East Timor – It is a quiet afternoon in Lospalos.

Just the clucking of chickens, the grunt of a pig and in the distance, a transistor radio playing Portuguese reggaeton; a typical small-town soundtrack in this country of 1.4 million people situated in the Timor Sea between Indonesia and Australia’s northern territories.

In the living room of her home, Berta dos Santos recalled the day in December 1975 when the Indonesian army brutally breached Lospalos’s tranquillity.

“They came down by parachute and started shooting,” dos Santos told Al Jazeera, recounting the attack on the rural town located some 210km (130 miles) east of the capital, Dili.

Dos Santos was only a child, but along with others, she ran to hide in the nearby mountains. The invading Indonesian forces were determined to f

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