Wanra
The Wanra (from Indonesian perla wan an ra kyat for popular resistance) are groups of civilians who have been armed and trained by the Indonesian armed forces TNI to ensure law and order in their region on an official basis. The Indonesian Constitution of 1945 and the Defense Act of 1988 state that civilians have the right and duty to defend the state by receiving basic military training .
The Wanra in East Timor
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| Wanra | District | Militia chief |
|---|---|---|
| Tim / Team Alfa | Lautém | Joni Marques |
| Saka / Sera | Baucau | Joanico da Costa |
| Pedjuang 59-75 Makikit | Viqueque | Martinho Fernandes |
| Ablai | Manufahi | Nazario Corterel |
| AHI | Aileu | Horacio |
| Mahidi | Ainaro | Câncio de Carvalho |
| Laksaur | Cova Lima | Olivio Mendonca Moruk |
| Aitarak | Dili | Eurico Guterres |
| Sakunar | Oe-Cusse Ambeno | Simão Lopes |
| Besi Merah Putih BMP | Liquiçá | Manuel de Sousa |
| Halilintar | Bobonaro |
Maliana : João da Costa Tavares ; Bobonaro : Natalino Monteiro |
| Jati Merah Putih | Lautém ( Lospalos ) | Edmundo de Conceição Silva |
| Darah Merah Integrasi | Ermera | Lafaek Saburai (Afonso Pinto), |
| Naga Merah (Red Dragon) | Ermera | Miguel Soares Babo |
| Dadarus Merah Putih | Bobonaro | Natalino Monteiro |
Domingos Maria das Dores Soares , Administrator of Dili , created Pam Swakarsa (Self- Initiated Security Group ) on May 17, 1999 . The resolution named José Abílio Osório Soares , Governor of Timor Timur , Lieutenant General Kiki Syahnakri , Provincial Military Commander (Danrem) and the Provincial Police Chief as the main advisers to Pam Swakarsa. Eurico Guterres was appointed "Operational Commander". Among the 2,650 registered members included the 1521 members of the Aitarak - militia .
The existence of the Wanra confirmed Lieutenant General a. D. Kiki Syahnakri when he testified to the Truth and Friendship Commission (CTF) in October 2007. The CTF clarified the connections between the violent riots surrounding the 1999 independence referendum in East Timor . At that time, pro-Indonesian militias, together with the TNI, tried to intimidate the population. In the operation thunder , hundreds of women and girls were up to 3,000 people were killed raped, displaced three-quarters of the population of East Timor and destroyed 75% of the country's infrastructure. Only the intervention of an international peacekeeping force was able to put a stop to this. East Timor came under the administration of the United Nations . According to the referendum result (78.5% for independence), East Timor became an independent state in 2002.
Syahnakri testified that the Wanra were legal "civil defense groups" that were part of the general Indonesian defense system at the time and that existed all over Indonesia, and therefore also in East Timor. These groups were armed at their own request only to protect their neighborhood.
The political arm for the pro-autonomy movement was formed by a number of organizations founded in early 1999. On January 27, 1999 they founded the Forum for Unity, Democracy and Justice ( Indonesian Forum Persatuan, Demokrasi dan Keadlian FPDK). Domingos Maria das Dores Soares, the government president (Bupati) of the Dili district, took over the leadership . In April, the East Timor Popular Front ( Indonesian Barisan Rakyat Timor Timur BRTT) was founded with Francisco Lopes da Cruz as its head. The United Front for East Timor (UNIF), founded on June 23 as an umbrella organization, assembled the FPDK, BRTT and other pro-Indonesian groups. The new organization was under the joint leadership of Soares, Lopez da Cruz and Armindo Soares Mariano , the chairman of the provincial parliament, the Council of Representatives of the People (DPRD). João da Costa Tavares commanded the UNIF militias, which united old militias and the newly founded ones from 1999 in the "armed forces of the integration struggle" ( Indonesian Pasukan Pro-Integrasi PPI). The organizations were closely connected to the civil administration and were financed by it. They routinely attended military, police, and government (muspida) meetings , even though they had no official status. The UNAMET was denigrated in an FPDK campaign, which was widely disseminated in the Indonesian public and through diplomatic channels.
After the independence referendum, the organization was replaced by the University of Timor Aswain (UNTAS, German Association of Timorese Heroes ), which was founded in West Timor on February 5, 2000 .
Discussion about the use of the wanra
The Indonesian military expert Kusnanto Anggoro from the Center for Strategic and International Studies emphasized that the Wanra should not be used for internal conflicts, but only to support the TNI in the fight against external threats. Here the defense law must clearly exclude the use of the Wanra in internal conflicts.
Yusron Ihza Mahendra , Deputy Speaker of Commission I for Defense of the House of Representatives, contradicts this opinion and supports the use of the Wanra also inside.
Defense Ministry spokesman Brigadier General Edi Butar Butar said that the current law does not even mention the terms “wanra” and “sishankamrata” (from Indonesian sistem pertahanan rakyat semesta for defense of the population and security system). The Defense Act of 2002 provided only the TNI as the main component of the defense system. Civil groups would only be listed as a reserve component. The continued existence of already existing civil units is now the responsibility of the provincial administration. The TNI is only responsible for their military training.
See also
Web links
- Masters of Terror : Information on the 1999 violence in East Timor
- Geoffrey Robinson: People's war: militias in East Timor and Indonesia (English; PDF; 408 kB)
Individual evidence
- ↑ a b Jakarta Post, October 27, 2007, TNI 'should not deploy Wanra' for internal rows ( Memento of the original from January 7, 2016 in the Internet Archive ) Info: The archive link was automatically inserted and not yet checked. Please check the original and archive link according to the instructions and then remove this notice.
- ↑ ASAP - Crimes Against Humanity in East Timor - January to October 1999 ( Memento of May 8, 2005 in the Internet Archive )
- ↑ GEOFFREY ROBINSON: East Timor 1999: Crimes against Humanity. (A Report commissioned by the UN Office of the High Commissioner for Human Rights) , UNIVERSITY OF CALIFORNIA LOS ANGELES, HAK ASSOCIATION & ELSAM DILI & JAKARTA, July 2003 , accessed May 8, 2020.
- ↑ Master of Terror, Natalino Monteiro
- ↑ "Part 3: The History of the Conflict" , p. 138 (PDF; 1.4 MB) from the "Chega!" Report of the CAVR (English)
- ↑ a b Jakarta Post, October 25, 2007, TNI 'armed' East Timor civilians ( Memento of the original from April 30, 2015 in the Internet Archive ) Info: The archive link was inserted automatically and has not yet been checked. Please check the original and archive link according to the instructions and then remove this notice.
- ↑ a b “Chega!” - Report: Part 3, The campaign - Active pro-autonomy groups , pp. 140–141.
- ↑ Masters of Terror: Domingos Maria das Dores Soares ( Memento of October 9, 2010 in the Internet Archive ).
- ↑ Michaela Müller and Monika Schlicher: Political parties and groupings in East Timor , Indonesia Information No. 1 2002 (East Timor), Watch Indonesia!
