From: pires@vxcrna.cern.ch (Rui)
Subject: Report About Trip To East Timor
News-Software: VAX/VMS VNEWS 1.41    
Organization: European Organization for Nuclear Research, CERN
Date: Thu, 5 Nov 1992 03:05:00 GMT


This was recently posted on SEASIA-L (or bit.listserv.seasia-l).
It is a open letter from a German visitor to East Timor and it is one of
the rare accounts of the conditions on the territory.  I think one of
the aims of the original poster was to show the blatant difference
between the situation in East Timor and other provinces of Indonesia. 
If you have other accounts, or if you want to compare with the situation
in your province, please do so. 

--Rui Pires  (pires@vxcern.cern.ch)

Original notice: 
>Permission to re-post automatically granted unless otherwise specified
>in this message.  Private email should not be re-posted without explicit
>permission.


_______________Begin forwarded open letter__________________

REPORT ABOUT TRIP TO EAST TIMOR

16-27/7 and
14-15/7/1992 (Oecussi)

Hubert Gieschen
Lohmuhweg 2
W-2878 Wildeshausen
Germany

23-8-1992

Getting There:

Although the Indonesian Embassy in Bonn had confirmed in writing that a
special permit was not necessary in order to travel to East Timor, we still
had problems getting there.

After we'd travelled without any problems to Pantemacassar (Oecussi) we
were surprised that the ticket agent there didn't want to sell us a ticket
to Dili. The only reason given was a vague mentioning of the police.
However, we got a ticket as far as Atambua (West Timor). Once we were there
we managed to get a ticket to Dili but then 5 minutes later it was taken
away from us. It seemed the only way left was for us to fly. We were told
we needed a travel permit (surat jalan) for the bus but couldn't get this
in Atambua. The only place we could get this was KOREM (the regional
military command) in Kupang. So we had to go back to Kupang in the bus (an
8 hour journey). However, once there the officer we spoke to said, that his
senior officer was in Bali and as he was the only person allowed to
administer the permit, we still couldn't get one! The only possibilities
left were to fly or go by ship.

On 16.7.1992 we flew to Dili at a cost of 73,100 Rp each instead of 11,500
Rp by bus (1 sterling = about 3,000 Rp).

Photos were taken of us and the other western tourist as we got out of the
plane!

Hotels:

In Dili there are enough hotels for the small number of tourists there.
Prices are relatively high though. The cheapest was the losmen (= small
pension) Mona Lisa in the area of Becora, 3 km from the centre of Dili, at
5,000 Rp each.

There's only one hotel in Baucau: the "Hotel Baucau" (also known as Hotel
Flamboyan) at 15,000 for a double room. There's also a losmen next to the
bus station at 6,000 Rp for a double but the sanitary facilities are pretty
bad.

In Lospalos there's one losmen although we only found out about this
through the local priest. Other people seemed too scared to tell us. This
was 6,000 Rp per person.

In Viqueque there's a losmen-type accommodation provided by the police at
2,500 Rp per person.

Apart from in Dili and Baucau we had to register with the police on
arrival. We even did this in Lautem where we spent less than 1/2 hour while
waiting for the bus.

Theoretically it's possible to stay overnight at the Catholic churches. But
this may cause problems (such as interrogation by the police) for the
priests, so it's better to ask about accommodation at the police station.

Police And Army Controls:

There are army controls just outside Dili where all bus passengers must
show the passports/identity cards when travelling to and from Dili.

On coming back from a day trip to Ermera we were virtually interrogated as
to whether we'd spoken to anyone there and as to what our professions were.
During a visit to Quelicai we were accompanied almost the whole time by a
plain clothes officer and were deterred from going for a walk into the
mountains.

However, passing the control point in a car of the Santo Paulus Educational
Trust we were allowed to pass through without stopping!

At the tourist information centre we were told that it wasn't possible to
go to Atauro (island just off Dili coast). Later we found out that it was
possible to charter a fishing boat there, although we didn't do this.

Tourism:

East Timor is very positively portrayed in official tourist brochures. We'd
been sent a large color brochure of East Timor from Garuda before our
trip. However, once there we had many doubts about how far the Indonesian
Government really wanted to attract tourists to East Timor, especially
outside of Dili.

Comparison Of West And East Timor:

Whoever flies from Kupang to Dili, notices the difference straight away.
Kupang is a busy city with loud night markets and small buses (bemos) that
play loud music and seem to run the whole night through. Dili is in
contrast sleepy.

After 7 pm there are no more buses, only taxis. There are also no long
distance night buses (in contrast to West Timor). To get from Dili to Suai
in the South West of East Timor you have to stay the night in Atambua to
get the connecting bus in the morning. There are night buses through
Atambua to Kupang. In Baucau, evenings and nights are even quieter than in
Dili.

Conditions Of Roads And Transport:

The usual means of transport are medium sized buses and sometimes small
trucks (which are even less comfortable than buses but no cheaper). The
so-called "Trans-Timor-Highway", from Kupang to Lospalos is in a pretty bad
state (in contrast Java's roads are of European standards). The road is not
surfaced at all or covered in water. Therefore journeys take a long time.
As in Indonesia children of ten work in buses, collecting money and
passengers. The most remote areas are not reachable by public transport.

Travelling In Remote Areas:

Outside of Dili we only saw two other tourists in Baucau and one in
Oecussi. For that reason we often found ourselves to be the centre of
attraction. In Lospalos we were encircled by dozens of children as well as
adults. In Quelicai, apart from a few daring children, people's interest
tended to be outweighed by shyness.

We always had the impression that we could bring members of the church into
trouble with the police because of our contacting them. Sometimes this was
directly said to us - as in Lospalos where the priest and other members of
the church had been recently questioned for contact with tourists but most
of the time we inferred this by the cautious and often evasive way in which
our questions were answered.

Contacts With Inhabitants:

A lot less adults than in Bali or Java initiated conversations with us
apart from saying "hello". The few East Timorese that did speak in any
depth spoke about politics.

During a 15 minutes stop at the bus station in Baucau an East Timorese
student suddenly came up to us and told us how he'd been at the Santa Cruz
funeral and had lost many friends through the massacre. He also said that
the Indonesian security forces were still continuing to arrest and even
kill members of the opposition. He estimated the total number of people to
have died as a result of Santa Cruz to be up to 400. He said he was now
organizing clandestinely and that there might be another demonstration at
some time to remember those killed in the massacre. An Indonesian civilian
tried to interrupt the conversation by coming up to us and inviting us for
tea! Later a soldier came and stood by us as the student continued to
speak. That we got the information we did in the short time we were there
only shows the determination of the East Timorese to inform the outside
world of the situation there. Another time a young Timorese told us in a
bus in Dili that his father was in exile in Portugal.

We had another interesting conversation with someone working for the Santo
Paulus Educational Trust. He told us of his work with orphans and the need
for money as well as the forced contraception of women that has taken place
in East Timor.

We also spoke with Indonesians living in East Timor, e.g. some people from
Flores, now living in Lospalos. Apart from a few exceptions the negative
comments on the situation in East Timor came from Timorese whereas the
portrayal of there being no problems in East Timor came from Indonesians.

Indonesian Presence:

The day after we arrived in Dili on the 17.7.1992 there was an official
military ceremony in front of the governor's palace to celebrate the
anniversary of the integration of East Timor into Indonesia. There were
people in traditional costume from all areas of East Timor, according to an
Indonesian who was standing next to us.

Later we heard from an East Timorese, however, that the people were obliged
to take part in the ceremony and that some of the supposedly East Timorese
were not even East Timorese. In Dili and the whole of East Timor we
constantly noticed the sea of red and white flags. As well as that there
were many banners reminding the people of the integration day (17.7) and
the Indonesian independence day from the Dutch (17.8) - the latter being a
date which has absolutely no meaning to the East Timorese as it was never a
Dutch colony!

On the whole the constant reminders by the State that East Timor was a part
of Indonesia appeared artificial and superficial and gave us the impression
that the Indonesians were desperate to try to impregnate the minds of the
East Timorese.

Contact With The Santo Paulus Educational Trust:

We contacted the Santo Paulus Educational Trust before leaving for East
Timor. The Trust is responsible for the Catholic schools in East Timor. The
director, Father Azureo, was an East Timorese and his assistant was an
Indonesian nun.

Almost all of the pupils at the Catholic schools and most of the teachers
(at least in the primary schools) were East Timorese. However, in the
secondary and high schools more and more teachers were Indonesians. The
schools had to follow the Indonesian national curriculum, meaning e.g. the
pupils wore the national school uniform (which varied only according to
level and day of the week) and sang the national anthem and that lessons
were only given in Indonesian and that every school had to fly the
Indonesian flag. In fact the only difference of the Catholic and state-run
schools was the religious aspect. However, many parents seemed to prefer to
have their children going to Catholic schools. Poor parents were helped if
necessary to pay the school fees. The most urgent problems were those of
money and the inadequate availability of school buildings.

The director and his assistant arranged a tour of 6 schools in Dili to us,
we had the chance to speak with the headmasters and some of the English
teachers of the schools. We were told more than once that the achievement
and motivation of the East Timorese was less than that of the Indonesians
living in East Timor. When we asked why, one reason given was that many
children had problems speaking Indonesian.

No-one could explain why lessons were not conducted through Tetum - the
national language of East Timor.

When we brought up the subject of the high number of orphans in East Timor
the subject was evaded with only the mentioning of the similarity of the
situation with the civil war in Yugoslavia (!)

Role Of The Portuguese Language And Culture:

The Portuguese influence is unmistakable. More than a few people said
"hello" to us in Portuguese and we were often asked if we spoke Portuguese.
There were, however, no books available in Portuguese or in a language other
than Indonesian (apart from a few school books for English). It was not
even possible to get a Tetum-Indonesian dictionary although in Bali for
example Balinese dictionaries were available.

In the rural areas many of the native East Timorese had no way of verbal
communication with the Indonesian police there as they didn't have a common
language.

Role Of The Catholic Church:

The Catholic church obviously has an important role in East Timor. There
are also many small Protestant groups but they seem to reach only the
Indonesians living there. The East Timorese have a lot of faith in the
church but for the Catholic priests - especially those in rural areas - the
situation is difficult. Any foreign priests that want to stay in East Timor
now have to take up the Indonesian citizenship. This will be particularly
difficult for Portuguese priests. The Portuguese director of the "Seminari
Bunda Maria Fatima" for example was replaced by the German born Jesuit Karl
Albert, whom we met.

SUMMARY:

The situation in East Timor is far from normal. The people are afraid.

There is a constant presence of the army and the police. However, the East
Timorese we spoke to always said that tourists should come to east Timor so
that East Timor wasn't forgotten.

Appendix:

In addition to our meetings with East Timorese in Timor we also spoke with
East Timorese students in Yogyakarta. These conversations only highlighted
our impression of the atmosphere of repression and fear that reigns in East
Timor.

___________End forwarded open letter___________