i'm not rob, and he might well not agree with my take, but here's my two cents.
> Conventional wisdom had it that Falintil was silent so indonesia couldn't
use the
> pretext of a civil war to justify further military actions and preventing
the vote
> from being implemented. Is there any reason why you didn't consider this
motive?
what could you possibly mean by "further military actions"?
this was not a replay of the prelude to annexation twenty years ago. one of the reasons it wasn't of course, is that many of the parties which had then become the stage-pieces in the pretext for that annexation are now, since about a year ago, in the CNRT. and i'd suggest it's this that played a bigger role in determining the CNRT's position. even if memories of that annexation played in people's minds, there's no doubt that a decision was made by the CNRT to support a ballot they (and everyone else) knew would result in bloodshed. they were not privy to the negotiations, but it's Portugal's participation in the negotiations over the ballot (whether there was an armed UN presence or not, for instance) would have heightened the role and position of the UDI within the CNRT when it came to determining strategies and approach. the question which remains is why the CNRT did not call for a boycott of the ballot if, as everyone knew, it's timing and conduct would result in a disaster. the only thing that makes any sense at all is that somehow, somebody in the CNRT, decided that a ballot was required in order to give moral legitimacy to the independance claims. well, it did do that for anyone who still held any illusions; but no one, not even the Indonesian military, ever really believed that those aspirations were not widespread and tenacious. and no one can really explain why the CNRT did not insist that the ballot be held a year from now or somesuch, when the reigns of the Indonesian military might well have been loosened in Indonesia. the CNRT are insisting, now, "the ballot was worth it". worth what exactly? and why not wait? it was a mouse-trap.
Angela _________