Bahasa Indonesia Headlines ­ Monday 13 August 2001

1. UDT rocks Dili with mammoth campaign 
2. People forced to choose certain parties 
3. Bishop Belo: Stop the spread of inflammatory campaign material

1. UDT rocks Dili with mammoth campaign (Suara Timor Lorosae, front page headline)

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Thousands of people made their way to Dili on Saturday to take part in the UDT mammoth campaign.

UDT supporters in buses and trucks toured the city shouting slogans and waving victory signs before they reached the Democracy field to hear UDT leaders and candidates speak.

At the Democracy Field, supporters and on-lookers were entertained by the popular rock band Vi-Almaa-X.

UDT President Joao Carrascalao told the crowd gathered at the field that though he roamed the world [after 1975] at the end he returned home to die in his country.

He told UDT supporters and the crowd that the party wanted a transition period of between 8 to 10 years before full independence in order for the people to be fully prepared for it.

“If the Timor Lorosae people had followed UDT principles [in 1975] the country would have been independent a long time ago and not one person would have died,” he said.

“Those that died for the country will always be remembered and it does not matter from which party,” added the UDT president.

2. People forced to choose certain parties (Suara Timor Lorosae, front page second lead)

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Certain political parties have resorted to door knocking campaigns forcing people to vote for them.

This was brought up at a dialogue session with the Democrat Party (PD) campaign manager who visited Aileu on Saturday.

“Several parties are sending their cadres to door knock in Aileu. They want a commitment that we will vote for them. When we refuse to give that commitment, they threaten us by saying our children would not get jobs if their parties get elected,” said an Aileu lady.

Meanwhile in Ermera, the PD dialogue heard cases where villagers were forced to contribute money towards a particular political party’s campaign.

“They [political party] are forcing us to contribute. Why should we? Previously we contributed willingly because our fighters ­ like Konis Santana ­ were fighting for our freedom in the jungles. The war is over, so why should we be forced again?” asked a lady from Gleno.

3. Bishop Belo: Stop the spread of inflammatory campaign material (Suara Timor Lorosae, front page third lead) ................................................................

The leader of Dili Diocese, Bishop Carlos Ximenes Belo urged political party leaders and their supporters to stop criticising one another in campaign material sent to the districts.

Bishop Belo said this in his sermon, at his Leidere residence, yesterday morning.

“I’ve received complaints that certain political parties are circulating inflammatory campaign material criticizing one another. There are even those who are resorting to the use of bad language,” he told the Sunday morning mass.

“I urge the leaders of political parties to refrain from this. Let’s not have a situation where all of us will regret later,” added Bishop Belo.

Bishop Belo also cautioned political party leaders from making empty promises to the people.

“We will see whether the promises to send Timorese students to Portugal and Australia for further edcuation will materialize. We will also see whether the promises to upgrade the road from Dili to Ainaro will be kept,” said Bishop Belo.

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