Commemorating President Nicolau Lobato's Death in Combat: Speech by FRETILIN President Lu Olo

Speech by FRETILIN President Francisco Guterres Lu Olo

at the ceremony in commemoration of the death of President Nicolau Lobato

31 December 2010



Your Excellency Mr. President of the Republic,

Excellencies.

We come together again today to remember Nicolau Lobato. On this same day for over thirty years FRETILIN has exercised its duty to maintain the immortality of the memory of this great son of the Maubere people.

Nicolau was a leader of immeasurable stature and unwavering determination.

He was a son of a humble family. He demonstrated his leadership qualities from his early beginnings, through his great political honesty and determination as a freedom fighter.

In commemorating the 32nd anniversary of his death in combat, we do so conscious of the need to undertake a deeper reflection of his personality so that the new generations can also drink from the life of this great statesman, this great FRETILIN leader and this great Commander in Chief of the FALINTIL, his example to serve as an unerring eternal reference for us.

Nicolau was a modest man, humble but also a cultured person, constantly self-teaching and always seeking new knowledge. Nicolau had as one of his great qualities the persistent seeking of perfection in everything he did, efficiency in his actions, and efficacy in his conduct.

For the first time today the State of Timor-Leste takes on this date as a date registering the history of our people, our struggle for national liberation. For FRETILIN it is the consecration of an undeniable truth. Nicolau Lobato died in combat whilst as President of FRETILIN he also assumed the responsibility as President of the Democratic Republic of Timor-Leste and the Commander in Chief of FALINTIL. For this reason, and by his actions on behalf of the Maubere people, when Nicolau died he was the head of state and the uncontestable leader of the Maubere people. In this way, from this day onwards, FRETILIN has decided to transfer to the State the responsibility of acknowledging this date as an important date in our history to be commemorated annually throughout our whole country.

Today as we commemorate 32 years, we do so before the palace that now takes the name of Nicolau Lobato. FRETILIN expresses its gratitude to the President of the Republic for his timely decision of baptizing this palace with the name of our immortal Nicolau Lobato. With this today, we close the doors on 2010. Within a few hours we will be entering 2011. In the past year, on this same day, FRETILIN through its Secretary General launched a challenge for all to join us in the quest of making the decade 2010-2020 the decade of peace, stability and the catalyst for development. We reiterate this same appeal today under the silent watch of Nicolau Lobato. We, FRETILIN, reject violence as a tool to conquest power. We have already demonstrated this in practice. For us 2011 will be a year of crucial importance to affirm this principle of the rejection of violence and of respecting the will of the people freely expressed in elections. Because of this we launch our challenge for us all to make 2011 the year of building trust among us Timorese, a year of consolidation of our democracy and rule of law.

For our part we will do everything to contribute to these ends.

The struggle continues.

Francisco Guterres Lu-Olo

President of FRETILIN