Pro-Indonesia militias, commonly known as Wanra (Indonesian: Perlawanan Rakyat), refers to paramilitary militias in East Timor that were loyal to the Indonesian government during the East Timor independence referendum in 1999, They operate as groups of civilians who are armed and trained by the Indonesian National Armed Forces (TNI) to maintain peace and order in their region on official orders. The Indonesian Constitution of 1945 and the Defence Law of 1988 stipulate that civilians have the right and duty to defend the state by receiving basic military training. [1] Wanras' operate during the final years of the Indonesian occupation of East Timor.
Domingos Maria das Dores Soares, Administrator of Dili, created the Pam Swakarsa ("Self-Initiated Security Group") on 17 May 1999. The decision named José Abílio Osório Soares, Governor of Timor Timur, Lieutenant General Kiki Syahnakri, Provincial Military Commander (Danrem) and the Provincial Police Chief as the main advisors of Pam Swakarsa. Eurico Guterres was appointed Operational Commander. Among the 2650 registered members, there were 1521 members of the Aitarak militia. [2]
The existence of Wanra was confirmed by retired Lieutenant General Kiki Syahnakri in his testimony before the Truth and Friendship Commission (CTF) in October 2007. [3] Transmigration Minister Abdullah Mahmud Hendropriyono is considered responsible for the financing. [4] The CTF clarified the connections during the violent riots surrounding the independence referendum in East Timor in 1999. At that time, pro-Indonesian militias had tried to intimidate the population together with the TNI. These Pro-Indonesia militias were responsible for multiple atrocities and mass-killings during East Timor's bid for independence and transitional period. In Operation Guntur, up to 3,000 people were killed, hundreds of women and girls were raped, three quarters of East Timor's population were displaced and 75% of the country's infrastructure was destroyed. This led to the 1999 East Timorese crisis (known as the East Timor Scorched Earth campaign), which included notable incidents such as the Liquiçá Church, Manuel Carrascalão House, and Suai Church massacres. One of the most notorious militia leaders was Eurico Guterres, the leader of Aitarak, who was convicted and sentenced to ten years in prison for his participation in the Liquiçá Church massacre. [5] Only the intervention of an international peacekeeping force was able to put a stop to the violence. Later on, East Timor came under the administration of the United Nations. According to the result of the referendum (78.5 % in favour of independence), East Timor became an independent state in 2002.
Syahnakri testified that the Wanra were legal civilian defence groups, which at the time were part of the general Indonesian defence system and existed everywhere in Indonesia, and therefore also in East Timor. However, these specified groups were only armed at their own request to protect their neighbourhood. [3]
A number of organisations founded in early 1999 formed the political arm of the pro-Indonesian autonomy movement. On 27 January 1999, sections of Wanras founded the Forum for Unity, Democracy and Justice (Indonesian: Forum Persatuan, Demokrasi dan Keadlian FPDK). Domingos Maria das Dores Soares, the government president (Bupati) of the district of Dili, took over the leadership. In April, the East Timor People's Front (Indonesian: Barisan Rakyat Timor Timur, BRTT) was also founded with Francisco Lopes da Cruz as its leader. The United Front for East Timor (UNIF), founded on 23 June as an umbrella organisation, brought together the FPDK, BRTT and other pro-Indonesian groups. The new organisation was under the joint leadership of Soares, Lopez da Cruz, and Armindo Soares Mariano, the chairman of the provincial parliament, also known as the People's Provincial Representative Council (DPRD). João da Costa Tavares commanded the militias of the UNIF, which united old militias and the newly founded ones from 1999 in the "Armed Forces of the Integration Struggle" (Indonesian: Pasukan Pro-Integrasi PPI). [6] [7] The organisations were closely linked to the civil administration and were financed by it. They routinely attended military, police and government (Muspida) meetings, although they had no official status. An FPDK campaign vilified UNAMET, which was widely publicised in the Indonesian public and through diplomatic channels. [6]
After the independence referendum, the organisation was replaced by the University of Timor Aswain (UNTAS), which was founded in West Timor on 5 February 2000. [8]
Indonesian military expert Kusnanto Anggoro from the Center for Strategic and International Studies emphasised that the Wanra should not be used for internal conflicts, but only to support the TNI in the fight against external threats. The defence law must clearly exclude the use of the Wanra in internal conflicts.
Yusron Ihza Mahendra, the deputy spokesman of Commission I for Defence of the House of Representatives, contradicts this opinion and also supports the use of the Wanra in internal conflicts.
Defence Ministry spokesman Brigadier General Edi Butar Butar explained that the current law does not even mention the terms "Wanra" and "Sishankamrata" (Indonesian: sistem pertahanan rakyat semesta; "defence of the population and security system"). The 2002 Defence Law only provides for the TNI as the main component of the defence system. Civilian groups are only listed as a reserve component. The continued existence of existing civilian units is now the responsibility of the provincial administration. The TNI is now only responsible for their military training. [1]
Notable militias included: [5] [9]
Symbol | Wanra | District | Militia Chief |
---|---|---|---|
![]() | Aitarak (Thorn) | Dili | Eurico Guterres |
![]() | Besi Merah Putih (Red and White Iron) | Manuel de Sousa | |
Laksaur | Cova Lima | Olivio Mendonca Moruk | |
![]() | Mati Hidup dengan Indonesia (Live and Die with Indonesia) | Ainaro | Cancio de Carvalho |
Team Alfa | Lautém | Joni Marques | |
Saka/Sera | Baucau | Joanico da Costa | |
Pedjuang 59-75 Makikit | Viqueque | Martinho Fernandes | |
ABLAI | Manufahi | Nazario Corterel | |
AHI | Aileu | Horacio | |
Sakunar | Oe-Cusse Ambeno | Simão Lopes | |
Halilintar | Bobonaro | Maliana: João da Costa Tavares; Bobonaro: Natalino Monteiro | |
Jati Merah Putih | Lautém (Lospalos) | Edmundo de Conceição Silva | |
Darah Merah Integrasi | Ermera | Lafaek Saburai (Afonso Pinto), | |
Naga Merah (Red Dragon) | Ermera | Miguel Soares Babo | |
Dadarus Merah Putih | Bobonaro | Natalino Monteiro |
Fictional representations of these groups, their members, and their atrocities were shown in the 2006 Australian miniseries Answered by Fire .
Eurico Barros Gomes Guterres is a pro-Indonesian, anti-Timorese independence militiaman recruited by the Indonesian military during East Timor's bid for independence between 1999 and 2000. He was involved in several massacres in East Timor, and was a chief militia leader during the post-independence massacres and destruction of the capital Dili.
East Timor was a de facto province of Indonesia that existed between 1976 and 1999 during the Indonesian occupation of East Timor. Its territory corresponded to the previous Portuguese Timor and to the present-day independent country of Timor-Leste.
The Liquiçá Church massacre was a mass-killing that occurred in April 1999, during East Timor's bid for independence. It was the first case to be heard by the Second Special Panel.
Besi Merah Putih, meaning 'red and white iron' in Indonesian, was the official name of an East Timor, approximately 200-strong, pro-Indonesia militia (Wanra). It operated in Maubara, in the district of Liquiçá, and in the neighbourhood of the river Lóis, west of the capital Dili, under the leadership of Manuel de Sousa and with the support of Leoneto Martins, the district administrator (Bupati) of Liquiçá. It was founded on 27 December 1998 in Cai-Cassa, East Timor. The Indonesian ex-general Prabowo had direct links to Besi Merah Putih and trained members at a Kopassus base near Bogor in West Java. Tomé Diogo is also rumoured to have direct links to the BMP. The Indonesian army member is said to have led the militia directly.
Aitarak was the name of a pro-Indonesia militia group in East Timor during the late 1990s. On April 17, 1999, the group conducted 12 murders at the Manuel Carrascalão House massacre in Dili. That same month members took part in the Liquiçá Church massacre. At its height, the group was led by Eurico Guterres.
Liquiçá is a coastal city in East Timor, 32 km to the west of Dili, the national capital. Liquiçá is the capital of Liquiçá District. The city has a population of 5,005 inhabitants.
The Armed Forces for the National Liberation of East Timor originally began as the military wing of the Fretilin party of East Timor. It was established on 20 August 1975 in response to Fretilin's political conflict with the Timorese Democratic Union (UDT).
The Indonesian invasion of East Timor, known in Indonesia as Operation Lotus, began on 7 December 1975 when the Indonesian military (ABRI/TNI) invaded East Timor under the pretext of anti-colonialism and anti-communism to overthrow the Fretilin regime that had emerged in 1974. The overthrow of the popular and short-lived Fretilin-led government sparked a violent quarter-century occupation in which approximately 100,000–180,000 soldiers and civilians are estimated to have been killed or starved to death. The Commission for Reception, Truth and Reconciliation in East Timor documented a minimum estimate of 102,000 conflict-related deaths in East Timor throughout the entire period from 1974 to 1999, including 18,600 violent killings and 84,200 deaths from disease and starvation; Indonesian forces and their auxiliaries combined were responsible for 70% of the killings.
José Abílio Osório Soares was an Indonesian politician. He was the last governor of the Indonesian province of East Timor before the country's independence.
An independence referendum was held in East Timor on 30 August 1999, organised by United Nations Mission in East Timor. The referendum's origins lay with the request made by the President of Indonesia, B. J. Habibie, to the United Nations Secretary-General Kofi Annan on 27 January 1999, for the United Nations to hold a referendum, whereby East Timor would be given choice of either greater autonomy within Indonesia or independence.
The Indonesian occupation of East Timor began in December 1975 and lasted until October 1999. After centuries of Portuguese colonial rule in East Timor, the 1974 Carnation Revolution in Portugal led to the decolonisation of its former colonies, creating instability in East Timor and leaving its future uncertain. After a small-scale civil war, the pro-independence Fretilin declared victory in the capital city of Dili and declared an independent East Timor on 28 November 1975.
The 1999 East Timorese crisis began with attacks by pro-Indonesia militia groups on civilians, and expanded to general violence throughout the country, centred in the capital Dili. The violence intensified after a majority of eligible East Timorese voters voted for independence from Indonesia. Some 1,400 civilians are believed to have died. A UN-authorized force (INTERFET) consisting mainly of Australian Defence Force personnel was deployed to East Timor to establish and maintain peace.
East Timor and Indonesia established diplomatic relations in 2002. Both share the island of Timor. Indonesia invaded the former Portuguese colony in 1975 and annexed East Timor in 1976, maintaining East Timor as its 27th province until a United Nations-sponsored referendum in 1999, in which the people of East Timor chose independence. Following a United Nations interim administration, East Timor gained independence in 2002. Indonesia already had a consulate in Dili during the Portuguese colonial period, though Indonesia formalized their relations by establishing an embassy in Dili. Since October 2002, East Timor has an embassy in Jakarta and consulates in Denpasar and Kupang. Relations between the two countries are generally considered highly positive, despite various problems. Numerous agreements regulate cooperation in different areas. East Timorese are visa-free in Indonesia.
The Santa Cruz massacre was the murder of at least 250 East Timorese pro-independence demonstrators in the Santa Cruz cemetery in the capital, Dili, on 12 November 1991, during the Indonesian occupation of East Timor and is part of the East Timor genocide.
The Indonesia–Timor Leste Commission on Truth and Friendship was a truth commission established jointly by the governments of Indonesia and East Timor in August 2005. The commission was officially created to investigate acts of violence that occurred around the independence referendum held in East Timor in 1999 and sought to find the "conclusive truth" behind the events. After holding private hearings and document reviews, the commission handed in the final report on July 15, 2008 to the presidents of both nations, and was fully endorsed by Indonesian President Susilo Bambang Yudhoyono, providing the first acknowledgement by the government of Indonesia of the human rights violations committed by state institutions in Timor. The commission is notable for being the first modern truth commission to be bilateral.
The East Timor genocide refers to the "pacification campaigns" of state terrorism which were waged by the Indonesian New Order government during the Indonesian invasion and occupation of East Timor. The majority of sources consider the Indonesian killings in East Timor to constitute genocide, while other scholars disagree on certain aspects of the definition.
The Kraras massacre was a series of mass killings committed by the Indonesian Army, along with Timorese Hansip members, in August and September 1983 in Kraras, Viqueque Municipality, East Timor. More than 200 civilians, mostly men, died in the killings. The region is now known as the "Valley of Widows".
Brigadier General Filomeno da Paixão de Jesus is an East Timorese politician and former senior officer in the Timor Leste Defence Force (F-FDTL). From July 2018 to July 2023, he was Minister of Defense, serving in the VIII Constitutional Government of East Timor led by Prime Minister Taur Matan Ruak. Between October 2011 and July 2018, he was the Deputy Chief of the F-FDTL.
João da Costa Tavares was the Commander-in-Chief of the pro-Indonesian Militia in East Timor. He was also a pro-integration militiamen.
The Timorese Labor Party, or Trabalhista for short, is one of the five parties in East Timor founded as early as 1974. The party describes itself as democratic and socialist, comparable to the Australian Labor Party (ALP). It has its headquarters in Dili on Rua de Bé Fonte in Bairo Formosa (Gricenfor).
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