Student's Book – Dec 2009 (5.9mb) - The Curriculum Project

KEY WORDSabdicate (v) – to step down from a position of authority or give up power, especially whenroyalty gives up their throneassert (v) – to strongly defend or insistcommando (n) – a member of a military unit trained for guerilla attacksoccupy (v) – to seize control of a place and live thererepressive (adj) – to restrict the actions of others, sometimes forciblyThe Story of East TimorWhen the Dutch left Indonesia, the western part of the island of Timor was given to Indonesia.However, East Timor, in the eastern part of the island, was a Portuguese colony.The colonial experience of East Timor was different from the rest of Indonesia. The Portuguesewere not very repressive rulers. They did not replace local institutions of power with their own.Instead, they used local laws and rulers as much as possible. As a result, East Timor’s traditionalsocial structures were largely left unharmed.By the mid 1970s, colonialism became unpopular in Portugal. The new government of Portugalwanted to get rid of East Timor. They wanted East Timor to be peacefully integrated withIndonesia. They did not want to take responsibility for what happened in East Timor.The East Timorese did not like this decision. Because of their different colonial experiences,the people of East Timor had nothing in common with the rest of Indonesia. The East Timoresewere mostly Catholic, while the majority of Indonesians were Muslim. In the 1960s, Indonesianauthorities and the military treated the minorities in West Papua badly. People in East Timorknew about this. The East Timorese did not want to integrate with Indonesia.The Indonesian government liked the idea of Portugal leaving East Timor, but they did not wantEast Timor to become an independent country. The government in Jakarta did not want to givethe rest of the provinces in east Indonesia an example of independence. Besides, East Timor wasrelatively rich in resources that Indonesia wanted.The Beginning of the StruggleIn 1975, ‘Operation Komodo’began - a land, sea and air attackof East Timor by Indonesiancommandos. Meanwhile, thesmall but determined politicalparties in East Timor joinedtogether to oppose Indonesia. Theleading party in this fight wasnamed Fretilin.previewpredictingDo you know whathappened next?Map 14: East Timor53