East Timorese recall hardships in Portugal

East Timorese recall hardships in Portugal

JAKARTA (JP): Three East Timorese families who recently
returned from Portugal warned their compatriots in Indonesia
yesterday that life there is not as glamorous as some people make
it out to be.

"We were treated as second class citizens," recalled Evaristo
Da Costa, one of the three men who were decorated with the status
of veteran by the government on Wednesday.

"And because we were former prisoners, we were treated
improperly. We were still regarded as criminals and they were
constantly watching us wherever we went," Da Costa said.

Da Cost, 60 , Armindo Soares Amaral, 56, and Domingos Soares,
56, and their families flew in last week from Lisbon, in the
first leg of their journey to their homeland they left 35 years
ago.

They had spent the week meeting with Indonesian officials
before flying on to Dili, where another homecoming reception
awaits them.

The three were members of a group of people who were sent into
exile for rebelling against the Portuguese colonial
administration in 1959. Some were banished to Angola and
Mozambique before finding their way to Portugal. Several of them
have since returned to East Timor, but dozens are believed to be
still in Portugal, most eking a living doing temporary, odd jobs.

Da Costa, who did most of the talking at yesterday's media
briefing at the Ministry of Foreign Affairs, said that until
1994, he had worked as a night guard while Amaral worked for a
packaging company. Soares had no permanent job.

He said that hard conditions, including discriminatory
treatment, also faced thousands of other East Timorese living in
Portugal, including those who fled their homeland because of
their opposition to East Timor's integration with Indonesia.

"They are neglected by the Portuguese government and are being
cheated," Da Costa said through a translator, referring to the
youths who gained passage to Portugal in the last two years after
forcing their way first into a number of foreign embassies in
Jakarta.

Da Costa said most of these youths had forced their way into
the diplomatic missions under false illusions about their
prospects of a better life in Portugal.

"They were promised everything in return for jumping the
(embassy) fences. They dream about a better living in Portugal,
but after reached there, they found the reality totally
different. They regret it," Da Costa said.

Da Costa said the asylum seekers and most of exiled East
Timorese survived with a low-standard living and many were
unemployed in Portugal.

The three men denied the suggestion that they had left
Portugal because of economic pressures. "We are the (first)
freedom fighters for East Timor integration. Why can't we come
back after the integration has done?" Da Costa said.

"We will die here, in our homeland," he added.

The government has said that the three men and their families
would be given houses and farmland. But other than this and the
recognition as veterans, they would not be given special
treatment.

Speaking at the same briefing, Indonesia's ambassador at Large
on East Timor issues, Lopes da Cruz, said the government would
welcome other East Timorese who were banished by the Portuguese
colonial administration if they wished to return.

Da Cruz disclosed that another group of 12 East Timorese
freedom fighters will arrive in Indonesia soon. (01)