The man likely to become the first president of an independent East Timor told a congressional subcommittee on September 30 that the year 2000 will be a year of emergency planning in East Timor.

From the ashes of destruction, we will establish an administration in the territory and have the population organize itself, said Mr. Jose Alexandre Xanana Gusmao in a testimony before the House subcommittee on International Operations and Human Rights. Speaking through an interpreter, Mr. Gusmao acknowledged that his people are going to be in dire need of assistance in the coming years, given the level of destruction caused by pro-Jakarta militias in the aftermath of the overwhelming vote for independence on August 30. Beyond the need for food and medicine, assistance is also needed for those dealing with the psychological trauma of having family members killed, or disappeared, he said.

Mr. Gusmao urged the U.S. Congress to help facilitate the return to East Timor of over 200,000 East Timorese who have been forcibly uprooted from their homes and taken to camps in West Timor and other places in the Indonesia. The East Timorese in the concentration camps are in great fear. [Many of them] don't know where their family members are; they are mostly women, children and old people, he said. Mr. Gusmao further urged the U.S. Congress to use its moral and political strength to enable the withdrawal of Indonesian troops from East Timor.

Mr. Gusmao led the East Timorese armed resistance against Indonesian rule for 17 years before he was captured and imprisoned for six years by the Indonesian government. International pressure led to his being moved from prison and placed under house arrest, until his recent release. Mr. Gusmao, 53, is the president of the National Council of Timorese Resistance, a pro-independence coalition of political organizations opposed to the Indonesian occupation of East Timor.

Mr. Gusmao was accompanied on the panel by Mr. Jose Ramos-Horta, 1996 Nobel Peace Co-Laureate who commended the U.S. Congress for the role it has taken to right the wrong done to East Timor. What we see is a truly universal movement in support of East Timor. Maybe the tragedy of East Timor will turn out to be an inspiration, he added.

Representative Cynthia A. McKinney (D-GA), a member of the subcommittee expressed that she felt too humbled to be in front of these great people, and promised to be a part of a movement in this Congress to help set right what this [the U.S.] government has done wrong in the past.

According to State Department sources, 90 per cent of the weapons used in the 1975 invasion of East Timor came from the United States. The U.S. government has also consistently provided military aid, training and sales of arms to Indonesia. Although legislative measures enacted in the last two years restricted U.S. training of the Indonesian military, according to media reports, these trainings have continued through the use of other Pentagon funding sources. Last month, however, amid reports that the Indonesian military has been aiding and abetting the violence in East Timor, the U.S. cut off its military relationship with Indonesia.

Another member of the subcommittee, Representative William F. Goodling (R-PA) expressed his concern about the ability of various factions in East Timor to work together. He told Mr. Gusmao that in 1977 when he was in East Timor, three political groups were fighting for control.

Mr. Gusmao, through his interpreter, told Rep. Goodling that the world now recognizes that East Timor, small as it is, is entitled to the same right to self-determination as are other countries. Nonetheless, he said, “we recognize our weaknesses. They are now lessons for us. We all learn from our mistakes. And this matter has been with me for the past 25 years It is in my mind.

Mr. Gusmao ended his response by articulating his vision of what East Timor could become, with help from the international community. We will build a new East Timor nation based on justice, democracy and human rights, which are the same values that have shaped the United States as a nation, he said.

The United Methodist Church, through its 1996 General Conference Resolution on East Timor supports the right of the people of East Timor to self-determination, and calls on the U.S. government to urge the government of Indonesia to withdraw its troops from East Timor.

October 4, 1999