José Gonçalves (politician)

José Gonçalves († 1995 ) was an East Timorese politician and economist. He has a doctorate.

Career

José Gonçalves is the eldest son of Guilherme Gonçalves , the last traditional ruler of Atsabe and co-founder of the pro- Indonesian APODETI . José's brothers, such as Tomás Gonçalves , were also involved in this party.

Gonçalves studied in Europe for 27 years (most of the time in Portugal ). He graduated in Belgium and lived in Spain for six years . On January 3, 1975, he returned to Portuguese Timor . According to his own statements, he wanted to stand up for his country, which lacked experts. The colony had been prepared for independence by Portugal since the previous year. He had come as an employee and, above all, an observer of the Portuguese government and not to get involved politically. He committed himself to this in talks with the three big parties FRETILIN , UDT and APODETI. His father and brothers were supporters of the APODETI.

Due to Indonesian influence , a civil war broke out in August 1975 between FRETILIN on the one hand and UDT and APODETI on the other . The colonial government hastily left the capital Dili and stayed on the island of Atauro off Dili . After FRETILIN prevailed against the UDT at the end of the month and the Portuguese governor refused to return to Dili, FRETILIN set up its own structures. Gonçalves took over the leadership of the Commission for Economic Management and Supervision from October 11th, together with Juvenal Inácio and Domingos da Costa Ribeiro . He was the only remaining trained economist in Portuguese Timor at the time. For FRETILIN, the commission was the main tool for the economic reconstruction of the colony. Together with the regional committees of FRETILIN and international non-governmental organizations, the commission also distributed aid deliveries with food. It used the capital of the semi-state SAPT . Gonçalves was also behind the campaign to create agricultural cooperatives. In an interview with A Voz de Timor in June 1975, he already explained the two priorities of FRETILIN's economic policy: Firstly, the state would encourage trade and industrial cooperatives through an appropriate legal framework. Second, as a result of the formation of the People's Cooperatives, the small group of large capitalists who were mostly found in the Chinese community would end because they were no longer needed. To survive, urban businesspeople could set up their own cooperatives to defend their interests. Without the colonial administration and support from Portugal, Gonçalves' actions stalled. In October, Gonçalves called for East Timor's independence to be planned as negotiations with Portugal were not moving forward.

On October 27, 1975, in the Church of Santo António de Motael , Gonçalves married Olímpia Barreto , whose sister Isabel was married to the FRETILIN leader Nicolau Lobato .

When FRETILIN unilaterally proclaimed independence on November 28, 1975 , Lobato became Prime Minister and Gonçalves became Minister for Economic Coordination and Statistics in the Cabinet .

On December 7th, the Indonesians began occupying East Timor and landed with troops in Dili. Isabel was captured with her son José Maria and was just able to give him to her sister Olímpia before she was brought to execution. Olímpia and José Gonçalves adopted the boy and raised him in the Indonesian capital Jakarta without revealing his true identity. His father Nicolau died in 1978 in the guerrilla war against the Indonesians.

Gonçalves was one of the first prisoners of the Indonesians. After the occupation, the Provisional Government of East Timor (PGET) was installed as a puppet government on December 17th. Gonçalves became a member of the government's advisory board.

After the Indonesian invasion, Gonçalves appeared before the UN Security Council and a committee of the US Congress and, as a witness, supported Indonesia's version that the neighboring country had invaded at the request of the UDT and APODETI to liberate it from the left FRETILIN and that the annexation of the East Timorese would be in favor. In his opinion, the colony was not viable as an independent state. No political competition, but the struggle and rivalries between families determined the backward country. He portrayed the civil war of August as being staged by Portugal. After that, because of the people, he worked with FRETILIN as the last remaining economic expert after the Portuguese had given up the country. When he declared himself ready to become minister, he was not familiar with the "radical" ideas of FRETILIN.

On the day of the attack on Dili, Gonçalves said he had not heard any planes, calling into question the bombing of the city and the Indonesian paratroopers. He could not say whether there were parachutists on site because he did not take part in the fighting. He didn't see any. As recently as 1977, Gonçalves declared before the US Congress that he had only heard rifle shots and mortar shells. The next day he saw mainly UDT and APODETI supporters. He couldn't have known whether there were Indonesians among them because he didn't speak the language at the time. In the early years, Indonesia claimed that fighters from UDT and APODETI had conquered the city.

Despite these statements, sources indicate that Gonçalves participated in the resistance against the Indonesian occupation of East Timor until his death. His adopted son, José Maria Barreto Lobato Gonçalves, became a member of the Constituent Assembly for FRETILIN and the first national parliament of East Timor, which was independent from 2002.

Individual evidence

1. ↑ ^{a b c} "Part 3: The History of the Conflict" (PDF; 1.4 MB) from the "Chega!" Report of the CAVR (English)
2. ↑ ^{a b} George J. Aditjondro: EAST TIMOR An Indonesian intellectual speaks out , May 1994
3. ↑ ^{a b c d} United States Congress. House. Committee on International Relations. Subcommittees on International Organizations: Human Rights in East Timor and the Question of the Use of US Equipment by the Indonesian Armed Forces: Hearing Before the Subcommittees on International Organizations and on Asian and Pacific Affairs of the Committee on International Relations, House of Representatives, Ninety -fifth Congress, First Session, March 23, 1977 . limited preview in Google Book search.
4. ↑ Rodney Stafford Nixon: Integrating Indigenous Approaches into a 'New Subsistence State': The Case of Justice and Conflict Resolution in East Timor , A thesis submitted for the degree of Doctor of Philosophy, Bachelor of Social Science, Royal Melbourne Institute of Technology Master of Arts, University of Melbourne, February 2008 , accessed May 13, 2020.
5. ↑ ^{a b c} CHAPTER 1: AIMS, STRUCTURE AND METHODS , p. 46 , accessed on May 12, 2020.
6. ↑ Guide to THE EAST TIMOR QUESTION, 1975-2002 compiled and edited by Jill Jolliffeon Microfiche
7. ↑ James J. Fox: FRETILIN (Frente Revolucionária do Timor-Leste Independente). In: Southeast Asia. A Historical Encyclopedia, from Angkor Wat to East Timor. Abc-Clio, 2005, ISBN 1-57607-770-5 , pp. 522-523.
8. ^ Timor-Leste / Biografia do Presidente Nicolau dos Reis Lobato , accessed December 31, 2012; in English: Biography of President Nicolau dos Reis Lobato , accessed November 2, 2012
9. ↑ United Nations: UN Security Council resolution No. 389 of April 22, 1976 , accessed on May 13, 2020.
10. ^ ETAN: List of elected representatives, September 9, 2001 , accessed on April 27, 2020.