[6] During the 24 years of the Indonesian occupation of East Timor (1975-1999), he lived initially in the Portuguese capital, Lisbon, where he studied music and worked as a civil servant.

[7] In September 2000, upon the founding of the centre-right Social Democratic Party (PSD), Pereira became its Vice Chairman.

[9][10] From 1999 to 2000, he led the National Emergency Commission, which provided care to those who had been traumatised by violent militia attacks.

From 2000 to 2001, he was a member of the National Consultative Council [de] (NCC), which aimed to represent the population of East Timor in the UN administration.

[15] Following the parliamentary election in 2017, the CNRT went into opposition, and Pereira was replaced in his ministerial post by Adriano do Nascimento.

[9] He also composed the music for the British film documentary "Death of a Nation: The Timor Conspiracy" (1994).