The Timorese paid a big price for freedom
in the six interconnected bungalows of Comarca became notorious during the 24 years that Indonesia occupied East Timor. Many of those locked up there for resisting the occupation did not survive its torture cells. Comarca is now occupied by Centro Nacional Chega! , an institution set up in 2016 to continue the work of the truth commission established after the Timorese voted for independence in aComarca has in recent weeks been receiving more foreign visitors than usual.
It was partly with that aim that the government in 2009 created the “Order of Timor-Leste”, the highest national honour, to acknowledge locals and foreigners who have “contributed significantly” to the country. Taur Matan Ruak, the prime minister and a former resistance fighter, says it is important to give young Timorese “altruistic role models”.
Some in government wanted to mark the anniversary by conferring the order on countries and institutions that helped in the independence struggle. Bill Clinton and Kofi Annan, respectively the American president andsecretary-general at the time of the referendum, were both named as recipients. But others argued the outside world did too little, too late and that East Timor should rather reward individuals who had taken personal risks for the country.
Saskia Kouwenberg, a Dutch journalist and human-rights campaigner who managed to smuggle out footage of an Indonesian massacre in 1991, was abruptly removed from the list of recipients. Her snubbing enraged civil-society groups. They organised an alternative “popular solidarity award” for her. The ceremony took place in the forecourt of Comarca, neatly fulfilling its mission to grapple with conflicting versions of the past.
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