Witness tells of Indonesian attack on leader's home

SMH – February 21, 2007

Mark Forbes, Herald Correspondent in Denpasar

Tales of blood and tears are flowing from a Commission of Truth and Friendship hearing into the atrocities committed in East Timor about the time of the 1999 independence vote.

Stories of cold-blooded killings of civilians and of the Indonesian military's role in organising and arming murderous anti-independence militia squads are re-emerging.

Privately, participants question whether the commission's goals of revealing the truth and promoting reconciliation are achievable.

Florindo de Jesus Brites spoke calmly yesterday of being slashed with swords by militia members who joined Indonesian soldiers to attack the home of the independence leader, Manuel Carrascalao, in April 1999. He fell next to his brother's body. "I couldn't move, I closed my eyes and everything went dark. I think that's why they left me."

Mr Brites, a high school student at the time, was asked about his injuries. He stood and peeled off his shirt to reveal the wounds on his back and arms.

He named the man who stabbed him first - a man from his own village. He also named the soldier he saw shoot his brother in the chest, and described militia and troops firing into Mr Carrascalao's house, killing 12 adults and the leader's 16-year-old son.

Militia and troops had surrounded the house after a radio call for those loyal to Indonesia to "find the CNRT [independence] people; we have to finish them off".

An earlier witness, Mateus Carvalho, the leader of Dili's notorious Aitarak militia, had dismissed the incident as a "family vendetta". Mr Carvalho was an army officer who was ordered to return to his village and form Aitarak. He said he had only acted to protect the community from independence fighters, "I never kill - if I did kill anyone, show me where I dispose of the corpses," he said.

Mr Carvalho's evidence contradicts Indonesian claims that the military had no role in the carnage that left more than 1400 civilians dead. He admitted the army had funded, armed and monitored militia activities.

Massacres in churches, country lanes and villages sound surreal in the sterile atmosphere of the commission hearings in a luxury Balinese hotel. During breaks, music from a Queen album is piped through the room.

The Indonesian President, Susilo Bambang Yudhoyono, and his East Timorese counterpart, Xanana Gusmao, have made it clear they want to leave the bloody episodes behind. The commission's terms of reference state it should recommend amnesties, not prosecutions.
Exchanges between witnesses and the Indonesian-appointed members of the joint commission reveal a continuing gulf.

Mr Brites told of being taken to a military hospital when his wounds became infested with worms. He was given food only if he first sang the Indonesian national anthem, he claimed.
An Indonesian law professor, Achmad Ali, was indignant.

"Is there something wrong with being asked to sing?" he asked. "Even in America they sing the anthem. I think it's quite acceptable because you were still in Indonesia."

Witnesses were repeatedly asked why they had been attacked. They must have done something wrong, the Indonesian commissioners said.

Mr Brites had a final plea for the commission. "All the victims, pro-autonomy and pro-independence - the widows, the people who have been handicapped, those who have suffered and those who are orphans - both nations need to look after these people."