Celebrating an independent, but still vulnerable, East Timor

On May 20, 2002, East Timor declared its independence, the first new nation of this millennium

I first visited East Timor in 1989. My wife, Brenda, and I were on a trip to the South Pacific following my retirement. As members of Human Rights Watch, we were urged to go to East Timor, which had just been opened to unannounced visitors for the first time since 1975.

In 1974, after hundreds of years as a Portuguese colony, the new government in Portugal pulled out, leaving this tiny nation vulnerable. Indonesia deliberately destabilized its politics and used the ensuing unrest as an excuse to invade East Timor. Henry Kissinger gave them a go-ahead for this internationally illegal occupation. He condoned their use of U.S. weapons, which, by act of Congress, were not to be used except in self defense. In fact, he and President Ford were staying with President Suharto of Indonesia the night before the invasion. Out of a population of 700,000, as many as 200,000 died in the ensuing occupation.

The occupation was brutal. I have visited many places from Russia to South Africa under apartheid and have never seen such severe military control. Soldiers stood on almost every street corner in Dilli, the capital. Military checkpoints were set up every few miles on the main roads. People were arrested, "disappeared" and tortured. Young people in peaceful demonstrations were picked up by the military and some were never heard from again.

Our first visit, in October 1989, was to Bishop Carlos X. Belo, the Roman Catholic bishop of East Timor. Despite a letter of introduction from one of his old friends, he was so frightened that he did not speak for several minutes. He told us he would probably be assassinated any day. Two dozen youths were staying at his residence for sanctuary. Brenda and I were followed. When we wished to speak to an official or a priest, we would have to meet outside the city or on the beach. Rooms in the hotel were said to be bugged. We stayed a week and came to love and admire the courage and spirit of the people.

In 1991, a peaceful procession from a church to the cemetery of Santa Cruz commemorating the murder of a youth leader in front of a church, was attacked by soldiers. About 250 young people were killed. A courageous British journalist filmed the massacre. The brutality continued, despite growing international protest, until a new president of Indonesia, B.J. Habibie, authorized a so-called Consultation (a plebiscite) on independence. Eighty percent voted for independence. When the announcement was made on September 4, 1999, the army was so enraged that they laid waste the country, destroying over 70 percent of the buildings and massacring at least a thousand people, if not more, some as they huddled for sanctuary in a church. Finally, U.N. peacekeeping forces stepped in and have been in charge ever since.

This truncated summary of the tragic history of a gallant people cannot do justice to the endless frustrations, the incredible gallantry, the fierce bravery and the deep Christian faith of the people of East Timor. In large part because of the bishop's courageous leadership, the Roman Catholic Church has grown to an estimated 90 percent of the population. Bishop Belo and Jose Ramos Horta, who had been working as an informal ambassador for his people over the years, received the Nobel prize in 1996. I attended the solemn ceremony on a chilly December day in Oslo, remembering the terror abroad in the jungles of East Timor for so many years and praying for peace and freedom for the people.

You can imagine why Brenda and I took up the cause of East Timor after that fear-laden week in 1989. Arnold Kohen, a journalist by profession, whose wife once lived in East Timor, had spent many years working for the cause. We joined forces and have been trying to do what we could for the people ever since.

We have visited Washington regularly: Congress, White House staff, and the State Department. The lowest moment during these visits was an audience, in 1991, with the Republican-appointed Assistant Secretary of State for the Far East. Two young journalists, Alan Nairn and Amy Goodman, who had witnessed the Santa Cruz massacre, accompanied us. Alan's head was still bandaged from a fractured skull he received while protecting Amy from being beaten by a soldier with a rifle butt. We showed the Secretary a video of the massacre. His comment was, "Well, Bishop, you know people are being killed all over the world."

The Clinton administration was more courteous; I knew Under Secretary of State Talbott and Assistant Secretary Winston Lord, but the administration would not put real pressure on Indonesia because of our commercial interests and the geopolitics of the region. (The only channel deep enough for nuclear submarines between the Indian and Pacific oceans runs past Indonesia.) Now, thank God, we are sending an Ambassador to the independent nation of East Timor, which bodes well for the future.

However, until the oil reserves of the Timor Sea begin to come in, the economic situation is dire. There is over 80 percent unemployment at the moment. Coffee plantations are the main source of revenue, but this is scarcely enough. Only 50 doctors are there, and few lawyers. The infrastructure is skeletal. We are afraid that once the spotlight of independence is removed, the world will forget about this gallant land.

Last year, with this in mind, I took a delegation from Yale to East Timor, representatives of the medical, nursing, law and forestry schools. We hope to establish long-term assistance in those fields. Secretary General Kofi Annan gave us a luncheon with his staff and we were treated with great courtesy by the U.N. forces when we arrived. Recently, we visited Washington again to urge increased humanitarian aid and assurance of security in case Indonesia attempts to meddle once again in the affairs of East Timor.

I have many vivid memories of East Timor. In 1999, the bishop sponsored a youth pilgrimage to place a statue of the Virgin Mary on the highest peak on the island. We drove out with him and witnessed a beautiful Mass in a jungle valley at sunset. Many thousands of young people were there, in reverent attendance. Halfway up the mountain the next day, one was stabbed to death. What was to be a glorious uplifting moment for the young people, a moment to encourage a peaceful attitude, turned into a stark tragedy. The bishop had to call off the pilgrimage. However, he continued the long weary vocation of working for independence and at the same time trying to keep his beloved young people safe and all his people dedicated to nonviolence.

East Timor has a long way to go, but at last they are free after almost 500 years. Please keep them in your prayers and do all that you can to sustain interest in their welfare.

Paul Moore, Jr., is the retired Episcopal Bishop of New York.