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)