Introduction

Abstract

On May 20, 2022, Timor-Leste celebrated twenty years since the United Nations Transitional Authority for East Timor (UNTAET) handed over power. Although East Timorese declared independence on November 28, 1975, in a bid for international recognition, it was not forthcoming and Indonesia invaded just nine days later. Its violent and oppressive occupation claimed the lives of up to one-third of the population and lasted until 1999, with the support of its allies including the United States, Great Britain and Australia. Indonesia was hit particularly hard by the East Asian Economic Crisis of 1997, and it led to the abdication of President Suharto, whose rule began in an anti-communist bloodbath in 1965, on May 21, 1998. His successor, the former vice president B.J. Habibie, assented to a referendum under pressure from the same governments that had supported Suharto’s invasion.