 |
 |
 |
 |
 |
 |
 |
 |
|
|
Brief Overview of Timor Leste's History
A Brief Overview of Timor Leste's History 1. East Timor was a Portuguese colony for some 400 years. 2. On December 7, 1975, the Indonesian military brutally invaded East Timor, occupying the country until 1999. In the early years of the occupation, the Indonesian military killed one-third of the population - 200,000 people - through murder, forced starvation, and other means. The years of occupation were riddled with massacres, programs of forced sterilization, hunger, and attempts at cultural annihilation. Tens of thousands suffered tremendous hardships to survive and resist the occupation. 3. The November 12, 1991 Santa Cruz massacre - filmed and witnessed by foreign journalists -- sparked a global outcry and a flurry of diplomatic and grassroots activism in support of East Timor. 4. On August 30, 1999, the people of East Timor voted overwhelmingly for independence in a UN-conducted popular consultation. 98.6% of the eligible population participated; 78.5% chose independence despite months of systematic terror and intimidation by the Indonesian military and its militia. After the result was announced, the Indonesian military and its militia retaliated by destroying the country: murdering some 2,000 East Timorese, displacing two-thirds of the population, raping hundreds of women and girls, and destroying over 70% of the country's infrastructure. 5. Since October 1999, the UN has administered East Timor. After independence, the UN will remain in East Timor but on a smaller scale. 6. In August 2001, 91.3% of eligible East Timorese participated in the first democratic, multiparty election for a Constituent Assembly, whose members wrote the country's first constitution.. The Constituent Assembly will become the first parliament after independence. 7. In April 2002, East Timor held its first-ever-presidential election. Independence hero Xanana Gusmao won by a landslide. 86.3% of those eligible participated.
|
