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History :
In May 2002, after 450
years of continuous foreign occupation, East Timor became the world’s
newest independent state. The island of Timor lies towards the eastern
end of the chain of Indonesian islands running from Malaya, through
Sumatra and Java, to new Guinea. The island is divided into two parts.
Most of the western half remains part of Indonesia. The
eastern half forms the bulk of the national territory of Timor, with
its capital, Dili, on the northern coast, a small enclave in the
western half around the town of Oecussi, and the small island of
Atauro, 30km (19 miles) north of Dili.
The pre-occupation history of Timor is sketchy. The migration of
various peoples along the South-East Asian monsoon track from
northwest to southeast evidently led to the population of the island
by a civilisation that had no written records but worked in iron and
had a relatively sophisticated system of agriculture. The island was
linked into a regional trading system centred on Java, which extended
as far as China and India. The Portuguese
first arrived on the island in the early 16th century and by the 1550s
had occupied the eastern part. The Dutch took control of the western
part, which became part of the Dutch East Indies and, after
independence, Indonesia.
During World War II, Portugal, then governed by a fascist
dictatorship, was formally neutral - a status which extended to its
colonies. However, this did not prevent allied units from moving into
East Timor at the end of 1941, apparently to pre-empt a Japanese
invasion. The Japanese did indeed invade, in February 1942, defeating
the combined Dutch/Australian forces and occupying the territory until
its liberation in 1945. Portugal regained possession and remained in
control until the 1974 Portuguese Revolution. In 1975, the new
left-wing Portuguese government relinquished all of its colonies. East
Timor then enjoyed just a few days of independence, before the
Indonesians, who had long coveted the territory, annexed it as their
27th province. There was little local resistance and the international
community largely acquiesced. The main Timorese independence movement,
FRETILIN (Frente Revolucionario de Este Timor Independente), which was
originally formed to fight the Portuguese, now had to gear up again to
combat a new and even more brutal occupier. In the savage
counter-insurgency campaign that followed, the Indonesian army killed
over 100,000 East Timorese.
With the capture in 1992 of the legendary FRETILIN leader, Xanana
Gusmão, the prospects for the movement appeared bleak. It was not
until the 1997 Asian economic crisis and the subsequent removal of
veteran Indonesian President Suharto (see Indonesia section) that the
growing international criticism of the Indonesian campaign began to
have some effect. In June 1999, President Habibie of Indonesia
suddenly announced that a referendum would be held in East Timor,
offering independence or autonomy within Indonesia. The referendum was
held in August 1999 and 80 per cent opted for independence. By way of
revenge, the Indonesian army, along with local militias that they had
armed and financed, indulged in an orgy of destruction and killing
that displaced hundreds of thousands of people and destroyed the
territory’s already fragile economic base. (A truth and reconciliation
commission, on the South African model, has since been set up to
investigate the events of that period, and several senior Indonesians,
including an army general, have since been convicted for complicity in
human rights abuses.) In October 1999, a UN transitional
administration (UNTAET) set up shop in East Timor, pending the conduct
of national elections. In addition, Gusmão was released from prison.
The assembly poll of August 2001 returned, as expected a majority of
FRETILIN candidates; Mari Alkatiri, also of FRETILIN, assumed the
premiership. The Presidency, contested in April 2002, was won by
Xanana Gusmão, with a huge majority.
The fledgling Government looked to develop international contacts -
with the UN, ASEAN and the South Pacific Forum – as quickly as
possible. Membership of the IMF and World Bank was secured in July
2002, followed by accession to the UN in September. Relations with its
two most powerful neighbours, Indonesia and Australia,
are also a high priority (see Economy section). The new country faced
a massive reconstruction task (see Economy section), and the
government has found it difficult to deliver on many of its initial
promises. By the end of 2002, there had been a number of violent
confrontations between a frustrated populace and government security
forces. The government has been supported by a residual UN force, now
known as UNMISET (UN Mission in East Timor), which took over from
UNTAET in May 2002.
Government:
East Timor
is governed according to a constitution agreed between UNTAET and the
provisional East Timorese government in March 2002. This allows for an
88-member Parliament, the Assembleia Constituinte, which holds
legislative authority and is elected to serve a five-year term - 75
members are elected by proportional representation, the other 13 in
single-seat constituencies. Executive power is vested in the
President, who is also elected for a five-year term. |
