East Timor leaders look back on 1994

East Timor leaders look back on 1994

DILI, East Timor (JP): The various incidents and events in
East Timor in 1994 provide valuable lessons for those who rule
and administer East Timor, leaders in the province say.

The upheavals that occurred in East Timor were our own fault,
said Governor Abilio Jose Osorio Soares. "We mustn't be reluctant
to admit that we were wrong when we were wrong ... Let's not be
ashamed of our own shortcomings."

Abilio, a staunch supporter of East Timor's integration into
Indonesia, stressed that it was the decision of the majority of
East Timorese to join the republic.

East Timor is resolute that it wants to develop the territory
and catch up with the rest of Indonesia, he said.

That there are problems and opposition from within East Timor,
"that is something which needs looking into to study the
background and the reasons for the upheavals."

Col. Kiki Syahnakri, promoted to lead the Wira Dharma Military
Command in East Timor a few months ago, said the upheavals in
East Timor could not all be attributed to anti-integration
elements.

The Armed Forces (ABRI) is always reviewing its various
approaches to problems in East Timor, and would be willing to
improve them as necessary, Col. Kiki said.

Antonio Freitas Parada, the chairman of the East Timor
Legislative Assembly, said the problem in the territory is not a
lack of law but the lack of its enforcement.

Antonio said even the least insignificant of laws, such as
traffic regulations, are not fully upheld, and are even abused by
those in power at times. "If those in power do not uphold the
law, how can they expect the people to respect the law?" he
asked.

He said it was also wrong to accuse those who did not abide by
the law of being anti-integration.

Bishop Carlos Filipe Ximenes Belo, the head of the Roman
Catholic Church in East Timor, also said that what East Timor
needs now is to see justice carried out.

The Bishop said injustice, discrimination and violence are
still prevalent in East Timor and these are causing some East
Timorese to want to leave the territory and live in exile.

Bishop Belo also said that the East Timor issue must be
resolved in the United Nations in a just manner once and for all.
(yac)