middlemen minority in an isolated outpost: a preliminary study of the chinese in east timor

7/21/2019 Middlemen Minority in an Isolated Outpost: A Preliminary Study of the Chinese in East Timor

1/12

I. Introduction: A Middlemen Minority in East Timor

The history of the Chinese community in East Timor (the Sino-Timorese) has been

almost totally forgotten. Ironically, despite abundant sources and studies on East Timors politics,

history and economy, as far as I know, there is virtually no study of this vital trading minority.

Authoritative works such as the pioneering bibliography on Timor by Kevin Sherlock,1 Victor

Purcells magnum opus on the Chinese in Southeast Asia2 and a recently published work, the

impressive Encyclopedia of the Chinese Overseas3all offer very few references to the Chinese in

East Timor. In addition to these works, John Taylor wrote a section on East Timor in the Minority

Rights Groups report on the Chinese of Southeast Asia, 4and some recollections and testimonies

by Sino-Timorese have now published in Australia.5We thus need to turn to more general sources

to find information on this forgotten people.6

Most of the Chinese in East Timor are from the Hakka dialect group, 7 and come from

another Portuguese colony, Macau.8Historically, Hakkas came from both Kwangtung and Fukien

provinces. Their migration to Southeast Asia was a continuation of an earlier southward movement

within China; hence the name of Hakka, which means guest. Hakkas appear to be less easily

assimilated than other groups like Hokkien or Teochius.9This less known community of East

Timor has contributed at least one international figure. An elderly Dr. Zhong Hui Lan, who was

born in Dili (the capital of East Timor), is said to be a worlds renowned physician. 10

East Timor in colonial times well reflected J.S. Furnivalls theory of plural society: here

people of very different ethnic backgrounds did not meet each other except in the marketplace,

where they had to dispose of goods and services to other groups. The marketplace was the glue that

held the different groups together like different stone in a mosaic.11An Internet site describes the

Chinese in East Timor as follows:12

The history of merchant Chinese in Timor, as in the whole of South East Asia, is long

but not always happy. Although Chinese families in Timor worked intimately with the

colonial powers, relations were never easy and few assimilated into either Dutch,

Portuguese or Timorese cultures. Their community tended to keep itself isolated -

again reflecting a general trend in colonial SE Asia.

In fact, one may see the Sino-Timorese community as middlemen minority, which has

been described by one social scientist as follows:13

[C]ertain ethnic groups in multiethnic societies sometimes occupy a middle status

between the dominant group at the top of the ethnic hierarchy and subordinate groups

at the bottom. These have been referred to as middlemen minorities.

Middlemen minorities often act as mediators between dominant and subordinate

1


2/12

ethnic groups. They ordinarily occupy an intermediate niche in the economic system..

. . They play such occupational roles as traders, shopkeepers, moneylenders, and

independent professionals. Middlemen minorities therefore serve a function for both

dominant and subordinate groups. They perform economic duties that those at the top

find distasteful or lacking in prestige. . . .Given their intermediate economic position,

such groups find themselves particularly vulnerable to out group hostility, emanating

from both dominant and subordinate groups. In times of stress, they are. .. natural

scapegoats. They are numerically and politically lacking in power and therefore must

appeal to the dominant group for protection, which will be provided as long as it is felt

that their economic role is necessary.

Interestingly, despite the East Timorese dislike toward the Chinese, I havent found any

references to anti-Chinese riots or violence committed by native Timorese. The violence against

the Chinese there, rather, was perpetrated by the Indonesian troops when they invaded Timor in

1975.

II. History and Demography to 1975

The Island of Timor was not unknown to the ancient Chinese merchant mariners, due to the

sandalwood, the main export commodity of this island for centuries. The Chinese already visited

Timor long before the first visit of the Portuguese in 1522.14A Chinese traveler, Ma Huan (1433)

called Timor Chi-li-ti-wen (Chi-li-ti-men) or Chih men. A place called Mei lo chiang in Timor

s north coast was said to be the eastern end of Chinas navigation. In 1436, another traveler, Fei

Hsin heard of a certain island called kihri-timun; located eastward of Madura, which has :

[t]welve ports or mercantile establishments, each under a chief. The fields are rich

and abundant; the weather is warm during the daytime and cool at night. Men and

women cut their hair and wear a short dress; whilst sleeping at night they do not cover

themselves. When merchant-vessels arrive there, the women come on board to trade

and many men get infected with disease; from those who get ill, eight or nine out of

ten die, which is caused by the unhealthiness of the country and their secret diseases.

Articles of import are gold, silver, iron and earthenware, etc and each has their own

chief.16

There was another description from a Chinese book called Tung Hsi Yang Kau (1618), Book IV:

[T]imor is the vulgar name for Kih-ri Timor; this country is situated at the east

of Tiong-ka-lo (Madura) and very fertile. The mountains are so covered with

sandal-trees, that they cut it for firewood and its strong smell often makes people

ill. The country is very warm; about noon it is necessary to sit with the face towards

the water, in order to escape illness. Men and women cut their hair and wear short

dresses, when they sleep at night they do not cover themselvesThey have no family

names and do not know the times of the year. They are also without writing; when

they want to record something they do it with flat stones, and a thousand stones are

represented by a string. They have chiefs to whom, when they have disputes, each

2


3/12

party brings a goat; he who is wrong loses his goat and the other takes his away

again. The old Chinese practice of reckoning with knotted strings and bundled arrows,

is thus preserved in these distant islands.The market-place is some distance from

the town, and whenever a merchant-vessel has arrived, the king comes down from the

town, accompanied by his wife and children, his concubines and servants, his suite

being rather numerous. Taxes have to be paid daily, but they are not very heavy. The

natives continually bring sandal-wood for bartering with the merchants, but they may

not come when the king is not present, for fear of disturbances. Therefore the king is

always requested to come first. 17

One cannot say with any certainty when the Chinese settled permanently on Timor. The

trade relations between the island and Chinawith sandalwood as main commoditydate as least

from the beginning of the fifteenth century as shown by the Chinese sources above. By the time

Westerners came into the picture in the 16th century, Chinese traders were already an accepted part

of the scene in the waters around Timor. The very character of sandalwood trade made such a staynecessary. They were obliged to wait until the sandalwood was cut and transported to the coast,

and this always involved lengthy preliminary discussions with the native rulers. Gradually, as a

result of these temporary contacts, small colonies of settlers developed.18

From limited historical sources available, we can discern some of the activities of the

Chinese merchants in Timor in the 19th century.19During the administration of Governor P.A. de

Sousa, the agricultural sector significantly changed due to the introduction of coffee in 1815. This

was followed by the massive cultivation of sugar cane and cotton. Chinese merchants, however,

disliked the Portuguese requirement to pay taxes on goods imported through Atapupu harbor.

The displeasure of the Chinese of Kupang with respect to de Sousas policies resulted in efforts

to lay the groundwork among the local population for a change of government. As a result, the

Chinese invited the Dutch to intervene, and the Dutch were finally able to seize that port from the

Portuguese.

Further development in the nineteenth century can be summarized as follows: 20

Owing to the Macau connection, Timor began to attract a settled Chinese community

of free emigrants by the early decades of the century. Writing in 1861, A. Marques

Pereira, Superintendent of Chinese Emigration in Macau stated, Few as they are,

the Chinese of Dili are the most useful part of the population of that city. As show

below, not only did the Chinese establish themselves in commerce but were also in

high demand as masons, wood workers, or for other ski11s otherwise lacking among

the Timorese. Later in the same decade the captain of a visiting Portuguese corvette,

who also delivered up a blistering account of the colony, praised the Chinese of Dili

as the only part of the population which carries on trade, which builds, which works,

which lastly lives.

In October 1866 news arrived in Macau that Dili had been virtually reduced to ashes

by a fire Happily, it was reported, nobody died in the conflagration that began in

a Chinese house. In Macau, the Governor of that territory addressed an appeal to

3


4/12

patriotism to help rebuild the city of Dili. To this end, he raised 2,630 patacas, about

one-fifth generously offered by the Chinese of Macau.

By 1879, in the account of a visitor from Macau, Dili was a pequena cidade

florescente with a population of 4,114 of whom 2,498 were Catholics. A single main

road connected the eastern bairro or suburb of Bidau with Sica in the east, in turn

connected at perpendicular angles by a number of other rough-made streets, all lined

by a number of private houses of modest appearance. Sica, in turn, was connected by

road with Motael. Occupying centre-place in the tom was the prison, constructed of

limestone although badly ruined. Other public buildings in Dili included the palacio,

poorly sited Close to the swamp, albeit indicated as ruins in the 1 870 map, the

church, the barracks, the hospital, the customs house, the arsenal, and the school

house of good appearance, although hastily constructed. Bidau was described as the

major centre of Chinese trade where most of the commercial houses of the town were

concentrated.

Street maps of Dili from 1893 preserved in the Macau archives indicate the presence

of substantial Chinese commercial houses on the intersections of respectively Rua

do Comercio and Estrada de Lahane and Travessa das Figueiras, namely those

belonging to Chinese merchants named Lay Ajuk and Lay-Lan-chu. Similarly the

merchant house of Baba Fong Seng was well established on Rua do Jose Maria

Marques, parallel to the leafy seaside Rua da Praia Grande.

In a rare published aside on social life and social conditions in Dili in the 1880s,

Gomes da Silva paints a picture of a desperately isolated European community. We

have few images of local dress from 1880s, taken from Gomes da Silvas account,

officials attired themselves in Macau-style vests and wore woven-palm leaf style hats.

European ladies affected the current Dutch style of apparel, while Chinese preferred

kebaya.

In 1894, Celestino da Silva arrived to take up the position of governor. His administration,

which lasted until 1908 (14 years), was marked by success in suppressing a variety of different

revolts and securing Timor within Portuguese power. For this reason, he was given the title of

Pacificador da Timor while others called him the uncrowned king of Timor.21Da Silva banned

Chinese trading activities in areas where there were no inspections and ordered traders to pay taxes

to the government. However, he had to face revolts, and as a result he was forced to undertake

military campaigns on several occasions.

During the da Silva administration, in particular from 1906, there was a large scale

migration of Chinese. The Portuguese encouraged Chinese colonization in order to utilize

their business acumen for increasing local economic activity, trade in particular. 22The Chinese

established themselves as intermediary traders in East Timor, with their characteristic shops called

Cantina.23They rarely participated in the traditional markets of the Timorese, called bazaar, which

were held once a week and sold items needed on a daily basis such as rice, cassava and corn, but

generally not industrial goods. Chinese traders were attracted to large-scale trade. 24

The development of Chinese population in the 20th century is described in Table 1.

4


5/12

5

Table 1. The Chinese in East Timor as Compared

to Other Ethnic Groups, 1920-c.1998 (Selective Years)

Notes:

a. Lin Yu (1937: 1249) citing data from the National Overseas Affairs Commission of 1935 provides a

figure of 3,500.

a01. Weatherbee (1966) offers a figure of 3,122.

b. Includes 1,541 Civilized natives equal to Portuguese (civilizado) (Saldanha, 1994: 76).

c. Tan (1979: xx); Purcell (1965:3)

d. Tan (1979:xx), citing Hua Chiao ching-chi nien chien (Overseas Chinese Economy Yearbook) (Taipei:

Overseas Chinese Economy Yearbook Editorial Committee, 1965). Williams (1966: 11) and Willmott

(1966: 254) suggest 5,000.

e. Somers-Heidhues (1974: 3) gives an estimate of 6,000, while Metzner (1977: 213 n.51) gives a lower

estimate of 5,000.f. Telkamp (1975: 7). People of Arab descent were not included in the census.

g. Solidamor (http://www.solidamor.org/content/sejarah.htm ). Michael Backman, an Australian

economist, stated that there were 15,000 Chinese in East Timor at the time of Portugals departure.

See http://home.vicnet.net.au/~victorp/easttimormb.htm. Telkamp (1975:7) gave a lower estimate of

14,000, while an Indonesian official source provided smaller still number of 10,000 (Budhisantoso,

1980: 6).

h. The Indonesian census does not provide data on ethnicity, instead they provide two options:

Indonesian citizen (Warganegara Indonesia) or foreigner (Warganegara Asing).

i. Profil Timor Timur http://www.suarapembaruan.com/News/1998/08/090898/Sorotan/sr02/sr02.html

j. Solidamor (http://www.solidamor.org/content/sejarah.htm ).


6/12

When Japan attached the Netherlands Indies, they also occupied East Timor, although

Portugal had declared itself a neutral country. Japan did not like the overseas Chinese because a

number of them opposed Japan as a result of the Japanese invasion of China. In all likelihood,

many of the Chinese in East Timor were members or sympathizers of the Kuomintang. For that

reason, Japan took strong actions against them during the occupation. A few Chinese were killed

(see Table 2) and a few women were forced to become comfort women (see Table 3).

6

Sources:

Total Population is taken from Telkamp (1975:6) and Saldanha (1994:264). Mitchell (1995: 57, 61)

gives estimates for 1933-1988.

Data for 1927, 1936, and 1950 are taken from Telkamp (1975: 6-7) and Telkamp (1979: 75-76).

Data for 1936 is taken from Budhisantoso (1980: 5).

Data for 1950 is taken from Saldanha (1994:76) and Weatherbee (1966: 684).

Data for 1960, 1965, and 1970 are taken from Suparlan (1980: 40-41).

Table 2. Summary of the Chinese Killed by the Japanese in Portuguese Timor (1942-1945)

Source: Chung Hean Chung, Statement of the Japanese Atrocities in Portuguese Timor Against the Chinese

Population, NIOD-IC-010517-19, pp. 2-3.


7/12

Epilogue: Business to the 1960s.

The Chinese of East Timor can be described as living for the most part from trade, with

only a few exceptions. For example, in 1974 there was one Chinese with the rank of Captain in

the military, and there were some Chinese engaged in agriculture in the countryside. Many of the

Chinese in East Timor held Taiwanese passports - even those whose ancestors had settled in Timor

over a hundred years earlier.25In the early 1960s, of some 400 plus wholesale and retail businesses

in the province, all but three or four were in Chinese control as the Portuguese forbade ethnic

Timorese from commercial business by law. The Chinese were the main brokers of the grain and

coffee markets, and in this the Portuguese, often to the chagrin of the local Timorese population,

again supported them.

It is interesting to note that the other middleman group, the Arabs, have been present in

much smaller numbers (c.350 in 1970), and are more actively engaged in politics than the Chinese.

Some people of Arab descent have been actively engaged in the struggle for independence from

Indonesia, for example Mari Alkatiri. Mari has recently been one of the top leaders in Timor Leste,

as the Secretary General of Fretilin and a strong candidate for Prime Minister in the future.

Table 3. Summary of the Chinese Women Drafted as Concubines by the Japanese

Source: Chung Hean Chung, Statement of the Japanese Atrocities in Portuguese Timor Against the Chinese

Population, NIOD-IC-010517-19, p. 3.

7


8/12

APPENDIX 1. Sino-Timorese: Will They Become the Helper of New Economy? 26

After the Indonesian army invaded in 1975, several Indonesian businessmen who were

in league with the military were not far behind. The most prominent was Robby Sumampow.

His companies were awarded the local coffee and sandalwood buying monopolies. Sumampow

s earnings from these concessions were as high as US$30 million each year. He also moved into

marble quarrying, housing construction and the hotel business.

East Timor could be to Indonesia what the Genting Highlands are to Malaysia. Local

Moslem sensitivities have ensured that Malaysia has only one casino, which is operated in the

Highlands by the Genting group. It has become one of Malaysias highest corporate taxpayers,

contributing tens of millions of dollars to Malaysian government coffers annually. The bulk of the

casinos customers are local Chinese. Indonesia, like Malaysia, has an ethnic Chinese population

of around 6 million. There is a total ban on gambling in Indonesia, leaving a niche that could be

profitably occupied by a sovereign East Timor.

Taiwan could be another source of funds. Many small sovereign states around the world

have done quite well out of playing the governments of Taiwan and mainland China off against

each other, accepting aid and investment in exchange for diplomatic recognition of one over the

other. Taiwan did operate a consulate in East Timor prior to 1975, after which the building that

housed it became the local headquarters for the Indonesian Navy. There is no doubt that it would

jump at the chance to re-occupy it and would be willing to pay for the privilege.

Among the overseas East Timorese is a significant number of ethnic Chinese. There

were around 15,000 Chinese in East Timor at the time of Portugals departure, many of whom

subsequently fled overseas. They will be among the first investors after Indonesias withdrawal,

and with 95% of East Timorese being Roman Catholics, the antagonism between the Chinese and

the Moslem indigenous people that exists across Indonesia is unlikely to be present to the same

degree in Catholic East Timor.

8


9/12

APPENDIX 2: Laporan Harian Swiss NEUE ZRCHER ZEITUNG. 27

Dalam sebuah laporan koresponden dilaporkan peranan dari kelompok orang Cina di

Timor Timur. Harian itu mengajukan pertanyaan: apakah golongan itu merupakan penolong

lahirnya ekonomi baru, ataukah sekedar pencari keuntungan. Tema ini diturunkan berdasarkan

contoh dari seorang pemilik hotel bernama Benny Foo:

Memang bangsa Cina memiliki fungsi penting di sektor ekonomi, dan selain itu juga telah

membuka ratusan tempat kerja baru, sehingga sejumlah keluarga Timor Timur memiliki landasan

bagi eksistensi mereka. Tetapi mereka tetap tidak disukai. Pada acara makan malam di Dili, Benny

Foo mengakui, ia dan pengusaha lain dari Singapura mendapat ancaman kekerasan dari kalangan

Timor Timur yang terorganisasi dan mereka dipaksa untuk memberikan upah yang lebih tinggi

daripada upah yang dibayarkan oleh perusahaan-perusahaan barat. Selain itu juga mempekerjakan

hampir dua kali lipat lebih banyak warga setempat daripada yang sebenarnya diperlukan. Ketika

ia menambahkan, bahwa keberhasilan bisnis orang Cina juga memancing timbulnya irihati dan

kebencian, pada saat itulah ada batu yang dilemparkan ke halaman hotelnya. Jadi, apa yang

dikatakannya itu memang benar, dan untungnya tidak ada orang yang terkena. Setelah beberapa

saat, Benny Foo kembali dapat menguasai dirinya dan mengatakan dengan senyum yang khas,

bahwa dimana terdapat peluang besar untuk meraih keuntungan, juga terdapat risiko yang besar.

BIBLIOGRAPHY

ARCHIVE

Chung Hean Chung, (Head of the Chinese Community of Timor), Statement of the Japanese Atrocities in

Portuguese Timor Against the Chinese Population based on Documentary Evidence Furnished from Different

Quarters, Where My Countrymen were Established as Businessmen in this Country, Dilly, 2nd July 1946 (3 pp).

NIOD-IC-010517-19.

UNPUBLISHED SOURCESAditjondro, George J., East Timor From Indonesian Colony to Global Capitalist Outpost: Fanon and the Pitfalls of

National Consciousness, unpublished paper (2000).

Telkamp, Gerard J., De Ekonomische Struktuur van Portuguees-Timor in de Twintigste Eeuw: Een Voorlopige Schets.

Amsterdam: The author, 1975

BOOKS AND ARTICLESAli Murtadlo, Orang-orang Indonesia yang Mengeruk Dollar di Timor Loro Sae (1): Keyakinan Tek Sui: Ada Rusuh,

Ada Duit, Jawa Pos, 24 July 2001, pp.1, 15.-, Orang-orang Indonesia yang Mengeruk Dollar di Timor Loro Sae (2): Kembali ke Dili Meski Harus

Mati, Jawa Pos, 25 July 2001, pp.1, 15.

-, Orang-orang Indonesia yang Mengeruk Dollar di Timor Loro Sae (3): Kulak VCD di Surabaya, Dijual ke

Tentara Arab, Jawa Pos, 26 July 2001, pp.1, 15.

-, Orang-orang Indonesia yang Mengeruk Dollar di Timor Loro Sae (4): Lulusan Ubaya Jualan HP,

Kemalingan, Jawa Pos, 27 July 2001, pp.1, 15.

-, Orang-orang Indonesia yang Mengeruk Dollar di Timor Loro Sae (5): Dan, Inilah Keluh Kesah

Konglomerat Lokal, Jawa Pos, 28 July 2001, pp.1, 15.

, Peluang Bisnis di Timor Loro Sae (1): Bangun Pagi, Jual Capucino dan Roti Bakar, Jawa Pos, 31 July

2001, pp.7,8.

9


10/12

, Peluang Bisnis di Timor Loro Sae (2): Tangkap Info Ini: Servis TV-nya ke Indonesia,

Jawa Pos, 1 August 2001, pp.7,8

-, Peluang Bisnis di Timor Loro Sae (3): Bikin Hotel Peluang Paling Menggiurkan, Jawa Pos, 2 August

2001, pp.7,8.

Backman, Michael, Asian Eclipse: Exposing the Dark Side of Business in Asia. Singapore: John Wiley & Sons, 1999.

Budhisantoso, Lingkungan Alam dan Potensi Penduduk di Timor Timur, in Berita Antropologi, XI, 36, January-March

1980, pp.1-8Cashmore, E.Ellis, Pluralism, in E.Ellis Chasmore (ed.), Dictionary of Race and Ethnic Relations. Second Edition

(London: Routledge, 1988).

Fitzpatrick, Daniel, Land Claims in East Timor. (Canberra: Asia Pacific Press, 2002).

Furnivall, John Sydenham, Netherlands India: A Study of Plural Economy (London: Oxford University Press, 1944).

Hill, Helen Mary, Gerakan Pembebasan Nasional Timor Loro Sae. Trans. Aderito de Jesus Soares et al.Dili: Sahe Institute

for Liberation and Yayasan HAK, 2000.

Lin Yu, The Chinese Overseas, in The Council of International Affairs Nanking (ed.), The Chinese Yearbook 1937 Issue

(Third Year of Publication). Shanghai: The Commercial Press, 1937, pp.1245-61.

Ma Huan, Ying-yai Sheng-lan, The Overall Survey of the Oceans Shores [1433]. Transl. by J.V.G.Mills (Bangkok: White

Lotus Press, 1997)

Metzner, Joachim K., Man and Environment in Eastern Timor: A Geoecological Analysis of the Baucau-Viqueque Areaas a Possible Basis for Regional Planning. Canberra: Australian National University, 1977.

Mitchell, B.R., International Historical Statistics: Africa, Asia & Oceania 1750-1988. Second Revised Ed. New York:

Stockton, 1995

Ormeling, Ferdinand Jan, The Timor Problem: A Geographical Interpretation of An Underdeveloped Island. Groningen:

J.B.Wolters, 1956

Pan, Lynn (ed.), The Encyclopedia of the Chinese Overseas (Surrey: Curzon Press, 1999).

Parsudi Suparlan, Orang Timor Timur, in Berita Antropologi, XI, 36, January-March 1980, pp. 37-67.

Purcell, Victor E., The Chinese in Sotheast Asia. 2nd Ed. (London: Oxford Univ. Press, 1965).

Saldanha, Joao Mariano de Sousa, Ekonomi Politik Pembangunan Timor Timur. Jakarta: Sinar Harapan, 1994.

Sekilas Perjalanan Orang Hakka, Mandarin Pos, 026, II, 25 May-6 June 2001, p.23.

Sherlock, Kevin, A Bibliography of Timor: including East (formerly Portuguese) Timor, West (formerly Dutch) Timor,and the Island of Roti. Compiled by Kevin Sherlock; with a foreword by James J. Fox. Canberra: Australian National

University. Distributed by Dept. of Anthropology, Research School of Pacific Studies, the Australian National

University, 1980

Tan, Mely G., Kata Pengantar, in Mely G.Tan (ed.), Golongan Etnis Tionghoa di Indonesia: Suatu Masalah Pembinaan

Kesatuan Bangsa. Jakarta: Gramedia, 1979, pp.vii-xx.

Telkamp, Gerard J., The Economic Structure of an Outpost in the Outer Islands in the Indonesian Archipelago:

Portuguese Timor 1850-1975, in F. van Anrooij et al. (ed.), Between People and Statistics: Essays on Modern

Indonesian History Presented to P.Creutzberg. The Hague: M.Nijhoff, 1979, pp.71-89.

Tomodok, Eliza Meskers, Hari-hari Akhir Timor Portugis. Jakarta: Pustaka Jaya, 1996.

Ward, Robin, Middleman Minority, in E.Ellis Chasmore (ed.), Dictionary of Race and Ethnic Relations. Second

Edition. (London: Routledge, 1988).Weatherbee, Donald E., Portuguese Timor: An Indonesian Dilemma, Asian Survey, Vol.VI, no.12, December 1966,

pp.683-695.

Williams, Lea E., The Future of the Overseas Chinese in Southeast Asia (New York: McGraw-Hill, 1966)

Willmott, William E., The Chinese in Southeast Asia, Australian Outlook, Vol.20, no.3 (December 1966)

INTERNET RESOURCEShttp://www.dwelle.de/indonesia/sari_pers/82144.html (a report by a Swiss newspaper NEUE ZRCHER ZEITUNG on

the Chinese in East Timor).

Backman, Michael, Can Independent East Timor Survive?, in Asian Wall Street Journal, 11 March 1999, available

online in http://home.vicnet.net.au/~victorp/easttimormb.htm

10


11/12

Inbaraj, Sonny, East Timors Chinese Look Forward to Going Home, Asia Times Online, March 13, 1999, available

online at http://www.atimes.com/se-asia/AC13Ae02.html.

The People of East Timor, http://members.tripod.com/~balloon_2/tchaptr3.htm

Profil Timor Timur, Suara Pembaruan, 9 August 1998, available online at http://www.suarapembaruan.com/News/19

98/08/090898/Sorotan/sr02/sr02.html

Solidamor. Sejarah Timor Timur Sejak 1974, available online at http://www.solidamor.org/content/sejarah.htm

NOTES

**** Since I have never visited East Timor, for the writing of this essay I depend entirely on

written available sources (books, archives, journals, newspapers and internet resources). I

want to express my gratitude to Dr. Pedro Pinto Leite from IPJET (Leiden, The Netherlands)

for his valuable assistance and his familys warm reception of me in October 2000. However,

the responsibility for this paper is my own.

1 Kevin Sherlock, A Bibliography of Timor: Including East (formerly Portuguese) Timor, West

(formerly Dutch) Timor, and the Island of Roti (Canberra: Australian National University

Canberra: Distributed by Dept. of Anthropology, Research School of Pacific Studies, the

Australian National University, 1980).

2 Victor Purcell, Chinese in Southeast Asia, second edition (London: Oxford, 1965), gives a

very few references, such as statistical data for 1960. The first edition, published in 1952,

made no reference to East Timor.

3 Lynn Pan (ed.), The Encyclopedia of the Chinese Overseas (Surrey: Curzon Press, 1999).

4 John Taylor, East Timor in Minority Rights Group (ed.), The Chinese of Southeast Asia

(London: Minority Rights Group, 1992), p.18.

5 See in particular, Michele Turner (ed.), Telling East Timor: Personal Testimonies 1942-1992

(Kensington: New South Wales University Press, 1992), Tim Lay, Experiences of an East

Timorese of Chinese Origin, in Abel Guterres et al., Its Time to Lead the Way: Timorese

People Speak About Exile, Resistance and Identity (Victoria: East Timor Relief Association,

1996), pp.30-31.

6 See among others, Bill Nicol, Timor The Stillborn Nation (Melbourne: Visa, 1978), and

the revised edition entitled Timor: A Nation Reborn (Jakarta: Equinox, 2002); James Dunn,

Timor: A People Betrayed (Milton, Qld: Jacaranda Press, 1983); John G. Taylor, East Timor:

The Price of Freedom (London: Zed Books, 1999).

7 Sekilas Perjalanan Orang Hakka, Mandarin Pos, 026, II, 25 May-6 June 2001, p.23.;

Parsudi Suparlan, Orang Timor Timur, op.cit., p 45; Joachim Metzner, Man and

Environment in Eastern Timor: A Geoecological Analysis of the Baucau-Viqueque Area as a

Possible Basis for Regional Planning. Canberra: Australian National University, 1977, p.213

note 51.

8 A.B.Lapian and Paramita Abdurrrachman, Sejarah Timor Timur, op.cit., p.21.

9 Mary Somers-Heidhues, Southeast Asias Chinese Minorities (Hawtorn: Longman, 1974),

p.5.

10 Sekilas Perjalanan Orang Hakka, Mandarin Pos, 026, II, 25 May-6 June 2001, p.23.

11


12/12

11 E.Ellis Cashmore, Pluralism, in E.Ellis Chasmore (ed.), Dictionary of Race and Ethnic

Relations. Second Edition (London: Routledge, 1988), p.216. J.S.Furnivalls book is

Netherlands India: A Study of Plural Economy (London: Oxford University Press, 1944).

12 The People, http://members.tripod.com/~balloon_2/tchaptr3.htm

13 Martin N.Marger, Race and Ethnic Relations. Third Edition (California: Wodworth, 1994),

pp.51-52.14 The best reference to various ancient Chinese sources on Timor and the evaluation on them

is found in Roderich Ptak, Timor in .., Ming Studies

15 Ma Huan, Ying-yai Sheng-lan, The Overall Survey of the Oceans Shores [1433]. Transl. by

J.V.G.Mills (Bangkok: White Lotus Press, 1997), pp.187, 190, 207.

16 W.P. Groeneveldt, Notes on the Malay Archipelago and Malacca compiled from Chinese

Sources, (Batavia: Verhandelingen van het Bataviaasch Genootschap van Kunsten en

Wetenschappen no.39, 1880), p.116, see also A.B.Lapian and Paramita Abdurrachman,

Sejarah Timor Timur, Berita Antropologi, XI, No.36, Januari-Maret 1980, pp.13, 14.

17 Groeneveldt, op.cit., pp.116-117.18 F. J. Ormeling, The Timor Problem: A Geographical Interpretation of an Underdeveloped

Island. Groningen: J.B.Wolters, 1956, p.130. This book provides a useful account of Chinese

history in Timor, but focusing more on the western (Dutch) part, instead of the eastern half

(Portuguese), see Ibid., pp.130-141.

19 Summarized from Joao Mariano de Sousa Saldanha, Ekonomi Politik Pembangunan Timor

Timur. Jakarta: Sinar Harapan, 1994, pp.35-37 and Colonial Process in Nineteenth Century

Portuguese Timor in

http://www.geocities.co.jp/SilkRoad/9613/bunken/gautimor06.html.

20 Quoted from http://www.geocities.co.jp/SilkRoad/9613/bunken/gautimor06.html.

21 Lapian & Paramita, op.cit., h.26.

22 Gerard J. Telkamp, De Ekonomische Struktuur van Portuguees-Timor in de Twintigste

Eeuw: Een Voorlopige Schets (Amsterdam: The author, 1975), p.7; Parsudi Suparlan,

Orang Timor Timur, Berita Antropologi, XI, No.36, Januari-Maret 1980, p. 44.

23 Metzner, op.cit., passim.

24 Saldanha, op.cit., p.62.

25 The People, http://members.tripod.com/~balloon_2/tchaptr3.htm

26 Michael Backman, Can Independent East Timor Survive?, Asian Wall Street Journal, 11

March 1999, in http://home.vicnet.net.au/~victorp/easttimormb.htm

27 Indonesian Section, Radio Germany http://www.dwelle.de/indonesia/sari_pers/82144.html

12

middlemen minority in an isolated outpost: a preliminary study of the chinese in east timor

Documents