| Subject: Timber to
rebuild E. Timor likely to come from Indonesia Sydney Morning Herald 20/10/99
Timber to rebuild likely to come from Indonesia
By MARK DODD, Herald Correspondent in Dili
One irony of reconstructing the East Timor towns and
villages destroyed in a two-week firestorm by pro-Jakarta militia is the source of timber
now needed for a crash building program.
United Nations planners say much of the timber will
probably be bought from Indonesia, which many consider to be the architect of East Timor's
holocaust. With the onset of the wet season only weeks away, and concerns about its
potential for mosquito-borne diseases, UN officials consider roofing East Timor their
first priority.
"The shelter stuff I am screaming for at the moment is
tin roofing, wood for those living in village areas and some cement," said
52-year-old New Zealander Mr Ross Mountain, the UN's chief humanitarian co-ordinator in
East Timor.
"My concern about houses in the villages relates to
our need to supply wood, because, if not, people are going to go off and chop down the few
trees that remain. This is not a well-wooded island."
Using Indonesia as a market for construction material would
help foster reconciliation between the two countries, he said. "My second concern is
to try and inject some stimulus into the economy so people can start buying and selling -
income generation projects."
Rebuilding homes has assumed added urgency now that the
trickle of East Timorese returning from camps across the border in West Timor is about to
turn into a flood involving as many as 260,000 homeless.
Almost the entire population of East Timor - about 850,000
- was displaced in the violence following the announcement of the landslide independence
victory at the August 30 ballot.
Most cities and towns were reduced to rubble-strewn,
fire-blackened wastelands. According to one UN report, 100 per cent of Dili's central
business district was destroyed, 95 per cent of Balibo, 60 per cent of Liquica, 95 per
cent of Suai and 80 per cent of Maubara.
The damage bill is in the tens of millions of dollars. A
$289 million appeal is about to be launched by the UN for the reconstruction of East Timor
and aid projects in West Timor.
The UN children's fund, UNICEF, yesterday began a mass
measles vaccination program for 15,000 East Timorese under the age of five. Stressed and
physically weakened after weeks on the run, children are especially vulnerable to measles.
East Timor's Indonesian-dominated public service has been
decimated, with estimates that only 20 per cent of staff remain. "Right now the
police and judiciary are zero. Interfet was not set up to become policemen, detention camp
managers, judge and jury for people who have committed offences," Mr Mountain said.
One option is to recruit in countries where there are large
numbers of East Timorese. Australia has 22,000, many of whom possess skills now needed to
rebuild their shattered homeland. Another option is an East Timorese skills database.
Meanwhile, UNICEF will become a virtual education ministry
during the UN-supervised transitional period.
Putting tens of thousands of East Timorese children back
into class is a priority, said UNICEF spokesman Mr Mark Thomas, but many of the schools
which remain largely untouched by the militia's arson attacks now serve as UN headquarters
or barracks to some 7,000 soldiers of the international peace force.
Then there is the question of what curriculum to teach.
Most secondary school teachers were Indonesian, and have fled. But 70 per cent of the
primary school teachers, mainly East Timorese, remain or want to return. In 1992 the Mary
Mackillop Institute of East Timorese Studies started developing a native Tetum language
curriculum at the request of Dili's Nobel Laureate Bishop, Carlos Belo.
The course is being dusted off for primary school students,
but no decision has been taken on the language of instruction for secondary schools.
Not one bank remains in operation in East Timor, raising
concerns about what currency should be in circulation.
Mr Mountain says in the short term he favours maintaining
the Indonesian rupiah, warning of an inflationary spiral if an economy based on the
Australian or American dollar were suddenly implemented.
Mr Mountain remained optimistic about East Timor's future,
although he cautioned about providing too much aid at the expense of self-sufficiency.
"One has to be careful about smothering them with
assistance. We need to be in the business of working ourselves out of a job."
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