Timor-Leste's Battle to Belong in Asean

The former Portuguese colony will become Asean's 11th member in October. Indonesia's bureau chief Arlina Arshad visits the young nation to gauge its pulse.

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DILI - Ms Ana Hula Muda was only five when the men in black came. It was 1999. Just after lunch, pro-Indonesian militia stormed her family home in the coastal town of Liquica. Wearing red-and-white headbands - the colors of the Indonesian flag - they carried knives and shouted threats. They were hunting down her father.

"They threw rocks and shouted at my mother, 'If we don't find your husband, we will kill you,'" she told The Straits Times, her voice shaking. "My father escaped through the window."

The day before, she had seen a militiaman press a gun to her uncle's head. He survived, barely. Soon after, the family fled across the border to Atambua town in Indonesia.

It was a terrifying chapter in the final days of Indonesia's 24-year occupation of Timor-Leste. In an Aug 30, 1999 referendum backed by the United Nations, nearly 80 percent of Timorese had voted for independence.

The result sparked a wave of violence by pro-Jakarta forces unhappy with the outcome. They torched homes in the capital Dili, looted offices and churches, and hunted down those backing the breakaway - resulting in more than 2,000 Timorese deaths and decimating 75 percent of the fledgling nation's infrastructure. More than 250,000 people were displaced from their homes, according to UNHCR, the UN refugee agency.

Ms Muda and her family returned to Timor-Leste before the territory formally gained independence on May 20, 2002. She enrolled in school in the capital. For a brief moment, it seemed like peace had arrived.

Then violence erupted again. On April 28, 2006, clashes between soldiers, police and youth gangs paralyzed Dili once more.

"It brought everything back," Ms Muda said. "They shot into our neighborhood from the hills. My friend and I picked bullets off the ground."

She paused, eyes glistening. "Why does this keep happening? Why must we hide again?"