The Legend and History of Timor Leste

"The Crocodile legend from East Timor" by
Alexandra Agostinho da Silva

   If you would ask a Timorese about the Legend on how their Land came about they would probably tell you something like this:

Many years ago a small crocodile lived in a swamp in a far away place. He dreamed of becoming a big crocodile but, as food was scarce, he became weak and grew sadder and sadder.
He left for the open sea, to find food and realise his dream, but the day became increasingly hot and he was still far from the seashore. The little crocodile – rapidly drying out and now in desperation – lay down to die.
A small boy took pity on the stranded crocodile and carried him to the sea. The crocodile, instantly revived, was grateful. “Little boy”, he said, “you have saved my life. If I can ever help you in any way, please call me. I will be at your command…”
A few years later, the boy called the crocodile, who was now big and strong. “Brother Crocodile”, he said, “I too have a dream. I want to see the world”.
“Climb on my back,” said the crocodile, “and tell me, which way do you want to go?”
“Follow the sun”, said the boy.
The crocodile set off for the east, and they traveled the oceans for years, until one day the crocodile said to the boy, “Brother, we have travelled for a long time. But now the time has come for me to die. In memory of your kindness, I will turn myself into a beautiful island, where you and your children can live until the sun sinks in the sea.”
As the crocodile died, he grew and grew, and his rigid back became the mountains and his scales the hills of Timor.
Now when the people of East Timor swim in the ocean, they enter the water saying “Don’t eat me crocodile, I am your relative”.

   Up to this day, many people still belief that the crocodile is part of their relatives. So if you jump into the sea, which happens, and you get eaten/bitten by one, which also happens, you must be bad because your relative would never hurt you if you were good...

If you are blessed with a good imagination, "the crocodile"

  History was never my favorite subject but it often plays a vital role when it comes to understanding a culture. So does geography and that's where I want to start.  

map from
http://www.freeworldmaps.net/asia/easttimor/map.html

   

   The island of Timor is located towards the eastern end of the Indonesian island chain running from Malaya through Sumatra and Java, New Guinea. The island is divided into two parts. Most of the western half remains part of Indonesia. The eastern half forms the largest part of the national territory of Timor, with its capital, Dili, on the north coast, a small enclave on the western half around the city of Oecussi and Atauro small island, 30 km north of Dili. Much of the country is mountainous, and its highest point is Tatamailau or Mount Ramelau at 2,963 meters . 
   The climate is tropical and generally hot and humid. It is characterized by distinct rainy and dry seasons.It has a total area of 15'874 sq/km and as of June 2015 a population of 1.2 Millions+. Average age is 18, 40% of the population is under 15 and 60% under 25 years old. The majority of the people are Catholics (app. 97%), Protestant/Evangelical (2%), Muslim (0.3%) form the minority and there is a good amount of animism mixed and hard rooted into all religions mentioned above.
   Tetum is the official language but schools and government mostly uses Portuguese books. The majority of people are able to speak Bahasa/Indonesian and some understand English. But if you travel around Timor you will notice that there are 8 other indigenous languages. Deb and I are still at the very beginning with our Tetum and we are suppose to start a language training soonisch... ;-)
   As far as economy goes, the country relies heavily on crud petroleum and coffee. The 2 offshore oil fields, located in the Timor Sea, are already more than 70% extracted of oil and gas reserves. In addition to that came the unexpected oil price drop of 45% in 2014. This leads Timor-Leste to a very challenging future with a lot of young people but not much employment or education opportunities.

http://atlas.media.mit.edu/en/profile/country/tls/

 
  Now to the boring part, history. You will find a much more indept report on wikipedia but I will do my best to keep it short here. 

  Portuguese settle in - Not much is known of Timor before 1500AD. Portuguese traders arrived between 1509 and 1511, and in 1556 a handful of missionaries established the first Portuguese settlement in the Oecussi enclave.

  World War II - The Allies were engaged in heavy fighting with the Japanese forces in Timor. They received support from locals, for whom the cost was tremendous. Several thousand East Timorese lost their lives fighting alongside the Allies. The Japanese defeated the Allies in February 1942 and controlled Timor until Portuguese rule was restored in Timor-Leste in 1945.

  Portuguese pull out and Indonesia invades -  Following a coup in April 1974, Portugal set about discarding its colonial empire. Within a few weeks, political parties had been formed in East Timor, and the Timorese Democratic Union attempted to seize power in August 1975. A brief civil war saw its rival Fretilin come out on top, declaring the independent existence of the Democratic Republic of East Timor on 28 November.
But Indonesia opposed the formation of an independent East Timor, and on 7 December launched its attack on Dili. By 1976 there were 35,000 Indonesian troops in East Timor. The cost of the brutal takeover to the East Timorese was huge; it's estimated that at least 100, 000 died in the hostilities, and ensuing disease and famine.
By 1989, Indonesia had things firmly under control and opened East Timor to tourism. Then, on 12 November 1991 Indonesian troops fired on protesters gathered at the Santa Cruz Cemetery in Dili to commemorate the killing of an independence activist. With the event captured on film and aired around the world, the embarrassed Indonesian government admitted to 19 killings, although it's estimated that over 200 died in the massacre.
While Indonesia introduced a civilian administration, the military remained in control. Aided by secret police and civilian Timorese militia to crush dissent, reports of arrest, torture and murder were numerous.

  Independence - Timorese hopes for independence remained high, but Indonesia showed no signs of making concessions until the fall of the Soeharto regime. Shortly after taking office in May 1998, Soeharto's successor, President Habibie, unexpectedly announced a referendum for East Timorese autonomy. On 30 August 1999, East Timor voted overwhelmingly (78.5%) for independence from, rather than autonomy within, Indonesia. Though the Indonesian government promised to respect the results of the UN-sponsored vote, military-backed Timorese militias massacred, burnt and looted the country.
International condemnation led to UN troops bringing peace to East Timor beginning in September 1999. Half a million people had been displaced, and telecommunications, power installations, bridges, government buildings, shops and houses were destroyed. Today these scars are everywhere.
The UN set up a temporary administration during the transition to independence, and aid and foreign workers flooded into the country. As well as physically rebuilding the country, East Timor has had to create a civil service, police, judiciary, education, health system and so on, with staff recruited and trained from scratch.
The UN handed over government to East Timor on 20 May 2002. Fretilin military leader Xanana Gusmão was president of the new nation, and Fretilin leader Mari Alkatiri was prime minister.


   I hope that this blog delivered some background information. I promise to bring more pictures and personal insight in future blogs but I belief this was necessary to understand the bigger picture...