Bishop Belo criticized for being inexperienced<\/p>\n
By Meidyatama Suryodiningrat<\/p>\n
JAKARTA (JP): The head of the East Timor provincial
\nlegislature has lashed out at Bishop Carlos Filipe Ximenes Belo's
\nallegations of humans rights abuses, attributing them to
\nimmaturity and inexperience.<\/p>\n
\"I'm not trying to attack the bishop, but he is still a young
\nman...He does not know how evil the Portuguese government was,\"
\nsaid East Timor's chief legislator Antonio Freitas Parada
\nyesterday when asked about Belo.<\/p>\n
Bishop Belo has been the most vocal critic of Jakarta's
\npolicies on East Timor.<\/p>\n
Parada's unprecedented comments on the Bishop came as a
\nsurprise since, as the head of the mainly Catholic East Timorese
\npopulation, Belo wields tremendous influence which has, in the
\npast allowed him considerable leeway in leveling stinging
\ncriticisms at the government.<\/p>\n
Parada is currently in Jakarta to hand in a statement on
\nbehalf of the Timorese people expressing their disgust at
\nPortugal's claims to represent the Timorese people in their legal
\nsuit against Australia.<\/p>\n
\"We cannot accept what Portugal is doing,\" he said, saying
\nthat the Timorese had integrated with Indonesia in 1976 and as
\nsuch gave its mandate to the Indonesian government to do what it
\nsaw best in signing the Timor Gap treaty with Australia.<\/p>\n
Lisbon is suing Canberra over its deal with Jakarta to exploit
\na 61,000 square-kilometer sea stretch between East Timor and
\nAustralia, known as the Timor Gap.<\/p>\n
The case is currently being heard in the International Court
\nof Justice in the Hague.<\/p>\n
\"We the people of East Timor are the ones who have the right,
\nnot them (Portugal),\" he stated.<\/p>\n
Parada said that Belo was ignorant of the hardship suffered by
\nthe people of East Timor prior to the former-colony's integration
\nwith Indonesia.<\/p>\n
Parada added that by leaving at a young age and returning only
\nyears after the integration, Belo had been spared from the
\ntortures of colonialism and had never felt the agony of civil
\nwar. He thus failed to appreciate the prosperity the integration
\nhas brought to the province.<\/p>\n
The 47-year-old Belo was born in Baucau, East Timor. After
\ncompleting his elementary schooling in 1968 he left for Lisbon to
\nstudy at the Superior Institute and then at the Universiade
\nCatolica Portuguesa.<\/p>\n
He continued his studies in Rome at the Universita Pontificia
\nSalesiana where he acquired a doctoral degree in 1981. He
\nreturned home as the Catholic Bishop of East Timor a year later.<\/p>\n
\"He (Belo) came after the integration, so maybe he sees things
\nthat are unfamiliar to him,\" Parada said.<\/p>\n
However as someone who survived the colonial era, Parada
\ncontends that things are better now than they were before.<\/p>\n
\"Now people are freer than before because before 1974 we
\ncouldn't express ourselves,\" he said.<\/p>\n
He cited as proof the freedom of East Timor's youth who, by
\nfollowing the correct procedures and channels, may stage
\ndemonstrations and lodge complaints.<\/p>\n
Ninja<\/p>\n
When asked to comment on the reports of ninja-like gangs
\nrunning amok in the streets of Dili, Parada told journalists that
\nhe suspected they were juvenile delinquents.<\/p>\n
\"These ninjas are really groups of vigilantes,\" he said.<\/p>\n
He denied reports that the situation was unsafe in Dili and
\nasserted that daily life was proceeding normally.<\/p>\n
\"How could I be here if it weren't,\" he jested.<\/p>\n
Contrary to recent comments by critics and academics on the
\nneed to reduce the armed forces' presence in East Timor, Parada
\nsaid that the military's role there was a crucial one.<\/p>\n
\"The role of the military is, in general, still very important
\nto strengthen integration,\" he said.<\/p>\n
However he acknowledged that sometimes there were certain
\nindividuals in the army who did break with the norms and infringe
\nupon the rights of others.<\/p>\n
\"There are abuses of human rights, but in my opinion it is
\nbeing done by individual parties and not by the government,\" he
\nsaid.<\/p>\n
\"The government is good. It's just certain individuals who
\nhave been given power or are too emotional,\" he added.<\/p>",
"url": "https:\/\/jawawa.id\/newsitem\/bishop-belo-criticized-for-being-inexperienced-1447893297",
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