Cristo Rei

History

 The idea of raising the Cristo Rei statue was proposed by the East Timor governor José Abilio Osorio Soares to President Suharto. It was intended as a present for the 20th anniversary of East Timor's integration into Indonesia.

Suharto appointed the director of national airline Garuda Indonesia to lead the project. Garuda was given the responsibility to find capital for funding the project, and raised 1.1 billion rupiah (US$ 123,000). However, that was not sufficient to erect the statue, and contributions from East Timorese civil servants and businessmen were needed to complete the project, which eventually cost more than 5 billion rupiah (US$ 559,000).

It took almost a year of working to create the body of the statue, which was fabricated by 30 workers in Sukaraja, Bandung. It was made of 27 separate copper sections, which were then loaded onto three trailers and shipped to Dili. Reconstruction of the statue, including the globe and a 10-meter-high cross, took three months.

 It was unveiled on 15 October 1996. Roman Catholic bishop Carlos Filipe Ximenes Belo, together with President Suharto and East Timor Governor José Abilio Osorio Soares, directly witnessed the revelation of this statue from the air using a helicopter.

Companion to East Timor, Regeneration in the 1980s

On 26 March 1979, the Indonesian government declared that East Timor had been pacified. However, for all its claims of normalization, Indonesian rule relied heavily on two pillars: its military presence and its ability to minimize international awareness of the situation.

There was little doubt about the outcome of a conventional fight between the Indonesian military and the guerillas. These poorly armed local adversaries were no match for a military with air power and artillery at its disposal, as well as weapons and equipment purchased from Western governments. Indeed, a consistent pattern in the first half of the 1980s was that a resistance attack on a legitimate target such as an Indonesian military unit would be followed by a severe and indiscriminate response against combatants and non-combatants alike, then deportation of the survivors to Atauro.

There were serious threats to food supplies as a result of East Timorese civilians being forced to accompany the Indonesian military on its operations. These civilians were subsistence farmers, who would be unable to plant their crops in time for the next harvest. The Apostolic Administrator of East Timor, Monsignor Martinho da Costa Lopes outlined their concerns in his reply to a letter from Bishop John Gerry of Australian Catholic Relief. The Monsignor's reply gained international attention. Concerned that the US Congress and media were asking searching questions about East Timor, the Indonesian government invited former Australian Prime Minister Gough Whitlam to East Timor in March 1982.

Whitlam denounced Monsignor da Costa Lopes on his return to Australia. He said that Monsignor Lopes had 'done a great deal of harm to relations between the Australian and Indonesian governments, and the Australian and Indonesian peoples ... I believe that the Bishop is suffering from an identity crisis. He does not realise that the days of the Portuguese … are past. And he, and I regret to say, up to half the clergy – probably at least half the clergy in Timor – are nostalgic… I say he's a liar. He is a mendacious and malicious correspondent … I am convinced that what the Indonesian Government is doing in East Timor … is visibly beneficial … There's no denying the evidence of one's eyes. There are new schools, including secondary schools, there are new or reconstructed hospitals and dispensaries. There are now many more kilometres of asphalt road, and there is proper provision for increasing the amount of food.' ¹ The Indonesian government and its allies continued to repeat Whitlam's claim that Indonesia's presence was benefitting the people of East Timor.

Suharto visited the US in October 1982. Given the laudatory press coverage that had greeted him before, he may have expected a similar welcome. He would be disappointed. Arnold Kohen led the effort to remember East Timor. In November 1982, a month after Suharto's visit to the US, the question of East Timor came up once again at the UN General Assembly. It was an important moment for the East Timor cause, with Indonesia making a determined effort to win. East Timor barely survived the vote: 50 states voted in favour, 46 against, and 50 abstained. The issue was taken off the General Assembly's agenda and referred to the 'good offices' of the UN Secretary-General, who was required to consult 'all parties directly concerned.' ² International solidarity kept the East Timor issue alive from the time of the 1982 UN vote until the 1991 Santa Cruz massacre.

Indonesia's military superiority and its flagrant violations of international humanitarian law resulted in a one-sided military contest. By 1985, many members of the East Timorese resistance were beginning to realize that armed conflict ought to be secondary to the international diplomatic struggle. They could bring diplomatic pressure to bear on Indonesia by working with, or coordinating their activities with, international campaigners.

A new generation of East Timorese now joined the resistance. They had grown up under the occupation, had almost no knowledge of Portuguese rule and no desire to continue the Fretilin-UDT-Apodeti feuds of the past. This new generation invigorated the resistance and achieved significant victories in the 1990s.

Towards the end of 1988, President Suharto visited Dili and proclaimed that East Timor had 'equal status' with the other 26 provinces of Indonesia. Travel restrictions on East Timor were lifted: East Timorese could leave, Indonesian citizens could enter, and foreign visitors could visit eight of the thirteen districts. East Timor had become an open province. But the climate of torture, repression and intimidation continued.

The church hierarchy inside the territory was becoming even more outspoken about the occupation. Monsignor Belo had put his name to a public statement signed by the Timorese Council of Priests, reaffirming the right of self-determination and warning of cultural aggression under the occupation:

'In East Timor, we are witnessing an upheaval of gigantic and tragic proportions in the social and cultural fabric of the Timorese people and their identity is threatened with death… An attempt to Indonesianise the Timorese people through vigorous campaigns to promote Pancasila, through schools or the media, by alienating people from their world view, means the gradual murder of Timorese culture. To kill the culture is to kill the people.' ³

Under pressure, he later disowned the statement. In 1988, however, he drafted a statement that was read in churches throughout East Timor on 5 December that year: 'We disagree with this barbaric system and condemn the lying propaganda according to which human rights abuses do not exist in East Timor.' ⁴ The statement was published in the New York Times under the headline, 'Bishop says Indonesia Tortures in East Timor.'

On 6 February 1989, Belo was appointed Bishop Titular of Lorium, a historical relic of Rome rather than an East Timorese diocese. He retained the position of apostolic administrator of the Dili diocese. ⁵ On the same day, he wrote privately to UN Secretary General Javier Perez de Cuellar, insisting on a political solution:

I am writing to your Excellency to bring to your attention that the process of decolonization in Portuguese Timor has not been resolved by the United Nations and should not be allowed to be forgotten. We, the people of Timor, believe we should be consulted about the future of our land. As the person responsible for the Catholic Church and as a citizen of Timor I hereby request your Excellency to initiate a genuine and democratic process of decolonization in East Timor to be realized through a referendum. The People of Timor ought to be heard through a plebiscite on their future. Until now they have not been consulted. Others have spoken in their name. It is Indonesia which says that the people of East Timor have chosen integration but the people themselves have never said this. Portugal hopes that time will resolve the problem. But in the meantime we continue to die as a people and as a nation…' ⁶

Pope John Paul II visited East Timor on 12 October 1989. A demonstration broke out at the front of the congregation as the Mass was coming to a close. The inevitable police crackdown followed. On 17 January 1990, US Ambassador to Indonesia John Monjo visited East Timor. There was another pro-independence demonstration, followed by another harsh crackdown. Yet these episodes made it clear that the youth in East Timor were becoming bolder and more desperate. On 27 September 1990, the Australian lawyer and solidarity activist Robert Domm visited East Timor and conducted an interview with Xanana Gusmao himself. His interview was the first occasion that any outsider had contacted members of the armed resistance since the loss of the illegal radio more than a decade before. It was a significant publicity coup for the movement, shattering once and for all the Indonesian claim that the resistance had no support among the East Timorese population. The Santa Cruz massacre occurred on 12th November 1991, causing international awareness of Indonesia's occupation of East Timor.

source : https://www.unsw.edu.au/

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¹ Gough Whitlam interviewed by Richard Andrews on ABC TV's Four Corners program. The complete transcript was issued as a press release by Indonesia's UN mission on 28 April 1982.

² General Assembly Resolution 37/30: Question of East Timor, 23 November 1982.

³ R. Archer, The Catholic Church in East Timor, in P. Carey and G. Bentley (eds.), East Timor at the Crossroads. (London: Cassell, 1995: 124).

⁴ A. Kohen, From the Place of the Dead. (New York: St Martin's Publishing, 1999: 135).

⁵ A. Kohen, 1999, p. 130.

⁶ Ibid, p. 137.

Joseph Ratzinger sebagai Paus Benediktus XVI

Joseph Kardinal Ratzinger akhirnya terpilih sebagai Paus ke-265, pengganti Yohanes Paulus II yang meninggal pada 2 April 2005. Sungguh sebuah kejutan karena konklaf (sidang 115 kardinal untuk memilih Sri Paus baru) berlangsung sangat singkat.

Dalam waktu kurang dari dua hari para "pangeran" Gereja Katolik itu sudah mengumumkan, "Habemus Papam! Kami telah memilih Paus baru!"

Asap putih dari cerobong Kapel Sistina di Kota Vatikan langsung mengepul, dan tak lama kemudian Kardinal Joseph Ratzinger muncul di depan ribuan jemaat yang sudah menunggu di lapangan Santo Petrus. Paus berusia 78 tahun asal Jerman ini (lahir 16 April 1927) ini memilih nama Paus Benediktus XVI. Nama yang dipilih Kardinal Ratzinger, Paus Benediktus, ini juga mengejutkan dan agak "asing" di telinga umat Katolik masa kini.

Bagaimana tidak. Paus yang terakhir kali memakai nama Benediktus adalah Kardinal Giacomo della Chiesa (Genoa, Italia) pada 1914-1922, Paus Benediktus XV. Kenapa kok bukan Yohanes Paulus III (seperti diperkirakan banyak orang, penerus Yohanes Paulus II), Yohanes XXIV (penerus Yohanes XXIII), atau Paulus VII (penerus Paulus VI)? Tak jelas.

Pemilihan nama memang diserahkan sepenuhnya kepada Kardinal Ratzinger yang terpilih dalam sidang konklaf tercepat dalam satu abad terakhir itu.

Kejutan lain, Kardinal Ratzinger menjadi Paus tertua dalam 275 tahun terakhir. Dia juga merupakan Paus pertama asal Jerman dalam hampir seribu tahun terakhir. Selain mendiang Paus Yohanes Paulus II yang asal Polandia, seperti diketahui, selama ini pemimpin tertinggi Gereja Katolik sedunia itu berasal dari Italia.

Di luar beberapa keunikan tadi, kalau dicermati secara saksama, terpilihnya Ratzinger sebagai Paus Benediktus XVI sebetulnya sudah bisa diperkirakan jauh-jauh hari. Mungkin baru kali inilah, kardinal yang dijagokan akhirnya keluar sebagai Paus.

Pada konklaf sebelumnya, siapa yang menyangka kalau Karol Wojtyla bakal menjadi Paus Yohanes Paulus II? Albino Luciani menjadi Paus Yohanes Paulus I? Dus, konklaf yang tidak mengejutkan pada 18 April 2005 justru merupakan kejutan tersendiri di abad ini.

Begitu cepatnya konklaf berlangsung (dulu pernah satu bulan, bahkan tiga bulan) mengisyaratkan bahwa 115 kardinal dari 52 negara, termasuk Kardinal Julius
Darmaatmadja (Indonesia), tak banyak berbeda pendapat. Mayoritas kardinal tampaknya jauh-jauh hari mengincar "kardinal panser" sebagai pengganti Yohanes Paulus II.

Hanya dalam satu dua ronde, suara para kardinal langsung megerucut ke satu nama, Ratzinger, dan konklaf pun rampung.

Kenapa harus Kardinal Ratzinger? Beliau sangat dekat dengan almarhum Paus Yohanes Paulus II, khususnya sejak Konsili Vatikan II (1962-65). Keduanya dikenal sebagai tokoh penting di balik lahirnya dokumen-dokumen penting konsili yang mengubah wajah Gereja Katolik. Bersama Karol Wojtyla, Ratzinger berhasil melahirkan dokumen-dokumen luar biasa seperti Nostra Aetate yang berisi pandangan positif gereja terhadap agama-agama lain. Sikap positif terhadap Islam tertulis eksplisit di Nostra Aetate.

Karena itu, hubungan antara Karol Wojtyla dan Joseph Ratzinger memang sudah dekat sejak awal 1960-an. Ketika Karol terpilih sebagai Paus Yohanes Paulus II pada 1978, Kardinal Ratzinger dipanggil untuk membantu sang sahabat di Takhta Suci, Vatikan, sebagai Kongregasi Doktrin Iman. Jabatan ini sangat penting dan menentukan ajaran-ajaran resmi Gereja Katolik.

Boleh dikata, Kardinal Ratzinger merupakan tangan kanan Paus Yohanes Paulus II.
Menurut Pastor Alex Susilo Wijaya SJ dari Konferensi Waligereja Indonesia (KWI), sejak belasan tahun terakhir, ketika kondisi fisik Sri Paus menurun, Kardinal Ratzinger-lah yang banyak berperan di balik layar dalam penyusunan dokumen-dokumen resmi gereja.

Peranan Ratzinger memang sangat menonjol, dan bisa dilihat langsung di berbagai kesempatan. Jangan heran, ketika sahabatnya, Paus Yohanes Paulus II, wafat pada 3 April 2005 Kardinal Ratzinger langsung dipercaya sebagai ketua dewan kardinal. Dialah yang memimpin perayaan ekaristi sekaligus prosesi pemakamaman Sri Paus, yang diikuti 200-an pemimpin negara-negara di dunia.

Dari sini bisa dibaca bahwa terpilihnya Ratzinger sebagai Paus ke-265 merupakan keinginan peserta konklaf agar ajaran-ajaran dan kebijakan Paus Yohanes Paulus II diteruskan, diperluas, dikembangkan. Dari 115 kardinal peserta konklaf, Kardinal Ratzinger jelas merupakan pilihan paling tepat. Tak heran, dalam misa pertama sebagai Sri Paus, Kardinal Ratzinger alias Paus Benediktus XVI berkali-kali merujuk pada pendahulunya yang baru saja dimakamkan 8 April 2005.

Sri Paus asal Jerman ini menegaskan bahwa ia ingin melanjutkan "dialog yang terbuka dan tulus" seperti yang sudah dirintis Paus Yohanes Paulus II selama 26 tahun. Amanat Konsili Vatikan II, yang antara lain digarapnya bersama almarhum Yohanes Paulus II, akan dilanjutkan. Dan, tak kalah penting adalah gerakan ekumene alias reunifikasi gereja-gereja dari berbagai denominasi. Semua program Paus Benediktus XVI sejatinya sama dengan pendahulunya dari Polandia itu.

"Seperti Yohanes Paulus II, Paus Benediktus XVI ini Paus yang konservatif dalam arti positif. Dan semua Paus memang harus konservatif karena tugasnya menjaga nilai-nilai moral dan martabat manusia. Jadi, nggak bisa Paus yang jingkrak-jingkrak," kata Pastor Alex Wijaya dari KWI kepada saya.


Namun, bagaimanapun juga semua Paus itu dalam sejarahnya selalu unik. Namanya manusia, ada plus-minusnya masing-masing. Yohanes Paulus II adalah Paus yang naik takhta dalam usia sangat muda, 58 tahun, di masa perang dingin yang begitu mencekam. Dengan energi mudanya, almarhum melanglang buana ke berbagai negara, bertemu dengan berbagai manusia yang berbeda-beda bangsa, bahasa, agama, sistem politik, dan sekat-sekat lainnya.

Sementara usia Paus Benediktus XVI sudah mendekati 80 tahun, sehingga bisa dipastikan tak akan sedinamis Yohanes Paulus II. Masa kepausannya pun niscaya dibatasi oleh usia dan kondisi fisik. "Seperti bunga. Bentuk dan warnanya macam-macam, tapi sama-sama indah. Sejak dulu semua Paus itu unik, punya peran sendiri-sendiri," kata Pastor Alex Wijaya SJ.

So? Kita tunggu saja kiprah Benediktus XVI! Meski sangat dekat dengan mendiang Paus Yohanes Paulus II, jelas ia tak ingin menjadi fotokopi pendahulu dan sahabatnya itu, terbukti dari nama Bendektus XVI dan bukan Yohanes Paulus III yang dipilih. "Keabotan," kata orang Jawa.

Habemus Papam! Viva il Papa!

Companion to East Timor, The Visit of Pope John Paul II

Pope John Paul II visited East Timor on 12 October 1989. He was the only head of state to visit the territory during the occupation. The Pope's visit carried some risk to the Indonesian authorities, but it offered a potentially huge diplomatic payoff: a successful visit would be the first step in winning international recognition without having to carry out a vote on self-determination. The Indonesians also believed that the devoutly Catholic population of East Timor might be swayed by a papal endorsement of the annexation.

The Indonesian military took direct control of the organisation of the Pope's visit. The East Timorese, for their part, understood what was at stake, writing to the Pope to warn that it might constitute a formal act of recognition. The East Timorese clergy insisted that the Pope say Mass in Tetum, not Bahasa Indonesia. The Vatican envoy preparing the Pope's visit, Father Tucci, suggested a compromise of Latin, with a few sentences in Tetum, and arranged for a short meeting between the Pope and a group of local priests during the visit. While this was going on, the Vatican continued to downplay the political significance of the visit but affirmed that it did not recognise the Indonesian annexation, and would not for as long as East Timor remained on the UN list of non-autonomous territories.

When the Pope arrived at Dili's Comoro airport, he disappointed many East Timorese by not kissing the ground there. The Papal Mass was held at Taci-Tolu, a plain 17 kilometres west of Dili. The location was selected by the Indonesian military. According to one account, it was chosen because it had 'only two entrances, from the west and from the east, so it was easy for the Indonesians to control access.' The Indonesian military had often used Taci-Tolu as an execution site for opponents of integration. The Pope spoke in English, and told the Timorese that 'for many years now, you have experienced destruction and death as a result of conflict; you have known what it means to be the victims of hatred and struggle. Many innocent people have died, while others have been prey to retaliation and revenge… I pray that those who have responsibility for life in East Timor will act with wisdom and goodwill toward all… Your land is much in need of Christian healing and reconciliation.' While quite a few commentators at the time criticized his call for reconciliation as an appeal to the East Timorese to reconcile with their oppressors and give up their struggle, in truth he 'was addressing an urgent and fundamental need for (political) unity, realizing that this would remain unattainable unless the bitter divisions of the past were acknowledged and overcome.' A demonstration broke out at the front of the congregation as the Mass was coming to a close. The inevitable police crackdown followed. 

source : https://www.unsw.edu.au/