Remembering the Past, Shaping the Future: Memory Frictions and Nation-Making in Timor-Leste

This Discussion Paper investigates state-sponsored memorialisation and commemoration in Timor-Leste and what effect that it has on nation building effortsAusAI

Rethinking Transitional Justice: Lessons From East Timor

The East Timor experience reveals a vast gap between UN claims about the benefits of transitional justice mechanisms and local expressions of disenchantment with that process. How can this disjuncture be explained? This In Brief reports the key findings of a research project that investigated these issues. It argues that the lack of Indonesian government co-operation with the Serious Crimes Process — which led to an inability to prosecute suspects based in Indonesia — is only part of the reason for local disappointment with transitional justice.AusAI

Freezing and Thawing Human Embryonic Stem Cells

Since James Thomson et al developed a technique in 1998 to isolate and grow hES in culture, freezing cells for later use and thawing and expanding cells from a frozen stock have become important procedures performed in routine hES cell culture. Since hES cells are very sensitive to the stresses of freezing and thawing, special care must taken. Here we demonstrate the proper technique for rapidly thawing hES cells from liquid nitrogen stocks, plating them on mouse embryonic feeder cells, and slowly freezing them for long-term storage

Influences and echoes of Indonesia in Timor-Leste

This paper presents four case studies that highlight how Indonesia and Timor-Leste remain intricately entwined at the social, political, cultural and personal levels. Abstract Since 1999, when a United Nations (UN) transitional administration was established in the wake of the East Timorese vote for independence from Indonesia, the case of Timor-Leste has been a relative mainstay in research and policy debates on post-conflict reconstruction. Timor- Leste is often characterised by scholars as a ‘postconflict’ country and, as a consequence, compared to other countries that have recently emerged from political strife. While this focus is understandable, it has also meant that surprisingly little scholarly attention has focused on the connections, points of similarity and interrelations between Timor- Leste and its near neighbour and former occupier Indonesia. Only recently have researchers begun to explore the multiple dimensions of Timor-Leste/ Indonesian relations and unpack the relationship across a range of disciplines

Assessing the Terms of Inclusion in the State of Timor-Leste

This In Brief provides an overview of the main themes emerging from the 2015 Timor-Leste Update conference held at the Australian National University, 19–20 November 2015. Organised by the State, Society and Governance in Melanesia Program (SSGM), the conference brought together academics and policymakers from Timor-Leste, Australia and Portugal, taking as its point of departure the ‘terms of inclusion’ of citizens in the state of Timor-Leste and of Timor-Leste in its region.AusAI

Hybridity in Peacebuilding and Development: A Critical Interrogation

This In Brief introduces the malleable and contested concept of ‘hybridity’ with a view to establishing its heuristic value for academics and practitioners working in the fields of peacebuilding and development. It draws on discussions that occurred over the course of nine thematic panel presentations on the theme ‘Interrogating Hybridity: History, Power and Scale’ organised by the Coral Bell School of Asia Pacific Affairs, ANU, in 2015.AusAI

Timor-Leste's Veterans' Pension Scheme: Who are the Beneficiaries and Who is Missing Out?

Since the security crisis of 2006–07, the East Timorese government has increasingly relied upon cash payment schemes to mitigate further conflict and to provide a form of social security. A series of schemes have provided payments to different groups, including: people displaced by the crisis, the military officers that helped inflame the crisis, the elderly and disabled, and female-headed households with school-aged children. By far the most significant — and expensive — scheme provides pensions to veterans of the resistance struggle against the Indonesian occupation. This paper highlights who is benefiting from the veterans’ pension scheme and who is missing out, and examines some of the potential long-term ramifications.AusAI

Chega! Ten Years On: A Neglected National Resource : The Fate of the CAVR Final Report in Timor-Leste

It is now 10 years since the publication of Chega! (the final report of the Commission for Reception, Truth and Reconciliation, known by its Portuguese acronym, ‘CAVR’). The CAVR was tasked with documenting human rights violations committed throughout Timor-Leste’s 24-year-long armed conflict and making recommendations on how to address the negative impact of the conflict, including measures to prevent its recurrence. This report presents the key findings of a project that assesses some dimensions of Chega!’s impact in Timor-Leste.1 The project consisted of two components. The first component examined how ‘key actors’ — defined as prominent figures in the government, parliament, education sector, Catholic Church, media and civil society organisations — perceive and utilise Chega! The second component assessed different programs designed to disseminate and ‘socialise’ Chega! amongst Timorese. The methodology involved a desk review of publicly available speeches and documents, interviews with 28 key actors, interviews with students exposed to Chega!-socialisation programs and an analysis of students’ written responses to such programs.Australian Department of Foreign Affairs and Trad

Poor People’s Politics in East Timor

YesPoor people attempting to claim a share of resources in post-conflict societies seek allies internationally and nationally in attempts to empower their campaigns. In so doing, they mobilize the languages of liberalism, nationalism and local cultural tradition selectively and opportunistically to both justify stances that transgress the strictures of local culture and to cement alliances with more powerful actors. In the case of poor widows in East Timor, the languages of nationalism, ritual, and justice were intermingled in a campaign aimed at both international actors and the national state in a bid to claim a position of status in the post-conflict order