Seven East Timorese students injured in Maliana clash
By Ridwan Max Sijabat and Lorenco Vicente Martins
DILI, East Timor (JP): At least seven students were injured and two houses burned down on Wednesday in a clash between groups for and against independence in Maliana, Bobonaro, some 150 kilometers south of here.
Ernesto Ate, 24, had his arm severed in the violence, and Mario dos Reis, 21, and Jose Candido Marques, 22, suffered serious injuries to their legs from arrows shot at them. Simon Lopez, 20, Filomeno Govia, 21, and Edi Leonito, 24, had slightly injured backs from stone-throwing that occurred.
The victims were now receiving treatment at Maliana General Hospital.
Antonio Cordoso, who witnessed the clash, told The Jakarta Post by phone that the incident occurred when some 150 members of the pro-Indonesia militia joined a ballot campaign in Maliana and attacked the offices of proindependence groups of Home Affairs Front (FPI), Council for Solidarity of East Timorese Students and Youths (DSMPTT) and the Center for Information and Broadcasting (PPI).
"Some of the assailants pelted stones at the offices, while others brandished knives, sticks and arrows and entered the buildings, attacking students and youths inside," he said.
He said prointegration supporters burned down two houses belonging to proindependence supporters an hour after the clash.
He also said some attackers were members of the prointegration Dadarus Red and White Militia. He claimed a number of troops stood by and did nothing to stop the violence.
A staff member at the Independent Ballot Monitoring Committee (KIPER) called on police and authorities to investigate the alleged attack as it was a violation of the code of conduct for the campaigning of the self-determination vote scheduled for Aug. 30.
"According to the campaign schedule, the prointegration groups should campaign on Wednesday in Kokolako, Bobonaro, Atabae and Lolotoi, not in Maliana," said a staff member requesting anonymity.
He alleged prointegration supporters prevented staff members of the three organizations in the attacked buildings from reporting the incident to the local police.
Let. Col. Burhanuddin Siagian, chief of Bobonaro Military Subdistrict, denied the attack. Instead, he claimed it was the proindependence militia who launched the attack first.
"The prointegration supporters countered the attack by pelting stones at the buildings," he said, adding the clash stopped after dozens of security personnel fired warning shots.
Separately, the prointegration force known as "Alive or Dead, Integration" (Mahidi) handed over on Wednesday 54 guns, including 35 homemade ones, to the Ainaro Police before delegations of the Peace and Stability Committee and the United Nations Mission in East Timor (UNAMET).
Mahidi commander Canicio de Carvallo led the weapon submission.
The White and Red Blood and Aitarak prointegration militias in Ermera and Dili are scheduled to hand over their firearms to the security authorities on Thursday (today).
Leaflets
Meanwhile, leaflets circulated in Dili lambasting Dili Bishop Felipe Ximenes Belo for issuing a pastoral letter which asked the East Timorese to cast votes according to their conscience in the upcoming popular consultation.
Signed by the East Timorese Intellectual Forum, a name not heard of before, the leaflets accused the Catholic Church in East Timor of failing to act neutral over the upcoming balloting.
Belo, who is away for a visit in Baucau, could not be reached for comment.
The leaflet also warned Indonesians of "Western occupation" of the world, accusing unnamed developed countries of instigating the uproar over human rights and environmental abuses to weaken the third world, including Asian countries.
The group charged the upcoming vote would be manipulated by the West and the United States through UNAMET to prepare independence for the territory, where they would later set up military bases.
"With independence, the East Timorese will lose their existence," it said.
Separately, Reuters reported Amnesty International accused Indonesia on Wednesday of failing to honor commitments to stamp out violence by its supporters in the run-up to the vote on the political future of East Timor.
"The consistent failure of the Indonesian authorities to guarantee safety and security for all East Timorese ... poses a dangerous precedent for the future of the troubled territory," the rights group was reported as saying in Lisbon.
In a special report ahead of the Aug. 30 ballot, Amnesty International said serious violations, including killings and intimidation, continued and were "undermining" the whole voting process.
The people of East Timor will vote in a United Nations- supervised ballot on whether to accept an offer of sweeping autonomy or opt for full independence from Indonesia.