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Memory, Nationalism, and Human Rights in Post-Independence Timor-Leste

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UNIVERSITY OF CALIFORNIA, SAN DIEGO Victims and Veterans: Memory, Nationalism, and Human Rights in Post-Independence Timor-Leste A Dissertation submitted in partial satisfaction of the requirements for the degree of Doctor of Philosophy in Anthropology by Amy Caroline Rothschild Committee in charge: Professor Nancy Postero, Chair Professor Suzanne Brenner Professor Yen Espiritu Professor Joseph Hankins Professor Geoffrey Robinson 2018 © Amy Caroline Rothschild, 2018 All rights reserved The Dissertation of Amy Caroline Rothschild is approved, and it is acceptable in quality and form for publication on microfilm and electronically: ________________________________________________________________________ ________________________________________________________________________ ________________________________________________________________________ ________________________________________________________________________ ________________________________________________________________________ Chair University of California, San Diego 2018 iii Table of Contents Signature Page……………………………….….……………….………….……………iii Table of Contents…….…………………….………………………………...…………...iv Notes on Names…………………………………………………………………………...v Acknowledgments………………….….………………………………………................vi Curriculum Vitae……………….….…………………………………………………....viii Abstract of the Dissertation………….…………………………………………………...ix Chapter 1: Introduction….…………….…….…………………………………………….1 Chapter 2: History of the Indonesian Occupation and Timorese Resistance……………32 Chapter 3: Anticolonialism and Human Rights in Timor’s Independence Struggle…….68 Chapter 4: Victims and Violations: Timor’s Truth Commission and the First Official Narrative of the Indonesian Occupation........................................103 Chapter 5: From Victims to Veterans: “It wasn’t that the Indonesians just went and shot them” ……………………………………………………………….131 Chapter 6: The Resistance Narrative and the Patronage State: Memory and Money…………………………………………………………………….166 Chapter 7: Banners versus Bullets: Remembering Violent and Nonviolent Resistance………………………………………………………………….203 Chapter 8: Victims’ Rights and the Victim-Veteran Binary……………………………245 Chapter 9: Conclusion…………………………………………………………………..280 Bibliography……………………………………………………………………………297 iv Notes on Names East Timor’s official name (since May 20, 2002, the date of Timor’s official independence) is Democratic Republic of Timor-Leste (República Democrática de Timor-Leste or Timor-Leste). In the main text of this dissertation, I primarily use the term East Timor (simplified to Timor) to refer to the nation. I do this for consistency’s sake, as the nation was referred to as East Timor during the Indonesian occupation, a time period that is central to this dissertation. I specifically spell out West Timor when I refer to Indonesian West Timor. I use pseudonyms to refer to all of my informants, except for several public figures. I use full names (and then last names) to refer to these public figures, whereas I only use first names for my anonymous informants. v Acknowledgements This dissertation is long, so I will keep these acknowledgements brief. I want to thank my entire dissertation committee for their patience, encouragement, and help. I want to give a special thank you to my advisor Nancy Postero for guiding me through this long journey. Nancy’s encouragement, insights, enthusiasm, and positivity – and her advice on matters large and small, intellectual and practical – have been invaluable. I want to thank the people of Timor-Leste. I have been inspired by your struggle for independence and your efforts to build a new nation. I am constantly humbled by your warmth and hospitality. I want to give a special thank you to the following individuals and organizations: Nelson Belo and the team of Fundasaun Mahein; the Comité 12 de Novembro, especially Gregorio Saldhana, Rogerio Castro da Cruz, and Eduardo Guterres; and members of the national Victims’ Association, Yayasan Hak, and the former ICTJ. Thank you also to the following: Hugo Fernandes, Helio Freitas, Jose Belo, Jovi Baptista, Nene de Almeida, Manuela Leong Pereira, Joao da Cruz Cardoso, and Francisca Maia, and Nuno Rodrigues. Finally, a special thank you to two families in Timor which have treated me like family: Ameu and Anita’s family in Dili, and Franky and Maria’s family in Baucau. I want to thank all of my friends at UCSD. I also want to acknowledge Jacqui Baker and Angie Bexley, for inspiring me to become an anthropologist. I thank my parents for their support, especially my father, who instilled in me a love of learning. Finally, to the two members of my family who have entered my life since starting this Ph.D.: thank you Kevin, for being the best partner I could possibly imagine. Your vi patience, humor, and love make this dissertation as much yours as mine. And Roman, my son, I love you so very much. This project was undertaken with generous funding from the following: Charlotte W. Newcombe Doctoral Dissertation Fellowship; Dan David Prize Scholarship; UC Institute on Global Conflict and Cooperation Dissertation Fellowship, UCSD President’s Dissertation Writing Fellowship; Wenner Grenn Foundation Dissertation Fieldwork Grant; UC Pacific Rim Advanced Graduate Research Fellowship; Institute for International, Comparative, and Area Studies Grant; Friends of the International Center Travel Grant; UCSD Dean’s Summer Fellowship Fund Travel Grant; and UCSD Center for Humanities Dissertation Writing Fellowship. A paragraph from Chapter 6 has been published in 2017. Malae Melee: A Failed Attempt to Observe the Making of Timor-Leste’s First Feature Film. In Fieldwork in Timor-Leste: Understanding Social Change Through Practice. Maj Nygaard-Christensen and Angie Bexley, eds. Pp. 227-245. Copenhagen: Nias Press. I am the sole author of this book chapter. Parts of Chapter 7 have been published in altered form in 2015. Democratization of Perpetration: Human Rights, Transitional Justice and Memories of Resistance in Post- Conflict Timor-Leste. Conflict and Society 1(1): 92-108. I am the sole author of this article. Parts of Chapter 8 have been published in altered form in 2017. Victims versus Veterans: Agency, Resistance and Legacies of Timor-Leste’s Truth Commission. International Journal of Transitional Justice 11(3): 443-462. I am the sole author of this article. vii Curriculum Vitae EDUCATION • UNIVERSITY OF CALIFORNIA , San Diego, Ph.D. Anthropology 2018 (C.Phil. & M.A. Anthropology 2011, 2009) • YALE LAW SCHOOL , J.D. 2002 • UNIVERSITY OF PENNSYLVANIA , B.A. 1998 SELECTED GRANTS AND FELLOWSHIPS • Charlotte W. Newcombe Doctoral Dissertation Fellowship, 2014-2015 • Dan David Prize Scholarship (for Studies on History and Memory), 2014-2015 • UC Institute on Global Conflict & Cooperation Dissertation Fellowship, 2014- 2015 • UCSD President’s Dissertation Writing Fellowship, 2013-2014 • UCSD Center for Humanities Dissertation Writing Fellowship, 2014-2015 • Wenner Grenn Foundation Dissertation Fieldwork Grant, 2011-2012 • UC Pacific Rim Advanced Graduate Research Fellowship, 2011-2012 • Institute for Int’l, Comparative, and Area Studies Grant, UCSD, 07/10-09/10 & 08/09-09/09 • Friends of the International Center Travel Grant, UCSD, 08/09-09/09 • Dean’s Summer Fellowship Fund Travel Grant, UCSD, 08/09-09/09 • M.E. Spiro Fellowship, UCSD, 2008-2009 • UCSD Regents Fellowship, UCSD, 2007-2008 • UCSD Dean’s Graduate Fellowship Award, UCSD, 09/07 • Howard M. Holtzmann Fellowship in Int’l Dispute Resolution, Yale Law, 2002- 2003 • Transitional Justice Internship, Center for Civil & Human Rights, Notre Dame Law, 2002-2003 • Schell Center Summer Human Rights Fellowship, Yale Law School, 06/00-08/00 PUBLICATIONS • 2017. Victims versus Veterans: Agency, Resistance and Legacies of Timor- Leste’s Truth Commission. International Journal of Transitional Justice 11(3): 443-462. • 2015. Democratization of Perpetration: Human Rights, Transitional Justice and Memories of Resistance in Post-Conflict Timor-Leste. Conflict and Society 1(1): 92-108. • 2017. Malae Melee: A Failed Attempt to Observe the Making of Timor-Leste’s First Feature Film. In Fieldwork in Timor-Leste: Understanding Social Change Through Practice. Maj Nygaard-Christensen and Angie Bexley, eds. Pp. 227-245. Copenhagen: Nias Press. viii Abstract of the Dissertation Victims and Veterans: Memory, Nationalism, and Human Rights in Post-Independence Timor-Leste by Amy Caroline Rothschild Doctor of Philosophy in Anthropology University of California, San Diego, 2018 Professor Nancy Postero, Chair This dissertation examines how individuals and groups in Timor, including Timor’s State, have been engaging with, talking about, commemorating, and creating historical narratives of the brutal 24-year Indonesian occupation of Timor from 1975- 1999. While the dissertation begins with an examination of remembrance of Indonesian rule in Timor’s immediate post-independence period, as conducted by Timor’s truth commission (the CAVR), its focus is on the “post-transitional justice period” following ix the end of the CAVR’s formal operations in 2005, and continuing to the present day. It focuses most specifically on the period from 2011-2012. I argue that there has been a shift in Timor’s post-independence period from a CAVR-sponsored narrative of the past focused on human rights violations and suffering victims, to a narrative focused on Timor’s struggle for independence from Indonesia and the veterans or heroes of that struggle. The dissertation explores how this narrative, which involves
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