Background

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Flag of East Timor
Background Of Eas Timor
The East Timorese, living in the eastern half of the island of Timor, which lies between Indonesia and Australia, occupy a land whose area is 14,875 km2.. The population 1975, when the Portuguese left, was 680,000 – 97% Timorese (including mestizos), 2% Chines, under 1% Portuguese.(The population today is 800,000 – 78% Timorese, 2% Chinese, 20% Indonesia ). East Timor has a common boundry with West Timor, which is part of Indonesia, the former Dutch East Indies.
For centuries the East Timorese had been farmers, living in scattered hamlets and eating what they grew. Only a few coastal East Timorese were fishermen. Trading and shop keeping had for generations been in the hands of the Chinese.
East Timor is extremely mountainous, so the majority of East Timorese had always lived in isolation, far from towns and foreign influences, tied to their field and animistic practices. In spite of centuries of Catholic missionary work by the Portuguese, in 1975 animists still numbered as much as 72% of the population. The local Timorese kings played an important military was almost non-existent.
                                                                     
                       
                                                                 Culture
Culturally speaking, one of the most remarkable facts about the Timorese is their ethno-cultural heterogeneity. This is evident in the various languages and dialects as well as differences in material goods, most notably in regional architecture. The Timorese people have a rich oral tradition in which mythology and legend play an important role in passing on knowledge about the pre-colonial period and the later evolution of the kingdoms. There is also a long tradition of animist spiritualism in Timor which remains highly influential today, despite exposure to major powerful religions and the Timorese people’s growing allegiance to the Catholic Church.
                                                      
                                                       Neither Hinduism nor the
                                      
In May 2002, Timor-Leste formally became an independent, democratic state and the millennium’s newest nation. This was the culmination of lengthy processes of change, continuity and resistance in politics, society and culture throughout 450 years of Portuguese colonisation and, following this, the invasion and twenty-four year occupation by neighbouring Indonesia.
The emergence of Timor-Leste as a newly independent nation provides a space for the East Timorese people to begin to seek a new political identity. While formal democracy is quite new to Timor-Leste, there is an authority and leadership system embedded in East Timorese cultures that was established prior to Portuguese colonisation and that continues to guide communal life within most suku (villages). Through this system, people are governed by traditional authority figures, including the liurai (a hereditary ruler, ‘lord of the land’). The liurai’s authority emanates from a social and political system that is guided by uma lisan. Uma lisan refers both to physical structures, literally ‘sacred houses’, but also to social structures that guide relationships between members and between the natural, social and ancestral worlds. This study considers the current situation and influence of traditional rulership and social systems in contemporary East Timorese suku, identifying four broad categories that reflect the continuing importance of these systems in Timor-Leste.

Uma lisan, also known as uma lulik, are the primary symbols for social and cultural order in local communities across Timor-Leste. The community considers uma lisan a central part of their identity. Significance in people’s everyday lives. They have particular importance during ritual celebrations such as for marriage, prior to harvesting corn, tarabandu (which as will be explained regulates activities and use of resources), and other rituals that provide opportunities for people to gather together. The ancestors and elders of each uma lisan continue to protect the uma lisan by passing down sacred knowledge through each generation.

Within the social structure of the uma lisan there are a number of different authority figures, one of whom is the lia-na’in, which literally translates as ‘owner of the words’. The lia-na’in are responsible for leading and caring for all the families and descendants of the uma lisan. Through rituals, they pray to the ancestors for help, asking that the ancestors always accompany the descendants of the uma lisan so they can carry out their work in a positive environment. As lia-na’in safeguard peace and stability in the family, they also take on an informal role resolving problems or conflicts that arise at the aldeia (hamlet) or suku (village) level. In every suku there is a complex network of uma lisan that mediates and governs relationships between members of the same uma lisan, and also regulates relationships between different uma lisan. Everyone knows their uma lisan, and knows where they fit within the family structure that ties them together. Even though some members may move away from their traditional land and uma lisan, they often continue to maintain contact with each other and with the ancestors through this shared identity. Some families in Dili no longer follow the ways of their uma lisan, signifying the loss of a generation from the uma lisan. However in almost all other districts across Timor-Leste, the uma lisan is central for managing family relationships and for forming new relationships through marriage for the creation of new families. The uma lisan also acts as a place to link people with their deceased ancestors. As a lia-na’in and xefe suku (elected village councillor) from within Lautem district explains, ‘uma lisan represent all of the deceased ancestors ... even though their bodies have died, their spirits continue to live around us, and they are always close to us through the uma lisan.
Through these rituals, the people communicate with supernatural powers, using betel nut and betel pepper, sacred swords and other objects that symbolise and represent their ancestors’ residence in the spirit world, and asking that they continue to accompany people during their daily lives. According to them, this life does not end with this world. Through death, a new life is gained in another world. As membership of the uma lisan carries an identity that is central to all the house members, this provides an important basis for building peace between related families.
As he went on to explain, it is relatively easy for the people to resolve problems that arise among themselves because the lia-na’in from the uma lisan uses family relations to resolve any issues. There are a number of significant cultural practices through which uma lisan contribute to the maintenance of communal cohesion and peaceful social relations. Firstly, the process for preserving or restoring the physical structure of an uma lisan also involves strengthening and repairing the social structure of the uma lisan. All family members, including in-laws, from close by and far away come together not simply to discuss and agree on how to rebuild the uma lisan, but also to resolve any problems between family members. This was seen in one suku visited by the research team when a particular uma lisan needed to be rebuilt. Before physically rebuilding the sacred house, the liana’in called all of the members of the uma lisan together—particularly those who were involved in various disputes amongst themselves—to sit together and resolve their problems.
Conflict is also dealt with in the uma lisan through the nahe biti bo’ot tradition, a localised system of conflict management that literally translates as ‘rolling out the big mat’. When a conflict arises, the issue is taken to the central uma lisan for resolution. There are many ways to conduct a nahe biti bo’ot ceremony but there are two broad paths through which the conflict can be resolved. The first is through a system of arbitration, whereby those involved in the conflict gather together with their families and the lia-na’in or the liurai resolves the dispute. The second path more closely resembles mediation, through which consensus is sought. Both paths are very strong and are trusted throughout the suku of Timor-Leste as the first point of call in resolving disputes. If the liurai is involved, the ceremony uses some of the liurai’s symbols to demonstrate the liurai’s governing power. Alternatively, nahe biti bo’ot may also be carried out using the general community uma lisan.

Complementing nahe biti bo’ot is the social institution of tarabandu a traditional system for establishing social contracts, sanctioned through the power of the ancestors and established through a commitment between all the members of the uma lisan in a suku or a particular territory. Tarabandu operates through ritually banning some activities and requiring others for the good of the community.

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