I can't quite remember where I first learnt of the
commercial flight from Darwin to Timor,
but it stuck in my brain as I planned my Oz trip...
Then I thought about Borobodur, and Mark and Bob's tales
of Flores, and there I was,
in the ramshackle empire I have despised from afar for so
long.
Ngela, near Kelimutu, Flores
Borobodur, Java
Pulau Lembata, near Larantuka, Flores
The bad news, a bleak security situation in East Timor.
The good news; disparate islands with tribal cultures and
traditions; deserted paradise beaches and breathtaking volcanic
landscapes,
and boundlessly gracious and generous people, albeit worn
down by the Javan conspiracy to deprive the east of the
Republic's fruits and hold them in their poverty.
With friends in Kupang
Pantai Wanokaka, Sumba
I was privileged to visit Nusa Tenggara at a crucial time
in it's history, with the first democratic elections
in the country weeks away, and guarded optimism for the East Timorese
independence referendum to follow.
Despite the fears of some, the election did not become a sectarian
battle between the Muslim east and the Christian west.
Instead, the country was painted red in support for the democratic
P.D.I. party, who, lead by
Megawati Soekarnoputri and promising an end to more than 30 years of
divisive corruption and nepotism,
won more votes than any of the 47 other parties.
At the time of writing, the eventual fate of East Timor is still
uncertain as INTERFET struggles to secure it's independence.
East Timor's genocidal history since Indonesia's invasion in 1975
ranks with Cambodia, Uganda, Rwanda and
many other atrocities as a curse on the modern world, and the western
powers that have tolerated and facilitated it's perpetrators.
Click on the PDI bull to read my
illustrated travel journals.
Click
here
to see CNN's comprehensive Indonesian election coverage.
Click
here
to visit Loro Sae - a homepage for a free East Timor.
Click
here
to visit Lonely Planet's Indonesia travel guide.
