"A little history
I'll use that as an excuse for a little segue into a brief history of
Timor. Not easy. Odd place and it's hard to get a definitive story but,
and please feel free to put me right. The Portuguese have been trading
here since the 16th century and have had run ins with the Dutch right up
until last century when they decided they would only have the eastern
tip of the island. The Japs briefly had the island in 1945 but the
Portuguese were straight back into their bit after the war, soon the
locals decided they didn't want the Portuguese anymore so they were
allowed Independence in the '70's I think. No sooner had they done this
than the Indonesian government saw their opportunity and promptly
marched in and occupied them. This went on for quite a while, guerrillas
fought with the Indo army and thousands and thousands of people ended
up dead until the rest of the world stepped in. After a referendum in
which the majority of East Timorese voted for total independence the
Indonesians ceded and as a show of peace donated a 27m high statue of
Jesus, the 27 being significant as it represented the 27 states of
Indonesia (cheekily East Timor was the 27th!!!!). But a local militia
who supported the Indonesian occupation kept up terror tactics and so
more and more people were still ending up dead and TROTW stepped in
again (mainly Australia) with proper war stuff and cleared out the
Militia paving the way for East Timors first elections and their
recognition officially by TROTW as a country. Sounds like a great place
for a happy ending eh? Sorry. In 2006 ish some disgruntled locals
decided that the first elections were just a show piece (with a little
justification it has to be said) and that they weren't happy with the
Government in place. I suppose having lived with the gun you tend to
think you work things out with the gun, hence a political dispute turned
into attempted assassinations, coup's and more bloodshed until, you
guessed it, TROTW stepped in and presided over new elections and saw in a
new government. Since then things have been reasonably tickety boo.
There are still bloody hundreds of UN vehicles about the place though
and not an insignificant number of Australian army vehicles patrolling.
The whole place still feels slightly under siege and the barbed wire and
high security everywhere do nothing to make the place feel welcoming.
And they all speak Portuguese!?
International interest in the country is obvious when you drive along the main esplanade and count 19 foreign embassies!! Yep 19 and we're not talking shared office space we're talking huge posh buildings! China, US, Korea, NZ, Aus etc etc. Cynics among you might be wondering why the interest in such a tiny bit on the end of a huge archipelago that is the gateway between the Indian Ocean and the Pacific and has huge reserves of natural gas and oil."
International interest in the country is obvious when you drive along the main esplanade and count 19 foreign embassies!! Yep 19 and we're not talking shared office space we're talking huge posh buildings! China, US, Korea, NZ, Aus etc etc. Cynics among you might be wondering why the interest in such a tiny bit on the end of a huge archipelago that is the gateway between the Indian Ocean and the Pacific and has huge reserves of natural gas and oil."
