
Issue No 31		17 September 1999

International

In the Bunker

One of the last reporters to leave East Timor, Workers Online's HT Lee remembers the week that Dili burned.


	HT Lee

'This is the best result, a true result given by the people...For myself I am already a winner. I am not afraid to die today or tomorrow.'

These were the words of local Timorese journalist Rosa Garcia after the announcement of the result of the Timorese referendum on Saturday 4 September where 78.5% of the voters voted for independence. It was the last time I saw Rosa. Shortly after that statement a scorched earth policy was embarked upon by the Indonesian military.

Sitting in a room in Darwin I am trying to recall the events which took place from Saturday 4 September until my forced departure form Dili on Friday 10 September.

In that short period I have witnessed the willful destruction of a city, the forced repatriation of over 2,000 refugees from the International Red Cross (IRC) compound next to the hotel where we were staying, armed militia gangs roaming the streets unchecked by the military (TNI) or the

police, road blocks set up by the militia and our forced ejection from two hotels--the Makota and the Tourisma before ending up in the compound of the UNIMET HQ.

When I arrived in Dili on 29 August there were over 600 media people in East Timor. By the time I got to the UNIMET HQ on Monday 6 September there were less than 30.

The exodus started when BBC charted a flight out of Dili on Friday 3 September. By Sunday 5 September all the big player--CNN, ITN, AP, Reuters and all TV crews have left town preferring to do their reports from Bali or Jakarta. The TNI's aim of spooking the foreign press had worked to plan.

The whole operation is a military one--the best organised 'disorganised anarchy' planed and executed by the TNI. The militias were just carrying out orders.

I spent four days at the compound with the 2,000 odd refugees; the 200 odd Civipol (civilian police), MLOs (military liaison officers), UNIMET international staff, and UNHCR workers; 300 odd UNIMET local staff; and the 24 die hard or 'slightly mad' journos who decided to stay behind.

For two days we used our mobiles to contact the outside world. Photos and videos were smuggled out to Darwin. On Tuesday night 7 September, as Dili was burning our phones went dead. Our easy communications with the outside world had come to an end. We had to rely on the few satellite phones available.

Had we have live TV coverage we would have been able to alert the world live what was happening in Dili.

We spent a lot of our time gathering information from the refugees and speaking to the UNIMET staff, Civipol and the MLOs. From these we were able to draw a picture of the systematic destruction of East Timor unfolding before our eyes.

Forced movement of refugees was taking place, properties and houses were being destroyed, an ethnic cleansing was taking place, nothing was sacred not even churches or hospitals run by nuns.

On Wednesday night we were told we would be evacuated the following morning. The local UNIMET staff might be coming with us but not the refugees. We received the news like stuned mullet. We knew as soon as we left the compound the militia and the TNI will raised the compound to the ground and slaughter all the refugees there.

That night must have been the worse experienced I have ever had. Going through my mind was how can I leave them behind to face the slaughter. I was thinking of those kids I have been photographing for the past few days. What will happen to them? Its just not fair I keep saying to myself over and over again.

As I walked through the compound in a daze watching members of the Civipol, and MLOs giving away their food rations, rupiahs, and other personal items to children, a little girl called out to me saying 'mister, mister,' I turned around and there she was trying to give me back my swiss knife which had fallen out of my jacket.

In the mist of all the turmoil and knowing we were going to leave them behind this little girl will not take anything from us unless we gave it to her. Such is their honesty and even as we were about to abandon them they bore no ill feelings against us. I looked at the little girl said thanks and gave her my swiss knife. She has taught me a lot.

That night all the remaining journos signed a petition urging UNIMET Head of Mission, Ian Martin not to abandon the mission. At the same time over 70 international UNIMET staff volunteered to stay behind and at least six journos indicated they would do so.

The decision to evacuate was postponed for at 24 hours.

In that period an agreement concerning local UNIMET staff was reached--they will be relocated to Darwin. About 80 UNIMET staff, Civipol and MLOs will remind behind.

The UNIMET compound will not be abandon and the refugees will be given safe conduct to Dare some six kilometers out of Dili.

The remaining 24 journos who stayed behind to get the news out had to leave Dili. We were told if we do not go we will have to leave the UNIMET compound.

The refugees who were to go to Dare are all now in Darwin as refugees, some 1,500 of them. These are the lucky ones. There are still hundreds of thousands of refugees in East Timor.

I toured the camp at Tent City Darwin on Wednesday 15 September. The traumatised faces of the children I saw in Dili are slowly giving way to smiles.

I found little baby Pedrio UNIMET, the first child to be born at the UNIMET HQ compound in Dili. It was good to see him again. Every one thought I should be his god farther as I was the one who photographed him hours after his birth.

I am still searching for the crying kid I photographed In Dili. The photo appeared in the front page of last Saturday's SMH and the Age. That photo sums up what is happening in East Timor.

I have been one of the few lucky foreigners to have been given the privilege to share those moving moments at the compound with the courageous East Timorese. All of us who stayed back have been touched by them.

As the peacekeepers gather in Darwin to enter Dili our thoughts must go towards the reconstruction of East Timor. There are massive things to be done there and we can all chip in.

We can start with this slogan when we plan our next vacation: 'Dili not Bali.'

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Issue 31 contents

Interview: Sadly Vindicated
Labor�s foreign affairs spokesman Laurie Brereton has spent the past year warning that East Timor would explode without a UN peacekeeping force. Now he�s had to watch his predictions come true.

International: In the Bunker
One of the last reporters to leave East Timor, Workers Online's HT Lee remembers the week that Dili burned.

Republic: Tarred With the Same Brush
Neville Wran asks why it is that the most fervant monarchists are also the most eager union-bashers.

Unions: Hard Labour
Prisoner educators argue more attention needs to be given to rehabilitation through teaching, but they�re facing an uphill battle to convince authorities.

History: Labour and Community
A history conference in Wollongong next month will look at the changing role for labour into the next century.

Review: Bobbin' Up - 40 Years On
Forty years after its first publicaton and several European translations Bobbin Up, a classic of industrial fiction, is coming home.

Satire: East Timor Poll Triumph: Support for Jakarta Up 21 Per Cent
The Indonesian Government has declared that it is pleased with the result of the independence referendum in which 21% of East Timorese voted in support of maintaining links with Indonesia.

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