The UN's Kingdom of East Timor

Justice and Foreign Rule

“…For instance, Jarat Chopra criticizes the World Bank's activities within UNTAET's framework. He describes how, despite all rhetoric of local accountability, the World Bank chose to ignore, rather than include existing governance structures within villages in its decisions about the distribution of development aid (Chopra 2000;Chopra 2002).…”

East Timor's Emerging National Security Agenda: Establishing “Real” Independence

“…45 While Indonesia had provided some education, schools, and roads, the ability of East Timor to function as an autonomous state was severely limited, particularly after members of the Indonesian military and the East Timorese pro-Indonesian militia razed approximately 70 percent of buildings across the territory. 46 Key political institutions, such as the police, military, courts, parliament, and so forth, needed to be established and consolidated. The United Nations Transitional Administration in East Timor (UNTAET) was mandated by the UN Security Council to develop East Timor's internal sovereignty.…”

“…71 "Operation Clean Sweep" was a three-week "scorched earth" campaign in East Timor adopted by the Indonesian military and pro-independence militia. 72 It was estimated that 70 percent of the physical infrastructure was deliberately burned or rendered uninhabitable across East Timor, and street-by-street burnings destroyed 95 percent of some areas. 73 An estimated two thousand East Timorese were killed during Operation Clean Sweep, and around 400,000 people (approximately half the population) were forced to flee their homes.…”

The Bifurcation of the Two Worlds: assessing the gap between internationals and locals in state-building processes

“…Floating container hotels restricted the access of Timorese, except to serve drinks and food. 40 The social distinction induced by these 'floating hotels' was as much a matter of perception as of objective reality. As noted by Power, 'the floating hotels were not grand-the ships were really nothing more than barges topped with four layers of stacked containers-but from the vantage point of the Timorese onshore, the ships looked like luxury liners, especially after a rooftop disco opened on one'.…”