East Timor Independence Referendum 1999: Vote and Violence

The East Timor independence referendum was a United Nations-organised vote held on 30 August 1999, in which the people of East Timor overwhelmingly rejected autonomy within Indonesia and chose a path to independence. The result was followed by a wave of destruction by pro-Indonesian militias that killed hundreds and devastated the territory, until an Australian-led international force arrived in September. The ballot ended 24 years of Indonesian rule and led to the birth of Timor-Leste in 2002.

Background

East Timor, the eastern half of the island of Timor, was a Portuguese colony for centuries. After Portugal’s 1974 revolution began decolonisation, a short civil war broke out, and the FRETILIN party declared independence on 28 November 1975. Nine days later, on 7 December 1975, Indonesia launched a full-scale invasion of East Timor and in 1976 declared it the country’s 27th province. The United Nations never recognised the annexation.

The occupation was extremely deadly. A later truth commission estimated that at least 102,000 people died from violence, hunger and disease between 1974 and 1999, and other estimates run as high as about 180,000, out of a population of roughly 600,000 to 800,000. International attention grew after Indonesian troops fired on mourners at the Santa Cruz cemetery in Dili in November 1991, an event filmed by foreign journalists. In 1996 Bishop Carlos Filipe Ximenes Belo and José Ramos-Horta shared the Nobel Peace Prize for their efforts to find a peaceful solution.

The road to a vote

The fall of President Suharto in May 1998, during the Asian financial crisis, changed everything. His successor, B. J. Habibie, first offered East Timor wide autonomy, then in January 1999 surprised his own government by agreeing that the Timorese could reject it. On 5 May 1999 Indonesia and Portugal signed agreements in New York under which the UN would hold a “popular consultation” asking voters to accept or reject special autonomy.

The UN Mission in East Timor (UNAMET), led by the British diplomat Ian Martin, registered more than 450,000 voters in a matter of weeks. Security, however, was left to Indonesia. Pro-Indonesian militias, armed and supported by parts of the Indonesian military, attacked independence supporters throughout 1999, including a massacre of people sheltering in a church at Liquiçá in April.

The ballot

Despite threats, voters queued from before dawn on 30 August 1999, and turnout reached about 98.6 per cent. On 4 September the UN announced that 78.5 per cent had rejected autonomy, a clear vote for independence.

Destruction and intervention

Within hours of the announcement, militias and soldiers began a campaign of killing, burning and forced removal. An estimated 1,400 or more people were killed in 1999, and around 250,000 were taken or fled across the border into Indonesian West Timor. An estimated 70 per cent of the territory’s buildings and infrastructure were destroyed or badly damaged. UN staff and many Timorese took refuge in the UNAMET compound in Dili before being evacuated.

Under intense international pressure, Indonesia agreed to accept foreign troops. On 15 September the UN Security Council passed Resolution 1264, authorising the International Force East Timor (INTERFET). Led by Australia under Major General Peter Cosgrove and including troops from many countries, it began landing in Dili on 20 September and quickly restored order.

Aftermath

Indonesia’s People’s Consultative Assembly formally accepted the result in October 1999. The UN then created a transitional administration, UNTAET, which governed the territory, rebuilt institutions and organised elections. INTERFET handed over to UN peacekeepers in February 2000. On 20 May 2002 East Timor became independent as the Democratic Republic of Timor-Leste, with the former resistance leader Xanana Gusmão as its first president.

Efforts to punish those responsible for the 1999 violence produced limited results. Indonesian special trials led to very few lasting convictions, while a UN-backed serious crimes process in Dili convicted mainly low-level militia members.

Key people

B. J. Habibie, who had been Suharto’s vice-president, took the decision to allow the vote, against the wishes of many in the army. Xanana Gusmão, the imprisoned resistance commander, was moved from prison to house arrest in Jakarta in early 1999 and released after the result. UN Secretary-General Kofi Annan announced the result and pressed Indonesia to accept international troops.

Timeline

• 1975, 7 December: Indonesia invades East Timor.
• 1991, 12 November: Santa Cruz massacre in Dili.
• 1998, 21 May: President Suharto resigns.
• 1999, 5 May: Indonesia and Portugal sign the New York agreements.
• 1999, 30 August: Referendum held under UN supervision.
• 1999, 4 September: Result announced; militia violence intensifies.
• 1999, 20 September: INTERFET troops begin landing in Dili.
• 2002, 20 May: Timor-Leste becomes independent.

Why it matters

The 1999 referendum was a rare case in which a people under long occupation won independence through a ballot. It also showed both the courage of ordinary voters and the dangers of holding a vote without adequate security, lessons that shaped later UN missions. It also became an early test of Indonesia’s own transition to democracy after Suharto’s New Order, the regime that had taken power amid the mass killings of 1965-1966.