Justice for East Timor?

The Churches' Activist Role
Raising the UN Flag
Threats to the Referendum
The Right to Choose

Before the end of this millennium--in fact, perhaps by the time this article appears--the opportunity will have come to right one of the most grievous wrongs of the world's post-colonial period. If all goes according to plan, in August 1999, the people of East Timor will have chosen their own destiny in a United Nations-supervised referendum. They will have answered a simple yes or no to the question: "Do you accept special autonomy with Indonesia?" Voting no will be a vote against integration with Indonesia and for independence.

The East Timorese waited for this moment for more than two decades. During this time, much of the population has been continuously subjected to appalling human-rights abuses at the hands of the Indonesian military. If one accepts the assertion that East Timor was integrated into Indonesia as its twenty-seventh province in 1976, then the military has committed the abuses against its own citizens.

East Timor occupies half of an island directly north of Australia. It was a Portuguese colony for three centuries--unlike the other islands of Indonesia, which were all under Dutch rule. In 1974 and 1975, following a coup and change of government in Portugal, East Timor began a process of decolonization. Political parties formed, either favoring an independent state or siding with Indonesia or Portugal. A brief civil war brought the independence party Fretilin to power. But hardly had independence been declared when, on December 7, 1975, Indonesian troops launched a massive invasion and annexed the half island to Indonesia.

In the course of the invasion and subsequent occupation, practically every basic human right of the Timorese has been violated. More than 200,000 people--a third of the population-- were killed or died of starvation or disease. Indonesians from more crowded islands were brought in as transmigrants, displacing Timorese from their traditional homes and taking over trade and civil-service jobs.

Anyone remotely suspected of supporting or sympathizing with the guerrilla movement Falintil was subjected to interrogation, beatings, torture, imprisonment, or extra-judicial killing. Rape was used by Indonesian soldiers as a weapon of intimidation or punishment against Timorese women and young girls. But, since East Timor was closed off to the outside world until 1989, the suffering of the people went unnoticed. The incident that brought the plight of East Timor to Western attention was a 1991 massacre of peaceful demonstrators at the Santa Cruz cemetery in Dili, the capital. This slaughter was witnessed by foreign journalists and captured on videotape for the world to view.

The Churches' Activist Role

Given its Portuguese heritage, East Timor was about 30 percent Catholic at the time of the Indonesian invasion. The Catholic Church there has grown in membership threefold since, with some 90 percent of the people being professed Catholics. In fact, the Catholic Church has become the focus of national identity for the East Timorese, for they view it as the one institution truly concerned for their welfare. Catholic Bishop Carlos Ximenes Belo of the diocese of Dili, winner of the Nobel Peace Prize in 1996, is widely recognized as a spiritual leader and Timorese spokesperson. Recently, Bishop Basilio Nascimento was appointed to a second diocese and has proved to be an equally strong defender of the rights and dignity of the Timorese.

East Timor also has some 50,000 Protestants, half of whom belong to the Christian Church of East Timor (Gereja Kristen Timor Timur, or GKTT). The Protestant church in East Timor has been seen by some as a church of the dominant political and economic group, the Indonesians. However, this image began to change when the leader of the GKTT, the Rev. Arlindo Marcal, publicly stated that integration with Indonesia had not been accepted by the East Timorese people and that they ought to be allowed to decide for themselves whether they wanted to be part of Indonesia or to be independent. This was the first public statement from the Protestant church to challenge the Indonesian annexation. Shortly thereafter, the National Council of Churches of Christ in the USA (the NCC) led a delegation to East Timor in order to learn more about the situation.

Up to this point, the US churches had expressed concern about reported human-rights abuses in East Timor but had not taken up the question of its political status. Now, however, their commitment to basic human rights, justice, and peace required them to work actively toward a resolution of the problem. Soon after the NCC visit, the delegation received a letter from Marcal. "As you know," he wrote, "East Timor's territory has been occupied since 1976...[after which] East Timor became an isolated area, a territory without any support. Nevertheless...we are still struggling against the Indonesian army's occupation. Now, after nearly 20 years, the US churches came to us to hear our voice, our suffering. What do you think? Did the churches come on time or too late?"

In rapid succession, Protestant denominations passed resolutions expressing support for self-determination in East Timor. An East Timor Working Group arose out of the NCC to raise awareness about East Timor among churches across the United States and to support the Timorese in their struggle. US leaders had given tacit approval to former Indonesian President Suharto's plan to invade East Timor in 1975. In fact, the US government had supplied most of the weapons used to invade and occupy the territory. And, since the annexation, the United States had recognized the "de-facto" integration of East Timor into Indonesia.

So the Working Group--which includes both Protestant and Catholic representatives--sent numerous action alerts to church members, asking them to urge their representatives in Congress to support bills that limited US cooperation with the Indonesian military.

Not only in the United States but also throughout Europe and in Australia, Japan, and Southeast Asia, churches were speaking out for human rights and justice in East Timor. Mounting pressure made it increasingly difficult for Indonesia to ignore the international community's criticisms. But it was the fall of President Suharto in 1998, after 30 years of authoritarian rule, and the announcement by President Habibie last December that he would be "prepared to let East Timor go" that paved the way for a UN-brokered agreement between Indonesia and Portugal. [The UN still recognizes Portugal as the administering authority over East Timor.] This agreement spells out "the modalities for a Popular Consultation of the East Timorese through a direct ballot."

Raising the UN Flag

I went to East Timor at the beginning of June to witness the arrival of the United Nations Assistance Mission in East Timor (UNAMET). I also went in response to a request from the Christian Church of East Timor for a US church delegation to help monitor the August referendum. This visit--my third in five years--brought me both great hope and deep concern about the prospects for peace in this beautiful but deeply troubled territory.

The UN flag was to be raised to mark the official opening of UNAMET. My host, the Rev. Arlindo Marcal, and I had not received our official invitation to the flag-raising ceremony. So, despite my initial fears of the potential for violence, I walked through a crowd of thousands of Timorese to reach the site. When a member of the throng noticed that a foreigner was quietly standing in their midst, the crowd parted like the waves of the Red Sea. I heard a word passed from person to person: lokele, meaning "open."

No sooner had I reached the front of the crowd and joined the small group of recent UN arrivals and journalists than the UN flag was hoisted up the flagpole. A deafening cheer went up from the crowd. People cheered, clapped, sang, and shook all the trees. I could feel their hope and their excitement and their expectation, and I was very humbled.

Threats to the Referendum

The UN's commitment to hold the referendum in East Timor under free and fair conditions is threatened by the fact that the negotiated agreement grants Indonesia the sole responsibility for maintaining security in East Timor. Despite strong international pressure, paramilitary groups or militias claiming to support East Timor's integration with Indonesia have perpetrated widespread terror and intimidation of civilians and pro-independence supporters. These militias have been organized, armed, and financially supported by the Indonesian military. It is widely believed that they are trying to create a civil war that would make the August balloting impossible.

Because of logistical and security concerns, the UN Secretary General postponed the original August 8 date of the ballot by two weeks. Given the attacks on UN staff and offices by the militias, there are serious questions as to whether the UN will be able to certify that the conditions exist to hold a free and fair referendum in August. Postponing the date further, however, plays into the hands of the militias and the Indonesian forces that would like to preserve the status quo.

The Right to Choose

Besides the police and military, the Catholic Church is the only other major institution in East Timor with which the UN can relate. But in an attempt not to play into the hands of Indonesian opponents of independence, the Catholic Church has announced that it will maintain a "neutral" stance on the referendum. The Indonesian government has already decided that the United Nations, the journalists, and all foreigners are biased toward independence for East Timor. For the Catholic Church to cooperate too closely with the UN opens it up to accusations by Indonesia of bias.

The Protestant GKTT has in its membership many Indonesian transmigrants as well as militia leaders and many members of the military, including the commander. Perhaps because of its mixed membership and its small size, this church is less vulnerable to accusations of bias by Indonesian forces.

As a result of my visit in June, the Asia Pacific Center will be returning to East Timor in August, bringing an ecumenical delegation to accompany the East Timorese during the period before and after the referendum. Members of the group will stay with families in congregations throughout East Timor. It will not be an easy undertaking. Despite Indonesia's claims to have developed the territory, the conditions outside the capital, Dili, are extremely basic. There will be safety risks as well. But it is appropriate for us to help the Timorese achieve their most basic human right--the right to choose their own future.

Our task will not be over once the results of the ballot are known. Should the result be for independence, as is widely predicted by outside observers as well as by most Timorese, East Timor will need our support, our prayers, and our advocacy for a long time to come. The East Timorese will be taking on the challenging task of forming a government while also instituting a process for reconciliation.

Foreign monitors overseeing the East Timor referendum will not have the usual outside monitors' task of helping the population understand difficult election rules or confusing parties and platforms. The balloting process itself is simple and straightforward and will be conducted entirely by the UN. The people need only to be assured that their votes will be secret so that they will indeed be free to vote their conscience.

I keep coming back in my mind to a conversation I had with Marcal regarding whether the people really understood the meaning of the ballot for their lives. There had already been so much intimidation and misinformation spread by the pro-integration forces. But Marcal told me what he had learned on a Sunday visit to one of his congregations. "They know what the ballot means," he said. "They have waited for 23 years for this, and they know what they want." I knew he was right. With little support, the Timorese people have resisted oppression and fought for their basic human rights for more than two decades. Now they have a chance to speak. And they know what they want.