15.01.10: The political convictions of the late Lt. Col. Ular Rihik, in his own words:

"I was in the forest for three years fighting, and my convictions were not influenced anymore by UDT and Apodeti, I was more influenced by the thinking of Fretilin. I had studied the philosophies of UDT and Fretilin to decide which direction I should take. I decided that Fretilin was the one with the best philosophy, because they were the ones who wanted a revolution based on class; they had a class consciousness, a desire to free the oppressed classes. During the Portuguese times, I had been of the liurai class, there was always the possibility of getting ordinença. While we were going to school they were carrying our provisions, while we were riding the horses. During the war, we found ourselves in their position, carrying everything, performing manual labour, so we could put ourselves in their shoes. I began to learn what it was to be oppressed, and to understand how wrong class oppression was."  Ular Rehik's words as recounted by Historian and Reseracher Zelda Grimshaw in an interview last year.