SOUTHEAST ASIA: A Multidisciplinary Journal 6 (1) 2005/2006 © FASS, UBD MOBILISING AND DISABLING THE DESIRE FOR EMPOWERMENT: ENGLISH AND THE TRANSITION TO

East Timor, Southeast Asia’s newest nation, has a centuries long history of colonial intervention and indigenous resistance, and a remarkable heritage of indigenous and colonial languages. Following the vote for independence from Indonesia, the development of East Timor’s language policy was central to the emergence of a national identity. At this time, English was the language used by the United Nations Transitional Administration, international aid agencies and businesses, generating a strong demand for English language teaching supplied by expatriate Australians. Although Timorese students and Australian language teachers saw English as a means and goal of development, this paper suggests that rather than promoting empowerment, the orthodox practices of English language teaching more often replicated colonial relations that devalued local social, cultural and linguistic knowledge and practices