Mohammed Abdur Rahman

Mohammed Abdur Rahman, UNTAET ‘Operation Tanager’ East Timor 2000.

Mohammed Abdur Rahman is an Australian Regular Army veteran who deployed as part of the United Nations Transitional Administration in East Timor (UNTAET) ‘Operation Tanager’ with the 6th Battalion, Royal Australian Regiment (6 RAR) in April 2000.

Rahman was born in Bangladesh and emigrated to Australia when he was 21. Early on in his arrival to Australia, he realised he had a strong affinity to this country, its people, and values, which he characterised in 5 parts which makes someone, as he describes, ‘true-blue’.

‘They are the Westminster system democracy, sportsmanship, defence of our nation, the community spirit, and a fair go’.

These true-blue values and feelings of national pride led Rahman to join the Australian Defence Force (ADF) as an Australian Army reservist at the ripe old age of 35 in late 1998.

As tensions were rising in East Timor, the Australian Government put out the call for reservists to volunteer for active service. After discussions with his wife and civilian workplace, Rahman left his job and joined 6 RAR. He underwent 6 months of training before deploying to East Timor with UNTAET in 2000. 

Late at night on 20 June, his base was attacked by militia.

‘In the middle of the night, in a place called Aidabasalala, my platoon was attacked by the enemy. At the time this was the fiercest attack on an Australian military outpost. The smell of grenades and rounds of ammunition fired into the compound was still in the air.

‘The day I took on Australian citizenship, I was promised to my land. I was promised to my country. But the day grenades blew up, and we were surrounded by automatic and semi-automatic gunfire, that day validated my citizenship, and I became an Australian.

On his time as part of UNTAET in East Timor, Rahman had this to say.

‘We delivered humanitarian aid to the malnourished people. We helped build the new dwellings and schools which had been destroyed by the militia rampage. We conducted health clinics for disadvantaged people and delivered babies. We brought the people essential self-care skills, such as carpentry and English language. We injected a massive dose of happiness and confidence to the people.

‘We kept the militia at bay. You're not mucking around with us. You challenge us, and it’s coming at a cost.’

As Rahman’s deployment was drawing to an end, he reflected on some of the more standout moments of his time in East Timor.

‘All soldiers remember just before coming home. I was at the top of a tower in a place called Batugade, at the end of the operation, overlooking Indonesian soldiers. We’re looking at another tower, on the other side of the border, and one of the soldiers looked at me and he showed me something in the paddock in front of us, and said do you see something in the paddock? The green grass is growing. It meant to me, in that moment, that Spring is coming, and the grass is growing, which means we’re going home. I still remember the way he described it to me.’

Rahman shared some of the moments etched in his memory of his final day in East Timor.

‘As we’re ready to go home all I can see is long columns of Land Rover vehicles, nearly over a kilometre long. This is the biggest victory lap I’ve ever seen. The dust of the road is flying, the sounds, the soldiers inside don’t talk. I just saw the eye-contact with each other, because this is a time of reflection. It’s something I’ll never forget. The Australian flag is flying beside each vehicle; every village you pass during your journey, the Timorese people are smiling at you. It was nearly 2 hours long, after leaving Tonobibi, the last base, before coming to Dili, ready to go on Jervis Bay and head to Darwin… We’re going home.’

In recent years, through a love of caravaning, Rahman has travelled extensively across the country with his family, with every stop along the way reminding him of his strong commitment to service.

‘Every country town in this country, regardless of if 20 people live there, has a cenotaph. Every family has some link with Defence. Their grandfathers, their uncles, their neighbours, their teachers, their employers, everyone is linked. It is unbelievable. It is a centre of gravity of our society.’

Looking back on his military service, particularly in East Timor, Rahman’s sense of pride is apparent to this day, and hasn’t diminished one iota over the past 25 years.

‘The first thing that comes to mind is a smile. The history of this operation is extraordinary. Australians helped plant a new nation in the 21st century. A new country on the world map, and it’s called Timor-Leste. We’re all proud of our operation. Every soldier.’

Source: DVA interview with Mohammed Abdur Rahman, August 2024.