Two major events -the world premiere of a film about the East Timor struggle for freedom,To Resist Is To Win, by Max Stahl , and a memorial service for prominent activist Jose Adriano Gusmao- were held in Darwin in recent weeks , receiving little media coverage .
Stahl ,has had a long association with Timor,where he filmed the l991 massacre at Santa Cruz Cemetery,Dili, by Indonesian troops, which focussed the world's attention on the outrageous situation . In l992 his report Cold Blood-The Massacre of East Timor, received the Amnesty International Media Award .
Stahl , who suffers from throat cancer, and is moving to Brisbane for medical treatment ,attended the Darwin premiere in the deck chair open air theatre which was booked out , another viewing organised for the Portuguese Timor Club.
At a mass in the Holy Family Church , Karama ,attended by many members of the Timorese community , Darwin agronomist Robert Wesley-Smith, involved in the Timor struggle since l975, told of his involvement with Jose Gusmao , who fled to Darwin in the l980s with his wife,Fatinha,and a child; three other children had died under tragic circumstances ,including from malnutrition, during the Indonesian occupation .
During his eulogy, Wesley-Smith explained how these deaths and the "murder " of a family had been included in the opera Quito , described as a documentary musical drama,produced by his twin brothers , Peter and Martin Wesley-Smith.
Peter ,a longtime Hong Kong law professor, wrote the text. Martin, who died recently, was a former lecturer at the Sydney Conservatorium of Music ;he set up the first computer music studio in China in 1986,and also taught at the University of Hong Kong.
The title Quito was actually inspired by a young East Timor refugee,who played in a band , wrote songs , and suffered from schizophrenia .During an episode ,carrying a knife, he was shot in the neck by a police officer in Darwin.
Despite being placed on a five minute watch, he was found hanging in a Darwin medical facility. Some of his music was included in the opera. Martin composed other East Timor pieces,one at the request of the Tasmanian Symphony Orchestra .He was commissioned by clarinetist Ros Dunlop to write Papua Merdeka about the thirst for freedom in West Papua .
In Darwin ,Gusmao,a teacher, had played a large part in demonstrations, highlighting the plight of the nation . He and his wife had formed an association with a Japanese woman who supported the cause , and journeyed out to Darwin .
A message was sent from Japan by that woman ,read out by Robert Wesley-Smith.In part, it said :
Jose Adriano Gusmao is, or was, maybe just an ordinary 'one of them'who patiently and continuously fought for independence, therefore peace and freedom,of their beloved country and people of Timor Leste in the difficult days.
