Mia Alkatiri

Blood shapes Helmia's life

HELMIA (Mia) Alkatiri has reason to smile over her life in Darwin, but life hasn't always been so easy for the daughter and niece of two of East Timor's prominent revolutionaries. CHRIS CARTER reports.

With arms laden with books and a warm smile you'd be forgiven for thinking Darwin university student Helmia Alkatiri was a face in the crowd. Unfortunately the opposite has been true her whole life -- on the streets of Dili she is, by blood, considered a revolutionary and political fugitive.

''There are a lot of people who come from the mountain down to Dili ... if they know you are an Alkatiri, that's it,'' she said.

Helmia, 23, is the niece of ex-East Timorese Prime Minister Dr Mari Alkatiri, who stepped down in June amid allegations he secretly armed a hit squad to silence opponents.

Her father, Ahmad Alkatiri, is a staunch Fretilin party member and has been part of East Timor's push for independence since he was a teenage soldier in the Indonesian Army. CORRECTION: Fretilin Army

''He's stressed because of the pressure our family has and because of what's been happening to East Timor,'' she said of her father. ''He said: 'We've been fighting, we've been killing each other because we want independence' -- that's 1999 -- 'and now we're killing each other again'.
''It shouldn't happen and he's not happy -- it's been just another year of a lot of blood.''

For Helmia, growing up in the pro-independence Alkatiri family in the 1990s was turbulent, as was the era itself. The family moved to Jakarta in 1995 following a failed assassination attempt on Ahmad, in which he lost his left thumb. A second attack three years later -- witnessed by Helmia, then 14 -- prompted the Alkatiris to move to Australia. ''My brother was waiting in the car. I was with my parents,'' she recalled. ''I saw the gun pointed at dad's head.''

In 1998 the Alkatiris began a new life in Perth, where Helmia studied English before moving to Darwin to complete her high school education at Sanderson High School and Kormilda College. She graduated Year 12 in 2001 and enrolled in a Bachelor of Information Technology at Charles Darwin University. The rest of her family is still in Dili. ''I'm here because of my education. I must make the most of it,'' she said.

Violence tore through the East Timorese capital this year (2006) when 600 disgruntled former soldiers, sacked by then Prime Minister Alkatiri, led a protest over favouritism and discrimination in the army that later sparked widespread rioting. Most reported estimates put the death toll at about 30, but the Northern Territory News spoke to reliable sources in Dili who said the figure was higher.

Helmia recently returned from a trip to Dili, which she described as a ''tinderbox'' of tensions, to see her family. ''When I arrived in Dili ... the airport was good because I know most of the people that work there. They're my friends,'' she said. ''But I can't really say how Dili is. It was not safe to go outside at all.''

The trip included a fleeting meeting with her uncle, who she said seemed in good spirits in spite of personal tribulations and East Timor's civil uprising. ''I said 'hi, how are you and gave him a hug and kiss','' she said. ''He asked how I am and how I deal with everything. He said keep studying hard -- if ever I go to see him he always said 'how's your school?'. ''He's got a grand-daughter, six-months-old. At the moment he's taking a rest. But he's still working on Fretilin, getting ready for elections next year.

''Before, he didn't have time for his family. When he was prime minister and we had a family dinner, he couldn't be there. ''He worked 24 hours in his position. He didn't have time for his kids. Sometimes we complained. ''After he resigned as PM, that's when he had more time. At the moment all of my family, the Alkatiri family, is happy he stepped down. Very happy.''

Of major concern to the family, Helmia said, was the outcome of an investigation into whether Dr Alkatiri will be charged over the death squad scandal. ''They said they were going to give the result a month or two months ago,'' she said. ''But they keep pulling and pulling. The result still hasn't come out.'' Helmia admitted the civil conflict in Dili had taken a heavy emotional toll, eased mainly by peer support from members of her soccer club Waratah. ''It's very stressful. I have a couple of good friends from my soccer club that kept calling me to support me (during the violence),'' she said. ''I love my parents so much. I'm very worried that if anything was to happen to them I'd end up here by myself. ''I could lose them. I could lose my brother ... but I have to concentrate on my study.''

Helmia said she had planned to finish her degree and return to East Timor to work with her father, who won a government tender to build civil infrastructure including roads outside of Dili. But she admitted having fallen in love with Australia. ''Australia is a beautiful country and in Darwin there are friendly people,'' she said. ''If I get a chance to stay and be Australian … why not.''

Northern Territory News (Australia)