The people of Timor-Leste celebrated seven years of independence last Wednesday with a day of parades, music and festivities in Dili, the capital city
Only a few bloggers marked the occasion. Sandra Martz wrote on her blog, “On May 20, 2002, following 25 years of violent domination by the Indonesian military which was aided and abetted by the US under Gerald Ford and Henry Kissinger, Timor-Leste became an independent nation.”
It was, however, a minute of awkwardness during the flag-lowering ceremony last week that has been the talk of town ever since.
It happened at about 5 pm – the national anthem played while the flag of Timor-Leste was lowered in front of President Jose Ramos-Horta, Prime Minister Xanana Gusmao, police commander Longuinhos Monteiro and about 1,000 onlookers.
As two honour guards ceremoniously folded the flag, one of them suddenly fumbled and dropped his end.
Pausing for a moment, the guard recovered to pick up his end of the flag and kiss it, but continued to bugle his folding duties.
Radio Nomad of Notes from Abroad was the first blogger to notice the significance of the accident:
Many Timorese are superstitious and that includes issues concerning the flag. Some believe what happened yesterday is a bad omen — signalling trouble ahead.
I was quickly reminded this morning by colleagues that on May 20, 2002, when the flag was raised for the first time at Government Palace over an independent [Timor-Leste] – the flag did not flutter. Within months, they said, new violence broke out.
Timorese Josh Trindade, 34, independent consultant and researcher, says the Timorese are a traditional people who read a lot into symbols such as this.
“We read small signs from nature – from the birds, the trees, the moon, the sun. Everyone is saying that the flag being dropped is a bad sign. Most people interpret it as a sign of conflict,” he said.
The colours of Timor-Leste’s flag – yellow, black, red and white – symbolize colonialism, overcoming obscurantism, the struggle for liberation and peace.
The national flag was based on that of the Revolutionary Front for an Independent Timor-Leste (FRETILIN) party, who were heavily involved in Timor-Leste’s fight for independence and now sit in opposition to Prime Minister Xanana Gusmao’s coalition government.
“The flag was chosen by a political party. The flag doesn’t represent the country – it represents politics. This is a sign to get a new flag,” added Trindade.
An anonymous commenter on the Timor Lorosae Nacao blog raised the question, “When is Timor-Leste going to have their own flag and push aside the FRETILIN flag? Because this flag remembers every prisoner who FRETILIN assassinated during the civil war, some of them were buried alive.”
Maria Neto, 42, who has six children and works as a maid in Dili, saw the flag being dropped.
“Many of the people there held their breath and wondered what would happen. At the moment I saw it I thought this was a bad sign – there’s going to be something bad again,” she said.
Timorese people voted almost 80% in favour of independence in 1999 after a bloody 24-year occupation by the Indonesian military.
A country with a recent history of conflict, Timor-Leste’s flag has become a sacred item and a symbol of the thousands of people who died during the struggle for independence.
Blogger Young Activist wrote, “Seven years ago today, in one of the greatest victories for the human rights movement, Timor-Leste’s independence from Indonesia was finally formally recognized. Although the nation declared its independence after Portugal’s renunciation of its claims to the territory in 1975 the colony was promptly invaded by American-backed Indonesia.
“For the next two and a half decades Timor-Leste would be subjected to occupation, starvation, torture, military rule, repression and the largest proportional genocide since the Holocaust, a genocide that left over 100,000 people decade.”
Timorese blogger Isaias Abilio Caldas remembered the devastation of that time in a blog post on Renova Timor:
“The whole country had just been laid to waste. Schools, hospitals, government buildings and private homes were razed to the ground by fire set by the Indonesian military and Pro-Indonesian militias. Corpses were found everywhere, half-buried or unburied at all leaving them as the nourishment of dogs, cows, flies and wild birds.”
Jeremias da Costa, a student at the National University of Timor-Leste, says that the dropping of the flag is a sign that all is not well with the nation’s leaders.
“The incident that happened [at the ceremony] was a big one. It showed people and the community that some leaders who reign in this country are ruling the country with their dishonesty,” he said.
FRETILIN leader Mari Alkatiri told reporters on Thursday that the fallen flag could be a sign that the end is near for Prime Minister Gusmao and his coalition government.
Later that day, Gusmao apologised for the flag incident.
“On behalf of the government I would like to apologize for that. It was not the fault of the young man or the government,” he said.
“We can only promise that next time they won’t wear gloves so the flag won’t slip out of their hands again when they fold it,” added the prime minister.
Despite this, Radio Nomad says people are still worried:
“The reaction to yesterday’s incident shows just how on edge people are — it was just over a year ago that an assassination attempt was made on the president.”
Maid Neto added, “Of course people are worried – even me. We don’t see that happen often. It’s the flag of the nation and when it falls it tells you that our leaders are not united. It tells us that there will be something bad in the future.”
http://whatismatt.com/fumbled-flag-has-timorese-worried/
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