Lopes says pilgrimage to Portugal politically successful

JAKARTA (JP): A delegation of East Timorese pilgrims returning from the holy Catholic shrine of Fatima in Portugal this month say their mission has raised Indonesia's standing on the East Timor issue.

The harassment against the East Timorese when they arrived at the Portela airport in Lisbon proved to be "a blessing in disguise" because the delegation subsequently won sympathies from the Portuguese government and the public, F.X. Lopes da Cruz, who headed the 41-member delegation, told reporters yesterday.

Although the visit was purely religious with no political intentions, the "Portela incident" proved to strengthen Indonesia's political stand in the East Timor issue, Lopes said.

"We were given VIP treatment during our pilgrimage. Our aggressors, on the other hand, were widely criticized by the local media," he said at a press conference to explain and show a video of news clips of the visit.

Upon their arrival at the Portela airport on May 10, the delegation was warmly greeted by about 200 of the 1,800 East Timorese living in Portugal.

However, they were also met by a group of riotous demonstrators wearing black shirts who called them "traitors", "murderers" and "sellers of East Timor".

The protesters also carried banners saying "Set East Timor free" and "East Timor is not Indonesia".

"Although they were yelling at us, we did not react," said Lopes, who has been appointed by President Soeharto as ambassador-at-large for East Timor affairs.

The East Timorese pilgrims were pelted with rotten eggs coming from every direction.

"We were very shocked when a heavy plastic bag containing rubbish hit us. Its contents, which seemed to be mixed with pepper, stung our eyes and made us blind for several minutes and caused us to stumble and fall," he said.

Among the demonstrators were the seven young men from East Timor whom Lopes accommodated at his home in Jakarta last year after they failed to obtain political asylum from either Sweden or Finland. The seven subsequently obtained asylum in Portugal.

Lopes counted 28 demonstrators, including Joao Viegas Carrascalao, Jose Manuel Ramos Horta, Barbedo Magalhaes, Luisa Teotonio Pereira and Mario Tome who are known to have strongly opposed the East Timor's integration with Indonesia.

"We made the headlines everyday during our visit," Lopes said, adding that although the visit was purely of a religious nature, it was probably "most successful politically".

Frustration

Lopes viewed the protest was engineered by Joao Carrascalao, Jose Ramos Horta and Portuguese non-governmental organizations "who were frustrated and disappointed at the Portuguese government for willing to meet with Indonesian East Timorese".

They were hoping to draw sympathy from the Portuguese public, which would allow them to continue to receive funds from the Portuguese government for their political actions, he said.

"They expected an extreme reaction from us and thought we would cancel our pilgrimage to Fatima. But we didn't and their actions boomeranged as the public gave us their sympathy."

The delegation completed their three-day visit to Fatima and proceeded to the Vatican and Rome. They returned to Indonesia on May 21.

He received an official apology from the Portuguese government extended through the public protection police commissioner, Gen. Aires, who guaranteed the delegation's safety.

Portugal Foreign Minister Jose Manuel Durao Barroso also viewed the physical aggression as unseemly and promised to "search for more detailed information to solve the problem".

"Even the press, including those who were anti-Indonesia, called the aggressors 'uncivilized' and 'vandals'," Lopes said.

The press had said that the aggressors "may have been right, but what they did has secured them a big loss".

Lopes hoped that more pilgrimage would take place in the future. "We need to make more intensive approaches to the Portuguese public," he said.(pwn)