Veteran status for Timorese

Veteran status for Timorese

JAKARTA (JP): Three East Timorese freedom fighters who have
returned to Indonesia after being exiled by Portugal 35-years ago
are to be given "veteran" status by the government.

"They will receive the recognition as veterans with all its
status and emoluments," Foreign Minister Ali Alatas told
journalists here yesterday after meeting with the three East
Timorese.

Domingos Soares, 56, Armindo Amaral, 56, and Evaristo da
Costa, 60, arrived here with their families on Friday to return
home to East Timor.

They were three of the 68 Timorese arrested and exiled by the
Portuguese colonial government for initiating the 1959 revolt in
Viqueque, Uatolari and Uatokarbau regions to integrate East Timor
into Indonesia.

Though they were officially released in 1974, and East Timor
integrated as part of Indonesia in 1976, their request to leave
Lisbon and return home was not greeted warmly by the Portuguese
government.

It was not until Soares, Amaral and da Costa made a special
appeal to President Soeharto in 1994 that the deadlock was broken
on facilitating their return.

Some of the other 1959 freedom fighters who returned several
years ago, such as Jose Manuel Duarte, have also been recognized
as veterans by the government.

"I told them their fight for integration was not in vain,"
Alatas said of his meeting with the three freedom fighters. He
also said that more of their compatriots still living abroad are
likely to return home soon.
No date has been fixed for when the veteran status will be
conferred. (mds)