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Journalism of Courage
DILI, EAST TIMOR, AUG 29: Gathering in their Sunday best and singing peace songs, East Timorese flocked to hear Nobel laureate Bishop Carlos Belo urge them to have the courage to vote in their historic poll.
People were drifting back to neighbourhoods deserted since last week’s pro-Indonesian militia terror, but many said they would stay just long enough to vote on Monday before heading off again to safer ground.
Mass services in the Dili Cathedral, the diocese church and the Motael chapel were packed as Belo gave a brief but to-the-point message.
`At this time I ask all of you not to be afraid … be brave and choose the future of East Timor,’ he said.
The holder of the 1996 Nobel peace prize, won jointly with East Timorese independence campaigner Jose Ramos-Horta, was in the troubled township of Suai 110 km (68 miles) southwest of here, where armed militia intimidation of voters is Ram Pant.
Belo’s message was relayed by priests throughout the former Portuguese territory and some Dili worshippers,unable to cram into the overflowing churches, listened from outside.
`Despite intimidation and violence, people should be courageous enough to fightthrough the ballot,’ Father Filomeno Jacob said in Portuguese in his own oration at the Motael chapel.
Among the hymns, the congregation sang the Bob Dylan peace song `Blowing in the wind,’ with the line `how many people have died’ ringing out in their native Tetum language instead of English. `Go in peace,’ Father Jacob said. Outside the Mahkota hotel a sign read: `Give peace a chance.’Traffic was flowing normally and the markets were open in Dili.
But trucks carrying the feared militiamen were spotted at intervals, and elsewhere in East Timor renewed violence was reported.
An official with a non-governmental organisation said volunteeers had reported 10 houses burned in the Oecussi enclave in West Timor in a militia attack overnight.
Police said 40 people in Oecussi were injured, but volunteers reported 10 hospitalised.
