re: john howard - timor
The Catholic Church is the dominant religious institution in East Timor and 90% of East Timorese are Catholic. It is likely that the number of Protestants, Muslims, and Hindus has declined markedly since September 1999, since these groups were associated strongly with the prointegration side. The Indonesian military forces formerly stationed in East Timor included a significant number of Protestants in their ranks, who played a major role in establishing Protestant churches in the territory. Less than half of those congregations still existed after September 1999, and many East Timorese Protestants remained in West Timor at the end of the period covered by this report. East Timor also had a significant Muslim community during the Indonesian occupation, mostly comprised of ethnic Malay immigrants from Indonesian islands. Only a few hundred of these Muslims returned to East Timor following the September 1999 devastation after the vote for autonomy from Indonesia, and most of them reside at or in close proximity to the mosque in Dili. In addition there is a small community of East Timorese Muslims of Arabic descent that has been integrated well into East Timorese society since Portuguese times.
Those of mixed Portugese and Timorese parentage are known as Mestizos and comprise an educated elite along with the historical Timorese ruling families. 1% of East Timorese are of Portugese descent.
There are 12 ethnic groups in East Timor each of which has its own language: 9 Austronesian language groups - Tetum, Mambai, Tokodede, Kemak, Galoli, Idate, Waima'a, Naueti; and 3 Papuan language groups - Bunak, Makasae, Fatuluku. The Tetum live in two separate geographic areas within East Timor. A simplified version of the Tetum language was utilised in Dili by the Portuguese as a lingua franca. This language has spread throughout East Timor so that Tetum, in its original or simplified form, came to be spoken by about 60% of the population. Though widespread, it is not understood by all.
Now that's something I didn't realise before - the militia in East Timor were protestants siding with the muslims and pro integration with Indonesia. The history goes back 400 years to when protestant Dutch controlled Indonesia including West Timor, except for Catholic Portugese controlled East Timor.
So much for the simpletons who believe muslims kill all christians on sight as per the Koran.
