wfn.org | An Appeal from a Martyred East Timorese Pastor

[PCUSA NEWS <pcusa.news@ecunet.org>]

12-October-1999 
99340 
 
    "Please Voice Our Voices": 
    An Appeal from a Martyred East Timorese Pastor 
 
    by Rebecca C. Asedillo 
    General Board of Global Ministries, The United Methodist Church 
 
(Editor's note: The Rev. Francisco de Vasconcelos Ximenes hosted the 
delegation of East Timor election observers that included Presbyterian News 
Service reporter John Filiatreau this summer. - Jerry L. Van Marter) 
 
NEW YORK CITY - The last time I saw the Rev. Francisco de Vasconcelos 
Ximenes was in the airport in Dili, capital of East Timor, sometime in 
August 1997. 
 
    Francisco, as our ecumenical delegation called him, had been our 
gracious and tireless host for four days, and he was there to see us off. 
 
    Our group, from the National Council of the Churches of Christ in the 
U.S.A. (NCC), was headed by Bishop Melvin G. Talbert, the council's 
president at the time.  Our trip, designed to coincide with the 1998-1999 
ecumenical mission study on Indonesia, included visits to Bali, Yogyakarta, 
Jakarta, and East Timor. 
 
    In East Timor our hosts were the Gereja Kristen di Timor Timur (GKTT), 
or the Christian Church of East Timor, and the Roman Catholic Bishop Carlos 
Ximenes Belo, the 1996 Nobel Peace co-laureate. 
 
    As general secretary of GKTT, Francisco was in charge of organizing our 
visit and coordinating it with Bishop Belo's staff.  He and some members of 
his church drove us around to visit such officials as the military 
commander and the vice-governor of East Timor.  We also visited the 
University of East Timor, some Catholic seminaries, churches, schools, and 
development  organizations. 
 
    Francisco took us to meet leaders of small GKTT rural churches as well 
as those of the very large Hosana church in Dili, with eight pastors, four 
worship services, and 7,000 members, of whom approximately 95 percent came 
from regions outside East Timor. 
 
    With a membership of approximately 35,000, the Protestant religious 
community in East Timor constitutes only a small percentage of the total 
population, which is 96 percent Roman Catholic.  But with its large 
Indonesian constituency, the issue of the East Timorese people's quest for 
self-determination has been an especially difficult and complex matter for 
the Protestant church. 
 
    Francisco spoke with passion as he explained the dilemma posed for its 
leaders. 
 
    As Francisco lingered with us at the airport to say goodbye, I wanted 
to convey my sense of solidarity with his struggles and those of his 
people.  But I dared not endanger him by verbalizing my intent.  Throughout 
our entire visit in East Timor, our group had felt itself to be highly 
visible. Some of  us sensed that we were being closely watched.  Thus, the 
level of our conversations did not go much beyond what social convention 
and our perception of the security situation allowed. 
 
    For underneath the placid appearance of things we were aware of an 
immense bottled-up energy seeking to be released. 
 
    So I scribbled some words in my little notebook and showed them to 
Francisco: "If you really want to hear what we are saying," I wrote, 
"listen closely to what we are not allowed to say." 
 
    This quote grew out of the political struggles against the Marcos 
dictatorship in the Philippines during the 1970s and 1980s. 
 
    Francisco acknowledged the quote with a bit of a smile.  Or perhaps it 
was a nod. 
 
    Two years after that visit, a breakthrough in international 
negotiations finally opened a way for the people of East Timor to determine 
their political future.  On Aug. 30, 1999, almost 24 years after the 
Indonesian invasion of their land, 98 per cent of the population went to 
the U.N.-sponsored poll to decide whether East Timor should remain a part 
of Indonesia. 
 
    On Sept. 4, the U.N. announced that an overwhelming 78.5 per cent of 
East Timorese had voted to become independent. 
 
    Immediately following the announcement, the militia, backed by the 
Indonesian military, massively intensified the bloodbath and campaign of 
terror, targeting suspected pro-independence supporters through abductions, 
killings, burnings, and looting, and forcibly driving people from their 
homes. 
 
    To date, according to media reports, nearly half of East Timor's 
population of 800,000 has been uprooted, while casualty figures have run in 
the thousands. 
 
    Even before the horrifying escalation of violence, as many as 100 
refugees were taking shelter at Hosana Church.  According to a report from 
the Australia based East Timor Human Rights Centre, a truckload of 
Indonesian police came to the church and ordered the refugees to go to the 
police station.  Rather than risk the danger of such a move, Francisco and 
the refugees left Dili. 
 
    On Sept.10, somewhere on the way to the town of Baucau, Francisco was 
shot by militia in the company of Indonesian police. He died the next day, 
with these last words: "Please voice our voices." 
 
    Recalling the rich and moving moments he had shared with Francisco, 
Bishop Talbert said, "I am deeply grieved to hear that our brother, the 
Rev. Francisco de Vasconcelos Ximenes, has been killed.  Yet his death is a 
testimony to his life and faith.  His whole life was reaching out in 
service to others.  He died being faithful to the call in his life. Thanks 
be to God for the privilege of knowing him even for such a brief time."  

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