Falintil (or
FALINTIL) originally began as the military wing of the Fretilin political party of
East TimorEast Timor, also known as Timor-Leste is a country in Southeast Asia. It comprises the eastern half of the island of Timor, the nearby islands of Atauro and Jaco, and Oecussi-Ambeno, an exclave on the northwestern side of the island, within Indonesian West Timor...
. It was established on the 20 August 1975 as a response to FRETILIN’s conflicting political interests with the
Democratic Union for Timor-LesteThe Timorese Democratic Union is a conservative political party in East Timor. It was the first party to be established in the country in 1974, following the Carnation Revolution in Portugal....
(UDT).
The name FALINTIL is an acronym of its full name in
PortuguesePortuguese is a Romance language that originated in what is now Galicia and northern Portugal. It is derived from the Latin spoken by the romanized Pre-Roman peoples of the Iberian Peninsula around 2000 years ago...
,
Forças Armadas da Libertação Nacional de Timor-Leste. In
EnglishEnglish is a West Germanic language that developed in England during the Anglo-Saxon era. As a result of the military, economic, scientific, political, and cultural influence of the British Empire during the 18th, 19th, and early 20th centuries, and of the United States since the mid 20th century,...
this translates as 'The Armed Forces for the National Liberation of East Timor'.
FALINTIL gained most of its initial military units when most the former Portuguese garrison forces in the territory switched allegiance to FALINTIL in August 1975, after the Portuguese withdrawal.
At the time of the Indonesian invasion of East Timor in 1975 FALINTIL consisted of 2,500 regular troops, 7,000 who had some Portuguese military training, and 10,000 who had attended short military instruction courses, a total of 20,000.
The first Commander of FALINTIL was Nicolau Lobato.
Falintil (or
FALINTIL) originally began as the military wing of the Fretilin political party of
East TimorEast Timor, also known as Timor-Leste is a country in Southeast Asia. It comprises the eastern half of the island of Timor, the nearby islands of Atauro and Jaco, and Oecussi-Ambeno, an exclave on the northwestern side of the island, within Indonesian West Timor...
. It was established on the 20 August 1975 as a response to FRETILIN’s conflicting political interests with the
Democratic Union for Timor-LesteThe Timorese Democratic Union is a conservative political party in East Timor. It was the first party to be established in the country in 1974, following the Carnation Revolution in Portugal....
(UDT).
The name FALINTIL is an acronym of its full name in
PortuguesePortuguese is a Romance language that originated in what is now Galicia and northern Portugal. It is derived from the Latin spoken by the romanized Pre-Roman peoples of the Iberian Peninsula around 2000 years ago...
,
Forças Armadas da Libertação Nacional de Timor-Leste. In
EnglishEnglish is a West Germanic language that developed in England during the Anglo-Saxon era. As a result of the military, economic, scientific, political, and cultural influence of the British Empire during the 18th, 19th, and early 20th centuries, and of the United States since the mid 20th century,...
this translates as 'The Armed Forces for the National Liberation of East Timor'.
Indonesian invasion
FALINTIL gained most of its initial military units when most the former Portuguese garrison forces in the territory switched allegiance to FALINTIL in August 1975, after the Portuguese withdrawal.
At the time of the Indonesian invasion of East Timor in 1975 FALINTIL consisted of 2,500 regular troops, 7,000 who had some Portuguese military training, and 10,000 who had attended short military instruction courses, a total of 20,000.
The first Commander of FALINTIL was Nicolau Lobato. Lobato was killed during a battle with the Indonesian armed forces in 1978 and
Xanana GusmãoKay Rala Xanana Gusmão
GCL is a former militant who was the first President of East Timor, serving from May 2002 to May 2007...
was elected as his replacement during a Secret National Conference in Lacluta,
ViquequeViqueque is a city in the south-east of East Timor, 183 km from Dili, the national capital. Viqueque is the capital of the district of Viqueque, in the eastern part of the country with five sub-districts under its control, they are: Uatu-Lari, Uatu-Carbau, Viqueque, Lacluta and Ossu. The city has...
in 1981. This meeting in 1981 also saw the formation of the Revolutionary Council of National Resistance (in Portuguese
Conselho Revolucinario de Resistencia Nacional or CNNR) which was the first step in uniting the different
resistance movementA resistance movement is a group or collection of individual groups, dedicated to fighting an invader in an occupied country or the government of a sovereign nation through either the use of physical force, or nonviolence. The term resistance is generally used to designate movement considered...
factions under one umbrella organisation.
Resistance struggle
Throughout the 1980s Gusmão, leading both FALINTIL and the CNNR resistance unification movement, began distancing himself from the FRETILIN party and began the movement to make FALINTIL non-partisan and for it to become the armed resistance wing of the unified resistance movement. On the 12 May 1983 Gusmão proclaimed the convergence of all nationalists in their struggle against the Indonesian occupation and by April 1984 Gusmão had proclaimed the ideological independence of FRETILIN from the overall resistance movement, and beginning the re-structure of the armed resistance movement. On the 5 May 1985 Gusmão sent the FRETILIN Central Committee, operating in
exileExile means to be away from one's home , while either being explicitly refused permission to return and/or being threatened by prison or death upon return...
, a message informing them of the structure of the CNNR and assuming the title of Commander in Chief of FALINTIL. Significant progress in the unification of the resistance movement occurred in March 1986 when FRETILIN and UDT agreed to the creation of the "nationalist convergence".
On the 20 June 1988 the National Resistance of East Timorese Students or RENETIL (
Resistencia Nacional dos Estudantes de Timor-Leste) was created in Indonesia, reporting directly to FALINTIL and its Commander in Chief Xanana Gusmão. On the 31 December 1988 Gusmão officially announced that FALINTIL was now the non-partisan armed resistance wing of the unified resistance movement, which was now to be known as the National Council of Maubere Resistance or CNRM (
Conselho Nacional da Resistencia Maubere).
The month of May in 1990 was significant in the history of FALINTIL and the overall resistance movement. Between the 23rd and the 28th of May 1990, CNRM held an extraordinary meeting for the purposes of restructuring the entire resistance movement. It was during this conference that Gusmão officially resigned from the FRETILIN party, whilst remaining Commander-in-Chief of FALINTIL and the president of CNRM. This meeting also saw the formation of the Clandestine Front, which came about from the recognition that FALINTIL, the armed resistance, had been significantly weakened by years and years of guerilla activity against the Indonesian military and the formation of the Clandestine Front was a strategy aimed at the organisation of the population against the occupying Indonesian forces. These events saw an upsurge in activity against the unified resistance movement by the
occupying forcesBelligerent military occupation occurs when the control and authority over a territory passes to a hostile army.-Military occupation and the laws of war:...
, which saw many of the leaders flee to the mountains or overseas, and led ultimately to the arrest of Gusmão on the 20 November 1992. Ma'Huno, who had been on FRETILIN's steering committee in the restructure of the resistance movement became the leader of the resistance only to be arrested himself a short time later on the 5th of April 1993. Nino Konis Santana replaced the arrested Ma'Huno as leader on the 25 April 1993 and by September of that year all factions of the resistance accepted Santana as leader of the overall movement and appointed
Taur Matan RuakBrigadier-General Taur Matan Ruak is the Commander of the Falintil-FDTL, the Military of East Timor. He was the last commander of Falintil, the insurgent army which resisted Indonesian the occupation from 1975 to 1999....
as commander of FALINTIL. Under Santana's leadership the restructuring started by Gusmão was further reinforced under the CNRM umbrella with Santana as leader of the Executive Council of "the Struggle", Ruak in charge of FALINTIL, and a man called Sabalae taking charge of the Clandestine Front.
Throughout the 1990s the occupying Indonesian forces stepped up their actions against the resistance and factional troubles between FRETILIN and other resistance organisations plagued the CNRM, with FRETILIN members signing a document against the leadership of Santana. Sabalae, the leader of the Clandestine Front, disappeared in June 1995. Gusmão remained supreme leader of CNRM and Commander in Chief of FALINTIL despite being incarcerated in an Indonesian prison. In 1998 Santana died in an accident and the FALINTIL commander, Ruak, was elected as leader of "the Struggle", whilst also remaining operational commander of FALINTIL. In April 1998 during the National Convention of East Timorese Living Abroad, held in
PortugalPortugal , officially the Portuguese Republic , is a country located in southwestern Europe on the Iberian Peninsula. Portugal is the westernmost country of mainland Europe and is bordered by the Atlantic Ocean to the west and south and by Spain to the north and east...
, the National Council of Timorese Resistance (
Conselho Nacional Resitencia Timorense - CNRT) was formed, replacing CNRM and reinforcing the previous attempts to unify all the factions of the resistance struggle against Indonesia.
Towards independence
1999 was the landmark turning point in the struggle against Indonesian occupation and in the history of FALINTIL. Changes in the Indonesian government, together with growing international pressure, saw Indonesian President BJ Habibie announce a referendum for the East Timorese people to vote on
autonomyAutonomy is a concept found in moral, political, and bioethical philosophy. Within these contexts, it refers to the capacity of a rational individual to make an informed, un-coerced decision...
. The Indonesians also announced that if autonomy was rejected, that would open the door for
independenceIndependence is the self-government of a nation, country, or state by its residents and population, or some portion thereof, generally exercising sovereignty....
. The Indonesian military provided arms to pro-Indonesian militias to "encourage" the population to vote in favour of autonomy. On the 10 August 1999 Gusmao ordered FALINTIL to remain in the cantonments and resist all provocations of the Indonesian military and the armed militias, and not to get involved in the mayhem being orchestrated by the Indonesian military. These orders were generally complied with by FALINTIL, with their fighters remaining in their secret camps during the referendum process. On the 30 August voting in the referendum took place with 98% of registered voters turning out. By the 4 September the UN announced that 78.5% had voted against Autonomy, therefore beginning the process of independence. The following day, the 5 September, the Indonesian Military and the pro-autonomy militias, in response to the referendum, began a massive campaign of
lootingLooting , to rob, sacking, plundering, despoiling, or pillaging is the indiscriminate taking of goods by force as part of a military or political victory, or during a catastrophe or riot, such as during war, natural disaster, or rioting...
and violence against the East Timorese people. Gusmão and the CNRT leadership maintained that FALINTIL must resist the urge to join the fight and remain in their cantonments. On the 20th of September
INTERFETThe International Force for East Timor was a multinational peacekeeping taskforce, mandated by the United Nations to address the humanitarian and security crisis which took place in East Timor from 1999–2000 until the arrival of United Nations peacekeepers.The International Force for East...
, the
Australian armyThe Australian Army is Australia's military land force. It is part of the Australian Defence Force along with the Royal Australian Navy and the Royal Australian Air Force. While the Chief of Defence commands the Australian Defence Force , the Army is commanded by the Chief of Army...
-led, UN-sanctioned military force, landed in East Timor to counter the activities of the armed militias and attempt to restore peace. One of INTERFET's mandates was to disarm all the various factions in East Timor including FALINTIL. Under advice from the now recently released Xanana Gusmao, INTERFET and the UN allowed FALINTIL to remain armed, in their cantonments until peace was restored at which time they would hand over their arms.
The last Commander in Chief of FALINTIL was Commander
Taur Matan RuakBrigadier-General Taur Matan Ruak is the Commander of the Falintil-FDTL, the Military of East Timor. He was the last commander of Falintil, the insurgent army which resisted Indonesian the occupation from 1975 to 1999....
.
East Timorese armed forces
On 1 February 2001 FALINTIL was officially dissolved, only to be almost immediately resurrected as the official armed force of the newly independent East Timor to be known as FALINTIL – Força de Defesa de Timor Leste (F-FDTL), with a duty under the East Timor constitution to "
guarantee the independence of the nation, its territorial integrity, and the freedom and safety of the population against aggression, which does not respect the constitutional order". Taur Matan Ruak became the first Commander of F-FDTL and assumed the rank of
Brigadier GeneralBrigadier General is the lowest ranking General Officer in some countries, usually sitting between the ranks of Colonel and Major General.The rank can be traced back to the militaries of Europe where a brigadier general, or simply a brigadier, would command a brigade in the field...
.