All the Timorese people will be losers. How East Timor went from being one of Asia's lost causes to the brink of self-determination is the result of an extraordinary combination of circumstances. The most important was the rise of the mercurial President B.J. Habibie. In July last year, he stunned the world by offering special autonomy. But events in Jakarta moved too fast for East Timor to adequately prepare itself.
New divisions cross old ones.
A younger generation of Timorese leaders, many of whom are civil servants and find their interests better served by Indonesia, back the militias. It is not difficult to see a storm brewing after the ballot. He did not weigh the local conditions. It did not have to go this way. The freedom from the military demanded by East Timorese is echoed elsewhere in Indonesia.