For Fretilin [East Timor Revolutionary Front] – the party most likely to win the recent Timor Lorosae (TL) elections – there are three main things which need to be maintained [from 1975] should the new country finally become a reality. These include the country's name as the Democratic Republic of Timor Lorosae (RDTL), the Proclamation of Independence of 28 November 1975 and the RDTL flag as the national flag.

These commitments from the Fretilin party were made by two of its party officials, Fransisco Kalbuain and Jose Reis, during a discussion in Dili on Tuesday afternoon (4 September). Both are party officials from the central executive board.

Leading up to the elections, Fransisco Kalbuain was entrusted with management of the campaign process while Jose Reis was acting as his representative. Reis was also often unofficially Fretilin's spokesman. The East Timor Independent Electoral Commission (KPI) announced that by Tuesday afternoon, Fretilin was easily in the lead and out of the seven districts which have completed their vote-counting, Fretilin had won in six.

The six districts are Covalima, Viqueque, Lautem, Manatuto, Liquica and Ainaro. Fretilin's loss in Aileu was merely on a national level, but on a district level Fretilin was well in front. The two were not surprised by the results. "This result reflects all our hard work since 1975. Fretilin has remained committed to the struggle and this resistance increased during TNI [Indonesian National Military Forces] attacks," they said...

Jose Reis explained that RDTL had already in 1975 produced a constitution, an official country name, a national flag and named an official independence day. However, they admit now that the former constitution has no real relevance to the current situation. "Besides the constitution which needs to be re-formulated, the three other things need to be maintained by TL because that was our commitment from before," stressed Jose Reis.

East Timor's national leader Xanana Gusmao has long disassociated himself from Fretilin.

What is their party's view of Xanana? According to Jose Reis and Fransisco Kalbuain, Fretilin still considers Xanana the central figure in Timor Leste. "We will continue to support him should he be nominated as president. Our support has not waned at all even though Xanana has shafted Fretilin on several occasions," added Jose.

Will Fretilin dominate the country's new government? Fransisco said that was unlikely, as it was not Fretilin's philosophy. "All parties will be involved whether that is Fretilin or the others. What is most important is their ability to carry out their government duties. There is no need to fear that Fretilin will be dispose of capable officials simply because they are supporters of other parties," he said.

Fransisco, who still has family in Indonesian refugee camps, added that Fretilin hopes those refugees will soon return to TL...

On another topic, they added that once TL became a definite country, their first priority would be to develop close and harmonious relations with the international community, especially Indonesia...

[Source: Kompas Cyber Media web site, Jakarta, in Indonesian September 5.]