On 20 October this month, the Catholic University of Kupang,
Universitas Katolik Widya Mandira,will an international seminar on
The Power of ProximitybetweenEastand West Timor. I am asked to give a talk about the 'historical link between Eastand West Timor, created by the Catholic Church'.
In my paper I will give comparisons, contrasts between the Moluccas and NTT. The British scholar of the period Charles R. Boxer is very positive about the Jesuits who worked in the Moluccas, butverycritical, even negative aboutthe Dominican Friars who worked in East Flores (Larantuka), Solor and Timor. Through accidental reasons (the Dutch gave priority to the Moluccas and banned the Jesuits from Ambon and that whole region in 1605), Catholicism disappeared from the Moluccas.
After 1800 he Portuguese several times tried to ban all religious orders (the Jesuits already worldwide from the 1770s) and only remnants of Catholicism continued in these islands. Most Obvious were the giant crosses that were erected in many places. It is still popular among people from the region to plant these crosses, as seen below. This is a cross recetly erected in Laktutus, onthe border between Indonesian Timor and Timor Leste.
While reading more in Boxer about the topic, I came across his biography of Francisco Vieira de Figueiredo. Here he quotes Pieter van Dam, the VOC official who never made the trip to Indonesia, but was head of its office in Amsterdam.
He underlined that the Dutch never could
establish a permanent occupation of the southeaster islands, because their were
loved by the population. The Portuguese were successful , thank ‘to their
priests and clergy having got most of the natives on their side; and having
thus secured a great advantage over us, they have been able to reap the full
benefits’. This is quite an unexpected appraisal about the great work done by the Dominican Friars in this region. The VOC kept his description secret and it was only published in the 20th century!
