A curious fact of modern history is that it seems to take a single decade, sometimes less, for an exploited or colonised people to become, in turn, exploiters or colonisers. This is especially true in Asian history: the Chinese conquest of Tibet, the forceful takeover by India of Portuguese Goa and more recently, in 1975, the military campaign launched by Indonesian forces against East Timor.

Jill Jolliffe ‘s East Timor: Nationalism and Colonialism is the first clear account of Timorese history, cultural and political background, geography and ethnic mix and of the chain of events and the people bound up with them which led to the December 1975 bombing into capitulation of the country by Indonesian ships and aircraft.