Dr Andrew McNaughtan's Story

Human rights activist

Supporters of justice and human rights all over the world lost a committed and valuable ally when Australian physician Dr Andrew McNaughtan died unexpectedly at the age of 49 in his Sydney home in December 2003.

For East Timor, the loss was especially painful, both because of the effective work Andrew did to advance the independence of East Timor, and for the equally effective work he would have done in the future to support justice and economic independence for the new country.

Andrew was born in 1954 in Sydney, the only son of June Gram, an environmentalist who helped save bushland in Mosman. He attended Sydney Grammar. Andrew began adult life as a welder and a motorcycle racer, but after a bike accident decided to complete his HSC and go to medical school at UNSW. On completion of his degree in 1983 he spent a year in Nicaragua as a volunteer doctor and worked in Britain.

In November 1991 Andrew was working with indigenous people at Katherine hospital when he heard about the Santa Cruz massacre in Dili where hundreds were killed by the Indonesian military who had invaded and occupied the country in 1975. Andrew began to lobby passionately for the self-determination of East Timor. In 1993 he moved to Darwin where he joined Australians for a Free East Timor (AFFET) and made his first trip to the half-island.

Andrew’s home in Darwin played an important role in supporting solidarity activists, students, journalists and photographers who stayed there on their way to and from East Timor. AFFET activists lived in this house and many meetings were held, actions planned, and posters, banners and t-shirts designed and painted.

In 1994 Andrew spent two weeks in East Timor. He interviewed and filmed Bishop Belo who confirmed that there was a second massacre after the Santa Cruz massacre. This footage was used in Max Stahl’s documentary about the Bishop: Sometimes I must Speak out Strongly. Andrew interviewed students who had participated in university riots which occurred during his visit and also filmed a man who had been injured in the Dili massacre then tortured. He received a lot of press from this visit including an interview with a US radio station.

In 1995 alongside a conference on East Timor and West Papua held in Darwin Andrew organised a brilliant exhibition of photos from the War Memorial of Australian soldiers in East Timor in World War II and also obtained testimonials from Darwin Timorese who had assisted the Australian army at that time. Andrew later accompanied two of them to Japan so they could speak at the ‘War Crimes Compensation Forum’ in order to raise awareness about Japanese abuses in East Timor. Andrew again visited Timor in 1995 to investigate the situation only to be deported, the first of many times.

Andrew participated in the APCET (Asia-Pacific Coalition for East Timor) conferences, and his phone played a crucial role in maintaining media contact when attendees at the APCET II conference were arrested by Malaysian police in 1996.

In 1996 Andrew moved back to Sydney where he became the convenor of the Australia-East Timor Association (AETA).  (His house in Darwin continued to be rented to AFFET members at mates’ rates.)

In 1997 he also became Information Officer for the East Timor International Support Centre (ETISC).  He produced the influential ETISC brochure Human Rights Violations in East Timor which included many photos of torture that had been smuggled out of the country. This publication was distributed widely, forcing many to acknowledge the crimes being committed in Timor.

From his own money he made many sets of a new exhibition which included photos from the 25 years of occupation and sent the sets around the world. When it was exhibited at Canberra’s Parliament House in 1997, the government changed the title from Your Friends Will Not Forget You to A History of East Timor in World War II, and photos showing events after 1975 were censored, and could only be shown at a local church.

In 1998 Andrew started sending AUD 1,000 per month to Falintil, the Timorese guerrilla resistance, until the referendum in August 1999. He also provided money to the leader Xanana Gusmão when he was in jail in Jakarta. That year on another trip to East Timor Andrew travelled with and filmed the Student Solidarity Council conducting Student Dialogues around the country, the first public meetings to call for self-determination. This footage is included in a film Andrew made - Viva Timor Leste.

In October 1998, Indonesia was claiming to be withdrawing troops from East Timor. From a clandestine member in the Indonesian military (TNI)’s personnel office, Andrew obtained more than 100 pages of documents proving that actual troop deployments were much higher than Jakarta claimed, and increasing. He obtained expert analysis of these documents, and coordinated simultaneous release of the information in London, Washington, Jakarta and Canberra to expose Jakarta’s lies, putting the global media spotlight on the post-Suharto military occupation.

Andrew’s articulate, strategic and persistent advocacy of East Timor’s case with Australian media and politicians was critical to laying the groundwork for Canberra’s belated 1999 conversion to support East Timor.

During the 1999 referendum Andrew was again in East Timor, providing money and other assistance to enable people targeted by the TNI/militia to escape to safety, and compiling information about the militias to inform the UN, journalists, officials and activists worldwide. He and other activists took sample ballot papers across the island to distribute and on August 30th some of these were discovered in his car by the Indonesian police near Suai and he was deported for the last time.

Back home in Sydney he was a key player in mobilising domestic and international support for a UN-sponsored force to go to the aid of the Timorese and was invited to the Chinese embassy in Canberra for discussions when they were deciding whether they should vote in the Security Council to send peacekeepers into East Timor.

Andrew returned to Timor-Leste soon after InterFET went in. He helped InterFET understand the historical and political context of the country they had just arrived to “save.”  Before they had crossed the island to Suai, Andrew went to deliver food and film and report the massacre and devastation there.

He worked with the NGO Timor Aid, helped Timorese friends with personal problems, and educated himself and many others on new challenges facing East Timor -- especially pursuing justice for Indonesian perpetrators of crimes against humanity, and preventing Australia from stealing the majority of East Timor’s oil and gas resources. Among other projects, he worked with journalist HT Lee to produce the video Don’t Rob Their Future: Give them a Fair Go.

Although thousands of East Timorese people suffered more and took greater risks than any solidarity activist ever could, the struggle for their country was forced upon them. Andrew took it on voluntarily, from his deep sense of shared humanity. East Timorese Ambassador to Australia Abel Guterres said ‘Andrew was one of those very special people whose dedication to the struggle of East Timor was tireless.’

People like Andrew McNaughtan, who gave up their careers and spent much personal money to participate in East Timor’s struggle against injustice, are rare treasures who cannot be replaced.

Story compiled from a number of obituaries written after Andy’s death.

Click to visit the UNSW website for a wonderful tribute to Andrew’s life by his friend, Jude Conway.