Julian Punch’s Order of Timor-Leste medal …

At the invitation of the President of Timor-Leste Mr Taur Matan Ruak I travelled to Dili to accept the Order of Timor-Leste Medal awarded to the Hobart East Timor Committee (HETC) for its effort in support of the struggle for Timor-Leste Freedom and Independence. As the first Chairperson and founding member of the HETC I attended the Award ceremony at the Municipal Office in Gleno of the District of Ermera on the 20th of May 2016.

This national day celebrated the 14 Anniversary of The Restoration of Independence after 24 years of occupation by the Indonesian Army. At the Independence celebrations seven personalities from Timor and seven from Portugal were awarded the Medal including academia, the Church and civil society organisations.

Seven Australians including Bob Hanney, Chris Elenor, Jean McLean, Dr Meredith Burgmann, Julian Punch (representing the HETC), and Kevin Sherlock (posthumously) received the Medal. Senator Bob Brown was also awarded the Medal to be presented later in Australia. Kirsty Gusmao the Australian wife of Zanana Gusmão received her Medal this day alongside seven people from Timor Leste academia and civil society.

There was horror in Australia by the invasion of East Timor by the Indonesians. This was particularly so in Tasmania when on 7 December 1975, the Indonesian military invaded East Timor under the pretext of anti-colonialism. The overthrow of a popular and briefly Fretlin-led government later sparked a violent quarter-century occupation in which between approximately 100,000–180,000 soldiers and civilians (up to one-third of the population) are estimated to have been killed or starved. Most of them died in the first three years of the occupation with an estimated 60,000 Timorese dying on the first day of the invasion. This was the motivation for many Tasmanians to associate them- selves with an activist political campaign to press for the withdrawal of the Indonesians and the recognition of East Timor as a sovereign State.

As we all road in a bus in the convoy to- wards Gleno in the early morning of the 20th a 45 minute journey we discussed the extraordinary events we had all been involved in the lead up to and at the time of the Indonesian invasion of East Timor in 1975. The role of intelligence to communicate between FALANTIL within Australia and the outside world was our strength in the fight against Governments propaganda and actions that ignored International Covenants on peace and liberty in respect of Timor’s freedom.

I reflected on that morning that The Hobart East Timor Committee had been a strong Tasmanian activist Group whose members took very strong and courageous civil disobedience action over many years to work for independence after the invasion of East Timor by Indonesia in 7 December 1975. The Award to the HETC represents the work of so many people over the long years of struggle by the Fretlin Forces against the Indonesian occupation.

The reception of the Timor Leste Medal Awards celebrated the solidarity movement that arose in Australia in response to the 1975 invasion of East Timor by Indonesia and the occupation that followed. The movement was supported by churches, human rights groups, and peace campaigners, but developed its own organisations and infrastructure in many countries but linked at national and international level. Many demonstrations and vigils backed legislative actions to cut off military supplies to Indonesia. The movement was most extensive in neighbouring Australia, in Portugal, and the former Portuguese colonies. José Ramos-Horta, later President of East Timor, stated in a 2007 interview “that the solidarity movement was instrumental in achieving eventual independence for East Timor. They were like our peaceful foot soldiers, and fought many battles for us”, he said

The Awardees all reflected on the changes in our lives as part of the Timor – Leste struggle, much of it from the opposition of our Countries or the organisations that we belonged too. For me this led to my resignation from my priesthood as it did for many others in the Catholic Church; given the opposition to our involvement and action on behalf of East Timor by right wing anti -communist elements in the Church. It also meant for me the adoption of the literacy methodology of the liberation theologian and Brazilian educationalist Paulo Freire in our work amongst the homeless and unemployed in Tasmania. This methodology was also a strong inspiration in the Fretlin inspired revolution.

As the President put it on the 20th May at Gleno “During the years when Timor was living under the weight of occupation and war, Australians through community organisations welcomed Timorese with open arms: collected funds for Resistance; drew attention to our struggle; and courageously wielded the values of decency and humanity in International relations”

It was taken in Australia against successive Australian Governments who failed to support the Timorese people and actually secretly approved of the Indonesian invasion or failed to give protection at the time of the marauding Indonesian soldiers in retaliation after the successful plebiscite for independence. I reflected that this had not changed given the recent bugging of the Timorese Cabinet Room by the Australian Government contracting an Aid Company during the TL Government Cabinet discussions on the Declaration of a Maritime boundary for TL and fair economic returns on joint oil and gas leases.

I took Independence day greetings from the Lord Mayor of Hobart the Capital City of Tasmania to the President and People of Timor –Leste and a commitment to contribute to the development and progress of democracy in our two Island States. There are many Tasmanians working in Timor –Leste as very dedicated professionals and volunteers. They take their resources and skills to achieve the building of a society based on social justice, by establishing material and spiritual welfare of the citizens. We hope to contribute to this by the building of the Australian-Timor Leste Friendship Network with a strong Chapter in Tasmania. We are interested to hear from anyone interested in the Network.
Julian Punch AM, Longley