Timor Leste's Founding Fathers' Difficult Road to Retaining the National Narrative (Part 2)

At the beginning of Mari Alkatiri's leadership, the Timor Leste Catholic Church and also many people within the Timor Leste government requested that a Ministry of Religion be established in the cabinet formed by Mari Alkatiri, Constitutional Cabinet I.

In addition, there have been demands for religious instruction in schools and universities. Timor-Leste is a secular country that adheres to the separation of church and state, Mari Alkatiri stated unequivocally. In addition, he implied that his own comrades wished it to be roughly as follows: "The Ministry of Religion is a tradition of Muslim countries, not Catholic countries." Even religious studies are policy in Indonesia. How bizarre is it that you are fighting for independence from Indonesia while we are attempting to imitate Indonesia? As a Muslim, I disagree with this stance." This statement offended a great number of individuals, particularly the Church, who believed that Mari Alkatiri did not support religious education because he was a Muslim and not a Catholic.

Mari Alkatiri was not a man of the people, unlike Xanana, but rather a man of the party. Mari Alkatiri lived in Mozambique for decades, but he was only with his people when the Portuguese were in charge. Since 1975, the society he led in Timor-Leste is substantially more influenced by Indonesia. Since 1975, the society he led in Timor-Leste had changed significantly. The inhabitants of Timor-Leste became more religious under Indonesian rule.

Prior to the invasion by Indonesia, only 20% of East Timorese were Catholic, while the majority were either of Portuguese descent (mestizo) or native Portuguese. Arabs, Chinese, Mestizos, and Portuguese were the only people who were permitted to study Portuguese.

The vast majority of rural residents continued to practice indigenous religions and were unaffected by Portuguese culture. When Indonesia came to power, the entire region of Timor-Leste began to be "Indonesianized." As a consequence, almost the entire population of Timor Leste was able to speak Indonesian, and the Indonesian government forced them to adhere to one of five official religions -- lest they be labeled communists.

Due to the association between Islam and the religion of the Indonesian government, the majority ultimately chose Catholicism. Formerly perceived as the religion of Portuguese colonialists, Catholicism became a religion of resistance.

The fall of Mari Alkatiri and the rise of Ramos Horta

Mari Alkatiri's adamant refusal to compromise irritated a number of groups in Timor-Leste and abroad. Australia was furious because it believed it had liberated Timor Leste and sent soldiers to secure the country after the referendum. In fact, Alkatiri proposed negotiations for an 80:20 profit split of the Bayu-Undan oil and gas block, with Timor-Leste receiving 80% and Australia receiving 20%.

In addition, Mari Alkatiri turned down debt offers from the World Bank and IMF, causing him to lose favor with the Western Bloc. Many opponents in his party disliked him because he was considered too powerful and authoritarian. In addition, Xanana could not cooperate effectively with Mari Alkatiri because their relationship remained tense after 2002.

As a consequence, there were anti-Mari Alkatiri protests everywhere. Xanana went directly to meet the protesters and attempted to calm them down. On 25 June 2006, after Ramos-Horta began to disengage from Mari Alkatiri's cabinet, he resigned as Foreign Minister of Timor-Leste.

Tensions arose when the Catholic Church of Timor-Leste became involved in the conflict and mobilized its congregation for demonstrations demanding Mari Alkatiri's resignation. As tensions escalated, President Xanana eventually demanded Mari Alkatiri's resignation. On June 26, 2006, Prime Minister Mari Alkatiri resigned, and President Xanana appointed José Ramos-Horta to replace him. Ramos-Horta is tasked with preparations for the upcoming elections and putting an end to the rebellion in Timor-Leste.

Ramos-Horta ran for president in the 2007 Timor Leste elections, while Xanana Gusmão founded his own party, the National Council for the Reconstruction of Timor (CNRT). In the 2007 elections, Fretilin's support plummeted, falling from 57.37 percent to 29.02 percent. Mari Alkatiri's opponents at the 2006 Fretilin Congress, including Jose Luis Guteres and Jorge Teme, established their own parties, causing a significant shift in Fretilin votes.

The nomination of Ramos-Horta by the CNRT and a coalition of smaller parties led to his victory in the 2007 Timor Leste Presidential Election. Then the IV Constitutional Cabinet was established with Xanana becoming Prime Minister in 2007, appointed by Fernando de Araújo, and then in 2008 José Ramos-Horta were elected President.

The Secularism Principle of Timor Leste Government

Ramos-Horta erected a number of Catholic monuments, including the statue of the Virgin Mary atop Mount Ramelau, the statue of Christ in Ermera, and the statue of Pope John Paul II in Tasi Tolu Square, where the Pope would conduct a large mass when he visited Indonesia in 1989, including East Timor, which was then Indonesian territory.

Despite denying the existence of a religious ministry and refusing to mandate religious studies in schools and universities, he maintained close ties with the Catholic Church of Timor-Leste. According to Ramos-Horta, there is no room for confusion about the fact that church and state must be kept separate.

Xanana Gusmão shared the same perspective. Building monuments and providing budgetary aid to the Timor Leste Catholic Church were more than sufficient for the two of them; in fact, minority religions such as Islam, Protestantism, etc. also received state aid.

In the 2012 Aljazeera documentary The Frost Interview - Jose Ramos-Horta: Lessons in Patience, Ramos-Horta was quoted as saying, "You cannot stop the youth from having sex." In matters of morality, Ramos-Horta is progressive. Even Xanana had been married and divorced, but following his own divorce, Ramos-Horta never remarried. Both parties consider divorce to be a personal right and deny the doctrine that "what God has joined together, no man can separate."

The consistency with which the Founding Fathers of Timor-Leste upheld secularism has become a model for other youthful politicians. They have absolutely no interest in politics of identity. Xanana appointed a Muslim to the position of defense secretary in his ministry, demonstrating that the rivalry with Mari Alkatiri was purely political.

In fact, all of Timor Leste's Founding Fathers frequently visited the An-Nur Mosque in Dili, and they never declined to deliver a speech at Eid prayers when invited. In the past, when the 1999 Referendum was defeated, attacks on the Timor Leste Muslim community, who were considered traitors for supporting Indonesia in the Referendum, began to arise. Bishop Belo immediately arrived at the An-Nur Mosque and addressed the East Timorese Muslim community, declaring, "If anyone disturbs the Muslims in Kampung Alor (Muslim Village of Dili), including attempting to burn down the An'nur Mosque, I will defend them immediately."

Timor-Leste has ultimately confirmed its identity as a secular, democratic nation. In reality, they rejected the political narrative of religion and identity in favor of a national narrative based on Tetum as the language of struggle and Maubereism, a struggle narrative claiming that the people of Timor Leste refused to submit to 450 years of Portuguese colonialism and 24 years of Indonesian integration. In the eyes of Timor-Leste's founding fathers, Catholicism was essentially another religion that preached virtue.

In distinct contrast, other nations, such as Myanmar's Theravada Buddhism and Pakistan's Islam, use religion as a source of national identity and narrative. This may help us understand why the Gay Pride Parade was permitted in Timor-Leste and why the elite not only did not oppose it, but supported it.

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Irsyad Muhammad, 2023