East Timor's achievement this month of the independence it had sought for a quarter-century gave a new role not just to its former rebel leaders, but to the activists groups that campaigned for it even when most of the world seemed to have forgotten the territory.

Just last week, East Timorese President Xanana Gusmao acknowledged the role of the international solidarity movement, saying it had given the guerrillas strength to continue.

But in a unique twist of fate, many of civil society organisations are fast changing from supporters of the 'East Timorese cause' and assigning themselves to being the new government's unofficial watchdog. They also say that they will be monitoring international institutions operating in a country without a history of democratic governance.

At an informal gathering in Dill on March 22, Gusmao thanked a crowd of 200 people, mainly members of groups that worked for East Timor, for their contribution to the 24-year independence struggle.

Gusmao recalled that for the Falintil resistance fighters in particular, the solidarity networks around the world, and journalists who kept the issue of East Timor alive, whose broadcasts the guerrillas picked up on short-wave signals from the forests, provided critical inspiration during the most difficult times.

"Your role was very, very important," he said. "It was important in mobilising international public opinion, and not only mobilising governments' attitudes and behaviours, but in mobilising our moral and psychological state of mind. Our victory was your victory."

Vital role

Yet today, Gusmao stated, civil society still had a vital role to play in helping Timorese reduce poverty in what is now the poorest country in Asia — and that it is helping it improve quality of life to address problems that create human and other forms of insecurity at present.

Forty-eight percent of East Timorese are illiterate, and economists with the United Nations Development Programme (UNDP) say that half of its more than 700,000 people earns about a dollar a day, surviving mostly assubsistence farmers.

Many East Timorese agree that livelihood concerns rank high in their priorities as their country takes its first steps as an independent nation.

"The economy still needs fixing," said Antonio Lobato, a 25-year-old who also works at a shop in Dili. "Eighty percent of people don't have jobs, and unemployment has already risen since UNTAET (United Nations Transitional Authority in East Timor) left the country."

"It's still easy to see children who have no parents washing cars on the street with water bottles, and selling drinks and cigarettes rather than going to school. The government should focus on education," he explained.

"The government should concentrate on stabilising the economy before focusing on justice, because many people's standard of living is still very low," said Lucio Cardozo, 22, referring to calls by activists for an international tribunal to focus on rights violations during Indonesia's rule of East Timor. "Many people still do not have houses and many others are hungry."

Gusmao last week told activists who had supported East Timor: "You are aware of the big challenge that we will face. And I believe we can go forward in the same way as during the past 24 years."

But some activists appear to be taking on a critical role toward the government's priorities, raising questions and unresolved rights violations committed in East Timor after the 1999 referendum vote and the new country's development policies.

Impunity for militia leaders

They have expressed concern about impunity for the Indonesian military generals and militia leaders who were responsible for crimes against humanity in East Timor.

They have also raised issues like the negotiations with Australia to share resources from oil exploration in the Timor Sea, and agreements signed with the World Bank and the International Monetary Fund.

But a candid Gusmao defended his decision to focus on poverty reduction, providing jobs, and good governance, rather than pressing for the creation of an international tribunal for East Timor.

Such a tribunal would come at an estimated cost of US$600 million per year, while East Timor has received roughly US$100 million per year in development assistance from the international donor community.

"We have between 20 to 25 percent of our population between 20 and 30 years old without jobs," Gusmao said. "During the next year if we don't give jobs and start to promise in concrete terms that they can have a hope, we will face unrest. We have 54 percent of the population under 20 years old, and we want to build a new generation. We must look forward for them."

According to Foreign Minister Jose Ramos Horta, the pragmatic responsibilities of running the country and alleviating poverty have created a situation where the international solidarity movement is now better placed that the East Timorese government to lobby for the establishment of an international tribunal.

"For me, the greatest justice done to East Timor is our freedom, our independence," he said.

He added: "If I were on the Security Council I would press for an international tribunal in East Timor. But I can't really force (the issue). If it is the goal of civil society, and you are prepared to lobby for an international court for East Timor, one thing I can tell you is you are doing a very good thing for the people of East Timor."

New York-based journalist Amy Goodman of Democracy Now, a radio programme that has long focused on the plight of the Timorese, said: "The people of East Timor have won a tremendous victory, but at a very high price. In terms of those that perpetrated (rights violations), we have to find out who they are and cover their trials and see what happens to them."

Christian Ranheim, director of the Judicial System Monitoring Programme in Dili, says Gusmao and foreign governments are not backing calls for an international tribunal out of fear of sparking conflict between Indonesia's civilian government and the military, which could imperil the already fragile stability in Indonesia, as well as in East Timor.

Yet, he adds: "I think it's important that crimes in East Timor be tried and the international community show that we don't tolerate these crimes. And when it comes to East Timor, it's especially important because the international community has betrayed it for 25 years. So the international community should have a special commitment toward East Timor and to try those who are guilty here."

War-related destruction

Some 200,000 East Timorese died from war-related causes under Indonesian occupation until 1999.

Nearly three years ago, after a UN-sponsored referendum in which nearly 80 percent of East Timorese voted for a break with Indonesia, pro-Jakarta militias backed by the Indonesian military killed 2,000 Timorese, displaced three-quarters of the population, and destroyed nearly all buildings.

Meanwhile, Charles Scheiner of La'o Hamotuk, a joint East Timorese-international group that monitors key international institutions present in East Timor, suggests that the new Timorese government be wary of engaging with organisations such as the International Monetary Fund and the Asian Development Bank, despite its desperate need for financial assistance.

"The governments around the world who have engaged with these institutions, their people invariably suffer," said Scheiner. "As East Timor enters the global community, we will campaign against debt and against selling hard-won sovereignty for financial support."

Isabella Galhos, an East Timorese who spent 10 years in exile in Canada, says that in the end, the support that people need from solidarity groups lies in practical issues. "We need people to come to East Timor and share their skills, their knowledge and education with the people," she said, "so that by the time they leave this country, we know how to do things by ourselves."

In spite of rising divisions between the Timorese government and some civil society groups, Ramos Horta said both sides should cooperate in the future because "you want the well-being of the people of East Timor, and we want the well-being of the people of East Timor".

"Sometimes we will not agree, and sometimes we will hear criticism from you. The criticism will be very welcome," Ramos Horta added. "The criticism will be very painful, and maybe it will be painful because sitting there alone in my office I probably know that they are right, but there is nothing I can do about it."