IV. THE ATTACKS AROUND THE ELECTION

Human rights violations are thus taking place against the backdrop of a huge Indonesian military presence in East Timor, a growing network of mostly young informers given military training to counter what appears to be an expanding base of support for the opposition, and a development program that is bringing in more and more Indonesians to East Timor. (East Timor also has the only known curriculum development program for state schools where teachers are specially trained by the Institute for National Defense, Lemhamnas, in how to approach the integration question.) The May 29 elections, symbolizing as they did East Timor's incorporation into the Indonesian state, were thus not a surprising target of guerrilla actions.

* On May 27, a group of unidentified youths attacked a number of election officials in the village of Nunira, subdistrict Laga, Baucau, on the road to Baguia. Two election officials were reportedly killed, Police Sgt. Abdullah Syukur and Army Sgt. Sitepu. Four people were said to have been seriously wounded and evacuated to Dili, while three others sustained less serious injuries.

* On Wednesday night, May 28, at about 8:30 p.m., an estimated fourteen youths drove up in a red Kijang vehicle to a guard post of Company A of the police mobile brigade (Brimob) in Bairopite, West Dili, and said they were voters. They then opened fire. Five policemen were wounded, while three of the attackers were shot dead and two others died in the Wira Husada military hospital. A third, the driver of the vehicle, Adeliode Fatima, was detained, and many others were arrested later.

* On May 28, in a village outside the town of Los Palos in Lautem district, Castelo, an elementary school teacher, three of his children and a group of other teachers were shot by guerrillas in an attack for which theCNRM later took credit. CNRM accused Castelo of working for Indonesian intelligence (see below under "Opposition Abuses").

* On the same day in Baucau, guerrillas shot and killed Miguel Baptismo da Silva, aged fifty-four, and his wife. Miguel had been the head of the district parliament from 1987 to 1992. One report said they were attacked at their home; a second report said they were in their car at the time they were shot.

* On May 29, in the village of Seisal, Baucau, voting was delayed a day and could only take place on Friday May 30 because the polling place was attacked by an unidentified group. An election official named Abinau Salay, who was a member of a civilian militia group called Wanra (an acronym for Perlawanan Rakyat or People's Resistance) was hacked with a machete and wounded. Ten people were arrested, according to local officials.

* On the same day, in Assumano, Liquica, a soldier was wounded when a grenade was tossed into a voting booth. Two polling places and a village administrative office were reportedly burned down in Baucau and Ermera, according to the then military commander for East Timor, Col. Mahidin Simbolon, in a statement on May 30. One soldier was reported to have been killed in one of the attacks in Ermera, but his death was not confirmed.

* On May 31, another major attack took place. According to press reports, twenty-six policemen and two soldiers were driving along the road in Quelicai, Baucau, in a Hino truck, when they were stopped by several men wearing Indonesian army uniforms. The truck stopped to pick up the men, when the latter threw a grenade into the truck. An oil drum of gasoline in the back of the truck exploded, and in the resulting inferno, thirteen of the people in the truck were burned to death and four were shot as they tried to escape. The dead included sixteen policemen and one soldier. It was unclear if there were any casualties among the attackers.