Maliana is a city in

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 ...

, 149 kilometers southwest of

Dili Dili (Portuguese/Tetum: ''Díli'') is the capital, largest city of East Timor and the second largest city in Timor islands after Kupang (Indonesia). It lies on the northern coast of the island of Timor, in a small area of flat land hemmed in ...

, the national capital. It has a population of 22,000. It is the capital of the

district A district is a type of administrative division that, in some countries, is managed by the local government. Across the world, areas known as "districts" vary greatly in size, spanning regions or counties, several municipalities, subdivisions o ...

of Bobonaro and

Maliana Subdistrict Maliana, officially Maliana Administrative Post (, ), is an administrative post (and was formerly a subdistrict) in Bobonaro municipality, East Timor. Its seat or administrative centre An administrative center is a seat of regional adminis ...

, and is located just a few kilometers from the border with

Indonesia Indonesia, officially the Republic of Indonesia, is a country in Southeast Asia and Oceania between the Indian and Pacific oceans. It consists of over 17,000 islands, including Sumatra, Java, Sulawesi, and parts of Borneo and New Guine ...

. It is also the see city of the

Roman Catholic Diocese of Maliana The Roman Catholic Diocese of Maliana is a diocese of the Roman Catholic Church in East Timor. The diocese includes the administrative region of Maliana in districts of Liquica, Bobonaro, and Cova–Lima and 16 sub-districts. On 30 January 2010 ...

, which was formed by

Pope Benedict XVI Pope Benedict XVI ( la, Benedictus XVI; it, Benedetto XVI; german: link=no, Benedikt XVI.; born Joseph Aloisius Ratzinger, , on 16 April 1927) is a retired prelate of the Catholic church who served as the head of the Church and the sovereign ...

with territory taken from the

Roman Catholic Diocese of Dili Roman or Romans most often refers to: *Rome, the capital city of Italy *Ancient Rome, Roman civilization from 8th century BC to 5th century AD *Roman people, the people of ancient Rome *'' Epistle to the Romans'', shortened to ''Romans'', a lette ...

. Maliana an important

agriculture Agriculture or farming is the practice of cultivating plants and livestock. Agriculture was the key development in the rise of sedentary human civilization, whereby farming of domesticated species created food surpluses that enabled people to ...

sector, especially rice production. The majority of Maliana's population is heavily dependent on agriculture for their livelihoods, this is because rice became the preferred staple food among many Timorese. Most of the population are farmers cultivating rice and

maize Maize ( ; ''Zea mays'' subsp. ''mays'', from es, maíz after tnq, mahiz), also known as corn (North American and Australian English), is a cereal grain first domesticated by indigenous peoples in southern Mexico about 10,000 years ago. Th ...

. During Indonesian occupation, Maliana became a rice barn town to support other districts in East Timor, and export to other places in

Western Timor West Timor ( id, Timor Barat) is an area covering the western part of the island of Timor, except for the district of Oecussi-Ambeno (an East Timorese exclave). Administratively, West Timor is part of East Nusa Tenggara Province, Indonesia. The ca ...

. Maliana has seven villages consisting of Lahomea, Holsa, Ritabou, Odomau, Raifun, Tapo-Memo and Saburai. There are two main sources of water irrigation that supply water to

paddy field A paddy field is a flooded field (agriculture), field of arable land used for growing Aquatic plant, semiaquatic crops, most notably rice and taro. It originates from the Neolithic rice-farming cultures of the Yangtze River basin in sout ...

s such Bulobu River, Nunura River, Malibaka and Bui Pira river. Bunak and Kemak are the native dialects of Maliana but most people understand and speak Tetum. Maliana had one of the preferred schools during Portuguese occupation, known as Collegio Infante sagres. This was under a catholic mission and many East Timor educated people have graduated from this senior high School. The citizens of Maliana were instrumental to the Australian army between 1999 and 2001, during the UNTAET operation. Employed as "Locally Employed Civilians" by a small contingent from the 110th Signals Squadron, the people of Maliana provided domestic support, as well as local intelligence regarding the threat of Indonesian militia to the soldiers and civilian contractors working in the area. Australian newsman Greg Shackleton and his colleagues (the " Balibo Five") filed news reports from Maliana (then in

Portuguese Timor Portuguese Timor ( pt, Timor Português) was a colonial possession of Portugal that existed between 1702 and 1975. During most of this period, Portugal shared the island of Timor with the Dutch East Indies. The first Europeans to arrive in the ...

) shortly before their fateful trip to Balibo in October, 1975.

References

External links

* {{Coord, 8, 59, S, 125, 13, E, region:TL_type:city, display=title Populated places in East Timor Bobonaro Municipality