Administrative change
Indonesia’s integration of East Timor, 1976
Indonesia made East Timor its 27th province; the United Nations never recognised the integration.
What happened
On 31 May 1976 a newly formed Popular Representative Assembly endorsed a petition to President Soeharto for integration, and Indonesia made East Timor its 27th province that year.[1][2] The United Nations never recognised this and continued to treat Portugal as the administering power.[3]
Indonesia later cited the 1976 decision as the East Timorese choice for integration; Lloyd calls the selection process behind it spurious.[4]
Sources for this page
Each number marks a specific claim. Notes give the source, its locator and how it relates to the claim.
-
1.
Claim: On 31 May 1976 a newly formed Popular Representative Assembly endorsed a petition asking President Soeharto to integrate the territory into Indonesia; it was presented to him on 7 June.
- Lloyd, Grayson J., The diplomacy on East Timor: Indonesia, the United Nations and the international community, Out of the Ashes: Destruction and Reconstruction of East Timor (ANU E Press, 2003) link, p. 74, note 1. Source record The note gives the assembly’s size as 37, or 44 in another account.
-
2.
Claim: Indonesia integrated East Timor as its 27th province in 1976.
- United Nations Department of Public Information, East Timor – UNTAET: Background (United Nations, May 2002) link, para. 1. Source record
-
3.
Claim: The United Nations never recognised the integration and continued to regard Portugal as the administering power, while the Security Council and General Assembly called for Indonesia’s withdrawal.
- United Nations Department of Public Information, East Timor – UNTAET: Background (United Nations, May 2002) link, para. 1. Source record
- Lloyd, Grayson J., The diplomacy on East Timor: Indonesia, the United Nations and the international community, Out of the Ashes: Destruction and Reconstruction of East Timor (ANU E Press, 2003) link, pp. 77–78. Source record
-
4.
Claim: In 1998 Indonesia argued that no referendum was needed because East Timorese had opted for integration in 1976; Lloyd calls the 1976 selection process spurious. Attributed to Grayson J. Lloyd (2003)
- Lloyd, Grayson J., The diplomacy on East Timor: Indonesia, the United Nations and the international community, Out of the Ashes: Destruction and Reconstruction of East Timor (ANU E Press, 2003) link, p. 80. Source record