#INDONESIA BACKGROUND FULL#

Indonesian military forces overcame FRETILIN's regular forces in early 1976, although small-scale guerrilla activity persisted. Indonesia sent an army of 10,000 men to Dili, and on 17 December 1975, the pro-Indonesian parties declared the establishment of a provisional government of East Timor in Dili. The Indonesian government took the position that because Portugal was unable to reestablish effective control over its colony, it was necessary for Indonesian forces to restore order at the request of local political leaders. On 8 December 1975 the Portuguese authorities departed from the island of Atauro, exacerbating power struggles among several Timorese political factions. Following appeals from FRETILIN's Timorese opponents, on 7 December 1975 the armed forces of Indonesia, comprising ten battalions, intervened in East Timor. On 30 November 1975 the representatives of those groups made a declaration of the separation of the territory from Portugal and its incorporation into Indonesia. Some other political parties, such as UDT and APODETI, which considered that it would be difficult for East Timor to maintain its independence, were willing to be annexed by Indonesia. Moreover, FRETILIN's rhetorical invocation of kinship with other Third World communist revolutionary movements raised the specter of a national security threat.ДЇRETILIN's ascent in an area contiguous to Indonesian territory alarmed the Indonesian Government, which regarded it as a threatening movement. From Jakarta's point of view, this state of affairs held out the alarming prospect of a communist or radical socialist regime emerging under the leadership of FRETILIN.

#INDONESIA BACKGROUND FULL#

On 28 November 1975 the Revolutionary Front for an Independent East Timor, an avowedly Marxist faction, declared the full independence of the territory and the establishment of the Democratic Republic of East Timor. Following internal disturbances in East Timor, on 27 August 1975 the Portuguese civil and military authorities withdrew from the mainland of East Timor to the island of Atauro. The political group UDT, which supported the approach of the Indonesian Government, organized a coup d'Г©tat on 11 August 1975. In July 1975, the President of Indonesia asserted that East Timor would not be competent to attain its independence. Indonesia, which seems not to have sought previously to annex East Timor to its own territory and had maintained friendly relations with Portugal, appears to have begun considering the annexation of East Timor in the 1970s.

The new Government of Portugal convened conferences on decolonization in May 1975 in Dili to which it invited the representatives of several East Timorese political groups. Following the 'Carnation Revolution' in April 1974, the Government in Portugal was replaced by a new regime which acknowledged the right to self- determination - including independence - of the territories under Portuguese administration. The western part of the island came under Dutch rule and later became part of independent Indonesia. In the sixteenth century, East Timor became a colony of Portugal Portugal remained there until 1975. The south coast of East Timor lies opposite the north coast of Australia, the distance between them being approximately 430 kilometres. Its capital is Dili, situated on its north coast. The Territory of East Timor corresponds to the eastern part of the island of Timor it includes the island of Atauro, 25 kilometres to the north, the islet of Jaco to the east, and the enclave of OГ©-Cusse in the western part of the island of Timor. This plurality is compounded by the size of its population (approximately 193 million at the end of 1994) and its uneven distribution among 17,508 islands. Indonesia's population consists of more than 300 ethnic groups each of which speaks its own language and adheres to its own customs and traditions. It consists of five major islands and about 30 smaller groups.

Indonesia is the largest archipelago in the world.

Indonesia background