East Timorese vote in UN polls<\/p>\n
DILI, East Timor (JP): East Timorese cast their votes on
\nMonday in a historic, largely peaceful self-determination ballot
\nto choose whether to remain part of Indonesia or form an
\nindependent state.<\/p>\n
Over 80 percent of the 451,000 registered voters turned out at
\npolling booths, with the UN Mission in East Timor (UNAMET)
\ncalling the day \"very successful\".<\/p>\n
Tension and isolated incidents marked some areas, including
\nseven polling stations that had to suspend operations due to
\nsecurity concerns. A local staff member of UNAMET was stabbed to
\ndeath outside a polling booth in Atsabe, Ermera, late Monday.<\/p>\n
Joel Lopez Gomez was stabbed to death as he left the polling
\nbooth at 6 p.m.<\/p>\n
\"It was a very sad end to a very successful day,\" UNAMET
\nspokesman David Wimhurst told The Jakarta Post by telephone. He
\ndid not divulge further details, saying only, \"It was a crime we
\nexpect the police to investigate and to bring to justice.\"<\/p>\n
The UN chief of the Electoral Assistance Division, Carina
\nPerelli, said earlier that polling was temporarily suspended in
\nan Ermera station following a militia attack that injured a local
\npoll worker.<\/p>\n
Perelli alleged some provocateurs at the scene were trying to
\nintimidate the staff and voters. Police were quick to intervene.
\n\"Most of those incidents could be solved through intervention by
\nsenior staff like myself, our own security people and the
\nIndonesian police,\" said Perelli, who visited a number of polling
\nstations in Maliana, Ermera and Ainaro.<\/p>\n
\"I can say that for a consultation of this type, this has been
\na very calm operation with minor incidents,\" she added.<\/p>\n
Some 4,000 local staff were hired for the UN-sponsored direct
\nballot.<\/p>\n
Dili Bishop Carlos Felipe Ximenes Belo voted here, as did pro-
\nJakarta group leader Eurico Gueterres, while resistance leader
\nJose Alexandre \"Xanana\" Gusmao voted at a polling station set up
\nat the United Nations Information Center office in Jakarta.<\/p>\n
There was obvious enthusiasm among voters as they started to
\ngather at polling centers across the town early in the morning.
\nBraving the hot sun, people stood in long lines for hours waiting
\nfor their turn to vote. Several pregnant women were seen in the
\nqueues.<\/p>\n
\"This is a historic day which determines our future. We have
\nbeen waiting for it for years,\" Justino Montero, a part-time
\nemployee of a local land agency, said. He voted at a polling
\nstation in Baimori, where four people were killed in sporadic
\nclashes on Thursday.<\/p>\n
Justino, 23, said he did not exercise his right to vote in the
\nJune general election and the previous polls in 1997.<\/p>\n
The town was silent with shops, markets and offices closed for
\nthe day. Streets were relatively deserted, with only a few public
\nbuses operating. The ballot day was a public holiday.<\/p>\n
Many of the voters brought their children with them. Alfonso
\nde Rosari and his wife from Audian Lecidere subdistrict had to
\nfeed their four children at the polling center in the Formosa
\nstate elementary school compound, where Belo and Gueterres voted.<\/p>\n
Belo was greeted with applause. The Nobel laureate was waved
\npast the queues.<\/p>\n
Gueterres, who arrived an hour before Belo, said he was
\npleased with the peaceful balloting process.<\/p>\n
\"Everybody goes to the polls as an East Timorese who will vote
\nfor his or her future. There are no more proindependence or
\nprointegration supporters today,\" he said.<\/p>\n
He said he would accept whatever the result of the vote was,
\nincluding rejection of the wide-ranging autonomy offered by the
\nIndonesian government.<\/p>\n
\"I respect (independence fighter Jose Alexandre) Xanana
\nGusmao, because of his devotion to his struggle,\" Gueterres said.<\/p>\n
Proindependence figure Leandro Isaac hailed the huge turnout
\nof voters, saying it reflected \"the East Timor people's guts to
\ncome over the wall of intimidation\". There were reports of
\nthreats and terrorizing of East Timorese not to vote prior to
\nMonday's ballot.<\/p>\n
\"This is the first step of the people's struggle to decide
\ntheir future. The popular consultation is the fruit of our 23
\nyears of struggle, so we believe we will win,\" said Leandro, who
\ncast his ballot in the East Lehana subdistrict, in the northern
\npart of town.<\/p>\n
Indigenous East Timorese, descents of migrants born in East
\nTimor and spouses of East Timorese were eligible to vote.<\/p>\n
Tsi Su, a 39-year-old ethnic Chinese mother of two, told the
\nPost she had only registered for the ballot because she was told
\nto do so by her neighbors.<\/p>\n
Su, who was overheard speaking fluently in the local Tetun
\ndialect with other voters, said, \"No matter what happens after
\nthe ballot, I will stay in Dili\".<\/p>\n
\"I was born and raised here so why should I leave this place.
\nI even feel like an East Timorese,\" Su said. Her parents migrated
\nfrom Macau in the early 1950s.<\/p>\n
Vong, 28, another East Timorese of Chinese descent among the
\nthousands of voters in Formosa, shared Su's view, saying he would
\nremain in his homeland.<\/p>\n
\"I was also born here and I have nowhere else to go,\" Vong, a
\nmechanic, said.<\/p>\n
Counting<\/p>\n
The vote count will start after all ballot boxes arrive here
\nin the capital on Tuesday afternoon. It will take UNAMET a week
\nto finish the count.<\/p>\n
UNAMET chief electoral officer Jeff Fischer said the ballot
\ncount would be a transparent affair and representatives of
\nobservers and both factions would be allowed to witness the
\nprocess.<\/p>\n
\"As far as security is concerned, we would call upon all
\nparties involved to exercise restraint and respect the process
\nwhile it is being concluded during the week,\" he said.<\/p>\n
Spokesman for the Government Task Force for the Popular
\nConsultation, Dino Patti Djalal, warned in an interview with
\nprivate television station RCTI that the period after the vote
\ncould be critical due to the uncertainty.<\/p>\n
Xanana said he would issue a special order to proindependence
\nsupporters to remain calm and refrain themselves from \"damaging
\nthe situation\".<\/p>\n
\"There should be no more people falling victim or suffering
\nfrom pain after today's ballot. East Timorese youths must bear
\nthe accountability to avoid more bloodshed in our beloved land,\"
\nXanana said.<\/p>\n
Meanwhile, Gueterres renewed his pledge to support the
\ndisarmament process. He said weapons belonging to pro-Jakarta
\nmilitias had been kept in cantonment sites.<\/p>\n
But he said his camp would prevent political leaders from
\nleaving East Timor before the popular consultation process was
\nover.<\/p>\n
\"Operations to check the political elite people will be
\nlaunched, because they have to take account of what they did in
\nthe past. They have brought East Timor people to this present
\nsituation,\" Gueterres, who leads the Aitarak militia group, said.<\/p>\n
Head of the Commission on Peace and Stability Djoko Sugianto
\nhinted that the security situation in the province would remain
\nvulnerable if the losing faction failed to accept defeat.
\n(33\/byg\/amd)<\/p>",
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