Home | Vol 12 Table of Contents | Previous Issues | Contact Us: 07 55278753 / 0405463663 | Email: judybyronbay@yahoo.com

East Timor Free

Report on the Day Of Independence

More than 26 years after Indonesian troops invaded East Timor, the tiny nation finally gained independence early today and applauded the Indonesians who once oppressed it.

"I salute you. I salute you, the people of East Timor, for the courage and perseverance you have shown. Yours has not been an easy path to independence" Kofi Annan, the United Nations Secretary-General said moments before UN peacekeepers lowered their flag before tens of thousands of East Timorese gathered in a dusty field on the edge of Dili.

Celebrations began at dusk yesterday with a Mass attended by an envoy of the Pope. A three-hour cultural celebration followed, including film footage of East Timor’s painful past. But the event seemed to be focused on the future. Celebrations continued into the early hours with an elaborate fireworks show and dancing.

After 30 months of UN administration, which followed the destructive Indonesian departure from East Timor, Mr Annan transferred authority to the world’s newest nation.

A veteran of the Falintil rebel army that fought Indonesian troops during their long occupation kissed his country’s flag, before two children in traditional dress raised it officially for the first time at 12:25am as the crowd cheered.

About an hour earlier East Timor’s President José Alexandre Gusmão, the former resistance leader known throughout the country as Xanana, arrived with President Megawati Sukarnoputri, of Indonesia, whom the crowd applauded. She joined representatives from 92 countries, including Ben Bradshaw, the Foreign Office Minister, Bill Clinton, the former US President, and 13 heads of state for East Timor’s christening. Our time has come, José Ramos-Horta, the country’s Foreign Minister, said. Mr Ramos-Horta was the joint-winner of the Nobel Peace Prize in 1996 for his efforts to achieve peace in East Timor.

His sentiments were echoed by the crowd. This is our independence day. For 25 years we have struggled and this is the outcome, Fernando Albino, 49, said. He had travelled to Dili from the nearby town of Liquica. Staring at a giant television screen broadcasting the Mass, he said that two of his family had died in the 1975 invasion.

I’m extremely happy. This is the day we have desired for a long time, Mario Emerson Pereira Mesquita, 17, said, adding that his joy was tinged with sadness because of the deaths of people such as his uncle, Abro Mesquita, 40, who was killed by Indonesian soldiers in 1984 while taking supplies to Mr Gusmão, the guerrilla leader.

Amid the collapse of the Portuguese colonial administration that had ruled East Timor for 400 years, Indonesia invaded East Timor on December 7, 1975, ending ten days of unilateral independence. Thus early today, shortly before East Timor’s flag was raised, the President of the country’s Constituent Assembly declared the restoration of the republic.

An estimated 200,000 East Timorese, about one third of the prewar population, died from war, famine and disease in the immediate aftermath of Indonesia’s invasion. The occupation ended only after East Timorese voted overwhelmingly in August 1999 to separate from Indonesia after a United Nations-supervised referendum.

Before the ballot, the Indonesian military created armed gangs to terrorise the East Timorese into rejecting independence. When this tactic failed, they launched a campaign of killing, arson, looting and forced deportation.

After intervention by British and Australian troops, a UN administration tried to rebuild the territory and has prepared it for self-government over the past 30 months.

In the last hours before independence, Indonesia mounted a military show of force on Friday by sending what Mr Ramos-Horta said were six naval ships into his country’s waters.

Mr Ramos-Horta said that Indonesia was allowed to send essentially a medical facility and maybe one or two extra vessels as part of their presidential security team. The sudden appearance of six ships had been perplexing, but they left when East Timorese authorities asked them to.

Ian Timberlake in Dili, East Timor.