REUTERS, 26 Mar 2007 09:08:08 GMT
Indonesia troops in Timor church mayhem--clergy
By Achmad Sukarsono
JAKARTA, March 26 (Reuters) - Indonesian soldiers took part in violence against
church property and clergymen across East Timor before and after the 1999 freedom
vote, the territory's former top Catholic leader said in a hearing on Monday.
Nobel Peace Prize laureate Carlos Belo, who was Dili bishop from 1996 to 2002,
delivered that testimony on the opening day of the second public hearing held by a
truth commission set up by Indonesia and East Timor in an attempt to uncover events
surrounding the bloody August 1999 referendum.
The United Nations estimates about 1,000 East Timorese died during the mayhem
after the vote, which was blamed largely on the pro-Jakarta militias backed by
elements in the Indonesian army.
Belo said that since April 1999 he had heard reports that pro-Jakarta militia gangs and
soldiers were involved in torture of pro-independence Timorese. He said he had
witnessed how they ruined his diocese and residence after the vote showed
overwhelming support for separating East Timor from Indonesia.
"The militia and the Indonesian military attacked the Dili diocese building where
hundreds sought refuge. After shooting relentlessly, militiamen and soldiers entered
the main building," said Belo, who testified in Portuguese.
"The pastors were dragged out. The diocese complex was torched and we lost all of
its content including the whole library, records and historic documents."
"Reportedly, some refugees were killed there but we do not know how many," said
Belo, now a missionary in Mozambique.
The attack against the diocese took place on Sept 5, 1999. On the next day, Belo's
residence became the target.
"I heard shots to the windows in the living room which broke into pieces. I heard a
molotov cocktail hit the wall and door. Then, I saw the north door in flames," he told
the public forum, held at a luxurious Jakarta hotel.
After Belo escaped the fire, he took refuge in the town of Baucau using an Indonesian
police helicopter before flying to Australia with a United Nations team the next day.
He said that other churches across East Timor were later attacked by pro-Jakarta
militia gangs.
Although he said he had seen Indonesian soldiers take part in the attacks in Dili,
when cross-examined by an East Timorese commissioner on who funded the
pro-Jakarta militias Belo said he didn't know.
"What I know, (the militia groups) somehow appeared but I did not try to find out who
formed them," he said.
An Indonesian commissioner argued that the militias were Catholics who felt the
church was not neutral and backed pro-independence Timorese, but Belo said he was
on the side of non-violence.
Only one of 18 Indonesian men indicted by Jakarta over the 1999 Timor violence is
serving time. The others, mostly soldiers, received acquittals at various court stages.
The one exception, militia leader Eurico Guterres, is scheduled to testify in a
commission hearing on Wednesday.
The March 26-30 sessions will also hear testimony from victims, from three
Indonesian generals who were connected with operations in East Timor in 1999, and
from the Indonesian president at that time, B.J. Habibie, who requested a closed
hearing on Tuesday.
Critics say the commission is toothless because it lacks the power to punish those
responsible for abuses.
Mainly Catholic East Timor became fully independent in May 2002 after a U.N.
transitional administration that followed 24 years of repressive Indonesian occupation.
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