Twenty years on in Timor-Leste

Hello friends,

Last Friday, August 30, marked 20 years since Timorese voters headed to the polls voted overwhelmingly in favour of becoming an independent state free from Indonesia. In 2002, it became the first new state of the new century. So here I’ve compiled a collection of my favourite informative, fascinating and moving reads as well as a couple which give us an idea of what’s ahead.

The Guardian has published an excellent explainer on what happened 20 years ago, so if you need to catch up here first. Even for those who think they know this is a great refresher — a very hand resource! 

I want to give a very special thanks to Australian journalist Sophie Raynor and Indonesian journalist Randy Mulyanto for their help in compiling this newsletter today. Both are the exact type of young Asia-Pacific journalists that give me total hope for where this industry is heading. Their love, fascination and respect for Timor-Leste is something neither country they hail from has historically been well known for, but the corner is being turned. 

In celebration of Timor’s brilliant feat, I’m offering 20 percent of new annual subscriptions for one week only using this link below:

Please feel free to forward/share/reply all that fun stuff.Erin Cook

My Family Lost Timor in the War. I Found it in Their Memories - The Guardian

Let’s begin with Luke Henriques-Gomes, a Timorese-Australian journalist whose work I’ve followed for a long time now. He has written a beautiful piece on how his family member’s memories and lively conversations for decades have shaped his view both of the country and of the independence referendum. I know that DMKM has a lot of Australian readers, so for us especially please start here. 

Dad’s family voted in Dandenong, in Melbourne’s south-eastern suburbs. They arrived in the afternoon and the line was long. My aunt Carmelita says she’d never been so happy to be standing in such a long queue, “because every one of us was there for the same reason”. For two decades, a dedicated group of Timorese and Australian activists had sought to keep the Timor issue alive in the minds of people in this country.

Reflections on the Twentieth Anniversary of Timor-Leste’s Independence Referendum - Dev Policy

Jake Lasi is an environmentalist and student living in Dili who was eight years old on the day of the vote. He enjoyed that time, despite all the upheaval and the spread of malaria and dengue, practice speaking English with UN peacekeepers. The years later as he grew older economic pressures, delays in development and flawed governance have eroded some of that optimism. But, Lasi is still full of gratitude for former president and freedom fighter Xanana Gusmão as well as Indonesia’s Habibie and the UN’s Kofi Annan. Especially, though, he’s grateful to the Timorese people. 

Many of us were sick with malaria and dengue, I almost died of it myself, but after that things got a little better. Every day I would play soccer and go fishing. The school had been burned and most of the teachers had left, but we built a shelter out of palm leaves and began to use that. One older teacher still remembered Portuguese and started teaching us. Though we had no text books I remember learning the word for chicken, galinha, and a counting song, um, dois, tres…

Between Hope and Unease 20 Years After Referendum - Al Jazeera

Movimentu Letras, a progressive collective launched in 2017, wants to fix Timor’s low rates of literacy. Over 40 percent of the 1.3 million population are illiterate which progressives say also leads to social and political illiteracy. The group is hoping to change that. Made up of a coalition of young people, members represent the spectrum of Timorese experience during the final days of the Indonesian occupation including a young woman whose family fled to West Timor as her father was a pro-Indonesia policeman. This is a very fascinating read. 

"The young generation must be more critical of their own government," says Samu. "They must be aware if their government makes the wrong decisions that has a negative impact to the people and they can do something because young people are the new generation of the country."

Australia confronts past with East Timor - AAP

I don’t want to linger too much on the Winess K case and Australia’s total failures to treat Timor respectfully and with fairness, but it would be a major omission. This piece looks at how Australian leaders are under siege from domestic protestors and how little they’re doing to address it. I have a Witness K rant/report coming imminently, so please subscribe to the premium Dari Mulut ke Mulut!

Former military intelligence officer Clinton Fernandes' book Reluctant Saviour, describes the Australian Government's reluctance to support a vote on East Timor's independence and admit the Indonesian military was supporting violent militias. [Former Australian prime minister] Howard's letter to [former Indonesian president] BJ Habibie in late 1998 "did not signify any support for East Timorese self-determination but the exact opposite - it was designed to defuse the issue and postpone self-determination indefinitely", he told AAP. "He was doing everything possible to keep Timor inside Indonesia."

ASPI’s Strategist has a great piece to go alongside this reporting. It takes a more wonky IR look at the failures of Australia to uphold our beloved ‘rules-based order’ when it comes to issues that it says are in our national interest. It is very damning and I hope Australian readers particularly take a moment to read. 

Children of Independence - New Naratif

In the first few years following independence, Timor had one of the world’s highest birth rates with around seven births per woman. Sophie Raynor and New Naratif talk to some of the babies who are now young adults facing new challenges in post-independence Timor. What really strikes me is the commitment to continuing the work of their parents and grandparents. While they’re unlikely to ever face conflict like their family, they’re dedicated to improving the country and bringing everyone along with them. 

“My parents lived in the wartime. My dad isn’t a veteran. My mum is. When she was four, the Indonesian military police took my mum, my uncle, my grandma to jail—my mum’s younger brother was born in jail. I don’t know why. I just know the story from my mum. She sometimes tells stories. My mum lost her dad when she was four years old,” says 18-year-old Ade. 

Timor-Leste Independence Activists in Darwin Reflect on Referendum 20 Years on - ABC

Australia’s northern city, Darwin, became a centre for expat Timorese organising the independence movement. Many fled during the Indonesian occupation fearing arrest for their involvement in the movement, reconvening in Darwin to plan and plot how to best help Timor win its freedom. This is such a fascinating piece and the photographs are brilliant, please read.

Their actions captured public and police attention but, according to Vaughan Williams, some police were also sympathetic to their cause. "We would go out and do 200 posters in a night," he said. "It was quite funny when we were doing poster runs, we would have police come up to us and say, 'which side of town you going to be on tonight?'” Police would then stick to the other side of town, according to Mr Williams.

Our Good Neighbour, Timor Leste - The Jakarta Post

I have been very interested in the way Indonesia speaks of Timor-Leste in the years since it was so bloody. I’ve been very excited to see Indonesia being Timor’s most passionate advocate in bringing Timor into Asean, for instance, and normalising relations very promptly. How that relationship is viewed from Timor is a blindspot for me though, so please forgive me if this is a super naive view. This op-ed from the Jakarta Post marking the anniversary gives an idea of the complicated but ultimately warm view towards Dili from here. 

Congratulations to the Timor-Leste people for their courage in voting for independence 20 years ago. Their nation’s stability and prosperity is very important not just for its own people but also those of its neighbours.

Twenty Years After Independence, Timor-Leste Continues its Epic Struggle - The Conversation

I was very interested in this one from an Australian academic who works closely with Timorese women. Sara Niner looks at the role women played historically, not just during the independence movement but prior to that. She also provides a lot of great background on the political angle of the movement. 

Women are accorded a sacred status within Timorese cosmology and the divine female element is prominent in much indigenous belief. Female spirits dominate the sacred world, while men dominate the secular world. So, while women may hold power in a ritual context, they generally do not have a strong public or political voice. But they are fighting to change this and now make up a third of members in the national parliament.

Timor-Leste’s Future Still Shadowed by the Past - Lowy’s Interpreter

Another Sophie Raynor piece here for the Interpreter looks at the celebrations marking the anniversary. Fireworks light up the night, but the memories and trauma is still very, very raw.

We voted in Same, and after that, we returned to the forest, because it was still dangerous in the town. A lot of people voted for autonomy—the Indonesian military guaranteed that life would be better under autonomy, that if we chose independence, we wouldn’t have money, wouldn’t have food, wouldn’t have anything, and a lot of people believed them. We were [living] near people who had voted for autonomy – it wasn’t safe, so we ran to the mountains.

So what of the next 20 years? China is increasingly interested in investing in the country but it won’t be smooth sailing. As Randy Mulyanto reported from the South China Morning Post fears over Chinese money and strings which may come attached are igniting fears in Dili and possible hoaxes. But everyone should just relax, friendly Timor can be friends with everyone it doesn’t need to pick sides. I also thought this one is fascinating on Chinese migrants who want to head home but the money is better in Timor.