E. Timor fighter Duarte dies at 69
E. Timor fighter Duarte dies at 69
INDONESIA: Jose Manuel Duarte, an East Timorese who fought for integration with Indonesia, died at the age of 69 at Harum Hospital in East Jakarta on Friday morning.
Born in Dili on March 14, 1934, Duarte is survived by a wife and five children, Antara news agency reported on Saturday.
The Indonesian government awarded Duarte the Veteran Republik Indonesia medal in 1995 and the Satya Lencana Pergerakan Kemerdekaan medal in 1996.
Duarte joined the first group of fighters who took up the struggle against the Portuguese colonial administration in East Timor in 1959. He later became an active supporter of integration with Indonesia.
After East Timor gained its independence through a 1999 UN- sponsored ballot, Duarte chose to keep his Indonesian nationality.
Duarte will be buried at the Kalibata Heroes Cemetery on Sunday, the first East Timorese integration fighter to be buried there. -- JP
;JP: ANPAi..r.. Highlights-US-aid-ETimor U.S. denies it is cutting aid to E Timor JP/2/HIGH
U.S. denies it is cutting aid to E Timor
UNITED STATES: The United States on Friday denied a report that it was thinking of cutting aid to East Timor by 40 percent to divert the funds to the operation to rebuild Iraq.
"Our economic support to East Timor is not decreasing," said the State Department in a written answer to a question taken at spokesman Richard Boucher's daily press briefing.
"We provided US$25 million in foreign assistance to East Timor in 2002 and are providing $25 million in 2003.
"This is the largest U.S. aid program in East Asia on a per capita basis."
The report, out of Tokyo, quoted East Timor's Foreign Minister Jose Ramos Horta as saying that U.S. officials were considering cutting aid to East Timor by 40 percent. --AFP
;JP: ANPAi..r.. Highlights-KL-Bible-Iban KL lifts ban on Iban-language Bible JP/2/HIGH
KL lifts ban on Iban-language Bible
MALAYSIA: The government of mainly-Muslim Malaysia has agreed to lift a ban on an edition of the Bible published in the language of the indigenous Iban tribe, acting Prime Minister Abdullah Ahmad Badawi said.
"I have decided that the ban be lifted," Abdullah was quoted as saying by the official Bernama news agency late Friday.
The decision to review the ban comes after a protest and an appeal by Malaysia's Council of Churches.
Some 60 percent of Malaysia's 23 million people are Muslims, while under 10 percent are Christians. There are also large Buddhist and Hindu minorities and the constitution allows religious freedom.
The complete text with the Old and New Testaments in the Iban language has been widely used by churches in Sarawak on Borneo island since its first edition in 1988. It was among 35 books recently banned by the ministry. --AFP