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Dili, June 2nd, 2015
Press Release
Extraordinary Meeting of the Council of Ministers from June 2nd, 2015
The Council of Ministers met extraordinarily this Tuesday, June 2nd, 2015, in the Council of Ministers’ meeting room, at the Government Palace, in Dili, and expressed it’s deepest regret for the loss of one of its members, the Minister of State Coordinator for Social Affairs and Minister of Education, Dr. Fernando La Sama de Araújo, having fulfilled a minute of silence, during the meeting, in his honour.
At this meeting, the Council of Ministers approved a Government Decree for the National Mourning in honour of Fernando La Sama de Araújo, which will take place up to 12 AM of June 5, and has decided to propose, to the President of the Republic, to attribute him a posthumous decoration.
During the period of national mourning, the national flag must be maintained at half-mast or half-halyard. The funeral ceremony will be organised by the Ministry of Social Solidarity, in collaboration with the Ministry of State Administration.
Fernando La Sama de Araújo passed away today, June 2, 2015, at 8:30 AM, in the Guido Valadares National Hospital, in Dili.
He was leader for RENETIL, the student resistance to the occupation Regime of the Republic of Indonesia in Timor-Leste, having been one of the founders of this organisation in Indonesia, on June 20, 1988.
While he was secretary-general for RENETIL, Fernando La Sama de Araújo was detained on 24 November 1991, in Denpasar, Bali, and later transferred to Jakarta as a political prisoner, where, after a trial, he fulfilled six years and four months of incarceration in Cipinang, Republic of Indonesia.
In 1989 he led the request for political asylum to the embassies of Japan and the Vatican, in Jakarta.
Fernando La Sama de Araújo was one of the founders, in 2000, of the Democratic Party, of which he has been President until today.
He was Vice Minister for Foreign Affairs and Cooperation, in the second Transitional Government, from 20 September 2001 to 19 May 2002, And also a member of the Constituent Assembly.
Been 2007 and 2012 he carried out the role of President of the National Parliament, having temporarily been the Interim President of the Republic of Timor-Leste, after the attempt against the life of Dr. José Ramos-Horta, on 11 February 2008.
He was Vice Prime Minister Coordinator for Social Affairs In the fifth Constitutional Government and was, since February, a member of the sixth Constitutional Government, occupying the positions of Minister of State Coordinator for Social Affairs and Minister for Education.