Institutions and The East Timorese Experience

INTRODUCTION & BACKGROUND

Timor-Leste (formerly East Timor) is the world’s newest democratic country.  After nearly 400 years of Portuguese colonial rule and 24 years of Indonesian military dictatorship rule, independence was gained in May of 2002.  It is a small country, covering half the island of Timor and currently has a population of less than one million.  Timor-Leste is a village-based society with over sixteen distinct language groups, characterized by dramatic geography, isolation, and diverse local cultural traditions.

From colonial rule to military rule, Timor-Leste has been treated as a resource base, first by Portugal, Japan, and finally Indonesia.  Physical infrastructure built under occupation was limited, while the education system remained weak, and commercial development largely non-existent.  There was a near total dependence on outside powers for governance, decision-making procedures, and justice.

The country has a violent history.  After a brief civil war, Timor-Leste declared independence from Portugal on November 28th, 1975.  Timor was invaded and occupied by Indonesian forces nine days later, under the auspices of crushing a Communist revolution and at the request of a defeated internal faction, the União Democrática Timorense (UDT). It was then incorporated into Indonesia in July 1976 as the province of Timor Timur, in violation of international law prohibiting acquisition of territory through aggression.  This move was internationally recognized only by Australia.

An unsuccessful, yet extremely brutal, campaign against local resistance fighters followed over the next twenty-four years, during which the occupiers, killed, starved, and executed an estimated 300,000 Timorese citizens - over two-thirds of the population.  On the thirtieth of August 1999, the United Nations (UN) supervised a popular referendum asking the people of Timor-Leste whether they wanted special autonomy within Indonesia, or not; a “No” vote, against special autonomy, was in essence a vote for outright independence.  An overwhelming majority of the people of Timor-Leste (78.5%) voted "No".  Within hours of the final tally, violence broke out.  Between the referendum and the arrival of a multinational peacekeeping force in late September of 1999, pro-Indonesian Timorese militias (organized, trained, and explicitly supported by Indonesian military), and the Indonesian military itself, commenced a countrywide scorched-earth campaign of retribution. They killed approximately 2,000 Timorese - foreigners and journalists as well - and forced nearly 300,000 people into Indonesian West Timor as refugees while displacing over two-thirds of the population.  The rampage destroyed the bulk of the country’s infrastructure.  Homes, irrigation, water supplies, schools, government buildings, banks, stores of all kinds, and nearly 100% of the country’s electrical grid were all ruined.  Formal institutions and governance structures disappeared almost literally overnight.

On the twentieth of September 1999, Australian-led peacekeeping troops of the International Force for East Timor (INTERFET) deployed to the country and terminated the chaos and violence. On the twentieth of May 2002, after 3 years of UNTAET governance, Timor-Leste was formally recognized internationally as an independent state.

http://www.eastimorlawjournal.org/ARTICLES/2006etlj7institutionsandtheeasttimoreseexperienceandrewharrington.html

END