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.