DILI, 28 october 2021 (TATOLI) – Prime Minister Taur Matan Ruak, on behalf of the Government of Timor-Leste, expressed his deepest condolences over the passing of the British Journalist, Christopher Wenner, better known as ‘Max Stahl, who died today at the age of 66, in Brisbane, Australia.
“On behalf of the government and the people of Timor-Leste, I extend my deepest condolences to the family, friends, and the loved ones of Max Stahl. We have lost another fellow journalist. Our thoughts and prayers are with the family and friends of Max Stahl,” Ruak made the comments after meeting the President of the Republic, Francisco Guterres ‘Lu Olo’ at the Palace of the President, in Dili, today.
PM Taur said Max Stahl’s contribution to the struggle of the nation was immense and significant: “Through Max Stahl’s footage of Massacre Santa Cruz in 1991, giving international community, the information about the suffering of the people in Timor-Leste.”
During the Indonesian occupation, Max Stahl had a close relationship with the FALINTIL guerrillas in the bushes and forests, where he conducted heaps of interviews with the guerrillas’ commanders, including Commander David Alex Daitula.
To honor his immense and significant contribution, Max Stahl was granted Timorese citizenship in 2009.
Ruak said according to the information he received so far from the family, the body of Max Stahl would be cremated in accordance with Max Stahl’s religion, adding after that then his ashes would be transported to Timor-Leste.
Max Stahl’s biography
Christopher Wenner, who is better known as Max Stahl, was born on the 6th of December, in 1954, in the United Kingdom. He spent his whole life as a journalist and war correspondent.
Max Stahl was one of the European journalists to bravely set his foot in East Timor, in 1991, where international journalists were banned from entering the territory.
After entering and living in the country for a few weeks, on November 12, 1991, Max Stahl documented one of the most dramatic and histrionic moments of the country: the massacre in the Santa Cruz cemetery, in Dili. The footage and images of the massacre were spread across the globe and changed forever the history of the nation.
After East Timor rejected the Indonesian government’s offer of a new autonomous with 78.5 percent votes, Max Stahl returned to Timor-Leste and it was then that he adopted the name of Max Stahl, for safety reasons.
A year later (2000), Max Stahl received the Rory Peck Award, given to freelance camera operators who risk their lives to cover and report on newsworthy events. This was only one of the many awards that he has received for his work on war zones.
To ensure his products be remembered forever, Max Stahl established the Max Stahl Timor Leste Audiovisual Centre (CAMSTL), where he keeps his footage archive of the last 25 years. That archive, with 5 thousand hours of video, was considered by UNESCO as Memory of the World Register, and is now subject to works of preservation and dissemination, for teaching and education purposes, within the framework of the cooperation agreement established between the University of Coimbra, the National University of Timor-Leste (UNTL) and the CAMSTL, said in Coimbra University’s website.
In 2009, Max Stahl was granted Timorese citizenship to honor his immense and significant contribution to the auto-determination of the nation.
“In December 2016, the ground-breaking documentary of Max Stahl, “A Língua, A Luta, A Nação” (The Language, the Fight, the Nation), produced with the support of UC, was premiered in the Gil Vicente Academic Theatre during the event “Timor: images and words that changed the world.” said in the website of the University of Coimbra.
On 22 November 2019, Max Stahl was awarded the Order of Timor-Leste by the President of the Republic, Francisco Guterres ‘LuOlo’.
Max Stahl was pronounced dead by his wife Dr. Ingrid. He died at the age of 66, today (28/10), in Australia around 4.30am Brisbane local time, after battling cancer for years.
In april 2012, it was reported that Max Stahl had been receiving treatment for throat cancer.
Max Stahl has four children with his wife Dr. Ingrid, including Mali, Leo, Ben, and Burnaby.
RelevantNews: http://www.tatoli.tl/en/2021/10/28/british-journalist-max-stahl-dies-aged-66/
Journalist: Nelson Sousa
Editor: Cancio Ximenes
Translation: Filomeno Martins
Editor: Nelia Borges Rosario
