Where does E. Timorese clamor come from?

Where does E. Timorese clamor come from?

By S. Belen

DILI, East Timor (JP): Two of the East Timorese asylum seekers
who recently entered the Austrian Embassy have been accused by
the military of masterminding the production of homemade bombs
for terrorist activities.

East Timor Military Commander Col. Sidabutar disclosed that an
unidentified man from Australia arrived in the Central Java town
of Demak in March to train Timorese youths to make bombs. The man
left for Portugal in April and met self-exiled East Timorese
leaders.

Two other East Timorese youths were caught red-handed bringing
20 home-made bombs to Dili on Sept. 15. (The Jakarta Post, Oct.
13, 1997).

These events show that East Timor has yet to solve its
security issue satisfactorily. These acts of terrorism are
similar to those which occasionally happen in Irian Jaya, in Aceh
and recently in the East Java town of Malang. However, anything
happening in East Timor tends to cause more reverberations abroad
than the same occurrences in other locations.

In relation to bomb-making, in this era of the technology
superhighway, a high school student can learn to assemble a
handmade bomb just by following instructions on the Internet.

In East Timor, even a primary schoolchild may bring a type of
molotov cocktail to school to protect himself in case of riot.
The child doesn't really understand that his act is criminal.

It is surprising to see children playing war games in groups
representing Fretilin soldiers, anti-Fretilin forces, and the
"Indonesian" army. The game will finish when the "Indonesian"
army group has been defeated. This illustrates how parents
socialize their feelings about the army.

One pertinent question to be considered is what is happening
with the upbringing of this new generation 30 years after East
Timor's integration into Indonesia.

The examples above tell us how difficult a teacher's role is
in guiding students to behave properly. Teachers must always be
vigilant. If a riot breaks out, it could be a nightmare. You must
know how to escape. Even in your own school you cannot feel safe
because students tend to get immediately involved in the rioting.

The Florenese teachers, who are physically similar to East
Timorese and are Catholics as the East Timorese, do not feel
safe. They are called "half-Catholics" because they take part in
an ecumenical service together with Protestants.

The Javanese teachers feel even less safe thanks to their
different physical appearance and religion.

Such a feeling of insecurity explains why most teachers, who
actually come from Java and other islands, have come to East
Timor without bringing their families.

They only see their families once a year during the long
holiday. Therefore, it's understandable that many of them have to
be scolded by the head of provincial education because of their
self-extended holidays.

Additionally, many teachers both indigenous and "outsiders"
still feel threatened, especially on the day they deliver school
reports to parents.

Many students who perform poorly in school may threaten
teachers or headmasters if they fail to get good scores or flunk.
Teachers of the Pancasila state ideology and civics education and
history, are more insecure in answering political questions
raised by students compared to maths and science teachers.

In discussions with East Timorese I found several factors
underpinning their attitudes toward the "outsider Indonesians"
represented by government officials, civil servants and police
and army members.

The first factor was the tendency among the East Timorese to
harbor a subconscious animosity toward "Indonesians".

Generally, East Timorese agree that it is the Portuguese and
Dutch colonists who separated Indonesians. Indonesians were in
unity before colonization and now Indonesians are one as brothers
and sisters.

But, if this is true they argue, why are they sometimes
harshly treated by the police and military?

They are at a loss to answer this question.

An observer who has worked in East Timor for years says that
the Portuguese left a "rotten egg" behind -- for centuries the
Portuguese encouraged East Timorese to hate Indonesians.

The second reason could be the "intruder factor". The East
Timorese lived in relative isolation for 450 years. After
integration in the late 1970s many Makassar traders, Bugis and
Bajo fishermen, Javanese retailers, Minang restaurateurs and
civil servants from other islands came over.

They can make a living while there are still many indigenous
people living below the poverty line. Perceiving newcomers as
intruders is a common phenomenon occurring in many countries. We
cannot reject this human tendency.

It is more important to find how to address this tendency in
order to avoid negative effects on social solidarity and
integration.

Additionally, it is a common phenomenon that newcomers or
immigrants driven by a "to be or not to be" principle, tend to be
more successful than indigenous people.

The third factor is the change in interaction resulting from
the change of power and power sharing among institutions from the
Portuguese era to the Indonesian era.

Three-way interactions among the government, the Catholic
church, and traditional leaders, including the traditional king
and noblemen (liurai), are now characterized by different nuances
of cooperation and competition compared to that of the Portuguese
era.

Existing interactions are to a certain extent influenced by
the consequences of the civil war of the 1970s, the rising
leadership of indigenous leaders, new roles of the well-educated
elite, development projects and rapid development in a variety of
sectors.

The fourth factor is the adaptation process of some behavioral
qualities from the Portuguese era to the Indonesia era. During
the Portuguese era, if you wanted to advance, you should be
extrovert and show your courage and abilities.

Now, if you are critical and vocal you will be sidelined.
During the Portuguese period another western value was socialized
-- your actions should be consistent with your words. If you
broke the law you would be punished according to the degree of
fault. Now they understand that the rule of law has been changed
to the law of the ruler. Or, you can orchestrate a court decision
if you have enough money.

During Portuguese times it was tolerable for a regent to have
an extra house, for example. If you had two extra houses after
you finished your leadership period, you could be tried in court
for corruption.

Now they see that this limit no longer applies. Corruption and
collusion are rampant. A number of government officials tend to
compete in running businesses. The people can see a big
difference in the amount of wealth belonging to a government
official at the beginning of his or her service and at the end of
his or her leadership period. Therefore, they think that these
bad qualities are a "virus" imported from "Indonesia".

To sum up, we should consider all these factors in our
continuous efforts to establish security and to accelerate the
development process to make this province equal to other
provinces.