Christians in East Timor and their resistance to the Indonesian occupation Added: 06/16/2006

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East Timor was a colony of Portugal for four hundred and fifty years and in 1975, this colonization was followed by a brutal Indonesian occupation. In 2002, East Timor gained independence from Indonesia; however, during the last twenty five years before this date, the occupants exterminated a third of the population; the locals were either killed or died through starvation or disease.

The tragedy of Christians in East Timor was not so widely discussed as, for instance, the conflict of Iran and Iraq. Strange, but there were some brief articles in several international magazines on East Timor refugees and evening reviews on TV, when the estimates showed enormous numbers of rapes, murders and abuse.
These were hard times for East Timorese and today they have much to restore after years of war and devastation. People lived in intimidation and youth absorbed the culture of violence and it has been the Christian faith that helped many Timorese survive and realize a dream of obtaining freedom, sovereignty and independence.

The Church East Timor has always been an essential part of people's life and although the terror of Indonesian Muslims against Christians in East Timor was extremely malicious and included persecution, destruction of property, and killing of Christians, many believers did not retreat a step in their morals and principles.

In fact, the Church has been in Timor for about three hundred years, but thirty years ago, only ten percent of the population was Catholic. Today, Christians in East Timor comprise almost hundred percent of the population. The Church of East Timor was not only a major player in resistance of East Timor to the Indonesian occupation, it also continues to play a vital role in people's everyday lives, political economy of the region, and culture.

Before the Indonesian occupation in 1975, Christians in East Timor comprised of the most educated part of the population and the Church was mostly considered as an institution for the elite and educated. Later, some Catholics were selected from the common people and trained to be priests and nuns. One of them, Don Martinho da Costa Lopes, became the first leader of the Christians in East Timor.
Gradually, Christian ties have become stronger and from the day of Indonesian invasion, Christians in East Timor produced enormous volumes of work to stop genocide of their people. Father Lopes documented atrocities, negotiated with the military, protected fugitives, and informed the world of the current events.

Local priests took all efforts to extend their services and during the years of the brutal occupation, the Catholic Church was the only institution in East Timor linked to the outer world. However, the outer world was deaf to support entreaties for many years.

In 1983, Australian officials visited East Timor to evidence the facts that father Lopes and his priests documented but were neither satisfied nor impressed by what they saw. As a result, Lopes was forced to resign and another East Timorese, Carlos Belo, was offered to take Lopes' place who continued to speak out criticism of the Indonesian military. In 1996, Carlos Belo was awarded a Nobel Peace Prize for his endless efforts to bring peace and justice to East Timor.

We may continue speaking about the great contributions of Christians in East Timor to the establishment of peace and independence on their land. The fact is that the Catholic Church is today the strongest political, moral and educational entity and the way it chooses to continue its influence and power in the region will be one of the major factors defining the development of the nation.

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