Kamal Bamadhaj

from Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

Kamal Bamadhaj (born December 23, 1970 in Malaysia , † November 12, 1991 in Dili , East Timor ) was a Malaysian - New Zealand student and human rights activist. At the age of 20, he was the only foreigner to die in the Santa Cruz massacre in East Timor, which has been occupied by Indonesia since 1975.

Career

Bamadhaj was the second child of Malaysian businessman Ahmed Bamadhaj and New Zealand journalist Helen Todd. The couple had married in 1968 and had two daughters in addition to Bamadhaj, but later separated when the children were younger. Todd became a Malaysian citizen in 1977 and worked for the New Straits Times until 1985. She was involved in the Amanah Ikhtiar Malaysia (AIM) organization to fight poverty. Kamal worked as a teenager in Sabak Bernam , Selangor State . He transported bags of feed for poultry for farmers involved in the project. In 1990 he wanted to introduce this project in East Timor as well. Kamal later came to Auckland .

He first studied law at the University of New South Wales in Sydney . From 1989 he began to be politically active in the Network of Overseas Student Collectives (Nosca) and in the peace movement, including against the official Australian policy for the occupation and annexation of East Timor by Indonesia, which was de facto recognized by the Australian government as the only one in the world. and against arms sales in the region. In 1990 Bamadhaj visited East Timor for the first time. His experiences there led to the decision to give up law studies and instead choose Asian studies and Indonesian as a subject.

Bamadhaj was a founding member of Aksi (Action in Solidarity with Indonesia), an Australian non-governmental organization that campaigned for human rights in Indonesia. Finally, he took the opportunity to go to East Timor as a translator for the Australian community Aid Abroad. On October 24, 1991, he arrived in Dili, the capital of East Timor. During this time the arrival of a delegation from the Portuguese parliament was expected to investigate the situation in the former Portuguese colony. The people of East Timor were hoping for support in their struggle for freedom from the first visit of a foreign delegation, but on November 3rd the trip was canceled.

Bamadhaj wrote in his diary:

“Hearts sank. People cannot believe it. In the past month, Timorese have been taking extraordinary risks organizing themselves in anticipation of the delegation. They claim that any risk they took was worth it because the visit will offer them so much hope. But now the visit is off and the Timorese are once again in the all too familiar position of being defenceless from arbitrary arrest, maltreatment or even death. "

“The hearts became heavy. People can't believe it. Over the past month, Timorese have taken extraordinary risks to organize in anticipation of the delegation. They claim that every risk was worth it because the visit gives them so much hope. But now the visit is over and the Timorese are again in the all-too-familiar position of being defenseless from arbitrary arrest, abuse or even death. "

- Kamal Bamadhaj

It was his last entry in his diary. On November 12, he took part in the memorial service for Sebastião Gomes , who was killed by Indonesian security forces, and in the funeral procession that followed, which became a demonstration for the independence of East Timor. The march remained peaceful and disciplined, but eventually Indonesian security forces attacked and dispersed protesters at Santa Cruz Cemetery , and arrested or killed many of them. 270 people are still considered missing, which is why one can only speak of a minimum number of the official figure of 271 dead. Bamadhaj was also among the dead. He was shot in the chest outside the cemetery. He was able to flag a Red Cross ambulance at the roadside, but died of excessive blood loss as the ambulance was repeatedly stopped by the military and police on the way to the hospital. At the second roadblock, the driver was told to throw his patient out of the car, but the driver refused. Finally he was allowed to continue, but Bamadhaj died 20 minutes later.

The mother, Helen Todd, was not allowed to travel to East Timor to pick up the body. She was sent to Jakarta , where the coffin arrived three days later. The body was no longer recognizable. Todd was told that the dead man was buried immediately and only then was exhumed again. An uncle speculated at the later funeral in Bukit Kiara / Kuala Lumpur that the body was actually too big. It is possible that an unknown Timorese found his final resting place in the grave, speculated Kamal's older sister Nadiah.

consequences

The British journalist Max Stahl had made recordings with a video camera of the events that were smuggled into Europe by the Dutchwoman Saskia Kouwenberg . The images of the massacre attracted a great deal of attention worldwide.

The Prime Minister of New Zealand Jim Bolger left it at a formal diplomatic reprimand to the Indonesian ambassador. New Zealand Foreign Minister Donald McKinnon said in interviews with a smile that there was no point in arguing seriously with a large trading partner.

Major General Sintong Panjaitan, the commander of the military area Kodam IX / Udayana (Nusa Tenggara), lost his office. In 1994, Helen Todd tried Panjaitan for damages in court while he was studying in the United States . However, he returned to Indonesia unmolested and dismissed the conviction by the court over a payment of 14 million US dollars as a “joke”.

literature

  • Nadiah Bamadhaj: Aksi Write , Rhino Press 1997. Book by Kamal's sister, with diary entries and letters from him.

Filmography

  • Punitive Damage - A Mother's Trial , New Zealand 1999. Documentary on Helen Todd's legal battle.

Individual evidence

  1. a b c d Ong Ju Lin: The Boy Who Loved People , The Star Malaysia, May 5, 2000 , accessed April 28, 2020.
  2. Jump up ↑ The Guardian: Film review by Peter Mac Punitive Damage, directed by Annie Goldson, An East Timor story: A just cause is never a lost cause , September 1, 1999 , accessed April 28, 2020.
  3. ^ A b New Zealand Herald: Punitive Damage , June 30, 2000 , accessed April 28, 2020.
  4. a b c d Helen Jarvis: Kamal Bamadhaj , Green Left, November 20, 1991 , accessed April 28, 2020.
  5. a b c d e Ong Ju Lin: Death of an Activist , The Star Malaysia, May 8, 2000 , accessed April 28, 2020.
  6. "Chapter 7.2 Unlawful Killings and Enforced Disappearances" (PDF; 2.5 MB) from the "Chega!" Report of the CAVR (English)
  7. a b June HL Wong and Ong Ju Lin: Kamal's Final Moments , The Star Malaysia, May 9, 2000 , accessed April 28, 2020.
  8. ETAN: CCR: Defense Aide Responsible for 1991 Massacre , June 19, 1998 , accessed April 28, 2020.