Word: timor
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When East Timor formally celebrated its independence in May, it closed the chapter on four centuries of stern Portuguese colonization and 24 years of brutal Indonesian occupation. The mood was finally one of hope for the future, of anticipation of a peace dividend. Some commentators even spoke of the fledgling country as a template for nation building in Afghanistan...
...last week East Timor got a reality check. A protest that turned ugly resulted in the worst violence since the 1999 vote for independence, when the Indonesian military and its local militia henchmen killed up to 2,000 East Timorese and destroyed some 80% of the territory's infrastructure. More importantly, say some observers, the rioting reflects growing public frustration and anger with the many problems plaguing East Timor and the government's seeming inability to tackle them. "The people took the opportunity to let everything out?all their rage over the lack of norms and regulations in their society...
...rocks and slingshots, marched toward police headquarters. The police fired warning shots in the air, then apparently aimed lower, killing a 14-year-old and fatally wounding an 18-year-old. The mob erupted in fury. President Xanana Gusmao, widely revered for his role in bringing freedom to East Timor, tried in vain to calm the enraged youths. They smashed windows in the parliamentary offices, looted a hotel, destroyed an Australian-owned supermarket that had been among the first foreign businesses to open in independent East Timor and torched several other buildings, including two houses belonging to the family...
...East Timor: Up in Smoke...
...East Timor: Up in Smoke...