Follow TV Tropes

Following

Useful Notes / Timor-Leste

Go To

https://static.tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pub/images/tt_map.gif

Timor-Leste, or East Timor in English (Tetum: Timór-Leste), officially the Democratic Republic of Timor-Leste (Portuguese: República Democrática de Timor-Leste, Tetum: Repúblika Demokrátika Timór-Leste) is a small Southeast Asian country with just over a million people, and is the only Asian country located entirely in the Southern Hemisphere. As the name suggests, it is located in the eastern half of the island of Timor, which itself also means "east" in Malay (and Leste means "east" in Portuguese). A former Portuguese colony, its population is avidly Catholic, making it one of the two Asian countries with a Catholic-majority population. In fact, East Timor is currently one of the most densely Catholic countries in the world, second only to the Vatican City itself. These are some of the reasons its people were fiercely determined to break free from Indonesia, which was a former Dutch colony and largely Muslim (though it should be noted that while West Timor is not majority Catholic, it's also not majority Muslim; while Catholics are a significant minority, Protestants are dominant there. However, East Nusa Tenggara, the province where West Timor is located, is majority Catholic if taken togethernote ).

East Timor declared nationhood in 1975 after Portugal ended its four-century long colonial rule, but Indonesians with Infantry almost immediately invaded, ostensibly due to Indonesian dictator Suharto's fear that the country could become a Communist nation. Portugal heavily campaigned diplomatically for its independence, especially after the Santa Cruz massacre. After nearly a quarter century under brutal military occupation during which at least 100,000 Timorese were killed by Suharto's forces, East Timor held a referendum in 1999 in which its people overwhelmingly voted for independence, unswayed by harassment from pro-Indonesian militias. However, it wasn't until 20 May 2002 that it finally became a nation in its own right. The nation's full name (in English) is the Democratic Republic of East Timor, and it is genuinely democratic. The term "Democratic Republic", a common name for a Communist state, is a legacy of the Marxist origins of the East Timorese independence movement.

Despite its newfound freedom, East Timor remains beset by problems. There was a crisis in 2006 which resulted in an Australian-led International Stabilisation Force entering the country, a mission that ended in 2013. In early 2008, the then-president, José Ramos-Horta, survived an assassination attempt. Ramos-Horta was voted out in 2012, and gracefully hailed the peaceful elections as a sign his country was maturing. It also had a maritime boundary dispute with Australia over the Timor Gap, an area rich in oil and gas reserves, which was eventually settled in 2018.

East Timor is a small, poor country with only about 2,100 internet users as of June 2010, and as a result its presence in and output of fiction is small. Even after independence, it is still largely eclipsed by West Timor, which is both more populous (it has the island's largest city, Kupang) and economically prosperous (though not by much).

The country's official languages are Portuguese and Tetum. In general, East Timorese are culturally similar to the Austronesian peoples of Central and Eastern Indonesia. Even though it is Southeast Asian, East Timor is not a member of ASEAN (Association of Southeast Asian Nations), the region's intergovernmental organization.


East Timor in fiction

  • Shakira's song "Timor" mocks the treatment of Timor-Leste at the hands of western powers.
    "If we forget about them, don't worry!"
    "If they forget about us then hurry!"
  • The country's most prominent appearance in Western media so far is in Splinter Cell: Pandora Tomorrow, which starts off with a bang when Suhadi Sadono's terrorist group launches an attack on the United States embassy in the capital city, Dili. Sam Fisher is quickly sent in to reconnoiter the situation and recover sensitive data from a hostage before Sadono can get it, followed by the U.S. sending in Delta Force to retake the embassy. Sadono's motivation is to force the United States to withdraw military forces it has been building up in East Timor.
  • It's also mentioned multiple times during one sequence of Devil Survivor 2, though it doesn't actually appear and seems to only be mentioned because the party Cloud Cuckoolander likes the sound of the name.
  • Dead Island: Col. Ryder White is stated to have fought in East Timor as part of the international peacekeeping force deployed to the country prior to its independence in 2002.
  • The film Balibo, directed by Rob Connolly, is a Bio Pic about investigative journalist Roger East and the news reporters known as the "Balibo Five", who are suspected to have been shot dead by Indonesian troops in 1975 after the invasion of East Timor. One of the Balibo Five, Greg Shackleton, filmed his last ever newsreel three days before his death. The fateful newsreel was recreated for the biopic.
  • Occasional mentions in Polandball comics often in the context of attempts to join ASEAN. Either that, or the comics show it bonding/commiserating with the Philippines over being the only two Catholic countries in Asia, let alone Southeast Asia, a shared trait that makes them both feel out of place as "Asian Latinos".
  • Crocodile Hunter had Steve Irwin visit the country to help relocate two crocodiles in terrible condition to new state of the art facilities.
  • Delta Force 2 has a quick mission here where you have to stop a terrorist group from bombing a UN-built power plant.

The East Timorese flag https://static.tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pub/images/timor-leste_flag_2668.png
The red field symbolizes the country's historic struggles for independence; at the hoist side is a yellow isosceles triangle symbolizing its colonial past, upon which is superimposed a black triangle, symbolizing the obscurantism Timor-Leste needed to overcome, and the white star within symbolizes the guiding light to peace.

The East Timorese national anthem

Pátria, Pátria, Timor-Leste, nossa Nação.
Glória ao povo e aos heróis da nossa libertação.
Pátria, Pátria, Timor-Leste, nossa Nação.
Glória ao povo e aos heróis da nossa libertação.

Vencemos o colonialismo, gritamos:
Abaixo o imperialismo.
Terra livre, povo livre,
Não, não, não à exploração.

Avante unidos firmes e decididos.
Na luta contra o imperialismo
O inimigo dos povos, até à vitória final.
Pelo caminho da revolução.

Pátria, Pátria, Timór-Leste, ita-nia Nasaun.
Glória ba Povu no ba ita-nia eróis libertasaun nasionál.
Pátria, Pátria, Timór-Leste, ita-nia Nasaun.
Glória ba Povu no ba ita-nia eróis libertasaun nasionál.

Ita manán hasoru kolonializmu, ita hakilar:
Hatuun imperializmu.
Rai livre, Povu livre,
Lae, lae, lae ba esplorasaun.

Bá oin hamutuk, laran-metin no barani.
Halo funu hasoru imperializmu
Inimigu Povu hotu-hotu nian, to’o vitória finál
Liu dalan revolusaun.

Fatherland, fatherland, East Timor our Nation.
Glory to the people and to the heroes of our liberation.
Fatherland, fatherland, East Timor our Nation.
Glory to the people and to the heroes of our liberation.

We vanquish colonialism, we cry:
down with imperialism!
Free land, free people,
No, no, no to exploitation.

Let us go forward, united, firm and determined
In the struggle against imperialism,
the enemy of people, until final victory,
onward to revolution.

Government
  • Unitary semi-presidential constitutional republic
    • President: José Ramos-Horta
    • Prime Minister: Xanana Gusmão

Miscellaneous
  • Capital and largest city: Dili
  • Population: 1,340,513
  • Area: 15,007 km² (5,794 sq mi) (154th)
  • Currency: United States dollar ($) (USD)
  • ISO-3166-1 Code: TL
  • Country calling code: 670
  • Highest point: Mount Ramelau (2963 m/9,721 ft) (66th)
  • Lowest point: Timor Sea (3,200 /10,500 ft) (32nd)

Alternative Title(s): East Timor

Top