WINNER - NSW PREMIER’S GENERAL HISTORY AWARD
Martinho da Costa Lopes was a national hero – the first Timorese leader of the Catholic Church in Timor Leste and an outspoken supporter of human rights and self-determination for his people.
Fighting Spirit of East Timor is the story of this extraordinary man’s life and a fascinating history of Timor Leste in the twentieth century.
Rowena Lennox researched Martinho da Costa Lopes’ life during the 1990s with the help of East Timorese communities and their allies in Lisbon, London, Macau, Melbourne and Sydney, and also those who remained in Timor under the Indonesian occupation.
FIGHTING SPIRIT
OF EAST TIMOR
Born in Timor Leste in 1918, Dom Martinho was educated in the traditional hierarchy of the Catholic education system. He was a seminarian in Macau during the Second World War and served as a deputy for Timor Leste in Salazar’s National Assembly in Lisbon in the late 1950s. During the early seventies he edited the church newspaper Seara until it was closed by the Portuguese secret police in 1973. After the Indonesian invasion of Timor Leste in 1975, he worked tirelessly to protect human rights.
He was the first person to speak out publicly within Timor Leste about the abuses perpetrated by the occupation forces, attracting criticism from the Indonesian government. In 1983, after a smear campaign conducted by Australian politicians and the press, he was forced by the Vatican to resign from the position of Apostolic Administrator and leave Timor Leste.
He settled in Portugal and travelled extensively, speaking and raising awareness about Timor Leste. But during the 1980s it seemed as though the world did not care and, exhausted by the struggle, Dom Martinho died in Lisbon 1991.
Governor’s Palace, Dili, 2000. This building was one of the few that had been repaired after the being set alight by Indonesian military and militias after the 30 August 1999 referendum in which the East Timorese voted for independence from Indonesia. From 25 October 1999 until the formal independence of the Democratic Republic of East Timor on 20 May 2002 it was the headquarters of the United Nations Transitional Administration in East Timor (UNTAET). Photo: Rowena Lennox
Camara Eclesiástica (Catholic Church Diocesan office), Dili, 2000. Catholic Church records of births, deaths and marriages were destroyed when military-backed pro-Indonesian militias set fire to the Camara Eclesiástica on 5 September 1999, six days after the historic referendum in which the East Timorese voted for independence from Indonesia. Photo: Rowena Lennox
Dili foreshore, 2000. Photo: Rowena Lennox