Saraswati and Jualita witnessed friends being chopped to death

JAKARTA (JP): Adinda Saraswati and Jualita Tanasale Lauren, survivors of the four month hostage drama, recalled their nightmares during captivity.

Saraswati yesterday told how their abductors slashed to death two captives, Navy Panekenan and Yosias Mateis Lasaamahu, as troops started closing in.

These are excerpts from their accounts:

Saraswati: We ran toward the oncoming rescuers. I saw a rebel wielding an axe coming towards us. Me and Jualita were not suspicious of him. We didn't think he had any reason to kill us.

But to my horror, the rebel chopped into Navy from behind quite suddenly. I screamed, "Why, Navy, Navy .." When the rebel chopped into him again, I heard him say, "Praise the Lord, Jesus Christ"; then he died.

Upon hearing the commotion, fellow hostages who had been up on the hill looked down and asked what happened. As I was trying to help Navy, Jualita pulled me up.

Then I saw other rebels attacking Mateis. The one who killed Navy told me, "My people are those white skinned ones," I thought: they will kill me too now.

I grabbed Jualita and we both ran. I saw Mateis being mobbed. I really wanted to help him but I didn't know how.

Jualita told Antara on board the plane on her way to Jakarta Thursday that she would do no more research in Irian Jaya, even if the military guarantees the area is safe.

Generally, the abductors treated the hostages well. But the European hostages were treated better; they got more food than the Indonesians.

The captors kept moving the hostages around to avoid the military and to find enough plants to eat. The hostages were forced to eat plants they had never imagined before.

When there was nothing to eat, they had to go hungry for days.

The hostages refused to be separated. We swore we would die together if the captors were going to kill us.

Meanwhile, Paulina Tanasale, 62, Jualita's mother, told The Jakarta Post about the hostages' four months of agony based on Jualita's account:

All female hostages were harassed by their abductors. Jualita might have been raped had Navy not come to the rescue.

The hostages had to take turns to make sure that none of the women were raped.

When the troops finally came to the rescue, the hostages had not eaten for a week. Jualita is thinner than she was. She is obviously undernourished.

During the ordeal, the captives were asked to get their own food. They ate all sorts of things: frogs, potatoes, maize ... they sometimes ate bread and meat brought in by Red Cross volunteers. (pan/01/16)