E. Timor readies for sober celebration

E. Timor readies for sober celebration

Aboeprijadi Santoso, Contributor, Dili

Dili is bustling with preparations for the celebration of East
Timor's independence, but those who might imagine that it is
going to be a grand ceremony would be way off mark.

Budgetary constraints have seemingly driven the new Timor
Lorosae administration to err on the side of prudence.

The poverty-stricken embryonic state has access to only about
US$440 million, from international donors, over the next three
years.

With the exception of the Mercado Lama (old market), which has
been rejuvenated after it was destroyed by pro-Indonesia militias
in 1999, and an ongoing documentary film festival, Dili doesn't
look like a city set for an international celebration.

The whitewashed ex-Portuguese building of the United Nations
Administration in East Timor (UNTAET) has now become the center
of power of the new administration, but it remains as it was,
plain and simple.

Two rows of flags from 92 countries, which will be represented
at Sunday's celebration, flutter outside the building.

Lecidere Square, opposite Bishop Belo's official residence,
has also turned into an exhibition complex.

Interestingly, Taci Tolo, where three lakes are located next
to each other at Dili beach, has been chosen as the site of the
celebration.

"It is facing the sea, so you get a cool breeze in the
evening; it is also a vast area that can accommodate thousands of
people, including international heads of state and dignitaries,"
East Timor representative in Jakarta Jovencio Martins told The
Jakarta Post.

Although that is good enough reason alone, Taci Tolo also has
a historical significance. It is part of the site at which the
Indonesian army first landed when Indonesia invaded East Timor on
Dec. 7, 1975. It is also the place at which rebellious youths
demonstrated for the first time.

"Many witnesses recall the angry face of (then Indonesian
Armed Forces commander) Benny Moerdani watching the protesting
youths, who demanded a referendum when they welcomed the pope in
October 1989.

"All that happened at Taci Tolo, and no one in Dili will ever
forget that," foreign affairs official Jose Amorim Dias said.

The papal visit was, at that time, very controversial, as
Jakarta had only reluctantly allowed it to take place and the
demonstration signaled a resurgence of East Timorese resistance.
Just over two years later, youth protesters were shot dead when
they publicly demanded independence at Santa Cruz cemetery on
Nov. 11, 1991.

In addition, human rights activists here pointed out that many
undercover proindependence activists were thrown from helicopters
at Taci Tolo or murdered elsewhere and their bodies left to rot
at the bottom of the three lakes.

So the celebration of independence day at Taci Tolo appears to
convey tacitly the message that not only will East Timor greatly
respect its freedom fighters, but also that the new nation-state
is reminding its neighbors and the world that it will never again
allow itself to become the victim of aggression.

Indeed, the ceremony and celebration will end with the
inauguration of Taci Tolo, referred to in the official UNTAET
agenda as "The Garden of Heroes".

The ceremony will start at 9 p.m. on Sunday (7 p.m. Western
Indonesia Time) with a public mass followed by a welcoming
address and speech by UN Secretary-General Kofi Annan. He will
symbolically transfer sovereignty to Parliament Speaker Francisco
"Lu Olo" Guterres as the UN flag is lowered.

The climax of the ceremony will be at midnight on Sunday, 20
May, when the speaker of the ceremony will read the declaration
of independence and the flag of the Democratic Republic of Timor
Lorosae (RDTL) will be raised.

The speaker will then take the oath of president-elect Xanana
Gusmao as the new President of East Timor. The ceremony will end
with the inauguration of the Garden of Heroes, the raising of a
giant Timor Lorosae flag and a firework display.