(15 Jan 2001) English/Nat
XFA
The inaugural meeting of the Timorese Journalists association was held in Dili on Saturday.

More than 150 journalists from East Timor and Indonesia attended.

At the end of the meeting they agreed to build an independent and free press, however fears were expressed that reporting local issues could lead to tensions in the local community.

The journalists were offered the protection of the Timor Lorosae Journalists' association who organised the five day gathering.

The meeting also decided to seek accreditation with the South East Asian Press Alliance, based in Bangkok.

On Saturday the journalists opened a new road in Dili called Press Freedom Avenue.

The Dutch journalist Sander Thoenes was killed on the same road in 1999, by a group of people wearing Indonesian military uniforms.

In the town of Bilibo on Sunday, journalists inaugurated a memorial to five Australian journalists killed in 1975.

They were covering the invasion of the former Portuguese colony by Indonesia.

SOUNDBITE: (English)
"The Timorese journalists association is in negotiations with the Chief, and the people here, to get this place, to preserve it, maybe to establish it as a memorial for Greg Shackleton , and especially for journalists as a memorial to press freedom will be included as part of journalism museum in East Timor."
SUPER CAPTION: Virgilio Guterres, East Timorese Journalist

SOUNDBITE: (English)
"What we are doing here today is saying that peoples lives do matter, that in fact as Greg did say, I don't think that he knew he was about to die, but he had a saying, it's better to light one candle than forever curse the darkness, and what we're doing here today is lighting a candle, and we're forgetting that we're East Timorese journalists, weather we're Australian Journalists or American journalists, we're all scribes."
SUPER CAPTION: Bernadell Conose, Australian Journalist and Friend of Australian Greg Shackleton

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