Australian Network NewsHour with Jim Middleton
[watch via here: http://australianetwork.com/newshour/archives.htm ]
East Timor is battling chronic unemployment and the future of its potentially biggest asset - gas - is under a cloud. Jim Middleton speaks to Prime Minister Xanana Gusmao.
East Timor may be one of the world's poorest nations but it does have one very valuable asset - oil and gas.
Woodside Petroleum wants to exploit the Greater Sunrise field but has rejected Dili's proposal to process the gas in East Timor. Now a confrontation appears to be looming with East Timor's Prime Minister Xanana Gusmao insisting it's not just up to the company, but his country also has a say.
Jim Middleton spoke to Mr Gusmao during his whirlwind visit to Australia.
Jim Middleton:Prime Minister, thank you very much for your time. You sometimes seem like a very reluctant Prime Minister, if I can put it that way. I saw you say that you'd prefer to be growing pumpkins, I think it was. How are you enjoying the job these days?
Xanana Gusmao, East Timorese Prime Minister:Well, if you ask me how I enjoy the job I must tell you that by the daily achievement you can enjoy your, you can fulfill your promise to the people. It is the way how you enjoy your job. If you don't get to solve the problems, of course you will be, at night you will have say, bad nights.
Jim Middleton:So are you sleeping well?
Xanana Gusmao:Sometimes very badly, but many times I feel that I am getting, I'm sleeping well because things are going, the country's calm now, it's stable. Many of the problems that we inherited are solved.
Jim Middleton:You've talked a lot while you were in Australia about the need to provide jobs for the unemployed in East Timor. Is providing work for those without jobs the key to political stability in East Timor, do you think?
Xanana Gusmao:They need jobs. Every year we receive 15,000 to 16,000 youth to the job market. The problem is that we don't have this market and we have to provide job, we have to assist them to gain skills and it's why we are asking to help us in this.
Jim Middleton:I was speaking to President Jose Ramos-Horta earlier in the year and he was pointing out to me that Cuba, for example, was educating doctors for you and yet Australia was not able to see its way clear to do, to provide similar skills training for East Timorese. Do you find that a little ironic?
Xanana Gusmao:Well, everyone can see this. Of course, we are trying also to get other options to send our people to study...
Jim Middleton:I guess what I'm saying is should Australia be doing more?
Xanana Gusmao:But if Australia thinks that it can help in this way, of course we will appreciate very much. And we send already 54 civil servants to Indonesia to have post-evaluation abilities.
The problem for us is the education is better here but also very expensive.
Jim Middleton:Do you think that the refusal at this stage of the Australian government to allow your people to participate in the new guest worker scheme reflects some dissatisfaction on the part of the Australian administration in the steps you have taken yourself and your government, to provide employment and encourage employment in East Timor?
Xanana Gusmao:We understand, we understand, we understand that we are not part of Pacific Islands. And that is why by the statements from Prime Minister Kevin Rudd, he said that in the end of the year we will see what we can do or Australia can do. And we hope, we hope.
Jim Middleton:What do you say to your critics within East Timor who suggest that in your current budget too much is being spent on or wasted I think they would suggest on recurrent expenditure and not enough is being spent on capital investment - 15 per cent I think as opposed to 85 per cent.
Xanana Gusmao:This is the difference - capital investment in what?
Jim Middleton:Well in education, in health, in schools?
Xanana Gusmao:Well we are investing more than $US2 million to scholarships, to human resources. That never happen. That never happen.
And every year we will spend more and more to prepare our young generation for 10 to 15 years to take over the country. That is why it is not true.
And in my campaign I said we have to cut this vicious cycle, to fix holes and to create new holes.
It is not capital investment for my understanding. That is why we are studying how to invest in proper way to push the development growth.
If not, we will not. We will just say, oh I have more two or three police posts this year, three or four schools here. But our people live, our children live far away from schools. There is a big rate of dropouts. Our people live far away from the health service. Our people cannot bring their product to the cities or to the towns because of bad roads. Our people, our children cannot study because they don't have light at night. Our small enterprises, our medium enterprises cannot do anything because we don't deliver electricity, power to their houses.
And what will move the economy? Not only the big investments but also the rural capability to make sure that productive activities are there, are in place in the rural communities. It is what we think about capital development.
Jim Middleton:While you were in Australia you've met with executives from Woodside Petroleum about their plans for exploitation of the gas field at Greater Sunrise. They seem to think that they will not proceed with plans to process the gas in East Timor. Is that a disappointment and is that the end of the story as far as you're concerned?
Xanana Gusmao:I don't believe so.
Jim Middleton:Do you have other options? I mean is it actually a matter for Woodside to decide?
Xanana Gusmao:... the end of the story because the decisions should be from all of us.
We did one decision, important decision in our history - unilateral proclamation of independence in '75, nobody, no-one supports this, no-one, only a few countries supported us. Unilaterally it is the wrong way to seek for solutions, no? We have to seek for other options also. It is in our interest.
We cannot go and discuss something that we don't know. We have to know, we have to look at the possibilities.
Jim Middleton:So are you saying there are other options beyond Woodside?
Xanana Gusmao:We are trying, we are trying to, we are doing the feasibility studies. For us the problem will be, the problem for us, the decision will be more in technical factors - feasibility, safety, commercial viability, including the cost in each options - will be the deciding factors for this issue.
That is why we promise that in the first quarter of the next year we will announce our own findings. Because it is fair that you, somebody present in the table, one part present his options, and another part present also its options. And only the technical and commercial factors will decide, and we will decide together.
Jim Middleton:So are you saying it's not up to Woodside alone to determine how it proceeds, it is up to East Timor as well?
Xanana Gusmao:Of course.
Jim Middleton:East Timor as well and you could say no to the whole deal?
Xanana Gusmao:Of course. We will discuss. We'll be, there will be Commission for Greater Sunrise. Also we are drawing the protocol to make clear the rules of engagement. We, next year we will announce the strategic planning, the development planning. This is not unilateral problem. It is bilateral problem.
Jim Middleton:Let's go to one final subject which of course is the traumatic events at the beginning of the year with the assassination attempt on Jose Ramos-Horta, I think also yourself.
Has the country been able, do you think, in the intervening months been able to put that entirely behind it? Do you think that has now, the trauma is over, stability has returned? Do you think it's as simple as that now?
Xanana Gusmao:Yes. Only by one factor. We started to understand that the fragile state only can come when the institutions of the state don't work together. But if they are together in big national interest issues the state is not fragile. The state can consolidate year by year. And by only this factor I can tell you yes.
Jim Middleton:Prime Minister, it's been a pleasure to talk to you.
Xanana Gusmao:Thank you.
Published: 28/08/2008
quarta-feira, setembro 03, 2008
Under a cloud
terça-feira, setembro 02, 2008
Ramshackle revolution
The Australian
Paul Toohey September 02, 2008
VICTOR and Teresa de Sousa were friends of Alfredo Reinado's lover, Angie Pires, and had come to know the rebel leader. Reinado was charming and edgy; they sometimes went to the hills to lunch with him. On this day, February 10, he took them by surprise with a remark that would, in hindsight, carry heavy meaning.
"If I die tomorrow, what will you put on my grave?" Reinado asked.
"It was like he was only half-joking. We were silent, we were all shocked," says Teresa.
Men with guns were coming and going from Reinado's hilltop hideaway. Cars were being readied. Victor and Teresa did not know he was planning a visit to Dili.
Victor had bought Reinado a bottle of vodka. "I put it on the table. He said, 'No, Victor, I don't want to drink. I want to change my life'. Normally when I go there, he drinks. He said, 'All you people can go to the beach on the weekend. I want to be the same as you. I don't want to live here in the bush any more. I don't deserve this life'. He was not the same person."
The following day Reinado was dead, shot inside President Jose Ramos Horta's villa after a dawn visit and, soon after, Ramos Horta would be lying on the road outside his home after being hit by two bullets.
Reinado had become desperate. He'd offended just about everyone in authority in East Timor with his refusal to surrender his stolen weapons and end a two-year stand-off.
One of Reinado's senior non-rebel advisers, who knows the truth and begs not to be named, says, "He had lost patience because the Government had no mechanism to solve his problem."
Ramos Horta, who had promised amnesty for Reinado, realised he did not have the power to deliver on his promises and was under strong pressure not to do Reinado any favours. Reinado decided to force a meeting.
It was a dangerous gambit, so he had his second-in-command, Gastao Salsinha, wait at Prime Minister Xanana Gusmao's house in the Dili hills as his insurance policy in case things went wrong.
In the words of one Australian military source: "They went to Dili to touch power, to get close, to kidnap or kill if needed. This is very simple case of a murderer and a bandit doing what he did best. And things did go wrong."
In Reinado's pocket, along with his magic protection charms, was his fake Indonesian identity card. On the night before the attacks he took a text message from a mystery woman, who told Reinado she would love him forever. Investigators have been unable to trace the source of that message but think it was one of his many girlfriends.
Conspiracies are swirling in East Timor, blaming Gusmao for faking his own ambush. The theory goes that Gusmao used planted agents to tell Reinado that Ramos Horta wanted to see him, and had him executed; and that he also wanted to kill Ramos Horta, who was talking about bringing forward elections that could have ended Gusmao's ruling coalition. The ambush was a decoy to establish Gusmao's innocence.
There is no proof for this. What is certain is that Reinado had lost hope. Secret recordings published by The Australian show Reinado and Ramos Horta had run out of things to talk about in their last meeting on January 13.
Gusmao had made no secret of his hate for Reinado, saying in late 2007 that he wanted him captured "dead or alive". By early 2008, Gusmao was making efforts to undermine Reinado.
In early 2006, some 600 western-born petitioners were sacked after abandoning their barracks claiming discrimination within East Timor's armed forces, with eastern-born soldiers (more likely to be former anti-Indonesian resistance fighters) being preferred for promotion.
The near civil war that followed saw thousands of Timorese take to tent camps around Dili, refusing to return to their homes while the rebel stand-off continued. For Gusmao, the problem of Reinado and the refugees was linked. Proof of that came when Reinado was killed: they all packed up and went home.
It also meant Reinado's death suited Gusmao. It does not follow that he had him killed.
Gusmao had appointed his special adviser Joaquin Fonseca to try to separate the petitioners from Reinado's leadership group, by bringing them down to Dili to live in cantonment. Reinado knew that once the petitioners were taken from him, he was nothing: just a group of 22 rebels that could be easily destroyed.
Fonseca focused on a group of 11 of the original petitioners who were fed up with Reinado. "They were pissed off that Alfredo didn't keep his word by not turning up to meetings. They thought he was playing." These 11 were sent to speak with petitioners, offering safety and compensation if they came down to Dili.
As Fonseca was trying to assure the petitioners they would be safe in the Dili cantonment, a cocktail-bomb was thrown into the compound. That was on February 6 and was courtesy of Reinado.
"Reinado had said the cantonment was not going to happen," said Fonseca. Nevertheless, the following day, the first group of 87 petitioners came down to Dili. On the night of February 7, a grenade exploded in the ISF's barracks in Dili, also thought to be a rebel message.
"I warned the prime minister in January there would be trouble when we separated Alfredo from the petitioners," said Fonseca. "I learned the only power he had was drawn from the petitioners." Fonseca prevailed and the petitioners started coming down in big numbers. Reinado's influence was collapsing.
On February 9, Reinado received a message from Ramos Horta that a meeting scheduled for the following week was not going to happen. Reinado became morose, believing Ramos Horta had given up on him. He began to gather his core rebels.
A shady group called MUNJ - the Movement for National Unity and Justice - spent the last days with Reinado.
They supplied the vehicles used in the Dili visit. MUNJ had recently resigned from a task force set up to resolve the Reinado issue. The Australian learned recently that the rebels continue to protect MUNJ, saying its members were not with Reinado on February 10. This was despite photographic evidence to the contrary.
Fonseca lived 300m from the President's villa. On the morning of February 11, at about 6.20am, Fonseca heard two separate bursts of automatic fire."As I told my wife we had to leave, neighbours came saying, 'Get out of the house. Alfredo's men have shot the President'." It is known Reinado was alive at least until 6.17am, when he made his last call to his buddy Salsinha.
The Australian manager of the Dili ANZ branch, Mike Durman, had been on a morning bike ride past Ramos Horta's villa. He looked up and saw outside the gate of the President's house gunmen walking around firing weapons. It was between 6.30am and 6.45am.
Then, from behind a concrete block about 30m away, someone started firing close over Durman's shoulder. The shots may have come from a rebel posted to keep anyone from entering the area. Durman sheltered behind a statue, and then rode back to warn Ramos Horta, whom he'd just ridden past.
The President seemed startled by the news. He started heading for his home, but would not get far up the road before he was shot.
Reinado and his mate Leopoldino were already dead inside the President's compound, having been shot - as autopsy results would show - at point-black range. When Reinado and his 11 rebels arrived in two cars, just as daylight was breaking, the two sleepy guards on the front gate were clearly not expecting them. They went to arm their weapons but were restrained by Reinado, who ordered one of his men to watch them while he went inside with three rebels.
They removed automatic rifles and machine guns from sleeping guards and took them back out to their vehicles. Some were wearing balaclavas, which is not what expected visitors wear.
The public story is that Reinado and Leopoldino were shot from a distance. It seems more likely that they were surprised by two of the President's guards at close quarters. Reinado was shot through the hand and the neck as he offered a reflex defence, and then again, twice, once he had dropped. Leopoldino was shot through the back of the head.
Reinado's gunshot wounds featured blackening and burning, forensic evidence that he was shot at a point-blank range. The sniper story was likely concocted to protect the President's guards, who had acted in understandable haste.
Reinado's rebels were not the crack soldiers they imagined themselves to be. There is a belief Reinado had not even explained the mission to his men. "They were small people," says an investigator. "Reinado never told them anything."
The rebels called out for Reinado, who did not respond. There was a brief exchange of fire. Most of them ran for the hills. Two braver rebels delayed, and one of them, upon sighting Ramos Horta walking up the street, shot him on the belief he had lured Reinado to his death. As they ran, they sent text messages up to Salsinha that Reinado was gone.
Salsinha was a coward, and on this morning had put a number of his men in ambush positions while making sure he was clear of the action.
Gusmao's security, preparing to take the boss to work, received calls at 6.45am that there was gunfire at the President's house. Gusmao decided to go down. By the time Fonseca got through to Gusmao to warn him that Ramos Horta had been shot, Gusmao was inside the ambush.
Salsinha watched the motorcade pass and gave the order to attack the Prime Minister's car.
Then he walked inside the house, pretending to ask if the Prime Minister was in residence.
Despite persistent claims Gusmao set the thing up, I keep returning to the interview I had with Gusmao's driver, Adolfo Suarez dos Santos. This man was uncomplicated and honest. When the firing started, a bullet came through the back of the vehicle, through his seat and lodged in the dashboard. Gusmao, who was by then laying on the back seat, was lucky to survive.
This was a genuine attempt by incompetent rebels to kill or kidnap the Prime Minister, in response to Reinado's death. "I went to see the (PM's) car at the police station," said Fonseca. "They weren't playing."
The core group of rebels had come to hate Gusmao. They believed he had used them in the troubles of 2006 to help overthrow Mari Alkatiri's Fretilin government but had since abandoned them.
Even so, Gusmao had more rebel blood than any of these men and retained a certain mystique.
Explaining why the men could not finish him off, or kidnap him, Fonseca said: "It takes a lot of courage to face Xanana, you know. They would have been very nervous about killing him."
East Timor president heads to Cuba
ABC Radio Australia
Updated September 2, 2008 20:31:28
East Timor's President has boarded a plane to Cuba for a medical check up.
Jose Ramos Horta has gunshot wounds from an attack on him in February by rebels.
The nobel laureate was given a military guard as he boarded a commercial flight to Singapore from Dili's airport.
East Timor's Prime Minister Xanana Gusmao says the President is still feeling unwell.
But he says Dr Ramos Horta also wants to convey the solidarity of the Timorese people to Cuba, where Hurricane Gustav swept through on Saturday.
The hurricane destroyed many buildings.
segunda-feira, setembro 01, 2008
Convite para comemoração do aniversário do referendo de 1999
CONVITE
Prezado/a Amigo/a de Timor
Irmão/ã e Conterrâneo Timorense
Estimados Associados
Associação Para Timorenses – APARATI, o “CROCODILO E O SEU LABARIK” têm a honra de vos convidar para se associarem ao evento da Comemoração do Referendo de Agosto de 1999 e a Festa dos Estudantes Timorenses que concluiram o estudo em 2007 e 2008, culminando com a noite de jantar e baile abrilhantada pelo conjunto “IRMÃOS BORROMEU”, não faltando os pratos típicos timorenses como o saboroso Tukir, Sassate e Ikan Saboko, não regados com a TUA ACA, mas jamais faltará o sumo da uva e a loirinha de Sagres.
Aparece e traz um amigo.
Antecipadamente grato pela vossa presença,
O Presidente da Direcção
Manuel Jacob Guerra Caldas
Associação Para Timorenses
APARATI
Comemora o Referendo de 1999 e organiza a Festa dos Estudantes Timorenses que concluiram o estudo em 2007 e 2008
Referendo de 30 de Agosto de 1999
O maior e mais importante marco histórico do povo timorense.
A mudança política na Indonésia para a democracia e a colaboração da comunidade internacional, cujos protagonistas foram a ONU, Portugal, Indonésia e Timor, permitiu o encerramento do capítulo mais conturbado, cheio de páginas de sofrimento de luta pela liberdade do Homem Timorense.
INDEPENDÊNCIA – Consequência do referendo
Sonho tornado realidade graças às forças naturais e sobrenaturais que comandam a vontade e actividade do homem.
Chegou finalmente o tempo de mudança (mudam-se os tempos, mudam-se as vontades) em relação aos senhores governantes desta ilha paradisíaca perdida no hemisfério sul – O CROCODILO E O SEU LABARIK – serem finalmente livres e independentes.
Finalista
Semelhante ao alpinista que para atingir o ponto mais alto da terra ter que atravessar vários perigos, provas mais duras de determinação de vontade de vencer ao longo da caminhada de ascensão.
Quando atinge finalmente o ponto mais alto o alpinista sente-se realizado e orgulhoso por ver o mundo estender-se aos seus pés e considerar-se consagrado vencedor.
O finalista é também autêntico vencedor porque atingiu o mais alto dos seus sonhos, tendo aos seus pés o mundo que passará a servi-lo com todos os conhecimentos adquiridos ao longo da caminhada difícil dos seus estudos, muitas vezes cheias de incertezas e interrogações.
Programa
1º dia – 5 de Setembro de 2008 – sexta-feira
17H00 – Inauguração da exposição de pintura de quadros temáticos timorenses e artesanato por Senhor Embaixador da República Democrática de Timor-Leste em Portugal, Dr. Manuel Soares Abrantes.
17H40 – Palestra sobre Referendo por Sr. Provedor da RDP Adelino Gomes e Engenheiro Luís Cardoso e jornalista
18H00 – Manifestação cultural com actuação do grupo cultural BEI GUA
18H30 – Recitação de duas poesias por Letícia N. C. Baptista e Carlos N. F. Morais.
19H00 – Cocktail
Local: Instalações do INATEL nas praias de Oeiras – junto ao Forte de São Julião da Barra
Como lá chegar – Av. Marginal Lisboa/Cascais e Vice-Versa com saída em S. Julião da Barra para INATEL.
Comboio Lisboa/Cascais e Vice-Versa com saída na estação da CP de Oeiras para INATEL, junto à praia.
2º dia – 6 de Setembro de 2008 – Sábado
11H00 – Torneio Futsal no estádio 1º de Maio em Alvalade – Lisboa
17H00 – Testemunho de dois recém-licenciados: Vicente Paulino e Filomena Isabel
17H30 – Manifestação cultural apresentada pelo grupo cultural Associação dos Académicos Timorenses de Coimbra (ATC) (a confirmar)
18H00 – Entrega de troféu e prenda aos Finalistas
19H00 – Jantar seguido de baile
24H00 – Encerramento
Local: Grupo Desportivo Unidos Caxienses em Laveiras, frente à esquadra da PSP.
Como lá chegar – Comboio Lisboa/Cascais e Vice-Versa com saída na estação CP de Caxias e Camioneta LT117 até á paragem de Laveiras. Camioneta LT117 no parque das camionetas junto à estação CP de Monte Abraão para Caxias com paragem em Laveiras.
Inscrição para Jantar e baile
Associados € 10,00
Não associados € 15,00
Pagamento
Cheque em nome de Associação Para Timorenses – APARATI
Transferência através das Caixas de Multibanco para a conta bancária número 21780 2741 0530
Pagamento directo na entrada
Confirmação da presença até dia 1 de Setembro de 2008
Contactos:
963301815 – Manuel J. G. Caldas
933553829 – Dr. Carvalho Martins
967107943 – Cipriano S. Soares
964132131 – Maria de Fátima F. C. C. Viegas
962458286 – Drª Fernanda M. A. F. Castilho
Patrocinadores
Embaixada da República Democrática de Timor-Leste em Portugal
Embaixada da República da Indonésia em Portugal (a confirmar)
Apoios
INATEL
Grupos Culturais Timorenses – Bei Gua e Associação dos Académicos Timorenses de Coimbra (ATC) (a confirmar)
Pintores – Leopoldino Soriano, Abel Júpiter, Herman Handjan, Victor Lobo e Maria Dulce
Artesãos – João Filipe Gonçalves Tolentino, Fátima Guterres e outros
Juventude Timorense
Agradecimentos
Em nome da equipa que realizou este evento, realço a distinta comparência de Vossas Excelências que muito honraram e animaram este nosso modesto convívio.
Bem hajam e até o próximo
O Presidente da Direcção
Manuel Jacob Guerra Caldas
sábado, agosto 30, 2008
Conto: PALAVRAS VOAM NO VENTO
Carlos Correia Santos
A pequena Dora adorava dizer coisas feias. Sim, ela tinha aquele terrível hábito. Dora adorava falar bobagens, xingamentos, palavras ruins. Sua mãe ficava triste com aquilo. Muito triste.
Certa manhã, antes de sair para o trabalho, a mãe de Dora pediu: “Minha filha, experimente dizer coisas bonitas”. A garota fez pouco caso. A senhora prosseguiu: “Tu sabias que as palavras voam no vento. Se dizes coisas ruins, o mal sai por aí e se multiplica. Mas se dizes coisas belas... o vento faz com que a bondade se espalhe pelo mundo”.
A jovenzinha ficou intrigada. Assim que sua mãe se foi, ela decidiu testar a teoria. Abriu a porta de casa e foi para a rua. Olhou em volta... olhou para o céu.. Tudo parecia sem graça. Pensou consigo mesma: tinha que dizer uma palavra bonita? Mas qual? Escolheu uma, depois outra. Por fim, encheu o peito e gritou com toda a força: AMOR!!!!...
Uma enorme e fortíssima rajada de vento se fez. As folhas das árvores em volta balançaram intensamente. Uma borboleta começou a brincar no ar. Giros lindos, giros incríveis. Dora seguiu o bichinho. Viu quando ele se pôs a dançar ao redor de uma moça. Viu a moça sorrir com a borboleta. Viu a moça começar a dançar como uma bailarina. Seguiu a moça. Viu quando ela, cheia de alegria, mandou beijos para uma andorinha que sobrevoava um jardim. A andorinha bateu suas asas com grande encantamento e magia. A ave se lançou às nuvens. Rodou, rodou. De repente, deu um rasante sobre um canteiro e pegou com seu bico uma delicada flor vermelha.
Dora seguiu a andorinha. Viu quando o pássaro deixou a flor cair nas mãos de um rapaz. Um rapaz que estava sentando num banco de praça. O moço sorriu para a flor que acabara de receber.
Ficou fascinado, capturado por um imenso contentamento. Tomou para si o caderno que estava ao seu lado, arrancou uma folha em branco e começou a escrever. Escreveu um poema. Um suave e emocionado poema. Dora viu quando o rapaz leu para o vento o poema. E os versos diziam: “Ame porque o amor significa cantar. Cante, cante, cante. Porque quem canta encanta e sabe melhor amar”. Nossa amiga viu quando uma súbita ventania arrancou o papel da mão do jovem e levou embora sua poesia. Dora tentou correr para não perder de vista o escrito. Tentou e tentou. Mas nada conseguiu. O vento foi mais ágil. O papel com o poema se perdeu cidade afora. Cansada com toda aquela andança, a menina voltou para casa. Sentou-se na soleira de seu lar e suspirou. Estava com saudade. Com muitas saudades de sua mãe. Percebeu mais do que nunca como ela era importante em sua vida. Caia a tarde quando nossa garota, ainda sentada na calçada de casa, viu sua mãe retornar do trabalho.
A senhora correu, abraçou fortemente sua filha e disse-lhe ao ouvido: “Eu te amo, minha princesa. Eu te amo muito, muito mesmo”. Dora se comoveu e disse: “Também te amo, mamãe.
Muito, muito mesmo”. A mãe se afastou um pouquinho, abriu a bolsa e tirou de lá de dentro um presente: um pedaço de papel dobrado em quatro. Disse ela: “Tome, minha filha. É para ti. Eu estava na janela do escritório e o vento me trouxe esse pedaço de papel. Leia... É para ti”. Dora abriu o papel e chorou ao ler o poema que nele estava escrito. Diziam os versos: “Ame porque o amor significa cantar. Cante, cante, cante. Porque quem canta encanta e sabe melhor amar”.
* Carlos Correia Santos é poeta, contista e dramaturgo, autor selecionado no Edital Curta Criança do Ministério da Cultura e premiado pela Funarte na categoria teatro infanto-juvenil.
quarta-feira, agosto 27, 2008
ADB warns of Pacific poverty risk from food, fuel prices
ABC Online
Updated August 27, 2008 18:39:05
The Asian Development Bank is moving to help Pacific countries cushion the impact of soaring global fuel and food prices.
The ADB says if high world prices cut real income for poorer households, by as much as 10 percent, then 1.4 million Pacific islanders will slip below the poverty line by the end of the year.
The ADB is providing $US 225,000 to help developing nations in the region fully assess the impact of rising prices, which have left some with double digit inflation, power shortages and a struggling economy.
And the bank has called on East Timor and Papua New Guinea to use their higher government revenue from mining and oil to help those in need.
East Timor debates use of oil riches
The National (Abu Dhabi)
Marianne Kearney, Foreign Correspondent
Last Updated: August 26. 2008 10:31PM UAE / August 26. 2008 6:31PM GMT
DILI // Plans to build a massive new power station in East Timor have stirred debate over the use of the tiny and impoverished country’s oil profits amid fears the government is squandering its hard-won oil and gas wealth.
The US$390 million (Dh1.43 billion) power station would be the largest project built in the country, where power blackouts are frequent and many areas lack access to the electricity grid.
But critics have objected to the plant, both because of its use of imported heavy oil, a technology mostly considered outdated in the West due to its polluting by-products, such as sulphur, and because it is to be partially funded by dipping into the country’s protected oil and gas funds. This month, the opposition Fretilin Party refused to sign off on the budget because it included funding for the plant.
“We put forward a vote in parliament to eliminate funding for a heavy oil power station in favour of the government exploring renewable energy initiatives,” said Jose Teixeira, an opposition spokesman and former state secretary for natural resources.
With few other resources apart from oil and gas, East Timor established one of the world’s most progressive oil-fund laws, modelled on Norway’s: just three per cent of its profits can be used for public spending; the rest is saved in a sovereign US-based fund that will be used for future East Timor generations.
The country enacted the law to avoid the resource curse: oil- and gas-rich countries squandering their money on expensive projects, with much of the oil profits ending up in the pockets of the elite and little of the wealth trickling down to ordinary citizens.
Jose Ramos-Horta, the president, opposition figures and donors fear the government under Xanana Gusmao, a former guerrilla fighter, plans to recklessly spend a huge portion of the oil money.
The almost $800m midyear budget is more than twice what was budgeted for the first six months of 2008. It also proposes to withdraw an additional $290m of oil funds above the level considered sustainable.
“If this continues, we fear there will be no money left for East Timor’s future,” said Viriato Seac, from La’o Hamutuk, a local group that monitors the government and the oil and gas industry.
Mr Ramos-Horta said he would refuse to pass the budget into law, as there was widespread objection, both at home and among such donors as the World Bank and International Monetary Fund to the use of additional oil funds.
However, one day after publicly criticising the budget, he said his office accidentally signed off on it after he had left on a trip to China. He issued an apology.
The Fretilin Party has also argued that the budget, which would spend $600m in just five months, could lead to corruption.
“[There are] big increases for overseas travel for ministers, luxury four-wheel drive cars for MPs and cars for civil servants. The money will just disappear and risk the rise of both corruption and inflation,” Mr Teixeira said.
The state secretary for electricity and water has vowed to push on with the electricity station, arguing East Timor desperately needs power if its economy is to grow.
“We need to deliver electricity quickly to the people,” Januario da Costa said.
He argued that more environmentally friendly types of stations, such the hydro-powered plant currently supplying power to eastern Timor, take too long to build. “We’ve been building the Iralalaro hydroelectric power station from 2003 until now, and it’s still not complete,” he said.
The government has argued that public spending is necessary to combat the high unemployment and social unrest plaguing much of the remote, mountainous country, since the outbreak of violence and instability in 2006.
Tens of thousands of people were displaced during the crisis, most of whom have only recently returned to their homes. East Timor also has been severely hit by rising global oil and food prices, and part of the budget will be used to subsidise the cost of basic foods.
Sources within the finance ministry are particularly concerned with the large amount of money allocated for the power station, and the $240m to subsidise food and other basic necessities.
“No previous government ever spent more than $180m a year, how will they spend over $770m this year?” asked one foreign adviser in the finance ministry.
Critics also said the government may have already chosen a company to build the power station and grid, because it allowed just three weeks for international companies to put in an expression of interest.
Mr Costa denied there was any favoured tenderer and said despite the short time period, 14 multinational companies, including those from Australia and Singapore, had submitted proposals.
Mr Teixeira, the opposition spokesman, said the country needed projects that created employment and upgraded infrastructure, but said he feared the electricity station would be “a white elephant” that “squandered the country’s future”.
East Timor is one of Asia’s poorest countries and has struggled for years to obtain the billions of dollars in revenue from its oil and gas fields.
Australia, which originally signed an agreement with former conquering power Indonesia, initially claimed it should have the right to 50 per cent of the oil and gas fields in the Timor Sea, based on an earlier deal with Jakarta. But since 2002, East Timor has argued that under current maritime laws 90 per cent of the fields would be considered within its sea boundaries.
mkearney@thenational.ae
Ver para crer. Não é, Zé?...
Se Ramos-Horta não acreditava, ou queria que não acreditássemos, na execução de Alfredo Reinado, atraído a casa do Presidente pelos homens de Xanana Gusmão, aqui está.
Ver para crer.
Agora, que desculpa se segue?...
Documentos na íntegra:
Attempted assasination of President Ramos-Horta investigation documents 2008
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Analysis
Carefully assess this document and post your findings. Summary
The archive presents six scanned documents pertaining to the Feb 11, 2008 shooting of José Ramos-Horta, President of East Timor (Democratic Republic of Timor Leste) and the killings of Leopoldino Mendonca Exposto and East Timor rebel commander Alfredo Reinado.
autopsy-alfredo-reinado-110208.pdf presents the Feb 11, 2008 autopsy report for Alfredo Reinado conducted by Dr. Muhammad Nurul Islam of Hospital Nacional Guido Valadares, Departamento de Pathologia Forensica and observed by agents from UNPOL, PNTL and the UNDP. The manner of death specified is "Homicide" as a result of multiple gunshot wounds, including one inflicted from the front into the neck. All wounds are declared to have been high-velocity and fired from a short distance.
autopsy-leopoldino-exposto-110208.pdf presents a second Feb 11, 2008 autopsy filed by Dr. Muhammad Nurul Islam, this time into the death of Leopoldino Mendonca Exposto. The manner of death is "Homocide" caused by a gunshot injury to the head, supposedly entering through the back of the head and also fired at high-velocity from a close range.
tt-relations-n-110208.pdf (where n is 1 to 4 inclusive) presents 4 parts of a sophisticated intelligence diagram illustrating the telephone contacts between various people, including Alfredo Reinado, President José Ramos-Horta, other members of the Timor political elite and persons in Australia and Indonesia. The documents have been assembled into a single image by Wikileaks staff and are presented separately as East Timor Presidential assassination intelligence intercept map 2008.
major-alfredo-sms-protocol.pdf presents a log of mobile phone short messages to and from Major Reinado that were intercepted either side of his death on Feb 11, 2008.
mou-sosaatu-maj-kareta-joy-goncalves.pdf presents a memorandum of understanding between Ermera Moris Foun and Joanico Goncalves about the exchange of a Nissan Safari 1997 model for the price of USD 13,000. The money is to be exchanged in at least two steps. The document is dated 20th of December 2007. freedom-of-movement-for-major-alfredo-reinado-oct2007.pdf presents a letter dated 12th of December 2007 and signed by José Ramos Horta, the President of the Democratic Republic of Timor Leste. The letter is a written guarantee that neither Reinado nor his men will be captured during "the period of the process of dialogue". This process is declared as the sole possibility to solve the crisis spawned in 2006 and uphold justice in Timor Leste. The order is "incumbent" for all "national and international institutions in Timor Leste" and applies for example to "movements and displacements of Major Alfredo Reinado and his group". Another copy of this document was released by Wikileaks as Timor rebel leader Reinado safe conduct letter on September 3, 2007.
Context
Timor Leste
Government (bureaucracy) Wikileaks release date
Monday August 25, 2008
Primary language English
File size in bytes 3331817
File type information Zip archive data, at least v2.0 to extract
Cryptographic identity SHA256 f1779be191b7216015ca26de7f5a3ce2899fd1a8d9224630194e922424f6df6f
terça-feira, agosto 26, 2008
Ex-army admits: Conspiracy Xanana Gusmao and Mahidin Simbolon
Dark side of President of East Timor
Jakarta, 6 September 2004 14:45
There was a commotion in the editor’s office this morning with the presence of a man with the initials JM . The man who admits to being ex-army of the Satu Kompi Brawijaya Division and appeared keen to admit that, due to feelings of frustration and stress, ongoing for years, he could no longer keep quiet about the connection with the involvement of the military operation ABRI/POLRI (TNI/POLRI-red) in East Timor from the year 1994 to the end of 1996.
The journalists of this magazine were confused by this gentleman. However, after several minutes the ex member of ABRI started to explain to the GATRA correspondent about several involvements in the killing operation of several important figures of the pro freedom movement of East Timor which ran from 1994 to 1996.
Here the magazine correspondent was not very surprised with the information, as it was already an open secret that in the mid 90s the war in East Timor was being stoked by ABRI/POLRI (TNI/POLRI-red) on several of the East Timor guerrilla defence basis or as they are better known by their ABRI term, GPK-Fretilin.
However, the story became very different and surprising when ex-sergeant JM (who has to keep his name secret for the safety of his family) explained all the ABRI operational documents to do with the Front Clandestin and East Timor Armed Force.
The main target of the operation was the leader of the Front Clandestin organisation who at that time was led by his commander Keri Laran Sabalae. One thing which was very interesting and also sensational was the dilemma of the military operation which was directly under the command of Colonel Mahidin Simbolon (Simbolon’s rank at the time) with the cooperation with Xanana Gusmao, the “resistance leader” of East Timor, who was incarcerated in LP Cipinang Jakarta.
Ex-sergeant JM said that he himself was present at the meeting between Colonel M. Simbolon which was conducted in a room of the Lembaga Permasyarakatan Cipinang in Jakarta.
The basis of the meeting was the desire and the readiness of Xanana Gusmao to “centralise” radical groups into an East Timorese resistance organisation body which, according to Xanana, could threaten the efforts of the “quiet resistance” and reconciliation with diverse East Timor political groups who were being hurried along to unify the people of East Timor.
Because of this, Xanana Gusmao was ready to work together with Col. M Simbolon to annihilate the radical groups of “GPK Fretilin” which among others consisted of several commandants of the Fretilin movement and its followers with names Rodak Timur, Keri Laran Sabalae, David Alex, Konis Santana and Eli Fohorai Boot.
These names were inserted very clearly in a military operation document appendix 1994-1996 which was unfolded by ex-sergeant JM. The core of the “cooperation” between Xanana’s camp and M. Simbolon was the principle of mutualism: Simbolon could achieve success in his military career and Xanana would even become more flexible in controlling the resistance movement which he commanded from LP Cipinang.
It seems clear indeed that the president of the new East Timor was very cunning in maintaining the importance of his group by exterminating his own commanders, who were deemed disloyal to him or even if loyal, according to Xanana they over- prioritised the “violent path” to reach national goals.
Seen from the documents and the various photographs in the possession of JM, it is very difficult to doubt the origin of this story. This is the hidden version and the dark side of the “charisma” of Xanana who was so exalted by his own people. Working with the “enemy” to annihilate his own people.
Ex-sergeant JM himself says the burden he has carried for this time has become lighter with his admittance. He regrets deeply why the East Timorese president was so sly in order to victimise part of the members of his people for the importance of his political strategy. Concerning Major General Simbolon, Serka (sergeant major), JM makes the appeal that the TNI/POLRI headquarters immediately investigate this case.
Because the nature of the military operation at that time secrecy from the unit which was led by Col. M. Simbolon. ABRI headquarters only obtained the military operation appendix copy after the defeat of several “GPK Fretilin”. “Because of this, Major General Purnawirawan Mahidin Simbolon must be immediately investigated remembering that ‘the stars on his shoulders’ of the general is the result of conspiracy with the enemy of the Republic of Indonesia at that time,” adds ex sergeant JM. [IY, GAT]
Imung Yuniardi (Semarang)
Law and Politics, Gatra Number 42, published Friday, 7 September 2004
***
Original:
Eks Tentara mengaku: Konspirasi Xanana Gusmao dan Mahidin Simbolon
Sisi Gelap Sang Presiden Timor Leste
Jakarta, 6 September 2004 14:45
Gatra dihebohkan dengan kehadiran seorang pria berinisial JM di kantor redaksi majalah pagi ini. Lelaki yang mengaku sebagai seorang eks tentara di Divisi Satu Kompi Brawijaya dan berpenampilan cepak tersebut mengaku sudah tidak dapat lagi meredam segala rasa frustrasi dan stress yang dideritanya beberapa tahun belakangan, berhubungan dengan keterlibatannya di operasi militer ABRI/POLRI (TNI/POLRI-red) di Timor-Timur pada tahun 1994 hingga akhir tahun 1996.
Para wartawan di majalah inipun binggung dibuat oleh lelaki tersebut. Akan tetapi menjelang beberapa menit kemudian sang eks anggota ABRI mulai memaparkan kepada koresponden GATRA mengenai berbagai kertelibatanya dalam operasi pembunuhan terhadap beberapa tokoh penting gerakan pro kemerdekaan Tim-Tim yang dilancarkan pada tahun 1994 hingga 1996.
Disini koresponden majalah ini tidak begitu kaget dengan informasi bersangkutan, karena memang sudah menjadi rahasia umum bahwasanya di pertengahan tahun 90an perang di Timor-Timur sedang hangat-hangatnya dilancarkan oleh pihak ABRI/POLRI ( TNI/POLRI-red) terhadap berbagai basis pertahanan kaum gerilya Timor-Timur atau yang lebih dikenal dengan istilah ABRInya sebagai kaum GPK-Fretilin.
Akan tetapi ceritapun menjadi lebih lain dan mengagetkan ketika eks Serka. JM (yang mengaku agar namanya tetap dirahasiakan-demi keselamatan keluarganya) membeberkan segala dokumen operasi ABRI ketika itu terhadap kaum Front Clandestin dan Armed Force Timor-Timur.
Sasaran utama dari operasi tersebut adalah pemimpin dari organisasi Front Clandestin yang waktu itu dipimpin oleh comandannya Keri Laran Sabalae. Suatu hal yang sangat menarik dan juga menhebohkan adalah sifat dilematis dari operasi militer itu sendiri yang dikomandai langsung oleh Kolonel Mahidin Simbolon (pangkat Simbolon pada waktu itu) dengan bekerja sama dengan “pemimpin perlawanan” Timor-Timur Xanana Gusmao yang sedang mendekam di LP Cipinang Jakarta.
Eks Serka. JM mengakui bahwa dirinya turut hadir dalam pertemuan antara Kolonel.M Simbolon yang dilaksanakan di suatu ruang di Lembaga Permasyarakatan Cipinang di Jakarta. Inti dari pertemuan tersebut adalah keinginan dan kesanggupan Xanana Gusmao untuk “menetralkan” kelompok-kelompok radikal dalam tubuh organisasi perlawanan Timor-Timur yang menurut Xanana dapat mengancam usaha “perlawanan damai” dan rekonsiliasi dengan berbagai kelompok politik Tim-Tim yang sedang dilancarkannya untuk mempersatukan rakyat Timor-Timur.
Oleh karena itu, Xanana Gusmao menyatakan bersedia bekerjasama dengan Kol.M Simbolon untuk membasmi kaum-kaum radikal di tubuh “GPK Fretilin" yang antara lain terdiri dari beberapa komandan gerakan Fretilin dan anak buahnya dengan nama Rodak Timur, Keri Laran Sabalae, David Alex, Konis Santana dan Eli Fohorai Boot.
Nama-nama tersebut tercantum dengan sangat jelas sekali di lampiran dokumen operasi militer tahun 1994-1996 yang dibeberkan oleh eks-Serka JM. Inti dari “kerjasama” antara kubu Xanana dan M Simbolon dalah prinsip mutualisme; Simbolon dapat sukses di karir militernya dan Xanana pun menjadi lebih fleksibel dalam mengontrol gerakan perlawanan yang dikomandai olehnya dari LP Cipinang. Terlihat jelas bahwsanya sang Presiden dari negara baru Timor Leste ini telah sangat lihai sekali untuk mempertahankan kepentingan kelompoknya dengan membasmi para komandanya sendiri yang dianggap tidak loyal kepadanya ataupun kalau loyal, menurut Xanana mereka lebih mengutamakan “jalan kekerasan” untuk mencapai tujuan nasional.
Melihat kepada dokumen-dokumen dan berbagai foto yang dimiliki oleh JM kiranya sulit sekali untuk meragukan keaslian dari versi cerita ini. Ini adalah versi tersembunyi dan sisi gelap “karisma” seorang Xanana yang begitu diagung-agungkan oleh rakyatnya sendiri. Bekerjasama dengan “musuh” untuk membasmi kaumnya sendiri.
Eks Serka. JM sendiri mengaku beban yang disandangnya selama ini menjadi lebih ringan dengan pengakuannya ini. Dia sangat menyayangkan mengapa Presiden Timor Leste ini begitu liciknya untuk mengorbankan sebagian dari anggota masyarakatnya hanya untuk kepentingan dari strategi politiknya. Mengenai Mayjen. Simbolon, Serka. JM memhimbau agar Mabes TNI/POLRI harus segera menyelidiki kasus ini. Karena sifat dari operasi militer pada waktu itu adalah rahasia dari unit yang dipimpin oleh Kol.M Simbolon.. Mabes ABRI hanya mendapatkan copy lampiran hasil operasi militer setelah tewasnya beberapa komandan “GPK Fretilin”. "Oleh karena itu, Mayjen Purnawirawan.Mahidin Simbolon harus segera diselidiki mengingat “bintang- bintang di bahu” sang jenderal adalah hasil konspirasi dengan musuh Republik Indonesia pada saat itu" demikian Eks Serka JM. [IY, GAT]
Imung Yuniardi (Semarang)
[Hukum dan Politik, Gatra Nomor 42, beredar Jumat, 7 September 2004
Australia grants financial aid to East Timor
Macauhub - 2008-08-26
Canberra, Australia, 26 Aug - Australia is to grant East Timor 8 million Australian dollars in financial aid for agriculture and a military training centre, officials said in Canberra Monday.
At the end of a meeting with his Timorese counterpart Xanana Gusmão, Australian prime minister, Kevin Rudd said that Australia would invest 2.4 million Australian dollars in improving Timorese agriculture, for which coffee is the main product.
He added that 5.6 million Australian dollars would be spent on building a military training centre for the East Timorese army.
The Australian prime minister also announced that the number of grants for Timorese students would be increased and that an English studies centre would be created in Dili.
The inclusion of the Timorese in the 2,500 South Pacific workers to which Australia plans to grant temporary work Visas was the main issue under discussion at the second meeting of the two heads of government, with the Australian prime minister saying only that he would continue to discuss the issue.
Job creation is one of the priorities of prime minister Gusmão, as he plans to reduce unemployment that currently stands at around 80 percent.
Before the meeting, Gusmão had said he hoped an understanding would be reached that would allow the Timorese to join workers from Kiribati, Tonga, Vanuatu and Papua New Guinea, who will be granted visas to work in Australia.
Rudd agreed to look at the proposal as part of a needs assessment for employment and training in East Timor, which is due to be concluded by the end of this year.
###
segunda-feira, agosto 25, 2008
East Timor not in Australian guest worker scheme
ABC News Online
Updated August 25, 2008 19:06:01
East Timorese Prime Minister Xanana Gusmao fails to convince Australia to include his country in guest worker program. [Reuters]
Australia will not be including East Timorese in its intitial guest workers program despite an approach by the country's Prime Minister Xanana Gusmao.
The decision follows a meeting on Monday in Canberra between the East Timorese leader and the Australian Prime Minister Kevin Rudd.
On the agenda was inclusion in the guest worker pilot scheme announced earlier this month.
Four countries, Tonga, Kiribati, Papua New Guinea and Vanuatu will be part of the trial program.
The program will grant seven month visas allowing employment in Australia's horticultural industry.
A number of other countries have also expressed interest including East Timor.
Following the talks Prime Minister Rudd says there is a way to go yet.
"Let's take it from the ground up there is still some work to be done on this."
Australia has agreed to funding a $US5 million defence training complex in East Timor; doubling of university scholarships for East Timorese in Australia; and other training initiatives.
In the lead up to the meeting and it became clear that one of the reasons for Mr Rudd's hestitation over East Timor's inclusion in the guest worker scheme was the revenue expected as part of Dili's share in energy sales.
But during his visit, Mr Gusmao was questioned over how his country intended to handle the posibillity that Woodside Petroleum may rule out processing gas from Greater Sunrise in East Timor.
The energy giant may pipe it to Darwin or have a floating liquefied gas plant in the Timor Sea.
"We'll look to the technical and commercial viabilities. After that we will accept any decision," he said.
Mr Gusmao also inspected the yet to be completed East Timor embassy in Canberra.
Dos leitores
Comentário na sua mensagem "Science doesn't back Ramos Horta story":
REVELACAO DA MORTE DE ALFREDO: OS TERCEIROS, QUEM SAO?
Investiguem Hercules e o MUNJ e chegarao ao Xanana Gusmao!!!
O Major Alfredo Reinado encontrou-se em contacto com frequencia com gangstar Hercules na vespera da sua visita, um dos Gangs mais influentes e mais rico na Indonesia, em Timor-Leste.
Porem, o major falecido nao sabia que o proprio Hercules e XG ja tinha feito um plano para elimina-lo. O "rogue force" que atirou o RH era o homen montado pelo XG e Hercules. Eram 8 elementos provenientes de Jacarta com autorizacao dada por XG,apoiados logistica e financeiramente pelo Hercules.
O plano era seguinte uma bala para eliminar dois alvos considerados obstaculos para governacao da AMP; Ramos Horta e o Major. Utilizando elementos treinados em Jacarta, vieram para Timor com uma missao de top secret. Eram eis elementos de Kopassus do eis General Prabowo. Sairam de Kopassus e juntaram-se ao rede mafioso de Hercules. Entre eles 3 sao timorenses eis Kopassus com um era oficial de patente Capitao naquelas forcas especiais Indonesias e os restos sao indonesios. Subordinados ao Hercules e cumpriram ordem de XG.
O plano foi tracado pelo circulo de XG. Alfredo foi apanhado no lugar errado e no momento errado. Os homens do MUNJ conspiraram com XG para convidar Alfredo ao chamado encontro com o presidente que nao existiu. Alfredo e seus homens foram traidos pelo MUNJ e ALVEJADOs por um SNIPER, e a seguir os dois (Alfredo e Leopoldinho) foram capturados pelo guarda presidencial que depois os mataram. Porem o coitadito guarda presidencial pensava que foi ele que os tinha alvejado, por isso matou o major e o seu elemento Leopoldinho sem hesitacao com tiro a queima roupa.
Os 4 elementos de Hercules tomaram as suas posicoes na monte de Bidau Santana como SNIPERS. Eles sao os terceiros nesta dramatica eleminicao de Alfredo e tentativa de assasinato do presidente Ramos Horta. Foram os outros 4 que simularam o drama de assalto ao seu patrao Xanana. Tendo sabido que o Ramos Horta afinal ainda estava vivo, seguiram com plano B de simulacao do ataque ao seu BIG BOSS para se livrar e salvar XANANA GUSMAO da culpa de morte do Major e tentativa de assasinato de Ramos Horta.
Os misteriosos terceiros (sao exactamente 8 pessoas) sao homens de Hercules que trabalham para XG e o seu governo da AMP. Foi uma missao de TOP SECRET. Nao acreditam? entao investiguem o Hercules e o MUNJ e chegarao de certeza ao Xanana Gusmao. Ainda lembram da historia de mortes de David Alex, Rodak, Sabalae e os outros elementos considerados radicais por XG? a mesma cena que agora esta acontecendo. O assasinio de sangue fria esta na accao.
Chama-se XG!
Sumber dari Jakarta
Fonte de Jacarta
Conto - O ANJO DA FÁBRICA DE MÃES
Carlos Correia Santos
Ivan respirou fundo e entrou no prédio enorme cheio de chaminés e torres. Foi recebido por uma espécie de anjo transparente, um ser que parecia feito de cristal. A criatura disse com suavidade:
“Bem-vindo à Encantada Fábrica de Mães. O que desejas?”. O menino se impacientou: “Ora, o que desejo? Se isso aqui é uma fábrica de mães, uma mãe é o que eu desejo, não é?”. O anjo quis saber: “Mas o que aconteceu com a tua? Tu a perdeste? Ela se foi?”. Ivan respondeu com tristeza: “Ela nunca existiu... Sou órfão. Nunca tive mãe”. O ser de cristal sorriu e contestou: “Isso é impossível. Todos nós temos uma em algum lugar”. O garoto se aborreceu: “Sou órfão, já disse! Como é? Vou poder ver ou não essas mulheres que vocês fabricam aqui? Quero escolher uma perfeita, sem defeitos”. A transparente figura determinou: “Entre. Tente fazer a sua escolha”.
Os dois, assim, seguiram pela infinita fábrica. Ivan viu tudo. Viu como nascem as mães. O primeiro passo é o coração. Só os melhores corações são eleitos. Depois, o colo. Um colo materno tem que ser feito do material mais macio do mundo. Tudo, cada detalhe tem que ser puro, suave, iluminado. Os braços para preciosos abraços. As mãos para as melhores carícias. Os lábios para dizer as mais sábias e educativas palavras. Os olhos para transmitir amor sereno e eterno.
Ivan viu, por fim, várias mães prontas, a espera de serem adotadas. Sempre acompanhado do anjo de cristal, examinou uma por uma. Tentou ver qual levaria consigo. Aquela baixinha com riso delicado? Não... Faltava algo nela. Aquela outra mais alta com rosto afetivo? Também, não...
Faltava alguma coisa... Acabou conhecendo centenas de candidatas. De todas as raças, de todos os jeitos, de todas as alturas, modos e formas. Nenhuma, porém, o conquistou. Nenhuma era a sua...
Após andar por toda a fábrica, o jovem sentou-se num canto e chorou. O Anjo Transparente o consolou: “Não, chore, meu querido... Não chore”. O pequeno contou: “Sinto falta de minha mãe.
Ela se foi quando eu era muito pequeno. Dizem que foi para o céu. Mas eu não agüento mais de tristeza. Por isso vim até essa fábrica. Quero encontrar uma nova alma maternal. Não quero mais ser só”.
O ser cristalino revelou: “Achas que tua mãe não está mais contigo? Tu te enganas. Ela foi chamada para viver em outro plano, mas logo voltou e sempre te acompanhou. Ela sempre esteve perto de ti. Só não podias ver. Mas ela sempre esteve perto”. O menino se levantou e olhou dentro dos olhos do anjo. Quis saber: “Como assim? Ela sempre me acompanhou?”.
A doce criatura explicou: “Há um tipo de mãe que não está aqui nessa fábrica. As mães que se transformam em anjos transparentes. Como eu, meu querido. Parece que não estamos mais ao lado dos nossos filhos, mas estamos, sim! O verdadeiro amor materno nunca vai embora”. Uma lágrima de cristal caiu pelo rosto da encantada. E ela confessou: “Eu nunca te abandonei, meu menino. Sempre estive juntinho de ti. E sempre estarei”. Ivan também chorou, mas de felicidade. Emocionado, o garoto deitou-se devagar no colo de seu Anjo de Cristal. Deitou-se e dormiu no colo de sua mãe.
*CARLOS CORREIA SANTOS é poeta, contista e dramaturgo brasileiro.
Contatos: carloscorreia.santos@gmail.com / contista@amazon.com.br
Aldrabões...
UN hits back over Ramos-Horta's 'slow reaction' claim
Posted Fri Aug 22, 2008 3:14pm AEST
The United Nations has rejected an accusation by the East Timorese President that it was slow to react after an attempted assassination in February.
Jose Ramos-Horta said international forces did not move quickly enough to give him medical aid and arrest the rebel soldiers who attempted to kill him.
But in a leaked version of a report on the shooting, the UN suggests that sending a nurse to aid the wounded President may well have saved his life.
The UN says that the East Timorese Government itself waited two days before pursuing the rebels.
- BBC
NOTA:
Mandaram uma enfermeira??? A assistência médica que Ramos-Horta recebeu não foi de nenhuma "enfermeira" enviada pela ONU. Mas sim do INEM que se deslocou ao local com a GNR...
ONU não vai diminuir efectivos na missão estacionada no país
Notícias Lusófonas
24.08.2008
As Nações Unidas vão manter o seu actual efectivo em Timor-Leste, garantiu hoje em Díli o representante interino do secretário-geral da ONU, no encontro que manteve com o ministro da Justiça português.
A Missão Integrada da ONU em Timor-Leste (UNMIT) conta actualmente com 1.533 polícias (entre os quais militares da GNR e agentes da PSP) e 33 oficiais de ligação.
O encontro do representante interino Finn Reske-Nielsen com o ministro Alberto Costa realizou-se no âmbito da visita oficial de três dias que o governante português iniciou quinta-feira a Timor-Leste.
Num comunicado enviado à Lusa refere-se que no encontro com o representante interino da ONU "foi ainda abordada a colaboração de Portugal na área da justiça, tendo em vista a actual agenda legislativa em Timor-Leste, nomeadamente, o Código Penal, Código civil, Lei da Protecção de Testemunhas e Lei sobre questões de Justiça juvenil, a aguardar aprovação, e que contam com a colaboração portuguesa".
"O ministro da Justiça transmitiu ao representante das Nações Unidas o compromisso de Portugal em alargar a cooperação na área da justiça com a introdução de novas tecnologias e de novos métodos de trabalho nos tribunais, bem como na área dos registos e notariado", lê-se no comunicado.
Neste segundo dia da visita a Timor-Leste, Alberto Costa visitou o Parlamento Nacional, o Tribunal de Recursos, que tem competências de Tribunal Constitucional, e o Tribunal Distrital de Díli, terminando a jornada com um encontro com o secretário-geral da FRETILIN, partido na oposição com a maior bancada eleita no parlamento, Mari Alkatiri.
No primeiro dia, Alberto Costa assinou dois protocolos de cooperação na área da justiça com a sua homóloga timorense, Lúcia Lobato, depois de ter sido recebido pelo Presidente José Ramos-Horta e pelo primeiro-ministro Xanana Gusmão.
O primeiro acordo, de cariz bilateral, foi firmado entre os Ministérios da Justiça dos dois países e visa a assistência técnica em várias áreas, a formação de quadros e o apoio na elaboração de legislação específica que necessite de maior aprofundamento.
O segundo protocolo envolveu, além dos Ministérios da Justiça de ambos os países, a participação do Programa das Nações Unidas para o Desenvolvimento (PNUD), e respeita à definição do enquadramento para a realização de missões de juízes e procuradores portugueses.
A cooperação portuguesa na área da Justiça, na vertente multilateral, apoiou já com 3 milhões de dólares (2 milhões de euros), entre 2006 e 2008, o programa do PNUD, que funciona com o apoio da Austrália, Brasil, Espanha, EUA, Irlanda, Noruega, Portugal e Suécia.
Este programa visa a formação de juízes, procuradores e defensores públicos timorenses, tendo o terceiro curso nesse âmbito começado no final de Julho passado.
A nível bilateral, a cooperação portuguesa tem neste momento quatro assessores jurídicos no Ministério da Justiça, dois deles no Gabinete da Ministra Lúcia Lobato e outros dois na Direcção Nacional de Assessoria Jurídica e Legislação.
No plano multilateral, em colaboração com o PNUD, há uma equipa de seis oficiais de Justiça, que se prevê venha a ser alargada em breve para oito elementos.
Neste caso, Portugal assume os salários e o PNUD assegura as viagens e a remuneração complementar.
Ainda no âmbito da cooperação multilateral, estão em Timor-Leste três guardas prisionais a dar formação por um período de um ano.
sexta-feira, agosto 22, 2008
The Reinado Tapes
The Australian - Friday, August 22, 2008
Features: The Reinado Tapes
Paul Toohey
Jose Ramos Horta and Alfredo Reinado had reached an impasse at their final encounter, writes Paul Toohey
A SECRET recording of the last meeting between East Timor's President Jose Ramos Horta and rebel leader Alfredo Reinado reveals that the two men had run out of ways to end a stalemate that had held the country moribund for almost two years.
The recording, obtained by The Australian, was made by Reinado on January 13 on a small digital recorder hidden in his top pocket at a meeting in the western hilltop town of Maubisse.
Just before Reinado died, he handed it to a friend for safekeeping.
Reinado was gunned down at almost point-blank range inside Ramos Horta's villa on February 11, while the President survived after being shot twice, apparently by Reinado's rebels. The rebels say Reinado told them he had a 6am appointment with Ramos Horta and point out they dawdled on the way to Dili, stopping in places to kill time to arrive at the appointed hour.
Although no one suggests Ramos Horta made the appointment, the January meeting reveals how frustrated he and senior government figures had become with Reinado. It is possible that Reinado, who was relying on Ramos Horta to solve his problems, lost patience and stormed Ramos Horta's villa.
An alternative theory is that Reinado had been falsely informed the President wanted to see him and was set up for his death by powerbrokers who sought his elimination.
Ramos Horta had warned Reinado that if an agreement was not reached on that day, then ``there are no more other opportunities. If the President of the republic has come and a
solution is not found, then what other solution is there? These are my words.''
Four men attended the meeting: Ramos Horta, Economy and Development Minister Joao Goncalves, Reinado and Reinado's second-in-command Gastao Salsinha, who is now in jail.
Waiting outside was Major Mike Stone of the Australian Defence Force, now assigned to Ramos Horta's staff; and Reinado's lawyer, Benevides Correia Barros.
The meeting was a failed final attempt to end a two-year impasse that plunged the country into civil strife after about 600 soldiers from western Timor deserted and fled to the hills, claiming the army leadership was favouring soldiers from the east for promotion. Reinado eventually joined the petitioners, but his case was different: the courts had issued an arrest warrant for him on murder charges, after he had engaged in a deadly firefight with the army in 2006.
Ramos Horta went to the meeting believing that the group acting as mediators between him and Reinado, the Movement for National Unity and Justice (MUNJ), had secured a commitment from the rebel to surrender weapons he had unlawfully seized from border police in early 2007.
Ramos Horta discovered that Reinado had made no such promise.
The rebel argued he had shown good faith in 2006 by surrendering his weapons to then president Xanana Gusmao. He said Gusmao had promised that the surrender was just a formality intended to restore public faith and that he would get his weapons back.
Reinado told Ramos Horta that Gusmao had betrayed him by not returning the weapons, and this led him to raid the border posts to obtain guns.
Ramos Horta regarded the surrender of weapons as essential for him to offer Reinado a guarantee of amnesty in the context of the murder charges.
``You told MUNJ you accepted the solution of compromise that I have presented,'' the President said.
Reinado said: ``I have the right, as military, to protect myself.''
Ramos Horta, angrily: ``We have spoken of this many times, major.''
Reinado: ``And I have never changed my position, Mr President.''
Ramos Horta reminded Reinado that he, not Reinado, was supreme commander of the army. ``The command does some things wrong but there is in no country or any state which, after such efforts, would accept your attitude,'' he said.
``Many opportunities have been given to you. Many opportunities. I have said many times already that during these months that good, positive behaviour will help to stabilise the situation.
``Many people don't understand; many suspect that I would also support you from behind. I don't. I only look to do dialogue and dialogue and dialogue. I try to look at the problems from each side.
``However, major Alfredo Reinado, the moment has come that we must go forward, meet each other, to bow to each other, because the reason is not 100 per cent on your side or 100 per cent on the side of the Government or FFDTL (the Timorese defence force). If you want to show the community that we can find solutions for the problem and show that only you are right, then there is no solution.''
The recording adds force to the argument that Reinado's lover, Angelita Pires, who has been accused of being Reinado's puppeteer, was not as influential as has been claimed. Pires was
not at the meeting and Reinado's stubbornness is clearly of his own making.
Reinado had earlier written to the President saying he was prepared to be placed under house arrest in Dili, with a New Zealand guard, while awaiting his trial in a military court. (Timor has no such court.) He no longer trusted Australian troops because he felt they were encroaching on his turf.
The President said it would be better if Reinado stayed out of Dili and that he would have to surrender to the authorities for house arrest while awaiting trial. But ``that is only a formality'', he added. He said he would use ``indirect pressure'' to persuade the prosecutor-general to allow Reinado to remain free while awaiting trial.
However, Ramos Horta warned that he had no power over the courts, even though he had infuriated them by ignoring the warrants and issuing freedom-of-movement letters that ordered
the security forces not to arrest Reinado. Ramos Horta said an amnesty law would be passed on May 20 that could lead to his freedom. But Reinado was aware the President had no legislative
power and could guarantee no such outcome.
Salsinha insisted he and the petitioners were still serving members of the army. However, Salsinha and his men had been sacked in early 2006 and Ramos Horta made it clear that the
army's head, Brigadier General Taur Matan Ruak, did not want them back. ``Taur says we will not accept them to come back because we already sacked them,'' the President told the rebels.
He said he would return to Dili and try to persuade Matan Ruak that the soldiers could reapply to join the army or be paid out to go away.
Reinado retorted that all serving members of the military -- not just the rebels -- should be put through a triaging process to reapply for the military and to prove their worth. He challenged
serving soldiers to a physical test to see who was better.
Ramos Horta was contemptuous of Salsinha and did not address him by his rank.
He took a different view of Reinado, regarding him as a serving officer who needed to face justice.
In a strange aside, the President said to Reinado: ``While we are in this process, I ask yourselves to please keep an eye. I heard that from the border the Indonesians are bringing weapons in.''
Reinado agreed this was the case and asked the President to give him the authority to raise a battalion to protect the border. Ramos Horta did not respond.
The meeting ended after one more attempt by Ramos Horta to persuade Reinado to surrender his weapons. ``No, Mr President,'' Reinado responded. ``It's like this. I also have the right to
protect myself.''
Ramos Horta made a half-hearted suggestion that they meet again in a few days, but no date was set. It appears as though Ramos Horta had given up on Reinado. The two men never saw each other again.
Goncalves told a reporter after the shootings that Reinado had agreed to surrender and submit to justice on January 13. ``He agreed. A deal was essentially done,'' Goncalves was reported as
saying. That clearly was not the case.
Three days after the meeting, Leon de Riedmatten from the Centre for Humanitarian Dialogue wrote to Reinado on behalf of Ramos Horta, informing him that the military was reluctant to
reintegrate the petitioners into the army but reassuring him that he would remain free and that no military operation would be conducted against him.
Gusmao, the East Timorese army, the Australian-led International Stabilisation Force and the courts had all tired of Reinado and regarded him as a common criminal.
Ramos Horta, the Nobel peace laureate, was the only one who saw hope. The President was the only one Reinado would listen to.
But after two years of Reinado demanding justice but refusing to face the courts, it is clear that Ramos Horta, too, was running out of patience.
De Riedmatten told Reinado the President had to travel overseas in January and would not be able to meet him that month. He promised that Ramos Horta would meet him again ``before the
middle of February''. However, the President made further plans to travel overseas in mid-February and again cancelled the meeting with Reinado.
On February 6, Australian troops entered Reinado's hilltop zone, which led to a three-hour stand-off, with the rebels firing shots in the air. It is possible that Reinado thought he was
close to being arrested and that his one hope in the world, Ramos Horta, had left him for dead.
Novos políticos preparam futuro
Rádio Renascença
19-08-2008 10:00
A historia do país escreve-se com nomes ligados à resistência, mas agora há uma nova geração de dirigentes timorenses a preparar-se para liderar o país.
Ramos Horta, Xanana Gusmão, Mari Alkatiri e os irmãos Carrascalão. Há varias décadas que são estes os rostos da politica timorense, antes e depois da independência. Mas há caras novas à espreita.
“A nossa geração, dentro em breve, terá de ser reformada e eles estão mais preparados do que nós, quando tínhamos a sua idade, inclusive alguns já são ministros”, afirma Mário Carrascalão, líder do PSD timorense.
É o caso do actual chefe da diplomacia, Zacarias da Costa, mas, também, de Arcangelo Leite, o ministro da Administração Estatal, agora com 42 anos. Aos poucos vai-se afirmando uma nova geração de políticos, incluindo o líder do PD, que é também presidente do Parlamento e assumiu interinamente a chefia do Estado, após o atentado contra Ramos Horta. Fernando Lassama Araújo, diz que não faltam novos políticos. “A nova geração está a formar-se com o seu envolvimento no Parlamento Nacional e no Governo. Está mostrar competências e capacidades elevadas”.
Também a Fretilin, na oposição, está a preparar novos quadros. Mari Alkatiri lembra, por exemplo, que Arsenio Bano já é vice-presidente do partido aos 33 anos.
Cx/Pedro Mesquita
Informação Imprensa: Visita a Timor-Leste de S. Ex.ª o Ministro da Justiça de Portugal
Embaixada de Portugal em Díli - 21 de Agosto de 2008
A Embaixada de Portugal informa que S. Ex.ª o Ministro da Justiça de Portugal, Dr. Alberto Costa, realizará entre 21 e 23 do corrente, uma Visita à República Democrática de Timor-Leste, a convite da sua homóloga, Dra. Lúcia Lobato, com o objectivo de estreitar os laços de amizade e cooperação existentes.
S. Ex.ª o Ministro da Justiça de Portugal manterá encontros com Suas Excelências o Presidente da República, o Presidente do Parlamento Nacional, o Primeiro Ministro, o Presidente do Tribunal de Recurso, o Procurador-Geral da República, o Provedor dos Direitos Humanos e Justiça, o Secretário-Geral da FRETILIN, e com o Representante Especial do Secretário-Geral das Nações Unidas.
Durante a deslocação a Timor-Leste, com o objectivo de aprofundar o apoio ao fortalecimento do sistema de Justiça, encontra-se prevista a assinatura de um protocolo de cooperação bilateral entre os Ministérios da Justiça de Portugal e de Timor-Leste, e de um protocolo definidor do enquadramento das futuras missões de magistrados portugueses em Timor-Leste, entre o Ministério da Justiça de Portugal, o Ministério da Justiça de Timor-Leste e o Programa das Nações Unidas para o Desenvolvimento (PNUD).
S. Ex.ª o Ministro da Justiça de Portugal prestará igualmente homenagem às vítimas do massacre de Santa Cruz e deslocar-se-á ao Museu e Arquivo da Resistência Timorense. Manterá também contacto com juristas e técnicos portugueses, e com representantes das Forças de Segurança e Forças Armadas de Portugal que exercem funções em Timor-Leste.
No quadro do Programa Indicativo de Cooperação 2007-2010, celebrado entre os Governos de Portugal e de Timor-Leste, a cooperação no sector da Justiça constitui um dos eixos prioritários de intervenção da Cooperação Portuguesa. O apoio e o desenvolvimento de projectos de cooperação no sector da Justiça resulta da definição prévia de prioridades e necessidades pelas autoridades timorenses, donde tem decorrido a necessária articulação com os demais parceiros internacionais, com o intuito de contribuir para o fortalecimento do Estado de Direito e o respeito pelos Direitos do Homem em Timor-Leste.
Science doesn't back Ramos Horta story
The Australian
Comment Paul Toohey August 19, 2008
EAST Timor President Jose Ramos Horta has delivered a furious tirade against The Australian, accusing it of inventing an article.
The story in The Australian said rebel leader Major Alfredo Reinado was shot dead at almost point-blank range inside his compound on February 11.
Ramos Horta told the Timor Post that this newspaper and Australian forensic authorities were trying to destabilise his nation by suggesting Reinado and his offsider, Leopoldino Exposto, were shot at close range.
The President and the Timor Post have misunderstood the story. They seem to think The Australian commissioned an independent report from the Victorian Institute of Medicine on Reinado’s wounds.
The story was in fact based on the Reinado autopsy conducted first-hand by East Timor’s head forensic pathologist, Dr Muhumad Nurul Islam.
Dr Nurul reported that Reinado had blackening and burning around each of his four bullet wounds and said he had been shot with a high-velocity rifle “at close range”.
Dr Nurul said Leopoldino was shot in the centre of the back of his head, also at close range.
Dr Nurul’s report raised questions of reported claims that Reinado had been shot at a distance of 10m to 15m by a guard who had taken up a sniper position.
The Australian went to Professor David Ranson, of the Victoria Institute of Forensic medicine to ask about the general nature of gunshot wounds. Professor Ranson said that blackening and burning only appeared when a gun was fired at almost point-blank range.
This was not just Professor Ranson’s view. Forensic pathologists across the world agree this only occurs when rifles are fired at near-contact, or point-blank, range.
One inference to draw from this is that Reinado and Leopoldino were executed or possibly detained before being shot.
The President has reason to be angry, but not at The Australian or the Victorian Institute of Medicine.
He should be angry that he was left lying wounded on a road outside his compound for 30 minutes before help arrived.
Where were his guards when he was fighting for life?
He should be angry that his personal security guard who accompanied him for his morning jog along the beach allowed him to return to his home with gunfire ringing out across the valley.
He should be angry that security forces – local and international - did not catch the rebels that morning as they raced off and hid in the nearby hills.
He should also be angry that UN and police investigators allowed people to tramp all over the crime scene, even answering Reinado’s phone as he lay dead inside the President’s compound.
He should look again at the photos of the dead Reinado, and ask himself why Reinado’s body can be seen in different positions. The body has been tampered with.
Because the rebels escaped, they had time to stash or switch weapons, meaning reliable ballistics information pertaining to the weapons used that morning has been lost.
Most of all, the President should be angry with himself.
It was Ramos Horta who acted unconstitutionally in drawing up “letters of comfort” that allowed the armed rebels with arrest warrants to remain free, despite the repeated demands of the Dili Court that they be detained.
This deeply annoyed the Australian-led International Stabilisation Force, who believed Reinado was a common criminal who needed to be brought to justice.
But Ramos Horta had an unflagging self-belief that he, and he alone, could resolve the crisis. Events show that he could not.
Ramos Horta maintains that Reinado and Leopoldino were shot from a distance. Science suggests otherwise.
NOTA:
As forças militares australianas pactuaram com Ramos-Horta e não o aconselharam nunca a deter Reinado.
