History Lectures at UNTL

Every Thursday evening I go to history lectures at the Universidade Nacional de Timor-Leste. Zelda Grimshaw, the lecturer, is an Australian women who has a 20 years history of involvement with Timor-Leste and is now writing a doctorate on resistance to the Indonesian military occupation of Timor Leste. Over the last few years she has interviewed nearly one hundred Timorese people about their experiences during the Indonesian occupation.

Yesterday's lecture was about the Indonesian invasion in 1975. Everyone was speechless at the end and some people cried.

In 1975, after Timor-Leste became independent from Portugal, Indonesia decided to invade the country. The invasion is supposed to be the most cruel experience the timorese people had to make.

No one knows why Indonesians have been that cruel, using heavy weapons to destroy every sign of human life - what they feared of the small and poor timorese people without any means to defend! No one knows why the international community ignored the incidents for such a long period before starting interventions.

The year 1975 can be seen as a yardstick for the invasion of horror and fostered a common desire for independence - "once we've gone through that, what else could happen?"

UNTL Caicoli Campus Building: