Lulik: The Core of Timorese Values
Paper presented at: Communicating New Research on
Timor-Leste 3rd Timor-Leste Study Asscociation (TLSA) Conference on 30th
June 2011. Paper also presented at Creative Industry Conference on 16th
July 2011.
Jose ‘Josh’
Trindade
Introduction
Each
one of us is perhaps already familiar with Lulik terms such as, uma
Lulik, rai Lulik, bee Lulik, fatin Lulik, foho Lulik, Nai Lulik, Amo Lulik, etc.
When Timorese hear the word ‘Lulik’, it immediately puts them in place
for a moment, they pay full attention, they pay full respect, they are afraid,
and it makes them obey without hesitation.
Because
of what Lulik can do to the Timorese as mentioned above, some Timorese
interpreted Lulik as magic. Lulik is widely used and influences
the daily life of Timorese, but it has been poorly explored by academics.
Lulik has been labeled as animist by the
Church, and ‘uncivilized’ (atrasado/terbelakang) by the Portuguese and
the Indonesian when they colonized Timor-Leste. As a result, Timorese are often
ashamed and afraid to talk about the concept of Lulik, because they have
been led to believe that it is a negative animist belief system. This in turn
creates a sense of cultural insecurity among the Timorese. Many Timorese today
only understand the concept of Lulik from its surface, what is beyond it
they have no idea.
This
paper will discuss, the definition of Lulik, the elements of Lulik and
where to find them, the application of Lulik,
Lulik and the external powers in Timor-Leste and Lulik at present.
What is Lulik?
Lulik comes from the Tetun word which is
literarily translated as ‘forbidden’, ‘holy’ or ‘sacred’. The concept of Lulik
exists in all languages in Timor-Leste in different terms. In Bunaq they
call it ‘po’, in Naueti they call it ‘luli’, in Fataluku
they call it ‘tei’, in Makasae they call it ‘phalun’
Lulik refers to the spiritual cosmos that
contains the divine creator, the spirits of the ancestors, and the spiritual
root of life including sacred rules and regulations that dictate relationships
between people and people and nature.
In people to people
relationships, Lulik determines how Timorese should behave in social
interactions within the society. Lulik in this case acts as the moral
standard. As an example: Lulik regulates the relationship and the rights
and the obligations of younger and older brothers, husbands and wives, fetosan-umane
(wife giver-taker), children and parents, brothers and sisters, etc. Lulik
creates social contracts between the Timorese.
In people and nature
relationships, Lulik regulates how people should interact with nature
(especially land) to support their life. In this case, Lulik demands
that nature (such as land, water, trees/forest, rocks/stone) must be respected.
That is the reason why Timorese always have ceremonies and/or rituals after
harvests and before they plant seeds. This to show gratitude and to value the
fertility of the land which gives them good harvest seasons, and to hope for
better results in the coming seasons. The Sau batar ceremony before the
corn harvests is an example and is one of the most important rituals for the
Timorese.
The main objective
of Lulik as a philosophy is to ensure peace and tranquility for society
as a whole, in which it can be achieved through the proper balance between
differing and opposing elements. As an example, Timorese believe that peace and
prosperity can be achieved through a proper balance between the real world and
the cosmic world. In this case, people in the real world should follow the
rules and regulations set by the ancestors. These rules and regulations can be
a harmonious relationship between individuals within family, clan and wider
society. Another example would be the relationship between fetosan-umane (wife
taker/wife giver). It should be as harmonious as possible in order to create
peace to achieve prosperity.
Lulik as a system that is in accordance
with the concept of ‘dualism’, developed by Van Wouden (1968[1935]). This is a
belief that there is always a balancing of the positive and negative aspects
that complement each other in life. In Timor-Leste, there is a wife-giver (umane)
and a wife-taker (fetosan), there are female values in opposition to
male values and there are sacred houses classified into political houses
(masculine/foreigner) and ritual houses (feminine/indigenous). This dualistic
structure is extensively described in anthropological sources regarding Eastern Indonesia and Timor-Leste (Trindade 2008,178)
Using the notion of
dualism, we can observe Lulik as a system regulating the relationship
between the opposing elements/values in life to balance and complement each
other. It can be seen in the following diagram.
Diagram 1: Lulik Circle
The above
diagram can be simplified in the following table:
Lulik, the ritual center, the concept, the
cosmos, the divine, the spiritual world, the ancestors, the root of life, the
moral standards, the core values, (layer 1)
|
Feminine
(the inner realm),
represents peace, fertility and prosperity
(layer 2)
|
Masculine (the outer realm), represents security
and protection (layer 3)
|
Land
|
People
|
Ritual Power
|
Political
power
|
Ritual Uma Lulik
|
Political Uma Lulik
|
Dato/bei
|
Liurai
|
Female values
|
Male values
|
Wife giver (Umane)
|
Wife taker (Feto san)
|
Life giver
|
Life taker
|
Indigenous
|
Foreign
|
Old
|
New
|
Landlord
|
Immigrant/new
comer
|
Old values
|
New Values
|
Female domain
|
Male domain
|
The three
elements: Lulik, feminine and
masculine, are interconnected. They complement each other and their
relationship is asymmetric. The hierarchy between the three elements is as
follows:
·
Lulik is the most important because it holds the highest value
for society in general; Lulik is believed
to be the root of life. In other words, life is coming from the underworld, the
creator, and/or the divine, which resides in the Lulik area - the core. If one is against Lulik it means they are against their own roots, therefore they will
be cursed and have misfortune throughout their life. Lulik regulates and
dictates the relationship between elements and entities in feminine and
masculine worlds.
·
The
second most important area is the feminine area, the area where peace and
prosperity is derived from. This area is mainly occupied by women, they are
very important because life is passed down through the feminine. Women’s
fertility becomes a very important value and this in turn gives high status to
women in the Timorese society. In Bunak and some Tetun Terik society, they use
‘women’s breast’ (susun) to
represents the idea of fertility and normally it clearly carved at the door of
their Uma Lulik. Around north coast around Liquica area, some uma lulik roofs
are using half moon to represents the idea of fertility (see picture 6 bellow).
·
The
masculine area is responsible for providing security and protection to the
other two areas (the insider realms). In this case the male area is protecting
the roots of life. The masculine offers strength, security and protection in
exchange for life from the other two elements.
·
The
arrows represent the flow of values where the outsider (the masculine) provides
protection and security to the insiders (the feminine) in exchange for life,
peace, prosperity and fertility.
One should note
that the categorization in the Timorese cosmology as shown in diagram 1 above
is not static. By that I mean the opposing elements can change places from
masculine to feminine area or the other way around depending on the occasion.
As an example, a family or an individual can act as a wife giver (umane) for all the women in their family
and at the same time they are also the wife taker (fetosan) for all the male relatives in their clan. Another example,
an East Timorese will act as an insider (rai
nain) within their locality, but they will be acting as an outsider (malae) when they left their village. It
is the Lulik, the core value that is immobile.
What are the Elements of Lulik and Where to find them?
The elements of Lulik can be seen on the roof top of the
following Uma Luliks.
|
|
Picture 2: Uma Lulik in Watulari,
Viqueque. Note especially the buffalo horns, pigeons (the birds) and stars.
Note also to the black, green and white colour
|
|
|
Picture 3: Uma Lulik in Mota Ulun,
Liquica.Note especially the buffalo horns, pigeon (the birds) and love sign.
Note also to the black, green and white colour
|
|
|
|
From the three
pictures of Uma Lulik shown above, we
find buffalo horns, pigeons, stars, love signs and three colours of white,
green and black. Those symbols and colours can be explained as follows:
a)
The Star and the white colour – represents the Lulik itself, the divine entity, the creator and the spirits of the
ancestors.
a)
The Pigeon
(the birds) and the green colour – represents
the female or the feminine; the
symbol of fertility, peace and prosperity.
a)
The Buffalo
Horns and the black colour – represent
the male; the symbol of strength,
security and protection.
If we observe Uma Luliks from different areas closely,
the pigeon and the buffalo horns are clearly shown but the star which
represents the core values often are not very clear as shown in the following
pictures.
|
|
Picture 5: Uma Luliks (from Venilale,
left and Laga, right) with horns and birds on the top. (Pictures taken by
David Palazon)
|
|
|
Picture 6: Uma Lulik roof near Liquica
(Mambai house). They use half moon to represents the idea of fertility
(feminine values).
|
Other examples can be observed in Rui
Cinatti’s book, ‘Tipos de casas
timorenses e un rito de consagragion’(1965).
|
|
|
Picture
7: Roof of a Mambai Uma Lulik around Maubisse
|
Picture
8: A sketch of Uma Lulik by Rui Cinatti modeling Lospalos style
|
|
|
|
Picture
9: A sketch of Uma Lulik by Rui Cinatti modeling Oecussi style
|
Picture
10: Another Mambai Uma Lulik
|
We can place the
roof of Uma Luliks design and its
colours into the following diagram of lulik
circle:
Picture 11: Traditional
Colours and Lulik Circle
It is important
to highlight the three colours as shown above because Timorese use the three colours
to represent their philosophy of life. Ideally, Timorese national flag should
use these colours and they should be treated as the colours that represent the
Timorese as a nation. The same idea also applies to the two animals (the
buffalo and the pigeon) which are extensively used by the Timorese on top of
their sacred houses to express their way of life. These animals too should be
treated as national symbols. This in turn will create a strong foundation to
develop national identity for the Timorese.
Lulik
in Real Life
Lulik still dictates the life of the contemporary Timorese in the
rural areas. In the villages, the concept of Lulik plays an important role in
the following:
The Belief System
Lulik belief system recognizes the divine entity called ‘Maromak’. The notion of Maromak in this context is different to ‘Maromak’ in the Catholic Church. In its
original context, Maromak represents
the idea of fertility, the feminine which is viewed by the Timorese as the
source of life, peace, fertility and prosperity. In this case Maromak is feminine, and is different to
the Maromak of Christianity because this
is the male version (the aman maromak)
Among others, anthropologist
David Hicks (1984) who studied the Timorese belief system, has confirmed the
feminine figure in [Timorese] rituals. Hicks writes that traditional East
Timorese myth and rituals abound with masculine/feminine dualism and
polarities. In Viqueque District, where Hicks did his research on Tetun Terik speaking people, traditional
beliefs hold that human beings originally climbed out of two holes or vaginas –
Mahuma and Lequi Bui – using sacred creeper. These first people became the
ancestor. Hicks also noted that, traditional homes have door called a vagina
and the interior is regarded as a ‘womb’, a feminine space. Hicks described
that Tetun Terik people in Viqueque divided the universe as underworld and
upperworld, connected by vagina, where women dominated the underworld which is
maternal and sacred, while men occupied the secular and paternal upperworld.
The two worlds must come together—If not infertility, sickness and death may
result. Hicks emphasized that women play an important role in religion.
What Hicks found with Tetun Terik speaking people in Viqueque is consistent with what
Cristalis and Scott (2005) found:
‘A collection of statues, carefully packed in wooden crates, lies
hidden in the cellar of a building in the East Timorese capital, Dili. The
skillfully crafted wooden figures are female, with prominent sexual organ.
Before the Indonesian invasion, such statues and totems had their own special
place on sacred mountain tops and in sacred houses, where they were revered as
symbol of fertility and the continuation of the clan’ (p.11)
Alongside ‘Maromak’, Lulik also recognizes the spirit of the ancestors (the deceased).
Timorese believe that the spirit of the dead can positively influence people in
the real world or curse them in negative ways if disregarded. That is why
Timorese treat the deceased with high respect.
After
independence, majority of the Timorese
now have the chance to rebuild their Uma Luliks and follow Lulik practice in
their life. Even though the majority of the Timorese are Catholic, but they
cannot abandon their traditional Lulik belief. However, Lulik still viewed as
unimportant (backward and uncivilized) by the outsider who brought in and
promoting imported foreign values (such as; human rights, democracy, gender
equality) in Timor-Leste.
The idea of Gender and the Status of
Women
As shown above,
Timorese religion belief in a goddess, ‘Maromak’. This notion defines
the importance of women and their status within Timorese society. Women are
revered for their fertility, and life is centered around women. This notion is
different to modern/Christian/Western ideas which describes the opposite; that men
are the root of life, Eve coming from Adam’s ribs. We can see that the latter
is not good for women’s position because it puts women in very weak status
where women should always be dependants and rely on men. Men become very
important here because they described as the center of life, the one who owns
life. This is the mother of patriarchal idea in our society.
When fertility
of women is revered and worshiped, it also has negative impact on women because
they can not express their sexuality or discusses their reproductive health
with the public.
In Timorese
society women often are referred to as ‘feto
maromak’ (women is sacred). To respect women, Timorese often say ‘hakaruk ba feto maromak’ (pay respect,
women is sacred).
Having said the above, this paper recognizes that in contemporary
settings there is an imbalance between the sexes in social, economic and
political life in Timor-Leste where women's involvement in these areas is still
very minimal. In order to get women out from the feminine (domestic) area to
participate in social, economic and political life in masculine (outsider) area
capacity/skills is required. In fact, the requirement of skills/capacity for an
individual to get involved in social, economic and political life is not only
required for women but also for men. In another words, those unskilled men also
have limited access to or participation in these areas. Therefore, we cannot
blame the lack of opportunity to Timorese women to local culture or local men
but it should be blamed on Timor's colonial history. It is because for almost
five centuries of occupation, Timorese men have limited choices and they live
under colonial pressures. This condition restricted further women to develop
their own capacity because access to education for women was limited and the
colonizers preferred to work with men. The statistics in Timor-Leste today
where it shows more educated men than women is a legacy of colonial occupation
rather than a cultural one.
Both local and international gender activists in Timor-Leste have
been promoting and campaigning about liberal feminism ideas (fighting
patriarchal ideas) with no considerations 0f the local concepts and/or
perspectives on gender. Timorese cultural definition of women position, status
and contribution to the well being of family and society in general have been
denied and ignored by the gender activists. They treated Timorese concept on
gender as uncivilized and backward or some even think it does not exist. This
is not only ignorant, but also a humiliation to the Timorese indigenous values.
Ideally, they should explore and try to comprehend how women’s role, position
and status are defined within Timorese culture. Campaigning liberal feminism in
a post-conflict country like Timor-Leste will not work well because liberal
feminism focuses on women as individual self, while Timorese culture cannot
separate an individual (women or men) from their complex relationship with
their family and society. Secondly, there is no social security beyond family
in a newly independent country like Timor-Leste because the country is lacking
necessary infrastructure to support such idea. Thirdly, liberal feminism
focused on women’s economic value while Timorese culture defines women beyond this.
As an example, Timorese valued women’s fertility value that carried life and
give birth to children. Timorese culture emphasize the ritual value of women
beside economic.
Political System
Timorese
political system recognizes the importance of authority (as the source of
political legitimacy) alongside power. In Timorese worldview, power and
authority is always understood as a whole with a clear separation between
masculine and feminine. In this case, authority
is considered as feminine while power is considered masculine. Power without authority or
authority without power means disaster and conflict to the community. To create
harmony in society, power and authority should check and balance each other.
Fox
(2008) summarized that; central to traditional Timorese governance is the
distinction between authority and power. Ideas of authority are paramount to the
Timorese conception of governance in which it is represented as inner unity:
symbolically feminized, immobile and silent. By contrast power can be multiple:
symbolically masculine, active and invariable clamorous. Whoever or whatever
attains power can only act in relation to, and in recognition of, authority. Power can speak on behalf of authority, but
is not that authority nor it can assume authority without relinquishing its
resource to force. Without deference to authority, even the most powerful of
force loses all allegiance. But with authority, there can be a balance – an
array of difference powers – in recurrent complementarity. Thus there exist in
Timor a variety of levels of delegated power with ‘checks and balances’ that
maintained coherence and militated against excesses (p.121)
In Lulik political structure, the Dato (authority) called Liurai Tur Fatin (the liurai who just
sit and relax) who gives orders to Liurai
Lao Rai (the Liurai who executes
orders and deal with the outsiders/foreigners/external matters). In this case, Liurai Tur Fatin is regarded as female
with authority, often called Liurai Feto
(female Liurai) and Liurai Lao Rai is regarded as male with
political power often called Liurai Mane
(male Liurai). The term Liurai as known today (the political
figure of a domain) is refered to as Liurai
Lao Rai (Liurai Mane), because they are the ones who deal with the outsider.
Therefore, they are known to the outsider and famous; but within their internal
political structure they are answerable to Liurai
Tur Fatin or the dato.
What has been described
above can be simplified using the same diagram as before:
Picture 12: Lulik Circle
and Timorese Polictical System
In the contemporary
nation-state setting, the role of traditional Liurai has been replaced by Chefe
Suco (chief of village). This is the reason why every single matter when it
comes to a suco (village) has to go through Chefe Suco. In this case, Chefe
Suco (formerly Liurai) act as the gate to the village, the protector, the one
who host guests and make connection to the outside world. This in turn shifted
the role of original, traditional Liurai to a more symbolic and ritualistic
roles. Means that the original Liurai at present playing a more feminine
(ritual) role not a masculine (political) role as before.
How Lulik punishes/curses people
Timorese believe
that, if an individual breaks Lulik’s
rules and regulations, s/he will be punished in this life, not the life after.
Secondly, the punishment not only strikes the individual transgressor, it can
also strike her/his immediate family, their clan or the whole society. Thirdly,
it is uncertain when the punishment will take place, it could be today,
tomorrow, next week or next year. As a result, Timorese interpret all the
misery/bad luck and other misfortune in their lives as punishment for disregarding
Lulik. They call it ‘babeur/malisan’. As an example, when a
pregnant woman is having difficulties in delivering the new born baby, Timorese
interpret this as the curse of Lulik. They
will check if the woman has disharmonious relationships with her immediate
family, then the first thing they do is to reconcile or resolve the existing
conflict between her and her family. Another example is, if a series of
disasters strikes a family, they will seek a ‘matan do’ok’ (Timorese Mythical Seer) to find out if any member of
the family has broken their Lulik
regulations.
If Lulik is disregarded by the society,
ancestral sanctions will strike the society in the form of conflict and
disaster, be it natural, social or political. Many Timorese interpret that the
contemporary Timorese society as a nation has abandoned the notion of Lulik
and relies heavily on modern or imported values and regulations. Therefore, it
causes an imbalance between the real world and the cosmic realm, and the
sanctions for the Timorese society was interpreted in the form of 2006 crisis. Many
Timorese viewed the 2006 crisis as babeur/malisan
for the whole nation.
Lulik
and External Powers in Timor-Leste
The Church
The Catholic
Church and the Portuguese Colonial Administration not only adopted and use some
concepts of Lulik for their own
benefit, they also criticized and degraded it at the same time. As a result, Lulik is viewed as a negative animist
belief system by many Timorese today.
As described
above, the Catholic Church adopted the notion of ‘maromak’ and changed its gender from feminine to masculine to fit
with Catholic masculine God of ‘Deus/Zeus/Yahwe’.
The Church also uses the sacred title of the ruler of Wehali, ‘Maromak Oan’
(the child of the luminous) to describe Jesus Christ. The original ‘maromak oan’ is a male in person but
represents a female entity (see Therik 2004). She is also called ‘Liurai Feto’ (female Liurai) instead of Liurai Mane (male Liurai).
The maromak oan (already a
Christianized one) still exists today in the village of ‘Wehali’ located south of present day Atambua in West Timor. When the Church established themselves in Atambua, right after Wehali kingdom was destroyed
by the Portuguese, the Bishop of Atambua used the title of ‘Nai Lulik Bo’ot’. In Timor-Leste, Catholic Priests are referred
to as ‘Nai Lulik or Amo Lulik’
The above
illustrations described how Catholic Church used the notion of Lulik to establish themselves and to spread
Christian beliefs in Timor, the whole island. When the Church adopted terms,
such as ‘maromak, maromak oan, nai Lulik
bo’ot, nai Lulik and Amo Lulik’, they established themselves behind the
core values, the Lulik. This in turn gave
them advantage to spread in Timor and little resistance came from the Timorese
because of this.
Picture 13: A Catholic
Church building in Venilale. The Cross is presented as the core value.
The Portuguese Colonial Administration
(PCA)
Unlike the
Church, the PCA used a different strategy in manipulating the notion of Lulik to their advantage. Until their
departure in 1974, the PCA was viewed as a legitimate institution by the Lulik system. To survive in Timor-Leste
and to prevent rebellion from the local Liurais
the PCA did the following:
Distribution of Rota (rattan stick),
flags, hats and books to Uma Luliks across Timor-Leste
When
the above objects were distributed to different Uma Luliks across the country, the PCA requested the local Liurais to place these objects inside
the Uma Lulik and be treated as one
of the sacred objects (sasan Lulik).
When this happened, it prevented the Liurais
fighting against the Portuguese and if a Liurai
tried to rebel against the Portuguese, they could simply say, ‘you cannot fight
against me because you are worshiping the sacred object I gave you’. In this
instance, the PCA made themselves as a legitimate institution in Timor-Leste by
exploiting and using the existing notion of Lulik
for their benefit.
Creating marriage relationship of
Fetosan-Umane with the Timorese
Another
effort made by the PCA to prevent local rebellion is by marrying local women
and creating marriage relationship of fetosan
(wife taker) and umane (wife giver).
This works well because Timorese view the fetosan-umane
relationship as Lulik where both
wife taker and wife giver are not allowed to have conflict or violent
relationship.
Hemu Ran/Juramentu (blood oath)
If
a marriage relationship is not possible to be created then the last option was
to establish long lasting unity among the Timorese through a blood oath,
locally known as ‘hemu ran or juramnetu’.
Hemu ran is a sacred (Lulik) ritual and the parties entering
into this oath must have faith in each other for generations and are not
allowed to fight against each other. The PCA also entered blood oath with the
Timorese to prevent the Liurais to
fight against them and to get the loyalty of the Timorese to support their
administration.
The Indonesian Occupation
Unlike the PCA
who manipulated Timorese core values to establish themselves, the Indonesian occupying
administration during 24 years in Timor-Leste totally ignored the notion of Lulik. The Indonesian invasion used
violent military campaigns combined with brainwashing the Timorese with their
state ideology of Pancasila (the five
state principals) which triggered resistance from the Timorese countrywide. As
a result, the Indonesian was overwhelmingly voted out from the country when the
Timorese had the chance to vote for referendum in 1999. The resistance against
Indonesian occupation arguably started from the core values of Lulik which viewed Indonesian presence
in Timor-Leste with no proper local legitimacy.
In fact, the
Timorese use the notion of Lulik as
their strength to fight against the Indonesian Invasion. McWilliam (2005) noted
that the clandestine resistance movement survived in part due to the
house-based [uma Lulik] alliances
that facilitated communication and logistical support for resistance fighters. Lulik also enabled the resistance
fighters to have faith in each other and to fight until the end.
Lulik
At Present
Local level
At the local
level in rural areas in Timor-Leste Lulik
is very much alive and practiced by the majority of the population. The
rebuilding of many Uma Lulik’s across
the country is a sign that Lulik has
a place in the future of Timor-Leste. One can interpret the rebuilding of these
Uma Lulik’s as a message from the
Timorese that, they want to keep their cultural values alive and respected in
the contemporary settings.
At Suco level,
the rules and regulations of Lulik plays
central role in resolving disputes between individual and communities across
the country, such as, land disputes, conflict between communities, conflict
over natural resources, etc. When formal laws and regulations are too
complicated to deliver a sense of justice for the Timorese, Lulik often come into play because it is
cost effective and readily available.
The advantage of
using Lulik rules and regulations to
resolve disputes is that people feel they own the process because they are
familiar with it. They have faith in the process because it has existed for
many generations and already tested with time.
National Level
Many Timorese
leaders are ashamed and afraid to admit and support the existence of Lulik. They know Lulik is there but are afraid to recognize it, even though they
quietly practice and follow it.
Timor-Leste
state institutions are still viewed as an external (foreign) institution with
regard to Lulik, because the Timor-Leste
state failed to recognize and incorporate Lulik
values in its existence. If this phenomenon continues, many Timorese believe
that the country will face many political conflicts and violence in the future.
The violent
relationship between political parties and different Timorese groups can be
explained using the following diagram.
Picture 14: Lulik at
national level
Above diagram
shows that, at national level Timorese only operate in political, masculine,
power area and rely heavily on imported modern values and ignore the existence
of Lulik values. As already explained
earlier that, power without authority, masculine without feminine, political
without ritual, to balance and complement each other, will put the whole
society at risk. Arguably, this phenomenon contributed to recent violence which
occurred in Timor-Leste after 1999.
Other example of
disharmony between Lulik and the
creation of the Timor-Leste state is reflected in the national anthem where it
says ‘patria, patria’ (fatherland,
fatherland). It is against the notion of Lulik
because Timorese refer to their land as a mother with feminine values or
motherland not fatherland (masculine). It is feminine because the fertility of
the land (earth or soil) gives life to the Timorese. This notion can be found
in all ethno-linguistic groups in Timor-Leste.
What is the
solution? Timorese as a state and Timorese leaders can learn from the
experience of the Church and the Portuguese Colonial Administration in the past
as described earlier.
Conclusion
Lulik as the core of Timorese values should be
properly recognized, supported, protected and it should be seen as an asset not
a threat or hindrance to the state. The RDTL Constitution article 59.5 ensured
that, ‘everyone has the right to cultural enjoyment and creativity and the duty
to preserve, protect and value cultural heritage’.
To create a long
lasting peace in Timo-Leste, the Timorese state must recognize and incorporate
some of the important traditional values as described earlier. It can be done
through a national blood oath, distribution of national symbols to local main Uma Luliks, recognize the existence of the traditional
leaders, etc.
Lulik as the core of Timorese values should be included in the
school curriculum so that the younger generation can learn their own values.
References
Cinnati, Rui (1965). Tipos de casas timorenses e un rito de
consagragion. In Actas de Congresso
Internacional de Etnogrofia (Vol. IV), Lisboa: Junta de Investigações do
Ultramar Pp. 155-180
Cristalis, Irena and Scott, Catherine. (2005). Independent Women: The story of women’s activism in East Timor.
CIIR, London
Fox. James J. (2008). Repaying the Debt to Maukiak: Reflections on Timor’s Cultural
Traditions and the Obligations of Citizenship in an Independent East Timor.
In Democratic Governance in Timor Leste: Reconciling the Local and the National
Eds David Mearns, CDU Press Darwin,
Australia.
Hicks, D. (1984). A maternal religion, the role of women in tetum myth and ritual,
Special Report no. 22, Monograph series on Southeast Asia, DeKalb Center fo
Southeast Asian Studies, Northern Illionis University
McWilliam, Andrew. (2005). ‘Houses of
Resistance in East Timor: Structuring Sociality in the New Nation’ Anthropological Forum 15 (1): 27 - 44
Therik, Tom. (2004). Wehali: The Female Land – Tradition of a Timorese Ritual Center.
Pandanus Books, Canberra
Trindade, Jose ‘Josh’ (2008). Reconciling Conflicting
Paradigms: An East Timorese Vision of the Ideal State. In Democratic Governance
in Timor Leste: Reconciling the Local and the National Eds David Mearns, CDU Press Darwin, Australia.
Paper presented at: Communicating New Research on
Timor-Leste 3rd Timor-Leste Study Asscociation (TLSA) Conference on 30th
June 2011. Paper also presented at Creative Industry Conference on 16th
July 2011.
