Diplomatic sources said the militia attack was discussed at a senior security co-ordination meeting held at the armed forces headquarters in Jakarta, and was attended by General Wiranto, Udayana military commander Major General Adam Damiri and East Timor military commander Colonel Tono Suratman. 

Indonesian officer co-ordinating with militia.

On 26 April in Bobonaro, the militia cut off the ear of a 20 year old youth, forcing him to eat and swallow it whilst having a machete to his throat. Then more than twenty of them trampled on his back and front, after finishing they delivered him, nearly dead, to the military.

Background

The Indonesian armed forces, TNI, have had a free hand in East Timor since the invasion in December 1975. Military presence in East Timor is extremely high. Leaked military documents have revealed that military numbers are in the region of 20,000. This means one soldier per 40 inhabitants in East Timor, a ratio that is seven to nine times higher than the ratio in Indonesia. In addition, the military has a record of using East Timorese civilians to intimidate their fellow countrymen into supporting Indonesia and authorities have repeatedly expressed the need to arm civilians in order to "maintain security". 

Military intelligence operatives have penetrated most segments of society. The SGI - an acronym of SATGAS-INT (Task Force Intelligence) is the intelligence arm of Kopassus (Special Forces, the ‘red berets’). These are an ‘elite’ force in the army and wield great influence, especially in East Timor. Retired General Benny Murdani and Lieutenant-General Prabowo Subianto, the now disgraced son-in law of ex-president Soeharto, are from this background. The use of local militia units was pioneered in the 1980s by Prabowo and the Timorese fighters he trained and armed are now the core of the militias.

Major General Adam Damiri, with strong Soeharto connections, heads Kodam IX, the Bali-based Udayana military region which includes East Timor. He was chief of staff of the vital Jakarta military garrison when that command was headed by Major General Syafrie Syamsuddin, a former Soeharto bodyguard and presidential favourite and he was hand-picked by Prabowo to command the 1st infantry Division of Kostrad, one of two key units in Indonesia's 27,000-strong Army Strategic Reserve. Australian intelligence has reported that General Damiri is particularly determined to deflect any move to independence. 

Another key person within this system is Brigadier Mahidi Simbolon, the second in command of Kodam IX. He has a Kopassus and SGI background and has spent a large part of his career in East Timor, including being military commander there. He led the campaign to arrest Xanana Gusmao. He has been quoted as outlining the policy to "use the Timorese to crush the Timorese". Reliable information links him to the dirty tricks taking place in Timor now.

The military officer immediately responsible for East Timor is Colonel Tono Suratman, a Kopassus officer who heads the local Korem (Military District) command. He has Soeharto connections. His family are the co-owners of a pearling company with Soeharto’s daughter who is also General Prabowo Subianto's wife.

TNI’s last major military operations in East Timor, conducted in early November 1998 and directed against East Timor’s armed resistance, were publicly condemned by UN Secretary General Kofi Annan. Consequently to avert further damage to TNI’s image, the Indonesian armed forces seem to be resorting to the use of Timorese militias which have flourished since Indonesian President B.J. Habibie’s proposal in January 1999 that independence would be considered "should the Timorese not agree to autonomy".

Some of the paramilitaries are in the pay of the military intelligence/SGI, i.e. receive Kopassus backing and may have the financial support of the Soeharto family, including Prabowo. East Timor is the Indonesian "province" with the second largest landholdings under control of the Soeharto family, namely 564,867 hectares. CNRT (National Council for Timorese Resistance), the umbrella organisation of all the resistance groups, stated in March 1999 that they planned to seize all these properties after independence had been obtained. Batara Indra, an Indonesian conglomerate backed by retired Generals Benny Moerdani and Dading Kalbuadi, (both behind the killings of Australian-based journalists in Balibo and Dili in 1975), controls the sandalwood forests of East Timor, including the production of sandalwood oil and sandalwood powder for export. Batara Indra also exports statues to Taiwan and to Italy made from East Timorese sandalwood and marble. Most of the hotels and the only cinema in Dili are owned by Batara Indra, while all the large construction firms in Dili, which are involved in all the large infrastructure projects, including building the irrigation canals and ditches for Indonesian "transmigrants", either belong to Benny Moerdani's Batara Indra Group, or to the Anak Liambau Group of the Jakarta-appointed East Timorese governor, Abilio Osorio Soares. The newest militia gangs are in the pay of local politicians, notably governor Abilio Soares, who fear the loss of their privileges.

Militia Gangs in East Timor

Mahidi (Mati Hidup Demi Integrasi -Life and Death for Integration), a 1,300 member militia, is based in Ainaro (a city directly south of Dili) and is led by Cancio Lopes de Carvalho, 30. (Mahidi happens to be the name of Mahidin Simbolon - Deputy Commander of the command centre for operations in East Timor.) Cancio is the younger brother of the Secretary General of a pro-independence group GRPRTT (The Timorese Movement for Reconciliation and Peace) and the son of the liurai (chief) of Cassa-Ainaro. His group’s arsenal includes three M-16s and 16 World War II-vintage G-3 rifles left when the Portuguese fled East Timor. "We are ready for war," he says. Cancio worked as a public servant in the Justice Department and after the Santa Cruz massacre in 1991, he formed a group of intelligence agents who worked with TNI (then named ABRI) in intimidating and arresting pro-independence youth of Ainaro and Covalima districts. After Soeharto's fall, Cancio attempted to strengthen his group by forcibly recruiting men from the Ainaro district and giving them military training. On December 17, 1998, with support from TNI, he established the Mahidi militia which became an official organization on January 1, 1999, through an inaugural function attended by the Kodim (District military) commander of Ainaro, the police chief of Ainaro, and some of the leaders of the Ainaro district-level legislature. Mahidi with the support of TNI’s RATIH militia, began entering hamlets to force people to become members. Feeling threatened, many people registered themselves as members, while many others fled to avoid the pressure.