ABSTRACT
Occupying only half of a small island in the expansive Indonesian archipelago, the 1.2 million people of Timor-Leste (commonly called East Timor) have drawn considerable worldwide attention in recent decades. Regrettably, East Timor joined the post-Holocaust, “never again” narrative in 1975 when it experienced its first spate of politically motivated mass killings at the hands of Indonesian invaders. The world did nothing to stop the violence then, but it responded with measured effectiveness in the face of a genocide-style reprise in 1999 and internal chaos in 2006. Although episodic bloodshed has continued to torment East Timor in the new international era, foreign occupation and meddling have bedeviled the small island for over 500 years. Timor-Leste’s story, both sad and triumphant, is of a long, painful struggle for political freedom, independence, and unity.
