Genocide in East Timor

Criminal Justice Degree Guide: Genocide in East Timor

The word “genocide” is a 20th century concept, although genocide itself has been ongoing for as long as human beings themselves have existed. Genocide is mass murder on a scale that goes beyond even that of a serial killer. It is the international crime of the deliberate and systematic annihilation of an entire population of people based on the identity which defines them as a group, be it race, ethnicity, religion, tribe, or a nation.

This term was introduced by the Polish legal scholar of Jewish descent Raphael Lemkin during World War II to describe the mass murders perpetrated by Nazi Germany against the Jewish people and others during World War II (1939–45). The word originates from the Greek word genos, which means race, tribe, or family, and the Latin word for killing: -cide. Genocides have been recorded as far back as pre-1490, include the post-1490s destruction of the indigenous populations of the Western Hemisphere, and continue into the present time. For example, in the last half of the 20th century alone, genocide was committed or attempted by over a dozen nations in Africa, Central and South America, Europe, and Asia, including East Timor.

The genocide that took place in East Timor was the direct result of its history of European colonization, political upheaval, subsequent invasion, and war. In an ongoing effort to provide excellent criminal justice resources, compiled below is a collection of online resources related to the genocide of East Timor. These resources are meant for teachers, students, parents, and criminal justice enthusiasts alike.

Historical Precursors to the Genocide in East Timor

Historically, the island of Timor has been politically divided in half since European colonization. Those halves of West and East have been in place for centuries. In 1515, the Portuguese first arrived to the area. By 1556, a colony of Dominican Friars had settled there. In 1702, it was officially declared a Portuguese colony. West Timor was a colony of the Netherlands East Indies starting around 1859 and 1860, when the Portuguese and Dutch ceased fighting for control of the island and signed a treaty, the boundaries of which were formalized in 1912.

East Timor was thus under the colonial rule of Portugal for centuries, with East Timor called Portuguese Timor and West Timor called Dutch Timor. In 1949, the Dutch Timor became the Indonesian Timor and fell under the rule of Indonesia. It was not until 1975, however, that the Portuguese colonization of West Timor came to an end, due to a military coup in Portugal called the Carnation Revolution that began in April 1974. The result of this Portuguese coup was the changing of political leadership from an autocracy to a democracy in Portugal. Another significant change was the declaration of the Democratic Republic of East Timor as independent and free from colonial rule on November 28, 1975. This declaration came after a small-scale civil war among the East Timorese political parties, in which the Indonesians were intricately involved.

Indonesian Occupation of 1975

Within days of East Timor being declared independent, on December 7, 1975 Indonesian military forces began operations to annex East Timor. Indonesia claimed that the East Timorese leaders had requested their assistance and protection. Within 4 years, all armed resistance had been quashed and Indonesia declared East Timor a province of Indonesia. It was not until after approximately a quarter of a century of deliberate torture and extrajudicial executions of the East Timorese by the Indonesian government and its military that East Timor finally voted in favor of independence in 1999. In 2002 East Timor became an independent nation.

  • Wikipedia’s article on Genocides in history, Timor, and Indonesian occupation of East Timor shares information on Indonesia. Specifically, information on Indonesia’s invasion and occupation of East Timor is provided.
  • Fair.org details how the media treated the East Timor genocide. They have an article by Matthew Jardine, entitled East Timor: Media Turned Their Backs on Genocide.
  • A 2001 article by Frank Gaglioti on the World Socialist Web Site details how the United States supported Indonesia in its invasion of East Timor. Entitled US approved 1975 Indonesian invasion of East Timor, this article cites declassified federal government documents.
  • The George Washington University’s National Security Archive has an East Timor Revisited web page as well as a press release. Formerly classified documents have been released that detail Ford and Kissinger’s support of the 1975 Indonesian invasion of East Timor.
  • GlobalIssues.org offers a revisit to the Genocide of East Timor in its article, Crisis in East Timor. Numerous links are offered, as well as an extensive historical summery.

Genocide and Other War Crimes in East Timor

Roughly 25% or close to 200,000 of the East Timorese population had been eradicated during the Indonesian occupation of East Timor. The war crimes that took place existed in numerous forms. The East Timorese were harassed, intimidated, detained, tortured, sexually assaulted, forced into resettlement camps, malnourished, starved, executed, and killed in combat. Civilian massacres, including the rape and murder of women and children, also took place. Women also faced sterilization and enforced marriages. Underlying all was a systematic and deliberate harmful mistreatment of the East Timorese by the Indonesians. The Indonesians justified this mistreatment as a response to the resistance to Indonesian occupation and rule by the East Timorese.

  • Gendercide Watch tracks gendercide, which is genocide based on gender. It has East Timor as a case study.
  • There is a blog entitled 1999 East Timor Crimes Against Humanity. The blog details the horrendous crimes and human rights abuses committed in 1999 in East Timor.
  • A YouTube video entitled East Timor Genocide Project can be found online. Created by eighth graders as a Social Studies project, its goal it to increase awareness of genocide.
  • The Melbourne Journal of International Law has an article by Ben Saul entitled Was the Conflict in the East Timor ‘Genocide’ and Why Does it Matter? This article by the Australian Legal Information Institute (ALII) questions whether or not the crimes that were committed in East Timor could be classified as genocide.

International Law, Human Rights, and Global Criminal Law

The day after the Indonesian invasion of East Timor, the United Nations (UN) General Assembly convened to analyze the situation. Although Indonesia and its allies, such as India, Japan, and Malaysia, supported the invasion, in the end a resolution calling for Indonesia’s immediate withdrawal was adopted. Within ten days, the UN Security Council adopted a similar resolution. From 1975 to 1982, annual UN resolutions were adopted calling for Indonesia’s withdrawal, with the 1982 resolution calling for the UN Secretary-General to attempt a negotiated settlement of the issue.

From an international law perspective, the rights to self-determination and freedom from aggression were violated by the war of oppression initiated by Indonesian government. With this invasion and subsequent war came human rights and global criminal law violations that caused the suffering and death of upwards of a quarter of the entire East Timorese population. In the end, the true savior of the East Timorese was economic, rather than legal or moral: the 1997 Asian Financial Crisis brought an end to Indonesian President Suharto’s 3-decades-long New Order reign in May 1998. On August 30, 1999, 98.6% of registered voters voted, with 78.5% of the votes cast calling for independence. However, this result caused another nearly three years of conflict with the involvement of UN Peacekeepers until the Government of East Timor could finally be handed the reigns of power and control of the nation on May 20, 2002. On September 27, 2002 East Timor also joined the UN as its 191st member state.