Ousted Doctor Returns to East Timor.

• Author: ERVIN, MIKE
• Position: Dan Murphy - Brief Article

Dili, East Timor

Dan Murphy is a doctor at a clinic in East Timor. He treats victims of the paramilitary violence in that country. "It's a constant stream of wounded--people beaten up, machete wounds, and all the illnesses that go along with not getting enough food, not having housing," Murphy says. He never hesitates to talk to the foreign press about the brutality he witnesses--a habit that has not made him popular with the Indonesian government.

So when he was summoned in May to meet with immigration officials in Jakarta, he feared he would be kicked out.

Murphy was in East Timor on a three-month tourist permit, since he was unable to get a work visa that would have allowed him to stay in the country longer. He overstayed his visa in order to continue to see patients.

Shortly before Murphy was summoned, an Indonesian paramilitary group put out a press release accusing him of being in the country illegally and of spreading

lies about the Indonesian government. The East Timor Action Network got hold of the press release. When the organization heard that Murphy had been asked to leave East Timor and go to Jakarta, it made telephone calls to State Department officials and members of Congress from Murphy's native Iowa.

The efforts had an effect. When Murphy arrived in Jakarta, he was told he could return to East Timor if he simply went to Singapore and got a new visa...