And, without doubt, it was the people at large who suffered the most, with as many as 90 percent displaced. Tens of thousands lost their homes and livelihoods and what little property they had. When my home was attacked, dozens taking refuge there were killed or injured without mercy. Hundreds of thousands were forcibly driven across the border with West Timor, the Indonesian side of the island, where about 100,000 East Timorese remain in squalid refugee camps where people have been terrorized. In East Timor itself, many families remain separated.
Parents search for children, children search for parents, seemingly without end.
The rampage of last September in particular was orchestrated by Indonesian army elements and militias under their control to reverse the result of the August 30 United Nations-sponsored election, in which nearly 80 percent of registered voters rejected Indonesian rule. Neither was it surprising, in view of this history, that Indonesian forces brazenly tried to overturn the will of the people. Despite months of warnings and reports of mounting violence, only after East Timor was aflame before the eyes of the world did the international community bring decisive pressure to bear on the Indonesian military. Even so, soon after the entry of international peace keepers in late September, many say East Timor disappeared from public view, at least as far as television is concerned. Indeed, to people from far away, it may have seemed as if the crisis had come to an end.