Reconciliation offers path to end East Timorese division (2)
Reconciliation offers path to end East Timorese division (2)
By Dino Patti Djalal
This is the second of a two part article on the former
Portuguese colony of East Timor based on the second meeting
between Timorese from Indonesia and diaspora.
LONDON (JP): A question can be raised as to whether the
conflict was about the quest for political power or political
concepts. To be sure, there was an interplay of both. My personal
view, however, would put the stress on the "quest for power" more
than on "political concepts."
This is because the competing concepts on nationalism had not
been given enough time to sink in. Little wonder cross-alignments
among the parties occurred frequently and with relative ease,
both among pro-integration and pro-independence activists,
depending on how strategic circumstances evolved. Little wonder
why a list of top Fretilin figures -- from Alarico Fernandez to
Mauhudu, to mention only a few -- easily renounced their
political beliefs upon their capture by the government.
East Timor's integration with Indonesia in 1976 established a
new political order in that area, but it did not fully mend the
division between the warring factions (in the same way that an
independent East Timor would have been achieved at the expense of
the majority of integrationists). A number of ex-Fretilin members
did cross over and a general amnesty was offered and granted to
many, albeit with ups and downs, though the underlying fabric of
factionalism was never completely erased. The conflictual
configurations on East Timor have become somewhat more intricate
since 1976. However, peel away the icing on the cake and beneath
all the layers one would still find that the core conflict among
the East Timorese remains. At times, it was merely camouflaged in
different forms, and some subtle cross alignments recurred.
In short, over the last 18 years the integrationists busied
themselves with consolidating integration and pursuing
development programs, while across the fence pro-independence
Timorese worked up an international support network and helped
the local guerrillas to nurture an urban clandestine movement in
East Timor. A communication wall remained between them.
How reconciliation came about is a story on its own, but at
least two factors appear significant in facilitating the process.
First, is the factor of time. Eighteen years of separation is
quite long. It is ample time for serious reflections, for bitter
feelings to start healing, for old sentiments to return, for
vivid nostalgic to come knocking back. I do not think the present
reconciliation would have been possible if it was held in the
immediate aftermath of the war.
The other factor is that of traditional bonds. In East Timor,
kinship and politics are interwoven in dynamic synergism, a
tendency not uncommon in many small, tightly knitted political
societies. The Timorese who participated in the reconciliation
meetings, on both sides of the table, were mostly either related
by blood and clan, or were at one time longtime friends or
schoolmates. Virtually any participant was able to point to
another person in the room as "a cousin from my mother's side",
or "an old friend from the village", or "a mate from the
seminary", or even "my former teacher."
When they first met outside London in December last year, the
atmosphere was an unmistakable reunion of long separated
relatives and old friends; the body language was full of
affectionate embraces and emotional tears. Abilio Araujo, who led
the diaspora delegation, remembers well that when he departed to
study in Portugal before the troubled days, Lopez Da Cruz (his
counterpart from Indonesia at the reconciliation meeting) was
among a group of close friends who bid him farewell on the Dili
runway. Politics had not stood in their way then.
One can only hope that this "kinship factor" will serve as a
fertile basis to direct the reconciliation process towards a
constructive and realistic direction.
Reconciliation will be challenged by at least two groups.
First, there are still elements within the Timorese community,
especially those abroad, who will try to derail the process,
mainly for fear that the process will politically limit them and
rob them of media spotlight and political and diplomatic
currency. Sadly, there are vested interests within the Timorese
"resistance" community working in favor of continued division and
conflict, and benefiting from it -- a fact not exactly unknown to
the Timorese community but one that has tended to elude media
awareness.
Reconciliation will also be disputed by a few non-Timorese
political activists and certain NGOs. Some of them are simply
politically anti-Indonesia to begin with and have been using the
East Timor issue as a platform to attack Indonesia, but others
may in fact be well-meaning idealists who have yet to comprehend
the reconciliation process. Hopefully, this latter group will
come around to realizing that in criticizing reconciliation they
are merely being used for a narrow, sub-factional agenda.
Hence, a word of caution: as reconciliation process moves
ahead, expect more theatrics, more public relations acrobats, and
more smokescreens. These deceptive fireworks are tools of the
trade in order to divert attention from the process and steal the
limelight. Prior to the second reconciliation meeting, for
instance, rumors were already circulating of negotiations between
the Indonesian "military" and Ramos Horta in Rome, or between the
"military" and Xanana Gusmao, a guerrilla leader who is now
serving a prison term in Jakarta. When these were then
categorically denied by the Indonesian government, the easy
answer was given by the other side that Jakarta had simply
"backed away." Expect more of these hit-and-runs, but do not be
easily fooled by them.
Those who come to the reconciliation table have one important
challenge: to prevent the conflict which they started from being
passed on to the next generation. The current reconciliation
process is taking place at a crucial time when it may or it may
not assume a full trans-generational dimension. Youths two
decades ago, most of the Timorese around the reconciliation table
are now well into their 50's and 60's. Soon they will have to
pass on the torch.
In the final analysis, the Timorese who started the war in
1974 must realize that they could not go back in time to rewrite
history. But they do have the power to shape the course of their
children's history so that they will be spared the sufferings of
their parents, and to assure their children the dignity of a life
of amity and harmony that is rightfully theirs.
The writer is a regular contributor to The Jakarta Post.