Pat Walsh - as depicted by Tim Lindsey

In recognition of decades of human rights advocacy, Pat Walsh has been awarded the Order of Australia. The formal citation for the award reads: “For service to the international community in the Asia-Pacific region as an advocate for human rights, particularly in Timor-Leste”.

Pat Walsh co-founded CHART with John Waddingham in Melbourne in 2000. Members of CHART, along with the hundreds of Timorese, Australians and others who know of Pat’s remarkable work, congratulate him on this long-deserved official national recognition in Australia.

Decades of Timor work
Pat began his involvement with East Timor in the mid-1970s as chaplain of the Young Christian Students (YCS) and a member of Melbourne’s Australia-East Timor Association.

He began voluntarily working full-time on Timor in 1978 with the Christian Churches-funded Action for World Development. In the early 1980s, he was employed by the Australian Council for Overseas Aid (ACFOA) as a consultant to ACFOA’s East Timor Sub-committee where he quickly established a reputation, both in Australia and internationally, for innovative, careful, determined research, writing and action.

Walsh petitioning the UN Decolonisation Committee, New York, 1986

Highlights of his work in this period include driving the establishment of the 1982 Senate Inquiry on Timor,  founding the Timorese refugees support group, RAFT (Re-unite in Australia Families from Timor) and co-founding Christians in Solidarity with East Timor (CISET) and Inside Indonesia magazine.

Pat became the inaugural director of ACFOA’s Human Rights Program in 1985 where he continued to work on Timor and other regional human rights matters for the next 15 years. Work in this period included visits to Indonesia (working on Australian and international links with Indonesian non-government organisations) and Timor (after 1989).  He drove the formation of the East Timor Talks Campaign,  assisted in the formation of the East Timorese-run East Timor Human Rights Centre in Melbourne and was a member of the official Australian observer mission for the 1999 independence ballot.

From 2000, Pat lived for a decade in the newly-independent Timor-Leste. His principal work was first as a consultant in the human rights office of  United Nations Transitional Administration (UNTAET) where he was instrumental in the establishment and conduct of Timor-Leste’s Commission for Reception, Truth and Reconciliation (CAVR). Since 2005, he has been senior advisor to the the Post-CAVR Technical Secretariat which is charged with promoting CAVR’s monumental report, Chega!, and preserving the archives of CAVR’s work.

Some insights into Pat’s work and experience in Timor-Leste can be found in his recently published book, At the scene of the crime: Essays, reflections and poetry on East Timor, 1999-2010*.

In 2009, the State of Timor-Leste awarded Pat Walsh the Insignia of the Order of Timor-Leste, for his “exemplary service to humanity”.

Pat Walsh Archives

Pat Walsh Timor archival collection

The archival record of Pat Walsh’s Timor advocacy work in Melbourne, 1975-2000 is largely intact.

This voluminous collection contains the day-to-day record of his work – ranging from hand-written notes of decades of phone conversations through countless items of correspondence to a marvellous collection of documents from inside Indonesian-occupied East Timor.

This archival collection is one of the premiere Australian non-government, privately-held collections of Timor materials. It is a treasure trove of primary source research materials on what happened inside occupied East Timor and what actions were taken in Australia and internationally on the issue.

The collection is in the custody of CHART and will be the focus of a major project in 2012 to fully document its contents and to digitise extensive selections of material for eventual access in Timor-Leste. CHART has prepared a draft preliminary guide to the collection contents.

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* Published by Mosaic Press, Melbourne, 2011. Click here for order form

Opening the CHART office, 01 December 2011

Timor-Leste’s Ambassador to Australia, Abel Guterres, formally opened the new Clearing House for Archival Records on Timor office on 01 December 2011. Located in the Melbourne suburb of Essendon, the office will be the base for a significant expansion of the CHART project.

The three-room facility has been made available to CHART, on very generous terms, by the St Columban’s Mission Society, a Catholic religious congregation.

Valuing archives
A good crowd of people with long-term connections to Timor watched an audio-visual display on the work and content of the CHART project – including rarely-heard recordings of Fretilin communications from East Timor in the early post-invasion period.

A highlight of the presentation was the announcement of a program to digitise extensive selections of Australian-held archival materials for access in Timor-Leste.

Bill Armstrong AO, Fr Gary Walker and Ambassador Abel Guterres.

This will be done by CHART with its own scanning equipment and in partnership with interested East Timorese and Australian archival and academic institutions.

Ambassador Guterres congratulated CHART for its work and expressed a hope that when institutional, economic and social conditions in Timor-Leste allowed, some of the Timor archival materials held in other countries like Australia will eventually be housed in Timor.

Fr Gary Walker, Director of the Columbans, emphasised the importance of documentary evidence to a nation’s development and said that although his organisation does not work in Timor-Leste, the Columbans were honoured and proud to host the project.

Introducing the CHART Board
The evening’s proceedings were conducted by Bill Armstrong AO, inaugural chairman of the CHART Board of Management. Bill took this opportunity to announce T-L President Jose Ramos-Horta and former first Prime Minister Mari Alkatiri as Patrons of the project and to introduce the other members of the CHART Board – Pat Walsh OT-L, Assoc. Prof. Michael Leach, Susana Barnes and Cecily Gilbert. John Waddingham is the project’s archivist/manager.

The Board met prior to the launch to discuss CHART’s formal work program and prospects for raising funds to finance work in 2012 and beyond. More information soon on this website.

Credits:
Thanks to Pat Walsh for his notes and photographs on the opening

A big ‘thank you’ to those who helped set up and run the event, especially Cecily Gilbert, Claire Woods, Michael Noone, Julia Waddingham, Ken Koutsoumally, Rod Harris, Sue Gordon and Ian Thomas.

Relatives hold photos of Santa Cruz massacre victims during a commemoration in Dili, 12 November 2009. (1)

The shooting by Indonesian troops of an unknown number of unarmed Timorese demonstrators at the Santa Cruz cemetery in Dili on 12 November 1991 was a watershed event in East Timor’s modern history.

While other massacres and much larger losses of life occurred in earlier years of Indonesian rule, the Santa Cruz Massacre became the iconic representation of the military occupation of East Timor.

The essential difference between this event and earlier crimes was that it was witnessed and recorded by independent (ie non-Timorese and non-Indonesian) reporters and other observers.

The impact of this event on East Timor’s future was decisive. In the words of former Indonesian foreign Minister Alatas, thereafter “international support for Indonesia’s position inexorably declined while that for the independence movement in East Timor markedly increased”. (2)

Long-term preservation of the documentary source materials is crucial to retaining for future generations a detailed knowledge and understanding of this event. Some of these documents may also serve justice if the perpetrators of the crimes on this day in 1991 ever face a proper and fair trial.

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Centro Audiovisual Max Stahl – Timor-Leste (CAMS-TL)
British film maker Max Stahl’s dramatic video footage of the massacre was crucial to international knowledge of the event. Copies of the original footage and productions including key scenes are held at CAMS-TL in Dili.

The French National Audiovisual Institute (INA) houses copies of some Max Stahl Timor footage. INA provides sample sequences for viewing online – including the original Santa Cruz footage and subsequent interviews with survivors.

Some Stahl footage can be found on YouTube, including this low resolution sequence.

CHART recently published a guide to CAMS-TL video footage, including the 1991 material and a transcript of some massacre footage.

Resistance Archive & Museum (AMRT)
AMRT provides online access to vast numbers of digitised documents, including Santa Cruz material.

The 20th anniversary is commemorated by AMRT with a special website presentation which also includes a link to a catalogue search result on the term “Santa Cruz”.

Commission for Reception, Truth & Reconciliation (CAVR)
The library and archives of Timor’s CAVR (now managed by a Post-CAVR Secretariat) hold original records on Santa Cruz, including eye-witness accounts. An account of the event and a guide to sources can be found in CAVR’s monumental 2005 report Chega!. See especially Chapter 3 (p.115ff) and Chapter 7 (p.199ff).

ACFOA Human Rights Office
The Human Rights office of the Australian Council for Overseas Aid (now ACFID), headed by Pat Walsh, collected extensive materials on Santa Cruz during the course of its long-standing advocacy work for East Timorese justice and self-determination. CHART produces here for the first time a guide to the content of these files.

This collection of material remains in private hands but under CHART custody where it will be the focus of an extensive digitisation program in 2012 for easy access in Timor-Leste and elsewhere.

East Timor and Indonesia Action Network (ETAN)
ETAN began in the USA in response to the Santa Cruz massacre and soon became a key reference point for international East Timor activism and advocacy.

ETAN marked the 20th anniversary with a feature page on the event and maintains a guide to Santa Cruz information and ongoing calls for justice on the matter.

Clinton Fernandes
Prominent Timor researcher and justice advocate Clinton Fernandes’ web-based Companion to East Timor includes some sample documents and a summary of Santa Cruz.

Jill Jolliffe
Microfiche copies of some Santa Cruz material may be found in Jill Jolliffe’s archival collection. See pages 35-36 of the guide to her collection – The East Timor Question, 1975-1996.

The Jolliffe collection is held by a number of academic and major libraries in Australia and elsewhere.

National Archives of Australia (NAA)
NAA holds large volumes of material on East Timor. However access to its holdings are generally covered by a standard ‘closed period‘ of twenty to thirty years after the events documented. Santa Cruz files will not be open for access until 2016-17.

Indonesia?
With the exception of documentary fragments held in collections outside Indonesia, we have no knowledge of accessible official or unofficial Santa Cruz records in Indonesia.

Other sources and commentary?
Here is a list of other instances,  from disparate sources, of online Santa Cruz materials and commemorations of the 20th anniversary. More to be listed in coming days.

Forensic studies report (2010) by Soren Blau & Luis Fondbrider

Amnesty International Statement (2011-11-12)

Historical Justice & Memory Research Network

La’o Hamutuk reflection (2011-11-12)

VivaNews.com (Indonesian)

TSF Radio Noticias (Portugal) – includes some great still images of Santa Cruz events.

Sapo Noticias Timor-Leste  (Portuguese language feature)

CAN YOU HELP?
If you know of other significant archival collections with Santa Cruz content, please advise us and we will add them to this guide.

Sources:

(1) Photographer unknown. See online source.

(2) Ali Alatas. The pebble in the shoe: the diplomatic struggle for East Timor. Aksara Karunia, Jakarta, 2006, p.64.

Max Stahl explains archive program to CHART's Cecily Gilbert, July 2011

Max Stahl needs no introduction. His stunning footage of the 1991 Santa Cruz massacre in Dili played a central role in strongly increasing international opinion against the Indonesian military occupation of East Timor.

Less well-known is the extensive holdings of the video archive Max has established in Timor-Leste over the past decade – the Centro Audiovisual Max Stahl Timor-Leste (CAMSTL).

Today’s events, tomorrow’s archives
Stahl’s 1990s raw footage and production pieces on military occupation and resistance are only part of the total collection at now at CAMSTL. He and a team of East Timorese are creating an audiovisual record of the first years of newly independent Timor-Leste. The archive holds significant footage on developments in the territory while under United Nations administration until 2002. Since then, a large amount of material has been recorded – covering historical interviews and present day economic, social, political and other institutional events and developments in Timor-Leste.

In addition to filming these subjects, the CAMSTL team has developed hundreds of detailed summaries and transcripts of the material and a growing number of formal production titles in local languages. Such material will prove invaluable to future generations of East Timorese, including its educators and historians to come.

Footage Lists
Raw video footage lists are presented here by year of video creation. Click on year to see relevant list.

1991 1993-98 1999 2000 2002 2003 2004 2005 2006 2007 2008 2009 2010 2011 (part year)

Transcripts
A small sample of available transcripts is provided below.
1991. Interview with David Alex, FALINTIL
1991. Santa Cruz Massacre
1999. Refugees in Atapupu, Alor and Atauro
2002. Interview with Padre Domingos Soares
2006. Scenes from the developing political crisis
2008. Xanana Gusmao declares ‘State of Seige’ (after Horta shooting).

CHART will add significant numbers of these transcripts in coming months. They will be found on CHART’s dedicated CAMSTL web page.

Kevin Sherlock at home. June 2011

Somewhere off to the side is a kitchen and bedroom, but in this living room are tightly packed shelves of scrupulously well-ordered folders and books. This is the Darwin home of Kevin Sherlock – legendary bibliographer and collector of Timor literature.

Kevin’s living room is both library and archive and, along with its creator, a Timor research institution in its own right.  Many a Timor researcher over the past 35 years has, sooner or later, realised they should call on Kevin Sherlock’s encyclopaedic knowledge and collection for guidance on possible source materials for a myriad of Timor topics dating back to early Portuguese colonial times.

A question on sources causes an immediate twinkle in the eye and is soon followed by Kevin heading off to one or more bookshelves for an answer.  From the outset of his mission to find and collect Timor literature, Kevin has generously shared the fruits of his knowledge with all comers.

In May 2010, the State of Timor-Leste formally honoured Kevin Sherlock for his work.

The collection

In addition to an ever-increasing collection of early and recent published monographs, Kevin’s collection includes huge numbers of colonial and post-colonial official papers, serials, published articles and news media reports.

Not content with simply collecting, Kevin has indexed people and place names in un-indexed publications. He has compiled from multiple sources useful research lists such as the Portuguese governors and traditional rulers in colonial Timor.

With Kevin’s permission, we make available here his 448-page 2002 Shelf List. While in need of updating (in progress), this list provides an detailed guide to his collection contents.

Beginnings

Kevin Sherlock’s work on Timor literature began by chance after a two-week holiday in Timor in 1974.  He began to search for Timor literature to inform his planned return holiday in 1975. His first list of sources was later seen by Jose Ramos-Horta and others who encouraged him to expand his work. The rest is history…

Employed in stationery businesses, Kevin then spent much of his holidays and spare time, along with extensive periods of unpaid leave,  finding, documenting and collecting. Retirement as an aged pensioner in 1999 meant less monetary resources for his work, but the freedom to spend most of his waking hours documenting his materials and selflessly assisting many researchers who came to his door.

A detailed account of his work, including a guide to some of the research resource material he has created, can be found here.

The future

The question of what might become of Kevin’s collection for the longer term has been settled. Kevin has willed his collection to the Library of Charles Darwin University in Australia’s Northern Territory. There it will complement another significant Timor collection purchased from Portugal some years ago.

A small fragment of this latter collection has been digitised and is accessible online through the Library’s Arafura Digital Archive (AraDA).

Making contact

Despite physical frailty arising from serious illness in recent years, Kevin continues to welcome inquiries for guidance on research source materials.

Kevin has (unfortunately for us; perhaps fortunately for himself)  resisted the internet/email world, so his preferred contact method is to write to:
GPO Box 3223, Darwin NT 0801. Australia

If the matter is urgent, you can ring Kevin (preferably late morning to late evening, Darwin time; UTC/GMT +9:30 hours) on +61(0)8 8981 5064.

Kevin doesn’t charge for his help, but a donation towards his costs and ongoing collecting work is strongly recommended by Timor Archives.

Xanana Gusmao moments after his capture. Dili, 20 November 1992

Indonesian video footage of the 1992 capture of East Timorese resistance leader Xanana Gusmao is the tip of an iceberg of still-secret Indonesian records about its military invasion and occupation of East Timor.

Aired on Australia’s Special Broadcasting Service program, Dateline, on 22 May 2011, the footage shows Indonesian preparations for the raid on a house in Dili where Xanana was known to be hiding, the armed raid and arrest and parts of a later exchange between Xanana and the head of the Indonesian military, General Try Sutrisno, who flew to Dili on news of the capture. The footage also shows Xanana’s belongings – including weapons and documents.

Questions arising
Several obvious questions arise from viewing this footage: What was the origin of the footage used by SBS and is other material available from that source; will this material be made available to East Timorese institutions for long-term preservation and access; given the relatively poor quality of the footage, does a better master exist; are the documents and weapons captured with Xanana still kept in Indonesia and if so, will they ever be repatriated to East Timor?

Xanana interrogation in Bali – more detail
A further pointer to Indonesian records of the Xanana capture can be found in a 2007 account of Xanana’s interrogation in Bali just days after his arrest in Dili.

Xanana with his interrogator, Lieut-Col. Nurhana, Bali, 1992

Nurhana Tirtaamijaya, an Indonesian military police commander in 1992 and Xanana’s principal interrogator, published in 2007 a personal account of his encounters with the prized political prisoner. Pak Nurhana’s account, while emphasising his claimed ‘victory’ over Xanana, also gives some insight into the sequence of events between the resistance leader’s arrest and his incarceration in Cipinang Prison.

Australian researcher Ernie Chamberlain has translated the Nurhana text. A small selection of images from the interrogation, including captions identifying participants, can be found on Nurhana’s website (scroll through images). See also:
Xanana & Nurhana : Xanana writing : Xanana with laughing interrogators : Xanana laughing

Tapping into Indonesian records
Pak Nurhana says the story he tells was once a State top secret. Hopefully, his preparedness to tell his story publicly means other knowledgeable Indonesians may be prepared to also release their Timor information.

The task of seeking, finding and securing primary records of Indonesia’s East Timor history is large and urgent. We hope this task will be taken up by the people who can best do this – interested and concerned Indonesians.

Sources
Thanks to Ernie Chamberlain for drawing my attention to the Nurhana article and, especially, for his translation.

Thanks to Sara Niner for the use of her Xanana capture image – taken from her blog item on the topic.

Nurhana Tirtaamijaya website

This 28 March 2011 decision appears to confirm what many researchers believe – that restrictions on access to some NAA-held materials are unwarranted.

Researchers of modern Timor history will welcome this release of hitherto restricted materials from the resource-rich National Archives of Australia. They will also wonder what secrets remain hidden in this and other archives and will continue to question the validity of some reasons for the secrecy.

Clinton Fernandes versus NAA
In 2007, former army intelligence officer and now very active Timor researcher, academic and author Clinton Fernandes sought access to NAA-held records from Australia’s Joint Intelligence Organisation (JIO; now called the Defence Intelligence Organisation). The request, while initially broad, focussed on late-1975 post-civil war reports on developments inside East Timor, covering pre-invasion Indonesian military interventions and the killing of journalists at Balibo.

Redacted page released to Clinton Fernandes

Following what AAT President, Justice Downes, described as “significant and unfortunate” delays, Fernandes sought in late 2009 a ruling on what appeared to be a virtual denial of access by NAA. After further delays, NAA released 42 documents to Fernandes, each of which had sections ‘redacted’ (blacked out).

Fernandes appealed against the redacting of the released documents. The AAT decided, after a number of (largely closed) sessions, that 64 redacted passages across 25 documents should no longer be kept secret.

Reasons for secrecy
Australian law requires that some government archival material be kept secret beyond the standard 30-year “closed period”.*

In the case of foreign affairs and defence matters, items which are exempt from release are those which could cause damage to Australia’s security, defence or international relations. The AAT decided that “much of the material” originally redacted on these grounds should remain secret but that a number of passages could be released.

Another reason for witholding access is if the materials were received in confidence from a foreign government or international organisation. The AAT decided on these grounds that redactions made on two pages of each of three documents should remain secret.

The JIO Timor documents
A list of the 42 documents in question and the access decisions on each of them can be found in the full text of the AAT decision.

A larger list of 115 documents in the same series of JIO documents on Timor can be found on NAA’s RecordSearch facility. [Click on the number 115 under Items in this series to see the list]. None of these items have yet been digitised by NAA for public online access.

We hope Clinton Fernandes or others with easy access to the Canberra-held materials at NAA will eventually do a critical analysis of the released texts and what it reveals about the original decisions to deny access.

* The closed period was recently changed to 20 years but will be phased in over the next decade. See earlier Timor Archives article on this change.

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SEE ALSO:
1. Lively comment on the decision on the Open and Shut blog.

2. Clinton Fernandes interview on ABC Radio’s National Interest programme, 8 April 2011

3. Clinton Fernandes analysis of released materials. New Matilda, 14 April 2011.

Karen Myers, an Australian librarian with significant East Timor working experience, began a 7-month contract in mid-January.

Her appointment follows international advertising in September 2010 through the Italian oil company, Eni, which is contributing substantial funds to the National Library project.

The broad shape of the new institution as a national coordinating body for all libraries in Timor-Leste is outlined in a recent government statement.

The contract library specialist tasks include input into design of physical infrastructure, legal framework for the library, cultural and educational policy statements, training requirements, human resources planning and collection and acquisition policies.

Karen Myers

Timor Experience
Prior to coming to Timor full-time in 2006, Karen worked in a public library service in Victoria and, from 2002, periodically did library work and training at the National University of Timor-Leste.

She worked through Australian Volunteers International in 2006-7 in advisory roles and course development work at the Dili Institute of Technology. In 2007-9 she was advisor to the Documentation Centre of the Post-CAVR Secretariat.

National Library and Archives
CHART has a special interest in the emergence of the National Library for three specific archives-related reasons.

What’s in a name?
The new institution is called the National Library and Archives on the Secretary of State for Culture website. There was some speculation in 2009 that the new institution might incorporate the existing government archives (Arquivo Nacional) and/or some other smaller special interest archives emerging in Timor-Leste (see our brief report here). We look forward to learning more about the expected archives functions in the new National Library.

CHART connection?
CHART is currently planning a significant digitisation program of Australian-held Timor archival materials. We hope to arrange public access to these files through emerging institutions in Timor-Leste. An archives function at the National Library would make the new institution a potential candidate for such an arrangement with CHART.

Today’s publications, tomorrow’s archives
Our 2003 report on archives developments in Timor-Leste noted that “there does not yet appear to be any institution committed to collecting output from today’s East Timor. Today’s newspapers, books, images, leaflets, radio broadcasts and so forth are tomorrow’s archival record of East Timorese civil society in its early life as an independent nation.” (p.11). We await with great interest to see whether the emerging National Library will take on this important role.

Her photographs of events and people in East Timor in the immediate aftermath of the dramatic 1975 civil war will be especially important to future generations of East Timorese. Her contribution to East Timor’s archival record will live on in these images.

Some details of her extraordinary working life can be found in an obituary in The Guardian (UK).

Timor images
A small number of Penny’s 1975 Timor images are well-known – though often circulated on the internet without any attribution to, or knowledge of, the original creator.

Penny was very protective of her professional copyright and was unhappy with unauthorised use of her work. For this reason, we have not reproduced any of those images here.

A number of agencies handle commercial distribution of Penny’s work and carry samples of her Timor photographs on their websites. The most comprehensive set of 1975 images can be found at Panos.

The Alamy agency also displays some of her 1975 images, along with work from a 2007 visit to Timor Leste. A subset of the Alamy images can be seen at Corbis.

Arriving in East Timor after 1975 civil war. (From left) Bob Hannan, Jose Ramos-Horta, Penny Tweedie, Clive Scollay

Many 1975 images still unseen
A much larger number of images from her 1975 visit to East Timor have yet to be seen publicly. In personal communications with CHART in 2009-10, Penny advised she had some 50 rolls of black and white film.

Penny agreed to a CHART request to place copies of all these images on this website;  the mechanics of achieving this must now await later discussions with her Estate.

Tweedie materials already in Timor Leste
Official copies of some of Penny Tweedie’s key images from 1975 are already held in Timor. Some are in the collection of the Commission for Reception, Truth & Reconciliation (CAVR). We know from correspondence with Penny that the office of President Jose Ramos-Horta was given high resolution scans of some 190 images in early 2010.

CHART hopes these images will one day be accessible to all Timorese. We will endeavour to ensure all the as-yet-unseen images from Penny Tweedie’s  Timor work eventually become accessible in Timor-Leste as a lasting testimonial to her part in recording the country’s troubled recent history.

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Credits

Penny Tweedie image: Self-portrait taken from her own website.

1975 image: Courtesy of Bob Hannan.

POSTSCRIPT
More Penny Tweedie obituaries and reflections online

Panos Pictures. 21 January 2011

Lisa Hogben Blog. 23 January 2011

Editorial Photographers (UK). 24 January 2011

Australian Geographic. 25 January 2011

Funeral Eulogy – Duncan Campbell. 27 January 2011

BBC4 audio. “Last Word”. 28 January 2011. Speakers include John Pilger and her son, Ben Tweedie. Segment begins at 15 minutes into program.

The Australian. 31 January 2011

Sydney Memorial Event (20 February) – Media Release. 06 February 2011

Principal editor, Rani Elsanti, with the product of three years work

Chega!, the monumental 2005 report of Timor Leste’s Commission for Reception, Truth and Reconciliation (CAVR) is set to be widely circulated inside Indonesia.

Something like a Domesday Book for Timor Leste, Chega! is the benchmark account of the dramatic and tragic history of Timor’s struggle for self-determination, 1974-1999.

The Indonesian-language, five volume, 3,500 page boxed set of Chega! was published in Jakarta last week by KPG (Kepustakaan Populer Gramedia) after more than three years’ work. The Indonesian edition also includes a 100-page summary volume and an electronic version of the whole report text on CD.

Publication was funded by the governments of Ireland and Germany.

Jakarta launch of Chega
The National Library of Indonesia hosted the well-attended book launch in Jakarta on the evening of 7 October 2010. East Timorese were represented at the launch by the current director of the Post-CAVR Secretariat in Dili, Agustinho de Vasconselos, and two of his senior staff.

Speakers at the launch included Benny Harman (Chair of the Indonesian House of Representatives Committee III) and Indonesian historian Hilmar Farid

Facebook members can see images from the book launch on KPG’s Facebook Album.

Chega! ‘A gift to humanity’
Hilmar Farid noted that there was nothing comparable to Chega! in Indonesia, hailing it as benchmark for what Indonesia needs on its own history.

‘A gift to humanity’ was MP Benny Harman’s judgement of the report.  He said Chega! meant that everything Indonesians had been told about Timor-Leste in the past was a lie and that it should be made available to the Indonesian public through the education system.

Pax Benedanto, General Manager of KPG, said publishing Chega! was KPG’s largest ever project and a source of pride and honour for the firm. He expressed the hope that it would be received in Indonesia “dengan hati besar dan kepala dingin” (with a big heart and a cool head).

Obtaining Chega!
Information on how to obtain this newly published Indonesian version of Chega! will be provided here as soon as the information is to hand.

The set is listed for sale in Indonesia at about AUD$100 through KPG’s online store, but as of 12 October, stocks are not yet available.

The original 2005 electronic versions of the report can be accessed in English and Portuguese on the Post-CAVR Secretariat website. They are not yet available in printed form.

Chega! and archives
The print publication of Chega! in Indonesia draws new attention to this extraordinary resource. In turn, its launch again highlights the crucial task of preserving the complete original source material on which Chega is based.

The future of the CAVR archive, a national treasure in its own right, is a key question underlying long-delayed and controversial legislation now before the parliament of Timor Leste. We can only hope that the final decision of the legislators recognises the long-term importance of the archive to the nation and the people of Timor Leste. We hope the legislation will decree professional archival management of, and public access to, the CAVR archives.

See earlier blog post on the future of the CAVR archives here.

Credits
Many thanks to Patrick Walsh, former special advisor to CAVR (2002-2010), for information and images on the Jakarta launch.