Associação Democratica para a Integração de Timor-Leste na Austrália

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The Associação Democratica para a Integração de Timor-Leste na Austrália ( ADITLA , German  Democratic Association for the Integration of East Timor in Australia ) was a party founded in November 1974 in the colony of Portuguese Timor , which campaigned for a connection to Australia . From February 1975 until it ended a month later, the party was called Associação para a União Democrática de Timor-Leste e Austrália .

history

Portuguese Timor (orange), north of Australia

After the Carnation Revolution in Portugal in 1974, various parties emerged in preparation for independence in the colony, including the ADITLA in November. It was the idea and founding of the businessman Henrique Pereira, a then 55-year-old businessman of Chinese origin. The party took up the fears of the Timorese of Chinese origin in particular - both of the left-wing FRETILIN party in an independent East Timor and of annexation to Indonesia . Instead of independence, the ADITLA therefore advocated a connection between the Portuguese colony and neighboring Australia . As a minority that isolated itself from the Timorese population and at the same time had almost complete control of the colony's trade, they faced hardship in the independent East Timor as well as in the case of an annexation to Indonesia, as persecuted by the APODETI party . The approximately 11,000 Chinese Timorese were still present with the massacre in Indonesia from 1965 to 1966 , which killed the Chinese and communists. There was sympathy for the UDT party , which sought a close relationship with Portugal. However, the UDT made no specific offers to the Chinese. As a potentially communist and anti-Chinese party, FRETILIN was a nightmare anyway.

The ADITLA is partially accused of having primarily sought financial gain from the fears of the Chinese. Pereira received 50 Australian cents for party membership , which was half the daily earnings of a Timorese worker.

Pereira had worked with the Australian guerrilla forces during the Battle of Timor against the Japanese in World War II and therefore had contacts with former soldiers who were now business people in Sydney . He suggested that in the event of a war he could help the ADITLA members to flee to Australia, where a Portuguese city would then be founded especially for them. At the end of November the party had 8,000 members.

In February 1975, it was renamed Associação para a União Democrática de Timor-Leste e Austrália ( German  Association for a Democratic Union of East Timor and Australia ). Pereira wanted to recruit more members. By the end of March, the number of members rose to 10,000. But the Australian government not only refused to support the party, it also categorically rejected the proposal for Portuguese Timor to join the Commonwealth of Australia. On March 12, the colony's only newspaper, A Voz de Timor , published an article entitled Australia Rejeita Aditla ( German  Australia rejects ADITLA ). The article not only made it clear that Australia did not believe in joining East Timor, but also questioned the legitimacy of ADITLA itself. The party disintegrated and then quickly disappeared.

In an interview, the party founder Pereira later stated that ADITLA had never had a program. Only the demand for integration in Australia was the goal, even if Australia did not want it.

See also

Individual evidence

  1. ↑ Pereira was also the manager of the sports club Associação Recreativa de União Esportiva - which meant that he ran the bar and restaurant. See Bill Nicol: Timor. A nation reborn. 2002, ISBN 9789799589866 , pp. 58ff.
  2. ^ A b David Hicks: Rhetoric and the Decolonization and Recolonization of East Timor. 2014, ISBN 9781317695349 p. 122 (e-book).
  3. ↑ a b c d e Bill Nicol: Timor. A nation reborn. 2002, ISBN 9789799589866 , pp. 58ff.
  4. ↑ Vicente Paulino: A primavera de 1974 em Portugal e Timor na boca dos leões. P. 92 (PDF) , accessed June 25, 2017.