Tension darkens Timor before vote
The day before Monday's historic ballot, East Timorese families were still burying their dead, killed in clashes on the streets of Dili. Although it is controversial, the ballot is supposed to be the first step on the road to peace for inhabitants here. The Jakarta Post reporters Dwi Atmanta, Boediman Moerdijat, Ridwan M. Sijabat, photographer IGGP Bayu Ismoyo and correspondent Lourenco Vicente Martins filed the following stories and photos from East Timor on this page, page 2 and page 6.
DILI, East Timor (JP): With fears of violence and two decades of agonizing memories casting a shadow over them, East Timorese are bracing for a landmark vote on their future on Monday.
The fact that only a few shops and other commercial centers, particularly those selling basic necessities, remain open with reduced trading hours gives a clear sign of anxiety.
A curfew has not been ordered, but security authorities have called on people to refrain from going out in the evening.
Bloody clashes, which exploded just before the cooling-off period, served to warn East Timorese of further hostility regardless of the results of the self-determination ballot in which people will determine whether to accept or reject a package that offers wide-ranging autonomy within Indonesia.
Four people were killed on Thursday -- although the United Nations Mission in East Timor (UNAMET) put the figure at five -- and two others died on Friday as fighting between the bitter foes continued.
"Enmity has persisted for years here. It's very difficult for the warring groups to put their bitter memories behind them," Antonio Britis, a taxi driver, said.
The bullets that flew just as talks on disarmament were about to materialize have raised a fresh debate on whether or not an international peace-keeping force is needed in this troubled province.
Less than a week before the clashes, three visiting U.S. senators issued a plea for an immediate dispatch of armed United Nations peacekeepers to prevent a possible "bloodbath". Despite grave concern about the latest violence, however, the UN has decided to stick to an earlier agreement to mandate the Indonesian Police to maintain security during the voting process.
Antonio, the driver, echoed the grim assessment and dismissed repeated calls for reconciliation among people after the popular consultation.
"It is an East Timorese stereotype to seek revenge of all pain inflicted by the enemy. Unabated clashes between warring parties look to be the destiny of people here," Antonio, a former independence guerrilla fighter, said.
"It may take us five generations to start a new life as a unified society."
The former Portuguese colony has been beset with guerrilla warfare and human rights abuses since Indonesian troops were deployed to the half-island territory in 1976. Human rights groups said more than 200,000 people died, many from starvation in the following years.
The massacre in Santa Cruz in November 1991 -- when troops opened fire on a crowd of protesters and at least 51 people were killed, according to the National Commission on Human Rights -- has underlined the uneasy relationship between Jakarta and East Timor.
A new wave of violence has been on the rise since the government reversed decades of opposition and gave the green light in January for independence, a decision widely hailed by the international community but criticized by domestic opposition parties.
Dozens of people have been killed and thousands displaced from their homes in the lead-up to the Aug. 30 ballot. While both sides suffered losses, many have blamed the prointegration militia, which is suspected of receiving support from the Indonesian Military.
London-based human rights group Amnesty International said in its statement: "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."
Although there have been some encouraging signs, most notably the successful voter registration program in which more than 451,000 signed up for the ballot, continued violence has overshadowed the achievement.
With the number of registered voters surpassing earlier estimates of between 300,000 and 400,000, the UN let the ballot go ahead as scheduled. The vote was initially slated for Aug. 8, but was delayed due to security concerns.
Antonio is just one of many who foresee escalating violence in the aftermath of the vote. Prointegration figure and leader of the armed militia Aitarak, Eurico Gutteres, hinted that a "civil war" looked unavoidable if the autonomy status was rejected.
"It will be a do-or-die battle for me to keep East Timor within Indonesia's grip and I'm prepared to take to the jungles to stage a resistance movement if most people vote for independence.
"If the autonomy offer is rejected, the province must be divided into two: the eastern part will be ours and the western part goes to the proindependence faction," he said.
Another prointegration figure, Basilio Diaz Araujo, also expects to see "bloodshed" in the province if autonomy is rejected.
Self-exiled proindependence leader Jose Ramos-Horta also said full-scale violence was almost certain. He said that the ban imposed on him and popular East Timor leader Jose Alexandre "Xanana" Gusmao from campaigning and continued Indonesian Military support for prointegration militias "makes for an extremely dangerous situation".
"Conflict will continue and this time our mild manners will be cast aside. The next phase of resistance will be much more desperate and ferocious and will not be contained to East Timor," Ramos-Horta wrote recently.
To anticipate the worst possibility of bloodshed, the government will deploy 20,000 security personnel, including police, to strategic areas across the province to avoid open conflict between the two warring camps, the new Provincial Military Commander Col. Noer Muis said.
"We will work hard to maintain security and public order and to provide a feeling of safety among people," he promised.
Muis acknowledged that security authorities would face an uphill struggle if proindependence forces won as it would certainly incite harsh reactions from opponents.
But layman Zuli Monterio, who saw bloodshed in his village following a clash between proindependence and prointegration supporters on Thursday, predicted that peace would instead prevail in the province if independence was accepted.
"We are prepared to welcome our proautonomy brothers if we win," he said, following the words of his revered leader Xanana.
"We have always been kind to proautonomy supporters. We respect Indonesia's red and white flag they don, because we know thousands of people have died to defend it." (byg/amd)