Timeline of Political Developments

in Timor-Leste

1500s1800s
1520: Portuguese traders arrive in Oecusse.
1613: Dutch East India Company arrives in West Timor.
1859: Border treaty between Portuguese Timor and the Dutch East Indies is
formally ratified.
1900s
19081912: The Manufahi rebellion under the command of Dom Boaventura
is crushed after Portugal brings troops from its colonies in Mozambique and
Goa, resulting in the deaths of 3,000 East Timorese.
1941: Arrival of Australian and Dutch forces in Portuguese Timor in anticipa-
tion of Japanese occupation, 19421945.
1970s1990s
1974: Carnation Revolution in Portugal overthrows Salazar-Caetano regime;
new government commences rapid decolonization in African colonies and
East Timor.
1975: FRETILIN wins short-lived civil war with UDT in August, declares
independence November 28.
1975: Indonesia invades East Timor December 7.
1976: Indonesia declares East Timor its 27th province.
1981: Xanana Gusmo becomes leader of FALINTIL (Armed Forces of National
Liberation of East Timor), the armed wing of FRETILIN (Revolutionary Front
for an Independent East Timor).
1988: Timorese political factions unite under umbrella of CNRM (National
Committee for the Maubere Resistance).
1991: Santa Cruz massacreover 250 pro-independence demonstrators in the
Santa Cruz cemetery are shot.
1992: Gusmo is captured in Dili and given a life sentence in Jakarta.
1996: Nobel Peace Prize is awarded to Carlos Filipe Ximenes Belo and Jos
Ramos-Horta for ongoing efforts to raise awareness of the East Timorese
struggle for self-determination.

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2012 Policy Studies Organization. Published by Wiley Periodicals, Inc.
8 Asian Politics & Policy

1999: East Timor Special Autonomy Referendum results in 78.5% voting in

favor of independence.
1999: International Force for East Timor (INTERFET) arrives to address
humanitarian and security crisis.
19992002: UN Transitional Administration in East Timor (UNTAET).
2000s
2001, August: Election of 88-member Constituent Assembly; FRETILIN
party wins, taking 55 seats. Assembly becomes first national parliament at
independence.
2002, April: Xanana Gusmo wins presidential elections.
2002: East Timor regains its independence on May 20.
2006, May: Australian troops arrive in Dili to restore order as clashes involv-
ing former soldiers, sacked in March, descend into wider violence between
the army and police and the Eastern and Western gangs in Dili. At least 25
people are killed and some 150,000 take refuge in camps.
2006, JuneJuly: Prime Minister Mari Alkatiri resigns after President Gusmo
threatens to resign. Jos Ramos-Horta is named prime minister.
2006, August: UN Integrated Mission in East Timor (UNMIT) is established.
2007, May: Prime Minister Jos Ramos-Horta wins presidential election.
2007, June: FRETILIN wins the highest number of votes in parliamentary polls
but fails to win a majority.
2007: Xanana Gusmos second-place CNRT party forms the AMP government
in alliance with minor opposition parties.
2008, February: President Jos Ramos-Horta is shot by rebel soldiers in an
attack on his Dili residence. Rebel leader Alfredo Reinado is killed in the attack.
2011: UNMIT hands over policing to National Police (PNTL).
2012: Presidential (MarchApril) and Parliamentary (June) elections scheduled.

Sources
http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/asia-pacific/country_profiles/1504243.stm
Durand, Frederic. (2006). East Timor: A country at the crossroads of Asia and the Pacific. Chiang Mai,
Thailand: Silkworm Press.