[Marxism] Timor (Siapno)

[clintonf@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxx]

We had a house in Dili
Jacqueline Siapno *

A few days ago my husband, Fernando de Araujo - leader of the Democratic Party 
(PD) in Timor-Leste - and I, learned from a friend that our family home in Dili 
had been burned to the ground. A group of men had visited our house three times 
previously in the days beforehand, on two occasions issuing threats, and on the 
third smashing everything inside the house. On their final visit they fired 
shots at our friends who had been guarding it for us, forcing them to flee, and 
then set our home alight.

Obviously in the violence that has taken place in the past few days in Dili 
this fate, and worse, has befallen many other East Timorese families. Some 
people have commented to me that it is 'just a house', which can be rebuilt and 
that at least we are not dead. It is true that we can, and will, build another 
house. But I want to place the destruction of our home in some context, both 
political and personal.

Leaders within the East Timorese government, the F-FDTL and many media sources 
have characterised this violence as the random acts of the 'irrational' and 
'emotional' 'masses' acting without reason, and without direction. This is 
simply not true. Many of the arson attacks witnessed in Dili in the past few 
days have been ordered by government figures and military commanders, carried 
out systematically by hiring civilians to disguise the real criminals behind 
the acts.

The targeted nature of many of these arsons is reflected in the high profile 
names of many of the victims: the families of Minister for Internal Affairs 
(including police) Rogerio Lobato; Commander of the PNTL Paulo Martins; and 
PNTL Deputy Commander Ismail Babo have all suffered attacks on their homes.

Attributing the violence to anonymous masses is a means of avoiding 
accountability by those responsible. Unidentified masses cannot be taken to the 
International Criminal Court. Individuals, however, can, and those individuals 
who must face justice over these attacks are the Prime Minister Mari Alkatiri 
himself and leaders within the F-FDTL. Entrusted with the responsibility for 
security, the government and F-FDTL have violated this trust by arming 
civilians and terrorising the communities they are supposed to be protecting.

Unwilling to take responsibility for the current situation in Timor-Leste, the 
Prime Minister Mari Alkatiri (The Age, 15 May 2006, 'Lecturer "sexed up" East 
Timor violence') and Foreign Minister Jose Ramos Horta, (who later retracted 
when he visited Suai), have accused my husband and I of 'instigating unrest'. 
This is a disgraceful fabrication. I am a scholar. I spend every day of my life 
trying to get people to think and reflect, discuss and analyse, in order to 
understand and resolve, not create conflict. What I have called for is a proper 
investigation into the killings at Taci Tolu on 28 April. The government said 
only five people were killed. Numerous reports from eye witnesses have said the 
number was far higher. All I have demanded is transparency and accountability.

Some commentators have falsely implied that Fernando is supporting violent 
means. He is not. Whilst serving seven years in Cipinang prison, Fernando de 
Araujo was classified by Amnesty International as a prisoner of conscience. To 
attain this status, one must never have advocated violence as a political 
weapon. Far from advocating violence, Fernando supports the petitioners as 
victims of state violence. It needs to be remembered that the original 591 
petitioners left their posts unarmed. They were hunted by F-FDTL soldiers, and 
only later, after an unknown number of petitioners had been killed, did members 
of the Rapid Response Unit (UIR) police and Military Police (PM) leave their 
barracks with weapons to defend them. What Fernando and the leaders of other 
political parties share in common with the petitioners is that they have all 
been marginalised and disempowered by the current government through the use of 
violence and intimidation. Our lives have been in serious danger!
  since 1pm, on April 28.

This is not just a conflict between the F-FDTL and PNTL (police), or between 
easterners and westerners - it is about a government that has thoroughly 
discredited itself through its actions lashing out and looking for scapegoats. 
Our house was destroyed as part of a concerted attempt by the government to 
eliminate political opposition prior to the 2007 elections.

The house Fernando and I built with help from so many people was a small but 
special place for many reasons. When Fernando was released from prison in 1998 
he had nowhere to go and felt like he wanted to go back to Cipinang. With 
material and moral support from many Timorese and foreign friends, we struggled 
to create a warm and welcoming space that brought lots of different people 
together from all over Timor-Leste and also overseas. Students, scholars, NGO 
workers, politicians (not only from PD), Falintil veterans and my son's 
playgroup visited and stayed at our home. The bricks and mortar can obviously 
be replaced but the attack was against more than that. It was also an assault 
on our rights to free and democratic political participation, and to feel 
secure in Timor-Leste as part of a pluralist political landscape.

The flood of kind offers to help us rebuild our home and our lives in 
Timor-Leste, gives us much strength and proves that this violence will fail to 
achieve its aims.

Information about the author
Jacqueline Aquino Siapno is Senior Lecturer in the Department of Political 
Science, University of Melbourne. She is the author of Gender, Islam, 
Nationalism and the State in Aceh: The Paradox of Power, Co-optation and 
Resistance (Routledge Curzon 2002); Associate Editor of the Encyclopedia of 
Women and Islamic Cultures: Volume I: Methodologies, Paradigms and Sources, 
Leiden: Brill, 2003; and co-editor, Between Knowledge and Commitment: 
Post-Conflict Reconstruction and Peace-building in Regional Contexts, Osaka: 
Japan Center for Area Studies, 2004.

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