VENTURA COUNTY NEWS : Area Woman Fears for Sister Caught in East Timor Violence

A Fillmore pediatrician said her sister, who is believed to be among only a handful of Americans caught in the violence-ravaged capital city of Dili in East Timor, was alive Thursday but still in danger.

Marlene Bautista, a member of the Salesian order of nuns, is staying with her order at a convent in the Indonesian province, said her sister, Ami Bautista-Vaughn, who received word Thursday from the offices of U.S. Sens. Barbara Boxer and Dianne Feinstein that her sister was alive.

Bautista-Vaughn, a Ventura resident, said she contacted the two California Democrats three days after communications with her sister were cut off. When they last talked Sunday night, Bautista-Vaughn said, Bautista hung up the phone just as three militia members were entering the convent.

“We were just calling and calling and calling,” Bautista-Vaughn said. “The phone lines were out. They didn’t allow any contact. That was the last we heard from her.”

The United States embassy in Jakarta was able to contact Bautista and relay the message to the offices of the U.S. senators, said Matthew Kagan, Southern California director for Boxer. Bautista had been taken to a police station, and returned to her convent unharmed, Kagan said.

Of the 300 people affiliated with the convent, only 35 were still there when the sister was returned, Bautista-Vaughn was told.

“No one is sure what happened, but at least I know she’s OK,” Bautista-Vaughn said. “She was surprisingly calm the last time I spoke to her. She says she has to be calm for the people there.”

Residents of East Timor recently voted to secede, action that sparked violence by anti-independence forces in the province and kept the United Nations building there a virtual fortress.

There is only a small handful of Americans still living in East Timor after evacuations at the beginning of the week, and the United Nations is considering further drawing down its international staff, according to a state department official who asked not to be identified.

“Anyone who wanted to leave, left,” he said. “Anyone who stayed, wanted to.”

Marlene Bautista, 38, and her sister grew up in Downey, graduated from St. Joseph’s High School in Lakewood and attended UCLA for a year before Marlene entered the convent 20 years ago. She has been a missionary in East Timor since 1988, helping build schools and running a local orphanage.

Bautista-Vaughn said when they spoke last weekend, her sister was virtually trapped in the convent, in which she is the lone American.

“There was no way for her to get out,” she said. “Even though it’s within walking distance, she couldn’t get to the U.N.”

Bautista-Vaughn, who has visited her sister twice in East Timor, said oppression in the province is almost palpable. Military squads patrol with bayonets and rifles. On one night of their visit, soldiers came into the convent and required the pediatrician and her husband to show their U.S. passports.

Nonetheless, Bautista-Vaughn said her sister refused to leave East Timor when given the opportunity.

“She says this is the most important thing for her to do. This is her calling,” she said. “Any other person would have said, ‘Get me out of here.’ She feels it’s important to be with the people.”

Bautista-Vaughn described her sister as an adventurer who is drawn to people in need of help, and someone who will very likely stay at the convent until every resident is airlifted out.

And that very likely won’t be soon.

“They’re helpless right now,” Bautista-Vaughn said. “She said there’s nothing they can do but pray.”

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