A humanitarian worker who grew up in Welwyn Garden City has received the highest honour from the government of Timor-Leste for his work in the country.
Roy Trivedy was awarded the Order of Timor-Leste by the country’s president, His Excellency President Dr José Ramos-Horta, as recognition for his five years of work as United Nations Resident Co-ordinator for the Asian nation.
The 63-year-old, who grew up in Haldens and attended Sir Frederic Osborn School – now Ridgeway Academy – couldn't hide his pride at receiving the award.
“It’s the highest award for Timor-Leste, and is equivalent to the Legion D’Honneur in France,” Roy told the Welwyn Hatfield Times.
“It doesn’t get given out very often and especially not to people from overseas so it is a really great honour to receive it.
“It’s very rare, so for a young lad who grew up in Welwyn Garden City, it really is an incredible honour.”
The award brings to an end Roy’s incredible humanitarian career, which has seen him support the homeless and refugees in the UK, volunteer in India, work for Oxfam in Malawi and as UN Resident Co-ordinator in Papua New Guinea.
Even as he leaves Timor-Leste and enters part-time retirement, Roy spoke passionately of his work.
“My job means I am responsible for all of the UN's work in Timor-Leste, and to work with government and other partners to make sure the country develops, reduces poverty, and improves health and education,” he said.
“We are there to support them with what they need. I received this award for the services we have helped provide over the last five years, especially during the COVID-19 pandemic and devastating floods in the country.”
Timor-Leste has a long and torrid history, with the country falling under Portuguese rule in 1702 and remaining a colony until 1975.
“Timor-Leste is effectively half an island, just north of Australia and south of Indonesia. It’s a poor country, but it has an incredible history,” Roy explained.
“The country went through hundreds of years of Portuguese colonialism, and they didn’t really do much in terms of developing Timor-Leste.
“When they left in 1975, Timor became independent for the first time. But within 11 days of the Portuguese leaving, the Indonesian army invaded.”
In the decades that followed, Indonesia developed Timor-Leste, building infrastructure such as roads, schools and hospitals, but they ruled the nation with an iron fist, repressing the population with the genocide of 300,000 people.
An independence movement began, which was stoked by the 1991 Santa Cruz massacre.
During a peaceful protest at Santa Cruz Cemetry in the capital city of Dili, Indonesian forces opened fire, killing at least 250 people.
British cameraman Max Stahl was at the protest and captured footage of the massacre, which was snuck out of the country, shocking the international community and making the world aware of Timor-Leste's plight.
That support ramped up in 1997, when during his bid to become Secretary-General of the United Nations, Kofi Annan was asked about the problems in Timor.
“I don’t think it’s such a difficult question. I would ensure that the Timorese people could have a referendum to decide their own future,” he said.
Annan would be named Secretary-General and the referendum would be held in 1999, and despite pressure on the population not to vote for independence, 80 per cent did. But when the result was announced at Hotel Timor, the Indonesian militia opened fire.
Independence was officially granted in 2002, and now the country, despite still being poor, is beginning to thrive.
“It’s a small country dependent on fishing and agriculture, but it does have oil revenues and they have set up a petroleum fund which supports Timor-Leste's budget each year,” added Roy.
“One of the things we did was help the government attempt to try and diversify the economy.
“Remarkably it is now seen as the second most democratic country in the whole of Asia, after India, and has a great human rights record.”
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