Backgrounder
East Timor:
Freedom follows 'conspiracy of silence'
East Timor is a small island, 400 miles to
the north east of Australia. It is closer than Tasmania is to
mainland Australia, so that makes the East Timorese our nearest
neighbours.
Australia has had a long affiliation with
East Timor. During WWII, 40,000 East Timorese sacrificed their
lives to protect Australia, something Australians said we would
never forget. Despite this promise, successive governments since
1975 seem to have turned a blind eye to the massacres and human
rights atrocities perpetrated during Indonesia´s occupation. Many
Australians refer to this period as ´the conspiracy of silence´.
As the East Timorese prepare for Independence Day on 20 May 2002,
it is a time to reflect on their journey to freedom.
East Timor was a Portuguese colony from the
sixteenth century. After the overthrow of Portuguese rule in East
Timor in April 1974, many East Timorese believed that the day of
freedom had come. They did not consider that just over a year
later, in December 1975, Indonesia would invade East Timor.
Indonesia has always maintained that they
were forced to intervene in East Timor in late 1975, to end the
months long civil war that erupted following the collapse of the
weakly devised decolonisation program. If this was the case, it
begs the question, why was such force used and why were so many
thousands of East Timorese killed?
In July 1976, Indonesia annexed East Timor
as its 27th province. The United Nations never recognised this
integration. Australia was the only country in the world, apart
from Indonesia, to recognise Indonesia´s sovereignty over East
Timor.
Censorship has been a great problem in
regards to the situation in East Timor. After the Indonesian
invasion, there was no freedom of press. When five journalists,
including four Australians were killed in Balibo in 1975, it soon
became clear that the truth would be hidden at all costs. This
made the situation in 1991 all the more remarkable. Two weeks
after the murder of a young East Timorese boy, the people of Dili
held a mass, followed by a peaceful procession to Santa Cruz
cemetery. When most of the people had entered the cemetery and had
nowhere else to go, the Indonesian military opened fire. 271
people were killed and a further 200 just "disappeared."
Massacres, fear, intimidation, terror and torture had become a
daily part of the lives of the East Timorese. However, for the
first time since the invasion, a brutal massacre was captured on
film. These images shook the world and so the Indonesian
government was forced to act. While the East Timorese arrested at
peaceful demonstrations received an average sentence of 15 years
to life, the soldiers involved in the Santa Cruz massacre of 1991
received an average of 12 months imprisonment.
In 1998, after ruling Indonesia for three
decades, President Soeharto was forced to resign as President of
Indonesia. Under Dr. Habibie´s leadership, some positive changes
were made. Dr. Habibie was involved in talks with Bishop Belo, the
bishop of East Timor and he also authorised the release of some
political prisoners. In late January 1999, President Habibie
indicated in a public statement that the Indonesian government
might be prepared to consider independence for East Timor. This
was met with cautious optimism in East Timor.
The referendum that determined East Timor´s
independence was held on August 30, 1999. Prior to the vote, the
East Timorese were repeatedly warned that they would be killed and
their villages destroyed if they did not vote for autonomy, to
stay a part of Indonesia. Once the results, overwhelming in favour
of independence, were announced on September 4, the Indonesian
army and the militia put into practice their ´scorched earth´
policy. This involved the systematic burning of villages and
killing of East Timorese. By September 6, the world was repeatedly
presented with images of terrified East Timorese people climbing
over several feet of barbed wire to seek refuge in the UN
compound. By September 7, martial law was declared. Two thousand
people were gathered from the Red Cross compound and taken to the
beaches beyond international eyes. Additionally, many thousands of
East Timorese were rounded up in trucks and taken to West Timor.
Bishop Belo´s secretary was brutally murdered and Bishop Belo´s
residence was torched. By September 9, the Vatican confirmed that
the militia had opened fire on two thousand refugees sheltering in
a church refuge in Suai, killing 100 East Timorese. The
traditional places of refuge - The United Nations, The Red Cross
and the Catholic Church were not safe. For two weeks, violence and
terror reigned until INTERFET forces started moving in on
September 20.
During the 24 year-long occupation of East
Timor, 200,000 people were killed, one-third of the population of
East Timor. Now that the occupation has ended, there has been some
attempt to establish an international criminal tribunal. The work
of the United Nations Serious Crimes Unit has resulted in
indictments in Dili.
ACTIVITIES
· Visit the website for the Commission for
Reception, Truth and Reconciliation
Select ´mandate´.
1. What is the function of the commission?
Select ´news´. Scroll down to ´quotable quotes´.
2. Why does Archbishop Tutu believe that the establishment of a
Commission for Reception, Truth and Reconciliation in East Timor
is so important?
3. Why does Mary Robinson, UN High Commissioner for Human Rights,
believe that achieving "true healing" is very
difficult?
3. A widow from Bobonaro says: "Sometimes I get so angry I
could go crazy and what I want most of all would be to have all
the perpetrators killed. And then, at other times I think: but my
husband is dead, nothing can bring him back, not even
revenge." In Mahatma Ghandi´s words "An eye for an eye
and a tooth for a tooth means that we would all be blind and
toothless."
Discuss how reconciliation can be achieved
without revenge.
· Visit the Government of East Timor´s
website. Select ´About East Timor.´ Select ´UNTAET
background.´ Answer the following questions:
1. What does UNAMET stand for?
2. What was the role of UNAMET in the lead up to the East Timorese
referendum for independence in 1999?
3. What does UNTAET stand for?
4. What is its purpose?
· Visit the Australian Industry Science
Resources website.
One of the reasons why Australia recognised
Indonesia´s sovereignty over East Timor from 1976-1999 was
because of the Timor Gap Treaty.
1. What was the Timor Gap Treaty?
2. Who benefited?
3. Why was this a problem for the people of East Timor?
4. Have the East Timorese been consulted in any way about a new
agreement?
· In 1996, Bishop Belo and Jose Ramos Horta
both received the Nobel Peace Prize. Answer the following
questions
1. Who are they?
2. Why are they important to the people of East Timor?
3. Briefly describe what they had been doing that resulted in
their receiving the Nobel Peace Prize
· Visit Caritas Australia´s website Select
´East Timor.´ Read the stories of courage, resistance and
resilience. Answer the following questions:
Select and read ´Inacia and Orlando´
1. Why was Inacia considered a threat to the militia?
Select and read ´Cecilia and Jose´
1. Why do you think so many of Cecilia and Jose´s children have
died?
2. Why do you think the militia destroyed all the houses in Tali
and stole all the food and livestock?
Select and read ´Lafu´
1. Why was Lafu hailed as a hero in Oecusse?
Select and read ´Adelio´
1. Why do you think it was necessary to form a Sexual Assault
Training team in East Timor? (Hint: Consider Inacia´s story.)
Select and read ´Terlinda, Genieveva,
Nina´
1. Last week´s edition of Ozspirit discussed the establishment of
an International Criminal Court. What is the purpose of collecting
stories concerning crimes committed over the 24 years of
Indonesian occupation?
Select and read ´Black September´
1. Why do you think from September 5 - September 20, 1999 is known
as ´Black September´? (Consider why these two dates are
significant and what happened over this two-week period.)
ADDITIONAL RESEARCH
1. What is the purpose of a UN peace-keeping force?
2. What was the purpose of INTERFET in East Timor?
3. What are the advantages and disadvantages of waiting for a
country to ask for the help of the United Nations?
OTHER HELPFUL WEBSITES:
http://www.jsmp.minihub.org
http://www.undp.east-timor.org
http://www.easttimor.com/
http://www.caa.org.au/publications/briefing/timor_gap_treaty/
http://www.greenleft.org.au/back/2001/437/437p21.htm
http://news.bbc.co.uk/hi/english/special_report/1999/05/99/east_timor/newsid_340000/340363.stm
http://www.hrw.org/campaigns/timor/
http://www.amnesty.org/ailib/intcam/east-timor/
http://www.caa.org.au/world/asia/east_timor/
http://www.geocities.com/Tokyo/9273/
http://www.timoraid.org
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