Hatred of Indonesian troops remains among Timorese

Hatred of Indonesian troops remains among Timorese

DILI, East Timor (JP): Indonesians, who grew up believing
they helped East Timor out of a civil war, must wake up to the
fact that they are perceived as former colonizers. On the other
hand East Timorese are convincing Indonesians that they can be
good neighbors.

A visitor to Dili finds that although the language is the
same, separate identities, separate citizenships, have been
established.

"So when are you going back to Indonesia?" an Indonesian is
asked, who finds increasingly that the reference "to Jakarta" in
earlier days was only appropriate in "the Indonesia era."

After a year of separation, the anti-Indonesia feeling has
toned down, as people distinguish their hatred: "It was what the
military did; we're fine with the people."

New and old Indonesian pop songs are heard everywhere in turn
with Timorese pop songs from albums produced in Surabaya, East
Java.

It will be some time before local artists can again produce
their work, when families can be reunited and when people can
resume trade with neighboring Indonesia.

A farmer in Tutubesi village in Maliana said family members
must now help more in cultivating the fields because he has lost
access to the usual workers from Kupang.

The Timor Pos media group is pondering plans to publish a
tabloid in Indonesia as print and delivery costs from Darwin have
been too costly.

Ex-students get into nostalgic yarns of beloved Yogyakarta,
where they studied -- and where some were driven away from --
"mie baso" noodles and meatballs, and "the (Yogya) girls."

Tension colors relations with the ongoing trials of those
charged with war crimes in Dili and for illegal possession of
weapons in Jakarta; while in Timor, people say they want "good
relations."

"We need to see our families, and to travel," said trader
Americo Hudino in Dili. His friend Dominic Alves Cabral said he
wants to resume his agricultural studies in Magelang, Central
Java.

An Indonesian journalist is greeted warmly: "Tell my relatives
I'm alive," says a Maliana school principal, Mateus Bere Maia.

Vendors in Dili also ask whether it is safe for families to
return; some members of the militia have asked relatives visiting
them at the border of the possibility of coming home.

Strained relations bring many problems. The main bank is the
Portuguese Banco Nacional Ultramarino, and people say payment
transfers to and from Indonesia take "forever."

To visit renown dukun, Timorese also need to travel to the
town of Atambua, across the border in West Timor.

"I need to get my teeth fixed and my spectacles changed," a
Dili resident said. The two dentists in Dili only handle
extractions; while eye check-ups are possible only when the U.S.
marines come, and the spectacles are provided when they return a
few months later.

Hopes for "good relations" with Indonesia will in part be
determined by the continuous resentment among Indonesians against
the "ungrateful Timorese."

The feeling was evident in a heated meeting between
authorities of the UN Transitional Administration in East Timor
(UNTAET) and legislators on Feb. 23.

UNTAET had asked for Indonesia's aid for development in East
Timor, which was met by a legislator's question on why Indonesia
was now being "dragged in" while before it was "treated as an
imperialist."

Meanwhile the Timorese now also face demands for security and
good relations from their minority, most notably the Muslim
community in Kampung Alor, Dili. Their area, comprising a few
dozen families from Sumatra and other islands, bustles with
activity every lunch time as patrons visit their foodstalls.

The mosque complex where they stayed was the target of a riot
on Jan. 1. Three were injured, a mosque window was shattered and
many of their foodstalls were torn down. Following the incident
the Indonesian consul reportedly received many requests from them
to return to Indonesia.

The civil police came too late, community leader Arham told
Radio UNTAET, saying they had requested protection before New
Year's Eve, following rumors that they were to be attacked.

He denied views that they were "exclusive," saying they were
forced to live around the mosque because other people were
occupying their homes.

"Please note that the freedom that you have now, we would also
like to share. We wish to feel free, to be free to speak, to do
business and live in peace," Arham said in tears. (Ati Nurbaiti)