Timor-Leste Commemorates the Santa Cruz Massacre 

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