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Dili Days: An Informal Acquisitions Trip to East Timor

Anya Dettman
Curbside bookseller, Dili

Campaign poster for presidential candidate Francisco ‘Lu Olo’ Guterres promising ‘A president from the people, for all the people’

Campaign poster for Jose Ramos-Horta, with a reminder of his Nobel Peace Prize

Anya Dettman
Former political prisoner Maria Benfica ponders a book written by fellow prisoners

Anya Dettman
Living Memory staff member Olga Amaral (with her young assistant) processing the new books for the Living Memory library

Anya Dettman
The Venture Hotel in Dili, constructed from shipping containers but surprisingly pleasant


Anya Dettman
A queue of voters near Los Palos, waiting for the polling booths to open

East Timor has long been a country of interest for many Australians and academic research on the country is increasing, making it an important collecting area for the NLA. However, it has always been difficult to obtain material published there, apart from a few newspapers received through the Australian Embassy in Dili. With this in mind, I decided when I returned to East Timor in April as a volunteer for an oral history project there that I would also use some time to acquire books for the Library. Fortuitously, my visit coincided with the presidential election held on 9 April, and as project director Jill Jolliffe is also a well-known Australian journalist who would be reporting on the elections, it seemed a wonderful opportunity to add to the Library’s unique collection of East Timorese political ephemera as well. However, the influx of observers for the election meant that the only accommodation available for us was a hotel constructed from shipping containers!

The small publishing industry that does exist in East Timor is complicated immensely by the language issue. More than a dozen indigenous (and mutually unintelligible) languages are spoken on this tiny island. Newspapers and journals have articles in at least two languages (chosen from Portuguese, Indonesian, English or Tetun, an East Timorese language) to try to capture as wide an audience as possible, but the reality is that much of the population has low levels of literacy in any language. Most publishing is done by small non-government organisations, the National University of East Timor, foreign aid agencies or the Church. Distribution is limited and very few bookshops exist. Obtaining books usually requires the hire of a taxi and a painstaking tour around Dili to visit all the likely suppliers, and magazines are bought off ragged boys in the street. I was able to buy the official Tetun dictionary, a new magazine and several books on Timorese history.

The presidential election was shadowed by the memory of the political violence of 2006, but despite some irregularities the first round of voting was mostly peaceful, and eager voters queued up well before the polling stations opened at 7 am. The election aroused a great deal of excitement and passion, and all the Timorese we met (including, inevitably, the taxi drivers) were keen to give us their considered opinion on the candidates’ respective merits. As a result it was initially hard to obtain election material, as the campaign offices had run out. We soon realised in this highly politicised climate that removing posters from walls might be misinterpreted as support for rival factions, which could lead to some nasty consequences. Fortunately, quite by chance we discovered the office of the UNDP (United Nations Development Programme)-supported voter education program. In an amazing coincidence, a former NLA employee, Joanne Cheah, was working there and was delighted to pass on copies of everything that was left, as did the very helpful Sophie Khan at the political parties’ resource centre. We obtained paper and digital copies of campaign posters of all the candidates, how-to-vote information, and political pamphlets.

As part of my work for Jill’s ‘Living Memory’ project, she asked me to assist with the establishment of a small lending library for the project’s participants. ‘Living Memory’ records the experiences of former political prisoners, many of whom are now in poor health and suffer from social isolation and economic disadvantage. The NLA has generously offered to assist with a future donation of Indonesian language books and magazines through the Jakarta regional office, which will contribute considerably to making the library a viable operation. After a whirlwind buying spree with the staff through the streets of Dili to snap up what we could, the books and CDs were borrowed at once by the eager staff, reflecting both the hunger for knowledge and the economic inaccessibility of most books in East Timor. What was humbling for me was their reactions to a lavish coffee-table book on East Timor. I had forgotten that most of them would never have seen a book of this type nor known how beautiful books can be. They slowly savoured each page, proud to see their country finally represented in its splendour rather than in its poverty and violence. Two books by fellow prisoners describing their past experiences also evoked a very emotional response. Those of us who are privileged to work with books everyday sometimes forget the power they can have to move us, and the positive experiences that libraries can give.

Anya Dettman
Asian Collections