'The voice of East Timor' silenced by violence

JAKARTA (JP): Suara Timor Timur, or "the voice of East Timor", did not live long enough to see the realization of what it set out to do: To report the outcome of a referendum on the territory's future.

"We tried to survive as long as we could. As fate would have it, we published our last edition on Sep. 2," Aderito Hugo da Costa, managing editor of the Dili-based paper, said.

Two days later the United Nations announced that nearly 80 percent of East Timorese rejected autonomy within Indonesia in the Aug. 30 ballot.

By then, Suara Timor Timur, the only independent newspaper to report from the province in the last six years, was closed.

Most of its journalists had fled Dili in the face of increasing intimidation from pro-Indonesia militias. Even if they had stayed on, they would not have been able to report for work. The newspaper's office was trashed; not only were its computers damaged, as happened in a previous attack, but its entire archives were destroyed.

It was probably the only paper in the world that did not report what must have been the biggest story for the territory.

"When we began the newspaper back in 1993, it was always our dream that some day we would report about the process of self- determination in East Timor," Hugo said.

"We would have liked to report the result of the ballot."

The headline story in the newspaper's last edition was the meeting between the United Front for East Timor Autonomy (UNIF) and the United Nations Mission on East Timor (UNAMET) to discuss pro-Indonesia supporters' allegations of cheating in the ballot by proindependence supporters and UNAMET officials.

Although the paper's journalists each held their own political opinions, the newspaper strived to remain neutral by presenting the views of both camps, especially in recent months during the run up to the ballot, Hugo said.

That, as any journalist will attest, is a hard task, especially if one works amid the conflict and hostile environment which prevailed in East Timor.

But, as any newspaper editor will confirm, you are doing the right job when criticism comes from both sides. It is time to worry if one of the camps is happy with your coverage.

"If we gave more coverage of the proindependence camp, pro- Indonesia would criticize us. If we devoted more coverage to the pro-Indonesia camp, the proindependence supporters would accuse us of taking sides."

Hugo has few regrets that Suara Timor Timur did not survive to report the ballot's announcement.

In the last days before the closure, the newspaper's proprietor, a pro-Indonesia supporter, departed from common practice and interfered in the editorial decisions so often that Suara Timor Timur would probably not have been able to report the results in a fair and objective manner.

The intervention began during the campaign period preceding the ballot. On two occasions, the newspaper was prevented from publishing stories about the proindependence campaigns, he said.

Hugo and some of his colleagues began to consider starting up an alternative newspaper, or an underground one. The descent into anarchy in East Timor made the plan impossible.

The attack on Suara Timor Timur's office was the second in less than six months. The newspaper's office was attacked and vandalized by pro-Indonesia militias in April. The paper was closed for nearly two weeks but reappeared on May 3, to coincide with the international day of the free press.

"We made do with the limited equipment we had," Hugo recalled.

This time, however, it looks like the newspaper has closed for good. Its future is dim, perhaps even more uncertain than the future of the territory itself.

Six of Suara Timor Timur's 18 editorial staff have fled to Jakarta, but most are anxious to return to their homeland to report, or at least to witness, the arrival of the multinational peacekeeping force.

Most of the newspapers' reporters have been helping, or stringing in news-speak, for Jakarta-based Indonesian and foreign media these past few months as global interest in East Timor increased.

The journalists have also begun talking about starting a newspaper and discussed the plan with East Timor's Roman Catholic Church.

Would it be in Indonesian, Portuguese or the local dialect Tetun?

Hugo said it would be difficult to start a Portuguese language newspaper, as some people have suggested, since few people speak the language. It took 24 years of Indonesian rule for the majority of East Timorese to speak Indonesian. It would probably take that long to for them to master Portuguese, he said.

Even Tetun is no longer spoken by the young generation in some of East Timor's regions, like Los Palos.

"I think that during the transition period at least, we will publish in Indonesian," Hugo said.