Asia | Gong wrong

A row about medals reveals disputes about East Timor’s history

Who should be honoured for helping the country become independent?

Who to thank?
|DILI

THE PRISON in the six interconnected bungalows of Comarca became notorious during the 24 years that Indonesia occupied East Timor. Many of those locked up there for resisting the occupation did not survive its torture cells. Comarca is now occupied by Centro Nacional Chega! (CNC), an institution set up in 2016 to continue the work of the truth commission established after the Timorese voted for independence in a UN-supervised referendum in 1999.

This article appeared in the Asia section of the print edition under the headline “Foreign medalling”

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