East Timor campaigner Tom Hyland was remembered for his compassion, empathy and human rights record at his funeral Mass in Ballyfermot church in Dublin on Saturday. The former bus driver set up the East Timor Ireland Solidarity Campaign in 1992, and campaigned tirelessly until a 1999 United Nations referendum ended 24 years of Indonesian military occupation of the southeast Asia nation.
President Michael D Higgins and his wife Sabina attended the Mass, which was led by parish priest Father Adrian Egan.
The 800-strong gathering at the Church of our Lady of the Assumption heard warm tributes from family and friends to the local man for his dedication to the East Timor and Palestine causes, his (sometimes mischievous) humour, compassion, popularity, and his empathy. President Higgins did not speak but he has before hailed the human rights record of an old friend.
A group of musicians and singers performed. Symbols of former bus worker Hyland were brought to the altar: a picture of a 51 bus, a Timorese flag, a 1999 Rehab “People of the Year Award”, a toy dog and a bouquet to note his love of animals and nature.
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Joe Murray of Afri (Action from Ireland) said travelling on the back of Hyland’s Honda 50 in Dili, Timor’s capital, was like being with a celebrity because of the many greetings along the way for “Papa Tom”. Father Egan spoke of Hyland’s unassuming nature: “Tom would have hated all this fuss.”
At a reception afterwards President José Ramos-Horta of Timor-Leste spoke in a heartfelt video counting Hyland among several international heroes and friends of Timor’s struggle for independence, which came after a 1999 UN referendum. He said Hyland had “turned his life upside down in a positive way for Timor-Leste.”
He included “the immortal Max Stahl”, whose smuggled-out film of the Santa Cruz cemetery massacre of perhaps 100 young mourners was crucial in ending Indonesia’s 24-year military occupation of the former Portuguese colony. Hyland founded the East Timor Ireland Solidarity Campaign the day after seeing Stahl’s film in a late John Pilger TV documentary.
The Nobel laureate said: “We will never forget them.” It was “very painful seeing someone slowly departing from Timor-Leste and this world.” Hyland died on Christmas Eve after a long illness.
Hosted by RTÉ’s Joe Duffy, the reception at Ballyfermot Community Civic Centre recalled Hyland through music and reflections from family and friends in Ireland and abroad. Among the musicians was local friend of Hyland Declan O’Rourke and whistle player Cormac Breatnach.
Representatives of the Timor-Leste and Portuguese embassies attended, as did Denis Halliday, former outspoken UN assistant secretary-general under Kofi Annan. A tribute from the former senator David Norris was heard.
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