Some E. Timorese youths 'ignore benefits'

Some E. Timorese youths 'ignore benefits'

DILI, East Timor (JP): Joao Delfino da Silva, one of the surviving
local elders who helped East Timor integrate into Indonesia in
1976, said last week that some youths were anti-Indonesia because
of their ignorance.

"They know nothing about the history of integration because
they were not born at the time," he told The Jakarta Post. The
youths did not understand that integration meant liberating East
Timorese from Portuguese colonial rule, he said.

Leading political parties had called on the Indonesian
government to integrate East Timor into Indonesia at a time when
the Portuguese authority had deserted the territory.

"Portuguese discriminated against the East Timorese... it was
impossible for local people to hold important government
positions at that time," he said in an interview during a press
tour organized by the Armed Forces and the Jakarta-based
Indonesia-Portugal Friendship Association.

The 58-year-old da Silva, head of the Meti Aut village, East
Dili subdistrict, said that it was through integration with
Indonesia that East Timorese could demand equality and humane
treatment.

"We want equality, improved lives, and it would have been
impossible under the Portuguese," said Da Silva, who was head of
the Transportation Department of the East Timor provincial
administration before he retired three years ago. He had worked
for the Dili District Court when the territory was still a
Portuguese colony.

"The youths should have asked their parents, what it was like
living... as slaves under the Portuguese. Why do these youths
want to separate from Indonesia and reunite with the Portuguese?"
he said.

Da Silva was commenting on the anti-Indonesia protests that
local youths have staged in recent years, including those which
ended in violence with public property being burned and
destroyed.

Among the most recent demonstrations was one in March during a
visit by United Nations envoy Jamsheed Marker. Eleven people were
injured and dozens of others were arrested when security forces
broke up their demonstration.

Clashes broke out when about 200 anti-integration youths,
demonstrating inside and in front of a hotel to demand a meeting
with Marker, were turned away by riot police and security
personnel.

Marker had gone to the territory to meet senior government
officials and community leaders on a "fact-finding mission".

UN Secretary-General Kofi appointed Marker in February as his
special assistant for East Timor after he pledged to renew talks
between Indonesia and Portugal on the disputed territory's
future. Talks over the last 15 years have achieved little.

Violence

Da Silva said that sometimes the youths forgot that thanks to
the government's development programs, they could go to school,
live in good houses and have a quality life in general.

"Violence only creates more problems," he said.

Burning markets automatically cut the distribution line of
goods to people and increased prices so that people could not
afford them, he said.

The recurring argument that the youths were protesting because
of unemployment should be eliminated, he said, because it
reflected the youths' wish to be dependent and wait for
government handouts.

"They must not put the blame on the increasing rate of
unemployment, and say that it's their reason for rejecting East
Timor's integration," he said.

"There will always be ways for them to earn a living if they
want to," he said.

Da Silva cited a contradiction in the youths' stance in that
they rejected integration while demanding that the government
provide them employment.

"They should not seek jobs only in government offices. They
can also work for private companies or create their own
employment," he said.

Da Silva, a father of 10, said the most important thing was
that they were willing to work.

But Da Silva did not wholly blame the youths for their
attitude. Many of them, he said, were influenced by their parents
who were activists of the Fretilin (Frente Revolucionarla de
Timor Leste Independente) separatist movement. (imn)