(Sue Stuckey)

Sue and her husband Peter have been involved with Timor Leste through their work with Amnesty International and through Sue’s connection with Carmelite ministry in the Zumulai area. Peter visited many villages in Timor Leste in 2004. They are currently supporting a mobile health clinic, for 13 villages in the western highlands around Zumulai.

The following was written before the current violence, mayhem and near civil war in East Timor. It may stimulate our thinking on the current situation.

“If you forgive others the wrongs they have done you,

your Father in heaven will also forgive you. “ Mt.6.14

I heard on the ABC news the other day that there is to be a Commission of Reconciliation and Justice set up between the East Timorese and the Indonesians. A step in the right direction, I thought. One of the pre-requisites was that all currently held prisoners, who were awaiting trial for their conduct during the occupation, were to be released. That really stopped me in my tracks: Forgiveness; relinquishing, even temporarily, the satisfaction of seeing the perpetrators of gross injustice suffer. How can anyone expect such a generous response from a shattered nation of innocent people?

The East Timorese people are at present rebuilding their lives, their environment and the spirits. This is no easy task in a country that has so recently suffered mass murder, torture and rape. Almost one third of the population did not survive the upheaval of the last 3 decades and those who did, the men women and children, have been traumatised in ways we cannot hope to understand.

Economic re-construction has started and rightly so. But while this is happening the surviving population has to deal with huge personal, spiritual and psychological issues, not least of which are anger, hatred and revenge. The current East Timorese government, with the help of the United Nations, has completed a remarkable task of interviewing and amassing evidence from the community at large – recording as much relevant information as possible about the loss of relatives and friends and compiling a data base of cross references. People have been asked to come forward and admit their sometimes unwilling part in the perpetration of the horrors inflicted on fellow villagers, neighbours and friends, or simply to record their experiences. Clearly there are many people in and outside of East Timor who should be held accountable for the atrocities of the past. So why release those already arrested and awaiting trial?

Perhaps we should ask “Why not?” After all Jesus said “And when you stand and pray, forgive anything you may have against anyone, so that your Father in heaven will forgive the wrongs you have done. “ (Mk.11.25-26). Witnessing to the God of forgiveness is one response that has been observed in other arenas of war and political upheaval. For example at the end of World War II a Carmel (Carmelite convent) was built on the site of the gas chambers at Dachau in Germany and at Auschwitz in Poland a Carmel was built within the township. Such moves to re-consecrate the very ground of terror or injustice arise out of deep faith in a forgiving God. It is easier to forgive when there is a sense of compassion, love and trust, so these Carmels act as sacred markers on the journey to healing.

Another response is to consecrate one’s life to the service of our God of compassion and love, evidenced by the number of vocations that occurred after the Second World War. Timor is no exception, with aspirants putting themselves forward for service in the Church and there is a strong, active band of Christian laity. Nelson Mandela said that ‘to be free is not merely to cast off one’s chains, but to live in a way that respects and enhances the lives of others’; even when the ‘others’ include those who were involved in harming you.

Those who have visited Timor Leste bring back stories of individuals who instinctively understand that forgiveness is part of this healing and peace-making journey to freedom. They need our prayerful support as they journey with the villagers, with the orphaned children, with each other. Yet how can I support, encourage and pray for them if I do not regularly practice the very forgiveness I am asking them to achieve? This is the gift that they bring to me; awareness of my own need to;

Get rid of all bitterness, passion and anger. No more shouting or

insults, no more hateful feelings of any sort. Instead, be kind and

tender-hearted to one another, and forgive one another, as God

has forgiven you through Christ.

Eph.4.31-32

I am like Mary at the foot of the cross, who struggled with the added grief of injustice, but later witnessed the resurrection of love, hope and faith. With this awareness in my heart I have a sense of the need to continue my own struggle with forgiveness. Any practical contribution I can make to help provide essentials and bring the hopes of the East Timorese to fruition becomes a sincere ‘thankyou’ for their witness to the love and compassion of Christ through forgiveness.