By Jana D.K.
JAKARTA — In late December, controversy erupted here after it was reported that the Portuguese newspaper Publico had printed a letter by jailed Fretilin leader Xanana Gusmao in which he requested that the Portuguese government help free him from prison. The letter also said that, since Portugal is still recognised as the administering body of East Timor by the United Nations, it should seek to repatriate him.
In a second letter to the International Court of Justice, Xanana requested that the court overturn his conviction and that he have the right to be represented by a Portuguese . He complained in the letter that his court-appointed lawyer, Sudjono, was dishonest and maintained ties with the Indonesian authorities.
Xanana asked that a new trial be held in front of an international court. Furthermore, the letter confirms suspicions that Xanana had never agreed to presidential clemency and that the whole process had been stage-managed by the regime.
Xanana was sentenced to life imprisonment by a Dili court on May 21. Delays and controversy had dogged the trial since May 5, when Xanana requested that he be allowed to read his defence speech in Portuguese. The court first rejected Xanana's request, then on the following day changed its decision, only then to stop Xanana's presentation to the court after he had read just three pages.
A report from the International Commission of Jurists concluded that Xanana's trial was unfair, even when judged by the standards of Indonesian law.
Throughout the trial, the authorities orchestrated a massive disinformation campaign, the dominant theme of which was that Xanana was sorry for his actions and now accepted East Timor's integration into Indonesia and considered himself an Indonesian citizen.
Only days after he was convicted, the campaign was intensified with a series of newspaper articles with titles such as "By pleading for clemency, Xanana confesses his guilt and begs forgiveness", which argued that the guilty verdict and sentence had been vindicated by Xanana's plea. Following the alleged request for clemency, President Soeharto reduced Xanana's sentence to 20 years.
Although at the time there had been no reports of international criticism in the Indonesian media, comments by foreign minister Ali Alitas in May revealed that the regime was in fact coming under considerable international pressure. Then in June, the government suddenly announced that it had rejected Portuguese charges of irregularities during the trial, describing them as "replete with baseless accusation, malicious interpretations, distortions of facts and ever more strident innuendo".
In a classic example of being caught in its own web of lies, the regime is now endeavouring to explain Xanana's "sudden" change of attitude. On December 29, for example, the coordinating minister for politics and security, Soesilo Soedarman, described Xanana as "unstable" and prone to change his mind. Soedarman also said that it was strange that Xanana referred to himself as a citizen of Portugal, because at the time he submitted his plea for clemency he admitted that he was an Indonesian citizen.
A "political expert", Professor Dr Juwono Sudarsono, expressed the view that the letter was not consistent with Xanana's attitude (the regime's version), saying that they should check its validity in case Portugal was using it to resurrect the East Timor question.
Reflecting the regime's sensitivity over the issue, on December 30, the chief of the armed forces (ABRI), Feisal Tanjung, said that a joint investigation would be conducted by ABRI and the ministry of justice to establish how the letters were smuggled out of jail.
As usual, the authorities began trying to find a convenient scapegoat — first accusing the International Red Cross, which it said had "broken a gentleman's agreement", then suggesting that there had been collusion between Xanana and unnamed no-government organisations. Tanjung also attempted to question whether the letter was genuine. Finally it was admitted that prison guards had probably been bribed to get the letter out.
On January 13, Baharuddin Lopa, the secretary general of the government's new "independent" National Human Rights Commission formed in December, who is also the director general of correctional institutions, placed a ban on further visits to Xanana, including by the International Red Cross. This was justified by Lopa on the grounds that "Xanana had actively worked to tarnish Indonesia's image overseas" and that he had to be disciplined "for disgracing the people and the nation of Indonesia".
In response to criticism that the ban contravened international human rights conventions, Lopa responded by arguing that "the rights of the nation should also be respected" and defending the "dignity" of the nation is not a violation of human rights. He also noted that Xanana had lost any chance of a sentence remission, which is reviewed each year depending on the conduct of prisoners.
In a rather strange comment, Lopa added that the ban was partly intended to "protect" Xanana from assassination attempts; no explanation was given as to why such a risk existed or from whom.
Human rights activists reacted by reminding the regime that the 1955 convention of the UN, on standard minimum rules for the treatment of prisoners, states that a prisoner has the right to complain to international organisations or other recognised channels if mistreated. Although Indonesia has failed to ratify the convention, as a member of the UN it has a moral obligation to respect and abide by the convention. Xanana is still the holder of a Portuguese passport.
In a rather sudden turnabout, on January 18, it was reported that Lopa had agreed to look into the case. In the first ever such meeting, Lopa met with executives from the Indonesian Legal Aid Foundation (YLBHI) to discuss the matter and announced that there was a possibility of a joint visit by the commission and YLBHI.