Dili riots stem from social injustices: Bishop

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)