East Timor: Language and Gender in the Articulations and Representations of the Nationalist Struggle1 Zakiah Cabral, University of California at Berkeley
The polarity between text and self and The most conspicuous crack in the narra narrative and event cannot hold. In a tive of the “big, happy family”— the Indo political culture the self that narrates speaks nesian national motto is “Bhinneka Tunggal from a position of having been narrated Ika,” a Sanskrit translation of the Latin “E and edited by others—by political institu pluribus unum,” or “Unity in Diversity”— tions, by concepts of historical causality, is the independence movement in East and possibly by violence. Timor, which has shown a remarkable resil —Alan Feldman ience in the face of overwhelming military and political odds.4 We, Timorese women, are always facing Benedict Anderson powerfully argues in deadly weapons aimed at us ready to fire Imagined Communities: Reflections on the Ori and we hardly have the power to say a gin and Spread of Nationalism that nations word of help to the outside world. themselves are narrations; he observes that —Mrs. HauNara, “East Timorese Women “in the modern world everyone can, should, Scream Out to the World For Help” will ‘have’ a nationality, as he or she ‘has’ a gender” (14). In most cases, the nation has I. Introduction been imagined as having a female gender, Post-colonial critics have written exten thus casting nationhood in terms of a con sively on how colonized people and those test between the colonizer and the male who have been unrepresented use narrative nationalist in their construction of the na fiction to express resistance and the exist tion as a feminized object.5 ence of their own history. Edward Said This essay is an attempt to listen to voices writes: “The main battle in imperialism is which break from the dominant discourse over land, of course; but when it came to of Indonesian colonial nationalism in East who owned the land, who had the right to Timor. I will look at: 1) the articulations of settle and work on it, who kept it going, the nationalist struggle in the Portuguese who won it back, and who now plans its language, particularly in the public trial of future— these issues were reflected, con Xanana Gusmâo, leader of FALINTIL tested, and even for a time decided in (Forças Armadas de Libertaçâo Nacional de narrative” (xiii). This essay is about an Timor-Leste); 2) the emergence of popular ongoing colonial war, the Indonesian colo forms of resistance, specifically nization of East Timor, and the colonizer’s millenarianism and oral narratives, which attempt to narrate and edit, through politi are outside the discursive formations of the cal violence, the history of East Timor as universal, secular, nation-state; and, 3) the part of the “big, harmonious Indonesian representation of torture performed upon a family,”2 in which state terror is integrally feminized body in the protest poetry of Kay linked with the objectives and techniques of Shaly Rakmabean. These articulations may domestic political surveillance and control.3 still appear inchoate and incomplete due to
27 Lucero Vol. 5, 1994 the absence of an organized form of political they should and should not do in the inves representation, but this is also due to the tigation and trial process. repressive censorship existing under Indo The trial of Xanana, it is clear, was in nesian rule, which is sustained by an institu tended simultaneously to discredit and tionalized system of political violence. weaken the resistance in East Timor, hu miliate the defendant, assert Indonesian sov II. The Indonesian State’s Counter- ereignty over the territory, and dispel inter Insurgency and the Trial of national criticism of the Indonesian Xanana Gusmao government’s arbitrary use of terror by cre The Indonesian generals should be made ating the illusion that Indonesia is governed to realize that they have been defeated in by the rule of law. The precise charges East Timor. Here, today, as the com brought against Xanana were as follows: 1) mander of FALINTIL ... I acknowledge seeking to separate a part of the national military defeat on the ground. I am not territory from the authority of the state, ashamed to say so. On the contrary, I am which carries a maximum penalty of life proud of the fact that a small guerrilla army imprisonment; 2) leading an armed rebel was able to resist a large nation like Indo lion against the Indonesian state, which nesia, a regional power which in a cow carries a maximum penalty of twenty years ardly fashion invaded us and want to domi in prison; 3) conspiring to commit both of nate us by the law of terror and crime, by the crimes specified above; and, 4) unau the law of violence, persecution, prison, thorized possession of firearms, which car torture and murder. . . . As a political ries a maximum penalty of death. On May prisoner in the hands of the occupiers of 21, 1993, Xanana was given a sentence of my country, it is of no consequence at all life imprisonment. to me if they pass a death sentence here As part of its counter-insurgency cam today. They have killed more than one paign to humiliate and discredit the inde third of the defenseless population ofEast pendence movement, the Indonesian mili Timor. They are killing my people and I tary has circulated stories in the press. Below am not worth more than the heroic struggle I quote excerpts from one of those which ofmy people who, because they are a small was published almost on a daily basis during and weak people, have always been sub the course of the trial in newspapers such as jected to foreign rule. Jaw a Pos: —Xanana Gusmao, “Xanana Condemns Indonesia” Behind his popularity as the boss of the GPK [Gerakati Petigacau The political trial of José Alexandre Keamatian ‘Security Disruptors Xanana Gusmao, which began on February Movements’]6 FALINTIL, 1, 1993 and concluded on May 14, 1993, Xanana conceals a host of nega was a tightly directed script authored by the tive characteristics. This was re Indonesian government. The power of the vealed when he was arrested on military, in particular, was felt at every stage November 20. This dark side of the judicial process in this trial. The became increasingly evident as judges, prosecutors, and even the lawyers more and more of his supporters for the defense were brought together for were arrested. . . . One of the briefings by military intelligence authorities things was when Xanana “mar handling the case, and instructed in what ried”—or, more correctly, began
28 East Timor
living in sin7 with—Luci began to rape her. Although he Ximenes. Xanana’s act was unac almost always uses a condom ceptable both to his family and to when he has intercourse, it turns his followers. The point is that out that this has not been suffi when he took over the leadership cient to protect him from sexu of FALINTIL, Xanana established ally transmitted diseases. When a rule that as long as they were in doctors in Denpasar examined the bush, members of FALINTIL him they discovered that he has a were not allowed to have their sex disease in such an advanced wives with them. state that it is very difficult to They were not allowed to flirt or cure. (“Demonizing Xanana”)8 to have a relationship with a woman because, according to Charismatic leadership and the idea of Xanana, such things could dam male power in Javanese culture has tradi age the state of mind of his fight tionally been associated with asceticism, ers. “Anybody who breaks this especially with regard to sexual activity, and rule must be punished. The se the ability to concentrate one’s libido so that verest punishment is to be shot it does not become diffused and disinte dead,” said Xanana at that time. . grated. In Javanese culture, “the loosening . . It is well known that Xanana of cosmological tautness stems frompamrih, has had relationships with many which essentially means the use of Power women. . . . his libido is very for personal indulgence or the wasting of high. To satisfy this need, Xanana concentrated Power on the satisfaction of often asks for contributions; he personal passions” (Anderson,Language35). often asked villagers for women It was believed, for example, that the former when his group was in hiding in Indonesian president Sukarno’s demise was places nearby. . . . Although due to his excessive womanizing. As Ander Xanana’s name was quite popular son notes: it seems that not all women who were offered to him accepted this The essential difference between voluntarily. Quite a number of the heroes and their adversaries is them refused. But their rejection that the latter eventually permit was in vain if Xanana wanted their Power to be diffused by them since he would force him indulging their passions without self on them anyway. This is what restraint, whereas the former was experienced by Rege, the maintain that steadfastness, that niece of Augusto Pereira. . . . On tense singleness ofpurpose, which that afternoon, when he came insures the maintenance and con out he was wearing only his sa tinued accumulation of Power. rong. She suspected nothing when (Anderson, Language 25) Xanana and Augusto approached her and she only realized what The Indonesian government’s counter was happening after Augusto insurgency narratives must represent Xanana grabbed her two hands, clamping as the antithesis of the oral narratives which his hand over her mouth. Then are circulated by East Timorese, and which Xanana got onto the bed and describe his extraordinary supernatural pow
29 Lucero Vol. 5, 1994
ers, and his ability to fly and transcend Xanana’s female relatives, who had been human passions. It is for this reason that the arrested along with him, were raped in government’s narratives focus on his body custody. Most likely, she was one of these and his sexuality. In contrast to the digni two women. fied, heroic, almost mythic image which On the first day of Xanana’s trial, the characterizes the oral narratives, the gov judge, the audience—which included five ernment must represent him as a filthy sex Portuguese journalists—and the defense maniac, infected with venereal diseases, GPK laywer for Xanana, who was handpicked by terrorism, etc. Essentially, the government’s the Indonesian government, were aston response is a counter-insurgency narrative ished when Xanana solemnly and coopera which, by representing him as a traditional tively declared (in Portuguese): “Name: Javanese-type lord—bendoro— both in his José Alexandre Xanana Gusmao. Citizen behavior—lustful— and in his appearance— ship: Indonesian. Occupation: GPK Ter he is portrayed as wearing a sarong, which rorist” (“Xanana Mengaku” 78). Further only Javanese, and not East Timorese, more, Xanana, who is renowned for his wear— it attempts to erase the cultural dif fierceness in denouncing the Indonesian ferences between Xanana and his Javanese government for the past eighteen years, colonizers. The trial is a “performance” of cooperatively acknowledged all the accusa power, with Xanana being narrated, edited tions made against him by the thirty pros and re-performed as though he already is an ecution witnesses, former FRETILIN and Indonesian. FALINTIL cadres, who had been severely These stories are constructed not only for tortured beforehand by the military to bear the East Timorese, but more importantly, witness against him. The most significant for the Javanese, and for all of Indonesia and symbol of resistance, however, was Xanana’s the international community, in order to refusal to speak Indonesian—although legitimize and justify colonization of East people who know him claim that he speaks Timor. It is not necessary for people to it fluently— and his insistence, instead, to actually believe these stories; it suffices that speak in Portuguese with the help of a they cast doubt on the figure of Xanana in translator. This resulted in prolonging the order to precipitate a crisis in his legitimacy. trial, by making the process painstakingly In response to what they believed were laborious and halting for the Indonesian fabrications on the part of the government, court.9 Perhaps it was precisely for this East Timorese women sent a letter entitled reason— to make the trial as difficult as “East Timorese Women Scream Out to the possible for the Indonesians who wanted World for Help” to the United Nations and linguistic expediency— that Xanana used to various human rights organizations, which the Portuguese language to subvert the denied all of the allegations against Xanana: judicial process and articulate his resistance “After the capture of Xanana Gusmao, on to Indonesian rule and cultural hegemony. November 20, 1992, our beloved sister On May 5, Xanana, having written his own Rege was forced to admit that she had been defense statement, consisting of twenty- violated by Xanana Gusmao. It is absolutely eight pages which was suppressed in the a false admission” (Hau Nara 8; emphasis trial, but subsequently smuggled out of East added). It would be interesting to know Timor, began to read it in Portuguese. After what happened of Rege, but nothing more the second page the judge vehemently or is heard of her. On November 30, 1992, dered him to stop, claiming that it was Amnesty International reported that two of “irrelevant” (“Courtroom gag”), that “it
30 East Timor could only be presented in Indonesian” in the mountains, FALINTIL, which seems (“Courtroom gag”). To which Xanana re more “comprehensible” and “quantifiable.” plied that he does not speak in Indonesian, Indonesian newspaper reports describe this that he is not an Indonesian citizen. movement as “fanatical” and “sinister”— ironically the same kind of rhetoric that the III. Popular Forms of Resistance: Dutch colonial state had used when refer Millenarianism and Oral Narra ring to Indonesian millenarian movements tives against them. However, even leftist peri Outside the dominant discursive forma odicals which are sympathetic to the inde tions of nationalism and ideology is the pendence movement in East Timor, such as emergence of more popular forms of resis Tapol Bulletin, have either trivialized or tance which have either been ignored or automatically subsumed the cosmology of trivialized: millenarianism and oral narra the Movimento Sao Antonio under the famil tives. The independence movement in East iar discourse of “nationalism.” Timor has been, to some extent, largely The interview below is a short excerpt of portrayed by sympathetic left-liberal histo an interview which I conducted in Indone rians as “secular”—that is, non-religious, sian and Portuguese in July, 1992, four non-mystical, non-magical. In other words, months before Xanana’s arrest, with one of it has been represented as a “modern”— i.e., the main leaders of Movimento Sao Antonio: “rational,” “practical,” and “realistic”—na tionalist movement which fits nicely into Q: Why do you think it has been im the universal categories of the secular Euro- possible for the Indonesian military pean-style nation-state.10 Although the role to arrest Xanana for the past seven of the Catholic church in the resistance teen years in spite of its overwhelm movement is crucial, very little analysis has ing military superiority? been done on the relationship between A: They almost caught him several religion and nationalism in East Timor, or times, but he suddenly disappeared. indeed, on discursive formations outside Once, the military surrounded him religion and nationalism.11 and almost caught him, but he en There is a long history of millenarian tered a huge tree and disappeared movements in Southeast Asia which fought into the tree. The military cut down against colonial rule.12 Each of these move the tree because they knew he was ments had a millenarian leader whom people inside, but they couldn’t find him. believed to be the saviour, the just leader Q: Is he the only one who has this who would appear after a millenium to save supernatural power? his people from injustice and bring about a A: No. There is a whole movement utopian world. These millenarian leaders called Movimento Sao Antonio which were said to be endowed with extraordinary trains people to acquire this kind of supernatural powers—the ability to fly, dis power. We call itgerakan anti-peluru appear, and transform into different forms. ‘anti-bullet movement.’ What we One of the most interesting aspects of try to teach is that guns and bullets resistance in East Timor is the emergence of are not important, that we could the millenarian movement, Movimento Sâo keep fighting the Indonesians even Antonio ‘ Gerakan San Antonio,’^ considered without bullets. We prepare them by the Indonesian government to be more to be highly disciplined, moral, and of a threat than the military armed struggle virtuous, to undergo rigorous physi-
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cal training, to live in the jungle for was transported to another place, a long period of time, to understand except him. He was arrested imme nature—how to blend in with the diately. color of the trees, how to make Q: Do you use certain symbols of medicine out of herbs, how to cross power, powerful things? a dangerous river. . . . A: (He rolls up both of his sleeves. Q: I heard that it is possible to shoot at There was a long, straight line on you without killingyou. Is this true? both his arms of what looked like A: Yes. After they have completed their very small wooden insertions on his training, we put them to a test—we skin.) These are tiny pieces of a line them up in a firing squad and sacred kind of wood which has been ask the other combatants to shoot at cured with special concoctions. We them. Those who have successfully have different types of insertions all acquired this power cannot be killed. over our body. It protects us from The bullets will bounce off. getting sick and from bullets. The Q: Do you use something like a bullet longer you’ve had them in your proof vest? body, the more effective they are A: (Incredulous laughter) No, but you because it blends in with your body. have to know that not everyone can There is something else . . . a special have this power. You have to be a belt. (He untucks his shirt and takes highly virtuous and disciplined per off a two-inch wide old cotton belt.) son. You cannot commit evil deeds Here it is. . . . The older it is, the or use this power to hurt innocent more powerful. Inside it are all kinds people. You have to take moral of things—a bark from a special tree, responsibility for this power be a certain animal’s tooth . . . this belt cause if used improperly, it could also protects us from bullets. But turn into an evil force— it could even so, this is not enough. Before make you insane, make you commit we confront the Indonesian mili suicide, put things on fire, kill for no tary, we perform certain rituals . . . reason. lighting candles, saying prayers, re Q: What does the training process en citing certain kinds of mantras. It is tail? a combination of Catholic rituals A: You have to do at least four different and traditional belief systems. types of silatu every morning. But Q: What kinds of mantras? most of all, you have to have abso A: If we told you, it wouldn’t work. . lute faith in the leader who is guid . . (Personal interview, Dili) ing you. For example, on one occa One might argue that if Xanana really sion, Xanana and his troops were had supernatural powers, then why can’t he surrounded by the military and al escape from prison, and why was he arrested most annihilated. Xanana told ev in the first place? Indeed, the political rheto eryone to close their eyes and he ric in the Indonesian press about Xanana’s would make them disappear. How arrest is fascinating: “José Alexandre Gusmào ever, one person, who had seen him alias Xanana ternyata cuma manusia biasa, do this several times, wanted to see sama seperti manusia umumnya. . . . GPK how it was done, so he didn’t close FRETILIN ini tak sedikit pun his eyes. Everyone disappeared and memperlihatkan tanda-tanda kesaktiannya”
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‘José Alexandre Gusmâo alias Xanana turns nally) errant, always in circula out to be just an ordinary human being, the tion with no assignable source. same as ordinary human beings. . . . This This illegitimacy makes it acces FRETILIN terrorist did not at all show any sible to insurgency. (23) signs ofhis divine, magical powers’ (“Setelah 16”). Yet the Indonesian military considers For the East Timorese, it is a narrative the legends about Xanana’s supernatural insurgency woven throughout the past sev powers much more dangerous than the man enteen years with profound imagination. himself. For this reason, in its rhetoric the government downplays his image as a god IV. Versos do Oprimido: East like, millenarian figure, and instead attempts Timorese Resistance Poetry to portray him as just an ordinary criminal. One of the most powerful forms of resis This also serves to divert international at tance to the Indonesian colonial agenda tention from the Indonesian government’s about national goals— the most prominent punishment of Xanana’s crimes. As the being national security, unity, stability, or former Minister ofDefense, Benny Murdani, der, and development—is articulated in argued in a public statement to the interna poetry. The poems I will analyze, written tional press on November 26, 1992: “Fie is by Kay Shaly Rakmabean, are cited from an just a common street criminal, his trial will unpublished manuscript which was be of no interest to the international com smuggled out of East Timor. Due to repres munity” (Amnesty International Urgent). sive censorship and the inaccessibility of A more insightful question is to ask why print, poems like these can only be circu and how these stories about his supernatural lated clandestinely. In a short introduction powers came to be constructed as collective to the poetry collection, entitled “Versos do oral narratives, which give the East Timorese Oprimido,” the poet writes: “Como seria hope to continue their resistance, and the desejavel que estas poesias fossem lidas, serenity and profound composure which reflectidas e compreendidas por todos os they need in order to cope with the violence Timores e por todos os homens de boa they have to face. While Xanana is repre vontade que lutam a favor dos direitos sented to the outside world as a “modern humanos violados em Timor-Leste” (1). guerrilla,” or “nationalist leader,” the sto The following poem is entitled “As Maes e ries about him as a “millenarian leader,” Donzelas do Universo”: which circulate in the creative imagination of his people, is radically different. The Maes e donzelas do universo, Indonesian government finds this creative quero comunicar-vos por verso, imagination so dangerous to the mainte o suplicio mais obsceno e mais atroz, nance of its hegemonic discourse that it que os sanguinolentos Indonesios reacts violently in the face of any challenge desencadearam contra minha mae to it. This fear is justified, since as Gayatri e minha irma Timor; Spivak explains: Despiram-te a vista da multidao! Ali, de modo infame, Rumour evokes comradeship fostes violadas; because it belongs to every ‘reader’ E com fogo de “gudang garam”, or ‘transmitter.’ No one is its queimando tuas “carnes sagradas”: origin or source. Thus rumour is a mama e o orgao sexual, not error but primordially (origi- mormente o clitoris e vagina
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cruelmente incendiados, datedjanuary 1993, speaks of the particular tornando-os “cozidos” e desfeitos! . . . ways in which women have been victim Depois, agarrando na baioneta, ized by the Indonesian state since the inva transpassam-te a vagina, logo escorrendo sion in 1975. The fact that it was written by sangue; a group of women and addressed to an cortam-te as tetas e o clitoris “cozido,” abstract “Dear Sir,” a powerful individual metendo-os, à força, em tua boca male in the international arena, is quite inocente, revealing about gender relations and politi obrigando-te a comer tua prôpria carne! cal violence in the international order. In this letter, Timorese women have openly Torturaram assim minha màe challenged the claim that New Order Indo e minha irma Timor . . . nesia is a “family,” with the state executive and the military in the role of the benign Acto feito, father: doidamente a soldadesca grita: “Rasain kamu, kamu, yang ingin We have faced the fact that our memilih kemerdekaan!” husbands were arrested and tor (Aprende de vez, tu, que queres tured sadistically, and then disap votar pela independência.) peared; our families disappeared Oh! Se ao menos as mâes e donzelas on their way home. They were do mundo inteiro sentissem tua dor, taken away and disappeared; our ouvissem teus gritos, children were killed en masse, their ô minha màe, corpses were lost and never re minha irma Timor! . . . (12) turned. The most tragic action happened to our fellow sufferer, While the poet’s internal audience for Timorese women, who were whom he grieves is a Timorese mother and taken away then treated as objects sister, his implied external audience in the of lust by Indonesian troops. We poem is perhaps an international women’s have faced the fact that the Indo solidarity group, to whom the poem is nesian government has tried hard directed, thus the title “As Mâes e Donzelas to conceal these amoral actions do Uniuerso,” and the poet’s lament: “Oh! Se from the world by means of their ao menos as mâes e donzelas / do mundo diplomatic channels where they inteiro sentissem tua dor, / ouvissem teus could ensure world’s opinion with gritos, / ô minha màe, / minha irma Timor! their lies and tricks. They have . . ‘Oh, if only the mothers and young also closed the doors for Human women/virgins all over the world could Rights Organisations to enter the feel your anguish, if they could only hear territory to find facts of human your screams, oh my mother, my sister rights violations. By doing this, Timor!’ (29-33). they could have the chance to Before analysing the poem, I would like continue executing their brutal to provide it with a social context, by and sadistic actions against us. juxtaposing it to the allegations of rape (Hau Nara 9) expressed in the individual testimony of countless East Timorese women over the In most of the narration, imagination, and years. An open letter signed on behalf of the symbolization of the nation as feminine, the women of East Timor, entitled “East actual, physical body of the woman (e.g., Timorese Women Scream Out to the World her sexual organs) is omitted. The nation as for Help,” addressed to “Dear Sir,” and woman is usually imagined as a mother— an
34 East Timor
asexual, virginal, abstract “mother” (for sian nationalist struggle against the Dutch in example, “Mother India”). The poem above, the 1940s, the most expressive nationalist however, destabilizes the traditional sym slogan among the Indonesian pemuda ‘na bolism. A mother is a sexual organ— “a tionalist youth’ was “Siapa ingin merdeka mama e o orgào sexual” (12). It ceases to be harus bersedia dipendjara” ‘S/he who wishes clear whether or not the poem is merely a independence must be prepared to be im metaphor for a feminized nation, due to the prisoned.’ Ironically, now that Indonesia is physicalization of the sexual organs and an independent nation, it has in turn be bodily orifices of a Timorese mother and come the colonizer, speaking in the violent sister: vagina, clitoris, teats, mouth, running language of colonialism. For East Timorese blood. Torture is inflicted primarily on her (especially women) under Indonesian oc sexual organs, which are stripped naked, cupation, the message which is given is: burned, and set on fire by Indonesian sol “Rasain kamu, kamu yang ingin memilih diers with gudanggaram cigarettes (a popular kemerdekaan” ‘Feel this (take this) you, you brand of Indonesian cigaretttes), cut to pieces who wish to choose independence.’ In with a bayonet, cooked as cozido, and forced other words, “S/he who wishes indepen into the woman’s innocent mouth— dence must be prepared to be raped and “metendo-os, à força, em tuaboca inocente, mutilated.” / obrigando-te comer tua propria came” Torture and the performance of power (19-20). The woman’s body is turned into on a feminized body is also inflicted upon meat (“carne”), an object which is usually the landscape of East Timor. In the poems bought and sold in the market, and then it below, the poet gives an alter/native picture is cut to pieces and cooked as a dish— of torture and “development”: “agarrando na baioneta / transpassam-te a vagina, logo escorrendo sangue; / cortam- “Monumentos de Massacre” te as tetas e o clitoris ‘cozido’” (16-18)—to be eaten. When the cooks/torturers are O jovem irrmo Timor! finished, they threaten spitefully in Indone Jamais te glorias sian: “Rasain kamu, kamu, yang ingin / com as obras do invasor: memilih kemerdekaan! ” (25-26).14 The poet belas construyes de casas, then translates this abuse into Portuguese: pontes, museus, monumentos, “Aprende de vez, tu, que queres / votar pela estradas alcatroadas . . . independência” ‘Feel this (take this) you, Lembra-te dos irmàos que tombaram, you, who wish to choose independence!’ sob a tiránica e sanguinària opressào, (27-28). The poet’s use of the soldiers’ em Mate-bian, direct speech in the Indonesian language is em Aitana, Crarás, a representation not only of physical torture no monte de Santo Antonio, on a woman’s body, but also of forced no cora^ào de Taci-tolu, integration into the colonizer’s language em Santa Cruz . . . through violence. The poet’s act of transla Monumentos incomparáveis, tion into Portuguese is a refusal of this erguidos no teu Solo Natal. integration. Sim, meu irmào! The horrific reality portrayed in this poem O pre^o de sangue dos massacrados compels an historical analysis. Indonesian é mais caro que todas as obras do invasor. state terror has many parallels with the kinds Dirijas nesta verdade teus passos, of terror used by the Dutch, who had para nao caires colonized Indonesia for 350 years, and from no logro astucioso do inimigo. . . . (14) whom Indonesia fought so hard to gain its own independence in 1945. In the Indone Ilha sem flor nem amor E meu Timor que chora descontente, 35 Lucero Voi. 5, í 994
vendo seus filhos sem beleza, and may be forgotten or ignored. Thus, the esmagados e saqueados . . . poem ends with a plea to his brothers and Seus montes sem flores, sisters not to erase this cultural memory, not seus campos sem milho, to be bought-off with “economic develop seus lares sem filhos, ment, ” not to become integrated, educated, seus casais sem amores! and socialized into the colonizing regime of the enemy— “Dirijas nesta verdade teus Quem suas flores poderá replantar? passos/ para nào caires / no logro astucioso Quem suas hortas poderá cultivar? do inimigo . . .” (19-21). Quem seus lares poderá povoar? In the second poem the poet grieves with Quem sua dor poderá mitigar? a mother whose sons and daughters have Quem te compreenderá, meu Timor? been severely tortured, disfigured, and Quem poderá penetrar tua dor? (15) mutilated— “vendo seus filhos sem beleza / esmagados e saqueados ...” (2-3)—and “Estrela” asks, “When will it be possible to plant flowers again? When will it be possible to O majestoso rosto do meu Timor, live in houses with loved ones again?” é urna pintura do celestial amor; Amidst the disfigurement and mutilation in na sua fronte táo notável da historia, the poem “Estrela,” the poet imaginesone cravada vè-se urna estrela solitària. . . . beautiful face, an image of a beloved that is ( 11) celestial and ethereal, which transcends the torture which may be inflicted upon a In “Monumentos de Massacre,” the “beau body—“O majestoso rosto do meu Timor, tiful constructions of houses” ‘belas / è urna pintura do celestial amor” (1-2)— construyes de casas’ (4), monuments, and a history in which is carved one solitary bridges, museums, and asphalted roads rep star of hope— “na sua fronte tào notàvel da resent the repressive structures of the Indo história, / cravada vè-se urna estrela solitaria nesian state and the massacres in Mate-bian, . . .” (3-4). In this poem, “the body frag Aitana, Crarás, Santo Antonio, Taci-tolu, mented is reassembled, and this act, the and Santa Cruz. Indeed, the most common weaving of a new body through language, as rhetoric even among well-intentioned In much as any act of violence, testifies to the donesians is: “What more do they want? emergence of political agency” (Feldman W e’ve built roads, schools, implemented 10). In the same manner, the massacres “em development projects, etc. Unlike the Por Mate-bian, / em Aitana, Craràs, / no monte tuguese who did nothing for 400 years!” de Santo Antonio, / no corafào de Taci- (The same rhetoric had been previously tolu, / em Santa Cruz” (“Monumentos” 9- used by the Dutch colonial administration 13), which the Indonesian state presents as in Indonesia.) However, the poet’s cultural isolated incidents, are strung together— as memory of the glories of the great works of in the traditional way of stringing flowers— the colonizer— “glorias / com as obras do in a re-presentation of the perpetuation of invasor” (2-3)—are not monuments, but systematic state terror, massacres which are massacres. The world witnessed the infa not isolated incidents, but a product of an mous Santa Cruz massacre on November institutionalized system of political violence. 12,1991 because it happened tobe filmed.16 The poems and the geographic names are a But the many massacres which happened testimony to the massacres which the Indo before it, and which continue to happen, nesian government continues to conceal. will never be known by the outside world, “No corallo de Taci-tolu” (“Monumentos”
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12) activates a collective cultural memory “take on” Indonesian language and culture, which belongs to every person whose loved something which the East Timorese have ones were killed in these massacres. In a vehemently insisted upon. As Frantz Fanon testimony to the United Nations, Constancio has written: “What then did you expect Pinto, a political refugee who recently es when you unbound the gag that had muted caped from East Timor, recounted: those . . . mouths? That they would chant your praises? Did you think that when those At noon—about two hours after heads that our fathers forcibly bowed down the shooting—I told one of the to the ground were raised again, you would mothers who was looking for her find adoration in their eyes?” (29). son, to go to the hospital to see if Perhaps the most poignant example of he was amongst the wounded. resistance to the prevailing discourse in When she arrived, one of the recent months occurred when one of the Indonesian soldiers said to her witnesses in Xanana’s trial, a young East “Please go to Taci Tolu and see Timorese named Saturnino Belo, was called your son. The grave is still open by the prosecution. He himself had been for you.” (United Nations 2) sentenced to a long prison term in 1992 for his involvement in the Santa Cruz proces sion, and his parents had been killed by V. Conclusion Indonesian troops years before. He was In this essay I have attempted to provide an brought before the court in the first week of analysis of the articulations of voices which March to help prove the prosecution’s claim break from, interrupt, or disrupt the domi that Xanana Gusmao was the “master-mind” nant discourse of Indonesian colonialism in of the Santa Cruz demonstration, and pre East Timor. It is a preliminary analysis of the sumably, he had given assurance that he complex issues of Xanana’s trial and the would cooperate. However, once he was in articulations of a nationalist consciousness the court-room, a remarkable thing hap in the Portuguese language, the emergence pened; he stood up, raised his clenched fist of popular forms of resistance, and the in the air and, with tears in his eyes, shouted poetic representations of torture and vio in Portuguese: “Viva Xanana! Viva Timor lence performed upon a feminized body. I Leste! Viva Independencia!” (“Timor Wit- have intended to bring these articulations ness ). and representations of the nationalist struggle The official response to this extraordi together around the questions of language nary act of defiance was revealing. Saturnino and gender—how language functions as Belo was bustled out of the court-room, and symbolic resistance and how the contesta some time later, a doctor appeared in the tion of gender between the colonizer and court to explain that Saturnino was “men colonized inflects social reality. tally ill” ‘sakit jiwa,’ and therefore not fit to The Indonesian government has enacted testify. It is not known for sure what a law which forbids Tetum (one of several happened to him immediately after his re languages in East Timor, considered to be moval from court; in addition to his likely the unifying language of the nationalist having been beaten, it is known that he was struggle) and Portuguese to be spoken in taken to the military hospital in Lahane, and schools in East Timor. It is evident from thereafter to Balide prison in Dili. There, Xanana’s trial and Rakmabean’s resistance he was placed in solitary confinement. poetry that the Portuguese language is used According to sources inside the prison, as a symbolic form of resistance, a refusal to Saturnino was told by his military captors
37 Lucero Vol. 5, Í9 9 4 that, should he try something like that again, nationalism, gender, and sexuality, see Parker. he would be shot on the spot. This is 6The sense ofGPK is better captured, I think, symptomatic of the vulnerability which the by the English “terrorist,” which evokes the New Order state feels when its discourse is “irrational” troublemaker, who is a danger to challenged, and a telling reminder of the the community and society as much as to the ultimately violent nature of Indonesian rule. state. 7The original phrase, “kumpul kerbau,” lit erally means “living together like cattle.” Notes ^Translated by Tapol Bulletin from a series of articles published by Jawa Pos, a daily paper in H would like to thank Florbela Rebelo- Jakarta. Gomes, David Lloyd, and Tico Arenas for their 9While conducting interviews, I found that support and insightful comments on this essay. one of the favorite subjects and source of anec This essay is for Satumino Belo in Balide Prison, dotes about Indonesian colonialism are the prob East Timor. lems of translation and the linguistic misunder 2These values are expressed in a variety ofkey standings between Indonesian-language speak terms and acronyms by the Indonesian govern ers and East Timorese. There is an anecdote ment in their rhetoric. For example, a com about an East Timorese who had just moved to monly used acronym is KAMTIBMAS Jakarta, the capital of Indonesia. After having “Keamanan Dan Ketertiban Masyarakat” ‘Se lived in a boarding house owned by a Javanese curity and Orderliness ofSociety,’ which reiter woman for a month, his landlord asks him: ates family values. “Anda kerasan di sini?” ‘Are you happy here?’ 3East Timor was a Portuguese colony for 400 The East Timorese man, however, understood years. In 1974 when Portugal hastily withdrew, kerasan ‘to be happy’ to be kekerasan ‘violence,’ there was a short transition period of semi thinking that his landlord was asking him if he independence and finally, on November 28, had plans to commit violent acts in the boarding 1975, FRETILIN (Frente Revolucionaria de house, to which he protested: “Look, I just got Timor Leste Independente) declared indepen here, I don’t know where you got the idea that dence from Portugal. A week later, on Decem I’m a violent person.” (Personal interview, b e r, 1975, Indonesia invaded East Timor. The Jakarta) invasion, immediately condemned by the United 10The seminal works include Taylor; Nations, is often likened to the Iraqi invasion of Budiardjo and Soei Liong; Dunn; Nicol; and Kuwait except, in this case, the international JollifFe. press remained silent about the matter for sev 11 For an excellent critique of the “artifice of enteen years. East Timor is one of two coun history,” which continually invokes the secular, tries—the other is New Caledonia—which universal nation-state, and denies a subject po continues to be discussed every year in the sition to the voices of ambivalence among United Nations Sub-Committee on Indians under British colonial rule, see Decolonization. Chakrabarty. 4For moving and informative accounts on 12These include the Samin movement in the recent history of East Timor see Taylor and Java; Cao Dai and Hoa Hao, in Vietnam; Saya Ramos Horta. On the Portuguese colonization San, in the Burma Delta; and Sakdal and of East Timor, see the series of articles in the Colorum, in the Phiippines. chapter on “Timor” in Davares. 13In Catholic exegesis, Sao Antonio is the one 5For an excellent comparative analysis on who recovers those or that which is lost.
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“Setelah 16 Tahun Dimigoskan, Xanana Mulai “Timor Witness Declared Mad.” The Indepen Diadili.” Editor 13 Feb. 1993: 30. dent [London] 5 Mar. 1993. Spivak, Gayatri. “Subaltern Studies: United Nations. “Testimony to 49 Session of Deconstructing Historiography.” Selected the United Nations Commission on Hu Subaltern Studies. Oxford: Oxford Univer man Rights.” March 1993: 2. sity Press, 1988. 3-32. “Xanana Mengaku GPK.” Forum Keadilan Taylor, John G. Indonesia’s Forgotten War: The [Jakarta, Indonesia] 18 Feb. 1993. Hidden History of East Timor. London: Zed “Xanana Condemns Indonesia.” Tapol Bulletin Books, 1991. June 1993: 1-3.
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