E. Timor military scouts come to terms with past<\/p>\n
JAKARTA (JP): A few months after former president Soeharto
\nstepped down in May 1998, the military announced it was
\nwithdrawing its troops from East Timor.<\/p>\n
This ended some 23 years of strong military presence in the
\nprovince, though there are allegations that the military is still
\npresent in other forms, such as the civilian militia.<\/p>\n
From 1976 to 1979, East Timorese could not escape the
\nunwritten obligation to hand over their sons as military scouts.
\nThese boys, between the ages of 10 and 15, helped carry weapons,
\nsacks of rice, their seniors' clothes and other equipment.<\/p>\n
Dozens of youngsters were recruited from each regency. No
\nexact figures are available, including the number of those who
\ndied in battle.<\/p>\n
But a former recruit says some 50 boys died in his home
\nregency of Bobonaro alone, either from illness or gunshot wounds.<\/p>\n
The concept of recruiting young boys to play a certain role in
\nthe military has been passed down from era to era and has taken
\non many forms, including the use of child drummers at the
\nforefront of battles during the Civil War in the United States.<\/p>\n
The tradition was first brought to Indonesia by the Dutch
\ncolonial rulers. "The concept was then used in East Timor and
\nIrian Jaya," says a retired officer who spent his youth in the
\nearly 1940s playing with military scouts near his Central Java
\nhome.<\/p>\n
"It was exciting," he said, "to get the scouts' share of
\ncanned military rations."<\/p>\n
However, there are tales which should not be told. The boy was
\nonce beaten by his father when he recited stories about how his
\nfriends had been sexually abused.<\/p>\n
Some of this experience rubbed off, and he is now involved in
\nthe protection of children. While the young scouts were part of
\nan accepted military practice, the use of the children would now
\nbe a violation of the International Convention of the Rights of
\nChildren.<\/p>\n
"I know what it was like," the retired officer said, recalling
\nhis friends' stories, including the scenes of horror. "You can
\nsee, but you cannot tell."<\/p>\n
In East Timor, the young scouts, known as tenaga bantuan
\noperasi (TBO), have vanished into the adult population inside and
\noutside the province.<\/p>\n
The term TBO was in the news in the capital following an
\nunprecedented brawl in 1997 among hoodlums fighting for territory
\nin Tanah Abang, Central Jakarta. Those involved in the fight were
\nEast Timorese.<\/p>\n
The East Timorese said they were former scouts who had to earn
\na living by "providing security" in the lucrative market after
\nthe government failed to fulfill promises to provide them jobs in
\nreward for their services.<\/p>\n
They said at least they felt like they were being given help
\nby the military, citing the Army's Special Force in particular.<\/p>\n
Reconciliation<\/p>\n
Other former scouts are now involved in a variety of
\nprofessions, from serving in the military to driving a taxi. A
\nmember of the National Commission on Violence Against Women who
\nis also involved in the peace process in East Timor, said earlier
\nthis year in Dili that it was such young men who could play a
\npart in reconciliation by making peace with themselves after
\nwitnessing scenes of atrocities.<\/p>\n
But confronting long suppressed images is a difficult task for
\nthe former scouts.<\/p>\n
The following is a short account from a former scout, now 29:<\/p>\n
"I was recruited in 1979 when I was 10 and was a TBO until
\n1980. A scout's term depends on the military operation. A captain
\nposted near my family in Maliana regency took a liking to me,
\nsaying I was like his nephew. I was white then and had reddish
\nhair.<\/p>\n
"If a soldier said he wanted a boy, the family could not say
\nno. My mother didn't fuss. I was born into a military family. My
\nbrother and my uncle are soldiers.<\/p>\n
"So for a whole year I missed school. I did not have friends
\nof my age. There was no play. It was days of trekking through
\nforests, always moving, sleeping wherever posts were set up,
\nworking rain or shine.<\/p>\n
"I was the only scout in the military unit. There are usually
\none or two to every group of 15 soldiers. I had it a bit easier
\nthan scouts working for sergeants because I worked for a captain.
\nI didn't carry armory or sacks of rice. Just his clothes and
\nbooks, and my own clothing.<\/p>\n
"I also had to take turns keeping awake on guard duty.<\/p>\n
"Scouts get skilled in cooking with anything we can find. The
\nonly spice was ajinomoto; we brought lots of it. Don't ask about
\ntaste. About anything is good when you're famished. Once there
\nwas no water. We shot down coconuts and used the water to cook
\nrice and everything else. It was all so sweet.<\/p>\n
"The children whom I knew rarely got sick. We were pretty
\nstrong, having got used to everything.<\/p>\n
"After my duty as a scout was over, I went back to school. I
\nmanaged to even skip one class because I could do arithmetic and
\nspeak Indonesian after being with the military.<\/p>\n
"Some fellow scouts are now in the military here. I never
\nwanted to be a soldier. Some think wearing the uniform is grand,
\nbut I known how hard it is; it was so tiring.<\/p>\n
"At that time, as a boy, I got used to seeing blood, bodies,
\nseeing people fall ... I kept it all to myself ... it was so
\nordinary. But now I am terrified to look at bodies.<\/p>\n
"When I see a body I recall all those corpses lying about, how
\nthey looked ... the military had all sorts of sentences for
\npeople. I came to know how they treated people."<\/p>\n
And that was all he would say. (anr)<\/p>", "url": "https:\/\/jawawa.id\/newsitem\/e-timor-military-scouts-come-to-terms-with-past-1447893297", "image": "" }, "sponsor": "Okusi Associates", "sponsor_url": "https:\/\/okusiassociates.com" }