On the Politics of Memory

Afonso Savio and Commander Falu Cai were active members of the Resistance. Their respective deaths took place in times of extreme hardship, surrounded by controversy regarding circumstances and culpability. When Timor-Leste regained independence, clouds of doubt hung over their memories, preventing them from being honoured as true heroes of the liberation. Their families mounted strategies to fight those contested memories and to establish a hegemonic narrative that restored their martyrdom to the national pantheon of heroes. Funerary arrangements and memorials were organized to enshrine their new condition. More than material gains, it is argued that the driving force behind their families’ efforts was a goal of obtaining recognition of a specific social status in a highly hierarchical society.