bahasa indonesia headlines ­ tuesday 13 february 2001

1. timor lorosae will not forget the deeds of ex-falintils
2. scores of fdtl members ‘run amok’ in aileu
3. national council fails to debate election calendar
4. “why can’t timor lorosae people rebuild their own country?” asks bishop belo
5. power failures: ‘this is a big problem for us’ 

(limited edition, again, due to a prolonged power failure in dili)

1. timor lorosae will not forget the deeds of ex-falintils (timor post front page headline) 

the commander of the national defense forces (fdtl) brigadier-general taur matan ruak speaking to reporters in maubesi over the weekend said the 1,500 falintil members who did not make it into the fdtl would be given usd100 per person, for five months, from february.

“there is a joint program with the world bank, usaid, and iom to give a subsidy of usd100 to each falintil member for five motnhs,” said taur matan ruak. also, he said, there was a program to train them in business skills ­ for those ex-falintils who were interested.

commenting on concerns that the ex-falintil members could rebel against the administration, particularly those who were disillusioned, taur matan ruak replied: “such opinions are aired by people who have never done anything positive for others. if they are complaining, how come they have never lifted a finger to help the ex-falintils?”

the fdtl commander said he hoped the ex-falintils will realize that the war for the people’s liberation was over.

“now is the time for them (ex-falintils) to think of their day-to-day living, rather than to listen to what others had to say,” said taur matan ruak.

he guaranteed that timor lorosae will never forget them.

“which country will ever forget its fighters and warriors,” asked the fdtl commander.

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2. scores of fdtl members ‘run amok’ in aileu (suara timor lorosae front page headline) 

scores of members of the national defence forces (fdtl) ‘ran amok’ at the falintil headquarters in aileu in an incident caused by miscommunication. the fdtl members, also, attempted to hijack an iom bus carrying a delegation of 18 indonesian journalists who were visiting the area.

deputy fdtl commander lere anan timor said the incident was caused by a miscommunication to the fdtl members. lere assured that the problem would be solved internally within the fdtl.

“they have to remember that they are military members. whoever goes out of the forces (fdtl) commits a criminal act,” said lere.

untaet spokesperson barbara reis said the incident arose out of the dissatisfaction in the distribution of uniforms.

“the uniforms were distributed first to fdtl members who were selected for early training. the others had to wait for their turn. this caused some tension among certain fdtl members,” she said.

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3. national council fails to debate election calendar (suara timor lorosae, front page third lead)

national council member manuel carrascalao yesterday hit out at ngos for using the nc hall for a symposium, without consulting the chamber. because of this, he said, the debate for fixing the election calendar was scuttled.

“timor lorosae does not need many ngos, only two or three would be enough,” said manuel.

because ngos were using the nc hall for their symposium, without consulting nc members, the national council had to delay the debate on the election calendar.

manuel said the debate had been fixed in the chamber on 12 february.

“because the ngos were using the hall, it had to be postponed,” he added.

“i can’t understand why they did not use the nc hall when the national council was in recess for two weeks?” he asked.

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4. “why can’t timor lorosae people rebuild their own country?” asks bishop belo (timor post front page second lead)

maubesi -- “if the poor people of maubesi could build a new church, why can’t the rest of the timorese people follow their example and build a new country?” asked bishop belo when he inaugurated the immaculate conception church here.

“even though most of you had lost your property (during the september 1999 violence) you now have built a new life. make this church your dwelling place ­ a new place in the new millennium and the new timor lorosae,” said bishop belo.

“only thorough self-sacrifice can we help to rebuild the new timor lorosae in the baucau and dili dioceses,” he added.

the church was constructed at a cost of rp679,619,950. the bulk of contributions were from private donations made by the maubesi people.

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5. power failures: ‘this is a big problem for us’ (suara timor lorosae page 2 lead)

january, february and now , for a further seven months more (till the elections), there seems to be no end to the problems of power supply in the city. it seems that dili people are doomed to be in darkness.

“but this problem not only plagues the people, it is also our priority problem to tackle,” said filomeno tilman de andrade, the coordinator for power supply in dili, in his comments to suara timor lorosae when he was asked the above question.

according to filomeno, the power failures have been caused by the over-consumption of electricity ­ far exceeding the capacity of existing generators.

“the capacity of the existing generators is only 9 mega watts but the present consumption in dili city is 11.5 mega watts. and only five generators are functioning to full capacity,” said filomeno.

filomeno explained further that though the central electricity board (pln) had 12 generators, only five were functioning.

“when the whole of dili is lit up at the same time, the five generators just can’t handle the load,” said filomeno.

“there are only four functioning generators in komoro and the supply is also for liquisa. in caicoli, there is one generator but the supply is also meant for dare and hera,” he added.

when asked about the grant made by the japanese government towards alleviating power problems in dili, filomeno said the funds had already been received by the pln. however, he said, the usd3 million was not just for pln dili, but was also meant for other districts in east timor.

untaet promised that power problems, currently faced in dili, would be solved in january. when probed on why that promise had been broken, filomeno said pln was still working hard on fixing all damaged electrical infrastructure in dili. also, he said, the funds from japan came late.

comment by suara timor lorosae: “the problem of overcoming power failures seems to be shifting all the time. previously, the pln ­ which comes under the department of infrastructure ­ said it was a question of funds. now the japanese government has given usd3-million and the excuse for inaction is that consumption in dili has exceeded the capacity of the diesel generators. what next are we going to hear?”

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