Timor-Leste : historical legacies and contemporary challenges

The history of Timor-Leste is a compelling story of a people prevailing against the odds. The nation’s harrowing journey from an economically impoverished colonial Portuguese backwater in 1975, followed by a generation-long military occupation by Indonesia, only to emerge as an independent republic at the turn of the twenty-first century, is as remarkable as it is unlikely. Perhaps above all, it stands as a lasting testament to the resilience and desire of a people to be free