After an appeal process that dragged on for over three years, former East Timorese pro-Indonesia militia leader Eurico Guterres has finally begun serving his 10-year jail sentence for crimes against humanity, but the Indonesian generals who ordered and financed his crimes remain free.
The long-haired Guterres was accorded a hero's welcome when arrived at East Jakarta's Cipinang jail at 7.10pm Thursday (4/5/06). Emerging from a black Toyota Kijang vehicle, he waved the red-and-white Indonesian flag to a cheering crowd of his supporters, who had been waiting patiently for several hours.
Most of those in the crowd were members of the paramilitary Red-and-White Defenders Front (FPMP). Others were from the National Mandate Party (PAN), in which Guterres serves as chairman of the East Nusa Tenggara provincial chapter.
Accompanied by his lawyer Suhardi Sumomuljono, Guterres swaggered rapidly to the jail's main entrance, declining to speak to reporters or his supporters. But before he was inside, a brief scuffle broke out between police and press photographers.
Officers from East Jakarta Police precinct roughly pushed away the photographers when they attempted to approach Guterres. This resulted in a war of words and then a minor physical clash between the two sides. Reporters remained outside the jail in the hope that Guterres would later re-emerge to give a press conference.
Sure enough, he was allowed to speak to the press after undergoing standard administration procedures for a new admission. He said he regretted the government's decision to reward his struggle for Indonesian unity by treating him as a criminal.
He said the government was unfair and wrong because it was punishing his patriotism, whereas separatist rebels in Aceh province were receiving special treatment following last year's peace deal.
Guterres said his lawyers would file for a judicial review of his case in an effort to have his sentence overturned by the Supreme Court. He is now in Cipinang's Block B in a Type 5 cell that can accommodate up to five inmates.
Long path to jail
Guterres (34), who is close to influential senior Indonesian generals, is the former leader of the feared Aitarak (Thorn) militia group, which helped to unleash carnage in East Timor in the period surrounding the territory's 1999 vote to secede from Indonesia.
Under strong pressure from the international community to bring Guterres to justice, Indonesian authorities arrested him a couple of times in 2000 on various charges. In April 2001, he was convicted of inciting violence in West Timor and sentenced to six months' imprisonment, but ended up serving only 23 days under house detention thanks to his powerful military friends. Human rights activists continued to demand he be tried for war crimes, but the military lauded him as a heroic patriot.
In November 2002, Indonesia's special human rights court convicted Guterres of crimes against humanity – for failing to stop his militiamen from killing independence supporters – and sentenced him to 10 years in jail. He was to remain free pending appeal. Jakarta High Court in July 2004 reduced his sentence to five years. The Supreme Court on March 13, 2006, rejected his final appeal and reinstated the original 10-year sentence.
Human rights groups in August 2003 accused Guterres of going to remote Papua province to establish a unit of the Merah Putih Defenders Front to oppose the separatist Free Papua Organization. Media reports last year alleged that Guterres had visited tsunami-hit Aceh province to assemble a unit of his Army-backed militia to combat the separatist Free Aceh Movement (GAM). The thug strongly denied the reports, claiming he was confined to Jakarta, which was absolute nonsense because he was free to travel throughout the country.
Although best known as a war criminal, Guterres has also led a varied political career. He was initially a member of Golkar Party, the former political vehicle of ex-dictator Suharto. In June 1999, Golkar selected Guterres to stand for election in the national parliament. He left Golkar in March 2000 for then vice president Megawati Sukarnoputri's Indonesian Democratic Party of Struggle (PDI-P), which he felt had done the most of any party to help keep East Timor within Indonesia. Megawati in August 2000 appointed him chief of PDI-P's paramilitary youth group, Banteng Pemuda. He left PDI-P this year to join PAN, boasting that his presence would attract more voters to the party in the 2009 general election.
PAN expressed regret over the Supreme Court's decision to jail Guterres and vowed to give him full support. PAN legislator Patrialis Akbar on March 15 said the party has always sympathized with Guterres "because of his noble struggle for the unity of the Unitary State of the Republic of Indonesia". That "noble struggle" involved participating in massacres that left more than 1,000 people dead. In other words, PAN seems to support the murder of innocent people. It remains to be seen whether the party's strategy of enlisting a murderous thug to improve its popularity will succeed.
Akbar said the Supreme Court should have considered that Guterres' actions were motivated by his patriotic desire to keep East Timor part of Indonesia.
Tearful farewell
Following his election in February as chairman of PAN's East Nusa Tenggara chapter, Guterres spent most of his time in the provincial capital of Kupang.
On Tuesday, a team of prosecutors arrived in Kupang to prepare to take Guterres to Jakarta to begin serving his sentence. On Wednesday, hundreds of his supporters, including former militiamen, gathered outside his house to farewell him. Dressed in a long-sleeved batik shirt, Guterres told the crowd that he apologized to the Indonesian nation if his struggle to keep East Timor part of the country was a mistake. He urged his followers to be law-abiding and remain loyal to Indonesia.
Many of his supporters wept when Father Romo Maxi Un Bria of the Kupang Archdiocese led prayers for the war criminal. On Thursday morning, more than 1,000 former residents of East Timor gathered at Kupang's airport to see off Guterres before he made the three-hour flight to Jakarta. Guterres stood in an open car escorted by a convoy of militiamen as he made the 5 kilometer journey from his house to the airport. He kissed an Indonesian flag and waved to his fans lining the road while noisy music played.
"Eurico is a hero. We release him to wage war and hope he will return safely after 10 years," former militiaman Joanico Cesario was quoted as saying by the Media Indonesia daily's online edition. Noticeably absent were Guterres' wife Agida and their three children, who have reportedly become citizens of East Timor.
Guterres cried as impassioned speeches were made about his heroism and the glorious struggle to force East Timor to be part of Indonesia. Carrying an Indonesian flag and a bouquet of flowers, he told the crowd that he would fight for reconciliation with East Timor after being released from prison.
A report by The Sydney Morning Herald quoted Guterres as saying the government had treated him "unfairly and discriminatorily for only sending me to jail and letting military and police officers, who have greater responsibility than I do, go free from punishment".
"But as a warrior, I'm ready to be sent to jail for fighting for the red and white. So please let me go because I'm sure that one day, the truth will be revealed," he added.
Guterres could be out of prison within six years if he receives annual remissions as generous as those given to Suharto's youngest son Hutomo 'Tommy' Mandala Putra, who is serving a 10-year sentence for murder and other offenses but is regularly allowed out of jail.
Generals escape justice
In an effort to dampen calls for an independent international tribunal over the East Timor carnage, Indonesia's human rights court in 2002 began hearing cases against 18 defendants accused of crimes against humanity.
Sixteen of the defendants – all of them members of the Indonesian security forces – were eventually acquitted, while Guterres and East Timor's former governor Abilio Soares were convicted of crimes against humanity and gross violations of human rights. Soares had his conviction overturned on appeal in 2004 after spending 111 days in jail.
Rights activists said the trials were a sham and complained that several senior generals suspected of masterminding the carnage were never tried because of the judiciary's fear of the powerful military. East Timor President Xanana Gusmao seemed unconcerned by the lack of convictions, arguing that harmonious relations with Indonesia should take priority over efforts to uphold justice.