[2] Its origin is traced back to groups who lost lands and power for fighting the Portuguese and those who collaborated with the Japanese during World War II.

In December 1998, on behalf of the Kopassus, he revitalised a pro-integration youth movement that he had led in the early 1990s, and renamed it Mahidi.

In the course of 1999, the militiamen committed a large number of acts of violence during Operation Guntur, whom human rights supporters accuse of many crimes.

He had sought assistance from the Indonesian government, citing a perceived unreciprocated patriotic service to Indonesia.

[8] By October 2001, several members had already went back to East Timor including 378 refugees led by Nemecio Lopes de Carvalho, the deputy commander of Mahidi.

Among them were Vasco da Cruz, Câncio Lopes de Carvalho, his brother Nemecio and Orlando Baptista.

Arrest warrants were applied for in the Dili District Court and forwarded to the Attorney General's Office of Indonesia and Interpol.