Paula Doran – Paul Morris has just served his fourth, and probably his last mission with the United Nations. He says the humanitarian organisation betrayed the trust of the East Timorese and did not treat its local staff properly.
The Canberra-based federal policeman was the team leader in the first contingent of 15 international police to land in East Timor on 21 June in the lead-up to the 30 August ballot.
The Detective Senior Constable recalls being struck by the fear in the eyes of the East Timorese, and the slow, difficult task of gaining their confidence on behalf of the UN. He says that trust was betrayed. "I was very angry for weeks, and still am about what happened and what was allowed to happen when UNAMET left. The fact that UNAMET did leave, and the way we left.
"We'd [made a] promise to the people of East Timor, giving people faith and hope, and confidence to vote. That was all part of what we told them, that we, particularly the civilian police would not leave."
On 30 August at 9am, the first of the polling sites in Mr Morris' area of Ermera, south-west of Dili, was attacked by militia. Local UN staff were evacuated to the police station for protection and the polling site was temporarily closed.
"Two hours later they went back and continued the vote. The amazing thing was, while they were gone the militia came in. And with the Indonesian army and Indonesian police involved in it as well, [they] shot into the air and shot into the ground and the people just sat on the ground. Didn't move. Gutsy stuff. Really brave people.
"They knew that day was the only day they were going to have to vote and let the world know what they wanted and under those conditions they didn't run away, they stayed, they sat there, and they waited and they waited and when the polling station reopened they continued to vote."
Later that day, a local UN worker was stabbed at a polling station. Mr Morris said the UN did not send medical aid or a helicopter from Dili, which was seven minutes' flight time away. The man died an hour-and-a-half later.
Mr Morris is dumbfounded as to why the UN reported that voting had taken place without incident on 30 August, when polling sites and ballot workers throughout Ermera were under constant militia attack.
"I don't know whether they did that to get all the ballots in and get them counted. I don't know why they did that press release [which said] everything went off without a hitch, when it hadn't. They knew it hadn't," he said.
For a night after the ballot, Mr Morris and his men were all that stood between 200 locals – including UN workers holed up in the UN headquarters – and weapon-touting, rifle-shooting militia.
"All it was, was basically telling them, 'Well, you're going to have to kill us first, to get to them'. That annoyed them as well, I think. They'd lived a life of intimidating people. Not saying that we weren't scared.
You'd be stupid if you weren't scared. I was at the stage where I was just downright angry, and the other boys were the same, so there was no way they were going to get to our local staff or anyone else."
The police later led a convoy evacuating UN staff and villagers to Dili. They made world news for the feat, before they returned to the rampaging militias in Gleno.