Human rights feature in far east tour

by Dillon Woods POPE John Paul arrives this weekend in Mauritius after completing the most controversial leg of his far eastern tour in East Timor and Indonesia. The Pope spent just four hours in East Timor where he celebrated mass at Tacitolu, an open space near the airport at Dili. There has been considerable debate as to whether the Pope should have set foot in East Timor, a former Portuguese colony, forcibly annexed by Indonesia in 1975 in defiance of the United Nations.
The Indonesians have ruled East Timor since 1975. As a result of Indonesian repression, the population of East Timor has been reduced by 250,000 out of a total of 680,000 in 1975.
The Pope's stop-over in Dili was prefaced by the call for a referendum on the future of the country by Bishop Carlos Xemenes Belo of Dili. Over 100 Asian Catholic bishops and more than 1250 clergy have now added their voices supporting pleas for the withdrawal of the Indonesians.
Pope John Paul arrived in Jakarta on Monday, where President Suharto had told the five million Catholics to give the Pontiff a "modest" welcome.
While in Jakarta, John Paul urged the Indonesians to respect human rights. In a speech in the presence of President Suharto he said, "at times nations are tempted to disregard fundamental human rights in a misguided search for political unity based on military or economic power alone. But such unity can easily be dissolved."
The papal visit to Indonesia and East Timor came at a time of government repression not only in the former Portuguese colony, but also in Indonesia itself where there have been curbs on free speech, the banning of books, revocation of newspaper licences and persecution of writers who criticise the government.
John Paul's first stop on his far eastern tour was in Seoul, South Korea, where he addressed the 44th International Eucharistic Congress. He challenged South Korea's president, Roh Tae-woo, to move the country towards full democracy and he prayed for unification of the divided land.
The crowd at an outdoor mass
in Yoido Plaza, estimated at almost one million, waved white flags and wept as the Pope arrived. John Paul spoke affectionately of "our brothers and sisters is in Christ living in mainland China" and said he had an "ardent desire" to meet the mainland Chinese where millions of Catholics are believed to belong to an underground Church.