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Sat 7 Aug, 2004 11:23 pm
Hi does anyone know of the country that has different international borders in 2004 than in the 1980s. either java sulawesi kalimantan or timor has changed international borders I think that timor has had its borders changed am I correct in assuming this?
well, Java, Sulawesi and Kalimantan are not countries, but parts of Indonesia.
East Timor is gaining independence, so that may be your answer, but I don't know about that.
Also, there are slight (very very small) changes on border between Croatia and Slovenia (both countries were part of Yugoslavia in 1980).
Correct, all four are islands of the Indonesian archipelago. East Timor used to be a Portuguese colony. When the Portuguese withdrew in 1975, Indonesia invaded and annexed the formerly Portuguese half of the island (The military dictator of Indonesia was an ally of the US against communism, so there wasn't much international upheaval about the crushing of a fledgeling independent state).
However, 25 years of military oppression did not succeed in breaking the resistanc of the East Timorese population and, after the fall of the Suharto regime, East Timor broke away from Indonesia with the aid of the international community (which stepped in to stop the bloodshed).
East Timor formally gained independence under the name Timor Leste in 2002.
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