On Friday 23 July 1999, just three days after stepping down from his post as Deputy Prime Minister and Minister for Trade, Tim Fischer MP received a phone call. The Foreign Minister was on the line. Would Tim lead Australia's official mission to observe the ballot that would determine East Timor's future?
Four and a half weeks later he was on a RAAF flight to Dili.
'Seven Days in East Timor' is Tim Fischer's story. In it he tells the reader what he saw, what he thought and what he felt as he led the All Party Australian delegation through one of the most tumultuous events in recent Southeast Asian history. Violence, hope, deception, faith and a people's quiet determination to have their say whatever the cost; these are some of the ingredients of one man's personal account of the agony that accompanied the birth of an independent East Timor.
Tim Fischer, "the man in the hat from Boree Creek", has had a deep interest in Asia - from international trade to mountain climbing in Bhutan - for the whole of his career. This, and his personal qualities, made him the right man for the job in East Timor in 1999.
Royalties from this book will be donated to charities engaged in rebuilding East Timor, commencing with the Caritas movement.
