Indonesian Observer October 9, 2000

Guterres to sue Habibie over Timor vote

JAKARTA (IO) - Notorious former militia leader Eurico Guterres, currently in police custody, yesterday vowed to sue former president B.J. Habibie for allowing East Timor to hold a referendum that enabled it to secede from Indonesia last year.

Guterres (27), who was quizzed yesterday by state prosecutors over his alleged involvement in last year's militia violence in East Timor, condemned Habibie for allowing the people of East Timor to decide on their future.

He said Habibie had promised him in early January there was no way that East Timor could be secede from Indonesia.

The swaggering Guterres said Habibie made the pledge a day after he announced that East Timor would be able to have a referendum giving it two options: wide-ranging autonomy under Indonesia; or complete independence.

"I will sue Habibie because he was the one responsible for giving the second option to the East Timorese, which allowed them to gain freedom. A day after the second option was announced, I met with Habibie to personally ask him about it."

Guterres was the chief of the feared and formerly Dili-based Aitarak (Thorn) militia group, and deputy commander of the Indonesian Warriors Force (PPI).

He was arrested in Jakarta on Wednesday for allegedly ordering his men to take back weapons they had handed to police during a militia handover of firearms in West Timor on September 24.

Guterres said Habibie had promised him that Indonesia's Red-and-White flag would never stop flying in East Timor. "He told me: 'Not even God nor the devil could take down the Red-and-White in East Timor. You have to struggle to prevent it from happening in East Timor, and I will do the same thing'. But somehow, he can longer be touched by law, whereas I got arrested."

Guterres said he could not understand why he was being charged with human rights violations, considering that Portuguese colonists and pro- independence forces from Fretilin had also caused incidents of violence in the past in East Timor.

"If the problem is one of human rights violations, the Portuguese violated the 1948 international convention on human rights up until 1975 and then Fretilin did."

Guterres explained that the East Timorese militias in 1999 had assumed that anyone who wanted East Timor to secede must be regarded as the enemy.

"Whoever they were, whether Fretilin or anyone else who wanted East Timor to secede, they became our enemy. Because our duty was to keep East Timor united within Indonesia."

As it happened, 78.5% of East Timorese on August 30 last year voted to secede from Indonesia.

Guterres was nabbed by police at a Jakarta hotel on Wednesday a few hours before President Abdurrahman Wahid arrived home from a visit to Latin America countries and Canada.

Prosecutors said he had been involved in an attack on the refugee-packed house of East Timorese independence leader Manuel Carrascalao in April 1999, four months before the independence vote.

Twelve people, including a son of Carrascalao, were killed by a mob of militia who attacked the house - a few meters from Guterres' stronghold and a military barracks in downtown Dili.

During a break in questioning, Sumomulyono told journalists that prosecutors had asked his client "around seven questions" - one of which was how he had supplied weapons for his men prior to East Timor's independence.

Sumomulyono said he had also asked police to allow Guterres be put under house arrest because the militia boss has "a wife and a child as well as a lot of followers" in Atambua.

He added that downgrading his arrest to house arrest might help allay any angry reaction from Guterres' followers.

Guterres to sue Habibie over Timor vote

JAKARTA (IO) - Notorious former militia leader Eurico Guterres, currently in police custody, yesterday vowed to sue former president B.J. Habibie for allowing East Timor to hold a referendum that enabled it to secede from Indonesia last year.

Guterres (27), who was quizzed yesterday by state prosecutors over his alleged involvement in last year's militia violence in East Timor, condemned Habibie for allowing the people of East Timor to decide on their future.

He said Habibie had promised him in early January there was no way that East Timor could be secede from Indonesia.

The swaggering Guterres said Habibie made the pledge a day after he announced that East Timor would be able to have a referendum giving it two options: wide-ranging autonomy under Indonesia; or complete independence.

"I will sue Habibie because he was the one responsible for giving the second option to the East Timorese, which allowed them to gain freedom. A day after the second option was announced, I met with Habibie to personally ask him about it."

Guterres was the chief of the feared and formerly Dili-based Aitarak (Thorn) militia group, and deputy commander of the Indonesian Warriors Force (PPI).

He was arrested in Jakarta on Wednesday for allegedly ordering his men to take back weapons they had handed to police during a militia handover of firearms in West Timor on September 24.

Guterres said Habibie had promised him that Indonesia's Red-and-White flag would never stop flying in East Timor. "He told me: 'Not even God nor the devil could take down the Red-and-White in East Timor. You have to struggle to prevent it from happening in East Timor, and I will do the same thing'. But somehow, he can longer be touched by law, whereas I got arrested."

Guterres said he could not understand why he was being charged with human rights violations, considering that Portuguese colonists and pro- independence forces from Fretilin had also caused incidents of violence in the past in East Timor.

"If the problem is one of human rights violations, the Portuguese violated the 1948 international convention on human rights up until 1975 and then Fretilin did."

Guterres explained that the East Timorese militias in 1999 had assumed that anyone who wanted East Timor to secede must be regarded as the enemy.

"Whoever they were, whether Fretilin or anyone else who wanted East Timor to secede, they became our enemy. Because our duty was to keep East Timor united within Indonesia."

As it happened, 78.5% of East Timorese on August 30 last year voted to secede from Indonesia.

Guterres was nabbed by police at a Jakarta hotel on Wednesday a few hours before President Abdurrahman Wahid arrived home from a visit to Latin America countries and Canada.

Prosecutors said he had been involved in an attack on the refugee-packed house of East Timorese independence leader Manuel Carrascalao in April 1999, four months before the independence vote.

Twelve people, including a son of Carrascalao, were killed by a mob of militia who attacked the house - a few meters from Guterres' stronghold and a military barracks in downtown Dili.

During a break in questioning, Sumomulyono told journalists that prosecutors had asked his client "around seven questions" - one of which was how he had supplied weapons for his men prior to East Timor's independence.

Sumomulyono said he had also asked police to allow Guterres be put under house arrest because the militia boss has "a wife and a child as well as a lot of followers" in Atambua.

He added that downgrading his arrest to house arrest might help allay any angry reaction from Guterres' followers.

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