The Day Hope and History Rhymed in East Timor

Book excerpt: In 1999, in a remote corner of the world, something almost miraculous happened. After 500 years of colonialism, the political stars finally aligned and the people of Timor-Leste, written off as losers in the face of irreversible odds, successfully voted for freedom. Twenty years on, Pat Walsh remembers the day like it was yesterday. In this colourful collection of stories about Timor-Leste, he also draws on his many years living in Dili to recall with wry affection the city’s traffic, roosters and a motley array of characters. The latter range from a Norwegian bishop to a cockfight promoter, an Australian called Dagg, a honey seller, a cat with only six lives, a girl called Menahaha, and two intellectual giants whose contributions to their human rights are largely unknown in Timor-Leste. Believing that the past is a friend to lean on, not an enemy, he also takes the opportunity to remind the Indonesian military of their failings. But, in the same vein, he also laments the futile loss of Indonesian lives, the damage to Indonesia’s dignity, and the subversion of the rules-based international order that marked the 24 year occupation. Written with touches of humour, The Day Hope and History Rhymed in East Timor is a personal, insightful, and sometimes whimsical, set of narratives that fills a gap between the academic and the trivial on this endearing, but improbable, new nation.