Timorese in exile sets the record right straight<\/p>\n
JAKARTA (JP): A senior East Timorese politician now living in
\nexile in Lisbon gave details of Portuguese atrocities and of the
\nFretilin, an East Timorese political party, against its own
\npeople in the 1970s, during a debate in London on Wednesday.<\/p>\n
Antara reported that Jose Mortius, who once headed the Kota
\nParty in East Timor, said that the people who are trying to
\ndiscredit Indonesia's policy in East Timor overlooked the
\nsufferings East Timorese had to endure during Portuguese
\ncolonization.<\/p>\n
Mortius was speaking during a debate organized by a British
\norganization in support of East Timor independence. Seated on the
\npodium were Ramos Horta, who from exile has been waging
\nFretilin's campaign for a separatist state, John Pilger, a
\nBritish-based journalist who has written extensively on East
\nTimor, John G. Taylor and Carmel Budiardjo.<\/p>\n
\"How can you lie and neglect the fact that East Timorese
\npeople were suffering under Portuguese colonization?\" Mortius
\nsaid as he rose from the stand after Horta repeatedly attacked
\nIndonesian policy in East Timor.<\/p>\n
Mortius, who said he waged a guerrilla war against Portuguese
\nrule, said the Portuguese colonial administration \"burned and
\nmurdered\" over 3,000 East Timorese in 1956.<\/p>\n
The Portuguese government should also bear the responsibility
\nfor the deaths of over 7,000 East Timorese during the 1974-76
\ncivil war in East Timor, he said.<\/p>\n
He said the number of casualties from the civil war would have
\nbeen even larger had it not been for the help of Indonesia,
\nrecalling the time when he and his forces and around 40,000
\nrefugees were being forced to the Indonesian border by the
\nFretilin.<\/p>\n
Mortius also deplored the term annexation often used by
\ncritics of Indonesia in describing its policy in East Timor.<\/p>\n
The integration of East Timor with Indonesia in 1976 came at
\nthe request of the East Timorese people, he said \"I wouldn't
\ndescribe that as annexation.\"<\/p>\n
Horta, according to the Antara report, did not try to respond
\nto Mortius' remarks. (emb)<\/p>",
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