National Resistance of East Timorese Students

[1] RENETIL was established on June 20, 1988, in Denpasar, Bali, Indonesia, by ten East Timorese students[2] led by Fernando de Araújo as General Secretary.

Originally it was supposed to take place with the stopover of the Portuguese Parliament delegation en route to East Timor, but the trip was cancelled.

[8] In addition, one began to infiltrate the East Timor Association of University and High School Students [de] (Indonesian: Ikatan Mahasiswa dan Pelajar Timor Timur (IMPETTU) (also IMPETU)), the state Indonesian-East Timorese student organization.

RENETIL began to circumvent this measure by gradually changing the individual IMPETTU chapters from 1996 onwards to their official status and their political programs towards supporters of East Timor's independence.

From September 1996, the IMPETTU local chapters placed themselves under the leadership and coordination of RENETIL Deputy General Secretary Mariano Sabino Lopes.

On December 7, 1995, students from RENETIL, IMPETTU and the Associação Socialista Timorense AST demonstrated together in front of the embassies of the Netherlands and Russia in Jakarta.

They were able to ensure that the representative of the UN Secretary-General, Jamsheed Marker, to meet the imprisoned FALINTIL leader Xanana Gusmão during his stopover in Jakarta on his way to East Timor.

While IMPETTU brought together East Timorese students from all over Indonesia for sports competitions, seminars and cultural festivals, RENETIL organized political meetings.

[11] On behalf of RENETIL, Mariano Sabino Lopes called on June 6, 1998, for a conference of the regional heads of IMPETTU.

[12] On June 12, the largest East Timor demonstration in Indonesia took place in front of the Foreign Ministry building in Jakarta.

After a last wave of violence and the intervention of the international protection force INTERFET, the United Nations took over administration and finally released East Timor into independence in 2002.

Fernando de Araújo, Lucas da Costa (Rama Metan), José Ave Maria X. Gonçalves (Si'ak), Júlio Abel Ribeiro (Tae Tudak), Marciano Octavio Garcia da Silva (Sury Sakar Subar), João Araújo (Mau-Terus), Adolpho Fontes (Mau Lamas), João Cardoso Fernandes (Mau Riba), Carlos da Silva Lopes (Saky) und Agapito Cardoso (Mau-Laco).