The Armed Forces for the National Liberation of East Timor (, FALINTIL) originally began as the military wing of the political party
FRETILIN
The Revolutionary Front for an Independent East Timor ( pt, Frente Revolucionária de Timor-Leste Independente, abbreviated as Fretilin) is a centre-left political party in East Timor. They presently hold 23 of 65 seats in the National Parliame ...
of
East Timor
East Timor (), also known as Timor-Leste (), officially the Democratic Republic of Timor-Leste, is an island country in Southeast Asia. It comprises the eastern half of the island of Timor, the exclave of Oecusse on the island's north-weste ...
. It was established on 20 August 1975 in response to FRETILIN's political conflict with the
Timorese Democratic Union (UDT).
Indonesian invasion
FALINTIL gained most of its initial military units when most of the former Portuguese garrison forces in the territory switched allegiance to FALINTIL in August 1975, after the Portuguese withdrawal.
At the time of the
Indonesian invasion of East Timor
The Indonesian invasion of East Timor, known in Indonesia as Operation Lotus ( id, Operasi Seroja), began on 7 December 1975 when the Indonesian National Armed Forces, Indonesian military (ABRI/TNI) invaded East Timor under the pretext of anti-c ...
in 1975 FALINTIL consisted of 2,500 regular troops, 7,000 who had some
Portuguese military
The Portuguese Armed Forces ( pt, Forças Armadas) are the military of Portugal. They include the General Staff of the Armed Forces, the other unified bodies and the three service branches: Portuguese Navy, Portuguese Army and Portuguese Air ...
training, and 10,000 who had attended short military instruction courses, for a total of 20,000.
The first commander of FALINTIL was
Nicolau Lobato. Lobato was killed during a battle with the Indonesian armed forces in 1978
and
Xanana Gusmão
José Alexandre "Xanana" Gusmão (; born 20 June 1946) is an East Timorese politician. A former rebel, he was the third President of the independent East Timor, serving from 2002 to 2007. He then became its fourth prime minister, serving from ...
was elected as his replacement during a secret national conference in
Lacluta,
Viqueque
Viqueque (, ) is a city in the south-east of East Timor, 183 km from Dili, the national capital. Viqueque is the capital of Viqueque Municipality
Viqueque (, ) is the largest of the municipalities (formerly districts) of East Ti ...
in 1981.
This meeting also saw the formation of the Revolutionary Council of National Resistance (in Portuguese ''Conselho Revolucinario de Resistencia Nacional'' or CNNR) (CRRN), which was the first step in uniting the different resistance movement factions under one umbrella organisation.
Resistance struggle
![FALINTIL veterans USAID photo](https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/3/36/FALINTIL_veterans_USAID_photo.jpg)
Throughout the 1980s Gusmão, leading both FALINTIL and the CNNR (CRRN) resistance unification movement, began distancing himself from the FRETILIN party and began attempts to make FALINTIL non-partisan, and to make it the armed resistance wing of the unified resistance movement. On 12 May 1983 Gusmão proclaimed the convergence of all nationalists in their struggle against the Indonesian occupation and by April 1984 Gusmão had proclaimed the ideological independence of FRETILIN from the overall resistance movement, and began to re-structure the
armed resistance
A military, also known collectively as armed forces, is a heavily armed, highly organized force primarily intended for warfare. It is typically authorized and maintained by a sovereign state, with its members identifiable by their distinct ...
movement. In the first week of August 1983, FALINTIL fighters attacked an Indonesian Army engineering unit, killing 16 soldiers. On 31 August 1983, the Indonesian Army commenced military operations around Viqueque, about 100 miles from Dili. A spokesman for the Indonesian Embassy in Canberra, said about 3,200 troops in four battalions, including special forces, were deployed with tanks and troop transport aircraft. On 5 May 1985 Gusmão sent the FRETILIN Central Committee, operating in exile, a message informing them of the structure of the CNNR and assuming the title of Commander in Chief of FALINTIL. Significant progress in the unification of the resistance movement occurred in March 1986 when FRETILIN and UDT agreed to the creation of the "nationalist convergence". In the meantime, the FALINTIL guerrilla force continued to attack Indonesian troops. Diplomats in Jakarta later admitted losing between 20 and 35 Indonesian soldiers killed in a FALINTIL ambush in June 1986.
On 20 June 1988 the
National Resistance of East Timorese Students Commemoration for martyrs of the RENETIL (2017). The green flag is the flag of RENETIL.
The National Resistance of East Timorese Students ( pt, Resistência Nacional dos Estudantes de Timor-Leste (RENETIL)) was a resistance movement of students fro ...
( pt, Resistência Nacional dos Estudantes de Timor-Leste, links=no, RENETIL) was created in Indonesia, reporting directly to FALINTIL and its Commander in Chief Xanana Gusmão. On 31 December 1988 Gusmão officially announced that FALINTIL was now the non-partisan armed resistance wing of the unified resistance movement, which was now to be known as the ''Conselho Nacional da Resistência Maubere'' (CNRM), the
National Council of Maubere Resistance
The National Council of Maubere Resistance (Portuguese: Conselho Nacional da Resistência Maubere, or CNRM) was an umbrella organisation of East Timorese individuals and organisations dedicated to resisting the Indonesian occupation of East T ...
.
Between 23 and 28 May 1990, CNRM held an extraordinary meeting for the purposes of restructuring the entire resistance movement. It was during this conference that Gusmão officially resigned from the FRETILIN party, whilst remaining Commander-in-Chief of FALINTIL and the president of CNRM. This meeting also saw the formation of the Clandestine Front, which came about from the recognition that FALINTIL, the armed resistance, had been significantly weakened by many years of
guerrilla activity against the
Indonesian military
, founded = as the ('People's Security Forces')
, current_form =
, disbanded =
, branches =
, headquarters = Cilangkap, Jakarta
, website =
, commander-in-chief = Joko Widodo
...
. The formation of the Clandestine Front was a strategy to organize the population against the occupying Indonesian forces. These events saw an upsurge in activity against the unified resistance movement by the
occupying forces, which saw many resistance leaders flee to the mountains or overseas, and led to the arrest of Gusmão on 20 November 1992.
Ma'Huno, a member of FRETILIN's steering committee, became the leader of the resistance only to be arrested himself on 5 April 1993.
Nino Konis Santana replaced the arrested Ma'Huno as leader on 25 April 1993 and by September all factions of the resistance accepted Santana as leader of the overall movement.
Taur Matan Ruak
José Maria Vasconcelos (born 10 October 1956), popularly known as Taur Matan Ruak (Tetum for "Two Sharp Eyes"), is an East Timorese politician who has served as the prime minister of East Timor since 22 June 2018. He was also President of E ...
was appointed commander of FALINTIL. Under Santana's leadership the restructuring started by Gusmão was further reinforced under the CNRM umbrella with Santana as leader of the Executive Council of "the Struggle", Ruak in charge of FALINTIL, and a man called Sabalae (i.e. Pedro Nunes – Keri Laran Sabalae) taking charge of the Clandestine Front.
Throughout the 1990s the occupying Indonesian forces stepped up their actions against the resistance and factional troubles between FRETILIN and other resistance organizations plagued the CNRM, with FRETILIN members signing a document against the leadership of Santana. Sabalae, the leader of the Clandestine Front, disappeared in June 1995 (captured near Gleno by ABRI on 1 June 1995). Gusmão remained supreme leader of CNRM and Commander in Chief of FALINTIL despite being incarcerated in an Indonesian prison. On 31 May 1997, the East Timorese guerrillas killed 16 policemen and 1 soldier in an ambush near the Abafala Village. (near Quelicai, southeast of Baucau). In 1998 Santana died in an accident and the FALINTIL commander, Ruak, was elected as leader of "the Struggle", whilst also remaining operational commander of FALINTIL. In April 1998 during the National Convention of East Timorese Living Abroad, held in
Portugal
Portugal, officially the Portuguese Republic ( pt, República Portuguesa, links=yes ), is a country whose mainland is located on the Iberian Peninsula of Southwestern Europe, and whose territory also includes the Atlantic archipelagos of ...
, the ''Conselho Nacional da Resistência Timorense'' (CNRT), the National Council of Timorese Resistance, was formed, replacing CNRM and reinforcing the previous attempts to unify all the factions of the resistance struggle against Indonesia.
Towards independence
![Xanana Gusmão & Condoleezza Rice, 2006Jan25](https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/7/7c/Xanana_Gusm%C3%A3o_%26_Condoleezza_Rice%2C_2006Jan25.jpg)
Changes in the
Indonesian government
The term Government of Indonesia ( id, Pemerintah Indonesia) can have a number of different meanings. At its widest, it can refer collectively to the three traditional branches of government – the executive branch, legislative branch and ju ...
, together with growing international pressure, saw
Indonesian President
The President of the Republic of Indonesia ( id, Presiden Republik Indonesia) is both the head of state and the head of government of the Republic of Indonesia. The president leads the executive branch of the Indonesian government and is ...
B. J. Habibie
Bacharuddin Jusuf Habibie (; 25 June 1936 – 11 September 2019) was an Indonesian engineer and politician who was the third president of Indonesia from 1998 to 1999. Less than three months after his inauguration as the seventh vice preside ...
announce a referendum for the East Timorese people to vote on
autonomy
In developmental psychology and moral, political, and bioethical philosophy, autonomy, from , ''autonomos'', from αὐτο- ''auto-'' "self" and νόμος ''nomos'', "law", hence when combined understood to mean "one who gives oneself one's ...
. The Indonesians also announced that if autonomy was rejected, that would open the door for
independence
Independence is a condition of a person, nation, country, or state in which residents and population, or some portion thereof, exercise self-government, and usually sovereignty, over its territory. The opposite of independence is the statu ...
. The Indonesian military provided arms to
pro-Indonesian militias
During the East Timor independence referendum in 1999, pro-Indonesia militias refers to paramilitary militias in East Timor that were loyal to the Indonesian government. They operated during the final years of the Indonesian occupation of East T ...
to "encourage" the population to vote in favour of autonomy. On 10 August 1999, Gusmão ordered FALINTIL to remain in the cantonments, resist all provocations of the Indonesian military and the armed militias, and not get involved in the civil unrest being orchestrated by the Indonesian military. These orders were generally complied with by FALINTIL, with their fighters remaining in their secret camps during the referendum process. On 30 August, voting in the referendum took place with 98% of registered voters turning out. By 4 September, the UN announced that 78.5% had voted against autonomy, therefore beginning the process of independence. The following day, 5 September, the Indonesian military and the pro-autonomy militias, in response to the referendum, began a massive campaign of
looting
Looting is the act of stealing, or the taking of goods by force, typically in the midst of a military, political, or other social crisis, such as war, natural disasters (where law and civil enforcement are temporarily ineffective), or rioting. ...
and violence against the East Timorese people. Gusmão and the CNRT leadership maintained that FALINTIL must resist the urge to join the fight and remain in their cantonments. On 20 September,
INTERFET
The International Force East Timor (INTERFET) was a multinational non-United Nations peacemaking task force, organised and led by Australia in accordance with United Nations resolutions to address the humanitarian and security crisis that took ...
, the
Australian Army
The Australian Army is the principal Army, land warfare force of Australia, a part of the Australian Defence Force (ADF) along with the Royal Australian Navy and the Royal Australian Air Force. The Army is commanded by the Chief of Army (Austral ...
-led
UN-sanctioned military force, landed in East Timor to counter the activities of the armed militias and attempt to restore peace. One of INTERFET's mandates was to disarm all the various factions in East Timor including FALINTIL. Under advice from the now recently released Xanana Gusmão, INTERFET and the UN allowed FALINTIL to remain armed but still staying in their cantonments until peace was restored at which time they would hand over their arms.
The last Commander-in-Chief of FALINTIL was Taur Matan Ruak.
East Timorese armed forces
On 1 February 2001 FALINTIL was officially dissolved, only to be almost immediately resurrected as the official armed force of the newly independent East Timor to be known as FALINTIL – Força de Defesa de Timor Leste (
F-FDTL
The Timor Leste Defence Force ( tet, Forcas Defesa Timor Lorosae, pt, Forças de Defesa de Timor Leste or Falintil-FDTL, often F-FDTL) is the military body responsible for the defence of East Timor. The F-FDTL was established in February 200 ...
), with the duty under the East Timor constitution to "''guarantee the independence of the nation, its territorial integrity, and the freedom and safety of the population against aggression, which does not respect the constitutional order''".
Taur Matan Ruak became the first Commander of F-FDTL and assumed the rank of
Brigadier General
Brigadier general or Brigade general is a military rank used in many countries. It is the lowest ranking general officer in some countries. The rank is usually above a colonel, and below a major general or divisional general. When appointed ...
.
FANTIL veterans make up a significant portion of the membership of the "politico-criminal" armed groups operating in East Timor, such as Sagrada Familia, CPD-RDTL, and Colimau 2000.
Notes
{{reflist
References
* East Timorese Resistance Museum, ''Resistencia Timorensia Arkivu ho Muzeu''
Separatism in Indonesia
Indonesian occupation of East Timor
Military of East Timor
National liberation armies
Rebel groups in Indonesia