Bitter Flowers, Sweet Flowers: East Timor, Indonesia, and the World CommunityEast Timor is at last, and at terrible human cost, firmly on the road to independence. The significance of its passage to freedom-for its people, for Asia, and for the world-is manifold. This volume offers a comprehensive overview of East Timor's travail and its triumph in its international context. East Timor's independence constitutes one of the final and most poignant moments in a long and bitter history of European colonization and decolonization. For the people of East Timor, independence from Portugal in 1975 was only the beginning of a new struggle against Indonesian invaders--a struggle that took the lives of 200,000 East Timorese--and one that is by no means over. The case of East Timor, both during and after the Cold War, provides a litmus test for issues of international responsibility, posing questions of double standards in unusually clear-cut form. It reveals the active support by the United States and other powers for the military forces of Indonesia throughout the years of that nation's invasion and repression of East Timor, until 1998 when the collapse of the Indonesian dictatorship ushered in a new phase in the East Timorese struggle. Contributions by: Peter Bartu, Noam Chomsky, Richard Falk, Geoffrey C. Gunn, Peter Hayes, Wade Huntley, Gerry Van Klinken, Helene Van Klinken, Arnold S. Kohen, Allan Nairn, Sarah Niner, Const ncio Pinto, Geoffrey Robinson, Jo o Mariano Saldanha, Charles Scheiner, Mark Selden, Stephen R. Shalom, and Richard Tanter. |
Contents
The FiveHundredYear Timorese Funu | 3 |
The Origins and Struggle of CNRT | 15 |
The Student Movement and the Independence Struggle | 31 |
The Catholic Church and the Independence of East Timor | 43 |
With UNAMET in East TimorAn Historians Personal View | 55 |
The Militia the Military and the People of Bobonaro | 73 |
East Timorese Vote in Ermera | 91 |
Grassroots in the FieldObserving the East Timor Consultation | 109 |
International Law and Its Limits | 149 |
Congressional | 163 |
East Timor and Asian Security | 173 |
East Timor and the Crisis of the Indonesian Intelligence State | 189 |
Big States and Little Independence Movements | 209 |
East Timor Faces the Future | 243 |
Glossary | 273 |
About the Contributors 289 | |
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Common terms and phrases
Aceh administration Aitarak armed forces army Asia Asian atrocities August 30 Australia autonomy ballot Belo Bobonaro district campaign Church civil civilian CNRT colonial commander crimes crisis Dili East Timor economic elite Ermera Falintil foreign Fretilin Gleno Habibie human rights humanitarian hundred IFET IFET-OP independent East Timor Indo Indone Indonesian government Indonesian invasion Indonesian military Indonesian police Indonesian rule intelligence InterFET issue Jakarta January killed Kopassus leaders leadership Maliana massacre Maubere ment militia groups mission movement November observers officers operations organization party peacekeeping percent Pinto political Polri population Portugal Portuguese Portuguese Timor President Press proindependence referendum refugees regional reported responsibility role Security Council self-determination September 1999 social soldiers staff struggle subdistrict Suharto Tanter territory terror Tetum thousand Timor Gap Timorese Resistance tion tribunal UNAMET United Nations UNTAET village violence vote Wahid West Timor Wiranto World Bank Xanana Gusmão