Former head and United States representative for the Timorese nationalist organization, Constancio Pinto, spoke at the Rockefeller Center last night, giving a speech titled "East Timor: The Long Road Towards Independence."
The lecture, sponsored by the John Sloan Dickey Center's War/Peace Studies Program, focused on the 25-year struggle of the East Timorese people to gain independence from neighboring Indonesia.
Pinto addressed a group of students, faculty, and members of the Hanover community, shedding light on the newly independent nation's tumultuous history.
A former colony of Portugal, East Timor gained its independence from the European nation in 1975. Shortly thereafter, East Timor was plunged into civil war when conflict broke out between two major parties in the country.
One party, backed by the Indonesian government, attempted to overthrow the then governing party, which enjoyed the support of most East Timorese. After a three month period, the majority party was able to regain full control of the government and immediately declared East Timor as an independent, sovereign nation.
The majority party's failure to gain recognition of East Timor's independent status by the international community was what enabled Indonesia to successfully invade and gain control of much of the country in December 1975, Pinto said.
According to Pinto, within three months of the invasion, 60,000 East Timorese were slaughtered, and countless others, including Pinto, fled the cities to seek refuge in the jungle.
Age twelve at the time of the invasion, Pinto moved with his parents to the forests of East Timor, where they experienced hunger and desolation.
At age 15, Pinto joined a resistance movement comprised of guerilla fighters. The movement, however, was difficult to maintain due to a lack of food and ammunition.
By 1978, Indonesia had taken full control of East Timor, sending many East Timorese to concentration camps to face starvation and torture at the hands of the Indonesian militia. According to Pinto, the camps were comparable to those created by the Nazis during the Second World War. The Catholic church estimates that by 1983, the death toll was over 3,000, Pinto said.
Despite the turmoil plaguing their country, the people of East Timor continued their resistance.
"We are lucky to a have a people who are so determined regardless of the suffering they faced during the years of persecution," Pinto said.
In 1983, Pinto helped form a nonviolent student movement to aid in the resistance. They aimed to unite those still living in the cities and to smuggle information abroad. They also partook in several peaceful protests.
The movement was aided by a Papal visit to East Timor in 1989. The Pope brought with him worldwide media coverage to the country.
The Indonesian government, eager to appease the international community -- which was slowly becoming aware of the situation in East Timor -- engaged in a moderate effort to rebuild the region, initiating the construction of roads, schools, and hospitals, Pinto said.
The resistance movement, taking advantage of the Papal visit, staged a peaceful, 30 person protest at the location at which the Pope appeared, despite the threat of arrest by the Indonesian military. Due to the media coverage, however, the Indonesian military allowed the protest to go on unhindered.
The demonstration encouraged more people to join the underground movement. In 1991, another peaceful protest was held, this time with over 7,000 participants. The Indonesian militia reacted to the demonstration with gunfire, killing 271 people. The event, first reported worldwide by the British media, came to be known as the Santa Cruz massacre.
After the massacre, Pinto fled East Timor, eventually arriving in the United States, where he continued to work for the independence of his homeland.
He and others concentrated on changing U. S. policy, which was, at the time, still favorable toward Indonesia. His group, the National Council for Timorese Resistance, did succeed in influencing Congress on several occasions, but Pinto concedes, the process was painfully slow.
The group gained direct access to the United Nations, the State Department, and the President himself when, in 1996, two East Timorese were awarded the Nobel Peace Prize.
In September of 1999, Indonesia facing international pressure, East Timorese resistance and a collapsing Asian economy, was forced to relinquish control of East Timor.
East Timor is now currently under a transitional government supervised by the United Nations.
According to Pinto, the East Timorese still have much work ahead of them.
"The struggle will continue until we have a society with a democracy ... [and] with equality," he said.
Pinto, a graduate of Brown University, published an autobiography in 1997 entitled, "East Timor's Unfinished Struggle: Inside the Timorese Resistance."
