East Timor marks a tumultuous decade of relative freedom

Pop diva Krisdayanti was born in 1975, the same year Indonesian troops swarmed over the border from West Timor to snuff out dreams that the former Portuguese colony could become an independent nation after the old colonial master left.

 In 1999, when Jakarta-backed militias were laying waste to the half-island, Krisdayanti was breaking into films that were to become blockbusters around the region.

 Now, the top pop star is in Dili as the embodiment of not just the restoration of friendly relations with Indonesia but also personal testimony that South-East Asia's newest and poorest nation is a safe place to put on a show.

 President Jose Ramos Horta reckons East Timor, which achieved token independence in 2003, should be able to do without foreign peacekeepers by 2012.

 "We cannot continue by then to ask the UN to keep a significant police force here and a big political presence, so we have to consolidate the gains in two or three years next, so that by 2012 we can be fully self-supportive and the UN can move on to help other countries in need," he told The German Press Agency dpa in an interview.

 "I can say that, today we are doing very, very well, we are at peace, and we are progressing economically, however there are still many challenges ahead," the president said.

 There are 650 Australian soldiers in East Timor providing protection to the 1,000 UN police. India's Atul Khare, the UN chief in Dili, hopes to see them all home by the end of 2012.

 "The withdrawal should commence around March or April 2010 and then, in a gradual and phased manner, could take up to the middle of 2012 when the successful conclusion of the next national elections would give us even more hope for the future," Khare said.

 East Timor, where half the 1.1 million people are under 15 and the average household monthly income is just 27 US dollars, has the World Bank worried by its potential to return to street violence.

 In a recent report, it noted that Indonesia's 24-year occupation "left violence as a habitual way of dealing with disputes and frustrations" and that "little has been done so far to reconcile old enemies or systematically address the deep trauma of two generations of internecine conflict."

   Krisyanati's top billing at the Dili concert shows the mostly Catholic East Timor and the predominantly Muslim Indonesia are progressing well with their reconciliation.

 Horta argues that it's precisely because of the absence of war crimes tribunals and prison sentences that Dili and Jakarta are able to get on so well after the occupation and then 1999's orgy of death and destruction.

 Still, the impoverished half-island has a nasty habit of going back to its old ways. In 2006, East Timor relapsed into violence and had to put out a fresh appeal for foreign troops to keep the warring sides apart.

 Brigadier Bill Sowry, commander of the Australian and New Zealand troops, is keenly aware that the premature withdrawal of foreign forces could see a reprise of bloody street fighting that only three years ago saw East Timorese troops and police shooting at each other.

 "What we can be very sure of is that we will not do what happened prior to 2006 and make large reductions that enable other events to occur and create a vacuum," he said.