Portugese Values Into The East Timorese Culture example essay topic

The tiny south pacific nation of East Timor has had a long and tumultuous history. While it has been touted as the first independent country of the 21st century, the government originally declared its independence in November of 1975. East Timor had spent over 300 years under Portugese rule and the colonial influences did much to shape Timorese culture and society. As a result East Timor developed very differently from its neighbours and had little in common with the former Dutch colony that became Indonesia. Portugese rule over East Timor was, like that in other colonies, oppressive and exploitive. The Portugese assumed a paternal role over the inhabitants of East Timor, regarding their own culture as superior.

Rebellions were brutally suppressed and Portugese customs, and values along with the Portugese language were imposed on the Timorese. Despite this oppression independence movements in the colony remained strong. Political parties, once they were legalized, quickly formed and groups advocating independence won wide spread support. Following the trend towards decolonization is South East Asia Portugal allowed political parties as a step towards independence and democracy in East Timor. However the Portugese failed to ensure the security of East Timor. The was result was that nine days after it had declared its independence from Portugal, East Timor was invaded by neighbouring Indonesia.

What follow was a quarter century of brutal oppression in which saw a quarter of the Timorese population lose their lives at the hands of Indonesian troops. The failure of the Portugese decolonization policies cleared the way for the genocide which occurred in East Timor. Until the 1880's Portugese in East Timor was strong, but not complete and the Timorese had been able to maintain their distinct cultural and religious heritages well into the nineteenth century. At this time Portugal was rapidly falling behind its colonial rivals both economically and militarily and thus sought to more fully exploit the economic potential of East Timor. In 1887, using the assassination of the colonial governor as a pretext, the Portugese government instituted harsh new economic programs designed to undermine the existing Timorese clan system, and bring the entire colony under the control of the colonial government. These policies led to much of the Portugese by the Timorese people and culminated in a massive uprising beginning 1910.

The revolt lasted two years and was finally put down by Portugese troops in 1912. The result of the uprising was the death of over 3000 Timorese and the of a new administrative system which abolished the remaining Timroese kingdoms and chiefdom's and placed all power in the hands of the Portugese. However, at the village level traditional titles and roles still existed. They were used by the Portugese to exercise control at the local levels. This meant that by the mid 1920's East Timor had two forms of government. One was the imposed European central government based in Dili and the others were the traditional local governments which had existed for hundreds of years.

On the cultural level the Portugese had mixed success. It is important to note that there was no one Timorese culture. The native Timorese were firmly divided along geographic, cultural and lines. The island contains no less than eighteen groups.

Although they have many shared practices and histories they still wee still divided and lacked a single national consciousness. On the religious level Roman Catholic had great success in spreading Catholicism throughout the population. Even in 1992 after almost twenty years of brutal oppression by an Islamic government 90% of East Timorese people still identified themselves as Roman Catholic. The Portugese language was promoted though the church.

While it was never adopted by the majority of the population and was rarely used in day to day speech except by the educated elites, it did become a lingua franca in a country with so many different languages. As the colonial period neared its the Second World War the Portugese tried to exert even more influence over one of their last remaining colonies. Beginning in the 1960's the government introduced a policy designed to bring East Timor further into the Portugese fold. The constructed more government buildings and ports. They recruited more East Timorese into the colonial administration granting many of them Portugese citizenship. They extended education and began training more doctors and bureaucrats.

They permitted the formation of political parties. While all these measures may appear to be an attempt to prepare the East Timorese for independence the opposite was true. The Portugese hoped that by bringing more Timorese into the administration they could educate them and promote western European values. By allowing for the formation of political parties they hoped to establish a government that would both emulate a European style of democracy and be loyal to the government in Lisbon. The fundamental goal of these policies was instill Portugese values into the East Timorese culture. In this way they hoped to ensure that whatever state was established in Timor whether as an independent state or as an overseas department of Portugal it would be friendly to the Portugese interests.

The Portugese legacy in East Timor was one of isolation. Under colonial rule East Timor developed very differently than its neighbors to the west. A border was created where there had previously been no border. Trade routes and cultural ties that had existed for centuries before the coming of the colonial invaders were ended.

Cut-off from their island neighbors and heavily influenced by the Portugese, the East Timorese would begin to see themselves as separate from the Indonesians and those in West Timor. Encouraged by nationalist leaders the East Timorese would come to regard themselves as a distinct nation deserving of recognition and respect. The path to independence would not come easily as several countries including Portugal, Indonesia and Australia had interests in East Timor. Portugal took the first step towards the creation if a independent state when it legalized political parties. Parties such as the Frente Revolucionaria de Timor-Leste Independente and the Uniao Democratica Timorense garnered mass popular support by advocating for either an independent or autonomous East Timor. Another party the Associa cao Popular Democratica Timorense which supported union with Indonesia never became popular with the Timorese people.

It was the Frente Revolucionaria de Timor-Leste Independente which was to become the most popular party and lead East Timor toward independence. The Portugese, although they technically supported the Uniao Democratica Timorense which advocated for autonomy within a Portugese commonwealth, were willing to accept any solution provided it was in accordance with the wishes of the Timorese and was sanctioned by international law and the U.N... However the Indonesians demanded unification and were willing to use force since it was clear that the east Timorese had no desire to unite with Indonesia. In order to force the Portugese out, the Indonesian military sponsored a coup by the Uniao Democratica Timorense which had gradually been subverted by pro-Indonesian Timorese. The coup carried out on 10 August 1975 force the Portugese colonial government to withdraw to the island Atauro just offshore from Dili. The Portugese government in Lisbon had left the island virtually defenseless.

The governor had a mere 70 paratroopers under his command and chose not to defend the capital. The result was civil war between the pro-Indonesian parties and the Frente Revolucionaria de Timor-Leste Independente party which fought for independence. The sheer distance between Portugal and East Timor made sending troops a difficult task and Lisbon opted to dispatch a diplomatic mission instead. This mission was stopped at Jakarta and forced to return Portugal.

In the meantime the Frente Revolucionaria de Timor-Leste Independente defeated the por-Indonesian parties only a month after the civil war began. The UDT forces were forced to withdraw to Indonesian West Timor. Although the Portugese no longer had presence on the main island and could not exercise and control over the island they still refused to recognize East Timor's independence and was granted the status of Administering Power. At the same time Portugal negotiated on East Timor's with Indonesia to guarantee the island's safety. To their credit the Portugese were able to obtain assurances from Indonesia that it would not intervene in East Timor and recognized the colony as Portugal's responsibility. When Indonesia broke this agreement and invaded on 7 December 1975, Portugal cut off diplomatic relations with Indonesia and urged both the United Nations and the Security council to take a position on the situation.

The U.N. adopted a resolution which condemned Indonesia's actions, demanded the withdrawal of troops and that East Timor once again be handed over to Portugal to administer. Less than two weeks later Indonesia annexed Atauro island and the Portugese were driven from the region completely. Despite these setbacks and the general apathy from the international community who were quick to condemn Indonesia, but reluctant to do anything else, the Portugese government continued to advocate for the East Timorese. Indeed the East Timorese strongly desired to see the Portugese return and the Indoensians leave. Portugese government officials and reporters routinely visited the country often risking their own lives to report the horrors occurring under the occupation. More than any other country Portugal sought to help the Timorese both diplomatically and by exposing their plight to the world.

It was not until the Asian economic crisis of 1997 that a true opportunity to help East Timor finally arose. The crisis and the subsequent affects on the Indonsiean economy and political structure led to the of long time President Suharto. Once again Portugal, the consummate champion of East Timor, stepped in and initiated tripartite talks between Indonesia, Portugal and the U.N.