I was becoming worried. John, who is from Maliana, previously had been a
student activist associated with the independence movement. But because the
Halilintar had invited journalists to the rally, and because various
agreements supposedly had made things safer for an open political debate
about the future of East Timor, John and I had thought it safe to make the
two-hour drive to Atabai a short way from Balibo.
We were wrong.
I had been looking for John for more than 30 minutes when the man who had
approached him touched my arm and escorted me to a few seats about 50m from
the rally.
John was sitting with another man who he later identified as someone he
had
known two years ago to be a Kopassus officer. John, who does not smoke as a
rule, had a cigarette in his lips and looked far from comfortable. "We have
a
problem," he told me.
In the intervening period, I learned from him later, John had been beaten
about the legs, stomach and head by five militia men. His bag had been
searched and his identity documents removed and not returned. All the while
he was explaining he was at the rally as my employee.
"They said, 'you're lucky because you came with journalists. If you had come
by yourself we probably would have killed you'," John told me.
I knew none of this as I first sat with him. All John could tell me in front
of the Kopassus officer was he had been guaranteed safety for now, but that
we needed to leave and quickly.
When I returned a few minutes later having found our driver, there were
uniformed soldiers nearby and a moustached man in civilian clothes, wearing
one of the red and white scarves that earlier had been draped around the
necks of the most important people attending the rally. He later was
identified by John, although not by name, as the district commander for the
Indonesian army.
The man had a camcorder and clearly wanted to speak further to John. I was
reluctant to leave him alone and said so. The commander said in the only
English used during the few minutes I was there: "You are not the problem.
He" pointing at John "is the problem."
John listened as the man spoke to him, then told me: "If you get the car
here
I will be safe. If you stay I will be bruised and bloodied."
Our party was then taken away from the rally under escort. Fifteen tense
minutes later we stopped to allow our escorts to peel off back to the rally.
John said the militia men had said they knew who he was and would look for
him in Dili at their convenience. If they found him, he quoted them as
saying, they would kill him.
"I should leave this country," he said. "I should go to another country. I
need you guys to help. Otherwise I will die, I think.
etanetanetanetanetanetanetanetanetanetanetanetanetanetanetanetan
John M. Miller Internet: etan-outreach@igc.apc.org
Media & Outreach Coordinator, East Timor Action Network
PO Box 150753, Brooklyn, NY 11215-0753 USA
Phone: (718)596-7668 Fax: (718)222-4097
http://www.etan.org
