ABSTRACT
One of the bravest but least known acts during the East Timorese1 resistance to Indonesian occupation occurred in November 1998 when over 20 Timorese women told their stories of surviving sexual violence2 to crowds of hundreds at a public meeting in Dili. The stories were collated into an English language book called Buibere,3 which means ‘woman’ in Mumbai, the second most common Timorese language after Tetum. It was written only in English, published in Australia, and intended as an advocacy document for the international community. Between 1975 and 1999, there had only been four short but searing reports from international non-governmental organisations (NGOs) about gender-based persecution of women in East Timor, and no official United Nations (UN) comment.4 But the persecution, as described first-hand in these collected testimonies, was intense, and included rape, torture and other inhumane acts. In November 2001, in an independent East Timor, the local women’s rights NGO FOKUPERS5 released a second version of Buibere in Tetum at a public event, with many of the women who contributed stories to the book present. The second edition is intended to formally respect and honour the contribution of East Timorese women to independence and the high price they paid during the Indonesian occupation. Some of the problems that continue to face the women of East Timor were graphically outlined by advocate Sister Maria de Lourdes Martins Cruz at the launch:
‘A luta continua!’ she said, and described how the women of East Timor were still second-class citizens in their own land. ‘A luta continua!’ and she described how girls still don’t receive the same educational or employment opportunities as men. ‘A luta continua!’ and she told of domestic violence still rampant, women still serving as slaves in their own homes, women bought and sold like commodities under the tradition of bride price, and men leaders still unwilling to accept East Timorese women as equals. Ovation after ovation shook the hall.6
