Message from Gusmao to the world and Indonesia

Message from Gusmao to the world and Indonesia

Xanana Gusmao, President, East Timor, Dili

If 92 countries are gathered today here, it is because the
settlement of the question of East Timor was the responsibility
of the international community.

Therefore, your presence here is the most eloquent testimony
of the universal values enshrined in the Charter of the United
Nations, and is equally an unequivocal affirmation of the
fundamental rights of the peoples.

I would dare call this magnificent participation from so many
countries, coming from the four corners of the world, and which
honors and exalts the birth of our country, a mini-Assembly of
the millennium. Unlike the events of September 2000, we are not
here today to debate the pressing problems of mankind. Today you
are witnesses of the resolve to build the democratic foundations
of development for the entirety of the Timorese society. And
today, you are witnesses of the hope of a future, based on the
active and permanent struggle against poverty in all its forms.

Today, with humility and before the international community,
we take upon ourselves the obligations toward our people. We
wanted to be ourselves, we wanted to take pride in being
ourselves, a people and a nation.

Today, with your assistance, we are effectively what we have
always striven to be. The list of acknowledgements would be long,
and it would make a special reference to the courage of president
B.J.Habibie, the efforts of Prime Minister John Howard and to the
decision of president Bill Clinton.

Today we are a people, standing on equal footing with all
other people in the world. On the celebration of independence, we
wish to take upon ourselves this commitment before your: To work
solely and exclusively for our people.

History is made by the people, united in a common aspiration
-- freedom, peace for the people and development of the country.
After our political independence, our supreme objective will the
comprehensive development of all aspects of the life of our
people, from the cultural to the scientific, from the social to
the economic.

Our history will continue to be made by our people, for the
dignity of the human being, in the tolerance among groups and in
the respect among the communities, in the collective and dynamic
participation of society. This will be our new philosophy as
citizens, our new culture as a country, and our policy as East
Timorese.

To the international solidarity, we extend a profound word of
thanks from our people. We continue to count on you, to receive
other forms of support geared towards alleviating the hardships
of our most needy populations and to the strengthening of the
ties of friendship among peoples.

The access to the rights to self-determination and national
independence on Aug. 30, 1999 was the corollary of the struggle
of a group of peoples who had among them profound ties of a
historic and cultural identity. Today, I wish publicly to pay
homage to the Portuguese Organs of Sovereignty for having made,
through the Constitution, East Timor and its people as their own
national cause.

In this era of globalization there are a tendencies leaning
towards the standardization of the way of thinking, the behaviors
and the attitudes. In relation is East Timor, there are doubts
regarding our identity. Our tendency is to accommodate ourselves
under a false vision of the future; a tendency for us to subvert
to ventures of easy intellectual and economic consumption, where
we would lose ourselves as a drop in the ocean.

The independence we have just attained is only a step for us
to affirm ourselves. But affirmation itself is a process, equally
challenging, from now on. This will be one of the significant
challenges of the future. Let us attempt to start first by not
being ashamed of ourselves, having our own historic and cultural
identity, which formed the bases of our emancipation and which
were the foundation of your unequivocal and unconditional
support.

Your Excellency President Megawati Soekarnoputri, brotherly
people of Indonesia,

We warmly welcome your presence here among us, not only in
your capacity as the head of state of the brotherly and
neighboring country with which we share common borders, but also
as a symbol of the democratic yearnings of the brotherly people
of Indonesia.

The victory of the Timorese people is also an expression of
these aspirations, for democracy presupposes that there is
freedom, and freedom calls for respect for the fundamental rights
of the peoples.

The Indonesian people and the Timorese people have endured 24
years of difficult relations. Today, we all agree that the
strains in our dealings was a result of a historical mistake,
which now belongs to history and to the past. And this past,
because it already has a rightful place in history, should not
continue to stain our spirits or to hamper our attitudes and
conduct.

In November 1999, when the sentiments from both sides still
found themselves in the midst of intolerance, accusations and
moral and psychological discomforts, we went to Jakarta to assert
that the past should be perceived as the past and to
simultaneously affirm our willingness to, together, build a new
future in the relations between the two countries and two
peoples.

I believe, that Indonesia and East Timor will be able to
prove to the world, as they have already proven over the last two
and half years, that whenever there is political will on the part
of the leaders, and society in general, peace can be built on
solid foundations throughout the world. Indonesia and East Timor
are already contributing, although they can still contribute to
the attainment of today's world peace in a very significant
manner, where we all witness an atmosphere of mistrust, of fear,
of acts of terror and of accusations.

The Timorese people now wishes to concentrate their attention
to their self development. East Timor is the poorest country in
Asia and we wish to raise, gradually but steadily, the quality of
life of our populations. The cooperation between Indonesia and
East Timor, which reflects a broad range of common interests and
is strengthened by strong ties of friendship between the two
peoples, shall be the safe antidote to some of the opposition
that still prevail from both sides.

The two people should contribute to the construction of a
better world. Lastly, allow me to salute all Indonesian citizens,
who whether individually or collectively, made large
contributions in the past and in the present, to all this process
in East Timor that culminates now in this great event.

Earth and stones, fire and water!!!

Sacred land, sacred places where we planted betel leaves and
nuts,

Beloved land, place of birth, where we were raised.

Timor Lorosa'e!

Matebian, place where we see the sunrises and watch Jaco.

Ramelau, place where we see Oekussi and watch Atauro.

Independence!

As a people, as a territory, as a nation!

One body, one mind, one wish!

Warriors!

Drums and swords, feathers and tais!

Prisoners, dancers, resistance fighters!

Tasi feto, Tasi Mane!

Old man and old women, men and women, rejoice.

Youth, children, sing loud!

East, West!

Today is our day, Independence day!

Join hands, and look to the future!

Beloved people of Timor Lorosa'e!

The world is with us today, celebrating with us, showing their
love and their support for us. As a nation that we now stand,
beginning from now, as an independent nation, we now hold in our
hands, the right to govern ourselves, and with this we take all
the responsibilities, we are answerable to the world community
which forms the state members of the United Nations.

Today, we rejoice, as independent nation, governing our own
destiny. Holding our own reins, we will improve our day to day
living and we will build our nation. Independence, today, will
continue to mean enjoying our freedom in difficult times.

Therefore, we will make every effort towards reconciliation,
to reinforce the national unity, we will improve our new
nationalism, learning to form opinion, wait, seek and
participate.

Our independence will have no value, if all the people in
Timor Lorosa'e, continue to live in poverty and continue to
suffer all kinds of difficulties. We gained our independence to
improve our lives. Because of this, we are celebrating our
independence. I remind everyone, especially the leaders,
discipline to affirm our power, tolerance to affirm democracy,
reconciliation to affirm unity, within justice and human rights
environment.

The article is an excert of the President's state address at
the new state's declaration of independence on May 20.