Sian Powell, Jakarta – Exactly 30 years after Indonesia sent a major invasion force into East Timor, the tiny half-island has come full circle in relations with its giant neighbour: from guerilla resistance to friendly neighbourliness.

Too friendly, some critics believe. They point to the East Timor Government's failure to release a massive report on Indonesia's 24-year occupation, during which as many as 250,000 people were killed or died because of the conflict, from hunger or untreated illness.

Since gaining independence, East Timor has bent over backwards to maintain good relations with Indonesia.

One-time guerilla hero and now president Xanana Gusmao has publicly hugged an Indonesian military leader connected with the occupation – the notorious General Wiranto. An international arrest warrant for General Wiranto was stalled by the East Timorese leaders.

Now the East Timor Government's shelving of a 2500-page report by an independent organisation it established, the Commission for Reception, Truth and Reconciliation (CAVR), has angered many East Timorese.

The report recommended compensation for the East Timorese victims of Indonesian torture, rape and violence, and is believed to include a damning indictment of the Indonesian military. CAVR denies the report has been suppressed, issuing a statement this week saying it was helping Mr Gusmao to "prepare" the report for release to the international community.

But Aderito de Jesus Soares, an East Timorese lawyer, human rights advocate and former MP, yesterday demanded the immediate release of the report.

"I think the East Timorese people and the public in general have the right to know the truth," he said. "They should release it today to mark the 30th anniversary. It's a historical moment. I think it's really demoralising to see the leadership's attitude towards this."

Indonesia's massive sea and air invasion of the former Portuguese colony of East Timor 30 years ago yesterday was ordered by then President Suharto and tacitly approved in advance by Australia, the US and Britain, all fearing the birth of a communist state in southeast Asia.

The invasion began the brutal Indonesian occupation that has shaped the new nation of East Timor, where many families lost at least one person to the conflict.

Yet almost no Indonesians have been brought to book for the war crimes of the occupation or the bloody rampage and retreat that followed the independence vote in 1999.

After international pressure, Indonesia established a tribunal which tried 18 soldiers, police officers and civilians for crimes committed in East Timor. But all convictions have been overturned on appeal, bar one. And an appeal by brutal militia leader Eurico Guterres is pending in Indonesia's Supreme Court.