The Indonesian Invasion of East Timor: Famine and Violence

• The East Timorese population stood at ~628,000 prior to Indonesian invasion. By the end of 1979, up to 183,000 East Timorese civilians died from starvation and disease.
• Nearly 50% of the entire population was uprooted throughout the invasion and periodically relocated into various refugee camps ran by Indonesian or resistance forces.
• It is estimated that 70% of buildings were destroyed by the end of the occupation.

Hunger as a Weapon Indonesian forces would use starvation as a weapon (90% of deaths caused) against East Timorese, leading to the death of 160,000 civilians, following United Nations reports. To force starvation, the food and water supplies were poisoned with napalm and other chemical weaponry, while Indonesian military forces carried out further rampages across most villages, ensuing destruction and death. Sources credit the consistent refugee movement that prevented sufficient crop growth as a major cause of the widespread famine across 1977-1979.

Forced Disappearances Out of the 18,600 forced disappearances between 1975 and 1999, it is suspected that the Indonesian police and/or military are to blame for 70%.

Rape and Sexual Violence  Further horrific, rape and general sexual violence were used as a particular weapon of war against women, following eyewitness reports. This particular weapon was used to inflict both physical and psychological terror onto victims and crush any hopefulness in civilians. 

Psychologically-Based Atrocities To further enforce the psychological damage and fear tactics used by soldiers, it was not uncommon to witness public beheadings, public limb removal, or public genital mutilation. Typically these acts would be in the presence of family members.  

The United States, Great Britain, and other members of the United Nations Security Council provided military support to Indonesia from 1975-1999. Additional nations provided military backing throughout the atrocities, including Australia. 

American Secretary of State and current President at the time, Henry Kissinger and Gerald R. Ford, green-lit the Indonesian invasion of East Timor in 1975. The United States continued to provide support in the form of military assistance, marking a reoccurring pattern in American Cold War politics, oftentimes supporting brutal military regimes to allegedly prevent the spread of communism. The 1974 coup that overthrew Portuguese occupation was a leftist movement, prompting American involvement. 

After centuries of Portuguese occupation, East Timorese soil was rendered generally unusable and depleted after Portuguese exploitation of the sandalwood tree. This generated a situation where farming was incredibly difficult, which prompted the starvation crisis to only worsen. 

The Timorese nationalists and resistance centered themselves in the mountains, which would see devastating levels of famine and death by deprivation in the first three years of the invasion. These mountain bases were governed by FRETILIN, but oftentimes had no plans on how to feed or sustain the civilian population they had gathered. Over time civilians governed themselves into subsistence farming, but with a lack of surplus, populations could not sustain themselves when they were forced to relocate as refugees, prompting mass famine. 

Indonesian troops would frequently circle and surround mountain bases, trapping those seeking refuge and prompting surrender (when FRETILIN allowed). Troops moved in a west-to-east direction, gradually dismantling bases as they went. Occasionally mountain bases were bombed with napalm, tainting any food supplies. The use of hunger as a weapon would remain essential for dismantling resistance among civilians. 

The mountains themselves were later used to prolong the cycle of Indonesian-enforced oppression, by limiting the Timorese from accessing the fertile sides of the mountains that received more rain.

It is highly contested among international lawyers if the Indonesian invasion meets the declared legal standards of genocide. A concrete definition lands on the targeted group in question, the East Timorese. While the Indonesian forces intentionally targeted members of the resistance, international law specifically exempts political groups from genocide law. It is certain however, that the 1975 invasion commits several crimes against humanity.