Sukarno annexes East Timor in 1960s

Could Sukarno successful invade and annex East Timor in the 1960s

Would Portugal intervene or accept the lost of its colony

Would they even be able to retake East Timor

What would be the impact on neighboring nations
 
IMHO, Sukarno can easily do it during the Portuguese Colonial War. as Portugal even try to abandon Macao to China, but China refused the immediate trasnfert of the territory.
 
Sukarno was unlikely to try, IMO. He was too busy with the Konfrontasi and West Irian. Maybe if he manages to stay in power and gets the other biz settled.
 
Could he shift troops from west Irian after the dutch give it up and some troops from Konfrontasi to take East Timor. I imagine Portugal wouldn't have many troops on East Timor

The Konfrontasi didn't end until Suharto took power, and the Papua conflict is still going now.
 
That would bring Indonesia into direct conflict with NATO power Portugal, and might well start a significant conflict.
 
At the time Indonesia was in low level armed conflict with the British Commonwealth, and before that the Dutch. Australia was opposed to the invasion of West Papua but was overruled by JFK, but the Commonwealth wouldn't take the invasion of East Timor at all well while fighting Indonesia in Malaysia.
 
The Australian reaction is crucial here. If they interpret it within the wider context of the region, e.g. Konfrontasi, Malaysia etc, then Australia is definitely going to react - ranging from increased low level involvement to invigorated investment in an independent nuclear deterrence for a Fortress Australia.
 
The Konfrontasi didn't end until Suharto took power, and the Papua conflict is still going now.
They did take it in 1975 while the Papua conflict was on going I imagine They can reduce troop levels for the Konfrontasi and take some troops from there and raise some new ones

That would bring Indonesia into direct conflict with NATO power Portugal, and might well start a significant conflict.
India took Goa without causing a war with NATO and the treaty doesn't apply to colonial holdings
 
I'd argue that if they just invaded and took it, we'd probably get involved and Portugal won't be happy either.

We already weren't happy with them as is.
 
At the time Indonesia was in low level armed conflict with the British Commonwealth, and before that the Dutch. Australia was opposed to the invasion of West Papua but was overruled by JFK, but the Commonwealth wouldn't take the invasion of East Timor at all well while fighting Indonesia in Malaysia.

Why on earth were we listening to the yanks for foreign policy related to our region of the world. Menzies should have told him to get stuffed.
 
Why on earth were we listening to the yanks for foreign policy related to our region of the world. Menzies should have told him to get stuffed.

It might have come to blows and we lacked the command structures to fight alongside anyone but the British and Americans. We certainly had no ability or experience in being an equal and left a lot of the stuff needed to run a coalition up to the British so didn't have it ourselves.
 
It might have come to blows and we lacked the command structures to fight alongside anyone but the British and Americans. We certainly had no ability or experience in being an equal and left a lot of the stuff needed to run a coalition up to the British so didn't have it ourselves.

against an underdeveloped indonesian military, with the assistance of militias potentially, i'd say we'd have a good chance. We had WW2 under our belts, i don't think we'd be completely inept.
 
against an underdeveloped indonesian military, with the assistance of militias potentially, i'd say we'd have a good chance. We had WW2 under our belts, i don't think we'd be completely inept.

There would be no problem with the command of Brigades, aircraft wings, naval task groups in battle but Australia lacked the higher command setup, from a War Cabinet and a joint national military command level. We'd struggle to put together a couple of joint operations with mainly Australian forces, perhaps in concert with the Dutch.
 
There would be no problem with the command of Brigades, aircraft wings, naval task groups in battle but Australia lacked the higher command setup, from a War Cabinet and a joint national military command level. We'd struggle to put together a couple of joint operations with mainly Australian forces, perhaps in concert with the Dutch.

well i doubt the poms would say no if we say its best for security in the region or something like that.
 
well i doubt the poms would say no if we say its best for security in the region or something like that.

No doubt, but military action would best be conducted as part of the Commonwealth Far East Strategic Reserve military structure in Malaysia, and the British weren't interested in opposing the takeover of West Papua as well as the US.
 
No doubt, but military action would best be conducted as part of the Commonwealth Far East Strategic Reserve military structure in Malaysia, and the British weren't interested in opposing the takeover of West Papua as well as the US.

probably, If done in conjunction with them or someone close in the region I think we could get it done.
 
probably, If done in conjunction with them or someone close in the region I think we could get it done.

Easily, the reason the Confrontation was conducted at such a low level was because of the combat power of the Commonwealth forces with the aircraft carriers, V Bombers and the like.
 
India took Goa without causing a war with NATO and the treaty doesn't apply to colonial holdings

But other NATO powers were not at war with India. As things stand, in this time frame not only are tensions with the Dutch over New Guinea still relevant, but the United Kingdom is leading a multinational coalition in fighting Indonesian incursions against Malaysia in the konfrontasi. If Indonesia escalates its international conflicts, this creates an obvious opportunity from broader Western involvement against Indonesia.
 
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