Passabe

Passabe is a small village in Suco Abani (Passabe Administrative Post, Oecusse-Ambeno) in Timor-Leste, near the Indonesian border. It was the site of a massacre of East Timorese by pro-Indonesia militias in the follow-up to the 1999 referendum for Timor-Leste’s independence.

In media

A documentary film, Passabe, directed by James Leong and Lynn Lee, was produced.¹ The film documents the lives of several Passabe residents five years after the violence, including the life of a former militia member, and documented the ways in which the community has come to terms with what happened.¹

In January 2006, the film was banned at the Jakarta International Film Festival.²

References

"Anger and accolades for Timor expose". South China Morning Post. 12 April 2006. Retrieved 25 May 2026.
S'pore film on Timorese village banned at Jakarta Film Festival, Valarie Tan, Channel NewsAsia 04 Jan 2006 (Internet archive stored page)

9°21′51″S 124°20′36″E / 9.36417°S 124.34333°E / -9.36417; 124.34333

[:0-1] "Anger and accolades for Timor expose". South China Morning Post. 12 April 2006. Retrieved 25 May 2026.

[2] S'pore film on Timorese village banned at Jakarta Film Festival, Valarie Tan, Channel NewsAsia 04 Jan 2006 (Internet archive stored page)

1

2