East Timor's integration<\/p>\n
How much time is needed for the process of integration to be
\ncompleted? Twenty years is considered long enough if statistics
\nare the yardstick. And in East Timor, if this is the criterium
\nused, great strides forward have indeed been made in this
\nyoungest of Indonesian provinces.<\/p>\n
Integration, however, cannot be measured by figures only.
\nThus, while the process of political integration may be
\nconsidered accomplished with the territory joining the Republic
\nof Indonesia as its 27th province on July 17, 1976, the process
\nof social and cultural integration has not been so smooth.
\nVarious recent incidents in this province are proof of this fact.<\/p>\n
Most of the incidents clearly only served the interests of
\nanti-integration groups in East Timor as well as abroad, but
\nothers occurred due to collisions of a sociocultural nature. This
\nis a very sensitive area for various reasons. The most important
\nfactor is that the historical and cultural background of East
\nTimor is very different from that of our other provinces. As a
\nconsequence misunderstandings easily occur.<\/p>\n
These considerations have spurred us to suggest a novel
\napproach to the process of East Timor's integration. If, for the
\npast two decades, we have focused our attention on political
\nintegration, in the coming period we need to put the focus more
\non the sociocultural aspects of East Timor's integration in the
\ncontext of Indonesia's cultural diversity. This second stage of
\nintegration will be much more difficult to accomplish.<\/p>\n
-- Republika, Jakarta<\/p>", "url": "https:\/\/jawawa.id\/newsitem\/east-timors-integration-1447893297", "image": "" }, "sponsor": "Okusi Associates", "sponsor_url": "https:\/\/okusiassociates.com" }