Alternate annexation of east timor

In otl, Indonesia's annexation of east Timor was rife with inhuman brutality and repression. They where eventually forced to give it up via international pressure.

But why was it like this? Is there a way to make Indonesia's annexation of east Timor not only permenant, but also less harsh and more benign, like India's annexation of Goa? India's annexation of Goa had minimal deaths, and the territory was cleanly and smoothly integrated into civilian administration and all other countries recognized it.

So yeah, why was Indonesia so much more brutal than India, and could we change that?
 
One of the differences is that Indonesia's taking of Timor happened after Timor's independence and also after the democratization of Portugal. India's taking of Goa happened while Portugal was still fascist. Is it possible to have Indonesia annex East Timor earlier?
 
This is looking at things from an Indonesian internal politics POV:

In OTL, a small window opened between 1988-1991 for an annexation/occupation that would be less brutal. During this period:

*Governor of East Timor Mario Carrascalao prevailed on Soeharto to have East Timor governed as a normal province rather than a militarized one so that there could be economic activity there.

*Commander of Nusa Tenggara Islands Sintong Panjaitan, which included East Timor, floated the idea of East Timor being a Special Administrative Region.

*East Timor itself got a commander in the province in Rudolf Warouw, who did the following:

"Coming in as a 'new broom' commander, Warouw quickly introduced important changes. The number of checkpoints on roads in the province was sharply reduced. Sizeable numbers of political prisoners were released. Torture became less frequent and less severe. And punishment was dealt out on a much larger scale than before to soldiers tried for violations of military discipline, with 300 servicemen 'disciplined' during his two years in the post (Current Data 1992, p. 98)."

From: https://openresearch-repository.anu.edu.au/bitstream/1885/133704/1/Indonesia_Assessment_1992.pdf

This situation changed in 1991 when this happened: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Santa_Cruz_massacre.

The Wikipedia article isn't wrong but totally ignores the internal Indonesian politics. The three people I mentioned above came out of that incident looking incompetent for allowing such a situation to get out of control though there's a suspicion that hardline elements in the Indonesian military helped incite the riots. At the end, they lost the political game because Soeharto sided with hardliners, removed Carrascalao, Sintong, and Warouw, and allowed hardline elements in the Indonesian Army to regain control of East Timor.

So to answer your question, elements in the Indonesian military adopting a more moderate and lenient approach (and having that approach adopted as policy) could probably have a good shot at a less brutal annexation/occupation.
 
I think it was always going to be its own province.

In Indonesia, the option exists to grand certain provinces “Special Administrative Region”. It’s just that Soeharto was too much of a “central government superiority” guy to budge on giving East Timor this status.

The other option considered was to give East Timor Special Autonomy status. If the independence vote was defeated in the 1999 referendum, East Timor would’ve reverted to Special Autonomy status while still being part of Indonesia.

This Special Autonomy status is actually quasi-independence.

The Indonesian government would retain control of defence, employment law, economic and fiscal policies and foreign relations, whilst Indonesian laws would have continuity in the territory. The autonomous government would have had competence over all matters not reserved for the Government of Indonesia, including the right to adopt a coat of arms as a symbol of identity. It would be able to designate persons as having "East Timorese identity" and could limit rights of land ownership for persons without this identity. A traditional civil code could also have been adopted. The SARET could enter into agreements with city and regional governments for economic, cultural and educational purposes. The SARET would have been entitled to participate in cultural and sporting organisations where other non-state entities participate.

From: https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/1999_East_Timorese_independence_referendum#Proposed_special_autonomy

The government had changed by the time Special Autonomy was being considered OTL. The problem was that by this time, the international community was irreversibly pushing for independence. They saw Special Autonomy as a temporary measure with a referendum to come further down the track while Indonesia saw it as a permanent solution.
 
So yeah, why was Indonesia so much more brutal than India?

Basically, the invasion of East Timor was as brutal as it was, because there were fears that East Timor, which was being led by a leftist political party, could've become Communist and become a threat to Western submarines within the region. Also, Indonesia was worried that East Timor would serve as a rallying cry for secessionists within Indonesia itself (West Papua comes to mind).

It didn't help that the United States and later, Australia, either supported the occupation or played a part in covering up details of the occupation, to the point of in Australia's case, mocking the reports of atrocities behind close doors. https://www.news.com.au/lifestyle/r...d/news-story/a7c37128af2233e98ad0f797253ae375
 
Basically, the invasion of East Timor was as brutal as it was, because there were fears that East Timor, which was being led by a leftist political party, could've become Communist and become a threat to Western submarines within the region. Also, Indonesia was worried that East Timor would serve as a rallying cry for secessionists within Indonesia itself (West Papua comes to mind).

It didn't help that the United States and later, Australia, either supported the occupation or played a part in covering up details of the occupation, to the point of in Australia's case, mocking the reports of atrocities behind close doors. https://www.news.com.au/lifestyle/r...d/news-story/a7c37128af2233e98ad0f797253ae375
But, why would they worry about communism if the region was under Indonesian control. And doesnt the extreme brutality make the secessionists more likely to rebel. If Indonesia had just integrated them normally, set up education, roads, treat the people like normal citizens and not garbage, etc, there might have been minimal sepratism.
 
The other option considered was to give East Timor Special Autonomy status. If the independence vote was defeated in the 1999 referendum, East Timor would’ve reverted to Special Autonomy status while still being part of Indonesia.

This Special Autonomy status is actually quasi-independence.

From: https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/1999_East_Timorese_independence_referendum#Proposed_special_autonomy

The government had changed by the time Special Autonomy was being considered OTL. The problem was that by this time, the international community was irreversibly pushing for independence. They saw Special Autonomy as a temporary measure with a referendum to come further down the track while Indonesia saw it as a permanent solution.

The special autonomous status sounds similar to - with obvious differences - what was ultimately chosen for Hong Kong and Macao, interestingly enough. It would have been interesting to see the result of SARTL surviving.
 
But, why would they worry about communism if the region was under Indonesian control.

It was primarily about what happened before Indonesia occupied it, where things changed in the metropole - to remind some of the sounds of the era:
Basically, the Estado Novo was overthrown by what would ultimately become the MFA. Among other things, because many were radicalized by the Colonial War in Africa, the MFA took it as a sign to decolonize as much of the Portuguese Empire as possible - even better if the liberation movement was just as left-leaning as the MFA (I know I'm oversimplifying here). That was part of the fear - if Portugal becomes Communist under the MFA and ultimately the PCP, then who knows about the colonies (particularly since many decolonization/national liberation movements in the so-called "Third World" were left-leaning in orientation)? Hence the angst over what then-Portuguese Timor (and in particular FRETILIN) would become after decolonization - aided by Cold War machinations - which led to the Indonesian invasion and occupation.

And doesnt the extreme brutality make the secessionists more likely to rebel.

Exactly.

If Indonesia had just integrated them normally, set up education, roads, treat the people like normal citizens and not garbage, etc, there might have been minimal sepratism.

Here's the problem with that scenario. From Jakarta's POV, that was essentially what they were trying to do. The problem, of course, was that in the context of the time - and with the Communist threat - that basically meant the extinction of Portuguese and the native languages in favor of Malay (Bahasa Indonesia) and all that because it could be seen as identifiers of separatism. On top of that, another problem was Suharto and his minions, who basically had a reverse Midas touch much like the rest of Indonesia under his régime. You almost have to retain Sukarno and his coterie in power (as strange as that sounds) to have some sort of normalcy that is not Suharto.
 
Here's the problem with that scenario. From Jakarta's POV, that was essentially what they were trying to do. The problem, of course, was that in the context of the time - and with the Communist threat - that basically meant the extinction of Portuguese and the native languages in favor of Malay (Bahasa Indonesia) and all that because it could be seen as identifiers of separatism. On top of that, another problem was Suharto and his minions, who basically had a reverse Midas touch much like the rest of Indonesia under his régime. You almost have to retain Sukarno and his coterie in power (as strange as that sounds) to have some sort of normalcy that is not Suharto.
I could be wrong, but I dont think Indoesia tries to wipe out languages? It uses Bahasa Indonesia as a lingua franca, but everyone on their own speaks their native language right? And the appeal of communism would disappear if Indonesia provided a good alternative in the form of a function economy
 
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