Since then, diplomacy has overtaken war as their main method of undermining Indonesian rule. Tono Suratman took over from his predecessor after he was killed in a helicopter crash along with the Eastern Regional commander and ten others. Falintil was responsible, in an interview published in the Far Eastern Economic Review last year. As Indonesia and Portugal continue to negotiate the terms and conditions for deciding its future, East Timor is very tense. The streets in Dili are deserted at night.
People stay indoors to avoid roaming bands of youths.
During one night in the first week of March, there was a shooting and a machete attack, and a young woman, badly beaten, was dumped outside the Governor's Office on the foreshore. Elsewhere, towns and villages in the Liquica, Bobonaru and Ainaro districts near the border with West Timor are being terrorised by the militia groups. In his meetings with diplomats and government representatives, he has been pitching them a plan of complete disarmament, under the watch of a UN peace-keeping force, prior to holding a plebiscite. Other mechanisms could be adopted if they are democratic and representative. But if we had such a consultation and I saw that it was unfair, I would be so unhappy.