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East Timor

Timor Lorosae

by António Martins, 05 Dec 1999

Presentation
Description of the flag
A new flag for independent East Timor?

See also:

Presentation

Currently East Timor has no status (legally I guess it might have reverted to the status of before the invasion) and is waiting for the UN to set up the successor of the INTERFET, since this is merely a military mission and it's successor (known here as the phase III of the agreement between Portugal and Indonesia) will have also administrative powers, which INTERFET does not have.
Jorge Candeias, 20 Oct 1999

In Tetum, the territory is called Timor Loro Sa’e, meaning "Timor of the rising sun". This is probably the name that will be adopted for the new state. In the other two official languages Xanana says the country will have, portuguese and bahasa indonesian, it's spelled "Timor-Leste" and "Timor Timur" (both meaning "east-east" because "Timor" is a portuguese (or local) corruption of "timur", "east"), respectively.
Jorge Candeias, 29 Oct 1999

Description of the Flag

In fact this flag, although used locally and abroad as the east timorese flag, is the flag of the “Democratic Republic of Timor” unilaterally proclaimed by Fretilin in 1975, but unrecognized by the other (also anti-indonesian) parties, namely by U.D.T..
António Martins, 08 Aug 1999

From an article in the Flag Bulletin [tfb] (Vol.XX: No.1) “Flags of East Timor” by David Rogers:

Members of the FRETILIN Central Committee had worked all the previous night [before independence was proclaimed on 28 November 1975] on the preparation of the flag, the design of which is credited to Natalino Leitão. ... The design is officially described in the Constitution (which was published the next day [after independence was proclaimed] after another night’s furious work) as follows:
The flag is rectangular, formed by two isosceles triangles whose bases are superimposed, the black, of a height equal to one-third of the length, superimposed on the yellow, whose height is equal to half the length of the flag, with a white star in the center of the black triangle; and the remainder of the flag is red.
The proportions are not specified, but in practice are 2:3, the black triangle therefore being right-angled. The black represents the four centuries of colonial oppression, the arrowhead recalls the struggle for independence, and the red reflects the blood shed by the East Timorese people. The white star symbolizes hope for the future.

There is a footnote attached to the last statement that says: «Explained by Mr. Sinnott». An earlier footnote about the illustration attached to the article states «Design provided by Mr. J.M. Sinnott of the Australia-East Timor Association (Victoria) in March 1979. This article would not have been possible without his help».
Dave Martucci, 22 June 1998

It is important to distinguish the Fretilin flag (with red / yellow stripes and black "texan" canton with white star) and the national flag of Fretilin sponsored Dem. Rep. of East Timor (red with black hoist triangle with white star and short "arrow head").
António Martins, 17 Aug 1999

A new flag for independent East Timor?

I’m still curious about which flag receives the status of national flag in the end: the red-yellow-black arrowhead or the blue-white-green of the FALINTIL/CNRT. Both have a big support within the people and both have an honourable tradition of resistance. I’d bet on the blue-white-green, but I wouldn’t bet much.
Jorge Candeias, 22 Oct 1999

The "new" flag of East-Timor (blue-white-green) is not having any popular acceptance. Instead all the flags seen in demonstrations (both in the territory and in Portugal) are red with the black and yellow triangles and the white star.
Jorge Candeias, 08 May 1999

The UNAMET (U.N. mission in East Timor) decided to illustrate the two options in the coming referendum on the future of the territory (or popular consultation, as they call it) with flags. The "yes" to the autonomy will be illustrated with the indonesian flag, while the "no" to the autonomy (which implies independence) is to be illustrated by the flag of the C.N.R.T.. This option by the UNAMET is being contested by the Socialist Party of Timor, which claims that the flag of the CNRT does not represent all timorese and is, therefore, not a good choice. They don’t say it in the paper, but I suspect the guys from the S.P.T. are trying to push the red flag with black triangle into the place of the flag of CNRT.
Jorge Candeias, 05 Aug 1999

I believe many people are not aware that they changed to a new flag. I’ve been involved with APCET (Asia Pacific Committee on East Timor) since APCET II and I didn’t know until I read about it here.
Robert Kee, 31 Aug 1999

I have been following with close attention the news reports on the situation in Timor Lorosae, and the red and black seems to have disappeared almost totally and what is seen are CNRT flags, mostly in paper drawings or as (large) lapel pins. The only instance where I saw the red and black flag was recently in a press-conference of some Popular Comission for the Defense of the Democratic Republic of East-Timor. This comission denounces the agreement between Portugal and Indonesia under the auspices of the UN, because, according to them, this agreement recognizes the occupation of East Timor, while they only recognize the Democratic Republic, unilaterally proclaimed in 1975. They also say that the introduction of a new flag by the C.N.R.T. is a «falsification of the East Timorese history» (forgetting that this flag, or a close relative, has been in use for many years now as the flag of the armed resistence, the FALINTIL).
Jorge Candeias, 27 Aug 1999

At the website http://etan.org/timor/CNRTflag.htm the text mentioned earlier hasn’t changed, but the flag has (slightly): Previously, it was without the CNRT initials (and perhaps with a slightly different canton, or am I confusing things?).
Jorge Candeias and Jarig Bakker, 01 Sep 1999

Everything is pointing in the direction of abandon of the red-black-yellow colours. However, these colours are retained in the coat of arms in the canton. It might also happen that some other flag gets adopted (the independentists are insisting very much on reconciliation, and they might go for a more neutral design because of that.
Jorge Candeias, 01 Sep 1999

Considering the recent events in East Timor and the forseeable tense relations between the novel country and it’s former occupant in the near future, I wouldn’t be surprised if the red and black flag makes a comeback in the next months...
António Martins, 19 Sep 1999

It came back already! Red-yellow-black flags (i.e., both the arrowhead and the flag of the FRETILIN) are the most seen in demonstrations here in Portugal and, from what I’ve seen on TV, also abroad. However, this could be related with the difficulty of finding proper CNRT/FALINTIL flags to fly. In fact the “old” flag(s) is much simpler than the “new” one. Let’s wait and see what happens now that the killing seems to be over.
Jorge Candeias, 21 Sep 1999

But is still might happend as in Namibia, where the new national flag was different than expected...
António Martins, 17 Aug 1999