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Salient. Victoria University Student Newspaper. Volume 38, Number 17. July 16, 1973

Coup brings changes

Coup brings changes

News of the April 74 coup was the biggest surprise in 450 years for the people of East Timor. There was now more to talk about in the capital Dili (a town about the size of Taihape which siestas every afternoon and is asleep by 9 pm) than cock-fighting and the Sunday afternoon ritual lowering of the Portuguese flag. Then in mid-1974 the Timorese received another surprise - their masters actually invited them to participate in politics, rather than jailing them for even mentioning the word.

Photo of people gathering outside a sign called Liberdad

Three clear alternatives emerged for Timor's future:
  • Continuation of Portuguese involvement, with a written-in proviso for independence in the long term
  • Immediate independence, assisted by advisers
  • Amalgamation with Indonesia

The extreme degree of economic and social underdevelopment on the island meant that there was no sizeable indigenous educated elite able to immediately capitalize on the situation (at present there are one or two university graduates among Timorese on the island.) Nevertheless, within a month three political groups had formed - the Timorese Democratic Union (UDT), the Association of Timorese Social Democrats (ASDT) (now the Revolutionary Front for the Independence of East Timor - Fretilin, and the Timorese Popular Democratic Association (Apodeti).

Map of Timor

The UDT is the conservative party and is made up of former fascist sympathisers, conservatives in the Timorese elite and is backed by the large coffee plantation owners. The cornerstone of their platform is;
a)Accelerated promotion - proceeded with the shadow of the Portuguese flag - of the social, economic, cultural and political development of the Timorese people.
b)Self determination for the Timorese people oriented toward a federation with Portugal, with an intermediary stage for the attainment of independence.

This party is one of the strongest in Timor, mainly as a result of its control over the old colonial administrative apparatus. It also has the support of the Chinese merchant class, who view preserving the status quo as their main hope. At worst, the Chinese fear expulsion and loss of property, at best post-independence discrimination. A holiday in Timor is even cheaper these days with Chinese merchants looking ahead and black marketing the worthless escudo at twice the bank rate.

Apodeti wants East Timor to integrate with Indonesia, and is the smallest of the three parties. Its programme states: 'In the present historico-political context, abstaining from sentimental wishful thinking and unfounded pride, any precipitate choice would be the ruin of Timor and of the future of its sons, given the absence of political and economic maturity in Timor.' Apodeti's campaign is somewhat haphazard, with visible publicity being confined to free distribution of a T-shirt bearing its name and the publication of a news-sheet which includes an Indonesian grammar, for the language is not known in East Timor.