Ethnological studies on E. Timor

Ethnological studies on E. Timor

DILI, East Timor: Dili Bishop Carlos Filipe Ximenes Belo will
initiate studies on the cultural development of the East
Timorese, Antara reported yesterday.

The local people need to know about their culture and identity
as an ethnic group, Belo said here Saturday. A small group of
experts will meet next week to draw up a plan for the studies.

Belo said several studies on East Timorese culture have been
conducted, mostly before the territory's 1976 integration into
Indonesia. The results of those studies, conducted mostly by
Western experts, are now kept in many foreign libraries.

"They wrote down whatever they knew, but they did not have or
live the legacy," he said. "It's the East Timorese themselves who
live East Timorese culture."

The group comprised experts on culture, anthropologists,
sociologists and philosophers.

Belo said he had long planned establishing a center for the
study of East Timor. (swe)