Independence offer turns up the heat in East Timor

Tension in East Timor has soared since Jakarta sent the shock message of granting full independence if the Timorese reject autonomy status. The Jakarta Post photographer IGN Oka Budhi Yogaswara visited the country's youngest province last week. The following is his report and photographs about the situation.

DILI, East Timor (JP): Political tension here and in the other 12 regencies of the province has escalated since the sudden possibility of independence sent shock waves across the world.

As the polemic continues raging on the local and domestic fronts, East Timorese have been divided into three camps -- die- hard supporters of integration with Indonesia, referendum advocates and independence supporters.

Jakarta has firmly rejected the referendum option. Indonesia, the United Nations and Portugal, East Timor's former colonial master, are working on a plan to assess what the 800,000 East Timorese want.

The proindependence camp has accused the Armed Forces (ABRI) of raising the risk of violence by arming integration supporters. Many East Timorese leaders, including Dili Bishop Carlos Filipe Ximenes Belo, have strongly demanded their disarmament.

President B.J. Habibie's unforeseen overture for independence set off a spate of violence.

In Baucau, 130 kilometers east of here, referendum supporters clashed with security forces. In the western district of Atambua, tension is so high that many integration supporters and migrants have fled.

Hundreds of people, mostly migrants fearing civil war, have crossed the border to neighboring East Nusa Tenggara province, the western half of Timor island.

Transportation authorities at Dili harbor have reported unusually high numbers of outgoing passengers to Kupang, Denpasar, Surabaya, Ujungpandang and Jakarta.

The violence has added credence to fears the immediate granting of independence or calling of a referendum would trigger a civil war in the territory, which became part of Indonesia in 1976.

In several areas, civilians armed with traditional weapons or even rifles patrol their neighborhoods, harassing passersby they believe are unsympathetic to their cause.

In Maubara, armed civilians stopped motorists and shaved the heads of those they disliked. In Dili, a medical doctor was assaulted, prompting eight doctors to pack up and leave town.

In the latest bloody incident, trader Benedito Fortunato de Pirres was shot dead in an intergang clash in Dili on Feb. 14.

The renewed political violence is chilling to the many ordinary East Timorese who do not want to see a repeat of the terrible 1975 civil war.