The Indonesian Occupation

Lundahl, Mats; Sjöholm, Fredrik

doi:10.1007/978-3-030-19466-6_3

The Indonesian Occupation

Mats Lundahl⁴ &
Fredrik Sjöholm⁵

Chapter
First Online: 18 July 2019

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Part of the book series: Palgrave Studies in Economic History ((PEHS))

Abstract

This chapter deals with the mechanics of the brutal Indonesian occupation and subsequent political developments, including the introduction of limited economic and political openness from the late 1980s, up to Indonesia’s deep economic crisis of 1997–98 and the collapse of the Soeharto regime in May 1998. The occupation spelt death and misery for the East Timorese. The enormous causalities in the early years of occupation compare with the genocide in Cambodia. Whatever economic progress that took place was brutally wiped out during the course of the Indonesian retreat from East Timor after the 1999 referendum.

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Notes

1.
Kay (1970, pp. 413–14) and Gallagher (1983, pp. 160–61).
2.
Gallagher (1983, pp. 178–79).
3.
Ibid., p. 179.
4.
Ibid., pp. 180–83.
5.
Ibid., p. 188.
6.
De Spínola (1974).
7.
Gunn (1999, pp. 264–65).
8.
Taylor (1999, p. 26).
9.
Dunn (1983, p. 59).
10.
Ibid., pp. 56–59. For a detailed account of the 1974–1975 events in East Timor, see Jannisa (forthcoming, Chapter 9).
11.
Taylor (1999, p. 26).
12.
Dunn (1983, pp. 60–63) and Taylor (1999, p. 26).
13.
Dunn (1983, pp. 63–70) and Taylor (1999, p. 27).
14.
Taylor (1999, p. 28).
15.
Ranck (1975, p. 24). Taylor (1999, p. 28) and Dunn (1983, p. 71), have 300 or a few hundred, which, however, seems incredibly low.
16.
Dunn (1983, p. 69).
17.
Taylor (1999, pp. 27–28) and Dunn (1983, pp. 70–74), quotation from Dunn (1983, p. 72).
18.
Dunn (1983, pp. 75–76) and Jannisa (1997, pp. 195–96).
19.
Ibid., p. 80.
20.
Gallagher (1983, pp. 197–217).
21.
Jannisa (1997, pp. 189–90).
22.
Dunn (1983, pp. 79–85) and Taylor (1999, p. 37).
23.
Durand (2006, p. 66).
24.
Taylor (1999, p. 30).
25.
Dunn (1983, p. 88).
26.
Ibid., Chapter 6 and Taylor (1999, pp. 30–31, 37).
27.
Jannisa (1997, p. 204).
28.
Taylor (1999, pp. 38–41).
29.
Leach (2017, p. 44).
30.
Quoted by Taylor (1999, p. 42).
31.
Ramos-Horta (1996, note, p. 37).
32.
Ibid., note 52, p. 45.
33.
Ibid., pp. 46–47.
34.
Ibid., pp. 47–49.
35.
Ibid., p. 48.
36.
Ibid., pp. 49–50.
37.
Durand (2006, p. 86).
38.
Dunn (1983, Chapter 8) and Taylor (1999, pp. 50–54).
39.
Dunn (1983, pp. 208, 209).
40.
Ibid., p. 209.
41.
Taylor (1999, p. 58).
42.
Dunn (1983, p. 220).
43.
Ibid., pp. 229–52, tells the Balibó murder story in detail.
44.
Taylor (1999, pp. 58–62).
45.
Gallagher (1983, p. 220).
46.
Ibid., pp. 210–24.
47.
Taylor (1999, pp. 74–77). The Australian position is dealt with extensively in Dunn (1983), passim. Nevins (2005, Chapter 3) examines the positions of the United States, Australia, Britain, Japan and New Zealand.
48.
Jannisa (1997, p. 218). The text of the declaration is reproduced in ibid., pp. 313–14.
49.
Niner (2009, pp. 28–29).
50.
Dunn (1983, pp. 282–92) and Taylor (1999, pp. 62–71).
51.
Taylor (1999, pp. 72–73).
52.
Robinson (2010, p. 48).
53.
Kingsbury (2009, p. ix).
54.
Ricklefs (1993, p. 302).
55.
Taylor (1999, p. 70).
56.
Dunn (1983, p. 291).
57.
Taylor (1999, p. 80).
58.
Fernandes (2011, p. 45).
59.
Durand (2006, p. 74).
60.
Taylor (1999, p. 85).
61.
CAVR (2005c, Chapter 7.3, p. 35).
62.
Ibid., p. 36.
63.
Durand (2006, p. 76).
64.
Niner (2009, p. 34).
65.
Durand (2006, p. 76).
66.
Taylor (1999, pp. 115–16).
67.
Weldemichael (2013, p. 100).
68.
Ibid., p. 144.
69.
Niner (2009, p. 36).
70.
Dunn (2014, p. 43).
71.
Kingsbury (2009, p. 51).
72.
CAVR (2005c, Chapter 7.3, p. 35).
73.
CAVR (2005b, p. 73).
74.
Fernandes (2011, p. 48).
75.
Taylor (1999, p. 88).
76.
Ibid., pp. 92–93.
77.
See Mason (2005), for an account of the role of rape as a tactic systematically employed by the Indonesian occupation force.
78.
E.g. Robinson (2010, p. 40).
79.
Taylor (1999, p. 93).
80.
CAVR (2005a, p. 14).
81.
Durand (2006, p. 76).
82.
Cited by Taylor (1999, p. 97).
83.
CAVR (2005b, p. 82).
84.
Fernandes (2011, p. 63).
85.
Ibid.
86.
CAVR (2005a, p. 81) and Fernandes (2011, Chapter 3).
87.
Fernandes (2011, pp. 63–64).
88.
Ibid., Chapter 4 and Salla (1997, p. 452).
89.
Weldemichael (2013, p. 132).
90.
Taylor (1999, p. 117).
91.
Taylor, p. 118, Durand (2006, p. 88), and Fernandes (2011, p. 66).
92.
Taylor (1999, pp. 118–19).
93.
Ibid., p. 120.
94.
Ibid.
95.
Molnar (2010, p. 50).
96.
Fernandes (2011, p. 71).
97.
Niner (2009, p. 79).
98.
Fernandes (2011, p. 67).
99.
Taylor (1999, p. 135).
100.
Dovert (2014, p. 74).
101.
Taylor (1999, pp. 135–36).
102.
Ibid., pp. 137–41 and Fernandes (2011, pp. 72–73).
103.
Niner (2009, pp. 100–102).
104.
Taylor (1999, pp. 142–43) and Fernandes (2011, pp. 73–75).
105.
Taylor (1999, pp. 149–52, 160) and Durand (2006, p. 78).
106.
Durand (2006, pp. 78, 81).
107.
Ibid., pp. 80, 82.
108.
Taylor (1999, p. 162).
109.
Durand (2006, p. 82).
110.
Niner (2009, pp. 32–33) and Taylor (1999, p. 203).
111.
Fernandes (2011, p. 65).
112.
Gusmão’s biography is in Niner (2009) and his autobiography is found in Gusmão (2000).
113.
Niner (2009, pp. 32–33).
114.
Ibid., p. 43.
115.
Ibid., p. 74.
116.
Ibid., pp. 75–76.
117.
Ibid., pp. 104–7.
118.
Weldemichael (2013, p. 180).
119.
Shoesmith (2003, pp. 240–41).
120.
Guterres (2006, pp. 125–26).
121.
Ibid., p. 134.
122.
This paved the way for the multi-party democracy that was incorporated into the constitution of the new state.
123.
Taylor (1999, p. 152).
124.
Friend (2003, p. 275).
125.
Durand (2004, pp. 89–95).
126.
Ibid., p. 101.
127.
Ibid., pp. 94–95.
128.
Leach (2017, p. 90).
129.
Durand (2004, pp. 95–97).
130.
Cited by Taylor (1999, p. 154).
131.
Durand (2004, pp. 96–97, 100–102).
132.
Friend (2003, p. 275).
133.
Taylor (1999, p. 157).
134.
Kingsbury (2009, p. 16).
135.
Durand (2004, pp. 94, 69). Cf. Nevins (2005, p. 38). (Leach 2017c, p. 89, has a lower figure for 1980: 50%.) Another contributing factor was that the Indonesians required that the East Timorese should choose one of the five monotheistic religions permitted in Indonesia. The constitution of Indonesia does not allow atheism (Durand 2014a, p. 195).
136.
Leach (2017, p. 89).
137.
Durand (2006, p. 82), Taylor (1999, pp. 155–56), Greenless and Garran (2002, p. 21), and Fernandes (2011, pp. 84–85).
138.
Leach (2017, p. 101), provides a list of the most important organizations.
139.
Ibid., pp. 101–2, gives the details.
140.
Durand (2006, p. 84). Weldemikchael (2013, pp. 236–38) gives the details.
141.
Cristalis (2002, p. 47). Durand (2006, p. 84), lists 271 dead, 382 injured and 250 missing.
142.
Molnar (2010, pp. 51–52). A detailed account of the massacre is found in McMillan (1992).
143.
Durand (2006, p. 84).
144.
Fernandes (2011, pp. 90–100).
145.
Kingsbury (2009, p. 63).
146.
An account of the aftermath of the Santa Cruz massacre and the ensuing international exposure of the situation in East Timor is found in Jannisa (forthcoming, Chapter 13).
147.
Fernandes (2011, pp. 102–5).
148.
Ibid., p. 108 and Niner (2009, p. 34).
149.
Fernandes (2011, pp. 108–9).
150.
Ibid., p. 109.
151.
Ibid.
152.
Ibid., p. 110.
153.
Ibid., pp. 119–21.
154.
Ibid., p. 141.
155.
Niner (2009, pp. 173–74).
156.
Fernandes (2011, pp. 160–61).
157.
Niner (2009, p. 176).
158.
Ibid., pp. 176–77.
159.
Ibid., p. 177.
160.
For details, see Fernandes (2011, Chapter 9).
161.
Hill (2000).
162.
Fernandes (2011, p. 179).
163.
Ibid.
164.
Iriana and Sjöholm (2002).
165.
Ibid., p. 149.
166.
Ibid., pp. 115–16.
167.
Elson (2001, pp. 284–85).
168.
Ibid., p. 203.
169.
Ibid., p. 282.
170.
Fernandes (2011, p. 179).
171.
Biro Pusat Statistik (1999a).
172.
Bourchier (2000, p. 24).
173.
Durand (2006, p. 116).
174.
Ibid., p. 118. See Gunn (2014, pp. 91–92), for details. For a list of the various militias, see Jannisa (1997, Chapter 14).
175.
Van Dijk (2001, p. 371).
176.
Niner (2009, p. 183).
177.
The details of the involvement of the international community in the 1999 events in East Timor are discussed in Nevins (2005, Chapter 6).
178.
Niner (2001, p. 24).
179.
Formally, the vote was a consultation, and not a referendum, on the proposal of autonomy within the Indonesian Republic.
180.
Van Klinken (2001, p. 215).
181.
Van Dijk (2000, p. 370).
182.
Gunn (2014, pp. 85–86).
183.
For details, see, e.g., Federer (2005, Chapter 5) and Gunn (2014).
184.
Kingsbury (2009, p. 70).
185.
Durand (2006, p. 120).
186.
Kingsbury (2009, p. 73).
187.
Lowry (2000, p. 93).
188.
For details, see Tanter et al. (2006). Cf. also Nevins (2005, Chapters 4–6).
189.
The exact number varies between different sources but seems to be between 1000 and 2000 (Friend 2003, p. 458).
190.
Haughton (2001, pp. 288–89).
191.
Kingsbury (2009, p. 76). For a detailed account of the diplomatic prelude to the intervention, especially the Australian turnabout, see Wheeler and Dunne (2001).
192.
Ricklefs (1993, p. 302).
193.
Schwarz (1994, p. 194).
194.
Kingsbury (2009, p. ix).
195.
Staveteig (2009, p. 243).
196.
Silva and Ball (2006, pp. 1–2) and CAVR (2005a, p. 9).
197.
Staveteig (2009, p. 245).
198.
Ibid., pp. 145–46. There is of course also a risk for over-reporting and double counting, but the HRDG tried to minimize that type of bias.
199.
Ibid., p. 154.
200.
To the confirmed dead has to be added the number of Timorese who went missing during the conflict and whose deaths have never been conclusively confirmed by their families. One estimate places the number of missing persons in the ‘tens of thousands’ (Kinsella and Blau 2013, p. 2). This group should be covered by Staveteig’s estimates, since they build on projections of the expected population.
201.
CAVR (2005a, p. 12).
202.
Weldemichael (2013, pp. 126–27). Jannisa (1997, p. 298) and (forthcoming, Chapter 11), compares the population decrease during the occupation with the ravages of the Black Death in the mid-fourteenth century, when around one-third of the European population was killed (cf. Livi-Bacci 2001, p. 38).

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Stockholm School of Economics, Stockholm, Sweden
Mats Lundahl
Department of Economics, Lund University, Lund, Sweden
Fredrik Sjöholm

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Lundahl, M., Sjöholm, F. (2019). The Indonesian Occupation. In: The Creation of the East Timorese Economy. Palgrave Studies in Economic History. Palgrave Macmillan, Cham. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-030-19466-6_3

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DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-030-19466-6_3
Published: 18 July 2019
Publisher Name: Palgrave Macmillan, Cham
Print ISBN: 978-3-030-19465-9
Online ISBN: 978-3-030-19466-6
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