East Timor's Unfinished Struggle: Inside the Timorese Resistance - By Constâncio Pinto and Matthew Jardine

Nearly two decades since the publishing of East Timor's Unfinished Struggle: Inside the Timorese Resistance , the first-hand account still envelopes readers with its jarring accounts of Indonesian brutality and oppression. Throughout the book, we are met with signs of struggle, deception, and desperation. At the same time, Constancio Pinto’s perseverance in the face of a Western backed genocidal dictatorship is inspiring for others facing a similar fate.

The memoir starts with Pinto as a young boy in the Timorese capital of Dili. Throughout the book, which was published before East Timorese independence in 2002, the author remarks how those around him have given up hope on the cause, and that Timorese independence from Indonesia is impossible, claiming its strength, military power, allies, and natural resources. 

Reading the book after Timor-Leste’s independence creates a completely different reading than viewing it before. Seeing and understanding the mind of one of the most important Timorese freedom fighters pre-independence gives a snapshot into history no biography or scholarly article can capture. Seeing the struggles, hopes, dreams, and ideas of the Timorese while still under Indonesian oppression, both before and after independence, is herwrenching. But this feeling is even more amplified if read post-2002. The book makes you want to reach out to the characters, telling them to keep carrying on, that freedom is a meager five years away. But this type of contact is impossible, and throughout the entirety of the bok, you’re forced to endure the pain of living as a FRETILIN fighter in the jungle, or as a wife of a wanted political prisoner.

Pinto and Jardine’s book does not end with a happy ending, nor does it end with a jarring, putrid dissent of Indonesia. The final part of the book outlines a reasonable peace plan for Timorese independence, including the creation of a United-Nations backed election. Many of the ideas presented in this book, including the aforementioned election plan, did end up happening as a part of the independence of Timor-Leste.

Overall, East Timor's Unfinished Struggle: Inside the Timorese Resistance is one of the best books to read on the tribulations of the Timorese people. Both those new to the study of Timor-Leste and those that have been involved for decades can find appreciation over Pinto and Jardine’s words.