| Native Name: | |
| Conventional Long Name: | East Timor |
| Motto: | "From the past and from today, we are Timorese warriors" |
| Status: | Province of Indonesia (de facto) Overseas province of Portugal (de jure) |
| Era: | New Order |
| Event Start: | Operation Lotus |
| Year Start: | 1976 |
| Date Start: | 17 July |
| Event1: | Santa Cruz massacre |
| Date Event1: | 12 November 1991 |
| Event2: | Independence referendum |
| Date Event2: | 30 August 1999 |
| Event End: | UNTAET established |
| Year End: | 1999 |
| Date End: | 25 October |
| P1: | Provisional Government of East Timor |
| Flag P1: | Flag of Indonesia.svg |
| S1: | United Nations Administered East Timor |
| Flag S1: | Flag of the United Nations.svg |
| Image Map Caption: | Location of East Timor Province |
| Capital: | Dili |
| Largest City: | capital |
| Official Languages: | Indonesian, Portuguese |
| Regional Languages: | Balinese, Fataluku, Javanese, Tetum, Sundanese, Uab Meto, other indigenous languages |
| Government Type: | Overseas province within a unitary semi-presidential constitutional republic, under military occupation (de jure) Province within a unitary presidential constitutional republic (under a dominant-party authoritarian military dictatorship) (de facto) |
| Legislature: | East Timor Regional House of Representatives (DPRD Timor Timur) |
| Title Leader: | President of Indonesia |
| Leader1: | Suharto |
| Year Leader1: | 1976 - 1998 |
| Leader2: | B. J. Habibie |
| Year Leader2: | 1998 - 1999 |
| Title Representative: | Governor |
| Representative1: | Arnaldo dos Reis Araújo |
| Year Representative1: | 1976 - 1978 (first) |
| Representative2: | José Abílio Osório Soares |
| Year Representative2: | 1992 - 1999 (last) |
| Title Deputy: | Vice Governor |
| Deputy1: | Francisco Xavier Lopes da Cruz |
| Year Deputy1: | 1976 - 1981 (first) |
| Deputy2: | Musiran Darmosuwito |
| Year Deputy2: | 1998 - 1999 (last) |
| Currency: | Indonesian rupiah (Rp) |
| Currency Code: | IDR |
| Religion: |
|
| Calling Code: | +62 377 (Viqueque) +62 378 (Pante Makasar) +62 379 (Suai) +62 390 (Dili) +62 394 (Maliana) +62 396 (Lospalos) +62 398 (Ermera) +62 399 (Baucau) |
| Iso3166code: | ID-TT |
| Cctld: | .id |
| Time Zone: | UTC+8 (Central Indonesia Time) |
| Date Format: | dd-mm-yyyy |
| Drives On: | left |
| Today: | East Timor |
| Area Km2: | 15,007 |
| Percent Water: | negligible |
| Stat Year1: | 1980 |
| Stat Pop1: | 555,350 |
| Stat Year2: | 1990 |
| Stat Pop2: | 747,750 |
| Footnotes: | Notes
|
East Timor (Indonesian: Timor Timur) was a province of Indonesia between 1976 and 1999, during the Indonesian occupation of the country. Its territory corresponded to the previous Portuguese Timor and to the present-day independent country of East Timor.
From 1702 to 1975, East Timor was an overseas territory of Portugal, called "Portuguese Timor". In 1974, Portugal initiated a gradual decolonisation process of its remaining overseas territories, including Portuguese Timor. During the process, a civil conflict between the different Timorese parties erupted. Indonesia invaded East Timor in 1975 and formally annexed the territory in 1976, declaring it Indonesia's 27th province and renaming it "Timor Timur". The United Nations, however, did not recognise the annexation, continuing to consider Portugal as the legitimate administering power of East Timor. Following the end of Indonesian occupation in 1999, as well as a United Nations administered transition period, East Timor became formally independent of Portugal in 2002 and adopted the official name of Timor-Leste.
See main article: Indonesian occupation of East Timor. From 1702 to 1975, East Timor was an overseas territory of Portugal, in the later years being officially the Portuguese overseas province of Timor, usually referred as "Portuguese Timor". Following the Carnation Revolution of 1974, the new Government of Portugal initiated a gradual decolonization process of its overseas territories, including Portuguese Timor. During the process, a civil conflict erupted between several Timorese political parties, with the left-wing Revolutionary Front for an Independent East Timor (Fretilin) prevailing and gaining control the capital Dili, obliging the Portuguese governor and his staff to move his seat to Atauro Island.
On the 28 November 1975, Fretilin unilaterally declared the independence of the Democratic Republic of East Timor (Portuguese: República Democrática de Timor-Leste) from Portugal. Portugal did not recognize the declaration and the Portuguese governor continued to formally administer the province from Atauro, albeit with limited authority over the rest of East Timor.
Nine days later, Indonesia began an invasion of East Timor proper. Following the invasion, the Portuguese governor and his staff left Atauro aboard two Portuguese warships. As a statement of Portuguese sovereignty, Portugal maintained those warships patrolling the waters around East Timor until May 1976.
On 17 July 1976, Indonesia formally annexed East Timor as its 27th province and changed its official name to Timor Timur, the Indonesian translation of "East Timor". The use of the Portuguese language was then forbidden, as it was seen as a relic of colonisation.
The annexation was not recognised by the United Nations and was only recognised by one country Australia in 1979.[1] [2] The United Nations continued to recognise Portugal as the legitimate administering power of East Timor.[1]
The Indonesians left in 1999 and East Timor came under the administration of the United Nations.
After the re-establishment of the independence of East Timor in 2002, the East Timorese government requested that the name Timor-Leste be used in place of "East Timor". This is to avoid the Indonesian term and its reminder of the Indonesian occupation.
As with all provinces of Indonesia, executive authority was vested in a Governor and Vice-Governor elected by the Regional Representative Council (Indonesian: Dewan Perwakilan Rakyat Daerah, DPRD) every five years. Legislative authority was vested in the DPRD, both in province and regency level.
See main article: List of colonial governors of Portuguese Timor.
Below are governors of East Timor Province from 1976 to 1999:
| align=center style="background:#FF8040; color:white;" colspan="7" | Governors of Timor Timur during Indonesian occupation | ||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| align=center style="background:#FF8040; color:white;" rowspan="2" | Portrait | Officeholders | Tenure | Notes | Head of state | ||
| From | Until | ||||||
| align=center style="background:#FF8040; color:white;" | 130 | Arnaldo dos Reis Araújo Governor | 3 August 1976 | 19 September 1978 | Suharto President of Indonesia B. J. Habibie President of Indonesia | ||
| align=center style="background:#FF8040; color:white;" | 131 | Guilherme Maria Gonçalves Governor | 19 September 1978 | 17 September 1981 | |||
| align=center style="background:#FF8040; color:white;" | 132 | Mário Viegas Carrascalão Governor | 18 September 1981 | 18 September 1992 | |||
| align=center style="background:#FF8040; color:white;" | 133 | José Abílio Osório Soares Governor | 18 September 1992 | 19 October 1999 | |||
Composition of the Regional Representative Council between 1980 and 1999:
| Regional Representative Council of Timor Timur | ||||||
| Year | PPP | Golkar | PDI | ABRI | Total | |
| 1980 | 0 | 25 | 0 | 0 | 25 | |
| 1981 | 0 | 24 | 0 | 0 | 24 | |
| 1982 | 0 | 32 | 0 | 4 | 36 | |
| 1987 | 0 | 34 | 2 | 9 | 45 | |
| 1988 | 0 | 34 | 2 | 9 | 45 | |
| 1989 | 0 | 33 | 2 | 9 | 44 | |
| 1990 | 0 | 34 | 2 | 9 | 45 | |
| 1991 | 0 | 34 | 2 | 9 | 45 | |
| 1992 | 2 | 29 | 5 | 9 | 45 | |
| 1997 | 1 | 30 | 5 | 9 | 45 | |
The province was divided into thirteen regencies (Indonesian: [[Regency (Indonesia)|kabupaten]]) and one administrative city (kota administratif). These are listed below along with their districts (kecamatan), per December 1981:[3] [4]