By Jon Land
The United Nations Assistance Mission in East Timor (UNAMET) is in a severe crisis. Faced with enormous security and logistical problems, UNAMET has been unable to ensure the conditions necessary for a fair and free ballot — tentatively scheduled to take place on August 21 or 22 — in which the East Timorese will choose between autonomy or independence.
UN secretary-general Kofi Annan announced on July 10 that the revised date for beginning voter registration, July 13, needed to be delayed by three days (the original date was August 8). The decision followed a period of renewed terror by the pro-integration gangs in which UN offices and personnel were attacked three times in less than a week.
The attacks on UN offices in Maliana and Viqueque, and on UN personnel accompanying an aid convoy in Liquica, were conducted with Indonesian police and military present. Both serving and retired Indonesian soldiers were seen in the attack at Maliana on June 29.
Intimidation of pro-independence supporters is continuing in large parts of East Timor, with hundreds of small villages ransacked and torched by the pro-integration gangs. The Catholic aid organisation Caritas believes that the number of internally displaced people living in refugee camps now exceeds 85,000, a four-fold increase since April. This will create huge problems in the voter registration process, unless UNAMET decides to register eligible voters in the camps.
No security
It was only a matter of time before the pro-integration gangs targeted UNAMET. Before the mission's arrival, pro-integration gang leaders made numerous threatening statements. These have become more intense in recent weeks, with gang leaders such as Eurico Guterres and Basilio Araujo claiming that UNAMET is "biased" and shows too much support for the independence struggle.
In an attempt to undermine UNAMET, these claims have been echoed by a plethora of Indonesian government officials, from the governor of East Timor, Abilio Soares, to foreign affairs minister Ali Alatas. Major-general Koesparmono Irsan, coordinator of the Commission for Peace and Stability (which is meant to coordinate with UNAMET on security matters), told the July 5 Rakyat Merdeka, "Neither we nor the police has ever been consulted by UNAMET, with the result that their assessments are always one-sided".
Various news services reported on July 14 the discovery of a memorandum signed by the head of Aileu district, Suprapto Tarman, urging pro-integration gangs to harass and confront UNAMET personnel. The statement was issued on July 3, one day before the attack on the aid convoy in Liquica.
In a public relations exercise intended to deflect increasing international condemnation, 13 Indonesian cabinet ministers visited East Timor on July 12. Indonesia's defence minister General Wiranto told reporters that the violence was the result of clashes between "warring factions". Wiranto had told East Timorese resistance leaders on July 5 that he could bring the pro-integration gangs under control in two days.
A letter from Annan to the UN Security Council on July 14 recommended that voter registration begin on July 16: "I have decided to begin the registration based on positive assurances by the Indonesian authorities, on the condition that meaningful visible improvements in the security situation will be observed in the immediate future".
Annan also said there would be a review of security conditions during the voter registration period to ascertain whether the vote would go ahead as planned, "as there has not been time to properly assess how far recent steps taken by the [Indonesian] government will result in an improvement".
Annan's decision to proceed with voter registration coincided with a strong criticism of the Indonesian government by US assistant secretary of state Stanley Roth. Roth's statement followed two days of discussions in Jakarta with President Habibie, Alatas and Wiranto, and is the sharpest rebuke from the US to date.
Western fears
Roth warned that if the vote is unable to go ahead free of violence and intimidation, it would be viewed as a failure of the Indonesian government which "will obviously have consequences in terms of Indonesia's reputation and the relationship between Indonesia and a number of countries around the world, including my own". He announced that he would visit East Timor to assess the situation.
Prime Minister John Howard chimed in as well while delivering a speech in Washington, stating that "Indonesia's security forces have so far failed to provide the level of security needed for a fair and free ballot in East Timor".
Roth and Howard's statements were tempered by "concern" over violence allegedly perpetrated by pro-independence supporters. Roth said the US "condemns violence by all parties", while Howard remarked that the violence was also because of "deeply held" resentments "nurtured within East Timor by years of fighting".
Howard failed to mention that the years of fighting involved a popularly supported guerrilla army resisting the illegal occupation of their country by an Indonesian military trained and armed by the US, Australia, the United Kingdom and other Western powers.
Nor did he mention that US and Australian intelligence organisations knew about the creation of the pro-integration gangs last November; it was the widespread media reports in recent months of the gangs' violence that forced Howard to admit that the gangs are armed and funded by the Indonesian military.
The recent criticism of Indonesia by the US and Australia reflects the latters' fear that unless the ballot proceeds smoothly, an ongoing security crisis in East Timor will contribute to greater politically instability within Indonesia. With growing unrest in Aceh and anger over the election process and repression by the military of any public discontent within Indonesia, the potential for a resurgence of militant pro-democracy actions throughout Indonesia remains strong. For Canberra and Washington, the sooner the issue of East Timor at least is settled the better.
The situation in East Timor is a direct consequence of the agreement signed on May 5 between Portugal, Indonesia and the UN. The agreement left authority for security in the hands of the Indonesian military and police, the very organisations responsible for orchestrating the violence in East Timor.
Despite the increased diplomatic pressure on Indonesia to halt the violence of the pro-integration gangs in East Timor, the US, Australia and the UK remain committed to maintaining close ties with the Indonesian military. The British Labor government has been virtually mute in recent weeks on the crisis in East Timor, not wishing to draw attention to the fact that it is the biggest provider of arms to Indonesia.
While the US Congress recently passed resolutions placing restrictions on military aid to Indonesia, the provision of $US106 million worth of military equipment (mostly spare parts, ammunition and helicopters) during 1999 is likely to be fulfilled.
The Howard government has made it clear — as has the Labor opposition — that it intends to maintain the closest possible links with the Indonesian military because such ties, they say, are in the "national interest".
The only measure which can absolutely guarantee an end to the violence in East Timor is the withdrawal of the Indonesian military and the consequent disbanding of the pro-integration gangs. Unless all military aid and assistance to Indonesia is immediately stopped, the killing and repression throughout East Timor will continue.