By Eileen Gould
Impunity Watch Reporter, Oceania

DILI, East Timor – A number of bodies were unearthed from the construction site of a luxury hotel seven miles outside of Dili.

A Singaporean company began construction on the foundation of a five-star, beach front hotel when, last month, workers uncovered nine bodies on the site.  Experts believe they are East Timorese freedom fighters who were blindfolded and buried in a mass grave during the early years of the Indonesian occupation.  When they were uncovered, not only were all the bodies wearing what appeared to be remnants of blindfolds, but two of the bodies also had Portuguese military uniforms.

In 1975, Indonesia invaded East Timor, which had been a Portuguese colony for more than 400 years.  It occupied East Timor until 1999, when it achieved its independence.  This twenty-four year period was a particularly brutal one in East Timor’s history.

During the occupation, freedom fighters wore the military uniforms and later on also used stolen Indonesian equipment.

A professor of international studies at Deakin University in Australia also believes that the bodies are those of freedom fighters who had been captured by the Indonesian army (also known as TNI), brought to Dili for interrogation, and then executed.  TNI would only bury such individuals if they had been executed.  On the other hand, freedom fighters who died in combat were often hung from trees to deter locals from taking up arms.

East Timor has appointed a government commission, which is responsible for searching for victims of the period in which Indonesia occupied the nation.

A representative of the government commission, Gregorio Saldanha, called the nine “heroes of our country”.  The commission continues to search for additional victims.

An estimated 180,000 individuals died during Indonesia’s occupation. After Indonesia left East Timor, many unmarked graves were unearthed, including a mass grave holding eighteen individuals at Dili’s airport runway.  Archeologists continue to search the area for more unmarked graves.

Hotel construction has been postponed due to archeological work on the site.

For more information please see:
Daily Commercial News – Bodies found during building of hotel in East Timor – 23 March 2010 http://dcnonl.com/article/id38072

The Age – Mass grave halts Timor hotel work – 14 March 2010 http://www.theage.com.au/world/mass-grave-halts-timor-hotel-work-20100313-q52c.html

Associated Press – Grave likely holds East Timorese freedom fighters -12 March 2010 http://www.google.com/hostednews/ap/article/ALeqM5hIiPYCqSMHJerbFKlj-ofEEO5KNQD9ED2H180