O PRESIDENTE DA REPÚBLICA
SPEECH BY H.E. PRESIDENT OF THE REPUBLIC
KAY RALA XANANA GUSMÃO
AT THE OFFICIAL CEREMONIES
COMMEMORATING 28TH NOVEMBER
Dili, 28 November 2002
Your Excellency Interim President of the National Parliament,
Your Excellency Prime Minister,
Distinguished Members of Parliament,
Distinguished Members of Government,
Distinguished Representatives of the Diplomatic Missions,
Ladies and Gentlemen,
This is another date to commemorate the independence of Timor-Leste.
Independence
should not be celebrated; independence should be experienced
through its gains. And this is our biggest problem, after more than two
decades of struggle and after the more recent reference point, the 20th
of
May 2002.
What should
independence mean? It should not be a concept of "all or
nothing", but we are sure that it has to mean something.
If it "has
to mean something", we can proud of having a flag, a national
anthem and a Constitution. We can also state that we have a President
of
the Republic, that we have a Parliament of 88 members, many of whom are
constantly absent, and a government with many ministers and vice-ministers
because, some say, there is so much to do.
In the sense
of "all or nothing", we can say that independence nowadays
manes having a country with many problems that are not solved with due
care.
November
28th is a FRETILIN date! May 20th is also a FRETILIN date! The
Parliamentary majority is FRETILIN. The Government is mostly a Government
of FRETILIN! Independence served to care for the cadres of
FRETILIN! Independence also serves to care for the Former Combatants of
FRETILIN!
November
28th 2002 is celebrated, with a feeling of grief because of the
problems in Uatu-Lari, the problems in Dili, the problems in Ualili and
Baucau, the problems in Same and Ainaro, the problems in Ermera and Liquica
and the problems in Suai and Maliana.
Unfortunately,
it seems that by creating problems, one can rise to become a
Minister, and these same people, after becoming Ministers, only know how
to
increase existing problems. Some weeks ago, I swore in another
Vice-Minister of Internal Administration, and I urged that Ministry to
start rigorously solving, the problems that affect the stability and
security of our country. The fact is that these problems have been
accumulating.
If independence
belongs only to FRETILIN, I have no comments to make. If
independence belongs to all of us, to all the Timorese, I seize this
opportunity to demand of the Government to dismiss the Minister for
Internal Administration, Mr. Rogério Lobato, on the grounds of
incompetence
and neglect.
In accordance
with the Constitution, Timor-Leste became independent on the
28th of November 1975! It has been independent for 27 years now imagine
that! I hereby pay tribute to FRETILIN!
For the
International Community, however, we became independent on the 20th
of May 2002! I myself found it difficult to draft a speech for the 28th
of
November, when the Government is facing so many problems and, on top of
this, having to deal with two different dates!
One can
not go on forever trying to justify everything on the basis that we
recovered our sovereignty only six months ago. The notion that the
obligation or the legitimacy to govern Timor-Leste only belongs to some,
not only reveals arrogance but also a lack of political maturity and a
complete lack of understanding of the difficulties our country is facing.
Often, what
is visible is that people are led to believe that only the
cadres of the Political Party can be chosen to occupy this or that post!
The notion of "national interest" has been lost. The notion
of "the
superior interests of the people and nation" has been lost. The notion
of a
new conjuncture of the process, one that requires capacity to meet the
demands and dedication to serve, has been lost.
People became
dazzled with "power"; whilst cadres of the Political Party,
people became obsessed with being or having to be the ones to reign. People
only know how to demand that cadres of the Political Party, regardless
of
their technical capacity, regardless of whether they contributed at all
towards the struggle or not, but by virtue of being a cadre of the
Political Party, they ought to be the "chosen ones".
Erroneously,
people begin to measure the number of posts with the number of
cadres of the party, in an attempt to satisfy all, and because the party
is
big, many people become dissatisfied because not all can be appointed
or
promoted.
This is
the disease that dragged many political parties and many recently
independent countries into disarray, inefficiency, corruption and political
instability, where the members of the Government are well off but their
people live in misery.
Today, the
People have to face the day-to-day difficulties, but the Party
has to face the problem of not being able to satisfy all of its cadres,
with the danger that we might even have to cope with incompetent people
administering the districts and sub-districts.
From all
of these, one can see that many people actually take advantage of
the political parties and do not serve their party, and if they do serve
their party, they do not serve the nation. Today, in marking the 28th
of
November, I invite everyone to reflect on the duties that each of us has
as
citizens and invite some to reflect on their duties as members of the
government.
Many have
yet to realise how vulnerable we have been since independence.
The Political Parties enjoy the illusion of independence, when more than
ever before, we are very much dependent! Dependent on the helping hand
from
others, dependent on the kindness and capacity of others, dependent on
our
own weaknesses.for being a poor country, small and inexperienced.
Many people
are still unaware that we already carry a stigma, almost as if
it were an original sin: guilty for being poor, for which we must "give
praise" to those who know better, those who can do more, those who
can
decide.on our behalf, simply because the rules of the game have already
been established and, in that sense, the 28th of November meant absolutely
nothing.
Here, inside
Timor-Leste, we took the first steps in politics, making
ourselves even more vulnerable, as a nation, as a people. And those who
can, keep on trying to help us to create a sensation of survival, because
the tendency which exists today, amongst us the Timorese, is that of
satisfaction for the rewards, regardless of whether these are justifiable
or not. We lost the sense of being a Nation because we became attached
to
the interests of the political parties.
I repeat:
many have yet to realize how vulnerable we have been since the
20th of May. And if we do not change our attitudes, if we do not set our
responsibilities correctly, we will become even more vulnerable as the
years go by.
Many do
not realize that we are dependent on charity. Others do not
understand that we cannot keep on living off charity. Some lecture us
on
the notion of realism, which I would say of collusion because the rules
of
the game are not and cannot be our own, they belong to those who can or,
shall I say, to the powers that be.
We, the
Timorese, entertain ourselves with our petty politics of who is
supposed to be more powerful or how many should be in power, ignoring
our
role as an independent nation and our obligations, because obligations
are
all we have, being a poor and underdeveloped country.
It is beautiful
to celebrate independence twice a year. It is sad, however,
that our people have so many concerns for each difficulty that is left
unresolved.
I urge the
Government, the Political Parties above all, and the Parliament
to seriously think on the increasing problems that threaten the stability
of our Nation.
Thank you.