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The interview that changed a nation: 1990 meeting with rebel leader Xanana Gusmao in jungle hideout
ABC News - November 12, 2015
That was until 1990, when the ABC's Background Briefing radio program arranged for Robert Domm to be smuggled into the jungle to record the first ever interview with a little known guerrilla commander and leader of the resistance, Xanana Gusmao.
Operating out of their mountain hideout, Mr Gusmao and the resistance forces seemed like a lost tribe. Background Briefing producer Mark Aarons arranged Robert Domm's mission.
"Under the Indonesians, it was far too dangerous for me or any journalist to report from East Timor," he told Lateline. "Robert Domm wasn't a journalist and when Indonesia re-opened the country to outsiders we hired him as a freelancer to interview Xanana."
Twenty-five years on from that interview, Lateline has accompanied Mr Domm and Mr Aarons as they trekked into the East Timorse jungle to meet with the man who became president, Xanana Gusmao.
These days, Mr Domm is a hero to the East Timorese for risking his life to listen to them when their country was isolated. "It was hugely significant for them which is why they took the extreme risks that they did," he said.
"It was a very costly exercise in human terms and it was an extremely risky exercise, but as Xanana said to me at the time, if we don't do these things, if we don't take advantage of the reopening of East Timor, to get our voice heard, we're just going to go under and no-one will know."
During the 24 years Indonesia occupied East Timor, nearly a third of its population was killed. It was one of the largest genocides per capita of the 20th century. In 1990 there were 10,000 Indonesian troops stationed in Indonesia.
Mr Domm spent much of the 12 hour journey from the capital Dili, into the countryside, slumped down in the back of a four-wheel-drive.
In the towns and villages along the way, hundreds of people were involved in the operation, scouting ahead and guiding Mr Domm and his escorts.
The journey involved a 20-kilometre hike through rugged mountains and jungle. Mr Domm said the Indonesians had spotters posted all through the mountains.
"We had to move so fast to get under thicker forest," he said. "But I had confidence in them, I had confidence in the soldiers who were sent to escort us and ironically, the whole three weeks I was in Indonesia and East Timor on that trip, the safest I felt was up in Xanana's camp."
Mr Domm said it was a surreal moment when he, hot and exhausted, finally arrived at the rebels' base.
"I do remember that moment, or that whole 18 hours in the camp vividly, but I certainly remember that moment, all the guerrillas laughing at me, this white man sweating profusely, and they've been laughing at me ever since for the difficulties I experienced on that trip!" he said.
Today, the Timorese are still grateful. "For me as Timorese I feel so proud to see him here again. At that time the situation was very difficult, but he managed to come and meet with Xanana and get the information out. That made it possible to become what we are today," one man said.
The 1990 interview helped change the course of history for East Timor. It catapulted their struggle for independence onto the world stage and for the first time it gave a voice to the resistance.
Mr Gusmao paid tribute to Mr Domm for helping the resistance movement. "The first thought, courage; second, solidarity. Because we knew that it was dangerous to come so far and we said yes, it is a real friend of Timor Leste," he said.
After the interview was broadcast, Indonesia launched a huge military offensive in East Timor and Mr Gusmao said many of the guerrillas lost their lives.
"I was crying almost every day until my guerrillas told me: 'Don't cry. They did their job. Now take care of us. And after that we didn't cry again'," he said.
"We just feel that we were losing the best soldiers, the best commanders but we didn't cry. We only say we will continue your job. We will continue our duty."
Mr Domm said he is still amazed by the resilience of the young nation. "They faced some of the worst most difficult conditions of any guerilla army in the world during that 24 years," he said.
"They still sit and tell jokes about how they narrowly escaped death, or got shot and they will laugh about it and they have an amazing attitude to life and they managed to prevail over these situations."
Twelve years after the interview in his jungle hideout, Mr Gusmao was elected president of a newly independent East Timor.
For their roles in East Timor's independence struggle, Mr Aarons and Mr Domm were awarded the Order of Timor Leste.
Source: http://www.abc.net.au/news/2015-11-12/25-years-since-interview-that-changed-east-timor/6931254.
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