A good token start
A good token start
The highly publicized handover of weapons by pro-Indonesia
East Timor militias to the police in the border town of Atambua,
East Nusa Tenggara, may come across as a public relations gimmick
on the part of the government, but it is still a gesture of
goodwill to resolve the problem of the militias. The ceremony,
witnessed by Vice President Megawati Sukarnoputri and top members
of the Cabinet and the Indonesian Military (TNI), was widely
covered by national and international media. The presence of
high-ranking delegates from Jakarta is an indication of the
government's serious commitment to finally do something about the
militias.
The pro-Indonesia East Timor militias have been a menace not
only to their own compatriots living in Indonesian refugee camps,
but also to the United Nations workers who have been helping the
refugees with their repatriation to their newly independent
country. Sunday's ceremony came in the wake of the killing of
three UN aid workers by an East Timorese mob in Atambua this
month and the subsequent United Nations Security Council
resolution ordering Indonesia to disarm and disband the militias.
That resolution, and the international condemnation preceding
it, should have told Indonesia that these pro-Indonesia militias
have now become a major liability to the entire nation.
Obviously, we have not learned our lessons well. These are the
same militias that brought massive worldwide condemnation of
Indonesia just a year ago when the gun-toting thugs terrorized
almost the entire East Timorese population after the majority of
them voted to separate from Indonesia.
Whatever objectives or dreams these militias still have today,
one year after losing the ballot, they are increasingly coming at
the expense of the entire nation. Whatever purpose these
Indonesian Army-created militias once served, they are surely
dispensable by now. Given all the problems and international
embarrassment they have caused the nation, they must be disarmed
and disbanded, not only because Indonesia has been so ordered by
the UN Security Council, but also because it is in Indonesia's
best interest to do so.
On top of that, in the name of justice, Indonesia must see to
it that the perpetrators of the Atambua killings are brought to
trial. This is in addition to bringing to court the militias and
their sponsors in the Indonesian Military hierarchy who were
responsible, directly or indirectly, for the massive campaign of
terror and violence that forced almost the entire population of
East Timor to flee and razed the whole territory to the ground.
The fact that none of this has happened means that the
political will, for one reason or another, has been missing.
Sunday's widely publicized ceremony in Atambua could still end
up as merely another public relations stunt to appease the
international community, unless the government quickly follows
this through to the end until the militias are fully disarmed and
disbanded, and their leaders brought to justice.
If there are still doubts and misgivings about the real
intention of Sunday's ceremony, that is because we have seen this
gesture before. Prior to the Aug. 31, 1999 ballot, the Indonesian
Military also held a widely publicized ceremony showing the pro-
Indonesia East Timor militias surrendering their weapons as a
gesture of goodwill to peace in the territory. But we know that
these weapons were immediately returned to them no sooner than
the TV cameras and reporters had left. A similar scene was
witnessed in Atambua on Sunday. No sooner had Megawati left the
area than some of the militias took back their weapons from the
police. Later claims that the weapons had been surrendered once
more to the police cannot be independently verified since all the
reporters had left town.
Officials organizing the ceremony in Atambua also failed to
explain why Eurico Guterres, probably the most notorious among
the East Timor militia leaders, was excluded from the ceremony
and from personally handing over his gun to the Vice President.
Security protocol may have dictated that this was not possible,
but if that was the case, then the whole ceremony in Atambua on
Sunday was a poorly executed public relations exercise.
Whatever impressions the ceremony in Atambua left, it is
really up to the government to prove to the doubters and cynics
that it was not a mere PR gimmick by ensuring that further
disarmament and disbandment of the militias as well as the legal
process are carried out. The government must do it quickly for
time, unfortunately, is not on its side.