Picking up the pieces

Dozens of homes were destroyed in the militia attack

By CNN's Joe Havely in Maliana, East Timor

DILI, East Timor -- For residents of the village of Memo in East Timor the run up to the territory’s first ever election is a time for reflection.

On August 27 they plan to hold a special mass to mark the second anniversary of the day in 1999 when a band of militiamen, determined to keep the territory a part of Indonesia, brought death and destruction to the village.

In just a few hours, in a pattern of violence that was repeated across the territory, the village was transformed from a peaceful farming community into a blazing inferno.

The men who brought this destruction left almost as quickly as they arrived, leaving behind them burning homes, wrecked livelihoods and at least three dead -- one of them a child.

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The attack was part of a reign of terror carried out by supporters of an autonomy plan, proposed by then Indonesian president BJ Habibie, to keep East Timor part of Indonesia.

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Under the UN-sponsored referendum, held just three days after the attack, voters were asked to either accept the deal or reject the plan -- the latter decision paving the way to independence.

Local police helped destroy houses

The violence was sparked a few kilometers away, in the town of Maliana, where rumors spread through a rally of pro-Indonesia supporters that there had been an attack on their members in Memo.

The militia, traveling in a convoy of trucks, was heavily armed with machetes, automatic weapons and grenades supplied by supporters in the Indonesian military.

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Ironically however, Memo was at the heart of a community considered sympathetic to the pro-autonomy cause -- a factor that underscores the senselessness of what took place there.

According to local residents, the several members of the local police actually helped in the destruction of their houses.

Two years on, the residents of Memo are beginning to rebuild their lives, but the scars left by the attack on their village and on their lives will take many years to heal.

The burned-out shells of many family homes lie untouched -- others have been patched up as best they can with material supplied by the UN and other aid agencies.

Life is harder now

Joachim Lopes tends to his brother’s grave

Joachim Amoral Lopes lost his brother in the attack -- targeted, he says, because he was a secret member of the Falintil resistance against Indonesian rule.

His home was burned out, destroying his life savings of 20 million rupiah (about $1,200).

For several hours after the militia left he wandered the village distraught thinking he had also lost wife and child -- he was eventually reunited with them at a nearby police station.

Yet despite his loss and despite the fact that he says his life has become harder since the vote, he says the sacrifices he and other residents of Memo made that day were worth it.

“They gave their lives for the future of East Timor,” he says.

Two years on, he says he feels nothing towards the men who carried out the attack.

“I want them to face justice,” he says, “but more than that I want them just to stay away from my life, my family and my village.”

His brother’s grave, strewn with purple petals, sits in the shade of a tree just a few meters from his house

On top, carved into the cement, a motto in Tetun, the native Timorese language: ‘Mate maibe, sei manan funu’ -- ‘I died, but I won the war.’