*EPF321 09/12/01
Text: Lawmaker Backs International Criminal Tribunal on East Timor
(Urges humanitarian assistance for East Timor) (1790)

The international community must not fail the people of East Timor again, according to a lawmaker who has visited that war-ravaged country.

Representative James McGovern (Democrat of Massachusetts) made that plea in a September 6 statement at a news conference on Capitol Hill about conditions in East Timor.

McGovern related how he had visited East Timor shortly before the August 30, 1999 referendum there, and had met Father Hilario Madeira and Father Francisco Soares in the village of Suai trying to protect East Timorese who had been forced out of their homes and were seeking refuge in the church's compound.

"Here were men," McGovern said, "who were carrying out God's mandate to love and care for your neighbor, protect the weak, and live humbly."

When he asked local Indonesian officials to turn on water that had been shut off from the suffering refugees, McGovern said, they did nothing, while Indonesian military and police milled about with local militias opposed to the upcoming referendum.

Returning to the United States after that trip to Indonesia, McGovern said, "I received a phone call from human rights workers in Jakarta that eyewitnesses reported militias had gunned down and murdered Father Hilario and Father Francisco, along with Jesuit priest Father Dewanto, on the steps of their parish church."

Approximately 200 people at Suai "sheltering inside the church were also killed," McGovern continued.

McGovern urged support for an International Criminal Tribunal that would "bring the Indonesian generals and military officers, and the leaders of the militias, to trial for their crimes against the East Timorese people and breaches of international law."

The Massachusetts lawmaker said he was proud to be a co-sponsor of House Concurrent Resolution 60, which calls for the establishment of an international war crimes tribunal for East Timor.

"We must take immediate steps to protect and return home safely the East Timorese refugees still trapped in camps inside West Timor," McGovern said, putting their number at between 80,000 and 100,000.

The United States, he continued, "must continue to suspend all U.S. military aid and training to the Indonesian military until the refugees are safely returned to East Timor, the militias in West Timor are disarmed and disbanded, and the perpetrators of crimes against the East Timorese people have been brought to justice."

The United States, he went on, "must strongly and unambiguously support the independence process in East Timor, including establishing a U.S. Mission in East Timor independent of Jakarta, in preparation of the establishment of a U.S. Embassy with an ambassador as quickly as legally possible once full independence is declared in 2002."

"We cannot bring back Father Hilario, Father Francisco, nor all those so brutally murdered or harmed for freedom's sake," McGovern said.

"But we can recognize that the path to independence follows the road of justice and reconciliation -- and we must demand justice for the crimes committed against them," he said.

"While we cannot undo the violence and destruction that took place two years ago, we can, and we must, make sure that East Timor does, at last, achieve peace, reconciliation, justice and its long-dreamed-of and hard-won independence," McGovern said.

Following is the text of the September 6 statement of Representative James McGovern:

(begin text)

STATEMENT OF U.S. REP. JIM MCGOVERN
ON THE 2nd ANNIVERSARY OF THE SUAI MASSACRE

Shortly before the August 30, 1999, referendum on independence, I was in East Timor with Senators Tom Harkin (D-IA) and Jack Reed (D-RI). At that time, Dili, East Timor's capital, was a city full of activity. We were the only congressional delegation to travel to East Timor before those elections and the last Members of Congress to see Dili and East Timor as they once were.

Our delegation traveled to two towns along the western border: Maliana and Suai. I would like to share some of my memories of Suai.

August is the dry season in East Timor. That day was sweltering hot and dusty. In this poor town, we went to the Catholic Church compound, where over 2,000 people were seeking refuge. Father Hilario Madeira, the senior parish priest, and Father Francisco Soares, who would be our guides, greeted us. They introduced us to their world - one filled with worry and tension, and subjected daily to violence and intimidation by the Indonesian military and the militias organized and armed by the Indonesian military.

Despite the strain and uncertainty of their situation, I was impressed by Father Hilario and Father Francisco's warmth, good humor, hospitality and steady nerves. Here were men carrying out God's mandate to love and care for your neighbor, protect the weak, and live humbly.

In talking to the refugees, we discovered that most had been burned out of their homes, or forcibly evicted. The majority were women and children. They sought refuge in the church compound, surrounded by militia, who had cut off all food and water.

Our delegation met with town officials, asking for the water to be restored. Clearly, the militias were in charge of the water, and town officials would do nothing. The armed Indonesian police and soldiers - those charged with the protection and security of the East Timorese people during the U.N. process - stood in the shade, doing nothing, laughing and joking with the militias. When I met later with then-Indonesian President Habibie in Jakarta, we demanded the water be restored in Suai. Less than 24 hours later, the militias turned on the water.

Father Hilario shared with us his concerns about the current violence and his fears about violent retaliation against the people who would go to the polls for the first time in their lives scarcely a week later. We took that message to heart.

Later that evening, in Dili, we had dinner with Nobel Prize winner and Catholic Bishop, Carlos Ximenes Belo. In the dining room of his house, overlooking the courtyard between his residence and the chapel where he said Mass, Bishop Belo emphasized the need for protection following the vote.

As our delegation prepared to depart from Dili, we called upon the United Nations to immediately deploy armed peacekeepers to East Timor to protect the people from further violence, especially following the referendum.

As the whole world now knows, everyone's worst fears were realized.

Two years ago, over Labor Day weekend, I learned that the home of Bishop Belo, where I had eaten dinner just two weeks earlier, had been burnt to the ground. The Bishop barely escaped with his life. The 3,000 people given refuge in his courtyard were forced out at gunpoint by uniformed Indonesian military and militias. At that time, their fates were unknown. Thankfully, many survived and are today active in rebuilding Dili.

Suai, however, was not so blessed.

Just two years ago yesterday, on the Wednesday after Labor Day, I received a phone call from human rights workers in Jakarta that eyewitnesses reported militias had gunned down and murdered Father Hilario and Father Francisco, along with Jesuit priest Father Dewanto, on the steps of their parish church. Approximately 200 people from Suai sheltering inside the church were also killed. Some escaped, but most of the others were forcibly transported out of the country and into holding camps inside West Timor. Today, two years later, some 80-to-100,000 East Timorese remain trapped in squalid, militia-controlled camps.

These were good men. These were holy men. Nothing we say or do in Congress, nothing the U.N. may say or do, and nothing President Bush might say or do, can ever bring these men back to the people of Suai.

In so many ways, we in the United States and the international community failed them. They trusted us, and we failed them. If we are to honor their memory, then we must not fail them again.

Last week, on August 30th, the East Timorese people once again went to the polls in record-breaking numbers to vote for a national assembly that will begin drafting East Timor's constitution. This time, the Indonesian military and its militia lackeys were not there to burn the country down following another vote that moves East Timor ever closer to full independence.

But the legacy of violence, destruction, fear and sorrow continues to take its toll on the people of East Timor.

If we in the United States and the international community are not to fail the people of East Timor once again.

-- We must support an International Criminal Tribunal that will bring the Indonesian generals and military officers, and the leaders of the militias, to trial for their crimes against the East Timorese people and breaches of international law. Many of these officers remain active in the Indonesian military, and they will continue to perpetrate human rights crimes unless and until they are exposed and brought to justice. I am proud to be a cosponsor of legislation in the House, H. Con. Res. 60, introduced by Representative Lane Evans, that calls for the establishment of an international war crimes tribunal for East Timor.

-- We must take immediate steps to protect and return home safely the East Timorese refugees still trapped in camps inside West Timor.

-- We must continue to provide humanitarian, economic and development aid to East Timor that directly benefits the people of East Timor, provides them with employment and material resources, and involves them directly in the decision-making process on how best to target our aid.

-- We must continue to suspend all U.S. military aid and training to the Indonesian military until the refugees are safely returned to East Timor, the militias in West Timor are disarmed and disbanded, and the perpetrators of crimes against the East Timorese people have been brought to justice.

-- We must strongly and unambiguously support the independence process in East Timor, including establishing a U.S. Mission in East Timor independent of Jakarta, in preparation of the establishment of a U.S. Embassy with an ambassador as quickly as legally possible once full independence is declared in 2002.

We cannot bring back Father Hilario, Father Francisco, nor all those so brutally murdered or harmed for freedom's sake. But we can recognize that the path to independence follows the road of justice and reconciliation - and we must demand justice for the crimes committed against them.

And while we cannot undo the violence and destruction that took place two years ago, we can and we must make sure that East Timor does, at last, achieve peace, reconciliation, justice and its long-dreamed-of and hard-won independence.

(end text)

(Distributed by the Office of International Information Programs, U.S. Department of State. Web site: http://usinfo.state.gov)

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