Veronica Pereira Maia, Sydney, 1996, wearing a traditionally woven tais in memory of the victims of violence in Timor-Leste. Photo by Ross Bird.
The 21st century's first new state Timor-Leste gained independence from a powerful Indonesian regime by swapping guns for diplomacy, a groundbreaking study from The Australian National University has revealed. The study is by professors John Braithwaite and Hilary Charlesworth in the ANU Regulatory Institutions Network, and ANU PhD student and Timor-Leste Anti-Corruption Commissioner Adérito Soares. Professor Braithwaite said that Indonesia's 1975 invasion of East Timor was considered to have permanently crushed the Timorese independence movement. But this all changed when the fight was taken from the battlefield to the world's corridors of powers and networks of diplomatic support. "In particular, the movement became very effective through the diplomatic leadership of José Ramos-Horta who linked up the Timorese movement with pockets of diplomatic support around the world. In fact, leaders like Xanana Gusmão and José Ramos-Horta inspired the Timorese people to the possibilities of non-violence, such as diplomacy and clandestine resistance," he said. "Furthermore, a strategic decision was made by leaders in the independence movement to link up with the Indonesian democracy movement.
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