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.