Sword Gusmao recounts love affair with RI
Sword Gusmao recounts love affair with RI
David Kennedy, Contributor, Jakarta, t_sullivan@cbn.net.id
When Kirsty Sword Gusmao stepped off the plane from Dili this
week to launch her autobiography in Jakarta, she must have given
a little smile.
The Australian-born mother of two spent much of the 1990s in
the Indonesian capital as an undercover activist for the East
Timorese independence movement. She even changed her name to
"Ruby Blade" in order to reenter the country when she was
blacklisted by military intelligence.
On this occasion, however, she did not need to worry about
being arrested by security forces. This time they were waiting to
escort her as East Timor's first lady in a cavalcade to her hotel
in Central Jakarta.
"It's quite emotional for me to come back and launch the book
here," she said during an interview with The Jakarta Post on
Tuesday.
"Most of the action of the story takes place in Jakarta and
over many years of the involvement in the struggle, this has been
a very important place for me politically and also at a personal
level."
Sword Gusmao worked undercover here with human rights NGOs and
the East Timorese resistance from 1992 to 1996, during the New
Order regime of then president Suharto.
"Many of my closest allies and colleagues were Indonesian
people and they will have a special understanding and
appreciation of events. I hope that people will see in my book
the story of a love affair with Indonesia which was very real to
me."
Indeed while the book, A Woman of Independence, recounts the
closing chapters of the East Timorese independence struggle and
the birth of a new nation, it's also a vivid account of Sword
Gusmao's dual life in the capital as she worked with Indonesian
activists, East Timorese asylum seekers and as an English
teacher.
Having studied Indonesian language and culture at Melbourne
University, Sword Gusmao did not take long to adapt to local
culture, even adopting the art of nongkrong -- the Indonesian
habit of crouching down to chat in the street.
"It was my love of the Indonesian language and people which
led me in the direction that I took. And you know, somewhat
ironically, that love led me to my activism for East Timor," she
explained.
"But I never felt that my aligning myself with East Timorese
independence diminished my love for Indonesia and its people."
She saw the Indonesian people as victims of the same tyranny
as the East Timorese: "My first few visits to Indonesia in the
mid 1980s taught me that the enemy of East Timor -- oppression
and military abuse of power -- was also the scourge of Indonesian
society."
Sword Gusmao became involved in the East Timorese independence
movement as a student activist in Melbourne during the 1980s and
moved to Jakarta in 1992 to work clandestinely for the cause
under the guise of teaching English. It was there she came into
contact with her husband, Falantil guerrilla leader Xanana Gusmao
who was serving a seven-year sentence in Cipinang penitentiary in
East Jakarta.
"I was very privileged to experience a lot of the key events
that shaped a nation at close range, and I've tried to share that
experience with readers," said the soft-spoken Sword Gusmao.
Her romance with the resistance leader blossomed through a
regular flow of letters, cassettes, gifts and computer disks
during the years before he was released to house arrest in 1999,
and she became part of his close knit support staff.
Her story -- part romance, part intrigue -- deftly weaves in
and out of personal and political events, culminating in her
marriage to Xanana in 2000 and the independence celebrations for
the world's newest nation two years later.
Despite having all the elements of a fairy tale, the romantic
aspects of the story tend to fade into the background, eclipsed
by the frenetic pace of events and the horror of the atrocities
which unfold.
It vividly portrays one person's view of the human suffering
caused by 24 years of military occupation and the final rampages
of militias following the territory's vote for independence in
1999 that left more than a thousand people dead.
Sword Gusmao said the last four years have seen a painful
process of readjustment for East Timor, emotionally, socially and
economically.
"This is a nation that has been completely destroyed and is
trying to rebuild itself in every sector from the ground up."
However, Sword Gusmao cites the huge welcome which crowds in
Dili spontaneously gave then president Abdurrahman "Gus Dur"
Wahid in 2000 and President Megawati Soekarnoputri in 2002 as
positive examples of the East Timorese people's "tremendous
political maturity" and will to move on.
The East Timorese Truth and Reconciliation Commission has, she
said, provided a good opportunity to begin the healing process
and draw a line under some of the less extreme cases of violence.
"I don't think anyone is advising the East Timorese to forget;
but forgive yes, in the interests of the nation's stability and
future security," said Sword Gusmao.
Often called the "Mother of the Nation" -- a daunting title,
she said, for a 38 year old -- Sword Gusmao has nonetheless
channeled her considerable energies into improving the plight of
East Timorese women and children. She established the Alola
foundation to defend women's rights in the face of what she
termed "very patriarchal and discriminatory attitudes towards
women".
The situation for families in Asia's poorest country is "like
a pressure cooker" she explained, due to high unemployment, lack
of adequate nutrition and the difficulties faced by ex-guerrilla
fighters in readjusting to civilian life.
Her own family life receives little respite from the demands
of her husband's job and her position as a "sort of a role model"
working to defend the rights of East Timorese women.
In the closing pages of A Woman of Independence, she reflects
on how the freedom of the nation ultimately led to a certain loss
of freedom for its president and first lady.
"Getting time together as a family is extremely challenging,"
she said adding that "in the end you put more focus on the
quality rather than the quantity of time you have together.
So what about finding time for a sequel to the book or a
screenplay?
"When I finished this one I resolved not to do another for at
least ten years," she said laughingly.
The making of a film, which she acknowledged would reach far
more Indonesians and East Timorese, where illiteracy stands at 40
percent in the fledgling nation, is a distinct possibility as
there have been a number of offers. At the moment the first lady
is seeking advice on the matter.
"It wouldn't be for fame and glory but to get some more
support from the country, both morally and financially," she said
with characteristic modesty.
I-BOX:
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A Woman of Independence, A Story of Love and the Birth of a New
Nation
Kirsty Sword Gusmao, Pan Macmillan Australia, 2003
320 pp
Available from QB World Kemang, Jl Kemang Raya, No 17, South
Jakarta
Tel: (021) 7180818
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