DILI – The people of Timor Leste and the international community
will not forget the Santa Cruz massacre at that time. With this massacre woke
up the UN and the international community about the struggle in Timor Leste to
become a new independent nation.
The Santa Cruz massacre was the shooting of at
least 250 East Timorese pro-independence demonstrators in the Santa Cruz
cemetery in the capital, Dili, on 12 November 1991, during the Indonesian
occupation of East Timor and is part of the East Timorese genocide.
From 1974 to 1975 the
international community, especially the UN closed their eyes and ears to not
see and hear about what was happening in Timor Leste. The whole world and the
United Nations deliberately do not want to know the struggle of Timor Leste.
For 24 years, East Timorese
have been difficult. Thousands of people die constantly. The Indonesian
military tortured and raped young woman as they pleased, and the whole world
closed their eyes and ears. They say the struggle for independence in Timor
Leste is gone, it's finished. Timor Leste already wants to live together with
the Republic of Indonesia.
Suddenly the gates of the UN
and the international community were wide open with the massacre of 12 November
1991. East Timorese youths woke up the UN. Using the opportunity to sow flowers
at the tomb of Sebastião Gomes in Santa Cruz, Dili, thousands of young people
demonstrated to the whole world that the process of the struggle for
independence in Timor Leste is still ongoing and still exists. Timor Leste does
not want to live together with Indonesia.
East Timor has never lost.
The struggle for independence began in various places. Both in the mountains
and in the city. Both domestically and abroad. Youth Loriku Aswain on November
12 opened their chests to hot bullets. They are all not afraid. They were all
not surprised by the sound of long-barreled weapons. Grains of Indonesian army
decay penetrated the fence of Santa Cruz, many young men died, but still
shouted "dead or alive must be free".
In October 1991, a
delegation consisting of members of the Portuguese parliament and 12
journalists were scheduled to visit East Timor. The students were getting ready
to welcome the delegation. However, this plan was canceled after the Indonesian
government raised objections to the planned presence of Jill Jolliffe as a
member of the delegation. Jolliffe was an Australian journalist who was seen as
supporting the FRETILIN independence movement.
This cancellation caused the
disappointment of pro-independence students who tried to raise issues of
struggle in East Timor. This disappointment caused the situation to heat up
between the Indonesian government and students. The climax on 28 October, a
confrontation broke out between pro-integration activists and pro-independence
groups who were holding a meeting at the Motael church in Dili.
In the end, Afonso
Henriques from the pro-integration group was killed in a fight and a
pro-independence activist, Sebastião Gomes, was shot dead by Indonesian
soldiers.
On November 12, 1991,
demonstrators consisting of students and youths held their protest action
against the Indonesian government during the burial procession of their
colleague, Sebastião Gomes. During the funeral procession, students held
banners asking for self-determination and independence, showing pictures of
pro-independence leader Xanana Gusmão.
When the procession entered
the cemetery, Indonesian troops began firing. Of those who demonstrated in the
Santa Cruz cemetery, 271 were killed, 382 were injured, and 250 disappeared.
One of the dead was a New Zealand citizen, Kamal Bamadhaj, a political science
student and human rights activist based in Australia.
The massacre was
witnessed by two US journalists; Amy Goodman and Allan Nairn; and recorded on
video tape by Max Stahl, who secretly made recordings for Yorkshire Television
in the United Kingdom. The cameramen managed to smuggle the video tape into
Australia.
They gave it to a Dutch
woman to avoid arrest and confiscation by Australian authorities, who had been
informed by the Indonesian side and carried out a nude search of the cameramen
when they arrived in Darwin.
The video was used in
a First Tuesday documentary titled In Cold Blood: The Massacre of East Timor,
aired on ITV in Britain in January 1992. The broadcast was then broadcast
throughout the world, to the great embarrassment of the Indonesian government.
In Portugal and Australia,
which both have a fairly large East Timor community, there were strong protests.
Many Portuguese people who regretted the decision of their practical government
to have left their former colonies in 1975. They were moved by broadcasts
depicting people shouting and pray in Portuguese.
Likewise, many
Australians felt ashamed of their government's support for the oppressive
Suharto regime in Indonesia, and what they saw as a betrayal for the East
Timorese who had fought alongside Australian forces against Japan in World War
II.
Although this led the
Portuguese government to step up their diplomatic campaign, for the Australian
government, the assassination was, in the words of foreign minister Gareth
Evans, "a deviation".
This event is now
celebrated as Youth Day by the independent State of Timor-Leste. The 12
November massacre is remembered by the people of Timor Leste as one of the
bloodiest days in their history, which gave international attention to their
struggle for independence.
East Timor Prime Minister
Taur Matan Ruak's message to young people to stay strong when facing challenges.
"I want a message for
all young people scattered in the country to give your whole heart to learning.
If you face an obstacle, don't back down because to pick, you have to plant,
and also to be smart, you have to learn a lot. The future of Timor-Leste is in
the hands of a new generation, "said Matan Ruak.
In the same place, the
Committee President of November 12, Gregorio Saldanha, asked all young people
not to participate in any conflict but had to promote dialogue when conflict
occurred. And also ask all political party leaders in Timor Leste to sit
together in dialogue to resolve the political deadlock that is happening in the
country.
President of the Republic Francisco Guterres Lu
Olo also called on all young people to continue promoting dialogue.
"I heard an
order from the November 12 committee president about dialogue," said
President Lu Olo commemorating the Santa Cruz tragedy.
A version of this article published in TEMPO Jakarta, Indonesia with title: Timor Leste Peringati Tragedi Santa Cruz on November 13, 2019. https://dunia.tempo.co/read/1271950/timor-leste-peringati-tragedi-santa-cruz#4i2QY3wePz7GGb50.41
