Suchergebnisse

Circumstances that resulted in the United Nation's failed attempt to establish sustainable democratic institutions in East Timor are examined. An overview of traditional East Timorese political dynamics is provided, indicating that authority was conventionally divided between political & ritual authorities, not local & national governments. After reviewing factors that prompted the fragmentation of the National Counsel of Timorese Resistance & the subsequent assumption of political authority by Fretilin, it is stressed that divisions between the legislature & the executive-military forces further complicated East Timorese democratization. It is subsequently asserted that the United Nations Transitional Administration in East Timor failed to recognize the import of local political & ritual traditions, particularly those concerning legitimate authority, in its attempt to implement Western democratic institutions at the national level. Recommendations for revitalizing East Timor's state-building processes are also offered, eg, gradually integrating local institutions into the democratic state. J. W. Parker

After 274 years of Portuguese colonisation, with short interregnums by the Japanese, and 24 years of Indonesia occupancy, the East Timorese have exercised their right for self-determination through popular consultation on 30 August 1999. With a voter turnout of 98 per cent, around 78.5 per cent of people registered to vote rejected the integration into The Republic of Indonesia. As a consequence of the ballot the United Nations (UN) through Security Council Resolution 1272, has established a Transitional Administration in East Timor (UNTAET). UNTAET has the power 'to exercise all legislative and executive authority including the administration of justice'. To avoid the possibility of imposing itself on the East Timorese UNTAET has formed a fifteen-member National Consultative Committee (NCC), comprised of four UNTAET members, ten members from the Timorese National Resistance Council (CNRT), Church representatives, and one pro-Jakarta representative. UNTAET now acts as de facto transitional government until the final legitimate government is formed through a national election. The election is planned for early 2001. Over this same period, the East Timorese will need to form the foundation of a democratic and self-sufficient country, free from any kind of imperialistic dependency. To do this, the East Timorese must generate their sense of nationalism. They will need to build economic political infrastructure to reduce social discrepancies, regional disparities and formulate a policy of natural resource utility and development. This account of the transition period is formed on three issues: first, existing social circumstances in East Timor; second, the emerging national identity; and, third the quality and direction of the interaction between the United Nations Transitional Administration in East Timor (UNTAET) and the Timorese National Resistance Council (CNRT).

Examines how the Indonesian government has tried to suppress the nationalist movement through creation of Indonesian citizens, using language, religion, revised history, and transmigration (sending Javanese and Balinese people to the province) to promote assimilation. Includes brief history of East Timor, birth control and forced sterilization of East Timorese women, and the student resistance movement.