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SINGAPORE: Singapore on Wednesday (Jun 24) extended condolences to Timor-Leste over the death of its former President Francisco Guterres.<\/p>\n
Mr Guterres, who served as Timor-Leste\u2019s sixth president, died on Sunday in a Malaysian hospital. He was 71.<\/p>\n
The former leader held office from 2017 to 2022, after decades of fighting for his country\u2019s independence.<\/p>\n
In a letter to his Timor-Leste counterpart Jose Ramos-Horta, Singapore President Tharman Shanmugaratnam hailed Mr Guterres\u2019 devotion to his country.<\/p>\n
\u201cPresident Guterres devoted his life to Timor-Leste,\u201d wrote Mr Tharman.<\/p>\n
\u201cIn the struggle for independence and later as president, he played a crucial role in strengthening Timor-Leste’s democratic institutions and fostering national unity.\u201d<\/p>\n
Mr Guterres\u2019 commitment and contributions towards building a sovereign and independent Timor-Leste will \u201clong be remembered\u201d, Mr Tharman added.<\/p>\n
\u201cAt this time of sorrow, our thoughts are with President Guterres\u2019 family and loved ones, and with the people of Timor-Leste as they mourn the loss of a respected statesman and leader.\u201d<\/p>\n
Timor-Leste declared a week of mourning for Guterres on Monday, with flags flown half-mast in public buildings, including at embassies and consulates.<\/p>\n
Mr Ramos-Horta, who defeated Mr Guterres in the 2022 presidential election, said his former rival was a “great patriot”, adding that his passing was “a great loss for the nation”.<\/p>\n
The 71-year-old\u2019s family asked for privacy as supporters paid tribute to the beloved former leader.<\/p>\n
\u201cWe ask everyone to respect the family’s privacy at this difficult time, as we join in prayer and pay tribute to his memory, his legacy and his dedication to the Timorese people,” they said.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n
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SINGAPORE: Singapore on Wednesday (Jun 24) extended condolences to Timor-Leste over the death of its former President Francisco Guterres. Mr Guterres, who served as Timor-Leste\u2019s…<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":63678,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"fifu_image_url":"https:\/\/dam.mediacorp.sg\/image\/upload\/s--kefnkSkE--\/c_crop,h_900,w_1600,x_0,y_139\/c_fill,g_auto,h_676,w_1200\/fl_relative,g_south_east,l_mediacorp:cna:watermark:2023-11:afp_watermark_14112023,w_0.1\/f_auto,q_auto\/v1\/mediacorp\/cna\/image\/2026\/06\/25\/francisco_guterres_.jpg?itok=MkipRA-y","fifu_image_alt":"","footnotes":""},"categories":[2],"tags":[479,159,25403,2254,9414,22,7212],"class_list":["post-63677","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-buzz-news-sg-global","tag-condolences","tag-death","tag-guterres","tag-president","tag-sends","tag-singapore","tag-timorleste","wpcat-2-id"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/sgbuzz.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/63677","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/sgbuzz.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/sgbuzz.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/sgbuzz.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/sgbuzz.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=63677"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/sgbuzz.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/63677\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/sgbuzz.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/media\/63678"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/sgbuzz.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=63677"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/sgbuzz.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=63677"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/sgbuzz.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=63677"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}