terça-feira, junho 06, 2006

E Timor rebel's Aussie suburban life

"The Australian - June 06, 2006
Paige Taylor

HE is the face of East Timor's rebels but 11 years ago Alfredo Reinado was living in a crowded Dandenong flat with his wife, Maria, and young family plotting his return to their homeland.

Reinado - who had been captured by Indonesian troops to work as a porter - captained a friend's fishing boat to Darwin, arriving on May 29, 1995.

Maria and their baby son Jose were among the 15 other men, women and children to make that journey. Then just 28, Reinado is a hero to those who were on board.

While many of his passengers thought of their arrival in Australia as a happy ending, Reinado saw it as a safe place to begin the struggle proper.

He returned four years later, joining his countrymen on their final march to independence in the lead-up to democratic elections in 2001, sacrificing his family life when his wife and children remained in the relative proximity and safety of Darwin.

Maria Reinado is again in Australia while her husband acts on the principles they both share. This time she is pregnant with the couple's fourth child and staying with relatives in Perth to avoid Dili's violent mobs.

Reinado, meanwhile, is living on his wits in the hills outside Dili after walking off the job as commander of the 33-strong military police unit with 20 other members of the military police and four members of the police riot squad on May 4.

They took two trucks loaded with weapons and ammunition to hilltop retreats.

"She understands, she is from a rebel family," Reinado's aunt Veira Alves told The Australian.
Maria Reinado is receiving occasional phone calls from her husband and is busy trying to find a house to rent in Perth.

But she is deeply worried about her husband's safety and becoming increasingly disheartened by the cost of accommodation driven by the state's commodities boom.
Her husband has been out of work since May 4.

"If you want my story, what do I get?" she said.

Friends say Maria, 28, was in high school in Dili when she met her husband-to-be, who friends say was working as a mechanic. They shared a sense of humour and a strong sense of social justice.

Maria's friend and fellow CNRT member from the 1990s, Angelina, said: "Maria is a very patient woman. She doesn't mind when her husband leaves her ... She is supportive."

Reinado's rise to rebel commander this year has surprised Australian friends who recall a fun-loving father and husband who liked to go fishing and watch the West Coast Eagles play.
Florindo Lemos, 32, who shared the cramped Melbourne flat with Reinado and his young family in their first months in Australia, said Reinado was moderate compared with some in the more radical Fretilin independence movement.

But he was deeply moved by injustice and cried at stories of his countrymen being tortured by Indonesians.

"He is such a good man, I felt so shocked when I saw on TV what he is doing but I know there must be a reason," said Lemos, who now lives in Perth with his Australian wife, Sarah, and their two young children.

"Alfredo stands up for what is right ... he is only doing what is right for everybody."

Reinado and Maria moved to Perth, where they had relatives, from Melbourne in 1995 and he spent the next four years working behind the scenes for East Timor's independence, as a member of the Perth branch of the Conselho Nacional de Resistencia Timorense (CNRT).

In Perth in 1997, Reinado stood shoulder-to-shoulder with independence activist Jose Ramos Horta - now foreign minister in a government Reinado is leading a rebellion against - after he and other CNRT members met Ramos Horta in the West Australian capital to discuss fundraising for the East Timorese resistance.

At that meeting was fellow CNRT member Ade, who did not want his last name published - who said Reinado was measured and his views were not the most extreme of the group.
"He is very smart and sensible," he said.

"I am proud of what he is doing but it is mixed because of the effect on people."
Graham Wallis, an Australian who worked with the CNRT in Perth, said Reinado maintained a calm resolve.

"He wanted to do whatever it takes to get Indonesia out of East Timor," he said."



No comments...

8 comentários:

Anónimo disse...

Que vergonha! Sou Timorense e sinto-me envergonhada - a mulher do Alfredo quer ser paga? What is next? A movie? God help T-L!

Anónimo disse...

hau lafiar historia ne. Alfredo nia fen ema Sulawesi, hau la fiar nia mos uluk luta ba resistencia!!!

Anónimo disse...

governu dehan Alfredo halo emboscada no tiru F-FDTL dezarmadu wainhira sira ba simu sira nia osan.
Se maka hakarak hare video F-FDTL no Alfredo tiru malu iha becora neba? Video ne iha tiha ona.
Gov. bosokten!

traducao:

Em comunicado oficial do gabinete do primeiro ministro,o governo anunciou que as forcas do Maj Alfredo emboscaram e mataram tropas desarmadas das F-FDTL a caminho de receberem os seus salarios.

Quem esta interessado em ver a cobertura video do tiroteio entre as forcas do Alfredo e F-FDTL? ja esta em circulacao.
O Malai Azul ha ulguma possibilidade de colocar o video online?

O Alfredo sentiu-se incurralado pelas F-FDTL e aos gritos deu apelou bastantes vezes para que se retirassem de modo a evitar o derramamento de sangue. Contou ate dez pausadamente e em voz alta como ultimo avizo as F-FDTL que avancavam. Ignoraram-no porque claramente estavam numa missao para o capturar.

Porque razao mentiu o governo em comunicado oficial?

Sera porque havia nessa altura uma iniciativa do Ramos Horta para organizar o tal retiro entre todas as partes para dialogar ao qual Alfredo ja tinha concordado? Sera que alguem nao estivesse interessado em ouvir aquilo que o Alfredo tinha a dizer acerca da ilegalidade da intervencao das F-FDTL em Taci-tolu que causou mortes de civis. Lembre-se que o Alfredo so desertou depois do taci-tolu
Aqui cheira-me a gato!
State sponsored murder? tudo o indica.

Anónimo disse...

Alfredo - o defensor do povo. Querem saber da podridao dele enquanto estava a viver em Melbourne, Australia.

Pergunta sobre a filmagem 'rated R' que o Alfredo foi o actor principal com uma Australiana?

Anónimo disse...

CNRT em Perth? Durante o tempo da resistencia nao se ouvia falar deste tal grupo em Perth. Muito menos o tal Graham que agora aparece como "worker" do CNRT. Ha nao ser que este tal CNRT estava na cladestinidade!

E so perguntar aos Timorenses que viveram e vivem na Australia e que trabalharam incansaveis para o CNRT.

Anónimo disse...

estas acusacaoes contra o alfredo sao tipicas. Ou ja se esqueceu as acusacoes que se fizeram aos padres durante a manifestacao organizada pela igreja contra o governo? Diziam entao que os padres tinham todos amantes e filhos e que tinham evidencia (que nunca se materializou. Saia dessa Anonimo que ja nao pega!

Anónimo disse...

" he is doing what is right for everybody." ??? What kind of ignorant statement is this?

Alfredo Renaldo has created anarchy in the streets of Dili! He should be held responsible for what has happend in Dili. Lets bring him to trial!
His fanily should be ashamed of his actions. He has destroyed the sovereignty of the people he so called cried for...

Anónimo disse...

Se vamos deitar culpas e acabar com o mal e melhor corta-la pela raiz.

Vamos comecar do principio:

1- 600 tropas da F-FDTL abandonam o QG para protestarem contra discriminacao

2- Sao despedidos pelo governo

3- A demonstracao torna-se violenta e forcas de seguranca abrem fogo contra manifestantes

4- As F-FDTL sao chamadas para intervir em Taci-tolu causando mortes de civis (em violacao da lei e por ordem do governo)

5- Alfredo deserta

6- PNTL deserta

7- F-FDTL massacra 10 oficiais desarmados das PNTL no Quartel Nacional das PNTL...

Acho que nao e preciso continuar...

Afinal quem e que criou a anarquia?

Traduções

Todas as traduções de inglês para português (e também de francês para português) são feitas pela Margarida, que conhecemos recentemente, mas que desde sempre nos ajuda.

Obrigado pela solidariedade, Margarida!

Mensagem inicial - 16 de Maio de 2006

"Apesar de frágil, Timor-Leste é uma jovem democracia em que acreditamos. É o país que escolhemos para viver e trabalhar. Desde dia 28 de Abril muito se tem dito sobre a situação em Timor-Leste. Boatos, rumores, alertas, declarações de países estrangeiros, inocentes ou não, têm servido para transmitir um clima de conflito e insegurança que não corresponde ao que vivemos. Vamos tentar transmitir o que se passa aqui. Não o que ouvimos dizer... "
 

Malai Azul. Lives in East Timor/Dili, speaks Portuguese and English.
This is my blogchalk: Timor, Timor-Leste, East Timor, Dili, Portuguese, English, Malai Azul, politica, situação, Xanana, Ramos-Horta, Alkatiri, Conflito, Crise, ISF, GNR, UNPOL, UNMIT, ONU, UN.