Published January 27, 2006
East Timor has a history of religious squabbles
Editor’s Note: When she visited Anchorage in November, Maria Ida "Deng" Giguiento, who works for Catholic Relief Services in the Philippines, delivered a fascinating speech about her peace and reconciliation work in her country and in nearby East Timor. We have received permission from Giguiento to reprint excerpts from her talk ("Building Peace in Multicultural, Interreligious settings"); here is the second of four parts.
East Timor is a half-an-island nation. It is the newest nation in the 21st century.
East Timor was colonized by Portugal from 1515 to 1974. When the Portuguese first landed in the enclave known as Oecussi, there were already Muslims of Arab decent in the areas. They were a minority. The majority of the people were indigenous to the area, or were referred to as "pagans."
Not many were converted to Catholicism as this was perceived as a religion only for the elite. Less than 10 percent of the population was Catholic during the Portuguese time.
In the 1970s in Portugual, there was the Carnation Revolution that was led by the socialists, and they overthrew the government and gained power.
One of their first acts was to let go of the colonies as these were perceived as burdens to the coffer but also to be true to their being socialists.
Many East Timorese students who went to Portugal for their education came back to East Timor. This gave a vibrant life to the political scenario in East Timor — the very conservative political parties, suddenly feeling threatened with the perceived left-leaning Fretilin (Frente Revolucionária do Timor Leste Independente), launched a coup against the transitional Portuguese governing system, and they lost.
There were clashes between the two protagonists (conservatives and Fretilin) until independence was declared on Nov. 28, 1975. This independence was recognized only by a few nations (mostly Portugal’s colonies). But it was short-lived, as Indonesian troops invaded the new country on Dec. 7 of the same year.
Within the Indonesian rule of 24 years, Catholicism grew by leaps and bounds. The Indonesian government had a law that a citizen has to belong to an organized religion recognized by the state. The religions recognized by the state were Islam, Protestantism, Hinduism, Buddhism and Catholicism.
One person shared with me what was happening in the villages then. She said that the villages held discussions as to what religion they should choose. They did not know any Hindu or Buddhist; they knew that Islam was the religion of the people who came from Indonesia so they did not like that. They thought maybe Protestantism but then it is the religion of the people of West Timor (Indonesian part of the island) — some chose this but the majority did not.
Then they thought: "Catholicism is the religion of those people who used to be here. They already have their churches and some schools. Our rich people belong to that religion. Maybe it will be good to try that."
One priest described how tens of people would come to the churches and would ask to be baptized. Since it was a "life-death situation," there was only a short catechism and baptism followed.
The priest said, "I sometimes have to ask someone to hold my arm high to sprinkle the holy water because I was so tired of doing that sometimes 10 times a day!"
(I don’t know if he said that in jest or in exaggeration of the situation.)
Eventually, East Timor would roughly be 98 percent Catholic, 1.2 percent Protestant and 0.8 percent Muslim.
In the struggle for independence from Indonesia, the church played a key role.
Bishop Carlos Felipe Ximenes Belo of Dili, East Timor, was often at the forefront of lobbying for the freedom of his people. He was the voice in the wilderness among the bishops in Indonesia.
The residences of priests and nuns became sanctuaries for those who were fleeing from the Indonesian military. They became the families and their convents the homes of children of revolutionary fighters.
In the 24 years of Indonesian annexation, around 200,000 East Timorese died or disappeared. Finally, they regained their independence when the whole population went out to participate in a "popular consultation" to choose whether to remain a part of Indonesia or not. They overwhelmingly voted "no."
The vote for independence led to more damage to the land as the "scorched earth" policy was implemented by the pro-Indonesian militias.
In the end, 97 percent of East Timorese structures were razed. Two-thirds of the population were forcibly herded out of the nation by boat, planes, trucks. Some of the people, especially the rich, left the country earlier to seek safety in other countries.
When the United Nations’ peacekeeping forces arrived Sept. 20, 1999, the Indonesian forces and militias left East Timor.
In the democratic exercise that followed, where people chose their leaders through voting for the political parties, Mari Alkatiri, No. 1 person for the Fretilin, became the prime minister and now co-heads the nation with the president and the parliament. He happens to be a Muslim.
Now, when the government does anything that the people think they do not like, it is often attributed to the fact that they have a Muslim prime minister. It is not written on paper, but the people talk and whisper about this.
I have often heard people say that they should not allow anyone from any other religion except Catholicism to enter East Timor and that all leaders should be Catholics.
There is now tension between the people (mostly Catholics) and the state in East Timor. Tension often results in demonstrations or rioting; it once resulted in burning down the house of the prime minister and damaging the mosque.
Next: How did religion exacerbate the conflicts in Mindanao and East Timor?