The Economy Under Occupation

Lundahl, Mats; Sjöholm, Fredrik

doi:10.1007/978-3-030-19466-6_4

Mats Lundahl⁴ &
Fredrik Sjöholm⁵

Part of the book series: Palgrave Studies in Economic History ((PEHS))

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Abstract

Chapter 4 examines the economy during the Indonesian period. It provides an assessment of this highly controversial period, the political suppression, the blatant corruption and the beginnings of modest improvements in living standards in non-conflict areas. The living standard in Indonesia improved remarkably from 1975 to 1999, but this was not accompanied by an equal improvement in the lives of the East Timorese. Indonesia provided funding and efforts to foster economic development and the situation in the education and health sectors improved. At the same time, restrictions and regulations on everyday life acted as a formidable obstacle to the improvement of living standards. Development was also obstructed by direct military involvement in the economy.

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Notes

1.
Booth (2004, p. 31).
2.
Chauvel (1996, p. 61).
3.
Azis (1996, p. 100).
4.
Sjöholm (2002, p. 384).
5.
E.g., Woo (1991) and Hill (1992).
6.
Hill (1997, pp. 286–88).
7.
Dovert (2014, p. 56).
8.
Hill (2001, p. 1140) and Sherlock (1996, p. 836).
9.
Soesastro (1991, p. 220).
10.
Robinson (2010, p. 266, note 20).
11.
Hill (2001, p. 1140).
12.
Saldanha (1994, p. 163).
13.
For the latter, see below.
14.
Saldanha (1994, pp. 166–67). Note that on p. 166 the figures for the government apparatus and for science and technology have been mixed up. Likewise, on the same page, the figure of 32.64% is attributed to ‘growth and tourism,’ which is hardly credible, while on pages 165 and 167, it refers to ‘communications.’
15.
Ibid., pp. 164–65.
16.
Ibid., p. 165.
17.
Van Klinken (2001, p. 213).
18.
Mubyarto et al. (1991, p. 51). ‘The Indonesian government forbade publication of the study, and it is only available because it was published by an Australian NGO’ (Sherlock 1996, p. 837).
19.
Mubyarto et al. (1991, p. 59).
20.
Hill (2001, pp. 1139–40). At the same time, he states: ‘Indonesia’s rule of East Timor, 1976-99, would have to be judged a failure both because of an inability to win over the “hearts and minds” of the East Timorese people, and because of the manner of its abrupt and tragic departure in late 1999’ (ibid., p. 1139).
21.
The poverty line was measured as the income needed to reach 2100 kcal plus some non-food minimum requirements (Biro Pusat Statistik 1999a, p. 574).
22.
Other very poor provinces are not included in the table. Mboi (1996, Table 9.2) reports that almost 90% of the population lived below the poverty line in the province of South Sulawesi in 1993. The share in East Timor was estimated to about 37%, very similar to the figure in Table 4.3.
23.
See Booth (2001a) for more details.
24.
Schwarz (1994, p. 209).
25.
Booth (2001a, Table 15.2).
26.
Durand (2006, p. 112).
27.
Durand (2006, p. 98).
28.
Some observers argue that the situation was rather good in comparison with other developing countries. Cheatham and Jarvenpaa (2001) claim that East Timor had a road network that was quite extensive for a country of its size.
29.
Hill and Weidemann (1991, p. 36).
30.
Sjöholm (2003, pp. 335–36).
31.
Sjöholm (1999, p. 56).
32.
Lipsey et al. (2013).
33.
Ibid., p. 1135.
34.
It is likely that the importance of agriculture was even higher in East Timor, since most of what was produced was grown for on-farm consumption and did not enter the regular markets and hence did not show up in the official GRP.
35.
Sjöholm (2002, p. 386) and Sjöberg and Sjöholm (2004, p. 294).
36.
Soesastro (1991, p. 217).
37.
Pedersen and Arneberg (1999, p. 39).
38.
Ibid.
39.
Ibid., p. 38.
40.
Ibid., p. 42.
41.
Van Klinken (2001, p. 213).
42.
Soesastro (1991, p. 213).
43.
Ibid.
44.
Booth (2001a, p. 12).
45.
Biro Pusat Statistik (1999a, Table 3.2.15).
46.
Booth (2001a, p. 16).
47.
Hill (2001, p. 1140).
48.
Ibid.
49.
Booth (2001b, p. 249).
50.
Soesastro (1999, p. 218). The difference is large and may be due to deficiencies in the collection of the statistics.
51.
Taylor (1990, p. 25).
52.
Pedersen and Arneberg (1999, p. 30).
53.
Taylor (1999, p. 124).
54.
Pedersen and Arneberg (1999, p. 30).
55.
Durand (2006, p. 100).
56.
Ibid., p. 102.
57.
Pinto and Jardine (1997).
58.
Durand (2006, p. 104).
59.
Pedersen and Arneberg (1999, p. 30).
60.
Durand (2006, p. 100).
61.
Ibid.
62.
Ibid.
63.
Pedersen and Arneberg (1999, p. 59).
64.
Durand (2006, p. 100).
65.
CAVR (2005b, p. 144).
66.
Hill (2001, p. 1140).
67.
Sherlock (1996, p. 839).
68.
Soesastro (1991, p. 215).
69.
Mubyarto et al. (1991, p. 54).
70.
Soesastro (1991, p. 222) and Pedersen and Arneberg (1999, p. 24).
71.
Fernandes (2011, p. 48).
72.
Soesastro (1991, p. 210).
73.
Ibid., p. 212.
74.
Mubyarto et al. (1991, p. 12).
75.
Pedersen and Arneberg (1999, pp. 26–27).
76.
Ibid., p. 24.
77.
Saldanha (1994, p. 163).
78.
Ibid., p. 166.
79.
Barlow (2001, pp. 112–13).
80.
Saldanha (1994, p. 216).
81.
Pedersen and Arneberg (1999, p. 23).
82.
Ibid., p. 30.
83.
Pedersen and Arneberg (1999, p. 36).
84.
Ibid., pp. 26–28.
85.
Ibid., p. 28.
86.
Shepherd (2014, p. 119).
87.
Ibid., p. 115.
88.
Ibid., pp. 115–17.
89.
Ibid., p. 117.
90.
Ibid., p. 118.
91.
Ibid.
92.
Mubyarto et al. (1991, p. 58).
93.
Soesastro (1991, p. 211).
94.
Assuming that 1990 was an exceptionally good, atypical, rice year.
95.
Pedersen and Arneberg (1999, p. 27).
96.
Barlow (2001, p. 113).
97.
Ibid., p. 123.
98.
Saldanha (1994, p. 188).
99.
Pedersen and Arneberg (1999, p. 25).
100.
Jones (2001, p. 259).
101.
Biro Pusat Statistik (1999a, Table 3.1.2)
102.
Soesastro (1991, pp. 222–23).
103.
Pedersen and Arneberg (1999, p. 25).
104.
Soesastro (1991, p. 218).
105.
Booth (2001a, p. 12).
106.
Pedersen and Arneberg (1999, pp. 25–26).
107.
Ibid., pp. 29–30.
108.
Ibid., p. 30.
109.
Fitzpatrick (2002, p. 44).
110.
Mubyarto et al. (1991, p. 9).
111.
Jannisa (1997, Chapter 11).
112.
Leach (2017, p. 180).
113.
Taylor (1999, p. 125).
114.
Aditjondro (1994, p. 45).
115.
Mubyarto et al. (1991, p. 49).
116.
Da Costa (2003, p. 53).
117.
Taylor (1999, p. 126) and Shepherd (2014, p. 108).
118.
CAVR (2005b, p. 142).
119.
Saldanha (1994, pp. 219–20).
120.
Da Costa (2003, p. 52).
121.
Henriques et al. (2008, p. 8).
122.
See Schwartz (1994, Chapter 6) and Elson (2001, pp. 278–81), for the general pattern.
123.
Taylor (1999, pp. 126–27).
124.
Ibid., p. 127.
125.
Murphy (1999).
126.
Saldanha (1994, p. 222).
127.
Loveard (1999, p. 291).
128.
Murphy (1999) and Pomeroy (2001, p. 129).
129.
Pomeroy (2001, p. 129).
130.
Pedersen and Arneberg (1999, p. 36).
131.
Sherlock (1996, pp. 845–46).
132.
See Soesastro (1996) for a discussion on the poor absorptive capacity in East Timor.
133.
Tirtosudarmo (1996, p. 203).
134.
Mboi (1996, p. 190).
135.
Pedersen and Arneberg (1999, p. 81).
136.
Ibid., p. 80.
137.
Ibid., p. 81.
138.
Ibid., p. 79, Sherlock (1996, p. 838).
139.
Mboi (1996, p. 185).
140.
Booth (2001a, pp. 5–6).
141.
Pedersen and Arneberg (1999, p. 85).
142.
Ibid.
143.
Duflo (2001) and Sjöholm (2005, p. 37).
144.
Sjöholm (2005, p. 38).
145.
Lutz (1995, pp. 4–5).
146.
Booth (2001a, p. 6).
147.
UNDP (2002, p. 48).
148.
Pedersen and Arneberg (1999, p. 85).
149.
Booth (2001a, p. 6).
150.
World Bank (1997, p. 120) and Booth (1999, p. 301).
151.
Jones and Hagul (2001).
152.
Tirtosudarmo (1996, p. 201).
153.
Pedersen and Arneberg (1999, p. 90).
154.
Ibid., p. 94.
155.
Ibid., p. 97.
156.
Ibid., p. 96.
157.
Ibid., p. 97.
158.
Ibid., p. 86.
159.
Ibid., p. 97.
160.
Tirtosudarmo (1996, p. 201).
161.
Jones (2001, p. 257).
162.
Pedersen and Arneberg (1999, p. 97).
163.
Leach (2017, p. 96).
164.
Pedersen and Arneberg (1999, p. 98).
165.
Mubyarto et al. (1991, p. 56).
166.
Pedersen and Arneberg (1999, p. 100).
167.
Ibid., p. 86.
168.
Ibid., pp. 98–99, Jones (2001, p. 257), and UNDP (2002, p. 48).
169.
Pedersen and Arneberg (1999, p. 89).
170.
Ibid., p. 98.
171.
Ibid., p. 91.
172.
Taylor (1999, p. 127). The Indonesians made a point of comparing their own alleged achievements to the lack of progress during the Portuguese period (Sherlock, 1996, p. 836):

According to Indonesian government statistics, for example, the Portuguese had built just 47 elementary schools, 2 middle schools, and one high school in Timor, while integration into Indonesia has resulted in the establishment of 579 elementary schools, 90 middle schools, 39 high schools, and 3 colleges. Similar figures are cited for health services.
173.
Ibid., p. 128.
174.
Durand (2006, p. 98).
175.
Lutz (1995, p. 5).
176.
Leach (2017, pp. 97–98).
177.
Booth (2001a, p. 6).
178.
Mubyarto et al. (1991, p. 5).
179.
Leach (2017, p. 97).
180.
Durand (2006, p. 98).
181.
Quoted by Shepherd (2014, p. 114).
182.
Taylor (1999, p. 129).
183.
CAVR (2005b, p. 145).
184.
Ibid., p. 140.
185.
Durand (2006, p. 98).
186.
Azis (1996, p. 81).
187.
Booth (2001a, p. 34).
188.
Pedersen and Arneberg (1999, p. 84).
189.
Ibid., p. 87.
190.
Azis (1996, p. 81).
191.
CAVR (2005b, p. 144).
192.
Ibid., p. 141.
193.
Ibid.
194.
Walsh (1991, p. viii).
195.
Mubyarto et al. (1991, pp. 3–4).
196.
Ibid., p. 61.
197.
Ibid., p. 60.
198.
Ibid., p. 62.
199.
CAVR (2005a, p. 28). For the history of CAVR, see, e.g., Sachse (2014).
200.
Kingsbury (2009, p. 73).
201.
UNDP (2002, p. 57), Valdivieso et al. (2000, p. 9), and Haughton (2001, p. 289).
202.
Lundahl (2003, p. 10; 2013, p. 33).
203.
UNDP (2002, pp. 48, 57).
204.
Ibid., p. 23.

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Stockholm School of Economics, Stockholm, Sweden
Mats Lundahl
Department of Economics, Lund University, Lund, Sweden
Fredrik Sjöholm

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Lundahl, M., Sjöholm, F. (2019). The Economy Under Occupation. In: The Creation of the East Timorese Economy. Palgrave Studies in Economic History. Palgrave Macmillan, Cham. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-030-19466-6_4

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DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-030-19466-6_4
Published: 18 July 2019
Publisher Name: Palgrave Macmillan, Cham
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