ABSTRACT
On 30 August 1999, more than 400,000 East Timorese, nearly all of the adult population of East Timor, voted in a UN-monitored referendum on the Indonesian government’s autonomy proposal. Nearly 80 percent of those who voted rejected special autonomy within the Indonesian state, opting instead for independence (Robinson 2001, 58). In doing so, they articulated electorally the position they had previously expressed through nearly 25 years of resistance to Indonesian occupation. The referendum set in motion a process of transition, under United Nations auspices, that led to a formal consummation of this resistance with the inaugural independence day celebration on 20 May 2002, and the swearing in as President of Xanana Gusmão, long-standing leader of the independence struggle.
