DILI, 16 October 2025 (TATOLI) – The Minister of the Presidency of the Council of Ministers, Agio Pereira, representing the Prime Minister, joined representatives of the diplomatic corps, Timorese and international journalists, local authorities, relatives of the victims, and members of the community on Thursday to mark the 50th anniversary of the assassination of the Balibó Five and to celebrate National Press Freedom Day. The commemoration took place on October 16, 2025, in Balibó, Bobonaro municipality.
The event, held in collaboration between the Government of Timor-Leste, the Press Council, and the Balibó House Trust Foundation, featured speeches by Minister Agio Pereira, Steve Bracks, Patron of the Balibó House Trust, the Ambassadors of New Zealand and Australia to Timor-Leste, Helen Tunnah and Caitlin Wilson, respectively, the President of the Press Council, Antonio Moniz Mali, and the President of the Bobonaro Municipal Authority, Paulo Moniz Maia.
The program includes traditional welcome ceremonies, moments of reflection and tribute, a mass in memory of the victims, journalism awards, and various cultural and community activities.
The celebrations continued throughout last week, including the launch of Balibo 5 Community Radio, a seminar entitled “National Reflection on the Role of the Media in Resistance and National Development”, a fair on the theme of “Freedom”, as well as cultural presentations and other initiatives open to the community.
In his speech, Minister Agio Pereira evoked the legacy of the five Australian journalists — Greg Shackleton, Tony Stewart, Brian Peters, Malcolm Rennie and Gary Cunningham — killed in Balibo on October 16th, 1975, and Roger East, executed in Dili weeks later. He emphasised that “fifty years ago, five young journalists in Balibo, and one in Dili, stood between silence and the world. They chose truth and paid with their lives. Today, we remember them not as distant figures, but as echoes of our responsibility — we must speak out, demand, act”. Screenshot 2025-10-16 114029
The Minister also emphasised that the deaths of the “Balibo Five” and Roger East “are not mere footnotes in history”, as “they remain wounds on our conscience”, recalling the collective duty to preserve memory and ensure that the truth is never again silenced. “The legacy of the Five of Balibó is inseparable from the history of Timor-Leste — from its struggle for independence, from the regional politics that shaped its destiny, and from the international search for truth amid violence and denial,” he stated.
Agio Pereira concluded his speech by calling for ‘this 50th anniversary not to be a mere ceremony, but rather a renewal: of memory, of commitment and of determination to honour those who died, ensuring that no voice for truth is silenced again’.
During the ceremony, flower wreaths will be laid at the Flag House, where the journalists were killed, followed by a candlelight vigil, a mass presided over by the Bishop of Maliana, and the screening of a commemorative video about the 50th anniversary of the tragedy. The Timor-Leste Press Council and the Balibó House Trust Foundation will also present the annual journalism awards, in honour of the commitment to truth, justice and freedom of expression.
Ambassador Wilson said: “On the 50th anniversary of their deaths, we mourn the loss of Greg Shackleton, Tony Stewart, Gary Cunningham, Brian Peters and Malcolm Rennie – five Australian-based journalists who were killed while reporting from Balibo during the Indonesian invasion of East Timor in 1975.”
“We also mourn the loss of Roger East, an Australian journalist who was killed later that year in Dili after investigating the deaths of the Balibo Five,” she said.
Wilson stressed that the Australian Government acknowledges the profound grief their families, friends and colleagues have carried for 50 years, “we honour the way they have kept their memory alive.”
The Australian Embassy in Timor-Leste has been working closely with the Balibo House Trust to support a memorial event in Balibo on 16 October.
Journalist: Camilio de Sousa
Editor: Filomeno Martins
