Behind The Integration of East Timor

The Portuguese government's policy of decolonizing East Timor began to be implemented when Colonel Lemos Pires took office as the new governor of Portuguese Timor on 25 November 1974, bringing with him two majors, Francisco Mota and Costa Jonatas, who had important positions in charge of politics and mass media. Lemos Pires' policy for decolonization was to withdraw Portuguese troops, from around 3,000 to 200 troops in East Timor. But in 1975, Portugal sent back about 1,000 troops to East Timor as well as the latest weapons from the North Atlantic Treaty of Defense (NATO). Meanwhile, Major Mota as the colony's minister of political affairs wanted East Timor to become a communist state. To realize this, Major Mota proposed that a coalition be formed between the two major parties, UDT and Fretilin, even though these two parties were hostile to each other. Based on Major Mota's suggestion, a coalition between UDT and Fretilin was formed on January 20, 1975.

East Timor became increasingly volatile as political change entered the region. The decolonization policy planned by Portugal did not have a unified concept, which resulted in promises to restore civil and democratic rights, as well as the freedom to form political parties in East Timor not being fully implemented. The result of the failure of decolonization was a civil war that culminated in August 1975. The upheaval in East Timor eventually led Indonesia to intervene to resolve the issue due to the inability of the Portuguese government to resolve the conflict in the region. In an effort to stop the fighting in the volatile region, the Indonesian government decided to send in ABRI troops to stabilize the border areas affected by the civil war after having previously launched Operation Komodo since January 1975.

In the process of integrating East Timor into Indonesian territory, Indonesia drafted an Integration Act and established a People's Assembly in May 1976. The task of the Assembly members was to draft a petition addressed to the President of the Republic of Indonesia for his approval.  The petition was signed by Amaldo dos Reis Araujo as chairman of the PSTT (Provisional Government of East Timor) and Guilherme Goncalves as the regional people's representative council, the main content of this short petition was for East Timor to become one with Indonesia. In 1975, political developments in East Timor experienced a critical situation with the unilateral actions of Fretilin. loudly proclaimed independence on November 25, 1975. However, other parties countered Fretilin's declaration of independence with an "Integration" declaration, which stated that they wanted to join Indonesia.
In its development, the parties that wanted to integrate with Indonesia asked the Indonesian government for help to fight the radical Fretilin party. Finally, Indonesia assigned ABRI troops to help the parties fight for integration with Indonesia. The operation assigned to ABRI troops was named Operation Seroja. Operation Seroja involved ABRI consisting of the Army, Navy and Air Force. All played an important role in assisting the pro-integration group against Fretilin.

Finally, East Timor was incorporated into the Indonesian State through Indonesia No. 7 of 1976 (LN. 1976-36) concerning the Ratification of the Unification of East Timor into the Unitary State of the Republic of Indonesia.  In addition, PP No. 19 Th. 1976 (LN. 1976-36) concerning the Establishment of the Province of East Timor and was further emphasized through MPR Decree No. VIMPR / I1976 which confirmed the unification of the East Timor region which occurred on July 17, 1976 into the territory of the Unitary State of Indonesia.  This integration process was based on the Balibo Declaration on November 30, 1975.
On July 17, 1976, President Soeharto orchestrated a law that was approved by the House of Representatives of the Republic of Indonesia, formalizing Indonesia's act of integrating Timor-Leste.

Reference: 

Bilveer Singh.2015. Habibie dan Demokratisasi di Indonesia. Jakarta:Cidesindo.
Budiardjo, dan Liem Soei Liong. 1984. The War Against East Timor.  Newzeland: Zed Book.
Chamberlain, Ernest. 2003. The Struggle in Iliomar: Resistance in Rural East Timor.  Australia: Point Lonsdale.
Chega.2010. Volume II Laporan Komisi Penerimaan Kebenaran dan Rekonsiliasi CAVR di Timor-Leste. Jakarta, PT Gramedia.
Cruz,Fx Lopez.1999. Kesaksian: Aku dan Timor Timur. Jakarta: Yayasan Tunas Harapan Timor Lorosae.
Genewati, dkk. 2009. Keamanan di Perbatasan Timor-Leste dan Indonesia. Yogyakarta:Pustaka Pelajar.