11 July 2014

What will a new Indonesian President mean for Timor-Leste?

ETLJB 11/07/2014 From Catalyst - The village of Kraras in Timor-Leste is known to some as ‘the village of widows’.

In September of 1983, Indonesian troops opened fire on the village’s unarmed civilians as a part of their ongoing suppression of the Timorese resistance movement. More than 300 people were buried in mass graves.

The Kraras massacre was not the first since the Indonesian occupation began in 1975, nor was it the last. Until Timor-Leste achieved independence in 1999 from 100,000 to 200,000 people were killed, out of a population of only 800 thousand. Thousands of people, especially children, were forcibly removed from the country and taken to Indonesia.

Eyewitnesses and human rights organisations allege the commander of the troops who committed the atrocities in Kraras was Prabowo Subianto. The man who has about a fifty per cent chance of becoming the next President of Indonesia. Read the full story at http://www.rmitcatalyst.com/what-will-a-new-indonesian-president-mean-for-timor-leste/

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