wfn.org | Turnout Extremely Heavy in East Timor Freedom Vote

[PCUSA NEWS <pcusa.news@ecunet.org>]

31-August-1999 
99290 
 
    Turnout Extremely Heavy 
    in East Timor Freedom Vote 
 
    by John Filiatreau 
 
Fatumasi, East Timor - Along the winding road to this remote high mountain 
village, where the people walk among clouds, voters began materializing out 
of the mist long before sunup, in small groups strung out along the 
roadside - women with babies in slings at their hips; old men leaning 
heavily on walking sticks; matriarchs dressed in their brightly colorful 
Sunday best; and dozens of children laughing and dancing on matchstick 
legs, amazed and delighted to see so many people in one place at one time. 
 
    They had come to take part in an up-or-down vote on "mordoka" - liberty 
for East Timor, an island nation of about 840,000 people at the eastern end 
of Indonesia. If the "yes" votes prevailed, East Timor would become an 
independent nation; otherwise it would continue to be ruled by Indonesia, 
which seized it violently in 1975 after its colonial ruler, Portugal, 
withdrew. 
 
    By the time the polls opened in Fatumasi, at 6:30 Monday morning, a 
milling crowd of more than 500 people had gathered in the village 
schoolyard, and the United Nations civilian policeman assigned to the 
polling station, a smiling giant from New Zealand named Wayne Dwyer ("Wine 
Dwor"), was already learning that in this culture there are no rules 
regarding behavior in queues. But all the pushing and shoving occasioned no 
hostility; whenever someone managed to squeeze to the front of the line, 
the others hooted and clapped their hands as if to salute his or her 
initiative. 
 
    The mood was buoyant, but not quite festive. Many of the people seemed 
solemn, even grave, as they awaited their turns in the voting booth. Some 
waited in the glaring sun for four hours or more, shading themselves with 
their voter-registration forms, or lining up in such a way that each 
person's body provided a bit of shade for the next. The waiters' patience 
never failed, there was not a single loss of temper all day. 
 
    One very elderly woman in a bright sarong of many colors emerged from 
the polling station after voting, and, with tears in her eyes, sought out 
election workers one by one, and, bowing deeply, kissed their hands. 
 
    The United Nations Assistance Mission for East Timor (UNAMET), which 
managed the voting, had feared that anti-independence militias' threats of 
violence would keep many registered voters away from the polls in all parts 
of the country. In some cases, militia spokesmen had said that they would 
murder anyone who cast a vote. And the Indonesian police charged with 
maintaining security for the balloting have shown repeatedly that they are 
unable or unwilling to keep the militias in check. 
 
    In Fatumasi, part of the troubled Liquisa district, would-be voters had 
to walk along a road between a local police station and a building occupied 
by the feared Indonesian Mobile Brigade; both were full of unsmiling men 
bearing automatic weapons. Upon entering the schoolyard, they walked past a 
gaggle of pro-Indonesia militiamen gathered around their garrulous leader, 
into an area guarded by armed Indonesian soldier/policemen. The road was 
blocked intermittently by militiamen who extended a big bamboo pole across 
it; apparently, no one was turned back, but all were reminded which side 
was in control in Fatumasi. 
 
    All efforts to keep people away were unsuccessful. Of 1,824 registered 
voters in the district, 1,815 cast ballots. One registered voter had died. 
Only eight people failed to show up. (However, four of 20 natives hired to 
help at the polling station were absent, although they were to be paid an 
amount equal to two months' pay for the average East Timorese. It was not 
clear what had kept them away.) 
 
    The only problem at Fatumasi was crowd control, which kept two local 
"queue controllers" and Officer Dwyer busy from beginning to end. At one 
point Dwyer said that if the crowd didn't get more mannerly, "someone is 
going to have my 10-and-1-half Es (boots) imprinted on his backside." 
Whenever Dwyer got demonstrative, the crowd clapped and laughed; it was 
hard to tell who was having the better time. 
 
    The UNAMET staff, including District Electoral Officers John Gattorn, 
of Washington, D.C., and Kirstine Vanderput, of Belgium, who with dozens of 
other UNAMET employees had spent two months in the area, educating and 
registering voters, allaying fears and trying to keep the peace, were 
ecstatic about the turnout and the smoothness of the operation. 
 
    "This is perfect," Vanderput said just after noon, by which time it was 
clear that turnout would be high. "This is beyond my wildest expectations. 
I can't believe this day has finally come." 
 
    "Unbelievable," said Gattorn. "This is my fifth election as a monitor, 
and it's absolutely the best. We haven't had to turn one person away." 
 
    In one of the four voting stations in Fatumasi, the turnout was 100 
percent. Vanderput picked up the register for that station and danced for 
TV cameramen. 
 
    The voting day was remarkably free of trouble and violence. 
 
    Unofficial reports from elsewhere in East Timor suggested that turnout 
was very high in every part of the territory. UNAMET officials said that 
and the relative dearth of violence and terror were in part a tribute to 
the international force of about 2,000 election observers who appeared at 
every voting center and also patrolled the roads to check for roadblocks or 
other interference. 
 
    In Fatumasi, the balloting was virtually finished by 2:50 p.m., an hour 
and 10 minutes before the polls closed. Gattorn said UNAMET was anxious to 
clear the area before dark, which comes about 6, "for security reasons." 
 
    The ballots were to be taken to Dili, the capital, to be counted. 
UNAMET officials said the result of the "popular consultation" would 
probably be announced in about a week.   

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