Author(s): Richard Plunkett

Military SPECIALS | Military

Australia's involvement with East Timor began in World War II when many Australian comandos would have died without the aid of the East Timorese. But in the 1970s Australia and other neighbouring nations stood by while tiny East Timor was crushed by an Indonesia invasion. A referendum for independence in 1999 saw the massacre of thousands of East Timorese televised into our loungerooms. How could this happen? Do bullies always have to win? What were the East Timorese prepared to die for? And what would Timor's neighbours do this time?