| Subject: Timor
Lorosae Journalists Association
The declaration for the formation of the
Timor Lorosae Journalists Association (TLJA) was made on Wednesday, Dec
22, 1999 at 4:00 pm at the Hotel Tourismo -- at the end of a five-day
media workshop organised by Institut Studi Media dan Program Pelatihan (ISPELA),
Timor Post Journalists Group and Talitakum news magazine.
The guest-of-honor on that historical day
,for the media, in Timor Lorosae was Nobel Peace Laureate Dr Jose Ramos-Horta.
The Agence France-Presse report follows
the declaration.
DECLARATION
Timor Lorosae Journalists Association (TLJA)
After the result of the Aug 30 referendum
was announced, it is clear, now, that freedom of information in Timor
Lorosae is a basic human right.
We realise that the press in Timor
Lorosae must place highest priority on truth and justice and at the same
time fight any attempts at censorship.
In achieving these aims, the press in
Timor Lorosae must also take into account nation-building efforts aimed at
reconciliation and unity. These take priority over all other personal,
private or sectoral interests.
We further state that democratic
principles will be espoused and promoted by the press in Timor Lorosae.
The press in Timor Lorosae will respect all democratic laws in the new
country of Timor Lorosae, but WILL NOT bow to what is deemed injustice and
repressive.
Based on the above mentioned principles,
we, the journalists in Timor Lorosae declare:
1. We will reject all forms of
interference, intimidation, censorship and attempts to silence the press
in its pursuit to report on the truth and inform the public;
2. We will reject all attempts to impede
and intimidate the activist/alternative press in their efforts to report,
inform and analyse;
3. We will reject sectoral and personal
interests and one-sided views for the sake of promoting national
reconciliation and unity;
4. We will reject all forms of laws and
legislation that go against the spirt of democracy;
5. We will reject the concept of only a
single professional body for journalists in Timor Lorosae.
In order to uphold the above principles
as our contribution towards the establishment of a democratic Timor
Lorosae and to conduct advocacy on behalf of the journalists of Timor
Lorosae, we therefore on this day, Wednesday Dec 22 1999 at the Hotel
Tourismo in Dili, declare the establishment of the Timor Lorosae
Journalists Association.
Until such time as can be organised, the
inaugural Congress to discuss the constitution of the Timor Lorosae
Journalists Association, this body will be under the authority of an
acting co-ordinator, spokesperson, secretary and treasurer.
Hotel Tourismo Dili, December 22, 1999
East Timor journalists vow to promote
democracy
23/12/99 Agence France-Presse
DILI, East Timor - Young East Timorese
journalists vowed to promote democracy and fight censorship as they formed
the Timor Lorosae Journalists Association (TLJA) on Wednesday.
"We realise that the press in Timor
Lorosae must place the highest priority on truth and justice and at the
same time fight any attempts at censorship," they said in a
declaration.
About 45 men and women lined up to sign
the document at the end of a five-day journalists' training seminar.
"There cannot be a democratic
country, democratic society without freedom of the press," Jose
Ramos-Horta, vice-president of the National Council of Timorese Resistance
(CNRT), said at the ceremony held in a local hotel.
Most of the association members have
recently returned to East Timor from Indonesia where they were studying
and worked on publications, said Virgilio da Silva, of Ispela, a media
research and discussion group formed just days ago in East Timor.
Ispela co-sponsored the training seminar
along with the Timor Aid aid group and the U.S. Agency for International
Development, which has committed to six months of further training, da
Silva said.
He said the young journalists plan to
train others and start a bi-weekly newspaper in the new year. Some members
of the TLJA formerly worked on Suara Timor Timur, the daily newspaper
under Indonesian rule.
They voted Otelio Ote, a former Suara
Timor Timur journalist, as co-ordinator of the TLJA. Ote is also a
correspondent for the Jakarta newspaper, Media Indonesia, and for the RCTI
television network.
The journalists stood as Ote read the
TLJA declaration in the Indonesian language and then da Silva read it in
English.
They pledged to "take into account
nation-building efforts aimed at reconciliation and unity" and agreed
to promote democratic principles.
"The press in Timor Lorosae will
respect all democratic laws in the new country of Timor Lorosae, but WILL
NOT bow to what is deemed injustice and repressive," the declaration
says.
"It must be an independent
media," da Silva told AFP.
He said the press will play a key role in
educating people to know their rights and their duties so they can
contribute to democratic society. He said East Timor cannot become like
other countries which fought for freedom only to be burdened by a new
authoritarian regime.
"The role of the media in Timor
Lorosae will be very important because the people have suffered for 24
years under repression," da Silva said.
Formerly a mechanical engineering student
in Indonesia, he was arrested after a demonstration in Jakarta that
followed the 1991 massacre by Indonesian troops at Santa Cruz Cemetery in
East Timor. Da Silva said he spent 30 months in an Indonesian prison.
Ramos-Horta told the gathering he has
already spoken with CNRT president Xanana Gusmao about dedicating a park
in honor of the six foreign journalists murdered by Indonesian troops in
East Timor in 1975 and also a Dutch correspondent and an Indonesian
journalist who were murdered this year.
He said they died "in the pursuit of
truth."
"It will be altogether eight
journalists and that is not a small number in such a small country,"
Ramos-Horta said.
Sonny Inbaraj and Ilana Eldridge 20
Camphor Street, Nightcliff Darwin 0810, NT, Australia
Tel/fax: +61-8-89485333 http://www.theaustralasian.com
ausasia@ozemail.com.au
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