States 

and destabilizing legitimately constituted 

governments, and that it must be unequivocally 

condemned by the international community; 

22. Reaffirm their strong commitment to 

the promotion and protection of the rights 

of women through the guarantee of equal 

participation in the political, social, economic 

and cultural concerns of society, and 

the eradication of all forms of discrimination 

and of gender-based violence against women; 

23. Recognize the rights of the child to 

enjoy special protection and to be afforded 

the opportunities and facilities to develop 

physically, mentally, morally, spiritually 

and socially in a healthy and normal manner 

and in conditions of freedom and dignity; 

24. Welcome the important role played 

by national institutions in the genuine and 

constructive promotion of human rights, and 

believe that the conceptualization and 

eventual establishment of such institutions 

are best left for the States to decide; 

25. Acknowledge the importance of cooperation 

and dialogue between governments 

and non-governmental organizations 

on the basis of shared values as well as 

mutual respect and understanding in the 

promotion of human rights, and encourage 

the non-governmental organizations in consultative 

status with the Economic and 

Social Council to contribute positively to 

this process in accordance with Council 

resolution 1296 (XLIV); 

26. Reiterate the need to explore the 

possibilities of establishing regional arrangements 

for the promotion and protection 

of human rights in Asia; 

27. Reiterate further the need to explore 

ways to generate international cooperation 

and financial support for education and 

training in the field of human rights at the 

national level and for the establishment of 

national infrastructures to promote and 

protect human rights if requested by States; 

28. Emphasize the necessity to rationalize 

the United Nations human rights 

mechanism in order to enhance its effectiveness 

and efficiency and the need to ensure 

avoidance of the duplication of work 

that exists between the treaty bodies, the 

Sub-Commission on Prevention of 

Discrimination and Protection of Minorities 

and the Commission on Human Rights, as 

well as the need to avoid the multiplicity of 

parallel mechanisms; 

29. Stress the importance of strengthening 

the United Nations Centre for Human 

Rights with the necessary resources to enable 

it to provide a wide range of advisory 

services and technical assistance programmes 

in the promotion of human rights 

to requesting States in a timely and effective 

manner, as well as to enable it to finance 

adequately other activities in the field of 

human rights authorized by competent 

bodies; 

30. Call for increased representation of 

the developing countries in the Centre for 

Human Rights. 

ASIAN GOVERNMENTS ADOPT 

BANGKOK DECLARATION ON 

HUMAN RIGHTS 

UN Press Release, 2 April 1993. Excerpts 

BANGKOK (United Nations 

Information Service) – Concluding an unprecedented 

regional meeting on human 

rights, Asian Governments here have produced 

the “Declaration of Bangkok,” a consensus 

document reflecting their positions 

on a range of human rights issues. The 30- 

point Declaration, which will be submitted 

to the Preparatory Committee for the World 

Conference on Human Rights (Vienna, 14- 

25 June), emphasizes the primary responsibility 

of states in protecting and promoting 

human rights, while recognizing the 

crucial role of international cooperation in 

achieving these goals. 

The Declaration, which was drafted by 

representatives of 40 Governments from 

West Asia to the Pacific under the chairmanship 

of Mr. Mohammad Javad Zarif 

(Islamic Republic of Iran), was adopted at 

the plenary session of the regional meeting 

which was chaired by Mr. Pracha Guna- 

Kasem of Thailand. Mr. Pracha Guna- 

Kasem said that the Declaration was prepared 

in record time, reflecting the spirit of 

cooperation among the delegations. “We are 

pleased to make this Asian contribution to 

the World Conference on Human Rights,” he 

said, noting that the document would be 

considered together with the African and 

Latin American and the Caribbean 

Declarations at the fourth and final 

Preparatory Committee meeting in Geneva, 

19-30 April. 

Speaking after the final plenary, Mr. 

Ibrahima Fall, Secretary General of the upcoming 

World Conference, said that the 

Declaration of Bangkok, reflecting the 

enormous social, political and cultural diversity 

of the Asia and Pacific region, has 

particular significance as it completes the 

overview of the concerns and proposals of 

the three developing regions. “There are 

many similarities in the three Declarations,” 

he pointed out. “But their differences will 

prove to be complementary within the 

framework of the World Conference.” 

NGO Response 

For their part, the NGOs attending the 

regional meeting as observers, said they had 

demonstrated their unity and that their 

voices had been heard. “The meeting has 

allowed us to come together for the first 

time ever around human rights issues,” said 

Cecilia Jimenez, spokesperson for the more 

than 170 NGOs represented. “We did not 

come here to confront governments but to 

encourage dialogue at the local, national and 

regional levels.” The Declaration represented 

a step forward, she said at a press 

conference, in that governments had recognized 

a number of issues such as the 

rights of women and children. She regretted 

however, that the Declaration had failed to 

“give proper recognition to the most fundamental 

rights of indigenous peoples.” 

A positive point, Ms. Jimenez said, was 

that the Declaration had acknowledged the 

importance of the contribution of NGOs. 

“The governments of the Asia/Pacific region 

can no longer belittle or deny our right to be 

part of the protection and promotion of 

human rights.” 

Ms. Jimenez expressed concern at the 

emphasis placed in the Declaration on 

“regional specificities” and what she perceived 

as the absence of an unequivocal 

statement regarding the universality and 

indivisibility of human rights. 

ASIA-PACIFIC STATES SET 

STRONG AGENDA 

by Kunda Dixit 

Bangkok, Apr. 2 (IPS) - The first-ever 

gathering of Asia-Pacific countries on human 

rights that ended here Friday approved a 

declaration that counters western pressures 

and blunts the concerns of the region’s 

activist groups. 

The three-cornered tussle at the conference 

between Asia- Pacific governments, 

human rights NGOs (non-governmental organisations) 

and the west, has ended with 

some of the more powerful Asian states 

seeming to gain the upper hand. 

These countries have come under growing 

pressure lately from industrialised countries 

to adhere to what they see as western 

commandments on human rights, democracy 

and the environment. 

The Bangkok declaration is a document 

that prepares a common Asian stand for the 

U.N. world conference on human rights to 

be held in Vienna in June. 

It was crucial for some Asian countries to 

draw up a paper that deleted or diluted 

references to civil liberties, political pluralism 

or NGO participation. 

And they seem to have got what they 

wanted. the final document considerably 

enhances their negotiating power for Vienna. 

Even though some south-east Asian 

nations have been the most vocal lately 

about western pressures on human rights 

and democracy, they showed more sophisti-


cation. Singapore wanted the toughlyworded 

first draft toned down because it 

could have given the impression that Asia 

condoned human rights violations. 

Conference sources said China and 

Vietnam were most adamant in deleting all 

direct references to torture and NGO participation. 

South-east Asian countries tried 

to strike off phraseology on self-determination 

as a principle of international law and 

wanted to insert the right of all nations to 

“control and freely utilize their natural resources.” 

In the end, the final document reflected 

the growing clout of Asia’s newly-affluent 

nations. the few voices speaking out for civil 

liberties and pluralism belonged to the 

region’s ailing economies like India, the 

Philippines and Nepal. 

The notable exceptions were South 

Korea, which recently elected its first civilian 

president in three decades, and Japan, 

the only developed country that attended 

the meeting. 

Japan strongly objected to an item in the 

declaration that discourages attempts to use 

human rights conditionalities to development 

aid, saying it was not compatible with 

japan’s overseas development assistance 

(ODA) charter. 

Japan also echoed the western emphasis 

on civil and political rights. “Human rights 

are universal ... these are values common to 

all mankind and they are a matter of legitimate 

international concern,” said japan’s 

Seiichiro Otsuka. 

The final declaration drew mixed reactions 

from activists who were here to lobby 

for a stronger government commitment to 

civil and political liberties and the protection 

of minorities. 

Said Evelyn Serrano of the Philippine 

Alliance of Human Rights Advocates: “we 

are a bit disappointed that the states have 

eroded the NGO recommendations.” 

“It was one step forward and one step 

back,” said Cecilia Jimenez, spokesperson 

of a regional conference of human rights 

groups held here last week. 

Asia-Pacific NGOs felt the five-day 

Bangkok meeting was a historic occasion 

that united them for the first time as a 

region. many of them are now looking forward 

to Vienna, and linking up with other 

rights groups in Latin America and Africa. 

But they also lost out when some key 

concerns were ignored, such as indigenous 

people’s rights. Said Jimenez: “we achieved 

some points, like reference to women’s and 

children’s rights but the resolution’s 

weakness and drawbacks far outweigh the 

gains.” 

Governments were for the most part 

happy with the final version. “the resolution 

was a balanced one. it reaffirms our 

commitment to the Asian point of view,” 

said Singapore’s Bilahari Kausikan. “This is 

an important achievement. we will go to 

Vienna with a coherent voice.” 

The five-day Asia-Pacific human rights 

meeting had several glaring blind spots. 

some parts of the region got over-exposed 

while others got left out in the dark. 

High-profile crises like those in East 

Timor and Burma were spotlighted by aggressive 

activist groups who knew their way 

around with the media. Proximity to the 

venue of the meeting meant Burmese exile 

groups had a strong contingent. 

Other human rights hot spots that did 

not even register a blip on the conference 

radar screens in the past week were north 

Korea, Tibet and Kashmir. The middle east 

was represented only by groups from 

Palestine and Kuwait. 

China, home to one-fifth of the world’s 

population, had a lone activist who created 

ripples by addressing the plenary in 

Chinese. Central Asian states, still suffering 

an identity crisis, did not even show up. 

“China and Tibet were both off screen. 

there was no major group pressing attention 

on human rights violations in China,” says 

Sidney Jones of the U.S.-based Asia Watch. 

“And Tibetan groups should have been here. 

It was an unfortunate lapse.” 

Given the concerns about safeguards to 

democracy and human rights in Hong Kong 

in the run-up to the 1997 handover of the 

British colony to China, it was surprising 

that only one Hong Kong NGO came to 

Bangkok. 

“Hong Kong groups are very concerned 

about 1997 and want a venue for discussion, 

but they are not so sure about their level of 

participation in Vienna. Intervention-wise it 

is problematic,” says Tan Meng-Kiat of the 

Hong Kong-based Asian Centre for the 

Progress of Peoples. 

But the question of Hong Kong’s absence 

in the Bangkok meeting was raised at this 

week’s legislative council meeting in Hong 

Kong, and the government’s answer was 

that Hong Kong will be present at the 

Vienna conference. 

Pro-democracy activists in Hong Kong 

are concerned that governor Chris Patten’s 

battle with Beijing over reforms in the 

composition of the legislature does not go 

far enough. 

Said one activist: “Hong Kong NGOs are 

for a totally elected legislative council. but 

(Patten) knows this would be too radical for 

China.” 

Human rights groups from the South 

Pacific island states were also under-represented. 

A Bougainville group tried hard to 

get the media interested in the Papua New 

Guinea military’s ongoing suppression of a 

separatist struggle in the copper-rich island. 

Also striving hard for attention were 

other marginalised groups like India’s untouchables. 

The little-known abuse of some 

200 million victims of south Asia’s caste 

system probably makes this numerically the 

world’s most widespread rights violation, 

“yet you hardly hear of untouchables in international 

fora,” said one activist. 

BBC ON BANGKOK 

DECLARATION AND TIMOR 

The BBC World Service’s Newshour at 1pm 

GMT on Friday, 2 April 1993 carried the 

following report on the Bangkok meeting of 

Asian governments held in preparation of 

the UN World Conference on Human Rights 

in June this year. It also interviewed 

Indonesia’s chief delegate, Wiryono 

Sastrohandoyo in Bangkok, and José 

Ramos-Horta in Sydney: 

The following is an unabridged transcript of 

the programme which came in two sections: 

The Bangkok meeting was called to agree 

a common Asian position ahead of the 

World Conference on Human Rights due to 

be held in Austria in June. From Bangkok, 

here’s our Southeast Asia correspondent, 

Jonathan Burcher: 

“The Bangkok Declaration describes itself 

as setting out the human rights aspirations 

and commitments of Asia. Its contents 

reflect the reservations of many Asian governments 

over what they see as the increasing 

dominance of western concerns with 

individual, civil and political liberties. The 

Declaration opposes in particular attempts 

to tie aid to a country’s human rights record. 

It says rights should not be promoted 

through the imposition of what the 

Declaration calls ‘incompatible values.’ And 

at a time when the United Nations is 

growing increasingly interventionist, the 

Declaration stresses the importance of national 

sovereignty and the principle of noninterference 

in internal affairs. 

“Asian non-government human rights 

groups represented at the Bangkok meeting 

welcomed some parts of the Declaration, in 

particular sections on women’s and children’s 

rights which had been absent from 

the initial draft. 

“In a statement, the NGOs accused the 

Asian governments of seeking ultimately to 

protect themselves from a too critical examination 

of their own human rights record.” 

The second report drew attention to the 

forthcoming talks between Portugal and 

Indonesia on the question of East Timor: 

The dispute between Indonesia and 

Portugal which is the former colonial power 

in East Timor has exploded into open con-


frontation. Portugal has led the European 

Community in getting the UN Sub-commission 

(sic) in Geneva to condemn 

Indonesia for its treatment of the East 

Timorese. While for his part, the Indonesian 

Foreign Minister, Ali Alatas, says such 

comments could ruin talks scheduled to 

resume in Rome on April 20. 

In the meantime Indonesia and 46 other 

Asian nations have been attending a conference 

on human rights in Bangkok where 

delegates were sharply critical of western 

intervention on the subject. But the head of 

the NGO delegation to the conference 

Cecilia Ximenes of the Philippines was not 

happy at the outcome: 

“They are still continuing to try to limit 

the scope of international monitoring of the 

violations of human rights in the region. And 

this can be seen by the emphasis on the 

principle of national sovereignty, the 

principle of noninterference in internal affairs, 

etc. This has been interpreted by these 

Asian-Pacific states as the need not be 

accountable for the human rights violations 

occurring.” 

So, with East Timor in mind, what position 

has Indonesia been taking at the conference? 

Bill Barnes asked the government 

representative there, Mr. Wiryono, whether 

Asian countries were firmly rejecting western 

notions of human rights: 

“Of course, human rights are universal. 

We accept that. But we also have to accept 

the fact that the world is very diverse. And 

Indonesia, for a country I must stress, our 

motto is Unity in Diversity. We are a nation 

of 350 ethnic groups. In the United Nations 

we have now about 179 nations and I think 

they are all different but we are all committed 

to the universality of human rights. But 

I think we must not try to contradict each 

other but to find common ground. I think 

this is the voice of reason and I think we 

must be seriously considered by the western 

countries in particular because, many times, 

Asian countries have been the target of 

censure and criticism and often attack.” 

Bill Barnes: “Your critics in the West 

would presumably argue that you can have 

economic development, you can have progress 

with the sort of western rights that 

they would like you to adopt. And you’re 

are saying that you can’t have this.” 

Wiryono: “I am not saying that we cant 

have both. We must strike a balance between 

individual rights and the obligations 

of the individual to society. And in 

Indonesia as well as in many other Asian 

countries, communal rights are sometimes 

considered to be superior, to be given more 

importance. I think both economic, social 

and cultural rights as well as civil and political 

rights are important and are to be seen 

in an integral way. That is, I think, our 

views.” 

BB: “You say that human rights have to 

be ....[compatible?] in the country in which 

they are being applied, but couldn’t people 

argue that some of the people at least, 

calling for human rights within Asia are 

people living in those countries?” 

Wiryono: “I think that the NGOs are our 

partners and they can express their views 

but I think sometimes, I hate to say it, they 

reflect more the western views rather than 

the their own countries’ cultural heritage. If 

they simply make blunt voices and take for 

themselves the role of both judge and jury, I 

don’t think that it’s very useful. And governments 

I think represent the people. They 

represent their organisation and their organisations 

are given a certain status within 

the UN and they play their roles but they 

must also observe the same principles 

dealing with human rights as I have explained, 

in the spirit of the UN Charter and 

in the spirit of cooperation.” 

––––––– 

Bill Barnes: “So how do such comments 

go down with Fretilin? This is the rebel 

group campaigning for independence in East 

Timor where tens of thousands of people 

are thought to have died fighting since 

Indonesia annexed the territory in 1975. 

Fretilin spokesman is José Ramos-Horta 

who spoke to me from Sydney, Australia, 

and I asked him whether he accepted the 

view that developing countries should have 

their own human rights values: 

Horta: “I come from a third world country, 

East Timor, which in fact is fourth 

world. So I have legitimacy to talk about the 

problems of the South. When I hear Mr. 

Wiryono criticizing, or saying that NGOs in 

the South are detached from the reality or 

that they reflect more the western views, I 

find it perplexing, because the NGOs of the 

South are deep-rooted in the villages, in the 

small towns, in the countryside. They in 

fact reflect the true aspirations, the true 

desires of the people of the South, not the 

elite that play golf and mortgage the future 

of their own countries with the West.” 

Barnes: “But it has to be said that the 

South does have different values from the 

West and Wiryono did make the point for 

example that in Indonesia you do have 350 

different ethnic groups. How can you possibly 

put individual rights ahead of the 

communal good?” 

Horta: “First let me say that there are 

universal standards in terms of the right to 

life, the right to education, the right not to 

be afraid of being arrested. In Indonesia 

student protests against lack of education, 

lack of health care or low wages and so on, 

are arrested, so what kind of economic rights 

is the Indonesian government talking 

about?” 

Barnes: “So on East Timor, are you putting 

your faith in the second visit of Amos 

Wako to East Timor?” 

Horta: “Not entirely. First we hope that 

his first report is made public. The UN 

Human Rights Commission in Geneva called 

on the UN Secretary-General to publish his 

first report which I believe is very damaging 

on Indonesia and calls for the respect for 

self-determination in East Timor. Now let 

us see, what will be his second report. And 

we hope that he will stay there longer than 

in the previous visit. His visit was only one 

day. What kind of investigation is that when 

you go to a country to stay only one day in 

the country? So we hope that he will stay 

longer and publish his two reports as has 

been requested by the Commission.” 

Barnes: “What prospects are there for a 

political settlement? Talks are to resume on 

April 20; meanwhile Indonesia and Portugal 

are criticizing each other’s stand over East 

Timor. The prospects don’t look too good, 

do they?” 

Horta: “It is not Portugal that invaded 

East Timor. Portugal left East Timor in the 

hope that East Timor would achieve selfdetermination 

and independence. It is 

Indonesia that has to make the gestures. 

What kind of gesture can they expect from 

Portugal? On our side, the East Timorese, I 

have stated repeatedly that we are prepared 

to bend backwards to accommodate 

Indonesia’s concerns, its legitimate security 

interests. We are prepared to work out a 

formula that would help Indonesia extricate 

itself from East Timor with honour, with 

dignity, without losing face. All we want is 

for the UN, working with Portugal and 

Indonesia, to organise a referendum in East 

Timor through which the people of East 

Timor will decide whether they want independence, 

whether they want to be a free 

associated territory with Portugal or to be 

integrated with Indonesia. That’s all we are 

asking.” 

JOSÉ RAMOS HORTA SAYS 

HE PLANS TO RETURN TO 

EAST TIMOR 

Report on SBS TV program Dateline, Friday 

April 2, 1993. 

Interview with José Ramos Horta. 

Interviewer Paul Murphy. (slightly edited). 

PM: East Timor wasn’t on the agenda at 

the Bangkok Asia-Pacific Human Rights 

Conference this week but it scored a victory 

in early March at the UNCHR when a motion 

highly critical of Indonesia was carried 

overwhelmingly. One of East Timor’s best


known activists, José Ramos Horta, is back 

in Australia after attending the Conference 

in Thailand. 

José Ramos Horta, East Timor wasn’t on 

the agenda at Bangkok but was it talked 

about in the corridors of the conference ? 

JRH: ET was not on the agenda like 

many other issues because it was a conference 

dealing with diplomatic procedures, 

standard setting and so on. I must say that 

ET dominated the whole conference, particularly 

the NGO conference which preceded 

the official conference. 

M: Right, but the official conference was 

dominated by countries like China, Iran, 

Indonesia. Countries not known for their 

progressive attitude on human rights. 

JRH: Yes the conference was dominated 

by Iran, China, Indonesia, Iraq and so many 

other dictatorships that I said to one of the 

Asian delegates that the only thing missing 

was having Pol Pot as one of the rapporteurs. 

PM: So you didn’t achieve anything in 

Bangkok ? 

JRH: Not in terms of standard setting, 

adoption of forward looking instruments to 

protect human rights, that would go beyond 

existing instruments such as the Covenant 

on Civil and Political Rights. But in terms of 

East Timor we succeeded in obtaining from 

the NGOs, more than 100 NGOs, from all 

over the region the adoption of ET as a 

country situation to campaign on this year. 

PM: Now in Geneva in early March the 

UNCHR adopted a very strong motion 

against Indonesia. No doubt you would 

claim that as a victory but what really 

would even that achieve ? What effect 

would that have on Indonesia ? 

JRH: Well first of all let me say again 

that Indonesia went to Geneva as President 

of NAM, leader of the North-South dialogue, 

member of the Islamic Conference and 

it was also a Vice-President of the 

Commission itself. So all the odds were 

against us but as it turned out Indonesia got 

only one fifth of the membership of the 

Commission. In terms of practical achievements 

I must say yes because right now the 

special envoy of the UN Secretary General 

is flying to East Timor. 

PM: But he’s the Kenyan Attorney 

General. They’re not known for their performance 

in human rights are they ? 

JRH: That’s true but on the other hand 

we know of the first report he wrote. This 

report has been locked up at the office of 

the UN Secretary General because as we 

understand it is very damaging to Indonesia 

and it is also recommending that the UN 

must look at the root causes of the problem 


PM: Its been 18 years since Indonesia 

annexed East Timor. What have you 

achieved really ? The struggle has gone on 

but being pragmatic what have you achieved 

? 

JRH: Well the fact we have kept the issue 

alive, on the agenda, that was a major 

success. The fact that we persuaded the US 

Congress to cut military training to 

Indonesia. The fact that now we have ET 

high on the agenda of the UN and of the US 

Congress and the Clinton administration. 

These, I believe, portend good news for East 

Timor in the next few months, 2 years, 3 

years for ET. 

PM: Would you risk going to ET yourself 

? Would you want to ? Do you think 

that it would be worth the risk ? 

JRH: Yes, I have all intentions to go 

there, sooner rather than later. The 

Indonesian military commander, Theo 

Sy afei, in a sarcastic manner said that my 

boss Xanana Gusmão was there already so I 

am most welcome to come. The puppet 

governor of East Timor also said that he 

would pick me up at the airport himself. 

These are threatening remarks but I still 

intend to go. 

PM: Even though there is danger. 

JRH: Yes there is danger, I just remember 

what they did to Ninoy Aquino in the 

Philippines. Much more easier to shoot me 

but I still intend to go. 

PM: When will you go ? 

JRH: I don’t know. I have to look into 

the logistics. 

PM: This year ? 

JRH: Yes, I hope so. This year, within a 

few weeks, a few months, we are making 

arrangements with some international personalities 

to travel along with me. 

PM: Final question, do you think Xanana 

Gusmão was tortured when Indonesian 

troops grabbed him ? 

JRH: Absolutely, he was tortured. I 

showed the footage of the first interview 

which Indonesia displayed on national TV 

to a specialist group of the UN, the Working 

Group on detention and torture and 

everyone, 5 specialists from 5 parts of the 

world, they all confirmed yes, Xanana 

Gusmão was physically and 

psychologically tortured. 

Before the interview SBS showed extracts 

from a play , ‘The Voices of Souls,’ based on 

Michelle Turner’s book “Telling East 

Timor” which is due to open in Melbourne 

in 2 weeks. (Theatre Works, St Kilda). 

Extracts from the play included interviews 

with the Timorese ‘actors,’ traditional 

dances & songs and a dramatization of part 

of the story of Fatima Gusmão in the book. 

CONTINUING TALKS 

BETWEEN INDONESIA 

AND PORTUGAL 

JAPANESE GROUPS URGE 

UN SECRETARY-GENERAL 

TO REDOUBLE EFFORTS 

From Free East Timor Japan Coalition, 

Feb. 18. 

Letters calling on UN Secretary-General 

to take new initiatives to solve the East 

Timor issue were delivered to Dr. Boutros 

Boutros-Ghali, who is currently on an official 

visit to Tokyo. Eda Satsuki, member of 

the Lower House, conveyed the letters at a 

reception for the UN chief on Feb. 17. 

A letter from the suprapartisan Diet 

Members’ Forum on East Timor expresses 

Japanese lawmakers’ concern that representatives 

of the East Timorese be included 

in negotiations on the issue being conducted 

under the Secretary General’s auspices. The 

missive also calls on the UN to “put forth a 

strategy ...including as one possibility the 

holding of a popular referendum” in order to 

carry out the two Security Council and eight 

General Assembly resolutions on East 

Timor. Such a strategy, the legislators say, 

is “absolutely consistent with goals which 

the United Nations is most energetically 

pursuing at the moment, namely, 

peacekeeping in regional disputes and 

support for democratic elections.” 

After the Indonesian invasion of the 

former Portuguese colony of East Timor in 

1975, the UN passed resolutions calling on 

Indonesia to withdraw its troops and affirming 

the East Timorese’ right of selfdetermination. 

The U.S., Japan and other 

Western Powers closed their eyes to 

Indonesia’s illegal takeover of East Timor 

until Nov. 1991 when journalists witnessed 

Indonesian troops shoot down hundreds of 

mourners at a cemetery in Dili. In spite of 

heightened international concern, the UN 

has failed to take any new initiative to break 

the 17-year deadlock over the East Timor 

issue. 

The Diet Members’ letter concludes by 

urging Dr. Boutros-Ghali “to request the allout 

cooperation of Japan and the Japanese 

Government in achieving a solution of the 

East Timor issue. Japan, which is the largest 

donor of economic aid to Indonesia, has 

deep economic ties with that country, so 

that it can be said that the issue of East 

Timor represents a veritable test of Japan’s 

human rights diplomacy.” 

A second letter, from the Free East 

Timor Japan Coalition, representing eleven


local organizations, urges the UN chief to 

“redouble efforts to ensure that opportunities 

for a solution are not lost.” The 

“favorable international climate” that has 

prevailed since the demise of the Cold War 

and the “greatly enhanced awareness” of the 

issue are sited as opportunities. 

“The gravely deteriorating situation” in 

East Timor itself is also given as a “pressing 

reason for a new concerted initiative.” 

Referring to a recent letter from the Catholic 

Bishop of East Timor Ximenes Belo, the 

Coalition says that many people have been 

arrested and tortured in the wake of the 

arrest of resistance leader Xanana Gusmão 

in November of last year. Quoting Mr. 

Gusmão’s words after his arrest, the letter 

says that the only ray of hope lies in “a 

global solution for East Timor.” The 

scenario for such a solution would center on 

the Secretary-General and, the Coalition 

opines, should involve the cooperation of 

the Japanese Government. 

Further Information: Jean Inglis 

Fax:0823222684 Tel:0823220962 

CHURCH TO MEDIATE 

TIMOR TALKS? 

Diario de Noticias 11 March 1993 Dateline: 

Lisbon Byline: Carlos Albino Translated 


Jakarta and Lisbon may accept intervention 

of the St. Egidio Community: 

After the Catholic Church offered three 

times to serve as mediator between Portugal 

and Indonesia, through the St. Egidio 

Community, it is now believed that Jakarta 

and Lisbon will accept a formula for a first 

round of formal negotiations in September 

on the future of East Timor. 

The acceptance of the Church’s mediation 

could be the only concrete result of the 

talks scheduled for 17 April in Rome between 

Durão Barroso and Ali Alatas, a 

Community diplomatic source assured us, 

stressing the fact that Portugal is not going 

to desist from its veto on the third generation 

agreement between the EC and 

Indonesia. 

The same source added that Community 

officials were expecting Portugal to withdraw 

from or moderate its position, especially 

after Germany turned a deaf ear to the 

UN resolutions and to the process developed 

by SG Boutros-Ghali, in its sale of 

war materials to Jakarta. 

The response, however, was quick in 

coming and Durão Barroso ended up going 

to Strasbourg to personally counter the 

spreading news of an impending softening in 

Lisbon’s negotiating attitude towards 

Jakarta. 

We are assured from Brussels, besides, 

that Indonesia was aware of the possible 

moderation in Lisbon’s stance. So Minister 

Durão Barroso’s statements in Strasbourg, 

namely containing a “first step” criticism of 

Germany, took by surprise the Europeans, 

who put business dealings with Jakarta before 

everything else, even though the latter 

are no more than “diplomatic old iron,” as 

was the case in which Bonn involved itself, 

encouraging Indonesia. 

Yesterday, high up Portuguese diplomatic 

officials who, in the Foreign Office, 

are following the case of Timor, drew a 

curtain of total silence over the dossiers 

being prepared for Rome, and refused to 

speak about the case. Nevertheless, it is 

known that the scheduling of the Rome 

meeting between Durão Barroso and Ali 

Alatas was, from the beginning, linked to the 

admissibility that the St. Egidio Community 

could have a mediating role. Also, the 20 

April date was set on account of the ending 

of the discussion on Timor at the UN 

Human Rights Commission in Geneva. 

Jakarta always expected a neutral result. 

Yesterday, however, the US made a 360 

degree alteration to its traditional stance, 

when it subscribed to the draft resolution 

sponsored by the EC, Angola, Switzerland, 

Liechtenstein, Sweden, Norway, Iceland, 

Finland, Guinea-Bissau, Mozambique and 

Brazil. Diplomatic observers believe that, in 

spite of this being a first sign from 

Washington, it has signified a serious setback 

for Jakarta, but goes no further than 

being a warning. 

It is in this context that the Catholic 

Church’s mediation, through the St. Egidio 

Community, already seen as Vatican diplomacy’s 

“worldly goal,” arises as a viable 

option. 

To the already well-known formula of 

“an internationally acceptable solution” for 

Timor, Portugal now adds the hope of 

solving the problem when the Jakarta dictatorship 

falls once and for all, giving way to a 

democratic regime, for which Lisbon appears 

to be definitely prepared to wait for 

as long as it takes. 

It should be said that the Rome negotiations 

scenario will not be influenced by the 

forthcoming episodes of the Xanana case, in 

which there should be new developments on 

19 or 20 March, with the reading of the 

sentence of the Indonesian court, set up in 

Dili. 

ST. EGIDIO CONFIRMS MEDIATION 

Diario de Noticias 12 March 1993 Dateline: 

Lisbon original lang.: Portuguese 

unabridged 

Father Matteo Zuppi, Director of the St. 

Egidio Community, confirmed there have 

been contacts with regards mediation between 

Portugal and Indonesia on the question 

of Timor, according to news carried 

yesterday by the Diario de Noticias. Father 

Zupi told our Rome correspondent, 

Manuela Paixao, that “the St. Egidio 

Community expressed its total willingness, 

when contacted in connection with possible 

mediation in the future peace process in 

Timor, to take place some time, somewhere.” 

Father Zuppi added that “No official 

request has yet been made by the two 

parties. This is very likely to happen when 

the Indonesian and Portuguese ministers 

meet in April.” 

TIMOR: VATICAN WANTS TO 

MEDIATE 

Expresso 13 February 1993 Dateline: 

Lisbon Byline: Mario Robalo Translated 


A Church source in Rome yesterday assured 

the Expresso that the St. Egidio 

Community, in Rome, is going to appear as 

mediator in the search for a solution to the 

problem of East Timor. As from next week, 

this Catholic movement, which led the 

mediation process between Renamo and the 

Mozambique Government, will initiate a 

series of contacts with the Timorese 

Resistance and the Jakarta Government, 

with “the committed consent of Vatican 

diplomacy,” with a view to finding a political 

model to resolve the differences which 

have dragged on since December 1975. 

According to the same source, the St. 

Egidio Community will not as yet be contacting 

Portuguese diplomacy, “given the 

urgency of Indonesia’s acceptance of 

Timorese presence at the talks.” The 

Portuguese and Indonesian Foreign 

Ministers’ decision, at the end of the inconclusive 

December meeting, to schedule a 

new round of talks for Rome on 20 April 

next, is probably connected to this attitude 

taken by the Church. However, Minister 

Durão Barroso’s office does not confirm 

this version: “The meeting was set to be 

held in Rome because of the agenda problems 

faced by the three parties involved.” 

Meanwhile, statements made by the 

Bishop of Dili, Msgr. Ximenes Belo, referring 

to East Timor becoming an 

“autonomous territory” of Indonesia, confirm 

reports that the Holy See is making 

diplomatic efforts to get the Suharto 

Government to agree to concede autonomy 

to the former Portuguese colony. 

Having until now supported a referendum 

through which the Timorese could express 

their wishes regarding their political 

future, on Thursday the prelate unexpectedly 

admitted to Portuguese reporters, covering 

the Xanana Gusmão trial, that “the


most realistic solution” for the territory 

would be to achieve autonomous region 

status. This statement connects with what 

the Expresso published in its 30 January 

edition, regarding the Vatican’s efforts in the 

search for a solution which “does not lessen 

the Indonesian nation’s prestige but which, 

at the same time, satisfies the Timorese 

population.” Msgr. Ximenes Belo must 

have received the same message that the 

Apostolic Nuncio in Jakarta, Msgr. Pietro 

Sambi, delivered to General Suharto. 

In spite of the Indonesian President 

having stated to the Catholic Church’s 

diplomatic representative that the proposed 

model could mean the disintegration of the 

nation, Msgr. Belo becomes, now, the 

Vatican’s spokesman. It may be recalled 

that, last year, the Holy See admitted officially 

that it would agree to the Msgr. 

Belo’s presence at the meetings between 

Portugal and Indonesia, as mediator. 

ST. EGIDIO WITH TIMOR 

Expresso 13 March 1993 Dateline: Lisbon 


The St. Egidio Community has established 

contacts with the Timorese Resistance 

abroad, with regards becoming mediator in 

the East Timor conflict. 

An ecclesiastical source in Rome assured 

the Expresso yesterday that in the past two 

weeks Father Matteo Zuppi, the Catholic 

movement’s leader, has met with members 

“with responsibilities for representing 

abroad the command of the Maubere 

struggle,” so that the Community’s 

willingness to make efforts to establish 

contacts between the Resistance and the 

Jakarta Government could be transmitted to 

the new Timorese guerrilla leader, Mau 

Hunu. 

As the Expresso reported in its 13 

February edition, the St. Egidio Community, 

“with the committed consent of Vatican 

diplomacy,” is interested in leading the 

reconciliation process between Timorese 

and Indonesians, just as it did the process of 

mediation between Renamo and the 

Mozambique Government. This attitude on 

the Church’s part is certainly not unconnected 

with the fact that the next round of 

talks between Portugal and Indonesia will be 

taking place in Rome next month, at which 

time Msgr. Ximenes Belo, Bishop of Dili, 

will be travelling there. 

Meanwhile, Indonesia unexpectedly suffered 

an unprecedented defeat on Thursday 

at the Human Rights Commission in 

Geneva, when the draft resolution proposed 

by the EC Twelve was passed. 22 votes 

were cast in favour (EC, US, Australia and 

PALOP - Portuguese-speaking African 

nations - among others), against the 12 

countries that sided with Jakarta, which 

always rejected a consensus solution. Now 

Suharto has to agree to four UN rapporteurs 

visiting East Timor, to investigate issues 

connected with torture, disappearances and 

summary executions. The resolution further 

demands clarification by the Indonesian 

authorities of the 12 November massacre. 

ROME AWAITS THE 

TIMORESE 

Diario de Noticias, March 22 Dateline : 

Lisbon Translated from Portuguese unabridged 

Before Durão Barroso and Ali Alatas 

meet in the Italian capital, Timorese representatives, 

both in favour of and against 

Indonesia, will be meeting in Rome under 

the mediation of the Catholic Church. This 

objective led to contacts in Lisbon between 

informal representatives of Indonesia’s interests 

and Timorese resistance leaders. The 

holding in Rome of the meeting, however, is 

a certainty. 

Yesterday, observers assured the Diario 

de Noticias that the St. Egidio Community 

was not involved in the attempted convergence 

which should, however, be taking 

place under the mediation of the Church. 

The presence of the Bishop of Dili, reportedly 

as moderator, is almost certain. 

The same sources reported that the mediation 

is going to be a fundamental instrument 

for the political debate between 

Lisbon and Jakarta, in which Indonesia is 

said to have already given signs of being less 

intransigent, especially after the setback it 

suffered in Geneva. In this way, Durão 

Barroso and Ali Alatas will be able to 

discuss formulas for mediation at the highest 

level, since they will be in possession of 

elements which, until now, were not 

available and which could only be filtered 

from discussions between the Timorese 

themselves. Furthermore, the definitive alternative 

profile of the most appropriate 

Catholic institution (and this role may not 

fall to the St. Egidio Community, as a diplomatic 

source assured some days ago, and 

which was later confirmed by Father 

Matteo Zuppi himself) will depend, eventually, 

on the success or failure of the 

meeting of Timorese and whether the 

Church’s mediation is formally accepted by 

the ministers. Specifically, it is now known 

that Father Mario Marisi of the St. Egidio 

Community was given the task of examining 

the mediation process in more depth. 

There are reportedly four points on the 

agenda for the meeting of the Timorese, said 

to be scheduled for the second week of 

April: the pacification of Timor; demilitarization; 

reconciliation; consultation on selfdetermination 

or not. The postponement of 

Xanana Gusmão’s trial to 1 April could be 

linked to the subjects to be discussed by the 

Timor integrationists and pro-independence 

groups, since the pacification process would 

imply the release of all political prisoners. 

VATICAN MEDIATION NOT 

CONFIRMED BY FOREIGN 

OFFICE 

Publico, 24 March 1993. By Joaquim Trigo 

de Negreiros, Translated from Portuguese, 

unabridged 

(Lisbon)Yesterday, the (Portuguese) 

Foreign Office (FO) broke its silence on the 

alleged Vatican mediation in the talks on 

Timor. The FO does not endorse the statements 

and continues to stake everything on 

Boutros Ghali’s role. 

The Portuguese FO continues to back the 

current negotiating format of the talks on 

East Timor - under the auspices of the UN 

Secretary General, with the personal 

involvement of Jakarta’s and Lisbon’s diplomatic 

heads - and does not confirm any 

change regarding the Vatican taking on the 

role of “mediator,” - a role played today by 

the UN. 

The official FO position on the matter 

was made public for the first time yesterday 

by way of a 

“clarification” released hours after a Lusa 

agency dispatch reached the newspapers, 

containing statements by a non-identified 

“Portuguese diplomatic source,” according 

to which the Portuguese Government would 

look favorably upon the mediation of the 

Vatican, “the world’s best diplomacy.” 

Dismissing the possibility of the St. 

Egidio Community eventually assuming the 

role - and thereby contradicting the view 

which had been insistently put forward on 

other occasions - the same source argued the 

advantages of the entrance on scene of the 

Vatican, “which would carefully ponder 

each step to be taken.” 

It was the military commander of East 

Timor, Theo Syafei, who first floated the 

idea of Vatican mediation. Members of the 

Timorese Church, linked to the Resistance, 

expressed their opposition to the idea to the 

Publico’s envoy, at the start of the Xanana 

Gusmão trial. They argued that the Vatican 

favours an autonomy solution for the territory. 

The rumours about the Holy See being 

given a more active role started straight after 

last December’s meeting between Ghali, 

Barroso and Alatas in New York, when it 

was announced that the next meeting would 

be held in April in Rome, in order to suit the 

Secretary General’s agenda commitments.


Since then, the FO has kept silent about 

the reported “news” of the Vatican’s greater 

involvement, a silence only broken 

yesterday by the “clarification,” stating that 

“no authorised Portuguese diplomatic 

source made the comments” contained in the 

Lusa agency’s dispatch, and that “no 

comments whatsoever were made by this 

Ministry’s officials regarding the news 

carried by the Portuguese media concerning 

the alleged offers by the Holy See and the 

St. Egidio Community to mediate on the 

matter of East Timor.” The “clarification” 

goes on to refer to Lisbon’s “full and constructive 

collaboration” with “the efforts 

being made by the UN Secretary General in 

the process of dialogue between Portugal 

and Indonesia.” 

In this way, in the usual cautious diplomatic 

style, Portugal rejects any attempt to 

substitute the UN, today at the vertex of the 

negotiations triangle. The presence of Dr. 

Boutros Ghali at the negotiating table guarantees 

the internationalization - and an international 

visibility - of the Timor problem, 

fitting into Lisbon’s way of seeing the 

matter. Minister Durão Barroso himself 

does not miss an opportunity of saying that 

the so-called “Timor question” is not a difference 

between Portugal and Indonesia, but 

a contentious issue between Jakarta and the 

international community. In this perspective, 

it would not make sense to give up 

the UN’s role through its Secretary 

General’s good offices and the most discreet 

contacts maintained by high-ranking UN 

officials. 

ALATAS STEPS 

“BACKWARD” TOWARDS 

ROME ? 

From an East Timorese, posted anonymously. 

March 26. 

This only a brief insight in the perspective 

of Rome bilateral meeting - Portugal and 

Indonesia - on the East Timor problem. 

Although Indonesia has given its green 

light to hold a bilateral talk with Portugal in 

Rome concerning ET question under UNO 

auspices, there still remain some questions 

on its position. 

Whether Indonesia will “soften” its hard 

line towards the ET question? Several 

months ago (soon after their first meeting) 

Alatas stated, “......Please go fishing if 

Portugal wants a referendum in ET......” 

That shows an impossible solution will 

be taken from their talks. On the other hand 

ET people will continue to be oppressed 

under Theo Syafei’s crucial actions. 

However, I personally wouldn’t believe 

that such statement was Alatas original 

thinking. As a Diplomat with a high international 

reputation, he wouldn’t have hardly 

issued such statement, then who was behind 

the scene ? It is not difficult to figure out... 

Overall, Indonesia’s willingness to attend 

that meeting and the deliberate delay of 

“Xanana Kay Rala Gusmão” trial implies 

Indonesia’s seriousness to face the meeting.. 

Or is it simply a lure to handle the concerns 

of human rights abuses and the Geneva 

conference last couple of weeks ago? 

Hopefully, Suharto will take such matters 

(and his status as NAM’s leader) into 

his consideration to achieve a proper acceptable 

solution for all parties involved. 

The outcome of the Rome meeting, I 

think, will depend on Indonesia’s good will 

and its consciousness concerning the question, 

whether it is favourable to Indonesia to 

keep on occupying that territory which 

refuse to be integrated ? 

Otherwise, Alatas will step “backward” 

towards Rome. 

Comments welcome.!!!!!!!!!!!!! 

With all the best. 

We will fight them under their own 

shadows.(Xanana) 

INDONESIA SAYS PORTUGAL 

UNHELPFUL OVER TIMOR 

(Reuters, Jakarta, April 2) Indonesia has 

accused Portugal of damaging the atmosphere 

ahead of talks this month to try to 

settle the troubled issue of East Timor. 

“We have to say the atmosphere of the 

second meeting has not been helped much 

by what Portugal has been doing in Geneva 

lately and in other forums,” Indonesian 

Foreign Minister Ali Alatas told reporters 

on Thursday. 

“The real intention (of Portugal) was not 

the betterment of human rights in East 

Timor but to score political points,” he said 

of Portugal’s procedural maneuvering during 

the U.N. human rights conference in Geneva 

last month. 

Portugal praised the 12 European 

Community member states for sponsoring a 

resolution approved by the U.N. Human 

Rights Commission that condemned 

Indonesia for violations of human rights in 


“The adoption of this resolution represents 

a very significant victory in the fight 

which has been taken in defence of the rights 

of the Timorese people, which have been 

systematically and brutally violated by the 

illegal and forced occupation of East Timor 

by Indonesia, ” the Portuguese foreign 

ministry said in a statement. 

Alatas and his Portuguese counterpart 

Durão Barroso are due to meet on April 21 

in Rome to discuss East Timor, which was 

invaded by Indonesia in 1975 shortly after 

the Portuguese colonial rulers of three 

centuries had left. 

In an interview this week with the 

Indonesian daily, Suara Pembaruan, Barroso 

said Portugal considered its former colony a 

non-autonomous territory with the right to 

self-determination. 

Indonesia says the East Timorese have 

already chosen to come under Jakarta rule. 

The head of the East Timor guerrilla 

movement which has been battling Jakarta 

for 17 years is currently on trial in the local 

capital Dili on charges including being involved 

in inciting an army massacre in late 

1991 when witnesses say up to 180 people 

were killed. 

Jakarta puts the toll at 50 people dead 

and 66 missing. 

Alatas said he was hopeful that there 

would be some move forward in finding a 

solution to the issue. 

“But you need two hands to clap. When 

you start negotiating means that both sides 

understand that there should be give and 

take on both sides,” he said. 

The United Nations does not recognise 

Jakarta’s rule over the territory but 

Secretary General Boutros Boutros-Ghali is 

sending his personal envoy to Indonesia this 

weekend to report on East Timor. 

“(The visit) will be a good opportunity 

for us to explain what is actually going on 

there because sometimes there is still misinformation 

and exaggerated reports on East 

Timor,” Alatas said. 

DIPLOMACY VERSUS 

LOGIC OF WAR 


Byline : Joaquim Trigo de Negreiros 


Alatas, who arrived in New York with 

Xanana’s capture in his pocket, will get to 

Rome with Ma’hunu in prison. It is “fait 

accompli” logic, which Portugal strikes out 

against with international condemnation of 

Jakarta. The reality reveals other ambiguities, 

under the clear argumentation of both 

parties. 

The arrest of Ma’Hunu, which occurred 

just over two weeks away from another 

round of talks between Lisbon and Jakarta 

on the so-called “Timor question,” and 

which will take place in Rome under the 

auspices of the UN Secretary General, has 

made even clearer the content of Indonesian 

Minister Ali Alatas’s argument, in preparation 

for voicing before Durão Barroso and 

Boutros Ghali at the negotiating table: the 

Timorese Resistance is becoming extinct, the 

few guerrillas still in the mountains have 

their days numbered, life in the territory is 

getting back to normal.


To counter this argument, Portugal will 

have at its disposal a different kind of 

weaponry to that used by Ma’Hunu’s captors: 

when Ali Alatas presents a picture of 

“normality” - exemplified by the recent imprisonment 

of Xanana Gusmão’s successor 

- Durão Barroso will counter with the international 

condemnation of Jakarta - exemplified 

by the equally recent resolution 

on Timor passed by the UN Human Rights 

Commission, with the active “complicity” 

of the always decisive US diplomacy. 

It will, therefore, be a clash between 

Indonesia’s bet on the “fait accompli,” and 

Portugal’s efforts to make international 

pressure on Jakarta prevail, 

mainly on the basis of human rights arguments. 

The first “round” is set for today, 

at a meeting (scheduled before Ma’Hunu’s 

capture) between representatives of 

Portugal and Indonesia at the UN. 

In Rome, the two ministers, under the 

watchful eye of Boutros Ghali, will probably 

try to get across a clear picture of their 

respective positions. That is to say, Ali 

Alatas will tend to overrate the arrests of 

Xanana and Ma’Hunu in order to demonstrate 

the relinquishment of the opponents 

to integration, while Barroso will probably 

press more insistently on the international 

condemnation button. 

The reality - or the “realities” - behind 

the arguments of the two ministers is not, 

however, quite so clear. 

Although it is difficult to evaluate with 

any accuracy the current state of the 

Resistance in Timor, the guerrilla actions 

carried out after Xanana’s arrest, as well as 

the size of the Indonesian military presence 

in the territory, show that the “mountain 

men” are still a cause for concern for Jakarta. 

On the other hand, there is no indication 

that Indonesia’s repression has managed to 

destroy the so-called “clandestine network,” 

especially in Dili. It is, therefore, an 

exaggeration to say that the Resistance is 

finished. 

With regards the international community’s 

position on East Timor, ambiguity 

reigns. Indonesia is condemned in Geneva 

for violating human rights in Timor; a month 

later, Indonesia is a candidate for 

representative of the developing countries at 

the next G7 summit meeting - Germany, 

which had voted in favour of the condemnatory 

resolution at the UN Human Rights 

Commission, immediately supported 

Indonesia’s candidature, as did Japan. So, to 

say that the world condemns Indonesia is, 

therefore, an exaggeration. 

The statements of British Foreign 

Minister, Douglas Hurd, (who, since yesterday, 

is in Jakarta) are symptomatic. 

Hurd, who is expected to clarify the British 

position vis-a-vis Jakarta’s participation in 

the G7 summit, told journalists that there is 

“still” concern about Indonesia’s behaviour 

in Timor, and chose to emphasize the disproportion 

between the sentences passed on 

the military involved in the Santa Cruz 

massacre and sentences received by the 

civilians on that occasion - a point which 

can hardly be considered crucial in the 

framework of the situation as it is today in 

the territory. 

While Douglas Hurd had talks with the 

Indonesian authorities in Jakarta, Kenyan 

Amos Wako (Boutros Ghali’s Special 

Envoy to Timor) arrived in Dili. “Please, 

don’t be afraid of me,” Wako said, on arrival. 

“my door is open to all those who wish 

to speak to me.” But it is surely not Amos 

Wako who the Timorese fear. 

AMOS WAKO RETURNS 

TO EAST TIMOR 

SECRETARY-GENERAL TO 

SEND PERSONAL ENVOY TO 

INDONESIA AND EAST TIMOR 

TO ASSESS IMPLEMENTATION OF 

RECOMMENDATIONS 

UN Press Release, 31 March 1993 

Secretary-General Boutros Boutros-Ghali 

has decided to send Amos Wako, Attorney- 

General of Kenya and an international 

authority on human rights, to Indonesia and 

East Timor as his Personal Envoy. This will 

be a follow-up to a similar visit which he 

undertook on behalf of the Secretary- 

General in February 1992. 

Mr. Wako’s mission will begin on 2 

April and will last for approximately one 

week. Mr. Wako will examine the implementation 

of the recommendations which he 

had following his first visit, and will apprise 

the Secretary-General of his impression of 

the overall human rights situation in East 

Timor. Upon completion of his mission, he 

will report to the Secretary-General. 

Mr. Wako will be accompanied by two 

officials of the United Nations Secretariat. 

AMOS WAKO TO VISIT 

TIMOR AGAIN 

Wire services, 1 April 1993 

UN Secretary-General Boutros-Ghali has 

announced that he is to send his special 

envoy, Mr. Amos Wako, the attorney-general 

of Kenya, to Indonesia and East Timor 

on a second visit this week. Mr. Wako is 

due to arrive in Jakarta Saturday 2 April for 

a week’s visit. He is expected to spend at 

least two days in East Timor early next 

week. where he will have meetings with the 

governor and Indonesian military commanders 

in the territory. 

Mr. Wako visited East Timor in 

February last year but his report to the 

Secretary-General has remained confidential. 

He will be accompanied by two UN 

officials. The follow-up visit is intended to 

apprise the Secretary-General of the human 

rights situation in East Timor and to review 

implementation of the recommendations 

which he made following his first visit. The 

forthcoming visit is also in preparation for 

the next round of talks between the 

Indonesian and Portuguese foreign ministers 

in Rome on 20 April, under the auspices of 

the UN Secretary-General. 

JAKARTA ASKED TO REVEAL 

ALL FROM PROBE OF 1991 

DILI INCIDENT 

Jakarta Post 3 April 1993. Abridged 

This call for the facts about the Dili massacre 

was well-timed to appear on the day 

Amos Wako, UN Secretary- General’s 

special envoy to investigation the Dili 

massacre, arrived in Jakarta for his second 

visit to East Timor. Franz Hendra Winarta 

was one of the lawyers who defended the 

East Timorese on trial in Dili last year. 

– TAPOL 

(Jakarta) Human rights activists called on 

the government yesterday to divulge all the 

findings from its investigation of people 

reported missing following the clash (sic) 

between military and protesters in Dili in 

1991. 

“The government has promised to investigate 

the case and we, the people, want 

to know the results of the investigation,” 

lawyer Franz Hendra Winarta told Jakarta 

Post. 

He said the government should reveal the 

entire findings of the investigation even if 

these could be used by developed countries 

to criticize Indonesia. He said it should be 

remembered that human rights abuses 

occurred throughout the world, in both 

developed and developing nations. 

Human rights lawyer Mulya Lubis said 

that openness was required for the improvement 

of the human rights situation in 

the country. “If mistakes were made in the 

past, let’s correct them,” Lubis said.


JAKARTA’S HANDLING OF 

THE AMOS WAKO VISIT 

Antara news agency reports date 6 April 

datelined Jakarta and Dili, and Jakarta Post 

report of 2 April, datelined Jakarta. All 

abridged to leave out background 

information. 

As compared with a visit of inspection by the 

International Red Cross (ICRC), a visit by 

the UN Sec-Gen’s envoy seems to offer the 

worst of both worlds. With an ICRC 

inspection visit, the Indonesian government 

would not dare to publish its own version of 

what the ICRC was told. The rules of 

operation for ICRC inspections mean that 

the ICRC would likewise publish its version. 

Strict confidentiality on both sides is 

therefore assured. With Wako, it seems, he 

and Boutros-Ghali are pledged to make 

nothing public whilst the Indonesian side can 

present their side with impunity and without 

fear of being contradicted. 

Note that although Brig.Gen. Theo Syafei 

has been appointed commander of the 

Udayana Military Command based in Dili, 

he still continues to hold the position of 

commander of Kolakops, the special military 

command in East Timor. 

– TAPOL 

The Jakarta Post reported Foreign 

Minister Ali Alatas as saying: “The visit 

will be useful for us to explain what was 

actually going on, what is continuing to go 

on in this welter of sometimes misinformation, 

sometimes deliberate misinformation 

and sometimes exaggeration of the developments 

occurring in East Timor.” 

JP continues by reporting that in his second 

visit, Amos Wako will study the implementation 

of his recommendations he made 

in 1992. Wako recommended that the 

government try to ascertain the whereabouts 

of people reported missing following the 

Dili incident. He also called for greater 

access of non-government organisations in 


“We are continuing the search for the 

missing people,” Alatas said in his first 

press conference since being reappointed to 

the post of Foreign Minister. 

Wako is scheduled to arrive in Jakarta 

Saturday and will have an informal dinner 

with Alatas that day. Formal talks will take 

place on Sunday and on Monday he will 

depart for Dili where he will meet with the 

East Timor special military operation 

commander [this presumably means Brig- 

Gen. Theo Syafei], the chief of the Dili 

district court which is trying Xanana 

Gusmão and possibly Bishop Belo. He will 

later return to Jakarta to meet top officials 

including Defence Minister and armed forces 

commander General Edi Sudradjat and 

Minister of Justice Oetoyo Oesman. 

According to Antara on 6 April, Foreign 

Minister Alatas has contacted chief of the 

supreme court Purwoto Gandasubrata to get 

permission for Amos Wako to meet former 

resistance leader Xanana who is now on trial 

in Dili. “As Xanana is still in the examination 

process, a special permit from the 

chief of the supreme court will be required,” 

Alatas told the press. 

“The time for the meeting between Wako 

and Xanana can be arranged later,” Alatas 

said, denying allegations that the 

government will try to give ‘directives’ to 

Xanana in answering questions from Wako. 

Wako arrived in Dili Monday for a threeday 

visit to collect inputs and data on 

developments in East Timor which he will 

submit to the UN Secretary-General after 

his second visit to East Timor. Alatas said 

he is certain Wako fully understands that 

the examination process over Xanana has 

been going on properly. 

Chief of the armed forces General Edi 

Sudradjat also said that the government will 

give all opportunities to Wako to meet 

Xanana or any other persons he wants to 

see. He further said there will not be any 

efforts on the part of the government to 

‘guide’ Xanana in replying to Wako’s 

questions. 

Meanwhile from Dili, Antara reported 

that the results of Wako’s current visit to 

East Timor are not meant for publication 

despite requests by certain members of the 

European Community. Wako told the press 

here Tuesday that his three-day visit to East 

Timor is aimed at collecting inputs and updating 

data to smoothen the task of the UN 

Sec-Gen to settle the so-called East Timor 

issue. 

“I know there are requests by certain EC 

members to publish the results of my visit 

but I will not do so because everything I 

have will be for the Secretary-General only,” 

he said. He also said he would not make any 

recommendations to the Indonesian 

government because such things will solely 

depend on the UN chief. 

Wako and delegation includes Director 

for International Organisations, Hadi 

Wayarabi of Indonesia’s Foreign Ministry 

[he was a member of the government’s team 

of inquiry into the Dili massacre set up in 

November 1991], and five UN officials. His 

first day in Dili was marked by a meeting 

with governor Osorio Soares and the 

younger sister of Xanana Gusmão, 

Armandina. 

Wako described his meeting with Soares 

as “satisfactory,” saying that his meeting 

with Armandina and her husband Gilman do 

Santos was also “beneficial.” He said he was 

assigned by Boutros-Ghali to check reports 

that the Indonesian government had 

maltreated those involved in the Nov., 12 

1991 Dili incident as well as Xanana who 

was captured last year. 

Wako said that in carrying out his assignment 

he will also meet several East 

Timor administration officials, Bishop Belo, 

Xanana, Mau Hodu (arrested in January last 

year) and Mau Hunu (arrested last week). 

Armandina Maria Gusmão, after meeting 

Wako, dismissed as baseless allegations that 

she was maltreated by the Indonesian 

government. 

“There is no truth whatsoever in it as my 

husband Gilman dos Santos and I have 

always been treated well ever since Xanana 

was captured,” she told newsmen. She 

further said however, that four days after 

Xanana’s arrest she was approached by 

local security officials for information on her 

brother’s activities as well as her involvement 

in them. “But now everything is 

OK and we enjoy our freedom like any 

other Indonesian citizens. She confirmed 

that she once tried to assist Xanana but now 

regrets it very much. Armandina during the 

meeting with Wako also expressed the hope 

that the East Timor issue can be settled 

immediately at the UN. She said she told 

Wako that East Timor has now gained a 

much better progress and prosperity compared 

to the days under Portuguese colonialism. 

AMOS WAKO’S RETURN 

VISIT TO INDONESIA 

ABC Radio report - Sunday, April 4, 1993.- 

12 noon. 

Reporter: Ian Mackintosh in Jakarta. 

IM: In February 1991, 3 months after 

Indonesian troops killed scores of civilian 

demonstrators in Dili, Amos Wako was 

despatched to Indonesia by the UN 

Secretary General. The Kenyan lawyer 

spent 5 days in the country, including 24 

hrs in Dili and declared himself satisfied 

with the contents of his discussions and the 

range of people he met. Mr. Wako’s subsequent 

report to the Secretary General was 

never made public although last week 

Indonesia’s Foreign Minister Mr. Ali Alatas 

told reporters that its conclusions and 

recommendations had been sent to Jakarta 

for comment. Mr. Alatas also noted that 

both sides had agreed that the envoy would 

be able to follow up his first visit saying 

that Mr. Wako was expected to make 

comparisons, to see what had happened 

since and in the Foreign Minister’s words 

see to what extent some of the recommendations 

had been implemented or not 

implemented and why.

East Timor Documents, Volume 21. February 15 - April 10, 1993. Page 93 

When the UN envoy arrived in Jakarta he 

said that he had returned with an open mind 

to take a first hand look at developments in 


AW: I will be looking at the issue of the 

trial that’s going on, looking at the issue of 

the detainees that are there. I’ll be looking 

into the issue of the disappeared persons, 

those who cannot be identified up to date, 

looking at the issue of allegations of torture, 

if they are there, and so on. I’ll also be 

looking at the fundamental issue as to why 

all these moral concerns are there. 

IM: Mr. Wako told reporters he would 

be making a report to Dr. Boutros-Ghali before 

he hosted talks between the Indonesian 

and Portuguese Foreign Ministers in Rome 

this month. While the details of the envoy’s 

original report have not been released it is 

understood to have been highly critical of 

the behaviour of Indonesian troops and their 

civilian counterparts during & after the Nov. 

1991 killings in Dili. It is also believed to 

have questioned the level of human rights 

and personal freedoms in East Timor and 

the number of troops stationed in the 

province. 

WAKO: “MY DOOR IS OPEN” 

AP, Dili, April 5 

“Please do not be afraid of me. My door 

is open to all who wish to talk with me,” 

U.N. envoy Amos Wako said in a statement 

upon his arrival for three days of discussions. 

Wako was to meet Xanana Gusmão, East 

Timor military commander Brig. Gen. Theo 

Syafei and other officials and detainees. He 

will report his findings to U.N. Secretary- 

General Boutros Boutros-Ghali. 

In Jakarta, British Foreign Minister 

Douglas Hurd met with Indonesian officials 

and expressed his concern over the killings 

by Indonesian troops of East Timorese proindependence 

protesters in 1991. 

In his talks with Indonesian Foreign 

Minister Ali Alatas, Hurd said Britain still 

has “some continuing concerns over the 

disparity in sentencing between military and 

civilians” regarding the 1991 demonstrations. 

A spokesman for the East Timor 

Military Command said Antonio Gomes Da 

Costa was captured Saturday in a cave in 

Manufasi, a village 30 miles south of Dili, 

East Timor’s capital. 

Da Costa was transferred to Dili on 

Sunday, officials said. 

AMOS WAKO MEETS XANANA 

AND MAU HUNU 

BBC World Service and Portuguese radio 7 

April 1993. Summarised by TAPOL 

The BBC World Service reported 

Wednesday that the UN Secretary- 

General’s special envoy, Amos Wako, met 

Xanana Gusmão, East Timorese resistance 

leader who is now on trial in Dili, and Mau 

Hunu, the resistance leader arrested last 

week, who took over the leadership after 

Xanana’s arrest. 

The circumstances of Wako’s meetings 

with the two captives are not known. 

Wako also had a private meeting with 

Bishop Belo in Dili. 

On Portuguese radio TSF Monday, 

Wako said in an interview that he was 

anxious to meet a number of East Timorese 

now in captivity and mentioned specifically 

Xanana Gusmão, Mau Hunu and Saturnino 

da Costa Belo. There is no report of his 

having been able to meet Saturnino however. 

Amos Wako left Dili Wednesday and 

returned to Jakarta for more talks with 

senior Indonesian officials. 

RADIO AUSTRALIA 

ON WAKO VISIT 

Thursday April 8, 1993 11pm AEST. 

Reporter Ian Mackintosh (slightly abridged) 

Amos Wako, ending a 6 day mission to 

Indonesia today, told reporters that during 

his visit he had received different figures 

from the Indonesian authorities and an 

NGO. 17 months after the killed the UN 

envoy said he didn’t think anyone could say 

with any finality how many people were 

still missing. Mr. Wako told reporters that 

the government put the number at 61 but 

that an NGO had given him a list of 112 

names. Mr. Wako said details were still 

being cross-checked and he declined to say 

how long it would take to finish what he 

said was a difficult exercise - one that would 

also require the people of ET to come 

forward with information. 

Indonesian Foreign Minister Ali Alatas 

told reporters that the process needed to 

continue until the matter was resolved. 

Jakarta now says that of the 115 people it 

earlier listed as missing, 31 had been found, 

23 were confirmed dead and 61 were 

unaccounted for. Some human rights groups 

and eye witnesses put the death toll much 

higher. 

UN ENVOY IN TALKS 

WITH XANANA 

Sydney Morning Herald Date:8th April 1993 

Dateline: Jakarta Agence France-Presse 

Unabridged 

The personal envoy of the United 

Nations Secretary-General, Dr. Boutros 

Boutros-Ghali, has met the detained East 

Timorese pro-independence leader Xanana 

Gusmão, an Indonesian official said today. 

“[Envoy]” Amos Wako was allowed to 

meet [Xanana] in his detention place [on] 

Tuesday after we received a call from the 

Foreign Minister,” Dili court spokesman 

Mr. Joseph Phenu said by telephone form 

Dili, East Timor. 

He said the Foreign Minister, Mr. Ali 

Alatas, had given the go-ahead for the visit 

after Mr. Wako, who arrived in Dili on 

Monday, had failed in his first attempt 

yesterday to see Xanana, who has been on 

trial since February 1. 

Mr. Alatas had called to say that following 

consultations with the Chief Justice and 

the Attorney-General, it was agreed that 

Mr. Wako be allowed to meet Xanana. 

The UN envoy had earlier yesterday 

failed to meet Xanana because Dili court 

officials refused permission, saying that the 

East Timor Justice Chief, Mr. Hironymus 

Godang, was absent and they had no 

authority. 

Mr. Wako, who is also Kenya’s 

Attorney-General, met Xanana alone and 

later met alone Xanana’s successor Antonio 

Gomes da Costa, alias Ma’hunu, who was 

captured on Saturday, a reliable Dili source 

said. 

The source said Mr. Wako also met 

Xanana’s former deputy José da Costa, alias 

Ma’Hodu, and two other former Fretilin 

members at his hotel in Dili. Da Costa was 

captured in Dili in February last year. 

The Media Indonesia daily today quoted 

Mr. Wako saying that Xanana had appeared 

to be in good health and was playing cards 

with other people when he arrived.


EVENTS IN CANADA 

FIVE DAYS IN EAST TIMOR 

NOW Magazine, Toronto, Feb. 18-24. 

The Feb. 18-24 issue of NOW Magazine, 

Toronto’s weekly news and entertainment 

paper, carries three articles on East Timor. 

The lead article in the News Front section is 

entitled “Five days in East Timor.” The 

other articles are “Independence leader 

goes on trial” by Nantha Kumar and 

“Tough Talks on Timor” (about Portugal- 

Indonesia “peace talks”) by Glenn Wheeler. 

The articles are too long to post here, but 

are reprinted in the ETAN/Canada 

newsletter – email etanott@web.apc.org if 

you need a copy. 

The third article also contains the first (non- 

) statement from Canada’s External Affairs 

ministry we’ve seen on the peace talks 

process: “We think both sides should show 

more flexibility.” 

Excerpts follow: 

Five days in East Timor Fear fuels paranoia 

in a land of military saturation, political 

surveillance and bitter young men 

By Glenn Wheeler 

.... 

A man wearing a straw hat, white cotton 

shirt, shorts and sandals approaches, smiling 

tentatively. 

“Is it all right for us to walk here?” we 

ask. “Yes,” but then he adds nervously, 

“Tentera” (military). He speaks softly, 

looking over his shoulder. “You can walk,” 

he says, “but we’ll be hassled after you 

leave.” Then someone calls from somewhere, 

he puts up his hand as if to say, 

“Please, no more,” then he’s gone. 

.... 

It’s teenage boys who are most anxious 

to talk, first checking to see if there are “any 

eyes” around.... One afternoon, we sit on 

the steps of the Dili stadium, waiting for the 

souvenir shop across the street to open, and 

someone invites us inside. 

Soon, we’re surrounded by a dozen or so 

football players aged 14 to 23. They don’t 

go to school because they can’t afford the 

5,000 rupiah a month in fees. It’s hard to get 

jobs, they say, because people from Java 

with better education are usually chosen 

over the Timorese. 

After they’ve talked as long as they think 

they should, they ask us to come back 

another time. 

The next afternoon, we sit on the steps 

again. Promptly at 3, a lanky player from 

yesterday approaches. But there’s a soldier 

coming down the street, so he whispers that 

we should walk in the opposite direction, 

and then back, to the rear. 

Five minutes later, someone older, in his 

early 20s, crosses the field to where we sit 

in the stands. He has heard about us from 

his friends. 

Shooing away the younger boys, he tells 

us he’s been imprisoned five times. Once, 

after the massacre, he was in jail for a week. 

They were thirsty, and when they were 

given water, it was mixed with blood. He’s 

been hit with pieces of wood and iron bars, 

had his fingernails pulled out. Had a gun put 

to his head and heard the trigger click. 

Pulling up his jersey, he shows us the scars 

on his back. 

Many Timorese have fled. Four soccer 

players who went to Darwin, Australia, for 

an exhibition game absconded, never came 

back. 

He, however, sounds defiant. “We love 

our land. We will stay and fight.” Abruptly, 

he stands and says, “Eyes are watching.” 

He stands and runs out on the field 

laughing, stopping the ball with his head. 

.... 

Ian makes contact with two members of 

Fretilin, the underground independence 

movement. They don’t want to come to the 

hotel. Too risky. They want to meet on the 

beach after dark. And they want to meet at 

7, not 8, because it’s too dangerous walking 

home after that. Ian will meet them first, and 

then come get me. 

It’s still pouring at 7. But they show up 

anyway. “They want to honour their promise,” 

Ian says, as I shake their hands, wondering 

if the melodramatic language is the 

result of the translation, or the fact that 

they’re still teens. One of them has brought 

a picture of his brother, who died in his 

arms on November 12, 1991. Print it in your 

newspaper, he says. 

It’s men between 18 and 25 who have the 

hardest time with the police, because it was 

mostly young people who were in the 

funeral procession on November 12, 1991, 

and that’s where resistance to integration is 

strongest. 

They don’t feel safe walking alone, but if 

they’re in a group of three or more, they’re 

harassed, accused of planning another 

demonstration. And the army can tell 

Timorese from settlers, because of the color 

of their skin and the way they speak. 

The wind whips the rain off the harbour, 

and we move to a picnic table closer to the 

road. Cars making right-hand turns send 

beams are way. They glance in the direction 

of the light, but keep talking. 

“I’d rather die than integrate,” one of 

them says. And then there are those words 

again, “We love our land.” 

But what are your chances, I ask. Do you 

have support in other countries? No, they 

say, “but if other countries want to give us 

arms, we will accept.” Sitting in the rain, 

watching them punctuate their remarks with 

the palms of their hands, I’m Skeptical, 

knowing they stand little chance against the 

Indonesian army, that their freedom is more 

likely to come from the halls of the United 

Nations than the barrel of a gun. 

Back, in the hindsight of home, I wonder 

if I missed the point. Whether their words 

are teen dreams or political logistics, they’re 

still criminals under the laws of Indonesia, 

which make it an offence to engage in 

“public expression of feelings of hostility, 

hatred or contempt towards the government 

of Indonesia,” and “the spreading or 

exhibiting of letters or pictures which 

express hatred of the government of 

Indonesia.” 

I have such a letter here on my desk, one 

they handed us on the beach. It begins 

“peace in the name of friendship” and goes 

on to describe in sickening detail what 

happened to them after they were arrested 

in November 1991. 

They still have the idealism, part of their 

masculinity, like their bodybuilder strength. 

I suppose that’s why the Indonesian government 

is so afraid of them. 

This week’s issue of NOW contains an 

appeal from ETAN/Canada to write to the 

Canadian government asking for support 

for a resolution on East Timor at the UN 

Commission on Human Rights. 

EAST TIMOR UPDATE FROM 

ETAN/TORONTO 

Number 20 – Feb. 27, 1993 

UN Commission considers East Timor 

resolution 

East Timor was on the agenda as the 

United Nations Commission on Human 

Rights opened its 49th session in Geneva. 

The Commission was scheduled to vote on 

an East Timor resolution on March 9. 

Indonesia managed to get itself elected 

vice-president of this year’s session, but 

solidarity groups vowed to push for a 

strong resolution regardless. Last year, 

Indonesia agreed to a consensus declaration 

at the Human Rights Commission that called 

for improved human rights in East Timor 

and access to be granted for international human 

rights groups. 

Neither condition has been met. Amnesty 

International was prevented from visiting 

East Timor, most recently when a 

representative was banned from the trial of 

East Timor resistance leader Xanana 

Gusmão which opened on Feb. 1. 

Canadian Ambassador Anne Park, who 

this year chairs the Western group of coun-


tries, has not yet indicated whether Canada 

will support a resolution on East Timor. 

Last year, the Canadian delegation was a 

key mover in a successful bid to water down 

a draft resolution from the European 

Community. 

However, American Ambassador Richard 

Schifter has promised to seek a joint text 

this year with other democracies on China’s 

actions in Tibet and Indonesia’s crackdown 

on East Timor, a major break with past US 

policy. 

The East Timor Alert Network is appealing 

for messages to be sent before 

March 9 to the department of external affairs, 

asking for the government of Canada 

to: 

(1) back any resolution supported by the 

Timorese delegation at the UN Commission 

on Human Rights 

(2) support a call for the UN 

Commission on Human Rights to mandate a 

special rapporteur on the situation in East 


(3) call on Indonesia to live up to the 

terms of last year’s consensus declaration 

by taking concrete steps to end repression 

in East Timor and allowing free access to 

international humanitarian organizations, 

including Amnesty International. 

Appeals can be sent to External Affairs 

Minister Barbara McDougall, House of 

Commons, Ottawa Ont. K1A 0A6, Fax 

(613)996-3443. 

Bishop: thousands arrested, tortured 

According to new reports from the 

Timorese resistance movement CNRM, 

4,000 East Timorese people may have been 

called in for interrogation by the Indonesian 

forces of occupation since the capture of 

CNRM leader Xanana Gusmão. These detainees 

are reported to have been submitted 

to torture and humiliation during interrogation. 

These reports are confirmed by Carlos 

Ximenes Belo, Catholic Bishop of East 

Timor, who said the persecution of Timor’s 

Christians and of those who did not recognize 

Timor as part of Indonesia had worsened 

since Xanana’s arrest. 

Speaking to Portugal’s Catholic Radio 

Renascenca, Belo explained “When the 

people are taken to prison, the first thing 

they do is beat them up. I have received 

letters from prisoners ... telling me about all 

types of torture, electric shocks, burning of 

genitals with cigarettes, placing people in 

barrels of cold water and whipping, until 

they say they are FRETILIN collaborators.” 

He said those arrested were also forced to 

confess that Catholic bishops and priests 

organized demonstrations and were against 

Indonesia. 

“People are afraid to walk freely,” 

Bishop Belo added. “Everywhere there are 

military from the territorial operation. They 

are building houses and going to live in 

villages. The people do not feel free.” 

Reports are also coming through that 

Timorese are being forced to take part in 

ceremonies where they have to swear allegiance 

before the Indonesian flag, loyalty to 

Suharto and their acceptance of the principles 

of Pancasila, the Indonesian State 

ideology. 

Belo also told reporters that suspected 

dissidents are being forced to take part in 

crude parodies of traditional Timorese 

ceremonies. People are gathered together in 

groups of up to 200 and forced to drink the 

blood of an animal and take an oath of allegiance 

to Indonesia. He said the oath is an 

untrue version of a traditional pact taken by 




of hostilities. 

Despite reports in the Indonesian media, 

no guerrillas have surrendered to the 

Indonesians since the capture of Xanana 

Gusmão. In fact the opposite is true: 

FALINTIL, the armed wing if the resistance, 

have been carrying out frequent attacks 

fin the Indonesian army illegally occupying 

the country. 

Xanana verdict expected in March 

The Indonesian court trying Timorese 

resistance leader Xanana Gusmão has announced 

a plan to hand down its verdict on 

March 20. In a timetable that makes little 

allowance for a defence to be mounted, the 

court plans to hear prosecution and defence 

arguments on March 12 and 13 and deliver 

its verdict a week later. Xanana is charged 

with “rebellion” and possession of firearms 

Q charges that carry a possible death penalty, 

but more likely a long jail term. The 

United States and Australia have sent observers 

to the trial. 

One Timorese youth told Australia’s 

Mate-Bian News: “We in East Timor don’t 

believe a word of what the Indonesian 

military are trying to force Xanana to say. 

You out there, all you can do to help is to 

fight for Xanana to regain a breeding space; 

and, when he is free like you out there, you 

then can criticize what he does or says...” 

Timorese barred from travel 

East Timorese youths will no longer be 

allowed to travel outside Indonesia, under a 

new policy brought in to stop a rash of defections. 

Tri Swartanta, chief Indonesian 

sports and youth official for East Timor, 

said more defections “would bring a bad 

image to the country.” 

In 1991, four East Timorese soccer players 

defected from an Indonesian- sponsored 

soccer team visiting Darwin, Australia and 

sought political asylum through the 

Portuguese embassy in Canberra. 

Two more East Timorese youths defected 

to Canada in 1992 during a student 

exchange program, Swartanta said. 

East Timor Alert Network/Toronto PO Box 

562, Station P, Toronto, Canada, M5S 2T1 

Phone/fax 1-416-531-5850, Email etantor@web.apc.org 

CANADIAN GOVERNMENT 

ON XANANA 


We FINALLY have something written on 

paper concerning the Canadian government’s 

position on Xanana. Following is a 

letter written to Ray Funk, MP, Member of 

PET (where ETAN/Ottawa does all of it’s 

work), from Barbara McDougall who is the 

Minister for External Affairs and Secretary 

of State 

– Sharon 

Dear Ray: 

Thanks for your letter of December 9, 

1992, regarding your concerns about the 

imprisonment of Mr. José Xanana Gusmão. 

Through our Embassy in Jakarta, Canada 

has expressed support for the efforts of the 

International Committee of the Red Cross 

(ICRC) to see Mr. Gusmão. The ICRC was 

able to visit him on two separate occasions 

– the first time privately for one hour – in 

early December 1992. 

We are also making our concerns known 

to the Indonesian Ambassador in Ottawa. 

Canada has urged the Indonesian authorities 

to conform to internationally accepted 

standards in dealing with Mr. Gusmão’s 

detention and its aftermath and has urged 

continued humanitarian treatment of Mr. 

Gusmão and Fretilin supporters in East 


I am encouraged that Indonesian 

President Suharto issued instructions that 

Mr. Gusmão be treated according to the law. 

The local press was allowed to see Mr. 

Gusmão after his arrest and he appeared in 

several television interviews in December 

1992. Information we have received through 

diplomatic channels indicates that Mr. 

Gusmão is being treated well. 

Canada will continue to monitor this issue 

in an effort to ensure that Mr. 

Gusmão’s treatment is in conformity with 

humanitarian standards. 

Thank you again for writing to express 

your concerns. 


Barbara McDougall


EAST TIMOR ALERT 

NETWORK / CANADA 

NEWSLETTER, FEB. 1993 

Selections from the latest ETAN/Canada 

Newsletter, published several weeks ago. 

Most of the information included in it has 

already been made available on reg.easttimor 

– anyone wanting the newsletter should 

contact ETAN/Ottawa at PO Box 2002, 

Stn. D, Ottawa Ont. K1P 5W3, or by email 

at etanott@web.apc.org. Overseas 

subscriptions are $10 (Cdn or US); 

Canadian subs are free. 

The lead editorial and action reports from 

local groups follow. 

Welcome to the February ETAN newsletter. 

It’s been a busy time for ETAN across 

the country. Since our last newsletter, local 

groups have started up in two new provinces 

(Quebec and Alberta) and there are 

now local activists busy in 11 cities, as well 

as our network of individual supporters 

from coast to coast. 

A generous grant from the International 

Centre for Human Rights and Democratic 

Development (headed by Ed Broadbent) has 

given us the financial means to expand our 

national network and broaden the circle of 

popular involvement in East Timor solidarity 

work in Canada. 

We also have to send congratulations to 

our American friends and counterparts, the 

East Timor Action Network. ETAN/US 

recently marked its first birthday. It too has 

spread nationally (with groups from 

California to Rhode Island) and was the key 

to Congress’ decision to delete military aid 

that the United States was providing to 

Indonesia under the International Military 

Education and Training (IMET) program 

(along with other longt ime friends of East 

Timor in the US). With a new president, 

American policy may be changing. 

ETAN/Canada has been engaged in too 

many projects to list them all. The action 

reports from local groups later in this issue 

give a flavor of the many things that are 

being done. 

East Timor is now firmly on the media 

agenda in this country. Awareness has been 

spread even more by the award-winning 

new documentary film “Manufacturing 

Consent: Noam Chomsky and the Media.” 

Manufacturing Consent includes a lengthy 

segment that shows how the media covered 

genocide in Cambodia while it covered up 

genocide in East Timor. The segment features 

ETAN founder Elaine Brière, who is 

now working on a film of her own on East 


The situation in East Timor is at a crucial 

point. The arrest of resistance leader Xanana 

Gusmão is a severe blow to the East 

Timorese people – but the resistance goes 

on. Reports reaching the outside world say 

it is worse in East Timor today than it ever 

has been since the 1975 invasion – a grim 

reminder of how important our work is. The 

government of Canada is still backing 

Indonesia’s Suharto regime with aid, trade, 

diplomatic support and even weapons. 

Read on for news about the situation in 

East Timor, the position of the Canadian 

government, international and Canadian 

solidarity actions, ideas on what you can do 

to help, press clippings, poetry and more. 

MONTREAL 

Greetings from Montreal! Over the past 

few months, there has been a definite 

showing of solidarity among individuals and 

groups for the people of East Timor. 

In November, we hosted Abé Barreto for 

a full weekend of events. The weekend was 

an indication that we had a lot of support. 

Abé’s lecture and presentation of “In 

Cold Blood” took place at Concordia 

University on Friday November 6 and drew 

a crowd of approximately 80 people. There 

were about 15 Indonesian students present 

as well as an embassy official who was 

busily taking notes throughout the meeting. 

Many of the Indonesian students tried to 

dominate the question period by saying the 

video was a fabrication and it did not provide 

any concrete evidence, as well as giving 

lengthy pro-government proclamations of 

East Timor’s willingness to integrate with 

Indonesia. We were not expecting such a 

presence of Indonesian students and such a 

response but Abé handled their statements 

very well, providing the audience with the 

documented facts. Overall, it was a good 

event and we now have approximately ten 

new members. 

We also showed “In Cold Blood” to a 

Third World Politics class at John Abbott 

College, a CEGEP (senior high school) in the 

West Island. More presentations are 

planned. 

On Sunday morning, we attended mass at 

the Santa Cruz Church, a Portuguese parish 

in the Plateau Mont-Royal neighbourhood. 

Abé was introduced to the parish at the end 

of the mass and we stayed at the back where 

some of the parishioners could ask him 

questions and meet with him. 

The Montreal Portuguese community 

had organized a demonstration in November 

1991 to protest the Dili massacre but were 

not planning one for the first anniversary. 

The Santa Cruz Church seemed like the 

most appropriate and a very symbolic place 

to hold a march and vigil as it shares the 

same name with the cemetery in Dili where 

the massacre happened, so we encouraged 

them to hold a commemoration. 

Over 40 people attended the march and 

vigil that Thursday evening and now the 

parish is interested in organizing a march for 

November 12, 1993. There is also the 

possibility of organizing a twin parish program 

with the Santa Cruz parish through the 

Canadian Catholic Organization for 

Development and Peace (headquartered in 

Montreal) which could begin during Lent. 

There has been some local media coverage 

on East Timor during the last few months. 

Abé was interviewed on radio twice while 

he was here: firstly on Radio Centre-Ville, 

Montreal’s community radio station, and 

Sunday on McGill Radio’s “Celtic 

Communion” show which deals with the 

war in the North of Ireland as well as other 

related political issues in Canada and around 

the world. Bob Palmer and Genny Marilley 

have also been on McGill Radio on several 

other occasions. 

On November 27, the GAIA group at 

Dawson College organized a bake sale for 

ETAN/Montreal which raised $100. The 

group showed “Betrayed but not Beaten” at 

the bake sale and provided information as 

well as Urgent Actions for Xanana’s release. 

The Concordia community has been 

really supportive to East Timor. We have 

received much support from Indigenous 

Peoples International, the Latin American 

Committee and the Quebec Public Interest 

Research Group (Q-Pirg). They all co-sponsored 

the event on November 6 and covered 

all the costs. The Concordia University 

Student Association gave an honorarium of 

$200 while Q-Pirg and John Abbott College 

both gave $50. 

Thanks to the film “Manufacturing 

Consent,” awareness about East Timor is 

growing and it has made it easier to promote 

our events and to gain support. 

We have to keep the momentum going. 

ONTARIO 

East Timor was a big issue at most 

Ontario universities in the fall of 1992, 

largely because of a speaking tour by Abé 

Barreto Soares, an East Timorese who became 

a refugee in Canada earlier in the year. 

ETAN and other groups organized a tour 

that took Abé across southern Ontario as 

well as to Montreal. It also featured 

screenings of Max Stahl’s excellent documentary 

on the Santa Cruz massacre of 

November 12, 1991: “In Cold Blood: the 

Massacre of East Timor.” 

By the end of the tour, there were groups 

working on East Timor at almost every city 

in southern Ontario. 

The tour opened at McMaster 

University in Hamilton, where the forum 

was promoted with an excellent teaser 

campaign featuring posters (“Do you know 

where East Timor is?”), chalk outlines of


dead bodies in the middle of campus, 

literature tables and other creative attentiongetters. 

About 40 people came out and the 

event got excellent press on campus 

(including the front page of The Silhouette, 

the main student paper) despite almost nonstop 

heckling from an unofficial 

representative of the Indonesian Consulate 

from Toronto. The McMaster ETAN group 

has held many events since, including a joint 

commemoration of November massacres in 

East Timor and El Salvador on November 

17. 

The speaking tour moved on Windsor, 

Brock (St. Catharines), Waterloo, Toronto, 

York, Queen’s (Kingston), Guelph, 

Concordia (Montreal), Carleton (Ottawa) 

and Western (London). It also stopped off 

in Oakville for high school events and an 

evening at the Oakville Community Centre 

for peace, ecology and human rights. In each 

community, Abé’s visit and the film of the 

massacre brought home the reality of East 

Timor to dozens of new people, and to 

thousands more through articles in student 

newspapers and radio interviews. 

A new feature at many of the forums was 

the presence of large numbers of Indonesian 

students. Some of them were quietly 

supportive; others toed their government’s 

line, handing out a “chronology” prepared 

by the Indonesian Embassy. Embassy 

officials attended speaking nights in 

Montreal and Ottawa in an apparent attempt 

at intimidation. And Indonesian student 

computer nets in North America were 

abuzz with talk about the tour, with students 

from as far afield as Colorado 

weighing in. 

The tour concluded with a Parliament 

Hill rally on November 12, the first anniversary 

of the Santa Cruz massacre, which 

was co- sponsored along with Ottawa’s 

Coalition to Oppose the Arms Trade. Fifty 

people came out to hear from Abé, Svend 

Robinson MP and Peter Monet of 

ETAN/Ottawa, as well as the peaceful music 

of the Raging Grannies. Participants then 

walked to the Westin Hotel, where weapons 

dealers were holding an arms show. Among 

the customers for Canadian weapons is 

Indonesia. The Raging Grannies appeared on 

the front page of the next day’s Ottawa 

Citizen. 

After the tour was over, we gathered for 

an ETAN conference in Guelph to plan future 

actions. Although the meeting ran out 

of time, the experience was still useful in 

bringing together 20 activists to compare 

notes and ideas. At the end of the day, we 

paid a call on the university’s acting president, 

who was hosting a reception for a 

visiting Indonesian government delegation. 

Since we weren’t allowed to stay, we held a 

spirited protest outside. Special thanks for 

organizing the conference and demonstration 

should go to Sheila Wilmot, Susanne Blau, 

Aloz and all the other Guelph activists. 

WINDSOR/ESSEX 

The Windsor/Essex County group of 

ETAN was very active in the fall, with ten 

active members. East Timor has really 

caught the imagination of the community! 

Some highlights of fall activities: 

• 450 letters from Windsor and area residents 

were sent to all three local MPs, 

plus 500 letters to External Affairs 

Minster Barbara McDougall. Liberal MP 

Herb Gray pledged support to the group, 

while the NDP’s Steven Langdon agreed 

to join Parliamentarians for East Timor 

(NDP MP Howard McCurdy was 

already a member of PET). 

• Presentations at classes at the University 

of Windsor (Third World Politics, World 

Politics, International Business), 

Assumption High School, Massey High 

School, Iona College, Walkerville High 

School, St. Anne High School, Catholic 

Central High School, Cardinal Carter 

High School, and Brennan High School. 

• Meetings with Amnesty International, 

Third World Resource Centre, Windsor 

Labour Council, Students for Global 

Awareness, Windsor Catholic Deanery, 

Windsor Catholic Lay Deanery, St. 

Vincent de Paul Church Youth Group, 

Essex Catholic Deanery. 

• ETAN/Windsor co-ordinator Jason 

Amyot attended the national conference 

of the World University Service of 

Canada last November in Ottawa. WUSC 

is undertaking an Indonesia project in 

1993; Jason and many others raised the 

issue of human rights at this meeting and 

WUSC planning sessions. 

• Thirty people came to an East Timor 

coffee house on November 27. 

• ETAN wrote several articles in The 

Lance (University of Windsor) and was 

covered in the Windsor Star and on radio. 

TORONTO 

ETAN/Toronto has been growing by 

leaps and bounds since the summer. We are 

now meeting regularly on the third Monday 

of every month at the Earthroots office (401 

Richmond St. W. at Spadina) at 7:30 p.m. 

And every Monday is ETAN office day at 

ACT for Disarmament, 736 Bathurst St. 

(south of Bloor). We invite all supporters to 

join us, or to stay in touch through our 

phone line, (416) 531-5850. 

We held a successful public forum on 

October 28 with Abé Barreto, David 

Webster of ETAN/Toronto and Max Stahl, 

the maker of “In Cold Blood,” at the 

University of Toronto, with the help of the 

U of T Student Christian Movement, U of 

T Global Development Network and ACT 

for Disarmament. 75 people came out to the 

forum. A hastily-organized event at York 

University drew a smaller crowd, but the 

people in attendance formed a dynamic new 

ETAN group at York. 

The York East Timor group has held 

several public events, including a screening 

of “Manufacturing Consent” in January that 

drew 200 students. They held a forum on 

East Timor with Elaine Brière of 

ETAN/Vancouver and Sujit Chowdhury of 

the York group, who is also director of the 

National Model United Nations. The 

Indonesian Consul in Toronto had initially 

said he might attend, but cancelled at the last 

minute on orders from his government. At 

the same time, an Indonesian delegation was 

meeting with environmental studies 

professors and students across the hall. 

(The delegation refused to meet ETAN activists 

while they were in town.) 

ETAN/Toronto held two demonstrations 

in November. On November 12, we were 

part of a national day of action, picketing 

outside the Indonesian Consulate (the event, 

along with the demonstration the same day 

in Ottawa, was seen on CBC-TV national 

news). Then on November 28, ETAN 

members from across Ontario converged on 

the Toronto constituency office of External 

Affairs Minister Barbara McDougall. About 

30 people attended each event. 

Two ETAN activists, Joanne Young and 

Maggie Helwig, threw blood on the 

Indonesian Consulate during Indonesian 

Foreign Minister Ali Alatas’ visit to Canada 

a year ago. In August, they were found 

guilty of mischief. Joanne was jailed for a 

day; Maggie was given a sentence of 

community service. 

On October 1, “Manufacturing Consent” 

opened in Toronto for a week-long run at 

the re-opened Euclid Theatre. The first night 

was a benefit for ETAN – like all showings, 

it sold out all seats. The film has been 

playing to packed houses since at several 

locations around the city, usually with an 

ETAN table in the lobby. We have found 

“Manufacturing Consent” to be an excellent 

outreach tool, which inspires everyone who 

see it to greater levels of activism. 

ETAN members have been actively 

reaching out to other groups in the community, 

attending gatherings on the 

Philippines, Sri Lanka and Tibet as well as 

other groups’ meetings, like Oxfam and the 

International Physicians for the Prevention 

of Nuclear War (IPPNW) North American 

students’ conference. We have had tables at 

Ryerson Polytechnic, Harbourfront’s 

International Development Fair, and many 

other events. We arranged media coverage, 

including in the Toronto Star, Globe and 

Mail, CBC-TV, and 3 campus radio stations: 

CIUT, CHRY and CKLN.


After a meeting with Michio Takahashi 

of the Free East Timor Coalition in Japan, 

we agreed to set up a fundraising project to 

help support an East Timorese cultural 

survival school in Darwin, Australia (home 

to a large East Timorese refugee community). 

Angelo Gonsalves jump-started the 

project, with help from many others, and 

we hope to be sending some large donations 

to support the school shortly. A fundraising 

party and East Timor cultural evening on 

February 13 was the first big fundraising 

event for the school. There will be more 

information on the school in the next 

newsletter. 

Another piece of good news was the establishment 

of the East Timor Alert 

Network/Toronto Portuguese Committee 

last fall, on the initiative of Fernando Nunes. 

The group included members of the 

Portuguese student associations at U of T 

and York. The committee has been hard at 

work spreading the word about East Timor 

in the large Portuguese community, translating 

ETAN materials into Portuguese, and 

reaching out to churches and Portugueselanguage 

media. Portuguese programmers on 

Channel 47 (multicultural television) and 

CHIN (multicultural radio) have been 

particularly supportive. 

VANCOUVER 

ETAN/Vancouver has coalesced into a 

group of nine people who have assembled 

gradually over the past five months. We are 

a new ETAN group – until this year, Elaine 

Brière (one of the network’s founders) was 

working virtually alone in Vancouver. 

Operating on an ad hoc basis, the group organized 

a demonstration on November 12, 

arranged several public information events, 

raised money for the ETAN open letter 

published in the Vancouver Sun and elsewhere, 

and held a candlelight vigil on 

December 7 (which was attended by about 

50 people, the largest East Timor demonstration 

yet in Vancouver). The group also 

got a strong response (and several committee 

members) from our presence at the many 

Vancouver screenings of the film 

Manufacturing Consent. This film has 

proved extremely effective at politicizing 

people on East Timor. 

In the wake of this activity, we’ve settled 

down and begun looking at how our ETAN 

group should operate. We’ve sat down to 

define our responsibilities, our resources, 

some basic operating rules, and the interests 

of individual committee members. Projects 

that are being discussed include: keeping in 

close touch with a newly developed local 

membership base (many who donated for 

the open letter), organizing lectures in high 

schools, developing an accessible archive, 

running a letter writing campaign, designing 

information packages, and organizing 

fundraising events. 

Another important local target is Simon 

Fraser University, which will soon be reviewing 

its huge project in Indonesia. SFU 

runs a $22 million CIDA-funded project 

servicing Indonesian universities in the 

Moluccas and West Papua (details were 

published in the last ETAN newsletter). 

The group has expressed an interest in 

co-ordinating events with other ETAN 

groups. These local group reports seem useful 

for outlining successful projects across 

the country and sharing our information, 

leaflets and other materials. 

ETAN/Vancouver has set up a new 

voice-mail phone number. Please feel free to 

call us at (604)739-4947. 

East Timor Alert Network/Toronto, PO Box 

562, Station P, Toronto, Canada, M5S 2T1. 

Phone/fax 1-416-531-5850, Email etantor@web.apc.org 

UPDATE FROM EAST TIMOR 

ALERT NETWORK/CANADA 

Number 21 – March 29, 1993. Excerpts 

EAST TIMOR: ESCAPED 

RESISTANCE LEADERS TO VISIT 

NORTH AMERICA 

Two activists in East Timor’s nonviolent 

resistance movement will be touring North 

America in April and May. The young 

Timorese leaders will meet with United 

Nations, American and Canadian government 

officials, and members of parliament, 

and speak to community meetings in 20 

U.S. cities and four Canadian cities. 

Constancio Pinto, 30, is the keynote 

speaker on the tour. He was a chief organizer 

of the November 12, 1991, demonstration 

that ended in a bloody massacre. He 

was executive secretary of the underground 

National Council of Maubere Resistance 

(the coalition that represents most Timorese 

nationalist groups) in East Timor from 1989 

to 1992. He has been arrested several times 

and tortured by the Indonesian military. He 

made a dramatic escape last May, after 

being intensively hunted for seven months. 

Abé Barreto Soares, 27, is official representative 

to Canada for the National Council 

of Maubere Resistance. He went into exile 

in 1991 and now lives as a refugee in 

Toronto. He is a student of English 

literature. 

There will be events in four cities in 

Canada – call the East Timor Alert Network 

for times and places. 

Vancouver – April 17 Call (604) 739- 

4947 

Ottawa – May 4-6 

Montreal – May 7-9 

Toronto – May 9-10 Call (416) 531- 

5850 (More details on the eastern dates next 

month.) 

UN BLASTS INDONESIA OVER 

TIMOR RIGHTS CANADA BACKS 

EAST TIMOR FOR FIRST TIME SINCE 

INVASION 

For the first time, Canada has joined in a 

strong United Nations condemnation of 

Indonesia’s actions in occupied East Timor. 

On March 11, by a vote of 22 to 12, the 

United Nations Commission on Human 

Rights passed a resolution blasting the government 

of Indonesia for its actions since 

the Santa Cruz massacre of November 12, 

1991, in which Indonesian soldiers opened 

fire on an unarmed crowd, killing 273 people 

and injuring hundreds more. The 

commission regretted “the disparity in the 

severity of sentences handed to those civilians 

not indicted for violent activities – who 

should have been released without delay – 

on the one hand, and to the military 

involved in the violent incident, on the 

other.” 

The resolution also condemns more recent 

violations of human rights, including 

torture, extra-judicial executions, and 

“disappearances.” It calls on Indonesia to 

improve the respect for human rights of the 

East Timorese people, and to permit free 

access to humanitarian organizations like 

Amnesty International and Asia Watch. It 

“urges the Government of Indonesia to invite 

the Special Rapporteur on Torture, the 

Special Rapporteur on Extra-judicial, 

Summary or Arbitrary Executions, the 

Working Group on Arbitrary Detention and 

the Working Group on Involuntary 

Disappearances to visit East Timor and to 

facilitate the discharge of their mandates.” 

And it adds East Timor as a special agenda 

item for the commission’s 50th session next 

winter – ensuring that the question of East 

Timor is now firmly on the United Nations 

agenda. 

The commission heard extensive testimony 

on Eats Timor from non-governmental 

organizations. One of the witnesses was 

Abé Barreto Soares, an East Timorese 

refugee now living in Toronto, who testified 

on behalf of the East Timor Alert 

Network/Canada and the International Peace 

Bureau. 

“Human rights abuses in East Timor 

cannot be separated from the East Timorese 

struggle for self- determination and independence,” 

he noted. “There will be more 

human rights abuses in East Timor as long 

as there is no peaceful solution for the East 

Timor problem. I really hope that the this 

UN Commission will take meaningful initiatives 

to put an end to the human rights 

violations in East Timor. The people of East


Timor feel helpless in their own homeland. 

They look to you to do everything in your 

power to help them.” 

This year marks the first time that 

Canada backed a resolution in support of 

East Timor in any UN forum since 

Indonesia invaded East Timor in 1975. 

Canadian governments have traditionally 

provided strong diplomatic support to 

Indonesian lobbyists. This year, Canadian 

ambassador Anne Park (chair of the Western 

group at the Human Rights Commission) 

spoke out on East Timor and pressured 

Indonesian diplomats to agree to a 

consensus declaration – which they refused 

to do. In the end, Canada joined 23 other 

governments from Europe, the Americas and 

Africa to co-sponsor the resolution. Angola, 

Guinea-Bissau, USA, Canada, Russia, Costa 

Rica, Austria, Poland and Denmark all 

spoke out in support. 

According to a report filed by Southam 

News, Park and External Affairs Minister 

Barbara McDougall had felt the pressure 

from “a strong East Timor lobby at home” 

and were afraid to be seen standing with 

Indonesia. The American delegation – which 

initially fought the resolution Q also felt 

strong pressure from home, including 

editorials in several major newspapers. 

Finally, incoming State department officials 

ordered a reversal of the U.S. stance. 

“In the end only dictatorships like Iran, 

Sudan and China stood with Indonesia,” said 

José Ramos Horta, who headed up 

Timorese lobbyists at the commission. “All 

the democracies of the world supported us. 

Equally important, and indeed it sets a 

precedent for other issues, East Timor destroyed 

the myth of the Asian block. There 

were Latin Americans and Africans voting 

with us and important Asian and Muslim 

states that abstained.” 

Indonesian official waited four days to 

issue a denunciation of the resolution as 

“unfair” to Indonesia, saying they had no 

intention of abiding by it. 

ETAN encourages supporters to write to 

External Affairs Minister Barbara 

McDougall (House of Commons, Ottawa 

Ont., K1A 0A6, postage free) to ask Canada 

to hold Indonesia to the terms of the UN 

resolution. The full text is available from 

ETAN/Toronto, PO Box 562, Station P, 

Toronto M5S 2T1, phone (416) 531-5850, 

Email etantor@web.apc.org. 

EVENTS IN EUROPE; 

EUROPEAN LEADERS 

VISIT INDONESIA 

SWITZERLAND’S POSITION 

ON EAST TIMOR 


Pierre-Alain Tissot from Allens 

(Switzerland), a long-time East Timor activist, 

transmitted us some replies of the 

Swiss government (Federal Council) to 

NGO and Parliamentary queries following 

the Santa Cruz massacre and Xanana 

Gusmão’s arrest. The outlined position is 

not too surprising, but it is welcome information 

from a country with a traditionally 

discrete diplomacy. 

Bruno Kahn, Agir pour Timor 

1. Reply, dated 30 Dec. 1992, of the Federal 

Department of Foreign Affairs to Pax 

Christi about Xanana’s arrest (in French, 

signed Simonin; summarised). 

Mr. B. Freymond, the Swiss ambassador 

in Indonesia, talked on Dec. 5 with Mr. 

Wyriono, General Director for political affairs 

of the Indonesian Foreign Ministry. 

(The letter seems to imply that this is related 

to the ICRC visiting Xanana two days 

after.) 

2. Reply of the Federal Department of 

Foreign Affairs to a parliamentary question 

of 2 Dec. 1991 on the Santa Cruz 

massacre (question in German of P. 

Misteli, answer in French, unsigned). 

Question (summarised): What is the Federal 

Council’s position relatively to the Santa 

Cruz massacre as a blatant human rights 

violation, and relatively to the global and 

lasting situation [caused by] the 

occupation? What measures does the 

Federal Council plan to take, e.g. in its 

developmental or economical work in 

common with Indonesia? 

Answer (summarised): 

a) Switzerland condemned the massacre, 

and asked Indonesia to solve the problems 

existing in East Timor in the respect of 

human rights and fundamental liberties as 

inscribed in the Universal Declaration of 

Human Rights and to punish the culprits. 

This was conveyed to the Indonesian government 

by the Swiss ambassador in 

Jakarta. 

b) The Committee of Ministers of the 

Council of Europe [N.B.: not to be confused 

with the EC European Commission] 

adopted on 26 November 1991 a Statement 

on East Timor, supported by Switzerland. 

c) Switzerland does not recognise the 

annexation of East Timor by Indonesia, 

carried out by force; it wishes that a solution 

can be found in the framework of the 


d) The respect of human rights across the 

world is an important aspect of 

Switzerland’s foreign policy. Development 

cooperation and humanitarian aid can be 

instruments for this policy, notably 

supporting efforts in the fields of education 

and formation and encouraging the creation 

of a pluralist society by supporting some 

groups and organisations. The Swiss policy 

relative to human rights has been detailed in 

a report of the Federal Council dated 2 June 

1982 (articles 24 and 32). 

e) Development cooperation with 

Indonesia currently amounts to SFr 20 millions 

(about US$ 14 millions) and aims to 

promote the most unfavoured parts of the 

population. Aid goes to technical professional 

formation, development of basic city 

and rural structures and infrastructures 

(drinking water, increase of revenue). 

Switzerland also supports a UNICEF health 

and food programme. 

f) Therefore a reduction or interruption 

of Swiss aid would touch directly the part 

of the population that suffers most of human 

rights violations. Economic relations 

and development cooperation reinforce 

Swiss influence in this matter by allowing 

Switzerland to plead for causes that are dear 

to it during negotiations. 

3. Reply of the Federal Military 

Department to a parliamentary question 

dated 9 March 1992 on arms exports to 

Indonesia (question and answer in 

German, question of K. Hollenstein, answer 

unsigned). This question/answer is 

translated in full for the following reasons: 

- it deals with arms sales; - the 

friend who kindly provided a translation 

from German stressed that he felt the 

answer to be strange or ambiguous (he is 

not involved in East Timor). This will be 

obvious at reading; - it is short. 

Question: 

a) Can the Federal Council allow, as the 

highest decision-making authority, that 

weapons and ammunitions originating 

from Switzerland keep on reaching 

Indonesia where, since General Suharto 

took power, more than one million persons 

lost their lives in armed battles? 

b) Does the Federal Council, like Canada 

and The Netherlands, wish to suppress its 

credits given in the framework of IGGI, 

until a satisfactory report on the human 

rights situation is provided? 

Answer:


The Federal Council is not aware of an 

arm sales embargo of the EC towards 

Indonesia. These last years, war material 

exports from Switzerland to this country 

have been very modest. In the years 1988 

and 1989 they only corresponded to respectively 

SFr 22 and 751 [sic]. 

Last year, exercise ammunitions for antiaircraft 

defense batteries, for a value of SFr 

500’000 [sic, not 500,000 or 500.000], were 

exported from Switzerland to Indonesia. 

They were delivered before [sic] the 

incidents of last November in East Timor 

and have in all certainty nothing to do with 

them. 

On the Swiss part, the human rights 

situation in Indonesia is closely followed. 

The military action in East Timor was condemned 

by an intervention of the Swiss 

ambassador in Jakarta, and our country 

signed the Statement on East Timor of the 

Council of European Ministers on 

November 26, 1991. Switzerland does not 

recognise East Timor’s annexation and 

wishes for a solution in the framework of 

the United Nations. 

Concerning the Swiss development cooperation 

program in the framework of 

IGGI, this program involves on the one 

hand a mixed financing program and on the 

other hand a long term construction program 

in various domains of major importance. 

Until now, Switzerland only granted 

Indonesia two projects in a form of mixed 

financing. The first [financing?] has been 

completely used, the second - for the rehabilitation 

of an important rail connection 

in Sumatra - cannot be interrupted, if only 

for legal reasons. 

The Federal Council does not consider 

that a suspension of development cooperation 

with Indonesia would be an efficient 

measure as a reaction to human rights violations; 

it would do more harm than good to 

the goal subordinate to our cooperation - 

namely, better living conditions for the least 

favoured parts of the population. In the 

framework of IGGI, however, it will have to 

be examined periodically whether conditions 

for the continuation of [our] present 

cooperation are still met. 

LACK OF UNEQUIVOCAL 

SUPPORT FROM EC 

Publico 4 February 1993. Original lang 


(Lisbon) Departing from a meeting yesterday 

with the Parliamentary Commission 

on the Situation in East Timor, Durão 

Barroso said that the question of Timor 

“could already have been resolved if 

Portugal had the unequivocal support of the 

European Community.” 

“Portugal is right, but I do not deny that 

it has been extremely difficult to get the 

other Twelve to coincide with our position,” 

stated the Foreign Minister, believing that 

“at this moment, we are the only real and 

legitimate advocate of the Timorese cause.” 

Repeating the claim that there is lack of 

European support, Barroso added that “the 

Community countries do not always follow 

our view on the matter.” After mentioning 

that Indonesia “has much support at the 

international level,” the Minister said that 

Portugal “will do all it can for its voice to be 

heard.” On the Xanana Gusmão trial, taking 

place in Dili, he reaffirmed the previously 

expressed position: “It is a farce. Indonesia 

hasn’t the slightest legitimacy to hold this 

trial, which itself does not meet the 

minimum conditions from the legal point of 

view.” The Minister even admitted that the 

EC “could take a position at the Human 

Rights Commission.” 

Yesterday was the first time that Mr. 

Durão Barroso met with the Assembly of 

the Republic’s Commission under the new 

presidency of Christian Democrat Adriano 

Moreira. In agreement with Barroso, 

Adriano affirmed his conviction that 

Portugal would “continue its efforts with 

regards both support to Xanana Gusmão, 

and the matter of East Timor.” 

MOREIRA INTERVIEW: 

PORTUGUESE GOV’T VIEWS 

STRUGGLE PASSED FROM GEN- 

ERATION TO GENERATION 

Publico, 4 February 1993. By Angela Silva 

& J. de Negreiros. Original Portuguese, 

unabridged 

(Lisbon) Adriano Moreira, the new 

Chairman of the (Portuguese) Parliamentary 

Commission on Timor, is more concerned 

about opening up new space for 

interventions, and in this respect concurs 

with the new head of Portuguese diplomacy. 

He wishes to see East Timor involved in the 

wider drama of the “dispensable” peoples. 

He regards highly the contribution made by 

NGOs. But he has no illusions: he believes 

the it is “a task for centuries,” and “a 

struggle which is passed from generation to 

generation.” 

He was invited by the PSD to substitute 

Vitor Crespo at the head of the 

Parliamentary Commission on Timor, and 

he accepted. Although as yet he has no plan 

of action outlined, he is gripping the task 

ahead with the convictions he has held for a 

long time. For Adriano Moreira, Timor is 

“the tip of the iceberg,” and Xanana “a 

point of reference.” He believes that 

Portugal has everything to win if it sees the 

Timorese tragedy in the context of a greater 

drama. 

Publico: The Commission you have agreed 

to Chair has been accused of having very 

limited effectiveness. What is going to 

change? 

Adriano Moreira: I do not share that general 

criticism of the Commission. Apart from 

any circumstantial difficulties, the problem 

is so difficult, the obstacles so enormous, 

that defining and then carrying out really 

effective actions is limited. 

Q.: But what do you intend to do? There is a 

whole plan of activities as yet to be 

carried out ... 

A.: What I think we need to do first is to 

invert the current international perception of 

the matter, which defines the problem in 

terms of Portugal and Indonesia. This perception, 

which is totally mistaken, is widespread 

throughout the international community. 

The correct perception is that this 

is a question between Indonesia and the 

international community, Portugal being the 

voice speaking for Timor. I consider this 

point to be essential. 

Q.: Has the Portuguese Government made it 

clear that the problem should be viewed 

within these parameters? 

A.: I believe that the Government, at least 

from a certain moment onwards, has been 

trying to impose this perception. However, 

it is still not the view which dominates in 

the international community, and this fact 

causes difficulties when it comes to our 

taking actions in support of the Timorese 

people. 

Q.: How can this dominating perception be 

altered? 

A.: In order to establish a correct perception, 

I believe the role of the NGOs (nongovernmental 

organisations) extremely important, 

because they enjoy an agility and 

freedom of movement which governments 

are sometimes unable to exercise. Within 

that mobilization, we must not sacrifice respect 

for human rights to rigid interpretations 

on self-determination. We defend selfdetermination 

for Timor, but this is no 

reason for lessening our resolve to battle for 

human rights, where advances could be made 

more quickly. These points just outline 

what will be behind the exercise of my new 

function. 

Q.: As well as making NGOs more aware 

and motivated, the diplomatic dialogue


between Lisbon and Jakarta will continue. 

What may be expected of these 

contacts? 

A.: I think the Government, through the 

Foreign Office, has been clear in that it has 

not expressed much hope of positive results 

from this dialogue. Having said that, perhaps 

it is worth pointing out that, in the 

diplomatic process, keeping up the dialogue 

is, in itself, important. On the other hand, it 

is also important that the dialogue is not 

allowed to develop in such a way that the 

aggressor, in this case Indonesia, utilizes the 

process in order to improve its image. 

Indonesia tries to do just this. For example, 

when it tries to link the defence of the 

Timorese people’s interests to Portugal’s 

past conduct. 

Q.: Since you have mentioned Portugal’s 

past conduct in relation to Timor, what 

do you think of the idea that the 

Portuguese “crusade” for Timor contains 

an element of hypocrisy or guilty 

conscience, bearing in mind the Timorese 

were allegedly “abandoned” by the 

Lisbon Government in 1975? 

A.: Portugal’s past actions or guilt is not the 

matter now in question. What is in hand 

now is the right of the Timorese to self-determination 

and human rights in the territory. 

If Portugal were to give up being the 

Timorese people’s voice on the international 

scene, their right would still be the same; 

some other voice would have to speak for 

them. That is why I think it is totally 

spurious to mix the two questions. I think it 

has been in Indonesia’s interest to have the 

two matters mixed up. 

Q.: What concrete outcome would you dare 

to predict for the Timor problem? Some 

are saying that Portugal ought to drop 

the self- determination requirement... 

A.: Portugal cannot drop self-determination 

because it is not one of Portugal’s rights 

which is in question. This does not mean, 

however, that the international community 

will not come up with any solution other 

than independence. The difficulty in safeguarding 

the interests of the Timorese is 

related not to international law, that is very 

clear, but to the international balance of 

powers. And it so happens that, in that 

area, Indonesia is currently the dominant 

power. 

Q.: What can Portugal do in the face of the 

difficulties posed by the “balance of 

powers”? 

A.: I think that the case of Timor, and 

namely the Xanana Gusmão trial, are elements 

of a world problem, on which 

Portugal is taking a position that can give it 

an important function, and which should be 

demanded by the small countries. Let me 

explain. There are probably about 100 million 

people in the world right now who belong 

to groups whose autonomy or self-determination 

has not been recognised. When 

Portugal is defending Timor it is, in fact, 

involved in a question of extraordinary dimensions 

- the question of the peoples 

which have no voice. And what is more 

grave is that they are peoples which the 

international community treats as 

“dispensable,” because of the balance of 

powers. 

Q.: But the difficulties which result from the 

balance of powers persist... 

A.: What I am trying to say is that the difficulties 

- or pessimism, if you prefer - must 

not be allowed to lessen our commitment, 

because this fight is not just a fight for the 

people of Timor, it is a fight of great international 

prominence in which the small 

countries will have a role to play. The small 

countries have an advantage in the 

international scene, which is their large 

number. The trial of Xanana Gusmão makes 

a good parallel: in that poor land’s modest 

courtroom, he is now a point of reference 

which allows us to evaluate the respect 

which exists for human rights. It not only 

concerns Xanana Gusmão. It not only 

concerns Timor. 

Q.: Do you think then that Portugal, in its 

role of advocate for the people of Timor, 

would be successful if it integrated the 

question of Timor with a wider issue... 

A.: I believe so, and that will be one of my 

guidelines. 

Q.: How will this idea be put into practice? 

A.: There are many things we can do. There 

are various international arenas in which the 

message can be voiced. There is one thing I 

want to make clear so as not to create any 

illusions - this is a long process. It will take 

ages. We are in a struggle which passes from 

generation to generation. I believe 

appreciable progress has been made and, 

consequently, what we are doing is 

continuing. 

Q.: Don’t you think that Portugal wasted an 

ideal opportunity while it presided the EC, 

and when the Timor issue was practically 

silenced? 

A.: The perception that Timor is not an international 

question is also prevalent among 

the Twelve. That is the way they usually 

see the matter. Once again, I am not inclined 

to lay blame. I prefer to ask what can now 

be done, or what should be done? Is it 

worthwhile? Why is it worthwhile? These 

are the reference points I like to have at the 

forefront on this matter. 

Q.: Do you think the Portuguese 

Government has done everything that can 

or should be done? 

A.: I do not have all the information on everything 

the Government has done. I do 

admit that there are things which the 

Government has not done. I am under the 

impression that the Portuguese 

Government’s active intervention started 

late. There was a period which was lost. 

But, generally speaking, I think that its actions 

were appropriate. Now, what I am 

fundamentally interested in is knowing in 

which areas we can project the country’s 

intervention on not just Timor, which is the 

reference but which has a bearing on much 

wider issues of interest to the international 

community and to Portugal. 

Q.: Going back to the Commission: it was 

prominent at the time of the planned 

parliamentary deputation to Timor. Your 

attitude then was not very enthusiastic. 

Why was that? 

A.: I was, in fact, highly critical. The reason 

for my reservations was Indonesia’s expressed 

interest in the visit. I thought that 

Indonesia could use the visit to enhance that 

distorted image to its own end, just as it is 

doing right now with Xanana’s trial. 

Q.: Is there any chance of that idea being 

taken up again? 

A.: At the moment I see no chance of the 

proposal being reconsidered. 

Q.: Would it be realistic for a Timorese, who 

today is 20- years- old, to hope that one 

day he would vote in a referendum on the 

future of his people? 

A.: I don’t like making predictions. Usually, 

when experts make medium-term forecasts 

they refer to the period of life of each of us, 

and when the forecast is for the long-term, 

then we are no longer around to check 

whether it was correct. What I can say for 

certain is that young Timorese is still going 

to suffer occupation.


KOHL TO RAISE TIMOR 

ISSUE WITH SUHARTO 

The Nation (Thailand), Feb. 25 93 

Abridged, leaving out facts on ET, and 

Suharto’s push to attend the G7 summit in 

Tokyo in June. 

(AP, Jakarta) German Chancellor Helmut 

Kohl arrived in Indonesia yesterday for 

three days of talks to boost bilateral trade 

and economic relations. 

Kohl’s visit to Jakarta is part of his 

Asian tour to India, Singapore, Indonesia, 

Japan and South Korea, his first since the 

unification of Germany in Oct. 1990. 

“There are still political questions to be 

discussed although the main thrust of the 

talks would be to enhance bilateral cooperation 

in trade and economy,” the German 

Ambassador to Indonesia Walter Lewalter 

said. 

Indonesia’s exports to Germany in 1991 

reached US$1.2 billion, an increase of about 

8 percent from the previous year. But 

German investment in Indonesia has been 

declining in the past few years, from 

US$59.9 million in 1991 to US$36.7 million 

in 1992. 

Lewalter said Kohl would raise the issue 

of human rights violations in East Timor in 

talks with Suharto. 

LETTER TO FRENCH 

FOREIGN MINISTRY 

Agir Pour Timor 

Paris, 3 March 1993 

Mr. Roland Dumas 

Minister of Foreign Affairs 

37 Quai d’Orsay 

75007 PARIS 

Dear Mr. Minister, 

We had communication of the proposal 

of a resolution on the “situation in East 

Timor,” presented by the Twelve at the 

Human Rights Commission, in Geneva. 

We find this proposal excellent. We wish 

to thank the French government, in the name 

of the people of East Timor that we defend, 

for having participated in its elaboration. 

We urge the French government to do 

whatever it can to support this resolution 

proposal, and the French delegation in 

Geneva to use all its influence to counterbalance 

the current attempts of Indonesia 

and other countries to have this project fail. 

We are convinced of your support, already 

expressed in a letter that you kindly 

had sent to us in January. 

Respectfully yours, 

(signed) 

POSSIBLE VOTE IN EP 

Publico 10 March 1993 Dateline: 

Strasbourg Byline: J.T. Negreiros/Ana I. 

Cabo Translated from Portuguese abridged 

Criticism and applause from Durão at 

Euro-Parliament: 

While the diplomatic contacts in Geneva 

continued at a fast pace, Durão Barroso was 

meeting with the Inter Group on Timor, 

yesterday afternoon in Strasbourg. The 

(Portuguese) Foreign Minister told the Euro 

MPs that “intelligent foreign policy is one 

which respects principles, and not one 

which goes running after the economic 

powers.” 

The statement was not just made for effect: 

it served both to compliment the 

Strasbourg plenary’s stance on the Timor 

issue, as well as to set down criticism, from 

which the US and EC Member States did 

not escape. 

“There has still been no position which 

satisfies us,” said the Portuguese minister, in 

reference to the Clinton administration’s 

promises about Timor. Durão Barroso confessed 

he felt “disillusioned by some countries 

that forget principles” and that put 

more weight on human rights violations in 

Cuba or in Libya than in Timor. 

The minister said he had detected that, 

among the Twelve, the stimulus given to 

human rights issues had been corresponded 

with “timidity” when it came to the 

Timorese people’s right to self-determination, 

and concluded that the EC could be 

“more assertive.” 

Simone Veil, Inter-Group Chairperson, 

welcomed a proposal from Durão Barroso 

that the EP should intensify efforts to bring 

about awareness and support in the 

Australian Parliament, the US Congress, and 

the Japanese Diet for the East Timor 

question. 

NEW PAPAL AMBASSADOR 

TO LISBON 

Publico 16 March 1993 Dateline: Lisbon 

Original lang: Portuguese unabridged 

The Holy See announced yesterday that 

64-year-old Msgr. Edoardo Rovida, titular 

Archbishop of Taormina, is the new apostolic 

nuncio in Portugal. The new Papal 

ambassador to Portugal was born in 

Alessandria, Italy, specialized in Canonical 

Law, and was ordained a priest on 29 June 

1950. He entered the Vatican’s diplomatic 

service in 1955, and worked in the pontifical 

missions in Haiti, Cuba, Mexico and Ireland, 

and as permanent observer at UNESCO. He 

was appointed apostolic nuncio to Zaire in 

1977. Four years later he became permanent 

observer at the UN in Geneva. 

EP: XANANA TRIAL ILLEGAL 

Diario de Noticias, 12 March 1993 

Dateline: Strasbourg Byline: Fernanda 

Gabriel. Translated from Portuguese. 

unabridged 

Yesterday in Strasbourg, the European 

Parliament (EP) reaffirmed the illegality of 

the proceedings against Xanana Gusmão, 

and indicated that it would not accept any 

sentence, given the Indonesian judicial 

authority’s total lack of legitimacy or competence. 

The resolution, put forward by the socialist 

group, urges the EP’s President to 

implement the visit (already decided upon) 

by a delegation to Jakarta and Dili, as a 

matter of urgency, so as to collect ample 

information about the situation in East 


The Euro-MPs expressed their fear of 

seeing Xanana Gusmão condemned to death. 

They considered that the first phase of the 

trial intensified their greatest apprehensions 

about the purely arbitrary nature of 

proceedings without the slightest legal basis. 

Mr. Hans van den Broeck, the European 

Commissioner responsible for the EC’s 

external relations, said he was hoping that 

the meeting scheduled for 20 April in Rome, 

between Durão Barroso and Ali Alatas, 

would contribute towards a solution to the 

problem of East Timor, and affirmed that 

the embassies of the Twelve have been 

expressing their concern about Indonesia’s 

behaviour in East Timor to the Jakarta 

authorities. 

Mr. Van den Broeck’s position on Timor 

has been one of support for Portugal, and he 

has distanced himself from the ideas of the 

previous Commissioner, Mr. Matutes. 

Lately, Portugal has been developing a 

diplomatic offensive on this question in the 

EP. Before the visit of the Foreign Minister, 

the President of the (Portuguese) Republic 

went to Strasbourg, towards the end of last 

year. 

The EP reiterated its deep concern over 

the fact that situation in Timor was already 

seriously affecting not only relations between 

the EC and Indonesia, but also relations 

between the EC and the ASEAN 

group, the development of which is considered 

by both parties to be of the utmost importance, 

but which must be oriented by respect 

for international law and human rights. 

The Euro-MPs supported the position 

adopted by the EC Council of Ministers regarding 

safeguarding human rights and 

searching for a political solution within the 

framework of UN resolutions.


EAST TIMOR MOTION WINS 

UK COMMONS SUPPORT 

The following Early Day Motion was tabled 

in the House of Commons on 23 March and 

by 25 March had been signed by 66 MPs: 

No. 1657: Human Rights in East Timor 

(No. 2) 

That this House congratulates the United 

Nations Commission on Human Rights for 

adopting a resolution highly critical of the 

human rights situation in the Indonesianoccupied 

territory of East Timor, and congratulates 

Her Majesty’s Government for 

supporting the resolution; and, further, 

called on Her Majesty’s Government to 

persuade the Indonesian Government to 

comply with paragraph 9 of the resolution 

by enabling the United Nations Special 

Rapporteurs on torture and on extrajudicial, 

summary or arbitrary executions and the 

United Nations working groups on arbitrary 

detention and on enforced or involuntary 

disappearances to discharge their mandates 

in accordance with the terms of the resolution. 

This resolution was tabled in response to an 

action by UK members of Parliamentarians 

for East Timor. 

UK readers, please contact your MP, urging 

her/him to sign. 

FRETILIN SATISFIED WITH 

PORTUGAL 

Publico 20 March 1993 Dateline : Lisbon 

original lang.: Portuguese unabridged 

Yesterday, Fretilin reaffirmed its 

“confidence in Portuguese diplomacy,” and 

in the role Lisbon has been playing in the 

Timor issue. In a letter sent from 

Mozambique, addressed to Foreign Minister 

Durão Barroso, Fretilin’s foreign relations 

secretary, Mari Alkatiri, welcomed the 

“clear orientation” and the “firmness of 

position” adopted by Portugal in the recent 

session of the UN Human Rights 

Commission, which passed by majority 

vote a resolution condemning the Suharto 

regime. In the same letter, Alkatiri went on 

to state that “any political solution 

negotiated on Timor must be found within 

the framework of the UN and through the 

mediation of its Secretary General.” The 

next round of negotiations between 

Portugal’s and Indonesia’s Foreign 

Ministers, with Boutros Ghali’s mediation, 

is scheduled to commence on 20 April, in 

Rome. 

DENMARK WANTS EC 

OBSERVER FOR EAST 

TIMOR 

Publico 22 March 1993 Dateline : Denmark 

Byline : Morten Gliemann Original lang: 

Portuguese unabridged 

Danish Foreign Minister, Niels Helveg 

Petersen, is going to try to get a European 

Community (EC) observer sent to East 

Timor, while his country is still in the 

Presidency of the Community. 

On 2 March, Viggo Fischer, a member of 

the Folketing, the Danish Parliament, 

requested the Foreign Minister to work towards 

the sending of a Community observer 

to East Timor. Fischer, member of the 

parliamentary commission on foreign policy 

and always interested in human rights 

issues, has already received a positive reply 

from the government: “I can assure you that 

the Danish Government, the Community, 

and its different Member States are 

following the case carefully,” wrote the 

Minister, in his reply to the parliament. 

“The proceedings against Xanana 

Gusmão, in Dili, started on 1 February 

1993, and the largest Communitary representations 

in Jakarta (Holland, France, 

Spain, Great Britain, and the European 

Commission) established coordinated coverage 

of the trial (...) There should be no 

doubt that the Government, together with 

our Community partners, will continue to 

observe the development of the situation in 

East Timor,” added the Danish Foreign 

Minister in his reply dated 17 March. 

In his letter, the Danish Foreign Minister 

did not state directly that an observer from 

the EC should be sent to East Timor, but 

Viggo Fischer states that there is a 

possibility: “It would be very useful, for 

several reasons, if we could send a representative, 

or better still, an observer from 

the EC: an historic resolution was passed by 

the UN, at the 49th Session of the Human 

Rights Commission; a relatively short time 

ago, there were elections in Indonesia; and 

there are reports that Xanana Gusmão’s trial 

is going to be postponed.” 

Fischer says that the situation demands 

“special attention” on the part of the international 

community, because the 

“repression which the Indonesian 

Government wields over the people of East 

Timor is one of the most brutal in the 

world,” he concludes. 

EURO-MPS’ VISIT AWAITS 

GREEN LIGHT 

Publico 26 March 1993 By J. T. Negreiros 

Translated from Portuguese abridged 

(Lisbon) The old project of a Euro-MPs’ 

visit to East Timor is still awaiting a green 

light from the European Parliament’s 

“bureau.” Once that is obtained, Jakarta’s 

agreement would still be necessary, as well 

as finalizing the details of the visit. It is not 

surprising, therefore, that the EP’s 

Intergroup on Timor Chairperson, French 

woman Simone Veil, has not advanced any 

date for the visit to the territory. 

Veil, who arrived in Portugal yesterday 

for a two- day visit, and whose first task 

was a meeting with the Foreign Minister, 

stressed the importance of the existence of 

an Intergroup on Timor in Strasbourg, 

comprised of MPs of various nationalities 

and political colours - “the diversity is important,” 

but could not foresee any specific 

action by the EP on Timor in the shortterm. 

Less than a month ago, during a meeting 

with the Intergroup’s Euro-MPs in 

Strasbourg, Durão Barroso proposed that 

more intense pressure should be brought to 

bear by the EP on the Japanese Diet and the 

US Congress. Yesterday, confronted with 

the suggestion, Simone Veil would only say 

that the EP’s delegations in Tokyo and 

Washington continued to develop contacts 

with the respective parliaments. 

The possibility of getting a new resolution 

on Timor passed by the plenary in 

Strasbourg shortly was rejected by the 

Intergroup’s Chairperson, who recalled the 

recent text about the illegality of Xanana 

Gusmão’s trial. Judging from Simone Veil’s 

statements, action by the EP in the near 

future is going to stop there. 

In spite of reference to a “common strategy” 

on Timor by the Intergroup and 

Lisbon, Simone Veil refused to make any 

comment on the possible outcome of the 

forthcoming meeting between Durão 

Barroso and Ali Alatas, the date of which 

has moved from 20 to 21 April. 

BRITISH FM DOUGLAS HURD 

TO VISIT JAKARTA 

According to AFP from Jakarta on 31 

March 1993, Britain’s Foreign Secretary, 

Douglas Hurd, is to visit Jakarta from 3 to 5 

April on his way to Tokyo and South 

Korea. He is scheduled to have meetings in 

Jakarta with Foreign Minister Ali Alatas 

and President Suharto for wide-ranging talks 

on bilateral and international issues. He is 

also scheduled to sign three accords, on 

double taxation, copyrights and a soft loan.


According to TAPOL sources in London, 

the G7 group has not agreed to the proposal 

that Suharto attend their next meeting in 

Tokyo, as chair of the non-aligned movement, 

but Britain would have no objection 

to Suharto being in Tokyo in advance of the 

meeting to make known the views of the 

non-aligned movement to members of the 

group. 

DOUGLAS HURD’S VISIT TO 

INDONESIA 

The following is a round-up of reports 

broadcast by the BBC World Service under 

the byline of Adam Brooks, about the visit to 

Indonesia of Britain’s Foreign Secretary 

Douglas Hurd from 3 - 5 April 1993, by 

TAPOL: 

* In a speech to the Indonesian 

Department of Foreign Affairs Forum on 

Monday, Hurd said that human rights are 

seen as an integral part of economic development, 

not what he called some alien 

Western and dispensable add-on. He said 

there was no contradiction between more 

democracy and economic prosperity. 

Indonesia’s human rights record has been 

widely criticised internationally especially 

over the actions of its security forces in East 

Timor. The Indonesian Foreign Minister, 

Ali Alatas, said earlier on Monday at a 

press conference that accusations leveled at 

Indonesia on human rights were often 

unsubstantiated and exaggerated and 

sometimes took on the nature of a political 

campaign rather than a genuine desire to 

protect human rights 

Mr. Hurd noted in his speech that 

Indonesia has proposed the establishment of 

a national body to protect human rights. A 

BBC correspondent in Jakarta says that 

while Mr. Hurd avoided specific criticism of 

Indonesia, the speech reflected current 

differences of opinion between Western and 

developing countries on how human rights 

should be implemented. 

* British sources said that during a 

meeting with Douglas Hurd, President 

Suharto raised the question of his possible 

attendance at the G7 summit very gently 

amid much laughter (sic). He said that this 

could contribute to what he calls the revival 

of a north/south dialogue. But the idea has 

met with a cool reception from G7 countries 

and Mr. Hurd on Monday avoided making 

any commitment: 

Hurd’s voice: 

“Two things. First of all it’s perfectly 

reasonable that developing countries through 

the non-aligned movement should want to 

communicate with the industrialised 

countries. But the Group of Seven is not 

meant to be a great sort of directorate of the 

industrialised world and we’re certainly 

against adding to it new structures of consultation. 

I don’t think that’s a good idea.” 

British sources say it’s likely that some 

sort of compromise would be reached to 

avoid a diplomatic snub to President 

Suharto. 

* Mr. Hurd, during his visit, also dealt 

with the thorny question of human rights in 

Indonesia, particularly in East Timor. Mr. 

Hurd said there were continuing anxieties 

over reports of human rights abuses by 

Indonesian troops in the territory. 

* Mr. Hurd signed three agreements with 

the Indonesians, including a concessionary 

loan from Britain for over one hundred 

million US dollars. 

LONDON ‘INDEPENDENT’ ON 

HURD’S VISIT 

An Independent, 6 April 1993 report, bylined 

Reuter and datelined Jakarta, reads, slightly 

abridged: 

The Foreign Secretary, Douglas Hurd, 

said yesterday he had raised concerns about 

the relatively light sentences given to 

Indonesian soldiers tried in the shooting of 

protesters demanding independence for East 


“I mentioned that we do have some continuing 

concerns... over the disparity in 

sentencing between military and civilians” 

although these were matters for Indonesia’s 

judicial system, Mr. Hurd said, after talks 

with his Indonesian counterpart, Ali Alatas. 

Despite Mr. Hurd’s expression of concern, 

however, he yesterday signed an 

agreement to grant Indonesia 65m in aid to 

help finance a power project. The concessional 

loan which is ties to the involvement 

of British companies, was for a 66-megawatt 

gas and steam power plant in eastern 

Kalimantan. 

TAPOL 

WITH THE TIMORESE BUT 

WITHOUT FRETILIN AT EC 

HEARING 

Publico 27 March 1993 By J. T. Negreiros. 

Translated from Portuguese. abridged 

(Lisbon) The absence of any Fretilin 

representative was the discordant note in 

the meeting between Simone Veil and the 

Timorese community, with whom the current 

President of the Euro-Parliament’s 

Intergroup on East Timor yesterday commenced 

the second and last day of her visit 

to Lisbon. 

Accompanied by Euro-MPs Rui Amaral, 

João Cravinho, Sergio Ribeiro and Pedro 

Canavarro - all members of the Intergroups, 

composed of MPs of various nationalities 

and political tendencies, Simone Veil heard 

the Timorese appeal for her help in the task 

of making the international community 

aware of the situation in the territory. 

At the end of yesterday morning’s 

meeting, which took place in the EP office in 

Lisbon, the statements were left up to the 

UDT representatives. Manuel Martires, 

Xanana Gusmão’s cousin, pointed out 

Simone Veil’s “weight,” and praised her 

availability. Zacarias da Costa, heading the 

UDT delegation in Portugal, expressed the 

hope that such meetings would continue to 

occur on a regular basis. 

Simone Veil then went on to meeting the 

Prime Minister. As well being “impressed” 

by the direct contact with the Timorese, 

Simone Veil informed Cavaco Silva of the 

Intergroup’s activities. The Portuguese PM 

told her about the forthcoming meeting 

between Durão Barroso and Ali Alatas, set 

for 2l April, in Rome. 

Before lunch with the President, finalizing 

Simone Veil’s visit, the Euro-MP and 

Intergroup Chairperson went to the French 

Embassy to give the Legion of Honour insignia 

to Portuguese deputy Antonio Maria 

Pereira, current Chairman of the 

Parliamentary Foreign Affairs Commission. 

(...) 

REPORT FROM FRENCH 

SOLIDARITY MOVEMENT 

By Bruno Kahn, Agir Pour Timor, April 6 

Personal comment: whatever the drawbacks 

inside, international pressure is constantly 

growing. There will eventually be a breaking 

point. Cheer up! 

1. “500 associations for Timor.” This 

campaign, launched in 1992 by the 

Federation of Portuguese Associations in 

France (FAPF), collected to this date about 

100 signatures. FAPF, together with 

Antonio Dias, President of Agir pour 

Timor, was received by the Portuguese 

Ambassador in France on March 25 and 

delivered him the list of these associations. 

They will also be received shortly, for the 

same purpose, by a representative of the 

Direction for Asia of the Foreign Ministry. 

The list was also sent to Jacques Delors, 

(EC), the UN Secretary General, 

UNESCO’s Secretary General, Amnesty 

International, the Human Rights League and 

the three Portuguese Consults of the greater 

Paris area. 

FAPF writes: “... (this participation) 

shows that our associative movement is 

opening itself to other horizons than its 

traditional activities. Associations may be 

centres of culture, leisure or sports, but they 

should also be centres of reflection and 

solidarity towards those who need our support 

and help.”


2. Petition campaign. Agir pour Timor 

launched this week-end a petition to the 

new government (formed after the March 

elections here). It requests the French government: 

a) To demand the immediate release of 

Xanana Gusmão and all East Timorese 

prisoners. b) To demand the immediate 

opening of East Timor to foreign observers, 

humanitarian and human rights organisations. 

c) To demand the visit in East Timor, 

as soon as possible, of the UN Special 

Rapporteur on Torture, the Special 

Rapporteur on Extra-judicial, Summary or 

Arbitrary Executions, the Working Group 

on Arbitrary Detention and the Working 

Group on Involuntary Disappearances. d) 

To end immediately the sales of French 

arms and military equipment to Indonesia, 

under a direct or indirect form (exploitation 

licenses). e) To condition its economic aid to 

the respect of human rights by Jakarta’s 

regime, in East Timor and in Indonesia. f) 

To support the right of the people of East 

Timor to self-determination. 

The campaign has already collected over 

100 signatures. 

3. Reseau Solidarité [Solidarity 

Network]. This NGOs aim is to “mobilise 

the opinion at the sides of the Peoples of 

the South fighting for their rights.” For the 

first time, they launch a campaign on East 

Timor. 1800 copies of this appeal are mailed 

in France, and 250 in Belgium. The 

campaign proposes a letter to the 

Indonesian ambassador in France, endorsing 

the UNHRC resolution and asking the 

Indonesian government “to continue the 

dialogue with the Secretary-General of the 

United Nations for achieving a just, comprehensive 

and internationally acceptable 

settlement of the question of East Timor.” 

Reseau Solidarité also launches campaigns 

on specific issues, like unfair labour 

practices etc., on the request of the victims. 

Their address is: 

Reseau Solidarité 

5 rue Bizette, 35000 Rennes, France 

tel: +33 99 388240, fax: +33 99 380150 

4. Reporters sans Frontieres [Reporters 

without Borders]. This association of journalists 

“acts in favour of the freedom of the 

press throughout the world.” They are interested 

in breaches of the freedom of the 

press in Indonesia, particularly about reporting 

on East Timor. The Indonesia/East 

Timor section of their 1992 report is excellent, 

but they are constantly in search of 

reliable information. Currently they are interested 

in the conditions of Xanana’s trial 

in Dili, in particular: - the list of foreign 

journalists accredited there - what can they 

report on the trial? Also, the way the 

Indonesian press reports on it. 

We can give partial answers to their 

questions, but any more complete information 

is welcome. Either post it, forward it to 

kahn@mathp7.jussieu.fr or send it directly 

to 

Jean-Louis Donnadieu 

Reporters sans Frontieres 

17 rue de l’Abbe de l’Epee, 34000 

Montpellier, France 

tel: +33 67 79 81 82, fax: +33 67 79 60 

80 

Many thanks in advance. 

EVENTS IN THE 

UNITED STATES 

REPORT FROM EAST TIMOR 

ACTION NETWORK / U.S. TO 

THE SOLIDARITY MEETING 

Amsterdam, 19 February 1993 

Since our formation a little over a year 

ago, ETAN/US has grown to over 600 

members in more than half of the fifty 

states. As the first broad-based, grassroots, 

United States organization focusing on East 

Timor in many years, we discovered that we 

are filling a vacuum, and the response is 

encouraging ... and overwhelming. We are an 

all-volunteer organization with limited 

funding, but have been able to achieve much 

more than we expected. 

Among our major activities in 1992: 

• Successfully lobbying Congress to terminate 

US military aid to Indonesia 

• Working with officials to get the US 

Conference of Mayors to pass a resolution 

• Organizing or assisting in public meetings 

at numerous universities and communities, 

and arranging speaking dates in 

many others 

• Creating a network of active ETAN local 

groups in a dozen cities, and developing 

working relationships with many other 

organizations and public officials 

• Providing logistical support for CNRM, 

Fretilin and other international Timor 

activists when they come to the US 

• Producing four issues of a bi-monthly 

Newsletter for all our members, and 20 

volumes (over 1100 pages) of a 

Document Compilation that goes to subscribers 

all over the world 

• Organizing protests, memorials and 

demonstrations at Indonesian government 

facilities, when Indonesian officials 

(Alatas and Suharto) visited the US, on 

significant anniversaries and internationally 

coordinated dates 

• Working with the international solidarity 

movement on the Urgent Appeal and 

other UN-related activities, and providing 

information for that movement on US 

government policies 

• Producing and distributing a nationallybroadcast 

cable television program, and 

publicizing other media events 

• Distributing books, videos, audio tapes, 

petitions and other resources to help 

educate Americans about East Timor 

• Raising money for victims of the Flores 

earthquake 

• Providing information, statements and 

alerts to American and UN-based journalists, 

students and researchers 

• Writing or arranging for articles on East 

Timor in many publications, including a 

regular column in the Bulletin of 

Concerned Asian Scholars 

• Sending one of our activists to East 

Timor, and helping him get his observations 

out to a wide audience. Receiving 

information from inside East Timor and 

disseminating it to appropriate people 

• Facilitating US and international computer 

communications 

• Arranging for the retirement of George 

Herbert Walker Bush 

• In 1993, we will continue these activities. 

In addition, we will 

• Work with the Australian-initiated 

“Timorese UN Project” to bring five East 

Timorese exiles on a speaking tour of the 

United States in April 

• Use the new Noam Chomsky film 

Manufacturing Consent to reach out to 

new people 

• Lobby Congress and the Clinton administration 

to cut off US weapons sales 

to Indonesia and take other action to increase 

pressure the Suharto regime and to 

change the US approach to East Timor at 

the United Nations 

SILENT GENOCIDE: EAST 

TIMOR STRUGGLES FOR 

GLOBAL ATTENTION – AND 

FOR ITS LIFE 

By Matthew Restall, “Los Angeles Village 

View,” Feb. 19-25, 1993. 

“Genocide is a word much overused in 

modern times for any old massacre. In East 

Timor it suits the circumstances perfectly.” 

–"Observer” reporter Hugh O’Shaughnessy 

“When I think of Indonesia - a country on 

the equator with 180 million people, a 

median age of eighteen, and a Muslim ban 

on alcohol - I feel I know what heaven looks 

like.”


–Coca-Cola president Donald Keough 

Remember those Army wives in the 

evening news two years ago talking about 

the need to defend Kuwait against the 

Iraqis? “Look,” said one, “they raped a 

country.” 

At about the same time, in another corner 

of the world, the following incident was 

taking place. “A company of government 

troops captured this seventeen-year-old 

girl,” a priest later told an undercover British 

reporter. “They repeatedly raped her, cut 

off her breasts, put one in each hand, cut off 

her private parts and stuffed them in her 

mouth and left her corpse for the rest to 

see.” 

This took place in a land that almost no 

Americans have even heard of: East Timor. 

Were this an isolated act of atrocity, one 

might expect it completely to be ignored by 

Washington and the U.S. media. But, far 

from being isolated, this brutal murder was 

only one tragic episode in a seventeen-year 

story of torture, murder, and oppression. In 

October 1991, yet another young pro- independence 

suspect was murdered in East 

Timor by the Indonesian military, which 

showed up at his funeral and opened fire on 

the unarmed mourners, killing some 200 

men, women, and children. The “incident,” 

as the government called it, brought the 

number of victims in this tragedy to over 

200,000. What does our government have to 

say about it? Nothing. 

The reason is simple enough. The island 

nation that is being destroyed has no strategic 

value - East Timor is located some 400 

miles north of Australia - while the aggressor, 

Indonesia, is a staunch U.S. ally. So 

staunch an ally is Indonesia (whose dictator, 

General Suharto, came to power nearly 30 

years ago by murdering almost one million 

alleged Indonesian communists in less than 

two years) that the U.S. not only turned a 

blind eye but actually connived in the 

invasion of East Timor. 

A Portuguese colony for centuries, East 

Timor declared independence in December 

1974. Six days later, President Ford and 

Secretary of State Kissinger visited Suharto 

in Jakarta. Kissinger told reporters that, 

with respect to East Timor, “the United 

States understands Indonesia’s position on 

the question.” The next day, Indonesia invaded. 

Said the Indonesian foreign minister 

in 1977: “Fifty thousand or perhaps 80,000 

might have been killed. It was war... what’s 

the big fuss?” His successor admitted two 

years later that 120,000 had died. 

According to our State Department, 90 

percent of the weapons used in the invasion 

were U.S.-supplied. “The U.S. regards 

Indonesia as a friendly nation,” explained a 

department official in 1976, “a nation we do 

a lot of business with.” The current death 

toll–200,000–amounts to a third of the 

population of East Timor. 

Not that all blame can be assigned to the 

Indonesian military government and 

Kissinger (how does this man sleep at 

night?). Successive U.S. administrations and 

other Western governments have studiously 

avoided the East Timor issue for a decade 

and a half (only Portugal, in recompense for 

its abandonment of the Timorese in the 

1970s, has been fighting for international 

recognition of East Timor’s independence). 

Pope John Paul II, ever mindful to betray 

the common man, recognized the Indonesian 

occupation by even refusing to mention it 

during his 1989 visit to East Timor - despite 

the fact that Catholic priests have been 

tortured and killed along with their Timorese 

parishioners. 

Another reason why Jakarta has gotten 

away with murder is its manipulation of the 

international media - and, by the same token, 

the media’s failure to shake that manipulation. 

Form 1975 to 1989, East Timor 

was completely closed to the world. Yet the 

reports that did get out were ignored by the 

mainstream press. Not until two New York 

City reporters were badly beaten by the 

Indonesian military (at the time of the 

November 1991 funeral massacre) was attention 

drawn to footage of the killings, finally 

prompting international condemnation 

of Indonesia’ policy. 

Even then, the Western political and 

media establishments allowed Jakarta’s response 

to the outcry - a massive PR campaign 

coupled with an increase in repressive 

military measures in East Timor - effectively 

to neutralize opposition. Suharto, 

hiring the Washington PR firm Hill and 

Knowlton (used to peddle the Gulf War to 

the American people) to sell the 1991 massacre 

as a justifiable “incident,” was assisted 

by stooges such as Sens. Inouye and 

Stevens, who were “impressed” by the 

dictator’s handling of the matter in a visit to 

Jakarta last year. Aid cuts and statements of 

disapproval had become patchy by early 

1992; by the end of the year, business between 

the West and Indonesia returned to 

normal. Meanwhile, Indonesian troops 

captured Xanana Gusmão, head of the 

Timorese independence movement, who 

was beaten and tortured for months, forced 

to make pro-government statements on 

video, and who is now being publicly humiliated 

in a show trial. 

The world, obsessed by Somalia and 

Bosnia and local politics, has ignored the 

latest round of brutality in East Timor. New 

tales of torture, rape, and murder have yet 

to make it to the mainstream press beyond 

the occasional East Coast editorial. Well 

aware of this opportunity, the Indonesian 

military has been rounding up thousands of 

pro-independence “sympathizers,” who are 

now being detained as “guerrillas” and 

“terrorists.” 

There can be no doubt that what 

Indonesia is doing in East Timor is genocide. 

The numbers of Timorese victims, and the 

steady, supervised influx of non-Timorese 

into the region, speaks of a lethal colonial 

policy. Nor can there be any doubt that the 

West, in continuing to support the 

Indonesian dictatorship through political, 

diplomatic, economic, and military aid, is a 

party to the genocide. It is reported that 

President Clinton has strong views on the 

Timorese issue, but he has yet to make a 

public statement on it of any kind. It is time 

such a statement is made. 

SENATOR PELL STATEMENT 

ON EAST TIMOR 

In the U.S. Senate, February 24, 1993 

By Claiborne Pell, Democrat-Rhode Island, 

Chairman, Senate Foreign Relations 

Committee. Taken from the Congressional 

Record S1991-1992, full text. 

Mr. President, last Monday the trial of 

the East Timorese resistance leader, José 

“Xanana” Gusmão, began in Dili, East 

Timor. Last year I attempted to visit East 

Timor but was denied permission by 

President Suharto. Indonesian authorities 

told me that such a visit was not convenient 

following the massacre by Indonesian security 

forces of 75 to 100 East Timorese 

civilians during a peaceful demonstration in 

Dili on November 12, 1991. 

The roots of the conflict in East Timor 

are in the December 7, 1975, Indonesian 

invasion of the territory following 

Portugal’s precipitous withdrawal after 450 

years of colonial rule. The U.N. General 

Assembly and Security Council have passed 

resolutions condemning the invasion and 

calling for self determination for the East 

Timorese. American policy has been to 

accept Indonesia’s incorporation of East 

Timor without acknowledging that it was a 

valid act of self- determination. 

The Indonesian human rights situation 

overall is deeply troubling. As the recently 

released Department of State’s annual human 

rights report for 1992 observed generally 

about Indonesia: 

“In addition to extrajudicial killings and 

unfair trials, other serious human rights 

problems continued. They include torture 

and other mistreatment of prisoners and 

detainees, arbitrary arrest and detention, 

arbitrary interference with privacy, significant 

restrictions on freedom of the speech 

and press, assembly and association, and on 

freedom of movement, and the inability of


citizens to change their government. Other 

problem areas include harassment of human 

rights monitors, discrimination and violence 

against women, and restrictions on worker 

rights.” 

Such is the situation or East Timor but 

even more so. As the State Department report 

notes, for example, last October 5 two 

East Timorese were shot by security forces. 

One was killed immediately while the other 

was taken to a military hospital where he 

was then beaten to death. Security forces 

involved in the Dili massacre were charged 

with relatively minor offenses while 13 

civilians charged for demonstrating received 

extremely harsh sentences. The Indonesian 

authorities have yet to locate 66 people 

missing following the massacre whom the 

State Department now believes are all dead. 

The report further states that in “East 

Timor military authorities continued the 

practice of detaining people without charges 

for short periods and then requiring them to 

report daily or weekly to the police after 

their release. There were credible reports of 

scores of people being detained without 

charges at various times during the year for 

enforced vocational training.” 

In addition the State Department reports 

that the East Timorese are regularly subjected 

to arrest, temporary detentions, intrusive 

searches and beatings. After Mr. 

Gusmão was arrested, there were credible 

reports that members of his family and 

friends were also detained possibly to ensure 

his cooperation with the Indonesian 

authorities during his trial. 

The International Committee of the Red 

Cross (ICRC) which maintains a presence in 

East Timor has been trying without success 

for the last 2 months to gain access to about 

24 detainees being held in a military 

detention center in Baucau. There has been a 

persistent pattern or denial to all requests 

by international human rights groups. For 

example, the ICRC has been permitted only 

one visit to Mr. Gusmão’s jail cell since his 

capture on November 20, and this only occurred 

on December 7. Amnesty 

International’s request to observe his trial in 

Dili has been denied despite a claim by the 

Indonesian Foreign Minister, Ali Alatas, 

that the trial would be open. To Indonesia’s 

credit, however, several foreign journalists 

have been granted permission to visit Dili, 

including ABC although the BBC has not 

been so authorized. 

In addition Indonesian authorities have 

restricted defendant access to legal assistance. 

When I was in Jakarta, I met with 

lawyers from the Indonesian legal aid society. 

They were not permitted to meet with 

their East Timorese clients until the day of 

their trial. They were denied access to Mr. 

Gusmão and instead later received a letter 

from him delivered by the police, authorizing 

the police to appoint his defense attorney. 

According to reports, this attorney 

does not speak Mr. Gusmão’s language. 

The pattern of past practices and recent 

actions all call into question the fairness of 

Mr. Gusmão’s trial as well as Indonesian 

policy in East Timor. 

Last year the Congress passed Foreign 

Relations Authorization legislation which 

the President signed into law urging the 

Indonesian government to end all forms or 

human rights violations in East and calling 

for an internationally acceptable solution to 

the conflict. Events since then indicate that 

the Government of Indonesia still has not 

understood the depth of American concern 

for the East Timorese. 

Recent Indonesian-Portuguese talks 

sponsored by the United Nations to resolve 

the dispute are at an impasse. The United 

States should press both sides to renew 

their discussions while including representatives 

from East Timor. 

The United States should support a 

resolution during the 49th session of the 

United Nations Human Rights Commission 

expressing international concern about the 

continuing human rights abuses in East 


Finally, Indonesia should demonstrate its 

good faith by inviting the U.N. Special 

Rapporteur on Summary and Arbitrary 

Executions and the Working Group on 

Enforced or Involuntary Disappearances to 

come to East Timor to recommend procedures 

to prevent human rights abuses. 

A peaceful resolution to this conflict can 

only be achieved by compromise and negotiation 

between the parties most involved – 

the Indonesian and the East Timorese. I 

hope the Indonesians soon recognize the 

value of such discussions because their current 

policy is doomed to failure. 

US STATE DEPARTMENT’S 

ANNUAL REPORT ON HUMAN 

RIGHTS PRACTICES IN 

INDONESIA 

This report covers calendar year 1992. The 

State Department is legally required by 

Congress to send it this and other country 

reports every year. The reports are usually 

made available to the public each February. 

We reprint the entire report because it 

provides an insight into past US policies, 

since it was prepared under the Bush 

administration. 

INDONESIA 

Indonesia is a very large, populous, developing 

country whose people come from 

hundreds of different ethnic, cultural, and 

linguistic backgrounds. With the largest 

Muslim population in the world, it is a 

secular state which advocates religious tolerance 

and strives to balance the need for 

stability and development with respect and 

tolerance for the diversity of its people. The 

Government requires allegiance to five 

broad, guiding principles of national life 

known as “Pancasila": belief in one supreme 

God, a just and civilized humanity, 

Indonesian national unity, democracy, and 

social justice. The Government’s authoritarian 

rule restricts basic human rights. 

Under the Constitution, the highest 

authority of the State is the 1,000-member 

people’s Consultative Assembly (MPR), 

which meets every 5 years to elect the 

President and Vice President and set the 

broad outlines of state policy. In theory, the 

President is subordinate to the Assembly; in 

fact, President Suharto and the armed forces 

(ABRI) wield predominant political power, 

with 20 percent of the DPR, or Parliament, 

appointed from the ranks of ABRI. The 

Parliament is constitutionally responsible 

for making laws but has not used its power 

to initiate legislation in the 27 years of 

Suharto’s Government. It remains 

essentially passive in its dealings with the 

executive branch. Quinquennial 

parliamentary elections are tightly controlled 

by the Government and the military. 

The de facto government party, GOLKAR, 

won 68 percent of the vote in the most recent 

elections in June 1992. 

The armed forces which include the 

military services and the police number 

445,000. The army constitutes about half of 

the armed forces and focuses mainly on internal 

security. Total military expenditures 

for 1989, the last year for which the U.S. 

Arms Control and Disarmament Agency 

conducted a detailed analysis, were $1.51 

billion. Given the relatively modest size of 

the military forces and their budget, there 

are no indications that efforts will be made 

to reduce these expenditures in the near 

future. Under a “dual function” concept, 

many military officers serve in the civilian 

bureaucracy at all levels and in Parliament. 

Public discussion about reducing the military’s 

role in national affairs increased 

during the year. Security forces continued 

operations against separatist groups in 

Aceh, Irian Jaya, and East Timor in 1992. 

On occasion, police in Jakarta and Medan 

employed excessive force in subduing suspected 

criminals. 

Indonesia has a largely free market 

economy characterized by large oil revenues 

and government attempts to encourage 

nonoil exports and revenues. The economy 

continued to expand in 1992, growing approximately 

6 percent despite government 

efforts to contain inflation. Although there


were substantial increases in real incomes 

and in the standard of living of most 

Indonesians in the past 20 years, the country 

remains poor, with significant unemployment 

and wide disparities in wealth. 

Corruption and influence peddling are endemic 

and distort growth and economic opportunity. 

The most important human rights developments 

during the year concerned government 

efforts to cope with the aftermath 

of army troops’ killing of unarmed demonstrators 

on November 12, 1991, in East 

Timor. At the recommendation of a military 

investigating body formed on President 

Suharto’s orders, unprecedented disciplinary 

action was taken against 6 senior officers 

and 10 officers and enlisted men involved 

in the incident. Thirteen Timorese 

civilians were convicted in connection with 

the incident. Most of the latter received 

extremely harsh sentences. Members of the 

security forces involved in the shootings 

were charged only with relatively minor offenses. 

While the civilians’ trials were open 

and generally conducted in accordance with 

Indonesian law, they failed to meet all 

international standards of fairness. 

Subversion trials in North Sumatra and Aceh 

also failed to meet international standards. 

In addition to extrajudicial killings and 

unfair trials, other serious human rights 

problems continued. They include torture 

and other mistreatment of prisoners and 

detainees, arbitrary arrest and detention, 

arbitrary interference with privacy, significant 

restrictions on freedom of speech and 

press, assembly and association, and on 

freedom of movement, and the inability of 

citizens to change their government. Other 

problem areas include harassment of human 

rights monitors, discrimination and violence 

against women, and restrictions on worker 

rights. 

In other human rights areas, foreign travel 

requirements were eased. The June 9 

elections were free from violence and interference 

from security forces, and, while 

minor irregularities occurred, the actual 

balloting was considered fair. The 

Government continued its generous policy 

toward Indochinese refugees and its cooperation 

with the International Committee of 

the Red Cross (ICRC) on the repatriation of 

Irianese who had fled to Papua New Guinea 

because of separatist violence. But official 

and informal discrimination against ethnic 

Chinese persisted. The Government 

accepted a chairman’s statement at the U.N. 

Human Rights Commission which commits 

it to respond to recommendations on 

preventing torture and to allowing greater 

access by human rights groups to East 

Timor. However, the Government has as 

yet made no response on the recommendations, 

nor has it allowed greater access to 


RESPECT FOR HUMAN RIGHTS 

SECTION 1. RESPECT FOR THE 

INTEGRITY OF THE PERSON, 

INCLUDING FREEDOM FROM: 

a. Political and Other Extrajudicial 

Killing 

The number of credible reports of politically 

related civilian deaths has declined 

substantially since 1991, owing primarily to 

the fact that military operations in Aceh, 

Irian Jaya, and East Timor declined. In Aceh 

in particular, the egregious abuses of the 

civilian population eased considerably 

compared to 1991, as security forces, having 

eliminated all but a handful of Aceh 

Merdeka (Free Aceh) armed separatists, 

turned to civic action projects. The security 

situation in Irian Jaya was also generally 

calm, with few, if any, civilian deaths reported 

due to actions by the military. 

In East Timor, tightened security and 

revised military procedures put into place 

following the November 12, 1991, shooting 

incident in Dili appeared to have led to a 

substantial reduction in civilian deaths attributable 

to security forces. The exact 

number and circumstances of the deaths of 

several Fretilin guerrillas reported killed 

could not be confirmed. Although the 

Government did take action against those 

involved in the November 1991 incident in 

East Timor, the Government made only 

minor efforts in 1992 to try and punish appropriately 

those responsible for killings, 

torture, and other abuses committed in 

previous years in Aceh and other areas. 

In Baucau, East Timor, two East 

Timorese were shot on October 5. One was 

killed outright by ABRI forces. A credible 

source believes the other, who was taken to 

a military hospital, was beaten to death 

while in the hands of ABRI. 

The Government continued to deal with 

the November 12, 1991, shooting of civilians 

in East Timor. A military “Honorary 

Council” appointed by President Suharto in 

December 1991 to investigate the conduct of 

security forces in the incident announced its 

results in February, finding that some 

members of the security forces had been 

negligent, had failed to anticipate problems 

adequately, or had violated military ethics 

and discipline. As a result of this finding, 4 

officers and 6 enlisted members of the security 

forces were court-martialed in May 

and June, one on charges of assault and 9 

others on charges of exceeding or failing to 

obey official orders. No charges were 

brought against ABRI personnel for actually 

killing civilians during the incident in which 

50 to 100 people are thought to have died as 

a result of military action. All of the soldiers 

were convicted in sessions open to 

diplomatic observers and the press and received 

sentences ranging from 6 to 18 

months in prison. Six senior officers were 

disciplined; three, including the brigadier 

general who commanded security forces in 

East Timor at the time of the incident, were 

discharged. Five other officers were investigated 

further, one of whom was to be retired 

early because of his alleged failure to 

act decisively during the incident. 

Little progress was made in locating 

those demonstrators still missing after the 

incident. The national investigatory commission 

refuted earlier military claims that 

only 19 people died on November 12 by 

stating in December 1991 that “about 50” 

were killed. The Commander of the Armed 

Forces reported to President Suharto in July 

that 66 people remained missing. But despite 

more than 6 months of investigation, 

the military claimed it had been unable to 

find any additional bodies beyond the 19 

originally accounted for. Although official 

accounts suggested that some of the 66 were 

still in hiding, credible sources believed 

most, if not all, of them were dead. 

Police continue to use excessive lethal 

force in efforts to apprehend suspected 

criminals. According to press accounts, police 

in Jakarta in 1991 shot 75 criminal 

suspects who were reportedly fleeing or 

resisting arrest, of whom 38 died. In 1992 

up to August, 40 suspects had been shot, 20 

of whom died. These shootings came against 

a background of a declining overall crime 

rate, but an increase in violent crimes. 

In Medan, the capital of North Sumatra, 

where the crime rate was also falling, police 

announced in 1992 that 182 suspects had 

been shot in 1991, of whom 2 died. In North 

Sumatra as a whole 220 suspects were shot. 

Through early December 1992, 93 suspects 

had been shot in North Sumatra, many of 

them 4 and 5 times. Two died of their 

wounds. Authorities maintained those shot 

had been fleeing and were given warnings, or 

were resisting arrest. They also denied they 

were pursuing a systematic policy aimed at 

discouraging crime. But human rights groups 

reported that at least some of those shot 

claimed they had been caught first, 

handcuffed, and then shot, sometimes at the 

police station. 

b. Disappearance 

There were no reports of politically motivated 

abductions in 1992. Government efforts 

to account for those still missing from 

the November 12, 1991, shooting incident 

were ineffective (see Section 1.a.).


c. Torture and Other Cruel, Inhuman, or 


The Indonesian Criminal Procedures 

Code (KUHAP) contains a number of provisions 

aimed at protecting the accused. 

Statements from suspects or witnesses, for 

example, are supposed to be extracted 

without pressure of any kind, and pretrial 

procedures give suspects or their families 

the right to challenge the legality of their 

arrest or detention. In practice, however, 

torture and mistreatment of criminal suspects, 

detainees, and prisoners are common, 

and the legal protections are violated by the 

Government. 

The U.N. Special Rapporteur for Torture 

stated in his January report that, based on 

his November 1991 visit to Indonesia, he 

had concluded that “torture occurs in 

Indonesia, in particular in cases which are 

considered to endanger the security of the 

state.” The Special Rapporteur continued 

that in areas such as Aceh, Irian Jaya, and 

East Timor which “are deemed to be unstable...torture 

is said to be practiced rather 

routinely.” In 1992 Aceh continued to be 

the area of greatest concern, although various 

credible observers noted a general improvement 

in the treatment of detainees and 

prisoners, perhaps related to the overall 

reduction in tensions there. 

Police often resort to physical abuse, 

even in minor incidents, and prison conditions 

in Indonesia tend to be harsh. Officials 

have publicly condemned police brutality 

and harsh prison conditions and 

occasionally instigate disciplinary action, 

including transfer, dismissal, trial, and 

sentencing to prison terms. In 1992 several 

policemen were court-martialed for mistreating 

or beating prisoners. In one case, as 

reported in the press, the convicted policeman 

continued to beat a suspect even 

though the suspect had already confessed. 

The suspect died shortly thereafter. This 

policeman was dismissed from service and 

sentenced to 4 years’ imprisonment. In 

Aceh, a military tribunal in January sentenced 

three policemen to between 2 1/2 and 

3 months in prison for beating a prisoner. A 

Medan military court in July sentenced a 

police sergeant to 14 months in prison for 

beating a suspect to death. 

d. Arbitrary Arrest, Detention, or Exile 

KUHAP contains protections against 

arbitrary arrest and detention and specifies 

the right of prisoners to notification of 

family. Warrants must be produced during 

an arrest except under specified conditions, 

such as when a suspect is caught in the act 

of committing a crime. Warrants are issued 

by police investigators to assist in their investigations 

or if sufficient evidence exists 

that a crime has been committed. 

Defendants have the right to legal counsel of 

their choice at every phase of an investigation 

and trial, and also have the right to 

know in detail the charges against them. 

Defendants are presumed innocent and may 

be granted bail. They or their families may 

also challenge the legality of their arrest and 

detention in a pretrial hearing and are 

entitled to sue for compensation if wrongfully 

detained. KUHAP also contains specific 

limits on periods of pretrial detention 

and specifies when the courts must get involved 

to approve extensions. 

In practice, these safeguards are often 

violated. Bail is rarely granted, especially in 

political cases. The authorities frequently 

interfere with access to defense counsel. 

Extensions of periods of detention are 

routinely approved. Pretrial proceedings are 

rarely initiated. In addition, suspects 

charged under the 1963 Antisubversion Law 

are subject to special procedures outside of 

KUHAP that allow, for example, the 

Attorney General on his own authority to 

hold a suspect for up to a year before trial. 

This 1-year period is renewable without 

limit. Special laws on corruption, economic 

crimes, and narcotics are similarly exempt 

from KUHAP’s protections. The Agency 

for Coordination of Assistance for the 

Consolidation of National Security 

(BAKORSTANAS) operates outside 

KUHAP and has wide discretion to detain 

and interrogate persons thought to threaten 

national security. 

National estimates on the number of 

arbitrary arrests or detentions without trial 

are not available. In Aceh 180 people accused 

of being members of Aceh Merdeka 

(Free Aceh) were released in 1992 after 

varying periods of detention, often incommunicado 

and without trial. The authorities 

released a total of 653 detainees in 1991, 

yielding a total of at least 833 persons detained 

without trial for various periods in 

connection with the Aceh insurgency. Many 

of those released were required to report 

back to the authorities at regular intervals. 

At least 50 more Acehnese were believed to 

be awaiting trial at year’s end, many 

without clear knowledge of the charges 

against them. (See Section 1.e. for a discussion 

of those Acehnese who received 

trials.) 

In East Timor military authorities continued 

the practice of detaining people 

without charges for short periods and then 

requiring them to report daily or weekly to 

police after their release. There were credible 

reports of scores of people being detained 

without charges at various times during the 

year for enforced “vocational training.” This 

occurred during periods of potential unrest, 

such as the February visit to East Timor of 

the U.N. Secretary General’s Special Envoy, 

Amos Wako, and the March approach of 

the Portuguese car ferry, the Lusitania 

Expresso. Arrests, other temporary 

detentions, intrusive searches and some 

beatings also occurred just before the 

anniversary of the November 12 shootings 

and in the aftermath of the November 20 

arrest of Fretilin leader José “Xanana” 

Gusmão. There have been credible reports 

that Timorese detainees have been mistreated. 

In addition, 24 Timorese arrested in 

the aftermath of the November 12 incident 

were officially “released” on March 2 when 

the Attorney General decided only 8 

detainees in East Timor would be tried. But 

the military commander of East Timor continued 

to hold the 24 in military camps 

around East Timor for most of the remainder 

of 1992 for intensive instruction on 

Indonesian civics. Although they were allowed 

visits by family members, and 10 

were seen by the ICRC, their continued 

detention in military facilities without 

charges was a clear violation of KUHAP. 

e. Denial of Fair Public Trial 

A quadripartite judiciary of general, religious, 

military, and administrative courts 

exists below the Supreme Court. The right 

of appeal from district court to high court to 

Supreme Court exists in all four systems of 

justice. The Supreme Court, with a current 

backlog variously estimated at 13,000 to 

17,000 cases, does not consider factual aspects 

of a case, only the lower courts’ application 

of law. Initial judgments are rarely 

reversed in the appeals process, although 

sentences are sometimes increased or 

reduced. A three-judge panel conducts trials 

at the district court level, poses questions, 

hears evidence, decides guilt or innocence, 

and assesses punishment. 

Defendants have the right to confront 

witnesses. An exception is allowed in cases 

where distance or expense are deemed excessive 

for transporting witnesses to court, 

in which case sworn affidavits may be introduced. 

In at least one case in 1992, this 

practice had the effect of preventing crossexamination 

of prosecution witnesses. 

The use in trials of forced confessions 

and limitations on the presentation of defense 

evidence are common. Defendants do 

not have the right to remain silent, and in 

several cases in 1992 were compelled to 

testify in their own trials and in related trials 

running simultaneously. In capital cases and 

those involving a prison sentence of 15 

years or more, a lawyer must be appointed. 

In cases involving potential sentences of 5 

years or more, a lawyer must be appointed 

if the accused desires an attorney but is indigent. 

Destitute defendants can obtain private 

legal help, such as that provided by the 

Legal Aid Institute (LBH).


The judiciary in Indonesia is not independent. 

The Supreme Court does not have 

the right of judicial review over laws passed 

by Parliament. Although the Supreme Court 

has since 1985 had the power to review 

ministerial decrees and regulations, the 

Court has not yet used this power; Chief 

Justice Purwoto Gandasubrata, however, 

took a case dealing with a ministerial decree 

controlling newspaper publishing permits 

under advisement in November. While 

judges receive guidance from the Supreme 

Court on legal matters, they are civil 

servants employed by the executive branch. 

They are subject to considerable pressure 

from military and other governmental 

authorities. In addition, corruption 

permeates the Indonesian legal system. In 

civil and criminal cases, the payment of 

bribes can influence prosecution, conviction, 

and sentencing. The Minister of Justice said 

in August that while proving judicial 

corruption was often difficult, 266 judges 

had been prosecuted since 1980. In 

September the newly appointed Chief 

Justice of the Supreme Court, who pledged 

to combat judicial impropriety, 

recommended the dismissal of two 

administrative court justices who allegedly 

accepted bribes. The final decision, however, 

rested with the Minister of Justice and 

the President, who at year’s end had not 

acted on the matter. The Supreme Court 

engaged in a nationwide effort to improve 

the quality of district court judges, but 

public respect for the legal system remained 

low. 

The 1963 Antisubversion Law, which 

carries a maximum penalty of death, was 

attacked in several 1992 subversion trials as 

outmoded, unfair, and excessively harsh. 

The law makes it a crime to engage in acts 

that could distort, undermine, or deviate 

from the state ideology or broad outlines of 

state policy, or which could disseminate 

feelings of hostility or arouse hostility, 

disturbances, or anxiety among the population. 

The U.N. Special Rapporteur for 

Torture recommended in his January report 

that the law be repealed. He noted that the 

law’s definitions are “very broad and loose,” 

and that no requirement exists to prove that 

allegedly subversive acts actually 

endangered the security of the State, only 

that they could have. The vagueness of the 

law makes a successful defense virtually 

impossible; only two persons have ever 

been acquitted of subversion charges. Other 

statutes that are part of the Indonesian 

Criminal Code and therefore subject to 

KUHAP protections make it a felony to insult 

or sow hatred against the Government 

or to seek the separation of one area from 

the rest of the country. Defense attorneys 

also attacked these laws as holdovers from 

the Dutch colonial period and as unwarranted 

restraints on free speech. 

More than two dozen subversion trials 

were conducted in 1992. As in 1991, the 

majority of these cases were in Sumatra 

where as of August 19 people had been tried 

and convicted of subversion in connection 

with the Aceh Merdeka insurgency, 

including four members of the armed forces. 

According to credible observers, KUHAP 

provisions were widely violated in the 

conduct of these trials, with lack of access 

to attorneys and pretrial mistreatment of the 

accused the most frequently cited problems. 

Four Timorese were convicted of subversion 

in 1992 in trials in Dili and Jakarta. 

The four were part of a group of 13 

Timorese charged in connection with either a 

November 12, 1991, demonstration in Dili 

that preceded the shooting incident, or a 

November 19, 1991, demonstration in 

Jakarta that protested the shootings. The 

other 9 were tried on felony hate-sowing or 

sedition charges. These trials were attended 

by international observers, including representatives 

of the International Commission 

of Jurists, the Indonesian and foreign press, 

and the U.S. and other embassies. In general, 

the trials were substantially fairer than the 

Aceh proceedings. But in the Dili trials in 

particular, they did not meet international 

standards for fair trial. For example, access 

to legal counsel was obstructed to the extent 

that the defendants in several cases met their 

chosen attorneys only on the day their trials 

began. Even then, the Dili District Court 

barred attorneys in the subversion cases 

from representing the accused on technical 

grounds until the Supreme Court intervened. 

All 13 accused Timorese were convicted. 

One received a 6-month sentence and was 

released immediately. Seven received 

sentences of 10 years or more, and one 

received a life sentence, which is unusually 

harsh even in a subversion case. There is 

reason to believe that these harsh sentences 

were intended specifically to deter future 

such anti-integration activity. Security 

personnel responsible for the shootings 

were charged with relatively minor offenses. 

The Government does not make available 

statistics on the number of people currently 

serving subversion sentences or sentences 

under the felony “hate-sowing” or sedition 

laws. But informed sources indicated some 

300 persons were serving sentences for 

subversion in 1992, including members of 

the banned Communist Party of Indonesia 

(PKI), Muslim extremists, and those 

convicted of subversion in Irian Jaya, Aceh, 

and East Timor. Scores more were believed 

to be serving sentences under the hatesowing 

or sedition laws. At least some of 

these persons advocated or employed 

violence. 

f. Arbitrary Interference with Privacy, 

Family, Home, or Correspondence 

Judicial warrants for searches are required 

except for cases involving suspected 

subversion, economic crimes, and corruption. 

However, forced or surreptitious entry 

by security agencies occurs regularly. 

Security agencies intimidate by conducting 

surveillance of persons and residences, and 

they are believed to monitor selectively local 

and international telephone calls without 

legal restraint. Government security officials 

monitor the movements and activities of 

former members of the PKI and its front 

organizations, especially persons the 

Government believes were involved in the 

abortive 1965 Communist-backed coup. The 

Government stated in late 1990 that this 

latter group then totaled 1,410,333 people. 

These persons and their relatives sometimes 

are subject to surveillance, required checkins, 

and arbitrary actions by officials, 

including removal from government 

employment and threats of removal from 

such employment. 

SECTION 2. RESPECT FOR CIVIL 

LIBERTIES, INCLUDING: 

a. Freedom of Speech and Press 

Significant restrictions on freedom of 

speech and press exist. Government agencies 

exercise broad discretionary authority in 

applying laws concerning the rights of 

expression, and effective judicial review is 

lacking. Public statements or publications 

which criticize the Government or are perceived 

as critical of Pancasila, top leaders, 

their families, or particular religious and 

ethnic groups are often harshly punished. 

Two students were arrested prior to the 

June 9 elections for criticizing the election 

process and advocating the casting of blank 

ballots or staying away from the polls. 

They were released in late June, although 

the charges were not dropped. Five 

Timorese were convicted of sowing hatred 

against the Government following a 

November 19, 1991, peaceful demonstration 

in Jakarta (two of these were also convicted 

of subversion.) (See Section 1.e.). 

The leader of Indonesia’s largest Muslim 

organization was prevented by the 

authorities from speaking in Surabaya in 

April. 

The Government operates the nationwide 

television network. Private television 

companies broadcasting in Jakarta and 

Surabaya expanded to other areas, and a 

private educational channel began operating 

nationally. Some 550 private radio 

broadcasting companies exist in Indonesia in 

addition to the Government’s national radio 

network. Private television and radio 

stations, which have considerable pro-


gramming latitude, are nonetheless subject to 

official scrutiny and required to use government-provided 

news programs. Private 

radio stations frequently supplement such 

news programs with their own reports. 

Foreign television and radio broadcasts are 

readily accessible to those who can afford 

the technology. 

The print media, including the nation’s 

273 daily newspapers, are largely privately 

owned. Officials state that the press is 

“free” but also “responsible.” It is expected 

to support national development and stability, 

be educational, and uphold professional 

standards. The Government limits the 

number of newspaper licenses, the amount 

of advertising, and the number of pages, and 

exercises strong control over the press 

through its control of publishing permits. 

Journalists have protested in the past that 

the Department of Information has revoked 

these permits without giving the offending 

publications an adequate chance to defend 

themselves. The Government occasionally 

censors domestic and foreign publications 

and, in a practice known locally as 

“telephone culture,” telephones editors to 

suppress stories. In May a provincial 

official in South Sumatra ordered the 

removal of an article dealing with the June 

election from the editing tables of the daily 

newspaper, the Sriwijaya Post. His actions 

were criticized by Home Affairs Minister 

Rudini, who said that press censorship 

should be reduced to a minimum. Although 

the risk of official sanctions and informal 

government instructions generally lead 

editors to exercise considerable selfcensorship 

in disseminating views of government 

critics, the domestic print media 

continued to press the limits of official tolerance 

in coverage of election issues, East 

Timor, and social problems. Cartoons often 

pointedly critical of top government officials 

appeared routinely in several newspapers. 

The Government closely regulates access 

to Indonesia, and particularly to certain 

areas of Indonesia, by visiting and resident 

foreign correspondents and occasionally 

reminds the latter of its prerogative to deny 

requests for visa extensions. Although an 

American reporter was ordered to leave East 

Timor in February, other journalists were 

allowed to visit in May and November. 

The importation of foreign publications 

and video tapes, which must be reviewed by 

government censors, requires a permit. 

Importers avoid foreign materials critical of 

the Government or dealing with topics 

considered sensitive, such as human rights. 

Foreign publications, from Time magazine 

to the Asian Wall Street Journal, are normally 

available although several issues were 

delayed or embargoed in 1992 when they 

carried sensitive stories or, in one case, an 

advertisement some found offensive to the 

President. In each instance the decision to 

halt distribution was attributed to the 

private distributor, although government 

pressure is assumed to have triggered that 

decision. 

While academic freedom is provided for 

in law, constraints exist on the activities of 

scholars. They sometimes refrain from producing 

materials which they believe might 

provoke government displeasure. Publishers 

are often unwilling to accept manuscripts 

dealing with controversial issues, and those 

that do sometimes find works banned long 

after they have been published. Two 

academic works were among the four books 

banned by the Attorney General in 1992. 

Another work banned was the report by the 

Legal Aid Institute (LBH) on violations of 

KUHAP during the 1991 Aceh subversion 

trials. The Attorney General said he banned 

the report because it could mislead the 

public and damage national unity. 

b. Freedom of Peaceful Assembly and 

Association 

Freedom of assembly and association are 

recognized in Article 28 of the Constitution. 

Nonetheless, significant controls are placed 

on citizens who attempt to exercise this 

freedom. All organizations must have 

government permission to hold regional and 

national meetings. Local jurisdictions often 

require prior approval for smaller gatherings 

as well. While obtaining such approval is 

fairly automatic, the authorities occasionally 

withhold permission. Two gatherings of the 

discussion group Democratic Forum were 

ordered ended by police in February and 

April because they lacked a police permit, 

even though organizers argued they were 

holding informal discussions rather than a 

formal meeting. A May gathering of the All 

Indonesia Association of Muslim 

Intellectuals to discuss human rights was 

also ended prematurely because it lacked the 

appropriate permit. Regulations were issued 

in connection with the June elections that 

banned a wide variety of mass meetings 

around election day. Student gatherings have 

often been the target of disapprovals, and 

ostensible political activity at universities 

remained forbidden. The Government also 

banned political campaigning from 

university campuses in connection with the 

1992 parliamentary elections. 

The 1985 Social Organizations Law 

(ORMAS) requires all organizations, including 

recognized religions and associations, 

to adhere to Pancasila. This provision, 

which limits political activity, is widely 

understood as being designed to inhibit the 

activities of groups which seek to make 

Indonesia an Islamic state. The law 

empowers the Government to disband any 

organization it believes to be acting against 

Pancasila and requires prior government 

approval for any organization’s acceptance 

of funds from foreign donors. 

c. Freedom of Religion 

The Constitution provides for religious 

freedom and belief in one supreme God. The 

Government recognizes Islam, Christianity, 

Buddhism, and Hinduism, and permits 

practice of the mystical, traditional beliefs 

of “Aliran Kepercayaan.” Although the 

population is overwhelmingly Muslim, the 

practice and teachings of the other recognized 

faiths are respected. Various restrictions 

on certain types of religious activity 

exist. According to official statistics, 

nearly 400 “misleading religious cults” are 

banned, including Jehovah’s Witnesses and 

Baha’i. Because the first tenet of Pancasila 

is belief in a supreme being, atheism is 

forbidden. The legal requirement to adhere 

to Pancasila extends to all religious and 

secular organizations. The Government 

strongly opposes Muslim groups which advocate 

establishing an Islamic state or acknowledging 

only Islamic law, both of 

which are outlawed. 

There is no legal bar to conversion between 

faiths, and conversions occur. 

However, proselytizing between the recognized 

religions or in areas heavily dominated 

by one recognized religion or another is 

considered potentially disruptive and is 

discouraged. Foreign missionary activities 

are relatively unimpeded. In recent years, 

some foreign missionaries have had difficulty 

renewing visas or residence permits - a 

few on unspecified “security grounds.” 

Laws and decrees from the 1970’s do not 

allow foreign missionaries to spend more 

than 10 consecutive years in Indonesia, with 

some extensions granted in remote areas like 

Irian Jaya. Enforcement of this policy does 

not discriminate by sect or nationality. 

Foreign missionary work is subject to the 

funding stipulations of the ORMAS Law 

(see Section 2.b.). 

Indonesians practicing the recognized 

religions maintain active links with coreligionists 

inside and outside Indonesia and 

travel abroad for religious gatherings. 

The Government organizes the annual 

hajj pilgrimage, and more than 100,000 

Indonesians made it in 1992. 

d. Freedom of Movement Within the 

Country, Foreign Travel, Emigration, 

and Repatriation 

Restrictions on freedom of movement 

exist. The Government maintains an unpublished 

blacklist of Indonesians who are 

forbidden to leave the country, including 

various prominent human rights monitors, 

and foreigners who are forbidden to enter,


especially certain foreign journalists. (The 

Government announced in early January 

1993 that the number of persons currently 

affected by the travel ban was 8,897.) 

Reportedly 14 journalists were removed 

from the list in July, but their names were 

not made public. The DPR passed new 

legislation in 1992 affecting the travel ban 

which elevated it to the status of law and 

required the Government to notify people 

when they have been added to the list. 

Previously, people discovered their status 

only when they tried to enter or leave. As a 

result of the new legislation, the 

Government also eliminated the requirement 

of obtaining an exit permit. But the new 

legislation added a provision that will allow 

the Government to ban Indonesian citizens 

whose return would pose problems for 

national security. This provision was 

opposed by human rights groups and certain 

legislators but strongly supported by the 

DPR’s military faction. 

Restrictions exist on movement by 

Indonesian and foreign citizens to and 

within parts of Indonesia. Permits to seek 

work in a new location are required in certain 

areas, primarily to control further 

population movement to crowded cities. 

Special permits are required to visit certain 

parts of Irian Jaya. Security checks affecting 

transportation and travel to and within East 

Timor occurred sporadically in 1992, and 

curfews in connection with military operations 

were occasionally imposed. Former 

political detainees, including those associated 

with the abortive 1965 coup, must notify 

authorities of their movements and may 

not change their place of residence without 

official permission. 

Indonesia continued its generous attitude 

regarding Indochinese asylum seekers in 

1992. It has granted first asylum to over 

123,000 Indochinese asylum seekers since 

1975 and continued to operate a refugee 

facility on Galang Island. Cambodian asylum 

seekers, whom the Government considers 

illegal immigrants, have been allowed 

to remain in Indonesia pending repatriation. 

Indonesia also continued its cooperation 

with the U.N. High Commissioner for 

Refugees (UNHCR) and the ICRC on the 

return of residents of Irian Jaya who had 

fled to Papua New Guinea during separatist 

violence in the eastern portion of the 

province. A new wave of several hundred 

Irianese fled to Papua New Guinea in 1992 

following border clashes between OPM insurgents 

and security forces, bringing the 

total of Irianese in Papua New Guinea’s 

East Awin refugee camp to approximately 

3,700. More than 100 Acehnese who fled to 

Malaysia during the height of separatist 

violence in 1990-1991 returned to Aceh. 

Others continued to seek asylum in 

Malaysia, including a group of 43 who entered 

the UNHCR compound in Kuala 

Lumpur in June claiming their lives would 

be threatened if they returned to Indonesia. 

SECTION 3. RESPECT FOR 

POLITICAL RIGHTS: THE RIGHT OF 

CITIZENS TO CHANGE THEIR 

GOVERNMENT 

Whatever their theoretical rights under 

the Constitution, citizens do not in fact have 

the ability to change the Government 

through democratic means. President 

Suharto and a small group of active-duty 

and retired military officers and civilian 

officials exercise governmental authority. 

The military, under a “dual function” doctrine, 

is assigned a role in both security and 

sociopolitical affairs. Members of the 

military are allotted 20 percent of the seats 

in national, provincial, and district parliaments, 

and occupy numerous key positions 

in the administration. The other 80 percent 

of national and local parliamentary seats are 

filled through elections held every 5 years. 

All adult citizens are eligible to vote, 

except active-duty members of the armed 

forces, convicted criminals serving prison 

sentences, and some 36,000 former PKI 

members. Voters may choose by secret 

ballot between the three government-approved 

political organizations, which field 

candidate lists in each electoral district. 

Those lists must be screened by 

BAKORSTANAS (see Section 1.d.), which 

determines whether candidates were involved 

in the abortive 1965 Communist 

coup or pose other broadly defined security 

risks. Critics charge these screenings are 

unconstitutional, since there is no way to 

appeal the results, and note that they can be 

used to eliminate government critics from 

Parliament. Strict rules establish the length 

of the political campaign, access to electronic 

media, schedules for public appearances, 

and the political symbols that can be 

used. 

GOLKAR, a government-sponsored organization 

of diverse functional groups, won 

68 percent of the seats in the June 9 

elections. Two small political parties, the 

United Development Party and the 

Indonesian Democratic Party (PDI), split 

the remaining vote. By law all three political 

organizations must embrace Pancasila. They 

are not considered opposition parties and 

seldom espouse policies much different 

from those of the Government, although the 

PDI raised several controversial issues 

during the 1992 campaign. The leaders of all 

these organizations are approved, if not 

chosen, by the Government, and their activities 

are closely scrutinized and often 

guided by government authorities. 

GOLKAR maintains close institutional links 

with the armed forces and KORPRI, the 

nonunion association to which all civil 

servants automatically belong. Civil servants 

may join any of the political parties with 

official permission, but most are members of 

GOLKAR. Former members of the PKI and 

some other banned parties may not run for 

office or be active politically. Although 

numerous irregularities were reported during 

the June polling, most observers believed 

they were not widespread or systematic. 

The Government initiated criminal 

proceedings against some of those accused 

of campaign violations. 

The 500 members of the national DPR– 

100 appointed military and 400 elected - 

consider bills presented to them by 

government departments and agencies but 

do not draft laws on their own, although 

they have the constitutional right to do so. 

The DPR makes technical and occasionally 

substantive alterations to bills it reviews. It 

remains clearly subordinate to the executive 

branch. The People’s Consultative 

Assembly (MPR), made up of the 500 DPR 

members and 500 other members appointed 

by the Government and political organizations, 

meets every 5 years to devise the 

broad outlines of state policy and to elect 

the President and Vice President. A new 

MPR, which began meeting on October 1, 

will hold Presidential elections in March 

1993. Under the Constitution, the President 

is subordinate and responsible to the MPR. 

In practice, President Suharto and the 

military dominate the political system, and 

the MPR’s selection of President Suharto to 

repeated terms has been pro forma. 

SECTION 4. GOVERNMENTAL 

ATTITUDE REGARDING 

INTERNATIONAL AND 

NONGOVERNMENTAL 

INVESTIGATION OF ALLEGED 

VIOLATIONS OF HUMAN RIGHTS 

The Government generally ignores calls 

by domestic human rights groups and activists 

for investigations of alleged human 

rights incidents, with the notable exception 

of the various investigations ordered by 

President Suharto into the November 12, 

1991, shooting incident in East Timor (see 

Section 1.a.). While various domestic organizations 

and persons interested in human 

rights operate energetically, the Government 

discourages public human rights activities. 

Some human rights monitors face 

government harassment such as frequent 

visits by police or agents from military 

intelligence, interrogations at police stations, 

cancellations of private meetings (see 

Section 2.b.), or restrictions on foreign travel 

(see Section 2.d.). The Government


considers outside investigations of alleged 

human rights violations to be interference in 

its internal affairs. It expanded on this 

concept in 1992, emphasizing its belief that 

linking foreign assistance to human rights 

observance was unacceptable. This belief 

was part of its March decision to reject 

Dutch foreign assistance, a decision which 

also led to the cutoff of funds from Dutch 

nongovernmental organizations (NGOs) that 

receive Dutch government money. Several 

Indonesian human rights organizations 

received funding from the affected Dutch 

NGOs. The Government continued to ban 

the entry of high-profile human rights 

groups such as Amnesty International and 

refused in April a request by two U.S. 

Senators to visit East Timor. 

Nonetheless, the ICRC continued to operate 

in East Timor, Irian Java, and Aceh, 

and to visit prisoners convicted of participation 

in the abortive, Communist-backed 

coup in 1965 as well as convicted Muslim 

extremists. A special envoy of the U.N. 

Secretary General, Amos Wako, was allowed 

to visit Jakarta and East Timor in 

February. Indonesia also accepted a chairman’s 

statement on East Timor during the 

1992 session of the U.N. Human Rights 

Commission. That statement noted serious 

concerns with the human rights situation in 

East Timor, strongly deplored the 

November 12, 1991, shooting incident, and 

welcomed government actions to cope with 

it. It also called on the Government to facilitate 

access to East Timor by humanitarian 

and human rights organizations. Finally, 

it looked forward to a report from the 

Government on progress in implementing 

recommendations from the U.N. Special 

Rapporteur on Torture based on his 1991 

trip to Indonesia. (See Section 1.c.) Thus far 

the Government has neither responded to 

the recommendations nor eased access to 

East Timor. In 1992 the ICRC also 

experienced increasing difficulty gaining 

access to East Timorese prisoners under 

conditions defined in its operating agreement 

with the Government. The ICRC highlighted 

these difficulties after the arrest November 

20 of Fretilin leader José “Xanana” Gusmão, 

to whom the ICRC finally gained access on 

December 7. The ICRC continued to press 

for access to other Timorese arrested since 

November 1. 

SECTION 5. DISCRIMINATION 

BASED ON RACE, SEX, RELIGION, 

LANGUAGE, OR SOCIAL STATUS 

Indonesians exhibit considerable tolerance 

for ethnic, racial, and major religious 

differences, with the important exception of 

official and informal discrimination against 

ethnic Chinese. Since 1959 noncitizen ethnic 

Chinese have been denied the right to run 

businesses in rural Indonesia. Regulations 

prohibit the operation of all-Chinese schools 

for ethnic Chinese citizens, formation of 

exclusively Chinese cultural groups or trade 

associations, and public display of Chinese 

characters. Chinese-language publications, 

with the exception of one officially 

sanctioned daily newspaper, may neither be 

imported nor produced domestically. 

Jakarta city officials burned thousands of 

cassettes, compact discs, and books in 

Mandarin Chinese in March. Private 

instruction in Chinese is discouraged but 

takes place to a limited extent. No laws 

prohibit speaking Chinese, but the 

Government lays heavy stress on the 

learning and use of the national language, 

Bahasa Indonesia. 

Many people of Chinese ancestry have 

nonetheless been successful in business and 

the professions, and the enforcement of restrictions 

is often haphazard. Some ethnic 

Chinese have enjoyed particular government 

favor. Social and religious groups exist 

which are, in effect, all-Chinese and not 

proscribed. 

Under the law, and as President Suharto 

and other officials periodically affirm, 

women are equal to and have the same 

rights, obligations, and opportunities as 

men. Some Indonesian women enjoy a high 

degree of economic and social freedom and 

occupy important mid-level positions in the 

civil service, educational institutions, labor 

organizations, the military, the professions, 

and private business. Although women 

constitute one-quarter of the civil service, 

they occupy only a small fraction of the 

service’s top posts. Women make up about 

40 percent of the overall work force, with 

the majority in the rural sector. Despite legal 

guarantees of equal treatment, women 

seldom receive equal pay for equal work and 

disproportionately experience illiteracy, 

poor health, and nutrition. Traditional 

attitudes which limit women’s aspirations, 

activities, and status undercut state policy 

in some areas. Several voluntary, private 

groups work actively to advance women’s 

legal, economic, social, and political rights 

and claim some success in gaining official 

cognizance of their concerns. 

In 1992 there were increasing reports of 

violence against women, including rape and 

other violence against female domestic servants. 

Human rights and women’s rights 

groups believed that the police, prosecutors, 

and courts were slow to react in many cases, 

and many women who were the victims of 

sexual crimes were reluctant to report them 

to police. This lack of confidence in the 

willingness or ability of authorities to take 

effective action to combat crime is not 

limited to violence against women but is 

part of the overall low esteem in which the 

criminal justice system is held. The 

Government has acknowledged the problem 

of domestic violence in Indonesian society, 

which some say has been aggravated by 

recent social changes brought about by rapid 

urbanization. The Government provides 

some counseling, and several private 

organizations exist to assist women. 

Nonetheless, most observers agree the 

problem of violence against women remains 

poorly documented. 

SECTION 6. WORKER RIGHTS 

a. The Right of Association 

Private sector workers, including those in 

export processing zones, are free to form or 

join unions without prior authorization. 

However, in order to bargain on behalf of 

employees or to represent workers in the 

Department of Manpower’s labor courts, a 

union must register as a mass organization 

with the Department of Home Affairs under 

the ORMAS Law (see Section 2.b.) and 

meet the requirements for recognition by the 

Department of Manpower: union offices in 

at least 20 of the country’s 27 provinces, 

branch offices in at least 100 districts, and 

1,000 plant level units. 

While there are no formal constraints on 

the establishment of unions, the recognition 

requirements are a high legal barrier to 

recognition and the right to engage in collective 

bargaining. In de facto terms, there is 

a single union system, and it is the 

Government’s stated policy to seek to improve 

the effectiveness of the one recognized 

union rather than ease the process for 

the formation of alternative organizations. 

The one union recognized by the 

Department of Manpower is the All 

Indonesia Workers Union (Serikat Pekerja 

Seluruh Indonesia, SPSI). Two other labor 

groups, Setia Kawan (Solidarity), also 

known as Serikat Buruh Merdeka (SMB, 

Free Trade Union), and Serikat Buruh 

Sejahtera Indonesia (SBSI, Indonesian 

Workers Welfare Union), are attempting to 

satisfy the Department of Manpower requirements. 

In existence for 2 years, Setia 

Kawan is essentially moribund while the 

SBSI, created in 1992, continues to attempt 

to form the necessary branches prior to applying 

for recognition. 

The SPSI has 9,071 units out of roughly 

26,000 organizable work sites. It has a 

membership of about 1 million dues-paying 

members, about 1.4 percent of the total 

work force. However, if agricultural workers 

and others in categories such as selfemployed 

and family workers who are not 

normally union members are excluded, the 

percentage of union members rises to approximately 

6 percent.


Minister of Manpower Decision 

1109/men/1986, which defines the procedures 

for establishing an SPSI factory unit, 

enjoins workers to consult with the employer 

during the process of setting up an 

SPSI branch. In practice this often means 

obtaining the employer’s consent for the 

establishment of a unit. There are numerous 

reports that employers will agree to the 

organization of SPSI units only if they are 

allowed to select the units’ officials. 

Employers justify this action under the 

terms of Ministerial Decision 1109 which 

also specifies the requirements for union 

officials which include “high educational 

background” and possession of “certain 

qualities: reliable, highly disciplined....” 

Employers argue that they are in the best 

position to know which employees possess 

these characteristics. 

Civil servants are not permitted to join 

unions and must belong to KORPRI, a nonunion 

association whose Central 

Development Council is chaired by the 

Minister of Home Affairs. Teachers must 

belong to the Teachers’ Association (PGRI). 

While technically classed as a union (its 

status was changed from an association 

similar to KORPRI in April 1990), PGRI 

has continued to function more as a welfare 

organization and does not appear to have 

engaged in trade union activities. State 

enterprise employees, defined to include 

those enterprises in which the state has a 5- 

percent holding or greater, usually are 

required to join KORPRI, but there are 

some state enterprises which have SPSI 

units. 

Unions may draw up their own constitutions 

and rules and elect their representatives. 

However, the Government has a great 

deal of influence over the SPSI, the head of 

the SPSI is a senior member of GOLKAR, 

two senior SPSI officials are Members of 

Parliament representing GOLKAR, and the 

Minister of Manpower is a member of the 

SPSI’s Consultative Council. According to 

credible reports, the Government interferes 

in the selection of SPSI officers, especially 

the placing of retired military officers in 

mid-level SPSI positions. 

Under the Criminal Code, police approval 

is needed for all meetings outside 

offices or normal work sites. This provision 

also applies to union meetings. Permission 

is routinely given to the SPSI. In October 

police and the military halted an SBSI 

meeting, for which a permit had not been 

requested, and briefly detained its organizers 

for questioning. A union may be dissolved if 

the Government believes it is acting against 

Pancasila, but there are no laws or 

regulations specifying the procedures for 

union dissolution. There have been no actual 

cases of dissolution. 

The SPSI maintains international contacts, 

but is not affiliated with any international 

trade union organizations except the 

Association of Southeast Asian Nations 

(ASEAN) Trade Union Council. Some elements 

of the SPSI, such as the seafarers, 

maintain links with international trade union 

secretariats. The SPSI has an application for 

membership with the International 

Confederation of Free Trade Unions pending. 

While Pancasila principles call for labormanagement 

differences to be settled by 

consensus, all organized workers, with the 

exception of civil servants, have the right to 

strike. In practice, state enterprise 

employees and teachers rarely exercise this 

right. Before a strike can occur in the private 

sector, the law requires intensive mediation 

by the Department of Manpower and prior 

notice of the intent to strike. However, no 

approval is required. 

In practice, dispute settlement procedures 

are not followed fully, and formal 

notice of the intent to strike is rarely given. 

The Department of Manpower procedures 

are time consuming and decisions are handed 

down usually only after a prolonged period 

has elapsed. These processes have little 

credibility with workers and are mostly 

ignored. Strikes, therefore, tend to be 

sudden, the result of longstanding grievances 

or recognition that legally mandated benefits 

or rights are not being given. While strike 

leaders are not arrested for illegal strikes, 

they often lose their jobs. The number of 

strikes has continued to increase over the 

last several years, some of them in support 

of fired union officials but most of them 

over failure of companies to pay legally 

mandated minimum wages. In 1991 there 

were 112 “illegal” strikes officially recorded 

by the Department of Manpower, although 

the actual number most likely was larger. 

When the figures for 1992 are tallied, it is 

probable they will show another increase. 

b. The Right to Organize and Bargain 

Collectively 

Collective bargaining is provided for by 

law, but only recognized trade unions may 

engage in it. The Department of Manpower 

promotes collective bargaining as an instrument 

of industrial relations in the context 

of the national ideology of Pancasila. 

The majority of the collective bargaining 

agreements between the SPSI and employers 

are negotiated bilaterally. 

Once notified that 25 employees have 

joined a registered union, an employer is 

obligated to bargain with them. As a transitional 

stage to encourage collective bargaining, 

regulations require that every 

company with 25 or more employees issue 

company regulations defining the terms and 

conditions of employment. Before a company 

can register or renew its company 

regulations it must demonstrate that it consulted 

with the union or in its absence a 

committee consisting of employer and employee 

representatives. 

Only about half of the SPSI units have 

collective bargaining agreements. The degree 

to which these agreements are freely 

negotiated between unions and management 

without government interference varies. By 

regulation negotiations are to be concluded 

within 30 days. If not, the matter is 

submitted to the Department of Manpower 

for mediation and conciliation or arbitration. 

Most negotiations are concluded within the 

30-day period. Agreements are for 2 years 

and can be extended for 1 more year. 

Regulations expressly forbid employers 

from discriminating or harassing employees 

because of union membership. There are 

credible reports from union officials, however, 

of employer retribution against union 

organizers, and the SPSI claims that some 

employers discriminate against its members 

and workers who desire to form SPSI units. 

Charges of antiunion discrimination are 

adjudicated by administrative tribunals. 

However, many union members believe the 

tribunals generally side with employers. 

Because of this perceived partiality, many 

workers reject or avoid the process and present 

their grievances directly to Parliament 

and other agencies. Administrative decisions 

in favor of fired workers tend to be 

monetary awards; workers are rarely reinstated. 

Workers can organize without restriction 

in a private enterprise, even if it is designated 

vital by the Government. If the State 

has a partial interest, the enterprise is considered 

to be in the public service domain, 

but this does not always legally limit organizing. 

There are a number of government/private 

joint ventures which have SPSI 

units and which bargain collectively. 

The military or police have been involved 

in a number of labor disputes. Workers have 

charged that members of the security forces 

have attempted to intimidate union 

organizers and have beaten strike leaders. 

Police and military in a number of instances 

have been present in significant numbers 

during strikes, even when there has been no 

destruction of property or violence. 

Military officials occasionally have been 

reported present during negotiations 

between workers and management. Their 

presence has been described as intimidating 

by plant level union officials. 

Labor law applies equally in export 

processing zones.


c. Prohibition of Forced or Compulsory 

Labor 

Forced labor is strictly forbidden and enforcement 

is generally adequate. There were, 

however, credible reports in 1990 of forced 

labor by logging companies among the 

Asmat tribe in Irian Jaya. There have been 

documented reports of girls being sold as 

domestic servants or to brothels, and of men 

being sold as agricultural workers. The 

Government has thus far failed to follow 

through on its promise of an investigation 

into these reports. 

d. Minimum Age for Employment of 

Children 

Child labor continues to be a serious 

problem in industrial areas. The 

Government acknowledges that there is a 

class of children who must work for socioeconomic 

reasons, and in 1987 the Minister 

of Manpower issued Regulation PER- 

OL/Men/1987 “On Protection of Children 

Forced to Work” to regulate this situation. 

This regulation legalizes the employment of 

children under the age of 14 who must work 

to contribute to the income of their families. 

It requires parental consent, prohibits 

dangerous or difficult work, limits hours to 

4 hours daily, and requires employers to 

report the number of children working under 

its provisions. It does not set a minimum 

age for children in this category, effectively 

superseding the government Ordinance of 

December 17, 1925, on Measures Limiting 

Child Labour and Nightwork of Women, 

which is still the current law governing child 

labor. It sets a a minimum age of 12 for 

employment. However, the 1987 regulation 

is not enforced; no employers have been 

taken to court for violating it, and no reports 

are collected from establishments employing 

children. Act No. 1 of 1951 was intended to 

bring into force certain labor measures, including 

provisions on child labor which 

would replace those of the 1925 legislation. 

However, implementing regulations for the 

child labor provisions have never been issued. 

Thus the child labor provisions in the 

1951 Act have no validity. 

e. Acceptable Conditions of Work 

In the absence of a national minimum 

wage, area wage councils working under the 

supervision of the National Wage Council 

establish minimum wages for regions. This 

is a quadripartite body consisting of 

representatives from labor, management, 

government, and universities. It also 

establishes a basic-needs figure for each 

province - a monetary amount considered 

sufficient to enable a single worker or family 

to meet the basic needs of nutrition, 

clothing, and shelter. The minimum wage 

rates constantly lag behind the basic needs 

figures and fall short of providing a decent 

standard of living. Labor law and ministerial 

regulations provide workers with a variety 

of other benefits, such as social security, 

and workers in more modern facilities often 

receive health benefits and free meals. 

The law establishes 7-hour workdays and 

40-hour workweeks, with one 30-minute 

rest period for each 4 hours of work. The 

daily overtime rate is 1 1/2 times the normal 

hourly rate for the first hour, and twice the 

hourly rate for additional overtime. 

Regulations allow employers to deviate 

from the normal work hours upon request to 

the Minister of Manpower with the 

agreement of the employee. 

Observance of minimum wage and other 

laws regulating benefits and labor standards 

varies from sector to sector and region to 

region. Employer violations of legal 

requirements are fairly common and often 

result in strikes and employee protests. The 

Minister of Manpower has publicly urged 

employers to comply with the law and 

sternly warned one group of foreign investors 

in the sports shoe industry about 

compliance with minimum wage regulations 

and their culturally insensitive industrial 

relations practices. However, in general, 

government enforcement and supervision of 

labor standards is weak. 

Both law and regulations provide for 

minimum standards of industrial health and 

safety. In the largely Western-operated oil 

sector, safety and health programs function 

reasonably well. In the country’s 100,000 

larger, registered companies in the nonoil 

sector, the quality of occupational health 

and safety programs varies greatly. The enforcement 

of health and safety standards is 

severely hampered by the limited number of 

qualified Department of Manpower inspectors 

as well as the lack of employee 

appreciation for sound health and safety 

practices. Allegations of corruption on the 

part of inspectors are not uncommon. 

Workers are obligated to report hazardous 

working conditions, and while employers 

are prevented by law from retaliating against 

those who do, such retaliation does occur, 

since the law is not effectively enforced. 

COMMENTS ON STATE 

DEPARTMENT REPORT: 

From: Dave Kohr 

Seems to me that, with regard to the 

situation in East Timor, this report is a 

major whitewash. I don’t see any mention 

of the violation of the “right to self-determination” 

anywhere, which is after all the 

fundamental issue at stake in East Timor. 

Note that the U.N. does not recognize the 

Indonesian “annexation” (read: illegal invasion); 

certainly this should be mentioned 

somewhere in this report, as should be the 

(verifiable) extent of the Indonesian massacres 

against the East Timorese over the period 

of occupation (i.e., since 1975). 

From Bruno Kahn: 

Dave Kohr has a good point. The US 

stated position has been ambiguous ever 

since the invasion. “Even though we are not 

satisfied with some aspects of the incorporation 

of ET into Indonesia, we have accepted 

it de facto.” I quote from memory. 

At Congressional hearings or meetings with 

the press, the State Dept. has consistently 

been embarrassed to explain the coherence 

of its position “It has been carefully 

worded, I’m sorry, I would hate to misquote 

it. I’ll have to look it up.” This was more or 

less a reply of Richard Boucher to a journalist 

a few weeks after the Santa Cruz 

massacre. 

Would the Clinton administration be an 

opportunity to press the State Department 

to clarify the US’s official opposition on 

East Timor? Note that all Western- 

European countries, most Eastern-European 

countries and Japan officially do not recognise 

the Indonesian annexation. Could the 

current US position be challenged on legal 

grounds, for example in the framework of 

the US administrative law? 

TIME TO END AN ATROCITY 

Op-ed column in the Boston Globe, 

Saturday, February 20, 1993. By Arnold S. 

Kohen, unabridged 

As the Clinton administration gears up to 

review the foreign policies it has inherited, it 

should be prepared to end a legacy from 

Henry Kissinger that has caused terrible 

suffering over the past 17 years: the illegal 

Indonesian occupation of the former 

Portuguese colony of East Timor. During 

the presidential campaign, Clinton indicated 

the need for change in this area. Now is the 

time to follow through. 

Indonesia invaded East Timor, which had 

been abandoned by Portugal, in 1975, only 

hours after President Ford and Secretary of 

State Henry Kissinger left Jakarta, the 

Indonesian capital. The available evidence 

leaves no doubt that Kissinger and Ford 

gave American approval for the invasion. 

By late 1976, allegations of large-scale 

Indonesian military atrocities in East Timor 

surfaced, with reports that 60,000 to 

100,000 people had perished. (In 1980, 

some reports put the figure at more than 

200,000, or one third the population.) 

Congressional hearings were held, but Carter 

administration officials refused to change 

American policy. 

In late 1979, horrific photographs of 

starving people in East Timor briefly gained


attention in the world press. The weight of 

evidence made it clear that the East 

Timorese had reached this appalling state as 

a result of a deliberate Indonesian military 

campaign. At least some Carter 

administration officials belatedly realized 

that the United States should have pressured 

Indonesia to abide by UN resolutions 

and cease its massive violations of human 

rights. 

Aside from occasional gestures on human 

rights issues, there was little fundamental 

change in the Timor policy under presidents 

Reagan and Bush; the original Kissinger 

policy was reiterated time and again. 

After the Iraqi invasion of Kuwait, a 

growing youth movement in East Timor 

took steps to bring the issue to international 

notice. The Timorese youth continue to ask 

how the international community can call 

Iraq to account but not Indonesia. 

When an official from the UN Human 

Rights Commission came to East Timor in 

November 1991, thousands of young people 

marched to Santa Cruz Cemetery to commemorate 

the killing of an 18-year-old activist. 

Without warning, and within view of 

a British TV cameraman, Indonesian troops 

opened fire on the unarmed marchers, killing 

and wounding hundreds. Two American 

journalists who also witnessed the massacre 

were badly beaten. While the Bush 

administration protested the massacre, its 

response was muted. On the other hand, 

candidate Bill Clinton told an interviewer in 

April that the United States had ignored 

East Timor in an “unconscionable” manner 

and there would be changes if he were 

elected. 

In the months since then, things have 

scarcely improved. In November 1992, the 

Indonesians captured the head of the 

Timorese resistance, Xanana Gusmão, and 

by many accounts have launched a steppedup 

campaign of torture. 

Citing East Timor as the reason, 

Congress cut off American military training 

for the Indonesian armed forces in October 

1992. Now the Indonesian government is 

said to be worried that the Clinton administration 

will reverse the longstanding US 

stance of support for its occupation of East 

Timor. Indeed, there are indications that the 

Clinton administration may review US 

policy. 

The new assistant secretary of state for 

East Asia, Winston Lord, is an old protégé 

of Kissinger who had serious disagreements 

with his mentor over issues of democracy 

and human rights in China. He should 

jettison the terrible legacy of Kissinger 

policy on Timor as well. 

Arnold S. Kohen, who has worked for NBC 

News, is at work on a book on East Timor 

and US foreign policy. 

EAST TIMORESE WANT 

THEIR CONQUERORS OUT 

The New York Times. Letters to the Editor, 

Sunday, March 7, 1993 

To the Editor: 

Your informative survey of ethnic 

struggles around the world mischaracterizes 

relations between Indonesia and East Timor 

(front page, Feb. 7). The independence 

movement in East Timor is simply not a 

“separatist movement.” Nor is it just another 

group clamoring for a place in the 

limelight. Some clear international legal 

rights are involved here. 

Following the purported annexation of 

the territory by Indonesia, the United 

Nations General Assembly adopted resolution 

31/53 of Dec. 1, 1976. Paragraph 1 reaffirms 

the inalienable right of the people of 

East Timor to self-determination and independence 

and the legitimacy of their 

struggle to achieve that right.” 

Paragraph 5 “Rejects the claim that East 

Timor has been integrated into Indonesia, 

inasmuch as the people of the territory have 

not been able to exercise their right to selfdetermination 

and independence.” 

It is true that the Timorese regard themselves 

as ethnically and culturally distinct 

from the Indonesians, but they make that 

claim not as separatists trying to tear apart 

an existing country but as a people who 

have been recently – and quite illegally – 

conquered. 

Roger S. Clark 

Distinguished Professor of Law 

Rutgers University, Camden, NJ 

Feb. 24,1993 

ACTION ALERT: THE LAST 

CHANCE FOR THE HOUSE 

HUNGER COMMITTEE ! 

From ETAN/US March 9, 1993 

East Timor supporters in the US – 

As you know, the Hunger Committee, 

chaired by Tony Hall, has been the leading 

voice for East Timor on Capitol Hill for a 

decade or more. There continued existence is 

in serious jeopardy. Please call TODAY!! 

The Speaker has finally indicated that the 

House will consider a separate resolution on 

the Select Committee on Hunger, probably 

next week. The single vote on the Hunger 

Committee must take place by March 31, or 

the Hunger Committee will expire forever. 

A recent whip check of Democrats by 

the House leadership shows an uphill, but 

not impossible, battle. There is no time to 

write - what is critical now is that as many 

people as possible telephone 

Representatives. Please telephone members 

from your state to request their vote for the 

Hunger Committee. Now, more than ever 

before, the Hunger Committee needs you to 

take a few minutes to telephone. 

You know what to say – hunger remains 

a terrible problem; the Hunger Committee 

leads on critical, life saving initiatives; and 

the Hunger Committee is the least expensive 

committee on Capitol Hill. One last and 

important point to make is that you don’t 

appreciate the fact that other committees are 

apparently lining up it take the little money 

allocated to the Hunger Committee. 

Please use the Capitol switchboard to call 

your members – the burst of interest may be 

noted by House Leadership. The Capitol 

switchboard number is: 202-225-3121, or 

you can fax through PeaceNet’s Interact 

database. 

STARVING THE HUNGER 

COMMITTEE 

Editorial, The Boston Globe Tuesday, 


It seems that every time one might feel 

inclined to defend Congress some members 

do something to prove their proclivity for 

marrying folly to duplicity. 

A flagrant example is the current campaign 

to eradicate the Select Committee on 

Hunger and three other select committees. 

The House may decide the fate of these 

committees early next week. 

Pretending to heed the call to clean up the 

mess in Washington, a number of ersatz 

reformers have hit on the cheap and easy 

ploy of saving a symbolic sum of money by 

seeming to streamline the committee system. 

This stratagem is easy politically because 

the select committees are not supported by 

powerful special interests such as the oil 

business or the aerospace industry. The 

constituents of the Select Committee on 

Hunger are the 5 million American children 

who go hungry every night, the 50,000 

young mothers who were restored to the 

food supplement program known as WIC 

because of the committee’s efforts, the 

starving Somalis whose plight the committee 

foresaw. 

The congressional folly is to scuttle in 

the name of reform a committee that serves 

real needs. The duplicity is revealed in an 

accounting trick: The funds saved by terminating 

the select committee will enable 

powerful chairmen of such standing com-


mittees as Energy and Commerce to maintain 

or even increase their budgets. 

The Senate rejected a similar scheme. Its 

select committees were preserved, and all 

Senate committees accepted an across-theboard 

budget cut. House leaders are 

preparing to wipe out their select panels and 

institute a “flexible freeze.” This means the 

leaders could freeze the overall amount for 

committees while deciding which 

committees would get more, which would 

get less and which would stay the same. 

Hungry chairmen would devour funds that 

had been spent on hunger. 

SPEAKING TOUR: EAST 

TIMOR – A NEW 

GENERATION OF 

RESISTANCE 

This is one event in a ten-state, two-country, 

five-week speaking tour of five young East 

Timorese activists sponsored by ETAN/US, 

ETAN/Canada, the East Timor Talks 

Campaign (Australia) and the Timorese 

Association of Victoria. It is reprinted here 

as an example. 

Tuesday, April 13, 1993 

Goddard Riverside Community Center 

593 Columbus Ave. (at 88th St.) 7 - 9:30 

pm $5, $8, $10 (sliding scale) 

Too young to remember the brutal invasion 

of their country 17 years ago, the 

youth of East Timor continue to resist 

Indonesia’s occupation of their country. 

Young Timorese – many now living in exile 

– sustain the struggle for self-determination. 

This spring, five Timorese activists will 

bring their case to U.S. and the United 

Nations. Some left East Timor shortly after 

the invasion, others escaped only recently. 

Speakers 

• Constâncio Pinto, 30, was a leader of the 

November 12, 1991 peaceful demonstration 

that ended with Indonesian 

troops massacring over 271 people. He 

was Executive Secretary of the underground 

National Council of Maubere 

Resistance (the coalition of most 

Timorese nationalist groups) in East 

Timor from 1989-92. Over the years, he 

was arrested several times and tortured. 

He escaped East Timor in May 1992, 

after being intensively hunted by the 

Indonesians for seven months. 

• Abé Barreto Soares, age 27, official representative 

of the National Council of 

Maubere Resistance to North America, 

went exile in 1991 and now lives in 

Toronto. 

• Elizabeth Exposto, age 18, and Danilo 

Henriques, age 21, students now living in 

Australia who fled East Timor in 1975. 

• Maria Teresa Fernandes, age 24, is a 

graduate student and activist who left 

East Timor in 1975 now lives in Portugal. 

• Amy Goodman of WBAI/Pacifica Radio 

and Allan Nairn of the New Yorker 

magazine – U.S. journalists beaten during 

the November 12 massacre – will also 

participate. 

Sponsored by The Learning Alliance and the 

East Timor Action Network For more 

information call: (718)788-6071; (914)428- 

7299 ETAN, PO Box 1182, White Plains, 

NY 10602 

MANUFACTURING DISSENT 

The following is excerpted from a leaflet 

being distributed at showings of 

Manufacturing Consent: Noam Chomsky 

and the Media in New York and elsewhere. 

The people of East Timor have suffered 

one of the worst catastrophes of this terrible 

century, since the Indonesian invasion of 

1975. The East Timor Action Network has 

succeeded in bringing this awful tragedy to 

the awareness of the public and Congress. 

Its work has made it possible to hope that 

the people of East Timor may at last enjoy 

the right of self-determination for which they 

have struggled with such courage and 

dedication. 

– Noam Chomsky 

In 1975, Indonesia invaded East Timor 

with the weapons and blessing of the United 

States. Over 200,000 people, nearly onethird 

of the population died as result of the 

invasion and occupation of the half-island 

north of Australia. Throughout the years of 

repression, the people of East Timor have 

shown an extraordinary determination to 

resist. World attention focused on East 

Timor after years of being ignored by the 

media when Indonesian soldiers opened fire 

on a nonviolent demonstration on November 

12, 1991 – killing over 271 people. This 

massacre was different only because it was 

witnessed by Western journalists, including 

Amy Goodman of WBAI/Pacifica Radio and 

Allan Nairn of the New Yorker Magazine. 

Last year, a public outcry prompted the 

U.S. Congress to terminate military training 

assistance to Indonesia. 

The East Timor Action Network 

(ETAN) is working for the right of the East 

Timorese to determine their own future. 

Since the United States has been one of 

Indonesia’s largest weapons supplier, 

ETAN is working to mobilize popular sentiment 

and pressure on our government to 

support Timorese self-determination. 

ETAN seeks to protect the human rights of 

the Timorese and calls for an end to U.S. 

and international military and economic aid 

to Indonesia. 

The East Timor Action Network is a decentralized, 

grassroots, national coalition 

with local chapters throughout the U.S. 

ETAN organizes public forums, lobbies 

Congress and provides videos, books, information, 

and speakers. 

Now is the time for effective public 

pressure in support Timorese independence 

to end the genocide there. Join us! 

(tear-off coupon and order form) 

TIMOR’S UNTELEVISED 

TERROR 

As the World Looks Elsewhere, A Small 

Island Suffers a Hideous War 

The Washington Post Outlook 

(Commentary) Section 

Sunday, March 14, 1993 Page 2. By Sven 

Bergman 

DILI, EAST TIMOR - “Can you take 

this to the outside world?” 

A nervous Catholic priest held a bunch of 

papers in his hands, lists with names of 

people in his parish who had disappeared or 

were imprisoned, tortured or killed in recent 

months in East Timor. 

East Timor is half of an island in the 

Indonesian archipelago 400 miles north of 

Australia. In the last 17 years, as many as 

200,000 people - a third of East Timor’s 

population - have been killed by the occupying 

forces of the Indonesian government. 

Yet unlike the suffering and cruelty in, say, 

the former Yugoslavia, the victims and 

survivors here have only just begun to 

capture the attention of the world. 

In November 1991, a British TV crew 

was on hand when Indonesian soldiers 

opened fire on thousands of young people 

participating in a huge pro-independence 

funeral march at the Santa Cruz cemetery 

here. The videotape of the massacre, which 

showed people being shot down, shocked 

western politicians - candidate Bill Clinton 

among them - into criticizing Indonesia’s 

human rights abuses. 

Nevertheless, East Timor remains tightly 

controlled. We did not dare to accept the 

priest’s papers. Outside of the building 

where we were talking, agents of the everpresent 

Indonesian military secret service 

were waiting for us. Foreign journalists, 

delegations and organizations are allowed 

into East Timor only on a very selective 

basis, and tourists are tightly motored. The 

agents decided it was time for us to leave. 

East Timor’s terror began in late 1975 

after Portugal withdrew from its colonial 

empire. The people of East Timor, ruled


since the 16th century, were not inclined to 

join Indonesia, as West Timor, a former 

Dutch colony, had done in the 1940s. Four 

hundred years of Portuguese rule had created 

a distinct language, Tetum, and a distinct 

cultural identity. In the fall of 1975, a 

leftist group, the Revolutionary Front for an 

Independent East Timor (FRETILIN), won 

a brief civil war and began setting up a national 

government. 

The military government of Indonesia, 

presiding over an island nation with hundreds 

of ethnic groups and languages, worried 

about the destabilizing influence of an 

independent country on its periphery. But 

East Timor’s claim to self-determination had 

been recognized in United Nations 

resolutions. The Indonesians were also 

worried about maintaining good relations 

with the rest of the world, especially the 

United States. They needn’t have worried. 

In December 1975, President Gerald Ford 

and Secretary of State Henry Kissinger paid 

a state visit to Jakarta, the Indonesian 

capital. It is widely thought that Kissinger 

and Ford told the Indonesian generals that 

the United States would not object to the 

annexation of East Timor. The next day, 

Dec. 7, 1975, the Indonesian forces, armed 

mainly with American weapons, invaded 


The lightly armed FRETILIN forces offered 

strong resistance for three years in the 

island’s mountainous interior. The 

Indonesian army pursued them, destroying 

villages, massacring inhabitants and relocating 

refugees in strategic villages. The 

Indonesians also destroyed crops, creating 

famine. By late 1979, the International Red 

Cross and Catholic Relief Services were 

comparing the famine in Timor to the deliberate 

starvation of the citizens of Biafra in 

the late 1960s. Protests from U.S. congressmen 

helped force Indonesia to allow 

foreign humanitarian aid into the besieged 

areas. But world attention remained sporadic. 

This history is invisible when you first 

arrive in Dili, the capital of East Timor. The 

city is small and calm. With its distinctive 

colonial-era architecture, it could be a port 

city in Portugal. Save for the pervasive 

presence of Indonesian soldiers, it seems at 

first glance like a normal place. 

When we drove out to the countryside, 

the face of Indonesian occupation became 

apparent at the first military checkpoint. 

Our hired driver, José, got out to show his 

papers to the military police. A large 

Balinese soldier leaned over him, studying 

the silver ring on José’s hand with an indifferent 

look. Then the soldier reached down, 

slowly removed the ring and put it on his 

own finger. José said nothing. When we 

realized what had happened, we wanted to 

go back and retrieve the ring. José stopped 

us. He just wanted to leave. Fear had forced 

him to swallow the humiliation. 

We drove west through the dry barren 

countryside, passing through resettlement 

villages built by the government to accommodate 

internal refugees dislocated from 

their homes by massive military sweeps. 

The villages, strategically placed along main 

roads for easy control of the population, 

consisted of small, square cement-andbamboo 

houses in straight lines. There were 

red and white Indonesian flags everywhere 

and Indonesian soldiers with U.S.-made M- 

16 rifles slung over their shoulders. Morning 

and night, military trucks carried 

camouflaged soldiers in and out of the 

towns. Military helicopters swept overhead 

An unofficial curfew left the streets quiet 

and empty after nine in the evening. That 

same evening we arrived in an isolated 

village. About 30 Timorese gathered around 

us in the dark. 

“Once this was a village full of life. Now 

there are only us left,” said an older man 

pointing toward the quiet, staring band of 

villagers.” All the others are dead. 

They wanted to help us, but we had to 

drive on - nobody dared to put us up. The 

next morning our military babysitters questioned 

us about where we had been and took 

our pictures. After we made a brief visit to a 

Catholic elementary school, the secret 

policemen even talked to the nun and her 

young pupils. The secret police’s suspicions 

left us ill-at-ease, worrying about 

the safety of the innocent people who had 

talked to us. 

Until recently, the West’s concern about 

East Timor has been overshadowed by its 

economic ties with the Indonesian government. 

“On one side there is a small people 

of 600,000,” one priest explained, “and on 

the other side a nation with rich natural resources 

and 185 million people. 

The Santa Cruz massacre in November 

1991 did prompt some second thoughts. 

The Indonesian government initially put the 

death toll at 19. When the British videotape, 

which had been smuggled out of the 

country, indicated far more casualties, the 

estimate was upped to 50. Sources in the 

Timorese resistance put the death toll at 

273. Amnesty International estimates that 

at least 100 and possibly as many 250 

people were killed. Human rights organizations 

have also collected eyewitness testimony 

that Indonesian soldiers invaded local 

hospitals after the massacre and dragged 

away the wounded. 

The European Parliament and the U.S. 

Congress quickly condemned Indonesia. 

Last October, Congress cut $2.3 million 

dollars in military aid to Indonesia - the first 

time in 17 years that Congress has reduced 

such aid over the issue of East Timor. On 

the campaign trail, candidate Clinton told a 

New York radio reporter that East Timor 

had been ignored in an “unconscionable” 

manner. 

To date, Indonesia has retained strong 

international financial backing. The 

Consultative Group on Indonesia, a World 

Bank consortium of donor countries, decided 

in July to give Indonesia $5 billion in 

aid, credits and loans in 1992-93. But there 

are signs that the administration is following 

through on Clinton’s campaign statements. 

Last week, the United Nations Human 

Rights Commission in Geneva approved a 

strong resolution on East Timor that won 

unprecedented support from the United 

States. 

The U.N. action couldn’t be more timely. 

Last November, the military arrested 

Xanana Gusmão, the leader of the Timorese 

resistance, and charged him with rebellion, 

conspiracy and leading a separatist 

movement. As many as 20 relatives and 

friends were arrested with him; hundreds of 

people have been detained in recent months 

for periods ranging from a few hours to a 

few months, according to Amnesty international. 

Bishop Carlos Ximenes Belo said last 

month that the arrested were being subject 

to “all types of torture.” 

Gusmão is now on trial in Dili. The 

Portuguese government, citing various U.N. 

resolutions rejecting Indonesian sovereignty 

over East Timor, says that Jakarta “lacks 

the legal, political and moral authority” to 

put Gusmão on trial. With the exception of 

a one hour visit with a representatives of the 

International Red Cross, Gusmão has not 

been allowed to meet with any independent 

observers since his arrest. He has been 

shown on TV, however, urging his followers 

to surrender, a statement that many believe 

was coerced. Indonesian authorities have 

selectively admitted international observers 

into the courtroom and insist that Gusmão’s 

trial is open and impartial. 

The leaders of the Indonesian government 

remain intransigent. After the Santa Cruz 

massacre, Gen. Try Sutrisno, the 

commander of the Indonesian Armed 

Forces, said that the Timorese who resist 

integration into the Indonesian state are 

“delinquent people [who] have to be shot, 

and we will shoot them.” Last week, 

President Suharto, who has ruled Indonesia 

for the last 27 years, selected Sutrisno as his 

vice president and likely successor. 

When we finally boarded the boat to 

leave East Timor, we were visited by two 

high-ranking intelligence officers. In a last 

awkward effort to influence our impressions, 

one of them apologized for our being 

followed, interrogated, photographed,


videotaped and our baggage thoroughly 

searched. 

“There are good and bad tourists,” he 

explained. “Sometimes the bad tourists try 

to smuggle out letters from East Timor, 

letters which later are given to the U.N. ...” 

Sven Bergman, a TV journalist in Sweden, 

visited East Timor late last year. 

The article was accompanied by a cartoon 

showing a globe turned on its side, with a 

blindfolded man, hidden under the base of 

the globe, being shot by a soldier. 

ETAN/US NEWSLETTER #5 

March 1993. Newsletter of the East Timor 

Action Network/US. Edited excerpts here, as 

much is elsewhere in this compilation. 

Contact ETAN for a paper copy. 

Timorese US Speaking Tour Begins! 

On March 27, five young East Timorese 

nationalists will arrive in New York to begin 

a month-long tour all over the United States. 

In addition to meeting with officials in 

Washington and at the UN, our guests will 

speak at universities, media outlets and 

community meetings in more than a dozen 

states and provinces. 

The participants of the tour were infants 

or children when Indonesia invaded their 

homeland 17 years ago. They represent a 

new generation of resistance, the human 

embodiment of a yearning for independence 

which cannot be eradicated by terror and 

“education.” Although they were forced to 

leave their country, these five people have 

committed their lives to struggle for the day 

they can go home again. 

Constancio Pinto, 30, was a leader of the 

November 12, 1991 peaceful demonstration 

that ended with Indonesian troops massacring 

over 271 people. He was Executive 

Secretary of the underground National 

Council of Maubere Resistance (the coalition 

of most Timorese nationalist groups) in 

East Timor from 1989–92. He has been arrested 

several times and tortured. He escaped 

East Timor last May, after being intensively 

hunted by the Indonesians for 

seven months. 

Abé Barreto Soares, 27, official representative 

of the National Council of 

Maubere Resistance to North America, 

went into exile in 1991 and now lives in 

Toronto. He is a student of English literature. 

Elizabeth Exposto, 18, will attend La 

Trobe University in Australia. She fled East 

Timor as an infant in 1975, and returned 

there four years ago to visit her 

grandparents. Her shock at the conditions 

there motivated her to speak out in behalf of 

her compatriots. 

Danilo Henriques, 21 a student and 

diplomat-in-training, escaped with his 

mother in 1975. He now lives in Australia. 

Maria Teresa Fernandes, 24, is a graduate 

student and activist who left East Timor in 

1975 and now lives in Portugal. 

Although parts of the tour are still being 

organized, many public events are already 

set up. In addition, the Timorese will be 

meeting with journalists, academics and 

public officials to help American opinionmakers 

understand their situation and determination. 

The list below is only partial 

for the cities listed; our guests will also visit 

Washington DC, Toronto, Montreal, 

Vancouver, Ottawa, and elsewhere. Call 

ETAN at (914)428-7299 or Richard Koch at 

(908)542-6275 for details. 

White Plains, NY March 28, WESPAC 

Princeton University, NJ, March 29 

Washington DC, March 31, Institute for 

Policy Studies. Also many meetings with 

US government officials. 

Baltimore, MD April 3. Maryland United 

for Peace and Justice. 

Long Branch, NJ April 5 

New Haven, CT April 7, Yale Council on 

Southeast Asia Studies. 

Providence, RI April 7, Brown University. 

Numerous other events in 

Providence/Fall River area. 

Cambridge, MA April 8-10 Harvard Law 

School. Numerous other events in Boston 

area, including media. 

Bethlehem, PA April 12. Also Kutztown 

New York, NY April 13. Numerous meetings 

with UN officials, media. 

Los Angeles, CA April 14-17 UCLA and 

other locations. 

Vancouver, BC April 17. 

Seattle, WA April 18. 

San Francisco/Berkeley, CA April 18-25. 

CCSF, UC/Berkeley, etc. 

Madison, Milwaukee, Iowa City, 

Minneapolis, Chicago. 

Ottawa, Toronto, Montreal 

Hopes for the Clinton Administration 

During the campaign, Clinton characterized 

past US policy toward East Timor: 

“I’m very concerned about what’s happened 

in East Timor, and I think we have to 

review it. We have ignored it so far in ways 

that I think are unconscionable. ... We have 

to engage the (Indonesian) government on 

the question of how those people are being 

treated. And I certainly wouldn’t rule out 

the prospect of cutting aid.” New personnel 

in Congress and the State Department are 

further reason for hope for a change in US 

policy toward Indonesia and East Timor. 

When American diplomats in Geneva swung 

around to support a UN resolution in 

March, the chance of a change became real. 

Vice President Albert Gore was one of 52 

Senators who signed a letter to Bush after 

the Santa Cruz massacre. Peter Tarnoff, 

Undersecretary of State for Political Affairs, 

moderated a forum on East Timor last year 

and is interested and knowledgeable. John 

Shattuck, Undersecretary of State for 

Human Rights, is a sincere believer in those 

rights. The new post of Assistant Secretary 

of Defense for Democracy and Human 

Rights has been filled by Morton Halperin, 

a Nixon-era policy analyst who resigned to 

protest the Vietnam war and has been a civil 

liberties activist since. 

In 1992, the US Congress defied 

President Bush to terminate US military 

training (IMET) for Indonesia, the first-ever 

cut in funding to protest East Timor. This 

year, some of the obstacles to stronger 

action are gone. Ronald Dellums, new 

Chairman of the House Armed Services 

Committee is an outspoken advocate of 

military cuts and human rights. His committee 

has jurisdiction over arms sales. 

Stephen Solarz, who as Chair of the House 

Foreign Affairs Subcommittee on Asian and 

Pacific Affairs consistently blocked positive 

action, lost his re-election bid. The new 

chair, Gary Ackerman, is one of a dozen 

Representatives who last year co-sponsored 

H.R.5176, a comprehensive aid/trade 

sanctions bill against Indonesia over East 


ETAN’s report How to Influence U.S. 

Government Policy contains addresses, 

phone and fax numbers for key people in 

the new Administration and Congress. We 

also have an analysis of The Outlook for a 

Change in U.S. Policy Toward East Timor, 

written for the February international 

meeting. If you would like both reports, 

please send 50c for copying and postage. 

Chomsky Film a Hit in US 

The new, highly-acclaimed, full-length 

documentary film Manufacturing Consent: 

Noam Chomsky and the Media is showing 

widely. The movie uses East Timor as a 

case study of how the media ignores important 

issues, and ETAN has been working 

with the producers and distributors to help 

moviegoers channel their new awareness 

into action. 

If you can leaflet or table, or would like 

to arrange a theatrical run in your community, 

contact ETAN’s Eleanor Hoffman 

at 914-235-1797 or the distributors, 

Zeitgeist Films, 212-274-1989. Here is a 

partial schedule of upcoming showings: 

New York: Film Forum, 209 West Houston 

St., March 17 on.


San Francisco: Castro Theatre, Castro at 

Market St. April 9-15. 

Olympia, WA: Olympia Film Society. April 

11-14. 

Orono, ME: University of Maine. April 15. 

Berkeley: U.C. Theatre. Apr. 16-22. 

Ithaca: Cornell Cinema. April 22-24. 

Boston: Brattle Theatre. April23-29. 

Washington, DC: Key Theater. April 23-May 

7. 

St. Louis, MO: Webster Coll. April 23-May 8. 

San Diego: Univ. of Calif., April 27. 

Los Angeles: NuArt Cinema. April 29-May 5. 

Columbus, OH: Wexner Theater, April 30- 

May 1. 

Rhinebeck, NY: Upstate Films. April 30-May 

2. 

Cleveland: Cleveland Cinématheque, May 7-8. 

Petaluma, CA: Washington Sq. Theatre. May 

7-13. 

Santa Cruz, CA: The Sash Mill. May 13-19. 

San José: The Towne. May 14-20. 

International East Timor Solidarity 

Movement Thrives 

The 1991 Santa Cruz massacre motivated 

the Timorese resistance and its supporters 

worldwide, and the energy continues. In 

February, representatives of East Timor 

solidarity groups from a dozen countries 

met in Amsterdam to share information and 

coordinate actions. Twenty-nine groups 

described progress in public awareness and 

the level of pressure exerted on their own 

governments, but acknowledged that there is 

still a long way to go. 

Participants discussed a coordinated approach 

to the UN human rights conference 

in Vienna this summer, continued pressure 

on countries funding Jakarta, particularly 

through the CGI, and focused pressure on 

the United Kingdom and Germany because 

of massive new warship and warplane sales 

to Indonesia. The movement will use of 

electronic mail to improve communications, 

and will work together at the July UN 

Decolonization Hearings in New York. 

The next international solidarity meeting 

will be in Manila, Philippines, in November 

1993. Contact ETAN/US if you would like 

more information. To help us be part of an 

international movement, here is contact 

information for a few of the groups: 

England: TAPOL, 111 Northwood Road, 

Thornton Heath, Surrey CR7 8HW. 

44/81-771-2904. fax 44/81-653-0322, 

tapol@gn.apc.org 

Canada: East Timor Alert Network, 104- 

2120 W. 44, Vancouver, BC V6M 2G2. 

604-264-9973, etantor@web.apc.org 

Japan: Free East Timor Japan Coalition, 

Kure YWCA, 20-19 Nishi Kawaraishicho, 

Kure, Hiroshima, 737. 81/823-22- 

0962, fax 81/823-22-2684, jinglis@igc.apc.org 

Portugal: Comissão para os Direitos do 

Povo Maubere, Rua Pinheiro Chagas, 

77, 2xEsq, 1000 Lisboa, 351/1-352- 

8718, fax 351/1-534-009, cdpm@gn.apc.org 

Ireland: East Timor Ireland Solidarity 

Campaign, 210 Le Fanu Rd, 

Ballyfermot, Dublin 10. 353/1-623- 

3148. 

Resources 

ETAN is printing some new T-shirts, 

and we also have copies of Telling: East 

Timor Personal Testimonies 1942-1992. 

This book, written by Michele Turner and 

just published in Australia, costs $20 and 

contains nearly 50 oral accounts of ordinary 

East Timorese people, recounting what they 

have witnessed. It adds a human dimension 

to East Timor’s grim statistics. 

Our T-shirts include the traditional “Free 

East Timor” with the FRETILIN flag (now 

on black instead of white), as well as two 

new designs: (1) “East Timor: To Resist Is 

To Win” with a photo of a young boy with 

his arms outstretched in a victory sign in 

front of a banner at the Santa Cruz 

demonstration, and (2) “East Timor: 

Indonesia’s Killing Field” with a photo of a 

man in a cemetery with mountains in the 

background. The shirts have “End U.S. 

Support of Indonesian Genocide” or “End 

U.S. Support of the Indonesian Occupation” 

on the back. They come in Large and Extra 

Large. 

Write for our full resource list. If you 

order videos, T-shirts, or books, please add 

$3 for postage. 

INÍCIO DA DIGRESSÃO 

TIMORENSE PELOS EUA 

By José Antonio Barros Basto, March 29, on 

pt-net 

Olà a todos: 

Depois de uma ausência devida ao meu 

“qualifying” (que jà està pelas costas,para 

meu grande alívio e alegria...), regresso ao 

convívio da rede par vos trazer notícias 

frescas da digressão dos estudantes timorenses 

por terras da AMérica do Norte. 

Desloquei-me ontem a White Plains, um 

subu’rbio (?) de NYC ‘a sede da WESPAC, 

por assim dizer, o organismo mãe da 

ETAN/US (East Timor Alert Network), 

onde se realizou um “potluck” - jantar 

volante em que cada membro leva comida 

(eu cà levei iscas de bacalhau, bastante 

apreciadas - excepto pelos vegetarianos 

radicais, que nem peixe comem B-) 

Constâncio Pinto não tinha ainda chegado 

aos EUA B-( Depois de todos os problemas 

com o bilhete e com o visto de entrada, 

ontem foi posto fora do avião da TAP por 

causa de “overbooking” ... [esta faz-me 

lembrar uma piada ouvida jà hà muitos anos: 

” – Sabes o que significa T.A.P.?” 

” – Take Another Plane ...” ] 

Este serà porventura o elemente chave da 

digressão aqui pelos EUA. Figura envolvida 

até Novembro 91 na rede clandestina de 

libertação em Timor Leste, ele poderà dar o 

toque mais dramàtico na ilustração dos 

problemas que o seu país atravessa nas 

mãos do Exército Indonésio. Fiquei 

particularmente chocado ao saber que o seu 

filho (que ele nunca viu), de 9 meses, 

encontra-se preso (!!!) juntamente com a 

mâe (mulher de Constâncio), assim como os 

seus pais, em pura represàlia pelo facto de 

Constâncio ter conseguido escapar de Timor 

Leste. 

Ele não tem notícias da família hà meses, 

apenas sabendo que estão (estavam ?) nas 

mãos dos Indonésios ... 

Os outros estudantes com os quais convivi 

um pouco ontem são ainda muito jovens, 

e, com a excepcão de um deles, so’ tem 

conhecimento da situação em Timor Leste 

por terceiras pessoas ou por ocasionais 

visitas ‘a ilha. 

São pessoas muitas simpàticas, tem todos 

um inglês muito capaz (dois deles 

estudam na Austràlia, um outro no Canadà e 

outra em Portugal) o me parece um critério 

de escolha acertado dada a necessidade de 

transmitir a sua mensagem a uma audiência 

directamente, sem tradutores, e para minha 

alegria, todos falam português fluentemente 

(e muito melhor que 99% dos filhos dos 

imigrantes que conheço por aqui...). 

A pequena apresentação que fizeram deu 

uma visão mais pessoal da histo’ria recente 

de Timor Leste, com famílias desaparecidas, 

tradiço~es culturais espezinhadas ou 

subvertidas aos interesses de assimilação 

Indonésia, fugas atribuladas, dificuldades de 

aclimatação em países distantes... 

Houve também uma sessão de diapositivos 

representativos da etnografia timorense, 

onde mais uma vez fica marcado o equílibrio 

com que o povo Timorense vive com a sua 

Terra-Mãe e a riqueza das suas tradiço~es... 

Como pequena nota, descobri ontem que 

existe um grande respeito na cultura 

Timorense pela “Mulher,” pela lado maternal 

da Terra, que é representado por um 

símbolo de “Lua Crescente,” em geral usado 

na testa, enquanto que o poder do Homem, 

simbolizado pelo Sol (círculo(s) dourado(s) 

suspensos ao peito) é associado com os 

guerreiros tradicionais, armados com uma 

espada, que creio ser passada de geração em 

geração... De modo algum as mulheres são 

colocadas em posição subalterna, situação 

que outras sociadades so’ agora começam a 

combater ... 

No tocante ao massacre de 12 Novembro 

91, mais uma vez a ausência de Constâncio


Pinto foi notada: para quem jà assistiu aos 

depoimentos de Allan Nairn ou Amy 

Goodman (sobretudo esta u’ltima...) fica 

com uma ideia bem mais pungente do que foi 

aquela terrível manhã em Dili... 

Nesta altura em que a posição dos EUA 

mostra claros sinais de esperança em relação 

a Timor Leste, graças ‘a mudança de 

admnistração (digam o que disserem, nada 

podia ser pior que a admnistração Bush - exdirector 

da CIA e seguidor das políticas do 

“Sr.” Kissinger no Sudeste Asiàtico, das 

quais no’s bem sabemos o resultado...), esperemos 

que esta digressão sirva para esclarecer 

mais americanos da situação crítica 

que se vive em Timor Leste, de modo a 

manter a pressão para que a administração 

continue pelo bom caminho (como indicado 

pelo recente “volte-face” em Genebra da 

delegação “profissional” dos EUA -funcionàrios 

de carreira- que inverteram completamente 

a sua posição na Conferência de Direitos 

Humanos da ONU, depois de devidamente 

intruídos a partir de Washington...). 

Quem estiver aqui pelos EUA, e tenha 

possibilidade de se deslocar a uma das numerosas 

conferências, aconselho vivamente a 

que o façam, e tentem contactar com os 

participantes Timorenses, pois é evidente 

que eles continuam bastante ligados a 

Portugal, quer pela língua, cultura e também 

laços de sangue ... 

Para mais pormenores, ou detalhes da 

digressão (jà publicados na rede hà dias 

atràs) estou ‘a vossa disposição. 

Um abraço a todos 

José Anto’nio 

EAST TIMOR: SOARES 

WRITES TO CLINTON 

Expresso, 20 March 1993. Translated from 

Portuguese, unabridged 

(Lisbon) This week, Pres. Mario Soares 

wrote a letter to Pres. Bill Clinton, thanking 

him for the decisive support the US gave to 

draft resolution on East Timor, passed on 

5th in Geneva, by the UN Human Rights 

Commission. Observers considered the 

resolution, presented by the Twelve, a 

victory for Portuguese diplomacy over 

Indonesian’s position. 

Soares is believed to have played a part 

in this process, on the request of the Foreign 

Minister, Durão Barroso, himself. A few 

days before the discussion of the draft 

resolution, (the passing of which inverted, 

for the first time in 10 years, the tendency 

of reciprocal forces in favour of Jakarta), 

Durão Barroso requested the Portuguese 

Head of State to intercede with the US 

President, and explain to him the importance 

of Portugal’s diplomatic concerns on this 

matter. 

In addition to sending a message to 

Clinton, the President called a meeting with 

the US Ambassador (who, because he was 

out of Lisbon, was substituted by the 

Charge d’Affaires) in order to convey 

Portugal’s concerns, and Lisbon’s interest in 

getting the Twelve’s draft resolution approved. 

A Presidential Palace source considered 

that “the excellent work done by the 

Portuguese diplomats” at the UN 

Commission, combined with the intervention 

of Soares, was fundamental. US support 

for the resolution, which condemned 

Indonesia’s non-compliance with a series of 

obligations with regards East Timor, is also 

believed to have been essential in drawing in 

support from countries traditionally in 

favour of Jakarta. 

Still on the same subject, Soares is also 

going to send a message to the UN Secretary 

General, Mr. Boutros Ghali. 

TIMORESE EXILE 

ACTIVITIES 

THE “FREEDOM FOR 

XANANA, FREEDOM FOR 

TIMOR” COMMISSION 

From CDPM, April 3 

In the aftermath of Commander Xanana 

Gusmão’s arrest and the intensification of 

repression in East Timor, a group of 

Timorese, joined by Portuguese solidarity 

groups, took the initiative and constituted 

an informal organisation to work for the defence 

of Timorese political prisoners. 

Professor Fernando Sylvan agreed from the 

outset to be its Honorary Chairman. 

Thus, in January 1993, the “Freedom for 

Xanana, Freedom for Timor” Commission 

was formed. Its first initiative was to organise 

a human chain on 19 January linking the 

UN Information Centre with the Apostolic 

Nuncio’s offices in Lisbon. At these two 

places, a group of celebrities delivered 

letters addressed to the UN Secretary 

General and to Pope John Paul II, 

respectively. 

Objectives 

Its main aim being the defence of 

Timorese political prisoners, the “Freedom 

for Xanana, Freedom for Timor” 

Commission defined the following objectives: 

- the systematized collection of information 

about the prisoners, their families, and 

conditions affecting their lives; 

- the collection of the above information 

produced by international, non-governmental 

organisations, parliaments, governments, 

and other institutions, as well as news or 

studies published in the press; 

- publicizing human rights violations in 

East Timor, in particular those affecting 

political prisoners; 

- establishing contact with international 

and national organisations which could 

collaborate in the effective defence of political 

prisoners; 

- the organisation of activities to gain 

concrete support destined for Timorese 

political prisoners and their families. 

Participation 

The “FREEDOM FOR XANANA, 

FREEDOM FOR TIMOR” 

COMMISSION is an informal group, open 

to offers of help from all those who wish to 

do something to assist Timorese political 

prisoners. 

To ensure the level of functioning required 

to achieve its objectives, decisions on 

the program of activities and the respective 

coordination will be carried out by the 

founding group. It is hoped, however, that 

an increasingly wider group of citizens will 

take part in all the initiatives, so as to 

strengthen solidarity with the people of 

East Timor and, especially, with the political 

prisoners and their families. 

The ability to carry out actions aimed at 

specific objectives was chosen as the basic 

criteria for joining the “FREEDOM FOR 

XANANA, FREEDOM FOR TIMOR” 

COMMISSION. All kinds of activities are 

welcome, from all people, groups, and institutions 

wishing to contribute towards 

helping Timorese political prisoners. 

Take an initiative and join the 

Commission! 

SOME EXILES: HORTA HAS 

NEVER BEEN MANDATED 

Suara Pembaruan 17 March 1993 Dateline: 

Lisbon Byline: Petrus Suryadi Slightly 

abridged 

Comment: Suryadi is a crony of Nuno 

Rocha, the Portuguese journalist notorious 

for his flattering report about East Timor 

after a visit in 1988. The remarks made by 

José Martins are predictable, but did Abilio 

Araujo really say what he is quoted as 

saying? And to such a character? Suryadi is 

widely regarded as someone working closely 

with Bakin, the Indonesian intelligence 

agency. – TAPOL 

Some East Timorese leaders from various 

organisations living in Portugal are of the 

opinion that Ramos Horta has never been 

given a mandate to speak on behalf of the


East Timorese people and he only uses East 

Timor to pursue his own interests, according 

to Petrus Surjadi who has just visited 

Portugal. 

“Does Ramos Horta really represent the 

entire people of East Timor,” Pembaruan 

asked Manual Martinez, chair of the organisation 

of East Timorese Catholic refugees in 

Portugal, who replied: 

“He’s never been given a mandate to 

represent the people of East Timor, especially 

the people in my organisation. The 

ones who are entitled to represent the East 

Timorese people are the East Timorese 

people themselves. He only speaks for himself.” 

Had Ramos Horta ever had any communication 

with his group? “Never. And he 

needn’t do so. What he wants is what the 

communists want, not the East Timorese,” 

said Martinez. He hoped the Indonesian 

government would open the door to dialogue 

with his group. 

As for José Martins, the chair of Kota 

party, son of the chief of Ermera, he said 

Horta had never got a mandate from him. 

“He’s only fighting for himself. He talks in 

New York, Geneva and Australia, but only 

for himself,” said Martins. According to him 

the Portuguese government has no idea how 

to solve the East Timor question which is 

why he, as an anti-communist, wants to 

have the chance to have a dialogue with the 

Indonesian government so as to be able to 

help solve the question of East Timor. 

“East Timorese people should talk to 

Indonesia and not to Portugal,” he said 

firmly. 

He says he was a journalist working for a 

Portuguese paper in October 1975 and 

travelled back and forth from Dili to 

Atapupu when tens of thousands of 

Timorese coming from UDT, Apodeti and 

Trabalhista, fled to the Indonesian side, who 

then expressed the wish of East Timor to 

become a part of Indonesia. 

Fretilin’s chair 

Dr. Abilio Araujo, the chair of Fretilin 

who met Pembaruan at his office, said that 

as chair of Fretilin he had never given 

authority to Ramos Horta to speak on behalf 

of Fretilin. “So who did he get authority 

from to speak for Fretilin and the people of 

East Timor?” 

“Horta got his mandate from Xanana 

Gusmão and has never spoken on behalf of 

Fretilin. He speaks for the CNRM (National 

Council of Maubere Resistance), and 

represents Falintil troops and the underground 

movement,” said Abilio. He said 

Xanana was never president of Fretilin; he 

was commander of Falintil and its base organisation, 

CNRM. Falintil is no longer the 

armed force of Fretilin, but it is a kind of 

opposition force of CNRM. 

Abilio Araujo even asked: “Who gave 

Ramos Horta authority to speak on behalf 

of the people of East Timor everywhere, as 

he is a multi-fascist?” 

For the past year, Ramos Horta has been 

the target of accusations by various East 

Timorese who are now living in Portugal. He 

is considered as having used the name of 

Fretilin and spoken on behalf of the East 

Timorese people, from New York to 

Australia, for his own personal interests. 

Horta hopes to draw financial benefits by 

speaking on behalf of East Timor because he 

has received many contributions from 

various organisations and states to fund his 

leftist lobby. 

COMMENT FROM BRUNO KAHN: 

To put Suryadi’s essay in some perspective, 

it is interesting to note that José 

Martins quite willingly recognises that he 

worked for Indonesian intelligence in the fall 

of 1975. I know at least of two instances: a 

radio interview of the Indonesian service of 

Radio Nederland at the end of last year, and 

a debate on the private Portuguese TV 

channel shortly after Xanana’s ‘interview’ 

by the military (also at the end of last year). 

He appears to be now strongly against his 

former allegiances. I think he gave some 

details on the Intel manipulations, but don’t 

recall the details. Perhaps CDPM can be 

more specific. 

FRETILIN/AUSTRALIA WANTS 

MOVEMENT 

RESTRUCTURED 

Publico, 20 March, Original Portuguese 

(Lisbon) Fretilin’s Committees in 

Australia decided yesterday to start restructuring 

the movement based abroad, and appealed 

to Abilio Araujo and Ramos-Horta to 

adhere to this process. Following a meeting 

with Fretilin’s Directive Commission’s 

leaders, the Committees decided to reaffirm 

their “total and unconditional submission” 

to Fretilin’s central bodies inside East 

Timor. According to the communiqué, the 

appeal to Abilio Araujo and Ramos-Horta is 

aimed to get them to “actively make every 

effort to implement the decisions of 

Fretilin’s Directive Commission on the 

restructuring of its external wing.” 

FRETILIN WITHOUT 

MAU HUNU 

Publico, 22 March (before his capture) By 

J.T.N. Original Portuguese unabridged 

(Lisbon) Fretilin’s representative in 

Portugal, Abilio Araujo, believes that 

Commander Ma’Hunu, Xanana Gusmão’s 

successor at the head of the Timorese armed 

Resistance, should discontinue the functions 

he currently fulfills in the party, which 

today combine with his role as leading 

official on the Maubere Resistance National 

Council (CNRM) within the territory. 

According to Abilio Araujo, Ma’Hunu 

ought to follow Xanana Gusmão in as far as 

the latter, in 1989, decided to resign from 

the posts he occupied in the party structure. 

But: on formally resigning, Ma’Hunu should 

commit himself to not interfere in Fretilin 

life, thereby avoiding a repetition of the 

behaviour for which Abilio Araujo himself 

censured Xanana in 1991. 

According to Abilio Araujo, this would 

be the only way to ensure that the CNRM 

is effectively non- partisan. The CNRM 

being the supra-political-party body, 

destined to represent the different currents 

which go to make up the Timorese 

Resistance. At the moment, Ma’Hunu 

serves simultaneously on the CNRM, the 

Politico- Military Commission of the 

Resistance (CPM-R), and Fretilin’s 

Directive Commission (CDF), of which he 

is Secretary. 

The proposal to restructure Fretilin 

within the territory - of which Ma’Hunu’s 

separation (“freeing” him, so he can become 

leader of all the resisters) would be just the 

first step - was backed by Abilio Araujo, 

following a series of suggestions indicating 

changes in the structure of the party’s 

“external front.” 

Gathered in Melbourne last weekend, 

representatives from the Fretilin 

Committees in Australia as well as some 

“mandatory comrades” from the Directive 

Commission - such as Mari Alkatiri, based 

in Mozambique, and Alfredo Borges 

Ferreira - decided to set in motion a reorganization 

process of the “external wing” of 

the party, the preparation of which would 

be carried out by the said “mandatories” and 

delegates from the Committees. 

In the text which resulted from that 

meeting, Ramos Horta (current CNRM representative 

abroad), Guilhermina Araujo, 

and Abilio Araujo himself are invited to 

“actively engage themselves” in the restructuring 

process of Fretilin’s external wing. 

Contacted by Publico in Lisbon, Abilio 

Araujo “welcomed” the Melbourne decisions, 

but said that “the priority should be 

the internal front, where the consequences


of Xanana Gusmão’s capture still cannot be 

fully evaluated.” 

TIMORESE RESISTANCE 

TRIES TO AVOID DIVISIONS 

Expresso 3 April 1993 Dateline : Lisbon 

Byline : Mario Robalo Translated from 


The Timorese Resistance risks seeing its 

already precarious unity weakened further. 

This week in Sydney, Australia, Fretilin’s 

External Relations officer, Mari Alkatiri, and 

UDT Vice-Chairman João Carrascalao, 

agreed on the need for restructuring the 

“external Front” of the Resistance, so as to 

avoid its “multi-polarization.” On the same 

occasion, the UDT took up an unprecedented 

position in relation to the current 

guerrilla leader, Ma’Hunu. This Timorese 

party recognises that Xanana Gusmão’s 

substitute does not need to leave Fretilin 

(the Central Committee of which he is 

Chairman) in order to be considered the 

supreme leader of the entire Resistance. 

This position, however, opposes statements 

made previously by the head of 

Fretilin’s External Management, Abilio 

Araujo who, as well as believing that 

Ma’Hunu ought to resign from Fretilin in 

order to take up leadership of the struggle, 

stated that, firstly, a restructuring of the 

“internal front” should take place, before 

any change in the leadership of Fretilin’s 

external component. In other words, this 

party - from which Xanana had resigned to 

take on the leadership of the Resistance - 

could witness two currents emerging, with 

irreconcilable concepts of leadership. (...) 

MISCELLANEOUS 

ARTICLES 

SYAFEI ON MILITARY 

OPERATIONS IN EAST 

TIMOR FROM 1975 

Kedaulatan Rakyat (daily), 26 Jan. 1993 

Extract only, via TAPOL 

This article is the first in a series of three. 

The following quotation shows the present 

military commander, Brig-Gen. Theo Syafei, 

who has done several tours of duty in East 

Timor, including a stint in the second half of 

the 1970s, being frank about the role of the 

armed forces in the war in East Timor. The 

official line is that only ‘Indonesian 

volunteers’ took part. The Syafei account 

also gives the lie to Indonesian claims about 

the alleged election of two delegates from 

each of the 13 districts of East Timor to the 

‘people’s assembly’ of May 1976 which took 

the decision to ask Jakarta for integration. 

[See, “East Timor, Building for the Future,” 

published by the Indonesian Foreign 

Ministry, Jakarta, 1992, page 10] If the 

army was still fighting to control the district 

and sub-district capitals in the period 1977- 

1978, how could elections possibly have 

been held? 

Is Theo Syafei keen for the history of 

Indonesia’s secret war in East Timor to be 

rectified to give the army its due? Another 

clue to this likelihood is the publication in 

Tempo on 5 December 1992 of a photograph 

of Indonesian troops coming off a 

landing craft. The caption reads: “ABRI 

troops landing in East Timor (1975)” This 

is the first time we have seen anything in the 

Indonesian press giving substance to the 

historically known fact of the Indonesian 

invasion in 1975. 

The following is an unabridged translation 

of the first four paragraphs of the KR article 

of 26 January 1993. 

The province of East Timor is, up to the 

present, still identical with ABRI (the armed 

forces), and the native population still tend 

to be closer to ABRI than to the village and 

district heads. Such a psychological 

condition has come about because, ever 

since 1976, the community has been far 

more closely involved with ABRI in rebuilding 

this former Portuguese colonial 

territory. This is acknowledged by the 

commander of the operational command, 

(Kolakops), Brig.Gen. Theo Syafei. 

“For hundreds of years the people of 

East Timor have been cooped up under a 

coconut shell. It was only after they proclaimed 

their integration with the Republic 

of Indonesia that they were able to extricate 

themselves from the conditions which had 

bound them till then,” he said, adding that 

the close proximity of the East Timorese 

people with ABRI dates back to the territorial 

operations which ABRI have been 

waging since 1975. 

Initially, ABRI had to cope with Fretilin 

which among other things possessed 17,000 

weapons. In the period from 1975 to 1977- 

78, territorial operations were focused on 

seizing control of the district and sub-district 

towns from Fretilin’s ‘stranglehold.’ 

As a result, the rebels were pushed back, 

forcing them to flee to the hills or the villages 

in the interior,” said Brig.Gen Theo 

Syafei. 

In the period 1978-80, ABRI had the 

task of seizing the villages ‘controlled’ by 

Fretilin, whereas in 1981-83, the territorial 

operation was charged with wiping out the 

remnant forces of Fretilin. “In 1983, Fretilin 

was left with 700 weapons. However, in 

1984, Fretilin declared that opposition 

would no longer be waged by means of 

armed struggle but by political struggle and 

the era of political resistance began in 1986,” 

Theo Syafei went on. 

ABRI then began to balance combat operations 

with territorial operations. “From 

1986, territorial operations were aimed at 

healing the ‘wounds of the people.’ This 

was done by building the infra-structure for 

education, health, religious practice and 

other economic infra-structure,” he said. 

INFORMATION WANTED ON 

ENVIRONMENTAL 

IMPLICATIONS OF THE 

INDONESIAN OCCUPATION 

From: John Hontelez, chairman Friends of 

the Earth International 

PO Box 19199 

1000 GD Amsterdam, the Netherlands 

fax: +31.20.6221369 

Friends of the Earth International is a 

worldwide federation of 51 national environmental 

organisations. It has decided to 

pay special attention to the situation in East 

Timor, and intends to send a delegation to 

this country to investigate the environmental 

implications of the Indonesian occupation. 

We are trying to find information 

about the state of the environment in East 

Timor, the direct and indirect effects of the 

policies of the Indonesian authorities on 

environmental degradation, and the effects 

on the health and general condition of the 

people of East Timor of this degradation. 

Please inform me about information you 

have or where to find it.


FRIENDS OF THE EARTH 

INTERNATIONAL ‘92 AGM ON EAST 

TIMOR. 

Friends of the Earth International is a 

federation of 51 autonomous environmental 

organisations worldwide. 

1. Considering that the violation of human 

rights and the genocide of the people of 

East Timor carried out by the Indonesian 

government is a crime against humanity; 

2. Considering that the ongoing transmigration 

policies forced upon the poor 

population of Java (up to 100,000), put 

at risk the local environment with projects 

of re-colonization; 

3. Considering that the destruction of tropical 

rainforests in East Timor (notably 

through napalm in the late 1970’s) as a 

form of controlling the populations, removing 

them to strategic villages, is a 

way of finishing with East Timor’s natural 

heritage; 

4. Considering that these interventions are 

continuously being denounced by international 

organisations such as Amnesty 

International and the Red Cross; 

The Assembly EXPRESSES its profound 

concerns about the situation in East Timor, 

CONDEMNS all the actions of the 

Indonesian Government and EXPRESSES 

its solidarity with the people of East Timor. 

The AGM gives the mandate to the FoEI 

Executive Commit- tee to send a delegation 

to East Timor preferably consisting of four 

people: a Portuguese, a Dutch, an Australian 

and an Indonesian, in order to analyze the 

situation mentioned above and produce a 

report to be presented to the AGM and 

made public. FoEI is not required to provide 

the funding to implement this decision. 

Valsain, Spain, 5th November 1992 

EAST TIMOR COMPUTER 

WAR GAME 

From TAPOL, 18 Feb. 

If a major computer game company has 

created a game about getting Indonesia out 

of East Timor, it must mean that East Timor 

has edged onto the general consciousness. 

And who knows? The game may encourage 

some computer buffs to find out more. 

Anyway, here is what the promotion ad says 

(abridged): [Unfortunately, the contact who 

sent this to us did not say which journal he 

found it in.] 

Gulf war simulations have been given a 

new realism by the latest strikes into Iraq. 

A batch of games - including Falcon 3 and 

Desert Strike - took you to the flashpoints 

and put you in Allied pilot’s seats. 

Now as the Bosnia civil war fights on, 

games creators have chosen the UN as your 

side. [Are you listening, Dr. Boutros 

Boutros-Ghali?] 

But this conflict occurs in the island of 

East Timor and the enemy is the Indonesian 

army.... 

You control a task force with the aim of 

re-taking East Timor and you get your orders 

and then take off, ready for action. 

Etc., etc., etc. 

The label is Domark, the title ‘AV8B 

Harrier Assault,’ the price 39.99. 

AUSTRALIAN TV STARTS 

BROADCASTING TO 

SOUTHEAST ASIA 

Japan Economic Newswire, By Catharine 

Munro 

(Sydney, Feb. 16 Kyodo) Australian 

television will beam from Papua New 

Guinea to China from Wednesday, leading 

some people to question the effect it will 

have on politically sensitive countries. 

Australian Television International 

(ATVI) will broadcast from an Indonesian 

satellite Palapa B2. Launched in 1991 by a 

Chinese Long March rocket, the Palapa 

satellite also broadcasts the American giant 

Cable News Network (CNN) into the 

Southeast Asian region. 

The new service is produced by the 

Australian Broadcasting Corporation 

(ABC), a government-funded body. 

The satellite ‘footprint’ reaches 

Australia’s closest neighbors, who are often 

very distant in culture, religion and politics. 

The service will include news and current 

affairs focusing on Southeast Asia, as well 

as television shows which depict Australian 

culture. 

Since ATVI will broadcast into countries 

which either suppress information or are 

offended by Western cultural attitudes, their 

policy is to ‘self-censor’ their programs. In 

this way they hope to avoid offending 

countries such as Indonesia and China. 

This policy may conflict with ATVI’s 

commitment not to censor the news. 

Executive Producer of News Prokash 

Mirchandani told Kyodo News Service that 

he would not ‘run away from any stories.’ 

Mirchandani said that as long as ATVI’s 

reports are balanced, there would no problems 

with the policy of free reporting. 

Yet Indonesia has criticized Australia’s 

media for reporting politically sensitive issues. 

For example, Jakarta has made official 

complaints over reports about the island of 

East Timor, which was occupied by 

Indonesia in 1976. 

Mirchandani said that ATVI would follow 

the policy of Radio Australia which has 

been broadcasting in the region for 53 years. 

But Radio Australia has often been the 

target of criticism from various countries in 

this region, according to Dr. Michael van 

Langenberg, who chairs the Department of 

Southeast Asian studies at Sy dney 

University. 

‘Radio Australia has probably come under 

more flack than the BBC and CNN,’ 

said van Langenberg. 

Currently, nine of the 15 nations which 

fall under the satellite footprint have significant 

restrictions on the distribution of 

satellite dishes needed to pick up the service. 

Restriction of access to the dish may 

difficult to maintain, according to Project 

Director Bruce Donald. 

China has restricted but not banned the 

dishes. Donald suggests that people are 

finding innovative ways of receiving satellite 

television, so that the censorship is effectively 

side-stepped. 

‘We’re hoping for a wok-led television 

revolution in China,’ he jokingly told the 

Sydney Morning Herald, a leading 

Australian daily. 

PRESS COMMUNIQUÉ FROM 

THE INTERNATIONAL 

SOLIDARITY MOVEMENT 

AMSTERDAM, 19-21 February 1993 

The annual meeting of the International 

East Timor Solidarity Movement was held 

in Amsterdam, Netherlands from 19-21 

February 1993. Representatives of 26 

groups from Europe, United States, Canada 

and Japan attended the meeting. The groups 

evaluated their 1992 campaigns and 

proposed several campaigns to be launched 

in 1993. 

The international solidarity movement 

was very honored that five representatives 

of the East Timorese resistance were also 

present at the meeting: Abilio Araujo (Head 

of the External Delegation of FRETILIN), 

José Ramos Horta (Special Representative 

of CNRM, the National Council of Maubere 

Resistance), Constancio Pinto (Executive 

Secretary for the Clandestine Front, 

CNRM), José Amorim Dias (CNRM 

Representative for Europe) and Zacarias da 

Costa (UDT Regional Committee, Portugal). 

In the last few months, the level of repression 

inside East Timor has increased 

markedly. In the wake of the November 20, 

1992 arrest of resistance leader Xanana 

Gusmão, the occupying Indonesian military 

forces have rounded up scores of other East 

Timorese, both civilians and from the underground 

resistance. They have intensified 

the terror to its worst level in a decade. 

Nevertheless, the solidarity groups were 

encouraged by the determination of the East


Timorese people to fight for their selfdetermination 

in extremely difficult circumstances. 

As they have since the 

Indonesian invasion of 1975, and during the 

killings of one-third of their population, the 

East Timorese people continue to struggle. 

The groups present were inspired by this 

commitment and rededicated ourselves to 

support them. 

The international solidarity groups on 

East Timor present at the Amsterdam 

meeting are sending the following message to 

the resistance in East Timor: 

• Acknowledging the difficult situation 

within East Timor, especially after the 

arrest of the leader of the national resistance, 

Xanana Gusmão, we want to express 

our deep concern with the ongoing 

struggle in East Timor against the 

Indonesian occupation. 

• The representatives of the solidarity 

groups from Europe, the United States, 

Canada and Japan, which were present at 

the meeting, also want to emphasize that 

we will continue to support the united 

front of East Timorese resistance under 

the new leadership of Mau Hunu. 

• The international solidarity movement 

will strengthen its effort in our own 

countries to contribute to the struggle of 

the East Timorese aiming to result in a 

genuine process of self- determination. 

• We are very concerned with the situation 

of East Timorese political prisoners in 

Indonesian jails, especially Xanana 

Gusmão, who have been tortured and 

forced to act against their own beliefs, 

and we demand their immediate freedom 

• We express our hope that the proposed 

talks between Portugal and Indonesia 

under the auspices of the Secretary 

General of the United Nations in April in 

Rome will show progress favourable to 

the East Timorese people. We want to 

emphasize the importance of the participation 

of representatives from the East 

Timor resistance in further negotiations 

on the future of the territory. 

• The international solidarity movement 

will continue to lobby our national parliaments, 

the European Parliament and 

international institutions and launch 

campaigns in order to direct the attention 

of the international community to the 

East Timor issue. 

EAST TIMOR WILL NOT BE 

FORGOTTEN! 

A LUTA CONTINUA! 

Amsterdam, February 21, 1993 

Komitee Indonesia, East Timor Group 

Holland, Funding Agency XminY, 

International Platform of Jurists for East 

Timor, Front Demokrasi Indonesia, Aksi 

Setiakawan, Free Papua Movement, 

Indonesian Resources Information Project 

(Holland); Tapol, British Coalition for East 

Timor (United Kingdom); East Timor 

Ireland Solidarity Campaign (Ireland); 

Initiative fur die Menschenrechte aller 

Burger Innen der ASEAN-Staaten 

(Germany); SOS Timor (Belgium); Agir 

pour Timor, Association Timor-Oriental 

(France); Comissao para os Direitos do 

Povo Maubere, Paz es Possivel em Timor 

Leste, Oporto University, Paz e Justica 

para Timor Leste (Portugal); Coordinamento 

Italiano dei Gruppi di Solidarieta con il 

Populi Timorese (Italy); Timor Oriental 

(Luxembourg); Osttimor Kommitten 

(Sweden); Japanese Supporting Committee 

for Darwin East Timorese School, Free East 

Timor Japan Coalition (Japan); East Timor 

Action Network (USA); East Timor Alert 

Network (Canada). 

YEAR OF THE SANDALWOOD 

EXHIBITION, LISBON 

On March 21st, World Tree Day, a special 

exhibition about environmental issues in 

East Timor, will be opened to the public, in 

Lisbon. The main focus will be forestry 

issues with special emphasis on the 

Sandalwood Tree which is under threat of 

extinction. This species once flourished in 

East Timor but during the Sixteenth and 

Nineteenth centuries it was extensively used 

as a form of trade due to its spicy oil and 

precious wood. 

WE NEED YOUR SUPPORT! 

In addition to information panels, with 

photos and texts, we will be setting up a 

“Message board” for visitors. We would like 

to invite you and your friends to join in and 

send poems, messages, stories etc. so that 

these too can be displayed on our board. 

This exhibition is a joint effort and supported 

by the Commisão de Defensa do 

Povo Maubere, Amigos da Terra-Friends of 

the Earth Portugal, the Lisbon City Council 

and others. This will run until April 11th, 

and everyone is welcome to come and visit 

the exhibition in the “Casa de Timor” or 

House of Timor. 

PS your messages can also be sent by fax 

to: Amigos da Terra 351 1 347 3586 and we 

will pass them on! Thanks for your help. 

EVANS FACES PROTEST 

OVER TIMOR 

Green Left Weekly, March 2. By Nick 

Everett 

BRISBANE - Foreign minister Gareth 

Evans, addressing a breakfast on Australia’s 

trade relations with Asia, faced questions 

and a protest picket from members of Aksi - 

Indonesia Solidarity Action on February 25. 

Evans described Australia’s relationship 

with Indonesia as “very strong, very firm, 

very close” and claimed this to be “a much 

more productive environment for working 

change, both political and economic, than 

maintaining the kind of stridency” of countries 

“like Portugal [which] jump up and 

down on the international scene whenever 

some tragedy like Dili occurs.” 

Aksi spokesperson Brenden Greenhill 

stated, “Indonesia’s invasion of East Timor 

has, since 1975, cost the lives of 200,000 

people. The massacre in Dili, and continued 

human rights violations throughout 

Indonesia, reveal the intransigence of the 

regime. 

“The role of the Australian government, 

uncritically aiding the Suharto regime while 

companies like Woodside Petroleum and 

BHP plunder East Timor’s oil, makes Evans 

and the Labor government complicit in these 

atrocities.” 

DEBATE: PORTUGUESE 

TEACHERS RESOLUTION ON 

EAST TIMOR 

12th March 1993 

Note: The following text is the translation 

from FENPROF (National Teachers 

Federation) which was email by Bruno Kahn 

on 5th March. A letter by Teachers 

Association of the Republic of Indonesia is 

also included. 

Submitted by: FENPROF (Portugal) and 

ATU (Australia) 

East Timor - a forgotten people 

The military occupation of East Timor 

by the Indonesian army in 1975 has already 

caused the death of over 200.000 Timorese 

(a third of the population), the plight of tens 

of thousands and the creation of a climate of 

terror and intimidation. As Amnesty 

International has frequently made public, 

hundreds of young people are judged in 

summary fashion, without the right to any 

type of legal defence and very often 

condemned to death. Xanana Gusmão, the 

leader of the Timorese resistance against the 

Indonesian occupation for the last 16 years, 

is now facing that very same situation. 

Indonesia has also made determined


attempts to destroy the historical and 

cultural identity of the Timorese people. 

It is therefore proposed that the 34th 

WCOTP Assembly of Delegates, held in 

Stockholm from January 21 to 25, 1993, 

Register its concern at the Indonesian 

military occupation of the former 

Portuguese colony of East Timor, 

Register the fact that the UN has condemned 

the military occupation and never 

recognised Indonesian sovereignty over East 

Timor, 

Express its concern at the subversion of 

the cultural identity of the People of East 

Timor, who are not allowed to speak their 

national language and whose children are 

forcibly educated in the Indonesian language, 

culture and traditions, 

Express its revulsion at the violation of 

Human Rights carried out in East Timor, 

especially the massacre, on November 12, 

1991 of unarmed peaceful civilians by the 

Indonesian occupying forces, and the subsequent 

treatment meted out to the perpetrators, 

very lenient indeed in comparison 

with the heightened repression of the 

Timorese in the wake of the massacre, 

Call on the international community to 

demand that the Indonesian Government 

withdraw its troops from East Timor and 

allow the decolonisation programme to 

continue by means of negotiations between 

Portugal, Indonesia and East Timor, under 

the auspices of the United Nations. 

INDONESIANS REBUT RESOLUTION 

The Indonesian delegation which call 

themselves Teachers Association of the 

Republic of Indonesia reacted badly to this 

resolution with the aid of their government 

officials in Stockholm they came out with the 

following standard response. We thought it 

is wise to spend sometime sending you this 

Indonesian standard propaganda so that all 

the interested individuals and groups can 

use them to prepare their response in any 

international conference that they might take 

part in the future. We will in a different item 

also include some of our comments to this. 

The Indonesian standard propaganda 

includes: 

1. An introductory letter and; 

2. a paper entitled “The reply of PGRI” 

1. Dear Colleagues, 

You might have received a letter dated 14 

October 1991 from teachers’ organization in 

Portugal, FENPROF, asking your 

organization to send a protest to the 

Indonesian Government, and you might 

have also received a request from the same 

organization asking for the support of your 

organization for a resolution concerning East 

Timor. From our stand point of view, the 

issue raised by the Portuguese teachers’ 

organization and the resolution to be presented 

to the WCOTP Assembly in 

Stockholm are not based on the true facts on 

East Timor, but they are based on malicious 

and misleading allegation of the number of 

lives lost in East Timor during and after the 

process of integration. Even it goes so far as 

recklessly accusing Indonesia of “genocide.” 

In order that you get a true picture of 

East Timor, we would like to give you some 

information for your consideration before 

you make any decision on the FENPROF 

draft resolution: 

1. Portugal colonized East Timor for 

1509 - 1974. In 1974, Portugal’s new regime 

announced that its overseas territories, 

including East Timor, would be given 

democratic rights. Fully conformed with 

that new policy, five political parties were 

organized in preparation for self-determination 

in East Timor; they are: Apodeti, 

UDT, Trabalhista, Kota and Fretilin. In 

1975, Portuguese government abandoned 

Dili, the governor and staff return to Lisbon, 

and Fretilin, the pro-Portuguese extreme 

party, issued a unilateral declaration of 

independence without benefit of any act of 

self-determination. As a counter measure, 

the four other parties issued their 

proclamation of independence and simultaneous 

integration of East Timor with the 

Republic of Indonesia. Fretilin forces seized 

control of Dili, the capital of East Timor, 

touching off the civil war. The other four 

parties’ forces together with Indonesian 

volunteers began the process of restoring 

order in East Timor. With the capture of the 

Fretilin’s last guerrilla leader in November 

1992, life of the people in East Timor has 

been fully back to normal. 

2. In August 1975, the colonial authorities 

in Dili, in a most irresponsible manner, 

simply packed up and left East Timor, after 

allowing the situation in the territory to 

deteriorate to the point of civil war by secretly 

turning over its arms and ammunition 

to one particular minority group, Fretilin. 

By utterly failing in its responsibility, 

Portugal in fact has forfeited any right to be 

still considered the “administering power” 

of East Timor. In the face of this, the East 

Timorese people had rightly assumed the 

inherent rights to decolonize themselves, 

considering themselves no longer bound to 

any decolonization covenant with erstwhile 

colonial power. This they did by choosing 

independence through integration with 

Indonesia in accordance with UN General 

Assembly Resolution 1541 (XV) and 

Principles VI, VIII and IX of General 

Assembly Resolution 1541 (XV) and as 

further confirmed by the relevant provisions 

of General Assembly Resolution 2625 

(XXV). 

3. The critics charge that East Timor’s 

population decreased by 200.000 after the 

integration, thus implying that about onethird 

of the population has either perished 

or disappeared, and some even go far as 

recklessly accusing Indonesia of “genocide.” 

This juggling of number represent of 

numbers represents a shameless distortion 

of the tragic facts surrounding Portugal’s 

mishandled decolonization of East Timor 

and shows a complete and often deliberate 

misreading of the process of population 

surveying and census-taking that has taken 

place prior to following the departure of the 

colonial government. 

The only internationally accepted census 

of East Timor was taken in 1980 by the 

Government of Indonesia. The resulting 

population figure – 555.350 persons – 

seemed to show a decline of some 69.000 

from the last colonial estimate of 624.264. 

The true difference will never be know: 

colonial authorities themselves acknowledged 

their figure for 1874 are estimates 

based on reports by village headmen, whose 

counts were never verified by the 

Portuguese Government. These figures and 

the apparent short-fall in population have 

subsequently been eagerly seized upon by 

Indonesia’s critics and, through a process of 

mutual citation, have not only constantly 

repeated but gradually exaggerated to reach 

what has now become the fabricated and 

completely unsubstantiated claim of 

200,000 lives lost. 

Careful examination of the facts by several 

observers, including respected Western 

journalists, suggest that war-related death 

numbered around 5,000 with another 25,000 

victims of malnutrition and disease brought 

about by a war-ravaged economy and a 

gross lack health care services. That people 

have died of victims is highly irresponsible 

and simply dishonest. It is hoped, therefore, 

that this unsavory number game can finally 

be put to an end. 

4. Since East Timor was integrated into 

the Republic of Indonesia, the Government 

has worked carefully to ensure that cultural 

traditions are maintained, local languages are 

preserved and religious practices are 

respected. East Timor, like the rest of 

Indonesia, is a province of extraordinary 

ethic, religious and cultural diversity - a 

piece of the diversity, no one group is 

dominant. Respect and tolerance for different 

cultural and religious tradition is at heart 

of our national philosophy, Pancasila. 

5. Since the integration, the living conditions 

of the people in East Timor have 

improved tremendously, especially in education, 

health, religion telecommunication 

and transportation. At the time of integration, 

there are 580 primary schools, 94 

junior high schools, 44 senior high schools,


and 1 polytechnic and one university 

(tertiary level). 

6. At present, East Timor is an internal 

affair of Indonesia, which could be considered 

as a bilateral matter between the 

Indonesian and Portuguese Government. 

Meetings between the two governments are 

being held with the auspices of the Secretary 

General of the United Nations. On 

December 17, 1992, the Indonesian and 

Portuguese Foreign Ministers hold a meeting 

with the auspices of the UN Secretary 

General to find the most optimum solution 

on East Timor matter and the meeting will 

be continued on April 1993. It is best we 

respect the two parties involved by allowing 

them to solve the East Timor case. 

After having presented the true facts and 

an accurate information on East Timor, we 

sincerely hope that some misunderstanding 

about East Timor will be put to an end. The 

Teachers Association of the Republic of 

Indonesia (PGRI) is against any effort to 

put the issue of East Timor in the agenda of 

WCOTP Assembly in Stockholm, especially 

because the FENPROF draft resolution 

is based on malicious and misleading 

allegation and distorted facts about East 

Timor. Your understanding and cooperation 

on this matter is highly appreciated. 

With best wishes, Merry Christmas and 

Happy New Year. 

Sincerely Yours, 

(W.D.F. Rindorindo) Secretary General 

The reply of PGRI (The Teachers 

Association of the Republic of Indonesia) to 

the draft resolutions on East Timor. 

Submitted by FENPROF and ATU 

INTRODUCTION 

The Indonesian teachers in this 

Assembly express their grave concern on the 

activities of FENPROF, the teacher’s union 

of Portugal, and the ATU, Australian 

Teachers Union, in circulating the draft 

resolutions concerning the so called-issue of 

East Timor as contained in the compilation 

of Working Papers of WCOTP. 

These draft resolution are especially appalling 

not only because they will politicize 

the nature and the deliberation of the 

Indonesian teachers in this Assembly, but 

also because they are based on distorted 

inferences, slanders and innuendoes. 

We honestly do not know what is the 

true motivation behind these draft resolutions. 

Unlike other resolutions, the nature of 

these draft resolutions is particularly directed 

to single out a particular country and 

a government in order to denigrate the good 

name of that country, which is our country, 

Indonesia. 

FENPROF and ATU never consult us 

Indonesian teachers or extend the usual 

teacher to teacher professional courtesy to 

discuss any matter in a spirit of unity and 

solidarity when drafting or submitting the 

draft resolutions to the Secretariat of 

WCOTP. The way these resolutions are 

being drafted and submitted are simply 

anathema to the unity theme that we teachers 

in this Assembly are supposed to espouse 

and develop. 

Upon the efforts of the Chairman of the 

Committee on Resolution, the representatives 

of FENPROF and ATU did have discussion 

with the representatives of PGRI 

yesterday, 22 January 1993. They said that 

their draft resolutions were based on human 

rights concerns. However, the way they are 

drafted and presented to us we cannot help 

but to disagree. We are not the one who 

started this unfortunate debate in this 

Assembly, but in an effort to end this 

confrontation to an acceptable solution, we 

are ready to offer a draft compromise which 

is neutral in character without blaming 

anybody or any government. 

We Indonesian teachers after suffering for 

350 years of colonialism do not need any 

lesson from foreigners about how to 

promote human rights, especially from 

those people who were once the worst colonialist 

in history. We believe the best way 

to promote human rights is by cooperation 

and the promotion of mutual understanding 

and certainly is not by heaping abuses, 

pointing accusatory finger and by shouting 

words of rhetoric based on self-altruism. 

Keeping in mind human rights abuses are 

happening everywhere, the approach taken 

by FENPROF and ATU will only plunge 

the Assembly into bitter fighting, enmity, 

hatred and division among its members. 

Some people accused that Indonesia has 

closed the border of East Timor. This is 

simply not true. Various people, either they 

are journalists, representatives of NGOs or 

foreign diplomats were are visiting East 

Timor. These people, however, request 

permission politely and quietly to enter our 

country. To the, we seldom say no. Indeed, 

Portuguese journalists have visited 

Indonesia including East Timor, but 

Indonesia journalists are prevented by the 

Portuguese government to enter Portugal 

when they requested to visit East Timorese 

in Portugal. 

To those who shout and hurl abuses to 

us from across the street and then knock our 

door demanding to enter our house, with 

great respect we have and will turn it down. 

We cannot have our pride being injured and 

our arm being twisted and then ask us to 

surrender by opening our door. We have 

been physically colonized before and we 

will never be colonized once again, not even 

mentally. 

Some people has said that they are not 

against our country and our people, but 

only our government. This kind of tactic 

only remind us of the old colonial strategy 

of “devide et impera (divide and conquer).” 

Perhaps, our perception is wrong; but our 

history has shown us that when we are divided 

we fell, and that is exactly why our 

people before can be colonized for centuries. 

We respect them when they said that 

they are free to criticize their own government. 

We do not argue at all with that. We 

are also free to constructively criticizes our 

own government, but we declined when 

foreigners asked us to join them in criticizing 

our own people and our own government, 

especially when believe that criticism is 

based on distorted inferences. It is not our 

social and political value. 

We Indonesian teachers do not have the 

slightest intention to turn this Assembly 

into divisive political arena. Politics are not 

our profession. We are teachers and not the 

political representatives of our government. 

We believe the question of East Timor is 

best left to be solved by the United Nations. 

it is that international body which has the 

full knowledge and the capability to solve 

such kind of political problem. 

Unfortunately, we Indonesian teachers are 

put in a place by FENPROF and ATU with 

no other option but to defend the good name 

of our country by rejecting point by point 

their baseless allegations as contained in 

their draft resolutions. 

We Indonesian teachers understand this 

will take some of your valuable time. We 

humbly apologise for it, but FENPROF and 

ATU have given us no other choice. We 

Indonesian teachers have been put in a “fait 

accompli” situation to defend ourselves. 

FENPROF DRAFT RESOLUTION 

The points in paragraph 1 

FENPROF cited in its draft resolution 

the repeated baseless accusation that 

Indonesia militarily occupied East Timor. 

The fact is that long before the alleged 

Indonesian invasion on 7 December 1975, 

Portugal in August 1975 in most irresponsible 

manner abandoned East Timor after 

allowing the territory plunged into a civil 

war. 

Indonesia literally beg the Portuguese to 

return to East Timor, because people were 

killing each other and thousands of refugees 

streamed into Indonesian territory of West 

Timor. Portugal fails to re-establish its 

presence and instead the Tropaz, the 

Portuguese colonial army, secretly turned its 

weaponry to one particular pro-Community 

group, the Fretilin, hoping this favoured 

group by the then left leaning government in 

Lisbon, could eliminated the other groups 

which were representing the majority of the 

East Timorese. These other groups were 

UDT, Apodeti, Kota and Trabalhista, which


after seeing the brutality of the Fretilin and 

the Tropaz, opted to gain independence 

through integration with the Republic of 

Indonesia. 

After defeating the Fretilin, these other 

groups formed a provisional government. 

They held election and formed an Assembly 

of representatives. This Assembly then 

passed a motion of their wish to gain independence 

by integrating East Timor with the 

Republic of Indonesia. This fact have 

always been concealed or distorted by those 

who support the Fretilin up to this day. We 

have living witness, an East Timorese in the 

group of PGRI here in Stockholm. He is 

more than happy to explain to you of this 

true story in East Timor. 

During the 450 years of colonial period, 

Portugal had never developed East Timor, 

let alone carrying out a responsible population 

census. It was Indonesia in 1980 which 

carried out a census using the internationally 

accepted standard. The resulting population 

figure was 555,350 persons. This figure 

suggested a decline of 69,000 persons, 

included in it around 40,000 persons who 

fled the civil war and took refuge in the 

Indonesian western part of the island of 

Timor. If we compared these figures with 

the last colonial government estimate that 

the population in East Timor was 624,564, 

therefore, the loss of lives was about 20,000 

people due to the civil war and the 

immediate ensuing famine. However, 

Indonesia’s critics, through a process of 

mutual citation, constantly and gradually 

exaggerated the figure to reach the baseless 

claim of 200,000 lives that had been lost and 

then put the blame on Indonesia. 

FENPROF claimed that, as frequently 

denounced by Amnesty International, hundreds 

of young people summarily judged 

and sentenced to death in East Timor. This 

is just not true. Not even a dozen people 

that have been sentenced to death in 

Indonesia. These persons were involved in 

the Indonesian Communist Party bloody 

coup d’état in 1965, terrorists who hijacked 

a civilian airliner, and two criminals 

committing multiple murder crime. They 

were not East Timorese and have nothing to 

do with the case of East Timor. 

The Points in Paragraph 2 

FENPROF accused that Indonesia tried 

to destroy East Timor’s historical and cultural 

identity. This is also not true. 

Promoting the culture of Timor is nothing 

new for Indonesia, because East Timor 

shares the same small island and culture 

with West Timor. Only these detractors 

pretended to perceive that the two are different. 

The island of Timor was formally 

divided into two in 1859 by two colonial 

powers, the Dutch and the Portuguese. East 

Timor was colonized by the Portuguese 

since the early 16th century. 

The western part of the island of Timor, 

together with their brothers and sisters in 

other parts of the Indonesian archipelago, 

gained independence from the Dutch in 

1945. Unfortunately, the Portuguese still 

clutched East Timor under their colonial 

power until they irresponsibly abandoned 

the territory in August 1975. 

Indonesia takes pride as a land country of 

“unity in diversity” as inscribed in its 

national coat of arm. The so-called culture of 

Indonesia is comprising each and every 

culture belonging to more than 350 ethnic 

groups in the Indonesian teachers to promote 

Indonesian culture, meaning each and 

every one of these existing culture in 

Indonesia, including the one in East Timor. 

Thus, there is nothing farther than the 

truth when FENPROF accused that the East 

Timorese are forbidden to speak their language. 

Tetum is the language spoken by the 

Timorese, in East as well as in West Timor. 

Indonesian language is the official language 

in Indonesia and is used as the media in each 

and every school in Indonesia. However, 

since the promotion of each and every 

culture in the archipelago is a constitutional 

duty, therefore, Indonesian teachers are 

required to preserve each and every language 

that exists in Indonesia. Accordingly, “local” 

language is a compulsory subject and is 

taught in each and every school where that 

school is located. Meaning, Tetum is taught 

not only in East Timor but also in West 

Timor, just like Javanese language is taught 

in Java or Balinese language in Bali. 

It is true that Portuguese language in not 

taught in Indonesia. However, like most 

countries in this world, other languages area 

also being taught in Indonesia schools. 

English is a compulsory subject. French, 

German, Arabic and Japanese languages are 

also taught as optional subjects. 

History seems to suggest that it was the 

Portuguese themselves who may have tried, 

perhaps unintentionally, to destroy the historical 

and cultural identity of East Timor. 

Nearly all East Timorese were made culturally 

ashamed if they do not adopt 

Portuguese name. Whereas the majority of 

the rest of the population in the Indonesian 

archipelago are proudly using their local and 

traditional names. Furthermore, during it s 

450 years of colonial period in East Timor, 

Portugal provided for the entire East 

Timorese a meager number of 47 elementary 

schools with 2 or 4 years of education and 2 

junior and one senior high schools. There 

were no kindergarten or institution of higher 

learning. The rate of illiteracy was as high as 

92 percent. It is very clear that the 

Portuguese had tried to kill the culture of the 

East Timorese by depriving them the right 

to adequate education for more than 4 

centuries. 

Today, after gaining their independence 

through integration with the rest of the 

Republic of Indonesia, and in only a period 

of 16 years, in East Timor there are 587 

elementary schools with 6 years of education, 

91 junior high schools, 39 senior high 

schools and 3 higher learning institutions (2 

polytechnic, 1 university). There are also 13 

kindergartens. The rate of illiteracy is 

drastically reduced to 20 percent. We 

Indonesian teachers believe that this the 

way to promote human rights, silently but 

making concrete and helpful contribution. 

The Points In Paragraph 3 

FENPROF lamented that the international 

community remained silent about 

their allegation. The truth is, through tactic 

of disinformation, Portugal in the beginning 

did manage to gain supports in the middle of 

1970’s. However, gradually when nations 

learned about the actual facts, many changed 

side to support Indonesia while many 

others remained neutral. This will be 

explained in the next paragraph. 

The Points In Paragraph 4 

FENPROF alleged that the United 

Nations have approved resolution recognizing 

the right of East Timor to what it called 

“auto-determination..” This is based on halftruth. 

In mid-December 1975, in the efforts 

to conceal its guilt of bungling the 

decolonization process in East Timor, 

Portugal, through fabricated stories, accused 

Indonesia of disrupting the process of 

decolonization by invading the territory. 

Then Portugal requested the United Nations 

to consider the question of East Timor. 

Unaware of the real situation, the majority 

member of the United Nations in a 

resolution recommended the Security 

Council to take urgent action to protect the 

territorial integrity and the inalienable rights 

of the East Timorese to self-determination. 

The resolution in 1976 was adopted with 72 

countries supporting Portugal, 43 

abstaining, and only 10 supporting 

Indonesia by rejecting the resolution. 

However, when nations learned more of 

the real problem, they changed their votes. 

In 1982, the 72 votes for Portugal decreased 

to 50, the support for Indonesia rose 

dramatically from 10 to 48. In the Nonaligned 

Movement, member countries 

unanimously rejected the proposal to recognize 

Fretilin as a national liberation 

movement and the so-called question of East 

Timor was since then erased from its 

agenda. 

Looking at the voting number itself can 

also be misleading. Each year the resolution 

was pressed by the international community 

to be diluted and neutralized if this was to


maintain continued support. By 1982, the 

content of the resolution had been changed 

so drastically that nations started wondering 

whether the resolution had achieved 

anything at all except for prolonging 

unnecessarily the so-called question of East 

Timor. Unlike the earlier resolutions, the 

last resolution adopted by the United 

Nations did not contain any operative paragraph 

challenging the validity of the East 

Timorese integration process. Instead , in 

the last resolution, the General Assembly 

merely requested the Secretary-General “to 

initiate consultations with all parties directly 

concerned, with a view to exploring 

all avenues for achieving a comprehensive 

settlement of the problem.” Despite its 

“weak” content the resolution was nearly 

defeated. It was carried by a mere two 

votes. 

What did this all mean? The last resolution, 

of course, has superseded the earlier 

resolutions. However, in various debate 

some people just ignore this fact. Moreover, 

now there are at least 48 countries which 

firmly supported the Indonesian position on 

the integration of East Timor, but we do not 

know how many of those 50 countries 

really supported the position on the 

question of self-determination process. That 

is why, since the 1982, year after year, the 

United Nations voted to defer the debate on 

the question of East Timor and to let the 

Secretary-General, Indonesia and Portugal to 

find a solution through a dialog. The last 

dialog was carried out on 17 December 1992 

and the next session will be in Rome on 20 

April 1993. 

On the point about the resolution of the 

European Parliament, we Indonesian teachers 

can only say that Indonesia is not a 

member of that Parliament and obviously 

Indonesia cannot defend itself adequately 

against those people who launched the 

baseless allegations in the proceeding. 

ATU DRAFT RESOLUTION 

Australia as a government and a national 

recognized the sovereignty of Indonesia in 

East Timor. Despite some protest of minority 

of people in Australia, the Australian 

government signed an agreement called “The 

Timor Gap Treaty” with Indonesia, and the 

Australian parliament support the 

Australian government position by ratifying 

the treaty. This treaty explicitly and legally 

recognized the sovereignty of Indonesia in 

East Timor. It is apparent, therefore, ATU 

represents the view of that minority in 

Australia in opposing Indonesia on the 

question of East Timor. 

We Indonesian teachers in this Assembly 

have friendly relation with many Australian 

teachers. The overwhelming majority of 

Australia people and the government of 

Australia enjoy excellent relationship with 

their counterparts in Indonesia. Thus, it is 

with deep regret that we have to fight with 

some of our Australian counterparts in this 

Assembly in our defense against the 

slanderous ATU draft resolution. We wish 

to reiterate, we are not the one who started 

this divisive debate. 

Points in Preambular Paragraph 1,2 & 3 

The above arguments put forward in refuting 

FENPROF proposal are relevant in 

this respect. 

Points In Preambular Paragraph 5 

We Indonesian teachers are equally 

shocked and deeply regret the tragic incident 

of 12 November 1991 in Dili, East Timor. 

However, we believe that our country has 

reacted more than adequate to this tragedy. 

Our President repeatedly and in front of the 

Indonesian House of Representatives 

expressed his deepest regret and conveyed 

humbly his condolence to the bereaved 

families in East Timor caused by the 

tragedy. 

It was the President himself which instructed 

the government to establish an independent 

National Commission of Inquiry 

into the tragedy. As a demonstration of his 

deep concern and in order to obtain a thorough, 

unbiased and impartial report on the 

matter, he requested not a member of the 

government but the Supreme Court to 

nominate a supreme judge to head the seven 

member Commission. 

The Commission’s report was straight 

forward. It apportioned blame where blame 

was due; and it concluded by stressing that 

in order to hold justice, all those who were 

violating the law must be held accountable. 

Many countries commended Indonesia on 

this action, including the Australian government 

the United States government and 

the European Council. 

On receiving the report and using his 

constitutional power, the President removed 

from their posts two senior generals 

responsible for the security in East Timor. 

The President then instructed the Army 

Chief of Staff to set up an Honorary 

Military Council to determine what went 

wrong and the accountability of the military 

personnel involved in the tragedy. Base on 

the findings of the Council, trials were held 

and witnessed by various domestic and 

foreign journalists, diplomats and representatives 

of NGOs. The others were removed 

from their posts and faced disciplinary consequences. 

Undoubtedly, Indonesian action 

stand in contrast with that of many nations 

in dealing with such kind tragedy when its 

involved military personnel. 

Unfortunately, some people chose to 

turn a blind eye on this fact and continued 

their campaign to denigrate Indonesia. 

Nothing seems to satisfy them except to 

bring Indonesia into total humiliation. This 

we cannot accept and we will defend the 

honour of our country in any Assembly. 

Points In The Last Paragraph 

We Indonesian teachers are truly mystified 

with this paragraph. It is clearly drafted 

by people who are trying to heap all kinds 

of sinister motivation towards Indonesia or 

are ignorant of the facts on the question of 


The international community cannot be 

called to resume a dialog while the dialog 

itself has resumed and is continuing. The 

next session of the dialog, as mentioned 

above, will be in Rome on 20 April 1993. 

Thus, this paragraph is totally pointless. 

Furthermore, the international community 

cannot call the withdrawal of Indonesian 

troops out of Indonesian territory. As 

stated above at least there are 48 countries 

in the United Nations, including Australia, 

recognized Indonesian sovereignty over East 

Timor. The Non-Aligned movement consisting 

of 118 countries have also ceased to 

discuss the issue of East Timor. 

Conclusion 

It is obvious that these two draft resolutions 

are either drafted on the basis of distorted 

inferences, slanders and innuendoes 

or simply ignorance. 

If the latter is true then we respectfully 

request that they be withdrawn and not 

submitted to be debated in the Assembly. 

Accordingly, we extend our thanks for the 

mutual understanding and cooperation. 

After all we are only teachers, not politicians. 

If the former its true, then these drafts 

are politically motivated. The human rights 

arguments are used only as a pretext to gain 

sympathy and support in the efforts to 

denigrate our country. Accordingly, we the 

Indonesian teachers respectfully request the 

kind support of members of this Assembly 

to reject the draft resolutions of FENPROF 

and ATU with regard to East Timor. 

Keeping in mind that there are abuses of 

human rights in nearly every part of the 

world, these resolutions will serve as a bad 

precedence. These resolutions are against 

the spirit of unity and solidarity that we 

teachers are supposed to espouse and develop 

in accordance with the teacher unity 

theme. Such kind of resolutions will only 

create bitterness and sow the seeds of 

enmity and hatred among members of this 

Assembly. we must reject this bad precedence. 

STOCKHOLM, 21 JANUARY 1993 

PGRI (The Teachers Association of the 

Republic of Indonesia)


INDONESIAN PROPAGANDA 

DEBUNKED 

Sydney, 16 Mar 1993. By Agio Pereira 

The above Indonesian propaganda has set 

a “standard.” That is, the bulk of the 

Indonesian arguments are simply aiming at 

the so-called (economic) developmental 

nature of their occupation of East Timor. 

Everywhere, their argument is the same. 

Hence, we decided to throw in these arguments 

used by the Indonesian teachers 

with the hope that they reach all interested 

Timorese supporters. Once you have it, you 

can read and become accustomed to these 

arguments and. in the process, organise your 

own response/s. 

Here are some comments we would like 

to make regarding this Indonesian propaganda 

fiction matrix: 

Fiction number 1: Education 

A person uninformed about the political 

process of East Timor might be manipulated 

by the figures the Indonesian government 

publishes frequently in their propaganda 

bulletins. The Indonesian teachers 

distributed tables of information in the 

Stockholm-Sweden conference of Teachers, 

showing dramatic increase in the number of 

primary and high schools, including universities. 

They also show that they have 

dramatically increased the number of medical 

personnel, doctors, hospitals and clinics 


However, these are simply sterile figures, 

hiding behind the scenes a mammoth 

tragedy. For instance, about 150,000 

transmigrants have made their way to East 

Timor. The bulk of these transmigrants are 

relatives of the Indonesian soldiers and 

public servants. In Dili, there are 120,000 

households today. The bulk of these people 

are transmigrants. More than 120,000 

households, but only 300 households 

benefit from tap water. 

Even the water system is not funded by 

the Indonesian government. It is, in fact, a 

scheme funded by the Australian government 

agency - AIDAB. The funding for this 

project was costed at $A6 to $A10 million 

dollars in 1990. Last year, prior to his first 

trip to Jakarta, Prime Minister of Australia 

Paul Keating had increased the funding to up 

to $A30 million dollars. He outlined the aim: 

to develop East Timor and reach reconciliation. 

The rational is the same: they 

think (and seem to believe) that the 

Timorese people stands up against 

Indonesia simply because the people of East 

Timor have not been given enough goodies! 

In November 1991, I met a catholic priest 

who was in Dili during the Santa Cruz 

Massacre looking at the educational system. 

He said to me that he was terrified with the 

“textbooks” used in the schools in East 

Timor; if anything, he said, they teach only 

Indonesian politics with special focus on 

“Pancasila.” It the Indonesianisation of the 

Timorese society that the Indonesian 

military is trying desperately to achieve. 

Fiction number 2: Hospitals/health 

There are 10 hospitals in East Timor today 

compared to only 2 in 1974, the 

Indonesian government says. However, the 

Timorese people are frightened to use these 

hospitals for fear of being killed while they 

are hospitalized. Five years ago, I made it 

public in Australia that the Indonesian 

doctors have been using outdated medicine 

to treat Timorese patients in the hospitals. 

The Indonesian government reacted by 

saying that it all “Fretilin propaganda.” 

Some days later, the former Indonesian 

puppet gubernur - Mario Carrascalão himself, 

said that boxes of outdated medicine 

have been used and he asked for the doctors 

responsible to be sent back to Jakarta. 

The hospitals are purely equipped to the 

point where a promise of second hand 

hospital equipment made by a former Chief 

Minister in Darwin-NT made headlines. The 

Timorese youth that were killed in the 

massacre of Santa Cruz and immediately 

after, were taken away to be buried in the 

pits dug specially for that purpose. They 

were not taken to these famous hospitals to 

be treated as human beings. Many more 

students were left wounded in the hospitals 

without treatment so that they can die as 

soon as possible. These may sound unbelievable; 

but when you hear the story recounted 

by eyewitnesses of these horrible 

crimes, you understand how traumatized the 

Timorese people are. 

A well-known medical doctor from 

Australia, wrote this, after three weeks unofficial 

visit to Dili, East Timor, last year: 

“The main persisting health problems 

are: TB, Malaria, Dysentery, Leprosy, 

Nutritional Deficiencies. 

“In the course of my travels I saw 

frequent evidence of intercurrent infections - 

discharging noses, coughs, skin lesions and 

sores. It seemed that there was sufficient 

basic grain food available but not enough 

protein and vitamin supplement. (...) There 

is little food to spare. There is real need for 

more polyclinics, primary health care 

centres and community nurses.” 

In his conclusion, this Doctor wrote one 

sentence that summarizes everything: 

“East Timor is a police/military state. Its 

people are being systematically obliterated” 

Fiction number 3: Economic 

development 

The Indonesian propaganda says that 

there are now 536 Km of paved road comparing 

to only 20 Km made by the 

Portuguese up to 1974. 

Everyone that return from East Timor 

accepts that the paved roads are of very 

poor quality. Only one wet season is 

enough to de-asphalt most of these roads. 

There are also strong military and 

Indonesian military economic reasons to 

pave those roads as quick as possible so 

that they can kill the Timorese and loot 

everything they can from the Timorese, before 

it becomes too late! 

Let’s look at some facts. 

The Timor Gap Treaty is a clear proof of 

gigantic looting of the Timorese people’s 

natural resources. The facts exempt us from 

adding more information on this matter. 

As far as business goes, the military took 

over all the business in East Timor. PT 

Batara Indra Group, PT Denok and PT 

Backri are the most prominent companies 

with total monopoly of East Timor resources. 

Very few Timorese that managed to 

set up some sort of business, find themselves 

in “tetters” as soon as the Indonesian 

generals suspect them of any involvement 

with the Timorese National Resistance. One 

businessman, called Oscar Lima, has been 

held incommunicado since the capture of 

Commander Xanana Gusmão. He was 

forced to testify against Xanana in the 

Indonesian court. Yet, he is still being held 

incommunicado and all his business taken 

over by the army. 

The head of PT Batara Indra Group is 

Robby Sumampouw, a close friend of 

General Benny Murdani. Suamampouw 

owns the franchise licence on direct shipping 

between Dili and Singapore. A percentage 

of his profits are also used to buy 

Portuguese wines, Portuguese ‘bacalau’ and 

American cigarettes to be sold in Dili. The 

port of Dili has been declared a duty free 

port in order to allow Suamanpouw all the 

facilities he can dream of. Sumanpouw also 

bought the Turismo Hotel two years ago 

and he now owns the expensive Makota 

Hotel. 

PT Denok is a military control company 

which has the monopoly of coffee export of 

East Timor. The only coffee that is not 

strictly controlled by PT Denok is the coffee 

from “Fazenda Algarve,” owned by the 

Carrascalao family. This exemption was 

made possible as a pay for the servant 

obedience of former Indonesian gubernur 

Mario Carrascalao. The Carrascalao brothers 

have recently bought more land in the 

surrounding area in order to increase their 

coffee business. In general, the Timorese 

have no choice but to sell their crop to PT 

Denok under a price stipulated by the generals 

themselves.


The “godfather” of PT Denok is general 

Benny Murdani. Gen. Benny Murdani used 

to be known as the “president” of the 

Committee for the Development of East 

Timor. It simply means that every aid from 

abroad must pass through him. 

PT Denok has set up partnership with 

PT Batara Indra to exploit sandal wood in 

East Timor. It is said that, unlike Imelda 

Marcos who has shoes disease, Mrs. Tien 

“per cent” Suharto, has sandalwood oil disease; 

she has been reported to have express 

interest in the sandalwood industry in East 

Timor and apparently she is already into 

sandalwood perfume (in East Timor). 

Suharto’s family has extensive interest in 

East Timor. The latest connection was 

found to be with the mining and processing 

of marbles in Subao region, east of Dili. The 

operation is a co-operation between general 

Benny Murdani’s brother, Harry Murdani 

and Suharto’s family - according to an 

Australian source. 

This has not always been a happy honeymoon. 

Clashing interests have prompted 

public criticism made by general Benny 

Murdani against president Suharto’s family. 

General Benny Murdani made a remark in 

Dili, two years ago, saying that “this 

business of the president’s family is going 

too far!” What he did not say was that he 

was upset because of competition, between 

themselves, for Timorese national resources. 

Another Indonesian business group 

which has come into East Timor is the 

Wanandi Group. Wanandi Group has also a 

political role in East Timor. It is owned by 

Yusuf Wanandi and his brother Sofyan 

Wanandi. Yusuf Wanandi is the director of 

Indonesian government think-tank, CSIS 

(Centre for Strategic International Studies). 

Yusuf Wanandi has also a brother now well 

positioned inside the Timorese Catholic 

Church. His name is Marcus Wanandi, a 

Jesuit priest. Marcus Wanandi is always 

informed about any important church person 

that goes to East Timor and, often, he 

tends to be the “friendly guide” for these 

important visitors. Other priests would not 

show the sense of security and protection 

that Marcus Wanandi shows to his visitors. 

The Wanandi Group, directed by Sofyan 

Wanandi, is planning a 400 bed tourist resort 

in Baucau beach, using the international 

airport of Baucau, built by the Portuguese, 

as the main moving force. Mario 

Carrascalao, the former Indonesian gubernur, 

was known to be supportive of this project 

and he did ask Jakarta to allow the Baucau 

airport to be re-used so that this project of 

Wanandi Group can go ahead. Another 

ambition of Sofyan Wanandi is a golf course 

in Mau-Bisse. The political and military 

situation of East Timor, however, has not 

given these projects the “green light.” 

The Timorese people have no jobs and 

no chance to succeed at all. Instead, they are 

forced to leave their own country, go to 

other islands to look for survival. Many 

young Timorese are now in Ambon, forced 

to work in wood chipping - a very unpopular 

job in the sense that the company destroys 

the natural habitat of the people. 

Politically, it is of the interest of the generals 

to make the local people feel unhappy 

with the Timorese; and, culturally, it 

amounts to a process of genocide of the 

Timorese, in the sense that they are forced 

to leave their own homeland and Indonesian 

transmigrants take over. 

This is our small contribution to disarm 

the Indonesian generals’ propaganda. For 

more information, please contact us via 

email at etra@peg.apc.org. 

ASIA BOLDLY TAKING ON 

THE WEST 

by Leah Makabenta 

Jakarta, Mar. 22 (IPS) - Demonstrating 

that economic success can also mean power, 

dynamic Asian ‘tigers’ and ‘dragons’ are 

learning to use their rapid rise in the global 

economy as a political weapon. 

Unthinkable just a few years ago, Asia is 

now telling Europe and north America that 

it would reject western attempts to impose 

democracy, human rights and the environment 

as conditions for trade and aid to developing 

countries. 

Western-style democracy and its related 

values, according to Asian leaders like 

Singapore senior minister Lee Kuan Yew, 

have no universal validity and are particularly 

ill-suited to poor, unstable and divided 

developing societies. 

That they are succeeding was demonstrated 

recently, first by the Indonesians 

with the Dutch and then by the Association 

of South-East Asian Nations (ASEAN) 

against the European Community. 

Despite Jakarta’s unilateral ending of 

development cooperation with the 

Netherlands, its former colonial ruler, in 

1992, trade between the two countries increased 

in that period. 

Early this month, Austria was forced to 

set aside a law that would place restrictions 

on tropical timber imports because of pressure 

from Malaysia, Indonesia and their 

ASEAN partners. 

The law sought to protect the indiscriminate 

felling of tropical hardwoods by 

imposing a tax on their import and compulsory 

labeling of products made from such 

wood. 

Indonesia and Malaysia, the two top 

tropical timber exporters, stopped dealing in 

Austrian company shares. Worse, Austria 

found itself isolated, as other western 

countries failed to support it. 

Sources in development circles say 

German chancellor Helmut Kohl, who visited 

Indonesia and Singapore late last month 

to drum up Asian investment in the former 

east Germany, was firmly told not to 

interfere in human rights in the region. 

The sources said German aid agencies 

have been instructed to tone down their active 

support for the trade union movement 

and social activists in the region. 

This weekend, Beijing warned 

Washington it could lose out in the lucrative 

Sino-U.S. trade if it failed to renew China’s 

most favoured nation status (MFN). China 

has accused some members of the U.S. 

Congress of using the MFN issue to 

interfere in its internal affairs, meaning its 

human rights record. 

Citizens’ groups and non-governmental 

organisations (NGOs) have strongly rejected 

this reversal of the western policy of using 

threats of trade restrictions to promote 

human rights as a “crude form of economic 

determinism.” 

“While it is true that concepts of democracy 

and human rights emerged at a particular 

stage of western history, this is being 

used by authoritarian governments in Asia 

to reject pressures for political reform and 

civil liberties,” said a spokesman for the 

Kuala Lumpur-based Institute for Social 

Analysis (INSAN), an NGO that conducts 

research into labour and social issues. 

In early 1992, Indonesia refused to accept 

any more aid from the Netherlands 

which it accused of interfering in its domestic 

affairs. The Dutch had criticised the 

Indonesian army for firing at civilians in the 

former Portuguese colony of East Timor. 

The Netherlands was also expelled as 

chair of the 14-member inter-governmental 

group on Indonesia (IGGI), a consortium of 

aid donors to the country. 

There have been repeated allegations of 

human rights abuses in East Timor, whose 

annexation by Jakarta in 1976 has never 

been recognised by the United Nations. Last 

year, Washington suspended military aid to 

Indonesia because of the East Timor 

massacre. 

Indonesia has rejected criticism of its 

human rights record, saying it should not be 

judged on western individualistic principles 

but on the basis of its own culture and 

traditions. 

Indonesian president Suharto opened a 

U.N. workshop here last month saying the 

north should not seek to impose its values 

on poor countries which are dependent on 

them for aid. He said each country should be 

left alone to promote and protect human 

rights.


Indonesian human rights lawyer Adnan 

Buyong Nasution dismisses such arguments. 

He says the government routinely uses them 

to cover up the manipulation and 

infringement of people’s rights. 

“The government should change its orientation 

towards a universal concept of 

human rights, towards internationally accepted 

norms of law and democracy so that 

we can see our shortcomings and our failings,” 

he says. 

Development experts say the Dutch have 

been suitably chastised and have not tried to 

channel development assistance to the 

country clandestinely. 

But the loss of Dutch aid has set back 

NGOs and many small-scale agricultural, 

health and development projects in rural 

Indonesia funded by the Netherlands’ 110- 

million-dollar annual aid budget for the 

country. 

The end of development cooperation, 

however, has not affected trade between the 

two countries, which continued to grow resulting 

in a surplus in favour of Jakarta. 

The official Antara news agency reported 

last week that Indonesia’s exports to the 

Netherlands increased significantly in 1992 

compared to those in previous years. 

Dutch embassy figures place the total 

trade between the two countries at 2.2 billion 

dollars in 1992, with the Netherlands 

ranking fifth among Indonesia’s trade partners. 

Businessmen from both countries had 

been worried that the halt in development 

cooperation would have an adverse effect on 

bilateral ties. No such development has 

taken place, Antara reported, quoting an 

Indonesian embassy official in the Hague. 

RELIGIOUS CONFLICT 

DISINFORMATION QUERY 

We hear that the report of this ambush 

filed by Ian Macintosh and run on ABC on 

Saturday, 20 March said that, according to 

army sources, the four men killed had just 

left a mosque. I have not seen any such reference 

in other reports but does the ABC 

report mean that the army there is trying to 

highlight an assault on Islam, and provoke 

the idea of religious conflict in East Timor? 

There have been some lengthy reports in 

the Indonesian-language press recently 

about a Muslim community in East Timor 

among East Timorese. Nothing wrong in 

that of course but the recent attention to 

Islam in East Timor appears to be an attempt 

to show that Catholicism does not 

represent the entire East Timorese people. 

If anyone has a fuller report, do post it 

on reg.easttimor. Thank you. 

Carmel, TAPOL 

LOBBYING FOR EAST 

TIMOR IN BRAZIL 

TAPOL report, 4 April 1993 

Estevao Cabral, an East Timorese who is 

currently resident in the UK and is chair of 

the British Coalition for East Timor, has 

been in Brazil since mid March to lobby for 

support for East Timor. 

Among the politicians he has met so far 

is Federal Deputy of the Labour Party (PT), 

Luiz Gushiken, responsible for foreign affairs 

for the PT who agreed to table a motion 

in the Brazilian Congress which: 

- welcomes the fact that Brazil co-sponsored 

a resolution adopted in March 1993 

by the UN Human Rights Commission condemning 

human rights violations by the 

Indonesian military in East Timor, 

- calls upon the Brazilian government to 

maintain this position in future, 

- asks the Brazilian government to express 

concern about continuing human rights 

violations in East Timor, and 

- calls for effective support from the 

Brazilian government for Portuguese government 

efforts for self-determination and 

independence for East Timor. 

He also met Senator Eduardo Suplicy of 

the same party who agreed to work along 

the same lines. 

Estevao later gave a talk on the ‘Situation 

in East Timor and International Solidarity’ 

at the University of Brazil jointly organised 

by the Students Nucleus for Peace and the 

Centre for Exchange and International 

Relations. He showed the Yorkshire TV 

film, ‘Cold Blood.’ 

He has also had a meeting with the Union 

of Brazilian Journalists and was interviewed 

by a member of the Union; the interview 

will be published in the mainstream press or 

the Union’s journal. 

Estevao is travelling to other cities in 

Brazil to solicit support for East Timor and 

hopes to help the creation of an East Timor 

solidarity group in Brazil. 

RESOURCES 

TAPOL BULLETIN 

CONTENTS, APRIL 1993 

The April edition of the bimonthly 

TAPOL Bulletin is now available. It contains 

the latest news and analysis of events 

in Indonesia, East Timor and West Papua. 

This edition of TAPOL Bulletin fronts 

with an article entitled UN Victory for 

Timor and contains articles on: 

East Timor: 

* East Timorese at the UN 

* UN Resolution on East Timor (full text) 

* The trial of Xanana Gusmão, witness’s 

defiant stand (Saturnino da Costa Belo) 

* The true aim of territorial operations in 

East Timor 

* Indonesian shaken by events in Geneva 

Politics: 

* Suharto and ABRI 

* A more nationalistic course 

Aceh: 

* Acehnese refugees in Malaysia under 

threat 

Discrimination: 

* Discrimination against the Chinese 

Minority 

Law and human rights: 

* Draft Criminal Code under attack 

* Tortured for defending land rights 

* Human rights under the spotlight 

(including reviews of three recent publications, 

by the Lawyers Committee for 

Human Rights, Amnesty International 

and the US State Department) 

West Papua: 

* Indonesians accused of implicit racism 

* East Awin camp conditions exposed 

Arms sales: 

* Arm sales briefs 

Religious disputes: 

* Army interference in Batak church 

TAPOL Bulletin is published 6 times a 

year. The annual subscription rate for individuals 

worldwide is 14.00 (Australian 

$35.00, Dutch guilders 40.00), for students 

and unwaged 7.00 (A$18.00, Dfl 20.00) and 

for institutions 20.00 (A$65.00). If you 

would like to subscribe, please send your 

details and subscription fee to: 

TAPOL 111 Northwood Road, Thornton 

Heath, Surrey. CR7 8HW. UK Tel: 081 771 

2904 Fax: 081 653 0322 

Back issues are also available at 6.00 per 

year plus postage.


FIRST PLAY BY TIMORESE 

CULTURAL GROUP 

Green Left #95, April 7, By Peter Boyle 

MELBOURNE - José Pires left East 

Timor 17 years ago. He was eight years old. 

With his brothers and sisters he was bundled 

into a car and rushed to Dili wharf 

where the last ship was preparing to depart. 

The port was ablaze. They were thrown 

into a boat and older men of the family were 

able to join them only by pretending to 

carry on food. José now works at the Ford 

car factory in Broadmeadows. 

Elizabeth Bothelheiro is now a child 

caseworker in Springvale, an outer suburb of 

Melbourne. Her family left East Timor on a 

business trip to Mozambique, never 

dreaming that they wouldn’t return. 

Margarida Pires, mother of seven children, 

has lived in Meadow Heights since 

1975, when she fled East Timor after the 

Indonesian invasion. These are three of the 

cast of Matebian Nia Lian (“Voices of 

Souls”), a play composed, produced and 

performed by Melbourne’s Timorese 

Cultural Group. 

The group was formed in 1984 as an attempt 

to preserve traditional stories, song, 

dance, painting and poetry. It has been performing 

at festivals, schools and universities 

ever since. But this is the group’s first play, 

put together with the assistance of a team of 

professional theatre workers. 

The play, which incorporates traditional 

songs and dances as well as more contemporary 

forms, is about the lives of three heroic 

Timorese women. But the experiences 

in exile of the members of the Cultural 

Group are also woven into the text. 

Madeleine Blackwell, who co-directs the 

play with James McCaughey, told Green 

Left Weekly: “Matebian is a mountain in 

Timor, where people believe souls go after 

death. In this play the actors invoke some of 

those souls to come to the theatre to tell of 

their sufferings but also to share their 

humour, music and dance. 

“I hope the play doesn’t only make audiences 

more aware of the tragedy and injustices 

of East Timor, but also provokes them 

to ask why this has happened. 

“These stories of the experiences of the 

Timorese people since the brutal invasion in 

1975 are somehow also my own story as an 

Australian, whose governments have known 

and kept silent, sacrificing the Timorese 

people and their culture for the sake of 

regional power relations, diplomacy and 

profits. It is my story too because Timor is 

a metaphor by which I see the shadowy 

nature of our Australian democracy.” 

AUSTRALIAN BID TO SAVE 

THE TETUM LANGUAGE 

Justice Trends, published by Australian 

Catholic Social Justice Council March 1993 

Abridged 

In a bid to preserve East Timorese language 

and culture, two Australian Catholic 

agencies are paying for publication of a 

course to teach English speakers Tetum. 

The Australian Catholic Social Justice 

Council and Australian Catholic Relief have 

joined forces to fund the book which will be 

the first ever to teach the language most 

commonly spoken in East Timor. 

Written by University of Western 

Sydney linguistics lecturer Dr. Geoffrey 

Hull with three East Timorese who now 

living in Australia -Estanislau da Silva, 

Cristiano da Costa and Manuel Viegas - the 

course will be available here and in East 

Timor, where school children now learn in 

Indonesian. 

Explained Dr. Hull, “Although East 

Timor is far from being a poverty-free zone, 

the real problem... is a social and cultural 

one. The East Timorese today suffer not 

only political oppression as second-class 

citizens in an alien state, but face the threat 

of the destruction of their culture and the 

languages that form an integral part of it. 

“It is a fact that the key to any culture is 

the national language.... Hence for the East 

Timorese to survive as a nation, the preservation 

of their common language, Tetum 

(also the medium of evangelisation), is essential. 

One cannot save the East Timorese 

without saving its culture and common language.” 

Called “Mai Kolia Tetun: A Course in 

Tetum-Praca, the Lingua Franca of East 

Timor,” the book contains 18 lessons, each 

with points of grammar and an example 

either of spoken or written Tetum. Tetum 

literature includes passages from St Mark’s 

gospel and folk-tales of the animist culture. 

The course will be dedicated to the late 

Paulo Quintao da Costa, a pioneer in 

Timorese linguistics considered a sage 

among his people. 

It will provide the first standard spelling 

for the language and can be used by East 

Timorese living abroad to recover or learn 

their ancestral tongue as well as by those 

visiting the territory.” 

Due to be published mid-year, the course 

will be available from the ACSJC, 19 

Mackenzie Street, North Sydney 2060, 

Australia at a modest price. 

ANNOUNCEMENT OF NEW 

PRIVATE ‘INDONESIA’ AND 

‘EASTTIMOR’ LISTS 

The number of online lists, conferences, 

and newsgroups dealing with Indonesia and 

East Timor continues to escalate. Yet there 

remains too little temperate, informed, frank 

discussion of sensitive issues, at least in the 

public online sources. Some of the public 

sources also suffer from too few postings or 

over-reliance on a few principal 

contributors. 

For these reasons, I have set up two private 

lists called ‘Indonesia’ and ‘easttimor.’ 

They represent efforts to present some of 

the more useful or interesting materials out 

there in the vast ‘matrix,’ to provide a forum 

for serious discussion, and to offer a meeting 

place for persons concerned with Indonesia 

and East Timor problems. 

You are invited to apply to join either or 

both lists after considering the material 

below on how the lists work at present. 

‘INDONESIA’ AND ‘EAS TTIMOR’ 

GROUND RULES 

1. There are two (2) distinct lists – one 

for Indonesia-related postings, one for East 

Timor-related postings. 

2. I will send the procedures to post to 

the lists to all new members. However, to 

apply to join, or to send me administrative 

messages relating to the lists and other 

general and private correspondence, all you 

need do is email 

apakabar@access.digex.com 

A brief message will do, such as ‘signup 

Indonesia’ or ‘signup easttimor’ along with 

your true name and preferred email address. 

If someone who is already a list member has 

suggested you join, please mention that. In 

most cases, I’ll ask you a few simple 

questions before putting you on the list(s). 

You won’t have to do anything like 

‘registering your biodata.’ 

3. You will be able to post directly to the 

Indonesia and easttimor lists. The software 

has been set to unmoderated. I intend to 

leave it that way unless matters get out of 

hand (e.g., too many flames, too many 

extraneous or misdirected postings, mailing 

to the lists by unauthorized persons). 

4. You will only need to send your 

postings to apakabar@access.digex.com if 

you need your postings to be made anonymously, 

since direct posting to the list will 

reveal your identity. You may also, if you 

have good reason, use one of the several 

‘anon’ services available, provided you have 

been previously accepted as a list(s) 

member and registered your ‘anon id.’ 

5. You are very strongly encouraged to 

exchange info, news, and commentary on the


Indonesia and easttimor lists, while retaining 

your ties with other online sources relating 

to Indonesia or East Timor. 

6. I’ll take responsibility for forwarding 

to Indonesia and easttimor lists postings 

from the APC reg.indonesia and 

reg.easttimor conferences. If you post there, 

you don’t need to post on Indonesia or 

easttimor. I will also forward materials from 

some other APC conferences, though I can 

hardly cover them all. Anyone on an APC 

network is invited to forward material from 

public conferences there I do not cover (no 

postings from ips.englibrary though unless 

they are brief excerpts or re-writes). 

7. List members on APC may get 

reg.indonesia and reg.easttimor postings 

twice. To ease this problem if it applies to 

you, just quickly delete these duplicates 

when you see them in your mailbox. They 

will be prefaced with the capital letters ‘IN’ 

or ‘ET’ for easy recognition. The duplication 

is necessary so that the postings in 

these conferences (and others on APC) get 

to the large majority of Indonesia and easttimor 

readers who do not have access to 

public APC conferences. 

8. Indonesia and easttimor are Internet 

lists. The lists originate from a commercial 

part of the Internet. This means advertisements 

of any materials you think worthwhile 

promoting may be posted to 

Indonesia and easttimor. You may also use 

the lists for fund-raising. 

9. The postings on Indonesia and easttimor 

lists come from the Internet and some 

parts of the larger ‘matrix’ of networks 

worldwide. You may selectively re-post or 

re-write them for distribution on APC and 

elsewhere, but you may not fully or substantially 

‘mirror’ the lists anywhere online. 

Also exercise prudence and good judgment 

where special sensitivities may be involved. 

Finally, if a list member explicitly requests 

in a posting for one or another good reason 

that his or her posting not be re-posted 

elsewhere, please honor that request. 

10. Indonesia and easttimor are private 

lists. They are designed for persons who 

will make some good use of the material 

posted. The main obligation of list members 

is to render some minimal amount of 

reciprocity for the service. Periodic posting 

to either list (or the APC lists from which 

some material is forwarded) satisfies this 

commitment. Others make equally satisfactory 

commitments such as occasional 

translation work. But whatever you do, you 

must contribute something every now and 

then to remain on the list. This is a major 

difference between Indonesia and easttimor 

and other lists on the Internet or matrix. If 

you are not doing your bit, eventually you’ll 

get a reminder from me. 

11. Please don’t ask for the names or 

email addresses of list recipients. There are 

persons on both lists whose identities must 

be protected for various good reasons. 

Direct posters to either list are obviously 

not in this category. 

12. It’s always possible that glitches in 

list software and list procedures will occur, 

especially in the early stages of the lists. If 

you spot any, please email apakabar@access.digex.com 

right away. 

13. I intend to expand substantially the 

membership of both lists. In this regard, 

anyone can play a helpful role by asking 

others who may benefit from the lists to 

sign up. 

14. You may want to save this message 

for future reference, or to use all or part of it 

for recruiting purposes, with or without 

your own endorsement. You are free to 

forward it to particular individuals and to repost 

it on other lists, conferences, and 

newsgroups. 

Let’s try to make this work. Thanks. 

John MacDougall, Task Force Indonesia 

apakabar@access.digex.com

TIMMAS21 93-04.DOC - East Timor Action Network/U.S.

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