Bitter Flowers, Sweet Flowers East Timor, Indonesia, and the World Community

by Tanter, Richard; Selden, Mark; Shalom, Stephen R.

• ISBN13: 9780742509689
• ISBN10: 0742509680
• Format: Paperback
• Copyright: 2001-03-14
• Publisher: Rowman & Littlefield Publishers

Summary

East Timor is at last, and at terrible human cost, firmly on the road to independence. Exploring the significance of its passage to freedom-for its people, for Asia, and for the world-this multi-voiced volume offers a comprehensive overview of this newest nation's travails and triumphs in an international context. The contributors-a mix of scholars and activists-explore the dynamics of the long struggle for independence and show how the case of East Timor, both during and after the Cold War, provides a litmus test for issues of international responsibility and reconciliation. The book includes remarkable eyewitness accounts of the 1999 UN-sponsored referendum and the concomitant militia violence supported by the Indonesian military. Compelling poetry and photographs bring an additional rich dimension to the work.

Table of Contents

List of Illustrations and Poems	ix
Acknowledgments	xi
Introduction: East Timor, Indonesia, and the World Community	xv
Richard Tanter
Mark Selden
Stephen R. Shalom
Part I: East Timor: Resistance, Repression, and the Road to Independence	1	(272)
The Five-Hundred-Year Timorese Funu	3	(12)
Geoffrey C. Gunn
A Long Journey of Resistance: The Origins and Struggle of CNRT	15	(16)
Sarah Niner
The Student Movement and the Independence Struggle in East Timor: An Interview	31	(12)
Constancio Pinto
The Catholic Church and the Independence of East Timor	43	(12)
Arnold S. Kohen
Part II: Referendum and Independence
With UNAMET in East Timor---An Historian's Personal View	55	(18)
Geoffrey Robinson
The Militia, the Military, and the People of Bobonaro	73	(18)
Peter Bartu
Taking the Risk, Paying the Price: East Timorese Vote in Ermera	91	(18)
Helene van Klinken
Grassroots in the Field---Observing the East Timor Consultation	109	(18)
Charles Scheiner
Part III: East Timor, the United States, and the World Community
East Timor, the United States, and International Responsibility: ``Green Light'' for War Crimes	127	(22)
Noam Chomsky
The East Timor Ordeal: International Law and Its Limits	149	(14)
Richard Falk
U.S. Support for the Indonesian Military: Congressional Testimony	163	(10)
Allan Nairn
East Timor and Asian Security	173	(16)
Wade Huntley
Peter Hayes
Part IV: East Timor and Indonesia
East Timor and the Crisis of the Indonesian Intelligence State	189	(20)
Richard Tanter
Big States and Little Independence Movements	209	(20)
Gerry van Klinken
Part V: The Future of East Timor
The Transition of a Small War-Torn Economy into a New Nation: Economic Reconstruction of East Timor	229	(14)
Joao Mariano Saldanha
East Timor Faces the Future	243	(30)
Richard Tanter
Mark Selden
Stephen R. Shalom
Glossary	273	(4)
Index	277	(12)
About the Contributors	289