ASIA/EAST TIMOR - The Prime Minister of East Timor: reconciliation with Indonesia is an example to follow in our time torn apart by wars

by Paolo Affatato

Dili (Agenzia Fides) - East Timor has chosen the path of reconciliation with Indonesia to heal the wounds of the past. And now this reconciliation process "could be, in its own way, an example for the contexts of conflict in the current international context, also in Europe and the Middle East". This is the proposal made by Xanana Gusmao, former leader of the resistance movement and current Prime Minister of East Timor, in an interview with Agenzia Fides, in which he expresses the hopes of his compatriots in view of the apostolic visit of Pope Francis, who arrived today in the youngest country in the world with a population of over 95% Catholic.

Mr. Prime Minister, what does the visit of Pope Francis mean for East Timor?

The Pope's visit arouses a feeling of pride. It is a historic step for us, a small Catholic country so far from the Vatican. We remember the visit of Pope John Paul II 35 years ago, when the question of our independence (from Indonesia, ed.) had to be examined by the international community. The Pope's arrival and prayers were a blessing for us at that time. Before the invasion of Indonesia (1975, ed.), less than 30% of East Timor's people were baptized Catholic. In addition to the violence, massacres and murders, religion was also used by the oppressors, and sometimes people were forced to call themselves Muslims. But on the contrary, people flocked to churches and baptisms increased. There was a connection between the religious side and our struggle for independence. Then the tragic outcome of the Santa Cruz massacre (1991, ed.) was an important signal, and Western countries also began to take our struggle for self-determination into account. The Pope came "at the right time", his visit was a twist of fate, older generations still say today. And so we believe that today too is "the right time" to welcome Pope Francis.

How is the peace and reconciliation process with Indonesia progressing?

East Timor has made a great effort to reconcile the wounds of the past. In this respect, East Timor could be a kind of example compared to the current international conflict contexts, including in Europe and the Middle East. Here we have found a way to pursue a process of genuine reconciliation. There has been a fruitful exchange of experiences with other countries that are in a fragile situation. When I attended the peace conference for Ukraine in Switzerland, Russia was not present. But peace is made with enemies, you have to meet at the negotiating table, and the international community has the task of facilitating them.
We have done this with Indonesia. This does not mean that we forget the suffering and atrocities of the past. We have the Museum of Resistance, which collects all the evidence of these painful events and preserves the memory for future generations. We do not want to and cannot erase history. The Truth and Reconciliation Commission has also called on Indonesia to acknowledge the massacres that took place. And we have also recalled episodes of respect in which the Indonesian military refused to use violence against the defenseless civilian population despite orders received. But we remember the past in order to build a different future, a future of respect and peace. We do not want to shift the blame onto the Indonesian people of today. I was in Indonesia after the collapse of the Suharto regime, which had decided to occupy East Timor. Indonesia has also changed. It was possible to build a process of reconciliation and good political relations. The Timorese people and the Indonesian people shared this approach. We have striven for peace and are still trying to build a good future, especially with a view to the new generations.

What is the relationship between Church and State in East Timor?

Our constitution is secular, we are a secular and democratic state that gives credit to the Catholic Church and even explicitly recognizes its valuable contribution in the Charter. We have a special relationship with the Catholic Church, we have signed a Concordat. The State makes an annual contribution to the Church, which varies every year and is included by the government in the state budget: a support that is used by the Catholic institutions for social services to the population. East Timor has a high proportion of young people in the population.

How does this influence government policy?

East Timor is a young country, about twenty-two years old, and it can be said that it is made up to a large extent of a young population. The government is called upon to give them a future. We are thinking of investments to improve the quality of education. Secondly, we must promote economic development, because only economic development can guarantee more jobs for our population and prevent the migration of young people. We are now in this process. We are still an agrarian country, made up mainly of farming families, but today they send their children to school.
We are trying to change people's mentality, for example by improving agriculture with new technologies and creating incentives for the private sector. We need a cultural change that promotes an entrepreneurial mentality. For this reason, we have launched a development program consisting of about nine hundred small projects spread across the country, with which we are trying to get people, especially young people, to start small businesses. And we are happy with the result. Small, broad-based projects serve as motivation and role models. A small business can support an entire family or several families. We are planning to create a development bank to support small and medium-sized enterprises, a bank that provides microcredit.

What is East Timor's position on the international scene?
What are the relations with neighboring states such as Indonesia, Australia and China, which are interested in Timorese oil?

As a young and small nation, we wanted to network and compare ourselves with other fragile countries based on their socio-political conditions: this is how the initiative of the "G7+" group (based in Dili, editor's note) was born, an intergovernmental organization that brings together countries that are in active conflict or have recently experienced conflict and political instability. It already has 20 member countries from Africa, the Asia-Pacific region, the Middle East and the Caribbean. The exchange of best practices with these countries has been and continues to be very useful. For oil production, we are in negotiations with Australian and Chinese companies, with one principle: after production, the pipeline must reach East Timor. We must do everything we can to create jobs, including skilled jobs, for our population. We want to avoid only involving large companies from abroad, our goal is to have a positive social impact and a positive economic impact. We are advocating for this principle and this right in all international bodies, namely the right to bring the pipeline to our shores.

What does Xanana Gusmao want for the future of East Timor?

When I was young, I dreamed of freedom and independence. That dream has come true. It was the dream of an entire people. It was a path with a wonderful result. Now it is about a people developing and having good living conditions. People suffered even after independence. We had to rebuild the country from scratch, starting with basic infrastructure. Now we must go ahead and build schools and hospitals in rural areas. Today we dream that not just a few people can live a life of dignity, but all Timorese, in the cities, in the villages, in the countryside and in the mountainous regions. But it is more than a dream, it is a mission that we aspire to today. (Agenzia Fides, 9/9/2024)

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