A
Brief History
Timor Aid Inc. was an initiative that was set up to carry
forward the humanitarian aid work that various East Timorese and their
overseas supporters had for several years been involved with. Timor Aid
Inc. was a membership-based, charitable, non-profit association legally
incorporated under the laws of the Australian State of Victoria. It was
therefore subjected to strict accountability requirements. It had
tax-exempt status with the Australian Tax Office.
Some Timor Aid Inc. personnel had previously worked in the East Timor aid
sector, while others had been active for many years in international
advocacy for the just cause of the people of East Timor. They did this
through East Timor International Support Center (ETISC), a non-profit
company incorporated in Australia whose Honorary Chairman was Nobel Peace
Laureate Dr José Ramos-Horta, and which founded Timor Aid. Timor Aid and
ETISC members played a leading role in the emergency situation existing in
East Timor during 1999, and especially in the latter quarter of the year
in emergency relief aid including the distribution of food, medicines,
household items, clothing, children's toys etc. Timor Aid is therefore
well acquainted with the problems facing the people of the island of
Timor, and with their real needs. Some members are also well acquainted
with the needs of the Western parts of the island.
With the resignation of the former President Soeharto of Indonesia, the
political conditions allowed Timor Aid Inc. to open an affiliate office in
East Timor. Timor Aid sponsored the setting up of Yayasan Timor Aid in
Dili under Indonesian law in January 1999. Yayasan Timor Aid became the
Timor Aid project-implementing arm. By August 31, 1999 in collaboration
with local East Timorese partners, the organization had 106 micro projects
in its main priority areas of activity. For several months its 5 staff
members also provided food relief to the many internal displaced people
(IDP) by political violence in the territory sponsored by the Indonesian
military. Yayasan Timor Aid was totally obliterated by the destruction
campaign that followed the outcome of the UN-sponsored consultation, in
which the East Timorese chose to become independent. Its offices were
ransacked and burned, its staff had to flee, and its documentation was
destroyed.
