Mark Dodd, Dili – East Timor's Cabinet member for foreign affairs, Mr Jose Ramos Horta, has blasted the United Nations mission in Dili for obstructing the implementation of Portuguese as the country's official language. In a confidential memo sent to Mr Sergio Vieira de Mello, the head of the UN Transitional Administration in East Timor (UNTAET), Mr Ramos Horta accused UN staff of wanting to impose the English and Indonesian languages on East Timorese.
In uncharacteristically blunt language, he said he had banned his staff from co-operating with any UNTAET training program that did not use Portuguese as the language of instruction. "I would like to inform that no staff from this department will attend this Secretariat training workshop, as once again, some of the [UN] international staff seem to wish to impose Bahasa Indonesia or English," he wrote in the letter dated August 20, a copy of which has been obtained by the Herald.
"Time and again, these international staff members have completely ignored the majority of East Timorese political leaders [who] have stated that Portuguese will be the official language of this country. In this context and in my capacity as Cabinet member, I have forbidden my staff to co-operate with any branch of UNTAET that insist in ignoring Portuguese language initiatives they organise."
Mr Ramos Horta's angry stance raises again the controversial subject of East Timor's official language, which the older generation of independence leaders – including Mr Xanana Gusmao – say should be Portuguese, the language of their former coloniser. Mr Gusmao, an early proponent of Portuguese as the official language, said the choice was important in defining the new nation's culture.
His call for the adoption of Portuguese sparked a heated debate last year during the national congress of the pro-independence umbrella group, the National Council of Timorese Resistance. Many East Timorese prefer English or Indonesian in addition to Tetum, their indigenous language. Many university students fluent in Indonesian resent having to learn another language that they consider irrelevant to the region.
English classes are fast becoming as popular as Portuguese for many East Timorese students who see fluency in the language as essential to getting a well-paid job with a foreign company or working for the local UN mission. "If you are going to teach one language then teach a language that is going to open up the world and the region for East Timorese, and that language is not Portuguese but English," one East Timorese official said.
Mr Vieira de Mello said UNTAET would not get involved in the language debate, which was a matter for the new East Timorese government to decide. However, senior UN officials said vital UN-sponsored training programs worth hundreds of thousands of dollars were potentially at risk over the insistence that they be taught in Portuguese.
With a hefty budget allocated to judicial training, the United States mission has recently expressed private concern over the insistence by the Cabinet member for judicial affairs, Ms Gita Welch, that the language of the courts be Portuguese. Courts now use a mixture of languages including English, Indonesian, Portuguese and East Timorese dialects, rendering the proceedings cumbersome.
Last month the Department of Social Affairs announced plans to recruit 723 Portuguese language teachers for primary, junior and secondary schools nationwide.