Viqueque rebellion

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Viqueque (East Timor)
Viqueque
Viqueque

The Viqueque rebellion (also movement of 1959 , massacre of 1959 , local: war of 1959 ) took place in the large municipality of Viqueque in Portuguese Timor , today's East Timor . It was the last great uprising of the local population against the Portuguese colonial rulers and was led by some disaffected East Timorese officials and nobles from the districts of Uato-Lari and Uatucarbau . A group of Indonesians was also involved, which led to speculation that the neighboring country was involved in the rebellion.

Much was said about the Viqueque Rebellion for propaganda purposes during the Indonesian occupation (1975–1999). Since this rebellion was badly organized, it is not particularly thought of in today's free East Timor. Since it was feared that they would be exposed, the insurgents rose too early without sufficient preparation.

Situation before the rebellion

Map with Portuguese Timor between Indonesia and Australia

After the Second World War and the accompanying Japanese occupation , the colony came back under Portuguese control in 1945. Shortly afterwards, Indonesia fought for independence from the Netherlands . The Dutch West Timor became part of Indonesia. 1951 Portuguese Timor was granted the status of an overseas province . In 1962 Indonesia tried to occupy Western New Guinea to prevent its independence, and in 1963 a surrender to Indonesia was finally agreed. Indonesian diplomats told the United Nations that their country had no interest in areas outside the former Dutch East Indies . Portuguese Timor was explicitly mentioned here. The reason for this was also the tie-up of Indonesian forces in western New Guinea, where they tried to gain control. Doubts about the statement remained due to the anti-colonial polemics of the Indonesian government.

In the post-war period, forced labor was pushed forward again by the Portuguese in order to repair the war damage. Each suco had to provide workers for a month at a time, and the leaders of the sucos were given extended rights to evacuate enough forced laborers. Human rights violations by officials and landowners were common. Undersecretary of State for Overseas Affairs Carlos Abecassis left behind in 1956 after his visit to the colony Governor César Maria de Serpa Rosa (1950-1958) horrified orders to improve the situation on 17 pages. Among other things, the abolition of corporal punishment was called for, but only a few changes were made.

procedure

The trigger for the rebellion should have been the forced labor, high taxes and general grievances. The unanimous opinion is that the rebellion did not break out spontaneously, but was planned well in advance. As agitators Indonesians accused, previously in Portuguese Timor asylum had received. They originally belonged to the Permesta movement supported by the American CIA , which came from Sulawesi and fought against the central government in Jakarta . Some sources refer to them as Indonesian agents who wanted to trigger a widespread uprising in order to achieve a withdrawal of the Portuguese and an integration of East Timor into Indonesia. Other sources indicate that Permesta supporters planned to use Portuguese Timor as a base for operations in eastern Indonesia.

Roof decorations in Babulo

For almost a year, Permesta had held the Indonesian West Timor loosely under its control until it was defeated by Indonesian troops in March 1958. 14 members of Permesta (mainly West Timorese, plus a man from Sumatra and one from Manado ) managed to escape to the Portuguese exclave of Oecusse on March 27 with a boat full of rifles and ammunition. Portugal granted them asylum as a living object of propaganda against decolonization. They were first brought to Baucau , where they were housed in the Estalagem de Santiago hostel . At the end of December 1958, five of the Indonesians were brought to Uato-Lari (today Uato-Lari Leten , Suco Babulo , Viqueque municipality ) after a dispute broke out within the group. The nine Permesta in Baucau participated in plans by Timorese activists for an uprising.

The Indonesians in Viqueque befriended José Manuel Duarte, a mestizo official at the weather station, and Amaro Loyola Jordão de Araújo, a retired Timorese financial officer who made serious charges against the colonial administration. The Sino-Timorese Luís "Xina" da Costa Rêgo, driver of the agricultural department in Dili , was the leading figure among the state officials involved in the conspiracy. On a trip to Uato-Lari, he found allies for his plans among the local nobles there and from Uatucarbau, including António da Costa Soares, also known as António Metan, a descendant of the Liurais (ruler) of Afaloicai , north of Uato-Lari. At that time, Metan was chefe de povação , a village chief who stood below a liurai . He harbored a personal grudge against the then administrator of the Postos Uato-Lari, Eduardo Caeiro Rodrigues. Metan accused him of corrupting the local administration in addition to the recent slaughter of cattle. According to Metan, Rodrigues embezzled large portions of the payments made by the Australian company Timor Oil to the Posto for the exploration of oil at Aliambata .

Xina and other Timorese officials had already planned an uprising for May 28, 1958. On this day, the two largest Portuguese leisure clubs celebrated the anniversary of their founding. Due to delays, plans were postponed to New Year's Eve of December 31, 1959. Governor Filipe Barata later reported that the conspirators were planning to take control of the colonial capital Dili after a group of insurgents from Baucau marched on Dili, including the nine Permesta -Members. At the same time there was to be a riot in Aileu . The takeover of power was supposed to take place within an hour and the flag of Indonesia was to be raised at the captured places . According to other sources, Xina wanted to take the Portuguese members of the administration hostage and demand a new government from Lisbon . Force should only be used in an emergency. Police later claimed the conspirators planned a dramatic New Year massacre in Dili, the release of dozens of Macau Chinese prisoners, and the takeover of the colony's largest arms and ammunition depot.

"Lieutenant" Gerson Pello, a Rotinese from the Indonesian group of exiles, promoted the group in Viqueque. Pello promised Xina that Indonesia would support the uprising. Metan met Pello for the first time in March 1959. At that time there were already 34 men ready to fight in the Uato-Lari conspiracy.

However, the Portuguese authorities learned of the conspiracy at the end of May. On the one hand, it is said that the angry wife of one of the three main conspirators informed the authorities in Baucau. According to other sources, a Timorese activist had informed Jaime Garcia Goulart , the Bishop of Dili , and the latter informed the official authorities. Xina, João “Chiquito” Pereira da Silva, a nurse from Manatuto , and José “Zeca” de Sousa Gama from Laga were arrested on June 1st. Within a very short time, the police under Commander Sargento Manuel da Câmara from Madeira arrested a total of 68 people in Dili, Aileu, Letefoho and Baucau. Often just mentioning a name during interrogation was enough for an arrest. Many statements were made through threats of violence. Among those arrested were Chinese, four Timorese of Arab origin, mestizos and African officials. Three arrested were employees of the Post and Telegraph Office, three co-drivers, three employees of the Indonesian Consulate, two by the state printing ( Imprensa Nacional ), two from the health service, two sailors, one person from the mission to study endemic diseases, an official of the Banco Nacional Ultramarino , a customs officer, an assistant teacher, a catechist, a waiter and a painter. The rest were registered as people without a job, mostly farmers or unemployed friends of the officials. The greatest commotion was the arrest of Francisco de Araújo, an elderly gentleman and one of the few local Timorese who were a member of the Concelho do Governo .

View of the town of Viqueque

On the evening of June 6th, Artur Marques Ramos, the Portuguese administrator of Viqueque, was informed of the plans for the uprising by the authorities in Dili. Among other things, it was ordered to arrest Metan, whose name had been used during interrogation. By coincidence, Ramos had played soccer on the same day with the men who were now suspected. He described the investigators' behavior as "absolutely normal". Ramos also thought it unlikely that the Permesta in Uato-Lari could be involved. The administrator reluctantly asked his Cipaios to arrest Metan. He also instructed that Metan should take a bath in the river before he was sent to the prison cell overnight. Ramos may have missed that “taking a bath in the river” is a Timor word for “death”. Metan feared for his life and, when he was arrested, asked to be allowed to fetch a suit first, which he kept in the house of his friend Amaro Araújo. There Metan met Pello and other conspirators and reported that they had been blown.

One now felt compelled to act. The escaped Metan was sent by Pello with one of the Indonesian exiles to Uato-Lari, where they arrived after nightfall. Metan called his cousin, the local head of the Cipaios on the flag of Portugal to seek and to cut the telegraph cable. Other sources report a successful attack by the insurgents on the Portuguese post in Uato-Lari.

In the evening 30 rebels, the Indonesian exiles, civil servants and workers of a coconut plantation, gathered in the city of Viqueque in front of the administration and the seat of the Portuguese administrator. The administrator and his family were to be taken hostage, but Ramos managed to escape to the post in Ossu , which was believed to be loyal to Portugal. According to legend, the rebels were drunk from too much palm wine . However, they managed to get their hands on some 8 mm Kropatscheck rifles and ammunition. However, the ammunition was so old that it no longer worked, and the rifles were from the previous century. Ramos called the administration in Baucau and Dili from Ossu.

The rebels moved to Uatucarbau in the far east of Viqueques, where Metan's brother-in-law Fernando Pinto was a nobleman and village chief and had promised support to the rebels. They had to stay there for three days because of heavy rains before continuing to Baguia . The Portuguese suspected that the rebels wanted to move from there to the north coast of Timor in order to meet Indonesian support from Wetar or Kisar . However, the less than a hundred rebels lacked the element of surprise and the necessary armament to take the Forte de Baguia . They faced professional soldiers from the primeira linha and a military truck with a machine gun from Baucau. The rebels were repulsed, whereupon they withdrew again to the Uato-Lari / Uatucarbau region.

While the Indonesians were hiding in a cave on the Matebian , the Timorese rebels dispersed. Those who surrendered to the Portuguese were killed, including the Permesta Jobert Moniaga from Manado. In the meantime the Portuguese had called in Timorese auxiliary troops ( Arraias ): Makasae from Baucau, Venilale and Ossu, Tetum from Viqueque and Makalero and Fataluku from Lautém , at the request of Lautéms administrators José da Serra Frazão, d. H. Groups that were in rivalry with the local Naueti, also because of outstanding accounts from the time of the Second World War. These punitive expeditions now attacked Uato-Lari and Uatucarbau. However, one cannot draw clear ethnic lines in the conflict. In Uato-Lari and Uatucarbau Makasae and Naueti lived side by side and the Makasae there were also victims of their relatives from the highlands. They looted and robbed everything of value, including seeds, pets, and clothing. When Frazão arrived in Uatucarbau on June 13 , João Mariano, head of the local Cipaios, wrapped in the Portuguese flag as a sign of loyalty, stepped out of the sub-district's office to surrender. Frazão ordered Mariano to lower the flag and shot him at close range. The place was looted and sacked. Locals speak of up to 200 dead in Uatocarbau and the surrounding villages. At least three Liurais from the Matebian region were murdered by angry groups and their heads were handed over to the Portuguese in Baguia. A total of five liurais of the eleven infested sucos died.

Seven rebels were executed on June 17 on the orders of Ramos and Capitano Barreiros on the Bebui River in Uato-Lari. One of the executed was Abílio de Meneses, the Liurai of Afaloicai / Uato-Lari . The corpses were allowed to float down the river. The military operation was declared over on June 18 and the Arraias were sent home. The ringleaders were arrested in the city of Viqueque and taken to Dili, including the four surviving Permesta from Viqueque. The nine Permesta in Baucau have now also been arrested.

consequences

The rebellion ended without even being mentioned in the foreign press. Even the media in neighboring Australia did not report on the events. In the absence of official records, the estimated death toll ranges from 50 to the unlikely 40,000. There was no Portuguese among the dead. Martinho da Costa Lopes , priest and later Bishop of Dili, was the envoy of the Portuguese government and eyewitnesses to numerous public executions.

The first eleven of those arrested in early June were sent to Lisbon on June 8 on board the passenger ship N / M India . On October 4, 1959, the four Indonesian main accused and 53 Timorese followed on the N / M India , including Francisco de Araújo as a "Timorese prisoner with special status". In Singapore , the four Indonesians jumped overboard at night, but were later brought back by the local authorities. Already in the South Atlantic , the M / S India was instructed to bring the 52 simple Timorese ashore in Lobito ( Angola ). From there, they were in a prison camp in the highlands of Bié brought. They later reported that they were treated well there. After all, there was no torture here, like in Dili. The Indonesians and Araújo were imprisoned in Lisbon, but were also deported to Angola with the first eleven Timorese at the end of May 1960. 15 months of investigations and trials followed. 32 of them, including the prisoners from Aileu, Baucau, Letefoho and most of them from Dili, were finally found “not guilty” in February 1961 and released on parole. But they were obliged to settle in Bié's provincial capital, Silva Porto , and look for work there. On May 27, 1961, another 31 who were deemed "most responsible for the incident" were released under the same conditions. In August 1961, 31 rebels were brought to Colonato do Limpopo in southern Mozambique , where they were granted restricted transmigrant status. Amaro de Araújo wrote a memorandum on the history of the rebellion in 1960 while in Angolan exile. From 1968 the rebels were allowed to leave Angola and Mozambique again. Some returned to Portuguese Timor, but many preferred to live in Portugal.

In 1959, as a direct result of the uprising, the Polícia Internacional e de Defesa do Estado PIDE (Police for International Affairs and Defense of the State) began its work in the colony. This secret police of the Portuguese dictatorship was notorious for its use of force and torture. The regime was sensitized to unrest in the colonies, as bloody clashes with striking dock workers in Portuguese Guinea had broken out in the same year . The PIDE took over the guarding of political prisoners as well as the Timorese exiles in Africa. In 1969 the Direção-Geral de Segurança DGS (General Directorate Security) took over the task. It was also no coincidence that the Australian Secret Intelligence Service (ASIS) also opened a foreign office in Dili in 1959 , the third ever.

In 1961 some Timorese tried to proclaim a republic in Batugade on the border with Indonesia with his support. The uprising was quickly put down and the rebels fled to Indonesia, where they established a government-in-exile that remained meaningless. Only after the Carnation Revolution in Portugal in 1974 did the colonial power begin to prepare Portuguese Timor for independence. Several of the rebels who returned to Timor, such as Frederico Almeida Santos da Costa , were among the 36 founders of the APODETI party , which advocated joining the previous Portuguese colony to Indonesia and was financed by Indonesia. After the occupation of East Timor by Indonesia, APODETI members, including former rebels, were given preferential posts in the Indonesian administration. Some of them came to the local parliament and became business people. A small group of the returned rebels became supporters of FRETILIN , which fought for an independent East Timor. Children and relatives of theirs were later active in the resistance against the Indonesian occupiers.

The Matebian seen from Uato-Lari

In Uato-Lari in 1964, local leaders were forced to allow rice to be grown on the coastal plains in order to expand agriculture. The local population had only grown dry rice in the higher plains. Working groups had to be set up to cultivate the fields, and people from Afaloicai and the area around the Matebians also immigrated. First as seasonal workers, later they settled here. Travel exports from Uato-Lari increased 74-fold between 1961 and 1969.

When the civil war between FRETILIN and the UDT broke out in August 1975 in the run-up to the Portuguese withdrawal from Timor , APODETI was hardly involved. Only when the Indonesian invasion became apparent at the end of the year did FRETILIN take action against APODETI members. In Aileu , Maubisse and Same hundreds APODETI- and UDT members of FRETILIN units were executed. António Metan was one of the murdered in Aileu, who was buried there in a mass grave. From now on he was considered a martyr of the pro-Indonesian movement. On December 7, 1975, the Indonesians began the open invasion of East Timor. The FRETILIN evacuated the majority of the civilians from Uato-Lari to the slopes of the Matebians. At the same time, Liurais who did not belong to FRETILIN were captured and some nobles were executed. This mostly affected supporters of the 1959 rebellion, which resulted in the final alliance between former rebels and pro-Indonesians.

After the Viqueque rebellion, many members of the Naueti ethnic group, who live in Uato-Lari and above all in Uatucarbau, lost land and cattle. The Portuguese administration had given it to loyal Timorese, mainly of the Makasae ethnic group. During the Indonesian occupation, a large part of these expropriations was reversed, so that the Naueti were now seen as profiteers of the occupation. The son of António Metan was the first Indonesian administrator (Camat) of Uato-Lari and was responsible for the redistribution of the buffalo herds and land rights. The prosperity of the rebel clan increased noticeably in the 1980s and 1990s due to good relations with the Indonesian administration and military. Among the beneficiaries were the self-proclaimed descendants of the 1959 rebels.

In the 1999 independence referendum in East Timor , many former rebels and their families supported the solution of autonomy within the Indonesian state. After the decision for independence, many of them moved to the Indonesian West Timor or to Dili. With the departure of the Indonesians, the conflicts between the inhabitants of the east of Viqueques broke out again. Villages that supported the independence movement (mostly Makasae from Macadique and Matahoi ) reclaimed land and property that Naueti had received during the Indonesian occupation. The pro-Indonesian clans lost massive amounts of their status and prestige. The UNTAET tried to solve the conflict with a "Mediation Council" from June 2000, but progress was slow with the 130 registered disputes. Since then, there have been repeated unrest and clashes between the various villages, clans and ethnic groups.

rating

The level of support for Permesta 14 by the Indonesian consul in Dili, Nazwar Jacub , is controversial , even if it is said to have been arbitrary. The only indications that the Portuguese authorities were able to provide were an unusually large order for photographic equipment, the consul's anti-Portuguese remarks when his wife died in the poorly equipped hospital in Dili, and his friendship with the exiles. Jacub, who came from Sumatra , had visited her in December 1958 in Baucau. The consul was recalled by Indonesia on June 3, 1959 and replaced by Tengku Usman Hussin. Interestingly, Jacub left Portuguese Timor on the same ship as the eleven conspirators arrested in early June on the N / M India on June 8th . Last doubts remain as to whether Jakarta was not involved in the Viqueque rebellion after all. It is surprising that the Timorese village chiefs who led the rebellion sometimes did not even know their followers. In a police interrogation, for example, one could not name any of the 30 members of his group.

On the one hand, the rebellion is assessed as an ethnic conflict between Naueti and Makasae, whereby the line of conflict is often sharply drawn along the various ethnic groups. Others see the uprising as the deed of some "stupid" Timorese men who were roused by the lies of Indonesian "fools". Generally speaking, the uprising can only be viewed as an improvised response to the Portuguese discovering the conspiracy. The ethnic conflict was not the target of the conspirators, nor could they foresee it. José Manuel Duarte wrote in a memorandum in 1960:

Indonesian propaganda image from 1984: "The Timorese with their national flag, red and white"

"Until today we have not been led to freedom, equality and brotherhood, we are treated like slaves."

Those involved in the rebellion cited the lack of justice under Portuguese rule as the reason for the uprising. Civil servants and assimilados were taxed like the Portuguese, but experienced discrimination and disdain in everyday life. They saw no opportunities for social or professional advancement. In his memorandum, Duarte also criticized the preference given to Chinese traders , the high tax burden and the lack of elementary training. Ultimately, however, the rebels lacked broad support.

The Viqueque rebellion was later abused by Indonesian propaganda for their efforts to integrate East Timor into the neighboring state. APODETI members published the brochure Associação Popular Democrática Timorense in Jakarta . The work served to heroize party members involved in the rebellion, without mentioning the Indonesian co-conspirators. The APODETI wanted to present itself as the first Timorese political movement, older than the other parties founded in 1974. Many families of the 1959 insurgents supported the APODETI. The rebellion became the "mythical origin" of the East Timorese movement. Pro-Indonesian clan leaders from the east of Viqueques used Lima sembilan (′59) in conflicts over resources and power. In Indonesian school books, the Viqueque rebellion was presented as an early call for the integration of East Timor into Indonesia. The legend that António Metan set the first flag of Indonesia over East Timor in Uato-Lari was dramatizing . In the 1990s in particular, according to an employee of the education department in East Timor, there was a great deal of interest in presenting the story in such a way that the East Timorese longed to become part of Indonesia long before 1975. In 1996 several of the original Indonesian participants were invited to East Timor and those exiled by the Portuguese were honored as veterans. In April 1999 Eurico Guterres , nephew of António Metan, founded a pro-Indonesian militia called 59/75 in Viqueque . The consequence of the appropriation by the Indonesian propaganda is that the Viqueque rebellion did not have a positive image among most East Timorese at the time of the Indonesian withdrawal.

Web links

supporting documents

Main evidence

Individual evidence

  1. ↑ a b c d e Janet Gunter p. 30.
  2. ↑ a b c d June 6, 1959. In: Rai ketak. June 6, 2009, accessed June 7, 2019 .
  3. ↑ a b c d e f g h i j Janet Gunter p. 31.
  4. ↑ a b c d e f g h i j k Geoffrey C. Gunn.
  5. ↑ a b c d Patricia Dexter.
  6. ↑ a b c d e f g h i j k l m n o p q r s t u v w x y Ernest Chamberlain, accessed September 7, 2013.
  7. ↑ Janet Gunter, pp. 31-32.
  8. ↑ a b c d e f Janet Gunter, p. 32.
  9. ↑ a b Janet Gunter, p. 33.
  10. ↑ Janet Gunter, pp. 32-33.
  11. ↑ a b c d e Janet Gunter p. 34.
  12. ^ Susana Barnes: Origins, Precedence and Social Order in the Domain of Ina Ama Beli Darlari. (PDF) In: Land and life in Timor-Leste: Ethnographic Essays. ANU E Press , Canberra, 2011, ISBN 978-1-921862-59-5 , pp. 23-46 , accessed June 7, 2019 (English, pdf, 2.3 MB).
  13. ↑ Janet Gunter pp. 35-36.
  14. ↑ a b Janet Gunter p. 36.
  15. ↑ a b Janet Gunter p. 37
  16. ↑ Janet Gunter, pp. 33-34.
  17. ↑ Janet Gunter p. 35.
  18. ↑ Janet Gunter, pp. 36-37.
This version was added to the list of articles worth reading on September 20, 2017 .