From Rob Wesley-Smith Darwin
Just a reminder about the 20th anniversary this Saturday of the Dili Massacre.
This was a pivotal event in leading to global awareness of the unjust situation in East Timor, leading towards the UN supervised Ballot on 30th August 1999 where the vote for Independence from Indonesian military control was 78.5% of the vote.
In Darwin in the days following the 1991 Dili Massacre, as we gradually heard more details of that horrible event on the weekend, we held a Rally on the Friday in front of the NT House housing government workers.
The NT Police like the rest of us were also horrified about the massacre, and supported our rally by blocking to road, etc, then facilitating a march to the Indonesian consulate in Stuart Pk. I am still grateful to them for this, replicated the following year.
Our rally was a beautiful TV event, starting with teenage Timorese girls walking across the road one at a time holding flowers.
Then we all gathered around in front of NT House, to hear speeches, a new song for the occasion by June Mills, and then over 120 people lay on the road as if dead, the line disappearing around the corner. Elder Veronica broke into a haunting wail. This vision went around the world.
btw, the crowd then walked to the Indonesian consulate in St Pk, with some dramas I’ll leave for now.
It would be great if some vision from this event was replayed by local media.
Darwin also played a role in the media coverage/involvement in Dili.
Max Stahl became a lasting hero for filming inside the cemetery despite the dangers to himself, and then was able to hide the film and entrust much to Darwin activist Saskia he had met here, who bravely and fortuitously took it to the outside world.
Steve Cox who took photos while trying to hide inside the crypt came out through Darwin where he was helped. And so on.
This event led to many activists around the world opening themselves up to support East Timor.
In Darwin the new wave of activists formed “Australians for a Free East Timor” which became pivotal during the next decade, and has tried to give good advice until now to the new, young, East Timor government.
Rob Wesley-Smith
08 89832113
Rob Wesley-Smith’s story of his role in the Timor Leste resistance radios “Radio Maubere and Links to East Timor” in ‘Free East Timor: Australia’s Culpability in East Timor’s Genocide’ edited by Jim Aubrey (1998, Random House.)
From ETAN International solidarity
On the 20th anniversary of the infamous massacre at Santa Cruz cemetery in Timor-Leste, the East Timor and Indonesia Action Network (ETAN) called for the U.S. and other governments and the United Nations to commit to justice for the victims and their families. The 1991 massacre — witnessed and filmed by foreign journalists — was a major turning point in Timor-Leste’s struggle for liberation.
“When we saw and heard about the Indonesian military shooting down hundreds of peaceful, unarmed student protesters, we knew we had to do something to stop the killing. The Santa Cruz massacre inspired many around the world to work for justice for the East Timorese people,” said John M. Miller, National Coordinator of ETAN.
“It directly led to the founding of ETAN in the United States, and to our commitment to work for self-determination for Timor-Leste by changing U.S. government policies which had supported the Indonesia’s illegal invasion and occupation.”
“Justice for all those killed, tortured, raped and forced to flee Indonesia’s brutal occupation has been delayed too long,” he added.
Many in Timor-Leste are focused on learning the location of their relatives’ graves. The remains of many of the victims have not been found.
“While Timor-Leste is now independent, its people will not be able to overcome their tragic past without knowing what was done with their relatives’ and friends’ bodies.
Ongoing impunity for decades of systematic Indonesian military and police atrocities keeps the Timorese and Indonesian people from consolidating their democracies and moving on with their lives,” said Miller. “ETAN will not rest until justice is done.”
When we saw and heard about the Indonesian military shooting down hundreds of peaceful, unarmed student protesters, we knew we had to do something to stop the killing.
ETAN urged Congress and the Obama administration to respond to the recommendations of Timor-Leste’s Commission for Truth, Reception and Reconciliation, including its calls for an international tribunal to try perpetrators of crimes against humanity during the Indonesian occupation, reparations from Indonesia and other countries that supported the occupation, and restrictions on foreign assistance to the Indonesian military.
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