The Conflict Prevention Specialist of Organization Belun, Lourenço Adelaide, said conflict that takes place involving members of martial arts groups happens because leaders cannot control their members.
He added, members of martial arts groups should fill membership forms to make it easier to control their actions.
“Based on our observations, there isn’t a form or criteria for members of martial arts groups as new members,” he said in Dili.
He said that leaders of martial arts groups must create rigorous criteria to control their members on the ground so they do not get involved in crime or conflicts.
“Those who are interested in destabilizing, will join a martial arts group to protect themselves and realize this objective,” he added.
Meanwhile, the former Secretary of Organization Persaudaraan Setia Hati (PSHT), Pedro Aparicio, said PSHT and other organizations were closed a couple some years ago, including also KORKA, and Ikatan Kera Sakti, so there is no legal basis with which to control their members.
“We have no legal basis, because we were closed,” he said.
However, he said, if there is a conflict, “we always remind our junior members to control themselves, keep loving our country, and about the need to create stability to ensure there is development,” he said.
He added that he is also working with the police, to support their services, to control those members who get involved in any crime.
“We ask the police to capture them. This is all we can do, we cannot control because we don’t have a legal basis,” he said.
On the other hand, the Secretary of State for Youth and Sport (SEJD), Nelio Isaac Sarmento, said they have organized a meeting with the Regulatory Commission for Martial Arts (KRAM) to resolve issues involving martial arts groups and its members in the country.
He said SEJD presented a report to KRAM to share information to those martial arts groups that were closed by government, including IKS, PSHT, and KORKA.
“We must look at what measures to use to deal with issues involving martial art activities that have become a public concern,” he said.
