Dili riots stem from social injustices: Bishop

JAKARTA (JP): East Timor Bishop Carlos Filipe Ximenes Belo says last week's flurry of religious and ethnic violence were only the tip of the iceberg and that the locals' frustrations stem from numerous social injustices.

"Students who went on the rampage on the streets of Dili had, in their minds, tales told by their parents, relatives and friends about how frustrating conditions in East Timor have been," Belo said in an interview with The Jakarta Post in Dili on Wednesday.

He said that while the incidents were indeed regrettable, they sent a strong message to the whole nation on how sensitive matters concerning race and religion are in the youngest province.

Belo, an influential figure in the predominantly Roman Catholic province of about 800,000 people, said that many indigenous people are frustrated to find more skilled migrants dominating political and economic activities in the territory.

Then people come who propagate other religions, he said. Often, the propagators lure the natives with money to change their religion.

In an incident prior to the Dili rioting last week, angry mobs reportedly set fire to a number of mosques and Protestant churches. In the worst incident in Dili, protesters -- who were mostly high school students -- burned down the Komoro market, where migrants dominated trade.

"Now, places of worships (of other religions) are built everywhere without official permits. While Catholic churches still have roofs of palm leaves, Protestant ones are built of brick," he said.

The bishop suggested that the government return to the drawing board and rethink its development policies in the former Portuguese colony which integrated with Indonesia in 1976.

He said he is optimistic that if the government enforces law indiscriminately in East Timor, the natives would be more open to migrants and more law-abiding.

"It is important that the government give special status to the territory so that the people's aspirations can be handled better," he said.

Meanwhile in Yogyakarta, political observer Riswandha Imawan said in a seminar on East Timor that the Timor question drags on because it integrated into Indonesia only "administratively" in 1976.

"It's not total integration. It's an uneasy integration like the (1973) merger of Moslem parties and Christian-nationalist parties into PPP and PDI," he said.

Besides, he said East Timor and Indonesia has such different historical backgrounds that they cannot totally merge.

"Furthermore, the military presence in East Timor is so conspicuous," he said. If the condition doesn't change, similar incidents will happen again in the future." (yac/02/pan)