Far from home

East Timor has gained its freedom from Indonesia, but not all its people have been so lucky

by Neil Miller

When the Australian-led multinational force entered East Timor in late September and liberated the former Portuguese colony from almost 25 years of Indonesian rule, many believed that the troubles of the East Timorese would soon be over. But today some 200,000 East Timorese -- a quarter of the population -- are still under Jakarta's control. They are virtual prisoners in the refugee camps of West Timor, the half of the island that remains an Indonesian province. Many of them were forcibly moved across the border during rampages by Indonesian-backed militias after East Timor voted, in a United Nations-sponsored referendum on August 30, in favor of independence. Now these militias, which have moved across the border as well, continue to harass and terrorize refugees.

Until the US Ambassador to the UN, Richard Holbrooke, made a flying visit last weekend -- brokering an agreement with Indonesian officials that many hope will lead to a return of the refugees -- Pamela Sexton was one of the few Americans who had ventured into the dark and intimidating world of the West Timor refugee camps. A long-time activist with the East Timor Action Network, Sexton served as the US country coordinator for the international-observer mission that monitored the August referendum. Early last week, she returned from a month in East and West Timor under the auspices of Boston-based human-rights and development agency Grassroots International. Sexton will speak at Harvard's Cronkite Graduate Center on Monday, November 29, at 7 p.m. (Journalist Allan Nairn and legal scholar Catriona Drew are also on the program.) Sexton talked with the Phoenix by telephone from Seattle as she began a nationwide speaking tour to publicize the plight of the displaced Timorese.

Q: In the US, the plight of the refugees in West Timor hasn't gotten much attention. What's it like in the camps?

A: The most critical thing is fear. People are afraid to even express their desire to go home. I received reports through church members who work in the camps of people still being "disappeared" from the camps, being raped at night -- of campaigns of terror. The [Indonesian] militia are present in the camps, and these are the same militia members who burned people's houses in East Timor and forced people to go across the border nearly two months ago. It isn't just the militias but the Indonesian military that initiated these militias and trained them and armed them. They are also present around many of the camps.

Q: Who is running these camps, at least officially?

A: The camps are run by the Indonesian government. So the security for the camps is the Indonesian military.

Q: How many refugees are we talking about at this point?

A: The total number -- we are not exactly certain -- is estimated at around 200,000. Repatriations have happened. The United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees

(UNHCR) has been able to return refugees to East Timor from Kupang, the capital of West Timor. They have been able to do this mostly by flights and by boat. But a plane can only hold 90 people. The UNHCR has been working for the last month solid on returning people, but compared to the number of people there are, they can only bring home a very small number.

Q: How many?

A: They say they have been able to repatriate approximately 15,000. Other people have escaped over the border to East Timor. So altogether, it is my understanding that about 40,000 have gone back.

Q: Talk a little more about the conditions in the camps.

A: They range in size from little clusters of houses or tents with four or five families to huge camps of 13,000 people in one place. The camps are mostly tents and makeshift houses, made of either wood or tarps. The biggest problem is security. The information I have received is that the situation in the camps closest to the border is the most grave. I was able to go to some of those camps. What I found there was a lot of what we would consider to be very ordinary and somewhat minor illnesses -- colds, coughs, fevers, stomach problems, and diarrhea. But because of the lack of good medical facilities, a lot of these really minor health conditions have become chronic. In one of the camps I saw a grave that had 24 children in it. They were aged two months to six years, and when I asked the cause of death, [I was told] they had all died of diarrhea. One of the most difficult things is that because of limited access to the camps, the exact conditions are hard to know.

Q: Who is feeding the people in these camps?

A: Most of the large camps are Indonesian-run camps, so it is the Indonesian social-welfare department that is responsible. But because often the supplies of food are not adequate, it is international organizations like CARE and the World Food Program that are supplementing that food.

Q: Was it hard for you to get into the camps?

A: The people who took me in were

humanitarian-aid workers. They explained to me that it was really necessary for them to be with me so I would be safe -- and so the people in the camps would also be safe. Even in the camps, even with that escort, I wasn't able to have lengthy discussions with people. All the conversations I had were very brief. If someone was alone with me, they would whisper things to me like, "We want to go home. Can you help us go home?" And if someone else came over, then they would quickly change the subject.

Q: Were you afraid?

A: No, I wasn't afraid. But I went in with people who knew the area, knew people in the camps, and had good relations with the authorities. That made it a lot easier. Really, when I was in the camps, I never received any kinds of threats. But it was very obvious the fear that the East Timorese people were living with. So I felt much more afraid for the people within the camps than for myself.

Q: Could you sense a visible militia presence there?

A: In many of the camps, when we entered, men came over and said, "Why are you here? What do you want?" It was very clear that they were militia. Some were wearing T-shirts with the names of different militia groups. Just a week ago, I passed a militia rally not far from the border. There were about 400 people at this rally. It was a militia group that had been in East Timor in the past. It is called, in English, "Dead or Alive -- Integration with Indonesia." At this event, there were also between 30 and 40 uniformed Indonesian military people who were in the crowd and also on the stage. That was very telling, and it really took me back to what I had seen in East Timor as recently as three months ago -- those pro-Indonesia rallies really working to rile people up to die for the Indonesian flag. It was a frightening scene, because this is the same military and these are the same militias that caused the outrageous destruction in the beginning of September in East Timor.

Q: What are the Indonesian goals at this point, do you think?

A: One thing may be just basic vengeance. One of the past goals was to keep control of the western part of East Timor. Because that was not possible, because the multinational forces went in, now it seems as if the refugees are a trump card, the last bargaining chip they have. And they're also an example to other Indonesian provinces that are fighting for independence.

Q: But why can't the refugees just leave and go back home?

A: Many people have. They have fled across the border. They have fled into hiding in West Timor from the camps. But there have been many reports of people killed along the border. The militia and military presence along the eastern side of West Timor, which is near the border, is very strong. So it is really the fear factor and the armed presence that are preventing people from going home. People have been returning from air and sea through the UNHCR, as I said, and there have been small attempts to go across by land. The situation now is that the border is still closed. If the border were opened, you would get this mass of refugees going immediately back.

Q: Do people in West Timor know what is going on in the East? Do they know it is safe to go back?

A: They are horribly misinformed. The national media in West Timor has a very strong campaign of misinformation. There are also rumors that go through the camps, claiming that the multinational forces in East Timor are killing people, separating women and men and children, that there is infighting between different groups in East Timor and that civil war is about to explode. One of the most outrageous rumors is that the Indonesian-backed militias are joining forces with the pro-independence guerrillas against this new government of East Timor. It doesn't make sense, but because of what they have been through, people are not sure what they should believe.

Q: This tends to keep them in the camps.

A: Right. It's not just the guns; now it is also this added fear of what may be happening in the East. One positive thing that was happening when I was leaving was the UNHCR had just started issuing a newsletter to distribute throughout the camps about what is happening in East Timor.

Q: Almost as we speak, Richard Holbrooke has brokered an agreement in which the Indonesians have promised to allow the refugees to be repatriated. What is your reaction to that?

A: I think the agreement is great, but there have been a lot of agreements in the past. When I was there I was told that the Indonesian government was committed to repatriation, but I was seeing a different thing in the camps. The level of intimidation is so high that it is absolutely critical that the agreement be verified so that people in the camps have free choice. On my visit, I had Indonesian officials tell me that people don't want to go back. And I know that's not true from talking to people in the camps. We need to keep an eye on this and make sure we don't celebrate before there is any real change.

Q: You feel that they have to prove their sincerity in this.

A: Yes. The important thing is the Indonesian military. They are the ones holding up the entire process. If they have a will to allow the refugees to go, then I think that will happen.

Q: What is the message you are trying to give in your lectures in the US?

A: The most important thing is that the Indonesian military is still in control of close to a quarter of the whole East Timorese population, which is located now in West Timor. And we need to put pressure on our government to put pressure on the Indonesian government to end the military violence that has been happening in East and West Timor. Our pressure has to be on Indonesia to disarm and disband these militias and to end the military violence.

Q: What was it like in East Timor now that the multinational force is there? Did you feel encouraged at all by what was going on?

A: The biggest concern that the East Timorese expressed to me, the thing that came up again and again, was "Please help us find our family members who were taken over to West Timor." Of course, in East Timor, people have gone through tremendous and traumatic experiences, witnessing killings and rapes and the destruction of property. The material destruction is absolutely overwhelming -- 95 percent of the capital city is leveled. But still, people are very optimistic. There is an incredible amount of hope. People for the first time in 24 years are free to speak about what they've gone through and what their hopes are for the future of East Timor. It is very inspiring.

Q: That sounds like good news.

A: There is a lot of hope in East Timor right now. But it seems that the situation that used to exist in East Timor has been lifted and moved into West Timor now. The same kind of fear that I saw two years ago when I visited East Timor is now in the West.

Neil Miller can be reached at mrneily@aol.com.