1612 East Timor PM recognises religions and religious
austraLasia 1612

EXHORTATION - East Timor's Prime Minister recognises religion's and religious' roles

DILI: 13th July 2006 --  While the maiden speech of the new Prime Minister of East Timor, José Ramos Horta is almost certainly available through the usual major news outlets, it may not have received due attention outside the immediate region.  For the benefit of austraLasia readers, we include some of the more significant elements of that address, given on 10th July before the President, parliament, bishops, diplomatic corps and United Nations representatives in Dili.
    Ramos Horta, speaking in Portuguese, opened his address with a reference to the long journey of nationhood since Portuguese missionaries first stepped on Timor's shores.  He notes that the recent crisis was more an 'implosion' than an 'explosion' and called for collective reflection on the years 1974-1999 in particular.  He paid tribute to former leadership, even while acknowledging the mistakes made.  Then he turned to current issues, especially the security situation in Dili and the need to organise the return home "of thousands of brothers and sisters who during these weeks have taken refuge in several centres [which have] given them necessary support to rebuild their lives".
    Recognising that the Government he has inherited has but nine months before elections, he sees it as a difficult gestation period - almost humanly impossible, but he does not see that as cause for inertia.  As could be expected and indeed hoped for, he used language which can only justly describe the circumstances of Timor at the moment - " the poor and the forgotten", though he seems to say also that Timor is not actually poor; it has resources and the generosity of friends.
    He calls on the Church in these words: "The Timorese Catholic Church is the only continuous solid institution that has absorbed the fabric of Timorese.  It must be venerated and called once again to partnership with our young State, help us get out of this crisis, heal our wounds, help us better serve the people in all areas such as social, educational, cultural, spiritual and moral.  This government, then, invites the Catholic Church to assume a bigger role in education and in the human development of our people and in the fight against poverty".  He follows this with a pledge of financial support and a reference to the smaller Muslim and Protestant communities.  At the same time he notes the fusion of traditional beliefs and Christian beliefs (which we would call syncretism but he calls a symbiotic relationship) adding that modern secular models or 'Europeanism' cannot be imposed in this situation.
    Ramos Horta addresses the bishops in particular, expressing excitement about the establishment of a third diocese and wishing for a nunciature in Dili.  He intends to appoint an ambassador to the Holy See.  He recalls previous bishops and especially bishop Belo, calling them "refuge of the persecuted".
    At the conclusion he says he "cannot finish without referring to the crucial role of the religious orders, priests and nuns in opening their doors and their hearts to tens of thousands of their brothers and sisters. The servants of the Church once again displayed their humanity to afford the same to those in need".
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