Gusmao, a symbol of peace

Gusmao, a symbol of peace

Annastashya Emmanuelle, The Jakarta Post, Jakarta

Freedom is apparently not the end of the struggle for a man
like Xanana Gusmao, who has battled to remain free from thoughts
of vengeance since his release from an Indonesian prison.

"I realize that we lost everything... everywhere in the land
of Timor Lorosae, people were attacked, burned and killed....

"But we have to look forward," Gusmao told the emotional crowd
that greeted him in Dili when he returned from years of captivity
in 1999.

"We can leave behind our sufferings. Today we look forward to
our future, this land is ours and we will be independent
forever."

Xanana has always been associated with a message of
reconciliation, even while a detainee at Cipinang prison in East
Jakarta after his capture by Indonesian troops in November 1992.

He led the resistance guerrillas of Falintil in the jungles of
East Timor, fighting against Indonesia, which annexed the tiny
territory soon after the Portuguese hastily pulled out.

Leading the resistance movement has not been without personal
sacrifice for Gusmao, as he divorced his first wife of 28 years,
Emilia Baptista, who along with their two children, Nito and
Zenilda, now reside in Australia.

He practically lost contact with his family during the
guerrilla war and while serving his prison sentence.

"I no longer received their letters; I was separated from my
family for about 18 years," he said in 1999, not long after
former president Abdurrahman Wahid released him early from his
20-year sentence.

He has also repeatedly voiced his reluctance to becoming East
Timor's first president, either because of self-doubt or because
he truly believes that leaders of popular movements should not
necessarily become the leaders of their nations.

"Those who lead the struggle should not take it for granted
that they will be able to lead the reconstruction (of the
nation). We have seen in some countries that the leaders of the
struggle were hero-worshiped, became carried away, and forgot
their own limitations as they went on to rule. It usually
resulted in social and political chaos," he said.

He has repeatedly said that he is not a politician and would
prefer to become an ordinary citizen who would spend most of his
time farming or engaging in other personal pursuits, such as
painting or writing poetry, when East Timor became an independent
state.

Leading the people in the transitional period after its
partition from Indonesia is where his strategic role would end,
he said, while promising the East Timorese that he would also
assist them to obtain a better understanding of the essence of
democracy, which does not come instantly.

Yet Gusmao, often compared with South Africa's Nelson Mandela
for his reconciliatory tone, could not escape from becoming the
symbol of hope for the East Timorese, who voted for independence
in a UN-organized ballot on Aug. 30. 1999.

He is now the president of Timor Lorosae after being elected
overwhelmingly in April 2002.

In a media briefing in Jakarta earlier this month, Gusmao said
that as president he would be more of a symbol and would not
assume a strategic role in determining the policies of the new
country.

Nevertheless, he repeatedly reminds his people that the need
to rebuild East Timor, which was left in ruins after pro-
Indonesian militias disastrously left the area, is an enormous
task that requires endurance and determination.

Grudges and hatred, therefore, no longer have a place.

Rebuilding East Timor's infrastructure, mending its economy
and dealing with its social problems are far more important than
dwelling on the grim past.

"There are many things to do. Independence is not just about
having a flag and a president ... it would be pointless if we
didn't make some use of it," Gusmao said.

Justice, in his perception, is about bringing social justice
to the East Timorese.

"For what did we suffer and die? To try other people or to
benefit from independence?" he said, when asked whether he would
initiate a detailed investigation to try those responsible for
the atrocities in the territory.

On his priorities after being inaugurated as president, Gusmao
said, "My priority is how to give our people the opportunities of
democracy."

Born as Jose Alexandre Gusmao on June 20, 1946, in the village
of Manatuto, he later changed his name to Kay Rala Xanana Gusmao
when he become a freedom fighter.

The tango-dancing former guerrilla speaks Portuguese, English
and Bahasa Indonesia, apart from the local language, Tetun.

During his time at a Catholic seminary in Dare to which his
parents sent him, Gusmao also learned Latin.

In defiance of his parents' wishes, he left the seminary four
years later, as he did not wish to become a Catholic priest.

Once a journalist for Avez de Timor, he went to Australia in
1972 to work and study before returning to Dili in 1974 and
establishing the Nacroma newspaper with Nobel laureate Ramos
Horta.

For about 13 years, Gusmao and the Falintil escaped the
Indonesian authorities in the jungles of East Timor while leading
a guerrilla resistance, before he was captured on Nov. 20, 1992.

He was taken to Jakarta and charged with subversion and
illegal possession of arms, and was sentenced to life
imprisonment by former president Soeharto.

After former president Abdurrahman Wahid freed him in 1999, he
toured his country to get more in tune with the aspirations of
his people. He married his longtime Australian girlfriend Kirsty
Sword in July 2000.