[Kabar-indonesia] Kirsty Sword Gusmao's Eyewitness Account of E.Timor's Descent Into Chaos

[Joyo at aol.com]

The Australian Women's Weekly 
Issue cover dated July 1, 2006

Eyewitness: Heartbreak in East Timor

Kirsty Sword Gusmao, the Australian-born wife of East
Timor President Xanana Gusmao, gives a first-hand
account of her adopted country's descent into chaos.

I never thought I'd see this kind of turmoil and
violence in East Timor again - terrified families
fleeing with their meagre possessions, homes burning,
the looting, beatings and killings.

It's heartbreaking. You can't rationalise events such
as the murder of a mother and three children, who were
burned alive in their home because she was a relative
of a government minister. That mother died cradling
her youngest child in her arms.

I feel so deeply disappointed that four years into
independence, a process which was held up to the world
as a success story has come crumbling down. And I'm
angry, because it didn't need to happen.

Worst of all is witnessing 100,000 people, in fear of
returning home, living in refugee camps around Dili in
terrible conditions. Probably the worst is the
Obrigado Barracks, where 4000 men, women and children
are without adequate food or shelter, sleeping under
tarpaulins rigged up against fences. They've received
deliveries of rice, but with no firewood, they've no
means to prepare food for their families.

Health problems such as coughs, colds, fever, malaria
and gastro-intestinal infections, particularly in
children, are evident in the camps. Some people have
been living in these conditions for more than a month.
It's a humanitarian tragedy.

As First Lady, I feel so powerless. I went to five of
the camps on June 5 to distribute fruit and vegetables
that Xanana had organised from the countryside, but
it's the tip of the iceberg in terms of what's
required to sustain people.

Many people were calling out in anger and despair,
saying, "We've lost confidence in our leaders. We want
to go home, we don't want to suffer any more, we want
peace. Please tell them that."

My heart goes out to them because they don't deserve
this, particularly the women and children, who have a
hard enough life in normal circumstances, just to
survive and meet their basic needs. It's tragic to see
them cowed by fear, yet again, and having to struggle
to keep their children alive. It's distressing to know
that even teenagers have been involved in looting the
homes of their neighbours.

When my own children heard gunfire and grenades on May
25 and 26, it was hard to know how to handle it
because I didn't want to scare them.

Alex, six, Kay Olok, four, and Daniel, 18 months,
can't understand the complexities, naturally. Their
questions are in simple terms - are they good guys or
bad guys?

As their mother, it's important that I try to keep
things on an even keel, maintaining the normal rhythms
around them, while trying to maintain my equilibrium
as well.

Security has been boosted around our home. There are
between 30 and 40 police on duty, all of whom we have
to feed. In addition to his East Timorese bodyguards,
Xanana has Australian soldiers guarding him and Black
Hawk helicopters have been flying overhead.

Xanana is resilient, but this is probably the hardest
battle he's ever waged. He's shattered. He's shed many
tears, publicly and privately, and he's been very
angry, obviously, especially at the height of the
violence. He's been through trials before, but this is
different because the enemy is not the Indonesian army
of occupation, but forces within East Timor itself.

The night that he signed the papers authorising
international troops, I could still hear sporadic
gunfire. I was just getting the kids to bed when the
convoy of vehicles arrived, carrying the Australian
and New Zealand ambassadors, Foreign Minister Jose
Ramos Horta and assorted Australian Defence Force
officers. Xanana had tears running down his cheeks as
he put his signature to the papers, reflecting his
sadness at how bad everything had turned and the
tragic consequences for people. It was devastating to
acknowledge that East Timor needed international help
to solve its problems. At the same time, everyone's
extremely grateful that the peacekeepers are here.

Initially, I felt confusion and despair, but that
quickly gave way to anger. It's only a couple of
months ago that the chain of events was set in motion,
when the government sacked almost half the defence
force, the 600 striking soldiers known as the
Petitioners. On the surface, their grievances were
legitimate - they deserved attention, consideration
and resolution. One of the issues was that most of the
army bases are in the east and it's difficult for
soldiers from the west to afford to visit their
families, but the real problem was the lack of a code
of conduct and regulations within the defence force,
which would have nipped this in the bud.

Decisions taken by the government following on from
that had the effect of creating direct conflict
between the military and the police. The decision to
bring in the armed forces to quell the demonstration
outside the government offices on April 28 was a bad
one, given the armed forces were, themselves, at the
heart of the problem. This led to the defection of the
military police, who didn't agree with the response of
the armed forces. So then you have the army pitted
against the police, with shootouts on the streets
involving two institutions created to defend the
people, and the disintegration of civil order. Into
the vacuum came the machete-wielding gangs.

The gang violence is difficult to explain and
comprehend, but it's important for people in Australia
to realise that it hasn't been spontaneous. Once it's
investigated by an international commission of
inquiry, evidence will show that the worst of the
violence has been provoked. It's come about as a
result of the failure of the political process and
manipulation by a small group within the political
elite.

I can't even say it's a conspiracy right across the
governing party, Fretilin, but what's been guiding the
actions of certain senior members of the government is
not what's in the interests of the country, but what's
in the best interests of the party.

It's not for me to say whether the prime minister
(Mari Alkatiri) should resign. The only hope is that
he's honest with himself and with the people about the
root causes of this crisis.

It's Xanana's worst nightmare coming true ... he'd
been warning the government for months of a looming
problem and counselling them to take serious measures
to address the grievances of the Petitioners, but
wasn't heeded. As president, he has limited power
within the Constitution. He can be a voice of reason,
a figure of moral authority, but he has no real power.

For now, I'm living minute to minute, not planning,
trying to get back to the office, trying to organise
staff as they trickle back to work.

Three of my staff at the Alola Foundation have had
their homes burned.

Much of government isn't operating. Schools are
closed. A few little markets that were burned down are
starting to re-emerge - a sign of resilience, of hope
and also of necessity.

It's hard to predict when people will feel confident
to return to their homes and resume some kind of
normal life.

It depends on how things play out at the political
level. The rebel soldiers refuse to surrender and
begin the reconciliation process Xanana is calling for
until the prime minister resigns.

While this crisis is devastating, I don't see it as
the end of the road. The presence of international
forces has helped abate the worst of the violence. I
can still see houses burning around my office at Alola
and evidence of arms in the hands of civilians. It's
worrying.

Yet perhaps because every day I meet people who are
committed to the future and are positive, I'm not
awash with doom and gloom.

Ultimately, it's about how people are able to recover
from this and move on: that's what will determine
Timor's future. And they will recover from this, as
they've recovered before.

I'm still hopeful my children will be able to go back
to school in the next few months and that life can be
put back on track for them and for all Timorese. The
East Timorese are a peace-loving people who want the
best for their country.

For my husband, who feels everything so deeply,
another crisis does extract a toll, but how many tolls
his whole life has extracted! His life has been a
series of horrific blows, each followed by an almost
miraculous recovery. In that, he has a lot in common
with his people.

It sounds trite, but when your whole life has been a
struggle, you take this kind of thing in your stride.

I have asked myself: where have we come to? This is a
test, a very big test. But I don't think we've lost
the faith and trust of our friends in Australia, and
we can count on people being there for us.

- As told to Tracey Curro

- The Alola Foundation works for the advancement of
women in East Timor. Visit www.alolafoundation.org .

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Joyo Indonesia News Service
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