The island of Timor lies south of the Equator, about 280 miles northeast of Australia, and 620 mile west of the island of Java, where the Indonesian capital of Jakarta is located. Indonesia, with a population of over 210 million, is the fourth-largest nation after China, India and the United States. It comprises more than 13,500 islands roughly spread over a distance equal to that from San Francisco to Philadelphia.
The island of Timor has an area of about 13,000 square miles, a little smaller than Taiwan, about one-third larger than Haiti, and more than three times the size of the island of Hawaii. Just as Haiti shares the island of Hispaniola with the Dominican Republic, Timor is divided into East and West Timor. East Timor lies closer to Australia's northern city of Darwin than Haiti lies to Miami.
More than 500 years ago, Timor was part of a trade network including India and China. Its chief export was sandalwood. East Timor was annexed by Portugal in the early 16th century after it conquered Malacca, now in Malaysia. The Dutch, however, became the dominant power in the 17th century, gaining control over Java in 1750, and finally controlling the full area of what is now known as Indonesia early this century. The Portuguese, however, retained control of East Timor.
Japan invaded both Indonesia and East Timor during World War II. After the defeat of Japan in 1945, Indonesian nationalists declared independence, which Holland conceded in 1949 after four years of conflict. East Timor, however, remained under Portuguese colonial administration until 1975. It was annexed by Indonesia as its 27th province in 1976. This claim was never recognized by the United Nations, which had targeted East Timor for independence following the completion of a UN "decolonization process."
In 1998, Indonesia's President Soharto resigned after a 32-year reign. One month later, his successor, B. J. Habibie, announced a plan to give East Timor special status with extensive autonomy. In January, 1999, Habibie announced that the people of East Timor would be able to vote on autonomy or independence. The poll, under the auspices of the UN, was twice delayed due to fears about security and to difficulties with logistics.
On August 30, more than 98 percent of East Timor's 450,000 registered votes turned out to vote. On September 4, the result was announced: 78.5 percent had rejected the option of special autonomy with Indonesia and had voted for independence.
