Do Ken Westmoreland:
O Asia Times publicou a minha resposta.
Todd Crowell's article [East Timor's blighted independence, Aug 2] was one
of the most breathtakingly ignorant about East Timor's history that I have
read. Nobody, not even East Timor's independence movement, expected or
wanted the self-determination process to happen as rapidly as it did in
1999. They wanted a transitional period of five to 10 years, during which
time the people might well have opted to remain under Indonesian rule. That
was what Australia's Prime Minister John Howard had in mind when he proposed
"wide-ranging autonomy with a built-in review mechanism". Instead, East
Timor was given the choice of weak autonomy within Indonesia or immediate
independence. Mr Crowell's comparison with the Indian takeover of Goa is a
case of not comparing like with like. There was no independence movement
there, and India's "liberation" was comparatively bloodless. So too is his
comparison of Portuguese [language] in East Timor with Dutch in Indonesia.
Leaving aside the fact that Portuguese has had far more influence on Tetum
than Dutch ever had on Bahasa Indonesia, the East Timorese are a people
whose flair for learning other languages puts the rest of the Asia-Pacific
region to shame. As for Portugal being "far away", many of them who hold
Portuguese passports are coming to work in EU countries with better pay and
working conditions than anywhere in Southeast Asia. If the differences
between the East Timorese and Indonesians are as superficial as Mr Crowell
claims, then perhaps Papua New Guinea should become an Indonesian province,
along with Singapore and Malaysia.
Ken Westmoreland
UK (Aug 2, '06)
sexta-feira, agosto 04, 2006
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Do Ken Westmoreland:
O Asia Times publicou a minha resposta.
O artigo de Todd Crowell [East Timor's blighted independence, Aug 2] foi um dos mais ignorantes acerca da história de Timor-Leste que alguma vez li.
Ninguém, nem mesmo o movimento para a independência de Timor-Leste esperava ou queria que o processo de auto-determinação acontecesse tão rapidamente como aconteceu em 1999. Eles queriam um período transitório de cinco a dez anos, durante esse tempo o povo podia ter optado por se manter sob o domínio Indonésio.
Era o que o Primeiro-Ministro da Austrália John Howard tinha em mente quando propôs “uma autonomia de largo espectro com um mecanismo de revisão ". Em vez disso foi dada a Timor-Leste a escolha de fraca autonomia dentro da Indonésia ou a independência imediata.
A comparação de Mr Crowell com a tomada de Goa pela Índia é um caso de não comparar situações iguais. Não havia lá um movimento pela independência e a “libertação” pela Índia foi comparativamente sem sangue.
Assim também é a comparação do Português [língua] em Timor-Leste com o Holandês na Indonésia. Deixando de lado o facto de o Português ter muito mais influência no Tétum que o Holandês alguma vez teve no Bahasa Indonesia, os Timorenses são um povo cuja jeito para aprenderem outras línguas deixa envergonhada o resto da região da Asia-Pacifico.
Quanto ao facto de Portugal estar "muito longe ", muitos dos que têm passaporte Português vêem trabalhar para países da União Europeia com melhores salários e condições de trabalho do que em qualquer sítio no Sudeste da Ásia.
Se as diferenças entre Timorenses e Indonésios fossem tão superficiais quanto Mr Crowell clama serem, então talvez a Papua Nova Guiné devia tornar-se uma província da Indonésia, bem como a Singapura e a Malásia.
Ken Westmoreland
To Geoffrey
I like the point: "I would recommend trying to sensitize the East Timorese themselves to the need to activate their language policy". I think this is where the debate should be headed. Its about giving the East Timorese the resources and the assistance to carry out their language policy.
Dear Mr Westmoreland,
Many thanks for your message about the Crowell article, which was forwarded to me from my INL address. (I am at present in Australia, unable to return to Dili as the INL is literally closed down and the government has not given permission for our offices to be reopened).
Your response to the article is very good. I will ask our webmaster (a colleague at Macquarie University) to post it with your name if the other board members agree.
The attack on East Timor’s language policy seems to be ongoing. It is good that you take the time to reply to propaganda like this. Unfortunately, until the East Timorese government enacts measures to translate its own linguistic legislation into reality, foreign criticism of this kind will flourish, and it will be increasingly difficult to refute it. You may have noticed that language reform and education do not feature among the eight priority areas for development announced this week by the new Timorese government.
If I am unable to answer your messages, I will try to pass them on to any interested parties. However, I would recommend trying to sensitize the East Timorese themselves to the need to activate their language policy. Our job is mainly to create resources in the background. My view is that the threats to linguistic ecology inside Timor are more serious than those outside. It is important to be aware of the huge gap between ideals and realities when dealing with this country.
Kind regards,
Geoffrey Hull
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