Political reconciliation means power sharing: Abilio<\/p>\n
JAKARTA (JP): It is easy to say \"You must forgive\" when you
\nhave not had any family members killed in a war or have never
\nbeen a victim of torture or intimidation. It is what the East
\nTimorese have been hearing all these years, that they must
\nforgive each other in order to build a new, better future
\ntogether.<\/p>\n
Are they willing to forgive each other and start anew? Can
\nthey forget the suffering during the 1975 civil war and during
\nall these years of integration with Indonesia? These are key
\nquestions being addressed at the current Dare II talks in Jakarta
\nsponsored by Dili Bishop Carlos Filipe Ximenes Belo and Baucau
\nBishop Basilio do Nascimento.<\/p>\n
The first day of the talks began on a promising note as all
\nparticipants from the proindependence and prointegration camps
\nagreed on the need for reconciliation. To reconcile means to
\nforgive.<\/p>\n
\"We don't forget, but we are willing to forgive,\" former
\nFretilin president Abilio Araujo said in an interview with The
\nJakarta Post here last week.<\/p>\n
Abilio arrived in Jakarta from Portugal on June 16 to attend
\nthe second Dare meeting as an observer and then to visit his
\nmother and relatives in East Timor, which he left in 1971 before
\nthe 1975 civil war.<\/p>\n
An initiator of reconciliation among East Timorese, Abilio
\nstresses that reconciliation is a main condition for a peaceful
\nand fair ballot in August, when the East Timorese will decide
\nwhether to remain part of Indonesia and accept a wide-ranging
\nautonomy offer from President B.J. Habibie or whether they want
\nindependence.<\/p>\n
\"Reconciliation is a human feeling, Christian or religious
\nsentiment. But then we also have political reconciliation. It is
\na question of how to apply this human and religious feeling in
\nour political and daily life. Forgiveness has political
\nimplications, that is to share power,\" he said.<\/p>\n
This means that whatever the outcome in the August ballot,
\nthose whose aspirations are met should accommodate those who
\nvoted the other way and allow the latter's participation in a
\ndemocratic government.<\/p>\n
Unfortunately, said Abilio, the tripartite agreement signed on
\nMay 5 in New York by Indonesia, Portugal and the United Nations
\ndoes not provide space for those whose aspirations are not met.<\/p>\n
\"For me the agreement is only good for the three parties who
\nsigned it. The East Timorese were not involved in the discussion
\nof the agreement, that's why there are so many problems today,\"
\nsaid Abilio, who claimed that he was the only one who criticized
\nthe agreement on the day it was signed.<\/p>\n
\"CNRT (National Resistance Council for an Independent East
\nTimor) supported it, different members of CNRT supported it. But
\nI see now many of them have started to criticize it,\" said the
\nformer Fretilin leader, whose disagreement with his commander in
\nchief Jose Alexandre \"Xanana\" Gusmao became internationally known
\nin 1993 after Abilio began the long path to reconciliation by
\ninitiating a debate on the matter.<\/p>\n
Despite his criticism of the May 5 agreement, Abilio agrees
\nthat the ballot must go on.<\/p>\n
\"At this stage, it is crucial that peace and stability be
\nrestored as a precondition to a fair, free and democratic
\nconsultation. The violence that occurred in past months
\noriginated from both sides. That's why I welcomed the peace
\nagreement signed last week by the rival factions. It should serve
\nas a starting point to reach this peace. The agreement is also
\ngood because it refers to the need to have a code of conduct
\nbetween all political players,\" he said.<\/p>\n
More important than the peace agreement is the need to
\nreconcile and the need to accept the decision that comes out as
\nthe result of the ballot.<\/p>\n
\"I think it is possible for the East Timorese to reconcile,
\nespecially if we have an attitude of finding a consensus through
\ndialog and reconciliation through a win-win solution because
\nhistorically in East Timor we never had a king, we did not have
\none unique entity that led East Timor. Before Portuguese
\ncolonialization of East Timor we were already divided.
\nPrecolonial East Timor was ruled by small kingdoms and the
\nPortuguese only took advantage of the situation,\" he said.<\/p>\n
According to Abilio, it is time that the East Timorese accept
\nsome kind of mechanism that will unite them.<\/p>\n
\"I believe democracy has its virtues, all of us has to accept
\nsome type of mechanism and it is democracy. So, as we go to the
\nballot, all of us have to prepare to accept the consequences,\"
\nsaid Abilio, who was elected Fretilin president in 1981 to
\nreplace Nicolao Lobato, who was killed in 1978.<\/p>\n
\"In a democracy, the winner should realize that those who lose
\nmust have their rights. The majority cannot start a period of
\ndictatorship. The minority, on the other hand, has to be prepared
\nto accept defeat,\" he added.<\/p>\n
Abilio, who was reelected Fretilin president in 1984, is also
\naware of the perception of the international community, the
\ninternational press in particular, of the situation in East
\nTimor.<\/p>\n
\"I know from my own experience that there are some journalists
\nand editors who have a preconceived standpoint, that is
\nindependence, because it was in the tradition of being anti-
\nSoeharto. I don't refer to the Indonesian press, but the foreign
\nmedia always try to project proindependence supporters as angels
\nand prointegration people as devils. I think both are Timorese of
\nthe first class,\" said Abilio.<\/p>\n
He said if the international community, including the press,
\nreally wanted to help the East Timorese they have to help create
\na condition for the East Timorese to choose freely, even if they
\nchoose to continue with Indonesia but under a new structure of
\nadministration like wide-ranging autonomy for economic and
\nsecurity reasons.<\/p>\n
\"I think that options are there to be taken based on all these
\nimplications. Then we cannot say the people are not free. If the
\npeople say 'We cannot be independent because who will protect us,
\nbecause we are in a global economy, it is useless to have a new
\ncentral bank, needless to issue passports to East Timorese to go
\nto Kupang or Bali because people are used to going freely,' then
\nthese are the ingredients that need to be taken into account by
\nthe voters. And it does not mean that by thinking like that they
\nare not free,\" Abilio said.<\/p>\n
In this context it is important for the interests of the
\nIndonesian government to do whatever it can to keep stability and
\ntranquility in East Timor prior and during the ballot.<\/p>\n
\"Then, if the prointegration camp wins, no one will blame
\nIndonesia and accuse it of foul play. Besides, there will be
\ninternational observers to witness the voting,\" he said.<\/p>\n
The long road to reconciliation among the East Timorese began
\nafter the Dili massacre on Nov. 12, 1991. Abilio Araujo, as
\npresident of Fretilin, then launched a debate on Reconciliation
\nof the East Timorese.<\/p>\n
\"In 1993, I took the initiative as head of Fretilin to invite
\nLopes da Cruz, now the Indonesian ambassador at large for East
\nTimor affairs, and other East Timorese who are for integration to
\nmeet us abroad. The second meeting took place in 1994 in
\nChepstow, the United Kingdom, and was attended by (then) United
\nNations special envoy for East Timor Samuel Tamrat. It was after
\nthat meeting that the United Nations organized the All-Inclusive
\nIntra East Timorese Dialog (AIETD) in Austria,\" he said.<\/p>\n
Since the beginning of the reconciliation process, Abilio has
\nfought for the \"Third Way\" option, a concept on how to reach a
\nglobal settlement of the East Timor question.<\/p>\n
In 1994 Abilio, on behalf of other Fretilin leaders who
\nsupported reconciliation, petitioned the Indonesian government --
\nstating that East Timor should have a special status taking into
\naccount its distinct political and historical background -- for a
\nreduction in troops, the release of all political prisoners
\nincluding Xanana, as well as the introduction of the Tetun and
\nthe Portuguese languages and the history of East Timor at
\nschools.<\/p>\n
\"At that time, for us the Third Way was a compromise against
\nFretilin's demand for a referendum,\" said Abilio, who fought for
\ntotal independence for many years before he arrived at the
\ncompromise.<\/p>\n
In 1996, Abilio met president Soeharto and submitted his Third
\nWay proposal.<\/p>\n
\"We met at his office and he talked about what the government
\nhad done in East Timor. When I mentioned the petition, he went
\nquiet and then asked if I had been to East Timor. Later I said to
\nmyself that it was his way of saying I knew nothing about East
\nTimor,\" said Abilio.<\/p>\n
He dismissed criticism that the six AIETD meetings were a
\nfailure because participants were not allowed to touch on
\npolitical issues.<\/p>\n
\"We talked about political matters. What we did not do, and
\nthis was my proposal, was talk about the status of East Timor,
\nbecause if we did, one group would insist that East Timor was
\nalready under Indonesia, while the other would say that it was a
\nnon-self-governing entity under Portugal. Then we would achieve
\nnothing,\" said Abilio.<\/p>\n
An important aspect of the AIETD meetings was that it enabled
\nmembers of the rival factions to sit together and talk.<\/p>\n
\"Before, I could not see da Cruz and Abilio Soares (East Timor
\ngovernor) and they could not see me. Ramos-Horta also came and
\ntalked to them and we started to talk to each other,\" said
\nAbilio.<\/p>\n
Another achievement of the AIETD was that East Timorese living
\nabroad could visit East Timor and those residing in East Timor
\ncould go abroad and return. Also, the government began easing its
\npolicy on East Timorese who sought asylum in various embassies in
\nJakarta.<\/p>\n
\"Previously they were forced to return to East Timor, but
\nafter my meeting with Soeharto, they were allowed to leave the
\ncountry,\" he said.<\/p>\n
Abilio, however, acknowledged failures of the AIETD
\nparticipants to reach an agreement on his proposed middle way.<\/p>\n
\"I blame CNRT for this, especially in the last meeting in
\n1998, when Jamsheed Marker (current special envoy for East Timor)
\ncame and gave us the United Nations' proposal on autonomy and
\nasked for our input. I was ready to give my contribution, but
\nRamos-Horta simply refused to discuss it. Other CNRT leaders also
\ndecided to reject any discussion on the issue and in my opinion
\nthey simply cut off every possibility that we had to find a
\ncompromise,\" Abilio recalled.<\/p>\n
Unfortunately, his Third Way option further widened the rift
\nbetween him and Xanana, with whom he parted ways in 1989 after he
\ncriticized Xanana's strategy. Then, Xanana, commander in chief of
\nFalintil, Fretilin's armed faction, was Abilio's second in
\ncommand.<\/p>\n
\"There were differences in political strategy and the split
\n(between us) became known internationally when I decided to go
\nfor reconciliation. The Fretilin was split, with one part taking
\nsides with Xanana and the other supporting reconciliation,\" said
\nAbilio.<\/p>\n
In his opinion, in this era of globalization and of
\ninterdependency, and also taking into account the process of
\ndemocratization that is now taking place in Indonesia, the
\nautonomy package can get between 50 percent and 90 percent of the
\nvote.<\/p>\n
\"Democratization and decentralization are two sides of the
\nsame coin. Deep in my heart and in the hearts of other East
\nTimorese and people in other provinces, we want independence.
\nHowever, when we think of our stomachs and are realistic, then
\n(we know) autonomy under Indonesia is the best option,\" said
\nAbilio.<\/p>\n
\"To be very frank, I'd like to say that now all of them (East
\nTimorese) are for autonomy,\" said Abilio, who stressed that the
\nautonomy package should not be seen as a gift.<\/p>\n
\"People might have the impression that autonomy is an offer, a
\ngift from the Indonesian government to the East Timorese. In
\nfact, autonomy has been demanded by people like me for many
\nyears, real autonomy, international standard autonomy. And we
\nthink that the autonomy is also a result of the suffering and
\nsacrifices of the East Timorese people from both sides. That's
\nwhy I disagree when people say it is an offer from Indonesia,\" he
\nsaid. (lem)<\/p>",
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