The Wire

It’s been 15 years since the massacre of more than 270 young East Timorese, who were murdered by the Indonesia military at Santa Cruz cemetery on November 12 1991. The massacre, unlike others committed during Indonesia’s 24-year occupation, was witnessed by foreign media, and so became a turning point in East Timor’s struggle for self-determination, galvanizing international support for independence. Fifteen years, on a report by East Timor’s Reception, Truth and Reconicliation Commission, which documents the nation’s human rights abuses under Indonesian occupation, is being launched this month in Australia. The Report, known as Chega! (Enough) was handed to President Xanana Gusmao last year but due to the eruption of violence this year it was only handed out in Dili recently. John Miller of East Timor and Indonesia Action Network in New York spoke to the Wire about where the country was on the road to reconciliation, 15 years on from that fateful day in Dili.