Dili, October 22, 2025 (Média Democracia) – Students of the University of Dili (UNDIL), through a press conference to journalists at HAK Association on Tuesday, condemned the alleged sexual harassment committed by lecturer LMS against female students.
Spokesperson Delcia da Costa Belo stated that, unfortunately, various controversies continue to emerge related to sexual harassment, coercion, intimidation, and violations of rights and freedoms. The campus, she said, is no longer a space for cultivating science, values, and principles, producing qualified human resources to liberate individuals and society, but has instead become a machine that produces and reproduces sexual predators, sexual “monsters”, and “sexual terrorists”. These conditions, she added, leave female students as victims, traumatized, uncomfortable, and unsafe to pursue their studies.
“The objective of issuing this press statement is to oppose and condemn the alleged sexual harassment committed by a predator lecturer identified as LMS against students at the Faculty of Political Science, University of Dili. The alleged sexual harassment by ‘LMS’ occurred in three forms. First, physical such as touching, hugging, pulling the victims’ bra straps, and when holding hands with students he would squeeze their hands with inappropriate gestures. Second, verbal, he allegedly said to victim Rosa (a fictional name): ‘wow Rosa, now you are really beautiful and so sexy, from the top already beautiful, more like down below.’ Third, via WhatsApp, frequently calling victims late at night from around 10pm to midnight or 2am, repeatedly phoning and sending chat messages.” said spokesperson Delcia da Costa Belo.
The spokesperson further informed that, according to the students, this case is not new, it has repeatedly occurred for several years, starting from the second semester until now, the sixth semester.
“After this case happened, we immediately filed a formal complaint to the structure of the Faculty of Political Science. At the same time, the structure had already issued a warning to the alleged perpetrator. However, unfortunately, he continued committing harassment against other students who eventually became victims. Later, when the faculty structure summoned him, he himself told some students that: ‘Even if this is just for fun you can still file a complaint; if you do things like this, be careful, one day you might not pass your thesis defense.’” the spokesperson explained.
She further clarified that, based on all these actions, the students assessed that he indeed had the intention to commit such misconduct against students, because he possesses social capital and, as a lecturer, can take revenge against students when they resist. One of the methods used is to silence victims so they cannot oppose the dehumanizing acts he allegedly committed.
“Because these acts kept happening until recently, starting from October 16, 2025, the students together with the victims submitted a letter of suspension to the Faculty and a resignation letter to the University with a two-day deadline, demanding that the University exercise its full competence to dismiss the alleged predator lecturer from his teaching position, considering the severity of the misconduct within the University. For this reason, the student victims expressed deep regret for the conduct of this sexual predator and sexual ‘terrorist’. The victims, together with other students, united to oppose and condemn this individual.” spokesperson Delcia clarified.
She affirmed that, based on the alleged predatory sexual acts committed, on 16 October 2025 the Rector, through several students, sent a WhatsApp message instructing the victims to meet the Rector in order to reach a consensus regarding the sexual harassment case. Then, on 20 October 2025 at 3:30 p.m., the Rector of the University of Dili met with the victims with the objective of resolving the matter.
“The Rector must rigorously dismiss this sexual predator lecturer in accordance with the requirements of the student victims as stated in the petition submitted by the students. However, the students also expressed concern that ‘when the victims resist by issuing a press statement, the Rector will simply expel them from the University of Dili.’” stated spokesperson Delcia.
The consensus outcome indicates that the Rector did not have the full capacity to immediately exercise his authority to dismiss the sexual predator based solely on the investigation conducted by the Faculty of Political Science on Thursday, 16 October 2025. Unfortunately, the Rector only imposed a temporary suspension on the predator lecturer and reopened the inquiry (or re-investigation) for the lecturer within ten (10) days, while the Faculty structure had already conducted its own investigation.
Initially, the perpetrator admitted/confessed that “he committed the act.” Today, the victims together with other students held a press conference to demand that the Rector of UNDIL fully exercise his authority to impose strict measures according to the wishes of the student victims, to ensure the sustainability of the learning process now and in the future.
The spokesperson reaffirmed that, based on the introduction and timeline presented in the letter, the victims firmly, bravely, and decisively demanded that the Rector of the University of Dili (UNDIL), José da Costa Belo, exercise his authority to dismiss the predator lecturer with the initials LMS. They requested that the Dean of the Faculty of Political Science immediately impose strict sanctions to suspend his activities. They also requested the Honorable Minister of Higher Education, Science and Culture, José Honorio, and ANAA to pay attention to the university accreditation and support the university structure, noting that on 18 November 2024, the Ministry of Higher Education, together with the State Secretary for Equality (SEI) and international organizations such as KOICA, UN Women, and Juridica Social (JU’s), launched the Zero Tolerance program against sexual harassment, aiming to prevent and combat sexual harassment in higher education institutions in Timor-Leste.
In this context, José Macêdo “Lorico” emphasized that these actions ensure the victims will have their cases referred to the Public Ministry (MP) or other relevant institutions for further legal processing.
“Provisionally, we have registered six victims, but some withdrew due to pressure; currently, only three remain. We believe that even if one more comes forward, we will not ignore it, because the victims have already shown courage to report, based on the data and evidence we have, although it is provisional. We know that others have not spoken yet; UNDIL has largely not assisted when sexual harassment occurs, as it often abuses power to intimidate victims,” said José Macêdo “Lorico.”
He stated that this sexual harassment incident occurred at the University of Dili, with the first case having occurred at the Faculty of Law, which has been resolved and the lecturer removed. Now, the Faculty of Political Science is where the victims have suffered sexual harassment from lecturer LMS.
Report: Domingas
Photo: Domingas