The day, like most others in East Timor, started very early. But it was not the chickens or motorbikes that woke us that day, it was heart-pounding excitement.
It was 30 August 1999. An event was about to take place that had seemed entirely mythical. It was so unlikely, yet here it was. After 24 years of military occupation, the East Timorese would decide via UN referendum whether to remain a part of Indonesia, or become an independent nation.
My colleague Mandy and I were UN observers visiting Maliana, the large town close to the border with West Timor. In the darkness we sat outside the UN compound eating hot bread rolls bought from a lone man pushing a cart. As we drove to the small mountain chapel where we intended to spend the day, scores of people lined the road walking slowly towards the polling booth.
At the chapel of Odomau-Atas I saw people I had met on previous visits to Maliana. They smiled shyly as they cast their votes and seemed a little perplexed as to what to do with themselves after this momentous, yet somehow mundane event (tick the box, fold the paper, place it in the blue box) was over.
But the euphoria would not last. By mid-afternoon as UN observers and staff celebrated the remarkably peaceful day, locals began to exercise long held plans to evacuate to Falintil (Armed Forces for an Independent East Timor) held mountain areas. Their fear was of a violent Indonesian military and militia backlash for their having had the audacity to come out and vote in the face of a tremendous months-long campaign of intimidation.
By nightfall there were over a hundred refugees seeking shelter in the backyard of the UN house we were staying in. The Australian head of the UN in the district spent hours negotiating with the Indonesian Police Chief for their safe passage to the police compound the following morning.
A week after the ballot, as police looked on, militia would murder 47 people there.
By then we were back in Dili. Our journey had been punctuated by frightening searches at militia roadblocks. The beautiful, friendly people we had known were in a quandary — stay at home, or run to the mountains to hide. Some tried to leave but were stymied by an early release of the results: almost 80 per cent for independence.
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