East Timor At The Crossroads

In a rapidly changing post-Cost War world, where many age-old conflicts and injustices are at last being put to rights, East Timor stands out as a still unresolved tragedy. In the past twenty years (1975–95), this former Portuguese colony has been under Indonesian military occupation, an occupation responsible for the death of over 200,000 of its inhabitants (a third of its pre-1975 population) and the destruction of much of its indigenous society. Yet, despite enormous odds, the people of East Timor continue to fight for the independence which was denied them in the mid-1970s. Twenty years on, there is now a very real chance for a new beginning in East Timor. This book, which brings together contributions by both East Timorese and Western specialists of East Timor, provides a compelling account of the process by which a once isolated and traditional society has been forged into a nation with a deep sense of its own identity rooted it its unique religious, cultural, linguistic, and historical heritage. Indonesia is at last beginning to realize the cost of Third World colonialism, and its Western allies are becoming less tolerant of its ‘security state’ methods. The last section of this book considers the new diplomatic initiatives which are currently in train, under the auspices of the UN, to bring about a resolution to the Timor problem without jeopardizing the integrity of the Indonesian Republic. An extensive bibliography of titles on East Timor published between 1970 and 1994 will prove especially useful for scholars.

Since 1974, East Timor has been under Indonesian military occupation. Yet, despite the deaths of one third of the population, East Timorese have fought for independence. This work provides accounts of the process by which the former Portuguese colony.

This atlas highlights the specific features and characteristics of the new country of East Timor. Using statistical documentary resources available since the colonial period, its 136 colorful maps show how material constraints and local, regional, and world stakes have shaped Timor's destiny, both past and present. On May 20, 2002, East Timor gained independence under the name of Timor Leste or Timor Lorosa'e: Sunrise Timor. This insular ethno-linguistic mosaic wedged between Southeast Asia and Oceania had been a colony of Portugal for four centuries before it was invaded by Indonesian forces in 1975. Frederic Durand teaches geography at Toulouse II-Le Mirail University, France. He is the author of Catholicism and Protestantism in the Island of Timor and other works on Southeast Asia, the Malay world, and Indonesia.

The Democratic Republic of Timor-Leste, a former Portuguese colony occupied by Indonesia from 1975 to 1999, became in 2002 the first new sovereign state of the twenty-first century. Its modern nationhood belies its ancient history. Archaeological data found on the island can be traced back at least 42,000 years, beyond most ancient European artifacts. The book provides an engaging overview of the history of the country from the earliest legends and first traces of human habitation through the defining events that led to independence. The text is richly illustrated with over two hundred maps, engravings, and photographs. A detailed historical time line follows the text.

Originally colonized by the Portuguese, East Timor was brutally invaded and occupied by Indonesian military forces in 1975. According to the UN, this resulted in the death of about a third of the population through massacres, starvation and disease. Subsequent events in Indonesia, however, have given rise to expectations of a fundamental change in its position on East Timor. Considering the potential for change against a backdrop of growing popular and political support for the Timorese cause, this book addresses its emergence as an issue of global importance. The authors set out to show how local, grassroots, individual, organizational and campaign initiatives have contributed to this state of affairs, in the context of an increased international-relations emphasis on ethics, international morality and human rights.

This book examines the history of political continuity and conflict in East Timor between 1974 and 2006, and the origins of an unexpected crisis in 2006 which caused an international military intervention and several more years of UN missions. Providing a fresh and empirical political history to explain the crisis, the book offers new dimensions to the understanding of East Timor, its independence struggles, political transition and politics after independence in 2002. The author revisits historical materials and brings to light new resources, making extensive use of the 2005 Report of the Commission for Reception, Truth and Reconciliation and contemporary diplomatic, UN and news media reports, to provide a precise context and chronology for the events in 2006. The book provides an analysis within which factors such as ethnic and inter-communal violence, security sector weaknesses and conflict between the army and police, the constitution and legal system, state-building and peace-building can be located in the larger context of the 2006 crisis. Demonstrating how and why, in the space of four weeks in April and May 2006, the newly independent country of Timor-Leste plunged from ‘UN success story’ into catastrophe, this book will be of interest to academics working on Southeast Asian Politics, Southeast Asian history, Development Studies and Nation-, State- and Peace-Building and International Relations.