From: Miguel de
Lemos
Sent: Monday,
October 01, 2012 11:19 PM
To: JOSH TRINDADE
Cc:
east-timor@lists.riseup.net ; ETAN
Subject: Re:
Colonialism, Culture and Gender in Timor-Leste
Dear Josh, Dear
all,
Thank you very
much for your text.
Could you please
identify the sources of these ideas? What are the
academic studies
that support, namely, the third paragraph?
Looking forward
to discuss your contribution,
Kind regards,
Miguel Lemos
====
From: JOSH
TRINDADE
Sent: Tuesday,
October 02, 2012 7:45 PM
To: Miguel de
Lemos ; east-timor@lists.riseup.net ; ETAN
Subject: Re:
Colonialism, Culture and Gender in Timor-Leste
Hi Miguel,
I will not be
able to give you at the moment because: 1) I am still
researching the the
issue. 2) Are you referring to the sources from a well
qualified western
scholars from a well credited University? How I suppose to
find that in a
place like TL where local ideas been subjugated by foreign
invaders as
colonial? If you know some, do let me know. 3) if you think the
information is
incorrect or misleading, you can make it better by analyzing
it and put it in
the right perspectives. 4) I am not academically qualified
by formal
standard, I only reached high-school. 5) But one source (evidence)
I can give you
from my Ritual Language (Naueti). But again, this is only an
oral-reference
which is inferior to academic written knowledge.
The following is
how the colonial events interpreted in our ritual language.
I have to ask
permission to share this.
1) "Wono
Malae ne lo ---- It is foreign war
2) Le'a Malae ne
lo ---- It is foreign conflict
3) Uka la watu o
---- Run on the rocks
4) Uka la kai o
---- Run on the trees
5) Horo la baha o
---- Hide on the mountains
6) Horo la ba'a
lale ---- hide in the valleys
7) Buikia toto'o,
Anakia toto'o ---- [we are] like the little
chickens without
their mother, [we are] orphans without parents
8) [...]"
From the above,
we clearly see that, line 1 and 2 refer to the colonial. All
the sufferings
they went through, until the day they use this ritual
language blamed
it on the colonial (wono malae, le'a malae). From line 3-6,
it described the
whole sufferings during colonial periods. As an example,
they have to hide
on the mountain, Mount Matebian which is just close by
(line 5). Line 7
specifically described the cost of that "wono malae, le'a
malae". It
left behind many children without parents. Many elderly who can't
survive, left us
behind, took with them the wisdom we need in our existence.
Interestingly, there is no blame on the Timorese who worked for the
colonial. You can
interpret this in anyway you want, but I think there are
explanation to
it. 1) My language group understood the root cause of the
problems, which is
the Malae (in this context, Indonesian too are Malaes) as
colonial. This
interpretation automatically put the 'colonial collaborators'
as victims too.
3) The war is over, it is better to reconcile with the
colonial
collaborators, they are still brothers and sisters anyway. 4) If we
exclude them in
this recent ritual language by blaming them, it may cause future conflicts
among our future
generations. But that doesn't mean we forgot already what
the colonial
collaborators did in the past. 5) In fact, when the ritual
language
continue, it call for a unity as appear in the following:
"[...]
9) Otarae-wailita
gamama'a lebati --- girl-boy are all here today
10) Uma'ana-Oasae
gamama'a lebati --- wife giver - wife taker are all here today
11) Ware-Kaka
gamama'a lebati --- Younger - older brothers are all here today
12) Ana ulu - Ana
Iku gamama'a lebati --- Younger - older sisters are all here today
13) inatua-amadae
gamama'a lebati --- aunties - uncles are all here today
14) [...]
In line 9, the
boy-girl dualistic represents the idea of fertility, that we
ready to
flourish, to create and maintain life and our society, through our
girls and boys.
From line 10-13, it explains the complex relationship that
we have. The
colonial collaborators in our village, may one of the brother,
the uncles, the
unties, the nephews, etc. But they must fall into one of the
category in line
10-13; therefor, it is possible to reconcile. That's the demand of our ancestors and Lulik.
The above ritual
language, used during Uma Lulik (Sacred House) inauguration
and many other
rituals after '99. I am guessing in other language group,
they have similar
interpretation of the event.
Again, this is
only an oral interpretation. It doesn't have the same weight
as a written
academic analysis.
Best,
Josh Trindade
