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2003

/4 Memoir o f the Negotiations

East Tim or
 East Timor
A Memoir o f the
Negotiations fo r Independence
by J amsheed Marker

%
McFarland & Company, Inc., Publishers
Jefferson, North Carolina, and London
PS
.urti
2-0 6 $

Library of Congress Cataloguing-in-Publication Data

Marker, Jamsheed.
East Timor : a memoir of the negotiations for independence
/ by Jamsheed Marker,
p. cm.
Includes index.

ISBN 0-7864-1571-1 (softcover : 50# alkaline paper) (oo)

1. East Timor—History—Autonomy and independence

movements. 2. United Nations—East Timor. I. Title.
DS649.6.M37 2003
959.87'032—dc21 2003001315

British Library cataloguing data are available

©2003 Jamsheed Marker. All rights reserved

No part o f this book may be reproduced or transmitted in any form

or by any means, electronic or mechanical, including photocopying
or recording, or by any information storage and retrieval system,
without permission in writing from the publisher.

Manufactured in the United States of America

Cover photograph by Mark Rbomberg/ETAN

McFarland & Company, Inc., Publishers

Box 611, Jefferson, North Carolina 28640
www. mcfarlandpuh. com
 qzCn'iikl
5 '• £ > 3

For Kofi Annan,

s

The Secretary-General ... in friendship and admiration.

“I f a man be gracious and courteous to strangers, it shows that

he is a citizen o f the world, and that his heart is no island cut
off from other lands, but a continent that joins them."
—Francis Bacon, Essays
 Contents
Introduction: Why M e? 1

1. W hy East Timor? 7
2. Getting Acquainted: People, Places and Perceptions,
Part I (Lisbon: March through July 1997) 18
3. G etting Acquainted: People, Places and Perceptions,
Part II (Jakarta: March through July 1997) 24
4. East Timor (March through July 1997) 37
5. The Negotiations Commence
(March through August 1997) 46
6. The Consultations W iden (Geneva, Pretoria, Vienna,
and London: August through November 1997) 56
7. Coming to Grips: The Negotiations Intensify
(Indonesia and East Timor: December 1997; Portugal:
January 1998; London: April 1998) 65
8. Negotiations Continue in the Shadow o f Indonesia’s
Summer of Discontent (New York and Washington:
April and May 1998) 78
9. T he Second Innings: Indonesia in Transit and Tumult
(New York, Lisbon, Jakarta, and East Timor: June
and July 1998) 86

vii
vili Contents

10. The Doctors Dilemma: The Negotiations Intensify,

but So Does the Conflict (New York, Vienna, and
Lisbon: October and November 1998) 101
11. Sailing into the Squall (Indonesia and East Timor:
December 1998) 108
12. A Dramatic Decision, and an Opportunity Seized
(New York: January and February 1999) 121
13. Substantive Progress in Negotiations in New York;
Ominous Signals from East Timor (New York,
Jakarta, and East Timor: February to April 1999) 132
14. Agreement Between the Republic o f Indonesia and
the Portuguese Republic (New York: April and
May 1999) 144
15. U N AM ET and the Arduous Path to the Ballot
(New York, Jakarta, Dili, Sydney, and Canberra:
May to July 1999) 161
16. The Popular Consultation in East Timor: The Ballot
(New York, Jakarta, and Dili: July and August 1999) 181
17. The Aftermath of the Ballot (Dili, Jakarta, and
New York: August 31 to October 31,1999) 192
18. A Review, and Some Reflections 202

Epilogue 211
Index 217
 Introduction: Why Me?
The involvement of a Pakistani diplomat in the long-standing and
conflict-ridden political dispute between Indonesia, Portugal, and East
Timor may initially appear somewhat incongruous. But for the United
Nations such a situation is by no means bizarre, and the induction of a
neutral, distant national as a negotiator is, in fact, very much the norm.
As background, therefore, it might be appropriate to give a brief account
of the events in my life that led to my appointment as Personal Repre­
sentative of the UN Secretary-General for East Timor.
I stumbled into diplomacy in the year 1965. Prior to that, following
graduation from college, I had served as an officer in the Royal Indian
Navy in World War II on convoy escort duties, mine sweeping, and com­
bined operations. Even in those distant days of my brash youth, I was
struck by the extreme moral complexities of war, with its manifestations
of idealism and heroism, juxtaposed with revulsion and horror. This
dichotomy has remained with me ever since, in its persistent, unresolved
fashion, leaving me with the conviction that there must be a better way
to resolve differences. It is surely an unmitigated paradox that one has to
kill a man in order to convince him that you are right.
On leaving the Navy I went into a reasonably prosperous family
business, until the government of Pakistan somewhat unexpectedly
sought me out and proposed a diplomatic assignment. The 1960s was the
heady decade of the decolonization process, with the emergence of a
number of newly independent countries, each bringing its own hopes
and aspirations, together with its difficulties and problems, and each
being thrown up for grabs for the two super powers that vigorously con­
ducted the then prevalent Cold War. For Pakistan, as for most other
states, it became necessary to establish relations with these new entrants

1
2 Introduction

to the international community,

and to therefore expand its diplo­
matic service.
Pakistan possessed an excel­
lent cadre of foreign service offi­
cers, but they were numerically
insufficient, particularly in the
senior grades, to cope with the
requirements of this sudden expan­
sion, and the government therefore
appointed ambassadors from other
departments, and from the politi­
cal and private sectors.
I came under the latter cate­
gory, and therefore started my diplo­
matic career as an ambassador, a
convenience that obviated the
necessity of hacking my way to the
Jamsheed Marker. Photograph: United
N ations D epartm ent of Public Infor­ top, as is the fate of most diplomats
mation. everywhere. I also fully expected, at
the time that I assumed my first
assignment, that I would return to private life once the three-year term
was over. This expectation proved to be erroneous—by about twenty-
seven years.
Accordingly, I found myself in Accra, in April 1965, as Pakistan’s
High Commissioner to Ghana, with concurrent accreditation to Guinea
and Mali. Those were the early days of independence, with “the winds of
change,” as Harold Macmillan so vividly described them, blowing in
strong gusts all over Africa.
Those days revealed both the enthusiasms and the foibles of gov­
ernments in emerging post-colonial situations, and they gave me my first
lessons in the necessity of objectivity and the difficulties inherent in main­
taining it. There was so much to admire and yet at the same time so much
to deplore. And although a spirit of tolerance was always necessary, it was
frequently hard to sustain.
From West Africa I was transferred to Romania, with concurrent
accreditation to Bulgaria, and thereby commenced a ten-year tour of duty
in the communist countries of Eastern Europe. The government of Pak­
istan decided to renew my contract each time that it expired, and I
remained a “non-career head of mission” throughout my diplomatic ser­
vice.
 Introduction 3

Naturally, I submitted my resignation whenever there was a change

of government in Pakistan, but on each occasion I was ordered to stay on.
My contract contained a clause to the effect that the President and I could
each terminate the contract at will, “without assigning any reason what­
soever." But I was never unmindful of the fact that he was in a rather bet­
ter position to exercise this option than I was.
Romania in 1968 was already well under the dictatorial rule of Nico-
lae Ceaujescu and his even more odious wife, Elena. Internally it was one
of the most rigid, brutal Stalinist regimes in existence at the time, and
the terrorization of its population was complete. Yet externally, Ceau§escu
proclaimed a policy of “independence” from Moscow, established con­
tacts with the West, sought to remain neutral in the Sino-Soviet dispute,
and established diplomatic relations with the Federal German Republic
and with Israel. This earned him far more diplomatic and economic advan­
tages from the west than many of us thought he deserved.
For the diplomats stationed in Bucharest, who witnessed on a daily
basis the ugly manifestations of Ceau§escu’s extreme totalitarianism, the
main preoccupation was to urge in their capitals a sense of balance and
objectivity, and to point out the nature of the cynical and shrewd manip­
ulation engineered by the Ceaujescu regime. In the end, fate decreed a
just retribution on the Ceau$escus, although it need not have been quite
as cruel and messy as it was. But in hindsight one wonders whether the
imperatives of the Cold War justified the diplomatic and economic sup­
port for the Ceaugescu dictatorship, with the implicit acceptance of its
gross human rights violations. It is questions of this kind that have
haunted me ever since, and continued to pose a dilemma in my later nego­
tiations.
I was next posted as Ambassador of Pakistan to the USSR (with con­
current accreditation to Finland) and spent three fascinating years in Mos­
cow during the dark Brezhnev era. There was much to be learned from
this assignment, but this is not the place to expound on it. Suffice it to
say that it provided me with a new understanding and admiration for the
human spirit, particularly in its capability for survival in conditions of the
most profound adversity. Just as impressive was the unmistakable sense
of patriotism, and sheer love of the Motherland, that pervaded the Rus­
sian soul.
After a brief spell in Canada (with concurrent accreditation to Guyana
and Trinidad and Tobago), I was posted to East Berlin and opened Pak­
istan’s first resident mission to the German Democratic Republic (with
concurrent accreditation to Iceland). In Berlin the dichotomies and con­
trasts were particularly stark.
4 Introduction

The glorious, inspirational joys and pleasures of Western civilization

—three magnificent opera houses, two superb orchestras, and numerous
museums and art galleries of the highest and richest quality—were inter­
spersed in East and West Berlin. But in order to get to them one had to
endure the grim, pervasive presence of the Berlin Wall, and the sicken­
ing process of transit through its oppressive checkpoints. Here again,
there was the constant juxtaposition of the finest and the meanest in the
human spirit, constantly demanding explanation, and persistently impos­
ing choices in the thoughts and conduct of one s affairs.
From East Berlin I moved to Tokyo, where I got to live, work, and
become friends with a people whom I had encountered under vastly
different circumstances in a war thirty years before. In that war I had
traded bullets with the Japanese, but now the time had come to trade yen
credits. From Tokyo I was posted to the United Nations in Geneva, where
my love for this organization blossomed from support to enthusiasm, as
I became aware of the widespread opportunity for personal involvement
and activity.
The multifarious specialized agencies provided the facilities for deal­
ing with a plethora of important and interesting issues, varying from dis­
armament, human rights, trade, and development, to refugees and labor.
The experience, despite innumerable frustrations, was both stimulating
and satisfying, and Geneva became an admirable place for honing what­
ever multilateral negotiating skills I might have possessed.
My next assignments took me successively to Bonn, Paris, and Wash­
ington. The amount of diplomatic activity in each of these important cap­
itals was, obviously, enormous, far too extensive to permit recapitulation.
All that I can say is that the experience I gained was immeasurably sup­
plemented by the friendships I formed with people whose wisdom and
guidance, always generously extended, were to be so valuable in my future
work over East Timor.
My last diplomatic assignment was as Permanent Representative of
Pakistan to the United Nations in New York, where I had the privilege
of working with colleagues from all over the world, and above all, with
three distinguished Secretaries-General: Javier Perez de Cuellar, Boutros
Boutros-Ghali, and Kofi Annan. A two-year stint on the Security Coun­
cil and one year as Chairman of the Group of 77 provided valuable expe­
rience in multilateral negotiations.
This concluded a career in which I had served my country continu­
ally as Ambassador of Pakistan for thirty years, in eleven different capi­
tals, with nine further concurrent accreditations. It had been a long and
vastly interesting innings, and one that, I hoped, had justified the confi-
 Introduction 5

Secretary G eneral Kofi Annan (left) and his Personal Representative for East
Tim or, the author. New York. Photograph: UN Department of Public Informa­
tion.

dence that my country had reposed in me by honoring me with its rep­

resentation for so many years.
During my tenure at the United Nations in New York I had developed
a close relationship with Kofi Annan, both in personal and professional
capacities, and in due course, after my retirement, Kofi offered me the post
of Personal Representative of the Secretary-General for East Timor. I
accepted it with alacrity and enthusiasm, coupled with a sense of honor and
gratitude, convinced that nothing could be more worthwhile than to work
with this dedicated, sensitive, modest, and decisive Secretary-General.
In the preparation of these memoirs, I have benefited greatly from
the help and guidance so generously provided to me by Elie Wiesel, David
Brown and Shashi Thardor. Their wise counsel has added immensely to
the value of the contents of these memoirs. My thanks also to Rusty Fis­
cher.
All imperfections and errors are mine alone.
Finally, a special word of deep gratitude and loving thanks to my
beloved wife, Arnaz, whose affectionate companionship, lively encour­
agement, and astute perception formed an essential part of my voyages,
and made this book possible. And also to my children, Niloufer, Feroza,
and Sam, for their love, encouragement, understanding, and support for
everything that I do.
For them, my feelings of affection and gratitude are boundless.
 Independence for East Timor
“In 1999, the world watched as East Tim or, a small island
North o f Australia, voted for and gained their freedom from
Indonesian occupation in a UN-supervised referendum. As the
referendum concluded with an overwhelming victory for inde­
pendence, we watched on international television as Indone­
sian-trained m ilitia and Indonesian armed forces were
unleashed across the country—massacring civilians, cutting
power and water lines, and burning 85 percent o f the build­
ings in the country, including virtually all schools and nearly
all businesses.
“Today, under UN protection, and with a UN Transitional
Administration assisting in the peaceful transition to a new
government, the East Timorese people are rebuilding their
nation. They have held their first democratic election—an elec­
tion so peaceful that families brought their children to the
polling booths. They have drafted and adopted their country’s
first constitution, adopted their national flag and national
anthem. They are even approaching their first-ever presiden­
tial election....
“O n May 19 and 20, 2002, the world will again watch. This
time, we will watch and celebrate with them, through two days
o f music, culture, and tradition, as the United Nations hands
over the reins to this newly established democratic govern­
ment, and East Tim or stands on its feet as the first new, free
country o f the millennium.”
—From www.easttimor.com
 1
Why East Timor?
“W hen you start on your journey to Ithaki, pray that the road
you take will be a long one, full of adventure, full o f things to
learn.”
— C.P. Cavafy, Alexandrian Greek Poet

For most people, except those that live in the region and its prox­
imity, East Timor is a distant place, not too easy to locate, even on a map.
Apart from its residents and immediate neighbors, its travails were known
to few, and since it possessed neither size, nor geopolitical significance,
nor vast natural resources or economic interest, it is no surprise that its
existence was largely overlooked.
But somewhere in that tiny, distant half island, a spark was flicker­
ing, and a small segment of humanity was not only struggling to assert
itsrights, but more importantly was calling upon theUnited Nations to
act in fulfillment of its Charter. In February of 1997, whenSecretary-
General Kofi Annan suggested that I attempt a mediation effort in East
Timor, I knew as little of the East Timor problem as most people did,
which was not very much.
I accepted the assignment essentially because, as I have indicated in
the preface, nothing could be more worthwhile than to work with Kofi as
his representative. But there was also, I think, the personal excitement of
an unknown challenge so famously expressed by James Elroy Flecker:
We travel not for trafficking alone:
By hotter winds our fiery hearts are fanned:
For lust of knowing what should be unknown
We take the Golden Journey to Samarkand.

W hat follows will, I hope, describe how this was done. For East
Timor was a United Nations success story.

7
8 East Timor

Timor is a 32,000 square kilometer island, situated in the Indone­

sian archipelago, of which East Timor contains 19,000 square kilometers,
populated by just under a million people. Timor was colonized in the
early 17th century by the Dutch, who occupied the western part of the
island, and by the Portuguese, who took over the eastern section. West
Timor became a part of Indonesia when the country gained its indepen­
dence from the Netherlands in 1949, but East Timor remained a Por­
tuguese colony.
After the fall of the Salazar dictatorship and the establishment of
democracy in Portugal in 1975, Lisbon embarked on a process of decol­
onization. But a failure to transfer power in orderly fashion led to civil
war in East Timor, which triggered \m ilita rymtervention and occupa­
tion bv Indonesia. The United Nations condemned this occupation, arTd
called for an exercise of the right of self-determination by the East Tim ­
orese.
The foregoing is a highly compressed genesis of the East Timor prob­
lem, and the purport of this book is to continue the story from the time
that the United Nations assumed an active role in the problem of East
Timor and brought about the international agreements which enabled
the transformation of East Timor from a colony to an independent, demo­
cratic nation.
A new chapter has thus been opened in the history of a remarkable
and lovable people, who have endured over three hundred years of a colo­
nial occupation which was always neglectful and often violent, followed
by twenty-five years of a powerful neighbor’s domination, which was
always exploitative and often brutal.
The East Timorese resistance movement has some unique features
and well merits a case study. Unlike many other resistance movements
(the Middle East, Kashmir, Angola, Mozambique, Afghanistan) it lacked
any support in its immediate neighborhood, since the formal position of
the ASEAN countries, as well as Australia, was a factual acceptance of
the Indonesian contention that the integration of East Timor into the
Indonesian Republic was final and complete.
Thus, lacking any contiguous hinterland for the purpose of retreat
and regrouping, essential operational requirements for resistance move­
ments, the East Timor resistance became a kind of hothouse flower which
existed largely on its own intrinsic roots, fading and blooming as cir­
cumstances warranted, for over twenty-two years.
True, the United Nations had deplored the Indonesian military inter­
vention from the moment that it occurred, and had steadfastly refused to
acknowledge the integration, so that the “Question of East Timor” became
 Why East Timor? 9

a hardy perennial on the Agenda of the General Assembly. But in actual

fact, for most of the international community this formal position was
circumscribed by a de facto acceptance of Indonesian suzerainty. The sup­
port from abroad that fueled East Timorese resistance, though constant,
was perfunctory and intermittent, conditioned as it was by Cold War
imperatives.
There is a persistent view that a reluctant Suharto was pushed into
military intervention in East Timor in 1975 by Washington, which was
deeply concerned that the Soviet Union, taking advantage of the chaotic
conditions that prevailed on the island following the precipitate Portuguese
withdrawal, would establish a presence in support of an East Timorese
communist regime.
The acquisition of Dili would supplement the existing Soviet facil­
ities in Cam Ranh Bay and provide Moscow with a significant strategic
naval presence in the region. Documentary evidence to support this the­
ory is hard to find, but in the light of the tensions and hysteria of the
Cold War period of the mid-seventies, it has an air of credibility and can­
not be dismissed entirely. In my very first meeting with him in March
1997, Suharto sounded fairly plausible when he mentioned his initial reluc­
tance to intervene in East Timor, and that he had been forced to do so
by circumstances. His elaboration that the call emanated from the peo­
ple of East Timor was, however, much less convincing.
While the general international response to East Timor was a gri­
mace and a sad, helpless shrug of the shoulders, there were notable excep­
tions. Apart from the important symbolism of the United Nations’
collective persistence in maintaining the issue on its Agenda, there were
a number of Non Government Organizations (NGOs), which maintained
a constant interest in East Timor, and the Nobel Committee made a con­
tribution to this recognition at a crucial moment.
The most prominent activist was, of course, the Government of Por­
tugal, in which country East Timor was the major foreign policy issue.
Whatever the reasons, perhaps a combination of post colonial guilt and
remorse from the past coupled with a contemporary emotional post rev­
olutionary fervor, there was no doubt that on the subject of East Timor
all the Portuguese political parties, from extreme left to extreme right,
held the same vigorous, obsessional position. This was reflected in Por­
tugal’s diplomacy, which persistently raised the issue in all international
fora, particularly in European councils, where the Portuguese skillfully and
constantly thwarted attempts to advance Indonesian, and even ASEAN,
interests.
The “Santa Cruz massacre” in Dili on November 12th, 1991, when
10 East Timor

Indonesian troops fired upon and killed a large number of peaceful East
Timorese demonstrators, raised considerable international concern.
Furthermore, significant events such as the arrest and detention in Decem­
ber 1992 of the charismatic Xanana Gusmao, the universally acknowl­
edged leader of the East Timorese resistance, and the award of the Nobel
Peace Prize to Bishop Ximenes Belo and Jose Ramos Horta in October
1996, each in respective fashion, provided the impetus that turned the
embers of East Timorese resistance into vivid flashes o f flame.
On December 22,1975 the United Nations Security Council called
on Indonesia to withdraw its armed forces from East Timor, and repeated
the call on April 26,1976. The General Assembly on November 19,1976,
reacting to the Indonesian Government’s legislation incorporating East
Timor as a province of the Republic, rejected the move and called for an
act of self determination.
The issue thus became a regular item on the Agenda of the General
Assembly, and initiated, by way of General Assembly and Security Coun­
cil resolutions, a process which required Portugal and Indonesia to hold
negotiations, under the aegis of the Secretary-General, for a solution of
the East Timor issue. The problem was also raised, in visible fashion, at
the Human Rights Commission in February 1983, from which date it
became a major focal point in the activities of the Commission, generate
ing several heated debates that also found their way to the Third Com­
mittee of the General Assembly.
But despite the significance of the political process instituted by the
General Assembly and Security Council resolutions, the practical effects
did not go very far, proceeding in somewhat desultory fashion over a series
of inconclusive biannual meetings between the Secretary-General and the
two Foreign Ministers. The Secretary-General’s annual report to the Gen­
eral Assembly reported this lack of progress, and the General Assembly
in turn urged the continuation of the consultation process.
When Kofi Annan assumed the office of Secretary-General of the
United Nations in January 1997, he decided that the East Timor issue
needed a push, and a more vigorous approach than it had been hitherto
accorded. In creating the post of Personal Representative of the Secre­
tary-General (PRSG), he signaled his personal and active commitment
to a solution of the East Timor problem.
We met in the office of the Secretary-General on a cold New York
day in February 1997, when Kofi offered me the assignment for East
Timor, subject to concurrence by the Governments of Portugal and
Indonesia, which were received shortly thereafter. Our meeting was as
brief and comprehensive as most meetings with Kofi Annan usually are.
 Why East Timor? 11

His formula was quite straightforward: he entrusted me with the modus

operandi of the negotiations, and assured me of his support.
Few diplomats could have had it so good, and the start could not
have been more propitious. I therefore reported directly to the Secretary-
General at all times, even though during the later stages of the negotia­
tions it obviously became necessary for me to report to the Security
Council also. Naturally, as events progressed, the role of the Security
Council increased from the important to the crucial, and the Secretary-
General maintained, as was to be expected, the closest links with the
Council, especially after the May 5,1999 Agreements had been signed in
New York.
The decision that I should report directly to the Secretary-General
during the early stages of the negotiations was an admirable one as far as
I was concerned. It provided for a measure of discretion, reticence, and
flexibility, all of which are valuable elements in the initial stages of nego­
tiations of this nature. Furthermore, the prevalent impression that East
Timor was one of those almost forgotten, intractable issues that invoked
frustration rather than optimism, generated an apathy and a comparative
lack of public interest which I personally welcomed as conducive to our
low key approach.
Also helpful, in those early days, was the collective decision taken
with my collaborators to maintain as far as possible a public silence on
the state of the negotiations. These Trappist vows provoked some irrita­
tion, but on the whole were accepted by the media in a generous gesture
of understanding.
Kofi Annan’s role in the East Timor negotiations was absolutely cru­
cial, and its importance cannot be emphasized enough. It went far beyond
the titular and involved an active, lively interest in the progress of the
process, spurred when necessary by effective initiatives and interventions.
Having once set the objectives and got the ball rolling, he chose a team
and let it get on with the job, providing guidance when necessary, but
scrupulously eschewing micromanagement in any form whatsoever.
Initiative and implementation are the principal amalgam of true lead­
ership, and Kofi Annan demonstrated this in exemplary fashion. Having
worked together before, when he was Under Secretary-General for Peace­
keeping and I was Pakistan’s representative on the Security Council, we
had already developed a professional rapport. As time went on and as the
East Timor negotiations went through the customary phases of setbacks
and successes, my affection for Kofi and admiration of his skills grew expo­
nentially.
The comforting feeling that I knew I had his trust and confidence
12 East Timor

was further enhanced by his ready availability for consultation, advice, and
guidance. Despite the multifarious other issues that landed on the desk
of the Secretary-General, Kofi always possessed an up-to-date knowledge
of the current state of negotiations over East Timor. This enabled him to
weigh in, whenever necessary, with the formidable combination of the
strength and prestige of his office, coupled with his own immense per­
sonal dignity.
I can recall occasions when the two Foreign Ministers, each of whom
severally entered the Secretary-General’s office with grim expressions and
knitted brows, emerged fifteen minutes later with smiles of satisfaction.
When I complimented Kofi on the effectiveness of the West African spells
that he had obviously cast on each of his visitors, the only response that
I got from this most urbane and sophisticated of men was a quiet smile.
This, then, was Kofi Annan’s method: (a) take bold and imagina­
tive initiatives, (b) keep it low key, (c) maximum devolution of author­
ity and responsibility, (d) zero micromanagement, (e) assume overall
responsibility at all times, and (f) act decisively when circumstances so
demand.
Next to the privilege of working closely with the Secretary-General
was the stimulating satisfaction of working with his Chef de Cabinet.
Iqbal Riza is a close friend and colleague with whom I have shared, over
many years, not only a close friendship but also common understandings
and values, the sort that binds friendship with companionship. We speak
a common language in two languages. Iqbal possesses a sense of idealism
which not only stokes his deep motivation but has remained unscathed
despite vicissitudes and setbacks which could have turned most idealists
into cynics.
Combined with this dedication is a fierce loyalty to the United
Nations and, of course, his Chief. An able diplomat, with wide ranging
experience of the United Nations system, both at headquarters and in the
field, Iqbal’s impressive professional competence is augmented by an
equally impressive humane touch. In my work on East Timor, Iqbal was
a true guide, philosopher, friend, and dogsbody, constantly providing polit­
ical counsel while simultaneously guiding my incompetent navigation
through the UN’s bureaucratic shoals.
Iqbal effectively backed the Secretary-General in providing the
encouragement and ready support, which was as reassuring as it was
important to the work of the PRSG. Without this kind of involvement
and support from the 38th floor, the story of East Timor could well have
had a less positive outcome.
The Department of Political Affairs, which assumed overall respon­
 Why East Timor? 13

sibility for the East Timor negotiations, was headed by Under Secretary-
General Sir Kieran Prendergast, a nimble minded Briton with 20/20 polit­
ical vision, an incisive wit, and a decisive nature. Possessing an unfailing
ability to identify, expose, and discard the superfluous, which he always
did with devastating logic, Kieran’s wisdom and counsel proved invalu­
able in crisis management. His attitude and approach remained at all
times collegial in the extreme, and working with him was as intellectu­
ally stimulating as it was professionally agreeable.
The Assistant Secretary-General dealing with the East Timor dossier
was Alvaro de Soto, a highly intelligent and competent Peruvian with a
quiet demeanor and a subtle sense of humor. Alvaro’s rich experience
derived from a succession of diplomatic negotiations all over the world,
to which was added an impressive institutional memory coupled with an
extensive familiarity with the workings of the UN system. He was an
invaluable colleague who handled a number of crises with his own inim­
itable competence and professionalism.
The two officers assigned to work with me on East Timor were
Francesc Vendrell, the Director of the Asia Pacific Division of the Depart­
ment of Political Affairs, and Tamrat Samuel, a Political Officer in the
Division. The two could not have been more different in temperament
and appearance, a disparity which was an asset in its own way, particularly
as both officers were intelligent, deeply motivated, and had a thorough
professional grasp of the issues.
Vendrell was from Spain, with a distinguished bearing (I thought that
he looked like a grandee long before I ever knew him or his origins) and
an extremely lively mind. Like many highly intelligent people, he was
inclined to be temperamental, sometimes explosive, and had difficulty
concealing his feelings, especially when confronted by acts of injustice or
inhumanity. Since this was by no means infrequent in our line of busi­
ness in East Timor, Francesc was subject to regular pangs of personal
agony on this account.
His lively mind was also always full of ideas, and was on the con­
stant search for new initiatives, which he would pull out of his hat with
the proverbial magician’s flourish. Not all of these were always appropri­
ate, of course, and their acceptance, adaptation, or rejection became a reg­
ular feature of my work, adding to its burden and its fascination. Vendrell
had a vast knowledge of the South East Asia region, and it was not
acquired simply through the long experience of his duties.
An inveterate traveler, he had moved through the area not just as a
modern day tourist but as an inquisitive explorer, rather like one of his
17th century forbears, and carried with him the observations of his keen
14 East Timor

eye. Above all, Vendrell was extremely conscientious, and either produced,
or supervised the production of, working papers and reports of the high­
est quality. All these attributes, coupled with his intense loyalty to the
cause and the institution, made him a very valuable member of our team.
Tamrat Samuel, a brilliant and highly competent young Eritrean,
had joined the United Nations after a somewhat turbulent spell in
Ethiopia. Tall, soft-spoken, and erudite, he had the unmistakable bear­
ing of the nobility of his descent. He had worked on the East Timor
dossier for many years, both in the field and at New York, and was thor­
oughly familiar not only with the issues but, more importantly, with the
personalities involved, particularly the East Timorese.
As time went on, he increasingly developed this considerable rela­
tionship of trust and confidence with each of his interlocutors: the Indone­
sians, the Portuguese, and the East Timorese. Tamrat’s long experience,
coupled with his wide range of contacts, were invaluable assets to our
work, often highlighting the dramatic elements in the contents of the
extensive files and records in our archives.
For instance, Tamrat was present in Dili on the day that Xanana
Gusmao was tried and sentenced to life imprisonment. His description
of the sense of despair that pervaded the island on that occasion was
unforgettable. It served to remind me, in my later negotiations with the
Indonesians, of the political importance of Xanana to the settlement
process. I owe much to Tamrat Samuel, for his expertise, his profession­
alism, and his devotion to our enterprise. But above all, I am grateful for
his understanding and his friendship.
The early days of my mission were spent in New York, getting briefed
by colleagues in the UN and meeting a number of diplomats, notably
Antonio Monteiro, the lively and likable Portuguese Ambassador, and
Makarim Wibisono, the less ebullient but equally likable Indonesian
Ambassador. Our professional association quickly developed into warm
personal friendships, which proved to be a most useful safety belt during
the vicissitudes and moments of discomfort that inevitably occur during
the course of long and complicated negotiations of this nature.
In addition, we were fortunate enough to have the invaluable help,
advice, and support of a number of very able diplomats posted to mis­
sions to the UN. Most prominent of these were Ambassador Penny Wens-
ley of Australia, Ambassador Nancy Soderberg of the United States,
Ambassador Stewart Eldon of the United Kingdom, Ambassador Yukio
Takasu of Japan, and Ambassador Michael Powles of New Zealand.
They met me shortly after I took over the assignment and conveyed
their interest and support for the East Timor negotiations. They were
 Why East Timor? 15

true to their offer in word and deed, providing me with important infor­
mation and intelligence obtained from their governments, the value of
which was immeasurably bolstered by the supplementary advice rendered
through the personal skills of the diplomats themselves.
Later on, these representatives were to form the “Core Group” of
unofficial advisers on East Timor. This innovative idea emanated from
the Secretary-General, and became an essential part of the negotiating
process. We used the Core Group not only for advice and to keep them
informed, but also for coordination with the Security Council (drafting
of resolutions) and most importantly to prevail on their governments to
lean on the Indonesian or Portuguese governments whenever we felt it
necessary to do so.
My preliminary meetings in New York were rounded off by a ses­
sion with Jose Ramos Horta, the East Timorese resistance leader who had
remained in exile for a number of years, and had vigorously campaigned
for independence. Ramos Horta called on the Secretary-General in
March, and at our meeting he was informed of the renewed United
Nations efforts for a solution, which he welcomed, and to which he
promised full support.
The recent award of the Nobel Peace Prize had obviously been a
boost to his morale, and had also added to his pugnacity. His denuncia­
tion of the Indonesians was forceful and scathing, and his distrust of their
motives was as strong as his contempt for their policies. Years of exile,
suffering, and struggle had left their mark on a basically assertive per­
sonality, and he had a tendency to indulge in wild outbursts (not to men­
tion the occasional outlandish proposal, such as descending in East Timor
with a planeload of film stars) both in private as well as public.
These were never very helpful. And yet, in his quieter moments,
when he was not tub-thumping, Jose could be a very agreeable compan­
ion, prepared to share a joke and to discuss with animation his other pas­
sion, as Professor of Law at the University of New South Wales in Sydney,
Australia. It was obvious that Ramos Horta would be an essential ele­
ment in our negotiating process on the basis of his record and his status.
His loyalty to Xanana was complete, and during the penultimate stages
of the negotiations, when things got a little tricky, Ramos Horta curbed
his impulsiveness and displayed cooperation, party discipline, and a sense
of responsibility which was most impressive.
The dossiers on East Timor in the UN archives were voluminous in
quantity and substantial in quality, but their perusal did not provide much
ground for optimism. The Indonesian position that East Timor’s inte­
gration was complete and final, and the Portuguese position that a valid
16 East Timor

act of self determination had not yet taken place, were the rocks of intran­
sigence on which the negotiations had hitherto floundered.
A series of high-level as well as mid-level meetings over the course
of the years provided glimpses of an occasional flicker of hope, but then
seem to have concluded at the inevitable impasse. The process, it appeared
to me, seemed to have survived only upon the oxygen of the General
Assembly’s acceptance of the Secretary-General’s recommendation that
the negotiations continue. The distrust on both sides was palpable and
continued to permeate the atmosphere for a large part of the time that I
conducted the negotiations.
Although this was awkward and frustrating, much of it was under­
standable and had to be accepted as standard. After all, we were dealing
with a long standing problem which involved everything from the relics
of colonialism to issues of international law and of human rights—and
all of this against a background of a highly emotional public opinion in
both countries. I reckoned therefore that our first small step would be to
try and develop some understanding between the negotiators themselves,
and to develop a sense of confidence between the negotiators and the
United Nations mediators.
Another major problem was the East Timorese, the mention of whose
existence provoked opposite but equally visceral reactions on both sides.
The Portuguese regarded them as a people struggling for independence
and worthy of support. For the Indonesians, such action amounted to
interference in the internal affairs of a state, and that on its most vulner­
able and sensitive issue, that of national unity in a multiracial, multieth­
nic, multi-religious society living in a far-flung archipelago.
It smacked of divide and rule, and of an attempt to re-impose the
dark, murky policies of a past, hated colonialism. Previous attempts to
involve representatives of East Timor in the negotiating process had been
strongly rebuffed by Indonesia, and the most that had been achieved was
the establishment of the All Inclusive East Timorese Dialogue (AIETD),
an unofficial organization of East Timorese representatives from the dias­
pora as well as the island itself.
The AIETD was initially meant to be a forum for the East Timo­
rese to get together and discuss cultural issues only. A ban on the discus­
sion of political matters was enforced both by the rules of the AIETD
and by the pro-integration East Timorese participants. A preliminary
meeting was held in London, and two subsequent meetings were held in
Austria, generously financed and efficiently organized by the Austrian
Ministry of Foreign Affairs. The United Nations acted as a “facilitator”
for the AIETD, a device which permitted Tamrat Samuel to widen his
 Why East Timor? 17

contacts and improve his expertise on the party groupings of the East
Timorese. He was also able to persuasively prevent the breakup of the con­
ference on one occasion.
Despite the creation of the AIETD, I felt that the existing process
of trilateral consultations—UN, Portugal, and Indonesia—had in many
ways marginalized the East Timorese, and that the time would soon come
when we would have to stop playing Hamlet without the Prince. Clearly,
attempts at a formal institutionalization of an UN/East Timorese dia­
logue would have wrecked the negotiations at the start, quite apart from
the fact that it would have been impossible at the time to secure a cred­
ibly representative group of East Timorese. But the latitude and flexibil­
ity provided in the mandate of the PRSG enabled us to deal with the
lacuna of the absence of their representation.
My colleagues and I maintained a regime of rigorous but unofficial
contact with the East Timorese leaders on an individual basis, both in the
island and from the diaspora. We kept them as fully informed as possi­
ble o f our discussions with both governments, subject of course to the
requirements of the confidentiality of the formal negotiation process. This
device had the additional advantage of inducting the East Timorese view­
point into the equation of our considerations, while simultaneously build­
ing their trust and confidence in the UN negotiating process. O f course,
all this did not happen at once, but gradually evolved as events took their
course.
In March 1997, however, after I had completed my study of the East
Timor dossier and gone through a series of meetings with my UN col­
leagues and the diplomats posted in New York, the outlook appeared
uncertain, to say the least. The many expressions of encouragement and
support that I received were indeed reassuring, but seemed to me to reflect
enthusiasm rather than optimism. Thus, with my backpack loaded with
ideas, counsel, and advice, I started on my journey to Ithaki. The road
promised “to be a long one, full of adventure, full of things to learn.”
 2
Getti ng A cqua i nted:
People, Places and
Perceptions, Part I
L isb o n : M a r c h t h r o u g h J u l y 1997

“Because your strength is unequal to the task, do not assume

that it is beyond the powers o f man; but if anything is within
the powers and promise o f man, believe it is within your com­
pass also.”
—Marcus Aurelius

Tamrat Samuel and I made a brief visit to Lisbon in March of 1997.

Our quest for a solution to the East Timor problem could not have started
in more salubrious and congenial circumstances. The beautiful city, set
amidst green hills with the Tagus rolling majestically into the Atlantic,
the meandering roads bearing homes with walls of bright ochre, white
and blue, topped by brilliant red roofs and decked with wondrous wrought
iron windows and balconies, never fails to delight the eye.
The people matched the sunny disposition of the city and, since the
local TV station had given our visit extensive coverage, we were greeted
with courtesy, smiles, and greetings of encouragement when we visited
the charming riverside restaurants and other public places during our
infrequent leisure time.
Since our primary objective was the resumption of talks, the initial
positive response of the Portuguese government was encouraging. I was
kept busy during this short stay in Lisbon, meeting the President, Prime
Minister, and Foreign Minister, as well as the Deputy Speaker and Mem-

18
 Getting Acquainted (Lisbon) 19

bers of the Parliamentary Committee on East Timor. In addition, I also

met a number of East Timorese exiles and the representatives of a num­
ber of NGOs, which were actively involved in the issue.
One was immediately struck by the immense and forceful unanim­
ity of all shades of Portuguese opinion on the subject of East Timor. Far
from being estranged from its former colony by time and distance, East
Timor was a live issue of immense proportions. Despite the fact that Por­
tugal was heavily involved at the time in augmenting its participation
within the European Community, a worthwhile and practical project of
obvious national political and economic benefit, distant East Timor con­
tinued to remain a subject of the highest priority in the Foreign Ministry.
Self-determination for East Timor was a principle incorporated into the
constitution of the country, and the dossier formed a special, and the only,
political responsibility of an otherwise constitutional President.
I felt that the emotional attachment to East Timor was partly dri­
ven by a sense of guilt for Portugal’s messy and precipitate withdrawal
from the territory in 1975, before the completion of the decolonization
process. Added to this was the crusading enthusiasm of a recendy formed
popular democratic administration, conscious of a guilty colonial past and
anxious to provide moral compensation and redress.
For instance, President Sampaio told me that some of the East Tim ­
orese resistance leaders used to join him, in the old days, in the demon­
strations against the Salazar dictatorship. Other contributory factors to
the public feelings were the outflow of refugees from East Timor with
horror stories of killings in their homeland, the Dili massacre of 1991 cap­
tured on film by the western media, the arrest and imprisonment of
Xanana Gusmao in 1992, and the award of the Nobel Peace Prize to
Bishop Belo and Ramos Horta. The diplomats whom I met in Lisbon
were unanimous in their assessment that however bizarre it might appear
to the outsider, East Timor was an emotionally explosive issue in Por­
tuguese politics.
The United States Ambassador in Lisbon was Elizabeth Frawley, an
old friend from my days in Washington, and she was most kind and help­
ful to me. Our conversations were a blend of pleasant Washington rem­
iniscences and some very useful current Lisbon realities. Elizabeth, who
completely fills the cliché of being as clever as she is beautiful, possesses
an acute political perception, and her views on the current politics of Por­
tugal provided me with invaluable background material.
The British Ambassador was Roger Westbrook, with whom I was
privileged to enjoy a most productive and friendly relationship which was
enriched over each of my successive visits to Lisbon. His knowledge of
20 East Timor

the Portuguese political scene was, of course, superb. Even more impor­
tant, from my point of view, was his comprehension of the manner in
which East Timor effected the politics of Lisbon and vice versa.
His calm, dispassionate appraisal of events was quite invaluable, and
even more so was his willingness to respond to the ideas that I occasion­
ally bounced off him. To top it all off, Roger is an elegant and hospitable
host, and one was always assured of delectable nourishment for both mind
and body each time that one accepted his gracious invitation. Alas, my
inability to reciprocate, in either fashion, made these pleasant encounters
very much a one-way affair, and left me with a feeling of inadequacy,
which continues to linger.
Our first official meeting with the Portuguese took place at the For­
eign Ministry, an edifice as historic and picturesque as the best of its coun­
terparts in any part of the world. This was followed by a so-called working
lunch, the quality and elegance of which gave an entirely new and highly
sophisticated connotation to this otherwise rudimentary institution. It
would certainly have smoothed out any wrinkles in the preceding talks,
had they by any chance occurred.
Foreign Minister Jaime Gama, whom I met for the first time, and
with whom I had a tête-à-tête before the formal discussions commenced,
created an extremely favorable impression. Soft-spoken and courteous, he
presented Portugal’s case with the deliberation and clarity that reflected
his legal training and background, and at the same time, with consum­
mate diplomacy, expressed his readiness to be flexible in the search for a
solution.
In due course, as our negotiations progressed over the months, I
learned to appreciate and admire Jaime Gama’s many qualities. Cool and
temperate in his attitude, his highly analytical mind enabled him to
quickly grasp the essentials of a problem, qualities which, when coupled
with his assurance and decisiveness, made him an excellent negotiating
partner. Apart from this, Jaime Gama and I developed a nice little side
business in a commodity exchange of cigars.
President Jorge Sampaio, who was kind enough to receive me on the
first and every subsequent occasion that I visited Lisbon, was a combina­
tion of courtesy, affability, and dynamism. A vigorous, activist political
career had preceded his election to the office of President, and it was obvi­
ous that he was not going to be content with cutting ribbons and open­
ing exhibitions. The constitutional provision that landed the East Timor
dossier on his desk was, therefore, the ideal outlet for the exercise of his
considerable skills, and he maintained a lively, energetic and compulsive
interest in the subject.
 Getting Acquainted (Lisbon) 21

Sampaio s dramatic participation at the Stockholm ceremony for the

award of the Nobel Prize to Bishop Belo and Ramos Horta was a demon­
stration of his passionate attachment to the East Timorese cause. He
brought to bear on the issue not only his considerable intelligence and
political skills, but also the entire prestige of his office. He maintained
frequent telephonic communication with the Secretary-General, and
sometimes, in a gesture of disdain to protocol, even made calls to me—a
particularly gracious one being a call to Dili, congratulating me on the
success of the ballot.
In chronological order, the third member of the Portuguese leader­
ship triumvirate that I met in Lisbon was Prime Minister Antonio Guter-
rez. His quiet, soft-spoken manner lent emphasis to the air of authority,
which he carried with assured dignity. On East Timor he straddled the
middle ground between the passionate contention of Sampaio and the
clinical analysis of Gama, and absorbing a little bit from both these ele­
ments, Guterrez devised his own approach to the problem.
He was constantly seeking new avenues to explore, and was prepared
to take initiatives, which were both bold and imaginative, even though
they carried a large element of domestic political risk. Earlier, at an
ASEAN/EU summit in Bangkok, Guterrez had buttonholed Suharto
directly in an attempt to commence a direct dialogue on East Timor, but
the exercise failed for a variety of reasons, resulting in mutual public
recriminations and increased mistrust.
During my subsequent meetings with him, the Portuguese Prime
Ministers approach maintained a boldly pragmatic line, motivated by a
desire to obtain a genuinely political situation. He said to me that he
would welcome it if the UN could arrange a meeting between the two
leaders and added, with characteristic wry humor, that “a photo op with
Suharto is not exactly the dream of any democratic politician,” but that
he was prepared for one if it would help toward a solution.
Finally, I had a round of meetings with the Parliamentary Group on
East Timor, impressive in their unanimity and rhetoric on the subject,
and with members of the East Timorese diaspora, disparate in their party
affiliations and positions but similar in despair at their prevalent plight
and in their determination to continue the struggle. The pattern of meet­
ings held during my first visit to Lisbon, supplemented by the obligatory
press conferences, became the format for my subsequent visits.
In this connection, I was tremendously aided by the help and advice
provided to me by the resident Director of the UN Information Center,
Carlos dos Santos. A cheerful go-getter from Cape Verde, Carlos had a
wide range of contacts in Lisbon, which not only enabled him to provide
22 East Timor

me with shrewd political insight, but also ensured the smooth solution
of administrative problems.
In my discussions with the Portuguese leaders, I said that the Sec­
retary-General was fully aware of the lack of progress in the talks on East
Timor, but that it was now our intention to conduct more structured and
sustained negotiations. I suggested that these take place in New York,
with the negotiating teams incorporating experts from the capitals in
order to have more focused discussions of detailed ideas. Above all, I
stressed that the negotiators be empowered with sufficient flexibility and
room for maneuver in the discussions.
I suggested that these talks take place on a continuing basis, punc­
tuated on occasion by a meeting between the Secretary-General and the
two Foreign Ministers who would review the progress of the negotia­
tions. The Portuguese were generally supportive of this approach, and we
discussed the problem of balancing the need for quiet diplomacy with the
need to inform the press and public of the progress o f the negotiations.
We talked about the kind of “package” formula for negotiations which the
Portuguese might consider appropriate, given the difficulty in the past
with Indonesia preferring to have a clear idea of what the negotiations
would lead to before beginning to bargain on specific issues.
This item was clearly very important, and would prove to be quite
vexatious in due course. All that we could do on this occasion was to flag
it and give it some thought. The other important matter that we discussed
was the East Timorese participation. Gama expressed dissatisfaction with
the AIETD, but supported our decision to revive it. He warned, however,
that if the East Timorese continued to be sidelined they would reject any
“artificial solution” that may be imposed, and Portugal would do the same.
The Portuguese leaders emphasized, on several occasions, that their
assistance to the East Timorese was essentially political and diplomatic,
and that they had never supplied the East Timorese resistance with either
arms or other military support. I was told, in the clearest terms, of the
Portuguese principle that any solution would have to be based on the
freely expressed wishes of the people through the exercise of democratic
principles, although they were careful to avoid equating that with a ref­
erendum. At the same time, they insisted that Portugal had no “precon­
ceived ideas” about a solution, and was prepared to be flexible.
At this stage Gama saw three alternative courses for talks with
Indonesia: (a) to aim for a comprehensive settlement of the problem, (b)
to adopt a stage by stage approach, first focusing on a transitional solu­
tion which could last up to ten years, or (c) to concentrate on an “Interim
Package” that would include the improvement of conditions in the terri-
 Getting Acquainted (Lisbon) 23

tory (human rights, protection of the identity of the people, self admin­
istration, etc.). He said it was possible to follow any of these three
approaches, but did not hide his skepticism about the feasibility of the
first option at the present stage.
In my report to the Secretary-General I said:
The visit has enabled me to ascertain the position and views of
the Portuguese Government at the highest level. Three points are
of particular importance at this stage:
(a) while the demand for a referendum is the formal position,
it is my belief that the Portuguese Government would, under
appropriate circumstances and at the appropriate time, be pre­
pared to settle for some form of autonomy, particularly if the Tim ­
orese could be persuaded to accept it
(b) the Government is in agreement with the view that more
low-key discussions are needed to move the process forward (in
the past there had been some concern about appearing to be nego­
tiating “in secret”)
(c) it is prepared to discuss the long-term solution of the prob­
lem, although it clearly considers addressing short-term issues and
seeking an interim solution to be the more feasible approach.
The question will be if Jakarta would be willing to consider the
step-by-step approach, which it has shunned in the past.
I have so far seen only one side of the coin. My forthcoming
visit to Indonesia and East Timor will enable me to see the other
side, on which, I suspect, the engraving could be more intricate.
 3
Getting Acquainted:
People, Places and
Perceptions, Part II
Ja k a rta :
M a r c h t h r o u g h J u l y 1997

A statesman ought to pay assiduous worship to Nemesis, to be

most apprehensive o f ruin when he is at the height o f power
and popularity, and to dread his enemy most when most pros­
trated.
—Macaulay

I arrived in Jakarta in the early hours of March 20 and almost imme­

diately went into meetings with Foreign Minister Alatas and President
Suharto, since both had to leave that evening to attend an Islamic Con­
ference summit. This was my first visit to Jakarta, and the impression was
quite vivid. Just before arrival, the aircraft’s PA system informed us that
we would be landing at “Jakarta’s Soekarno Hatta international airport,”
an announcement that immediately triggered the thought that here was
no de-Stalinization.
For thirty-two years Suharto had, with obviously perfect innocuity,
retained his rival’s name on a very symbolic piece of national real estate.
Accustomed as I was from my East European experience to the realloca­
tion of names in accordance with the changing requirements of an obses­
sive personality cult, I found the retention of the Sukarno name to be an
agreeable piece of symbolism. The gesture seemed to be an interesting

24
 Getting Acquainted (Jakarta) 25

reminder of the unique nature of Indonesian politics and society, with its
subtle interplay of accommodation, shadow, and substance, a phenome­
non which I found to be often bewildering but always fascinating.
Escorted by an efficient pair of outriders, our little motorcade whizzed
along the highway past lush, green paddy fields, studded with tall palm
trees, flaming hibiscus and oleander bushes, and clumps of wooded copses.
Early dawn in the tropics is always a magical moment, partly because it
is so brief, but also because the wisps of mist and smoke conceal much of
the ugliness of the real poverty that is endemic in the third world. But
here, in Jakarta’s outskirts at any rate, this raggedness was noticeably
absent, and the countryside presented an air of neat rustic simplicity.
This soon gave way, as we entered the outskirts of the city, to the
quite different aspect created by the bustling prosperity that it exuded.
The highways and intersections were choked with traffic, which our out­
riders sliced through with practiced ease, while the gleaming skyscrapers
housing banks, insurance companies, national and multinational corpo­
rations, and glittering shopping malls seemed poised, in predator fash­
ion, to swallow the few remaining old style wood and brick structures that
cowered in their shadows.
It was a most impressive introduction to Indonesia. After all, this
was early 1997, and the largest of the Asian tigers was feeling at the top
of its unstoppable form, visibly flexing its muscles and audibly emitting
deep belly growls. There were no outward signs, at that time, of the canker
and bacteria that had already lodged in the system, viciously and rapidly
gnawing at its vitals, and hurtling toward a devastation of the old order
unforeseen in its rapidity and magnitude.
As we commenced our negotiations with the Indonesians, therefore,
we did so under the circumstances of dealing with a powerful, dynamic
nation surging toward greater glory and accomplishment. True, there were
some indications that all did not appear as well and as solid as appeared
on the surface, that there was dissatisfaction with the high degree of social
and economic disparity, that centrifugal forces were becoming more man­
ifest, and that political opposition to the regime was beginning to coalesce
despite Suharto’s ruthlessly efficient methods of repression and dispersion.
The question of Suharto’s succession was beginning to be a matter
of concern, but only in terms of personalities and consequent adaptations
to the system, not to its total removal. The only ominous sign that I dis­
cerned at that time was the economic situation: it appeared as the prover­
bial distant dark cloud, the size of a hand. But even so, the general view
at the time was that the robust Indonesian economy would be able to
overcome it with nothing more than a hiccup.
26 East Timor

Our first meeting was with Foreign Minister Ali Alatas in his office
at the Ministry of Foreign Affairs (DEPLU), an imposing building, sump­
tuously appointed and furnished with artifacts of Indonesia’s long and
rich cultural tradition, as well as with souvenirs of its more recent achieve­
ments, notably its active and positive role in the Non-Aligned Move­
ment, dating from its founding days in Bandung. Ali Alatas, universally
known among his legion of friends as Alex, and universally respected and
admired by his professional colleagues, is one of the ablest practitioners
of the art of diplomacy.
Possessed of a razor-sharp mind, immense vitality and energy, a lively
sense of humor, and a truly formidable negotiating technique, Alatas had
a prodigious institutional memory as far as East Timor was concerned,
having been an active and leading participant for years in the previous
negotiations, an asset which contributed significantly to the formidable
presence which he brought to bear on the current discussions.
In our earlier incarnations, Alex and I had served together as ambas­
sadors, had been colleagues in the Non-Aligned as well as Group of 77,
and had collaborated closely at a number of conferences. When negoti­
ations drag on until two or three o’clock in the morning, one gets to know,
at least, something of the caliber of one’s interlocutors, either as partners
or as adversaries. Alex and I had lived through some of these sessions, a
positive result of which was a deep friendship between us, and my life­
time respect, admiration, and affection for Alex.
During the East Timor negotiations, Alatas constantly maintained
a broad, constructive vision and proposed creative initiatives, while always
vigorously endorsing his country’s position. I am not sure which evokes
the greater admiration, Alex’s brilliant and forceful advocacy in early 1997,
when the Indonesian position was so obviously dominant, or his assured
and skillful equanimity in the spring o f1999, when he negotiated the final
agreement under circumstances which were by then clearly much less
favorable.
On this first visit to Indonesia I was accompanied by Francesc Ven-
drell, and we had three formal meetings with Alatas, as well as a number
of informal discussions. In a wide ranging yet lucid presentation of the
Indonesian case, Alatas raised a number of issues. He commenced by
deploring the manner in which previous negotiations had been conducted
by the UN, that although a dialogue had commenced in 1983 at the ambas­
sadorial level, it had been both secretive and desultory, and that the For­
eign Ministers had met only once between 1983 and 1991.
He accordingly welcomed the Secretary-General’s initiative in appoint­
ing a full-time representative for these negotiations, and promised his
 Getting Acquainted (Jakarta) 27

support. I responded by putting forward my game plan, saying that the

Secretary-General had accorded a high priority to East Timor, and that
I accordingly proposed meetings on a regular if not continuous basis at
the ambassadorial level. I added that these sessions might be reinforced
from time to time by meetings of the two Foreign Ministers with the
S.G.
I also stressed the necessity for two essentials that would make the
ambassadorial meetings effective: secrecy of negotiations and flexibility
of authority to the negotiators in order to permit the free flow of ideas
and exploration of new avenues. W ith regard to the AIETD, I suggested
that it proceed in parallel with the tripartite dialogue, with the UN par­
ticipating only as a facilitator.
Alatas agreed with this approach, but said that it was important to
find out if Portugal wanted a compromise solution at this stage. He
expressed concern that Portugal’s position might have become more
inflexible as a result of “the latest developments” (he was referring to the
current speculations over a post Suharto era), and that Lisbon was not
interested in a compromise solution, one example being the Portuguese
rejection of the Secretary-General’s proposal for the establishment of
interest sections.
Alatas had the feeling that Portugal and Ramos Horta believed that
Suharto was soon going to die, and that they could get a solution totally
in their favor in the ensuing chaos. This assessment was “dangerously
wrong.” A new generation of Indonesian leaders would not only not give
up East Timor, but would not even want to talk about the issue. He reit­
erated his view that Portugal was not interested in an interim solution,
and that I should ascertain if Lisbon was really serious, otherwise the
Secretary-General and Indonesia would be wasting their time.
I agreed that this was the fundamental issue: each side was thinking
that time might be on their side. I added that during my recent visit to
Lisbon I was impressed by the immensity of the emotional attachment
to East Timor, but at the same time I also noticed a willingness of the
Portuguese to resume the dialogue. I accordingly suggested to Alatas that
it might be a good idea for the Foreign Ministers to meet with the Sec­
retary-General in the near future, so that we could get a substantive dia­
logue going. Alatas responded positively to this suggestion, and also to
my proposal that we restart the AIETD. On the latter issue, however, he
unleashed an outburst of objections at the way in which it had been con­
stituted and insisted that there would have to be changes in its compo­
sition before resumption.
Alatas then gave me the Indonesian version of the origin of the East
28 East Timor

Timor problem. He said that Portugal had “tried to forget certain things”
in explaining the events of 1975 and 1976. It was not true that the decol­
onization process had ground to a halt after Portugal left. As a matter of
fact, Jakarta had asked Portugal to come back to East Timor as late as
November 1975. The Portuguese had a sense of guilt, and could not deny
that the central government in Lisbon had no grip on the colonial gov­
ernment in East Timor.
The Governor, and especially his two lieutenants, politically leftist,
had supported Fretilin, which had received weapons from the colonial
government. That action nullified their alleged intention for a peaceful
decolonization process. Fretilin had felt that they could do in East Timor
what Frelimo and MPLA had done in Mozambique and Angola. Portu­
gal, in its meetings with Indonesia in 1975, had recognized that, since the
local population was 85 percent illiterate, the decolonization process in
East Timor should not be done on the basis of one man one vote, but on
a group basis through the liurais. But, in the event, the decolonization
process had gone horribly wrong, and had led to 40,000 East Timorese
streaming into West Timor.
Indonesia, which had never made any claims on East Timor, and had
in fact been one of the promoters of Resolutions 1514 and 1541, found itself
in an impossible situation. Having undergone a traumatic experience fol­
lowing the communist coup in 1965, Jakarta became concerned when
Fretilin started appealing to the Soviet Union and China to intervene,
and it was with the greatest reluctance that Suharto intervened in Decem­
ber 1975.
Alatas concluded this account with an anguished “we got embroiled
and we have paid the price until now.” He then went on to add how recent
events, particularly the award of the Nobel Prize, had led the Portuguese
to harden their position. There would be general elections in May 1997,
followed by presidential elections in March 1998. “No one knows what
will happen after that,” he said. He added ominously that the United
Nations might be saddled with this problem for years to come.
Alatas concluded his remarks by strongly reiterating that Indonesia
was serious about the East Timor issue, but there was a line that they could
not cross. They were willing to show flexibility, but one could not move
forward unless it was through quiet diplomacy. He deplored the “trend
that the Portuguese were saying that the UN could not succeed, and that
the US and European Union should intervene.” Alatas was firmly of the
view that the UN was the best qualified to mediate, that the US and the
EU were also of this opinion, and that what was really required was the
political will on the part of Indonesia and Portugal.
 Getting Acquainted (Jakarta) 29

My extensive discussions with Alatas, supplemented by consultations

with other political observers in Jakarta, including especially a core group
of able ambassadors, led me to a preliminary assessment which I duly
conveyed to the Secretary-General.
I reported:
Alatas is an old friend and colleague who is no stranger to either
the East Timor issue or to the UN, and whose ability and diplo­
matic skills are universally known and admired. He is waging a
campaign on two fronts, externally with the Portuguese, and inter­
nally with the hard-liners, notably some within the military hier­
archy.
He enjoys the confidence and support of the President and this,
together with his innate talents and ability, constitute the elements
of his political power base. He is obviously going to be the prime
interlocutor in our future negotiations, which, in my view, is a pos­
itive element. While I am satisfied that he genuinely wants a set­
tlement, I am a little disturbed by his frankly dubious view of
Portuguese intentions.

In my own notes, I maintained a basically optimistic view, as I summed

up in seven points the gist of my discussions with Alatas:
1. How sure are we that the Portuguese genuinely want a settle­
ment at this time?
2. Suharto is fully in charge, and political stability is secure in
Indonesia. Any ideas to the contrary are illusory, and possibly dan­
gerous to the peace process.
3. The present is the most opportune moment for a settlement
because nobody would be able to take the hard political decisions
necessary for the purpose in a post Suharto era.
4. Negotiations should be meaningful and conducted in a pur­
poseful step-by-step manner. Above all, they should be conducted
in the confidential manner requisite for quiet diplomacy.
5. Indonesia wants a settlement of the East Timor issue, but
not at an exorbitant price; they could live with things as they are.
6. Once there is a clear and definite indication of progress on
substance in the negotiations, Indonesia could activate a number
of confidence-building measures, including the release of politi­
cal prisoners.
7. Alatas is eager and willing to restart a meaningful dialogue
under UN auspices and would be available for discussions in New
York immediately after the May elections in Indonesia.
Our next meeting that busy morning was with President Suharto. It
took place shortly after the meeting with Alatas who was, of course, also
present with the President. Judged by the standard of opulence of the liv­
ing quarters of dictators (and I have seen quite a few in my time) I thought
that Suharto would rate a low four, on a scale of one to ten, from utility
to luxury. Situated in a quiet, shady section of one of Jakarta’s central res­
30 East Timor

idential areas, the house did not appear to be noticeably different from
the others in the neighborhood, and even the security arrangements did
not appear to be excessive.
The President received us in a modest sized living room, rendered
even more so by the excess of paintings and artifacts that adorned it. The
first impression was that of being surrounded by kitsch in an antique store,
but this was soon dispelled on closer scrutiny. The decor was entirely
Indonesian and represented, some in breathtaking magnificence and
beauty, the rich and diverse cultural, social, and historic tradition of a
remarkable people and civilization.
Suharto had traveled all over the world and must obviously have
received many valuable gifts, but in this room there was almost nothing
of foreign origin on display. It was as though to reflect the contentment,
pride, and satisfaction that its occupant derived from the rich and vivid
nature of his cultural isolationism.
Suharto’s greeting was warm and gentle. He spoke in a soft baritone,
without undue emotion or excitability, during the entire course of our
meeting. An interpreter translated for me from Bahasa into English, and
only provided the occasional clarification to Suharto, whose comprehen­
sion of English seemed to be perfectly adequate. There was no question
that Suharto radiated an impressive presence. A refined and courteous
demeanor did nothing to conceal the aura of power and authority that
exuded from a personality that had exercised these functions for thirty-
two years.
O f medium height and an upright soldier’s bearing, he seemed no
less diminished by the absence of the phalanx of military brass that sur­
rounds him in photographs. His eyes were a steely dark gray, and never
lost their intensity despite the fact that he smiled a great deal during our
conversation. Suharto spoke softly, with cool assurance, and without ever
raising his voice or gesticulating with his hands, yet his words were any­
thing but a monotone, compelling attention through the magnetism of
his personality.
After all, it should be remembered that at that particular point in
time Suharto was still at the height of his power: he had been acknowl­
edged as one of the leading heads of state in the world, a powerful rep­
resentative of the Non Aligned Movement, and a distinguished elder
statesman whose accomplishments evoked applause and whose counsels
were regarded with respect. And, as we met on that March morning in
Jakarta, Suharto’s manner and attitude clearly indicated that we both
knew this.
Suharto said that East Timor had been a long-standing issue, but
 Getting Acquainted (Jakarta) 31

“apparently it had not been possible to achieve a meeting of minds.” For

Indonesia the situation was fine, and it considered the issue as already set-
ded, especially as Indonesia had “from the start insisted on basing its posi­
tion on the wishes of the people.” Suharto recounted the history of
Indonesia’s struggle for independence and went on to explain its present
political philosophy of Pancasila: “defend our sovereignty and assist those
countries not yet independent.”
He asserted that in East Timor the Portuguese had failed to put into
effect the right of self-determination and had allowed a minority to take
over the decolonization movement, although the majority had wanted
integration with Indonesia. It was a “heavy burden” for Indonesia to accept
the integration of East Timor, because the other twenty-six provinces in
Indonesia had to “sacrifice some of their development plans” in order to
assist East Timor. Suharto remarked wryly that after four hundred years
of colonial occupation, the Portuguese had left East Timor with 20 kilo­
meters of paved road—and one doctor.
He went on to describe the development projects that had been
undertaken by his government in East Timor, and stressed that the peo­
ple of East Timor enjoyed the same rights and duties as all other citizens
of Indonesia. Suharto then enumerated the economic successes of Indone­
sia and said that the poverty rate had been reduced from 60 percent to 11
percent. This was still too high, and he was hopeful of eliminating it
much further in the near future.
Reverting to the issue of East Timor, the President said that the pres­
ence of the Indonesian armed forces in the territory was for the purpose
of national self defense, countering subversion, and assisting in the eco­
nomic development of the region. He felt that the disturbances in East
Timor “were a minor irritant” which would be readily contained. How­
ever, since there was a view held abroad by Portugal and some other coun­
tries that the right of self-determination had not been carried out in East
Timor, he welcomed the Secretary-General’s initiative in this respect, and
reiterated that he would personally give the UN effort “the highest pri­
ority” toward solving this issue.
Macaulay’s words were very much in my thoughts after we had con­
cluded our meeting with Suharto and left his comfortable home as the
flash bulbs, TV cameras, and reporters’ shouted questions sent us on our
way. Suharto was obviously the key to the whole issue. His authority was
at that time supreme and unquestioned, and he appeared to be entirely
unaffected by the incipient political opposition which had just begun a
tentative manifestation in Indonesia.
As far as East Timor was concerned, I believed that while Suharto
32 East Timor

continued to declare it as an irritant, the pebble had been in the shoe for
too long, had developed from irritation into discomfort, and was now
causing an embarrassing limp, particularly in terms of Indonesia’s exter­
nal relations and international image. I had a feeling that Suharto real­
ized this, notwithstanding the Panglossian nature of his recent presentation
to me, and that this realization, based in terms that were pragmatic rather
than morally compulsive, was that the situation was now becoming an
impediment to his justifiable ambitions for enlarging Indonesia’s position
and stature in the international sphere. This, coupled with his repeated
assurances that he would accord the UN effort “the highest priority,” were
encouraging signs, and left me with feelings of cautious optimism.
My next meeting was with Major General Prabowo Subianto, the
charismatic and controversial commander of the Special Forces (KOPAS­
SUS), and reportedly the favorite son-in-law of President Suharto. Shortly
before the formal announcement of my appointment as PRSG, I had
received a message from a friend in Pakistan who was also a friend of
Prabowo, that the latter wished to meet me “in a social capacity.”
I was informed that Prabowo would be entrusted with the overall
coordination of the East Timor negotiations from the Indonesian side,
and that he wished to meet me in secret for some preliminary discussions.
I conveyed my acceptance in principle to meet in either New York or Lon­
don, but this could not be arranged, and our first meeting therefore took
place in Jakarta, also under conditions of strict secrecy, although I could
not quite understand why.
Prabowo Subianto was at that time considered to be one of the ris­
ing stars of the Indonesian establishment. He had the reputation of being
an outstanding army officer, socially urbane and charming, but profes­
sionally highly intelligent, dynamic, efficient, and ruthless. He possessed
two other assets which enabled him to be one of the most powerful men
in the country at the time: the first was political acumen of a high order,
and the second was a closeness to President Suharto, who reportedly
regarded Prabowo as his favorite son-in-law.
The KOPASSUS was a corps d’elite of the Indonesian armed forces,
a combination of Praetorian Guard and SS, which was equipped with the
choicest men and weapons, and whose duties included a great deal of
internal surveillance and repression. It also spearheaded the Indonesian
military presence in East Timor, which it tended to guard jealously as a
special preserve, and gained the dubious reputation of being the most
hated and feared of the occupation forces on the island.
Above all, KOPASSUS had been organized, trained, and fashioned
by Prabowo, whose name was linked to it in an ominous and indelible
 Getting Acquainted (Jakarta) 33

manner. As so often happens, power and the personality cult, when they
get enmeshed in such visible form, attract not only the hatred of the vic­
tims but also the enmity of erstwhile allies. Major General Prabowo
Subianto was no exception to this rule, and with the fall of Suharto was
obliged to flee the country, partly to escape the wrath of the people and
partly because his exit was expedited by elements in the armed forces
which had clearly been inimical to him.
My first meeting with Prabowo took place in secret at a working
lunch organized by him in the presidential suite of the hotel where I was
staying. Prabowo’s perfect English enabled both of us to make it a very
useful tete-i-tete, and our subsequent meetings were also to take place in
the same manner and at the same venue. Prabowo was polite, charming,
and articulate, without a trace of arrogance or military swagger, and our
discussions took place under the most cordial circumstances.
He considered that a solution to the problem of East Timor was
essential, that he was actively working for it, but that there were power­
ful elements which were opposed to any change in the status quo. The
President was not yet convinced of the need for a settlement but was veer­
ing toward it, and “we have to carry him.” Prabowo said that Alatas had
been under severe attack and criticism during recent meetings of the inner
circle of policy makers, but that the President had defended him strongly.
Prabowo confided to me that he was working “quietly but closely in
alliance with Alex,” that they envisaged some broad form of autonomy
for East Timor, but that a referendum was definitely out. He said that
there were very few who could influence the President, especially on the
subject of East Timor, but that one person for whom Suharto had tremen­
dous respect was Chancellor Helmut Kohl of Germany. At the appropri­
ate time it may be necessary to enlist his support.
I said that I was sure that this could be arranged, but first we needed
to do some important groundwork. In this connection I raised with
Prabowo my current problem of getting to meet Xanana Gusmao. I said
that my request for a meeting had been passed from one Ministry to
another, and that I was getting the run around because obviously none of
them seemed to have the authority to decide. In requesting Prabowo’s
intercession (I did not specify how, but we both obviously knew it) I was
guided by two major considerations.
Xanana was clearly the most important East Timorese political
leader, and could not be ignored. I said that I was willing to meet him in
secret, and that when I did meet him I did not need to believe everything
that he said. But a contact with Xanana at this stage was essential to the
credibility of my mission: if my request was denied then we would be
34 East Timor

obliged to review the Indonesian government’s assertion that they were

serious about negotiations over East Timor.
As far as the press was concerned, I would merely announce at my
farewell press conference that I was very grateful for the facilities pro­
vided by the Indonesian government to meet Xanana, and that I would
report our discussions to the Secretary-General. If, on the other hand, I
was not permitted to meet Xanana, then I would be obliged to express
my grave disappointment that my several requests to meet him had been
turned down by the Indonesian government, and the international media
would then draw the obvious conclusions—and have a field day doing it.
At about midnight I received a call from the Foreign Ministry inform­
ing me that a meeting with Xanana had been arranged for the next day
at 1100 hours. The conditions were that I was to go alone, that there should
be no previous intimation to the media, and that I would be taken to the
Cipinang prison not in my official car, but would be driven there by an
official of the Foreign Ministry in his personal car.
After receiving this call, I knew that the clearance could only have
come from Suharto, and I thought to myself that although it could not
have been very easy for him, old Prabowo had delivered. This was encour­
aging, and confirmed my earlier view that we could do business with him.
My first meeting with Xanana Gusmao took place at Jakarta’s Cip­
inang prison, where he had been detained for a number of years. As pre­
viously arranged, I was picked up at my hotel early in the morning by
Rezlan Ishar Jenie, a senior official of the Indonesian Foreign Ministry,
and driven slowly through the rush hour traffic to our destination.
Cipinang, which I was to get to know quite well in course of time, was
situated in a central part of the city, busding with traffic, and possessed none
of the forbidding aspect of most prisons, such as ramparts, armed watch
towers, or fierce security patrols. On arrival, we were taken to the office of
the Governor of the prison, a comfortably furnished room, decorated with
the obligatory portraits of the President and the Vice President, some leather
chairs and sofas, and bookshelves in which impressive leather bound vol­
umes shared space with a large number of sporting trophies.
After the usual courtesies were exchanged, Xanana was brought in,
escorted almost respectfully by two police officers in plain clothes. The
greetings exchanged between him and the Governor appeared to be as
friendly as they were courteous, and preceded my introduction to him.
Xanana was simply but impeccably dressed in trousers, shirt, and tie, and
appeared to be physically fit and well. O f medium build, trim and alert,
he radiated a quiet magnetism that was unmistakable: his eyes possessed
a deep intensity and yet displayed great gentleness.
 Getting Acquainted (Jakarta) 35

Our discussion was obviously constricted, partly because Xanana’s

English was rudimentary at that time (it was to improve tremendously
within a remarkably short period of months), but mostly because we had
three officials listening in on our conversation and making notes. Xanana
thanked me for visiting him, and said that he and his followers had now
taken a decision to abandon military confrontation in favor of political
action and peaceful resistance.
He stressed that he was now prepared “for a dialogue without pre­
conditions.” After twenty years of resistance and over 200,000 deaths the
problem still remained, and was, in his view, not one between Portugal
and Indonesia but between Indonesia and the East Timorese people. His
movement was similar to the PLO, and no solution was possible without
Timorese participation: under his CNRM plan there was a political will­
ingness to accommodate all the partners.
Xanana welcomed the initiative of the Secretary-General and assured
me that he would work closely with the UN. In response to my query, he
said that the AIETD was a “manipulated” institution, and that genuine
reconciliation could only take place on the basis of the UN resolutions,
which respected decolonization norms, leading to a referendum.
Xanana presented Timorese scarves for the Secretary-General, Ven-
drell, and myself, and to my embarrassed observation that it was me who
should have been bringing gifts to him, responded with a gracious dignity
that my presence was the greatest gift that he could receive. An interview
conducted under such closely monitored conditions had obvious limita­
tions, but there was little doubt in my mind about Xanana’s character, lead­
ership, and commitment, and I remember thinking as I left Cipinang that
we have the good fortune to deal with a junior Nelson Mandela.
The remaining days in Jakarta were spent in meetings with a num­
ber of Indonesian ministers and senior officials. This was essentially an
exercise in establishing friends and widening contacts, since the views
that they expressed were basically those that had already been communi­
cated by Suharto and Alatas. It was difficult to form a distinction between
the military and political leadership, since most of my civilian interlocu­
tors were either retired or seconded generals, while those few who were
not voiced the view of the establishment anyway. There was clearly a core
of hard-liners somewhere, but their precise influence in the decision mak­
ing process was hard to estimate.
I also established preliminary contact with some of the leading oppo­
sition figures, notably Megawati Sukarnoputri, Abdurrahman Wahid (Gus
Dur), and Amien Raies, a relationship which I developed on my subse­
quent visits to Indonesia. Most important and useful of all were my meet-
36 East Timor

The Senior Officials’ meeting. At this one in Jakarta, left to right, Francesc Ven-
drell o f the Department of Political Affairs, Ambassador Nugroho W isnumurti
(Indonesia), Jamsheed Marker, behind M arker is Joachim H unter, Brigadier
M ohinder Bhagat o f the UN Department o f Peacekeeping and Ambassador Fer­
nando Neves (Portugal), all were in a cordial mood at the start o f a session.
Although invariably businesslike, all encounters were not always as convivial. Pho­
tograph: Tamrat Samuel, authors collection.

ings with members of the diplomatic corps in Jakarta, notably Ambas­

sadors Stapleton Roy of the United States, Robin Christopher of the
United Kingdom, and John McCarthy of Australia. These superb diplo­
mats—immensely wise, well informed, and experienced—were lavish in
their hospitality, and generously shared their advice and counsel, both
individually and collectively. In course of time they constituted an infor­
mal core group with whom I met regularly.
Last but not least was Ravi Rajan, the UNDP Resident Represen­
tative. A highly competent and capable professional, Ravi provided every­
thing from logistical support and organizational arrangements to highly
instructive background briefings on political and economic conditions in
Indonesia. And he did it all with the utmost amiability and cheerfulness.
 4
East Timor
M a r c h t h r o u g h J u l y 1997

Upon the king! Let us our lives, our souls, O ur debts, our care­
ful wives, our children and O ur sins lay on the king! We must
bear all.
—Shakespeare, Henry V

On March 21 we left for Dili, stopping for a day in Bali for a useful
meeting with General Rivai, Military Commander of the Udayana
Region, which included the territory of East Timor. This was the first of
several visits to Bali, and the beautiful island, together with its amiable
people, cast its magical and indelible spell upon us, as it has done on so
many others. The nature of my work over the next two years, combined
with the structure of airline schedules, made these stopovers in Denpasar
a most agreeable necessity, permitting the restoration of equilibrium from
the frenetic activities in Jakarta and Dili.
As time went on, the contrast between the serendipity of Bali and
the oppressiveness of Dili became increasingly stark, often causing one
to wonder whether the two islands were really part of the same country.
General Rivai was a compact little man who looked like a soldier
even when he was kitted out for golf. Intelligent and soft-spoken, he gave
the impression of genuinely wishing to find a solution to the problem of
East Timor. But despite his spirit of accommodation, his mind set, alas,
was patterned on what I was soon to mentally docket as the “military mis­
sionary” approach to East Timor.
On my subsequent visit to Bali I discovered that Rivai had been
“transferred” to the National Assembly in Jakarta, as part of the military
representation in that august body. While regretting his absence from

37
38 East Timor

Bali, I felt sure that his balanced views would be of benefit to the legis­
lature. Rivai’s successors, notably General Damiri, were hard-liners and
were more difficult to deal with.
General Rivai briefed me on the situation in East Timor. He esti­
mated that there were about “100 anti-integrationists and a further 3,000
clandestines.” (Later I discovered that the figures were as inaccurate as
the nomenclatures were misleading.) Rivai thought that much of the
unrest in the island could be attributed to the fact that East Timor was
subject to international attention, which in turn encouraged local agita­
tors.
He was sure that there would be demonstrations during my visit (in
this, at least, he could not have been more right), but he assured me that
the overwhelming majority of the people were happy as citizens of Indone­
sia. He felt that Bishops Belo and Nasciemento were not being as help­
ful as they should, and could do much to counter the “manipulation in
East Timor by outsiders.”
When I asked whether he viewed the situation in East Timor as one
of low intensity guerrilla warfare or one of sporadic incidents, Rivai was
evasive in his reply and said that the resistance could easily be eliminated
but that ABRI was exercising considerable restraint. We discussed human
rights issues, and Rivai said that the Indonesian constitution did not per­
mit human rights violations.
The Army thus faced a dilemma: restraint was regarded by the East
Timorese as weakness and triggered further provocative actions, which in
turn compelled the army to use force to restore order. Rivai preferred to
use the police for enforcement of law and order, adding that the army was
only used under exceptional conditions, and even in such cases the units
had been “given special training in human rights” and were obliged to
exercise restraint.
Expanding on the theme of the wholly beneficent role played by the
army, Rivai said that the five territorial battalions, which possessed a
significant East Timorese component, were engaged essentially in devel­
opment work, and thereby gained popular support. This detracted from
the influence of the “clandestines” and consequently incurred the latter s
opposition. While Rivai was obviously giving me the party line, the unde­
niable evidence of material infrastructural development in the territory
clearly supported his assertion, but like everything else in East Timor it
was only the partial truth. Our subsequent discussions gave me the impres­
sion that Rivai believed, as an intelligent and observant administrator, that
clearly more was needed in East Timor than roads and buildings.
We arrived in Dili on a hot and sticky morning on March 22 and
 East Timor (Marcb-July 1997) 39

were greeted at the airport by senior members of the regional adminis­

tration, as well as a traditional welcome ceremony performed by a charm­
ing pair of young East Timorese girls. We drove into town past ochre hills
covered in scrub plant and bush, which descended abruptly onto beaches
of pristine white sand bordering the ocean, whose deep blue waters and
foaming white waves sparkled in the bright midday sun.
The sights of human habitation were, unfortunately, much less
engaging. Most houses were primitive, the exceptions being the homes
on the sea front, which clearly belonged to the small but opulent elite of
the island. On entering the town we saw the Governor’s office, a relic of
the colonial days with its distinctive Portuguese style architecture, and
proceeded to our lodgings at the nearby Makhota Hotel, which we would
get to know well in the coming months (Everything in this hostelry was
rudimentary, except the rates, which always seemed to keep at least two
steps ahead of inflation.)
Our first official engagement in Dili was a meeting with Colonel
Simbolon, the local military commander, and his staff of eight officers. A
military-style briefing, complete with maps and slide show, was presented
and a vast array of statistics was reeled off. My notes recorded, inter alia,
that according to Colonel Simbolon, 94 percent of the population was
native Timorese, 4 1/2 percent was Indonesian, 1 percent Chinese, 0.4
percent Indo-Portuguese, and 0.2 percent Arab.
In 1975, 93 percent of the population was illiterate, and in 1996 only
25 percent. There were 765,000 Catholics, 30,000 Protestants, 25,000
Muslims, 5,500 Hindus, and 2,787 Buddhists. There were a total of six
East Timorese lieutenants, three captains, and three majors in the army
and police force. The number of guerrillas was 183 and of clandestines
3,000, plus an unknown number of what Simbolon curiously named as
“political diplomats,” which included “intellectuals, students, youths, and
religious followers who tried to internationalize the issue.”
In the somewhat sterile discussions that followed, my concerns
regarding the welfare of the East Timorese population remained largely
unaddressed, and I was assured that, barring the occasional incident caused
by a few disgruntled agents provocateurs, everything was in order. I left
the slick and polished headquarters building to the cracking of salutes and
the somber impression that the local military elite were in a self-satisfied
mood, believing that everything was under control and determined to
keep it that way.
We had two meetings with the “Governor” of East Timor, Abilio
Osorio Soares, one at his office and the other at a dinner in our honor at
his opulent official residence. The ever-protective Francesc Vendrell had
40 East Timor

advised me, in his usual meticulous fashion, that I should not address
Soares as Governor, since the United Nations did not formally recognize
his authority in the territory.
But I decided to ignore Franceses well-intentioned advice, because
the preening “Governor” was so obviously conscious of his status, and
seemed to be so much enjoying the perks of his office, that I thought it
would add to the pleasantness of our relationship and our work if I allowed
a little expediency to bend the requirements of protocol. A highly con­
troversial personality, Soares was a former truck driver, imposed by a dis­
tant government in Jakarta in a gesture that most East Timorese, with
good reason, resented as one of contempt.
A big, burly man, with a bearing that was pugnacious, arrogant, and
abrasive, Soares had the reputation of being both brutal and corrupt. But
he was obviously an able manipulator and managed to hold on to his office
till the very end, surviving both the dislike of his own people as well as
Jakarta’s frequent impatience with many of his actions and statements.
Declaring that the people of East Timor were incapable of managing
their own affairs, Soares strongly encouraged migration from the other
provinces. However, he felt that a degree of autonomy for East Timor was
desirable and assured me of his cooperation if the United Nations were
to work toward that end.
This came as no surprise to me, since it implied an augmentation of
his powers. A negotiator does not possess the convenience of selecting his
interlocutors and must deal with the prevalent incumbents. In the case of
Soares, I felt that his role would never be a major one in the decision mak­
ing process, but that he could become an effective and unwelcome spoiler.
I accordingly decided to handle him with a distant politeness, fortified by
Bismarck’s observation that “when I estimate the danger that is likely to
accrue to me from my adversary, I first of all subtract the man’s vanity
from his other qualities.”
We met with a series of East Timorese personalities, including Bish­
ops Belo and Nasciemento, as well as members of the different political
parties, teachers, students, and a very few distraught women’s represen­
tatives. These were emotionally charged, powerful encounters, which left
a profound and sobering impression. Bishop Belo invited us to dinner at
his residence, where the food was simple but the discussion rich and var­
ied—the exact opposite of the lavish but vacuous reception at the Gov­
ernor’s the previous evening. Belo had invited some priests from his
diocese, both East Timorese and foreigners, from whom we gained dis­
turbing and largely accurate information about the state of affairs on the
island.
 East Timor (Marcb-July 1997) 41

In 1983, the Vatican had appointed Bishop Belo as the Apostolic

Administrator of Dili. The diocese had served the whole of East Timor
until January 1997, when the Pope, in response to the growing number of
Catholics in East Timor, ordained a second Bishop, Monsignor Basilio
de Nascimento, for the eastern part of the island. This noticeable increase
in the Catholic population was a tribute to the tolerant form of Islam prac­
ticed in Indonesia, the significance of which was not lost on the Vatican,
which in turn adopted a policy of moderation on the East Timor issue.
Bishop Belo had replaced an outspoken critic of Indonesian rule in
East Timor, but he had not been expected to follow the policies of his
predecessor. Belo was in Portugal pursuing his studies at the time of the
invasion of East Timor and its aftermath of violence and repression. How­
ever, intense exposure to conditions in the island, and the channeling of
grievances through the widespread church network, compelled Belo to
become increasingly outspoken in his criticism of the Indonesian armed
forces and the denial of rights in East Timor.
In 1989 he addressed the UN Secretary-General, calling for a UN
supervised referendum in the territory, and added that “we are dying as
a people and as a nation.” Nevertheless, Belo exercised a moderating
influence, and had a sobering influence on the youth as well as the more
radical elements of the clergy. He discouraged the holding of anti-Indone­
sian demonstrations because of the dire consequences on the general pop­
ulation, and constantly maintained a link with the authorities with a view
to easing the pressures on his flock.
Belo’s role was a delicate and difficult one, and became increasingly
burdensome over the years: the anguish that this caused him was appar­
ent in his demeanor from the first time that I met him. During our con­
versation, Bishop Belo said that he constantly traveled all over the island,
and therefore knew that the East Timorese did not like Indonesia and
that the only group that supported integration were those who were work­
ing for the government, estimated to be about twenty-five percent of the
population.
Many of the APODETI were disillusioned, while the youth wanted
independence even if it meant living in poverty. There were others, mainly
from “chiefly families,” who wanted the Portuguese to return and conduct
a referendum. There were informers everywhere. In order to go to uni­
versity, students had to pass a selection test showing that they were in
favor of integration and not supporters of Fretilin.
Bishop Belo thought that a solution to the problem lay in having a
referendum, but this could only be done if it was preceded by troop with­
drawals and a considerable reduction of the military presence on the
42 East Timor

island, particularly the Special Forces. He thought that the guerrillas had
developed a new strategy, working in small groups and relying on
ambushes. They had also considerably strengthened their contacts with
local groups in the villages and mountains.
Belo said that General Prabowo had also set up militias, and that
Colonel Simbolon, who had local command of operations, reported
directly to Prabowo, often bypassing General Rivai, with whom Belo had
a good relationship. I pointed out to Belo that the idea of a referendum
was so fiercely opposed by Jakarta that its pursuit was unrealistic at the
present time. We discussed the possibility of a wide ranging autonomy,
and the Bishop thought that it could be acceptable if it were an “open”
and not “closed” proposal, meaning a review after a period of time. But
he reiterated the necessity for a reduction of oppression, and the with­
drawal of a substantial number of troops.
We made a quick visit by helicopter to Bacau for a brief meeting with
Bishop Basilio de Nascimento, who told us more or less the same things
as Bishop Belo, adding however that in his diocese of Bacau the repres­
sion was perhaps less harsh than in other parts of the island. Nascimento
is a most impressive personality, tall, well built, and possessed of a quiet
self-assurance.
His bearing, and particularly his voice, which is a basso profundo,
made me readily visualize him as playing the title role of Boris Godunov
in Rimsky-Korsakov s opera. Nascimento’s prolonged stay in Europe and
not just in Portugal, as in the case of Belo, had expanded his vision, and
he brought to bear on our discussions a wholly welcome degree of sophis­
tication and flexibility. His cool, analytical mind did nothing to detract
from the compassion that filled the soul of this admirable cleric.
Bishop Nascimento had been in East Timor for two years, having
spent the previous twenty-five years in Europe. He said that tension in
the territory was sporadic and not continuous, partly because the army
needed it “as a pretext” to justify its massive presence. The people suffered
from despair and disillusion, and the Bishop thought it would be difficult
to find a definitive solution under the present circumstances. The over­
whelming military presence made the people feel asphyxiated. It was nec­
essary to lower the tension in the territory, and this could only be done
by reducing the military.
When discussing the Indonesian-Portuguese dialogue, Nascimento
said that the two Governments talked past each other. Referring to the
incident in Bangkok, when Prime Minister Guterrez met Suharto, the
Bishop made a most perceptive and interesting observation. He thought
that it had been a mistake for the Portuguese to publicize their proposal.
 East Timor (March-July 1997) 43

It was a clash between the Oriental concept of “talk in the shadows” and
the Cartesian mentality of open discussion. The impasse that followed
was the result. W hat was now needed was a thaw in the situation, and
the United Nations could urge the parties to “a path toward a solution.”
I felt that my meetings with the two bishops had been most pro­
ductive, and found that both were extremely impressive personalities,
imbued with a sense of understanding, tolerance, and sympathy. There
was no doubt about their knowledge, contacts, and influence over an over­
whelming majority of the East Timorese people. From their pained reports
we learned of the repression that continued on the island, and by the ter­
ror tactics—some subtle, others less so—employed by the Indonesian army
against the population.
The Bishops had admirably steered their way through the difficult
and dangerous minefield of constant repression and equally constant resis­
tance that had for so long characterized life in East Timor. It was also
evident that after over twenty years there was a feeling that some form
of compromise was necessary. While a referendum was still the desired
and expressed goal, I thought that it might be possible to persuade the
Bishops to consider using their extensive influence toward working out
an appropriate package agreement.
Our meetings with the representatives of the different political par­
ties and groups took place in my room at the Makhota Hotel on two suc­
cessive days. They began in the evenings and worked their way through
smoke-filled hours into the early mornings. These were highly charged,
emotional sessions wherein reports of atrocity, repression, arbitrary impris­
onment, torture, and rape were mingled with political demands and dis­
cussions regarding the future status of East Timor.
I felt myself looked upon as a Merlin who had descended into their
midst, ready with a wave of the blue UN flag to remove their oppression
and restore their freedom. Their faith in the United Nations, and their
expectations, were as great as they were touching, and left me feeling both
humbled and troubled. Most groups wanted independence, coupled with
the release of Xanana Gusmao, while a few of the moderates were pre­
pared to accept an interim period of autonomy.
A very few representatives were pro-integration, and were happy to
leave things as they were. They had clearly been inducted into this process
of consultations with the UN mediator by the local authorities. Their
sleek, smug, and assured appearance was in stark contrast to that of the
other groups, shabbily dressed and carrying gaunt looks and expressions
of desperate hope in their eyes.
On our last day in Dili there was an early morning demonstration
44 East Timor

outside my hotel, with some of the protesters breaking into the premises
and causing some damage to the property. I was much later informed that
they wished to present me with a petition, but saw no signs of that at the
time and would most certainly have accepted it if there had been one.
More likely, the purpose of the demonstration was politically motivated,
designed to call attention to the East Timor issue, an action that I viewed
as entirely legitimate.
The demonstration was put down firmly and quickly, fortunately
without any serious casualty. Despite my pleas to the authorities for
clemency, harsh sentences were imposed on some of the demonstrators.
My subsequent but equally futile attempts with the authorities for a mit­
igation of the sentences added considerably to my mortification.
My first visit to East Timor left me with two firm convictions. The
first was, as the Secretary-General had rightly anticipated, that the United
Nations would need to play a strong, proactive role in the quest for a solu­
tion. Both the Indonesian and Portuguese Governments were prepared to
support this and participate in serious, constructive negotiations. But the
initiative would need to emanate from, and be constantly maintained and
pursued by, the United Nations.
The second conclusion was that the desperate people of East Timor
had now pinned all their hopes and anticipation on the United Nations,
and appeared pathetically certain that we would have the answers to their
problems. Their faith in the United Nations was absolute, and was exhib­
ited in awesome intensity and simplicity. “Upon the king! Let us our lives,
our souls, our debts, our careful wives, our children and our sins lay on
the king!” I did not wish to get melodramatic, but I confess that on the
flight from Dili to Jakarta I found myself crossing oceans and centuries
in empathy with Henry V at Agincourt. By going before the people of East
Timor, we had triggered a manifestation of trust, faith, and hope which
we would now have to justify. It was a sobering thought.
On our return to Jakarta we had some less than productive meet­
ings with two of the Indonesian Army’s top brass, Generals Feisal Tan-
jung and Eddy Sudrajat. Their position on East Timor was of the largely
dismissive, “whiff of grapeshot” variety, tempered by a pro forma accep­
tance of the United Nations efforts. By contrast, my closing meeting with
Alatas was most useful, and I was able to frankly convey to him the kalei­
doscope of impressions that I had gained from my first visit to Indonesia
and East Timor.
As far as the latter was concerned, I said that I was impressed by the
economic and infrastructural investments made in the island by the cen­
tral government, but that Jakarta was a long way away from winning the
 East Timor (Marcb-July 1997) 45

hearts and minds of the people of East Timor. We agreed that negotia­
tions needed to be intensified, and that every effort made to reach an equi­
table solution. Alatas agreed to come to New York shortly for a joint
meeting with the Secretary-General and the Portuguese Foreign Minis­
ter. This was very satisfactory, and my final discussion with Alex, who
was positive and determined, as always, left me with a sense of cautious
optimism.
We left Indonesia at the end of March 1997, vividly impressed by the
sights and sounds of that vast and colorful nation, of the dynamism of its
people and leaders, and with a fuller notion of the challenges that now
confronted us.
Arnaz, my wife, had accompanied me on this first visit, and would
do so on the succeeding ones. Ably as she fulfilled both roles, she was
always far more than my personal caretaker and traveling companion. Her
beauty and vivacious personality, combined with an admirable intuition
and a sharp sense of perception, made her an instinctive and effective
diplomat. Possessing a resourceful capability for networking, she was quick
to make friends, gaining their confidence with irresistible enthusiasm.
H er obvious delight and relish in the assignment, coupled with a shrewd
and perceptive observation of persons and events, made her the most
invaluable of advisers and companions.
 5
The Negotiations
Commence
M a r c h t h r o u g h A u g u s t 1977

H eed not the blind eye, the echoing ear, nor yet the tongue,
but bring to this great debate the test o f reason.
—Parmenides

Kofi Annan’s meetings on June 19, and 20, 1997, with the Foreign
Ministers of Indonesia and Portugal, formed the beginning of the mean­
ingful negotiations on East Timor. Both Foreign Ministers were accom­
panied by high-level delegations which, combined with the publicity
evoked by the news media, gave a powerful start to the talks. The Secre­
tary-General first met individually with each of the Foreign Ministers,
succeeded by a tripartite meeting with the full delegations, and this in
turn was followed by a working lunch hosted by the Secretary-General.
I chaired the afternoon session with the Foreign Ministers, as well
as the morning session on June 20. On the afternoon of the second day,
the Ministers and their delegations had a final formal session with the
Secretary-General, followed by a press conference.
The atmosphere and the circumstances under which the talks com­
menced were not exactly propitious. Tension had risen rather sharply in
East Timor in the preceding weeks. The long dormant guerrillas had
recently launched a series of coordinated attacks, and it was not clear
whether this was haphazard or deliberately timed to coincide with the
commencement of negotiations in New York.
In any case, the Indonesian authorities responded vigorously, and
there was a large number of arrests. On the diplomatic front, also, a res-

46
 The Negotiations Commence 47

olution just passed by the Commission on Human Rights in Geneva came

as a serious setback for Jakarta, causing the Indonesians to volubly ques­
tion Portugal’s commitment to conduct serious negotiations. Portugal, for
its part, had expressed frustration at what it considered to be Indonesian
intransigence, and seemed to be all set to shift its focus to the mobiliza­
tion of greater international pressure on Indonesia.
The only element that was common to both Indonesia and Portugal
seemed to be a profound and surly distrust of each other. I was obliged
to send identical letters to the two Foreign Ministers, and a separate one
to Ramos Horta, calling for restraint. A statement was also issued through
the Secretary-General’s spokesman to the same effect. I felt that we would
need to take care that the forthcoming meeting of the two Foreign Min­
isters did not become sidetracked into polemics on this and other simi­
lar issues
The Indonesians had the uneasy feeling that Ramos Horta may be
pressing Portugal to take the East Timor issue back to the General Assem­
bly, or possibly even to the Security Council, of which Portugal was a
member. While the Portuguese had said that they had no intention of
going to either the General Assembly or to the Security Council unless
something very serious were to occur in East Timor, the Indonesians sus­
pected that the Timorese resistance could provoke incidents inside East
Timor precisely for that purpose. Ramos Horta’s recent vigorous campaign
in New York, where he met several Security Council members, further
darkened Indonesian suspicions.
In expressing its frustration at Indonesian intransigence, Portugal
was beginning to feel that the issue could not be resolved so long as
Suharto was in power, an assumption that Alatas had described as a seri­
ous mistake. Gama argued that Jakarta’s failure to carry out its under­
taking on a number of confidence building measures, and its unwillingness
to make a serious effort to improve the situation in East Timor (Bishop
Belo had just spoken of a worsening human rights situation since the
award of the Nobel Prize) was an indication that the only solution that
Indonesia was seeking was an acceptance of the status quo, which Gama
declared would never happen.
Alatas, on the other hand, rejected the confidence building measures
approach, which he considered to be no more than a disguised Portuguese
maneuver to extract endless concessions from Indonesia (“salami tactics,”
as he called it), while giving little or nothing in return. Mutual distrust
and suspicion could hardly have been more profound.
Although both sides had given me their agreement to hold low-key
but sustained negotiations, as it seemed obvious, important and substan­
48 East Timor

tive differences remained. Alatas made it clear that he first wanted agree­
ment on the shape of a final settlement: the discussion could then focus
on the details of that solution. He was prepared to discuss a wide range
of issues, provided that the two sides agreed in advance that the final set­
tlement of the problem would be based on “autonomy.”
The Portuguese position was that in the absence of sufficient common
ground to address the core issue of the status of East Timor, Gama at this
stage preferred to tackle short-term issues (mainly improvement of condi­
tions inside East Timor) and to seek an “interim” solution (including one
based on some form of self-administration), pending a definitive settlement
of the problem at the appropriate time. Gama also forcefully reiterated that
Portugal had no right to decide on the final status of East Timor: that right
belonged to the East Timorese, and the decision should be theirs.
Prior to their arrival in New York, we presented both Foreign Min­
isters with a short Non-Paper, which outlined the manner in which the
Secretary-General proposed to structure the negotiations. Commencing
with the Secretary-Generals view that “there is a clear desire on the part
of the two governments to intensify their efforts aimed at finding a just,
comprehensive, and internationally acceptable solution to the question of
East Timor,” the Non-Paper went on to suggest that the Secretary-Gen­
eral and / or his Personal Representative would meet as often as neces­
sary, and that day-to-day negotiations would be conducted by designated
teams from the three sides.
The negotiators were to be given full authority to negotiate, ad ref­
erendum, and to engage in brainstorming. Frequency of the meetings was
stressed, as was the necessity for confidentiality. In the event, these broad
guidelines were accepted by the Ministers, and the pattern of negotia­
tions proceeded in roughly the same fashion.
On the morning of June 19,1997, the Secretary-General held sepa­
rate tête-à-tête meetings with Foreign Ministers Jaime Gama and Ali
Alatas. I was not privy to the discussions that took place then, except for
Kofi’s typically modest and laconic whispered comment to me as we went
into the formal session, “It seems okay.”
But, as I said earlier, the body language of each of the Ministers, both
before and after the tête-à-tête, spoke volumes. To say that they each went
in with a scowl and emerged with a smile might be an exaggeration, but
only a slight one. During the early part of the first formal session, each
of the Ministers made a skillful presentation of their respective cases,
which placed on the record their concerns and reservations, but at the same
time thanked the Secretary-General for his efforts and expressed a will­
ingness to work for a solution.
 The Negotiations Commence 49

The negotiating styles formed an interesting contrast: Alatas was

almost flamboyantly eloquent yet sharply incisive, while Gama was equally
incisive but much more restrained in expression. There were some sharp
exchanges, but these never developed into acrimony, thanks essentially to
Kofis able chairmanship, which steered the discussions onto a pragmatic
course once both sides had blown off steam. This took us to the after­
noon session, which I chaired and which was intended to establish the
basic framework of future negotiations.
I commenced the session by informing both Foreign Ministers, in
unequivocal terms, that the formal positions of both sides were so dia­
metrically opposed that any solution would necessitate a degree of com­
promise. Therefore, if we were to enter into realistic negotiations, then
flexibility and a spirit of compromise would be absolutely essential. I fur­
ther suggested that the very presence of both Ministers, and their previ­
ous conversations with the Secretary-General, implied that they were
prepared to be flexible and that a compromise was possible.
I asked both Ministers to confirm, on a personal basis, my understanding
in this regard, and to convey to me their personal assurance to this effect.
Both Ministers quietly agreed, and in what I thought was a much more
important gesture, Alatas and Gama each looked me in the eye as they
softly assented. I knew then that I was dealing with two gentlemen who
were not only able politicians, but were also statesmen of the highest
order. And I silently thanked my stars. In turn, I assured them of the
sanctity of this understanding, which would remain highly confidential,
and that nothing would be said by me in public which could in any way
detract from their governments’ official position on the East Timor ques­
tion.
Our two days of discussions concluded with an agreement on the for­
mat and framework of future negotiations. The Foreign Ministers would
meet with the Secretary-General for a periodic review of the situation,
while the substantive talks would be carried out at the level of senior
officials, under the chairmanship of the Personal Representative of the
Secretary-General (PRSG).
There would be absolute confidentiality of discussions and any state­
ments to the media would be made only by the PRSG after clearing it
with the two sides. The negotiators were mandated to explore possible
political arrangements for East Timor without, at this point, determin­
ing whether any agreement would lead to an “interim” or a “final” settle­
ment of the issue.
In the context of these arrangements, the elements for discussion
would include, inter alia, military issues; the migration of non-East Tim-
50 East Timor

orcse into East Timor, cultural, linguistic and religious issues; human
rights and political freedoms; greater Timorization of all aspects of gov­
ernment in East Timor; economic and social issues; bilateral relations
between Indonesia and Portugal; and the international verification of
agreements already arrived at, as well as mechanisms for ascertaining the
views of the East Timorese people.
In addition, there was agreement to restart the All Inclusive East
Timorese Dialogue (AIETD). Finally, both governments agreed to show
restraint in their public statements in order to “maintain the positive
atmosphere of the talks”: a very commendable sentiment, which was, alas,
frequently honored in the breach. All this was substantive stuff, and as I
was anxious to get moving on it as soon as possible, I was able to per­
suade both governments to accept July 28,1997 as the first date for the
Senior Officials Meeting (SOM), by which time we hoped to supply both
capitals with provisional working papers, and receive from them, in turn,
a list of the participating delegations.
As things turned out, there was a delay—the first of many slippages
which were to dog the course of our subsequent negotiations—so that the
Senior Officials meeting was eventually held from August 4-7, 1997. I
used the intervening period to prepare the working papers in New York,
and for a quick visit to Washington, DC for consultations at the State
Department and on Capitol Hill. Since during this period I also man­
aged to acquire, and cope with, a minor cardiac condition, the delay in
convening the SOM meeting proved to be something of a providential
respite.
The importance of the United States’ role in the East Timor crisis,
as in most other international crises for that matter, can never be under­
estimated, and I was determined to establish a pragmatic working rela­
tionship with Washington. On this first visit I met with Under Secretary
Tom Pickering, a true and old friend and colleague, whom I regard as one
of the most brilliant and versatile diplomats of our era, with Ambassador
Aurelia de Brazael, and other officials of the State Department, as well
as John Shattuck, the indefatigable Assistant Secretary for Human Rights.
I did not on this occasion meet the Assistant Secretary for South East
Asia, Stanley Roth, a formidable personality whose unstinted help and
guidance and decisive approach would later prove to be of paramount
importance in the search for a solution in East Timor.
Not unexpectedly, the United States position on the East Timor
issue, at that point in time, possessed an element of ambivalence. While
the Administration, and particularly the Department of State, was clearly
mindful of its wider geo-strategic responsibilities as far as the unity and
 The Negotiations Commence 51

security of Indonesia was concerned, it was also conscious of its commit­

ment to support human rights and to promote democracy. Thus, it
remained measured in its responses to events in East Timor.
There had been an extremely effective and productive relationship
between Washington and Jakarta throughout the Cold War and its imme­
diate aftermath. Political and military links had been very close, and eco­
nomic relations were extensive: the 1995 figures for two-way trade and
new investments in Indonesia had amounted to approximately 17 billion
on each account. On the other hand, in Congress there was a strong and
vocal group which had agitated against Jakarta’s human rights record in
Indonesia generally, and in East Timor in particular.
My meetings with Senator Feingold and Representative Patrick
Kennedy, two of the most outspoken legislators on the issue of East Timor,
convinced me of the groundswell of support which they had managed to
obtain on Capitol Hill. The United States Government therefore warmly
welcomed the Secretary-Generals initiative in revitalizing the East Timor
negotiations, and promised to be as helpful to the UN effort as they could,
a promise which, as time was to prove over the ensuing months, was nei­
ther pro forma nor empty.
Welcoming my appointment, Tom Pickering assured me that the US
would be fully supportive of the UN effort, and would respond positively
to any call for action or assistance. Tom’s concluding remarks to me were
typical dry vintage Pickering: he said that he was prepared to issue a state­
ment either supporting or opposing the Secretary-General’s initiative on
East Timor, whichever I thought would be the more helpful.
Back in New York, I was confronted with two significant events which
occurred just prior to the Senior Officials Meeting scheduled for August
4. The first was an increase in military activity, and consequently in ten­
sion, in East Timor. This was to become a pattern, caused partly by the
spontaneous combustion of fears and expectations prior to the meetings
in distant New York, and partly by deliberate actions designed to dra­
matize the situation on the ground as the negotiators went about their
work in the detached safety of their conference chamber in the UN build-
ing.
I got quite used to this phenomenon, despite its manifest irritation
and inconvenience, and accepted it as part of the larger problem on which
we were working. On this occasion, the matter was both more serious and
more high profile because we received reports of the death of David
Alexander, a deputy to Xanana Gusmao and a very prominent resistance
leader who was actually conducting guerrilla operations in East Timor.
There were ugly rumors that Alexander had not been killed in bat-
52 East Timor

tie, but had been captured, tortured, and executed by the Indonesian forces.
Despite the inquiries that we immediately instituted, we still do not know
the truth of the matter: but there is no doubt that the incident added sub­
stantial darkening to the clouds that had foregathered prior to our meet­
ing.
The second event was the fallout from the July visit of President
Nelson Mandela of South Africa to Indonesia. The basic purpose of Pres­
ident Mandela’s visit to Jakarta was to thank President Suharto and the
government and people of Indonesia for the support that they had ren­
dered to Mandela and the African National Congress (ANC) during its
struggle against apartheid. But the emotional issue of East Timor became
a major intrusion, and when Mandela made a public statement calling for
the release of Xanana Gusmao, the side-show overtook the main event,
as so often happens in such cases.
I shall deal with this matter in some detail at a later stage, but suffice
it to say that in July o f1997 the observations and statements that emanated
from all sides after the Mandela visit to Jakarta possessed for us in New
York a Delphic quality, and left the Portuguese and Indonesian delega­
tions, each for their own separate reasons, in a state of some confusion
and barely concealed irritation.
Typical of the situation was a later bizarre incident in which a secret
document on Indonesia / East Timor inadvertently found its way from
the South African Department of External Affairs to the desk of the Por­
tuguese Ambassador in Pretoria, from whence its contents were made
public. In the resulting furore, the South African Government declared
the Portuguese Ambassador persona non grata, and there was much
recrimination on all sides. Fortunately, we did not permit the incident to
intrude overly on the work of our negotiations, and with good sense pre­
vailing all around, the general feelings of outrage and high dudgeon dis­
sipated more rapidly than I thought they might.
We commenced the first round of the Senior Officials Meeting in
New York under my chairmanship on August 4, 1997. The delegations
consisted of six or seven members each, most of whom remained the same
throughout the talks that extended over the next two years, and therefore
developed a personal relationship and a camaraderie that became very
agreeable when things went well and provided a safety net of sorts when
things went badly, as they often did. I decided to put no limits on the
quantum of participants, leaving it to the good sense of the delegations
to fix their own numbers.
The rules of business were also kept as flexible as possible, but for
the sake of good order I normally only took statements from and spoke
 The Negotiations Commence 53

directly to the two leaders of the respective delegations. The leader of the
Indonesian delegation was Ambassador Nugroho Wisnumurti, Director
General for Political Affairs in the Department of Foreign Affairs, Jakarta,
and the leader of the Portuguese delegation was Ambassador Fernando
Neves, the Director General for Special Political Questions in the Min­
istry of Foreign Affairs, Lisbon.
Nugroho Wisnumurti, who had until recently served as the Indone­
sian Permanent Representative at the United Nations in New York, was
an old friend and colleague, and a proven expert in multilateral diplomacy.
Fernando Neves had also served in the Portuguese Mission in New York,
and had honed his considerable skills at Brussels, where he had served as
Portuguese Ambassador to the European Union and had also worked in
the Secretariat.
Both Wisnumurti and Neves possessed an impressive command of
the English language, which was a tremendous advantage for the process
of the negotiations. My two interlocutors were therefore not only thor­
ough professionals, but were also experts in the specialized field of mul­
tilateral diplomacy. This made working with them agreeable for the most
part, sometimes a trifle difficult, but always a fascinating exercise. Although
they possessed different negotiating styles—Neves forceful and focused,
Wisnumurti reticent but implacable—they had quite a lot in common.
Both possessed fine legal minds, were masters of detail, and above
all each was a tough and formidable negotiator. I constantly kept in mind
that, despite the flexibility ostensibly provided to the delegations under
the original understandings, both Neves and Wisnumurti were operating
under considerable political constraints. Apart from accountability to the
highest political level of their respective governments was the caution
imposed by the menacing nature of a watchful and suspicious domestic
public opinion in both capitals.
The atmosphere of our talks was constructive and businesslike, and
the format was a combination of bilaterals and trilaterals. We (the UN
team) met each delegation separately in the mornings and had joint meet­
ings with both delegations in the afternoons. This allowed for frank
expressions of sensitive issues in the bilaterals, and the opportunity to
concentrate on the specifics of less difficult issues in the joint sessions.
It also enabled me to assess the strength and sensitivity of a partic­
ular issue to each delegation, so that it could be introduced into the tri­
laterals in an appropriate manner. Apart from this, the importance of
confidentiality was repeatedly stressed and the commitment not to dis­
close the substance of the discussions to the press was reaffirmed.
We agreed on the composition and agenda for the next AIETD meet­
54 East Timor

ing, and then went on to discuss possible political arrangements for East
Timor. I gave the delegations two papers, the first one outlining the major
features of various successful and unsuccessful arrangements that could
have relevance to the East Timor situation. The study featured nine cases:
Bhutan and India, Hong Kong and China, Macao and China, Catalonia
and Spain, Eritrea and Ethiopia, the Aaland Islands and Finland, Puerto
Rico and the US, the Federation of St. Kitts and Nevis, and the Autonomous
region in Muslim Mindanao (Philippines).
The second paper summarized the main elements drawn from these
cases, and in submitting it I emphasized that these were merely “food for
thought,” and were not meant to be “proposals” in any sense. Both sides
stressed that their discussion did not prejudice their positions on the issue.
The Portuguese, in particular, underlined that their willingness to look
at these autonomous and other forms of arrangements did not mean that
they were prepared to accept a permanent settlement of the problem with­
out the people of East Timor exercising their right to self determination
in a democratic way.
These ideas could at best help devise an “interim” solution pending
final settlement. Predictably, the Portuguese felt that there should be the
widest possible autonomy as a first step toward a long-term solution. On
the other hand, the Indonesians, equally predictably, stressed that they
were only prepared to consider measures to expand the existing auton­
omy in East Timor in terms of what would be possible within the con­
text of the Indonesian constitution and law on autonomy.
I next took up with the delegations the important issue of preven­
tion of escalation of tension on the ground. Both sides felt that this was
an important issue, but came at it from different angles. The Indonesians
said that as long as the threat to stability and security continued in East
Timor, the security forces would continue to take appropriate measures,
and that the onus therefore lay on Portugal and the resistance movement
to ease tensions. The Portuguese argued that it was up to Indonesia to
improve human rights and living conditions in East Timor, and indicated
that in the next round of talks they intended to raise the topics of “demil­
itarization” and “human rights and political freedoms.”
In reporting the results of this first SOM meeting to the Secretary-
General, I believed that within the parameters of the political compe­
tence and authority of the participants the meeting was a success. It had
kept the ball in play, and may have generated some ideas for the elements
of an eventual agreement. But that was still a long way off, and while the
working level meetings could perform a useful task in identifying the
modalities of a final settlement, the latter would require weapons of much
 The Negotiations Commence 55

heavier caliber than those hitherto employed, and our next task should
be the mobilization of the requisite political will at the appropriate deci­
sion making level.
I derived a measure of cautious satisfaction from the conclusion of
the first SOM. We had started a process, and done so without spilling
any blood on the carpet of Assistant Secretary-General Alvaro de Soto’s
conference room. But clearly there was much to be done, and we still had
a long way to go. The old Chinese saying, of a journey of a thousand
leagues commencing with one step, appeared to me, at that time, to stress
the ominous rather than the optimistic aspect of the proverb.
 6
The Consultations Widen
G e n e v a , P r e t o r i a , V ie n n a a n d
Lon don : A u g u st th ro u g h
N o v e m b e r 1997

Tell me, Muse, of that man, so ready at need, who wandered

far and wide, after he had sacked the sacred citadel of Troy,
and many were the men whose towns he saw and whose minds
he learnt, yea, and many were the woes he suffered in his heart
upon the deep, striving to win his own life and the return of
his company.
—Homer, The Odyssey: Book I
(Translation by Butcher and Lang)

Having got the negotiations off to a start in New York, I was eager
to maintain the momentum, and accordingly visited, over the next few
weeks, Geneva, Pretoria, Vienna, and London, before returning to New
York to chair the next SOM meeting. Apart from looking through some
papers on East Timor in the UN offices in Geneva, I had a short but most
pleasant and productive meeting with Mrs. Mary Robinson, who had just
assumed office as High Commissioner for Human Rights.
I suggested to her that although the issue of human rights consti­
tuted an essential component of my work, my basic objectives were polit­
ical and diplomatic. I judged, therefore, that it would be unproductive for
my political negotiations if I were to imprudently concentrate efforts on
investigations into human rights violations, of which I knew there would
be plenty. The latter, I felt, should come strictly under the purview of the
Human Rights Commission, and would doubtless be handled with the
due diligence and firmness characteristic of the Commission.

56
 The Consultations Widen 57

Mary Robinson was in total accord with this procedure and rela­
tionships moved smoothly: neither wires nor swords were crossed between
the Department of Political Affairs and the Human Rights Commission
during the course of the East Timor negotiations. Even at the very end,
during the period of the rampage carried out by the militias in East Timor,
Mrs. Robinson curbed her highly justified outrage, and adjusted her activ­
ities and her presence in East Timor in accordance with the overall emer­
gency priorities set by the Secretary-General.
A meeting at the headquarters of the International Committee of
the Red Cross (ICRC) concluded my visit to Geneva. I was given a full
and comprehensive briefing on the situation and conditions in East Timor.
The ICRC is, of course, a unique organization, impressive in its exper­
tise and commitment, with an ubiquitous presence in the trouble spots of
the world. It had an effective presence in East Timor also, and its repre­
sentatives had an extensive but balanced perception of the situation on
the ground. I came to rely a great deal on the reports and the counsel of
the ICRC representatives in Jakarta and East Timor.
From Geneva we went to South Africa, where we stayed from August
22 to the 27 on a visit that included an encounter which was probably
one of the most impressive and memorable of my career—a meeting with
President Nelson Mandela. This was, of course, my first visit to South
Africa, in common with so many others who had either excluded them­
selves or been excluded by the odious conditionalities of the previous
apartheid regime.
The palpable sense of newfound freedom seemed to have enhanced
the natural beauty and majesty of this vast country, and although signs
of poverty and deprivation were everywhere evident in distressingly large
measure, there was an air of bustling, if sometimes chaotic, optimism
which lifted the spirits of every friendly visitor. Johannesburg, with its
combination of skyscrapers and urban insecurity, seemed no different from
any other megalopolis, but elsewhere there was a spirit of newfound hope,
combined with an understanding of the tremendous problems that faced
the new South Africa, and an evident determination to work toward their
solution.
I recalled a discussion in New York, not too many years earlier, when
a number of us viewed the future of South Africa with the utmost trep­
idation, and despairingly wondered what measures the United Nations
could possibly take to cope with a massive blood bath that seemed at that
time to be almost inevitable. This did not occur, of course, and the only
reason why it did not was Nelson Mandela.
Superlatives become superfluous when it comes to describing this
58 East Timor

extraordinary man, and when so much has already been said and written
about him, it would be an impertinence to add anything further. Suffice
it to say that his spirit pervaded the entire land, manifesting itself in the
robust freedom and rambunctious peace that prevailed, and South Africans
of all races and persuasions rightly respected and revered one of the great­
est personalities of the century.
Tamrat Samuel accompanied me to our meetings at the Department
of Foreign Affairs in Pretoria for the preliminary discussions, which were
led on the South African side by Abdul Minty, the Director General in
charge of Multilateral Affairs in the Department. Minty had spent years
in exile during the apartheid period and had been an energetic activist
mobilizing international opinion against the government. He was par­
ticularly effective in tracing attempts at UN sanctions busting by the
apartheid regime.
During my tenure on the Security Council, I had served as the Coun­
cil’s chairman on the South Africa Sanctions Committee, and Minty’s
reports to us proved invaluable in enabling the Committee to take cor­
rective measures over actual or intended breaches of sanctions. I once
observed to the members of the Committee that but for the vigilance and
initiatives of Mr. Minty, we could all find ourselves putting in for unem­
ployment benefits.
Our talks with Minty provided a most useful background to the South
African position on the East Timor issue. Despite the fact that Suharto had
rendered such substantial support to Mandela and the African National
Congress during the period of apartheid, there remained a very significant
opposition to Indonesia among the South African political parties, on the
subject of East Timor. There were many groups actively working for East
Timorese independence and in an unpleasant rebuke to Jakarta all mem­
bers of the South African legislature had boycotted the National Day
reception given by the Indonesian Ambassador.
Part of these feelings could be attributed to the natural desire of a
newly liberated people to support liberation movements everywhere. But
in the case of South Africa, I thought that the neighboring Mozambique
connection entered the equation in significant measure. The linguistic
link between Mozambique, Portugal, and East Timor, combined with the
commonality of the freedom struggle, had found fertile soil in South
Africa. To this could also be added the fact that the issue had evoked the
interest of the formidable Mme. Gracia Machel.
When President Nelson Mandela visited Indonesia in July 1997, the
main purpose of his visit, as already indicated, was essentially a goodwill
gesture of thanks to Suharto and the Indonesian Government for the sub­
 The Consultations Widen 59

stantial support that the latter had rendered to the ANC during its long
struggle against apartheid. But obviously Mandela’s concern over the East
Timor issue was not going to be suppressed. Apart from discussing the
subject in some detail with Suharto, Mandela not only called for the release
of Xanana Gusmao, but also insisted on meeting with the latter—and got
his way.
There is a report that Suharto at first refused Mandela’s request to
meet Xanana with the question, “Why do you want to meet him? He is
only a common criminal.” When Mandela responded by saying “that is
exactly what they said about me for twenty-five years,” Suharto promptly
and magnanimously responded by arranging for Xanana to be brought
from prison to the State Guest House for an intimate dinner with Man­
dela.
I cannot vouch for the veracity of this story, but it has an air of authen­
ticity and, if true, has a legendary touch which says much for the caliber of
both Presidents. However it may have been brought about, the fact remains
that Xanana did have a most useful discussion with Mandela in Jakarta,
and that they emerged from the dinner meeting with considerable mutual
respect.
President Mandela received us in his office in Pretoria on August 26,
1997, first in a tête-à-tête with me, followed by a fuller meeting when we
were joined by Foreign Minister Alfred Nzo, Abdul Minty, and Tamrat
Samuel. This, in turn, was followed by a joint press conference. Later,
Tamrat Samuel said to me that meeting Nelson Mandela in person was
probably the most moving and emotional moment in his life. As for me,
I can only say that I was not too far behind Tamrat in his sentiments, and
that on meeting Mandela one immediately realizes that everything that
has been said about him is true. Courteous, soft-spoken, gentle, and with
a quiet sense of humor, he radiated dignity in his person and his bearing.
His eyes are deep set, kind, and thoughtful and expressed in a deep glow
the humane sensitivity that seems to emanate from his personality.
After the usual courtesies, Mandela assured me that his efforts were
entirely in support of the Secretary-General’s initiatives, and that “I am
working completely under the instructions of my boss, Kofi Annan.” Giv­
ing an account of his visit to Indonesia, Mandela said that he had urged
Suharto, both in private and in public, to release Xanana Gusmao. Man­
dela was extremely impressed by Xanana’s “intelligence and decisiveness”
and felt that our joint efforts should be to secure his release, since his par­
ticipation in the process of negotiations was crucial.
During their meeting in Jakarta, Mandela had expressed his doubts
to Xanana about the efficacy of the armed struggle, as it only provided an
60 East Timor

An early Strategy Session. T he Secretary-General, with top aides, clockwise from

left, Francesc Vendrell, J.M .,Tam rat Samuel, Under Secretary-General, Sir Kieran
Pendcrgast, Kofi Annan, and Assistant Secretary-General Alvarode Soto.

opportunity “for Indonesia to slaughter people,” and had tried to impress

upon Xanana the need for a compromise solution. The latter had made
no commitment, but promised to consider the matter seriously. As regards
President Suharto, Mandela said that “he told me that he was eager to
solve the problem,” but when Mandela asked whether he was prepared to
give autonomy to East Timor, Suharto’s response was that he was con­
sidering giving autonomy to all the provinces.
Suharto was due to visit South Africa in November, and Mandela
asked me to convey to the Secretary-General the assurance of the con­
tinuation of South African efforts at that time. We discussed the possi­
bility of Xanana’s release and exile to South Africa, and while Mandela
expressed his complete willingness to provide political asylum, we agreed
that obviously this would be subject to acceptance by both Suharto and
Xanana, the likelihood of which appeared very doubtful under the pre­
vailing circumstances.
President Mandela then raised with me the idea of organizing a con­
ference in the near future of “East Timorese leaders” in South Africa,
with a suggested UN participation. This wild idea, I knew, was being
urged on the President by some of his enthusiastic staff and political advis­
ers. Knowing its explosive implications, I urged the strongest caution and
restraint, particularly in the light of Suharto’s forthcoming visit to South
Africa, and the President immediately took the point.
 The Consultations Widen 61

We proceeded to a crowded press conference, where the President

expressed his total support for the Secretary-General’s initiative to find
a peaceful solution to the problem of East Timor. In turn, I expressed the
Secretary-General’s thanks and appreciation for this support and stressed
the importance of President Mandela’s role in the peace process. We took
a few questions on East Timor from the journalists, after which a South
African correspondent raised a domestic issue with Mandela.
The breaking news that day was F.W. de Klerk’s resignation from
the leadership of his party, and the press corps was obviously keen to have
Mandela’s reaction to the announcement. The President said that in the
first place this was a matter between the party and its leader. “But hav­
ing said that,” Mandela added, he personally felt that de Klerk had made
a mistake, "as we all do from time to time.”
“Be that as it may,” he continued with quiet emphasis, “let none of us
ever forget the vital contribution that Mr. de Klerk has made toward the
creation of the new South Africa.” This generous, thoughtful tribute, spon­
taneously conveyed in Mandela’s customary dignity, put an end to further
questions, and concluded the press conference on a very satisfactory note.
At the conclusion of my visit to South Africa, my recommendation
to the Secretary-General was that we maintain close contact with Presi­
dent Mandela, keep him informed of what we were doing, and conserve
the immense prestige of his authority for the moment when it could be
most effectively deployed during the future course of negotiations.
In early October 1997,1 convened the next session of the Senior Offi­
cials Meeting in New York. As usual, events on the ground ensured that
we got off to an uneasy start. The Indonesians complained about Portu­
gal’s refusal to grant a visa to an Indonesian delegate to a meeting of the
International Forum for Child Welfare, which was being held in Portu­
gal. A more serious issue was an incident in Jakarta, when five East Tim­
orese jumped over the wall of the Austrian Embassy and sought political
asylum.
This type of occurrence was by no means uncommon, despite the
increasingly stringent security measures taken by foreign embassies in
Jakarta, and the usual pattern was for the Indonesian authorities to per­
mit, after a short period of time, the asylum seekers to leave for Lisbon.
In this case, however, two of the fugitives were not only prominent East
Timor political activists, but were also criminally charged with the ille­
gal possession of explosives.
The Indonesian authorities refused them safe passage, as a conse­
quence of which they remained holed up in the Austrian embassy for sev­
eral months. From time to time I did attempt a goodwill intercession, but
62 East Timor

these efforts were necessarily tentative, since the matter was essentially a
bilateral issue between the Governments of Indonesia and Austria.
Although it did not quite become an albatross around my neck, the issue
obviously did nothing to improve the climate surrounding the start of the
negotiations.
The SOM meeting dealt with three main issues. The first was a con­
tinuation of the discussions on the “models” and “elements” that might
apply to autonomy in East Timor, and I undertook to provide, at the next
meeting, a comprehensive working paper which would take into account
our current discussions. The second issue was the AIETD, and here we
reached agreement on the guidelines that were to be provided to the del­
egates at the conference. The third issue was that of Confidence Build­
ing Measures (CBMs).
I proposed that the resistance movement should be persuaded (by
methods to be worked out) to cease all military activity for a period of
three months. If this was done, and peace prevailed generally, then the
Indonesian Government should respond by withdrawing a substantial
number of troops from East Timor at the end of the three-month period
of cease-fire. The process could then be repeated for another three months,
and so on.
The preliminary response, from both sides, was predictably tentative
and cautious, but did not evoke outright rejection. The Portuguese claimed
that they had “no control” over the actions of the resistance (which was
not quite true), and the Indonesians thought that any conditionality on
troop deployment was an infringement of sovereignty, (which would only
be true if the territory in question was not in dispute).
In my report to the Secretary-General I stated that the SOM nego­
tiations were conducted in a reasonably friendly, and certainly profes­
sional, manner. The atmosphere was somewhat vitiated by the reports of
the East Timorese asylum seekers in the Austrian Embassy, and by the
Portuguese refusal to grant a visa to an Indonesian wishing to attend an
international conference in Lisbon. I added, “Although these are elements
which are either extraneous or peripheral to our main negotiations, we
must continue to expect their ghostly presence, however unwelcome, to
hover over our banquets.”
Following the SOM meeting in New York, we flew to Vienna for the
third session of the AIETD. The Austrian Government had very gener­
ously agreed to host this conference, and provided excellent facilities for
this purpose at Schloss Krumbach, situated in the vicinity of Vienna in
a region of almost breathtaking alpine beauty. The essential object of
AIETD was to provide a forum for the East Timorese representatives, of
 The Consultations Widen 63

all shades of political opinion to meet in an informal gathering and to

freely exchange views and ideas.
Under the formal rules of procedure, the delegates were prohibited
from discussing political issues, such as the future status of East Timor,
but were encouraged to propose social and cultural projects that might
be of benefit to the East Timorese. In reality, the prohibition on discus­
sion of political issues was impossible to implement, except during the
formal sessions, and the fact that the delegates lived together for three
days and nights, in salubrious surroundings, provided an excellent oppor­
tunity for brainstorming and for getting to know each other better.
There were thirty-five participants at the conference, nineteen from
Indonesia and East Timor, and sixteen from the diaspora, and the impres­
sive list included Bishop Belo, Ambassador Lopez da Cruz, Jose Ramos
Horta, Joao Carascalao, Mari Alkateri, and Abilio Soares.
The SOM had identified two specific issues for confirmation and
elaboration by the AIETD. These were the establishment of an East Tim­
orese cultural center in Dili, and the utilization of a Portuguese Govern­
ment offer for human resources development on the island. The AIETD
were unable to come up with anything substantive on the latter issue, but
did produce some useful suggestions on the organization, funding, and
management of the cultural center in Dili. Unfortunately, lack of agree­
ment in subsequent meetings of SOM, coupled with bureaucratic imped­
iments persistently applied by the Indonesian authorities, ensured that Dili
never got its cultural center.
The delegates also struggled hard to obtain a final declaration, and
almost succeeded, during the last late night moments of the conference,
to obtain a reasonable text. But they could not get a consensus and the
meeting broke with the usual recriminations and accusations of sabotage.
A statement by Bishop Belo, issued more in sorrow than in anger, never­
theless incensed the Indonesians, who unofficially conveyed to me their
sense of anguish: “Will no one rid me of this meddlesome priest?”
Nevertheless, I was satisfied with the outcome of the AIETD. It had
served its primary purpose in getting the East Timorese together, which
in turn had enabled us at the UN to get a first-hand impression of the
participants and their political inclinations. Secondly, it had demonstrated
to the East Timorese that they had not been totally excluded from the
UN negotiating process.
In my opening remarks to the delegates, I tried to assure them of the
nature of their participation in this process, and said:
You are all aware that the terms of reference of the AIETD,
adopted by the fifth round of Ministerial talks held in January
64 East Timor

1995, remain valid. In particular, I should like to remind you that

the dialogue should not address the political status of East Timor
and does not constitute a parallel negotiating track or a substitute
for the tripartite talks under the auspices of the Secretary-Gen­
eral. It is a complementary process that provides a unique forum
for the East Timorese to make practical contributions to the search
of a solution.
After Schloss Krumbach I spent a day in Vienna, thanking Staat-
sekretarin Benita Waldemar Ferraro for the splendid arrangements pro­
vided by the Austrian Government for the AIETD, and keeping her and
her colleagues in the Ministry up to date with the process of negotiations.
For a multitude of reasons, Vienna is one of my favorite cities. I spent a
happy afternoon wandering through its streets, revisiting its baroque
splendors, and ended the evening with an attractive performance of
Weber’s Der Freischutz at the Wiener Staatsoper. The fringe benefits of
diplomacy can often be quite delectable.
From Vienna I went to London for two days of meetings at the For­
eign Office with Foreign Secretary Robin Cook and Minister of State
Derek Fatchett. The United Kingdom Government had displayed a lively
and positive interest in the East Timor issue, and my contacts with the
British Ambassadors in New York, Jakarta, and Lisbon had been contin­
uous, intensive and very productive.
My meetings at the Foreign and Commonwealth Office were essen­
tially a continuation of this process of consultation, and I was reassured
by the positive attitude of the British Government, and its promises of
cooperation and support. It was with great sadness that I later learned of
the sudden demise of Derek Fatchett, a gentle and effective diplomat,
whose influence and wise counsels were greatly missed by all.
 7
Coming to Grips: The
Negotiations Intensify
I n d o n e s ia a n d E a s t T im o r :
D e c e m b e r 1997
P o r t u g a l : J a n u a r y 1998
L o n d o n : A p r il 1998

Rebus sic santibus.

(Things have changed)

On November 14,1997,1 had a meeting with Secretary-General Kofi

Annan in New York for a review of the current stage of negotiations and
to plan a strategy for the future course of action. The current position, as
I saw it, rested on the following five postulates:
1. At the June meeting there was a clear understanding that
Indonesia and Portugal would work for a solution that would be
less than their basic position.
2. Portugal, while insisting on the issue of self-determination, is
prepared to be flexible on its modalities, and does not insist on a ref­
erendum as long as the East Timorese are satisfied with a solution.
3. Indonesia says it is prepared to make major concessions,
including a wider devolution of power to the East Timorese and
the release of Xanana Gusmao, as long as Portugal is ready to
accept integration as the basis of the solution.
4. The senior officials’ meetings have achieved only limited
progress. Discussions have focused on three main issues: “models”
for a possible political arrangement, confidence building measures
(CBMs), and the AIETD.

65
66 East Timor

5. My proposal for a three-month suspension of military activ­

ity by the resistance, followed by a reduction of Indonesian troops,
has not been accepted by Jakarta.

We thought that the forthcoming visit of Suharto to South Africa

presented a valuable window of opportunity, and the Secretary-General
accordingly contacted President Mandela and outlined for the latter our
views. In particular, the Secretary-General stressed the importance of
involving Xanana Gusmao in the negotiating process. It was suggested
to Mandela that he should propose to Suharto that the Indonesian Gov­
ernment should conduct direct talks with Xanana in absolute secrecy, and
that these talks should take place without disrupting the ongoing talks
between Indonesia and Portugal under the auspices of the Secretary-Gen-
eral.
It was emphasized that Xanana was the one leader who commanded
universal respect among the opponents of integration, and that he was a
pragmatic, if proud, leader who understood political realities and the need
for compromise.
President Mandela, in due course, conveyed to the Secretary-Gen-
eral an account of his discussions with Suharto. Mandela stressed to
Suharto that the release of Xanana was not just a political issue but “as a
matter of common concern to all of us.” It would be very unfortunate if
the East Timor issue was once again permitted to raise its divisive head
during the forthcoming Non Aligned Conference.
Mandela felt that whereas Suharto did not explicitly accept the sug­
gestion, the latter’s “general demeanor” during the discussion appeared to
be “favorably disposed.” However, events were to prove that these hopes
were in vain, and Suharto’s decision on the continued incarceration of
Xanana remained as firm as ever, and the former thus continued to main­
tain a major obstacle to the progress of negotiations.
The next phase in the process of consultations began with a visit by
Tamrat Samuel and myself to Indonesia and East Timor just before
Christmas 1997. We adopted the standard procedure of meetings in
Jakarta with the Indonesian authorities, political leaders, and diplomats,
followed by a stopover in Bali for talks with the Udayama command, and
then on to Dili for meetings with the administration, the bishops, and
other East Timor personalities.
On our return to Jakarta we had a review meeting with Foreign Min­
ister Alatas, and a wrap-up press conference before departure. It became
immediately clear to me, upon arrival in Jakarta, that the confident eupho­
ria that had pervaded the capital during my earlier visit had by now con­
siderably dissipated, to be replaced by a sense of disquiet and feelings of
 Coming to Grips: The Negotiations Intensify 67

apprehension at the ominous approach of the dark clouds of nemesis. The

country had been ravaged by some of the worst forest fires in memory,
and large parts of Sumatra, Java, and neighboring Malaysia and Singa­
pore were shrouded for weeks in a dense pall of smoke and cinders.
The first fissures had begun to appear in the immense monolithic
financial pyramid of Indonesia, and with the International Monetary Fund
acting in an increasingly interventionist fashion, feelings of disquiet and
concern had replaced the confidence that had hitherto characterized the
attitude of the national, as well as multinational, corporations in Indone­
sia. The bulls were clearly being shoved aside by the bears. Finally, there
was the matter of the President’s health.
Suharto had been compelled, on medical grounds, to cancel his offi­
cial visits abroad, and to restrict his activities and public appearances at
home. For Indonesia, which had been accustomed for over thirty years to
Suhartro’s firm presence and grip on its body politic, these first signs of
frailty and fallibility could not have come at a more crucial or inappro­
priate moment.
My arrival had been preceded by a series of difficult, complicated,
and highly charged negotiations between the I.M.F. and the Indonesian
Government, as a result of which the latter had been compelled to accept
some major structural adjustments to its economy, measures which were
bound to have widespread negative social and political consequences, and
which in due course were to make a major contribution to the downfall
of Suharto. A widely published photograph of Suharto signing the I.M.F.
agreement document, while its Managing Director Michel Camdessus
stands beside him with folded arms, had a humiliating effect on the proud
Indonesian people and was, for the regime, a bit of a PR disaster.
In my talks with Alatas, I followed up on the initiatives of the Sec­
retary-General and President Mandela regarding Xanana Gusmao and
underlined the need to open quiet talks with the latter in whatever man­
ner or format the regime thought appropriate. A decision on this was
clearly beyond Alatas’ powers, but even so there was a distinct reluctance
on his part to address the matter. Then, somewhat to my astonishment
and concern, Alatas went on to express in the strongest terms his oppo­
sition to an element in the formula agreed upon between the Secretary-
General and the two Foreign Ministers in June 1997, specifically that the
talks should avoid, for the time being, the difficult issue of whether to
look for an “interim” or a “permanent” settlement.
He insisted that the talks should clearly aim at finding a permanent
settlement, and that settlement should be based upon Portugal’s acceptance
of “the reality of East Timor’s integration with Indonesia.” If Portugal were
68 East Timor

to commit itself to such an undertaking, he said he would work to convince

President Suharto and others to accept autonomy. Alatas continued his list
of complaints by what he saw as Portugal’s lack of seriousness in the nego­
tiations. He said that by indefinitely postponing a decision on crucial mat­
ters, Portugal was using the talks as a means of pressuring Indonesia.
He deplored the extensive information that third countries seemed
to have about the substance and stages of the negotiations. He said that
Portugal was in for a surprise if it thought that in the post-Suharto era
Indonesia would give up East Timor. He said some of the younger officers
rising in the Indonesian military did not even have a full understanding
of the history of East Timor, and saw it simply as an integral part of
Indonesia which had to be defended at all costs.
He said that he himself might not continue as Foreign Minister after
March, in which case he thought that my job would become much more
difficult. Alatas said that now was the time to resolve this problem if the
Portuguese were wise. When I raised the point with President Sampaio
in Lisbon later on, the President said he saw some merit in this argument,
but noted that while Suharto might have the power, he had not acted to
resolve the problem in all these years.
We next discussed the issue of autonomy, on which Alatas said, “the
whole world was pressing us.” He said that an “autonomous region* was
out of the question at present, but that some “autonomous steps/mea­
sures” were possible. He quickly added, however, that if the Portuguese
were ready to accept autonomy as a final dispensation, Indonesia would
negotiate in a reasonable way and he would do his best to obtain his Gov­
ernment’s agreement. He said that the “sugar coating” for Portugal could
be the release of Xanana and others, and Ramos Horta could return to
take part in the politics of East Timor.
The trend and tenor of Alatas’ presentation and argument fortified
my conviction of the difficult role that he had been compelled to play, and
that he was not only negotiating with the United Nations and Portugal,
but was also having to cope with an extremely complicated, and possibly
hostile, situation on the domestic front.
Alatas raised the issue of establishing interest sections in Jakarta and
Lisbon. This was a matter on which the Secretary-General was very keen,
and we thought that if it could be achieved then our negotiations would
get a great boost, both in perception as well as in fact. The Indonesians
were almost as keen as we were on the interest section issue, but Portu­
gal maintained a rigid refusal. They felt that it was one of the few bar­
gaining chips that they held, and were not going to give it up without
securing substantial concessions elsewhere.
 Coming to Grips: The Negotiations Intensify 69

Jaime Gama told me that while he recognized that interest sections

would be mutually advantageous, he indicated that it would not be easy
for Portugal to justify such a step to its public without some progress in
the situation in East Timor, and in the talks. My next meeting in Jakarta
was with Major General Prabowo Subianto, the powerful son-in-law of
President Suharto, and commander of the dreaded, elite Special Forces
(KOPASSUS).
Our encounter took place under the previous conditions of secrecy
and security, and Prabowo was as suave, self assured, and courteous as ever.
I gave him a frank assessment of my observations in East Timor and said
that while a case could be made for the argument that political realities
compel the acceptance of integration, there were equally compelling polit­
ical realities that the people of East Timor should be persuaded to accept
this view.
Currently, this was far from the case, and although Jakarta had taken
impressive measures to improve economic conditions in East Timor, and
although there was a welcome increase in the restraint exercised by the
army, the Government was a long way from winning the hearts and the
minds of the people of East Timor. I stressed the necessity for a mean­
ingful political dialogue on as broad a basis as possible, and one that
should certainly include Xanana Gusmao (whether in or out of prison)
and the two bishops.
Prabowo agreed with me and said that he had been working in this
direction since our last meeting in March. He stressed that what he was
about to tell me was in his “personal capacity only,” but long experience
has taught me to take such caveats with much reserve. Prabowo said that
he had managed to persuade the “entire Army Command and the Gen­
eral Staff” that if integration is accepted by the Portuguese then Jakarta
would grant the territory “special autonomous status,” withdraw all mil­
itary forces, release all political prisoners, and allow the East Timorese to
run the province in genuinely autonomous fashion.
The problem remained the President, and “you must help us to con­
vince him.” Prabowo suggested that a special appeal, conveyed in confi­
dence by the Secretary-General, and backed by world leaders such as
Kohl, Chirac, Mandela, and Lee Kwan Yew, might provide the requisite
persuasion. I told Prabowo that I would sound out the Portuguese in Lis­
bon, before reporting to the Secretary-General, and suggested that we
meet again, either in Paris or New York, to try and develop the idea fur­
ther.
However, the projected meeting did not take place, and this was the
last that I saw of Major General Prabowo Subianto. Events in his coun­
70 East Timor

try had already begun to move at a pace and in a direction that would
lead to a rapid diminution of his power and influence, and eventually to
his exile.
I visited Xanana Gusmao in Cipinang prison shortly after my meet­
ing with Prabowo. The meeting commenced by a request from Xanana
for a private conversation. I strongly endorsed this request, and after some
anxious hesitation on their part, the prison authorities and the Foreign
Ministry escorting officer left us on our own. Xanana started by saying
that he had reconsidered his previous position as stated to Mandela, and
that he was now prepared to accept exile in South Africa, so that he could
organize his political campaign. However, the proposal for this should
emanate from the United Nations and he would accept it.
Xanana also reiterated his assurance that he wanted to follow a peace­
ful, political campaign, and that he had no intention of causing “the
Indonesian military to lose face.” He urged me to convey this to the rel­
evant quarters in Jakarta. I welcomed this flexibility and farsighted
approach, and said that I would do my best to convince the Indonesian
authorities of his sincerity. I pointed out to Xanana that the Indonesian
position remained firmly predicated upon the acceptance of integration.
I added that there was reason to believe that East Timor could secure the
broadest measure of autonomy, coupled with troop withdrawals and release
of political prisoners, once the reality of integration was accepted.
One option available to Xanana was to commence negotiations on
this understanding under the aegis of the UN, which would guarantee its
implementation, provide special economic assistance to East Timor, and
ensure through a UN mission that the East Timorese were not abandoned
once an agreement was signed. The other option available to Xanana was
to continue the struggle by military means, implicit with further blood­
shed and hardship for his people. Xanana acknowledged this, adding that
he had been “told the same thing by Mandela.”
He queried whether “an interim arrangement” was possible, and I told
him that the Indonesians had categorically opposed the idea. Personally,
I thought that at some stage we might be able to find our way out of the
dilemma, but it would clearly have been inappropriate for me to indicate
even an inkling of this to Xanana at that time. After some deep reflection,
Xanana reiterated that he had “abandoned the military approach” and
pointed out, quite logically, that he would need both time and facilities
“to convince the people," and work for an understanding.
In the ensuing general discussion I expressed admiration for his lead­
ership and asked him to take further bold initiatives for peace and for his
people. I said that I had been urging the Indonesian authorities to com­
 Coming to Grips: The Negotiations Intensify 71

mence a secret dialogue with him, and had been told that something might
commence in the near future. I believed, from my latest talks with the
Indonesian leadership, and particularly with Prabowo, that the Indone­
sian authorities were beginning to realize the value of opening a direct
dialogue with Xanana, and that something would soon happen. In this
belief I was, of course, quite wrong, and I was equally mistaken in my
belief that Prabowo and I would be able to continue our critical discus­
sions on this subject in Paris the next week.
In Dili I had the usual round of meetings with the civil and mili­
tary authorities in the administration, and discerned that the earlier atti­
tudes of self-assurance and confidence had been replaced by a sense of
uncertainty and restiveness. In my meetings with the East Timorese lead­
ers, I was able to encounter a number of former adherents of integration,
led by Manuel Carascalao, who had just formed a new movement calling
for “reconciliation” and “self-determination.”
A meeting scheduled for thirty minutes went on for over two hours.
T he group bitterly complained about the manner in which integration had
been carried out, and that even when they had supported Indonesia they
had expected integration to come with dignity for the East Timorese.
After years of misrule, they said, “The path of integration has been closed
by injustice.” Nevertheless, they said they favored dialogue and compro­
mise rather than confrontation, and their main demand was for the inclu­
sion of East Timorese leaders in the process of negotiations.
They also expressed fears for their safety because of the open way in
which they had spoken, and asked for “UN protection.” I knew that their
fears were well-founded, and knew also how frail were my promises to
ensure their security. Haunted by these thoughts, I did not sleep much in
what was left of the night after our meeting ended. The next morning I
spoke in the strongest terms to the military and civil authorities in Dili,
and warned them against taking any measures against those whom I had
met the previous evening. Subsequently I was to learn that my admoni­
tion had not prevented retribution, but had only made it less severe.
As always, at all the talks with East Timorese in Dili, the importance
of Xanana and the need for his direct involvement in the process of dia­
logue was emphasized. Equally recognized was the importance of Bishop
Belo, whose rocky relationship with the military and the government had
continued unchanged. He drew a gloomy picture of the human rights sit­
uation and linked General Prabowo s Special Forces to many of the atroc­
ities. The Bishop was also concerned about the alienation of the younger
generation of East Timorese, who were not only increasingly resorting to
violence, but were doing so with the use of more sophisticated weaponry.
72 East Timor

Back in Jakarta, I had a series of meetings with my kind friends the

Ambassadors of the United States, the United Kingdom, Australia, Canada,
Japan, the Netherlands, Austria, South Africa, and the Philippines, and
also with the able representatives of the ICRC. Much of our talk was about
the current political and economic situation in Indonesia itself, and of an
impending crisis that would soon become a reality. There was much spec­
ulation as to how it might effect Jakarta’s policies toward East Timor, and
no one was quite sure as to how things might turn out. There was a dis­
tinct possibility, in my view, that the Indonesian position would harden.
Herodotus had observed that “it is evil to acquire an empire, but it
is dangerous to give it up.” A similar sentiment could well prevail amongst
Jakarta’s ruling elite at this time. Notwithstanding these concerns, I was
determined to maintain the pace of the negotiations, as I was convinced
that we should remain pro-active and not await events in hopeful antic­
ipation. I accordingly flew to Lisbon in early January 1998, and informed
my high-level trio of interlocutors, the President, Prime Minister, and For­
eign Minister, of my discussions in Jakarta and Dili, and of my ideas for
pushing the negotiations further, and made the following points:
A) During my visit to Indonesia in mid-December, I noted a
degree of flexibility in the position of both sides, the government
and the resistance, but considerable distrust still remains.
B) The dismal economic situation, coupled with the uncertain
political climate, creates a situation of considerable unpre­
dictability.
C) The economic crisis, though very severe, was, in my view,
of an extended temporary phase and would eventually be overcome,
given Indonesia’s vast natural and human resources.
D) Long-term political predictions were much more difficult,
but I was certain that a solution to the East Timor problem could
best be achieved during the Suharto regime. His successor, who­
ever he may be, was unlikely to possess the authority to push
through its implementation. Time was not on our side, and it
would be a grave error for us to think otherwise.
E) I inquired as to what would be Portugal’s bottom line on this
issue. Could they accept integration if the East Timorese were to
be given maximum autonomy, all Indonesian troops withdrawn,
political prisoners released, etc.?
F) Would Portugal be prepared to exchange interest sections in
Jakarta and Lisbon, as a confidence-building measure?

Subsequent events, and history itself, have revealed that whereas I

was correct in most of the above assessment, I could not have been more
wrong on the vital issues indicated in (D) above. In exculpation, I can
only say that the name of B.J. Habibie had not entered into anyone’s cal­
culations at that time, other than as subservient to the powerful Suharto,
 Coming to Grips: The Negotiations Intensify 73

nor could anyone have anticipated the far-sighted and dramatic decision
on East Timor that this unpredictable but remarkable man would take,
and implement, precisely one year later.
The Portuguese response to me, on the fundamental question regard­
ing the acceptance of integration, was predictably firm. It was argued quite
logically by Foreign Minister Gama that negotiations were pointless if
one party was required to commence by accepting the maximalist posi­
tion of the other. All three Portuguese leaders were quite firm that there
should be no change to the understanding reached in June. They were
equally firm that they could not accept a solution that was not based on
the freely expressed choice of the East Timorese people.
They stressed that Portugal had neither a territorial claim nor a pref­
erence for one form of solution over others—full integration, autonomy,
or independence. W hat matters, they insisted, was that the solution was
based on the freely expressed wish of the people. While a referendum
remained Portugal’s basic demand, it continued to stress that it was open
to any suggestion that could satisfy the free choice test. However, pend­
ing a final resolution of the problem, which Portugal thought might take
some time, they proposed some interim measures.
This was a three-phased approach which envisaged, in first phase, an
improvement of conditions in East Timor, in the second “interim demo­
cratic arrangements” with international monitoring (which could extend
up to ten years), and finally an act of self-determination to settle the prob­
lem. Here it was emphasized by President, Prime Minister, and Foreign
Minister alike that they would not insist upon a referendum, provided
the will of the East Timorese people could be ascertained in some impar­
tial and internationally acceptable form.
In my response, I indicated that the interim method of dealing with
the issue was anathema to the Indonesians, that it had already been
rejected by them, and that I saw no possibility of convincing them oth­
erwise. While agreeing with Jaime Gama that it would not be possible
to revise the understandings reached the previous June, I suggested that
Portugal give assurance to Indonesia that it was ready to work for a per­
manent settlement, without at the same time abandoning its position of
principle on the question of self-determination. On the question of inter­
est sections, the Portuguese attitude continued to be negative and they
continued to rate reasons of public opinion. I thought this to be some­
what specious, but decided to continue our efforts.
During my meeting with Prime Minister Guiterrez, we had the usual
brainstorming session, when we considered various alternatives and pos­
sibilities of advancing the negotiations. We discussed the forthcoming
74 East Timor

meeting in London of the Heads of Government of ASEAN and the

European Union, and Antonio Guterres said that he was prepared to meet
Suharto on this occasion, in any format that the UN might devise. I
thought this to be a truly bold decision on his part, and he confirmed my
sentiments when he remarked, with a wry smile, that there were not too
many democratic political leaders who would seek a photo opportunity
with Suharto these days.
On my return to New York I conveyed this to the Secretary-General,
who duly contacted both President Suharto and Prime Minister Guter­
res, proposing a meeting under his aegis, and also contacted the British
Government who were the hosts for the ASEAN-EU meeting in this
regard. For my part, just after my meeting with Guterres in Lisbon, I
informed the able British Ambassador, Roger Westbrook, of this devel­
opment and sought the cooperation of his government.
In view of the sensitive nature of the proposal, we took measures to
preserve its confidentiality, and I left Lisbon for New York to report to
the Secretary-General and commence work on a project that could have
crucial implications for our efforts. My meeting with Prime Minister
Guterres was, as always, lively and meaningful. This remarkable man was
under great personal stress at that time, because of the grave illness of his
beloved wife. In fact, immediately after our meeting he flew to London,
where she was undergoing treatment, and where she passed away shortly
thereafter.
These visits to Indonesia, East Timor, and Portugal convinced me
that we now had in place a working mechanism for a solution of the East
Timor problem, that the parties to the conflict had exhibited a demon­
strable desire for UN mediation, and that the UN should retain the ini­
tiative. It was now up to us to move the negotiations into the next stage,
which should be more intensive, more focused, and dare I say it, more cre­
ative.
One way to do this was to intensify our contacts with the New York
representatives of the core group of nations, which had evinced interest
in the East Timor problem, and I accordingly met, individually and col­
lectively, and on a frequent and regular basis, Ambassador Penny Wens-
ley of Australia, Ambassador Stuart Eldon of the United Kingdom,
Ambassador Nancy Soderburg of the United States, Ambassador Michael
Powles of New Zealand, and Ambassador Yuldo Takasu of Japan.
In addition, I set up a regime of regular telephone contacts with the
indomitable Stanley Roth, the Assistant Secretary at the State Depart­
ment in Washington. Our meetings, discussions, and consultations with
this elite coterie, high-powered in knowledge and diplomatic skill, and
 Coming to Grips: The Negotiations Intensify 75

representative of states that could bring to bear meaningful influence on

both Indonesia and Portugal, was a most invaluable adjunct to our nego­
tiation process. Their contribution to the solution of the East Timor prob­
lem was absolutely crucial, and really needs to be recognized and placed
on record. The United Nations owes much to their dedicated efforts and
substantive contributions, enthusiastically rendered throughout the process
o f negotiations.
We next began working on the project for a meeting in London
between President Suharto and Prime Minister Guterres, under the aegis
o f the Secretary-General. The British Government was most cooperative,
designated Admiralty House as the venue, and made the requisite admin­
istrative and security arrangements for the purpose. The Portuguese
readily accepted the Secretary-General’s invitation to the meeting, but
confirmation from Jakarta was not forthcoming, even though Suharto had
earlier told the Secretary-General on the telephone that he would attend
the tripartite meeting if his doctors permitted him to travel to London.
Following a flurry of telephone calls, we were informed that, for med­
ical reasons, President Suharto would not be attending the ASEAN-EU
Conference, and that the Indonesian delegation would be led by Vice
President BJ. Habibie. We were also informed, in the clearest terms, that
Indonesia was opposed to the trilateral format of the meeting proposed
by us, and that a high-level meeting between Guterres and Habibie, in
any form, was out of the question.
The Indonesians advanced the somewhat unconvincing argument
that Vice President Habibie was unfamiliar with the East Timor prob­
lem, and rejected our suggestion that perhaps he could leave the discus­
sions to Foreign Minister Alatas. However, the Indonesians were prepared
to meet with the Secretary-General for a bilateral discussion of the East
Timor issue. W hat I had hoped would be a First Division match had thus
been relegated to a Second Division fixture, but we decided to make the
best of it anyway.
Notwithstanding the setbacks which form a constant element in his
occupational hazard, discouragement is a sentiment which is totally alien
to Kofi Annan’s temperament, and indeed finds no place in his vocabu­
lary, either. He unhesitatingly decided to meet the Portuguese and Indone­
sian leaders individually while in London, and accordingly took a brisk
walk from the Dorchester to Habibie’s suite at a nearby hotel on the morn­
ing of April 3, 1998. The word brisk is a bit of an understatement, for
Kofi is a fast walker and some of us arrived at the destination a little short
of breath.
We were ushered into Habibie’s presence for what was to be, for most
76 East Timor

of us, our first encounter with this extraordinary man. After greeting the
Secretary-General warmly, Habibie immediately launched into an expo­
sition of the political and economic strength of Indonesia, reading out a
series of statistical figures from a paper presented to him by a nervous
aide. He then went on to say that Indonesia would shortly be signing an
agreement with the IMF. Turning to the issue of East Timor, Habibie
went into a tirade about the Portuguese, and said that he distrusted them
so much that there was absolutely no point in his meeting with their
Prime Minister.
He thanked the Secretary-General for the efforts made by the UN
to find a solution to the problem, and pointed out that Indonesia had already
shown its goodwill by being willing to establish interest sections in Jakarta
and Lisbon, a gesture which the Portuguese continued to reject. As far as
East Timor was concerned, Jakarta had made considerable efforts to
improve the living conditions of its inhabitants, who had suffered from
years of colonial domination, and that the majority of the people in the
island were aware of this.
The Secretary-General pointed out, gently but firmly, that this mas­
sive economic investment had still not changed the political climate, that
Jakarta had not succeeded in winning the hearts and minds of the peo­
ple of East Timor, and that a major political problem continued to exist.
The United Nations would therefore continue to seek a just solution, as
it was required to do by the relevant General Assembly and Security
Council resolutions.
This did not go down terribly well with Habibie, but he accepted it
with good grace, especially after Alatas chipped in to say that Indonesia
had always cooperated with the United Nations on this issue. It was
difficult to immediately assess the significance of the meeting, punctu­
ated as it was by Habibie’s effervescent, alternating tirades and enthusi­
asms. But it was quite clear that Habibie was still very much under
Suharto’s control, and that as far as East Timor was concerned his brief
was very rigorously circumscribed.
That afternoon we went to Admiralty House to meet Prime Minis­
ter Guterres, who was assisted by Foreign Minister Jaime Gama and
Ambassador Fernando Neves. The Secretary-General told Guterres that
during our morning meeting Habibie had indicated that Indonesia was
about to sign a new agreement with the IMF. The Prime Minister saw this
as a positive development; though Portugal wanted self-determination for
East Timor, it had no desire to see the people of Indonesia suffer. Gama
added that Portugal had made no attempt to complicate Indonesia’s deal­
ings with the IMF, implying that it could have done so if it wished.
 Coming to Grips: The Negotiations Intensify 77

On the question of interest sections, Guterres said that Portugal was

not attaching conditions to the idea, but felt that there should be a series
o f CBMs to be considered together. When a comprehensive settlement
is not possible, it should be possible to have “small” or “big” packages of
ideas while a long-term settlement is awaited.
The small package could include: freedom of East Timorese prison­
ers and improvement of human rights conditions in East Timor, in return
for which Portugal could end its pressure on Indonesia and its current
efforts toward the adoption of a resolution on East Timor in the Human
Rights Commission.
The larger package could be autonomy for East Timor, in return for
which Portugal would lift all the restraints it had put on Indonesia. Then,
in perhaps five to seven years, the problems could be resolved by them­
selves.
Our meetings in London, it seemed to me, produced only one pos­
itive result: Both sides were prepared and willing to continue the dialogue
and negotiations, and that while intransigence remained as strong as ever,
there was a marked decrease in bitterness. But to be realistic, we had made
no progress on the fundamentals, where the positions of both sides were
as far apart as ever.
O ur minutes on the meetings conclude with the phrase: “He (the Sec-
retary-General) emphasized that the UN will continue to work hard and
persevere, adding that Mr. Marker would try some innovative ideas.” I
flew out of London with this sobering injunction weighing heavily on my
mind. Fortunately, this kind of load is not subject to excess baggage
charges on airlines.
 8
Negotiations Continue in
the Shadow of Indonesia s
Summer of Discontent
N ew Y o r k a n d W a sh in g to n :
A p r i l a n d M a y 1998

... Experience teaches us that, generally speaking, the most

serious moment for a bad government is one when it seeks to
mend its ways. Only consummate statecraft can enable a King
to save his throne when after a long period o f oppressive rule
he sets to improve the lot o f his subjects. Patiently endured so
long as it seemed beyond redress, a grievance comes to appear
intolerable once the possibility o f removing it crosses men’s
minds.
—Alexis de Tocqueville, T he Ancient
Regime and the French Revolution

In early April of 1998,1 held a brainstorming session in New York

with my colleagues in the Department of Political Affairs to decide on
our next move. We also had consultations with the Ambassadors in our
core group, and I made a quick trip to Washington for a meeting with
Stanley Roth, from whom I received, as usual, a most accurate and up-
to-date reading on the turbulent events in Indonesia.
The news from Jakarta was cause for increasing concern. The whole
of ASEAN had begun to reel under the disastrous economic crisis that
had struck the region, turning the aspect of its financial structures, almost
overnight, from institutions of opulent dynamism into ones of near des-

78
 Negotiations Continue in the Summer o f Discontent 79

peration. The worst hit, of course, was Indonesia, where the hitherto sta­
ble rupiah suddenly shot through the roof, as the dramatic signal of a
widespread economic and financial crisis of immense magnitude.
The IMF was again compelled to step in and check the hemorrhage.
The conditionalities, including long overdue measures of fiscal discipline,
imposed by the Fund triggered the now familiar pattern of aggravating
social unrest, which in turn added to the prevalent volatile political sit­
uation within the country. The ailing but still autocratic Suharto’s phys­
ical health was a matter of obvious concern, but it seemed to me that his
political health was even more precarious, with a prognosis that was far
from reassuring.
Countrywide agitations were leading to a situation that was becom­
ing dangerously unpredictable, with Suharto making concessions that were
always too little and too late. I recall contemplating the situation in April
1998, and observed that in the case of East Timor we were dealing with
half an island in an archipelago of sixteen thousand islands, and with a
population of under one million in an overall population of over two hun­
dred million. God forbid, but if Indonesia were to implode, then there
was not much that we could do about East Timor.
Mentioning these flights of fancy, at that time, to the Secretary-
General, I said that working on East Timor under these circumstances
was a bit like polishing the dinner silver on the Titanic. Kofi’s response
was a soft chuckle and a quiet, “Well, let’s go on doing it.” O f course,
doomsday scenarios occasionally cross the minds of all negotiators, and I
knew that we had no option except to go on doing what we had com­
menced. In this instance, however, I was quite convinced that notwith­
standing all the odds, and despite all the civil and social unrest that
prevailed at the time, Indonesia would overcome its difficulties.
This was largely because of the intrinsic nature and civilization of
its people, a characteristic which I had just begun to know, and one which
I admired tremendously. W hat confirmed and added immensely to my
admiration was the fact that the same people, within a few short months,
would defy all doubters and a general international pessimism, would
overcome all obstacles imposed by a prolonged dictatorship and a wrecked
economy, and would go on to hold free, fair, and generally peaceful elec­
tions, and commence the process of creating democratic institutions.
It may be necessary to continue this brief diversion reviewing the
chronology of events in Indonesia, in order to place this narrative in per­
spective. Contrary to his undertakings given to the IMF for its “rescue
package” in October 1997, Suharto introduced a budget in January 1998,
which, inter alia, increased government spending and subsidies, and left
80 East Timor

monopolies unregulated. Following mounting domestic and international

pressures, Suharto renegotiated the agreement with the IM F in February
1998.
But by that time increasing unemployment and rising food prices had
provoked countrywide agitation against Suharto’s rule, and had made a
major issue of his family’s corruption. There was widespread rioting in
April, in which the students took a leading part, culminating in the death
of six students at Jakarta’s Trisakti University on May 14. This sounded
the death knell for the Suharto regime, as it triggered riots and massive
demonstrations all over the country, and ended with students occupying
the National Assembly building in Jakarta.
On May 21,1998, with Indonesia in almost total paralysis, Suharto
resigned and handed over power to his Vice President, B. J. Habibie. Thus
ended thirty-two years of rule: clearly the ruler had failed, in his last days,
to display the consummate statecraft that de Tocqueville had considered
necessary on such occasions. The consequences of Suharto’s departure
became immediately apparent in Indonesia, and their political impact was
and continues to remain both uncertain and far-reaching. Certainly it
changed the dynamic of the East Timor problem in a manner which will
be traced in subsequent chapters.
As for Suharto, and his long rule in Indonesia, it is still too early to
make any definitive judgment and this is a task that should be left to
qualified historians. One would have to await the outcome of the process
of de-Stalinization, which is currently under way, and is inevitable under
the present circumstances. Only then can there be an objective historical
catharsis. One is reminded of Chou En Lai’s famous observation that it
is as yet too early to make a definitive analysis of the French Revolution.
In the case of Suharto, one may not have to wait quite as long.
Notwithstanding the concern caused to us by the volatile situation
in Indonesia, we decided to press on with our efforts. I felt that they should
be focused on four main issues. The first and most important was to con­
tinue the negotiations in the SOM format, and to simultaneously push
along the AIETD. The other three items were basically CBMs, which
would require constant prodding and the discreet application of pressure.
These were (a) the release of Xanana Gusmao and his participation in
the negotiations process, (b) the withdrawal of a substantial quantity of
troops from East Timor in a manner which could be verified, and (c) the
establishment of interest sections in Lisbon and Jakarta.
I felt that all three of the latter objectives were attainable if one per­
sisted and went about it the right way. Success in achieving them would
not only be a great spur to our efforts, but would also carry useful prac­
 Negotiations Continue in the Summer of Discontent 81

tical as well as publicity impact and value. I accordingly mounted a sus­

tained campaign of persuasion on the three issues in both Jakarta and
Lisbon, and invoked the formidable support of our core group of states.
Stanley Roth was particularly active and helpful in this regard, flourish­
in g carrots and sticks from his plentiful stock in appropriate manner and
a t appropriate moments.
I convened the next Senior Officials Meeting in New York from May
6 to 8,1988. The agenda consisted of two items, (a) a discussion on “ideas
for a possible political arrangement,” and (b) the organization of the next
A IETD . We submitted in advance to both sides a Non-Paper, with a
“strictly confidential” security grading, which outlined certain thoughts
on the first item.
In so doing, I wrote to both Neves and Wisnumurti:
The following ideas are being submitted with a view to continu­
ing and enriching the previous discussions of the Senior Officials
Meeting concerning possible political arrangements for East
Timor. They are intended to serve as a basis for discussion, and
do not, as such, constitute a formal proposal. The ideas are being
submitted in the letter and spirit of the Secretary-General’s meet­
ing with the two Foreign Ministers (June 19 and 20,1997).
They are an element in the attempt to find a just, comprehen­
sive and internationally acceptable solution. Thus, they do not in
any way prejudge the outcome of the negotiating process, and are
without prejudice to the basic position of either side. They pro­
vide the general principles delineating spheres of authority in a
possible future power sharing arrangement for East Timor, with
details to be expounded at a later stage.
The outlines of the arrangement were for the Indonesian Govern­
ment to have competence over foreign relations, defense, currency, and
finance. The East Timor regional authority would exercise legislative,
executive, and judicial powers in all areas except those designated as the
responsibility of the Indonesian Government. East Timor would also have
complete cultural autonomy, including in education, language, and the
promotion of culture.
The paper went on to detail the suggested respective areas of com­
petence in respect to foreign relations, defense, economy, currency, and
finance, the applicability of Indonesian laws, and the competence of the
East Timor authority in terms of legislative, executive, and judicial power,
and of public order.
In consonance with our malign tradition, the Senior Officials Meet­
ing in May commenced on a sour and unpleasant note, and at the end of
the first day the distrust and bitterness increased to an extent that could
have jeopardized the entire process of negotiations. Fortunately, wiser
82 East Timor

counsels prevailed and we were able to bring the meeting to a reasonably

successful conclusion. Most importantly, both the Indonesian and Por­
tuguese delegations were scrupulous in maintaining the confidentiality of
the discussions, so that most people were unaware of our close call.
The Human Rights Commission had just ended its session in Geneva
by expressing, in a presidential statement, its deep concern on violations
in East Timor, and had secured a pledge from the Indonesian Govern­
ment to allow the UN to investigate, within one year, the arbitrary deten­
tions in the territory. Following intensive negotiations between Indonesia
and the European Union, the latter had withdrawn its strongly worded
draft resolution in exchange for a consensus statement.
This was a satisfactory outcome, from my point of view, and could
have established a reasonable climate for our SOM meeting. Unfortu­
nately, it was more than offset by another event, also in Europe, which
had also occurred in late April. The Portuguese Government, largely, I
felt, at the initiative of President Sampiao, had organized a meeting of
the various disparate East Timor resistance groups on April 26 at Peniche,
near Lisbon, the outcome of which was the establishment of an umbrella
organization called the National Council for Timorese Resistance.
The two hundred delegates unanimously adopted a draft charter uni­
fying all the resistance groups, setting out the statutes of the CNRT, and
electing Xanana Gusmao as the “Lider Maximo” (supreme leader) and
President of CNRT, with Ramos Horta as Vice President. During our
earlier meetings, President Sampiao had urged me to send a UN observer
to this conference, but for obvious reasons I had firmly declined the invi­
tation. The Indonesian reaction to Peniche was predictably sharp, but it
exceeded my expectations by going beyond a strong verbal condemna­
tion.
Indonesia maintained that the Peniche convention was an attempt
by Portugal and Ramos Horta to intensify pressure on Jakarta, and was
against the spirit of the AIETD. Consequently, it maintained that the
AIETD should be discontinued, and Wisnumurti said that he was under
instructions not to discuss the implementation of its previous agreements,
nor was he to discuss arrangements for the next AIETD.
The Portuguese reaction was equally strong. They insisted that there
was no linkage between the activities of the resistance and the AIETD.
In their view, the only thing that had changed as a result of the Conven­
tion was that the resistance now had a united organization. They accused
Indonesia of using the issue as an excuse to end the AIETD. Portugal
acknowledged that it had supported the Peniche Convention, as was its
right as the Administering Power.
 Negotiations Continue in the Summer of Discontent 83

If Indonesia was going to stick to its position, the Portuguese warned

that it might have to reconsider the whole tripartite process, because it
had been agreed at the June 1997 meeting between the Secretary-Gen­
eral and the two Foreign Ministers that the AIETD would be part of the
SOM agenda. Consequently, Neves declined to discuss the fixing of dates
for the next round of talks, before reporting to Foreign Minister Gama
and receiving instructions.
This put me in a rather delicate position, and I knew that I was faced
with something much more than a tantrum of prima donnas. I felt it nec­
essary to initiate some intensive dialogues on a bilateral basis with the
Indonesians and the Portuguese. In my talk with Neves I regretted that
the resistance convention had become an issue in our negotiations, and
added that the suspension or discontinuance of the AIETD would be a
major setback for our negotiations, and an embarrassment to the UN.
I intended to try and resolve this issue in my discussions with the
Indonesians, and also intended to continue our discussion on the “model”
during the current session. In this connection, would Portugal accept dis­
cussing autonomy as a final settlement, subject to eventual acceptance by
the East Timorese?
To Wisnumurti, I expressed regret that the resistance convention
had become a complicating factor, but I emphasized that jeopardizing the
A IETD would be counterproductive: inevitably Indonesia would be
blamed by others, irrespective of Indonesia’s views on the matter. It would
also be a setback for the tripartite efforts at a time when we were enter­
ing into serious negotiations. I recalled that the UN had declined an invi­
tation from the sponsors to send an observer to the convention, and that
I would speak to the representatives of the resistance and ensure that the
AIETD would not be adversely affected by the Convention.
After some more shuttling between the Indonesian and Portuguese
delegations, and using every form of persuasion that I was capable of—
short of threatening to jump off the 38th floor of the UN building or
throw myself into the East River—we managed to secure an understand­
ing to set aside the issue of the AIETD for the time being, and to resume
our discussions on the autonomous arrangements.
I commenced our trilateral meeting by suggesting that the guiding
spirit of our discussions should be to devise solutions through free-think-
ing and not hard-nosed bargaining—the time for the latter would come
in due course. I also urged the negotiators not to argue over the past, but
instead to discuss the future and see where there could be some reconcil­
iation of views. Both Neves and Wisnumurti took these suggestions in
good spirit, and conducted negotiations in a businesslike and construc-
84 East Timor

tivc manner, so that by the end of the session we had some useful input
to our working paper on autonomy.
I met with Ali Alatas in New York on Mayl6. He was obviously
deeply concerned and preoccupied with events back home in Indonesia,
but we did discuss East Timor in some depth. I stressed to him the need
to reconsider his decision on the AIETD, pointing out that this was the
only organized channel for consultations between the UN and the East
Timorese. If this was to disappear, we would be obliged to intensify our
direct contacts with East Timorese leaders such as Ramos Horta.
Alatas promised to reconsider the matter, but in view of the pre­
vailing uncertainty of the situation in Indonesia, we agreed to await devel­
opments before embarking on the next phase of negotiations. It was clear
to me, at that time, that the future course of our talks was going to be
largely determined by the evolution of events in Indonesia.
While keeping a troubled eye on the Titanic from distant New York,
I continued to work on the East Timor negotiation process, and decided
to invigorate our autonomy proposal. The paper that we had prepared
and discussed until now had contained the broad outlines of our objec­
tives, and I felt that we ought to present to both sides a much more sub­
stantive and sophisticated document, which would contain both ideas of
principles as well as details, and would merit serious, in depth discussion.
I felt, with all due respect, that our resources within the Department
of Political Affairs were insufficient for the purpose which I had envis­
aged, largely because the document I wanted would need not only legal
expertise and professionalism, but also a full-time effort, which the over­
worked officers of the Department could obviously not provide. Vendrell
had the bright idea of entrusting the task to Professor Hurst Hanum of
the Fletcher School of Law and Diplomacy at Tufts University in Boston,
and we were most grateful that he accepted the challenging offer.
Hurst Hanum proved to be an ideal choice, for he was not only a
recognized expert on international law, but also had considerable experi­
ence in human rights issues. At our first meeting I explained our basic
requirements to Hurst, and within a very short time he produced an excel­
lent document, extremely well structured and substantive in content. I
immediately sent copies to Lisbon and Jakarta, and the document became
the basic working paper for our subsequent discussions, with Hurst join­
ing in as a participant, providing explanations and drafting amendments.
The paper that we eventually negotiated was so complete, in my view,
that its elements could well form the basic framework of a constitution
for an independent East Timor.
We also pursued our other objective, the release of Xanana Gusmao.
 Negotiations Continue in the Summer o f Discontent 85

Shortly after assuming office, President Habibie had released a number

o f political prisoners in Indonesia. In his message of congratulations to
th e new President, the Secretary-General had expressed appreciation for
th is gesture, and suggested that it may also be extended to Xanana. By
th e end of May we were all very conscious of the vast changes that were
taking place in Indonesia, but despite the uncertainties that they evoked,
an d unsettling as they might appear at first sight, I was sure that the new
situation would provide a window of opportunity. The trick was to rec­
ognize it when it occurred, and to seize it.
 9
The Second Innings:
Indonesia in Transit
and Tumult
N e w Y o r k , L isb o n , J a k a r t a , a n d
E a s t T im o r : Ju n e a n d J u l y 1998

In all négociations o f difficulty, a man may not look to sow and

reap at once: but must prepare business, and so ripen it by
degree.
—Francis Bacon, Essays: “O f Negociating”

We did not have to wait too long. Early in June, Alatas called me
from Jakarta to say that he would shortly arrive in New York to deliver
to the Secretary-General “an important proposal” on East Timor, an essen­
tial element of which would be a “special autonomous status” for the
region. Alex told me in confidence that he was “seizing a window of oppor­
tunity to obtain a consensus among the present Indonesian leadership.”
Given the uncertainty of the prevalent Indonesian political situation,
with its economic hardship and the divergence of opinion generally, his
task could not have been an easy one. I hoped that the proposal would
provide scope for positive negotiations, be worthy of serious considera­
tion, and be one which we could convey with credibility to the Portuguese.
An important factor in examining the proposal would obviously be the
involvement of the East Timorese people.
Their position of the resistance had by now been greatly strength­
ened, both internally and internationally. W hat form of consultation did

86
 The Second Innings 87

Jakarta envisage, and were they prepared to release and negotiate with
Xanana? Stanley Roth had told me that he had met Xanana in prison two
weeks previously, and that the latter continued to display an impressive
objective and statesmanlike attitude.
In a typically friendly meeting with the Secretary-General, Alatas
delivered Habibie’s proposals in the form of a verbal demarche, but later
handed over to us a paper which contained his “Talking Points” and stated:
1. The Indonesian Government is prepared to grant a special sta­
tus to East Timor, with wide-ranging autonomy, in the context and
as part of a comprehensive, just and mutually acceptable end-solu-
tion to the question of East Timor. Toward this end, Indonesia is
ready to negotiate the substantive elements o f such a special,
autonomous region of East Timor within the ongoing tripartite
talks under the auspices of the U.N. Secretary-General.
2. Indonesia is of the view that considering the historical, polit­
ical, socio-cultural, and geographic factors and conditions per­
taining to the East Timor question, the creation of a special,
autonomous province within the unitary Republic of Indonesia
represents the most realistic, viable, and peaceful solution to the
problem. On the other hand, the proposal to conduct a referen­
dum would, in view of the long history of bitter strife and blood­
shed in the province, only re-open old wounds, re-ignite violent
disputes, and conflict and may even lead to renewed civil war.
3. Indonesia believes that this proposal reflects, once again, the
sincerity and determination with which it has always approached
the peaceful solution of this long standing issue and now expects
the same degree of political will and sincerity to imbue and moti­
vate the Portuguese side.
4. A new opportunity is now being provided in order to arrive
at a comprehensive settlement of the question and all sides should
grasp that opportunity and not allow it to be lost because of an
erroneous or speculative assessment of the prevailing situation.

Although the proposal had formally come from President Habibie,

the skill and mastery of Alatas’ draughtsmanship, both in ideas and pre­
sentation, was quite unmistakable. As far as I was concerned, this was a
great relief: Alex would continue to play a key role in the new dispensa­
tion. We felt that the Habibie proposal was clearly a step in the right direc­
tion, and should be pursued even though we did not think it went far
enough. Our analysis of the situation was as follows:
1. East Timor was at the crossroads. Although, as Alatas had said,
“President Suharto’s departure has opened a window of opportu­
nity,” there was still a wide chasm between the growing demand
in the Territory for self-determination and what the Habibie Gov­
ernment was prepared to give.
2. Habibie’s offer of a “special status” had provoked widespread
opposition in East Timor. In the latest of these actions, reminis­
88 East Timor

cent of the Jakarta student protests in the days preceding Suharto’s

resignation, hundreds of East Timorese youth had occupied the
local parliament building in Dili. In the new atmosphere of free­
dom, the demand for a referendum was now being expressed even
by some former pro-integrationists.
3. In Indonesia itself, for the first time, opposition politicians,
NGOs, and human rights activists were calling for a political solu­
tion on the basis of a free choice of the East Timorese, although
opinion was divided on the question of independence.
4. On the other hand, the military seemed reluctant to with­
draw troops, even though it had acted with unprecedented restraint
in the face of the recent protests.
5. Thus far, Jakarta had ruled out referendum as an option, and
had shown no intention of opening a dialogue with the East Tim ­
orese leaders. But with the growing demand for a referendum, we
felt that the government should urgently start talks with figures
like Xanana Gusmao and Bishop Belo.
6. We ought to revitalize the AIETD, and in order for it to
achieve its full potential its format should be amended to include
participation by Xanana, together with a lifting of the ban on dis­
cussion of the political status of East Timor.
7. An overall solution would have to include a mechanism that
would allow the East Timorese population to express its views: the
Senior Officials’ Meeting had already been directed to seek “pos­
sible mechanisms for ascertaining the views of the East Timorese
people.”
8. There was an urgent need to mobilize international support
for the Secretary-General’s efforts at this critical juncture, in order
to encourage Indonesia to take bold steps to resolve the East Timor
issue.

In his meeting with the Secretary-General on June 18, Alatas made

his usual persuasive presentation. He warned that it was not easy, in the
prevailing volatile political climate in Indonesia, to obtain agreement to
the proposals, which he had just presented. Such a significant shift in
position was unimaginable under the previous regime, and every effort
should be made to consider the proposal in a serious and realistic man­
ner. The Secretary-General’s response was contained in a letter that he
sent to Habibie, immediately after the meeting with Alatas.
The Secretary-General described the proposals as “important, and
... receiving the most careful study by us here in New York. Your ideas
will shortly be conveyed to the Portuguese Government by my Personal
Representative, and you will be informed of their reaction.” The Secre­
tary-General expressed his appreciation of the President’s initiative, and
requested that this exchange of views remain confidential.
Accordingly, I flew to Lisbon in the last week of June for consulta­
tions with the Portuguese Government. We discussed the UN working
 The Second Innings 89

paper on autonomy, which Lisbon found to be a useful document. Presi­

dent Sampaio, in particular, was impressed by the paper and had obvi­
ously gone through it with a very fine-tooth comb. It was discussed in
some detail, and added to the stimulus and pleasure of a delicious work­
ing dinner, which the President graciously provided at his residence.
The other, more important, issue was the Indonesian proposal for
wide-ranging autonomy, which Alatas had just presented to the Secre­
tary-General. I was happy to notice that on this visit there had been a
substantial change in Lisbon’s attitude toward Jakarta. The Portuguese
generally welcomed the Indonesian proposal as a positive development
that gave the clearest signal of the changing attitude in Jakarta. How­
ever, they remained skeptical about the real value of the proposal, as it
did not represent any fundamental change in the basic Indonesian posi­
tion, i.e., that self-determination for East Timor was not an option, and
that any concession on autonomy was conditional on Portugal’s and the
UN’s recognition of its sovereignty in East Timor.
Foreign Minister Gama said that the recent developments vis-à-vis
East Timor were “very, very positive,” but he stressed that the reform in
Indonesia had not yet crystallized and no one knew where it was head­
ing. He said that autonomy meant different things under a dictatorship
and a democracy, and it was not clear which was being offered to East
Timor. Gama expressed the hope that Indonesia would provide more
details about its proposal in order to see whether they fit into a democ­
ratic frame, and whether they could be reconciled with the principle of
self-determination.
For example, would the Indonesians permit the formation of East
Timorese political parties? I replied that my understanding from Alatas
was that the proposal involved a genuine autonomy that would only
exclude foreign affairs, external defense, and currency from the areas of
East Timorese authority, and that freedom of association in East Timor
would be permitted, with details being discussed at a later stage.
Gama warned that what should be avoided was the consolidation of
Indonesian control under the guise of a more benign policy that would
effectively allow Indonesia to get what it had not been able to achieve by
force. I assured the Minister, somewhat peremptorily, that the United
Nations could never be a part of any such scheme. I then urged Gama to
consider the opening of interest sections in Jakarta and Lisbon, in the
light of the change of attitudes in Indonesia and the new developments,
including the release of some East Timorese political prisoners.
I also reiterated Alatas’ assurance that Portuguese diplomats would
be allowed free access to East Timor. We discussed the importance of hold­
90 East Timor

ing the next AIETD in an amended format, and more importantly, the
dates for the next meeting between the Secretary-General and the For­
eign Ministers, which we tentatively set for early August.
My session with Prime Minister Guterres was as productive and
pleasant as always. He regarded the Indonesian proposal as a positive
sign, and reiterated Portugal’s readiness to consider it provided that
Indonesia did not ask Portugal to recognize Indonesian sovereignty over
East Timor as a precondition. He also stressed the importance of obtain­
ing East Timorese agreement to any settlement.
Guterres added that Portugal had already eased its diplomatic pres­
sure on Indonesia, and was prepared to withdraw its reservations about
opening interest sections in Jakarta and Lisbon, and even consider full
normalization of relations, if Indonesia were to take more concrete posi­
tive steps, such as the improvement of human rights conditions in East
Timor, and the release of Xanana Gusmao.
On the latter point, the Prime Minister and I were in complete accord,
and I assured him that I would do my best during my forthcoming visit
to Indonesia. My main objective, at this point in time, was to move the
political process forward before it was overtaken by forces on the ground.
President Sampaio thought that the latest Indonesian proposal was
“a very clever one,” and implied that it was an attempt by Alatas to sell
an old idea in a new package. While agreeing with my view that the pre­
sent opportunity must be seized, he stressed that everyone must be clear
as to what was being sought. Although he was prepared to give Indone­
sia the benefit of the doubt, he said that presenting autonomy as the con­
clusion and then embarking on negotiations would not work. He thought
that “we need to engineer” some kind of modalities for a gradual approach,
such as a period of transition when the issue of status would remain sus­
pended.
I had a series of meetings with the leaders of the newly formed
umbrella organization of East Timorese, the CNRT, which revealed, to no
great surprise, a very reserved reaction to the Indonesian proposal. There
was profound distrust, and an insistence on concrete evidence of good faith
by the Indonesians, such as the release of Xanana Gusmao. I reassured the
CNRT that no solution on East Timor could be reached without the
involvement and agreement of the East Timorese people, but in order to
avail of the present changed circumstances it was essential that the resis­
tance carry out a peaceful political campaign and not resort to violence.
The visit to Lisbon had gone as well as could be expected. I had
anticipated that the Portuguese would maintain their position of princi­
ple on the autonomy issue, but I had also hoped that their attitude would
 The Second Innings 91

display some flexibility and a realization of the changed and changing cir­
cumstances in Indonesia. I was right on both counts, and was particularly
encouraged by the obvious desire in Lisbon for an intensification of nego­
tiations and for participation in constructive fashion.
It was a reassuring thought to keep at the back of one’s mind when
talking to the Indonesians in Jakarta. Immediately upon my return to
New York I was confronted with a glitch, unexpected and unwelcome as
glitches always are. Tamrat Samuel told me that he had called Bishop Belo
in Dili to verify the reports of a document being circulated in East Timor
as “Ambassador Marker’s proposal for resolving the question of East
Timor.” The document was the untitled “model,” which we had sent to
Jakarta and Lisbon prior to the May meeting of the Senior Officials in
New York.
Not only was this a most serious breach of the confidentiality under
which our negotiations were proceeding, but worse still, it was a selective
leak which omitted the fundamental caveat that the contents did not in
any way represent a proposal but were only for the purpose “of enriching
the previous discussions.” Even more disturbing was Bishop Belo’s report
that he had received a visit from Governor Abilio Osorio Soares and some
military officers who handed him “a six-page document bearing Ambas­
sador Markers signature” and informed him that it was the United
Nations’ proposal for a final settlement of the problem of East Timor and
that “there was no other alternative for people in East Timor but to accept
* . n

The Bishop was asked to present this to the people as an accom­

plished fact and to persuade them not to oppose it. Moreover, according
to Belo, Indonesian officials and pro integration figures close to the Gov­
ernor were widely distributing the document and telling the people not
to expect anything beyond what was contained in the paper.
Clearly, no actions could be more outrageous or mala fide. I imme­
diately made an indignant telephone call to Foreign Minister Alatas in
Jakarta and reported the incident. He expressed what I thought were gen­
uine surprise and shock, and said that he would institute an immediate
inquiry into the matter. His anguished immediate response was that
“somebody is trying to sabotage our efforts.”
I said that we would be issuing an appropriate official statement, and
Alatas told me that he, too, would issue a statement that “no proposals
have been made either by the United Nations, or by Indonesia or by Por­
tugal.” This flurry of statements served to contain, to a certain extent, the
immediate damage. But the incident left me with an uncomfortable sense
of foreboding: the fluid and volatile political situation in Indonesia was
92 East Timor

beginning to provide a fertile climate for disruption and mischief by dis­

sident reactionary elements.
My next visit to Indonesia and East Timor was from July 16 to the
22,1998, and confirmed my expectation that the trip would be an event­
ful one. Political ferment was palpable in both Indonesia and East Timor,
with a plethora of political parties enthusiastically exercising their new­
found freedom and a hesitant establishment reacting to events in a series
of uncertain fits and starts. At the end of June, a Troika of European
Union Ambassadors, led by the British Ambassador, who was its current
President, had visited East Timor on a fact-finding mission.
The Indonesian Government had provided the Troika with all the
necessary facilities and the members were able to meet East Timorese of
both the pro-independence and pro-integration groups. But in the tense,
charged political atmosphere that prevailed in the island, the presence of
the high profile Troika of ambassadors created an emotional focal impact
that the local administration was unable to handle.
Things went reasonably smoothly during the early part of the visit
in Dili, but tensions began to build up, and during the later stages, when
the Troika were visiting Bishop Nasciemento in Baucau, there was a
demonstration followed by a serious clash between the pro-independence
and pro integration groups, resulting in some casualties. In a rapidly dete­
riorating security situation, the Troika had to be evacuated from the island
by a military aircraft.
There were dramatic reports of the incident in the Indonesian press,
so that by the time that I arrived in Jakarta, there was already a percep­
tible feeling of jitters about any further visits to East Timor by VIPs.
W ith Francis Bacon’s ever-wise counsels as deep background in my
thoughts, I felt that I “must prepare business, and so ripen it by degree.”
Apart from the obvious and valuable need to advance the dynamics
of the overall negotiating process with the new Habibie administration,
I set the following objectives for the current session in Jakarta:
A. Deepen contacts with the leaders of the main newly active and
assertive political parties.
B. Press vigorously for the release of Xanana Gusmao, or at
least for his transfer from Cipinang prison to a residence, under
some form of “house arrest.” At the same time, involve him in
active political negotiations with the Indonesian authorities, and
possibly others.
C. Arrange for a verifiable withdrawal of troops from East
Timor.
D. The establishment of interest sections in Jakarta and Lisbon.

As for the first issue, the prevailing political conditions were obvi-
 The Second Innings 93

ousiy propitious for broadening my earlier contacts with the leaders of

different political parties and giving them an authoritative account of
what the United Nations was trying to do about East Timor. I was con­
vinced that any relationship that we would be able to build at this stage
with the leading, highly competent Indonesian politicians would not only
be most helpful in terms of advice and guidance during the negotiations,
but would be vital for the implementation process of the agreement, when­
ever it came, and whatever shape it might eventually assume.
Accordingly, I had a series of meetings with the leaders of the main
Indonesian political parties, notably Abdurrahman Wahid, “Gus Dur ”
Megawati Sukarnoputri, and Marzuki Darusman, and had the good for­
tune to develop a relationship with each of them that rapidly became both
valuable and productive.
I started my visit to Jakarta, as usual, with a meeting with Foreign
Minister Alatas. And, as always, it was as frank, friendly, and productive
as one could wish, or as the circumstances of political realities could per­
mit. I conveyed the Portuguese response to Indonesia’s autonomy pro­
posal, stating that they had welcomed it as a positive development and
were ready to continue the negotiations, but that Portugal could not, in
advance, be expected to agree to autonomy as a final settlement of the
problem without the East Timorese expressing their views on it.
Alatas was somewhat dismayed that the Portuguese could not be
more forthcoming, and hoped that eventually Portugal would see that
autonomy was the only viable solution, and would work toward that end,
even if it could not say so in public. I stressed to Alatas that there was au
urgent need to involve the East Timorese more closely, and that Xanana
Gusmao had a key role in this, as he was the only leader who had the
strength and following in East Timor to bring the people around and
pacify the territory.
Unfortunately, Alatas’view of Xanana did not correspond with mine,
so we did not get very far on that one. Nevertheless, I continued my strong
pleas to move Xanana from prison to “house arrest,” so that he could have
more access and be more directly involved in the negotiating process. In
this, I was adding my voice to an international diplomatic chorus, which
I was furiously orchestrating in the demand for Xanana’s release.
We discussed the possibility of an expanded role and function for
the AIETD, and I pointed out that since the political future of East
Timor was now being openly debated in the streets of Jakarta and Dili,
it would be quite invidious to exclude it from the agenda of the AIETD.
Alatas did not agree, as he thought that it would constitute a “second
track” to the UN sponsored tripartite negotiations. He suggested, instead,
94 East Timor

that the UN intensify its direct contacts with the East Timorese of all
political persuasions. This “back channel” consultation could be conducted
by the UN as a way of assessing the views of the East Timorese people.
We were received by President B.J. Habibie in the opulent splendor
of his office, with its regalia of guards, liveried staff, and important look­
ing officials scurrying in and out of the vast corridors. The contrast
between this meeting and my first one with his predecessor in the quiet,
shady Suharto residence could not have been more stark. And yet, I
thought to myself, it was the soft-spoken recluse who had the mind set
of the dictator, while the voluble extrovert Habibie possessed the more
liberal temperament and had demonstrated this by a number of measures
that he had already taken, such as removing restraints on the trade unions
and the press.
He recounted these and other similar achievements to me with a
zestful absence of modesty. As often happens in political life, there appears
a leader who has greatness thrust upon him by fate and by circumstances
which are frequently adverse. Habibie was a prime example of this even­
tuality, taking office at a time of the most severe national adversity, with
Indonesia in the throes of the worst political, economic, and financial cri­
sis that it had known in thirty years.
An intrinsically religious man, Habibie had assumed his responsi­
bilities with a profound faith in Allah, and a deep devotion to his coun­
try. He exercised his duties with obvious relish which, combined with his
impetuous and often idiosyncratic behavior, gave many the impression that
the ship of state was under somewhat erratic pilotage. But I always thought
that behind the impulsiveness and theatrical gestures that formed such a
prominent feature of his personality, there was a keen, far-seeing mind,
a basically generous and liberal spirit, and a deep and genuine patriotism.
These are the attributes that motivated his profound decision, six
months later, to allow the East Timorese to choose their destiny. And the
decision itself was pronounced in typical Habibie style, dramatic and
impulsive according to his detractors. Dramatic it certainly was, but impul­
sive? Could he have done so if he had gone into long, convoluted con­
sultations with his multifarious advisers with their diverse opinions?
Or was it more appropriate, once he had instinctively (and correctly)
decided that it would be better for both Indonesia and East Timor for the
latter to freely choose its future, to announce his decision with the full,
unencumbered force of his newly acquired presidential authority?
These are intriguing, speculative questions, to which perhaps only
B.J. Habibie can have the right answer. W hat is beyond question, how­
ever, is that the decision was both bold and historic.
 The Second Innings 95

W ith President B.J. Habibie, in his usual ebullient form. Left to right, unidentified
Indoncnsian official security officer, J.M ., Ian Martin, Mark Quarterman and Pres­
ident Habibie, whose crucial decision in January 1999 expedited the solution of
the East Tim or issue. Photograph: Ministry of Foreign Affairs, Indonesia.

But we are getting a little ahead in the narrative. At our meeting in

Jakarta in July 1998, President Habibie maintained the position that his
offer of special autonomy for East Timor was as far as he was prepared
to go. He ruled out the possibility of a referendum, now or in the future,
arguing that it would lead to the disintegration of Indonesia. He leapt out
96 East Timor

of his magnificent leather armchair, which appeared to be three sizes too

large for his diminutive build, and rushed to an enormous map of Indone­
sia that adorned one of the walls.
Waving both arms vigorously as he made a rapid cartographic tra­
verse of his nation, and pausing to firmly demarcate his own home region
in Sulawesi, Habibie stressed the enormous diversity of Indonesia and the
danger of centrifugal disintegration that could ensue if East Timor were
allowed to break away. He was also categoric in his assertion that he would
neither release Xanana Gusmao, nor engage in direct talks with him, even
though he would permit “indirect contact” with the latter. Our meeting
concluded with Habibie thanking me for all that I had done for Indone­
sia, and assuring me of his fullest cooperation in future. I reckoned that
it was a stand off, but by no means a disagreeable one.
We met individually with three of the top ranking officers of ABRI,
the Indonesian Armed Forces. The first was Major General Zacky Anwar,
the Head of Military Intelligence. A thorough professional officer, belong­
ing to the elite Special Forces, he was reputed to be a hard-liner and a
“Prabowo man.” But none of this came through in his conversation, which
was always low-key, pleasant, and geared toward accommodation and not
confrontation.
He readily agreed with my assessment that the Army, despite its
recent restraint, had not succeeded in winning the confidence of the East
Timorese. We went through the numbers game of the troops stationed
in East Timor, and he told me that there had been a decision to with­
draw some troops in the near future. I welcomed this, and made two sug­
gestions.
The first was that the next phase of withdrawals should be given full
publicity in the press and media, the second was that these troops should
comprise of elements of the Kopassus, which were the most feared in East
Timor. Zacky accepted the first suggestion with alacrity, but was notice­
ably less enthusiastic about the second, and gave a wry grin as I looked
pointedly at the “Special Forces” tabs on his uniform. His equanimity on
this, as on other occasions, elicited the fond respect that I had for Gen­
eral Zacky, despite the profound differences that I had with him on the
conduct of operations, particularly at a later stage.
The next senior officer whom we met was Lieutenant General Susilo
Bambang Yudono, Chief of Staff for Social and Political Affairs of the
Armed Forces. A thoughtful and obviously intelligent officer, General
Susilo Bambang engaged us in a most interesting discussion on the cur­
rent state of affairs in Indonesia. His views were liberal, far-thinking, and
entirely pragmatic. We emerged from our discussion considerably enriched
 The Second Innings 97

and fortified by the thought of a possibility of a genuine change in the

thinking of the Indonesian military.
In our meeting with General Wiranto, the Defense Minister and
Commander of the Armed Forces of Indonesia, I commended the restraint
now being exhibited by the army in East Timor, as well as the recent
decision to make members of the armed forces accountable for human
rights violations. We discussed force reductions in East Timor, as well as
the disbandment of paramilitary organizations on the island. We also had
a lengthy discussion on the future of East Timor and the implications of
the special autonomy proposal.
At this point in time General Wiranto was a major political figure
in Indonesia, and was being wooed by many political leaders, not exclud­
ing President Habibie himself. Wiranto’s Sphynx-like attitude, not to
mention his appearance, did much to enhance his personal prestige, while
inducing a sense of uncertainty amongst the politicians and keeping them
slightly off balance. At the end of our meeting, Wiranto said to me in
confidence that he was confronted by so many multifarious problems in
Indonesia itself that he would greatly welcome an early settlement of the
East Timor issue.
My assessment was that there had been a major change in the atti­
tude of the Indonesian military. Senior officers agreed that past policies
had not won the hearts and minds of the East Timorese. The autonomy
plan appeared to enjoy the general support of the military, but because it
was seen as a big concession, it seemed to have raised the unrealistic and
somewhat dangerous expectation that it would lead to an early settlement
of the issue.
General Wiranto and other senior officers had assured me that there
would be a reduction of troops, and President Habibie had indicated that
Wiranto would work with Bishop Belo on a plan for troop reduction. I
felt at that time that one of my objectives was about to be achieved, espe­
cially when we saw pictures in the newspapers of Indonesian troops
embarking at the port in Dili. Alas, this was largely illusory: as subse­
quent events were to prove, this was a kind of a box and cox affair, and
troops withdrawn in a blaze of publicity were subsequently re-inducted
in a less public, indeed surreptitious, fashion.
My meeting with Xanana Gusmao was as interesting as ever, and
perhaps more productive than before. Xanana’s views on a solution involved
what he termed a “phased approach.” In the first phase, a “Security Phase”
of six to eighteen months, there would be a de-escalation of tensions and
reduction of Indonesian troops, whose new role would be one of “peace
keeping,” and a UN presence.
98 East Timor

In the second, a “Reconstruction Phase” which would last five years

alongside infrastructural development efforts, there would be political
preparations for resolving the political status of East Timor and related
problems in which the Indonesian military would not be sidelined. He
was prepared to accommodate the military in the transition, as he said
his desire was to end all animosity with Indonesia. He was also deter­
mined to give an assurance that once there was a political settlement, no
vengeance or investigation into the past would be sought by the East
Timorese.
At the end of the five-year period, a referendum would be held to
determine whether the East Timorese wanted independence or integra­
tion with Indonesia. He remained convinced that independence was the
best option, but expressed his readiness to work with other East Timo­
rese leaders, through the AIETD, to build a consensus and to compro­
mise toward an acceptable solution and a mechanism for settlement.
I told Xanana that I thought his ideas, so meticulously worked out
behind prison bars, and yet so eminently reasonable and far-sighted, could
find our support, but that was obviously not enough. I said that I would
convey the gist to the Indonesian authorities in general terms, and urge
them to enter into direct talks with him in any manner that they consid­
ered appropriate. But I warned Xanana that Jakarta now appeared to be
hurtling along the Habibie track of “special autonomy” and were unlikely
to be diverted from it. We would have to seek common ground, if any,
between the two proposals, but the task would not be easy.
I then discussed the issue of interest sections with Xanana. He con­
fessed his unfamiliarity with diplomatic procedures and terminology, but
once I explained the details and implications to him, he firmly supported
the idea and asked me to convey his views to both governments. On the
spur of the moment, I decided to go one better, and asked him if he was
prepared to announce this to the press which had, as always, gathered in
large numbers outside the prison gate each time I visited Xanana.
When he expressed his willingness to do so, I contacted the Indone­
sian Foreign Service officer who had escorted me to Cipinang prison and
told him to get clearance from his Ministry for Xanana to announce to
the press that he supported the idea of establishing interest sections in
Lisbon and Jakarta. I undertook to guarantee that Xanana would not hold
a press conference, or take any questions, and would confine himself to
the one statement on interest sections.
After a short but proverbially agonizing delay, the clearance came
through. We escorted Xanana to the gates of the prison, where he was
given a tremendous ovation, and I announced that he would make a state­
 The Second Innings 99

ment. Xanana was true to his word, made his statement with the cheer­
ful dignity that only he can display, and we retreated back into the prison,
with sighs of relief from the Indonesian officials, including the Prison
Governor.
Thanks to Xanana, we had made a breakthrough on the important
issue of interest sections, and all that remained now was for the two gov­
ernments to complete the formalities, which was done at the Ministerial
meeting in New York two weeks later, and to work out the modalities.
The next hurdle that we faced on this visit was the trip to East Timor.
As I said earlier, the signals were less than propitious. The existing ten­
sions were already at a high level, and had been further exacerbated by
the very recent visit of the European Union Troika ambassadors. The For­
eign Ministry officials were genuinely concerned about my personal safety,
and did their best to dissuade me from going to East Timor.
Both the pro-independence and the pro-integration groups had
declared their intention to hold demonstrations during my forthcoming
visit to Dili. During our talk in Jakarta, Xanana Gusmao had also
expressed his apprehension about my going to Dili. Bishop Belo called
me from there to advise against my visit, and then made his views dou­
bly clear by making a public announcement to that effect.
The press, notably the foreign correspondents, had already sharpened
their pencils and polished their camera lenses and flown off to Dili. I told
Alatas that I was very conscious of his concerns, and did not wish to be
the cause of any disturbance that might damage valuable lives or prop­
erty, but I nevertheless did have a duty to perform, and did have to meet
with representatives of the East Timorese people on their territory.
Alex tried to be as helpful as he could, and suggested that I go to
Bali, where he would arrange to ferry any or all of the East Timorese per­
sonalities that I wished to meet. From the point of view of personal com­
fort and safety, there could not have been a better suggestion, but I had
to remind Alex that I was, after all, the Personal Representative of the
United Nations Secretary-General for East Timor, and that it was there­
fore necessary, as a matter of principle, for me to carry out my functions
of consultations on the soil of the territory.
After further discussions with Alex and with Bishop Belo on the
telephone, I suggested that I should go to Baucau, where tensions were
less than in Dili and where I was not expected. In consultation with the
Bishop, we selected the names of the East Timorese that I would meet,
and they duly proceeded to Baucau. Our delegation was provided with a
military aircraft, thanks to Alex’s strenuous efforts, which flew us to Bau­
cau, where I spent the entire day in meetings and talk? with the East
100 East Timor

Timorese leaders, who came in their individual capacities, and were com­
pelled, for logistical reasons, to leave their respective mobs behind in Dili.
The press, too, duly arrived in Baucau, in time to receive a rather dull
briefing by me, instead of the more newsworthy incendiary reports that
they might have filed from Dili.
Back in Jakarta, I had the accustomed round of stimulating meet­
ings with the core group of ambassadors with whom I regularly met. Lav­
ish in their hospitality, and generous in the dispensation of their
knowledge and counsel, they invariably provided the greatest of food for
mind and body, returning a fully nourished itinerant back to his place of
duty in New York. In summing up the results of my July visit to Indone­
sia, I felt that we were beginning to get somewhere.
The negotiating process was in an operating mode, and was holding
its own despite the uncertainties of the political conditions in Indonesia.
We had managed to extend our elose contacts and ongoing relationship
with the Indonesian administration to the wider range of political par­
ties and their leaders. There had been a public display of troop with­
drawals from East Timor. Notwithstanding the sleight of hand used in
this exercise, the fact remained that Jakarta had done something in pub­
lic which it had consistently refused to do before.
The situation of Xanana, though still in incarceration, had consid­
erably improved, both in terms of his accessibility to outside visitors and
in his ability to run affairs in East Timor. Finally, there was the immi­
nent prospect of the establishment of interest sections in Jakarta and Lis­
bon, thus bringing to an end a diplomatic breach that had lasted for over
twenty years.
I felt that the August meeting of the Secretary-General with the two
Foreign Ministers would provide a fresh impetus to the negotiating
process, would probably add further problems to the ones that we already
had, but at the same time take us on to the next sector of our work. I looked
forward to the continuation of the challenge and its excitement.
 10
The Doctor's Dilemma:
The Negotiations Intensify ,
but So Does the Conflict
N e w Y o r k , V ie n n a , a n d L isb o n :
O c t o b e r a n d N o v e m b e r 1998

Men commit the error o f not knowing when to lim it their

hopes.
—Machiavelli

A Senior Officials’ Meeting was held in New York from October 6

to the 8,1998. The agenda focused on three issues: (a) the autonomy plan
for East Timor, (b) modalities for the opening of interest sections in
Jakarta and Lisbon, and (c) the next All Inclusive East Timorese Dia­
logue (AIETD).
As usual, Ambassadors Fernando Neves and Nugroho Wisnumurti
led the respective sides, and the atmosphere during the session was both
constructive and friendly. We submitted a proposal for a wide-ranging
autonomy for East Timor, while leaving aside the question of final sta­
tus. The basic draft of the plan came, of course, from Hurst Hannum of
the Fletcher School of Law and Diplomacy, who sat in with us on the
consultations, as usual.
The plan envisaged complete autonomy, except in the areas of for­
eign policy, external defense, and monetary and customs issues, and was
strong on political freedoms and human rights issues, which were in keep­
ing with Hannum’s expertise. The Portuguese were generally supportive

101
102 East Timor

of the proposal, despite their continued unease in discussing autonomy

without the direct participation of the East Timorese.
The Indonesian reaction, while showing readiness to accept many of
the important elements, was also concerned that the proposed autonomy
was “too wide,” and that in some respects would place East Timor on a
par with Indonesia. The constant problem in these negotiations was the
issue of the fundamental difference over whether the autonomy was for a
province of Indonesia or for a Non-Self-Governing Territory still await­
ing decolonization.
We discussed the technical and legal modalities for the establish­
ment of interest sections and presented a document, which would serve
as a basis for agreement. This was accepted by both sides, and they agreed
to establish offices by January 1999, following negotiations with their
respective protecting powers, Thailand and the Netherlands. There was
also agreement on the composition of delegates and the modalities for
the next AIETD meeting, scheduled for later in the month.
The meeting took place against a backdrop of rising tensions in East
Timor itself, although curiously, this was not reflected in the genuine
spirit of accommodation that prevailed in the discussions. Persistent
reports of an increase in troop levels in East Timor were followed by a
series of operations launched by the army against the guerrillas, leading
to a number of casualties, primarily on the Indonesian side.
We were receiving mixed tidings from East Timor. On the positive
side was news of a two-day dialogue at Dare, near Dili, convened by Bish­
ops Belo and Nasciemento, and attended by most parties and groups in
East Timor. The purpose was to discuss the political situation, and in par­
ticular the proposals for autonomy. The meeting, for which Xanana Gus-
mao voiced public support, took place in a very good atmosphere, and
appeared to have had a calming effect on the island.
But shortly after it was over, Governor Abilio Osorio Suares, who was
never less than his abrasive self, made an announcement that all East Tim ­
orese Government employees would be required to support East Timor’s
integration into Indonesia, and that those who failed to do so would either
have to retire or face dismissal. The reaction was predictable, but its extent
and violence must have penetrated even the Governor’s thick political skin.
A public strike brought Dili to a standstill, and a large demonstra­
tion of about thirty thousand people demanded the resignation or removal
of the Governor. We received reports that the agitation had spread from
the capital to other towns in East Timor. This, in turn, prompted an
unhelpful pronouncement from Udayana Headquarters that “there is a
limit to the new era of openness, a limit to our tolerance.”
 The Doctor's Dilemma 103

The events that unfolded in Alas shortly thereafter were a grim

reminder that the warning was not pro forma. Under these circumstances,
I thought that it would be a good idea for Tamrat Samuel to make a brief
visit to the region, and get an assessment of the situation on the ground
before our next SOM session later in the month.
The Fourth Meeting of the AIETD took place, as before, at Schloss
Krumbach, near Vienna, at the end of October 1988. As usual, the Aus­
trian Government provided the excellent facilities requisite for the con­
ference, and the East Timorese participation was both increased and more
wide-ranging than before. Although none of us could have guessed it at
that time, this was to be the last session of the AIETD. In my opening
address to the participants, I stressed the necessity for the active partic­
ipation of the East Timorese representatives in the negotiating process:

Your meeting takes place at a critical stage in the efforts to find a

peaceful solution to the problem of your homeland. These efforts
have reached the crossroads. The convergence of important devel­
opments has ushered in a new phase in the long effort to find a
just and honorable solution. However, as much as this period offers
promises and opportunities, it also carries its own risks and dan­
gers.
At the landmark meeting of the Secretary-General with For­
eign Ministers Alatas and Gama on August 5,1998 in New York,
agreement was reached to begin in-depth discussions on a special
status for East Timor based on a wide ranging autonomy, without
prejudice to the position of principle of the two sides. In other
words, Indonesia and Portugal agreed to proceed with elaborating
the details of the shape of a possible autonomous status for the
Territory while putting aside, for the time being, the question of
the final status of East Timor.
The Secretary-General’s intensification of his consultations with
East Timorese leaders is closely tied to this new phase in the nego­
tiations. The outlines of the proposal have been conveyed to sev­
eral East Timorese leaders and representatives, and we expect to
receive their input as we continue our consultations with them. The
commitment to closely involve the East Timorese in the discus­
sions derives from the UN’s firm conviction that any viable solu­
tion has to be acceptable to the people of East Timor, and therefore
their leaders should be engaged in active consultations during the
process.
These consultations, which we have been conducting both inside
and outside East Timor, will also continue on the sidelines of this
meeting, the United Nations hopes that the East Timorese lead­
ers will rise to the occasion and seize the new opportunities that
have arisen and provide well considered ideas and proposals on the
specific elements and aspects of autonomy which we have asked
many of you to focus on.
Your input to the discussions of the tripartite process is of cru-
104 East Timor

cial importance. We believe that the East Timorese have the pri­
mary responsibility for developing and producing ideas and for
building a consensus amongst themselves. It should not be
expected that ideas and initiatives will come from the United
Nations or the tripartite process alone.

Notwithstanding this exhortation, and despite the fact that during

the meeting the atmosphere was reasonably civil, it came as no surprise
that the AIETD could not come up with an agreed final declaration. The
main sticking points were on the issue of a referendum for East Timor,
and whether to call, in the joint declaration, for the release of Xanana
Gusmao. The media correctly reported the failure of the AIETD to reach
an agreement, but this did not dismay me. An important ancillary objec­
tive had been achieved: we had enabled the East Timorese to get together
and jointly review, as well as react to, the ongoing tripartite negotiations.
On my way back to New York from Vienna, I stopped in Lisbon for
meetings with the President, Prime Minister, and Foreign Minister, as
well as with Members of Parliament. A positive assessment of progress
in the tripartite negotiations was tempered by a mutual concern over the
situation in East Timor, from where there were reports of increasing vio­
lence.
In the meanwhile, as had already been arranged, Tamrat Samuel went
on a mission to Indonesia and East Timor for an assessment of the situ­
ation on the ground before our next Senior Officials’ Meeting, scheduled
for Novemberl9th. His report was as perceptive as ever, and his findings
were a matter of considerable concern.
“There is,” he noted, “a new political climate in East Timor, marked
by an unprecedented degree of open defiance of Indonesian authority.
The ranks of the pro-independence activists is swelling. Many East Tim­
orese, emboldened by the political transformation sweeping Indonesia and
the weakening of the military’s position, have seized the opportunity to
seize and consolidate new political space in East Timor.
“The general docility of the Indonesian military is interpreted in two
ways: Either it is genuinely paralyzed and fearful of the international
backlash that any violent crackdown would provoke or, as many people
in East Timor believe, it is deliberately allowing the situation to deteri­
orate in order to prove its point that there is still a serious security prob­
lem in East Timor requiring its continued large scale presence. It is evident
that powerful forces within the military are resisting the international
pressure for a substantial withdrawal from East Timor.”
I thought that the latter of Tamrat’s assumptions was probably the
correct explanation, and therefore feared the possibility of a strong mili­
 The Doctor's Dilemma 105

tary backlash. Accordingly, I called for calm, both in my public state­

ments and in personal appeals to Xanana and Bishop Belo on the one side,
and the Indonesian administration and military on the other. I said that
all sides had a responsibility to ease tensions and avoid steps that might
jeopardize the negotiations.
The volatile political atmosphere that prevailed in Indonesia had by
now blown into East Timor with a vengeance, and by linking itself with
the tensions already existing on the island, had created the tinder that
awaited the tiniest spark to set off a combustion.
Expectations of both the pro-independence and pro-integration groups
had never been higher, and the spirit of compromise was a commodity
that was dwindling rapidly and inexorably. Xanana’s call for calm, issued
from his prison cell, did not evoke the same immediate response as before,
and my own, increasingly desperate calls to the Indonesian administra­
tion to release Xanana met with an ominous silence.
In this charged atmosphere, Tamrat worked on the second objective
o f his mission, which was to explain to the East Timorese people the UN
proposal on autonomy. Since the document itself was still under discus­
sion in the SOM, as well as under scrutiny of the Indonesian and Por­
tuguese Governments, Tamrat was left with the delicate task of framing
his explanations in broad terms, enumerating the main areas that the pro­
posal tried to address.
He found an enormous mistrust, because many regarded autonomy
as an Indonesian proposal, synonymous with integration. The fact that
the Indonesians had, indeed, made some attempts to foster the idea that
the UN had itself proposed autonomy did not make Tamrat’s job any eas­
ier. He was obliged to forcefully reject the allegation that the UN pro­
posal amounted to “an attempt to legalize an illegal situation.”
But by patient and persuasive reasoning, and by skillful diplomacy,
Tamrat was able to convey the correct position to the East Timorese, and
thereby bring them into a receptive frame of mind. He did this largely
through a tactic that was as simple as it was honest and intelligent.
“I started every meeting,” he reported, “with an explanation that the
August agreement had not compromised any principles, that it repre­
sented an important agreement to define the shape of a suitable auton­
omy for East Timor, in close cooperation with East Timorese leaders, and
without prejudice to the respective positions of principle of Indonesia and
Portugal, i.e., that the two sides had merely set aside, for the time being,
the question of the final status of East Timor, and at some point, that
issue would have to be addressed. There was greater interest and involve­
ment once such assurance was given.”
106 East Timor

The next Senior Officials’ Meeting took place in New York from
November 19 to 21 with an agenda that included a review of the last A1ETD.
More importantly, there was a continuation of the discussions on the
autonomy proposals, following the consultations that the delegations had
held in their capitals. The talks got off to a good, businesslike start, but
we were soon overwhelmed by events in East Timor.
Political tension had erupted into violence, as I feared it might, and
soon horror stories were being flashed from the island to the rest of the
world. Indonesian security forces had reacted to provocations with feroc­
ity, particularly in a small town called Alas, from where there were reports
of harsh and serious human rights violations. The authorities had expelled
reporters and members of NGOs from the area, and sealed off the town.
The resulting international outcry naturally had its impact on our
negotiations, and I fully expected our afternoon session to commence with
strong statements of indignation by the Portuguese delegation. Somewhat
to my surprise and discomfiture, it went well beyond that.
Ambassador Neves called me shortly before the meeting was due to
commence, and said that he was under instructions to stop negotiations
immediately. He said that public opinion in Portugal was so incensed over
what he described as “the new atrocities in East Timor,” that his gov­
ernment felt that it could not be seen to be treating with the Indonesian
Government in the prevailing circumstances.
I could understand that it would be awkward for Portugal to be seen
negotiating autonomy proposals in New York with the Indonesians, while
the latter were breaking East Timorese heads in Alas, yet I nevertheless
felt that Lisbon’s decision was both unfortunate and abrupt. My imme­
diate response was to tell Fernando that in my book, a crisis is precisely
when negotiations should be intensified, and not abandoned, but since he
was acting under instructions I could understand that there was nothing
he could do.
I next informed Wisnumurti about the Portuguese decision, together
with its reasons, not to attend the afternoon session of SOM. Wisnumurti’s
response was that he was quite ready to pack his suitcase and take the eve­
ning flight to Jakarta. I persuaded him to put his travel plans on hold until
I had spoken to Lisbon, and accordingly telephoned Jaime Garna.
I was informed that the Foreign Ministry had already announced
Portugal’s decision not to participate in the ongoing New York talks, and
had done so in response to the public indignation that prevailed in the
country over the incidents in East Timor. We then went back and forth
over the telephone for a while, and I pointed out that since the UN
deplored the violence in East Timor just as much as anyone else, I would,
 The Doctor's Dilemma 107

as a matter of course, carry out my own thorough inquiry into the inci­
dent, and would designate an official for the purpose.
This assurance, coupled with a strong recommendation on the impor­
tance of the continuation of the tripartite talks, appeared to have struck
a responsive chord in Gama’s eminently sensible and pragmatic attitude,
and he agreed to send his delegation back to the table.
I then called Alatas in Jakarta and gave him a run-down of the whole
episode, pointing out that the scale and nature of the violence in East
Timor had made it incumbent upon me to look into the matter, regard­
less of what the Portuguese felt or said. Alex was not at all happy either
about the developments, or about my decision, but again displayed an
understanding of the situation, and its wider implications, and accord­
ingly instructed his delegation to continue the negotiations.
But we were not yet out of the woods. The Portuguese made a pub­
lic announcement to the effect that their decision to suspend the talks had
been justified because it had compelled the UN to send a mission to inves­
tigate the incident in Alas. O f course, this was stretching things a bit, and
I would not have minded it too much as far as I was concerned. But the
effect on the Indonesians was predictably provocative.
Alatas responded in an indignant statement to the effect that Jakarta
would never permit a formal UN investigation in Alas. We had thus now
reached the stage of public posturing, with expressions of high dudgeon
emanating from both sides. This was inevitable and I left it to blow over,
while we quietly ushered the two delegations back to serious negotiations
in our airless little room in New York.
At the same time, we issued a press statement which would hope­
fully lay the matter to rest. By now, the draft document was beginning to
look purposeful and in reasonable shape. Our attempt was, on the one
hand, to persuade the Indonesians to yield the concessions that would
make autonomy as wide ranging as possible, so that it could be sold to
the East Timorese. On the other hand, we tried to persuade the Por­
tuguese to temper their demands to the extent that one could reasonably
expect Jakarta to bear.
We concluded the Senior Officials Meeting with both delegations
taking to their capitals the completed drafts of the autonomy proposals
for final scrutiny and provisional concurrence at the next SOM. We would
then need to take up the all-important and most vexatious question, the
final status of East Timor. At this point in time, Machiavelli s observa­
tion was very much in my thoughts. Would there be any limitations on
 11
Sailing into the Squall
I n d o n e s ia a n d E a s t T im o r :
D e c e m b e r 1998

Aux armes, citoyens!

Formez vos bataillons!
—L a M arseillaise

Tamrat Samuel visited Indonesia and East Timor in the first week
of December 1998, and presented his usual excellent report, wide rang­
ing in content and admirable in its perception. It confirmed my impres­
sion that our next visit to the region (Francesc Vendrell was to accompany
me this time) was unlikely to lack interest.
Although he was not allowed to visit the town itself, Tamrat put
together a very succinct account of events in Alas. This was the incident,
it may be recalled, which had caused a suspension in our tripartite nego­
tiations in New York earlier in November. It was the usual story of an
escalation of violence, as so often occurs in areas of high tension.
A militant student demonstration got out of hand and provoked a
typically disproportionate military reaction, resulting in about fifteen
deaths and the destruction of houses and property. Alas remained off-lim­
its while the army conducted a search for weapons stolen from the local
armory, and the National Human Rights Commission said that it would
carry out an investigation as soon as access to Alas was permitted.
Apart from indicating that tension in East Timor remained very
high, Tamrat also said that skepticism about the autonomy proposal
appeared to have increased considerably. “The Security situation is fur­
ther deteriorating,” he reported, and added, “The Peace and Justice Com-

108
 Sailing into the Squall 109

mission reports that there has been an overall increase of 22 per cent in
reported human rights violations in nine categories in 1998. There has
been an increase in the number of attacks on the military and on East
Timorese with ties to Indonesia. The radicalization of the youth contin­
ues.
“Our concern that moderates like Xanana might soon lose their grip
is beginning to happen, according to Bishop Nasciemento. He said that
the youth were increasingly defying instructions from Xanana and the
guerrillas. A lawless situation is emerging as people take their own action
to settle scores with those that had worked with the military and the intel­
ligence....
“Most East Timorese seem to have decided that this is their chance
to free themselves from Indonesian rule. While outsiders and Minister
Alatas talk about a window of opportunity, many in East Timor see in
the present situation a door that has cracked ajar and needs to be pushed
open for a rapid exit before it closes again.”
W ith Tamrat’s realistic assessment usefully stacked in our briefing
dossier, we set off for Jakarta and Dili in mid-December. At our transit
stopover in Singapore, Arnaz had a medical emergency that necessitated
hospitalization, so I left her in the care of the excellent clinical facilities
for which Singapore is justly renowned and the affectionate ministrations
o f our dear friends Tommy and Siew Aing Koh and of Arnaz’s twin sis­
ter Aban, who flew in from Karachi.
Arnaz’s indisposition in Singapore was somewhat inauspicious, and
also inconvenient, but it would have complicated matters a great deal
more if the emergency had struck two days later in Dili, where treatment,
if at all available, would have been much less reassuring. She recovered in
time to travel just as I finished my Indonesian trip, and we left Singapore
together to spend Christmas in Karachi.
The reports that we received upon arrival in Jakarta spoke of increas­
ing lawlessness and militancy in both Indonesia and East Timor, of the
distribution of arms and the discoveries of arms caches, of inflammatory
statements from leaders of various factions, peppered with sporadic out­
breaks of violence.
East Timor seemed to be particularly unsetded, with all sides acquir­
ing arms in anticipation of a conflict that they appeared to deem inevitable.
I noted, too, that there was an ominous increase in the sophistication of
ordnance, with machetes and muzzle-loaders being superseded by
grenades and automatic weapons. The prospect of a peaceful transition,
in East Timor at any rate, did not appear to be too bright.
My first meeting in Jakarta was with Major General Zacky Anwar
110 East Timor

Makarim, Head of ABRI Intelligence, followed later in the day by a meet­

ing with Lieutenant General Susilo Bambang Yudhoyono, the Chief of
Staff of the Territorial Armed Forces. Both general officers were amongst
the most competent of the senior Indonesian military hierarchy with
whom I had dealt, and while each matched the other in intelligence,
politeness, and sophisticated negotiating skills, there were subtle differ­
ences in their political attitudes and inclinations.
Zacky Anwar was a crypto hard-liner, which was not surprising in
view of his Kopassus background. Susilo Bambang, on the other hand,
appeared to be the contemplative liberal, wrestling with the problem of
maintaining political and civil order, yet making concessions without giv­
ing too much away.
Both general officers expressed to me their concerns about the rapidly
deteriorating situation in East Timor, and Zaky Anwar told me quite
frankly that he had been obliged to provide arms to some of the pro-inte-
gration East Timorese, whom he described as “loyal, law abiding citizens,”
in order to “defend themselves” against elements of the FALANTIL.
I thought this decision was particularly ominous, and said so to
Zacky, pointing out that the best way to improve matters was to employ
political methods, such as the release of Xanana Gusmao and his active
involvement in the process of consultations. O f course, I did not get very
far in convincing Zacky Anwar with that argument, but hoped that at least
the vehemence of my demand might be conveyed to his superiors.
I did the same with Susilo Bambang, with whom I thought I struck
a slightly more respondent chord, especially when I pointed out the pos­
itive impact of a “half-way solution,” such as shifting Xanana from prison
to house arrest. Apart from providing Xanana with the opportunity for
more active political participation, such a measure would evoke a signi­
ficantly positive international reaction.
The General’s response was to imply that such a decision was clearly
above his pay grade, but he maintained a discreet, thoughtful silence on
the merit of the proposition. I came away from my meetings with the two
Indonesian generals with the feeling that there might be some give on the
issue of the release of Xanana. On the other hand, I was somewhat per­
turbed by the probability of supply of arms to the pro-Indonesian East
Timorese irregulars in East Timor: this was bringing the flame danger­
ously close to the tinder.
I next met Mario Caralascalao, an able East Timorese and former
Governor of East Timor, whose moderating influence had always been a
bridge between the East Timorese and the Administration. His assess­
ment of the situation in his home island was somber, realistic, and dis­
 Sailing into the Squall 111

turbing. Previous distrust on both sides had by now hardened into antag­
onism, and the pro-independence groups, encouraged by the air of ram­
bunctious freedom that was now sweeping the rest of Indonesia, were
getting increasingly militant.
There was a plethora of arms and an increasing inclination to use
them, particularly by the East Timorese youth who were “getting out of
control.” The other meetings on that first day in Jakarta were lunch and
dinner sessions with Ambassador Stapleton Roy of the United States and
Ambassador John McCarthy of Australia, respectively. Apart from the
splendid meals, we received from these two good friends the customary
succinct and valuable assessments so necessary for our work.
Reports of the unease and tension in East Timor were supplemented
by perceptive analyses of the current political climate in Indonesia itself.
In turn, I informed them of the present status of the negotiation process,
as well as indicating some ideas on my future strategy. The most imme­
diate of these was to work on the release of Xanana, for which objective
I called upon both Ambassadors to deploy the maximum pressure on the
Indonesian Government, both personally and through their governments.
The next day I met Toni Pfanner, the Head of the ICRC Delegation
in Indonesia, together with two of his colleagues who had just returned
from East Timor. Their first-hand accounts of events in the island were
disquieting, particularly in view of their obvious authenticity and objec­
tivity, and confirmed the existence of the air of uncertainty and militancy
that had now seized most of East Timor.
Our next appointment was with Xanana Gusmao, with whom we had
a long session in Cipinang Prison. The authorities had by now consider­
ably eased constraints, so that Vendrell and I were able to converse with
Xanana in private. I was delighted to see him again, and even more
delighted to find him in such good form. Polite and pleasant, self assured
and dignified as ever, Xanana continued to exude his quiet dynamism.
He emphasized the critical stage of the historic process in which we
all found ourselves at this moment, and expressed disappointment at the
slow progress of the tripartite negotiations, as well as the failure of the
AIETD. I brought Xanana up to date on the status of the negotiations,
and in the ensuing discussions we were told by him that he was prepared
to accept a five-year period for provincial autonomy in East Timor.
Xanana also told us of the feelers that he had extended to General
Zaki Anwar, and Ambassadors Wisnumurti and Lopez da Cruz, in an
attempt to establish a direct political dialogue, but despite some initial
positive signals, no meeting had as yet taken place. Talking of the situa­
tion in East Timor, Xanana said that tension had greatly increased, and
112 East Timor

A visit to Xanana Gusmao at his house of detention in Jakarta. Left to right: J.M .,
Xanana and Arnaz Marker. Photograph: Tamrat Samuel, authors collection.

that considerable hostility existed on all sides. He had issued appeals for
calm, and supported the efforts of Bishops Belo and Nasciemento to orga­
nize a dialogue between the different East Timorese groups.
Nevertheless, the situation remained tense and volatile. In this con­
nection, Xanana told me that he had received reliable reports of a plan to
take me hostage during my visit to Dili. He had issued the strongest
instructions to his followers to ensure my personal security, but he nev­
ertheless remained apprehensive. He urged me to remain in my hotel as
much as possible, and not to go out on the evening walks by the seaside,
which I had always enjoyed so much.
That afternoon we took a long drive through the suburbs of Jakarta
to the residence of Abdurrahman Wahid, commonly known by his pop­
ular and affectionate honorific, “Gus Dur.” This extraordinary man, who
was reported to have a personal and absolute following of over eighty mil­
lion devoted adherents to his organization, lived in a simple Jakarta sub­
urban house, situated in the compound of a neat and modest little mosque.
Half-blind and partially paralyzed, he shuffled into the sparsely fur­
nished living room on the arm of an aide, and warmly welcomed us, speak­
ing in perfect English. As soon as we began our discussion, I was struck
 Sailing into the Squall 113

by an awareness of the vast chasm that separated mental agility from phys­
ical infirmity in this remarkable person. He possessed a razor sharp mind,
and like many people with weak eyesight, had compensated for one fail­
ing faculty by sharpening and developing the other senses, particularly
that of memory.
Possessing vast knowledge on a number of issues, including poli­
tics, history, theology, and the arts, Gus Dur was a fascinating inter­
locutor, punctuating his discourse with anecdotes replete with a puckish
sense of humor. A bust of Beethoven was almost the only decorative
object in the room, poised in silent testimony to the eclectic good taste
and sophistication of its owner, and in seeming disregard of religious
cant, for statuary is not normally discernible in such close proximity to
a mosque.
In response to my request for an assessment of the current political
situation in Indonesia, Gus Dur made a succinct presentation, analyzing
the causes and reasons for the prevailing uncertainties, and forecasting
the future with a prescience and foresight which subsequent events would
prove to be largely and astonishingly accurate. All this was related with
quiet assurance, a total absence of pomp and rhetoric, and with flashes of
dry humor.
I described the course of our negotiations on East Timor, and Gus
Dur encouraged me to “continue your efforts.” He was pragmatic in his
assertion about drawing Xanana into the negotiating process, and said that
he would do whatever he could to bring this about. On the broader issue
of East Timor itself, he felt that it would be in the interest of all parties
if the East Timorese could have broad ranging autonomy within the
Republic of Indonesia.
This was not an unexpected viewpoint, but his next remark took me
somewhat off guard and sent Vendrell s pencil scurrying over his note pad.
“But if they truly want independence, then why not? Why should we stop
them?”
This was as stimulating a note as any on which to end our fascinat­
ing discussion, and we set off on our long road, to return in the dusk, from
the wood-smoke-filled outer suburbs of Jakarta to the neon and monox­
ide of the city center. And as we drove back to the hotel, it seemed to me
that this ecological contrast found reflection, in some ways, in the myr­
iad thoughts that coursed through my mind after the meeting with Gus
Dur. In Indonesia, contrast is a normal component of coexistence.
We left Jakarta for East Timor on December 18 making the oblig­
atory overnight stop in Denpasar for a meeting with Major General Adam
Dhamiri, the Udayana Military Commander. It was not a very satisfac­
114 East Timor

tory encounter: always the hard-liner, Dhamiri seemed more belligerent

than ever. He thought that the situation in East Timor had deteriorated
to the extent that it could only be controlled by “firm action.”
For increased emphasis, he informed me that for security reasons we
would be lodged in the senior officers’ military quarters instead of the
Makhota Hotel in Dili. I did not think that we would greatly miss the
hostelry’s rudimentary creature comforts, but I accepted the enforced mil­
itary hospitality on the strict condition that it would not impede my acces­
sibility to any and all of the East Timorese that I wished to meet.
The next day we took a commercial flight from Denpasar to Kupang
in West Timor, from where we flew to Dili in a military helicopter. Col­
onel Tono Suratnam, the able Military Commander in East Timor,
received us and immediately transported us to his headquarters, where he
provided me with a long, detailed, and very useful situation brief, which
ended with the report that earlier in the day he had “spoken to both sides,”
and secured their agreement to “remain peaceful.”
The rest of the day was spent in meeting a large number of East Tim­
orese representatives from both the pro-independence and pro-integra-
tion factions, including Manuel Carascalao, Leandro Isaac, Herminio da
Silva da Costa (an ex-partisan of the 1975-76 civil war), and Mauhono
and Mauhodo, who were Xanana’s deputies, still carrying on the armed
struggle, and who came down from the hills to meet me. The Indonesian
authorities had been true to their word, and facilitated my meetings with
everyone on my list, despite the fact that many of these were clearly high
on ABRI’s anathema list.
The meetings were held in seriatim, and went on almost until dawn.
These were highly charged encounters, full of emotion and expectation,
with feelings of anguish and expectation thrown in for good measure. As
the evening went on, the hot, sticky room became increasingly perme­
ated by cigarette smoke, creating environmental discomfort of suffocat­
ing proportions. But this paled in comparison to the discomfort generated
by the tone and tenor of the political discussions.
The pro-integrationists, who were loud and firm in their support for
the status quo, were also menacing in their determination to maintain it.
The pro-independence groups, on the other hand, described their suffer­
ings over the past years in vivid and most painful terms, and expressed
their determination to seize the present opportunity, provided by the pre­
vailing period of national uncertainty, to obtain total freedom. The spirit
of compromise was as evasive as the presence of fresh air in the musty,
smoke-filled room, but I nevertheless thought it important to allow each
delegation to let off steam and have its full say, even if it sometimes meant
 Sailing into the Squall 115

listening to each member of the delegation repeating almost exactly the

same thing that was said by each of his colleagues.
I would then respond by stating that the UN objective was to obtain
a peaceful and just solution to the problem, that the two requirements of
peace and justice were inextricably linked, and that the United Nations
would never be party to any solution that did not have the consent of the
East Timorese people. After that, we would try and examine the main
elements of the autonomy proposal, but the plethora of conflicting
responses made it a somewhat difficult exercise. I also laid great empha­
sis on the need for maintaining peace and avoiding violence, and this was
perhaps the only issue on which I obtained a positive response from all
sides, even though it was often conditional.
It was easy enough to identify the political color and inclination of each
delegation as it entered the room, for the contrast in the appearance and
physical bearing of the opposing groups could not have been more stark. The
pro-independence people were either simply or more often shabbily dressed,
looked undernourished, nervous and fidgety, with looks that carried all the
emotional and physical years of conflict, deprivation, and repression.
They had a palpable sense of urgency in their desire to make a grab
for freedom, regardless of consequences, and to that extent I judged them
to be less likely to exercise restraint. The pro-integration groups, on the
other hand, were sleek, well-dressed, and well-fed. They spoke with much
assurance, and took up a lot of my time trying to convince me that all
was well, and that a considerable majority of East Timorese felt the same
way as they did.
In my later visits to East Timor, I found that this attitude of smug
self-assurance had faded considerably, and had been replaced by an appre­
hensive mood of uncertainty over an unpredictable and uncertain future.
In fact, following many private conversations with some of these gentle­
men, I detected that a process had begun to set in, one which I somewhat
irreverently described to my friends as “self-dequislingisation,” or aban­
doning ship.
On the morning of Sunday, December 20, following a brief rest,
shower, and change after our nocturnal session, I was about to set off for a
meeting with Bishops Belo and Nasciernento, but as the diocese was sur­
rounded by a large crowd of demonstrators, the Bishops very kindly came
to the army quarters for our meeting. Our conversation strengthened my
admiration for these two clergymen, whose daily lives were spent not just
in tending to the spiritual well-being of their parishioners, but also in the
hard temporal task of combating repression and injustice, and controlling
the violent protests that were inevitably provoked by these evils.
116 East Timor

The Bishops told me that the excessive presence of the military was
a major source of resentment and conflict, but while they strongly urged
a significant withdrawal of forces, particularly the Kopassus units, they
nevertheless realistically realized the necessity for a modicum of military
deployment for security purposes. They recounted many instances of harsh
treatment and of egregious human rights abuses by the authorities, which
had resulted in widespread fear amongst the East Timorese and an increas­
ing hatred of the Indonesian authorities. Finally, they reiterated the obser­
vation of others about the increased radicalization that had occurred in
the island, one example of which was the demonstration that was taking
place in Dili even as we spoke.
On the conclusion of this, the last of our meetings, I set off for the
airport, accompanied by Francesc Vendrell and Dino Patti Djalal, the
intelligent and lively Indonesian Foreign Service official who had been
our escorting officer. We set off in a convoy under heavy military escort,
and had not gone very far when we were diverted from the main road onto
a dirt track, because we were told that the normal entrances to the air­
port had been blocked by hostile crowds.
Our jeeps bumped their way through the bush and eventually emerged
at the end of the airport runway. But a convoy of six vehicles, most of
which were loaded with fully armed military, is not easy to disguise, and
we were soon spotted and trailed by a number of young men, riding on
motorcycles, waving flags and excitedly chattering into their cell phones.
After streaking across the runway, we made it to the terminal building,
outside which a large crowd of demonstrators had already gathered.
A number of civilians, including some priests and nuns, were urging
restraint on the demonstrators, who at this time were quite peaceful and
merely shouted slogans. However, within half an hour the crowd had
vasdy increased and its mood had become much less benign. Colonel Tono
Suratman, the Dili military commander, had earlier arrived at the airport
and brought with him a substantial military contingent, which now took
up position around the terminal building.
I was a bit disturbed by this, and immediately gave firm orders to
Colonel Suratman that his troops were not to open fire on any account,
no matter what the provocation. I was fairly certain that Suratman’s incli­
nations were the same as mine, for he was a cool and professional officer,
with obvious ability and experience in crowd control, and I was therefore
quite certain that he would neither panic nor overreact. Just then our ten­
sion was somewhat eased by the arrival of the Merpati plane, which was
scheduled to disembark its Dili bound passengers and board us for our
return to Denpasar.
 Sailing into the Squall 117

But the appearance of the aircraft seemed to have further ignited the
feelings of the crowd, who correctly sensed the imminence of the flight
o f their quarry, and attempted to prevent this by making a forceful assault
on the fragile airport barriers, breaking into the terminal building and
spilling onto the apron. Meanwhile, the captain of the Merpati aircraft,
who had taxied toward the terminal building, obviously decided that cop­
ing with a hostile reception committee was not an item that was included
in his manual on standard operating procedures.
He prudently guided his aircraft past the terminal, proceeded to the
end of the runway, and took off in a defiant roar. Francesc, Dino, and I,
who had a short while earlier said to each other, “our plane has arrived,”
now made the equally obvious and fatuous observation, “our plane has
left.”
I contacted Colonel Suratnam and suggested that perhaps we might
try to get an army helicopter, but this resourceful officer had already made
the necessary arrangements, and shortly thereafter the craft arrived, tak­
ing up station as close to the terminal building as was prudent. Mean­
while the demonstrators were milling all over the terminal building and
apron, but had not yet got to the VIP room where we were holed up.
Suratman was as cool and collected as ever, and he and his men,
together with a number of civilians, priests, and nuns, were doing a splen­
did job, holding back the demonstrators through peaceful persuasion and
a little gentle shoving. The rest was Keystone Cops. A jeep was brought
to the entrance of the VIP room, we were bundled in, the driver tore his
zig zag way through and past the crowd, and deposited us fifty yards from
the helicopter, whose rotor blades were already turning.
We leapt out of the jeep and made an undignified sprint to the heli­
copter, beating our nearest pursuers by a few uncomfortable yards. As the
helicopter lifted off I gave a cheerful wave to our self-invited send-off com­
mittee, and they, in turn, returned it in equally cheerful fashion. For bet­
ter or for worse, elements of the international press and TV were present
at Dili airport to record our precipitate departure.
The military helicopter took us to Kupang from where, after a brief
layover, we took a commercial flight to Jakarta. Sensing the possibility of
some dramatic, if not lurid, reports of our exit from Dili, I put through
two reassuring calls, one to the Secretary-General in New York and the
other to Arnaz in Singapore. To my companion Francesc Vendrell, I sug­
gested that he and I now had material for collaboration on a new Broad­
way musical: “Miss East Timor.”
Back in Jakarta, I went through a series of meetings with President
Habibie, Foreign Minister Alatas, Law Minister Muladi, and General
118 East Timor

“Miss East Timor.” A hurried photograph from the helicopter as we made our pre­
cipitate departure from Dili. Photograph: author’s collection.

Wiranto, the Armed Forces Chief. We reviewed the UN negotiation

process, taking into account the changed and still evolving political sit­
uation within Indonesia, as well as the impressions that I had formed dur­
ing my current visit. It was encouraging to note that all four leaders, each
in his own fashion, continued to be supportive of the UN process.
Habibie was the most enthusiastic, not only because that is his nat­
ural bent, but also because he genuinely felt that the wide ranging auton­
omy that he had proposed to the East Timorese was in consonance with
the genuine policy of liberalization which he had proudly proclaimed,
which he was now in the process of implementing within Indonesia, and
with which he hoped his name would for ever be associated.
 Sailing into the Squall 119

Wiranto was a little more reserved. He said that he was beset by so

many major problems throughout Indonesia that he would warmly wel­
come getting East Timor off his list if a reasonable solution could be
found, and that he was prepared to do all he could to help the process.
However, when I suggested that substantial troop withdrawals from the
island and the cessation of arms distribution to the militia would be a
most valuable first step, he grew reticent.
As was to be expected, Alatas was the most professional, substan­
tive, and measured in his responses. He looked forward to the January
meeting in New York, when we could finalize the autonomy proposals
and begin to tackle the vital issue of whether the solution was to be tem­
porary or final. On the substance of the autonomy proposal itself, I was
pleased to note further flexibility on the part of Alatas, particularly on
the key issue of the establishment in East Timor of political parties sup­
porting independence.
This item had hitherto threatened an impasse in our negotiations.
In a subsequent private conversation Alex recounted, in his own fascinat­
ing and inimitable manner, his long and intimate association with the
East Timor problem, and of his earnest desire for a solution before he left
office, the time for which he thought was now not far off.
I thought that my old friend could not have been more sincere or
convincing in his remarks. I responded by welcoming his desire for a solu­
tion of East Timor, but was truly sad and apprehensive about any prospect
of his departure from office. Indonesia, and indeed all of us in the inter­
national community, would have need of his statesmanship, his brilliance,
his talents, and his diplomatic skills for many years to come.
Apart from pushing the ongoing tripartite negotiations, I had, during
this particular visit to the region, set out to obtain two objectives. The first
and most important of these was the release of Xanana Gusmao, and the
second was the establishment of a United Nations office in East Timor. I
raised both these issues very vigorously in my talks with Habibie, Alatas,
Wiranto, and Law Minister Muladi, but in doing so I reversed the order
of my priorities, emphasizing as a matter of tactics the issue of the UN office.
I argued that since Indonesia had already accepted and cooperated
in such exemplary fashion with the Personal Representative of the Sec­
retary-General for East Timor, there should be no objection to the PRSG
establishing his own liaison office in Dili. The Indonesians, of course,
resisted this fiercely, since it held for them obvious implications of sov­
ereignty in respect of East Timor. Whether this intractability influenced
their view to be more accommodating on my second request, the release
of Xanana Gusmao, remains a matter of conjecture.
120 East Timor

For on the issue of Xanana’s release I continued my vigorous cam­

paign, arguing with Habibie, Alatas, Wiranto, and Muladi that if he could
not be set free by a presidential decree of amnesty then he should, at least,
be removed from Cipinang prison, lodged under custody in a private res­
idence, and permitted public access so that he could carry out his polit­
ical work. I did not accept the contention that under Indonesian law there
was no provision for the concept of “house arrest,” and thought that an
exception could well be made as a goodwill gesture in response to the spe­
cial request of the Secretary-General of the United Nations.
I pointed out to Alatas that the house arrest concept was an old and
tried political device in circumstances of this nature. The British had used
it in the 1940s when they arrested Mahatma Gandhi and lodged him in
the Poona residence of the Aga Khan, having previously satisfied the legal
technicalities by declaring the residence as a prison, as defined in the
official Jail Manual.
The upshot of all this was that I left Jakarta with the hopeful feel­
ing that the Indonesians would be likely to respond positively to one of
my two requests, and that the one most probable would be the release of
Xanana. As for the UN office in Dili, I regarded it as a bit of a red her­
ring. Thanks to the prevailing cooperative attitude of the Indonesian gov­
ernment, we already had as much access to East Timor as we wished, so
that the absence of a UN office was, at most, a mild inconvenience. But
the release, or the relaxation of constraints, on Xanana Gusmao was, in
my view, a matter of substance and importance, particularly at this point
in time.
With uncertainty, lawlessness, and violence so much on the increase
in East Timor, it was imperative that Xanana be provided with the pos­
sibility to exert his moderating influence over events in the island. I called
Stanley Roth in Washington, conveyed to him the impressions of my lat­
est visit to Indonesia, and requested him to lend weight to the pressure
for the release of Xanana Gusmao.
Needless to say, Stanley’s prompt response, in his usual splendid,
energetic fashion, added immeasurably to our effort. It was beginning to
look as though our moves might at last meet with success, and I was deter­
mined to keep at it. “Hard pounding this, gentlemen,” observed the Duke
of Wellington famously, at the height of battle at Waterloo, “let’s see who
will pound longest.”
 12
A Dramatic Decision, and
an Opportunity Seized
N ew Y o rk : Ja n u a ry
a n d F e b r u a r y 1999

Dans les crises politiques, le plus difficile pour un honnête

homme n’est pas de faire son devoir, mais de le connaître. (In
political crises, the greatest difficulty for an honest man is not
to do his duty, but to know what it is.)
—La Rochefoucauld

January 1999 was an important month in the calendar of the East

Timor negotiations. On January 5 the Australian government, which up
till now had been unique in its acknowledgment of Indonesian sover­
eignty over East Timor, suddenly reversed its position with a proclama­
tion that East Timor had the right to self-determination. The weighty
and substantive nature of the relations that exist, and must always exist,
between Indonesia and Australia made this announcement the precursor
of major consequences, both immediately and in the later part of the year.
This was followed, on January 27, by a dramatic and largely unex­
pected statement by the Indonesian government. Emerging from a Cab­
inet meeting, Yunus Yosfiah, the Indonesian Information Minister, with
Foreign Minister Ali Alatas standing by his side, said that in accordance
with a Cabinet decision, “a Regional Autonomy Plus will be awarded to
East Timor. If this is not accepted by the mass in East Timor we will
suggest to the new membership of the Peoples Consultative Assembly
(MPR), formed as a result of the next elections, to release East Timor

121
 122 East Timor

from Indonesia.” The MPR was the highest legislative body in Indone­
sia: it was due to be formed after the Indonesian general elections in June,
and was scheduled to hold its first session in August.
At the same time, and on the same occasion, Alatas also announced
the Government’s decision to move Xanana Gusmao from Cipinang
prison to a residence of private detention. This was being done in response
to an appeal from the Secretary-General of the United Nations, in order
to enable Xanana to play an active role in the East Timor negotiations.
I first got this astonishing news through the media, and although I
had anticipated some positive movement on the matter of Xanana’s release,
the announcement of the offer to “release East Timor from Indonesia” took
me by complete surprise. I had been in regular telephonic communica­
tion with Alex on a number of topics, and I got the feeling that there was
some major rethinking going on in Jakarta, but I did not imagine that it
would be anything quite so radical. Our attention had hitherto been
entirely focused on the autonomy proposals, which had by now reached
final shape and were awaiting Ministerial approval.
Naturally, I rang up Alex as soon as I saw the wire reports of his Jan­
uary 27 announcement, and sought both confirmation and elaboration. I
received both, as well as a request for an early meeting with the Secretary-
General and the Portuguese Foreign Minister. This was set up for Sunday
and Monday, 7 and 8 of February, and was to be preceded by a Senior
Officials Meeting at which we were to finalize the autonomy proposals for
submission to the Secretary-General and the Foreign Ministers.
The SOM text was a reasonably compact document, many elements
of which could be applicable in either an autonomous or independence con­
stitution, whichever was adopted. The proposal envisaged the allocation
of external defense, foreign affairs, and currency and finance, to the Indone­
sian government. Responsibility for legislation in all other areas was to rest
with the East Timorese, who would set up a Regional Council, elect the
Governor, and nominate members of the Advisory Board of the Govern­
ment of the Special Autonomous Region of East Timor (SARET).
The Governor would be elected by the Regional Council from a list
of persons already approved by the President of Indonesia and subject to
his confirmation after the election. The police and judiciary were to be
under the control of SARET, but East Timorese courts were to be sub­
ject to the Supreme Court of Indonesia as court of final appeal. The
Indonesian Army (TNI) would be deployed in East Timor for purposes
of external security only, but could be used for internal security “in excep­
tional cases” if requested by SARET. The Indonesian flag would continue
to fly over the territory, with SARET having its own coat of arms.
 A Dramatic Decision, and an Opportunity Seized 123

Natural resources were to be under the control of the regional gov­

ernment, except those already designated under Indonesian law as being
of strategic importance. While having competence over local taxation,
the region would be subject to national taxation, and would be incorpo­
rated into national monetary and fiscal policies. A senior Indonesian cen­
tral government representative would establish an office in Dili for
purposes of coordination between the central and regional authorities.
Finally, the UN Secretary-General would have the responsibility and
authority to monitor and verify the implementation of the Agreement,
and would establish offices in East Timor for that purpose.
On February 5 ,1 announced the results of the Senior Officials Meet­
ing to the press, stating, inter alia, that “in general, there is a basic agree­
ment on a broad autonomy regime for East Timor, but on certain points
the parties have agreed to disagree. At this stage we still cannot make the
document public. It is still to be discussed by the Ministers and the Sec­
retary-General, and then with key East Timorese leaders.”
I then went on to add, “Obviously, you are wondering how all this
is going to be reconciled with the important announcement made in
Jakarta in the past one week. These are all issues to be discussed by the
Secretary-General with the Ministers. We expect Minister Alatas would
provide further clarification on the policy announced last week.” Need­
less to say, and notwithstanding my soothing and soporific words, it was
quite clear that the Indonesian government’s announcement of January
27 had overtaken, if not entirely displaced, the relevance of the auton­
omy proposals. At our initial private meeting in New York in early Feb­
ruary, Alex gave me a background briefing on Habibie’s decision, the
details of which he elaborated at the formal meeting the next day.
The Tripartite meeting took place on Sunday, February 7, at the res­
idence of the Secretary-General, and lasted all day, at the end of which
the Secretary-General left New York for Amman, in order to attend the
funeral of the King of Jordan. Alatas commenced the proceedings with a
succinct summary of the Indonesian position:

A. A wide-ranging autonomy as an end solution is Indonesia’s

first option.
B. If that is not acceptable to the East Timorese, the govern­
ment would recommend allowing East Timor to become inde­
pendent.
C. Indonesia insists that any autonomy agreement must acknow­
ledge Indonesian sovereignty, and that autonomy followed by a
referendum was not acceptable.
D. The Indonesian Cabinet has decided that, should the auton­
omy proposal not be acceptable to the East Timorese, it would rec­
124 East Timor

ommend to the new parliament (the MPR), to be elected in June

and likely to convene in August, to adopt a law rescinding the
integration of East Timor.
E.) If the parliament accepts this recommendation, Alatas said
that Indonesia recognizes that it has a moral, legal, and political
obligation to ensure an orderly transition through the involvement
of the UN.
F.) Finally, Alatas reiterated Indonesia’s readiness to “exhaust the
exercise” to find a final solution based on a wide ranging auton­
omy through the UN process.

Alatas next informed the Secretary-General and Jaime Gama about

the Indonesian decision on Xanana Gusmao. He said that the action was
taken in response to the Secretary-Gcneral’s request, and that Xanana
would be given “a special status.” He would shortly be moved from Cip-
inang prison to a house, which will technically be designated as an exten­
sion of the prison. However, Xanana would have complete access to
visitors, and would be able to carry out his political work.
The Secretary-General expressed his appreciation of this gesture of
the Indonesian government, and said it would go a long way toward help­
ing all of us in our search for a solution. Kofi then took up the main issue,
which was the latest Indonesian proposal. There was a long, free, and
wide-ranging discussion, deftly steered by the Secretary-General into a
congenial atmosphere, which I could only describe as a heady brew of
anticipation, excitement, goodwill, and a desire for expedition. Having
thus firmly set, in his unique, quiet, and inimitable manner, the positive
tone, tenor, and direction of the negotiations, Kofi took off for Amman
and left us to get on with it.
Our discussions on the next day revolved around the two options
that had constituted the basis of the latest Indonesian proposals, and the
Foreign Ministers reached an understanding that they would meet again
in early March, after the UN had prepared a working paper based upon
the discussions that had just been held. While there was general agree­
ment that the two options proposed by Indonesia would form the frame­
work of the settlement, it was left to the UN to work out a proposal for
the method of consultations.
For the Indonesians, the use of the word “referendum” was total
anathema, while for the Portuguese anything that did not resemble a ref­
erendum was equally neuralgic. But they both agreed to leave it to us “to
be creative.” Responding to this challenge, I suggested that we designate
the exercise as a “popular consultation,” a suggestion that appeared to find
provisional acceptance by both ministers. I further suggested that the sim­
plest course for us to now follow would be to use the just completed auton-
 A Dramatic Decision, and an Opportunity Seized 125

Left to right: Foreign M inister Ali Alatas of Indonesia, J.M ., and Foreign M in­
ister Jaime Gama of Portugal at a press conference at UN headquarters. T he media
always had a lively interest in East Timor, and did a splendid job in promoting
international attention through bold and scrupulous reporting. U N /DPI Photo­
graph by Evan Schneider.

omy proposal as the document on which the East Timorese would be

required to exercise their option. This suggestion was also accepted, ad
referendum, by the ministers, who now prepared to return to their capi­
tals for further consultations with their respective governments.
There was thus a large measure of accord at the end of the meeting,
and Alatas said at his press conference that he hoped Indonesia and Por­
tugal will agree “by April at the latest” on a package for broad ranging
autonomy as a final solution for East Timor. This would be put to a vote
by the East Timorese people, and that if the package was rejected, the
Indonesian parliament would revoke the 1976 act of annexation and
Indonesia and East Timor “would part ways.”
Jaime Gama was in complete accord with this arrangement, and in
his own press conference he paid tribute to Alatas’ spirit of cooperation.
In a somewhat uncharacteristic burst of effusiveness, Gama purred, “Alatas
sounded almost like a Portuguese diplomat when he talked about East
Timor. I felt like saying to him, ‘Hello, Mr. Gama!’ “ However, the ses­
sion was not a complete “bataille des fleurs,” as the following extract from
an Associated Press report would indicate:

After Sunday’s meeting with Alatas and UN envoy Jamshecd

Marker, Gama declared that Indonesia had agreed to a UN spon­
sored ballot on autonomy and to return East Timor to its 1976 sta­
tus as a non-governing territory of Portugal in the event of a “no”
vote on autonomy.... Alatas disputed Gama’s comments later Mon­
day. He said his government wants to consult the residents of East
Timor, but there would be no ballot because of the risk of vio-
126 East Timor

lcncc. He said he had asked Marker and UN Secretary-General

Kofi Annan to find a solution “short of a referendum” to consult
the views of the East Timorese. “And voting is out,” he insisted.
Marker said the United Nations was looking at ways this could be
done. “But one thing I’d like to assure you is that there are no short
cuts to democracy, much less a question of short-circuiting the
democratic process. That is out. That cannot be done,” said Marker
in what appeared to be a veiled reference to Indonesia. He did not
elaborate.

It was dear that years of suspicion and distrust could not be d is ­

pelled overnight, and serious problems and difficulties had yet to be over­
come. Some idea of the shadow boxing that took place, during what was
really quite an unusually agreeable session, is reflected in the Associated
Press report that has just been cited.
In the follow up departmental conferences that we had after the
departure of the Indonesian and Portuguese delegations, the Secretary-
General stressed not only the need to seize the opportunity that was now
available, but also maintain and pursue the UN initiative. Apart from
doing our homework on the next phase of our tripartite negotiations, we
intensified our consultations with a number of delegations, establishing
for the purpose a “Group of Friends of the Secretary-General on East
Timor.”
This group consisted of representatives of twenty two countries, plus
the World Bank, and included the five Permanent Members of the Secu­
rity Council, Australia, New Zealand, Japan, Brazil, Austria, Germany,
South Africa, the Philippines, the Netherlands, and Norway. For practi­
cal reasons, we established from these delegations a smaller “Core Group,”
which consisted of the United States, the United Kingdom, Australia,
New Zealand, Japan, Brazil, and Austria, and it was with this latter steer­
ing committee that we remained in almost daily contact.
This permitted us to establish a most useful, friendly, and produc­
tive relationship. Our meetings, which were informal and free-ranging,
enabled us to collate information and plan strategy on a regular and con­
tinuing basis. My office was located on the thirty-third floor on the west
side of the UN building, and was spacious enough to accommodate all
the core group participants to the meetings, which was a great conve­
nience.
Moreover, it provided a superb view of Manhattan and its skyscrap­
ers, from the East River clear across to the Hudson. The panorama,
whether at dawn, midday, twilight, or dusk, whether in sunshine, rain, or
snow, was always enchanting, and never failed to delight. For the sake of
these visual pleasures I was quite prepared to overlook the dismal fur­
 A Dramatic Decision, andan Opportunity Seized 127

nishings, which could charitably be described as cither rudimentary or

utilitarian, depending on the level of generosity of one’s prevalent mood.
Included in these fixtures was a standard metal hat stand, and on one
of its hooks was perched a dark, grayish green felt hat. The hat was in
situ on the day that I moved into the office, and I decided to leave it undis­
turbed, anticipating that its possessor would one day come back and claim
it. But this never happened, so to this day his identity remains a mystery.
But the hat, as time went on, began to acquire an identity of its own, as
if to disparage its delinquent owner, and proceeded to establish its own
occupancy rights.
It is a difficult article to describe, being a somewhat wide brimmed,
pork pie number, whose origins my limited expertise in haberdashery
would trace to East Central Europe. Needless to say, its obtrusive pres­
ence combined with its extensive tenure did not escape the attention of
my Core Group colleagues, whose comments ranged from curiosity to
ribaldry, and in the process made the hat something of a mascot.
In an unguarded moment I once mentioned that I would throw it
out of the window once the East Timor problem was solved. This pro­
voked a collective awareness in the fate of the hat, and the U.S. Ambas­
sador, Nancy Soderburg, in particular, developed a special interest in the
chapeau issue. After the May 5 Agreements were signed, she made a deter­
mined effort to bring about the destiny that I had decreed for it, but I
thought the occasion was premature and fended her off until December
1999, by which time UNTAET had come into existence. Nancy then came
over to my office, bearing a camera and a bottle of champagne, and took
a picture as I sent the hat twirling its way down to the UN entrance dri­
veway. With such lovely friends around, how can anyone ever lose?
To return to more serious matters, it is perhaps now necessary to
interrupt the chronicle of this narrative for a brief review of the policy of
Australia on the East Timor issue. This is important for three main rea­
sons: a) because of the obvious geopolitical dimensions of the Australian-
Indonesian relationship; b) because of the impact on both Indonesia and
East Timor of the dramatic volt face of Australian policy implicit in the
January 1999 proclamation; and c) because of the crucial role that Aus­
tralia would be destined to play in East Timor later in the year.
The Australian Government, regardless of the party in power, had
from the early days accorded a de facto recognition of Indonesian sover­
eignty over East Timor, and the 1985 agreement between Australia and
Indonesia, over oil exploration rights in the Timor Sea, was a virtual de
jure extension of this recognition, despite the slight international oppro­
brium that was occasioned. At the same time, public opinion in Australia
128 East Timor

was getting increasingly restive about the governments policy on East

Timor.
This was due to a combination of factors, including indignant reac­
tions to human rights violations in East Timor, the presence of a con­
siderable and active East Timorese diaspora in Australia (Ramos Horta
was a Professor of Law at New South Wales University in Sydney), and
a lively media activity that always kept East Timor in the public view.
Accordingly, in August 1998, the Australian government carried out
an informal review of East Timor opinion, in the diaspora as well as the
territory itself, and ascertained that there was almost no support for the
idea of integration as a precondition for autonomy. The conclusions of this
report were informally conveyed to us at the UN, and also, I was given to
understand, to the Indonesian government.
Then, in December 1998, Prime Minister John Howard went one
step further, formally conveyed his findings to President Habibie in a let­
ter, and recommended that the Indonesian Government enter into direct
negotiations with the East Timorese on the issue of self-determination.
Howard went on to suggest the New Caledonia model, wherein a review
process was included in the autonomy package.
Habibie’s reaction to the suggestion was an outright refusal. He was
particularly incensed at the idea of deferring the final outcome, and told
the Australian Ambassador, John McCarthy, that Indonesia was not going
to act as “a rich uncle” to the East Timorese for a fifteen-year period. But
on the main issue of self-determination Habibie was more responsive, and
went about it in a skillful and pragmatic manner. He sent out a hand­
written note to some of his key Ministers, enclosing Howard’s letter and
report, and suggesting to the ministers that they consider the option of
recommending to the MPR an honorable parting of ways with East
Timor.
Habibie argued that if, after twenty-five years, the East Timorese still
refused to accept integration, the norms of democracy and justice would
suggest that they should be permitted to peacefully exercise their right of
self-determination. I understand that once his note had been circulated,
it took Habibie a week to firm up his decision to offer the East Timorese
the choice of integration or independence.
In the meanwhile we in New York could only get tantalizing glimpses
of the drama that was being played out in the corridors of power in Jakarta.
We had out all our antennae, the most powerful of which were obviously
the Australian, U.S., and British, and sensed that something important
was going on, but could not tell exactly what it was.
At this point it is perhaps appropriate to continue the interruption
 A Dramatic Decision, and an Opportunity Seized 129

of the chronological narrative to speculate on the motivations and actions

of President Bacharuddin Jusuf Habibie. His decision to terminate twenty-
five years of Indonesian national, political, military, economic, and emo­
tional involvement in East Timor could not have been easy, especially for
a person who had not hitherto been in the opposition, but was very much
a part of the establishment. But there is not the slightest doubt that Habi­
bie’s epic action was the turning point in our negotiations, and paved the
way to eventual independence for East Timor.
There has, of course, been a great deal of speculation on the reasons
that prompted Habibie’s precipitate announcement of January 27,1999,
much of which has centered on Prime Minister Howard’s letter to Habi­
bie and their subsequent meeting. My own impression is that while the
Howard contact was an important and significant factor, it was not the
determining one. In his own mind, Habibie had already made the deter­
mination, and that he used the Howard letter, with his usual skill and
dexterity, as the instrument with which to effect the implementation of
his will.
Habibie’s disposition, as I discovered over the several formal and
informal meetings that I had with him, was capricious and idiosyncratic,
replete with histrionics, imprecations, and dramatic gesticulations, and
with an occasional egotistical outpouring that was almost infantile in its
bombast. His outward manner displayed some symptoms of an immature
extrovert, and yet behind the smoke screen and pyrotechnics there were
the unmistakable signs of a thoughtful and pragmatic mind, a subtle capa­
bility for manipulation, and above all, of a kind and courageous man.
It has been said, with good reason, that Habibie had made a deliber­
ate attempt to distance himself, as cautiously as he could, from the poli­
cies of Suharto, whose known standing, as both benefactor and predecessor,
must have made the exercise somewhat awkward and difficult. The near
revolutionary changes that occurred in the political life of Indonesia, fol­
lowing the downfall of Suharto, were generated by forces which were man­
ifestations of popular will, and Habibie had nothing to do with them. Nor
was he able to exercise much influence over their control and direction.
But in the case of East Timor, the initiative seems to have emanated
almost entirely from Habibie, who made the project his own, and launched
this particular raft on the rough tide of freedom that was surging through
Indonesia at that time. The East Timor issue thus became an extremely
personal matter for Habibie, and one to which he had firmly hitched his
political star. Habibie’s decision to free East Timor could certainly have
been made with a view to garner political capital in the quest of his ambi­
tions in the emerging new Indonesia.
130 East Timor

It was also, I believe, motivated partly by genuine feelings of human-

itarianism, but mostly on the cool calculation that the rapidly increasing
cost of the shackles was far in excess of the value of the object that they
restrained. This made him an intelligent statesman. Habibie also knew
that his actions would provoke strong adverse reactions from the coun­
try’s most powerful groups, the military and the politicians with vested
interests in East Timor.
But he went ahead with his decision anyway, because he knew that
morally and realistically it was the right thing to do. This made him a
brave statesman. Instinctively, he appears to have discerned the ethical
distinction, expressed in La Rochefoucauld’s observation, between doing
one’s duty and knowing what it is.
In retrospect, as I think of Habibie’s actions and motives (as I still
sometimes do), I am tempted to recall the events of January 29,1960, when
Charles de Gaulle, dressed in full military uniform as an impressive
reminder of his authority, went on French television and reaffirmed the
right of the Algerians to choose their own future. This was truly one of
the defining moments in history. Not only did it lead to Algerian inde­
pendence, but it also prevented France from becoming, in de Gaulle’s
words, “a broken plaything.”
There are, I sometimes feel, some slight similarities to the East Timor
situation, including the curious coincidence that both announcements
were made in the month of January. In the first place, there is the specter
of an unsettled region in revolt threatening overall national stability. Next,
in both cases there was the danger of a backlash, emanating particularly
from a powerful and entrenched military establishment. A third coinci­
dence is that, in seeking a solution, both the controlling powers, France
and Indonesia, resorted to similar diplomatic and constitutional devices
for framing the enabling measures for the transfer of power and sover­
eignty.
The French insisted that independence for Algeria should be granted
by France, and not wrested from her. Hence the Evian agreements did
not constitute a treaty, since Algeria was not yet sovereign, and transfer
of power was accordingly effected through a Declaration made by the
French Government. In the case of East Timor, constitutional procedures
were devised in order to meet similar Indonesian sensitivities, and the
MPR enacted a law, which rescinded the July 1976 parliamentary law
under which East Timor was incorporated as a province of the Republic.
However, notwithstanding the temptations of these intriguing spec­
ulations, prudence imposes an element of caution in seeking similarities
between the Algerian and East Timor situations. De Gaulle’s task was
 A Dramatic Decision, and an Opportunity Seized 131

monumental, fraught with consequences and political risks of devastat­

ing proportions. It was executed with statecraft of the highest order, and
with a firm decisiveness that brooked no opposition. Above all, it was
magisterial, like everything that General de Gaulle ever did.
The dissimilarity between de Gaulle in Algeria and Habibie in East
Timor is just about as stark as the contrast in the stature, both political
and physical, of the two men. And yet, I sometimes wonder, was there
not somehow, somewhere, a similar tiny spark that flashed in the souls of
both men—the diminutive, unknown transient from North Sulawesi, and
the heroic, historical colossus from Colombey-les-Deux-Eglises?
It is an intriguing thought, but is perhaps best left at that. Specula­
tive imagination and reality dwell on different planets.
 13
Substantive Progress in
Negotiations in New York;
Ominous Signals
from East Timor
N ew Y o rk , Ja k a r t a ,
a n d E a s t T im o r :
F e b r u a r y t o A p r i l 1999

It was the best of times, it was the worst of times;

It was the age of wisdom, it was the age of foolishness ...
It was the spring of hope, it was the winter of despair.
—Charles Dickens, A Tale of Two Cities

The Habibie proposal was a seed that had fallen on soil that was
already rich and fertile. Thanks to Kofi Annans foresight and initiative,
the UN had in position an active, ongoing process of negotiations over
East Timor. So that when Alatas brought the project to New York we
were ready to run with the ball, so to speak, and did not have to scurry
around in search of plans and players to move it forward.
The Secretary-General’s initiative thus played a dual role, as an
incentive for settlement as well as a framework for final agreement. The
problems that now confronted us were likewise twofold, the first being to
further the diplomatic process, and the second, much more serious, being
to cope with the deteriorating security situation in the territory.

132
 Substantive Progress; Ominous Signals 133

The former, diplomatic issue was dealt with on the basis of the Sec-
retary-General’s suggestion during the meeting of February 7. We drafted
an agreement, which maintained the basic positions of both sides, but
nevertheless agreed that the autonomy proposals be submitted to the East
Timorese for acceptance or rejection. In the event of acceptance, the
Indonesian government would take the necessary measures for the incor­
poration of East Timor into the Republic, and in the event of rejection
Indonesia would take the requisite measures to restore East Timor to its
former status of Non-Self-Governing Territory. The method of consul­
tation was left to the United Nations. The relevant portions of the text
o f the Agreement stated as follows:
Having studied the draft constitutional framework for a wide-
ranging autonomy regime for East Timor attached hereto as an
annex:
Taking into account the position of the Government of Indone­
sia that the proposed wide-ranging autonomy regime can be imple­
mented only as a permanent regime with full recognition of
Indonesian sovereignty over East Timor;
Taking into account the position of the Government of Portu­
gal that the proposed wide-ranging autonomy regime should be a
transitional regime, not requiring acknowledgment of Indonesian
sovereignty over East Timor or the removal of East Timor from
the United Nations list of Non Self Governing Territories, pend­
ing a final decision on the status of East Timor by the East Tim ­
orese people through an act of self-determination under United
Nations auspices;

The parties hereby agree as follows:

1. That the draft constitutional framework providing for a per­
manent wide-ranging autonomy regime for East Timor within the
unitary Republic of Indonesia should be presented by the Secre-
tary-General to the East Timorese people for their consideration
and approval or rejection through a popular consultation.
2. In devising the method and procedures for the popular con­
sultation, the Secretary-General shall take into account the views
of the Governments of Indonesia and Portugal, and the represen­
tatives of the East Timorese people.
3. The Secretary-General shall inform the Governments of
Indonesia and the East Timorese people of the results of the con­
sultation.
4. If the Secretary-General determines that the attached frame­
work is acceptable to the East Timorese people, the Government
of Portugal will initiate within the United Nations the procedures
necessary for the recognition of East Timor as a special
autonomous region within the Republic of Indonesia and the Gov­
ernment of Indonesia shall initiate within Indonesia the proce­
dures necessary for the realization of that arrangement.
134 East Timor

5. If the Secretary-General determines that the autonomy

model is not acceptable to the East Timorese people, the Gov­
ernment of Indonesia shall take the steps necessary to terminate
its links with East Timor, thus restoring under Indonesian law the
status it held prior to the 1976 incorporation of East Timor into
Indonesia.

Thus, the autonomy proposals, which we had so assiduously crafted

over the previous months, was now made the trigger mechanism for the
implementation of the process of “popular consultations” in East Timor.
Having gained acceptance to the agreement by the two Foreign Ministers,
our next task was to devise the modalities and method of consultation.
Back in March 1999, we were, of course, aware of the imponderables.
Could Habibie maintain course until August, in the likely event of an East
Timorese vote for independence? What was the guarantee that the MPR
would, in fact, accept Habibie’s proposal “to part company” with East Timor?
Already, Megawati Sukarnoputri, whose populist support was at its
height, had rejected Habibie’s authority and denounced his proposal. She
felt that East Timor should remain a part of Indonesia, and that Habi­
bie, as an un-elected, interim President, had no competence to make such
a far-reaching political offer. I decided that although these concerns were
real, they were not of an immediate nature.
The important thing to do now was to secure and beef up an agree­
ment, which would both accept the principle of a “popular consultation”
and also leave the modalities to be worked out by the UN. Once that was
done in New York, I could proceed to Indonesia and East Timor and try
to persuade any recalcitrants to accept the fait accompli.
Accordingly, we set to work on the nature, manner, and procedures
for consultation. One method, as originally suggested by Alatas, was for
the UN to undertake “a democratic sampling of views,” whereby a UN
team would go round the Territory and obtain as broad a range of East
Timorese views and opinions as possible. The second option was to elect
a “Council of Representatives,” which would initially decide upon the
acceptance or rejection of the autonomy proposal, and then serve as an
interim government until elections were held. The third option was, o f
course, a straightforward direct ballot.
We discarded the first option, because it was lengthy and cumber­
some, lacking in credibility and subject to challenge. The second option,
which found favor amongst some of my colleagues, and also Xanana and
the Bishops, was given serious consideration. I had considerable reserva­
tions, and pressed for a direct ballot. This was the option that was finally
adopted, at a meeting that the Secretary-General held with the two For­
 Substantive Progress; Ominous Signals 135

eign Ministers in New York in March. This decision met the Portuguese
demand that the consultations should be democratic and universal, while
by designating the ballot as a “popular consultation” we overcame the
Indonesian objection to the use of the term referendum.
During my earlier talks with Bishops Belo and Nasciemento, we had
discussed the idea of setting up a “Committee for Peace, Stability, and
Reconciliation” in East Timor, composed, inter alia, of Xanana Gusmao,
the two Bishops, and the local Indonesian civilian and military authori­
ties. Following a decision in New York we did, in fact, set up such a com­
mittee. But as later events were to show, it was skillfully hijacked by
Wiranto, whose effective manipulation turned a potentially very useful
institution into an ineffective body.
To return to the subject of the modalities for the “popular consulta­
tion” process, it was obvious that the United Nations would be responsi­
ble for devising and implementing the procedures, which we would then
present to both governments for their approval. But before we did so I
deemed it necessary to obtain agreement on the form of the question that
was to be put to the East Timorese.
The issue generated considerable discussion, which could have become
quite heated, but for the level-headed directions of Ministers Alatas and
Gama. In the end, it was decided that the East Timorese would be asked
to choose between two carefully phrased options: “Do you accept the pro­
posed special autonomy for East Timor within the Unitary State of
Indonesia?” or “Do you reject the proposed special autonomy for East
Timor, leading to East Timor’s separation from Indonesia?” In other
words, the ballot paper not only offered a choice to the East Timor voter,
but also clearly indicated the consequence of that choice.
On this note of substantive progress, the two ministers left for their
capitals, with an understanding to reconvene in New York in early April
in order to finalize the agreement. In the meanwhile, we got busy in two
directions. I was getting increasingly concerned about the situation on the
ground in East Timor, and we accordingly sent a mission, led by Tamrat
Samuel, to the region, in order to assess and evaluate our requirements
for organizing the consultation process, and equally importantly to assess
whether the security situation would enable us to do our job.
In New York, we got cracking on the political and administrative
requirements for our new task: the Security Council was to be briefed,
personnel were to be selected, and budget allocations made. Our consul­
tations with the Core Group of the Friends of the Secretary-General for
East Timor assumed new levels of intensity and, thanks to the unstinted
and enthusiastic cooperation of its members, of productivity.
 136 East Timor

Tamrat s report, on return from Jakarta, was, as usual, clear and per­
ceptive: it was also disturbing.
The process that for years moved sluggishly is now in danger of
being overtaken by events that are proving very difficult to keep
pace with. Absent a defined course for the remainder of the diplo­
matic process, the heightened sense of uncertainty in East Timor,
combined with the continued fluidity of the political situation in
Indonesia, could easily translate into an unguided and quite pos­
sibly violent transition in East Timor.

Tamrat sensed that East Timorese political opinion was generally in

favor of a transitional autonomy, which could ease the way into indepen­
dence and reduce the possibility of violence.
But it was Tamrat s assessment of the security situation that caused
me the gravest concern, and substantiated the daily reports of violence
and killings that emanated from East Timor:
The most pressing issue is the security situation in East Timor.
Political killings and clashes are almost a daily affair. The pro­
independence camp, increasingly confident that victory is at hand,
but also responding to Xanana’s instructions ... is showing con­
siderable restraint. On the other hand, the pro-integrationists,
whose leading figures are almost to a man government officials
and civil servants, now feel greatly threatened and betrayed by
Habibie, and some have taken up arms (with the thinly-veiled sup­
port of ABRI or elements within ABRI) vowing to resist by all
means any move toward independence. Several new militia groups,
some with modern automatic weapons, others using traditional
and home made ones, have multiplied.

Tamrat s observation of the humanitarian situation was equally grim:

The outflow of non-East Timorese settlers continues. They fear
the consequences of a rejection of autonomy. It is also clear that
there has been intimidation by young radicals. At the same time,
ABRI is said to be encouraging the departure of the settlers and
the non-East Timorese civil servants, doctors, and teachers. The
distribution of food and other essentials is already affected ... there
are no surgeons left in the whole of East Timor.

During this period, there was a bizarre contrast between the over­
seas messages and the internal working papers that crossed my desk. The
latter reflected the full steam ahead approach to post agreement prepara­
tions, confident in the realistic anticipation that an accord would soon be
forthcoming. Yet, on the other hand, the telegrams and news items from
Jakarta and Dili carried constant and alarming reports about the deteri­
orating security situation in the region.
The increased belligerence of the pro-integration groups was attrib­
 Substantive Progress; Ominous Signals 137

uted to the support and the arms which they were receiving from ABRI,
and while the pro-independence groups were generally following Xanana’s
call for restraint, there was still a great deal of combat on the island. My
frequent telephone calls to Alex in Jakarta generally covered two issues:
the more agreeable aspect was discussions on matters that progressed our
diplomatic negotiations; the less pleasant were the protests about the esca­
lating violence.
I felt that it was imperative that law and order be rapidly restored in
East Timor, as otherwise we could find ourselves in the ridiculous situa­
tion of possessing an agreement but lacking the ability to implement it
on the ground. This was truly a case of the best of times and the worst
of times.
The next meeting between the Secretary-General and the Foreign
Ministers of Indonesia and Portugal was scheduled to be held in New York
on March 10 at which time it was expected that the autonomy proposal
text would be approved by both sides, and we could begin discussions on
a final agreement. However, this was not to be.
Some disquieting reports from Jakarta had begun to trickle in. Habi­
bie’s proposal had already been quite a hornet’s nest, and now the reve­
lation of the text of the autonomy proposal, with its wide-ranging
concessions, had added further sting to the apiarian infliction. There were
dark, but unconfirmed, reports of a stormy cabinet meeting at which Alatas
had been quite unfairly accused of giving away the store.
So when I got a phone call from the Indonesian mission in New York
informing me that the Foreign Minister wished to meet me, before the
start of the Tripartite Meeting, in order to discuss an important matter,
I had an inkling of what it was likely to be. At a tête-à-tête breakfast at
his hotel the next morning, Alex told me that at a meeting in Jakarta three
days earlier the Cabinet had thoroughly discussed the autonomy propos­
als and had raised a number of serious “and quite valid” objections.
The text was accordingly being reworked in Jakarta and would be
submitted to us in a couple of weeks. Alex went on to emphasize that
there had been no change in his government’s basic position regarding
the popular consultation proposal, and that they were anxious to get the
process going as soon as possible.
Clearly, a postponement at this late stage would not go down very
well. The Portuguese were on tenterhooks and could react adversely to a
perception that confirmed their darkest suspicions. The media, too, was
poised for an announcement, and a postponement would provide them
with a field-day for speculation. Nevertheless, I could appreciate the rea­
soning that compelled the Indonesian request.
138 East Timor

It was not spelled out by Alex, but I knew that I could count on our
years of friendship and understanding to speak frankly and spell it out to
him. I expressed my appreciation of the fact that during the long and
arduous negotiations over the autonomy proposals, which had taken place
well before the Habibie offer, the Indonesian delegation had made con­
cessions, frequently at my request, in order to make the autonomy as wide
ranging as possible. This was done in order to make the package attrac­
tive, and therefore salable, to the East Timorese.
Now that the circumstances had changed and the Indonesian offer
of “the second option” was on the table, Jakarta might well find itself in
the unenviable position of losing East Timor and being left with a rejected
but nevertheless liberal autonomy document on its hands. And regions
like Aceh and Irian Jaya might be tempted to demand from Jakarta the
same special offer that had been made to the East Timorese.
I could, therefore, well understand the concerns of the Indonesian
Cabinet. Habibie and Alatas had made a bold and far-reaching proposal,
and Alex’s expression of their continued commitment to it was most reas­
suring. It would therefore be imprudent on the part of any of us to com­
plicate Habibie’s task any further by insisting on adherence to the
negotiated wide-ranging autonomy document.
I immediately reported the gist of my talk with Alatas to the Secre­
tary-General. After approving my action, he decided that we should
inform the Portuguese, and that we should avail of the presence of both
Foreign Ministers to explore the modalities and requirements of the con­
sultation process. We took the position that since the autonomy docu­
ment was now basically a trigger mechanism for activating the “popular
consultation,” there was no merit in tinkering with the details. Jaime
Gama, calm and pragmatic as ever, said that as long as the UN could go
ahead with administering the ballot, Portugal had no intention of hold­
ing up an agreement over the text of the autonomy proposal.
The Trilateral meetings between the Secretary-General and the For­
eign Ministers of Indonesia and Portugal, together with their delegations,
on March 10 and 11,1999, did not produce any concrete results that the
media could convey to the general public. And yet, judging by the
exchanges that took place, the sessions were exemplary in terms of quiet,
productive diplomacy.
Alatas presented a frank and lucid analysis of the political situation
that prevailed in Indonesia: “We already have thirty-eight political par­
ties, there may be more, and some are likely to form coalitions. But nobody
can predict the outcome of the June elections.” We discussed the ways,
means, and possibilities of synchronizing our joint objective of organiz­
 Substantive Progress; Ominous Signals 139

ing the ballot process in the climate and context of a rapidly changing
and constantly evolving political situation within Indonesia. We had some
useful preliminary discussions on the requirements and procedures for the
education and familiarization of voters, on the Indonesian electoral sys­
tem, and on the electoral infrastructure of East Timor.
Most important of all, we discussed the security issue, and expressed
in the strongest terms our concerns over a matter which was obviously
central to the whole exercise. The suggestion of a UN presence for secu­
rity purposes was indignantly rejected by Alatas, who argued forcefully
that this was a matter of national honor and sovereignty, since security
was a function that was intrinsically Indonesia’s responsibility.
A UN military presence in East Timor, before the balloting, would
imply Jakarta’s relinquishment of sovereignty over East Timor even before
the votes were cast. These were powerful arguments, but as later events
were to so tragically demonstrate, the powerful assertions of responsibil­
ity in the council chambers were not matched by an equally powerful exe­
cution of responsibility in the field.
The issue of security, which had loomed darkly in the background
over the last several months, was brought to the fore in the March 1999
Tripartite meeting. Henceforth the problem would increasingly dominate
our considerations, posing dilemmas of compulsion and resistance, and
leading to an outcome that should never have been as tragic as it even­
tually became.
At the conclusion of the Tripartite Ministerial meeting in New York
on March 11,1999, the Secretary-General told a crowded press confer­
ence, after thanking the two Foreign Ministers for their presence and the
co-operative spirit that they displayed, that:
A. We have just completed a very positive and constructive round
of talks, at which the main issues discussed were, 1) the autonomy
proposal for East Timor and its finalisation, 2) the method of con­
sulting the people of East Timor on the autonomy proposal, and
3) the situation in East Timor.
B. Foreign Minister Alatas informed the meeting that he will
convey to the tripartite forum Indonesia’s revisions to the auton­
omy plan as soon as these are completed.
C. On the means of consulting the East Timorese people, the
meeting has reached agreement that a method of direct ballot will
be used to ask the people of East Timor whether they accept or
reject the autonomy proposal. The specific modalities of how the
popular consultation will be carried out are being worked out.
D. Members of my Personal Representative’s team will soon be
visiting Jakarta, East Timor, and Lisbon to continue the process
of consulting the East Timorese leaders and personalities.
E. While the situation in East Timor remains a matter of con-
140 East Timor

cern to all parties, I welcome the recent positive steps to promote

dialogue and reconciliation amongst the East Timorese. In par­
ticular, I am encouraged by efforts to set up a mechanism for fos­
tering peace and stability in East Timor, to which I am prepared
to lend my full support.
F. The Senior Officials Meeting will convene in New York on
April 13 and 14,1999 under the chairmanship of my Personal Rep­
resentative, Jamsheed Marker. The two Ministers and I will meet
in New York on April 22,1999.

Shortly thereafter we sent an assessment mission to the region. It

signified the intensification of our efforts, and served as a link between
the Ministerial Tripartite Meetings of March and April 1999. The mis­
sion, which lasted from March 18 to April 6,1999, visited Indonesia, East
Timor, Australia, New Zealand, and Portugal. It was led by Francesc Ven-
drell, and included Tamrat Samuel, Horaceo Boneo, the able and ener­
getic expert on electoral affairs, Mike Dora and Henry Thompson of the
Field Administration and Logistical Division, who were experts on com­
munications and logistics, and Terry Burke from the Security Division.
As its composition would indicate, the mission was a practical one,
designed to survey and actively prepare for an early UN presence in East
Timor. In addition, it would also pursue the political agenda with the
Indonesians and East Timorese. On its return to New York, the mission
reported that it “found a dangerous level of tension and political violence,
which, if not quickly curbed, could easily spiral out of control.”
Indeed, unless ABRI adopts a neutral stand and disarms or oth­
erwise neutralizes the militia, the situation risks becoming unman­
ageable in the period prior to and after the consultation,
particularly if the result is in favor of East Timor’s separation from
Indonesia. An independent East Timor could become a failed state
at its very birth. It is abundantly clear that a free and fair poll
could not be held under the prevailing circumstances.
At the same time, the Mission concluded that for a consulta­
tion to take place by the end of July, a minimum of three months
would be required and this on the assumption that there was full
cooperation from all the parties concerned, and from the Indone­
sian authorities in particular. Such an assumption cannot, of
course, be made.

The valuable but sobering content of the report convinced me that

we needed to expedite the overall process and secure an agreement as soon
as possible. Our two main enemies, time and violence, had begun to rear
their ugly heads, and would from now on play an increasingly disruptive
role in our lives.
In the first instance, we set about increasing pressure on the Indone­
sians to improve the security situation in East Timor. We did this not
 Substantive Progress; Ominous Signals 141

only by direct demarches to Jakarta, but also through the Core Group
nations, with whose representatives we shared the contents of the Mis­
sion’s report. Madeleine Albright, the U.S. Secretary of State, visited
Jakarta in early April, and in a forceful meeting with Habibie, demanded
that he improve the law and order situation in East Timor, while Stan­
ley Roth followed this up by a public statement calling for the disarma­
ment of the militia.
While all this was going on, the Indonesian military and militia,
who were never less than themselves, once again provided two instances
of their extraordinary faculty for thumping the football into their own
goal. Both events would appear to be incredible, in the light of the pre­
vailing circumstances.
On April 6, the church in Liquica, where over two thousand people
had taken shelter, was ruthlessly attacked by the militia, resulting in about
fifty deaths and a large number of injuries. This wanton massacre, which
was witnessed by Indonesian troops and police, who remained callously
indifferent, had repercussions throughout the world. The Secretary-Gen-
eral issued a strong message of condemnation, as did President Clinton,
who called upon President Habibie to take stem measures to control the
militia.
When I visited the Liquica church a few weeks later, the effects of
the attack were very much in evidence in the damaged building, but the
refugees, while still in an obvious state of shock, had pulled themselves
together and organized a defense system which, though rudimentary in
effect, was impressive in terms of morale and symbolism.
Hard on the heels of the Liquica massacre, there followed a similar
attack by the militia in Dili on April 17. A rally by pro-integration mili­
tia outside the Governor’s office led to a rampage in which a number of
people were killed, and many houses burned. The Foreign Minister of
Ireland, Mr. David Andrews, was visiting Dili at the time, as a represen­
tative of the European Union. He not only witnessed the incident, but
was also a victim of its effects, and observed the complicit inaction of the
Indonesian security forces.
His subsequent report, conveyed in justifiable terms of indignation
to Habibie and Alatas in Jakarta, added considerable weight to the inter­
national concern that was now being expressed. As a result, General
Wiranto flew to Dili and arranged for representatives of the pro-inde-
pendence and pro-integration groups to get together and sign a “peace
accord,” which Wiranto also signed as a witness.
The gesture was obviously designed to placate international opin­
ion, and did not produce any appreciable effects on the situation on the
142 East Timor

The church of Liquicia, and the refugees who took shelter there. Note the breast­
work of stones and thatch which the occupants built in their successful defense
against militia attacks. Photograph by Arnaz Marker.

ground. The Secretary-General brought the matter to the attention of the

Security Council in a strong statement:
You will be familiar from press reports with the appalling violence
in Dili carried out over the weekend by thousands of pro-inte-
gration militiamen, in which many people have been killed and
wounded and houses and other property looted and vandalized,
including the offices of the main daily newspaper. The informa­
tion available, including from foreign journalists who witnessed the
events, indicates that the Indonesian military and police made no
attempt to intervene or to protect the lives and property of the
population.
These events occurred while the Irish Foreign Minister was vis­
iting Dili. They follow credible reports in the past few months of
weapons being distributed to pro-integration groups, particularly
since the announcement by President Habibie in January that
Indonesia would be willing to allow East Timor to separate from
Indonesia, should a majority of the East Timorese reject auton­
omy within Indonesia. I, as well as my Personal Representative,
have repeatedly raised our concerns with the Indonesian authori­
ties. Following the initial deterioration of the situation a fortnight
ago, I have spoken and subsequently written to President Habibie
urging that measures be taken by the authorities to take control
of the situation and carry out their duty to maintain law and order.
On Thursday, two days before Saturday’s events, my Personal
Representative brought to the attention of the Indonesian Per-
 Substantive Progress; Ominous Signals 143

manent Representative information indicating that the militias

were planning to carry out such an attack. In the last forty-eight
hours, my Personal Representative has been in frequent contact
with Foreign Minister Ali Alatas, who has assured him that the
Indonesian authorities would take all necessary steps to control the
situation.
It seems to me that the only way to avert a wider conflagration
in East Timor is, first, for the Indonesian authorities to take the
steps they have promised to restore security and, second, for the
current diplomatic process to be brought to a swift and successful
conclusion. In this connection, I hope that, at my meetings later
this week with the Foreign Ministers of Indonesia and Portugal,
agreement will be reached on the specifics of the direct ballot in
East Timor to determine whether the autonomy proposal under
consideration is acceptable to the East Timorese in a consultation
that I have been asked to conduct as early as possible. As soon as
an agreement is reached, I intend to dispatch a preliminary team
to lay the groundwork for the popular consultation.

The Australian and Japanese governments, each in their own fash­

ion, also weighed in, adding up to an impressive pressure group on Jakarta,
and reports of these actions were received by us in New York with much
appreciation. Nevertheless, I continued to remain disturbed, because I
knew that we were dealing with a new Indonesia wherein the writ of
Jakarta, so comprehensively and imperiously exercised in Suharto’s day,
no longer held the same sway.
The entrenched militants and their powerful supporters in distant
East Timor had their own agenda, and clearly resented Habibie’s deci­
sion. Moreover, they were getting to be aware of the President’s dimin­
ishing ability to impose his writ on this far-flung outpost.
I recalled an observation made many years ago by the English his­
tory teacher at my school. Talking about King James II and King Charles
II, he said that one monarch could if he would, while the other would if
he could. It seemed that this would apply, mutatis mutandis, to Presidents
Suharto and Habibie, as far as East Timor was concerned.
 14
Agreement Between the
Republic of Indonesia and
the Portuguese Republic
N ew Y o r k : A p r i l a n d M a y 1999

This is a historic moment

—Secretary-General Kofi Annan, at a
Press Conference, United Nations,
New York, May 5,1999

By mid-April we had completed our work at UN headquarters on

the preparations for the Ministerial meeting, for which purpose I had
engaged in intensive consultations with the US, UK, Australian, Japanese,
and New Zealand delegations in New York, as well as with Stanley Roth
in Washington. I thought that the best format would be to prepare three
draft agreements.
The first was a main Basic Agreement, which covered the broad
political issues, and this was to be supplemented by two additional agree­
ments, one entitled the “Agreement Regarding the Popular Consultation
of the East Timorese Through a Direct Ballot,” and the other entitled
“East Timor Popular Consultations: Agreement Regarding Security.”
Each of the three agreements was to be signed by the Foreign Ministers
of Indonesia and Portugal, and by the Secretary-General.
The three drafts were presented by the Secretary-General to the For­
eign Ministers at a Tripartite Meeting in New York on April 22 and 23,
1999 and, as expected, were the subject of extensive discussion. The two
days of negotiations were amongst the most intensive that I have known,

144
 Agreement Between Indonesia and Portugal 145

At a lively press confcrencc at UN Headquarters, New York, on 23 April 1999, the

Secretary-General expresses optimism. Left to right: J.M .; Ali Alatas, the Foreign
M inister of Indonesia; UN Secretary-General Kofi Annan; and Jaime Gama, the
Foreign Minister of Portugal. U N /D PI Photograph by M ilton Grant.

and revealed a fascinating array of temperament, skill, and tenacity, all

coupled with admirable statesmanship. Kofi Annan deftly directed the
process as he prodded and coaxed Alatas and Gama, each in turn, into
making concessions and accepting compromises, and gently urging and
easing them on to a solution which had been the intrinsic desire and
objective of both ministers.
The Main Agreement, in its preambular, took note of the position
o f each side, and went on to express their agreement to ascertain the
wishes of the people of East Timor by subjecting the autonomy proposal
to a “popular consultation.” The Secretary-General was requested to
“devise the method and procedures for the popular consultation through
a direct, secret, and universal ballot.”
Article 2 of the Main Agreement requested the Secretary-General
to establish a UN Mission in East Timor to “enable him to effectively
cant out the popular consultation,” while Article 4 requested the Secre­
tary-General “to report the result of the popular consultation to the Secu­
rity Council, the General Assembly, as well as to inform the Governments
of Indonesia and Portugal, and the East Timorese people.”
Articles 5 and 6 defined the actions that the governments of Indone­
sia and Portugal were required to take upon the basis of the Secretary-
General’s report of the results of the popular consultation. In the event
146 East Timor

of the acceptance of the autonomy proposal by the East Timorese peo­

ple, the Indonesian government would take the constitutional measures
necessary for integration, and the Portuguese government would initiate
measures to remove the “Question of East Timor” from the Agenda of
the General Assembly of the United Nations.
In the event of the rejection of the autonomy proposal (Article 6),
“the Government of Indonesia shall take the constitutional steps neces­
sary to terminate its links with East Timor, thus restoring under Indone­
sian law the status East Timor held prior to July 17, 1976, and the
Governments of Indonesia and Portugal and the Secretary-General shall
agree on arrangements for a peaceful and orderly transfer of authority in
East Timor to the United Nations. The Secretary-General shall, subject
to the appropriate legislative mandate, initiate the procedure enabling
East Timor to begin a process of transition toward independence.”
Article 7 requested the Secretary-General to maintain an adequate
presence in East Timor in the period between the ballot and the imple­
mentation of its result. Article 3 of the Main Agreement was brief, concise,
and explicit. It stated that “the Government of Indonesia will be responsi­
ble for maintaining peace and security in East Timor in order to ensure that
the popular consultation is carried out in a fair and peaceful way in an atmos­
phere free from intimidation, violence, or interference from any side.”
There was no ambiguity in the text, and yet it gave us the greatest
concern, was the most vexatious in negotiations, and became the subject
of greatest contention in the days, months, and perhaps years, to come.
It may be noted that the Agreement terminated any possibility of an
interim period of autonomy, an option that had been under serious con­
sideration in the negotiation process until now, and which had in fact
found favor with Xanana Gusmao as well as with Bishops Belo and
Nasciemento. I was told by Alatas in quite unequivocal terms, which were
later endorsed by Habibie in an equally frank manner, that the East Tim ­
orese had to come to an immediate decision, one way or another.
Indonesia was in no mood to continue to bear the economic burden
of maintaining East Timor for another five or ten years, only to be then
told “Thank you, and good-bye.” This attitude was not a surprise, since
the definitive nature of the proposal was the essence of Habibie’s abrupt
decision. Moreover, Jakarta had always maintained that East Timor’s
domestic resources were incapable of generating more than 7 percent of
its budgetary needs, and that it was dependent upon the center for the
overwhelming requirements of its finances. After making every allowance
for statistical exaggeration, there can be no doubt that East Timor would
continue to need massive external economic support.
 Agreement Between Indonesia and Portugal 147

The first supplementary agreement, entitled “Agreement Regarding

the Modalities for the Popular Consultation of the East Timorese
Through a Direct Ballot,” set the date for the ballot for August 8,1999.
O ur original proposal for the ballot date was September 9 and it was
based upon a prudent estimate that took into account the time needed to
meet the minimum security as well as logistical requirements.
However, the September 9 date was shot down in flames by Alatas
the moment I proposed it at the ministerial meeting. He indignantly
stated that this was the very date on which the MPR was scheduled to
convene, and that the question of East Timor was among the first on its
agenda. It was absolutely essential, therefore, that President Habibie carry
in his dossier the UN report on the East Timor ballot well before the
scheduled meeting of the MPR. Alatas summarily dismissed our appre­
hensions about the security situation, and assured us that the Indonesian
authorities would soon restore calm and order in East Timor.
As for logistics, that was the UN’s problem, and he urged that the
Secretariat ginger up its complacent bureaucracy and devise creative mea­
sures to respond to this unique challenge posed within a limited window
o f opportunity. I had not realized, until Alatas told us so, that Septem­
ber 9 was the projected date for the MPR session, and therefore imme­
diately appreciated Alatas’ point and his concern.
Habibie’s decision had left the government precariously poised
amidst the turmoil and political uncertainty that was prevalent in Indone­
sia, and they therefore badly needed an immediate UN commitment as a
fait accompli that would enable them to hold the line on East Timor.
Although Alex can be quite masterful at feigning indignation during
negotiations, this time I was convinced that his concerns were genuine.
He was trying to gain support in Jakarta not only for his President, but
also for the survival of a brittle peace process, which was in a particularly
vulnerable phase. On the other hand, we too had our problems, which
were by no means inconsiderable.
It was not easy for me to discard the time frame assessments of my
UN colleagues, who were experienced experts in the field, and were much
better aware of the administrative and logistical problems than I was, par­
ticularly when the tenor of reports on security conditions in East Timor
had shifted from the disquieting to the alarming. Just as discussions in
the Ministerial Meeting began to veer from agitation to acrimony, the Sec-
retary-General made his soothing intervention and accepted, in princi­
ple, the date of August 8,1999.
Having sensed and understood the implications of the larger polit­
ical situation, he coolly prepared to work for the August 8 deadline. It
148 East Timor

was not for the first time, and perhaps also not for the last, that the coura­
geous Kofi would commence operations under a Damocles’ sword. His
personal initiatives, attention, and interest were the main reasons why
UNAMET got going in such short record time.
Paragraph B of the Modalities Agreement contained the carefully
negotiated form and text of the question that would be put to the East
Timorese voters:
“Do you ACCEPT the proposed special autonomy for East Timor
within the Unitary State of the Republic of Indonesia?” ACCEPT
OR
“Do you REJECT the proposed autonomy for East Timor, lead­
ing to East Timor’s separation from Indonesia?” REJECT

The United Nations logo would appear on the ballot paper, which
would also bear symbols to facilitate voting by illiterate persons.
Paragraph C of the Modalities Agreement concerned voting enti­
tlement. The minimum age was fixed at seventeen years, and eligibility
was extended to those born in East Timor, those born outside East Timor
but with at least one parent born in East Timor, or those whose spouses
fell into either of these two categories.
We felt that we had negotiated a pretty watertight qualification
requirement, until we received reports from Lisbon on polling day indi­
cating that a number of obviously European Portuguese had ingeniously
discovered that their ancestral or other connections had conferred voting
qualifications, and had accordingly cast their votes. Fortunately, their
numbers were very few, and Ambassador Neves told me, with obvious sin­
cerity and regret, that their action, though legally permissible, was morally
unacceptable.
Paragraph D of the Modalities Agreement drew up a schedule of the
consultation process, and set up dates for the procedure, commencing with
Operation/Planning on May 15 and concluding with the Polling Day on
August 8. For reasons beyond our control, as will subsequently become
evident, there was considerable slippage in these dates.
An elaborate Information Campaign was devised, with the UN mak­
ing available the text of the Main Agreement and the Autonomy Docu­
ment in four languages—Tetun, Bahasa Indonesia, English, and Portuguese
—and arranging for it to be widely disseminated and explained to the vot­
ers, and utilizing all outlets, including radio stations. Two hundred reg­
istration centers were to be established by the UN in East Timor, as well
as a number in selected cities in Indonesia, Portugal, Australia, Mozam­
bique, and Macau.
Registration would take place over a continuous twenty-day period,
 Agreement Between Indonesia and Portugal 149

Y ou*- V o te s isy

One Ballot Box

weachpoUuty^m/foriiiLwtM
One Counting Place
wher^cillvot& are■>m im Lcw b
comtecLbyUNAMET w Vili/

One Result
anmmcedonly by th&UtJ

T he crux of freedom: voter education. Posters illustrate and instruct.

150 East Timor

and the usual provisions were made for the display of registration lists,
and challenges thereto. As for the ballot, it was specified that voting would
take place simultaneously, in 700 polling stations located in 200 centers
in East Timor, and in the designated centers elsewhere.
A Code of Conduct for the campaign was devised, and it was agreed
that Observers from Indonesia and Portugal, in equal numbers, as well as
from various international NGOs would be present. In a significant depar­
ture from normal practice for such an exercise, the Secretary-General
appointed an Electoral Commission, consisting of three eminent inter­
national jurists with experience of political conflict.
They were Judge Johann Kreigler of South Africa (Chairman of the
Electoral Commission), Judge Pat Bradley (former Chief Electoral Officer
for Northern Ireland), and Judge Bong-Seuk Sonh (Commissioner of the
National Electoral Commission of the Republic of South Korea).
The Electoral Commission was a totally independent body and was
to function as the final authority on all electoral matters, including com­
plaints, challenges, and any other disputes. It was also the certifying body
for each stage of the electoral process, and was responsible for conveying
the final certified results of the popular consultation to the Secretary-
General. The Electoral Commission’s functions were to be fully inde­
pendent of both UNAMET and New York.
Finally, paragraph G of the Modalities Agreement stipulated that “the
Indonesian authorities will ensure a secure environment for a free and fair
popular consultation process and will be responsible for the security of the
United Nations personnel. A number of United Nations security guards will
be deployed to ensure the security and safety of United Nations personnel
and property. A number of international civilian police will be available in
East Timor to advise the Indonesian Police during the operational phases
of the popular consultation and, at the time of the consultation, to super­
vise the escort of ballot papers and boxes to and from the polling sites.”
The second supplementary Agreement related exclusively to the secu­
rity aspect, and is quoted below in full, since it had such an important
bearing on subsequent events
The Governments of Indonesia and Portugal and the Secretary-
General of the United Nations agree as follows:
1. A secure environment devoid of violence and other forms of
intimidation is a prerequisite for the holding of a free and fair bal­
lot in East Timor. Responsibility to ensure such an environment
as well for the general maintenance of law and order rests with the
appropriate Indonesian security authorities. The absolute neu­
trality of the TN I (Indonesian Armed Forces) and the Indonesian
Police is essential in this regard.
 Agreement Between Indonesia and Portugal 151

2. The Commission on Peace and Stability established in Dili

on April 21, 1999 should become operational without delay. The
Commission, in cooperation with the United Nations, will elab­
orate a code of conduct, by which all parties should abide, for the
period prior to and following the consultation, ensure the laying
down of arms, and take the necessary steps to achieve disarma­
ment
3. Prior to the start of the registration the Secretary-General
shall ascertain, based on the objective evaluation of the UN mis­
sion, that the necessary security situation exists for the peaceful
implementation of the consultation process.
4. The police will be solely responsible for maintenance o f law
and order. The Secretary-General, after obtaining the necessary
mandate, will make available a number of civilian police officers
to act as advisers to the Indonesian police in the discharge of their
duties and, at the time of consultation, to supervise the escort of
ballot papers and boxes to and from the polling sites.”

The issue of security had been a paramount consideration during the

negotiations, for the obvious reason that the UN would need an envi­
ronment of peace and tranquility if it were to conduct a credible ballot.
The foregoing draft agreement did not, in my view, secure the requisite
guarantees, and left a great deal to be desired. But even if we had obtained
a more cast iron document at that time, it would have been extremely
doubtful whether Jakarta would have been able to implement its com­
mitments on the ground. The violent events in Liquica and Dili earlier
in April were ominous portents, the consequences of which were by no
means assuaged by the newly formed Peace Commission, which had been
organized by Wiranto.
After the Ministers left New York on April 23, carrying with them
the texts of the three Agreements for final clearance at their capitals, we
held an interdepartmental meeting to review the situation. We took
account of the fact that the Indonesians had insisted on deletion to ref­
erences to the following items in our draft:
A. The disarmament of pro-Indonesian militias by ABRI.
B. The need for an early and substantial withdrawal of Indone­
sian forces.
C. The cantonment of both remaining Indonesian armed forces
and FALANTIL one month before the ballot.
D. The training role to be played by UN civilian police.

Nevertheless, we felt that our concerns should be emphasized that,

whether or not they were specifically included in the Security Agreement,
the above measures were vital to creating the conditions which would
allow the consultations to move into the operational phase, especially in
view of the threats being issued by pro-integration militia leaders.
152 East Timor

We further decided that it would be necessary to enumerate these to

the Indonesian leadership, and that it should be done in a letter before
May 5. Accordingly, the Secretary-General wrote to President Habibie
on April 30,1999:
I have the honor to write to you on the eve of what we all hope
will be a fruitful culmination of our long effort to find a just, com­
prehensive, and internationally acceptable solution to the ques­
tion of East Timor, which owes so much to your personal courage
and vision.
I would like to share with you at this time some elements that
are usual requirements in United Nations operations of the kind
which we are about to initiate, particularly with the Agreement
Regarding Security Arrangements, which will be signed on May
5 together with the other two agreements. I refer, in particular, to
the provision contained in that Agreement which states that a
secure environment devoid of violence or other forms o f intimi­
dation is a pre-requisite for the holding of a free and fair ballot in
East Timor. While, under the terms of that Agreement, it is
Indonesia’s responsibility to ensure such an environment, I am
being entrusted with a number of tasks relating to the popular
consultation, including ascertaining that the necessary security sit­
uation exists for the peaceful implementation of the consultation
process. This requirement also has a direct bearing on the safety
of United Nations personnel, including those to be contributed by
Member States, for whom obviously this would be a prerequisite.
It is in this connection that I wish to convey to Your Excellency
my understanding of the main elements that will have to be in
place in order for me to decide (as provided for in paragraph 3 of
that Agreement) whether or not the necessary security conditions
exist for the start of the operational phases of the consultation
process. These include:
1. As an urgent first step, the bringing of armed civilian groups
under strict control and discipline;
2. An immediate ban on rallies by armed groups while ensur­
ing the freedom of all political groups and tendencies, including
both pro-integration elements and also the CNRT and other pro-
independence forces, to organize and conduct peaceful political
activities;
3. The prompt arrest and prosecution of those who incite or
threaten to use violence against others. In this connection, I have
noted with concern public threats already issued to the United
Nations by certain individuals;
4. Assumption by the Indonesian Police of sole responsibility
for the maintenance of law and order;
5. Redeployment o f Indonesian military forces to designated
areas one month before the vote;
6. Free access to the mass media for the United Nations as well
as both sides of the political divide in East Timor;
7. Full participation of the United Nations in the Commission
on Peace and Stability, which should provide a forum for all par-
 Agreement Between Indonesia and Portugal 153

tics to address security issues effectively during the consultative

process and for resolving disputes and frictions on the ground.
I also regard as vital to the process the disarming of all armed
groups, including FALANTIL, well in advance of the holding of
the ballot.”

The receipt of this letter from the Secretary-General was not formally
acknowledged by President Habibie, and Alatas informed me verbally that
its contents were not acceptable to his government. This was not very sat­
isfactory from our point of view, but even though we obviously had no way
o f forcing the epistle down the throat of the Indonesian Government, we
knew, at least, that our concerns had been conveyed in unmistakable fash­
ion, to serve as our implicit guidelines for assessing security needs.
By the last week in April we were in the final stretch of the negoti­
ating process, with the Australian, US, and UK Governments taking the
lead in this flurry of diplomatic activity. On April 27, following a meet­
ing in Bali between Australian Prime Minister Howard and President
Habibie, we were informed by Ambassador Penny Wensley that Habibie
had accepted, in toto, the three draft agreements that Alatas had brought
from New York.
This oral communication was followed up by a substantive aide mem-
oire, which, after expressing concern over Portugal’s tentative suggestion
o f revisiting the security issue, suggested a number of measures. It acknowl­
edged that the agreement as it stood had significant shortcomings, but
warned that reopening the security annex at this juncture could unravel
the entire process by inviting obvious Indonesian rejection, thereby risk­
ing increased volatility in East Timor.
On the issue of military observers, the Australians felt that since the
question was not taken up during the trilateral discussions, the Indone­
sians would be “expected to respond with some indignation that the UN
has moved the goal posts.” The aide memoire then went on to convey the
cautionary advice that “we know from the Prime Ministers discussions
at the Bali summit that there is very strong resistance within the Indone­
sian Government to any UN military deployment to East Timor before
the consultation process.” It suggested, therefore, that the UN should
“outline in clear terms to Indonesia a set of clear expectations in terms of
the signature of the agreement.”
The Australian aide memoire also indicated that Howard had per­
suaded Habibie to bump up the UN civilian police component (CIVPOL)
from thirty to three hundred police officers, and that Australia was pre­
pared to make “a significant contribution to this force.” Finally, after issu­
ing one last warning about the perils of a delay in the proposed ballot date
154 East Timor

of August 8, the Australians sugarcoated the document with the welcome

offer of a contribution of ten million Australian dollars to the UN Trust
Fund for East Timor.
The Australian Government was not alone in its apprehension that
a further emphasis on security arrangements at this stage could unravel
the agreement. At a meeting in New York on April 29, US Assistant Sec­
retary of State Stanley Roth expressed his concern regarding the language
of the Secretary-General’s letter to Habibie on the issue o f disarmament
and security, and was assured that the letter would stress the importance
of disarmament without laying down conditions.
Roth then made a forceful representation to us about putting any­
thing, either specific or conditional, to the Indonesians that could make
President Habibie, whom Roth described as being at the end of his tether
as regards East Timor, balk at the last fence. Roth also warned against
our making any specific references to disarmament or the deployment of
military observers.
The last week of April found us in countdown mode for the final
agreements. I sensed, for the first time since the commencement of the
negotiations, that the “Question of East Timor” was nearing a solution,
and that the end result might just mean freedom for the East Timorese.
I also knew that the path ahead would certainly be difficult, and probably
bloody. But none of this would happen unless we first had the agreements
signed, sealed, and delivered. It was therefore vital that we kept things on
an even keel over the next few weeks.
As already stated, the Secretary-General’s letter of April 30 to Pres­
ident Habibie had evoked indignation in Jakarta, and Alatas had informed
us of his intent to withhold its delivery to the President for the time
being. We decided to play it cool, knowing that the contents of the mis­
sive had been communicated and its intent noted, even though not
acknowledged, and that our concerns had, in fact, been conveyed. I accord­
ingly prepared a Summary for the Secretary-General on May 4,1999, just
prior to his meeting with the two Foreign Ministers, and also presented
on May 4, a Memorandum to Alatas and Gama.
In my Summary to the Secretary-General, I stated that the lack of
specificity in the Security Agreement remained a matter of concern, espe­
cially in view of the escalating violence in East Timor, and the negative
reaction of Foreign Minister Alatas to the Secretary-General’s letter to
President Habibie enumerating the specific arrangements that would con­
stitute the minimum security conditions. Our assessment of the strategy
being pursued by those elements in Indonesia which were opposed to
Habibie’s policy consisted of:
 Agreement Between Indonesia and Portugal 155

A. Avoidance of any commitment to disarm the militia or rede­

ploy the army units;
B. Insistence on holding the ballot on August 8th irrespective
of the prevailing situation on the ground;
C. Use of all available resources to mount a massive campaign
in favor of autonomy, while restricting the activities of CNRT and
pro-independence groups.
We recommended that the Secretary-General call Alatas’ attention
to the above, and also urge the release of Xanana Gusmao so that he could
participate in the campaign. I also briefed the Secretary-General on the
precarious position in which Habibie was now placed, and reported the
concerns of the Australian and US Governments—concerns which I fully
shared—that we not push Habibie over the edge. Once again, Kofi would
be obliged to play a delicate balancing act when he had his bilateral with
Alatas the next morning.
As later events were to show, he did it in his usual consummate fash­
ion. He also handed over to Ministers Gama and Alatas a memorandum
in which he wished “to share with the two Governments some elements
which are the usual requirements in United Nations operations,” such as
the task to conduct popular consultations, which are entrusted to the Sec-
retary-General under the three East Timor Agreements.
He went on, in the memorandum, to outline “the main elements that
will need to be in place in order to enable him to determine that the nec­
essary security conditions exist for the start of the operational phases of
the consultation process.” These included the bringing of armed civilian
groups under firm control; a ban on armed demonstrations, while per­
mitting peaceful political activities by all political groups; the arrest and
prosecution of all individuals who threaten or use violence; the assump­
tion by the Indonesian police o f sole responsibility for law and order, cou­
pled with the redeployment of Indonesian military forces; free access to
the mass media by all sides; full and effective participation of United
Nations representatives in the Peace and Stability Commission; and
finally, the immediate institution of a process of laying down of arms, to
be completed well before the holding of the ballot. The memorandum thus
outlined a list of requirements, which were by no means either unrea­
sonable or unattainable, but in actual fact, and as subsequent events would
reveal, it remained little more than a wish list.
The Tripartite Ministerial Meetings on May 4 and 5,1999 were as
intensive as expected. The Secretary-General received the Foreign Min­
isters of Indonesia and Portugal individually on the morning of May 4
and used these sessions to prepare the ground, not to mention the posi­
tive atmosphere, for the formal Tripartite, which he chaired that after-
156 East Timor

Secretary-General Kofi Annan (center) and Foreign M inisters Ali Alatas of

Indonesia (left) and Jaime Gama of Portugal sign the New York Agreements on 5
May 1999. UN/DPI Photograph by Eskinder Debebe.

noon and the following morning, by which time agreement was reached
on the texts of all three Agreements.
This was only to be expected, since there was already a basic accord
on the drafts. Nevertheless, we did have a further discussion on the secu­
rity issue. Alatas continued his fierce resistance to any specificity with
regard to troop dispositions, and even audaciously proposed the inclusion
of a definitive date by which the Secretary-General commit to the com­
mencement of the electoral process. But we remained firm in our insis­
tence on flexibility, and on the Secretary-General’s right to take the final
decision based upon his assessment of the prevailing security considera­
tions.
The formal documents were then drawn up, and the three Agree­
ments were signed, at a simple ceremony at the UN Press Center, by For­
eign Ministers Gama and Alatas, and by the Secretary-General, who then
made a brief statement:
This is a historic moment. I am delighted to tell you that we have
just signed three Agreements on East Timor between the Repub­
lic of Indonesia and the Republic of Portugal.
There is a Basic Agreement and two supplementary ones: one
covering the security arrangements for the peaceful implementa­
tion of the popular consultation, and the other the modalities for
this consultation.
As they have done throughout the negotiations, my good friends
Ali Alatas and Jaime Gama have shown an exemplary spirit of
cooperation and statesmanship. I am very grateful to them both,
as I believe the whole international community should be, and in
particular the people of East Timor itself.
 Agreement Between Indonesia and Portugal 157

We are now moving immediately on to the next phase. United

Nations staff are already on their way to the region to begin prepar­
ing for the popular consultation. All of us are determined to ensure
that it is free, fair, and thorough.
If we are to fulfill that pledge, the United Nations must be able
to work freely and in an atmosphere of security.
Security in East Timor is the responsibility of the Indonesian
Government. I welcome the assurance given by President Habi­
bie that his government will fulfill effectively its responsibility for
law and order and the protection of civilians.
I am gravely concerned about the recent increase in violence in
East Timor. I strongly urge all elements and political tendencies
in East Timor to refrain from any resort to force, and to cooper­
ate with the United Nations in fulfilling its vital tasks.
I cannot stress too strongly that the success of the process on
which we have embarked depends upon the ability of the United
Nations to conduct its work in an atmosphere of calm and secu­
rity. I hope and trust that the United Nations will receive the full
cooperation of all concerned.
I should like, once again, to thank the two Foreign Ministers,
and through them their governments, for the excellent and con­
structive role that they have played in bringing this long drawn-
out negotiation to such a promising conclusion.
It is my earnest hope that today’s signature will open a new and
more peaceful chapter in the history of this troubled territory.
Thank you very much.

Ali Alatas and Jaime Gama next made brief statements acknowl­
edging the historic importance of the occasion, and assuring full support
of their respective governments for the implementation of the Agree­
ments. They were also kind enough to express their appreciation for the
efforts of the Secretary-General and his staff. During the press confer­
ence that followed, there were some expressions of apprehension that the
vital issue of security had been entrusted solely to the Indonesian gov­
ernment. Alatas responded with the indignant assertion that the govern­
ment of Indonesia was serious about the responsibility that it assumed,
and would ensure a situation of peace and tranquility.
On May 6 ,1 reported first to the Security Council, and then to the
Secretary-General’s Support Group on East Timor, in more or less the
same terms, on the details and implications of the May 5 Agreements.
To the Security Council, I said:
“The Security Council is today seized of an issue which has been
on its agenda for some twenty-three years, and which over the past
sixteen years had been the subject of discussion between the Gov­
ernments of Indonesia and Portugal through the good offices of
the Secretary-General.
Mr, President, I am pleased to be able to report to the Council
158 East Timor

that a major step forward in the efforts of the two Governments

and the Secretary-General was accomplished yesterday with the
signature of an overall agreement and of two additional agree­
ments, which you have before you. Under the main Agreement
the Secretary-General has been requested to organize and con­
duct a popular consultation in order to ascertain whether the
majority of the East Timorese people accept or reject a proposed
constitutional framework for providing for East Timor within
Indonesia. He has also been requested to establish immediately a
United Nations mission in East Timor for the purpose of con­
ducting the popular consultation, which has been scheduled for
August 8,1999.
Under the terms of those agreements, the Indonesian authori­
ties have the responsibility to ensure a secure environment devoid
of violence or other forms of intimidation, since the establishment
of such an environment is an obvious prerequisite for the holding
of a free and fair popular consultation. It will be for the Secretary-
General to determine that such an environment exists and he will
be reporting on this and other aspects of the consultation process
at the appropriate time.
I will not conceal from the Council that both the Secretary-
General and I harbor serious concerns about the serious security
situation in the Territory. The arming of the militia and the para­
military groups and the incidents of violence and intimidation
that have occurred in the past month lead one to the conclusion
that a major effort needs to be made by the Indonesian authori­
ties to bring these forces to heel. The Secretary-General discussed
this matter at some length with the two Foreign Ministers on
Wednesday and pointed out that a series of elements would need
to be in place in order to enable him to determine that conditions
exist for the start of the operational phases of the consultation
process. (Some of these elements are spelled out in paragraph 6 of
the Secretary-General’s report).
Members of the Council will have noted that there is barely
three months available between now and the date of the consul­
tation. Given the magnitude of the task, the Secretary-General has
already sent an assessment team and a preliminary mission to East
Timor, and he intends to start the deployment of civilian person­
nel by next week. This has inevitably required him to make use of
a Trust Fund established for this purpose without waiting for
assessed contributions.
Given the urgency of the situation and the necessity for early
action, it would be most helpful if the Council were to signify its
welcome of the Agreements and its support for the effort of the
Secretary-General in order to enable him to get the operation off
the ground as soon as possible. Thank you.
The Security Council immediately commenced work on drafting a
resolution, which would formally establish the United Nations Mission
in East Timor (UNAMET), and after satisfying the United States
requirement to consult Congress, adopted the resolution on June 11,1999.
 Agreement Between Indonesia and Portugal 159

Meanwhile, we had commenced work on the establishment of UNAMET,

starting with the nomination of its chief. The Secretary-General chose
Ian Martin, a Briton who combined intellectual brilliance with able
administrative talent and skills.
Added to this was a deep humanitarian motivation, which had been
manifest in his several years’ stint as the Secretary-General of Amnesty
International. Martin had also served as Deputy High Representative for
human rights in Bosnia, and therefore brought with him a formidable
combination of international experience and expertise. After the mere
formality of my meeting with Ian on May 7, I telephoned Alatas and
Gama to obtain their clearance for Martin’s appointment as Special Rep­
resentative of the Secretary-General (SRSG) for East Timor. As subse­
quent events would soon reveal, the choice could not have been more
fortuitous and felicitous.
With the UN Trust Fund for East Timor already cashed up with con­
tributions from Portugal, Australia, Japan, and the United Kingdom, we
were able start operations and assemble a team in anticipation of the Secu­
rity Council mandate. The numbers originally envisaged were 400 UN
volunteers who would be recruited to serve under the Chief Electoral
Officer as District Electoral Officers at 200 registration and polling cen­
ters. In addition, there would be 300 civilian police officers (CIVPOLS)
to liase with the Indonesian police.
At UN headquarters in New York, the East Timor project had sud­
denly assumed high priority, extending beyond its original Department
of Political Affairs to cover most of the Departments that constituted the
United Nations Secretariat—electoral affairs, humanitarian affairs, legal
affairs, administrative, security and communications, and later to the
Department of Peacekeeping Operations, and the High Commissions for
Refugees and Human Rights.
In those early days of May 1999,1 was privileged to observe, closely
and at first hand, the efficient and purposeful manner in which the vari­
ous agencies and departments that constitute the UN moved into action
over East Timor. It was, in its own fashion, an inspiring and revealing
spectacle.
So this was it. In February 1997, East Timor was a tiny speck in the
UN constellation, with a three-man component of Francesc Vendrell,
Tamrat Samuel, and myself reporting directly to a benign Secretary-Gen-
eral. The May 1999 Agreements, with their attendant requirements, had
now inevitably blown it into a major United Nations enterprise incorpo­
rating, apart from the Secretary-General, the Security Council and sev­
eral key departments of the UN.
160 East Timor

Equally important, also, was the active and formidable involvement

of a number of governments. Moving from the early days o f February 1997
to the hectic excitement of May 1999 was, I mused, a bit like Don Basilio s
delightful aria “La calunnia è un venticello" in Rossini’s II Barbiere di
Siviglia. Starting in a soft and low tremolo, “piano piano, terra terra, sotto
voce,” it vibrantly builds up to a great crescendo, “come un calpo di can­
none, un tremuoto, un temporale, un tumulto generale.”
 15
UNAM ET and the
Arduous Path
to the Ballot
N e w Y o r k , J a k a r t a , D ili,
Sydney, a n d C a n b e r ra :
M a y t o J u l y 1999

Peace is not only better than war, but infinitely more arduous.
—George Bernard Shaw

As the United Nations rapidly moved into the implementation phase

immediately following the signature of the East Timor Agreements, we
were faced with three priority issues: the first was the matter of admin­
istration and logistics, the second was the requirement of compliance with
an extremely tight time schedule, and the third was the perpetual matter
of security.
The nature and extent of these problems had been brought to the
attention of the Security Council by the Secretary-General in his report
on the Agreements. A follow-up report to the Council on May 22 also
by the Secretary-General, outlined the requirements for the establish­
ment of the United Nations Mission in East Timor (UNAMET) which,
in its initial phase, envisaged fifteen political officers, and an electoral
component of twenty-eight officers who would be supplemented by four
hundred UN volunteers who would serve as district electoral officers and
would be stationed at headquarters and in eight electoral offices.

161
162 East Timor

In addition, UNAMET would have two hundred and seventy-five

CIVPOLS, two hundred and seventy-one administrative and technical
staff, including its own security officers, and a medical unit. The Office
of the High Commissioner for Human Rights (OHCHR) and the Office
for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs (OCHA) also nominated
officers who worked with the political officers of UNAMET.
In addition, we opened a UNAMET office in Jakarta, headed by the
experienced Tamrat Samuel, for the delicate purpose of liaising both with
the Indonesian Government and Xanana Gusmao, who remained in
detention. Arrangements were made with the International Organization
for Migration and with the Australian Electoral Commission for the con­
duct of the ballots in the overseas posts. Last but not least, we commenced
the recruitment of the first component of the four thousand local staff
whom we would need at the peak time of the polling.
As already indicated, the United States Congress requirement for
prior consultation meant that the Security Council could not formally
mandate UNAMET, and thus obtain budgetary authorization, until June
11,1999, a date which was absurdly close to our timetable of opening voter
registration on June 22.
The Secretary-General had, with usual foresight, anticipated this
budgetary delay and had finessed it by establishing the East Timor Trust
Fund, which received immediate contributions from Portugal, Australia,
Japan, the US, and the European Union, and thus enabled us to commence
operations without waiting for the authorization of assessed contribu­
tions. In point of fact, of the eventual overall UNAMET expenditure of
approximately S80 million, an amount of about $50 million was met
through voluntary contributions in cash and kind.
The security issue, which was always a dominant concern, now assumed
a different complexion. An increasingly strong view had begun to prevail,
both within the UN Secretariat as well as amongst the member states par­
ticipating in UNAMET, that some form of UN military presence was
essential in East Timor. The argument was reinforced by the correct
apprehension that the Indonesian police, to whom the Agreement had
allocated responsibility for security, would not be able to take effective
action against the militias, who were receiving active support from the
military (TNI).
I was therefore urged, both by my colleagues in the Secretariat as well
as by some of the government representatives in the Core Group, to prevail
upon the Indonesians to accept a military component within UNAMET.
As we already knew only too well, the Indonesian reaction to any foreign
military presence in East Timor had been antagonistic in the extreme,
 UNAMET and the Arduous Path to the Ballot 163

and they had just provided further proof of this by turning down my
request to establish a military field hospital in Dili for the exclusive use
o f UNAMET personnel.
The problem here was that civilian field hospitals simply did not
exist, and the only field hospitals available anywhere in the world were
military units. I was extremely concerned about leaving the dedicated
UNAMET personnel without adequate medical cover. Evacuation to Dar­
win was an alternative, but not an answer, to the problem.
In spite of all my urging, Jakarta did not make an immediate excep­
tion and it was not till several anxious weeks later that we were able to
get an agreement for our field hospital. The omens for obtaining military
observers for UNAMET were not, therefore, very propitious, especially
since the East Timor Agreements contained no reference to their inclu­
sion. Nevertheless, I decided to raise the matter with Jakarta, and started
with a delicate probe, suggesting the desirability of establishing a direct
line of communication between UNAMET and TNI, on the basis “of
soldier to soldier,” in order to maintain and improve liaison.
Following a series of importuning meetings and telephone calls to
Alatas and Wiranto, the Indonesians generously overcame their neural­
gic aversion to the issue, and we were able to hammer out an agreement
for the appointment of fifty “Military Liaison Officers” (MLOs) to the
staff of UNAMET, who would work directly with their counterparts in
the TNI.
The designation “Military Liaison Officer,” instead of the conven­
tional “Military Observer,” was the diplomatic face-saver that enabled us
to get the project going. The Chief Military Liaison Officer (CMLO),
was Brigadier Rezaqul Haider of Bangladesh, a tough, forthright, resource­
ful, and courageous officer, who did a truly splendid job, under the most
trying and demanding conditions. I considered myself honored and for­
tunate to have known him as a friend and colleague.
UNAMET was established with a rapidity that was unprecedented
in United Nations annals. As I said before, this was in large part due to
the interest and encouragement displayed by Kofi Annan personally, and
now backed by the formidable organizational talents and brusque initia­
tives of Louise Frechette, the Deputy Secretary-General. The whirlwind
staff meetings that she chaired at UN headquarters in New York triggered
a flood of personnel and equipment from all parts of the globe to the tiny
island of East Timor.
The Australians were the first to jump in with aircraft, helicopters,
and jeeps. From the UN’s logistical base in Brindisi, Italy, a fleet of giant
Russian Antonov aircraft ferried vast quantities of technical equipment,
164 East Timor

transport, and supplies. And the Japanese sent in trucks, vehicles, and
communications material, including a large number of transistor radios
for carrying UNAMET’s message throughout the island.
In addition to the personnel for staff and headquarters duties,
UNAMET rapidly recruited, under the UN Volunteer Program, the four
hundred District Electoral Officers (DEOs) that were so urgently needed.
Most of these remarkable women and men, coming from seventy-three
different countries, already possessed previous UN electoral experience,
and readily adapted to the spartan living conditions in the districts of
East Timor. Most importantly, UNAMET set up an office and staging
post in Darwin, Australia, which was used for pre-deployment training
of personnel, as well as a base for storage and back up facilities.
On June 4,1999, Ian Martin raised the United Nations flag at UN
headquarters in Dili, and our staff took up office in the very suitable
premises provided by the Indonesian authorities. Ians extremely compe­
tent team of senior advisers consisted of Chief Military Liaison Officer
Brigadier Rezaqul Haider (Bangladesh), Police Commissioner Alan Mills
(Australia), Chief Electoral Officer Jeff Fischer (US), Chief Political
Officer Beng Yong Chew (Singapore), Chief Administrative Officer
Johannes Wortel (Netherlands), and Chief of Public Information David
Wimhurst (Canada). In addition, there was Tamrat Samuel (Eritrea), as
head of the UNAMET office in Jakarta.
The Indonesian government, in a move that quietly and sensibly cir­
cumvented Governor Abilio Suares and his incompetent administration,
established its own high powered team in Dili, “The Indonesian Task
Force for the Implementation of the Popular Consultation in East Timor,”
which was the operating arm of the impressive Special Ministerial Task
Force that had just been set up in Jakarta. The latter comprised the Coor­
dinating Minister for Political Affairs, the Ministers for Foreign Affairs,
Home Affairs, Justice and Defense, and the Chiefs of the Armed Forces,
the National Police, and the National Intelligence Coordinating Agency
The Dili Task Force was headed by Ambassador Agus Tarmidzi, a
most able diplomat and former Indonesian Ambassador to the United
Nations in Geneva, and included Major General Zaki Anwar Makarim,
the former Director of Military Intelligence. Others were officers from
the Indonesian Foreign Ministry, Police, and TNI, who were deputed to
liase in the districts with their UNAMET counterparts.
Initial reports from Dili indicated that the Indonesian authorities
were being most helpful and cooperative, but the honeymoon was soon
tempered by irritants. Alatas telephoned me to express his dismay and dis­
pleasure at some of the statements issued by David Wimhurst, UNAMET's
 UNAMET and the Arduous Path to the Ballot 165

Chief Spokesman. Although I did not say it to Alatas, I too thought they
were a bit intemperate, and we urged Wimhurst to show more discretion,
while at the same time tightening up our clearance procedures for pub­
lic pronouncements of a political nature.
But the damage was done, and this unfortunate misunderstanding
that developed early in UNAMET s relations with the Indonesian author­
ities persisted, in some form or the other, till the very end. Another dele­
terious matter related to the issue of East Timorese recruitment to the
local staff of UNAMET, and the charge that preference had been given
to pro-independence elements in the selection process. In this case, I saw
very little substance to the allegations, because we had done everything
possible to display and demonstrate the UN’s total neutrality, including
demanding written declarations of neutrality from all applicants, and
ascertaining their veracity as far as possible.
There was certainly no deliberate bias in the recruitment process, but
since the vast majority of East Timorese were pro-independence, (as later
events were to prove), it was reasonably likely that these proportions would
be reflected in the composition of UNAMET’s local staff.
By the first half of June, thanks to the superb effort by all concerned
within the UN system, the build up and deployment of UNAMET was
in full swing. But the good news from East Timor was, as always, tem­
pered by the bad. A marked increase in the activity of the militias, cou­
pled with compelling evidence of encouragement and support from the
T N I, had resulted in an alarming new situation, the creation of a huge
number of internally displaced persons (IDPs), figures for which varied
in estimates from 40,000 to 100,000.
This was an unexpected and dangerous complication: not only could
it destabilize the whole process of consultations, but it was a situation
that in itself was beyond our capacity to cope with or handle. Following
a series of emergency meetings with the Indonesian and Portuguese
Ambassadors in New York, as well as with the representatives of the Sec-
retary-General’s Core Group in New York, I departed for the region on
June 17. It was already quite clear that for both logistical as well as secu­
rity reasons, we would not be able to meet the June 22 deadline for the
commencement of the registration process, and I felt it necessary to make
a personal assessment of the situation on the ground before submitting
any recommendations to the Secretary-General with regard to revised
dates.
I knew also that these dates would have to be both realistic, in terms
o f the window of opportunity provided by the current Indonesian polit­
ical situation, and firm, in terms of our capability to deliver: any slippage
166 East Timor

would cause moral, political, psychological, and administrative damage

of unacceptable proportions.
A little prior to these events, on May 11,1999, Mary Robinson, the
United Nations High Commissioner for Human Rights, announced in
Geneva that she would send a Personal Envoy to East Timor, nominat­
ing Mr. Soli Sorabjee, the Attorney General of India, and an eminent
jurist who had previously served as the UN Special Investigator for the
human rights situation in Nigeria.
Sorabjee visited the region from May 14 to the 25,1999, and met all
the key personalities, including President Habibie, Ministers Alatas and
Muladi, as well as Xanana Gusmao and other East Timorese leaders. His
report contained perfectly valid apprehensions about the security situa­
tion, the plethora of weapons, and about the inability of the Indonesian
authorities to control the militia. His attempts to secure the release of
Xanana Gusmao were not successful, but Sorabjee s presence in the region
proved to be valuable since it called international as well as domestic
attention, in a timely and important manner, to the deplorable human
rights situation in East Timor.
I arrived in Jakarta to find, as always, that things had changed since
my last visit. The Indonesian general elections, which were held on June
7,1999, were the first free and fair elections in the country’s history. Con­
trary to the grim forecasts and expectations of most foreign observers, the
elections had been conducted in a relatively free and orderly fashion. This
was no mean feat, considering the geography and history of Indonesia:
forty years of dictatorship in a country composed of over sixteen thou­
sand islands, a population of over two hundred million people of diverse
religious and ethnic groups, and staggering under the massive blows of a
major political and economic crisis. As I congratulated my Indonesian
friends on an achievement of which they could be justly proud, I was
aware, too, that their euphoria over the present was considerably tem­
pered by a sense of uncertainty about the future. Although the final results
were not announced until mid-July, it was already apparent that Megawati
Sukarnoputri had obtained 33.7 percent of the popular vote, and secured
154 seats in the Peoples Consultative Assembly (MPR), while Habibie’s
Golkar Party had secured 22 percent of the popular vote and 120 seats.
The MPR consisted o f700 members, of whom only 462 were elected
representatives. O f the rest, 38 seats were reserved for the military, while
200 members were to be appointed by regional and special interest groups.
The new President of Indonesia would be elected by the MPR at its next
session, which though scheduled for early September, eventually met in
early October.
 UNAMET and the Arduous Path to the Ballot 167

Thus, I now found myself in Jakarta, which, in its political atmosphere,

was a veritable corral for some lucrative horse trading, with the Army and
especially General Wiranto being the particular centers of attraction. This
air of wheeling and dealing was certain to impinge on the East Timor issue
and to that extent make my life correspondingly more interesting.
My first appointment was, as usual, with Alatas at the Foreign Min­
istry, and it was not terribly pleasant. He started by complaining about
the attitude of UNAMET (and David Wimhurst, in particular), and
worked himself into a state of high indignation about the prospect of a
delay in the timetable for the popular consultation process. I ignored the
former complaint but responded quite sharply to the latter, and brought
to Alatas’ attention the deplorable security situation, as well as the numer­
ous acts of unchecked violence that had occurred in East Timor.
I told him it was clear, under the present circumstances, that there
was no way in which we could commence registration on the originally
envisaged date of June 22 and that this postponement would inevitably
effect the August 8 date for the polls. Alatas said that this would not go
down at all well with the President and General Wiranto, and that a deci­
sion of this nature would obviously have to be taken by “higher authori­
ties.” He cautioned that any announcement of a delay would have to cite
logistical reasons and not security concerns.
Our discussions then assumed a much more pleasant and workman­
like atmosphere as we took up the matter of UNAMET deployment, and
Alatas proved most helpful in sorting out some of the administrative prob­
lems that we inevitably encountered in East Timor. From the Foreign
Ministry I went to the Defense Ministry for a meeting with General
Wiranto and his staff.
We discussed the security situation in some detail, and I conveyed
the serious concerns that would now certainly compel a delay in the con­
sultation process. Wiranto received this observation without comment,
and described to me in some detail the measures which were being taken
to restore law and order, emphasizing that in many cases the Indonesian
security forces had been compelled to react to provocations by the pro­
independence elements.
That afternoon, Ian Martin and I were received at the Presidential
Palace by Habibie, who had lined up for the meeting an impressive array
of Ministers, including Alatas, Wiranto, Justice Minister Muladi, and his
Presidential Adviser, the vivacious and intelligent Devi Fortuna Anwar.
President Habibie had by now been fully briefed on our suggestion for a
delay in the consultation process, so there was little discussion when I
raised the issue.
168 East Timor

He imperiously summoned an aide who arrived with a calendar ready

in hand, and after leafing through the pages Habibie dramatically sig­
naled his acceptance of a two-week postponement of the ballot date, sub­
ject to two conditions. The first was that the delay should be attributed
solely to logistical, and not to security, reasons. The second condition was
that the ballot, originally scheduled under the Agreement for Sunday
August 8 should now be held on a Saturday instead of a Sunday, the rea­
son cited being Jakarta’s respect for the religious susceptibilities of the
East Timorese Christians.
I expressed my reservations to both conditions, but told President
Habibie that I would convey them to the Secretary-General. While it
was obvious that postponement was inevitable, we had managed to get
an agreement on it without any acrimony: the conditions suggested by
Habibie could be worked out over time.
The East Timor negotiations are occasionally dotted with episodes
that spring out of nowhere, assume sudden dramatic importance, and then
quietly disappear by themselves. The designation of the polling day is one
such example. Under the May 5 Agreement it was fixed for Sunday August
8,1999. The Portuguese, who had somewhat reluctantly accepted the delay
in the balloting date, resisted the change from Sunday to Saturday, for
the same obvious reasons that the Indonesians had proposed it: the
prospect of the influence of the church if the people went straight from
Sunday mass to the polling booths.
Bishops Belo and Nasciemento, when I discussed this issue with
them, were quite unaffected, and even quietly amused: they serenely
observed that it would make no difference either way, since Christian sen­
sibilities would not be offended by a Sunday ballot, nor was the Church’s
influence on its parishioners limited to Sunday. So we decided to keep the
issue in suspense for a while, and eventually settled on August 30,1999
as the date for the polls: it was a Monday, which was the same day of the
week on which the recent Indonesian general elections had taken place.
As for Habibie’s first condition, it was clearly unacceptable that the
United Nations should assume all blame for the delay, and the Secretary-
General, correctly presenting the situation, conveyed his decision to the
Security Council on June 22,1999. His report stated, inter alia, “in many
areas, pro-integration militias, believed by many observers to be operat­
ing with the acquiescence of elements of the army, carry out acts of vio­
lence against the population and exert an intimidating influence over it
...I would be unable to certify that the necessary conditions exist to begin
the operational phases of the consultation process, given the security sit­
uation and the absence of a level playing field. I would also wish to allow
 UNAMET and the Arduous Path to the Ballot 169

UNAM ET sufficient time to reach the strength necessary to begin reg­

istration successfully.
“It is therefore my intention that UNAMET not begin the opera­
tional phases until it is fully deployed, which would also give the Indone­
sian authorities time to address the pending security concerns.” The result
o f this decision was that the Secretary-Generals determination was post­
poned for three weeks, registration was to open on July 13 and the ballot
date was to be postponed by two weeks.
The next item on my agenda for the meeting with Habibie was the
issue of the release of Xanana Gusmao from house arrest. The violence
unleashed by the militias in East Timor was clearly on the increase, and
was equally clearly compounded by the failure, and in some cases the omi­
nous complicity, of the authorities to bring it under control. The pro-inde­
pendence elements had hitherto displayed admirable restraint, largely in
response to Xanana’s instructions from his confinement in distant Jakarta.
But patience was wearing thin, and the situation could well explode
if the Falantil were to react violently to the increasing provocations of the
militias. I therefore felt it essential that Xanana be allowed to return to
East Timor and actively participate in the political process. Not only
would his presence provide a calming effect, especially on the pro-inde-
pendence groups, but it would also help UNAMET in the extensive cam­
paign that we had just begun to explain and “socialize” the ballot process
and procedures.
Habibie’s response to my request was a flat and unequivocal denial.
Xanana would only be released after the ballot had been concluded and
the East Timorese had arrived at a decision. The argument advanced,
both at the official meeting in the President’s office and in subsequent
informal talks with Alatas, Devi Fortuna Anwar, and Muladi, was that
there was a real danger to Xanana’s life and that an assassination at this
juncture would not only be blamed on the government but would also
throw the whole consultation process into turmoil.
Habibie had made a considerable political investment in the East
Timor proposal and could not afford an upset at this delicate point in time.
At first, I rejected these arguments as being somewhat specious, and went
on hammering at the demand for Xanana’s release. But as time went on,
I discerned the merit in this precautionary policy, however unacceptable
it seemed in outward appearance.
It was based, I sensed, on the assessment of Habibie and his close
advisers of a combination of two factors: the political and symbolic impor­
tance of Xanana himself, and Habibie’s inability to ensure the security of
the former from recalcitrant elements in the armed forces operating in
170 East Timor

East Timor. The elimination of Xanana at this stage of the game would
be fatal to Habibie’s bold East Timor initiative, and would have disas­
trous consequences for all of us.
Subsequent events were to reveal that the threat to Xanana’s life was
clearly substantial, and that even when he was subsequently released from
house arrest in Jakarta, he was first obliged to seek asylum in the British
Embassy before going on to East Timor by way of Australia.
My next two days were spent in a busy round of meetings with some
of my usual kind and helpful ambassador friends, and with a number o f
the leaders of the Indonesian political parties. The most important of the
latter were, of course, Abdurrahman Wahid and Megawati Sukarnopu­
tri, with both of whom I had dealt before and had kept briefed on the
East Timor negotiating process. My meeting with Megawati this time
took place at her home, situated in the suburbs of Jakarta, and was reached
after a long drive past crowded, shop-lined streets, eventually leading into
a leafy, rural enclave.
The home itself was simple and modest, tastefully decorated with
Indonesian art and artifacts, and not surprisingly displaying mementoes
of her illustrious father’s life and activities. The garden had a rustic,
unkempt simplicity, attractively adorned by the presence of a tethered
cow, and some dogs and chickens that roamed about in nonchalant con­
tentment. After the initial pleasantries of our greetings, I congratulated
Megawati on her electoral success, and asked if I could continue with my
earlier reports on the progress of the East Timor negotiations.
Megawati cut me off and said to me in person what she had already
proclaimed in public, that Habibie as an unelected, interim President had
no right and no business to make such an important and far-reaching
commitment on behalf of Indonesia. She thought that when she came to
power she and her party would probably revisit the entire issue. She was
convinced that East Timor should remain a part of Indonesia (she was,
after all, Sukarno’s daughter, I thought to myself), and that the East Tim ­
orese would opt for integration once they were assured that the threat of
military repression had been removed.
I responded by saying, very politely, that while the wishes and desires
of the people of East Timor could still be a matter of speculation and
conjecture, there could be no debate about the finality o f the New York
May 5 Agreements. This was a solemn international obligation entered
into by two sovereign states and the United Nations. Agreements of this
nature were made between nations, and not governments which, even if
changed, are committed to fulfill obligations entered into by its prede­
cessors.
 UNAM ET and the Arduous Path to the Ballot 171

I added that the Habibie Government had made a number of agree­

ments with the World Bank and the International Monetary Fund, result­
ing in a considerable easing of Indonesia's serious financial crisis. Did
Megawati propose to revisit these agreements also? And would these
agreements not be effected if Megawati unilaterally chose to review the
East Timor Agreements? Finally, I said, the East Timor Agreements were
not imposed upon any party. They were devised, by mutual consent, to
ascertain, in a free, transparent and democratic manner, the will of a peo­
ple.
It would be highly contradictory for Megawati, who had struggled
so hard and finally succeeded in bringing democracy to Indonesia so that
the people of the country could freely exercise their vote, to deny the same
freedoms to the East Timorese people. The final argument was obviously
the clincher, and after a long and thoughtful pause Megawati said that
she now accepted the situation, and would endorse whatever result
emerged from the East Timor ballot. But she did not give up the fight
entirely, and suggested that the ballot be postponed for some time.
She thought that there would be much violence and bloodshed if we
went ahead at the present moment, and warned against this. I responded
that there were now binding international agreements, with dates specific,
for the consultation process, and it was therefore impossible to bring about
an indefinite postponement at this stage. There was a window of oppor­
tunity that we would clearly have to seize, and we relied on the solemn
undertaking of the government of Indonesia to fulfill its obligation and
commitment to maintain law and order.
I assured Megawati that once the period of campaigning commenced,
she would be free to visit East Timor and present her views to the peo­
ple. Our meeting then concluded on a very cordial note. History would
record that this pleasant, modest, and courageous lady remained true to
her word, accepting with good grace the result of the ballot, despite all
her reservations. She has certainly earned my respect and affection, and
I should like to believe that these sentiments are, in some small measure,
also reciprocated.
Another important visit, once again in the distant shady suburbs of
Jakarta, was with Abdurrahman Wahid “Gus Dur.” This time, his review
of the political situation in Indonesia tended to be Delphic rather than
analytic, and it was quite apparent that as a key figure in the nation’s
uncertain, murky, and evolving post election climate, Gus Dur had decided
to exercise an element of reticence.
On East Timor, however, he remained consistent to his position,
and reiterated that although he would prefer integration to independence,
172 East Timor

the final choice should rest with the East Timorese people. This was sa t­
isfactory, from my point of view, especially as I was by now convinced
that Gus Dur had his sights on the Presidency, and was skillfully m anip­
ulating his way into that office.
On arrival in Dili on June 24, I immediately went to U N A M ET
headquarters for a series of intensive briefings by Ian Martin and his senior
colleagues. They had hit the deck running, and the enthusiasm and energy
with which they assumed their multifarious duties was an exhilarating
spectacle. We then went on to a meeting with the Members of the Task
Force, led by Ambassador Tarmedzi. Here, a sense of reality replaced some
of the euphoria generated at the earlier session at UNAMET headquar­
ters.
These meetings between UNAMET and the Task Force, which
became a regular feature of our activity in East Timor, formed an impor­
tant institution for our contact with the Indonesian authorities at the all-
important working level. The atmosphere was friendly but purposeful, and
we discussed not only methods for creating a level playing field for the
campaign, but also the problem of a volatile security situation resulting
from the recent vicious militia activities.
I also repeated to the Task Force the strong protest, which I had
already conveyed to Jakarta, over Governor Soares’ recent outrageous dec­
laration threatening dismissal to any East Timorese civil servant who
opted for independence. For the Task Force, which operated indepen­
dently of the Governor, this was a matter of embarrassment rather than
guilt.
The next day I went on a helicopter inspection of the UNAMET
facilities that were being established in other parts of the island, and vis­
ited Baucau and Liquicia. The impression was extremely positive as far
as UNAMET activities were concerned, and its relationship with the local
population could not have been more heart-warming. We were surrounded
by cheering crowds of men, women, and children whose delight at the
UN presence was joyously manifest.
On the other hand, we also saw evidence of the brutalities commit­
ted by the militia, and more ominously, received credible reports of either
inaction or encouragement by the TNI and police. I subsequently took
up this matter on my return to Jakarta, but it was only after considerable
persuasion, pressure, and the international outrage that followed foreign
news reports from Dili that President Habibie decided to send a Minis­
terial mission under General Wiranto, which did not take place till as late
as July 12,1999.
I held a meeting with the entire staff of UNAMET and expressed
 UNAMET and the Arduous Path to the Ballot 173

to them the thanks and the appreciation of the Secretary-General for the
splendid work that they had done. This was followed by a press confer­
ence, during the course of which I expressed satisfaction at the progress
made by UNAMET, and went on to state my frank concern at the
deplorable security situation and at the Indonesian authorities’ failure to
bring it under control.
At this stage it may be relevant to enumerate the immediate objec­
tives of UNAMET. These were (a) registration and preparation for the
ballot, (b) dissemination of voting procedures to the electorate, (c) super­
vising the electoral campaign including preparation of a code of conduct,
(d) reconciliation, and the laying down of arms, (e) organization of the
ballot and its attendant procedures, (f) counting the ballot, and convey­
ing its results to the Secretary-General, and (f) fixing the dates for each
o f these activities.
The registration was carried out with remarkable speed, efficiency,
and accuracy by UN volunteers working under the leadership o f Jeff Fis­
cher, the Chief Electoral officer, and of the lively and dynamic Carina
Perelli, who led a team of specialists from the Electoral Assistance Divi­
sion, seconded from headquarters in New York. The registration was com­
puterized in Sydney, Australia, to which base the data collected in Dili
was transmitted on a regular basis. Lists of voters for each polling station
were displayed over a five-day period (August 19 to 23), and challenges
were attended to by the Electoral Commission.
On August 25, at the end of the twenty-day registration period, the
Electoral Commission issued its formal determination, indicating a total
of 451,792 voters: 438,517 were from East Timor, and 13,296 were from
overseas centers. By contrast, 400,000 had registered during the Indone­
sian general elections, a figure which also included Indonesian residents
in East Timor. The Electoral Commission expressed its approval of “the
calm and reassuring atmosphere of competence and determination man­
ifested at registration centers.” Similar reports of approval were issued by
a number of Observer NGOs, including the Carter Center.
While the registration process was under way, UNAMET contin­
ued a vigorous campaign of information and education with regard to the
ballot process. This was conducted in Tetun, Bhasa Indonesia, English,
and Portuguese, and was disseminated through the press, TV, and radio:
a Japanese government contribution of several thousand transistor sets
proved particularly helpful in this regard.
The Public Information section, which never lacks creative talent,
had composed a catchy and cheerful little ditty, urging people to go out
and vote. The result was that the “UNAMET Song,” played by a young
174 East Timor

local pop group, soon hit the top of the East Timor charts, and stayed
there. Apart from instructing the voters on the technicalities of the pro­
cedure, I was particularly keen that they be assured of the total security
and secrecy of the ballot, and that the UN would do everything possible
to prevent any form of pressure or intimidation.
A Code of Conduct for the participants had been prepared, after
consultation with the political parties of both groups, and it was formally
presented to the leaders by the Special Representative of the Secretary-
General at a ceremony on August 9. The document was signed by repre­
sentatives of UNIF and CNRT, and witnessed by Bishop Belo, the C hief
of Police, and representatives from the Indonesian and Portuguese
Observer Missions as well as the Indonesian Task Force. The format for
the ballot paper, complete with symbols, was also adopted.
The issue of reconciliation and the laying down of arms remained as
difficult and vexatious as ever. In spite of our concerted efforts, in several
different approaches and directions, the results were never satisfactory.
An earlier meeting at Dare convened by Bishops Belo and Nasciemento
in September 1998 had been an attempt to bring the different groups
together, but had not achieved much success. They tried again, this time
with UNAMET support, and a Dare II Peace and Reconciliation Meet­
ing was held in Jakarta from 25 to 30 of June 1999.
The Indonesian Government, in a welcome and far-sighted act o f
statesmanship, rendered active support and cooperation to the meeting,
permitted Xanana Gusmao to participate in the proceedings, and issued
visas to CNRT exiles, including Ramos Horta. The atmosphere in the
conference was very good—better than anything I had seen in the old
AIETD days—and we were treated to the unusual spectacle of Alatas and
Ramos Horta not only meeting, smiling, and shaking hands, but actually
saying some quite nice things about each other.
But these pleasantries, acceptable and positive in themselves, did not
lead to any substantive action or results, and even a modest measure, such
as the creation of a Joint Commission, failed to obtain support from the
pro-integration groups. Nevertheless, we in the UN wished to keep the
ball rolling, and, taking advantage of the presence of the East Timorese
leaders in Jakarta, as well as the goodwill and momentum generated by
Dare II, we decided to step in with a new initiative.
We organized a meeting of the East Timorese leaders, including
Xanana Gusmao, at the UN Missions office in Jakarta, where Ian Mar­
tin, Vendrell, and Tamrat Samuel conducted the negotiations. The
Indonesian government, who was informed of the meeting, gave us their
support. Xanana set the tone of the discussions with the observation that
 UNAMET and the Arduous Path to the Ballot 175

the result of the ballot should be seen as the desire of the East Timorese
people, and that “there should be no winners and no losers, no heroes and
no traitors."
It was decided that an East Timorese Council would be established
immediately after the ballot, and would be responsible for encouraging
reconciliation and stability, while at the same time assisting in the work
o f transition. The body was officially designated the East Timorese Con­
sultative Council, and would consist of twenty-five members, ten to be
nominated by each of the pro-integration and pro-independence groups,
and five to be nominated by the Secretary-General in consultation with
the two groups and the Governments of Indonesia and Portugal.
The establishment of the Consultative Commission was obviously a
good idea, and showed considerable promise at the time it was set up, but
the violence that erupted after the ballot destroyed any possibility of its
implementation.
The issue of “the laying down of arms” was, of course, critical to the
whole process of the Popular Consultation, and our failure to solve this
problem resulted in the devastation that followed the ballot. But this fail­
ure needs to be viewed in the overall context of the negotiations, and not
judged simply in terms of the efforts that were made on the ground just
prior to the ballot.
The fierce Indonesian insistence on retaining responsibility for secu­
rity and law and order has already been indicated, as has been the Indone­
sian Government’s assertion of its commitment to see through a process
that bears the imprimatur of President Habibie. Our attempts to push
the envelope on this issue were therefore constantly circumscribed by the
realistic threat of a deal breaker. The possibility of a general disarmament
was discussed, but rejected as being too impractical, and was certainly
beyond the very limited resources and time available to the UN at that
moment.
Alatas then suggested that the expression “laying down of arms” would
be an appropriate term, both as a means of conveying intention, as well as
a matter of practical application. Accordingly, the May 5, Agreements,
while expressing the view that security for the popular consultation neces­
sitated “the laying down of arms” by all groups, and the redeployment of
the TNI, decided to entrust the operational responsibility of this exercise
to the newly formed Commission on Peace and Stability (KPS).
It stated that “the Commission, in cooperation with the United
Nations, will elaborate a code of conduct, by which all parties should
abide, for the period prior to and following the consultation, ensure the
laying down of arms, and take necessary steps to achieve disarmament.”
176 East Timor

Unfortunately, as a result of a preemptive move by Wiranto, the KPS

never became an impartial body, and therefore lacked both institutional
as well as operational credibility. Xanana Gusmao insisted, with good rea­
son, that FALANTIL was, and had been for over twenty years, in conflict
with the TNI: the militias were merely a recent adjunct of the TNI.
On the other hand, the TNI insisted that the process of the laying
down of arms should be restricted to FALANTIL and the militias, and
should not affect the TNI. This impasse was never solved. The nearest
we got to a solution was to persuade Xanana to agree to the unilateral
cantonment of FALANTIL forces: an action, which he took, with typi­
cal foresight and courage.
To return to the chronological narrative, the second half of July had
seen the full deployment of UNAMET and the purposeful execution of
its multifarious duties. At the same time there had been an increase in
violence in East Timor, forcing us into a perpetual, tension-filled bal­
ancing act whereby we were required to judge between the time frame for
registration and the minimum requirements for security.
We mobilized friendly governments to exercise pressure on the
Indonesian authorities, pointing out that July 16 was the last possible date
on which registration could commence if we were to conduct the ballot
at the end of August. We monitored the situation very carefully, and after
taking into account all the factors, including the Ministerial visit to Dili
led by Wiranto on July 12, the Secretary-General informed the Security
Council that he proposed to start registration on July 16,1999: “The req­
uisite certification of security conditions and the opening of registration
would be confirmed if concrete progress is made on improving the secu­
rity situation in East Timor as defined in the criteria.”
UNAMET’s preference in Dili was for a further postponement, to
allow for a better evaluation of the results of the action taken by the
Indonesian authorities in response to our pressures. But at the same time,
I wished to firmly counter any impression that the United Nations could
be swayed from its course by the hoodlum actions of the militias: the bal­
lot should not be allowed to slip beyond its end August deadline. I con­
veyed this view to the Secretary-General, and after we had carefully and
thoroughly reviewed all aspects of the problem, he decided to go ahead
with the process.
Accordingly, on July 14, he reverted to the Security Council, indi­
cating that while he was still unable to certify that the necessary security
conditions, as stipulated in the Agreement, existed, he had nevertheless
decided to commence registration “based on positive assurances by the
Indonesian authorities, on the condition that meaningful, visible improve­
 UNAM ET and the Arduous Path to the Ballot 177

ments in the security situation will be observed in the immediate future.”

The Secretary-General added that there would be a further assessment
o f the security situation halfway through the registration process.
These decisions on the timing of the registration process were taken
while I was shuttling between Dili, Jakarta, Singapore, Canberra, and
New York, all the while maintaining communications between head­
quarters and the region. As far as UNAMET was concerned, the obvious
course for me was to eschew micromanagement, and to leave matters in
the competent hands of Ian Martin and his splendid team. My inborn
abhorrence of driving from the backseat, coupled with the obvious
efficiency of the UNAMET operations, made this decision an easy one.
I concluded that henceforth my presence in Dili would be restricted
to essential moments, and would remain as unobtrusive as possible. I
therefore spent the last days of June in Jakarta, maintaining contact with
a large number of Indonesian officials and political leaders, as well as
diplomats, members of the media, and, of course, Xanana Gusmao. The
latter had by now become something of a cult figure, receiving visitors
from near and far in his house of detention, which was by now under
siege by a large posse of reporters and cameramen. So much so that Alatas
was provoked into making to me the observation, partly in jest, that
“Xanana now sees more VIPs than I do!”
On July 1,1 left Jakarta for a brief visit to Australia and Singapore.
Way back in March 1997, just after I had assumed the East Timor assign­
ment, the Australian Government had invited me to visit Canberra for
consultations on an issue to which they obviously attached the highest
priority.
I could not earlier avail of this offer, partly because I had first wished
to get the negotiating process under way, but more so because we were in
substantive contact with the thinking in Canberra, thanks to the very pro­
ductive, close, and friendly relations that we had developed with Ambas­
sador Penny Wensley and the Australian Mission in New York.
However, the time had now come when developments in East Timor
necessitated a visit to Canberra for consultations over what was obviously
going to be a very close and important relationship with UNAMET, and
one that was going to enhance, in major fashion, the already considerable
key role played by Australia in the region. We spent a delightful week­
end in Sydney, guided and befriended by Juan Carlos Brandt, the Chief
o f the United Nations Information Center in Australia.
Dynamic and resourceful, Juan Carlos exudes enthusiasm and a lively
wit, which he combines with organizational and administrative ability of
a high order. His wide-ranging contacts in Australia were most helpful
178 East Timor

during our visit, and his valuable services were always unhesitatingly
placed at the disposal of UNAMET during his frequent trips to Darwin.
This was our first visit to Sydney, which must surely be one of the
loveliest and most friendly cities in the world. Nature’s bountiful gifts o f
sea, sand, sun, green hills, and blue skies have clearly been lovingly nur­
tured by the inhabitants, who have crafted onto this enchanting base an
architectural necklace of wondrous beauty, ranging from the majesty o f
the Harbor Bridge and the graceful Opera House to the fairy-tale charm
of the dwellings that scatter the surrounding bays and hillsides. Added
to this was the pleasure of an encounter with a warm, hospitable, and
carefree people, zestfully enjoying the good things of life, as we saw when
we took in a concert at the Opera House, and dined at the hearty chop
houses.
Canberra, like contrived capitals in other countries, was broad o f
boulevard and a little antiseptic, with an austere town-planned beauty,
which seemed to have not quite got off the drawing board and into real
life. But there was no lack of reality as far as our work was concerned.
The Australians had organized a series of meetings and discussions, both
at the policy level with the Deputy Prime Minister and the Ministers o f
External Affairs and Defense, and at the working level with the Heads o f
Departments, all of which proved to be extremely valuable.
I was escorted at these meetings by Brigadier (now Major General)
Mike Smith, who also gave me an extremely useful working paper con­
taining his thoughts and views on the East Timor situation. I have yet to
see a more persuasive and analytical document on the subject. Mike is
one of the rare breed of soldier scholars who combine intellectual curios­
ity and capability with sound professional military practice. He is as
impressive, deploying with his troops in military camouflage uniform, as
he is when seated around a conference table in a sober civilian suit, qui­
etly making an effective point.
Foreign Minister Alexander Downer, whom I had frequently met in
New York, epitomized the new aggressive Australian approach to the East
Timor problem. While conscious of the dynamics of maintaining an equi­
librium in terms of his country’s relations with Indonesia, Downer
appeared prepared to assume a leadership role in any coalition that may
be required to deal with a rapidly and dangerously evolving situation in
the region.
When in Canberra, I received further disquieting reports of increas­
ing activity by the militias in East Timor, this time escalating into an
attack on a United Nations post and on a UN convoy. The Secretary-
General expressed “grave concern,” and the Security Council warned that
 UNAMET and the Arduous Path to the Ballot 179

Jakarta would be held accountable for any violence against UN person­

nel. I issued a strong statement deploring the attack and reiterating the
determination of the UN to continue with the consultation process:
Alexander Downer firmly expressed his Government’s support of our deci­
sion “not to be bullied by hoodlums and thugs.”
The volatile situation in East Timor induced an increased sense of
urgency and realism into our discussions in Canberra. The Australians
had already provided a large contingent of CIVPOLS to UNAMET, and
the Commissioner of Police, who provided a succinct briefing and assess­
ment, added to its value by a generous offer to increase the number of
police officers.
My next meeting at the Australian Electoral Commission brought
glad tidings in terms of the preparatory work, and that the computeriza­
tion and printout of electoral lists in Sydney was going well, despite the
very tight schedule. It was a matter of relief and satisfaction that this
important aspect of our task remained on track.
At the political level, I had two reassuring meetings with Defense
M inister John Moore and Paul Barrat, the Permanent Secretary for
Defense. I was informed that the Australians had placed a ready deploy­
ment force in Darwin, consisting of the 1st and 3rd brigades (each com­
posed of about 2,600 troops, plus equipment which included armor and
helicopters), together with the “Jervis Bay,” an impressive troop-carrying
catamaran.
These deployments were officially described as comprising “a higher
level of readiness,” but I was informed that they could be used as part of
a peacekeeping force in a post ballot situation, if the UN so desired. As
later events were to prove, this force deployment was neither premature
nor unnecessary, and its rapid presence could not have been more vital or
timely.
My final brief meeting in Canberra was with Deputy Prime Minis­
ter Tim Fischer, with whom I ran over most of the topics that had already
been discussed with his colleagues, and who expressed his hearty support
of the UN effort. A quintessential Australian, Fischer had just announced
his retirement from politics for personal reasons, a decision which appeared
to have been received with a great deal of public regret. Nevertheless, Fis­
cher did make a visit to East Timor shortly thereafter, when his sturdy
presence and robust counsel did much for the morale of UNAMET.
I left Canberra for Singapore on July 7 for a short visit and meet­
ings with the Foreign Minister and Senior Minister Lee Kuan Yew. I
briefed them on developments in East Timor and on the progress of the
consultation process, and obtained some very friendly and pertinent
180 East Timor

advice, especially from the latter. Obviously, no one who meets Lee Kuan
Yew can fail to be impressed by his personality, but any awe that lesser
mortals may feel in the presence of a living legend are quickly put to rest
by his easy, nonchalant simplicity.
A tart but by no means unkind humor emanated from Lee’s sparkling
mind, and found reflection in the brilliance of his eyes. Lee thought that
the East Timor situation seemed to be on its way to a solution, and
applauded Habibie’s courageous and wise decision to hold a ballot. His
greater concern, however, was over Indonesia itself, and o f the impact that
developments in that vast archipelago might have over the entire South
East Asia region.
I returned to New York for the next session of the Ministerial Tri­
lateral and the Senior Officials’ Meeting, during the course of which we
hoped to provide positive directions to a process that was now well under
way, lurching and thrashing toward its next objective, the ballot box.
 16
The Popular Consultation
in East Timor:
The Ballot
N e w Y o r k , J a k a r t a , a n d D i li :
J u l y a n d A u g u s t 1999

Deep in the Siberian mine

Keep your patience proud;
The bitter toil shall not be lost,
The rebel thought unbowed.
The heavy, hanging chains will fall,
The walls will crumble at a word,
And freedom greet you in the night
And brothers, give you back the sword.
—Alexander Pushkin

A Senior Officials’ Meeting was held in New York on July 15 and 16,
1999, to review the current state of the popular consultation process, and
to make an assessment of the post consultation issues. As for the former,
apart from the usual discussion on security, we also prepared a Code of
Conduct for the Official Observers (Indonesia and Portugal), and the
other Observers, such as NGOs and journalists.
The post ballot scenario, for which we prepared a working paper,
focused on Phase II, the interregnum between the announcement of the
results of the ballot and the convening of the Indonesian National Assem­
bly (MPR), which would legislate on the result of the ballot. Anticipat­
ing that this would be a period of tension, we had prepared a series of

181
182 East Timor

measures to ensure tranquility. But, as later events were to prove, this was
an exercise in futility, because the extent of the post election violence
exceeded our worst expectations, and required measures far more strin­
gent than those contained in our modest proposals.
Meanwhile, as has already been indicated, we had decided to start
the registration process, and the Secretary-General accordingly addressed
a letter to the Security Council on July 14:
It is not, however, possible for me to conclude at present that the
necessary security conditions exist for the peaceful implementa­
tion of the popular consultation process throughout the Terri­
tory.... As I noted in my letter of July 10, the security situation in
the whole of the Territory remains serious, and there has not been
time to properly assess how far recent steps taken by the govern­
ment will result in an improvement. In particular, as I have pre­
viously reported to the Council, violence and intimidation have
been permitted to be carried out with impunity by pro-autonomy
militias. Nevertheless, determined as I believe we should be to go
ahead, undeterred by the intimidation, and in view of the need to
adhere to the shortest possible time frame, I have decided to begin
the registration, based on positive assurances by the Indonesian
authorities, on the condition that meaningful, visible improve­
ments in the security situation will be observed in the immediate
future. UNAMET will continue to keep the security situation con­
stantly under review, and I intend to make another assessment of
conditions based on its objective evaluation, halfway through the
registration period. At that time, I will determine whether there
has been enough significant progress to continue registration on
the basis that the people of East Timor are able to participate in
the popular consultation safely and free of intimidation.

I followed this up with a brief to the Security Council, in which I

reported on the encouraging progress in the deployment of UNAMET
as well as the less encouraging nature of militia violence. I thanked the
Members of Council for their support, and informed them that I would
shortly visit Jakarta and East Timor for an assessment of the situation,
after which I would report to the Secretary-General in order to enable
him to decide on “how to proceed in the light of current and foreseeable
future security conditions.”
On my arrival in East Timor, I discovered to my delight that the
registration process, which had commenced on July 16 had assumed a
truly astonishing momentum. There could be no more convincing justi­
fication for our decision to go ahead with our plans. Despite the mani­
fest voter intimidation and the militia activity that continued unabated,
the people of East Timor presented themselves, in enthusiastic but orderly
fashion, at the registration booths.
 The Popular Consultation in East Timor: The Ballot 183

Even the over 60,000 internally displaced persons (IDPs) managed

to get to the registration centers before disappearing back into their hide­
outs in the forests and hills. At the end of the stipulated period,
U N A M ET had registered 451,792 people, of which 433,576 were in East
Tim or, while the rest were from the various other centers. The wondrous
people of East Timor had demonstrated a collective act of courage and
spontaneous democratic motivation that filled us with admiration.
I t was truly a bold gesture of quiet majesty that defied the bullies
and the cynics, and humbled the rest of us. The registration card, a sim­
ple scrap of paper issued in a rustic UNAMET polling station, had sud­
denly become the most proud, fiercely guarded, and valued possession of
over 400,000 people. It was carefully preserved, concealed, and guarded,
until the day that its possessor could redeem it in the vote, in exercise of
a freedom so long awaited and so implacably contested.
However, my satisfaction at the success of the registration process
was tempered by a sense of the awesome responsibility that now devolved
upon us. I was determined to do everything possible to ensure that the
United Nations would justify the faith and trust that the people of East
Tim or had so vividly placed in us. They had done their magnificent bit,
and now it was up to us.
The delay in the registration automatically delayed the date for the
ballot. The convoluted post-election process in Indonesia itself had by now
made it quite clear that there was no possibility of the MPR being con­
vened by the end of August deadline, as originally envisaged. This, in
turn, not only eased the pressure on us, but also gave the Indonesian
authorities more time to bring the security situation under control.
After intensive discussions with UNAMET in Dili, and careful con­
sideration at headquarters in New York, the Secretary-General decided
to fix the new and final date for the popular consultation ballot on Mon­
day, August 30,1999. He conveyed this decision to the Security Council
in a letter on July 28.
It may be noticed that we had finessed our way out of the conflict­
ing demands of the Indonesian and Portuguese governments over the day
of the ballot (Saturday said the Indonesians, Sunday said the Portuguese)
by choosing a Monday, which was also, incidentally, the day on which the
Indonesian government had conducted its recent national elections.
The die was now cast, and following the end of registration the period
of campaigning commenced on August 14. It was by no means peaceful
and intimidation by the militias continued, with the newly opened CNRT
offices being particular targets. Earlier, US Assistant Secretary Stanley
Roth had visited Jakarta and East Timor. Outraged by the inability or
184 East Timor

unwillingness of the security forces to contain the militia, Ross had issued
a stern warning to Habibie stating that any delay in the ballot caused by
security concerns would have a very adverse impact on US and Indone­
sian relations.
I returned to Indonesia in early August and found, despite my short
absence, a noticeable change in the atmosphere. The economic and polit­
ical turmoil had taken their toll, and Jakarta now had the look of an impe­
cunious nobleman who had known better times: forlorn, a little down at
the mouth, and clothed in a former finery which was now unkempt and
fraying at the cuffs.
As usual, my first meeting was with Alatas, followed by one with
Wiranto, and our discussions were obviously concerned with the ongo­
ing consultation process and the security situation in East Timor. T he
Indonesians, while conceding that more needed to be done to ensure law
and order, refused to place all the blame on the militias, and insisted that
violence had also been committed by pro-independence elements.
The next day we held a meeting of the Senior Officials, hosted this
time by the Indonesian Ministry of Foreign Affairs, and continued the
agenda of our earlier New York meeting. We also reviewed the Dare 11
process and the work of the East Timor Consultative Commission, which
by now was running into difficulties.
After the Senior Officials Meeting, Ian Martin and I were received
by President Habibie, who greeted us warmly and had the full panoply
of Ministers in attendance. I told Habibie that the United Nations was
determined to continue our program with regard to the process of popu­
lar consultation, and looked forward to his cooperation to ensure that the
bold initiative that the President had proclaimed in January would be
carried to its logical successful conclusion.
However, the security situation in East Timor was still a matter o f
great concern, and was a major impediment to the processes of registra­
tion and campaigning. I conceded that while there had been a marginal
improvement in recent days, there was still a great deal to be done. Habi­
bie and his Ministers reiterated their commitment to the process, thought
that our view of the security situation was unduly alarmist, and assured
us that normalcy would soon be restored. Ian and I were much less san­
guine.
Nevertheless, our meeting concluded with the understanding that
while the UN would continue with the consultation process, it would do
so on the basis of a watchful and ongoing assessment of the security sit­
uation. I reported this to the Secretary-General who, in turn, informed
the Security Council of his decision in a letter dated July 26,1999.
 The Poptilar Consultation in East Timor: The Ballot 185

“Feelings.” The soldier and the diplomat in harmony. General W iranto (left) and
J .M . at President Habibie’s dinner. Photograph: M inistry of Foreign Affairs,
Indonesia.

The people of East Timor are showing laudable determination to

participate in the popular consultation despite continuing intim­
idation. I therefore intend to continue registration on the under­
standing that the Indonesian authorities will work with UNAMET
to achieve the further necessary improvements in the security sit­
uation and urgently address the problem of internal displacement.
The completion of registration and the continuation of the pop­
ular consultation process will depend on my being satisfied that
these improvements are achieved and sustained.

That night President and Madame Habibie graciously hosted a din­

ner in honor of Arnaz and myself at their magnificent personal residence.
The other guests were Foreign Minister and Madame Alatas, General
Wiranto, Justice Minister Muladi, and Ian Martin. A sumptuous Japa­
nese style dinner was served, to the strains of live music consisting of
Indonesian and Western popular melodies, creating a congenial atmos­
phere of warmth and relaxed friendship.
Just as desert was being served, Habibie jumped out of his chair,
seized a microphone, and began singing a series of Western pop songs of
fifties and sixties vintage, moving around the dinner table as he crooned
away to his guests. I am quite certain that this was the first and last time
that Arnaz, Ian, and I would be serenaded by a Head of State.
Bizarre as the episode may sound in its retelling, there was an unpre­
tentious charm, grace, and spontaneity in Habibie’s gesture that will
186 East Timor

always remain delightfully memorable. But the show did not end there,
and in due course each of the men in the party had to take the mike, p ick
a song from a book that Habibie had unearthed, and sing for his supper.
By popular demand, Wiranto had to give a number of encores to his
rendition of “Feelings,” and we were treated to the implausible spectacle
of the stern, sphinx-like Commander of the Indonesian Armed Forces in
a near professional performance as a crooner. It is fascinating and delight­
ful incongruities of this kind that make the Indonesians such a remark­
able and lovable people.
The next morning it was back to business, and I had a long and very
productive meeting with Xanana Gusmao. We discussed the impasse th at
had now appeared in the Committee on Peace and Stability (KPS). N ot
only was the participation of the CNRT (and also the UN), becoming
marginalized, but there were also serious differences in basic perceptions.
As already mentioned, for the Indonesian military (TNI), the process o f
disarmament would apply only to the militias and FALANTIL (the mil­
itary component of the CNRT), leaving the TNI unaffected.
Xanana’s argument, which had considerable merit, was that the
twenty-five year struggle had been between the TNI and FALANTIL,
and that the process of disarmament required reciprocity between the
two. In order to get out of this dilemma, I suggested to Xanana that he
should place the bulk of the FALANTIL forces into a cantonment, and
I would work on the TNI to withdraw into their barracks.
In any event, I thought it most important that at this late stage in
the negotiations it was imperative that FALANTIL should hold its fire
and not get provoked into large-scale retaliation. This could only result
in a civil war, and a setback to the consultation process. Xanana needed
little convincing on this score, and in a remarkable display of far-sighted
leadership and discipline, kept the FALANTIL in its cantonments despite
the devastating provocations of the militias that were soon to occur.
I left for Dili on August 14, for a three-day stay, during the course
of which I was briefed on UNAMET’s activities, met with the represen­
tatives of both the pro-independence and pro-integration groups, and had
useful discussions with Bishops Belo and Nasciemento. I also attended a
meeting with the Indonesian Task Force, during the course of which the
security situation was discussed intensively and with some acrimony.
In an otherwise tense and apprehensive atmosphere in Dili, there was
one positive and encouraging element. This was the continued splendid
dedication and morale of the UNAMET staff members. Carina Perelli,
who headed the Electoral Assistance Division in New York, was now, in
her own remarkable and energetic manner, engaged in the electoral process
 The Popular Consultation in East Timor: The Ballot 187

on the ground, and was supervising activities in close collaboration with

Jeff Fischer. Despite intimidation and threats, which were now becom­
ing an almost daily occurrence, the courageous UNAMET staff remained
enthusiastic, poised, and ready to go.
The Portuguese Government were anxious to have a further round
o f the Senior Officials’ Meeting prior to the ballot date, and since the last
round had just been held in Jakarta, our rules of reciprocity demanded
that the next one be held in Lisbon on August 25 and 26. Our talks took
place amidst a backdrop of messages from East Timor conveying both
increased tension as well as advanced preparations for the ballot.
I hurried back to Dili on August 28 for consultations with Ian Mar­
tin and the Senior Officers of UNAMET. This was followed by a meet­
ing with the Indonesian Task Force, at which it was agreed that all political
and paramilitary groups would keep their supporters off the streets dur­
ing the polling.
For our part, I had instructed all UNAMET staff to maintain a high
profile during the ballot process, and to make quite sure that the UN
presence was active and visible all over the island. It was important that
our gestures convey a degree of reassurance to the voters at the time of
the ballot. Also, as part of our continued effort to counter the intimida­
tion of voters, we issued a final, strong reiteration of what had been the
main theme of UNAMET’s public information campaign.
We stressed that under the May 5 Agreements, (a) there would be
complete secrecy of the ballot, and no one would know how any individ­
ual or any region had voted, and (b) that UNAMET would remain in East
Timor, regardless of the outcome of the ballot, whether it was in favor of
autonomy or of transition to independence.
On the evening before the ballot I received two quiet signals, each
o f which had a significance of its own. The first was at the conclusion of
our meeting with the Indonesian Task Force, when Major General Zaky
Anwar, with whom I had by now established something of a personal
accord, came over to me and said with quiet assurance, “Mr. Ambassador,
you have my personal assurance that the ballot will go peacefully.” I
thanked him, and wished him good luck.
Shortly thereafter, Arnaz and I dined with Ambassador Lopez da
Cruz and his wife at their home in Dili. It may be recalled that Lopez da
Cruz was an East Timorese who served in the Indonesian Foreign Min­
istry as an Ambassador with Special Duties for East Timor, and Arnaz
and I had, over the years, developed an agreeable personal friendship with
this modest, charming couple. Over conversation at dinner, which natu­
rally centered on the next day’s referendum, I was astonished to be told
188 East Timor

by Lopez da Cruz that according to their intelligence estimates, the bal­

lot results would show over sixty per cent support for integration.
So sure were they of success that Lopez da Cruz had planned a large
victory celebration party at his residence the next evening. Since there
were only the four of us at dinner, and our conversation had been pretty
free and uninhibited, there was no need for Lopez da Cruz to show any
bravado. I was therefore convinced that he believed the estimates that had
been fed to the administration by its intelligence sources. Since our own
impression indicated an overwhelming support for independence, I was
hard put to conceal my unspoken astonishment at Lopez da Cruz’s san­
guine assumption. I left the dinner thinking that once again the spooks
had misled their masters, and this time appeared to have done so right
royally.
Preparations for polling day were now complete. There were over two
thousand accredited observers, comprising one hundred official Portuguese
and Indonesian observers, four hundred and ninety international observers
from Governments and NGOs from the European Union, Australia,
Brazil, Canada, Chile, Ireland, New Zealand, and Spain, and about sev­
enteen hundred Indonesian and East Timorese non-government observers.
Arrangements for the ballot procedures involved the close coopera­
tion between the UNAMET Civpols under Commissioner Alan Mills
and the Indonesian Police under Chief Silaen. There would be one
UNAMET Civpol officer at each of the 200 polling centers, and they
would each be assisted by at least two armed Indonesian Police officers,
their joint responsibilities and duties being the sealing, collection, trans­
port, and security of the ballot boxes.
On polling day I would visit the various polling booths by helicopter,
accompanied by the CMLA. Police Commissioners Mills and Silaen,
together with Jeff Fischer, would use the second helicopter for the same
purpose, and the third helicopter would remain on stand-by for any emer­
gency requirements. Ian Martin would remain at headquarters in Dili and
hold the fort.
We were up early on August 30, and spent the entire day in a heli­
copter, moving from one polling booth to another. Everywhere we were
greeted with joy and enthusiasm, with tears, embraces, and the kissing o f
hands, and with thousands of pairs of hope-filled eyes. The voters could
not have been more orderly and disciplined, and yet it was entirely self-
imposed, as our CIVPOLS did little other than act as guides and observers
at the polling stations.
As we hopped from post to post, we saw the same scenes of enthu­
siasm coupled with an innate sense of orderly cooperation. From the air,
 The Popular Consultation in East Timor: The Ballot 189

Discussing polling arrangements with UN field staff. Brigadier Rczaqul Haider,

C hief M ilitary Liaison Officer (C M LO ), has his back to camera. Photograph:
author’s collection.

too, we were able to see the occasional trail of people heading from the
hills to the polling stations and vice versa. That evening, as we returned
to UNAMET headquarters, I felt that I had lived through one of the
most productive and emotionally satisfying days of my life.
We made a hurried review of the day’s events. Violence had been
minimal. One East Timorese UN worker had been stabbed to death after
the polls closed in Ermera; seven out of the two hundred polling stations
had been temporarily closed under threat of violence, but had been quickly
reopened.
We estimated the turnout to be about 80 percent of the 439,000 reg­
istered voters, but in this we were wrong, because the final tally put the
figure at an astonishing 98.6 percent! Ian Martin and I met a number of
international observers and found them to be universally appreciative of
UNAM ET’s conduct of the ballot. The Irish Foreign Minister, Mr. David
Andrews, who represented the European Union, commended “the pro­
fessional, effective, and dedicated way in which UNAMET staff con­
ducted the poll.”
From Jakarta, too, came positive comments on the way the polls had
been carried out. Alatas appreciated the fair conduct of the polls, and
believed that when the results were announced they would be regarded
as free and fair, and General Wiranto also said that “on the whole”
UNAMET had done a commendable job.
190 Käst Timor

Top: My standard mode of transport in East Timor. Photograph: authors collec­

tion.
Bottom: Enthusiastic voters lined up in orderly fashion at a polling booth. Pho­
tograph: author’s collection.
 The Popular Consultation in Last Timor: The Ballot 191

A rn az with some cheerful young East Timorese citizens who thronged the polling
boo ths, despite their obvious lack o f voter qualification. Photograph: author’s col­
lection.

On the evening of August 30, I informed a crowded press confer­

ence in Dili of the day’s events, of the massive voter turn out, and of the
efficient and generally peaceful manner in which the polls had been con­
ducted. I ended by paying a humble personal tribute to the people of East
Timor:
One thing is manifestly clear. Whatever the outcome of the bal­
lot, today the eagle of liberty has spread its proud wings over the
people of East Timor. Many of the people who went to the polling
stations today did so under conditions of considerable hardship.
They defied poverty, distance, climate, terrain, and in some cases
dark intimidation, in order to exercise their God-given right to
vote in freedom.
 17
The Aftermath of the Ballot
D ili, J a k a r t a , a n d N e w Y o r k :
A u g u s t 31 t o O c t o b e r 31,1999

This was not only a crime, Sire. It was also a mistake.

— Talleyrand's comment to Napoleon, after the
Emperor had arranged to have the D uke of
Enghien kidnapped in Germany, and then shot

I left Dili for Jakarta the day following the ballot, and shortly there­
after received reports of trouble, both in the outlying districts of East
Timor and in Dili itself, where the militia had attacked pro-indepen­
dence supporters as well as foreign journalists, some of whom were com­
pelled to seek shelter in the UNAMET compound.
I made the strongest protests to Alatas and Wiranto, pointing out
that not only was the whole consultation process in jeopardy, but that
Indonesia’s position and prestige in the international community was now
very much on the line. The excesses in East Timor and Jakarta’s inabil­
ity to control them were a serious breach of the solemn international
obligation that the Republic of Indonesia had assumed under the New
York Agreements of May 5,1999.
Already there were calls for an international peacekeeping force to
be deployed in East Timor, and matters were not helped by the brusque
response of a government spokesman: “Just for everyone who has not got
the message, Australia will not be invading Indonesia.” Such defiant and
intemperate words only served to act as a tacit encouragement to the mili­
tias to continue their rampage.
My hectic activities in Jakarta were concentrated on three issues.

192
 The Aftermath o f the Ballot 193

The first was to get the Indonesian government to stop the rampage by
the militia in East Timor. The second was to ensure the security of the
UNAMET premises in Dili and above all of the museum building near
the airport, where the ballot boxes had been stored and where the ballots
were being counted.
My greatest apprehension was that the militia might attack the
museum premises and destroy the ballot papers, thus frustrating our work
at the very last moment. I put the utmost pressure on Wiranto over this
matter, and did not leave his office until I was satisfied that he had ordered
additional security personnel to guard the UNAMET Electoral Center
at the Dili museum. My third priority was to urge Xanana Gusmao to
continue to exercise restraint by the FALANTIL forces, despite the fierce
attacks and provocations to which they, and the East Timorese civilians,
were being exposed.
We were now confronted with the matter of the timing of the
announcement of the results of the ballot. The problem was exacerbated by
the upsurge of violence on September 1, when hundreds of militia converged
on Dili and unleashed a campaign of terror, burning, and looting, attacking
the pro-independence supporters as well as foreign news correspondents.
In New York, the Security Council issued a strong statement of con­
demnation, and in Jakarta I had stormy meetings with Alatas and Wiranto,
demanding that they take more effective action against the militia. I also
strongly urged Wiranto to be present in Dili on the date of the announce­
ment of the results of the ballot, a request that he had earlier declined.
However, the escalation of violence in East Timor compelled me to reit­
erate my demand.
I told him that an American CIVPOL officer had been shot and seri­
ously wounded by the militia the previous day, and that attacks on
UNAM ET personnel and offices were not only on the increase, but
remained unchecked by the TNI. Accordingly, Wiranto and Justice-Min-
ister Muladi flew to Dili for a one-day visit on September 5.
At an airport meeting, Ian Martin briefed them on the deplorable
nature of the situation (no gesture could be more incriminating than the
Ministers’ reluctance to go into the town), but the Indonesians responded
with the disturbingly unsatisfactory comment that the security forces were
“using persuasion” to get the militia to exercise restraint: if they were to
use force, then there would be war.
Wiranto also said that FALANTIL had received new weapons, and
this was a matter of concern. UNAMET had no evidence of this, and all
our reports indicated that the FALANTIL commanders, with whom our
MLOs maintained constant liaison, were exercising admirable restraint.
194 East Timor

Much to my relief, the increasing mayhem in Dili had not so far

effected UNAMETs counting center at the museum, and the electoral
staff, in a final burst of the superhuman efforts that had characterized
their entire work, completed the count on the night of September 3 and
early morning of the 4. We had earlier announced, as a matter of due cau­
tion, that the results of the ballot would be declared “within seven days”
of the voting.
However, now that the count had been completed, and the Electoral
Commission had also been able to certify its authenticity, we felt that it
was necessary to make an early announcement. Jakarta had suggested
some delay, but after speaking to Alatas, who also saw the danger of any
leakage if we did so, it was agreed that the announcement would be made
by the Secretary-General in New York on the evening of September 3,
with a simultaneous announcement being made by Ian Martin in Dili on
the morning of September 4.
This procedure allowed for the legitimate preference of the Indone­
sian administration for a daylight announcement, which would put it in
a better position to contain any violent reaction. The Electoral Commis­
sion submitted their final determination to the Secretary-General: “The
Commission was able to conclude that the popular consultation had been
procedurally fair, and in accordance with the New York Agreements, and
consequently provided an accurate reflection of the will of the people of
East Timor. There can be no doubt that the people of this troubled land
wish to separate from the Republic of Indonesia.”
The results of the ballot, as simultaneously announced by the Sec­
retary-General in New York on the evening of Friday, September 3, and
by Ian Martin in Dili on the morning of Saturday, September 4 was that
446,953 East Timorese (98.6 percent of the registered voters) had cast
their ballots, both within and outside East Timor.
O f these, 94,388 (21.5 percent) of East Timorese voted in favor of
the autonomy proposal, and 344,580 (78.5 percent) voted against it. The
Secretary-General called upon the government of Indonesia to imple­
ment the results of the ballot, and to maintain law and order in East
Timor.
Shortly after this announcement, the pro-integration militia, in a
massive escalation of violence, unleashed a campaign of terror and destruc­
tion that led to the devastation of a large part of the island and left the
charming little town of Dili in smoldering ruins. It was a criminal act of
vengeful, cruel, senseless destruction that defied description or explana­
tion.
It may be appropriate at this point to deviate from the chronologi­
 The Aftermath of the Ballot 195

cal narrative and follow the destiny of UNAMET through the next inspir­
ing phase of its activity under the courageous and dedicated leadership
o f Ian Martin, CMLO Brigadier Rezaqul Haider, CIVPOL Chief Com­
missioner Alan Mills, and their senior colleagues.
On September 5, as their activity gained momentum, the militia
attacked the premises of the International Committee of the Red Cross
in Dili, and went on to destroy the Bishopric, where 3,000 refugees had
taken shelter, and forced the evacuation of Bishop Belo to Baucau. As the
rampage and destruction continued, I received confirmed reports of active
T N I collaboration with the militia, and even more ominously of the herd­
ing of East Timorese onto the docks in Dili for forcible expulsion to West
Timor.
In the meanwhile, on September 4 UNAMET had been obliged to
declare “Security Phase Three” which, under UN rules, requires the evac­
uation of non-essential staff. It commenced by closing its outlying posts,
gradually withdrawing the staff into its perimeter at headquarters in Dili,
and airlifting surplus personnel to Darwin. But soon the situation within
the UNAMET premises itself became untenable, when some 2,000
terrified internal displaced persons (IDPs) were attacked by the militia
and jumped over the barbed wire fences into the UNAMET compound
for safety, adding to the hundreds of local and international staff who
were already there.
Ian Martin was then faced with a series of difficult and heartbreak­
ing choices, which included the question of the continuation of the
UNAMET presence, the security of international personnel, and the fate
o f the internally displaced persons who were now in UNAMET’s pro­
tection. Martin carried out a hectic schedule of negotiations with the
Indonesian authorities, with headquarters in New York, with the IDPs,
and with his own indomitable staff, during these difficult days.
At the same time, as will be revealed subsequently, there was mount­
ing international pressure on Jakarta, a pressure that eventually compelled
the Indonesians to accept an international peacekeeping force. But until
that happened, there were a series of dramatic events in Dili, events that
testified to the courage, dedication, and humanity of the illustrious staff
o f UNAMET and their dedicated East Timorese charges and colleagues.
These dramatic events are best left to be described by Ian Martin
and any others who actually lived through them in Dili. For me, the con­
duct and dedication of the UNAMET staff restored one’s faith in man­
kind, especially when contrasted with the gross inhumanity and violence
that had been unleashed by the militia. This was truly a real life demon­
stration of both the good and the evil in human nature.
196 East Timor

When the UNAMET compound was finally closed on September

14, the international staff had completed their assignment, the internally
displaced persons had been duly cared for, and a small group o f twelve
brave and dedicated staff, under Brigadier Rezaqul Haider, moved to the
Australian mission compound to await the arrival of the international
peacekeeping force, INTERFET.
To return to the narrative, I remained in Jakarta from September 4
onwards, and was in constant touch with the Secretary-General in New
York as we monitored the rapidly deteriorating situation in East Timor.
I was also on the phone to Stanley Roth, keeping him informed o f the
situation as he powerfully weighed in with Jakarta.
On September 6 ,1 had a round of meetings with Alatas, Wiranto,
and finally President Habibie. These were difficult and tense sessions, at
which I pointed out that the crass failure of the Indonesian authorities to
maintain security in East Timor, coupled with the increased attacks on
the United Nations, were making it imperative that we induct an inter­
national peacekeeping force.
I added in quite unambiguous terms that the actions of the militia,
supported by the TNI, could well warrant and trigger a War Crimes Tri­
bunal. Habibie was by now visibly agitated, and told me that he intended
to impose martial law in East Timor the next day: he was confident that
this would bring the situation under control.
I expressed frank skepticism, pointing out that since the troops
charged with enforcing martial law were the same ones that were com­
mitting the atrocities, it all sounded to me a bit like putting the fox into
the chicken coop. Wiranto interjected to say that new units were being
flown in from Sumatra, but I remained unconvinced and told him so.
Meanwhile, we discerned the first glimpse of flexibility on the part of the
Indonesians, occasioned no doubt by the demarches that were being made
to Jakarta from various world capitals, and by the Secretary-General in
particular.
In a telephone conversation with the latter at this time, Habibie said
that if martial law failed to restore order then “we will say that the UN
is coming in as a friend.” Kofi Annan’s response, just as the Indonesians
imposed martial law on September 7 was to call Habibie and give him
forty-eight hours to improve the security situation in East Timor.
At the same time, a five-member Ambassadorial mission from the
Security Council arrived in Jakarta. It was a strong and unmistakable ges­
ture of concern on the part of the international community, and a demand
that the Indonesians fulfill their solemn obligations. There was by now a
quite palpable sense of urgency and high drama in the Indonesian capi-
 The Aftermath o f the Ballot 197

tal, stimulated as it was by the violence in East Timor and the compul­
sions on UNAMET to close its posts, one by one, and retreat into the
beleaguered compound in Dili.
It now became absolutely necessary to bring to bear every form of
pressure on the Indonesian Government, and over the next few days the
international community acted in a powerful and measured manner. The
most important factor was the presence of the Security Council delega­
tion’s presence in Jakarta and Dili, where the members not only saw for
themselves the devastation that had taken place, but more importantly
conveyed in the strongest terms to the Indonesian leadership the feelings
o f revulsion of the international community, and their demands for the
induction of a peacekeeping force.
The United States added its considerable weight to the effort through
the unusual process of a series of direct telephone conversations between
Clinton, Albright, and Cohen, each with their Indonesian counterparts,
Habibie, Alatas, and Wiranto. In addition, there was a meeting of the
Asia Pacific Economic Cooperation group (APEC) leaders in Auckland,
New Zealand, from September 9 to 12 which was attended by the Prime
Ministers and Foreign Ministers of the member states, as well as by
Madeleine Albright of the United States, Lloyd Axworthy of Canada, and
Robin Cook representing the European Union.
Habibie and Alatas absented themselves from the meeting, but the
message they received from Don McKinnon of New Zealand was unequiv­
ocal. The members, who between them possessed over three quarters of
the world’s GDP, deplored the events in East Timor and were prepared
to support an international presence in the island in order to ensure secu­
rity and the compliance of the results of the ballot. Indonesia’s economic
condition had by now deteriorated from the parlous to the perilous, and
the country’s dependence on foreign assistance was desperate.
Further pressure in this direction came from Jim Wolfensohn, the
World Bank President, who wrote to Habibie on September 8: “For the
international financial community to be able to continue its full support
it is critical that you act swiftly to restore order, and that your govern­
ment come through on its public commitment to honor the referendum
outcome.”
Michel Camdessus, the Managing Director of the International
Monetary Fund, issued successive warning statements, and followed this
up on September 9 with a decision to defer the planned visit to Jakarta
o f a mission which was scheduled to discuss the resumption of a desper­
ately needed credit trance from an IMF loan.
On that same fateful day of September 7, the Indonesian Govern­
198 East Timor

ment freed Xanana Gusmao from house arrest, but this tardy gesture was
of no help to Xanana in the prevalent situation. He accepted the timely
and generous offer of hospitality made by Robin Christopher, the British
Ambassador, and after a short stay in the Embassy left for Australia.
It was not until October 22 that this heroic figure, the remarkable
and undisputed leader of the East Timorese people, was able to return to
his beloved homeland. The previous day, just prior to his release and just
after my acrimonious session at the President’s office in Jakarta, I met
Xanana in his residence of detention.
The visit was both painful and emotional, to say the least. In the first
place, there had been widespread rumors that Xanana’s father had been
killed by the militia in the course of their rampage; fortunately this infor­
mation proved to be false, but we were not to know it at the time. When
I expressed my sympathies to Xanana, he was quite stoic over the news
about his father, but broke down and wept openly about the killings and
sufferings of his people.
W hat went wrong? Had he erred in agreeing to go ahead with the
ballot? Had he been wrong in restraining the FALANTIL? And finally,
although he was too much of a gentleman to say so, his eyes were an inter­
rogation: could he trust the United Nations any longer?
I urged Xanana not to lose heart, and assured him that we would put
things right. His brave people had expressed their will to the world in
unequivocal terms, and the world had taken note of this with admiration.
We would ensure that their will prevails. I left him with a hug and a
thumbs-up signal, but it was a tense parting.
On September 7, the Spokesman for the Secretary-General, United
Nations, in New York issued a statement warning the Indonesian Gov­
ernment that it had forty-eight hours in which to restore law and order
in East Timor. Alatas responded with the somewhat defiant counter warn­
ing “not to issue ultimatums,” and added that any peacekeeping force
“would have to shoot its way” into East Timor.
In private, however, there were signs of softening and change, as the
Secretary-General told me he had detected, in a further lengthy, frank,
and straightforward telephone conversation with Habibie. As in so much
else, Kofi has no equal in the art of long distance telephone diplomacy.
On September 11, the Secretary-General in his report to the Secu­
rity Council reiterated that the militia actions in East Timor might well
be categorized as international crime, and urged Indonesia to immedi­
ately agree to the presence of an international peacekeeping force. “If it
refuses to do so it cannot escape responsibility for what could amount,
according to reports reaching us, to crimes against humanity.”
 The Aftermath o f the Ballot 199

The Secretary-General went on to add, in terms of consummate tact,

that “the international community is asking for Indonesia’s consent to the
deployment of such a force. But I hope it is clear, Mr. President, that it
does so out of deference to Indonesia’s position as a respected member of
the community of states. Regrettably, that position is now being placed
in jeopardy by the tragedy that has engulfed the people of East Timor.”
The debate in the Security Council lasted throughout the day of
September 11 with the participation of fifty nations, the overwhelming
majority of which called on Indonesia to accept an international peace­
keeping force. The Council decided to delay consideration of a resolution
until it had received a report from its delegation on return from Jakarta.
While dealing with the Security Council in New York, the Secre­
tary-General had also been in constant contact with Habibie in Jakarta,
and had finally secured the latter’s agreement to accept a peacekeeping
force in East Timor. On September 12, after a meeting with his cabinet,
Habibie informed the Security Council delegation that he would accept
a UN peacekeeping force in East Timor.
There were no conditions to this acceptance, and Alatas would fly
to work out the implementation details. That night Habibie announced
his decision to the Indonesian nation on radio and television, stating that
Indonesia had invited a UN peacekeeping force in East Timor in order
“to protect the people and to implement the result of the ballot of 30
August.”
The decision came too late, of course, to save many innocent lives
and to prevent the virtual destruction of Dili, as well as many other towns
and villages in East Timor. On September 20 an Australian-led UN
peacekeeping force, under the command of Major General Peter Cos­
grove, landed in Dili and was rapidly deployed all over the Territory. The
International Force East Timor (INTERFET) would eventually comprise
7,500 troops from twenty-two nations, including most of Indonesia’s
ASEAN neighbors: Thailand, the Philippines, Malaysia, and Singapore.
It was a thoroughly professional outfit, well-armed and-well trained,
and very quickly and vigorously established its authority. Above all,
INTERFET operated under the robust mandate of a Chapter VII Secu­
rity Council resolution, which enabled it to use its military muscle when­
ever it was felt necessary. The cowardly militia hoodlums, who had hitherto
roamed unchecked killing defenseless men, women, and children, showed
little inclination to take on a disciplined military force, and were soon
brought under control. UNAMET, which had been forced to withdraw
from Dili on September 14, returned to re-establish its headquarters on
September 28 and commenced its cooperation with INTERFET.
200 East Timor

The week beginning September 13,1999 was devoted to a series of

meetings in New York, which was now once again the focus of activities.
The Security Council, after considering the report of its Five Member
delegation to Indonesia, rapidly passed Resolution No.1264 on Septem­
ber 15.
Acting under Chapter VII of the UN Charter, commonly known as
the enforcement chapter, the Council authorized the establishment a
multinational force, INTERFET, with powers to use “ail necessary mea­
sures” to restore peace and security in East Timor. It was also mandated
to assist in the massive rehabilitation program that was now being mobi­
lized.
Following the Security Council resolution, we held a Ministerial Tri­
lateral Meeting at which the Secretary-General and Ministers Alatas and
Gama worked out the modalities for the launching of a large scale human­
itarian relief effort, as well as arrangements for the repatriation of over
250,000 East Timorese who had been forcibly removed to West Timor.
It was also agreed that Indonesian troops and police would begin a
withdrawal from East Timor, coordinating this exercise with the deploy­
ment of INTERFET forces. There was therefore a veritable flurry of
diplomatic activity in New York that week; this was spiced by the lively
presence of two key players in the East Timor saga—Foreign Minister
Alexander Downer of Australia and Jose Ramos Horta o f East Timor.
The following week I chaired a Senior Officials Meeting, at which
we prepared and presented to the Ministerial Trilateral Meeting propos­
als for the ad hoc measures that would be required to fill the vacuum cre­
ated by the early departure of the Indonesian authorities. The proposals
were approved by the Secretary-General and the two Foreign Ministers,
who then formally reiterated the agreement of the governments of Indone­
sia and Portugal for the transfer of authority in East Timor to the United
Nations.
On October 19 the Indonesian Peoples Consultative Assembly (MPR)
formally recognized the results of the Popular Consultation, and enacted
the requisite legislation. On October 25, the Security Council, by its
Resolution 1272 (1999), established the United Nations Transitional
Authority in East Timor (UNTAET) which took over authority from
INTERFET.
On October 31, 1999, the last Indonesian troops left East Timor,
thus ending a period of foreign occupation that had covered over four cen­
turies. The last few weeks of these were particularly gruesome, and mostly
unnecessary. It reflected, very aptly, Talleyrand’s observation that not only
was the action a crime, it was also a mistake.
 The A'ftermatb of the Ballot 201

One of the persons present at Dili’s Comoro airport on that Octo­

b e r day, who attended the departure of the last of the Indonesian mili­
ta r y and administrative officers, was Xanana Gusmao. He had seen them
invade his land in 1975, had carried out a fierce and determined resistance,
h a d been captured and sentenced to life imprisonment, yet continued to
organize and direct this resistance from his prison cell, and had returned
to his devastated home just eight days prior to this dramatic and historic
m om ent.
His presence at Dili airport, to bid farewell to his former adversaries
a n d enemies, was the chivalrous gesture of a civilized man. As I was to
discover in later conversations with him, Xanana remained remarkably
fre e from bitterness.
 18
A Review and ,
Some Reflections

Just outside the city of St. Petersburg, Russia, at the famous Pis-
karevsky Cemetery, a million victims of the siege of Leningrad in World
War II lie buried amongst surroundings of somber beauty. The War
Memorial carries a poem by the Leningrad poet and diarist, Olga Bergolts,
who had herself endured those dark days of war and siege. The poem
ends with the words:
“Let no one forget;
Let nothing be forgotten...”
As Xanana Gusmao saw off the last of the Indonesian officials at
Dili’s Comoro airport on October 31,1999, he found himself the leader
of a new and free country, a country that had for too long endured
sufferings in the past, was materially devastated in the present, and faced
a future in which hardship was the only certainty. A Security Council res­
olution had established a United Nations mandate, the United Nations
Transitional Authority in East Timor (UNTAET). This was placed under
the dynamic leadership of a Brazilian diplomat and senior United Nations
official, Under Secretary-General Sergio Vieira de Mello, who was des­
ignated as the Special Representative of the Secretary-General (SRSG),
and whose responsibility it was to commence the immense task of nation
building, in collaboration with the representatives of the East Timorese
people. It was a daunting but exciting and worthwhile challenge.
First the rubble of physical destruction had to be cleared, and at the
same time the emotional scars of deaths and disappearance in the long,
widespread conflict had to be healed. A series of international donors’
conferences, organized by the United Nations, provided the resources, in

202
 A Review, and Some Reflections 203

cash and kind, for the reconstruction of East Timor. At the same time,
the task of rebuilding or creating institutions was commenced, so that
national requirements—as diverse as education, legal systems, sanitation,
power supplies, agriculture, trade, and other economic activities—could
be put into effect.
Just as important, the issue of the examination of human rights vio­
lations was addressed. This, in turn, was coupled with the gradual induc­
tion of political institutions and the political process was set in motion,
with East Timorese participation in administration and legislation.
This is a most satisfactory outcome, judged by any standards. But
the independence of East Timor was not achieved without cost, partic­
ularly to its own people, and it is obvious that some form of balance sheet
needs to be drawn up. The final verdict will, as always, be left to history,
but an active participant in the United Nations process and efforts may
be permitted to record some observations.
In the first place, it seems to me, we need to examine the historical
context of the East Timorese struggle against Indonesia, which com­
menced in 1975. This is particularly relevant as far as the issue of casu­
alties is concerned. Figures are difficult to quantify with accuracy, but it
is generally believed that between 1975 and 1997, as a result of the civil
war, the Indonesian invasion, and the subsequent long guerrilla struggle,
there were approximately 250,000 East Timorese killed.
This is about a quarter of the entire population, and when I first
commenced the negotiation process I was horrified by the knowledge that
there was hardly an East Timorese citizen who had not lost a friend or a
family member in violence over the past twenty years. To this large figure
must be added the casualties on the Indonesian side which, though far
less numerous, nevertheless add to the gruesome total of the toll of human
lives that were sacrificed in this long running conflict.
At the time when the pro-integration militia unleashed their mur­
derous assaults, from August to November 1999, we had the impression
that there had been a tremendous blood bath. Subsequent events have
revealed that although the destruction of property, particularly in the
urban areas of East Timor, was almost complete, the loss of life had been
mercifully far less than I had originally feared, and current estimates put
the figure at between one and two thousand.
This was probably because most people fled to the hills, and thus
escaped massacre. While the loss of even one life is to be strongly deplored,
it would not be unreasonable to assert that the final spurt of bloodletting,
just before independence, was a tiny fraction of the casualties that had
occurred over the previous twenty-five years.
204 East Timor

The Question of East Timor remained largely dormant on the agenda

of the United Nations until Kofi Annan assumed the office of Secretary-
General in January 1997, and the course of the action that he then initi­
ated forms the content o f this account. Kofi’s personal initiative and
involvement on East Timor was the Scfnucrpunkt and remains so through­
out this saga, as it provides both constancy and momentum to the process.
The second momentum was provided by the events in Indonesia that
led to the fall of President Suharto. This in turn led to the third factor,
which was his successor, President Habibie’s dramatic announcement of
the referendum, and the fourth and last was the implementation o f that
decision, with the complicated choices—moral, political, and pragmatic—
that emerged from this opportunity.
Thinking back on this sequence of events, I am reaffirmed in my
conviction that without Kofi’s initial decision to activate a negotiating
process on East Timor and to not only keep it alive but to vigorously
push it at all times, the United Nations would not have been in a posi­
tion to seize the opportunities offered by the devolution o f political events
in Indonesia. In other words, we kept the ball in our possession, and ran
with it as soon as we got the chance.
A few personal thoughts in elaboration of this contention may be
relevant. By January of 1999, we had an ongoing process of negotiations
that was firmly in place, and which appeared to be quite promising. The
unexpected Habibie announcement suddenly provided us with an excit­
ing window of opportunity, which we were determined to seize, espe­
cially as our negotiating institution was now in such substantive form and
position.
It also soon became clear to us that the Habibie initiative was largely
personal, and that far from enjoying broad-based support it was, in fact,
opposed by powerful elements, both civilian as well as military, within
Indonesia. Hence our acceptance of the difficult time constraints
demanded by the Habibie administration, since we wished to do what we
could to help it to prepare and present the package to the MPR for its
August meeting.
The issue of security was, of course, a matter of major concern and
consideration, and any fool could see that the ideal solution would have
been to prepare and induct an international peace keeping force into East
Timor. But the prevalent realities ruled out such a possibility, and ren­
dered equally foolish any idea of the possibility of its implementation.
In the first place, the lack of time and the high improbability of
obtaining troop contributors would have made it impossible to obtain an
enabling Security Council resolution for this purpose. Secondly, the Gov-
 A Review, and Some Reflections 205

emment of Indonesia was profoundly, and quite rightly, jealous of guard­

ing its sovereignty: it vehemently opposed the presence of peacekeeping
forces in East Timor, which it regarded as Indonesian soil. In the third
place, Foreign Minister Alatas, in his usual persuasive fashion, made the
irrefutable argument that since the proposal for popular consultation,
complete with an urgent time frame, emanated from President Habibie
himself, it was axiomatic that he would do everything to ensure its imple­
mentation in peace and good order.
These, then, were some of the major considerations on which we
proceeded to the May 5 Agreements. But even so, we managed to insert
a number of supplementary safeguards on security. It was quite clear, from
my own assessment as well as those of the US, UK, Australian, New
Zealand, and Japanese Governments, that we had pushed the envelope
as far as it could go. Any further insistence on the deployment of inter­
national peacekeepers would have been a deal breaker.
Alatas was frankly and publicly adamant on this issue: “We do not
regard ourselves as an occupying power in East Timor, and we will never
allow foreign troops in to oversee the vote.” He added, “For us, this is an
absolute matter of national sovereignty.”
Our next critical and decisive moment came during the period of
voter registration and campaigning. The security situation was far from
satisfactory, but the modalities for the popular consultation were pro­
gressing in encouraging fashion, and UNAMET was carrying out its
duties in enthusiastic and efficient fashion. We decided, therefore, that
although there was no green light, we could carry out a carefully cali­
brated progress on a red and amber light basis, until we reached the time
o f registration.
And when registration day arrived, we faced our next critical moment.
T he magnitude and enthusiasm with which the brave citizens of East
Timor responded to the registration process became for me the decisive
factor. I was determined to go ahead with the ballot, doing in the mean­
while whatever we could, through pleas, pressures, threats, and impreca­
tions to the Indonesian authorities, to minimize the fury of the militia.
It was clear to me that for the purposes of the campaign we were
nowhere near the level playing field as decreed by the May 5 Agreements,
but it was also equally clear to me that if we were to wait for this to hap­
pen, we would never reach the day for the ballot.
I put this situation frankly to Xanana Gusmao, and he fully concurred
with our decision to stay on course, adding that the CNRT had been cam­
paigning for twenty-five years and did not now need the formality of the
level playing field arrangements envisaged in the Agreement. In this con­
206 East Timor

nection, there is a revealing report from The Asian Wall Street Journal in
its October 22/23,1999 issue:
In early August, Megawati Sukarnoputri, then the presidential
front-runner, made the last of her many appeals to delay East
Timor’s referendum on independence from Indonesia.
Sitting beneath a portrait of her father—Indonesia’s founding
president Sukarno—at her suburban Jakarta estate, Ms. Megawati
warned Jamsheed Marker, a United Nations special envoy, that the
risk of bloodshed was simply too high.
Mr. Marker’s response was equally blunt. “I told her it had to
go ahead,” he says. “It was the UN’s solemn duty to go ahead with
the vote.”

The next critical phase came on Monday, August 30,1999, the day
of the ballot. Here again a comment from the same piece in The Asian
Wall Street Journal is relevant:
Despite misgivings about leaving security to the Indonesian mil­
itary, the meeting led Mr. Annan and his aides to determine that
pushing for an international peacekeeping force would be a deal
breaker. Diplomats from the US, Australia, and other key allies,
who weren’t at the meeting, soon also came to the same conclu­
sion: Either Indonesia would take care of security, or the vote
wouldn’t happen.
Pushing Jakarta too hard made little sense to the US, in any
event. Indonesia was still struggling to emerge from the political
chaos that followed the end of President Suharto’s 32-year old rule
last year. Inside the W hite House, fears ran high that the world’s
fourth-most-populous country might splinter or slip into anarchy.
East Timor seemed important, administration officials say, but the
vote wasn’t important enough to undermine Indonesia’s stability.
As a result, US officials walked a political tightrope.

The post ballot violence obviously provoked a great deal of interna­

tional outrage at the time. Not surprisingly, it also evoked considerable
Monday morning quarterbacking and, equally without surprise, it was
once again open season on the United Nations. But even in those dark,
hectic days I knew that we had done the right thing. It was clear to me
that the people of East Timor, even though they knew that they were likely
to be the victims of intimidation and violence, wanted the ballot to go
ahead, and participated in it with courage and determination.
Xanana Gusmao was also quite clear on this issue, although he later
confided to me that he had underestimated the scale and nature of the
pro-integration reaction. From the political aspect, a postponement or
delay of the ballot would have had disastrous and unpredictable conse­
quences for the consultation process, and thrown into jeopardy the May
5 Agreements.
 A Revirw, and Some Reflections 207

And the people of East Timor, who had so courageously conducted

themselves and placed such implicit trust in the United Nations, would
have found themselves facing an uncertain future, abandoned at the last
critical moment, in the most cruel and unconscionable fashion. Lastly, all
the evidence strongly suggests that violence and killings would have
increased, and not decreased, if the ballot had been postponed.
It is my firm conviction, profoundly reinforced after the registration
results, that the United Nations had to stay on course for the rest of the
consultation process. There is also one final matter for speculation: as sub­
sequent events would shortly reveal, President Habibie, who was the
strongest proponent in Jakarta for an East Timor referendum, soon found
himself out of office. Would his bold East Timor policy not have also fol­
lowed him into the wilderness?
The member states who were most closely involved in the East Timor
negotiations—Australia, New Zealand, Japan, the United Kingdom, and
the United States—always remained fully convinced that the United
Nations should proceed with the consultation process and the ballot. It
is this conviction that motivated the political pressure that each brought
to bear, at the highest level, on Jakarta, and which finally persuaded Habi­
bie to accept an international peacekeeping force in East Timor.
The final sterling contribution of this group of Friends o f the Sec­
retary-General was the rapid and efficient deployment of the peacekeep­
ing force, which arrived at unprecedented speed, a mere sixteen days after
the ballot, and effectively contained the widespread deaths that would
have occurred.
The last word must rest, as always, with the East Timorese people.
W hen Secretary-General Kofi Annan made his first visit to East Timor
on February 17, 2000, he was accorded a vast, spontaneous greeting that
was both emotional and overwhelming. He received, of course, the pro­
fuse and deeply felt thanks of the leaders, such as Xanana Gusmao, Jose
Ramos Horta, and Bishops Belo and Nasciemento.
But more than that he received the thanks, the blessings, and the
embraces of thousands of enthusiastic East Timorese citizens. And he was
told by these same people, in words, in tears, in joyous gestures, and roar­
ing accolades, that they would always be grateful to him for what the
United Nations had done in East Timor. Many of them told him this even
as they showed him their destroyed homesteads and the graves of their
loved ones.
East Timor had endured three centuries of colonialism, followed by
a quarter century of occupation. Now, the United Nations had negoti­
ated, and I stress the word negotiated, its long awaited freedom and inde-
208 East Timor

Secretary-General Kofi Annan (left) and President Abdurrahman Wahid at a press

conference, Jakarta, 16 February 2000. U N/DPI Photograph by Eskinder Debebe.

pendence. In a conflict that has lasted as long as the one in East Timor,
there are always many heroes and a not inconsiderable number of villains.
But there are many whose motives and motivations have been unexcep­
tionable, even though their actions may be questionable.
This applies, in particular, to a large number of Indonesians whose
attitude toward East Timor was founded on considerations of patriotism
and national unity, and not on aggrandizement or oppression. It is a trib­
ute, therefore, to their moral integrity that they willingly entered into
negotiations to ascertain the will of the East Timorese people, and an even
greater tribute to their moral courage when, overcoming a quarter cen­
tury of emotional attachment, they accepted the outcome of the referen-
Top: Secretary-General Kofi Annan meets Bishop Belo (left) and Bishop
Nasciemento in Dili, 17 February 2000. The Bishops, whose rasks could not have
been more exacting, played a key role in the political process. Their counsel and
guidance were vital during negotiations.
Bottom: East Tim or’s Kofi Annan thanks the United Nations. Xanana Gusmao
in the left foreground, unidentified man behind Gusmao, Kofi Annan, Sergio Viera
de Mello in background to right of Annan and a unidentified camerman.
210 East Timor

dum. This applies, of course, to the overwhelming mass of the Indone­

sian people, and not the brutal few militia (most of whom were East Tim­
orese, anyway) who committed the outrageous acts o f violence in the
post-referendum period.
Above all, the problem of East Timor was solved through a process
of negotiations in which the United Nations was constantly and inti­
mately involved at all stages, from initiation to completion. Prince von
Bulow once defined diplomacy as “a first class stall seat at the theater of
life,” and it was my privilege and good fortune to have occupied one such
seat as the saga of East Timor was played out.
What it revealed was the extent and nature of the crucial role played
by three great statesmen—Kofi Annan, Ali Alatas, and Jaime Gama.
Guided by principles and motivations of the highest moral and human­
itarian nature, Alatas and Gama overcame the difficulties and obstacles
posed by narrow personality interests or domestic political compulsions.
They worked with the wise Kofi, as he quietly encouraged, prodded, per­
suaded, and suggested ways to move out of a dilemma and into progress.
Concessions were made by both Alatas and Gama for the purpose
of securing overall progress, and this, in its own fashion, led to an atmos­
phere of mutual respect and understanding. For the United Nations, East
Timor is a success story which was brought about by three wise men, who
negotiated and worked on the basis of Edmund Burke’s profound exhor­
tation, “our patience will achieve more than our force.”
 Epilogue
All the forces in the world are not so powerful as an idea whose
time has come.
Victor Hugo

On Monday 20 May 2002 the United Nations Security Council,

meeting in New York under the presidency of Singapore’s Foreign Min­
ister, by appropriate coincidence an ASEAN member, declared: “The
Security Council looks forward to the day in the near future when East
Timor will join us as a member of the United Nations, and to working
closely with its representatives.”
In Dili, half a world away and twelve time zones earlier, the people
o f East Timor had enthusiastically celebrated their independence at a
mass gathering where speeches, songs and dances, and a burst of fireworks
mingled in ecstatic fashion. At the stroke of midnight as 20 May com­
menced, in a solemn and movirfg ceremony, UN personnel under the
approving gaze of Secretary-General Kofi Annan lowered the United
Nations flag; Xanana Gusmao supervised, in its stead, the hoisting of the
flag of East Timor, which fluttered for the first time over the indepen­
dent land of which it was the symbol. The latter half of the Twentieth
Century has witnessed the creation of more new state-s than ever before
in human history, and in many cases their independence was nurtured to
a considerable extend by the United Nations. Nevertheless, the emergence
of a new nation is not a daily occurrence, and East Timor has the dual
distinction of being the first newly independent nation in the 21st cen­
tury as well as the one hundred and ninetieth member of the United
Nations. The midnight independence celebrations in Dili included the
speeches of Secretary-General Kofi Annan as well President Xanana Gus­
mao, punctuated by traditional folk songs and dances. It also included a

211
212 Epilogue

Secretary-General Kofi Annan and Xanana Gusmao address a joyful gathering of

East Timorese, Dili, 18 February 2000.

dramatic welcome by Xanana to Megawati Sukarnoputri, the latter s short

flying visit to Dili being not without considerable controversy in Jakarta.
Xanana received the Indonesian President at the airport, drove with her
first to a military cemetery in Dili where both leaders rendered homage
to the graves of Indonesian soldiers killed in East Timor (a gesture obvi­
ously designed to placate Megawati’s domestic opposition), and then
brought her to the site of the independence celebrations. Here Xanana
paid a generous public tribute to Megawati and assured Indonesia of East
Timor’s friendship and co-operation.
The next morning, at a public ceremony, East Timor’s first President,
Prime Minister and Cabinet Ministers took their oath of office, after
which they proceeded to a meeting of the Constituent Assembly, where
the newly elected members passed their first resolution, seeking East
Timor’s membership of the United Nations: a copy of this document was
then handed over to Secretary-General Kofi Annan. Next, the Secretary-
General inaugurated the new UN premises in Dili, henceforth designated
as the United Nations Mission of Support in East Timor (UNMISET).
Scheduled to remain for two years, with a Security Council mandate to
assist the fledgling government of East Timor, UNMISET has an initial
strength of 5,000 peacekeeping troops, 1,200 police officers and about 100
civilian experts.
Xanana Gusmao, in his inaugural address, described East Timor as
 Epilogue 213

UNITED NATIONS TRANSITIONAL ADMINISTRATION IN EAST TIMOR

NASOENS UNIOAS NIAN ADMINISTRASAUN TRANSITORIA
IMA TIMOR L0R08AE

“Viva!” A greeting from Xanana Gusmao (left) to J.M. (ccnter) and the crowd at a
celebration meeting in Dili, 18 February 2000. Arnaz Marker at right. Photograph:
Tamrat Samuel, author s collection.
214 Epilogue

Kofi Annan and his wife, Nane, with some of the orphans who survived the mili­
tia terror.

“the poorest country in Asia”. Whilst this was true under prevalent cir­
cumstances, fortunately it is not likely to remain so for long, as there are
several factors which provide grounds of optimism. In the first instance,
contributions from the international community in terms of funds and
technical assistance would enable the country to establish its basic eco­
nomic and administrative structures over the first few years of its exis­
tence. By that time the generation of revenues from lucrative Timor Sea
oil and gas resources should commence. Current budget projections esti­
mate that the taxes from oil and gas revenues will cover most government
expenditure until 2006, with an anticipation of earnings estimated at $7
billion in the first seventeen years. To this could be added the later earn­
ings from the even richer Sunrise seabed sector, estimated to be about
three times the size of the current Bagu Udam fields. Considering that
the population of East Timor is less than a million people, the availabil­
ity of these revenues is most reassuring.
Just as reassuring is the commitment of East Timor’s present lead­
ership to the concepts of freedom, democracy, egalitarianism, human rights
and the rule of law. The long and bitter freedom struggle has created a
cadre of dedicated leadership that promises “good governance,” an essen­
tial requirement of stability and statehood that is more lasting and valu­
able than natural wealth, which can be so easily squandered through
 Epilogue 215

irresponsible public profligacy. In this respect, the vision, ideas and ded­
ication of Xanana Gusmao and his colleagues are perhaps just as impor­
tant for East Timor as the Bagu Udam and Sunrise oilfields on the bed
o f the Timor Sea. Now, Timor Loresae is both a reality and “an idea
whose time has come.”
 Index
African National Congress (ANC) 52 Belo, Ximenese 10,19, 21, 38, 40-42,
Alatas, Ali “Alex” 26-27, 33, 45, 48- 47, 63, 71, 88, 91, 97, 99,102,105,112,
49, 66-68, 75, 84, 86-91, 93, 99,103, 115,135,146,168,174,186,195,207,
107,109,117,119-121,123,125,132, 209
134-135,137-139,141-142,145,147, Bergolts, Olga 202
153-157,159,163-167,169,184-185, Bhagat, Mohinder 36
189,192-194,196-200, 205, 210 Boutros-Ghali, Boutros 4
Albright, Madeleine 141,197 Bradley, Pat 150
Alexander, David 51 Brandt, Juan Carlos 177
Alkateri, Mari 63 Brazael, Aurelia de 50
All Inclusive East Timorese Dialogue Burke, Edmund 210
(A1ETD) 16-17,22,27,35,50,53,
62-65, 80-84, 88, 90, 93, 98,101- Camdessus, Michel 67,197
104,106, 111, 174 Caralascalao, Mario 110
Andrews, David 141,189 Carascalao, Joao 63
Annan, Kofi 4-5, 7,10-12, 46, 59, 65, Carascalao, Manuel 71,114
75, 79,124,132,144-145,155,163, Cavafy, C. P. 7
196,198, 204, 206-207,210-212, 214 Ceaujescu, Elena 3
Annan, Nane 214 Ceaujescu, Nicolae 3
Anwar, Devi Fortuna 167,169 Charles II 143
Armed East Timorese Resistance Chew, Beng Yong 164
(FALANTIL) 110,151,176,186, Chief Military Liaison Officer
193,198 (CMLO) 163,195
Asia Pacific Economic Cooperation Christopher, Robin 36,198
group (APEC) 197 Cipinang prison 34-35, 70, 92, 111,
The Asian Wall Street Journal 206 120,122
Association of Southeast Asian Civilian Police Component (CIVPOL)
Nations (ASEAN) 8-9, 21, 74-75, 153,159,162,179,188,193,195
78,199 Clinton, President Bill 141,197
Aurelius, Marcus 18 Cold War 1, 3, 9
Axworthy, Lloyd 197 Committee on Peace and Stability
(KPS) 175,186
Bacon, Francis 86, 92 Confidence Building Measures
Barrat, Paul 179 (CBMs) 62, 77, 80
Bay, Kam Ranh 9 Cook, Robin 64,197

217
218 Index

Cosgrove, Peter 199 Horta, Jose Ramos 10,15,19, 21, 27,

Cruz, Lopez da 63, 111, 187-188 47, 63, 68, 82,128,174, 200,207
Howard, John 128-129,153
Damiri, Gen. Adam 38 Hugo, Victor 211
Darusman, Marzuki 93 Hutter, Joachim 36
de Klerk, F. W. 61
Department of Political Affairs 12 Indonesian military (TNI) 176,186,196
Dhamiri, Adam 113 Internally Displaced Persons (IDPs)
Dickens, Charles 132 165,183,195
Djalal, Dino Patti 116 International Committee of the Red
Downer, Alexander 178-179, 200 Cross (ICRC) 57, 72
International Force East Timor
Eldon, Stuart 14, 74 (INTERFET) 196,199-200
International Monetary Fund (I.M.F.)
Fatchett, Derek 64 67, 76, 79-80
Feingold, Senator 51 Isaac, Leandro 114
Ferraro, Staatsekretarin Benita Walde­
mar 64 Jamall, Aban 109
Fischer, Jeff 164,187 James II 143
Fischer, Tim 179 Jenie, Rezlan Ishar 34
Flecker, James Elroy 7
Frawley, Elizabeth 19 Kennedy, Patrick 51
Frechette, Louise 163 Khan, Aga 120
Koh, Siew Aing 109
Gama, Jaime 20-22, 48-49, 69, 73, 76, Koh, Tommy Aing 109
89,103,106-107,124-125,135,145, Kohl, Helmut 33,69
154-157, 200, 210 KOPASSUS 32, 69, 96,110,116
Gandi, Mahatma 120 Kreigler, Johann 150
Gaulle, Charles de 130-131 Krumbach, Schloss 62, 64,103
Grant, Milton 145
Guiterrez, Antonio 21, 42, 73-76, 90 Macaulay 24
Gusmao, Xanana 10,15, 33-35, 43, Machel, Gracia 58
59-60, 66-71, 80, 82, 84-85, 87-88, Machiave/li 101, 107
90, 92-93, 96-100,102,104-105, Macmillan, Harold 2
109-113,119-120,122,124,135-136, Makarim, Zacky Anwar 96, 109-111,
146,155,166,169-170,174,176-177, 164,187
186,193,198, 201-202, 205-207, 209, Makhota Hotel 39, 43,114
211-213, 215 Mandela, Nelson 35, 52, 57-61, 66-67,
69-70
Habibie, Bacharuddin Jusuf“B. J.” 72, Marker, Arnaz 5, 45,109,117,142,185,
75-76,80, 85, 87-88, 94-98, 187
117-120,128-132,134,137-138, Marker, Feroza 5
141-143,146-147,152-155,157, Marker, Niloufer 5
166-172,175,180,184-186,196-199, Marker, Sam 5
204-205,207 La Marseillaise 108
Haider, Rezaqul 163-164,189,195-196 Martin, Ian 95,159,164,167,174,184-
Hamlet 17 185,188,193-195
Hanum, Hurst 84 McCarthy, John 36, 111, 128
Henry V 37, 44 McKinnon, Don 197
Herodotus 72 Mello, Sergio Vieira de 202
Homer, The Odyssey: Book I 56 Military Liaison Officers (MLOs) 163
 Index 219

Mills, Alan 164,188,195 Roy, Stapleton 36, 111

Ministry of Foreign Affairs (DEPLU) 26 Royal Indian Navy 1
Minty, Abdul 58-59
Monteiro, Antonio 14 Sampaio, Jorge 20-21, 68, 82
Moore, John 179 Samuel, Tamrat 13-14,16,18, 36, 58-
Muladi, Justice Minister 117, 119, 166- 60, 66,103,105,108,112,136,159,
167,169,185,193 162,164,174, 213
Santa Cruz massacre 9
Nasciemento, Bishop Basilio de 38, Santos, Carlos dos 21
40-42, 92,102,109,112,115,135, Schneider, Evan 125
168.174.186, 207, 209 Senior Officials Meeting (SOM) 50,
National Council of East Timorese 54-56, 62-63, 80-83,105-107,
Resistance (CNRT) 82, 90,152, 122
174.183.186, 205 Shakespeare, William 37
Neves, Fernando 36, 53, 76, 81, 83, Shattuck, John 50
101,106 Shaw, George Bernard 161
Nobel Peace Prize 10,15 Silaen, Chief Timbul 188
Nobel Prize Committee 9 Silva da Costa, Herminio da 114
Non Government Organizations Simbolon, Colonel 39
(NGOs) 9,19,106,181,188 Smith, Mike 178
Nzo, Alfred 59 Soares, Abilio Osorio 39-40, 63, 91,
102,164,172
Office for the Coordination of Soderberg, Nancy 14, 74
Humanitarian Affairs (OCHA) 162 Sonh, Bong-Seuk 150
Office of the High Commissioner for Sorabjee, Soli 166
Human Rights (OHCHR) 162 Soto, Alvaro de 13, 55, 60
Special Autonomous Region of East
Parmenides 46 Timor (SARET) 122
Peoples Consultative Assembly (MPR) Subianto, Prabowo 32-33, 42, 69, 71
121-122,128,130,134,147,166,183, Sudrajat, Eddy 44
200,204 Suharto, President 29-32, 34, 42, 47,
Perelli, Carina 186 52, 59-60, 66-68, 72, 74-76, 80, 87,
Perez de Cuellar, Javier 4 129,143,204
Personal Representative of the Secre- Sukarnoputri, Megawati 35, 93,134,
tary-General (PRSG) 10, 12, 32, 49 170-171,212
Pfanner, Toni 111 Suratnam, Tono 114,116
Pickering, Tom 50-51
Powles, Michael 14, 74 Takasu, Yukio 14, 74
Prendergast, Sir Kieran 13, 60 Tanjung, Feisal 44
Pushkin, Alexander 181 Tarmidzi, Agus 164
Tocqueville, Alexis de 78
Quarterman, Mark 95
United Nations Mission in East Timor
Raies, Amien 35 (UNAMET) 148,150,158,161-165,
Rajan, Ravi 36 167,169,172-174,176-179,182-183,
Rivai, General 37-38, 42 186-189,192-197,205
Riza, Iqbal 12 United Nations Mission of Support in
Robinson, Mary 56,166 East Timor (UNMISET) 212
La Rochefoucauld, François 121,130 United Nations Transitional Authority
Roth, Stanley 50, 74, 78, 81, 87,120, in East Timor (UNTAET) 127, 200,
141,144,183,196 202
220 Index

Vendrell, Francesc 13-14, 26, 36, 60, 163,167,172,176,184-186,189,192-

108, 111, 116-117,159 193,196-197
Wisnumurti, Nugroho 36, 53, 81, 83,
Wahid, Abdurrahman “Gus D ur” 101, 106, 111
35, 93,112-113,170-172, Wolfensohn, Jim 197
208 World War II 1
Wensley, Penny 14, 74, 153,177 Wortel, Johannes 164
Westbrook, Roger 19, 74
Wibisono, Makarim 14 Yew, Lee Kuan 69,179-180
Wimhurst, David 164, 167 Yosfiah, Yunus 121
Wiranto, General 97, 117-120,135, 141, Yudono, Susilo Bambang 96, 110
 his is the memoir of Jamsheed

T Marker, Personal Representative

of the Secretary General of the
United Nations for East Timor, who was
responsible for keeping the United
Nations' and Kofi Annan's ideals at the
forefront of the East Timor negotiations
between Portugal and Indonesia. He tells
the story, including all of the setbacks,
false hopes, violent failures and glimmers
of hope, of the United Nations'
involvement that brought about the
international agreements enabling East
Timor to go from being a colony to being
an independent, democratic nation.

currently serves as
Ja m s h e e d M ark er
special adviser to the Secretary General
of the United Nations in New York City
and is a diplom at-in-residence at Eckerd
College in St. Petersburg, Florida.