East Timor: The ugly truth

Progressio's new campaign highlights the UK's role in the occupation and oppression of Timor Leste.

Background 

NINE DAYS after declaring independence from Portugal in 1975, Timor Leste (East Timor) was invaded by Indonesia, marking the beginning of a bloody, repressive and violent occupation that would last for the next 25 years.

The Indonesian military forcibly displaced thousands of East Timorese from their homes and livelihoods and forbade them from leaving resettlement camps, despite lack of food or adequate hygiene facilities. All human and civil rights were suspended. Women were forced into marriages, raped or abused, often as retribution for being related to members of Fretilin (Revolutionary Front for an Independent East Timor). Pro-independence activists were persecuted, tortured or killed, and basic freedoms - such as freedom of speech, movement or association - were non-existent.

During this time, the world community, including the UK, turned a blind eye to the atrocities occurring in Timor Leste. Recently declassified documents from the 1970s show the UK knew of atrocities and human rights abuses occurring within Timor Leste but made a conscious decision to ignore this and state publicly that they had no knowledge of any abuses to preserve stability and support Indonesia as a regional anti-communist power. More audaciously, as reports of human rights abuses trickled into British diplomatic missions in the region and were ignored, the British government made agreements for future arms sales to Indonesia: thereby tacitly supporting the occupation.

The UK has always maintained that it 'recognised Timor Leste's right to selfdetermination'. However, these documents show that in reality the UK and other world powers were never interested in supporting selfdetermination for Timor Leste and were more interested in supporting Indonesia's military occupation to further arms deals and make money. Despite successive United Nations Security Council resolutions condemning the occupation as illegal, the United Kingdom remained silent.

In spite of all odds, a window of opportunity arose in 1999 for Timor Leste to break free from Indonesian rule. Since then, the nation has struggled to come to grips with its troubled past. While, in Indonesia, the military perpetrators of human rights violations rise through the ranks and obtain positions of political influence with no fear of prosecution, in Timor Leste the consequences of justice undelivered have fed a culture of enmity and violence between former political and ethnic rivals, leading to a spiral of violence which is preventing the country from moving towards a peaceful future.

About the campaign

Progressio's new campaign aims to help dismantle this wall of secrecy and support the East Timorese people's own truth and reconciliation process. In the coming months we will be asking for your support to make the UK government speak the truth, acknowledge its role in Timor Leste and commit resources towards helping the country move forward. The Timorese people have been lied to enough, and it's time for all of us to help them move forward towards justice, peace and reconciliation.

Sign up for PROactive, Progressio's campaigners e-newsletter, to be kept informed on the campaign.