This chapter examines the way martyrs of the independence struggle
are remembered in the independent nation of Timor-Leste. It examines
the changing nature of definitions of martyrdom during the Portuguese
and Indonesian colonial eras, and beyond independence, through an
examination of changing patterns of memorialisation, commemoration,
and cultural heritage. It also examines how the concept of martyrdom
has becomes a site of struggles for official recognition in the postindependence
state, with frequently strong distinctions between the
type of state recognition afforded to military resistance veterans, and to
civilian victims of human rights abuses.
