by Charles Scheiner

Eighteen months have elapsed since the Indonesian military and its militia proxies devastated East Timor. A quarter century has passed since the U.S.-supported Indonesian invasion of East Timor began an occupation which killed one-third of the population and kidnapped, raped, tortured and terrorized hundreds of thousands more. Uncountable crimes against humanity have been committed in East Timor since 1975 by Indonesian forces, with the complicity of the world's "great powers." It is a record which cries out for justice...

The Hotel Olympia, moored in Dili harbor opposite UNTAET HQ until New Year's Day 2001, housed many international UNTAET staff and was a symbol of the economic and cultural disparity between East Timorese and those who came to govern them. Photo by Charles Scheiner.

Justice is not only achieved in the courts. It should be present in day-to-day interactions between the powerful and the powerless members of society. In this regard, the UN Transitional Administration fails badly. After more than a year of sovereignty over East Timor, UNTAET has learned little. Many of the international staff of the UN and other large institutions and agencies in East Timor are racist, sexist, rushed and arrogant. They don't care to learn the language, history, culture, needs or desires of the people they are ruling, and don't bother to ask the population for direction or ideas. Although there are exceptions to this generalization, those who fit the pattern are ubiquitous and reappear on every large UN mission. The problems have systemic causes.

UN workers, hopping from one trouble spot to another, give loyalty to the mission; their priority is their career. Many have six-month contracts, and almost all will be gone when independence comes in early 2002. They rush to complete tasks before they leave and do not think about who will do the work after they are gone.

The UN brought 180 international workers to East Timor to canvass households for a "civic registration" database. Though called "volunteers", these foreigners are paid many times what it would cost to hire an East Timorese worker who would do a better job and still be around next year. Foreign workers don't know the language, geography, or people, and can't find their way around. Given the 80% unemployment rate for East Timorese, this is outrageous.

UNTAET international staff make 50 times as much as East Timorese doing the same jobs. The UN says low East Timorese wages - usually less than $10 a day - are necessary so that East Timorese workers don't become accustomed to a lifestyle which cannot continue after the UN leaves. But prices have tripled because international staffers make $300 a day or more. A new economy has developed to soak up this excess cash - container and cruise ship hotels, car rentals, cell phones, satellite TV, restaurants, weekends in Bali - dominated by expatriate Australians who will take their profits home when the UN departs. Little of the money stays in East Timor, and no permanent or sustainable development results. For example, the UN imports millions of plastic water bottles from Indonesia - filling the streets with litter - but potable water systems haven't been repaired. Most other infrastructure (roads, electricity, telephones, houses, commercial buildings not used by the UN) remains as devastated as in September 1999, after TNI and its militias burned 75% of the country.

UNTAET recently directed its local and international personnel not to talk with anyone outside the mission about anything relating to East Timor. This is not the first example of a culture of secrecy in the transitional authority: UN staffers have been threatened with dismissal for discussing the reasons for Dili's electricity being off more than half the time (there are random blackouts in different neighborhoods; apparently the UN didn't budget enough money for diesel fuel).

UNTAET is mandated to prepare East Timor for independence and should be "helping, not doing" as they train East Timorese to take over their jobs. But UN staffers are used to working in disaster areas, with ostensibly helpless victims of war and catastrophe. They do not see East Timorese people as triumphant in a long and often heroic struggle against a neighbor 200 times their size.

La'o Hamutuk, ETAN and others are pushing UNTAET to understand and avoid the most egregious aspects of international behavior, and to see how they can be a part of the solution, rather than the problem.

Eventually, East Timor will triumph over the damage wrought by UNTAET, its fourth foreign occupation in 60 years. But is this an appropriate legacy for the international community to leave its newest member?

Estafeta, www.etan.org
Vol. 7, No. 2, Spring 2001

Neocolonial Experience in the North and East of Sri Lanka

The North and East of Sri Lanka has become the new darling for the international aid community. The business case for providing support to the poor, marginalized people of the North and East is strong. With close to twenty years of war under their belt, the people have suffered enormously. Schools have been ruined; temples desecrated; families split; and virtually everyone displaced at some time or another. There is no doubt of the massive need that exists for rehabilitation and rebuilding. The needs go beyond just resurrecting houses, schools, community centers and libraries. The need to assist the people recover both emotionally and physically is greater. The need to rebuild the self worth of individuals and families is incalculable. Thus it is very easy to justify to funders that Sri Lanka is in dire need and that the “west” must intervene to assist the people rebuild.

The response from the international aid community by any measure has been impressive. As an immediate aftermath of the cessation of hostilities, NGO’s – everyone from every walk of life – have made Sri Lanka and especially the North and East their priority. They have dispersed a plethora of aid workers with specialized skills and resources to the war affected regions to assist in the reconstruction. While this impressive commitment may benefit the NGO’s gain recognition amongst donors, one must seriously question what they are in fact doing in Sri Lanka and if their work in reality helps those in need? The more poignant question we need to ask is who is going to make them accountable?

Prior to the cessation of hostilities, there existed a handful of NGO’s in the North and East, namely the ICRC, UNHCR and a few others. The main purpose of their existence there was to facilitate communication and to offer menial aid to those affected by war. Many citizens praise the work of organizations such as the ICRC for being a buffer in times of war and in supporting the needs of the people affected by conflict.

During the period of conflict, the massive violations of human rights and the insurmountable loss of lives was not the concern of international NGO’s. Some chose to send out press releases from their London offices condemning a party to the conflict of a violation here and there. But not a single organization took it upon themselves to bring out the true affects of the war to the international community. The mass exodus of 1995 has become the benchmark for most living in the North and East. Individuals will painstakingly offer you stories of how they suffered as the Sri Lankan military ruthlessly moved into Jaffna thereby displacing hundreds of thousands of people. They will tell you of how they slept on roads with no shelter and how they pillaged to get a bite to eat. The people of this land will tell you how they lost their way of life when they moved from their traditional homes into those owned by others. There is a story in every family, the dreaded day when they found out that their loved one was killed by the army. The silence of the international community in bringing out these stories is indeed deafening. The silence of the Pajero trotting humanitarians of the real affect of war makes us question their credibility in being in the North and East and attempting to build the structures of a civil society. It is this history of silence and deference that makes us question the legitimacy of the work done by these international NGO’s.

While we maybe able to forgive their absence or silence during the war period, we cannot afford to give them free reign on the development of the North and East. This is a land for which thousands of lives have been lost in order to rid our part of the world of colonial powers. We cannot afford to replace Singhala colonizers with western ones in the name of humanitarian aid and development. The terrain of the North and East is for Tamils to develop. The Tamil people living there are ours to feed, educate, clothe and look after. We have contributed to the welfare of the people in the past and we will continue to look after their needs.

But the NGO sector seems high bent on protecting its interests. While they set up operation in the North, they often marginalize the poor people living in the area. As an example, Temple Road was once a haven for internally displaced refugees from war affected areas. They were occupying homes owned by the well to do, most of them now living overseas. The refugees would often pay modest and sometimes no rent in return for maintaining the homes. Once the NGO sector started to move into Temple Road, they offered exorbitant amounts of rent. The landlords then evicted the tenants in their homes in return for unprecedented rents. Some homes on Temple Road are being rented for as much as 50,000 Rupees per month. After a year of the NGO invasion, Temple Road has virtually become a haven for westerners hell bent on saving the poor people of Jaffna. Needless to say, hundreds of displaced people have been forced to move back to more modest areas.

The next major issue with the NGO sector is the lack of local staff they have on their pay rolls. Most NGO’s have opted to fly in “international staff” with high pay scales and extended employee benefits than offering local people gainful employment. This move is based on two underlying premises. First, Tamil people are incapable of performing humanitarian work and their limited skill sets are inferior to those of their western counterparts. Secondly, Tamil people cannot control their destiny and be part of the development of their areas. These two notions are based on a neo-colonial worldview which renders “aid benefiting” groups such as Tamils powerless. Compounding this scenario is the highest level of respect given to aid workers. Most international staff are referred to as “Aiya” or “Amma”, a clear reference to the Tamil colonial experience with the British Raj.

These two issues identified above may appear petty. One can and should ignore these issues if it can be shown that the international NGO’s are changing the lives of people. The fact remains however that the life of an average Tamil living in the North and East (unless they are employed as drivers for an NGO) remains the same. The millions of dollars spent by NGO’s and their funders in the Jaffna region go to bank accounts of international staff and not to facilitate the humanitarian needs of the people affected by war. The standard joke of many of the cynics in Jaffna is that it takes two Landcruisers to build four wells. The NGO’s may be able to show during their reporting period that they have built 4 wells and thus gave water to hundreds of people or that they are responsible for enrolling thousands of children in schools. The reality is that we know how to built four wells for a mere margin of the cost incurred by an international NGO. Likewise, one would have to be extremely gullible to believe that the people of Jaffna need an international NGO to get their children enrolled in schools. We only need to look at the fierce competition to enter university from the Jaffna Peninsula to understand that Tamils in the North do not have to be encouraged to send their children to schools.

So what are the NGO’s doing in Jaffna? It is difficult to explain as if you talk to any international staff, they will go to great lengths to rhyme off their successes. They will point out their strengths and how the poor people need them in order to survive. Yet, the overwhelming majority of the people that responded were cynical about the impact of NGO’s on their lives. Sure the signs of the work done by NGO’s are very visible. They make a point of branding what they do and make it clear to the people that they are benefiting from a service that is brought to you by NGO X and funded by Government Y. However, the fact remains that their impact on the lives of people is so limited that one must ask who keeps them accountable? The Tamil media by any stretch of the imagination do not have the power to question the work of the NGO’s. The international media have never really set foot in the North or the East to truly conquer a story. The funders are satisfied with numbers produced by the NGO’s. Clearly, there is a lack of mechanism to hold the NGO’s accountable for their actions (or inaction).

At present, the NGO’s have free reign over the Jaffna Peninsula. Their work is under much more scrutiny in the Vanni due to the LTTE Administration’s prudence in safeguarding against waste. In sharp contrast to international NGO’s, one can look at the largest NGO working in the North and East – the Tamil Rehabilitation Organization. The work undertaken by the TRO is impressive with a skeleton of the expenditure incurred in contrast to its international counterparts. The TRO is acutely aware of the scarcity of resources and are very prudent in their management. They are also the experts in their terrain. They know the people and the their needs. They do not need to fly out international experts to do a needs assessment. The head of TRO, Dr. Maheswaran, has a hands on approach to the work of the TRO. As an umbrella group, TRO oversees hundreds of projects they fund. They also have strict accountability mechanisms in place to ensure effectiveness of their programs. It is indeed refreshing to see the work of the TRO on a number of fronts. First, TRO’s work stands as a monument to the ability of the Tamil community to look after itself. Secondly, it demonstrates the resolve of the Tamil people to rebuild and develop the region. One good thing that has emerged in the later stages of the peace talks is the establishment of a consortium of NGO’s that would oversee funds channeled to the North and East with the TRO playing a major role.

As assessment of the needs in the North and East reveals that there is a dire need for experts to go and contribute to both the humanitarian relief efforts along with the building process. However, the existing international humanitarian aid sector has failed to meet this need in an effective way. At the minimum, effective mechanisms to make the NGO’s accountable need to be implemented in order to ensure that money is not spent for the sake of spending. The limited amount of money earmarked to go to the North and East – must go to the North and East - not to international accounts. In reality, it would be nice to have an effective NGO sector willing to make a meaningful contribution to the development of the North and East – however, the Tamils living there, along with its administration, will ensure that effective aid and development will be there with or without international NGO’s.