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About East Timor
Population and Geography
The East Timorese, living in the eastern
half of the island of Timor, which lies between Indonesia and
Australia, occupy a land whose area is 14,874 km2. This
compares with: Tasmania 68,330 km2, Wales 20,761 km2, Kuwait
17,800 km2, Connecticut 12,550 km2, Lebanon 10,400 km2, Brunei
5,800 km2, and Luxembourg 2,600 km2.
The population in 1975, when the Portuguese
left, was 680,000 - 97% Timorese (including mestizos), 2%
Chinese, under 1% Portuguese. (The population today is about
800,000 - 78% Timorese, 2% Chinese, 20% Indonesian. This
population compares with Guinea-Bissau 966,000, Fiji 740,000,
Luxembourg 378,000, Cape Verde Is. 368,000, Iceland 251,000,
Brunei 251,000, and Sao Tome and Principe 116,000. Former
Portuguese colonies are in italics). East Timor has a common
boundary with West Timor, which is part of Indonesia, the
former Dutch East Indies.
Climate
Dry Season:
May to November. 20c – 33c
There is virtually no rain at all. The
weather is pleasant and dry, the mountains are cool to very
cold. The vegetation becomes dry and brown. Creeks and rivers
dry up. Agricultural activity slows down or stops. Around
October to November, the “build-up” brings oppressive
humidity and the occasion showers. Monsoon cloud activity
builds up.
Wet Season: December to April. 29c
– 35c
The rains arrive with a vengeance, small
rivers turn to flood. Roads are washed away, landslides occur.
Unsealed roads turn to mud. Travel is difficult. The country
turns vivid green. The festive season begins toward the end
of the wet season after harvest time.
Economy
Corn is the staple food along with rice,
millet, cassava and sweet potato. Corn is preferred over rice
which is more expensive.
Buffalo, cattle, goats are reared and traded
throughout Timor along with poultry and pigs which play an
important role in village economy.
Sustainable management of sandalwood,
marble, coffee along with oil and gas reserves provide good
potential income over the long term in East Timor.
Tourism was never big in East Timor during
the Indonesian occupation, but the potential for it to grow
does exist in the long term.
The massive influx of United Nations workers
and military peace keepers has created a temporary market for
the locals in Dili, but this will last only until the UN
leaves.
The People
Ethnic Groups
There are 12 ethnic groups in East Timor
each of which has its own language: 9 Austronesian language
groups - Tetum, Mambai, Tokodede, Kemak, Galoli, Idate,
Waima'a, Naueti; and 3 Papuan language groups - Bunak, Makasae,
Fatuluku. The Tetum live in two separate geographic areas
within East Timor. A simplified version of the Tetum language
was utilised in Dili by the Portuguese as a lingua franca.
This language has spread throughout East Timor so that Tetum,
in its original or simplified form, came to be spoken by about
60% of the population. Though widespread, it is not understood
by all.
Farmers and Kings
For centuries the East Timorese had been
farmers, living in scattered hamlets and eating what they
grew. Only a few coastal East Timorese were fishermen. Trading
and shop keeping had for generations been in the hands of the
Chinese. East Timor is extremely mountainous, so the majority
of East Timorese had always lived in isolation, far from towns
and foreign influences, tied to their fields and animistic
practices. In spite of centuries of Catholic missionary work
by the Portuguese, in 1975 animists still numbered as much as
72 % of the population. The local Timorese kings still played
an important part in their lives and allegiances, whilst
interference from Portuguese administrators and military was
almost non-existent.
Educated Elite
In the period between World War 2 and the
1975 Indonesian invasion, a number of East Timorese managed to
gain an education in the colony's few schools. Some were
mestizos, of Timorese and Portuguese parentage, others were
Timorese from traditional ruling families, but the majority
were native Timorese who gained their education through the
Catholic minor seminary. The emergence of this small educated
elite in the 1960s and 1970s ensured that, when the Portuguese
left East Timor in 1975, these people with schooling, and
nationalist aspirations, became the territory's leaders.
Portugal and Development
The Portuguese colonialists provided the
colony with limited development. Portugal was itself a poor
country, therefore could only devote few funds to East Timor.
In addition Portugal had been busy since 1961 fighting wars in
its African colonies, Mozambique and Angola, and thus had
limited interest in, and few resources for, distant East
Timor. Trade in sandalwood, Timor's main commodity, had
declined, and the colony's only revenue came from a modest
production of high-grade coffee, mostly Portuguese owned.
Because in the period 1894 - 1912 and again in 1959 some
Timorese had rebelled against Portuguese rule, Portuguese army
personnel (two-thirds of whom were Timorese) were conspicuous,
but interfered little in Timorese daily life. Other Portuguese
in the colony worked as administrators and missionaries;
political exiles from Portugal usually married Timorese women.
After World War 2 the Portuguese built a new harbour, a
hospital, government offices, and schools - all in Dili - as
well as health centres in all 13 districts and 52
sub-districts; however, in general, the territory's
infrastructure, health services and educational provision was
limited.
Dance and Music
The Likurai is the primary dance of the East
Timorese Tutum. It was once performed to welcome worriers home
after battle. Women dance with a small drum held under one
arm. In by-gone days, it was performed by women winding
through the village passed the displayed severed heads of
slain enemy. Today it is performed by unmarried women as a courtship
dance.
Religion
The East Timorese are 90% Catholic. The
church has always been a rallying point for the people during
the Indonesian occupation. During the occupation the church
helped protect the people and served as a vehicle for the
people’s cultural expression.
Mass is in the Tetum language. It is
important for visitors to respect the deep religious
convictions of the people and visitors should be suitably
dressed when visiting churches.
There is also a small group of Muslims and
the rest are protestants.
Languages
Tetum
Current research suggests Tetum and eight
other Austronesian languages, except Lóvaia,
descends from a language introduced from the Buton region in
Celebes about a thousand years ago.
The invasive Austronesian speech displaced
the older Papuan vernaculars of which only tree survive to this
day.
The Austronesian proto language underwent
drastic simplification called pidginization or creolization.
This process was accelerated by later invasions of
Austronesian speakers from Central Moluccas who left their
strongest imprint on the languages of West Timor.
Today the main language of East Timor, Tetum,
is a hybrid language, basically Austronesian but with a heavy
Portuguese substratum. The impact of Portuguese on Tetum was
similar to the impact of French on English after the Norman
French conquest. (Taken from “Standard Tetum-English
Dictionary” by Dr Geoffrey Hull ISBN: 1 86508 206 6).
Today Tetum is spoken by about 60% of people
as a first language and 20% as a second language.
Portuguese
Despite Indonesian attempts to erase the
Portuguese language from Timor by banning it in 1981, it has
remained. Portuguese is spoken by about , especially the older
generation. The Portuguese language has had a profound effect
on Timorese culture and the Tetum language has been greatly
enriched by the infusion of Portuguese making it distinct from
the Tetum spoken in neighbouring West Timor which had a Dutch
colonial past.
Portuguese is spoken by around 10% of the
population.
Indonesian
Bahasa Indonesia is not much different to
Malaysian or Bahasa Malayu and as the long time trade language
of the Indonesian archipelago, it has always been understood
by many in East Timor.
However, following the Indonesian invasion
in 1975, Indonesian was introduced into the education system
bringing East Timor in line with the rest of Indonesia. Young
people know it well and there has been some discussion of
keeping it as one of the nation’s official languages, but
renaming it Malay.
Indonesian is spoken by 90% of people under
30 years of age and by 50% of people over 30 years of age.
Indonesian was used in all schools and universities during the
occupation. Although there is a large body of teaching
material for the language, it is of poor quality.
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