José Abílio Osório Soares

Abílio Osório Soares
Governor of East Timor
under Indonesian occupation
In office
18 September 1992 – 25 October 1999
President Suharto
B. J. Habibie
Preceded by Mário Viegas Carrascalão
Succeeded by Sérgio Vieira de Mello (as Special Representative of the Secretary-General for East Timor)
Personal details
Born Abílio José Osório Soares
(1947-06-02)2 June 1947
Vila Nova Ourique, Manatuto district, Portuguese Timor
Died 17 June 2007(2007-06-17) (aged 60)
Kupang, East Nusa Tenggara, Indonesia

Abílio José Osório Soares (Portuguese pronunciation: [ɐˈβiliu ʒuˈzɛ ɔˈzɔɾiu suˈaɾɨʃ]) (2 June 1947, Vila de Ourique, Manatuto district, Portuguese Timor – 17 June 2007, Kupang, West Timor, Indonesia) was an Indonesian politician. He was the last governor of the Indonesian province of East Timor before the country's independence.

Governor of East Timor

Soares served as Governor of East Timor between 1992 and 1999. He is a highly controversial figure in the history of East Timor, having been a supporter of the Indonesian government as well as its annexation and the incorporation of the territory into Indonesia. Likewise, he was an opponent of the pro-independence movement which eventually succeeded, leading to the independence of East Timor. Many East Timorese accuse Soares of human rights violations and other atrocities while in power.

Death

Soares died in Kupang of cancer on 17 June 2007 after being in a coma for four days. Despite Timorese objections he was given a state hero's funeral by the Indonesian government. Frans Lebu Raya, the deputy governor of East Nusa Tenggara province laid a wreath sent by Indonesian President Susilo Bambang Yudhoyono, who did not personally attend the funeral. Other important dignitaries who attended the funeral included several highly controversial figures from the Indonesian occupation of East Timor, including retired Lt. Gen. Prabowo Subianto, retired Indonesian Major General Zacky Anwar Makarim, former deputy army chief of staff Kiki Syanakri, and West Papua Governor Abraham Octavianus Ataruri.

Soares, who was 60 when he died, is survived by his wife, Maria Ângela Correia de Lemos Osório Soares, and their four children, as well as his 86-year-old mother, Beatriz Osório Soares. All of the family members attended the funeral.

Soares was buried in Dharma Loka Heroes' Cemetery in Kupang.

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