Portuguese Timor Research Articles

No Bullshit!: Balibo 1976 and Bob Hawke's Diplomatic Masterclass

During Indonesian territorial incursions into Portuguese Timor in late 1975, five newsmen working for Australian media were killed. It became a major domestic political issue in Australia, and had potential to cause a diplomatic crisis with Indonesia. Australian diplomats needed to uncover what happened to the newsmen, while avoiding further bilateral fall‐out. They sought to confirm the deaths and to recover their remains, and when the information surrounding the cause of their deaths proved contestable, they endeavoured to conduct a further enquiry to settle the issue. But to achieve this they required Indonesian cooperation to access now Indonesian‐occupied East Timor. For 50 years, the circumstances of how that enquiry in April 1976 eventuated have been kept secret. That was because it was accomplished by two non‐diplomats—Clive Williams, Indonesian President Soeharto's close confidant, and Bob Hawke, leader of Australia's peak trade union body. Hawke was not an emissary for the Australian Government, he was representing the more than 50% of working‐age Australians who held a union membership. Williams and Hawke came to an understanding that was to the satisfaction of the Australian and Indonesian governments. This was a rare occurrence: when an unofficial exchange succeeded where diplomats failed.

International Role Perspective of Indonesia’s Participation in the Second United Nations Emergency Force (UNEF II) 1975–1977

This article analyzes Indonesia's envisioned international role as it maintained its deployment of armed forces as part of the Garuda Contingent in the Second United Nations Emergency Forces (UNEF II) mission from 1975 to 1977, despite concurrently conducting military operations in Portuguese Timor. This research uses role theory as an analytical framework to explain Indonesia's objectives and role in deploying peacekeepers abroad during the greatest military deployment since independence. By applying a qualitative-deductive approach, the final results of this article indicate that Indonesia has sent the Garuda VIII Contingents to UNEF II as part of Indonesia's commitment to world peace and supporting the principles of the United Nations. In addition, Indonesia is striving to strengthen its diplomatic position and gain legitimacy from international states. Despite the conflict in Portuguese Timor, Indonesia remains consistent in fulfilling its role and responsibilities as a state of international peace and security. This research provides a better understanding of the motivation and role that Indonesia wants to take on one of its peacekeeping missions and its contribution to regional and global stability.

Decolonization without Self-Determination?

Abstract As the Carnation Revolution of 25 April 1974 in Lisbon set in motion the process of decolonizing the empire, the future of ‘Portuguese Timor’ was the subject of an intense debate which involved external actors. Like other Asian remnants of the empire, Timor was a small territory surrounded by a giant neighbour, which laid claim to be part of the process. Indonesia sought contact with the Portuguese authorities, and the countries held several rounds of talks up to November 1975. This essay surveys those talks, based primarily on Portuguese archival material, and details how the two countries failed to reach an agreement. Whereas Indonesia sought direct negotiations that would decolonize the territory while excluding the Timorese themselves, Portugal took note of Indonesian claims but insisted that a genuine act of self-determination based on the direct consultation of the Timorese people was required.

Portugal e a descolonização de Timor: da Cimeira de Macau à invasão indonésia

The Macau Summit between Portugal and Timorese nationalist movements originated Law 7/75 which offered a roadmap for a peaceful decolonization of ‘Portuguese Timor’. Events in Lisbon and Dili immediately after its publication prevented the law from being implemented. However, Portugal decided to stick to its spirit – even if with some hesitations – and, in that sense, sought to intervene in the struggle between Timorese forces. The present article draws a history of the critical months that preceded the Indonesian invasion of that territory, which provisionally brought to a halt the process of self-determination.

Bordering the postcolonial state: the relevance of Sikkim in India’s support for Indonesia’s occupation of East Timor

ABSTRACT In 1975, two small territories with distinct identities were incorporated within larger postcolonial states: in April, the Himalayan kingdom of Sikkim became a state within the Republic of India, while in December, the Republic of Indonesia annexed Portuguese (East) Timor. From 1975 to 1982, India voted against all United Nations General Assembly resolutions supporting East Timor's self-determination. While Western states' support is well documented, scant attention has been paid to India's role, which sits in contrast to almost all other non-aligned, postcolonial states. This paper seeks to understand India's support for Indonesia. We argue that India's support was due to similarities in key ideas that shaped India and Indonesia's state construction, which remained despite the ways in which the relationship had soured in the preceding decades. We draw this argument out by comparing the narratives India used to justify its incorporation of Sikkim with those of Indonesia in East Timor.

Trouble and strife: demographic shocks, agrarian change and marriage in Portuguese Timor

ABSTRACT Marital exchange between origin ‘houses’ is central to Timorese narratives and has been a central concern of anthropological study of Portuguese Timor and independent Timor-Leste. This article challenges the notion of stable patterns of marital exchange between named houses across time. Drawing on data from the colonial census, this paper finds a severe imbalance in the sex ratio during the first half of the twentieth century. Starting from subsistence agriculture, demographic shocks, the head tax and the introduction of forced coffee cultivation, the paper identifies the neglect and mistreatment of females, inflationary pressures on the bride price, increasing polygamous marriage and significant maternal mortality as key causal mechanisms that led to a highly imbalanced sex ratio. These dynamics impacted the age of marriage for men and women, and resulted in a sharp increase in the number of men who were unable to marry.

The Portuguese Empire: Australia’s Forward Defence from 1961–1972

Australia’s strategic interests from 1961–1972 were forwarded by the late Portuguese Empire. Portugal and Australia shared a similar problem: both feared the consequences of decolonisation. Portugal was forthright in this stance, attracting much of the world’s ire that could have been directed at Australia. Lisbon routinely stated that Australian and Portuguese interests were in such tight alignment that they were natural partners. Canberra privately acknowledged this but was reluctant to identify with Portugal’s internationally unpopular authoritarian government. Re‐inserting Portugal into the narrative contributes to the existing scholarship on Australia’s role in the decolonisation of the Territory of Papua and New Guinea and Portuguese Timor, and Australian support for white minority rule in Southern Africa. This article demonstrates that Portuguese efforts to attain their own security goals aided Australia and shines new light on this neglected aspect of Australia’s foreign policy literature.

Hostages to History: The Use of Portuguese Prisoners of War in the Annexation of East Timor

On 26 August 1975 the colonial administration in Portuguese Timor abruptly removed itself from Dili to the island of Atauru, amidst escalating armed conflict among Timorese political parties. A puzzle that has remained is why did the Portuguese administration leave so precipitately, and why did it not return a few days later when the conflict was over? We have been left with the impression that Portugal simply deserted its responsibilities, abandoning the territory to Indonesian annexation. This paper pieces together a rivetting but little‐known story, from contemporary Portuguese, Indonesian, US, Australian, Timorese and eyewitness accounts, about the humiliating capture and detention by Timorese and Indonesians of Portuguese military as prisoners of war, which helps to explain a previously unrecognized constraint on Portuguese policy in East Timor in 1975‐1976. This paper also shows that Indonesia had taken some important lessons from history on how to manage Portugal, from India's annexation of Portuguese Goa in 1961.

A delimitação (quase) final da fronteira marítima no Mar de Timor

Timor-Leste and Australia reached an historic settlement on the delimitation of the maritime border of the “Timor Gap”, ending a decade long dispute that dates back to the colonial time of Portuguese Timor. There are many lessons to learn from this process, which contribution to the development of international law this paper intends to discuss, namely the erga omnes obligation arising from the exercise of the right to self-determination by the Timorese people, the Joint Development of natural resources in maritime areas under dispute and the recent procedural relevance of the mandatory conciliation under the UNCLOS.

Genealogy of Colonial Land Registration and State Land in Portuguese Timor

ABSTRACT Establishing territorial control was one of the primary activities of colonial presence on Timor from the late nineteenth century. In Portuguese Timor as elsewhere in Southeast Asia, the colonial state pursued codification and regulation of land in multiple forms, including serial attempts to enact land registration in tandem with colonial projects including pacification, resource extraction, and generation of state income. Seeking to extend official purview to Timor-specific customary land use and practices, Portugal defined distinct social categorizations linked to land access and ownership. This article traces the policies governing land in Portuguese Timor from the late 1800s to the mid-1900s, highlighting state land acquisition, registration processes, laws and procedures asserting state control over land transactions, and international influences on Portuguese practices.

Gough Whitlam and the politics of universal human rights

ABSTRACT The Gough Whitlam Labor government (1972–1975) was short but synonymous with social and political changes in Australian health, education, citizenship and indigenous policies. These changes were often linked to human rights and international law – areas that Whitlam professed strong commitments. In international affairs, Whitlam signalled a stylistic shift for Australian diplomacy emphasising increased regional engagement, greater Australian independence and international law. Whitlam's status as a ‘visionary’ was heightened by the lamentable manner by which his Labor government lost power – a constitutional crisis brought on by bitter domestic politics ended when he was controversially sacked by Sir John Kerr (the Australian Governor-General) on 11 November 1975. The political and ethical legacy of Whitlam rests on his anti-racism, support for indigenous rights, the erasure of racial preferences within Australian immigration practices, and his stated support for human rights. Another of Whitlam's longest lasting legacies was Portuguese Timor.

Representing Timor: Histories, geo-bodies, and belonging, 1860s–2018

This article provides an outline of the historical construction of Timorese (East Timorese and Indonesian West Timorese) geo-bodies and communal identities from the mid-nineteenth century to the present time, thereby reconstructing the origins of many national imaginings amongst the Timorese people. Since the controversial annexation of Portuguese Timor by Indonesia in 1976, (East) Timor has been constructed as a place of two territorial identities: Timor as a part of Indonesia and East Timor as a homogeneous nation distinct from Indonesia. However, representations of Timor had been much more fluid and inconsistent in preceding ages. This article studies various communities’ representations of Timor to reveal dialectic relations between diverse colonial and post-colonial representations of the Timorese spaces and their senses of belonging. Thereby, it problematises the political role of global and regional place-making in a contested Southeast Asian locale.

Indigenization of the Pacific War in Timor Island: A Multi-language Study of its Contexts and Impact

This article provides a multi-dimensional picture of West and East Timorese participation in war-time violence using Japanese, Portuguese and English sources. It argues that mobilization of the ‘natives’ by foreign forces in neutral Portuguese Timor brought about a reorganization of social relations on Timor Island. From a local perspective, the exploitation of the Timorese resulted in a great number of casualties, and intensified existing tensions, but also created trans-colonial communities.

The colonial ethnological line: Timor and the racial geography of the Malay Archipelago

This article examines the connected histories of racial science and colonial geography in Island Southeast Asia. By focusing on the island of Timor, it explores colonial boundaries as modes of arranging racial classifications, and racial typologies as forms of articulating political geography. Portuguese physical anthropologist António Mendes Correia's work on the ethnology of East Timor is examined as expressive of these productive connections. Correia's classificatory work ingeniously blended political geography and racial taxonomy. Between 1916 and 1945, mainly based on data from the Portuguese enclave of Oecussi and Ambeno, he claimed a distinct Malayan racial type for the whole colony of ‘Portuguese Timor’. Over the years he developed an anthropogeographical theory that simultaneously aimed to reclassify East Timor and to revise the racial cartography of the Malay Archipelago, including Wallace's famous ethnological line.

Women, gender and power among indigenous peoples of Portuguese Timor

Women, gender and power among indigenous peoples of Portuguese Timor

Missionary Local Language Texts in Portuguese Timor from the Late 19th to the Early 20th Century: Europe-Centric Mistranslation and Its Social and Intellectual Impacts

Missionary Local Language Texts in Portuguese Timor from the Late 19th to the Early 20th Century: Europe-Centric Mistranslation and Its Social and Intellectual Impacts

Commensality and Conflict: Food, Drink and Intercultural Encounters in the Battle of Timor

ABSTRACTFor soldiers and civilians alike, food is a critical issue in times of conflict. Yet the role of food in times of war has received little scholarly attention. In line with literature that draws attention to the social and cultural meanings of food, this article considers intercultural culinary encounters between Australian soldiers and locals during the Battle of Timor in the Second World War. From their reliance on local produce in the absence of adequate supplies, to Timorese hospitality at festivities, this article argues that food encounters offer significant insight into the wartime experiences of Australian soldiers in Portuguese Timor (as it was then known). In particular, discourse around food highlights the close connections formed between the commandos and their local ‘helpers’, the ‘criados’. This article contends that these food-related experiences give a particular poignancy to the enduring notion in the Australian military of a ‘Debt of Honour’ owed to the people of Timor Leste.

Early Notices Regarding Creole Portuguese in Former Portuguese Timor

The area of Bidau, in the East Timorese capital of Dili, was home to the only documented form of Creole Portuguese in Timor. Although Bidau Creole Portuguese is now extinct, by most accounts, a few scattered records allow a glimpse into what it must have been like, and reveal its clear relationship with other Southeast Asian Portuguese-based creoles; Baxter’s (1990a) study of Bidau Creole Portuguese was based mostly on a set of recordings made in the context of the Missão Antropológica de Timor [“Anthropological Mission to Timor”, 1953–1954]. In this article, Baxter (1990a: 3) mentions that “[s]o far, the earliest located reference to Bidau Creole Portuguese, and one which contains some impressionistic examples of conversations and the verse of a song, is Castro (1943: 56, 177)”. However, since the publication of this study, a few earlier references to what can be interpreted as Portuguese-based creole in Timor have been located in unpublished archival sources. These sources are letters sent to two important philologists of the late 19th and early 20th century, Hugo Schuchardt and José Leite de Vasconcelos, who were greatly interested in ascertaining whether a creole was spoken in Timor and what the local Portuguese was like. The present study introduces and contextualises these epistolary sources, discussing the linguistic and sociolinguistic material contained therein, and its relevance for the confirmation of different threads of language contact involving Portuguese.

Ruy Cinatti, the French–Portuguese mission and the construct of East Timor as an ethnographic site

ABSTRACTThe French–Portuguese Ethnological Mission to Portuguese Timor (1966/1969) financed by French and Portuguese research bodies and initially directed by Louis Berthe was the first mission that conducted lengthy and thorough ethnographic research in East Timor vernaculars and with East Timorese communities. Using personal and scientific archives, printed and oral sources, this article analyses the mission’s background, the role of Ruy Cinatti (a Portuguese poet, former colonial official in Timor and anthropologist trained in Oxford) in its launch, and its political and scientific context. The mission, undertaken during the Portuguese late colonial period and subject to the Portuguese authorities’ approval and surveillance, marked East Timor as a site of anthropological inquiry into the Anthropology of European tradition produced in Southeast Asia, affiliated to post-war structuralism. This case study throws light on individual agency, Portugal’s shortcomings in modern anthropology training, the international competition for Portuguese Timor as part of the Indonesian “field of ethnological study” and the transnational connections in its construction in the era of decolonization.

Women, gender and power among indigenous peoples of Portuguese Timor

This essay examines the social position of women and the implications of gender representations among indigenous peoples in post-World War II Portuguese Timor. It is a bibliographic critique based on works of academic anthropology and of certain missionary and colonial administrative ethnographies published between the 1950s and 1980s. I argue that in general women occupied a relatively subaltern position in the collective dynamics of social reproduction. This results from the specificity of local social structures and from the separation of sex and gender. I attempt to elucidate an apparent contradiction: on the one hand, femaleness, as a gender classifying principle, is associated with superiority among many peoples in Timor-Leste and, on the other hand, women are often in subaltern positions regarding collective reproduction. I argue that the ways the female principle and the idea of fertility are ritually handled serve the purpose of producing and reproducing male dominance in the dynamics of collective social reproduction and the co-opting of women’s power of giving life.