At Stanfords in London's Covent Garden, reputedly the best map shop in the world, I asked for a map of the island of Timor. 'Timor?' said a hesitant sales assistant. We crossed the floor and stood staring at shelves marked 'South East Asia'. 'Forgive me,' he said, 'where exactly is it?' 'Just north of Australia.' After a search all he could find was an aeronautical map with large blank areas stamped 'Relief Data Incomplete'. 'I have never been asked for Timor,' he said. 'Isn't that extraordinary?'

No, it isn't. East Timor is one of the world's great secrets. The Indonesian dictatorship, whose genocidal assault on the eastern half of the island has cost the lives of some 200,000 people, has done an excellent job of limiting international perceptions of its crime.

PHOTO: DAVID MUNRO

With this in mind, David Munro and I had long planned a documentary film. We wanted to pick up where Max Stahl's remarkable report of the 1991 massacre in the Santa Cruz cemetery had left off. But getting in, and out, would require enterprise. We pondered a number of eccentric subterfuges. Priests was one rejected early, followed by ornithologists, although we did acquire the latest volume of Birds of Borneo, Java and Bali and we can talk convincingly about Timor's 'curiously small parrot'.

These were overtaken by 'Adventure Tours', a firm of 'travel consultants' for which a London travel agency provided us with documents that lauded our business acumen. David and I went first, followed by Ben Jackson, a voluntary aid worker and cameraman Max Stahl. (Both Ben and Max are pseudonyms). We each carried a tiny Hi-8 video camera, which could operate from a concealed bag. We reckoned that perhaps two of us would be caught; but none of us was. Our videotape was sent out through the resistance network and carried out by David and myself, taped to our legs and crotches.

This special issue of the NI coincides with the showing of our Central Television film, Death of a Nation, the Timor Conspiracy on ITV in Britain on 22 February. It is, above all, a tribute to those in the Timorese resistance, inside and outside East Timor, who will one day set their country free. Alas, I can name only a few of them; the majority would be at risk.

So I thank warmly Jose Ramos Horta, Constancio Pinto, Abel Guterres, Jose and Fatima Gusmao, Ines Almeida, Cristiano da Costa, Jose Amorim Dias and Agio Pereira; also Carmel Budiardjo, Arnold Kohen, Shirley Shackleton, Gil Scrine, Noam Chomsky, Jim Dunn, John Taylor, Pat Walsh, Peter Carey, Michele Turner, Jill Jolliffe, Max Lane, Robert Domm, Mark Aarons, Max Stahl, Steve Cox, Paddy Kenneally, Margherita Tracanelli, Mark Curtis and Tom Hyland. They represent a roll of honour of hundreds who have refused to allow the world to forget entirely about a struggle for life and justice without parallel. Thanks also to my friends on the NI, especially David Ransom and Alan Hughes, who have published this issue with such dedication and flair.

A land of crosses
John Pilger on the international silence that has enveloped East Timor since the Indonesian invasion in 1975.

Culture of contempt
Max Lane records how democracy turned to dictatorship in Indonesia.

Simply - a brief history of East Timor

For fear of a showdown
Carmel Budiardjo tells the shameful tale of the betrayal of the East Timorese at the United Nations.

We talk with our eyes
In one of a series of testimonies, Fatima Gusmao tells how her life was utterly changed by the Indonesian invasion.

EAST TIMOR - THE FACTS

Touting for terror
The West has propped up the Indonesian dictatorship by investing in it. Mark Curtis reports on how selling arms has become a British speciality.

The darkest page
James Dunn looks into Australian complicity.

What is to be done?
East Timor action groups around the world; letter writing; further reading.

The Incredibility Gap
A 250km gap in the international fence has been breached by two powerful nations,
at great cost to East Timor. George Fisher reports.

Letters
Letter from Lagos
Update
Reviews: plus Salman Rushdie classic
Curiosities
Endpiece: by Caroline Swinburne
Country profile: Guinea-Bissau

FRONT COVER PHOTOGRAPH: YOUNG WOMAN SHOT DURING THE MASSACRE IN THE SANTA CRUZ CEMETRY, 12 NOVEMBER 1991, BY STEVE COX.
MAGAZINE DESIGNED BY ALAN HUGHES
ONLINE MAG MAINTAINED BY SIMON LOFFLER