East+Timor+Crisis

**The East Timor Crisis has been very well fought to gain independence through many lives that have been lost, uprisings, and terrible tragedies to fight the Indonesian government.** **What is/was the conflict in East Timor?** East Timor was settled by Portugal in 1515, and was ruled peacefully for three centuries. A little more than a century after Portugal left Indonesia invaded East Timor in 1975. Indonesia and East Timor had many differences including religion; primarily East Timor is Catholic, while most of Indonesia is Muslim. The East Timorese people were treated very harshly because of their differences by the Indonesian government and military. A lot of East Timor had been destroyed and roughly 200,000 to 300,000 people of East Timor have been killed since 1975, about one third of their entire population. **How did the conflict play out and what happened in East Timor?** In 1999 in East Timor the people stood up for Independence and took a vote. The majority of the population (75%) voted for independence. East Timor is now an independent nation and is slowly rebuilding from all of the violence it has suffered. Australia has donated over $820 million to East Timor from 1999-2009 which has helped to rebuild and restart their country. **Where did this conflict take place?** The conflict took place in East Timor which is located in Southeast Asia. It is part of the island Timor, located in the Indonesian archipelago between the South China Sea and the Indian Ocean. East Timor is located about 400 miles northwest of Australia. **When did the conflict take place?** The conflict began in 1975 when Indonesia invaded East Timor, and slowly has stopped since1999 when East Timor gained independence. **Who is/ was involved in the conflict?** The conflict included the people of East Timor, and the Indonesian government/ military. The United States, the United Kingdom and Australia have also been of support to Indonesia because of the large amounts of oil it possesses. The U.S, U.K, and Australia have supplied Indonesia with large amounts of weapons along with training camps for their military. **What effects did the conflict have on the people/place involved then? Now?** The conflict in East Timor had a major effect on the people who were subject to violence, killings, burnings, rape, and massacres which were done by the Indonesian military. The country had massive amounts of destruction because of the violence, and because of Indonesia’s scorched earth policy, where they would burn everything in their path way. The cartoon shows the man representing Indonesia who is putting all the dead people of East Timor in the trash. This cartoon shows how the United States just really doesn’t pay attention to what is going on deep down as long as the result looks good when it is finished.
 * __ East Timor Crisis  __**