B103 Sounds of the Soul: The Traditional Music of Timor-Leste/ Lian Husi Klamar: Musika Tradisional Husi Timor-Leste
with Lafaek Holds a Party
by Ros Dunlop

The first book about the traditional music of Timor-Leste will appeal to those interested in the traditional culture of Timor, particularly its music, and the visual splendor of the country. The book, the culmination of ten years research,  features visually-rich pages in full color, with 20 reproductions of contemporary paintings by selected East Timorese artists. Twenty traditional songs complete with text and music notation in both Western and Indonesian systems. A separate 52-page coloring booklet, Lafaek Holds a Party, introduces Timor's traditional instruments to children aged 5 to 12, with delightful illustrations by Timorese artists, Tony Amaral and Pelle Pereira.

Author and musician Ros Dunlop made her first trip to Timor-Leste in April 2002 with Timor activist brothers Robert and Martin Wesley-Smith. Ros and Martin gave concerts of Martin’s audiovisual pieces about East Timor. Ros then began visiting Timor-Leste regularly to record its special music. The skilled musicians who participated were acutely aware of the importance of recording their music for posterity. The translators and assistants who helped to organize the recording sessions, the artists from Arte Moris Art School, and the young Timorese from the audiovisual archive, Centro Archivo Max Stahl Timor-Leste, helped to make this project happen.

The text is in both Tetun and English.

2012, 160 pp. $75
includes DVD video and CD audio recordings of traditional music and performances and separate 52-page coloring booklet, Lafaek Holds a Party

The book is wonderful and everyone love it. I am playing the music the sound in my car. Loving it. The book is so genuine, like the music inside, ‘genuine, innocence and spontaneous’. --Josh Trindade, Advisor, Research, Analysis and Social-Cultural Issues, Presidential Palace, Dili

B104 Secrecy: The Key to Independence
by Laura S. Abrantes & Beba Sequeira

In oral histories, 12 women from thoughout Timor-Leste (East Timor) tell their stories of how they fought for their nation's independence.

Through oral history interviews, this book tells the stories of the lives of 12 women who were part of the clandestine independence movement during the Indonesian occupation of Timor-Leste. First published in Tetun in in 2008, this is the first time these stories have appeared in english.

Laura Soares Abrantes was active in the Timorese resistance, gathering information about Indonesian human rights violations and sending it out of the country, both as a student in Java and with women’s organization Fokupers in Dili. She has contributed to many books on Timorese women from 1999 to the present, either as a story-teller, story-collector or editor. Beba Sequeira’s family were involved in the Timorese clandestine movement, leading to her being interrogated by the Indonesian military.  After the referendum in 1999, Beba helped establish a women’s organization APSC-TL. Both women tell their own story in Step by Step: Women of East Timor.

Asia Pacific Support Collective Timor-Leste, 2012, 102 pp. $45

Laura S. Abrantes & Beba Sequeira at 2012 Sydney Writers Festival.

"[The women's] work is to realize the dream that should follow independence: of seeing recognition, justice and equality for themselves and their sisters. A similar combination of idealism and pragmatism led to the compilation of this book... Gaining independence has been a giant step, but it is not enough to achieve equality. This book marks the next step: to disclose secrets in plain words that motivate a desire for a deeper form of independence ­ one based on recognition, justice and equality" -- Niko Leka, Greenleft Weekly

see also:
Buibere: Voice of East Timorese Women
Step by Step: Women of East Timor, Stories of Resistance and Survival
Secrecy: The Key to Independence

B101 The Independence of East Timor
Multi-Dimensional Perspectives - Occupation, Resistance, and International Political Activism
by Clinton Fernandes

A history of the struggle for independence by East Timor, after it was invaded by Indonesia in 1975. The occupation, which lasted 24 years, was immediately resisted. A continuum of effort - between the armed freedom fighters in the mountains, the resilience of urban supporters, and international activism and support - eventually brought about liberation in September 1999. Given that the Timor rebels did not have a land border with a friendly state, nor an external supplier of weapons, nor a liberated area in which to recover between guerrilla operations, their successful resistance is unique in the history of guerrilla warfare and independence struggles. Equally uncommon was an unexpected weapon in the struggle: a remarkable display of strategic nonviolent action. The Independence of East Timor is the first study to integrate all the major factors in East Timor's independence struggle. The multi-dimensional perspectives that are addressed include: Indonesian, US, and Australian diplomacy * Indonesian military operations and activities against the populace * East Timorese resistance at all social levels * human rights abuses * the issue of oil * international diplomacy resulting from global solidarity activism. (Series: Sussex Library of Asian Studies)

Sussex Academic Press, 2011, 274 pp. $35 paperback

The book provides a documented and detailed account of particular events and periods during the Indonesian occupation, in each case assessing the ways in which internal opposition and international actions combined to influence decision-making in Indonesia, the USA, Europe and Australia.... In writing The Independence of East Timor, Clinton Fernandes has opened up an issue of crucial importance in our understanding of the processes by which East Timor attained its independence. John Taylor, Asian Affairs

Professor Fernandes has produced a remarkable study of the main events from the lead-up to the occupation, to the bloody events in 1999. James Dunn, DISSENT (Australia)

Also by Clinton Fernandes

• Reluctant Indonesians: Australia, Indonesia and the Future of West Papua
• Reluctant Saviour: Australia, Indonesia and the Independence of East Timor

B99 A Boy and the Crocodile: The Legend of East Timor
Illustrated by children from the Familia Home Orphanage

The Boy and the Crocodile is the legend of East Timor, about how the island of Timor got its curious shape. It is also a parable about kindness, and now a children's book that is benefiting vulnerable kids. The book was illustrated by children from the Familia Hope Orphanage in East Timor, including many who lost their parents in the country's violent struggle for independence. proceeds from sales go to the orphanage.

B96 "If You Leave Us Here, We Will Die": How Genocide Was Stopped in East Timor
by Geoffrey Robinson

A riveting narrative filled with personal observations, documentary evidence, and eyewitness accounts, "If You Leave Us Here, We Will Die" engages essential questions about political violence, international humanitarian intervention, genocide, and transitional justice. Robinson debunks claims that those committing the violence in East Timor acted spontaneously, attributing their actions instead to the calculation of Indonesian leaders, and to a "culture of terror" within the Indonesian army. He argues that major powers--notably the United States, Australia, and the United Kingdom--were complicit in the genocide of the late 1970s and the violence of 1999. At the same time, Robinson stresses that armed intervention supported by those powers in late 1999 was vital in averting a second genocide. Advocating accountability, the book chronicles the failure to bring those responsible for the violence to justice.

"[Geoffrey Robinson] is arguably one of the most informed, compassionate outsiders to tell the story of the violence in the small island nation. . . . Even if you don't have much baseline knowledge about the conflicts between these Southeast Asian islands, this book will illuminate the complicated history is accessible terms. Robinson offers crucial perspective on modern colonialism and explores issues of accountability and justice with aplomb." — Brittany Shoot, Feminist Review

Geoffrey Robinson is professor of history at the University of California, Los Angeles. His books include The Dark Side of Paradise: Political Violence in Bali. Before coming to UCLA, he worked for six years at Amnesty International's headquarters in London. From June to November 1999, he served as a political affairs officer with the United Nations in Dili, East Timor.

Princeton University Press. 2010 344 pp. $25 paperback

• Inside Indonesia Review: How genocide was avoided in East Timor (Jan-Mar 2011)
• Pacific Affairs Quarterly, Review by Joe Nevins (March 2011)
• The Economist: A country's agonising birth (February 2010)
• Yet Another Disgrace, New Republic (November 2010)
• Interview with Geoffrey Robinson in UCLA Today (April 2010)

B91 The Circle of Silence: A personal testimony before, during and after Balibo
by Shirley Shackleton

Australian Shirley Shackleton was launched into an unexpected life as a human rights activist when her journalist husband Greg Shackleton was murdered in East Timor in 1975. Her story is filled with a profound sense of purpose, enduring love for her late husband, and a fierce determination to seek truth and justice not only about the events leading up to the murders of the journalists who came to be known as Balibo Five, but for the cause of democracy and freedom in East Timor.

"A compelling personal insight into a defining time in our history. Shirley Shackleton's courage is inspiring."
— Robert Connolly, Director, Balibo

Shirley Shackleton’s book is an exceptional personal narrative in this year’s field of rich Australian journalism, history and analysis. It is exceptional because of its raw intellectual honesty forged from murder and massacre in East Timor during a cover-up which prevailed for 25 years. It is exceptional because it confronts then exposes blind-eyed Australian diplomacy. It confronts then exposes self-censorship posing as journalism, because of the Australia/US/Indonesia geopolitical logic which required it. From ordinary human expectations, the author’s personal story – with sometimes brutal self-assessment – evolves from self-pity and grief over the 1975 murders at Balibo and Dili to a campaign to raise public consciousness about atrocities which decimated the people of East Timor. The consequence of that raised consciousness? Independence for East Timor in 2002 and a measure of belated redemption for Australia and the international community. The Circle of Silence is Shirley Shackleton’s testimony from her life’s darkest hour at the death of her husband Greg to vindication and relief at the survival of a people who struggled for their freedom. Judges’ comments, Walkley Book Award

Murdoch Books 2010 320 pp. $40 paperback

Winner of The Walkley Book Award for 2010

B100 Balibo
byJill Jolliffe

In October 1975, five young television reporters travelled from Australia to report on the brewing unrest in the region. It was a journey that would be their last: The Balibo 5, as they came to be known, were killed by the Indonesian military as they filmed the infantry troops advancing into the border town of Balibo. In the months that followed, freelance journalist Roger East, who went to investigate their fate, was also executed. The result of over 30 years of personal investigations and tireless research, Balibo provides a unique first-hand account of the deaths of the five journalists and East.This revised edition of the book originally published as Cover-Up, on which the film Balibo is based, reveals previously hidden details of one of this shameful episode.JillJolliffe argues that the Australian government and its Western allies were always aware of the circumstances of the killings of the Balibo5 and that their cover-up of those details was a key factor in Indonesia’s decision to invade and occupy East Timor.

'This book brings all her evidence together. The centrepiece is the most comprehensive collection so far of interviews of East Timorese with links to the Balibo incident, which highlights the abundance of evidence available for the prosecution of those responsible, among them Captain Yunus Yosfiah (now a retired lieutenant-general), and a Kopassus (special forces) sergeant, Christoforus da Silva. Interwoven with this extraordinarily detailed work are strands of a personal memoir.' -Jim Dunn (Sydney Morning Herald)

No one could hope to match Jolliffe for knowledge … Her book is sensible, well-told, compassionate, balanced and clean of malice. -Paul Toohey (The Australian)

This updated version of her earlier book, Cover-Up, reconstructs these tragic events and interweaves Jolliffe's own investigations as a long-time reporter in East Timor. It's a grim story, painstakingly told. The truth maybe out but neither Jakarta nor Canberra show any will to bring the affair to a "dignified close". -Fiona Capp (The Age)

Jill Jolliffe has been following the Balibo 5 story for more than three decades. She witnessed the first incursions of Indonesian regular troops into East Timor in September 1975, reported on the death of her five colleagues at Balibo in October, and was evacuated from Dili by the International Red Cross four days before Indonesian paratroopers attacked the capital on 7 December 1975.In 1978 Jolliffe moved to Portugal, where she continued to follow the East Timor story and to work as a correspondent for The Guardian, The Sunday Times, The Age, the Sydney Morning Herald, and the BBC, among others. She now lives in Darwin and reports regularly from East Timor.

Reviews in Green Left Weekly, Jakarta Globe

Scribe Publications  2009 416 pp $25 paperback

B92 Peace of Wall: Street Art from East Timor
by Chris Parkinson (foreword by Jose Ramos-Horta)

The images and words adorning the walls of East Timor reflect the country's tumultuous history, precarious present and hopeful future. They endow the social landscape with a rawness and honesty absent from their media, and echo the struggle towards new nationhood. Peace of Wall is widely contradictory, emotionally charged, instantly engaging and consistently dramatic. It's life in East Timor.

Chris Parkinson spent four years living and working in East Timor. Throughout this time, he documented the changing political and social climate in East Timor through its street art. He amassed over 3000 photographs and hundreds of hours of interviews. Peace of Wall showcases a selection of these inspirational stories and artwork.

Affirm Press 2010 191 pp. Full-color, Flexibound $35

Chris Parkinson's blog

B89 Step by Step: Women of East Timor, Stories of Resistance and Survival
Edited by Jude Conway

Thirteen outspoken East Timorese women to tell their life stories: what it was like living in a Portuguese colony; how they were affected by the Indonesian invasion; what day to day life was like under the occupation or in the diaspora; how they contributed to the resistance; and how they have adapted to the stark contrast of independence.

These are the stories of Céu Lopes Federer, Dulce Vitor, Maria Dias, Laura Soares Abrantes, Domingas ‘Micato’ Fernandes Alves, Cesarina Rocha, Carolina do Rosário, Mica Barreto, Lucia Lobato, Isabel ‘Beba’ Sequeira, Ina Varella Bradridge, Luisa Ferreira Exposto and Filomena Reis.

Charles Darwin University Press 2010. 241 pp. $44 paperback

Review by Jen Hughes from ETAN blog

see also
Buibere: Voice of East Timorese Women
Secrecy: The Key to Independence

B90 Xanana: Leader of the Struggle for Independent Timor-Leste
By Sarah Niner

The charismatic Xanana Gusmão shouldered the herculean task of leading his East Timorese people to independence. During the brutal 24-year war with Indonesia, he was transformed through crisis from being a young apolitical outsider into a hardened guerrilla commander and keen political strategist, who ultimately became the central unifying figure of East Timorese nationalism. This book focuses on his years in leadership and seeks to explain how the events of the time affected the development of his ideas, policies and strategies.

Sara Niner blog

Australian Scholarly Publishing 2010. 296 pp. $40 paperback

see also Timor Lives! Speeches of Freedom and Independence by Xanana Gusmão

B94 Locating Democracy: Representation, Elections and Governance in Timor-Leste
edited by Steven Farram

Papers from a symposium organized in Dili in response to the local government and decentralization reform policies of the Timor-Leste government. Part of the reform program is the establishment of municipal assemblies, with the aim of making democracy more representative. The symposium featured a spirited discussions about the whole reform process and a range of views were expressed on the best way forward. Erudition, clarity and a keen comprehension of the issues at hand were features of the presentations at the symposium and this selection of the papers brings those same qualities to the ongoing debate on this important subject.

Steven Farram is a research associate at Charles Darwin University. His research interests are the history and politics of the Northern Territory, Indonesia and Timor-Leste.

Charles Darwin University Press 2010. 70pp $30 paperback

B95  A Short-Lived Enthusiasm: The Australian Consulate in Portuguese Timor
by Steven Farram

As a result of experiences during the Second World War, Australian strategists came to believe that it was essential to make sure that Portuguese Timor could not be used by any forces hostile to Australia in any future conflict. Australia's first consul to Portuguese Timor arrived in Dili on 26 January 1946. By late 1949, Australia was considering closing its consulate in Dili and the second consul, Doug White, was withdrawn on 23 June 1950. This book, illustrated with many rare photographs, seeks to discover why Australia established the Dili consulate with such enthusiasm in 1946, but by late 1949 was considering withdrawing its consul and closing the facility altogether. In the event, the consulate remained open and a description is given of the situation up until 1971, when its doors were closed for good. Australia, however, seems to have lost interest in the colony well before then.

Charles Darwin University Press 2010. 93 pp. $30

B87 East Timor: A Nation's Bitter Dawn
by Irena Cristalis

This book tells the story of the traumatic creation of Asia's youngest country, East Timor, which has been struggling to rebuild itself ever since the mayhem of Indonesia's reluctant withdrawal in 1999. The author, one of a mere handful of journalists who refused to be evacuated in the final days of the Indonesian occupation, provides a vivid first-hand account of the lives of individual Timorese during the occupation, their struggle for freedom and their endeavors to rebuild their homeland. Based on years of research, and lengthy interviews with East Timor 's leaders, priests, nuns, students and guerrilla fighters, this moving and extremely readable book is at the same time also an exploration of the complexities of the country's internal politics.

Irena Cristalis is a Dutch journalist and photographer, who been based in throughout Asia. Her past locations have included Hong Kong, Beijing, Bangkok, New Delhi and East Timor.

Zed Books. 2009 384 pp. $35

see also Bitter Dawn: East Timor A People's Story 1st edition of East Timor: A Nation's Bitter Dawn

B86 Unfinished Nation: Indonesia Before and After Suharto
by Max Lane

Unfinished Nation traces the evolution of Indonesia from its anti-colonial stirrings in the early twentieth century to the lengthy, and eventually victorious, struggle against the dictatorship of President Suharto. Lane describes how small resistance groups inside the country directed massive political transformation. It shows how the real heroes were the Indonesian workers and peasants, whose sustained mass direct action was the determining force in toppling one of the most enduring dictatorships of modern times. Taking in the role of political Islam, and with considerations on the future of this fragmented archipelagic nation, Unfinished Nation is an illuminating account of modern Indonesian history.

Max Lane is Visiting Fellow, Department of Malay Studies, National University of Singapore. In addition to numerous academic publications, he has actively supported political change in Indonesia since the mid-1970s, and has translated work by the acclaimed Indonesian novelist Pramoedya Ananta Toer, including the famed Buru Quartet.

Reviews in South China Morning Post, Direct Action

Verso. 2008. 312 pp. $30

Books on Indonesia, West Papua, and Aceh

B78 Resistance: A Childhood Fighting for East Timor
by Naldo Rei

Naldo Rei was just six months old when Indonesia invaded East Timor in December 1975. He spent the first three years in the jungle, where his family had fled for safety. After his father was murdered for his work in the resistance movement, nine-year-old Naldo was recruited by the clandestine Fretilin network and began his own extraordinary journey fighting for East Timor's freedom. Throughout his teenage years, Naldo was imprisoned and tortured regularly for his covert resistance to the brutal Indonesian regime. Eventually, in too much danger to remain in his homeland, he escaped to Indonesia and then Australia for several years. Now living in an independent East Timor, Naldo Rei can tell his incredible story. His life is proof that no amount of danger and loss can crush the human spirit.

Naldo Rei- Giving Voice To The Silenced in East Timor
Journalist recalls East Timor violence in book
Orphan grows up in the arms of rebels reviewed by Sian Powell, The Australian
Raised on a nation's fight for freedom profile by Sian Powell, The Australian
Moving story of a child of occupation, Canberra Times
Late Night Live -East Timor autobiography (interview with Naldo Rei) audio
SBS Portuguese Program -interview in English

U.Q.P. Australia. 2008. 352 pp. $45

B80 Shakedown: Australia's Grab for Timor Oil
by Paul Cleary

The compelling inside story of how Australia attempted to bully East Timor out of its rights to the lucrative oil and gas resources of the Timor Sea and the people, both heroes and villains, who played the game for a nation's future.JournalistPaul Cleary, a former East Timor government adviser, gives a gripping insider's account of the six years of bruising negotiations between Australia and East Timor. He saw how the Timorese pulled off one of the great David and Goliath feats of the region but then were unable to lay the foundations for a peaceful future. In this compelling insight into Australia's international operations, Cleary exposes the heroes and villains who emerged in a one-hundred-billion-dollar shakedown.

Allen and Unwin. Australia. 2007. 304 pp. $20

The Australian: Oil comes between helpful neighbours
Eureka Street: Shakedown: Australia's grab for Timor oil
Green Left Weekly: Shakedown: Australia's grab for Timor oil
Far Eastern Economic Review: Shakedown: Australia's grab for Timor oil
Spying fears haunted Timorese during oil talks

B79 Sunrise LNG in Timor-Leste: Dreams, Realities and Challenges
A Report by La’o Hamutuk, Timor-Leste Institute for Reconstruction Monitoring and Analysis
By Guteriano Neves, Charles Scheiner and Santina Soares

This report discusses the possible positive and negative impacts of a Liquefied Natural Gas (LNG) plant in Timor-Leste to process gas from the offshore Greater Sunrise field for export. Petroleum will be the most important factor in Timor-Leste’s economy and government budget for the foreseeable future.

Petroleum will be the most important factor in Timor-Leste’s economy and government budget for the foreseeable future. Revenues from oil and gas already comprise 50% of the country’s Gross National Income (GNI) and supply more than 90% of its government revenues. It is the hope of many Timorese, including the Timor-Leste government, that Timor-Leste will profit from downstream (refining, processing and gas liquefaction). The most likely near-term possibility for this is an undersea pipeline from the Greater Sunrise gas field to the shore of Timor-Leste, with a liquefaction plant and Liquefied Natural Gas (LNG) tanker port to process the gas and ship it overseas.

People are imagining the wonderful things that will happen if the pipeline comes onshore in Timor-Leste: it will stimulate local economic development, spin off to boost the local and national economy, and create employment opportunities for Timorese workers. However those dreams and expectations will be difficult to realize in Timor-Leste in the current context of the new nation. The fragility and inexperience of state institutions, lack of human resources, inability to execute the budget must be overcome before a project like the Sunrise LNG plant can be used safely and effectively to benefit current and future generations.

February 2008. 131 pp.
Printed copies (English) are available for $20, or CD for $10.

Print copy or CD

Print $20.00 CD $10.00

B64 Timor-Leste Land of Discovery
by Dan Groshon
This gorgeous coffee table picture book illustrates the great beauty of new nation's landscape and people. An ideal gift.

I am Timorese, living abroad (in Portugal), since I was 11 years old. I want to thank you for your book, Timor-Leste Land of Discovery, which gives me some images of Timor, my homeland, that I left 24 years ago. The images are absolutely fantastic and many are of parts of Timor still unknown to me. Timor-Leste Land of Discovery gives me a fantastic free journey to Timor where I hope one day I can return. The title of the book is a perfect resume of the images that you can find within. -- Ângelo Gonçalves

This book brings new images of this new land. This book will surely offer everyone great unforgettable moments of contemplation on the natural beauties of Timor-Leste. -- President Kay Rala Xanana Gusmão.

These evocative photographs present our culture and our traits in a way no other book has done before. José Ramos-Horta

TAYO PHOTO GROUP Ltd. 2006. Hardcover, large-format, 189 pp. $50

Profile of photographer in The Oregonian
HK Magazine review of Timor-Leste Land of Discovery

B76 The Crisis in Timor-Leste: Understanding the Past, Imagining the Future
edited by Dennis Shoesmith

A collection of papers originating in a symposium, The Crisis in Timor-Leste: Understanding the Past, Imagining the Future, held at Charles Darwin University, 13 November 2006. The papers in this volume address the historical, social and political causes of unrest in Timor-Leste, explaining the violence and rebellion of 2006 in a larger context. By doing this they identify ways to respond to the causes of unrest. Contributors: James Cotton, Jennifer Drysdale, Steven Farram, Trevor Le Lievre, Andrew McWilliam, Ron May, David Mearns, Rod Nixon, Kate Reid-Smith, Dennis Shoesmith.

Charles Darwin University Press. 2007. 115 pp. $25

B82 Democratic Governance in Timor-Leste: Reconciling the Local and the National
edited by David Mearns

In February 2008, three days after the Darwin conference from which thisbook arose, violent attacks took place on the president and prime minister of Timor-Leste. Some contributors revised their papers for publication in light of the horrifying attacks. The result is an important collection of articles that provides highly pertinent insights into the current dilemmas of the government and people of the new republic. The book gives voice to East Timorese commentators as well as to Australian and other international scholars

The book explores the necessity to come to terms with the past in order to move on to a better future. It also considers the role of the state and parliament in the new democracy while seeking to set these against the cultural and social practices of the people at whom development is aimed. Finally, it examines the role of the agencies that have sought to assist in the country’s transformation from a colonized to a post-colonial society with a sound economic future.

Foreword by Deputy Prime Minister of Timor-Leste, Dr. José Luis Guterres. Contributing are Fernanda Borges, Fiona Crockford, Annette Field, James J. Fox, Mark Green, Damian Grenfell, Jill Jolliffe, Damien Kingsbury, Andrew McWilliam, Andrew Marriott, Akihisa Matsuno, David Mearns, Sara Niner, Yukako Sakabe, Dennis Shoesmith, Pyone Myat Thu, Josh Trindade, and Bu V.E. Wilson.

Charles Darwin University Press 2008. 270 pp. $35

B61 Masters of Terror: Indonesia's Military and Violence in East Timor
Edited by Richard Tanter, Desmond Ball, and Gerry van Klinken
Foreword by Noam Chomsky

The terror campaign by pro-Indonesian armed groups before, during, and after East Timor's independence referendum in 1999 was a blatant challenge to the international community as many of the acts of murder, political intimidation, destruction, and mass deportation took place before the eyes of the world. Yet the ultimate responsibility has been denied and obscured. Masters of Terror provides an authoritative analysis and documentation of the brutal operations carried out by the Indonesian army and its East Timorese allies. The authors carefully assemble detailed accounts of the actions of the major Indonesian officers and East Timorese militia commanders accused of gross human rights violations. This indispensable work explores a horrific frontal attack on democracy and calls for the establishment of an international tribunal for crimes against humanity in East Timor.

Contents: Introduction Hamish McDonald and Richard Tanter; Masters of Terror: The Indonesian Findings Hamish McDonald; Full Report of the Investigative Commission into Human Rights Violations in East Timor KPP HAM; The Key Suspects: An Introduction Gerry van Klinken, David Bourchier and Douglas Kammen; Crimes against Humanity in East Timor 1999: The Key Suspects Gerry van Klinken and David Bourchier; Practical Justice in Doe v. Lumintang: The Successful Use of Civil Remedies against "an Enemy of All Mankind" Richard Tanter; Silent Witness: Australian Intelligence and East Timor Desmond Ball

Rowman & Littlefield Publishers, Inc. 2006. 272 pp. $27 paperback

B65 Negligent Neighbour New Zealand's Complicity in the Invasion and Occupation of Timor-Leste
by Maire Leadbeater

For almost a quarter century the people of East Timor lived and died under Indonesia's colonial yoke. Against all the odds East Timor's resistance survived. Indonesia relied on western support for both the invasion and occupation of East Timor, but New Zealand's role is often forgotten or mentioned only in passing. Maire Leadbeater is spokesperson for the Auckland-based Indonesia Human Rights Committee, and in the 1990s she was a prominent campaigner for East Timor's independence. Prior to that she took a leading role in New Zealand's anti-nuclear movement. Her writing and lobbying is motivated by the conviction that New Zealand's foreign policy must change direction away from narrow 'self interest' to principled advocacy for peace and justice.

Negligent Neighbour is a brilliant book that reminds us NZ foreign policy, like that of other Western capitalist nations, is too often on the side of the oppressor rather than the oppressed. -Cameron Walker, Scoop

Maire Leadbeater's "personal recollections and experiences in the East Timor solidarity movement add considerable strength and authenticity to her chronicle, which also draws on declassified official documents, historical research and interviews with key players... >Leadbeater notes how she was shocked to find that ‘almost every new batch of documents revealed new examples of the high-level subterfuge officials relied on as they plotted to help Indonesia deflect international criticism’." -Paul Barber, Tapol

See also:
NZ Herald: Restless ghosts of the Balibo Five New Zealand Sunday Star Times review<
Green And Labour Politicians Launch Timor Book
Interview with Maire Leadbeater on YouTube Part 1, Part 2

Craig Potten, New Zealand. 2007. 280 pp. $35paperback

MATERIALS FROM TIMOR-LESTE'S COMMISSION ON RECEPTION, TRUTH AND RECONCILIATION (CAVR)

B69 Executive Summary of Chega! The Report of the Commission on
Reception, Truth and Reconciliation (CAVR)
CAVR, 215 pp. $15

B68 Introducing...Chega!
The Report of the Commission on Reception, Truth and Reconciliation (CAVR)
CAVR, 16 pp. $5

B70 Timor-Leste Women and the Conflict National Public Hearing,
April 28-29, 2003
CAVR, 64 pp. $8

B71 Timor-Leste Massacres National Public Hearing, November 19 -21, 2003
CAVR, 64 pp. $8

B72 Timor-Leste Forced Displacement and Famine National Public Hearing July 28-29, 2003
CAVR, 64 pp. $8

B73 Rona Ami-nia Lia Hear Our Voices
This small book comprises photos of East Timorese who shared their stories of pain and suffering with CAVR. Beautifully photographed by the Indonesian photographer Poriaman Sitanggang, the collection also includes short statements by these victims about their ideas for the future in Timor-Leste. Text is in Tetum and English.

CAVR, 32 pp. $8

B63 Complicity in Genocide: Report to the East Timor "Truth Commission" on International Actors
by Geoff C. Gunn

Originally commissioned by East Timor's Commission for Reception, Truth and Reconciliation (CAVR). This report focuses on the role of international actors in East Timor's tragedy. Chapters focus on the UN, international diplomacy, weapons supply, the media, church and international solidarity.

Tipgrafia Macau Hung Heng. 2006. 242 pp. $25 paperback

 Also East Timor and the U.N.: The Case for Intervention, By Geoffrey C. Gunn. UN documents, with commentary and call to action. Africa World Press, US, 1997. 240 pp. $20

Learn Tetun (Tetun learning CDs, books, dictionaries)

B57 Last Flight Out of Dili
Memoirs of an Accidental Activist in the Triumph of East Timor
by David Scott

David Scott’s remarkable story of East Timor’s rise from hopeless cause’ to freedom, giving us a unique insight into the people and events that have shaped East Timor’s recent turbulent history.

Australian humanitarian aid leader David Scott was in Dili on 28 November, 1975 at the swearing in of the cabinet of the Democratic Republic of East Timor. Next day he was ordered to leave by the Australian Government who were aware of the impending large-scale Indonesian invasion.

Australia’s role in these terrible events is critically documented. He uses personal correspondence with José Ramos-Horta to give immediacy to the story. His use of recently released Australian Government documents adds to the intrigue of these dramatic events.

"Last Flight out of Dili" is also an account of the hardship, loneliness and dangers that the young José Ramos Horta experienced in his remarkable commitment to keeping East Timor on the United Nations’ agenda for 24 years.

This book is an indictment of the actions of successive Australian governments who abandoned East Timor to years of repression, destruction and mass killings.

Why did successive Australian Governments betray the people of East Timor by supporting the Indonesian occupation? And how was it that ordinary Australian people including non government organizations continued through the long years to support the struggle for independence? David Scott answers these questions so that future generations of East Timorese and Australians will know what really happened and why.

2005. 414 pp., Pluto Press Australia. $35

Excerpt in New Matilda
Reviewed in The Age

B56 Songs of East Timor & Oceania
by Canberra Union Voices

A songbook/CD set with scores for four part choir, words, translations and background information for eighteen songs of significance and beauty from Oceania.

There are songs of the East Timorese struggle for self determination since 1973 (including the national anthem), Australian Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander songs, and songs from the Pacific.

The East Timorese community and others gave advice and assistance.

2005. 52 pp., spiral bound with audio CD. $25

B55 A Not-So-Distant Horror: Mass Violence in East Timor
by Joseph Nevins

On August 30, 1999, in a United Nations–sponsored ballot, East Timor voted for independence from Indonesia and for an end to a brutal military occupation. Upon the announcement of the result, Indonesian troops and their paramilitary proxies launched a wave of terror that, over three weeks, resulted in the murder of more than 1,000 people, the rape of untold numbers of women and girls, the razing of 70 percent of the country’s buildings and infrastructure, and the forcible deportation of 250,000 people. In recounting these horrible acts and the preceding events, Joseph Nevins shows that what took place was only the final scene in more than two decades of atrocities. More than 200,000 people, about a third of the population, lost their lives due to Indonesia’s 1975 invasion and subsequent occupation, making the East Timorese case proportionately one of the worst episodes of genocide since World War II.

In A Not-So-Distant Horror, Nevins reveals the international complicity at the center of the East Timor tragedy. In his view, much if not all of the horror that plagued East Timor in 1999 and in the 24 preceding years could have been avoided had countries like Australia, Japan, the United Kingdom, and especially the United States, not provided Indonesia with valuable political, economic, and military assistance, as well as diplomatic cover. The author explores issues of accountability for East Timor’s plight and probes the meaning of what took place in terms of international institutions and law. Examining issues such as violence, the geography of memory, and social power, Nevins makes clear that the case of East Timor has much to tell us about the contemporary world order.

“Joseph Nevins’s book is a magnificent memorial to the people of East Timor and a damning indictment of international powers, like the United States, that armed, trained, and financed the Indonesian army’s quarter-century reign of terror. Nevins eloquently moves from the horrifying reality of the slaughter on the ground to the international political elite who allowed it to happen, and go unpunished. Ant-So-Distant Horror goes beyond Timor because the bravery and endurance of the people of East Timor are a lesson to us all.” —Amy Goodman, Host and Executive Producer, Democracy Now!

“Joseph Nevins has performed a great service with this book. Among all the massacres that lead politicians to solemnly promise ‘never again’—the Armenian genocide, the Holocaust, Rwanda—the ruthless Indonesian rule and mass murder that took place in East Timor is almost always ignored. Nevins carefully and vividly places this tragic chain of events on the record, and shows how much of the responsibility for these deaths rests squarely on the United States and its allies.”—Adam Hochschild

“The struggle of the people of East Timor for survival, against incredible odds, is a truly inspiring achievement, one of the most astonishing of recent history. This remarkable book combines depth of knowledge and compassionate understanding, with intimate familiarity from the ground to the historical-documentary record, and the broader geopolitical and cultural-moral context. Joseph Nevins accurately describes the horrors as ‘not-so-distant.’ That is a painfully accurate assessment...”—Noam Chomsky

Joseph Nevins teaches in the Department of Geology and Geography, Vassar College. He is the author of Operation Gatekeeper: The Rise of the “Illegal Alien” and the Making of the U.S.-Mexico Boundary. He is a co-founder of the East Timor Action Network. Under the pen name Matthew Jardine, he is the author of East Timor: Genocide in Paradise and the coauthor of East Timor’s Unfinished Struggle: Inside the Timorese Resistance

Cornell University Press June 2005  288 pp. Paperback. $19

Review by John M. Miller in Nonviolent Activist: Close to Home; Review in the Economist; Tapol Bulletin; NZ Herald; Foreign Service Journal; New Zealand International Review; National Catholic Reporter; Annals of the Association of American Geographers

B52 Reluctant Saviour: Australia, Indonesia and the Independence of East Timor
by Clinton Fernandes

The decision ‘to liberate the people of East Timor, to take a stand on behalf of a small fledgling nation that cried out for help’ was trumpeted by Australia's John Howard as one of his governments proudest achievements. But what precisely was Australia’s role in the independence of East Timor? Clinton Fernandes exposes the role of the so-called Jakarta Lobby – Australian officials whose policies supported the Indonesian military regime, and commentators who defend these policies in the public sphere. He argues that under their influence, the Howard government worked assiduously to support Indonesia’s occupation of East Timor, trying hard to prevent a ballot on independence. When the situation became untenable and Indonesia was forced to hold the ballot, the government worked to reduce international pressure on Indonesia. Finally he reveals that it was only pressure from activists and the broader public which forced the Howard government to send in a peacekeeping force and reluctantly help East Timor to achieve independence.

Scribe (Australia). 2004. 144 pp. Paperback. $25

‘an important new work . . . It debunks the fondly-held myth that the Government of the time urged and supported an independence referendum. It reminds us that the media must look behind such myth-making, and not forget the same Government has failed to push for the prosecution of the Indonesian perpetrators who are set to continue their handiwork in other areas of the Indonesian archipelago.’ — Peter Cronau, Pacific Journalism Review (see full review)

see Defence accused of attempting to stop critical book

see review from Green Left Weekly; ZNET, Sydney Morning Herald, API Review of Books
Also by Clinton Fernandes -Reluctant Indonesian: Australia, Indonesia and the Future of West Papua

Wear, Carry, Give ETAN T-shirts, sweatshirts, long-sleeved shirts, mugs, water bottles, kid clothes, bags, notebooks, kids clothes and more. Two designs!   Order Today!

B47 A Woman of Independence
by Kirsty Sword Gusmão

From her first visit to East Timor in 1990, Kirsty Sword fell in love with the country and its people and became determined to help them in their seemingly hopeless struggle for independence. Little did she know then where her passion for the cause would lead her.

Over the next decade, Kirsty worked as an undercover activist in Jakarta, becoming an increasingly valuable operative within the East Timorese independence movement. In 1994 her work brought her into contact with the jailed leader of the resistance movement, the charismatic Xanana Gusmão. Through their letters, smuggled in and out his prison, they fell in love. This unlikely but remarkable romance, no less passionate for their being so forcibly separated, was further tested when Kirsty was compelled to flee Indonesia one step ahead of its feared intelligence service. It was not until the fall of President Suharto and Xanana’s subsequent release from prison that Kirsty was finally reunited with the revered independence leader.

Working beside Xanana, Kirsty found herself at the very centre of the epic events that saw East Timor freed from Indonesian occupation: the vote for independence, the militia groups’ murderous rampage that followed, the intervention of Australian and international peacekeeping forces, and the slow and painful rebuilding of a devastated country. Today, the former guerrilla commander and the activist live together as president and first lady, with their two children, in a country where fear has been replaced by hope. A Woman of Independence is the story of an incredible love affair, and the passion and courage it takes to free a nation.

Kirsty Sword Gusmão was born in Bendigo, Victoria. She studied Indonesian at university, and later taught English in Jakarta as a cover for her work for the East Timorese resistance movement. She is married to Xanana Gusmão, now the president of East Timor, and has two young children.

Macmillan Australia. November 2003. 321 pp. $35

Reviews: Sydney Morning Herald; Courier Mail; Mercury
Profiles and Interviews of Kirsty Sword Gusmão Dutiful Life; Sydney Morning Herald

B22 Buibere: Voice of East Timorese Women

Stories told by 20 women living in East Timor, compiled by Rebecca Winters.
Benefits Timor Aid, to assist victims of rape and torture in East Timor.

106 pp. East Timor International Support Centre, Australia. 1999. $12

B40 The Road to Freedom:
A Collection of Speeches, Pastoral Letters and Articles from 1997-2001
by Carlos Filipe Ximenes Belo, SDB

This collection of Nobel Laureate Bishop Belo's speeches and writings reveal his longing for East Timor to become a free and just society. They deal with reconciliation and refugees, health and human rights, democracy and the church. They are inspirational reading for anyone who shares Belo's belief that a nation might come to enshrine the best human qualities. Color photos.

Caritas Australia and the Centre for Peace and Development Studies East Timor. 2001. 72 pp. $5 paperback.

B41 Fighting Spirit of East Timor: The Life of Martinho da Costa Lopes
by Rowena Lennox

Martinho da Costa Lopes was the first Timorese leader of the East Timorese Catholic Church. After the Indonesian invasion of East Timor in 1975, he worked tirelessly to protect human rights. He was the first person to speak out publicly within East Timor about the abuses perpetrated by the occupation forces, which attracted criticism from the Indonesian government. Under pressure from the Vatican, he resigned from the position of Apostolic Administrator and left his country in 1983. He then traveled extensively, speaking and raising awareness about East Timor. He died in Portugal in 1991. His story is a unique and accessible behind-the-scenes account of East Timor.

Pluto Press/Zed. 2001. $22.50 paperback

B36 The Trial of Henry Kissinger
by Christopher Hitchens

"I find it contemptible." –Henry Kissinger

"An eloquent and devastating indictment of Henry Kissinger's involvement in the war in Indochina, genocide in East Timor and many other acts of indiscriminate murder." – The Village Voice

"His own lonely impunity is rank; it smells to heaven. If it is allowed to persist then we shall shamefully vindicate the ancient philosopher Anacharsis, who maintained that laws were like cobwebs; strong enough to detain only the weak, and too weak to hold the strong. In the name of innumerable victims known and unknown, it is time for justice to take a hand."
Weighing the evidence with judicial care, and developing his case with scrupulous parsing of the written record, Hitchens takes the floor as prosecuting counsel. He investigates, in turn, Kissinger’s involvement in the war in Indochina, mass murder in Bangladesh, planned assassinations in Santiago, Nicosia and Washington, D.C., and genocide in East Timor. Drawing on first-hand testimony, previously unpublished documentation, and broad sweeps through material released under the Freedom of Information Act, he mounts a devastating indictment of a man whose ambition and ruthlessness have directly resulted in both individual murders and widespread, indiscriminate slaughter.

Christopher Hitchens lives in Washington, D.C. and writes columns for Vanity Fair.

Verso. 2001. 160 pp. Paperback$12

B75 The Testimony Project: Papua
by Charles E. Farhadian, photographs by Stephan Babuljak
A collection of histories in West Papua. Twelve West Papuans speak for themselves, movingly present their life stories in 'raw narratives' as if the interviewees were speaking directly to the reader. Introduction by Ed McWilliams. Dr. Charles Farhadian, who edited the book, explains: "The goal in creating the book is two-fold. First, it is crucial that Papuans get a chance to speak for themselves, rather than being reinterpreted or silenced for any number of reasons and by any number of people. By speaking for themselves, Papuans demonstrate they are actors in their own right. Second, it is equally important to provide an historical document that records the lives of Papuans at the beginning of the 21st century."

“This book is the first of its kind. It dignifies Papuans and lets us speak on our own terms.”
-- Father Neles Tebay, Bishop of Jayapura, Papua

"The Testimony Project: Papua challenges the standardized or idealized views of Papuans.”
-- Rev. Dr. Benny Giay, Professor of Church & Society, Papua

Penerbit Deiya. 2007. 125 pp. $20

B81 Reluctant Indonesian: Australia, Indonesia and the Future of West Papua
by Clinton Fernandes

Clinton Fernandes traces the history of West Papua from the colonial era to its incorporation and full-scale transformation under Indonesian rule, and offers a penetrating analysis of the problems posed by the rise of the West Papuan independence movement for Australia’s relations with Indonesia. Reluctant Indonesians issues a timely, provocative, and profound challenge to the orthodox views of the foreign policy establishment and its various supporters in the media. It is essential reading for those interested in West Papua, Australia’s relationship with Indonesia, and Australian foreign policy in general.

'Fernandes’s book is a good, succinct yet reasonably comprehensive introduction to the issues and the broad political landscape of West Papua. Importantly though, it has a message of hope. -'West Papua's struggle for justice', Vannessa Hearman Green Left Weekly

'Reluctant Indonesians is a hard-hitting and well documented book which makes it a very valuable addition to the growing volume of books now available about West Papua.' TAPOL: The Indonesian Human Rights Campaign

Clinton Fernandes is senior lecturer in strategic studies at University College, the University of New South Wales. He specialises in international relations and strategy with a focus on the 'national interest' in Australia's external relations.

also by Clinton Fernandes: Reluctant Saviour: Australia, Indonesia and the Independence of East Timor

Scribe. 2006. 138 pp. $22

B54 West Papua and Indonesia since Suharto: Independence, Autonomy or Chaos?
by Peter King

In the 1950s, the people of West Papua (then Dutch New Guinea) were promised self-determination and eventual independence by their colonial masters. But in 1963 Indonesia took over the territory with the blessing of the United States, the United Nations, and Australia. This book reviews the long guerrilla struggle of the Organisasi Papua Merdeka (OPM) for a Free Papua and traces the rise of a non-violent independence movement alongside it led by the Papua Council Presdium following the fall of Indonesia's military dictator General Suharto in 1998.

Traveling extensively in West Papua and throughout Indonesia, Peter King has interviewed leading figures from the West Papuan Independence movement, church groups, and human rights NGOs. West Papua and Indonesia since Suharto places the current Papuan struggles in a context of failing Indonesian reform.

Peter King is a research associate in government and international relations at the University of Sydney.

University of NSW Press, 2004, 240 pp. $24.95

"King argues passionately and persuasively that international intervention to resolve Papua’s plight is essential: Australia, the US and other countries must act in concert through the UN once more, as they did in East Timor. Indonesians must be persuaded that their best interests lie not in a ‘security approach’ but in dialogue and negotiation with the Papuans and other disenchanted minorities."

Read review: West Papua’s long struggle for justice

Books on Indonesia, West Papua, and Aceh

B93 Interfaith Endeavours for Peace in West Papua
by Fr. Neles Tebay

Pontifical Mission Society, Aachen, Germany, 2006 76 pp. $5

Packed with facts like this about the plight of the Papuan people, this short book is an indispensable read for activists and anyone wanting to know why Papuans are so unhappy about their present plight as Indonesian citizens. TAPOL

B37 Outside Indonesia: East Timor Special issue of Inside Indonesia.

Articles on women, sustainable development and globalization, human rights, justice and reconciliation, refugees, Timor's oil, the Oecussi–Ambeno enclave, Indonesians who supported East Timor, bringing Indonesian generals to U.S. court, internet resources and more.

Inside Indonesia. July-September 2002. 34 pp., $5 magazine

B88 International Law and the Question of Western Sahara
Karin Arts and Pedro Pinto Leite (eds.)

Invaded and occupied by Morocco just weeks before Indonesia invaded East Timor, the situation in Western Sahara raise highly complex and challenging questions.

A follow-up to a 2006 Conference, this "goes a long way to putting Western Sahara on the geo-political map for those unfamiliar with the issues, and for the rest of us, it explains why this 30 year old conflict is so important, not only to the Sahrawis but to the great powers. It also emphasizes why Western Sahara is not a sideshow to be patronized by the U.N. as it concentrates on other hot spots in the world." (former U.S. Ambassador and former deputy Chairman of the UN Peacekeeping Mission for Western Sahara Frank Ruddy)

The book discusses parallels to East Timor, the status of the territory under international law, the implications of the right to self-determination, respect for human rights and protection against human rights violations, and the lawfulness and/or legitimacy of natural resource exploitation. This is the first collective work in English on the international legal aspects of the question of Western Sahara.

Contents:

1. The ancient history of Western Sahara and the Spanish colonisation of the territory, by J. Alguero Cuervo
2. Resistance and colonialism: building the Saharawi identity, by T. Shelley
3. The position of the Frente Polisario, by S. Omar
4. Western Sahara and the United Nations norms on self-determination and aggression, by Roger Clark
5. The case of Western Sahara from the perspective of jus cogens, by L. Hannikainen
6. Spain as administering power of Western Sahara by Eduardo Trillo de Martín-Pinillos
7. The meaning of self-determination: "the stealing of the Sahara" redux? by C. Drew
8. East Timor and Western Sahara: a comparative analysis on prospects for self-determination, by Stephen Zunes
9. Self-determination requires more than political independence: recent developments in Timor-Leste, by Charles Scheiner
10. The case of West Papua's sovereignty: the exclusion of West Papua's indigenous peoples from the process of determining their destination, by V. Kaisiepo
11. The European Community and member states' duty of non-recognition under the EC-Morocco Association Agreement: state responsibility and customary international law, by S. Koury
12. The legality of exploring and exploiting mineral resources in Western Sahara, by M. Brus
13. The question of the European Community-Morocco fisheries agreement, by V. Chapaux
14. The Portugal-Australia Timor gap case at the International Court of Justice: aspects of self-determination relevant to the Western Sahara, by S. Stepanova
15. Foreign companies plundering Western Saharan resources: who is involved and what is being done to stop this? by C. Wilson
16. International participation in the phosphate industry in occupied Western Sahara: the local content and global participation, by E. Hagen
17. Geopolitics and realpolitik as impediments to the resolution of conflict and violations of international law: the case of Western Sahara, by Y. Zoubir
18. The Swedish position on Western Sahara and international law, by P. Wrange
19. The self-determination referendum and the role of Spain, by C. Ruiz Miguel
20. Western Sahara: a solution for the conflict on the basis of full respect for international law, by J. Saura Estapa
21. Western Sahara and the UN second decade of decolonisation, by C. Chinkin
22. A testimony of human rights violations against Saharawis, by A. Haidar
23. Time for a new EU policy on Western Sahara, by K. Scheele

IPJET (International Platform of Jurists for East Timor. 2008. 352 p. $40

B53 Indonesia’s Secret War in Aceh

An eye-opening, firsthand account of Indonesia’s campaign of terror in Aceh.

Acclaimed journalist John Martinkus, whose first book, A Dirty Little War told the definitive story of East Timor’s passage to independence, provides a vivid, eyewitness account of the brutal war in Aceh. Like East Timor, Aceh wants independence but it is paying a terrible price, and since September 11 things have got much worse. This book gets inside a conflict. Includes a final chapter on institutionalized impunity, the legacy of East Timor and the reality of West Papua.

" Martinkus should be saluted for braving brutal consequences to tell us the price of Western, and Australian, tacit acceptance of a rapacious regional power. We can't say we weren't told." -- Antony Loewenstein,Sydney Morning Herald

The book "traces the immediate events that led to this military siege and the Acehnese people’s resistance to it. Martinkus has an easy-to-read style, relaying his personal experiences of travelling throughout Aceh to present an intimate portrayal of the daily plight faced by the Acehnese people." --Jon Lamb,GreenLeft  Weekly

From East Timor to Iraq: An Interview with John Martinkus (January 28, 2005)

Random House (Australia), 352 pp., Paperback$35

Eye on Aceh Pamphlets here

B67 Verandah of Violence: The Background to the Aceh Problem
Edited by Anthony Reid

This book offers a guide to the complexities of modern Aceh, a land dubbed "The Verandah of Mecca" as it moves toward peace and reconstruction. Verandah of Violence probes the underlying causes of the conflict that has pitted Aceh against Jakarta, explaining why the Acehnese entered the Indonesian republic in 1945 with an unparalleled determination to resist outside domination, and how these attitudes have shaped Aceh's relations with the Indonesian state.

In Indonesia's westernmost province of Aceh, the democratization process that began in Indonesia in 1998 encouraged the overt expression of regionalist sentiment and resentment of the military. The surprising extent of both feelings made Aceh, home to a long-standing independence movement, the next potential candidate after East Timor to break away from Indonesia, and led to harsh repressive measures by the military. The tsunami of December 2004 brought incalculable destruction and loss to Aceh. At the same time, it brought international sympathy and aid on an unprecedented scale, along with new pressures for peace. In August 2005, Indonesia and Aceh signed a peace agreement designed to put an end to the conflict. Authors include Isa Sulaiman, Edward Aspinall, William Nessen, Damien Kingsbury and Lesley McCulloch, Kirsten E. Schulze, Aleksius Jemadu.

NUS Press, 2006 423 pp. Paper$30

Books on Indonesia, West Papua, and Aceh

B48 The Exception to the Rulers: Exposing Oily Politicians, War Profiteers,
and the Media that Love Them
by Amy Goodman with David Goodman

The Exception to the Rulers is a fast-paced expose. Part first-person on-the-ground reporting, part old-fashioned muckraking, the book chronicles the struggles of what Amy Goodman calls, "the silenced majority."

Donate $100 to ETAN and receive a personally signed copy of Exception to the Rulers as a thank you gift.

"Amy Goodman has taken investigative journalism to new heights." — Noam Chomsky

“A threat to national security.” — The Indonesian military

Hyperion. 2004. 352 pp. Hardcover. $22 Paperback$12

From Publishers Weekly
Journalist and radio host Goodman brings her hard-hitting, no-holds-barred brand of reporting to an array of human rights, government accountability and media responsibility issues, and the result is bracing and timely... A gadfly's life in these turbulent times is neither restful nor boring, and Goodman's perspective on events like genocidal massacres in East Timor and mainstream coverage of the Jessica Lynch rescue is both important and alarming... How, she asks, could journalists "embedded" with U.S. troops in Iraq be objective reporters of all that was occurring there, and whose interests were being served? These and other provocative questions power Goodman's stirring call for a democratic media serving a democratic society.

About Amy Goodman
Amy Goodman began her career in community radio in 1985 at Pacifica Radio’s New York Station, WBAI. She produced WBAI’s Evening News for 10 years. In 1990 and 1991, Amy traveled to East Timor to report on the US-backed Indonesian occupation of East Timor. There, she and colleague Allan Nairn witnessed Indonesian soldiers gun down 270 East Timorese. Indonesian soldiers beat Amy and Allan, fracturing Allan’s skull. Their documentary, "Massacre: The Story of East Timor" won numerous awards, including the Robert F. Kennedy Prize for International Reporting, the Alfred I. DuPont-Columbia Silver Baton, the Armstrong Award, the Radio/Television News Directors Award, as well as awards from the Associated Press, United Press International, and the Corporation for Public Broadcasting. In 1996, Amy helped launch Pacifica Radio’s Democracy Now!.

Order Amy's videos: From Annihilation to a New Nation: The Founding of East Timor and Crashing the Stock Market!

Excerpt from the book: A Sanctuary for Dissent

Hardcover or Paperback

Hardcover $22.00 Paperback $12.00

B43 East Timor: A Rough Passage to Independence
by James Dunn

From the days of the colonial Portuguese rule, through the tumultuous years of the Indonesian invasion, to the present day, this book is a disturbing portrayal of the complete failure of the international community to deal with the East Timor situation. With expert analysis and clarity of writing, James Dunn highlights the disturbing gap between the noble rhetoric and the heartless reality of our international commitment and resolve. More than the story of one tiny nation, East Timor reveals a great deal about 21st century world order and its weakness in relation to minorities and small states.

"I can hardly think of anyone other than James Dunn in a position to undertake a 'long duration' analysis of our recent history." Xanana Gusmão, President, East Timor

For more than 30 years Dunn has worked in international relations, first as a defense analyst specializing in Indonesia, then as an Australian diplomat serving as consul in, then, Portuguese Timor. He has been a foreign affairs columnist, first with The Bulletin, and more recently as a regular columnist with the Fairfax newspapers. In 1999 he was awarded the ACFOA human rights award. In 2002 he was conferred the honor of Grande Official of the Order of Prince Henry by Dr Jorge Sampaio, the President of Portugal.

Review by Anthony L. Smith,Senior Research Fellow, Asia-Pacific Center for Security Studies, Hawai’i
Review in Canberra Times

Longueville Press (Australia). 2003. 424 pp. $40

B38 A Dirty Little War
by John Martinkus

A Dirty Little War is the previously untold eyewitness story of Indonesia's sustained campaign of terror from 1997 to 1999. Written with urgency and compassion by a world-renowned Australian journalist, it is a story filled with drama, horror, human interest, political intrigue and even the odd flash of black humor. For many years, John Martinkus was the only western journalist based in East Timor. He traveled with guerillas and unearthed the war Indonesia was waging against this fledgling nation. His work has been praised by Timorese leaders including Xanana Gusmão and Jose Ramos Horta. His compelling and passionate reports were published as lead stories in the global media. His news stories were used as source material by the Australian Senate, the UN and Amnesty International. This is the insider's view of that 'dirty little war'; a first-hand and deeply personal account of a shocking period told in a gripping fashion.

Interview with author

Random House Australia. 2001. 428 pp., $20 paperback

see also Indonesia's Secret War in Aceh by John Martinkus

B45 Remembering forgetting
by Ciaron O’Reilly

A remarkable journey of nonviolent resistance, inspired by the struggle of the East Timorese, Ciaron tells the tale of a life dedicated to nonviolent resistance. Ciaron’s ideas are an inspiring challenge to conventional response to injustice. This is a tale of a journey of Australians and Britons awakened by the heroism of the East Timorese people, a people who refused to accept an Indonesian military invasion of their country that was facilitated by the international community.

Ciaron O’Reilly takes us on a nonviolent journey from the boardrooms of Brisbane mining companies to the high tech hangers of British Aerospace, Lancashire. He takes us from coffee with Australian counter terrorist operatives, through the pulpits of the Catholic Church, to attempted infiltration by the British Special Branch. British Aerospace take Ciaron and his colleagues to the High Court while the police arrest them.

Otford. 104 pp., paperback. $20

B7 The Timid and the Brave
by Liz Howells

What do you believe in? Yourself? Your causes? Your friends? How can you effectively contribute when you are faced with unimaginable tragedy and fear? Liz Howell's writes about living with ordinary people faced with extraordinary challenges, far beyond those we in Australia accept as the norm.

This is a moving testament of one person's journey through a country in turmoil (East Timor) where the ordinary was the exception, and the impossible was the everyday.

Liz Howells retired from Veteran Affairs in 1997 after 13 years.

Otford. Australia, 2001, 125 pp., paperback. $20

B59 Timor Lives! Speeches of Freedom and Independence
by Xanana Gusmão

Timor Lives! takes us on the journey of the Democratic Republic of Timor-Leste to nationhood, as articulated by its charismatic "poet warrior" leader, President Kay Rala Xanana Gusmão. Included are the President's Independence Day and Flag Raising ceremony speeches and his inaugural speech to the United Nations General Assembly. The speeches examine the creation of the Constitution and Gusmão's personal quest for reconciliation, peace, and justice in his country.

At the withdrawal of Portugal from its colonies in 1974, East Timor was invaded by Indonesia . Gusmão became the revolutionary leader of his people; from the mountains of East Timor to a Jakarta prison cell he continued to run the resistance against the invading forces. On 14 April 2002, Gusmão won a landslide victory to become President of the Democratic Republic of Timor-Leste.

2005. 250 pp. Longueville Press. $40

Book Launch Speech by Honourable Justice Marcus Einfeld

see also Xanana: Leader of the Struggle for Independent Timor-Leste by Sarah Niner

B4 Funu: The Unfinished Saga of East Timor
by José Ramos-Horta

A personal story by the1996Nobel Peace Prizewinnerand current President of Timor-Leste on the shocking genocide of the Timorese people at the hands of the Indonesian occupants. Autobiography and observations of the U.N. and the struggle for independence.

"The pathos of East Timor lies in the fact that in an age of instant communications, in which the victims' grief is seen and heard around the world, argued over by statesmen and kept alive in the public mind which allows hope for redress its suffering is muted by indifference, remoteness, and underdevelopment.... Mr. Ramos-Horta's book presents a modest, more-in-sorrow-than-anger account of his bitter experience of the world's indifference to Indonesia's aggression." --The New York Times Book Review, upon the original publication of 'Funu'

208 pp. Red Sea Press, US, 1987. $15

B34 Self-Determination in East Timor: The United Nations, the Ballot, and International Intervention
by Ian Martin

Self Determination in East Timor is an account of the 1999 popular consultation in East Timor, from the negotiations that led to the May 5 Agreements between Indonesia, Portugal, and the United Nations, to the mandating of international intervention to check the violence which followed the peaceful ballot. It describes how political change in Indonesia, the UN's active good offices role, and pressures from Australia and elsewhere led President Habibie to offer the East Timorese a choice between autonomy within Indonesia and independence. Written from the standpoint of the Secretary-General's Special Representative in East Timor, it provides a unique inside account of how UNAMET, the mission established to implement the ballot, went about its task.

"Martin manages to address [the issues] in both a stimulating and highly readable fashion so that expert and novice, policy-maker and academic, can glean a range of facts and insights." — Hugo Dobson, International Peacekeeping

"Martin's insightful account of East Timor's first democratic election offers an invaluable perspective on the UN's involvement in the territory's tortuous democracy-building process." — Terence Duffy, New World

Published by Lynne Rienner Publishers, 2001, 171 pp. Paperback $25
An International Peace Academy Occasional Paper

B46 The East Timor Problem and the Role of Europe
Edited by Pedro Pinto Leite.

Papers by Noam Chomsky, James Dunn, Roger Clark, Mairead Maguire, José Ramos-Horta, Mario Soares and others presented at a 1996 conference.

304 pp. International Platform of Jurists for East Timor, Netherlands/Portugal. Hardcover only. 1998. $10

B2 East Timor: Genocide in Paradise
By Matthew Jardine
Basics that Americans should know.

Introduction by Noam Chomsky.

95 pp. Odonian/Common Courage Press, U.S., 1999. (2nd Edition) $8

B1 East Timor's Unfinished Struggle: Inside the Timorese Resistance
By Constancio Pinto and Matthew Jardine
Preface by Jose Ramos Horta. Foreword by Allan Nairn.

A riveting first-hand account of the East Timorese struggle. Called "a land of crosses", East Timor is dominated by the gravestones of more than 200,000 people who have died as a result of the U.S.-supported Indonesian invasion and annexation of the former Portuguese colony. In East Timor’s Unfinished Struggle, Constâncio Pinto, a leader in the resistance movement and colleague of the two Nobel Peace Prize winners, and Matthew Jardine, an experienced chronicler of the situation in East Timor, offer a first-hand account of life inside the Timorese independence movement.

In this emotional and inspiring memoir, Pinto describes Portuguese colonialism, East Timor’s brief moment of independence in 1975, the U.S.-backed invasion, life under more than 20 years of Indonesian occupation, and the formation of a courageous movement for Timorese self-determination.

In addition to providing a helpful primer on Timorese culture, politics, and society, an introduction and epilogue by Jardine discuss the international solidarity movement that has stepped up the fight to win self-determination for East Timor.

"A must read. This simply amazing story will make you want to get up and fight for the rights of the people of East Timor.... It will reaffirm your faith in the human spirit."
-- Global Education News

"This is not only a must for supporters of the East Timor solidarity movement but also for a wider public. Constancio Pinto's story shows why it is that the East Timorese deserve the solidarity of anybody who cherishes peace and justice." -- TAPOL Bulletin

292 pp. South End Press, US, 1996. $16

B60 The UN in East Timor: Building Timor Leste, A Fragile State
by Juan Federer

This unique book provides an insider's account of the East Timor liberation struggle. It is also an academically rigorous study of the creation by the United Nations of Timor Leste, the world's newest independent state. Dr Juan Federer, for many years closely involved in the struggle for the liberation of the territory, examines the UN state-building work in East Timor. He concludes that it was insufficient to lay the foundations for a well-functioning state. Timor Leste is a very fragile state, whose future is uncertain. Once again, the UN was hamstrung by the limited commitment shown by its member states.

The author argues for a stronger international state-building effort to strengthen fragile or failing post-colonial states. East Timor/Timor Leste would have provided a perfect opportunity to do such work properly. He stresses the need for the international community to seriously address the international humanitarian and security problem presented by fragile states -- a long-term legacy of the 20th century colonial experience. The book's publication on the eve of the creation of the UN Peace Building Commission is well timed.

Chilean-born Federer was a key advisor and colleague of José Ramos-Horta and the East Timorese resistance. He was a founder of Timor Aid and the East Timor International Solidarity Centre.

2005. 134 pp., Charles Darwin University Press. $40

B17 Indonesia's Forgotten War: The Hidden History of East Timor (Politics in Contemporary Asia)
by John G. Taylor

A path breaking work, which manages to show events through the eyes of those who lived through the brutalities of the Indonesian invasion and military occupation. Peter Carey

The great strength of this comprehensively researched book is its skillful combination of easily accessible academic analysis and eyewitness accounts, from which emerge the voices of the East Timorese themselves. The result is a work of immense power and immediate impact. Journal of Contemporary Asia

240 pp Zed Books 1991. $20

B85 Exile and Return Among the East Timorese
by Amanda Wise

East Timor, the world's newest nation, finally gained its independence in 2002, following half a millennium of Portuguese rule and 24 years of Indonesian occupation. That occupation produced a refugee diaspora spread between Portugal and Australia that has been integral in advancing East Timor's cause abroad. Because East Timorese in the diaspora identified strongly as exiles and invested so much in pursuing East Timor's independence, the homeland's liberation has complicated the very basis on which many have "imagined" themselves since fleeing to Australia.

Drawing on innovative ethnographic research, Exile and Return Among the East Timorese explores questions of shifting identity and home, trauma and embodiment, belonging and return among the East Timorese abroad at this critical juncture in their lives. The book asks what forms of cultural identity emerge among politically active refugee diasporas, what happens to such groups when the dream of homeland is fulfilled, and how they renegotiate a sense of home after exile.

The lived experience of Timorese in Australia and former refugees who have returned to East Timor is brought to life through their eloquent and often moving firsthand narratives, which the author has used liberally throughout the book, vividly presenting them alongside images and analysis of their role in the political struggle.

A volume in the Contemporary Ethnography series.

Amanda Wise is Research Fellow at the Centre for Research on Social Inclusion at Macquarie University in Australia.

2006. 248 pp. University of Pennsylvania Press. Hardcover. $55

View table of contents and sample text

B23 From the Place of the Dead: The Epic Struggles of Bishop Belo of East Timor
by Arnold S. Kohen

Biography of the 1996 Nobel Prize winner.

Leader for peace in a tortured country, Bishop Belo of East Timor became the first Catholic bishop to receive the Nobel Peace Prize in 1996. Foremost among leaders of his homeland, he has worked to end the suffering of his people. This sympathetic biography portrays the bishop and his country in the years before and during the Indonesian occupation, which has brought death and despair to so many. It reveals American support for Indonesia during this period and examines the Vatican's complicated role. -Library Weekly

331 pp, hardcover. St. Martin’s Press, U.S., 1999. $28

BY AND ABOUT NOAM CHOMSKY

B35 Rogue States The Rule of Force in World Affairs
by Noam Chomsky

In Rogue States, Noam Chomsky holds the world’s superpowers to their own standards of the rule of law—and finds them appallingly lacking. Described in a 1998 profile in the New York Times as "an exploder of received truths," Noam Chomsky is the world’s most informed, controversial, and articulate opponent of political hypocrisy and abuse of power.

Rogue States is the latest result of his tireless efforts to measure the world’s superpowers by their own professed standards and to hold them responsible for the indefensible actions they commit in the name of democracy and human rights, including East Timor. The United States and its allies come in for particular scrutiny for their numerous recent violations of the very international laws they claim to uphold, making them the real "rogue states" in the world today.

Characteristically incisive, provocative, and rousing, Chomsky leaves no bombshell unexploded in his evaluation of the West’s shameless reliance on the rule of force today.

South End Press, 2000, 264 pp. 2000. Paperback $16

B15 Manufacturing Consent: Noam Chomsky and the Media

Companion to the documentary film. Funny, provocative and surprisingly accessible, Manufacturing Consent explores the political life and ideas of Noam Chomsky, world-renowned linguist, intellectual and political activist. Features an annotated copy of the script with excerpts from relevant material with comments from Chomsky interspersed throughout.  Large format book includes a substantial section on East Timor along with expanded and updated notes and resource list. Edited by filmmaker.

250 pp. Black Rose Books, Montreal, 1994. $22

B49 East Timor Testimony
Photographs by Elaine Briere

64 duotone photographs and original essays by nine authors, including Noam Chomsky, Charles Scheiner, Constancio Pinto, James Dunn, Ines Martins and Carmel Budiardjo.

188pp. Between the Lines, Toronto, 2004 $35

"What is striking about her portraits is the eyes of her subjects....we don't just stare at Brière's people: They also stare back at us. Because she captured the human essence of East Timor, Brière's photographs turned out to be enormously effective as political art. After seeing her pictures, it was hard to dismiss East Timor as a faraway place of little consequence."
-- Jeet Heer, National Post, June 17, 2004

view online gallery of photos

see also V1 -Bitter Paradise: The Sell-out of East Timor

B6 Generations of Resistance: East Timor
Photographs by Steve Cox, with introduction by Peter Carey

Extraordinary photos of East Timor, including 8 in color of the Santa Cruz massacre.

Images of contemporary life in East Timor, illustrate the reality of existence under Indonesian occupation and the horror of events such as the 1991 Santa Cruz massacre. Having lived among and gained the trust of the Timorese, Cox's photographs unmasked the deceptions of Indonesian government propaganda and provided substance to foreign journalists whose reports were heavily circumscribed by official restrictions. These insights into the daily struggle with suffering and death in East Timor are accompanied by an authoritative historical introduction of events since 1975 by Peter Carey.
 

Cassell, UK, 1995. Large format, 120 pp. $39.50

B26 Inside Out East Timor
By Ross Bird

A personal photographic account of East Timor and its people. Visiting East Timor three times since 1995, Australian photographer Ross Bird juxtaposes color photographs of life in this country with black and white portraits of those Timorese who have fled their homeland since Indonesia invaded in 1975.

Herman Press, Australia. July 1999. 168 pp, 130 photos. $40 paper

B3 East Timor and the United Nations: The Case for Intervention
By Geoffrey C. Gunn

In addition to the author’s own analysis of the situation, this book features a selection of relevant UN documents and other primary sources relating to East Timor, including the key General Assembly and Security Council resolutions of 1975-1982, the damning reports of the UN Special Rapporteurs; the hyper proceduralist utterances of the foreign ministers meetings; and the World Court "no-case" judgment on the Australian deal with Indonesia over East Timor’s oil reserves.

Africa World Press, US, 1997. 240 pp. $20

See also Complicity in Genocide: Report to the East Timor "Truth Commission" on International Actors

B77 East Timor Making Amends
Analysing Australia's role in reconstructing East Timor
Jefferson Lee and Lansell Taudevin, Eds

A collection of papers fromarange of contributors with first-hand knowledge of East Timor addressing Australia's role in post-referendum East Timor. They address the many issues associated with the reconstruction of East Timor. Assembled in collaboration with AETA, the Australian East Timor Association. 250 pp., paperback. $25

B14 East Timor: Prospects for Peace
Report and Papers of an Ecumenical Consultation. Includes key background documents. 142 pp. World Council of Churches, Geneva, 1995. $7

B12 Power and Impunity: Human Rights under the New Order
In-depth report by Amnesty International on Indonesia and East Timor.

126 pp. UK, 1994. $8

B18 Indonesia: Arms Trade to a Military Regime
European Network Against Arms Trade

Overview of Indonesia's military plus detailed chapters on their weapons suppliers,
including Australia, the US, Canada,the EU,and 10 European countries.
 

124 pp. European Network Against Arms Trade, Amsterdam, 1997. $8

B7 The East Timor Question: The Struggle for Independence from Indonesia
Edited by Paul Hainsworth and Stephen McCloskey

Chronicles the global support and solidarity movement (including ETAN) that accompanied East Timor to nationhood, as well as the policy changes it achieved in key countries. Includes a preface by Jose Ramos-Horta, introduction by Australian/British filmmaker John Pilger,withchapters by Charles Scheiner (ETAN), Carmel Budiardjo (TAPOL), and others from East Timor, the U.K., Ireland, Australia and elsewhere.

---

Revised papers presented at a CIIR/International Platform of Jurists for East Timor Conference "Indonesia's occupation of East Timor:Legal Questions" held in London in December 1992. Preface by James Dunn, Contributions from George Aditjondro, Roger C. Clark, John G. Taylor, Gerry Simpson, Paula Escarameia and more.

see also The East Timor Problem and the Role of Europe
 

B102 Genocide and Resistance in Southeast Asia
Documentation, Denial and Justice in Cambodia and East Timor
by Ben Kiernan

Two modern cases of genocide and extermination began in Southeast Asia in the same year. Pol Pot's Khmer Rouge regime ruled Cambodia from 1975 to 1979, and Indonesian forces occupied East Timor from 1975 to 1999. This book examines the horrific consequences of Cambodian communist revolution and Indonesian anti-communist counterinsurgency. It also chronicles the two cases of indigenous resistance to genocide and extermination, the international cover-ups that obstructed documentation of these crimes, and efforts to hold the perpetrators legally accountable.

The perpetrator regimes inflicted casualties in similar proportions. Each caused the deaths of about one-fifth of the population of the nation. Cambodia's mortality was approximately 1.7 million, and approximately 170,000 perished in East Timor. In both cases, most of the deaths occurred in the five-year period from 1975 to1980. In addition, Cambodia and East Timor not only shared the experience of genocide but also of civil war, international intervention, and UN conflict resolution. U.S. policymakers supported the invading Indonesians in Timor, as well as the indigenous Khmer Rouge in Cambodia. Both regimes exterminated ethnic minorities, including local Chinese, as well as political dissidents. Yet the ideological fuel that ignited each conflagration was quite different. Jakarta pursued anti-communism; the Khmer Rouge were communists. In East Timor the major Indonesian goal was conquest. In Cambodia, the Khmer Rouge's goal was revolution. Maoist ideology influenced Pol Pot's regime, but it also influenced the East Timorese resistance to the Indonesia's occupiers.

Genocide and Resistance in Southeast Asia is significant both for its historical documentation and for its contribution to the study of the politics and mechanisms of genocide. It is a fundamental contribution that will be read by historians, human rights activists, and genocide studies specialists.

363 pp. Transaction, 2007 $30

B5 - East Timor at the Crossroads: The Forging of a Nation
Edited by Peter Carey and G. Carter Bentley. 

All aspects of East Timor, with contributions from Roger S. Clark, Shirley Shackleton, Ben Anderson, Pat Walsh and more, with unsurpassed bibliography.

Cassell/U. Hawaii, US, 1995. 259 pp. $20