Nicolau dos Reis Lobato

Monument of Nicolau Lobato in Comoro , Dili

Nicolau dos Reis Lobato (born May 24, 1946 in Sasatan Oan, Aitara Hun, Soibada / Portuguese Timor ; † December 31, 1978 in Mindelo , Turiscai / East Timor ) was a politician and freedom fighter from East Timor.

Origin and family

Various sources state that Nicolau Lobato's birthday and place of birth was December 7, 1952 in Bazartete, but a more detailed biography published by FRETILIN states May 24, 1946 in Sasatan Oan ( Aitara Hun Soibada ). Nicolau, if he was born in 1946, would be the eldest son of Narciso Manuel Lobato (from Leorema , Bazartete) and Felismina Alves Lobato (from Malurucumo / Macadique , Uato-Lari ). The father died on April 26, 1976 in Leorema. The mother was killed by the Indonesians in July 1979 on Mount Maupe in Laclubar . Nicolau's maternal grandfather was Domingos da Costa Alves (from Samoro , Soibada), who was a catechist in Uato-Lari. Nicolau was also a practicing Catholic. His godfather was Fulgêncio dos Reis Ornay , Liurai of Fehuc Rin .

Nicolau had twelve siblings: António Bosco Lobato , Rogério Tiago de Fátima Lobato , Maria Cesaltina Francisca Alves Lobato , Januario do Carmo Alves Lobato , Domingos Cassiano Maria da Silva Lobato , Luis Francisco de Assunção Alves Lobato , Silvestre Lobato , Madalena de Canossa Alves Lobato , Elga Maria do Rosário Alves Lobato , José Bernardo Alves Lobato , Silvestre Agostinho Alves Lobato and Elisa Maria Lobato. Silvestre was stillborn. José died in the civil war against the UDT in 1975, as did Domingos, president of the FRETILIN student organization UNETIM, who was killed in the Wedauberek massacre . Maria Cesaltina Francisca and her husband Moisés da Costa Pereira Sarmento were killed by the Indonesians in March 1979 in Ratahau ( municipality of Viqueque ).

Five other siblings died as a result of the occupation of East Timor by Indonesia between 1975 and 1999. Under Marí Alkatiri, Rogério became the interior minister of the again independent East Timor (2002-2006). He is the last of the siblings alive. Nicolau's uncle Paolo disappeared in Dili at the end of 1980, some time after he had surrendered to the Indonesians. Lúcia Lobato , a younger cousin of Nicolau, was Minister of Justice in the Xanana Gusmão government from 2007 to 2012 , and Luís Maria Lobato's cousin was Vice Minister for Health several times.

In 1972 Nicolau Lobato married Isabel Barreto . They had a son: José Maria Barreto Lobato . Isabel was raped in the Indonesian invasion on December 7, 1975 and executed the day after at the Dili shipyard . The son was adopted by his aunt Olímpia Barreto and her husband José Gonçalves in Jakarta and also took their family name Gonçalves .

The brothers José Abílio Osório Soares and José Fernando Osório Soares were cousins ​​of Nicolau Lobato.

Life

Graffiti with Nicolau dos Reis Lobato (left) and Nino Konis Santana in Naeboruc

Until he was 13, Lobato attended the Missão do Sagrado Coração de Jesus in Soibada at the school of the Colégio Nuno Alvares Pereira , together with his friend Alberto Ricardo da Silva . Then both boys transferred to the Nossa Senhora da Fatima lower seminary in Dare . Lobato was the spokesman for the seminar participants here for three years, but in 1965 he decided against a career as a priest and left the seminary. His friend Silva continued his spiritual career and in 2004 became Bishop of Dili . Lobato wanted to go to Coimbra to study law in Portugal , but his father's illness forced him to take care of his siblings' education. In addition, only a few Timorese received a grant from the Portuguese government during the colonial period. Instead, Lobato completed his training at Liceu Dr. Francisco Machado continued in Dili, among other things in philosophy, politics, administration and Portuguese.

In 1966 Lobato began his service in the Portuguese army. He finished the non-commissioned officer course as the best in the course, followed by João Viegas Carrascalão and Moisés da Costa Pereira Sarmento as third, Nicolaus later brother-in-law. Nicolau Lobato became quartermaster in the army in Bazartete, then he joined the 15th hunter company in Caicoli and became an officer in charge of the mess. Here Lobato met Sergeant Timane from Nampula in Portuguese East Africa , who told him about the Mozambican independence movement, a role model for the later FRETILIN in East Timor. In 1968 Lobato's military service ended. First he became an official in the Portuguese Timorese Agriculture Mission . Here he had contact with a Cape Verdean sympathizer of the PAIGC named Marcelino . Lobato started reading books about the liberation struggle in the African colonies of Portugal . After a promotion he later moved to the tax authorities, where he was responsible for the salaries of officials in the colonial administration.

After the end of the Portuguese dictatorship in 1974, the first political parties also emerged in Portuguese Timor. Lobato was a co-founder of the left-wing FRETILIN and its vice-president from September 11th. In order to have more time for his political work, he left the civil service. When it was foreseeable that FRETILIN would become the leading party in the country when independence was imminent, the UDT attempted a coup in August 1975, which led to a brief, violent civil war. Lobato was instrumental in FRETILIN's victory over the UDT. At the same time he tried to find a political solution to the conflict by allowing Portugal to once again take control of its colony and lead it to independence in an orderly manner. The attempts failed. In view of the impending invasion of neighboring Indonesia, FRETILIN proclaimed the independence of the Democratic Republic of East Timor from Portugal on November 28, 1975 . FRETILIN party leader Francisco Xavier do Amaral became the first president, Lobato the first prime minister. After the Indonesian invasion of Dili on December 7th, Lobato and other members of the FRETILIN Central Committee had to flee the capital on August 11th.

On August 13, they moved from the neighboring mountains to Aissirimou ( Aileu municipality ). There Lobato called for general armed resistance. The Portuguese officers in Aileu were forced to place the Timorese colonial soldiers still stationed there under the command of the newly founded FALINTIL , the armed arm of FRETILIN. From that point on, Lobato held both the military and political leadership of the resistance. Lobato started organizing the guerrilla struggle . At the FRETILIN Congress in Soibada in May 1976 , he was officially elevated to the position of military commander of the FALINTIL. From September 1977 to December 31, 1978 Lobato was also chairman of FRETILIN and nominal president of the Democratic Republic of East Timor. Amaral had been removed from the FRETILIN because of differences of opinion about the course of action against the Indonesian crew.

Inauguration of the chapel and memorial for Lobato in Mindelo

By December 1978 the bases of the resistance movement were largely destroyed by the Indonesian army and over 80% of the FRETILIN fighters were killed. Lobato was injured by a bullet in the leg during operation and was captured shortly afterwards by soldiers of the 744 Indonesian Infantry Battalion on December 31, 1978 in the Mindelo valley near Turiscai . With the words "my last bullet is my victory" ( Portuguese A minha última bala ea minha vitória ), Lobato shot himself before he could be captured. Other sources report that Lobato was killed by the Indonesian armed forces.

Commemoration

The Nicolau Lobato monument in Comoro

Lobato's body is considered missing (as of 2019). It was first brought to Dili by Colonel Dading Kalbuadi , the Indonesian army chief in East Timor, for a victory ceremony. It wasn't until Christmas 2003 that construction workers found remains in the courtyard of his house, now inhabited by Prime Minister Marí Alkatiri, that Lobato's family believe were from Nicolau Lobato. The head was missing. He is said to have been sent to Jakarta on the instructions of Indonesia's President Suharto to prove Lobato's death. In March 2004, the Lobatos family sent several bones to Darwin for identity checks, but they were forgotten in the Northern Territory Police Forensic Center for over five years . The bones eventually turned out to be not those of Nicolau Lobato. again in 2018 further investigations were announced. Earlier, in August, East Timor's government renewed its call for Indonesia to return the remains of Lobato and other freedom fighters.

Nicolau dos Reis Lobato is considered a popular hero for the East Timorese, regardless of political direction. The new international airport Dilis Presidente Nicolau Lobato International Airport , the Avenida Nicolau Lobato and the Presidential Palace of East Timor were named after him. Likewise the Nicolau Lobato Training Center near Metinaro , where the second battalion of the East Timorese Defense Forces is stationed. A larger than life statue of Lobato has stood in the middle of the large roundabout in Comoro / Dili since 2014 . The order of Nicolau Lobato is dedicated to him.

Lobato was posthumously awarded the Ordem de Dom Boaventura and the Grand Collar des Ordem de Timor-Leste .

See also

• History of East Timor

Web links

Commons : Nicolau dos Reis Lobato  - Collection of images, videos and audio files

Individual evidence

1. ↑ ^{a b c d e f g} Timor-Leste / Biografia do Presidente Nicolau dos Reis Lobato , accessed on December 31, 2012; in English: Biography of President Nicolau dos Reis Lobato , accessed November 2, 2012
2. ^ Timor-Leste Memória
3. ↑ for example: Who is who in East Timor ( Memento from January 24th 2010 in the Internet Archive )
4. ↑ ^{a b} Statement of Amnesty International's Concerns in East Timor , August 1983 ( Memento of the original from May 11, 2016 in the Internet Archive ) Info: The archive link was inserted automatically and has not yet been checked. Please check the original and archive link according to the instructions and then remove this notice. , from a letter from the Prime Minister of Vanuatu to the United Nations Security Council, November 30, 1983, Document S / 16215, December 14, 1983, retrieved May 11, 2016. 
5. ↑ ^{a b} ABC News: East Timor's latest attempt to find the body of its first prime minister Nicolau dos Reis Lobato , February 21, 2018 , accessed on February 21, 2018.
6. ↑ "Part 3: The History of the Conflict" (PDF; 1.4 MB) from the "Chega!" Report of the CAVR (English)
7. ^ The Sydney Morning Herald: Fretilin confident that voters will remember who led the struggle , August 25, 2001 , accessed April 9, 2017 (also here ).
8. ↑ ^{a b} The Sydney Morning Herald: Bones gathering dust in NT may be of Timorese hero , December 28, 2009
9. ↑ Tempo Timor: Body of Timor-Leste's first prime minister still missing after 41 years , December 31, 2019 , accessed on May 12, 2020.
10. ↑ The Sydney Morning Herald: East Timor calls for hero's body to be returned , May 19, 2012 , accessed May 12, 2020.
11. ↑ Jornal da República : Edition of December 20, 2006 , accessed on March 22, 2018.
12. ↑ Jornal da República: Decreto do Presidente da República nº 54/2012 de 19 de Maio , accessed on April 29, 2020.