Since then, Timor has been the site of a rebel insurgency against Indonesia that has been the proverbial thorn in Indonesia's side. Human rights groups estimate that as many as 100,000 people, nearly a third of all East Timorese, have died from conflict, starvation, or disease in the struggle. The United Nations, which still recognizes Portugal as the administrating power, opposes the continued Indonesian occupation. A series of decisions at the International Court of Justice have condemned Indonesia for its annexation, if not its continued repression. Australia has been the only Western country to recognize East Timor as Indonesian territory, and even that is a bitterly contentious issue down under.
The issues are basic. The Timorese are fighting for the basic freedom of self-determination. An underlying conflict is the religious one; the Timorese are largely Roman Catholic, a hangover from the Portuguese colonial days, and Indonesia is the world's most populous Islamic nation, even if Indonesia's is a fairly tolerant form of Islam. The issues of representation, taxation, and religious persecution driving the Timorese rebels are many of the same issues that drove the American colonists in the last 18th century.
But as with most complex issues, there is more than one side to the story. Indonesian officials vociferously defend their occupation of Timor. The island is geographically ensconced within the Indonesian archipelago, and to many Indonesians, a free and independent East Timor makes as much sense as a free and independent Kansas would to Americans. Additionally, officials wish to avoid setting a precedent whereby differences with Jakarta would lead to other independence movements. Since Indonesia is comprised of twenty-seven provinces spread over several thousand islands that are easily separated geographically, this fear is not unreasonable, especially given a similar (if lower intensity) movement on the island of Irian Jaya. As one Indonesian official at the United Nations told me, if it was right for Lincoln to wage war to keep the United States whole, it is perfectly just for Indonesia to wage war to maintain its union.
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