Subject: SMH: E.Timor: Guerillas hold back - for now
From: "John M. Miller" <fbp@igc.apc.org>Received from Joyo:
Sydney Morning Herald Saturday, February 13, 1999
*East Timor: Guerillas hold back - for now
By JOHN MARTINKUS in Dili
The East Timorese guerilla commander Falur Rate Laek sits surrounded by the booty
captured in his most recent encounter with Indonesian forces - rifles, grenade launchers,
boxes of ammunition.
While he and the 100 guerillas in his unit of Falintil, the armed wing of the East
Timor independence movement, seem well equipped to take on Indonesian troops, he is under
strict orders not to do so.
The orders came from independence leader Xanana Gusmao, issued from his Jakarta prison
cell before he was released to less restricted and more comfortable detention in a
suburban house this week.
Xanana, who has appealed for a ceasefire by both sides in the Timor conflict, has told
the guerillas not to attack the Indonesian military outposts that surround the bush camp
occupied by Commander Falur and his men in the central region of the territory. The
guerillas claim to have 600 troops, split up into five regional units.
"The situation is difficult because I have conditions to obey against war
operations and the Indonesians are always trying to make operations against our
possessions [camps]," Commander Falur said. "Until now I have done
nothing."
His last operation was an attack on an Indonesian police post in the town of Alas on
November 9. In the raid his unit captured 36 automatic weapons, grenade launchers and more
than 3,000 rounds of ammunition.
He said the raid was carried out in response to increased Indonesian military action in
the area and at the urging of local people who feared a crackdown on independence
supporters.
"After we conducted that operation in Alas, the military responded against the
local civilian population in Alas and then Turiscai, where they have tortured and beaten
many more of our people," he said. "There is mass killing in that area and many
people were violated by the Indonesian military.
"If people still doubt that, it is because they don't understand about the
military situation here and the Indonesian military."
He said as many as 50 people were killed in the Alas area, which remains closed by the
Indonesian military. The guerillas moved out of the area in the three days following the
attack and have not returned since.
Although he has avoided action since November, Commander Falur accuses the Indonesian
military of creating conditions with the potential to start a civil war. He referred to
the emergence of Indonesian-sponsored paramilitary groups, made up of East Timorese
opposed to independence.
While Indonesian officials have said the groups are needed to protect civilians from
the Falintil guerillas, Commander Falur denies the guerillas have been involved in recent
killings of civilians in Ainaro, Turiscai, Alas and, most recently, the villages in the
Zumalai district where four deaths led to the flight of more than 5,000 villagers to the
safety of the local church and school in the town of Suai.
"The Indonesians still use the old tactics to blame everything on us,"
Commander Falur said. "So someone who is out of touch and does not know about the
Indonesian military would believe them, but we have an army to fight for the independence
of our people, not to fight against our people.
"That's why we are now here in the jungle - to defend our people, not kill them in
the villages."
>From personal experience, he doubts the loyalty to Indonesia of the newly recruited
members of the paramilitary groups.
He served in the Indonesian Army from 1980 until 1983, and recalls the brutality of the
Indonesian military towards its East Timorese members. He said he was forced to witness
the massacre of his own people in the town of Kraras in 1983, when the entire male
population of the village was killed by the Indonesian military. After that he fled back
to the bush and re-joined the guerillas.
In his camp a more recent arrival told similar stories of his treatment. Mateus Santos
was one of 13 Indonesian soldiers captured by Commander Falur's men in the November attack
on Alas. Eleven were released after several days but two, both East Timorese, remained.
"I want to stay here because I feel safe," Santos said. "I am always hit
and beaten by the Indonesian soldiers. They always suspect me of co-operating with the
guerillas. Years ago they killed my wife and my children. They suspect me all the time.
They are always beating me.
"With the guerillas, they are East Timorese, they are brothers. We want to stay
here and work together for independence."
In the East Timor capital, Dili, paramilitary leader Eurico Guterres said he would
fight a civil war if his safety and that of other pro-Indonesian Timorese was not
guaranteed.
But in the mountains, another guerilla leader, Lu-Olo, who has been fighting with
Falintil continuously for the 23 years since the Indonesian invasion, said there would be
no problem with a guarantee for these people if they were willing to be disarmed.
"We are trying our best to have contact with them to avoid the reopening of old
wounds that Indonesia is trying to do," he said.
"All through the years we have been the ones who have always wanted a ceasefire.
If Indonesia wants a ceasefire as well, then OK we will, then work for independence in
other ways."
But Lu-Olo is wary of Falintil surrendering its weapons without "an open, frank
and clear statement from the Indonesian side" on a ceasefire.
Back to February Menu
Main Postings Menu
Postings of Human Rights Violations in Timor |
