It surprises me to see so many fall for the spurious claim that FRETILIN was or is Communist.
It's a group best described as Catholic populist, about as "Communist" as Catholic Liberation Theology. Marxist critique of capitalism yes, but not really suggesting Communism as any kind of a solution. Most of the leaders were (and are) extremely devout Catholics.
Chinese support? So what, that's more a matter of convenience, enemy of my enemy stuff after Suharto killed 600,000+ Indonesian leftists. That's like claiming Bush Sr's support for Saddam (pre Kuwait invasion) made the Baathists into conservative Republicans.
I'd suggest the best way for E Timur to stay independent was for a leading American journalist to have exposed the US support for invasion before it happened. With so much public disgust over scandals like Watergate, lies about the Vietnam War, CIA scandals, etc, the public reaction puts presssure on US President Ford to urge Suharto "hands off" privately. Ford, having enough problems, doesn't want Suharto giving him another one. (Recall the invasion takes place in late 1975, during the earliest part of the primaries for the 1976 US election.) Suharto may still try backing rivals, guerillas, thugs, etc, but it's not enough.
I don't see any way the new country would be anything but a beleaguered conflict ridden basket case, maybe as ungovernable as Lebanon in the 70s. But incoming US President Carter may have made support for it a part of his human rights campaign.
Ridwan:
On an completely unrelated sidenote, I'd be interested in knowing more about General Maraden Panggabean. Either on this thread or by private email.