Local view for "http://purl.org/linkedpolitics/eu/plenary/1999-12-15-Speech-3-374"
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"en.19991215.16.3-374"2
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".
Madam President of the European Parliament, Mrs Fontaine, honourable Members of the European Parliament, ladies and gentlemen, I am greatly honoured and moved to be here with you today, with you, the elected representatives of the citizens of Europe.
It is also important that what independence means for us is not just having a President, a flag and a national anthem. Independence must guarantee the benefits of freedom for a people that has fought so hard and suffered so greatly. The massive participation of 30 August must continue if the Timorese people are to feel that they themselves are the agents for development. There will be no development without democracy.
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Apart from the material reconstruction, we are committed to promoting civil society, education about human rights, education about democracy and the precise notion of justice, and we need your support.
East Timor is not only going to need financial support. We are in a difficult, even crucial phase, because at the moment we are, or we feel that we are, very fragile and weak in terms of preparing ourselves for an independence that represents a new life for our people. In this sense we remain confident in Europe’s support, a support that has continued to aim to prepare the Timorese, with a precise notion of universal values, so that, at the last hurdle, we do not betray the suffering of our people.
We are entering the phase of transition to independence with UNTAET. Since the arrival of the UN Secretary-General’s special representative, we have been consolidating the mechanisms for consultation so that the Timorese have a say in this transition process. I must say though that we still feel insecure. We still feel weak and it is in this sense that the European Parliament and all the other institutions can help us; with other kinds of support rather than that of a merely financial nature. We want to learn to be responsible towards the international community in the development of our country but, after a long period of political activism and of fighting, we feel today that we are carrying a huge burden on our shoulders because we are responsible for the happiness and the freedom that we have promised our people.
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This prize shows the European Parliament’s recognition of my people’s courage in fighting for a free homeland where freedom of thought is guaranteed as a right that is inherent to the human condition. My people deserve this recognition and it is on behalf of my people that I would like to thank you for the honour that has been conferred on me.
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I must confess that when I returned to East Timor, I was devastated by the havoc caused by the systematic destruction and I could scarcely have imagined that I would come to Strasbourg and that I would have the rare opportunity of seeing and walking through the corridors and halls of the seat of democratic power in Europe, a Europe that shared with us the pain and suffering of genocide, but also the courage and the strength to resist a campaign of destruction and murder. I would like to take this opportunity, on behalf of my people, to thank you for the attention and solidarity that you have shown by adopting numerous resolutions supporting my people in exercising their right to self-determination.
By giving the name of Sakharov to this prize, you are paying tribute to a man who fought vigorously for the freedom of thought. Nothing characterises human beings as much as the ability to think. To deprive someone of being able to think freely and to express his or her ideas is to deprive that person of their dignity as a human being. Freedom of thought then, is a fundamental right of every human being and in Europe, it has become one of the fundamental pillars of citizenship.
In totalitarian regimes, the oppressors repress and suppress freedom of thought. In Indonesia, our experience showed that through the regime of the
(New Order), led by Suharto and his generals, which occupied my homeland for more than two decades, a system of repression and suppression was implemented through the imposition of a doctrine
which regimented thought and consequently human behaviour, in an attempt to destroy the ability to think in an individual, collective and, above all, free way. This doctrine permeated the whole of Indonesian society, was transposed to East Timor and was carefully backed by a campaign of physical torture and mental conditioning.
Ironically though, these acts caused the opposite effect: they strengthened the identity and the determination of our people. After the fall of Suharto in May 1998, ways opened up for the resolution of the conflict in East Timor and for the democratisation of Indonesia.
I would like to take this opportunity to pay sincere tribute to all winners of the Sakharov Prize, particularly Aung Sang Suu Kyi, one of the greatest fighters for freedom and democracy in the whole world.
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Madam President, by exercising our most basic right, that of determining our own future as a free and independent country, it was easy to foresee tragic consequences, but our people did not hesitate to show, once again, that it is staunchly determined to defend its freedom.
Now that the terrible months of pain and suffering are over, with the murders and the irrational destruction of our homeland having been inflicted in a particularly brutal way, the Maubere people are preparing for reconstruction. The tasks ahead are countless and the responsibilities that we all face are enormous. The period of transition will begin with the first phase of rebuilding infrastructures that have been completely destroyed, in a year which we are calling “the year of emergency”, the year 2000. Reconstruction will not be of a merely physical, material nature. Reconstruction will also target social aspects, the political sphere, the economic domain and, above all, human and psychological problems. Only the interaction of these various components will be able to guarantee a gradual recovery by Timorese society at all levels, in real and universal preparation for independence."@en1
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