Raised on a nation’s fight for freedom
Sian Powell; 17/5/08
Naldo Rei was nine years old when he crept into the jungle on his first mission for the East Timorese resistance movement. Like so many in East Timor, he spent decades fighting for freedom. Now a 32-year-old public information officer in the troubled new nation, Rei says the 24 years of danger and bloody struggle have yet to deliver peace and stability. The tiny country is now riven by regional loyalties. Tens of thousands of dispirited East Timorese live in tents, fearing to rebuild their burned and destroyed homes. Worse still, earlier this year rebels tried to kill the East Timorese President, Jose Ramos Horta. “We wanted peace, stability, a democratic society,” Rei said. “We don’t want to live in violence and fearing everyone all the time.”
See; http://www.theaustralian.news.com.au/story/0,25197,23711681-5013404,00.html
St Xanana’s halo, and power, slipping
Paul Toohey; 17/5/08
Xanana Gusmao, his Australian wife Kirsty and their kids haven’t been back to their home in the hills overlooking the East Timorese capital, Dili, since the morning of February 11, when his prime ministerial convoy was ambushed by a group of rebels. The family will never return to that home. They have been living in a well-protected, Western-style compound near Dili’s airport while Gusmao’s new residence - a double-walled, steel-reinforced waterfront fortress near the Hotel Turismo - is completed. Gusmao, 62, was security-conscious long before the ambush. He has been on high alert for more than two years, unable to move with ease among his people. Things have changed much for Kay Rala Xanana Gusmao, once regarded as a god-like figure for his resistance to Indonesian rule. He has been stoned by youths, ambushed, abused and accused of being pro-Indonesian and of running a corrupted, incompetent government.
See: http://www.theaustralian.news.com.au/story/0,25197,23711680-5013404,00.html