Post on 07-Feb-2018
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
7/21/2019 Middlemen Minority in an Isolated Outpost: A Preliminary Study of the Chinese in East Timor
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
7/21/2019 Middlemen Minority in an Isolated Outpost: A Preliminary Study of the Chinese in East Timor
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
7/21/2019 Middlemen Minority in an Isolated Outpost: A Preliminary Study of the Chinese in East Timor
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
7/21/2019 Middlemen Minority in an Isolated Outpost: A Preliminary Study of the Chinese in East Timor
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 ).
7/21/2019 Middlemen Minority in an Isolated Outpost: A Preliminary Study of the Chinese in East Timor
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.
7/21/2019 Middlemen Minority in an Isolated Outpost: A Preliminary Study of the Chinese in East Timor
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
7/21/2019 Middlemen Minority in an Isolated Outpost: A Preliminary Study of the Chinese in East Timor
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
7/21/2019 Middlemen Minority in an Isolated Outpost: A Preliminary Study of the Chinese in East Timor
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
7/21/2019 Middlemen Minority in an Isolated Outpost: A Preliminary Study of the Chinese in East Timor
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
7/21/2019 Middlemen Minority in an Isolated Outpost: A Preliminary Study of the Chinese in East Timor
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
7/21/2019 Middlemen Minority in an Isolated Outpost: A Preliminary Study of the Chinese in East Timor
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