`East Timor took its independence from Indonesia'
The public face of the East Timor-Ireland Campaign, Tom Hyland, is
back from East Timor once again, but this time the country he visited
is independent. There were no Indonesian soldiers on the streets of
Dili, although the reminders of their presence were still there in the
form of destruction. ``Two things struck me,'' explains Hyland when
telling about his last visit to the territory. ``The first thing is the
absolutely joy on the faces of the Timorese people who have rid
themselves of their Indonesian colonisers, and second was the total
destruction of Dili, the capital. Total destruction of the complete
infrastructure.''
On 30 August 1999, the population of East Timor rejected an Indonesia
proposal for autonomy and voted for independence. The
Indonesian-sponsored militias and the Indonesian military then began
their campaign of destruction which, in Hyland's opinion, was not
spontaneous but carefully planned, because as he says, ``to take
300,000 people from East Timor into West Timor in the matter of a
couple of days was not a spontaneous action. It was planned months
ahead, the camps were planned months ahead.''
For all those involved in the solidarity and resistance campaign for
East Timor, it is still difficult to believe that the international
community decided to stand by, allowing the Indonesians and the
militia to kill, destroy and rape. For Hyland, there are no excuses,
because everyone knew what was going to happen if the result in the
referendum in East Timor was independence. ``The UN knew they were
doing this and they knew what was happening. They were there and they
did absolutely nothing... But everyone knew about it, so for Koffi
Annan or everybody else, even the man in charge in East Timor, Ian
Martin, to say they were surprised by the level of militia violence
after the vote is totally unacceptable.''
The delay caused by the indecision and what is most important, the UN
Security Council's unwillingness to ``upset'' the Indonesian government,
allowed the militia and military to take around 140,000 hostages to
so-called ``refugee camps'' in West Timor, camps controlled by the
militia. Another 14,000 people were forcibly displaced to other parts
of Indonesdia and 80,000 have disappeared. ``Indonesia is the fourth or
fifth largest country in the world and no one wants to upset it,
because in terms of trade, investment, and cheap labour, it has all
the ingredients a government is looking for when looking for where to
do business'', points out Tom Hyland.
``There are still 80,000 East Timorese people missing. The UN forces
have been carrying out a lot of missions and still seem not to be able
to locate these people. East Timor is a small territory and if they
are in sort of large groupings one should expect that they would have
been located by now. It is deeply disturbing that they have not been
located. A lot of them could have been taken to West Papua, Borneo and
other places, but I would be very concerned and I would be of the
opinion that a lot of the East Timorese were taken out to sea in ships
and were killed and thrown overboard. And indeed, bodies are being
washed up now''.
But as Tom Hyland explains, the international community does not seem
to have any interest in clarifying what has happened in East Timor. He
feels it is very possible that those responsible for the planning of
the genocide, the Indonesian commanders, ``will be let off the hook.
``The chief in command of the Indonesian army, General Wiranto, who
orchestrated the whole operation, is still very powerful. One of the
main instigators, General Kiki, who was in charge of the overall
security for East Timor and who was heavily involved in the violence,
has been promoted to be in charge of the whole of Eastern Indonesia''.
At the moment, East Timor is facing some new problems. There is
disappointment with the work of the UN on the ground. ``The East
Timorese are saying that they are not being consulted by the UN or the
international institutions in the rebuilding of East Timor or the
mechanism to hold elections and for the transition of power from the
UN to the East Timorese people,'' says Hyland. ``It may be just tidying
problems, or maybe something more sinister... And the East Timorese
have not survived 24 years of genocidal occupation by Indonesia to be
talked down to by these people.
From now on, says Hyland, the East Timor-Ireland Campaign will work in
the establishment of a more concrete exchange of solidarity between
the two countries, assisting the student movement in East Timor,
setting up a twinning system between Irish and Timorese schools,
between Irish Hospitals and Timorese Medical Centres. He believes that
the example of East Timor provides ``great hope for places like Tibet,
Burma, and other such countries all over the world''.
Dino returns to a land where everything is destroyed
On Thursday, 8 December, Dino Gandara and Jose Lopes left Ireland for
their homeland, East Timor, after six years of exile.
Dino has been in Ireland since 1996. He came at the invitation of the
Irish Solidarity Campaign to make people aware, through his own
personal testimony, of the situation in East Timor. ``There is hardly a
place in Ireland that I have not visited,'' he says. ``We spoke at
universities, colleges, secondary and primary schools, to workers'
groups, women's' groups, political parties and representatives.''
In fact, Dino has been all over Europe: Spain, Sweden, Norway, the
Netherlands, England. ``The people in Ireland, especially, had an
awareness, understanding of the situation in Timor. I think it is
because of their own political history.'' Ireland was the first
government in the EU to support the Portuguese on the East Timor
question.''
Dino hadn't wanted to leave East Timor. He went to study science in
Jakarta. He was involved in student organising and in political work.
He was arrested, held for two weeks of continuous interrogation,
during which he was tortured. He was released but could not continue
studying in university. ``All the teachers were military personnel''. He
came to Portugal, where he stayed for two years and then to Ireland,
where he has been pursuing his science degree at Trinity College.
``I am going back to a country which is 95% destroyed after 25 years of
war,'' he says. ``No schools, hospitals, infrastructure, industry.
Really, nothing is left. We have to start from zero. The first phase
of the liberation struggle is finished. Now we have to go to the
second stage, to rebuild the country politically, economically and
culturally. There is help being given, but often those looking to help
do not want to consult with the people, or involve them in the
rebuilding of our country, and that cannot be allowed.
``I am excited to go home and to play a part in the second phase of our
liberation struggle, and I am grateful to the Irish people for the
support they have given us in our struggle. I have many friends here.
So does my country.''
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