DOCSLIB.ORG

Dili Massacre and How It Backfired, I Popular Support

Total Page：16

File Type：pdf, Size：1020Kb

Download full-text PDF Read full-text
Dili Massacre and How It Backfired, I Popular Support Brian Martin, Justice Ignited, chapter 3 (author’s prepublication version) 3 Dili On 12 November 1991, Indonesian troops colonies — such as Angola and Mozambique gunned down hundreds of peaceful protesters — to gain independence. in Dili, the capital of East Timor. This act was In East Timor, Portugal’s most remote intended to intimidate opponents of Indonesian colony, with a population of nearly 700,000, rule. But instead, the killings triggered a huge rival political forces struggled for supremacy increase in international support for East in the transition from Portuguese rule, with the Timor’s independence. In order to understand liberation movement Fretilin having most the Dili massacre and how it backfired, I popular support. In December 1975, Indone- review its background and aftermath, giving sian military forces invaded and occupied East special attention to the five methods attackers Timor. According to some commentators, the use to inhibit outrage. Indonesian government had obtained agree- Most of the archipelago today called ment for the operation from the Australian and Indonesia was previously a colony of the U.S. governments.2 Fretilin fought the inva- Netherlands. Indonesia obtained its independ- sion but soon retreated to the mountains where ence in 1949. The new government, led by it maintained a guerrilla resistance to the Sukarno, fostered a strong sense of national- Indonesian occupiers. ism. In 1965, there was a military coup, The invasion and occupation were bloody, accompanied by a massive anticommunist with many fighters and civilians killed. purge, with hundreds of thousands of people Indonesian forces perpetrated serious human killed.1 The new regime, led by General rights violations, including torture, rape, and Suharto, was ideologically procapitalist, but it killing of civilians; Fretilin did the same, retained its predecessor’s strong nationalism. though on a much smaller scale and mainly in One of the islands in the archipelago, the first few years after 1975. The Indonesian Timor, had been colonized by Portugal in the occupation led to famine among East Timorese 1500s, and later by the Netherlands. Portugal living on the land, leading to the death of up to eventually ended up controlling just the 180,000 people.3 On a proportional basis, this eastern half of the island. In 1974, a military was one of the most lethal conquests in the coup in Lisbon toppled the Portuguese dicta- century. torship, opening the path for representative For several years, the United Nations government. This also enabled Portugal’s passed resolutions condemning the Indonesian takeover, but none of these was backed up 1. Robert Cribb, ed., The Indonesian Killings 2. Joseph Nevins, A Not-so-Distant Horror: 1965–1966 (Melbourne: Centre for Southeast Mass Violence in East Timor (Ithaca, NY: Asian Studies, Monash University, 1990). On Cornell University Press, 2005), 51–52, 62– the lack of backfire from this bloodbath, see 63. Brian Martin, Wendy Varney, and Adrian 3. Commission for Reception, Truth, and Vickers, “Political Jiu-Jitsu against Indonesian Reconciliation Timor-Leste, Chega! (East Repression: Studying Lower-profile Nonvio- Timor: Commission for Reception, Truth, and lent Resistance,” Pacifica Review 13 (2001): Reconciliation Timor-Leste, 2005). I thank Joe 143–56. Nevins for referring me to this source. Dili 17 with action. Most governments and corpora- reduced criticism from other governments. The tions preferred to keep on good terms with the governor of East Timor asked for easing of Indonesian regime, which ruled one of the restrictions on travel to, from, and within East world’s most populous countries. However, in Timor, in order to foster investment, to which the following decades, only the Australian President Suharto agreed. From 1989, tourists government formally recognized the incorpo- and western journalists — but not human ration of East Timor into Indonesia. Within rights observers — were allowed into East several countries, notably Australia, Japan, and Timor. Britain, there were active solidarity move- Fretilin, with declining numbers of fighters ments supporting the East Timorese liberation in the late 1980s, changed its strategic orienta- struggle.4 tion, also taking into account the increased The Indonesian occupiers kept tight control access by visitors. Rather than seeking over communications in and out of East liberation primarily through armed struggle Timor. After the 1975 invasion, supporters in with a guerrilla army based in the countryside, northern Australia for some years maintained the new approach emphasized civilian resis- short-wave contact with Fretilin in the face of tance in urban areas. Fretilin retained its Australian government efforts to shut down weapons but decided to use them only for the radio link.5 The restriction on information defense, not to launch attacks. The aims of this flow helped to reduce outrage over atrocities new orientation were to foster East Timorese carried out by Indonesian troops. Often the unity in the struggle and to gain greater only word of these came via individuals who support for independence both within Indone- were able to leave East Timor. Their testimony sia and internationally. Fretilin gave special often lacked credibility because there was no attention to mobilizing protests to coincide independent verification or endorsement by with visits by foreign dignitaries.6 western sources. A delegation of Portuguese parliamentari- The Indonesian occupiers in the late 1980s ans planned to visit East Timor in late 1991. faced reduced pressure from Fretilin and Independence supporters organized a major demonstration; at the same time, the Indone- sian military prepared for a crackdown. The 4. On the East Timorese liberation struggle, Portuguese visit was called off at the last see for example Carmel Budiardjo and Liem minute following a procedural disagreement Soei Liong, The War Against East Timor between the Indonesian and Portuguese (London: Zed Books, 1984); Jill Jolliffe, East governments. Tensions were predictably high. Timor: Nationalism and Colonialism (Bris- On the night of 28 October, there was a bane: University of Queensland Press, 1978); fight between pro-independence and pro- Arnold Kohen and John Taylor, An Act of Indonesian Timorese in the Church of Saint Genocide: Indonesia’s Invasion of East Timor Anthony of Motael in Dili. Many young (London: TAPOL, 1979); John Pilger, Distant people had sought refuge in the building prior Voices (London: Vintage, 1994), 231–323; to the cancelled visit; the church was sur- Constâncio Pinto and Matthew Jardine, East rounded by Indonesian troops, who tried to Timor’s Unfinished Struggle: Inside the make the East Timorese leave. Two people Timorese Resistance (Boston: South End were killed, one of them a Timorese working Press, 1997); John G. Taylor, Indonesia’s for the Indonesians and the other an 18-year- Forgotten War: The Hidden History of East old supporter of independence named Timor (London: Zed Books, 1991). 5. Rob Wesley Smith, “Radio Maubere and Links to East Timor,” in Free East Timor: 6. Chisako M. Fukuda, “Peace through Australia’s Culpability in East Timor’s Nonviolent Action: The East Timorese Resis- Genocide, ed. Jim Aubrey (Sydney: Random tance Movement’s Strategy for Engagement,” House, 1998), 83–102. Pacifica Review 12 (February 2000), 17–31. 18 Justice Ignited Sebastião Gomes. Bishop Carlos Belo — the several minutes — no one could be sure leading Catholic Church figure in a largely how long.9 Catholic country — went to the scene. The Indonesians tried to claim Gomes had been This event might have become just one more killed with a knife, but Belo saw the bullet instance of an alleged atrocity, without holes in his body. In a funeral mass for authoritative documentation. The difference Gomes, the bishop fiercely criticized the this time was that western journalists were Indonesian occupiers, saying they had ultimate present at Santa Cruz cemetery, witnessing the responsibility for the deaths.7 massacre, among them Alan Nairn of the New The resistance movement decided to go Yorker, Amy Goodman of Pacifica Radio, and ahead with the protest it had planned for the Steve Cox, a British photographer, each of Portuguese visit, but to make it part of a whom was severely beaten. Their eyewitness memorial procession and service at Santa Cruz accounts provided vivid, credible evidence of cemetery for Gomes, scheduled for 12 what had happened.10 November. Indonesian troops surrounded the Most powerful of all was video footage shot mourners along its route. While expressing by British filmmaker Max Stahl, from political sentiments, the large procession was Yorkshire Television. Stahl hid his videotapes almost entirely peaceful, except for one in the cemetery and picked them up later. The incident. next day, Dutch reporter Saskia Kouwenberg smuggled the tapes out of East Timor and then Suddenly there was a brief scuffle as an out of Indonesia. This video footage was Indonesian major waded into the crowd screened initially in the Netherlands, then in with a group of soldiers bearing fixed Britain and other countries, and totally bayonets. The major threw a young discredited Indonesian government denials that woman to the ground as he tried to grab an atrocity had occurred.11 a nationalist flag she was carrying. Some The Dili massacre severely backfired on the accounts say the major was then stabbed Indonesian occupiers. International outrage led by the boyfriend of the young woman. to a huge increase in support for the East The stabbing, later cited by Indonesian Timorese solidarity movement in many authorities as the reason for the tragedy countries. Movement groups continued with that day, was hardly noticed at the time, their activities, raising awareness of the and to this day it is not clear what injustice and brutality of the occupation and happened.8 putting pressure on western governments and corporations over their overt or tacit support The march proceeded without hindrance until for the Indonesian government. The outrage its arrival at the cemetery. over the massacre boosted these efforts.
Load more

Recommended publications
  • Development and Its Discontents: the Indonesian Government, Indonesian Opposition, and the Occupation of East Timor
    Development and its Discontents: The Indonesian Government, Indonesian Opposition, and the Occupation of East Timor M. Scott Selders Based on a section of M. Scott Selders, “Patterns of Violence: Narratives of Occupied East Timor from Invasion to Independence, 1975-1999” (MA thesis, Concordia University, 2008). IAGS 9th Biennial Conference, Buenos Aires, July 2011 In 1974, decolonization began in Portugal’s colony of East Timor.1 In December 1975, this process was curtailed by neighboring Indonesia’s invasion, after which President Suharto’s New Order regime imposed a brutal occupation lasting until 1999. Between 1974 and 1999, it is estimated that over 100,000, and possibly as many as 183,000, East Timorese perished.2 The Indonesian government justified the invasion by reminding its Western allies of the Suharto regime’s staunch anti-Communism and by arguing that East Timor’s small size, poverty, and underdevelopment meant it was not a viable independent country.3 Consequently, after 1975, one of Indonesia’s main justifications for the occupation was that it was balancing the neglect of the Portuguese colonial administration by modernizing East Timor and the Timorese. This paper examines a sample of this development rhetoric from the 1980s. It also shows that such rhetoric was not universally accepted, even within Indonesia, as evidenced by two Indonesian sources from the early 1990s that directly question and contradict the Indonesian government’s civilizing claims. The Indonesian provenance of these 1 Standard surveys include Jill Jolliffe, East Timor: Nationalism and Colonialism (St. Lucia: University of Queensland Press, 1978); John G. Taylor, Indonesia’s Forgotten War: The Hidden History of East Timor (London: Zed Books, 1991); James Dunn, Timor: A People Betrayed (Sydney: ABC Books, 1996); Arnold S.
    [Show full text]
  • AUSTRALIAN and INDONESIAN NEWS COVERAGE of the Dili MASSACRE
    AUSTRALIAN AND INDONESIAN NEWS COVERAGE OF THE DILi MASSACRE ( A Content Analysis of Australian and Indonesian Newspapers from 1 July 1991 to 31 March 1992) ' Yuventius Agustinus Nunung Prajarto A thesis submitted in fulfillment of the requirements for the degree of Master of Arts SCHOOL OF POLITICAL SCIENCE FACULTY OF ARTS AND SOCIAL SCIENCES UNIVERSITY OF NEW SOUTH WALES SYDNEY - AUSTRALIA 1994 iv AUSTRALIAlf ARD IImOHBSIAN IIEWS COVERAGE OP TBB DILI IIASSACRB (A content Analysis of Australian and Indonesian Newspapers frOII 1 July 1991 to 31 Karch 1992) SCHOOL OP POLITICAL SCIENCE FACULTY OP AR'l' ARD SOCIAL SCIENCES THE UNIVERSITY OP REif SOUTH WALES 1994 V AUSTRALIAN AIID IRDONBSIAN NEWS COVERAGE OF TIIB DILI MASSACRE (A Content Analysis of Australian and Indonesian Newspapers fr0111 July 1991 to 31 Karch 1992) Yuventius Agustinus Hunung Prajarto Thesis POLITICAL SCIENCE 1994 STATEMENT Name : Yuventius Agustinus Nunung Prajarto student No.: 2114322 School of Political science Faculty of Arts and social Sciences University of New south Wales I hereby declare that this submission is my own work and that, to the best of my knowledge and belief, it contains no material previously published or written by another person nor material which to a substantial extent has been accepted for the award of any other degree or diploma of a university or other institute of higher learning, except where due acknowledgement is made in the text. Date : 8 Febr~y 1994 Signatu ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS There are a number of people whom I can thank by name. I am particularly grateful to Rodney Smith, my supervisor. His help was invaluable in guiding the process of this research till its finishing touch.
    [Show full text]
  • Massacre Timorese
    Timor link, no. 22, February 1992 This is the Published version of the following publication UNSPECIFIED (1992) Timor link, no. 22, February 1992. Timor link (22). pp. 1-8. The publisher’s official version can be found at Note that access to this version may require subscription. Downloaded from VU Research Repository https://vuir.vu.edu.au/25957/ Number 22 February 1992 Massacre highlights Timorese plight East Timor became world news in November when Indonesian troops fired on a funeral procession at the Santa Cruz cemetery, Dill, the territory's capital, killing up to 200 people. The incident tragically highlighted an injustice long ignored by much of the international community. The massacre followed a period of mounting tension in the former Portuguese colony, illegally occupied by Indonesia since 1975, with reports pointing to an escalating campaign of York radio station WBAI were in East Timor 'I turned around - tremendous amount Indonesian repression in the run-up to to report on alleged human rights abuses, of gun fire -- and there were dozens of a planned delegation of Portuguese and were badly beaten by troops while the people lying in the streets. ' parliamentarians in November. The shooting was going on. Bob Muntz, South East Asia project officer delegation was called off on 24 October According to Nairn: 'It was ... a planned with Australia's Community Aid Abroad, after Portuguese concern at Indonesia's and systematic massacre .... This was not a was also present and managed to escape. attempts to control and manipulate the situation where you had some hothead who On return to Melbourne he told a press visit.
    [Show full text]
  • Jill Jolliffe, Finding Santana (Wakefield Press, 2010) Jill Jolliffe
    Jill Jolliffe, Finding Santana (Wakefield Press, 2010) Jill Jolliffe has had a career so focused on the East Timorese struggle that it is not surprising she still has stories to tell, despite the country’s having broken free from Indonesian oppression over ten years ago. In the case of this book, a chronicle of two visits she made to interview guerrilla leader Nino Konis Santana in 1994, some of the material could not have been published when East Timor was still under Indonesian occupation, given that it reveals how Jolliffe entered and travelled through Indonesia even when she had been banned from the country. Her knowledge of the issues, the places and the personalities involved gives this book, as with her other work, an explanatory authority which makes her required reading for anybody interested in East Timor, as also for anybody interested in Australia’s interaction with both East Timor and Indonesia. The two journeys outlined had very different conclusions. In the first Jolliffe, after many delays and tribulations, eventually got to see and spend a brief but happy time with Santana. In the second, she and her Dutch camerawoman, Irene Slegt (now Chrystalis), not only never got to see Santana, but they were captured by Indonesian authorities, narrowly escaping with their lives. The book well portrays the constant menace of the network of police, military and informers by which Indonesia controlled its vast and complex territory, and Jolliffe’s bravery in undertaking her self-imposed mission indicates the depth of her commitment as well as the trust she was granted within the resistance movement.
    [Show full text]
  • Guide to the EAST TIMOR QUESTION, 1975-2002 Compiled
    Guide to THE EAST TIMOR QUESTION, 1975-2002 compiled and edited by Jill Jolliffe on Microfiche Jill Jolliffe, Lisbon, Portugal & MMF Publications, Lisse, The Netherlands Specifications Title: "The East Timor Question, 1975-2002" Contents: clippings, correspondence, photos and other documents gathered in the course of twenty years of reporting on East Timor by Australian journalist Jill Jolliffe. Location: Lisbon, Portugal Size: 1056 microfiches Order no.: M442 Polarity: positive, silver-halide film Finding aids: eye-legible headers on fiches and a printed guide compiled by Jill Jolliffe Collection price: please inquire Availability: available now Orders & Inquiries MMF Publications PO Box 287 2160 AG Lisse The Netherlands Tel + 31 252 413100 Fax + 31 252 432101 E-mail: [email protected] Guide to THE EAST TIMOR QUESTION, 1975-2002 compiled and edited by Jill Jolliffe on Microfiche Jill Jolliffe, Lisbon, Portugal & MMF Publications, Lisse, The Netherlands ©2002 MMF Publications, Lisse, The Netherlands & Jill Jolliffe, Lisbon, Portugal CONTENTS Preface by Jill Jolliffe………………………………………………………………………. 5 Publisher’s Introduction……………………………………………………………………. 6 Acknowledgements, Rights and Permissions.……..………………………………………. 8 Contents of the Collection in chronological order…………………………………………. 9 Timorese Newspapers .…………..…………………..……………………………………. 41 Photos……………………………………………………………………………………… 42 Supplement 1997……………………………………..……………………………………. 57 Supplement 1998…………………………………………………………………………… 61 Supplement 1999…………………………………………………………………………… 66 Supplement 2000
    [Show full text]
  • UNSW Mphil Thesis
    Pritchett’s prediction: Australian foreign policy toward Indonesia’s incorporation of East Timor, 1974-1999. Miranda Alice Booth A thesis in fulfillment of the requirements for the degree of Master of Philosophy School of Humanities and Social Sciences CANBERRA 2017 Table of Contents CHAPTER 1: INTRODUCTION 4 1.1 Introduction 4 1.2 Argument of the thesis 10 1.3 Materials and methodology 13 1.4 Literature review 15 1.5 Structure of the thesis 18 CHAPTER 2: AUSTRALIAN FOREIGN POLICY, 1974-1983 20 2.1 The Whitlam Government and Indonesia’s incorporation of Timor, 1974- 75 20 2.2 Pritchett’s challenge 32 2.3 The Balibo Five 37 2.4 The Fraser Government and Indonesia’s invasion of Timor, December 1975-April 1976 41 2.5 Australian foreign policy and public opinion, April 1976 – April 1979 47 2.6 Australia’s recognition of Indonesian sovereignty in Timor 51 CHAPTER 3: AUSTRALIAN FOREIGN POLICY, 1983 – 1996 58 3.1 The 1983 cabinet decision 58 3.2 The Parliamentary Delegation to Timor 61 3.3 Recognising Indonesian sovereignty in Timor 64 3.4 The Santa Cruz massacre 66 3.5 The Keating Government’s foreign policy after Santa Cruz 72 3.6 Australian solidarity after Santa Cruz 77 3.7 Australian foreign policy and public opinion after Santa Cruz 78 CHAPTER 4: AUSTRALIAN FOREIGN POLICY, 1996 – 1999 83 4.1 The Howard Government’s first term, 1996 – 1998 84 4.2 Jakarta’s ‘foreign ally’ 87 4.3 Australian foreign policy and public opinion, 1998 - 1999 88 4.4 Containing international pressure 97 2 4.5 ‘Scorched Earth’ 100 4.6 The solidarity movement in action
    [Show full text]
  • Inquest Into the Death of Brian Raymond Peters
    INQUEST INTO THE DEATH OF BRIAN RAYMOND PETERS Magistrate Dorelle Pinch Coroner Counsel Assisting the Coroner: Mr Mark Tedeschi, Q.C., Barrister at law Ms Naomi Sharp, Barrister at law Dr Julia Quilter, Solicitor, Crown Solicitor’s Office Mrs Tolfree: Mr John Stratton, S.C., Barrister at law Mr Rodney Lewis, Solicitor Messrs Brownbill and Cunliffe: Mr A H Swanwick, Counsel Commonwealth of Australia: Mr Alan Robertson, S.C., Barrister at law Mr Andrew Berger, Solicitor, Australian Government Solicitor Mr Jake Blight, Solicitor, Australian Government Solicitor TABLE OF CONTENTS 1 Introduction 3 2 Sources 5 3 Background to the Attack on Balibo 13 4 Attack on Balibo, 16 October 1975 16 5 Witness Accounts 19 6 Warnings and Opportunities to Escape 48 7 Indonesian Knowledge and Plans in regard to the Balibo Five 58 8 Australian Forewarning of the Attack on Balibo 69 9 Signals Intelligence (SIGINT) 74 10 Inner Sanctum 98 11 Indonesian Cover-Up and Denial 108 12 Identification and Burial 115 13 Legal Considerations 119 14 Journalists’ Code of Practice 125 16 Finding and Recommendations 126 2 SECTION 1 - INTRODUCTION Few events have become as poignantly etched into the Australian psyche as the deaths of five Australian journalists in Balibo, Timor-Leste (or Portuguese East Timor, as it was then known), who have become known in Australian folklore as “the Balibo Five”. It is more accurate to refer to them as Australian-based journalists. Brian Raymond Peters (29) and Malcolm Rennie (28) were British born. Gary James Cunningham (27) was a New Zealander. Only Gregory John Shackleton (29) and Anthony John Stewart (21) were Australian.
    [Show full text]
  • Santa Cruz Massacre, 1991
    6. Santa Cruz Massacre, 1991 The Santa Cruz massacre was a turning point in the Timorese struggle. In October 1991, a Portuguese parliamentary delegation, working with the resistance and accompanied by media observers, was due in Dili to see the situation on the ground as part of the tripartite process towards a permanent settlement between Indonesia, Portugal and the United Nations. The Indonesian military set themselves the objective of deterring the kind of demonstrations that had occurred with the Pope’s visit in 1989 in front of international media. A campaign of intimidation and harassment was directed at pro-independence groups. Independence advocates who the military suspected might talk to the delegation were rounded up. Meetings were held all over Timor warning people that if they spoke to the delegation, they would be killed. Bishop Belo told Allan Nairn (1992) of The New Yorker that the army was saying that anyone who spoke up or demonstrated in front of the delegation would be hunted down and killed ‘to the seventh generation’. On 27 October 1991, the visit was cancelled over a dispute between Indonesia and Portugal as to whether Australian Jill Jolliffe and Portuguese Rui Araujo and Mario Robalo could be among the journalists approved to travel with the parliamentarians. The next day a pro-independence youth, Sebastião Gomes, was hunted by a government agent and killed with a shot in the stomach while he was seeking sanctuary with other young people in the Motael Church in Dili. During the encounter, an Indonesian intelligence agent also suffered fatal injuries inflicted with a sharp instrument.
    [Show full text]
  • Timor-Leste: Divided Leadership in a Semi-Presidential System
    Timor-Leste Divided Leadership in a Semi- Presidential System Dennis Shoesmith Abstract The semi-presidential system in the new state of Timor-Leste has institutional- ized a political struggle between the president, Xanana Gusmao, ˜ and the prime minister, Mar´õ Alkatiri. This has polarized political alliances and threatens the viability of the new state. This paper explains the ideological divisions and the history of rivalry between these two key political actors. The adoption of Marx- ism by Fretilin in 1977 led to Gusmao’ ˜ s repudiation of the party in the 1980s and his decision to remove Falintil, the guerrilla movement, from Fretilin con- trol. The power struggle between the two leaders is then examined in the tran- sition to independence. This includes an account of the politicization of the defense and police forces and attempts by Minister of Internal Administration Rogerio´ Lobato to use disaffected Falintil veterans as a counterforce to the Gusmao˜ loyalists in the army. The December 4, 2002, Dili riots are explained in the context of this political struggle. On May 20, 2002, after one of the longest and most painful processes of decolonization in Asia, the Democratic Republic of Ti- mor-Leste (as East Timor was renamed) became the first new state of the twenty-first century. During 24 years of Indonesian occupation, the Timorese people demonstrated an astounding capacity to endure and finally prevail in what many observers believed to be a hopeless struggle. What are Dennis Shoesmith is Senior Lecturer in Political Science at the North- ern Territory University, Darwin, Australia. He acted as an occasional United Nations consultant in Timor-Leste in 2000 and 2001.
    [Show full text]
  • Finding Santana
    Wakefield Press Finding Santana Melbourne-born Jill Jolliffe began her career as a journalist in 1975 covering the Indonesian takeover of Portuguese Timor for Reuters newsagency. Between 1978 and 1998 she was based in Portugal, freelancing for a range of media companies, including the Guardian, the Sunday Times, the Eastern Express, the BBC, the Age and The Christian Science Monitor. During this time she covered news, political and cultural events in Portugal, Spain, Angola, Mozambique, Western Sahara, Macau, China and south-east Asia. She returned to Australia in 1999 and travelled to East Timor to cover the withdrawal of Indonesian troops after a 24-year occupation. In 2004 Jill Jolliffe was granted the Eric Dark Fellowship by Varuna, the Writer’s House, to complete the manuscript of Finding Santana. With a group of Timorese former political prisoners, in 2005 she founded The Living Memory Project, a movement dedicated to creating a video archive based on testimony of freed prisoners and torture survivors. In 2006 she was named Journalist of the Year by Yale University’s Global magazine for her writing on justice and human rights issues. Jill Jolliffe continues to work as a journalist and is writing her auto- biography as a PhD with Flinders University. santana_pages_251010.indd 1 25/10/10 11:26 AM By the same author East Timor: Nationalism and Colonialism Timor, Terra Sangrenta [Timor: The Killing Fields] Aviz: A Lisbon Story Depois das Lagrimas [After the Tears], ed. Cover-up Balibo santana_pages_251010.indd 2 25/10/10 11:26 AM Finding Santana Jill Jolliffe santana_pages_251010.indd 3 25/10/10 11:26 AM Wakefield Press 1 The Parade West Kent Town South Australia 5067 www.wakefieldpress.com.au First published 2010 Copyright © Jill Jolliffe 2010 All rights reserved.
    [Show full text]
  • Revisiting the Viqueque Rebellion of 1959
    Revisiting the Viqueque Rebellion of 1959 Geoffrey C. Gunn Research on anti-colonial rebellions in Southeast Asia has not only contributed to our understanding of state-society relations, peasant modes of production, millennial protest, proto- nationalism, and a range of other themes, but has enriched social science theory building, This is demonstrated in an array of creative studies on, especially, Burma, Vietnam and Laos, touching, variously, on peasant rationality (Popkins), “moral economy” (Scott) and political economy (Gunn) approaches. It is striking that Portuguese Timor, renown for its history of anti-colonial rebellions, has been virtually neglected in this field. By far the most serious challenge to Portuguese authority in East Timor in the post-war period prior to the decolonization crisis of 1974-75 was the insurrection of 1959. Broadly known in Portuguese writing as the “movimento de 1959” and, in Indonesia, as the “Gerakan Viqueque 1959,” after the major locus of the revolt in the remote eastern part of the island, the conspiracy against the colonial government also included Timorese members of the administration in Dili. Information about the events of 1959 and the deportation of the ringleaders long languished under a strict censorship regime. Obviously this was an important event in modern East Timor history, not only because of the scope of the insurgency against Portuguese rule, but also the ferocity in which it was crushed leading to hundreds of deaths in some accounts. While the hand of Indonesia in this rebellion
    [Show full text]
  • Causes and Consequences of Australia's
    1 Introduction East Timor: an Australian battleground In December 1975, Alarico Fernandes, a Minister in the government of the Democratic Republic of East Timor, broadcast a desperate radio message to Darwin, pleading for international assistance. He reported that Indonesian forces have been landed in Dili by sea… They are flying over Dili dropping out paratroopers… A lot of people have been killed indiscriminately… Women and children are going to be killed by Indonesian forces… we are going to be killed! SOS, we call for your help, this is an urgent call…1 Fernandes’ pleas went unheeded, and perhaps 200,000 of his compatriots would die as a result of the Indonesian occupation. Nearly a quarter of a century later, in September 1999, a distressingly familiar message was delivered by Joao Carrascalao, a representative of the East Timorese independence movement in Australia. He argued that because the East Timorese population had decisively voted for independence from Indonesia, they were now being systematically murdered and that the fascist Indonesian military machine and its civil government collaborators… are well on their way to their target of exterminating 344,580 East Timorese… These people will die, shot, hacked, tortured, raped and starved to death, unless the free, democratic nations of the world confront Indonesia today… please help now. If you don’t, there will be no East Timor tomorrow.2 1 Cited in Jill Jolliffe, East Timor: Nationalism and colonialism, St Lucia, University of Queensland Press, 1978, p. 232. 2 344,580 was the number of ballots cast for independence. Joao Carrascalao, Media release: Indonesia’s ethnic cleansing target: kill 344,580 East Timorese, National Council for Timorese Resistance, 08.09.1999 (accessed 29.05.2006, http://www.labournet.de/internationales/crnt.html).
    [Show full text]