Dili's Bishop Belo voices suferings of voiceless people

Dili's Bishop Belo voices suferings of voiceless people

JAKARTA (JP): Dili Bishop Carlos Fillipe Ximenes Belo, a 1996
Nobel Peace Prize cowinner, has often spoken out against the
suffering of East Timorese and those in other provinces.

The coleader of the Roman Catholic Church in East Timor has
frequently angered the government and military leaders with his
frank statements on human rights abuse in the country's youngest
province.

"He always uses very plain language to say something. He is so
frank that is unbelievable when his statements are interpreted
differently," said Dr. Muhammad Hikam yesterday at the launch of
Belo's book titled Voice of the Voiceless.

The book was on sale for Rp 10,000 before the launch.

Hikam, a researcher at the National Institute of Sciences,
said he was not surprised that the government, which was unused
to hearing the bitter truth, was often outraged by Belo's
statements.

Another speaker, Clementino dos Reis Amaral of the National
Commission on Human Rights said: "His statements are simple,
sometimes very bitter but nutritious."

Amaral said Belo, who he had known since his youth, had never
opposed East Timor's integration with Indonesia despite
accusations to the contrary.

"His parents, sisters and brothers were all members of the
Apodeti party, which has always struggled for integration with
Indonesia," said Amaral, who called the bishop a national asset.

"Sometimes he lost his patience because almost everyday people
came to him, many of them victims of physical abuse. Mothers came
to search for their missing sons, or starving children came who
had nothing to eat or youths who were hunted by the military," he
said.

The 275-page book contains Belo's interviews with eight
Indonesian magazines and two daily newspapers from February 1984
to November 1996.

Despite its English title, the book is in Indonesian.

Sihol Siagian, the book's editor, said: "We have sold almost
8,000 copies."

Bishop Belo was awarded a Nobel Peace Prize last December. He
shared the prize with self-exiled East Timor separatist spokesman
Jose Ramos Horta. Belo became the first Indonesian to win the
prestigious award.

The government has said it is shocked by the awards,
especially to Ramos Horta. It has never congratulated Belo.

State Minister/State Secretary Moerdiono has questioned the
prize's selection criteria.

Father Franz Magnis-Suseno said East Timor was "a beam tied to
our leg," and Belo was a "moderate and balanced spiritual
leader".

"He talks about humanitarian issues not politics," Magnis-
Suseno said.

Most of the 100-strong audience at the launch strongly
protested when the discussion's moderator, Kepra, said that Belo
should choose whether he was pro-integration or pro-independence.
(06)