Towards Reconciliation: Indonesia and East Timor 40 Years On
Indonesia Forum, Asian History Hub, University of Melbourne & Herb Feith Foundation present
‘Towards Reconciliation: Indonesia and East Timor 40 Years On’
Thursday June 4 2015
Panel Discussion: 4pm-6pm
Lecture: 6.30-7.45pm
Multi-Function Room, 1888 Building (198) (rear),
University of Melbourne, Parkville
This year marks the 40th anniversary of the Indonesian invasion of East Timor. To reflect on this anniversary the Indonesia Forum and the Asian History Hub (both at the University of Melbourne) and the Herb Feith Foundation will host a panel discussion and a lecture on the afternoon/ evening of June 4, 2015.
In the afternoon discussion panel Associate Professor Michael Leach (Swinburne University), Dr Vannessa Hearman (Sydney University), Phd candidate Hannah Loney (Melbourne University) and East Timorese postgraduate student Fransedes Suni (RMIT) will speak on histories of activism concerning the Indonesian occupation and the steps Indonesians and East Timorese have taken towards reconciliation since Timor Leste’s independence in 1999.
This will be followed by a lecture entitled ‘Thunder in the Silent Zone: the Chega! and Per Memoriam Reports in Indonesia’ by activist Pat Walsh, former advisor to the CAVR, focusing on the official Indonesian and East Timorese reports on how to deal with the legacies of the occupation and pre independence violence.
Following the publication of the CAVR report (Chega!) in Indonesia Pat Walsh has spent several months discussing it and the 2008 joint Indonesia/Timor-Leste report Per Memoriam Ad Spem with universities and think tanks in Indonesia in the context of reclaiming Indonesia’s wider past history and addressing victims’ rights. He has found that residual Soeharto era misrepresentations and denial continue at official levels to the detriment of the truth, reconciliation and victims, but that a new generation of Indonesian intellectuals are open to a different narrative on East Timor when it is put to them.
Pat Walsh co-founded Inside Indonesia magazine in 1983 and pioneered a number of Australia-Indonesia people-to-people projects. He was engaged by the UN to help set up the CAVR truth commission in Timor-Leste and served as its special adviser. He is currently adviser to the Post-CAVR Secretariat in Dili and Asia Justice and Rights (AJAR) in Jakarta. He has been awarded the Order of Timor-Leste and Australia’s AM for services to human rights in the region. His book Stormy with a chance of fried rice: Twelve months in Jakarta will be published later this year. His website is www.patwalsh.net. The newly published Chega! Report is available in Indonesian and English at www.chegareport.net.
Refreshments will be served before the lecture
RSVP: 1 June 2015
Printed ticket is not necessary for entry.
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