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zachary harden
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(Note: Most of the contents of this page was contributed in the 1998-2001 period. They portrait discussions and uncertainty about the then future flag of East Timor and we opt to change them only minimally. See here material about current east-timorese flags. — Ed.)
As at midnight on 19 May 2002 East Timor (Timor-Leste)
becomes independent.
Andrew Leith, 04 May 2002
Following the (overwhelming) victory of
FRETILIN in the
parliamentary elections, the
constitutional assembly restored all the symbols from the
1975 independence, including the flag.
Jorge Candeias, 20 May 2002
Currently [1998-2001], as the territory is under
a UN mandate,
East Timor has no flag of it’s own.
Jorge Candeias, 17 January 2000
Currently East Timor [1998-2001] has no status (legally I guess it
might have reverted to the status of before the invasion)
and is waiting for the UN to set up the successor of the
INTERFET, since this is merely
a military mission and its successor (known here as the
phase III of the agreement between Portugal and Indonesia)
will have also administrative powers, which INTERFET does
not have.
Jorge Candeias, 20 October 1999
Constitutional Commissioners will on Thursday present (UN governor)
Sérgio Vieira de Mello with reports from each of East Timor’s districts
on the issues that people would like to be considered by the future
Constituent Assembly when drafting a Constitution. (…) Among the
prevalent issues discussed at the hearings were the political system,
currency, and flag East Timor should adopt; (…) and the official
language.
Jan Zrzavy quoting from UNTAET briefing of 2001.08.14, 16 August 2001
I’m still curious about which flag receives the status of
national flag in the end: the red-yellow-black
arrowhead or the blue-white-green of the
FALINTIL/CNRT.
Both have a big support within the people and both have an honorable
tradition of resistance. I’d bet on the blue-white-green, but I
wouldn’t bet much.
Jorge Candeias, 22 October 1999
The "new" flag of East-Timor
(blue-white-green) is not
having any popular acceptance. Instead all the flags seen
in demonstrations (both in the territory and in Portugal) are
red with the black and yellow triangles
and the white star.
Jorge Candeias, 08 May 1999
The UNAMET (U.N. mission in
East Timor) decided to illustrate the two options in the
coming referendum on the future of the territory (or
popular consultation, as they call it) with flags. The
"yes" to the autonomy will be illustrated with the
Indonesian flag, while the "no"
to the autonomy (which implies independence) is to be
illustrated by the flag of the
C.N.R.T..
This option by the UNAMET is being contested by
the Socialist Party of Timor,
which claims that the flag of the CNRT does not represent
all Timorese and is, therefore, not a good choice. They
don’t say it in the paper, but I suspect the guys from
the S.P.T. are trying to push the
red flag with black triangle
into the place of the flag of CNRT.
Jorge Candeias, 05 August 1999
I believe many people are not aware that they changed
to a new flag. I’ve been involved with APCET (Asia Pacific
Committee on East Timor) since APCET II and I didn’t know
until I read about it here.
Robert Kee, 31 August 1999
I have been following with close attention the news
reports on the situation in Timor Lorosae, and the red
and black seems to have disappeared almost totally and
what is seen are CNRT flags,
mostly in paper drawings or as (large) lapel pins.
The only instance where I saw the red and black flag was
recently in a press-conference of some Popular Commission
for the Defense of the Democratic
Republic of East-Timor.
This commission denounces the agreement between Portugal
and Indonesia under the auspices of the UN, because,
according to them, this agreement recognizes the
occupation of East Timor, while they only recognize the
Democratic Republic, unilaterally proclaimed in 1975.
They also say that the introduction of a new flag by the
C.N.R.T. is a «falsification of the East Timorese history»
(forgetting that this flag, or a close relative, has been
in use for many years now as the flag of the armed
resistance, the FALINTIL).
Jorge Candeias, 27 August 1999
Everything is pointing in the direction of abandon of
the red-black-yellow colours. However, these colours are
retained in the coat of arms in the canton. It might also
happen that some other flag gets adopted (the independentists
are insisting very much on reconciliation, and they might go
for a more neutral design because of that.
Jorge Candeias, 01 September 1999
Considering the recent events in East Timor and the foreseeable tense
relations between the novel country and it’s former occupant in the near
future, I wouldn’t be surprised if the red and black flag makes a comeback
in the next months…
António Martins, 19 September 1999
It came back already! Red-yellow-black flags (i.e., both
the arrowhead and the flag of
FRETILIN) are the most seen in
demonstrations here in Portugal and, from what I’ve seen on
TV, also abroad. However, this could be related with the
difficulty of finding proper
CNRT/FALINTIL
flags to fly. In fact the “old” flag(s) is much simpler
than the “new” one. Let’s wait and see what happens now
that the killing seems to be over.
Jorge Candeias, 21 September 1999
But is still might happened as in
Namibia, where the new national
flag was different than expected…
António Martins, 17 August 1999