Fretilin representative Estanislao da Silva spoke at a Democratic Socialist forum in Sydney on the eve of the first anniversary of the Santa Cruz massacre. The following is excerpted from his talk.
The Santa Cruz massacre is an important event to be remembered by every Timorese and those who support the struggle of my people for freedom and independence. For the first time an example of the atrocities committed by the Indonesian troops in East Timor over the last 17 years of occupation was witnessed by TV cameras and foreign journalists.
Whoever gave the orders to shoot at the Santa Cruz cemetery was implementing Jakarta's policy of genocide. It was a premeditated mass killing.
The evidence of Jakarta's policy was spelled out by the Indonesian army commander hours after the massacre. He said: "Timorese like those who gather outside the cemetery are people who must be crushed ... In the end they must be shot down."
The Dili massacre has deeply affected Jakarta's image. For example, the recent decision of the United States Congress to cut military aid to Indonesia, even though the amount of the aid is small, [shows that] the political implications are very great in terms of Indonesia as a developing country.
Australia has played from the very beginning an important role in the issue. Jakarta would never be so arrogant without the complicity of Australia, its most powerful and only Western neighbour. Jakarta might have had to retreat from its initial position and consider the implementation of UN resolutions if Canberra had strongly condemned Indonesia's action. Canberra's complicity is indeed evident with the signing of the Timor Gap Treaty.
More recently, Senator Gareth Evans has asked Western nations not to raise the hopes of East Timorese. He went further, saying that the issue of East Timor has to be resolved within the context of Indonesia as a nation. Like the Indonesian generals, Gareth Evans shows his lack of knowledge of the history of the East Timorese people. We were able to survive as a people and keep our cultural identity alive for more than four centuries under European domination. So not in 17 years will Indonesia destroy it.
Indonesia has claimed that our resistance has been reduced to a hundred or a couple of dozen guerillas all over the territory. They have been saying this since 1979. But if you look at the number of Indonesian troops in East Timor, you see the real situation.
Falantil [the armed wing of the resistance] now is everywhere, in tains. It is much more difficult for Indonesia to locate our guerilla units. We are all over the territory.
The massacre itself has motivated people more than ever to join the resistance. [The Indonesians] had hoped that with the transmigration program, with all the development that they have been introducing, they will control the situation.
But with the massacre, the gap between Indonesian forces of occupation and East Timorese has widened more than ever. The people are much more determined to struggle and to win.
Protests to commemorate the first anniversary of the Dili massacre: see pages 22-23.