Bahasa Indonesia Headlines ­ Wednesday 1 August 2001

1. UN Security Council extends UNTAET mandate till early 2002 
2. Coffee Prices Fall Sharply, Timor Lorosae Farmers Protest 
3. Graves of two polytechnic students exhumed

1. UN Security Council Extends UNTAET Mandate Till Early 2002 (Suara Timor Lorosae, front page headline)

The United Nations Security Council yesterday decided to extend the presence of UNTAET in Timor Lorosae till early 2002. However, Indonesia warned that the extension of UNTAET’s mandate must not have any hidden agenda that could affect Jakarta.

Before the 15-member Security Council made the decision, UN Secretary-General Kofi Annan presented his report outling the main achievements of UNTAET and the reasons why the mission’s mandate needed to be extended.

Indonesia’s Ambassador to the UN, Makmur Widodo, made an interjection.

He said in connection to the aid given to Timor Lorosae, Indonesia had two points of view under the new administration of Megawati Sukarnoputri.

He said the two points supported the extension of UNTAET’s mandate, which was intended to help the people of Timor Lorosae and the country on its path to full independence.

However the Indonesian ambassador said in all negotiations with Timor Lorosae, Indonesia will always adhere to “defending its territorial integrity and national security.”

“Therefore if there are other interests detrimental to Indonesia, Jakarta will reject the extension of UNTAET’s mandate,” said Makmur.

At the Security Council session, several countries urged President Megawati to honor Indonesia’s commitment to recognizing Timor Lorosae’s existence.

2. Coffee Prices Fall Sharply, Timor Lorosae Farmers Protest (Suara Timor Lorosae, front page second lead)

About 19,800 coffee farmers in Timor Lorosae have to swallow the bitter pill because of sharp falls in worldwide coffee prices.

On 10 May the price of export quality coffee fetched US$0.6855 on the world markets. On 27 July, however, the price fell to US$0.5130.

“Every week the price falls sharply on the American market in New York. The price fluctuations affect us badly in Timor Lorosae because our coffee is sold on the American market,” said Sisto Moniz Piedade, the Operational Director of Cooperative Café Timor (CCT) in Lecidere, Dili.

CCT is affiliated with the NCBA (National Cooperative Business Association) which markets Timor Lorosae coffee on the New York markets.

Before Timor Lorosae separated from Indonesia, Timor Lorosae coffee farmers were free to sell their coffee at Atambua (in West Timor) at satisfactory prices. That choice, however, is now not available.

Farmers now can only sell their coffee to CCT or two other industries ­ Asinco and Delta Café.

“The prices currently offered at these places are really low,” said Sisto.

Indeed, the issue of falling coffee prices has been taken up by all the 16 political parties in the election campaign for the 30 August election.

Leader of the Social Democrat Party (PSD) Mario Viegas Carrascalao said a kilogram of Timor coffee was sold at Aus$30 in Australia and 100 grams of the same coffee fetched US$1 in Portugal.

“So I’m really baffled on why we are getting so low prices locally?” he asked.

3. Graves of two polytechnic students exhumed (Timor Post, front page lead)

The graves of two Hera Polytechnic students were exhumed yesterday by their family members. The two students, Estevao Xavier Periera from the polytechnic’s electronics faculty and Agustinho de Carvalho from the civil engineering faculty were killed by Indonesia-suppoted militias in May 1999.

On 20 May 1999, the two students were detained by militias. While in detention, they were tortured badly and then killed.

The Aitarak militia, led by Eurico Guterres, was responsible for their deaths.

“On that day, TNI from the Rajawali-Batallion 744 together with Aitarak militia men surrounded our campus in Hera. Those who were physically strong managed to escape by running away fast. Estevo and Agustinho, however, were not lucky,” said Inacio Moreira a former lecturer at the polytechnic.

Family members, who were looking for both of them since May 1999, got to know of their graves from a journalist on 27 December 1999.

Both bodies were found in one grave and family members said the two had their hands tied in front and were buried in a sitting position.

“They were both warriors for Timor Lorosae’s freedom. We will always remember them,” said lecturer Inacio Moreira.

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