E. Timor: Hard, Welcome Start

More than 200,000 East Timorese have died over the past 25 years battling for their independence from Indonesia. Monday, the region appears to have won its freedom at the ballot box. If confirmed by the final count, the process of severing ties with Jakarta and building an independent nation will start from scratch.

Indonesia has been a brutal colonizer of East Timor, an island territory once within the colonial realm of Portugal. Although it agreed to the referendum on independence earlier this year, the Jakarta regime failed to assure a peaceful preparation for the balloting. Hundreds of pro-independence Timorese have died in the last four months, largely at the hands of militias backed by the Indonesian army. The United States and other governments should exert diplomatic pressure on Jakarta to ensure an honest count in Monday’s voting and an orderly termination of constitutional ties.

So poor that it will start at the bottom rung of the world’s economic ladder, East Timor won’t have it easy. Aside from the prospect of offshore oil, it has no substantial natural resources. The economy and the society itself will have to be rebuilt, brick by brick, by a largely illiterate population.

But the years of resistance have given the territory some strong leaders, including the head of the National Council of Timorese Resistance, Xanana Gusmao. Gusmao, who is expected to be released soon from house arrest in Jakarta, has already taken the first right step, calling for national reconciliation. The community of nations should provide outside aid and expertise.