From: jorgej@colossus.cs.rpi.edu (Joaquim Jorge)
Newsgroups: alt.culture.indonesia
Subject: Personal views on East Timor
Date: 16 Nov 92 18:02:04 GMT
Distribution: alt
Organization: Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute Computer Science, Troy NY


I am posting this message for a friend without access to alt.culture.indonesia.
Your comments are welcome. -Joaquim Jorge
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Date: Mon, 16 Nov 1992 11:05:24 EST
From: jb00@Lehigh.EDU (JOSE ANTONIO BASTO)

This posting express my personal views on the situation at E.
Timor.

As a Portuguese, this subject is very important to me, and
unlike the Timorese, I can express my ideas freely , and I hope
to bring some light on the issue.

Last April, I did some work in the posting of the "Oporto East
Timor Seminar- part I", and I will post the next part in the
following days.

Some Indonesians made a few comments on the first postings
(I keep a policy of ignoring "flames"), arguing that the
Indonesian history implied influence on E. Timor before the
arrival of the Portuguese to the territory, indicating the
Majapahit history (its funny that these arguments had only be
brought to the discussion after the annexation of E. Timor in
1976...) and the education issue on E. Timor.

I am an engineer, and not a historian, but from my readings I
found the following:

1) HISTORY
The empire of Majapahit come into being in 1293,  as a small
kingdom in the east of the Java island.

Over time, it became stronger and powerful and reached its
pinnacle in 14th century, under  Prime-Minister Gajah Mada
(1331 to 1364). The Empire then started to decline, to
culminate in its disappearance at 1527.

Based on a single citation of the Javanese heroic poem -
Nagarakretagama, songs XIII and XIV - that refer to Timor as
do to many other territories, from Malasya and the south of
Thailand to West Papua, as under the rule of Majapahit, the
Indonesian Government claims its historical "rights" to E. Timor.
(note: Timor means "east", so anything east of Java could be
counfounded with the island that Portuguese explorers named after
the word the native people called the land, a practice usually
followed by Portuguese map makers).

According to SLAMETMULJANA, in his book "A Story of
Majapahit" [Singapore University Press Pt Ltd, 1976], it is
vague the historical value of this and others historic texts of
the period (14th and 15th centuries):

<<...
The work presented here is intentionally called "A Story of
Majapahit" because is more a collection of stories about
Majapahit as found in some historical sources, other than a
genuine discussion on Majapahit. The stories are intended to
show the reader the characteristics of the Javanese historical
writings, in particular those of the thirteenth and mid-fifteenth
centuries. These were intended for the instruction and
entertainment of the ancient Javanese society. Consequently,
they were adjusted to the taste of a society that then was
influenced by Hinduism, and only in the light of Hinduism can
these writings be rightly interpreted and understood (...) >>

There are no written records in Timor from those times, and
we cannot exclude that some Timorese king had send presents
or even a tribute to the Emperor of Majapahit, but this does not
mean a perceptible cultural influence.

By that point of view, the Majapahit was sending tributes to
the Chinese Emperor (as documented by "Chinese Chronicles" of
the Ming dynasty), and nobody said that Majapahit was part of
the Chinese Empire...

Lee E. WILLIANS, in is book -"Southeast Asia, a History"
[Oxford University Press, Inc, USA(1976)] presents an
approximated map about the Majapahit frontiers on the 14th
century, at its maximum extent. Again, all the island of Timor
are excluded...

D.G.E. HALL, in "A History of South East Asia" [Macmillan
Education Ltd, London,4th edition, 3rd reprint(1986)] refers
that other than Java, absolute control was extended to the
islands of Madura and Bali. With the other territories, the
relations was of "submission" of some costal kingdoms or just
commercial relations.

M.C. RICKLEFS, professor of History at Monash University of
Australia, in "A History of Modern Indonesia (1300 to the
present)"[The Macmillan Press Ltd, London and Basin(1981)]
says also (pag. 17):

<< The Nagarakretagama and the inscriptions make it possible
to reconstruct something of the style and influence of
Majapahit in the fourteenth century. It claimed a form of
authority over far-flung vassal states throughout Sumatra, the
Malay Peninsula, Kalimantan and East Indonesia. Although this
may have constitute something of an "empire" in Indonesian
terms, it is clear from the general physical constraints
described earlier in this chapter that was unlikely to have been
any regular centralized exercise of authority by Majapahit
over such areas. It appears to have been trade connections
which mainly linked these regions, and at the Majapahit  end
this trade was probably a royal monopoly. Thus, Majapahit was
both a land-based and a trading empire at once. It exercised
significant naval power, and in 1377 sent a punitive expedition
against Palembang in Sumatra. Majapahit  also claimed
relationships with Champa, Cambodia, Siam, southern Burma
and Vietnam, and sent missions to China. The memory of
Majapahit"s greatness has lived on in Indonesia, and sometimes
seen as establishing a precedent for the present political
boundaries of the Republic.>>

George D. WINIUS, in the book "Foundations of the Portuguese
Empire, 1450-1580" [University of Minnesota Press,
Minneapolis, USA], about the "Indonesian" (a quite recent word,
as you can find ...) archipelago before Portugal"s advent (pag.
361 and 362) says:

<<   As one might expect from reading about the political
disunity the Portuguese found in India, the indigenous of the
Malay Archipelago were as ethnically and religiously diverse as
the Indians, and like them had no feeling of nationality and no
idea that they comprised a special geographic entity of any
kind. It is significant that the term "Indonesia" was not applied
to the area until 1850 - and this by an English scholar. About
170 languages were spoken there _ often three or more on the
same islet - and in all the greater land masses, highly civilized
peoples shared living space with the most backward savages.
Also, all the advanced peoples had experienced diverse cultural
influences imported from areas thousands of miles distant:
Java, Sumatra, Bali, and the ports of Borneu and Celebes had at
different times and to various degrees, become Hindu,
Buddhist, and, most recently, Muslim. All the civilized areas
contained to some degree a mixture of the three elements.
   Among these regions, eastern Java was the cradle for the
most sophisticated cultures, and from there the arts and
political influences spread outward - to nearby Bali at first and
then west toward Sumatra and the Malay Peninsula. During
most of the fifteenth century, for example, the dominant
cultural and political power in this region was the Hindu-
Buddhist kingdom of Majapahit, whose rulers had extended
their sovereignty over Java and Bali, and finally all the way to
the Strait of Malacca. Then Majapahit went into a rapid decline
during the fifteenth century, a process simultaneous with, but
probably not closely related to, a swift growth of Islam
throughout Malaya and the archipelago>>.

When the Portuguese arrived in 1515, Timor was kept apart
from this religious and cultural influences, with their
populations professing animist religions and no written records.
If some empire from Java was there, it didn't leave any traces...

In my humble opinion, the Portuguese had been in E. Timor for quite
a while more than any Javanese Empire
(and the Portuguese colonization didn't try to change radically
the way E. Timorese lived for centuries) . Even the founders of
the Republic of Indonesia very clearly distinguished E. Timor
from the previous West Indies. The last freely elected
President of Indonesia, Sukarno, never put in question the
status of E. Timor as not being part of Indonesia.

The annexation of E. Timor was an evident maneuver of the
"top brass" of the Indonesian Army, that in reality controls the
country, (do you really find natural that the Army gets
automatically 1/5 of the members of the Indonesian
Parliament ? ) to exert their expansionist desires, in
combination with powerful oil interests in the Timor Gap(also involving
Australia). No historic reasons can be proved to legitimize one
of the most horrendous invasions of the modern times...

2) EDUCATION IN EAST TIMOR

It is true that, until 1960, Portugal did almost nothing about
instruction in East Timor. Majority of the schools existing at
that time were run by Catholic Missions. From 1961 to 1975,
however, the Portuguese State made a special effort to develop
the basic education.

In Portugal, the situation was somewhat similar. The fascist
dictatorship did not want the people to have access to an
education, because the regime wanted a humble population,
better achieved if the people could not read "subversive"
literature. Even today, Portuguese rates of illiteracy are the
worst in Europe, one of the legacies of 48 years of fascism.

At the same time, more than a million of Portuguese people
was living in Angola, Mozambique and Guine"-Bissau
(territories with an area almost as large as all Indonesia, a term
of comparison), geographically much closer to Portugal, and
much richer in terms of natural resources than E. Timor. The
Portuguese regime did concentrate on the development of
these colonies, allowing E. Timor to live with their own
traditions.

Following is a table with the basic school statistics. Until 1974,
the numbers showed are from the Education Services of the
Portuguese Government of East Timor. From 1976 on, the data
is from the Indonesian Occupation authorities. The differences
of the number of students between 1974 and 1976, is a direct
result from the Indonesian invasion and occupation.

It is natural that the Indonesia had build many schools: the
most of the existing ones had been destroyed by Indonesian
bombardments during the war.

Also, it is very important to note that most of the teachers are
not Timorese, but from other islands, and only teach "bahasar"
- the Indonesian lingua franca -, to make it easier for the
assimilation of the new generation into Indonesia.

                    BASIC SCHOOL - EAST TIMOR

SCHOOL YEAR             # STUDENTS              # PROFESSORS
1963-64                 14228                   411
64-65                   18403                   386
65-66                   18488                   450
66-67                   20813                   467
67-68                   23059                   490
68-69                   27299                   513
69-70                   29382                   559

1970-71                 33115                   662
71-72                   36208                   637
72-73                   60233                   1100
73-74                   94689                   1336

"EAST TIMOR AFTER ACCUPATION (From the Dep. of
Information of Indonesia)"

1976-77                 13501                   499
77-78                   23041                   614
78-79                   41543                   959
79-80                   59072                   1610
80-81                   68709                   1515
81-82                   77658                   1821
82-83                   90437                   2226

+++++++++++++++++++++++++

As a conclusion, I hope this posting and the following ones can
show the Portuguese/ Free Timorese side of the question (the
Timorese that are inside can not express their ideas, the ABRI
is there to make sure they will not demonstrate again ...).

On all conferences on last year Santa Cruz massacre organized
on E. Timor in the USA, never did the Indonesian government
send a representative to defend their position (why? Is their
side of the truth so "strong" that it does not need to be
explained?)

A full list of the dead and missing can not be obtained,
even though a year has passed since the massacre.

The sentences to the Timorese who demonstrated peacefully go
from 10 years to life.

The Indonesian soldiers that killed scores of people didn't get
more than a few months, not to speak about the generals who
were punished by being sent out to USA for higher education
or a position at Jakarta headquarters...

The Indonesian Major that was stabed at the demonstration
(comming from a nearby island and with good relations with
many Timorese...) was never interviewed by the press or did
any public statement about what happened in that morning ...

The Timorese who gave their lives for their country will be not
forgotten.

I will try my best to answer any comments (given my limited
time available). Any flames drooped just to state the author's
loyalty to Suharto regime will be ignored...

To all Indonesians trying to figure out what really is going on
at E. Timor, please try to keep reading the postings in the
following days, or better, go there if you can, as a tourist, and
try to keep yours eyes open - and post back your experiences.
Given your condition of Indonesian, you are again the only
people allowed to visit E. Timor.

Please understand that I don't have nothing against the
Indonesian people, and I understand your rage against the
Portuguese because we are raising internationally  this issue
of E. Timor.

Only eighteen years ago, Portugal was also accused (with justice) of
colonialism, oppression, abuse of human rights, etc, and it was
painful for our national pride. But we did get ride of the fascist
regime, and now we are a Free country.

I hope that will be the case in Indonesia: sooner or later, the
Indonesian peoples will trow away the net of corruption and
oppression that hangs over yours Archipelago for too long, and
respect the independence of its small neighbor, E. Timor, and
the differences of the peoples that make your big country.

Jose' Basto.
Jose' Barros BASTO; Address:11,Duh Dr Apt 222; BETHLEHEM, PA 18015-3732
Phone :(215)758-1846; Office:(215)758-4640;  FAX:(215)758-4886   U.S.A.
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--
Joaquim Jorge
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