Eye witness account from East Timor

Q: Who shot him?

A: It was ABRI. It was ABRI who shot him. But they told the press that it was Falentil (armed wing of the united resistance) who shot him. In fact that is not true. It was ABRI that shot him. Now that person, the one who shot him, I know who shot him. I know that person. He is the hansip (local constable who reports to ABRI), but ABRI was with him when they did it. They claimed it was Falentil, but there is no way that could be true. They've been doing this all over the place. ABRI finishes shooting someone, and then they claim it was some other group, usually claiming it was Falentil, sometimes saying it was some unidentified person, and sometimes when there are too many witnesses they say it was someone wearing an ABRI uniform, but not ABRI.

An incident in Maliana (also in April): There was a really nasty case in Maliana. This was in broad daylight, and everyone there saw it happen. They came in and interrogated the teachers while the elementary school was still in session. Then they summoned five of the teachers down to headquarters and order them to line up in front of the district military headquarters (KoRaMil), and then they shot them. After they shot them, their families requested to take the bodies so they could bury them. But they were told, "If you all want to become corpses yourselves, you are welcome to come and take these corpses." So they threatened them like this. All they wanted to do was bury their dead. But the army still wanted to kill anyone who came to get the corpses. The wives, husbands and children of these teachers who were killed were threatened with death if they came to get the corpses. That is the unbelievable evil of ABRI.

And it is not just things like that, there is far worse. They have also been raping the women of East Timor. It is so widespread it is impossible to count. It happens all over the place. They threaten someone, then take them to their headquarters, then at night they come and get the wives and daughters of these men in custody on trumped up charges, and make them sleep with the officers and soldiers at their headquarters or in their houses, or wherever they are. This has been happening all over East Timor for a long time. Everyone has felt the effect of these rapes. Sometimes it is even more sadistic. After raping the woman, then they might kill her. They have been killed in various sadistic ways. They are hung. Once a schoolmate of mine was an eye witness to one of these incidents. She is the niece of a priest in XX. When I met her she had just been released from jail. We met travelling on the ship about three months ago. She told me this story. She said when she got out of jail, her boyfriend picked her up. But she rejected her own boyfriend saying, "You better give up on me. I have decided that I don't want to get married, because we can't ever be like we were before. We were all raped. And my friends who tried to resist were not raped in the normal way. But, forgive me for saying this openly, they were stripped naked first, then they were hung up, and then they were raped." That is what my friend the eyewitness and victim said. It is too sadistic. And they also did it as gang-rape, taking turns. This was done by the members of ?? (tape unclear). The prettiest ones were reserved for the commander. That is the evil of ABRI. And this has been what we have experienced as long as ABRI has been in East Timor. Ya, things like paying people to kill someone, that is considered almost normal for East Timorese. I think the international community is aware of many of these things, but what we really regret, and what is impossible for me to understand is that with this track record, why then does the international community entrust the security of East Timor into the hands of ABRI. I still cannot fathom what line of reasoning can allow this. I don't think it is that they don't know what ABRI does. The international community has heard the reports over the years. But for some reason that evades my understanding, they still entrust the security of East Timor to ABRI. That is regrettable, to put it mildly. So because of that, you get the situation we now find ourselves in.

I met several times with UNAMET personnel. I told them about the things that ABRI has been doing to our people for many years, but especially in the past few months. But I think it must be very difficult for Europeans (=whites) to imagine the atrocities carried out in a culture so very different from their own. Maybe the Europeans are used to living disciplined lives. Maybe they are used to speaking the truth honestly, in contrast with how Indonesians speak. Maybe if Europeans speak about something shameful, maybe shame is a very serious matter. For for many Indonesians, these sorts of shameful matters are becoming commonplace. So maybe people in the western world think that if Indonesia says they are not doing these things, it must be true, because they are too shameful to possibly be true. And they are always worried about the effect on the Indonesian economy if they speak out. Westerners always say Indonesia isn't going to do anything bad, because it will effect the economy. But in reality, they do do these things. So while they say Indonesia wouldn't do these things, we have to sacrifice thousands of people's lives to death and disappearance, and sadistic torture, before we can get their attention.

I was quite frank and open with UNAMET about these things. Now one example of this thinking is that two days before the votes were cast, military posts suddenly appeared throughout the city of Dili. Some of them were only 20 or 30 metres apart. What was their purpose? It was clear to many of us that they were already planning to destroy Dili, or to kill people in mass. It was clear that with already planned from before. I remember when there was a shooting, I myself telephoned UNAMET. I told them they were shooting into houses and at people. But the army was telling UNAMET that they were shooting into the air so the militias would be afraid, so they wouldn't go into people's houses. But in actual fact that is not what they were doing! The army was shooting so the people would be too afraid to leave their houses, so the militias could go into the houses and grab people, or burn them right there inside their houses, and kill them in whatever way they happened to choose, or rape them, or do whatever evil they wanted.

So, yes, I agree with what many people have said. You cannot separate or distinguish between the army and the militia groups. To use a local metaphor, ABRI and the militias are like sugar and ants. Anywhere you find sugar, you are certain to find ants. That is the metaphor I often use in East Timor, but some friends of mine use the metaphor of a coin. It can be turned over with a different face, but it is the same coin. Where the militias are, it is certain that ABRI is also involved, and vice versa. There is no way you can say that ABRI is not working together with the militias. There is too much evidence that they are cooperating. After the militias have finished attacking, then they go home in the police trucks. They go home in the army trucks. It perfectly clear. When the militas go into the police stations, they go in and out as if it is their own home. We have seen it many times. Everyone can be a witness to this fact. But we don't have the kind of proof that you can hold in your hand. They won't let us take pictures. If we try to take pictures of this kind of collusion, they would kill us. But there are thousands of eyewitnesses. When they attack someplace, often ABRI has to arrive first, and then the militia comes. When they are bored with that, they exchanged roles. The militias attack first, and then ABRI comes along behind. It happens everywhere.

For example, just a few days ago when I was in Dili, when we were attacked at the office of XX (a relief agency), who was it that shot at us? Guess what, it was the army, and the militias were riding with them on their trucks. They were saying, "Oh the army is only shooting into the air, it is the militias that are shooting down low." But they were both riding on the same truck! What does the government mean when they say that ABRI is "securing" the militias in East Timor? And then the international community accepts this! And then they allow them to declare marshal law! The Indonesian term is 'emergency war'. Who are they at war with in East Timor? There is no member of Falentil that has been opposing them in the recent developments, as far as I know! ABRI and the militias are the ones who are chasing people, they are the ones murdering people, they are the ones doing all these things. There are no Falentil people coming and shooting at them; there are no people opposing them, none. And then they declare "marshal law, emergency war"! Maybe they have declared marshal law so they can finish everyone off. And as fast as possible, it appears. That is what we are seeing. And it is not restricted to Dili. It is happening everywhere. Throughout the land of East Timor.

Now it is said the militias are using homemade weapons, and that is true in some cases. But there are also a lot of automatic weapons. Like the weapons used by the KOPASSUS (special forces) troops, the ones that are fully automatic. The militias are using the same weapons. Where did the militias get these weapons? Where did the militias get their M-16s? What kind of homemade weapons can shoot like these automatic weapons? Sure they can make their own single-shot weapons! But if any of us knew how to make our own automatic weapons that could shoot like M-16s, we would have won our independence long ago, at least 10 or 20 years ago. That would be our situation if the East Timorese were capable of making these sorts of automatic weapons. But there is ample proof that we can't.

The militias are being given their automatic weapons, and then deliberately wrapping them in the layers from the trunk of banana trees, or tying bamboo or pieces of wood around them, so that if a journalist gets a picture of them, they don't look like, or have the shape of factory-built weapons. But their sound, repeat fire, and all the rest of their performance are those of automatic weapons. As far as I know, there are no youth who have died there from being shot with homemade weapons, except for a few using high-powered bullets.

Just recently, just before I left, we were collecting spent bullets in plastic bags, to bring to the XX office. I divided them up among my friends there. Some of them found their own and are building collections of these bullets. You can't say that the ABRI is going to 'secure' the militias. No way!

When I got shot at: On July 22, we arrived in Dili and had a meeting with a group of XX so we could divide up and spread out across the countryside. While I was speaking at the meeting, I was suddenly shot at by what appears to be an air rifle. The bullet/pellet was lead. It glanced off my glasses and hit the cement wall behind me. I saw what looked like smoke coming from the wall. I was really surprised, because it went into the concrete about 1cm. So I think they were aiming for my temple, but since I was turning my head back-and-forth as I spoke, maybe that is why it grazed my glasses and didn't kill me. (Two sentences omitted to protect identities).