Former Integration Figther Calls one Timorese to Continue Reconciliation
August 8,
2003 9:41pm
Antara
Atambua,
E Nusa Tenggara, Aug 8 (ANTARA) - Former Chief of the Integration
Fighters Legion (PPI) Joao da Silva Tavares has called on all East Timorese
people to continue reconciliation process.
The only
way to create stability in East Timor is to reconcile all East
Timorese people, Tavares who is also a former chief of Bobonaro district
between 1976 and 1989 told newsmen here Friday.
The expected
reconciliation is the convergence of the inner hearts of the
East Timorese people who had conflicts in the past and the readiness to
forgive each other without one party trying to bring the other to court
or
taking revenge, he said.
According
to Tavares, the correctional facility is not a right place to
solve the problems being faced by the newly born country.
He opined
that the right place lies in the inner hearts of the East
Timorese people who are ready to forgive each other, forget the bitter
experience in the past and step forward to peaceful future.
Tavares
further said reconciliation would be strong and durable if the East
Timorese would forgive each other but not seek mistakes and take revenge.
"We should not seek legal process against those considered guilty," he added.
If the government
and people of East Timor are still seeking legal process
against those considered guilty, horizontal conflicts will sooner or later
recur in the nascent state.
Contrariwise,
if the East Timorese government and people give priority to
forgiving each other, the Democratic Republic of East Timor will exist
forever.
On the occasion,
Tavares also said he decided to live far from the border
shared by Indonesia's East Nusa Tenggara province and East Timor as a
way
to create peace for East Timorese younger generation.
"Certain
quarters in East Timor would consider it a constraint to create
peace if I live in the border areas," he said.
Tavares
who decided to live in Indonesia's province of Yogyakarta however
promised to always support reconciliation process to create peace among
East Timorese people.
East Timor
officially seceded from Indonesia in October, 1999 as a
consequence of the pro-independence camp's victory in the United Nations
organized popular consultation held on August 30, 1999.
The territory
integrated into Indonesia in 1976 but the United Nations
never recognized the integration process