Vaudine England, Surabaya – A court yesterday ordered the release of East Timorese militia leader Eurico Guterres, who was originally arrested without a warrant and was seeking police protection because of actions issued against him overseas.
Police said Guterres had already been moved out of police detention and placed under house arrest in a witness protection building. "The court rules that the arrest of Eurico Guterres by police is illegal and that the demand by the plaintiff that he be released should soon be granted," Judge I Dewa Gede Putra Jadnya said. Chief Political and Security Affairs Minister Susilo Bambang Yudhoyono said later that police were appealing the decision.
Jakarta's seeming inability to prosecute known militia leaders for their role in last year's East Timor violence was one of the subjects aired at an unusual meeting which opened yesterday in Surabaya, eastern Java.
Pro-Jakarta politicians and militia supporters, members of West Timor's government-in-waiting, diplomats and observers from the United Nations Transitional Administration for East Timor (Untaet) have been brought together at the colonial-era Majapahit Hotel in Surabaya by Kupang-based businessman Ferdi Tanoni.
The talks are an effort to restart the dialogue that collapsed in the wake of the murder on September 6 of three foreign UN High Commissioner for Refugees staff in Atambua, West Timor. Participants are looking for ways to handle the 120,000 East Timorese refugees still in West Timor and for ways to persuade militia members to participate in East Timor's politics peacefully.
"We at Untaet realise that at the end of the day this is a problem between Timorese and Timorese," Untaet's senior observer at the Surabaya meeting, N. Parameswaran, said. "We can only create conditions conducive to discussions but in the end, the Timorese need to talk it out amongst themselves."
Mr Tanoni also announced the formation of a new foundation, Yayasan Peduli Timor Barat, to care for the people of West Timor who are hosts to the East Timorese refugees and the armed militia who control them. He hopes members of East Timor's government-in-waiting, led by Xanana Gusmao, will join the meeting for its second day.
But the potential freeing of Guterres promises to cast a pall over efforts to bring international agencies back to West Timor, despite the new dialogue. At the time of last year's pro-independence ballot in East Timor, Guterres promised to transform the territory into a "sea of fire" rather than allow it to gain independence.
Just over a year later, he arrived at the Jakarta courtroom flaunting a red and white head-scarf, to match Indonesia's flag, highlighting his apparently continued devotion to the anti-independence cause.
Last week, subordinates from his organisation in West Timor said they no longer trusted their paymasters in the Indonesian armed forces and wanted to trade secrets for safety with the United Nations. They say they fear Indonesia's shadowy elite forces will spark conflict between militia groups so militia members can be picked off easily by their own.
Such "cowardice" is decried by Guterres. He said he deserved to be freed because police failed to show a warrant when they arrested him. He does not fear retribution. "I am ready to face punishment and even death if it will resolve the nation's problems," he said.
Mr Yudhoyono said an appeal by police against the freeing of Guterres would be in line with Indonesia's commitment to the ideals of "the supremacy of the law, fair trial and, of course, the overall interests of the nation".
National police spokesman Brigadier-General Saleh Saaf said Guterres was still under arrest. "If a detainee requests the postponement of his detention, police can agree to three alternatives – either city arrest, house arrest or release. We decided to give him house arrest rather than release him."