Influence from Portuguese colonialists

1. Influence from Portuguese colonialists

The process of influence and the imposition of the colonial regime gave rise to much confusion and many inconsistencies in the practice of the traditional law Tara bandu. From research conducted by Haburas Foundation in 2003 into Tara bandu in 12 districts excluding Oecussi it was shown that the Portuguese Crown gave ranks (symbols of power) to the Liurai according to criteria that they developed that disrupted the traditional system. Older people who were in governing roles said that during the pre-colonial times, the Tara bandu was conducted throughout all of Timor (see: Pompeia, et al 2003, de Carvalho, 2003).

This process was undertaken during the same period and started with the tradition of oath-taking between those liurai who governed areas with adjoining boundaries, some with fetosaa-umane relationships and others with tradition of oath-taking making them like siblings.

According to Jose Coreira (de Carvalho, 2003) large trees is a symbol of life, because large trees provide shelter, give breath (oxygen or O 2 ), give water and other essential things that are useful to other life forms. Because of this according to the lia-na’in Jose Coreira from Lauhata- Pisulete, Liquiça (Pompeia, et al, 2003) during worship the rulers (kableha and kab’roda)

start by mentioning the first place where the liurai received the sings of prohibition and from there they recount the lineages of other liurai or dato who are related

Photo : Haburas Foundation Photo : Haburas Foundation

This model of cooperation between kingdoms is the same as took place in the application of the Tara bandu in Lauhata-Pisulete with other kingdoms. According to their history invoked during the Tara bandu ritual, they were passed the prohibition system from Sica and Bidau Kerketu and from Pisulete they passed it on to Lisadila, Railaco, Cailaco and other places.

During the Portuguese period, there were changes from the monarchic system to the republican system in 1910 (Gunn, 2005), but changes to state administration and policies were conducted just as they had been in Portugal. In Timor-Leste they just created more confusion by bringing military influences into the traditional administration system’s structure with various levels of military rank with some liurai in whom they placed greater trust receiving the rank of colonel, and those liurai who were perceived as having great political influence but who had not demonstrated their loyalty to the Governor (as the representative of the State of Portugal), were given lower ranks such as lieutenant or major (see also: Gunn, 2005).

The policy of issuing rank (hierarchical levels) was used to spread their influence and also gave rise to new social confusion. This policy and other influences from the Portuguese were full of the strategy divide and conquer. The imposition of this system gave rise to discord between the liurai or dato some of whom had made agreements (taken oaths) to conduct the Tara bandu together or to receive and pass them on to one another.

Even though Gunn (2005) does not explain in depth the objectives of the ranking system that the Portuguese gave to the liurai the facts of history show that from the ranks received by the liurai and the system of overseas territory administration security of Timor-Leste the Portuguese had three classification groups, i.e the regular military (from Europe, Goa and Africa), the native soldiers (including people conducting business with or working directly with the Portuguese in the city) and the last group being the liurai. Thus whenever any of the liurai revolted, the Portuguese used armed groups from the liurai who were loyal to the Portuguese (and who had already received rankings) to lead their people against the revolting liurai and to go to war against them.

This confusion destroyed the friendship and loyalty between the liurai and at some levels (requiring more in depth research) destroyed the system of the structure of traditional law that had previously bound the liurai together in relationships with each other.