[Congressional Record Volume 143, Number 161 (Monday, December 15, 1997)]
[Extensions of Remarks]
[Pages E2423-E2425]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]




               EAST TIMOR--NEED FOR A POLITICAL SOLUTION

                                 ______
                                 

                           HON. TONY P. HALL

                                of ohio

                    in the house of representatives

                      Thursday, November 13, 1997

  Mr. HALL of Ohio. Mr. Speaker, in recent weeks, there have been 
disturbing developments in East Timor, which was invaded and illegally 
occupied by Indonesia in 1975 and is an area that has long been of 
concern to me and many of my colleagues. On November 14, the Roman 
Catholic Bishop, Carlos Ximenes Belo, stated that Indonesian security 
forces had acted with ``incalculable brutality'' against students at 
the University of East Timor. The security forces are said to have 
burst into the university, opening fire on a group of students and 
injuring about five seriously. Six others are still in custody as a 
result of this incident. Amnesty International has asked that those in 
custody have proper access to legitimate legal advice, and has also 
called for an investigation into this incident, involving the excessive 
use of force by Indonesian military and policy.
  This is only the latest in a series of violent incidents since Bishop 
Belo returned last December from Oslo after receiving the Nobel Peace 
Prize. Only in the past 2 months, there have been brutal actions by 
security forces or those connected to them, near the towns of Viqueque 
and Ossu. Paul Moore, Jr., the retired Episcopal Bishop of New York, 
who recently visited East Timor for the second time since 1989, reports 
that one paramilitary group under Indonesian control throws rocks 
nearly every night at the home of Bishop Belo's mother and sister in 
the town of Baucau. I share Bishop Moore's view that such actions are 
intolerable. And if they can be directed at the family of someone as 
prominent as a Nobel Peace Laureate, how many can really be safe?
  Bishop Moore attended some of the religious festivities that took 
place around East Timor's highest peak, Mount Ramelau, on October 6-7. 
As Bishop Moore puts it, ``What I saw was an entirely peaceful 
gathering of tens of thousands of people motivated by their faith. But 
many in the clergy in East Timor affirm that provocateurs under the 
control of the Indonesian military have dedicated themselves to marring 
such events at every opportunity.''
  This is apparently what happened on Mount Ramelau on October 7, when 
the stabbing of a young man led to the cancellation of a long-awaited 
religious procession. As Bishop Moore stated, ``This incident is seen 
by senior clergy, rightly or wrongly, as a deliberate attempt by those 
under the control of Indonesian authorities to thwart the aspirations 
of the East Timorese people--in this instance, ruining a day of piety 
and peace.''
  However, it is clear to Bishop Moore, and especially to Bishop Belo, 
that the problem in East Timor is not a religious problem but is 
political in nature, just as the recent incident at the University of 
East Timor was rooted in the heavy-handed, illegal Indonesian military 
occupation. The pattern is one of conscious use and creation of violent 
incidents, religious and otherwise, by security forces. If such 
incidents

[[Page E2424]]

are created by the security forces, who in the end, are subject to 
official control, they can be stopped by government action. I wish to 
emphasize that this is not a matter of Moslem versus Christian but 
rather it is one of the aspiration of a people for self-determination.
  All of this points to the need for a just political settlement to 
this long-festering problem. Bishop Moore calls for serious efforts by 
the United States to help solve the East Timor tragedy. The Indonesian 
Government is accepting billions of dollars from the United States to 
help support their economy. It is not too much for us to ask that there 
be a just and peaceful solution in East Timor without further delay. I 
am sure that many of my colleagues would heartily agree.
  For the benefit of my colleagues, I have inserted in the Record a 
copy of Bishop Moore's account of his visit and a brief report by Mr. 
Arnold Kohen from the London-based Catholic weekly, The Tablet, which 
provides a moving description of what happened on Mount Ramelau on 
October 7.

Report of Bishop Paul Moore, Jr., on Visit to East Timor, October 4-10, 
                                  1997

       I returned to East Timor almost exactly eight years after 
     my first visit there in 1989. In some fundamental respects 
     there has been little change in the intervening period. The 
     fullscale military occupation continues as before. The level 
     of fear remains profound. What has become stronger, if 
     anything, since 1989, is the desire of the people of East 
     Timor to maintain their own identity and determine their own 
     destiny. In light of everything that has happened since my 
     first visit in 1989--the Santa Cruz massacre, the unrelenting 
     repression and torture, the influx of migrants who take the 
     best opportunities--the determination of the East Timorese 
     people is remarkable.
       I was privileged to visit East Timor with my friend, 
     Anglican Archbishop Ian George of Adelaide, Australia, who is 
     also a trained lawyer. We were struck by certain telling 
     details. In meeting with a Catholic priest with whom I was 
     acquainted, we were unable to talk at our hotel but had to go 
     to a nearby beach because of our friend's fear of the 
     authorities. This kind of anxiety was repeated time and 
     again. If a visiting bishop and archbishop have such 
     difficulties in meeting with people in sensitive positions, 
     what does that say about the atmosphere in the territory?
       By all accounts, widespread torture continues as I write, 
     as do violent incidents fomented by paramilitary groups of 
     East Timorese under Indonesian control. It is my clear 
     understanding that one such group, known as the Gada Paksi, 
     throw rocks nearly every night at the home of Bishop Belo's 
     mother and sister in the town of Baucau. Such actions are 
     intolerable. And if they can be directed at the family of 
     someone as prominent as a Nobel Peace Laureate, how many can 
     really be safe?
       Just after we left, Bishop Belo reported that several homes 
     in the southern town of Viqueque had been burned and several 
     people had disappeared, all of this at the hands of Gada 
     Paksi-type groups with the connivance of the Indonesian 
     military. Incidents like this have continued and grown, 
     especially since Bishop Belo returned from receiving the 
     Nobel Peace Prize in Oslo last December. It is not accurate 
     to say, as some in the Administration have done, that there 
     are fewer incidents of violence in East Timor. While such 
     incidents may be cyclical, senior church and other reliable 
     sources, and not only Bishop Belo, made it clear to us that 
     such incidents are most often provoked by people working 
     closely with the Indonesian military, in an effort to justify 
     the continuing occupation of East Timor. I do not mean to 
     suggest that there is bad will on the part of American 
     officials who seem to believe that violence is lessening. 
     Rather, I believe that because of the language barrier, the 
     narrow range of informants and the state of fear in the 
     territory, the information our State Department receives from 
     East Timor is less than adequate. Thus, I was pleased to 
     learn that USAID will be providing support to the Diocesan 
     Justice and Peace Commission and the Dili branch of the 
     Jakarta-based Legal Aid Institute. One hopes this will lead 
     to an improvement in the quality of information that our 
     government receives from East Timor, at the same time that it 
     gives the United States an added responsibility to protect 
     these institutions from intimidation and harrassment.
       I was fortunate to be able to attend some of the religious 
     festivities that took place on Mount Ramelau on October 6-7. 
     What I saw was an entirely peaceful gathering of tens of 
     thousands of people motivated by their faith. But many in the 
     clergy in East Timor affirm that provocateurs under the 
     control of the Indonesian military have dedicated themselves 
     to marring such events at almost every opportunity. The 
     stabbing to death of a young man that took place at the 
     summit of Mount Ramelau on October 7 led to the cancellation 
     of the religious procession. This incident is seen by senior 
     clergy, rightly or wrongly, as a deliberate attempt by those 
     under the control of Indonesian authorities to thwart the 
     aspirations of the East Timorese people--in this instance, 
     ruining a day of piety and peace. The fact that this version 
     of events is given widespread credence by responsible clerics 
     and many others speaks volumes about the atmosphere in the 
     territory.
       Finally, let me emphasize the deep seriousness of the 
     problem in East Timor. It cannot be solved without taking 
     into account the domestic aspirations of the East Timorese 
     people. The fact that Bishop Belo received the Nobel Peace 
     Prize in 1996 gives the East Timor issue a worldwide currency 
     that it previously lacked. This provides opportunities for 
     people, governments and institutions of good will to help 
     solve the problem over time. We would be seriously remiss and 
     morally negligent if we were to allow such unique 
     opportunities to go by, particularly in view of the initial 
     support of the United States government for Indonesia's 
     invasion and occupation of East Timor.


     
                                                                    ____
                    [From the Tablet, Oct. 25, 1997]

                         Murder on the Mountain

                           (By Arnold Kohen)

       It seemed too perfect, and for beleaguered East Timor it 
     was. Between 20,000 and 30,000 people made the long trek to 
     the top of Mount Ramelau, the territory's highest peak, an 
     exquisitely beautiful site as well as a symbol of the 
     struggle for East Timor's independence. People had travelled 
     in the back of trucks, some for days, in a remarkable 
     outpouring of faith and hope. Many had walked long distances.
       This was a singular event in East Timor's history, a two-
     day gathering uniting the territory's traditional animist 
     religions, which venerate sacred objects known as lulik, with 
     the traditions of the Catholic faith. In the light of the 
     huge number of conversions that have taken place since the 
     Indonesian invasion of the territory--the proportion of 
     Catholics has grown from less than 20 per cent of the 
     population to more than 95 per cent in a little more than two 
     decades--the event had special significance; many of those 
     who have converted continue to worship their lulik and at the 
     same time attend church services that have themselves become 
     a quiet statement of nationalist feeling.
       First there was a Mass attended by tens of thousands in the 
     foothills of the mountain range late on the afternoon of 6 
     October. It was celebrated by Bishop Basilio de Nascimento, 
     who recently joined Bishop Carlos Felipe Ximenes Belo of Dili 
     when he was appointed to head East Timor's newly-created 
     second diocese. Then for hours the two bishops led a 
     procession in the dark up the long, steep pathways of Mount 
     Ramelau. They were accompanied by a group of elders who had 
     donned ancient symbols of Timorese religion. The culminating 
     event was to be the placing of a statue of the Virgin Mary 
     the next morning at the summit of the mountain, called Tata-
     Mai-Lau in the local Tetum language. Many thousands, mainly 
     younger people, spent the night outdoors in piercing cold in 
     a clearing dotted by black eucalyptus trees. The excitement 
     was palpable.
       The next morning Bishop Belo devoted his homily to themes 
     of peace. The fact that so many people had gathered in a 
     place so difficult to reach as Ramelau, bearing such good 
     cheer and patience, had its own positive message. Spirits 
     were high, as participants took refreshments before making 
     the hour-long climb to the peak. Some had already gone to the 
     top to watch the sun rise.
       But only moments after Belo completed the Mass, the bad 
     news arrived. A man, whom some church sources have linked to 
     a military-inspired vigilante group called the Gada Paksi, 
     tried to break through a cordon of Catholic boy scouts who 
     were guarding the pathway to the top, where the statue was to 
     be placed. (There were reports from the Indonesian military 
     that the assailant was a member of the Fretilin independence 
     movement, but no evidence has been produced to support this 
     claim.) The intruder was told to go back, whereupon he 
     stabbed one of the scouts to death; the assailant was in turn 
     beaten to death by the crowd.
       Senior clergy had little doubt about the source of the 
     profanation of the event at Ramelau. Something similar had 
     happened only hours after Bishop Belo returned from Oslo on 
     Christmas Eve 1996 after receiving the Nobel Peace Prize. 
     They attributed the incidents to crazed East Timorese, 
     possible drug-addicts, in the pay of Indonesian military 
     intelligence. And then there was the rock-throwing by 
     provocateurs when Cardinal Roger Etchegaray visited East 
     Timor in early 1996. Many people, clergy and laity alike, 
     complain bitterly that whenever there is an event reflecting 
     the people's aspirations, the Indonesian military set out to 
     stifle it.
       The way Bishop Belo handled the crisis on Ramelau provides 
     graphic illustration of his cohesive role. Immediately he 
     took to the microphone at the altar where he had just 
     finished saying Mass to appeal for calm, and announced that 
     the procession to the top had been cancelled. He had not 
     slept all night, but he coolly led the crowd down steep 
     inclines on a two-hour march that was shadowed by the 
     possibility of further acts of violence. The pathway was 
     rocky and at times perilous, the mood extremely tense (if an 
     individual could come out of nowhere to commit a stabbing, 
     what else might follow?) but Belo reacted with aplomb.

[[Page E2425]]

       He was sad as well as furious over what he saw as a clear 
     attempt to denigrate the Church, but he would not show it, as 
     people looked to him for inspiration. His soft-spoken, 
     indirect and sometimes enigmatic manner of discourse can 
     baffle some of those who meet him expecting a more militant 
     personage. In fact, Belo is perfectly capable of tough and 
     blunt talk on human rights and the condition of his occupied 
     nation, but sees it as his main role to prevent the kind of 
     mayhem that could easily have ensured on Mount Ramelau on 7 
     October.