ABRI has its hands full in East Timor
By T. Sima Gunawan
DILI, East Timor (JP): The presence of the Armed Forces (ABRI) in East Timor is often misunderstood, if not misrepresented, by people outside the area, according to their commander Col. Mahidin Simbolon.
The military chief of East Timor says that besides maintaining security, his troops have also been involved in helping with the economic development of the province.
Containing the threat of separatist rebels and clandestine groups is but one aspect of the military's role in East Timor. Equally important, but very often overlooked by outsiders, is its contribution in building bridges, roads and other infrastructure facilities in the province.
The military has become one of the three main pillars in East Timor, alongside the administration and the Roman Catholic Church.
Col. Simbolon, who was assigned to head the military command in East Timor in May 1995, says that opposition to the military's presence represents a minority opinion.
The majority of the population, especially those who live in villages previously isolated because of the absence of roads, appreciate the troops' work.
Col. Simbolon, 45 years old, is no stranger to East Timor, having served in the territory in various capacities dating back to December 1975.
A 1974 graduate of the Armed Forces Academy, he has been assigned to East Timor seven times, including his current posting as the number one officer in the territory.
His Army career reached its height when he led the operation that led to the arrest of Jose Alexandre "Xanana" Gusmao, the commander of the armed separatist movement Fretilin, in November 1992.
A father of two daughters and a son, Col. Simbolon says he feels honored to serve in East Timor. "My eldest child was born in 1980 when I was on duty here," he says.
In conjunction with the 20th anniversary of East Timor's integration into Indonesia, which falls on July 17, The Jakarta Post met Col. Simbolon at his headquarters in Dili.
In the interview, Col. Simbolon speaks at length about ABRI, problems facing East Timor and other related issues. The following are excerpts of the interview.
Question: How do you assess the situation in East Timor today?
Answer: ABRI is making every effort to make East Timor safe and stable. Without the soldiers the development activities cannot take place. As you see, there has been rapid development in East Timor. In Bosnia, there is no development because of the continuous conflict.
Q: There are still anti-integration groups in East Timor. Where are they and how do they work?
A: Anti-integration elements are everywhere. They work in clandestine groups.
Previously, they had the armed force, the Fretilin.
Now that Fretilin is weakened, they have changed their strategy. They focus on diplomatic campaigns abroad and build clandestine organizations in East Timor.
The diplomatic front tries to stir trouble in East Timor to keep their cause alive in international forums. This is what Ramos Horta is doing. He has built underground networks and clandestine activities. They make use of every opportunity to raise the issue of East Timor. Take the Asia Pacific Economic Cooperation meeting here (in Jakarta in November 1994) which was attended by the American President (Bill Clinton). At that time they sent youths to climb over the fences of the American Embassy.
They will also exploit any mistakes we (ABRI) make or even a slip of tongue, if a soldier or a migrant does something wrong.
For example once, in Maliana, a prison warden said something which was a slip of the tongue. But the rumor that came out was that he had insulted a certain religion. The result was chaos and riots. In Baucau, they burned churches and mosques.
Their diplomatic campaign is supported by non-governmental organizations opposed to Indonesia. They will do anything to create the impression that East Timor is filled with trouble. If East Timor is safe, they won't be able to do anything.
They chose a specific modus operandi to draw people's interest. In the past three months, they have used religious and ethnic issues to stir people's anger. But we have been able to settle things well.
Q: Do you involve the Church in the handling of the cases?
A: Yes. Whenever there is a riot we always talk. In the last case, I talked with the governor and the vicar general.
Q: Was anyone killed?
A: No, only some stores were destroyed.
Q: A few days ago the military and the government had a dialog with Catholic youths. One of them asked for greater religious freedom. He was particularly concerned at the presence of soldiers at religious meetings.
A: If you've done something wrong, you would feel uneasy when someone comes near you. You'd feel suspicious. But if you haven't done anything wrong, you will not be suspicious.
If there has been no religious freedom in East Timor, Roman Catholicism would not have spread like this. Did you know that in 1975 there were about 130,000 Roman Catholics in East Timor and today the number has grown to more than 750,000?
In 1975 there were only 86 Roman Catholic churches, today there are 99. In 1975 there were no chapels, and today there are 438 of them in East Timor.
Why has the Roman Catholic community grown so fast? One of the reasons is because of the existence of transportation. Priests would not be able to go to remote villages if there was no transportation. In 1975, there were only 20 kilometers of asphalt roads, today there are 2,683 kilometers.
And who built the Cathedral? The government did.
There has also been an increase in the number of schools, hospitals and other facilities.
Q: Governor Abilio Jose Osorio Soares said in the dialog with the Catholic youth that East Timor has been built by ABRI. What did he mean?
A: ABRI is directly involved in the development of East Timor. ABRI takes part in agriculture. We help farmers, we introduced the use of buffalo to plow padifields, we have planted rice, potatoes... We teach people craftsmanship and carpentry skills.
Q: When did all these start?
A: ABRI started its territorial operation in East TImor in December 1989.
Q: When will the program end?
A: We will stop the operation when the provincial administration decides that things are fine and when people have become capable (to carry out development without ABRI's help).
I was transferred here in May 1995. In June, I ordered the withdrawal of two of the seven battalions of troops in East Timor. There are now five battalions left, each with 664 people.
This is far from enough for the 442 villages in East Timor.
After I pulled out the two battalions, people came to us, asking not to withdraw the other battalions. Why did they make the request? Because they have felt the positive impact of the presence of ABRI here.
Those who do not like ABRI's presence are the anti-integration groups, especially intellectuals who like to play politics. They have never been to the villages, they don't know the suffering of the people. They only want to get funds from NGOs, and spend the funds for themselves.
Q: Who are they? It seems that you know them. Why don't you arrest them?
A: Yes (we know them), but if we arrest them, they will scream about human rights violations.
Q: Could you comment on the suggestion that ABRI's human rights record in East Timor is poor?
A: Because it is ABRI who has the weapons, people think it is ABRI who is violating human rights. If you saw the situation here, you would see that it was the East Timorese people who are violating human rights.
Q: What do you mean?
A: They violated the religious freedom and the freedom to make a living. They robbed people, they burned churches, mosques, threw stones at people.
When you talk about human rights, you focus on the conflict between the military and civilians. You never ask why the conflict happened in the first place. And whenever there is a victim in the conflict, this issue is twisted and ABRI is accused of violating human rights.
If they were violent, would we stay? We have to cripple them, but we don't kill them. This repressive action is the same anywhere in the world. If we arrest civilians and process the cases, is that a human rights violation?
You have to know that demonstrations here are different from those abroad. There, they stage peaceful demonstrations. Here, they are violent.
Q: How many members of Security Disturbance Groups (GPK) are there?
A: Around 185 people.
Q: Why it is so difficult to arrest them? There have been suggestions that ABRI is letting them roam in the forests in order to justify its presence in this province?
A: Who is spreading such rumors? Do you think it is easy to arrest GPK members? Look at the United Kingdom, Ireland, Italy, Japan? They can't beat them (the separatists) thoroughly. The GPK will all disappear if their leaders give up and pledge to respect the ruling government.
Q: What about the people in underground anti-integration activities? How do you handle them?
A: There are not a lot of them, but they exist and there is resistance in East Timor. We maintain the security. We improve the people's defense. The problem is whether they are willing to see that people's welfare is improving.
Q: You said ABRI has done a lot for the people. But why then are there people who resent its presence here
A: They might be under the influence of people who think from only one dimension. They don't want to look around. They don't understand. But there are many others who like ABRI.
Q: But there are those East Timorese who cannot enjoy the fruits of development because they are jobless.
A: Don't you have jobless people in Jakarta? In America? In Australia? Why do you ask only about unemployment in East Timor?
In East Timor, there has been rapid progress in education. During the Portuguese colonial government, there were only 10 university graduates. Now we open the education door widely and anyone can go to school. We give them the chance to enjoy education to gain knowledge.
The youths, those who are from the villages, after they graduate from junior high schools or senior high schools, they go to Dili with the hope of becoming civil servants. Being a civil servant is the symbol of social status. When they fail to become one, they are ashamed of returning to their village. In the city, they become bystanders. People from Java, Sumatra, Sulawesi, they come here with a strong will to make a living. They might not have enough capital or a good education. They go into the informal sector, which is avoided by the East Timorese. They become fishermen, or vendors selling bakso (meatball soup) and jamu (herbal drinks). The migrants are the small and me traders. If the East Timorese were willing to go into this sector, they would not be jobless.
Q: It seems to me that Dili is quiet.
A: Don't compare Dili with Jakarta...
Q: When I arrived here, I saw some people with walkie-talkies at the airport. The taxi driver told me they might be spies who were scrutinizing arriving passengers.
A: Why are you so suspicious about people carrying walkie- talkies? In Jakarta many people carry them. I think people have been influenced by bad rumors about East Timor. If Indonesians have that kind of misperception, what would foreigners think?