bsp;became Dutch, with its
colonial seat at
Kupang, and
East Timor
became Portuguese, with its seat in
Dili. This left Oecusse as an enclave surrounded by Dutch territory. In 1912
the Liurai of Ambeno,
João da
Cruz, staged a revolt against the Portuguese. It was quickly put down, after
which the Ambeno kingdom lapsed. The Liurai of Oecusse became dominant in the
entire Oecusse exclave.
The
definitive border was drawn by the
Hague
in 1916. Apart from Japanese
occupation during
World War II,
the border remained the same until the end of the colonial period. The region
was given the status of municipality, named Oecússi, by the Portuguese
government in August 1973, the last Timorese area to receive it.
It was in Pante Macassar that an Indonesian fifth column raised the Indonesian flag and took control of the exclave on 29
November 1975, a week before the Indonesian
invasion of East Timor proper.
However, even under Indonesian rule, Oecusse was administered as part of the
province of East Timor, as it had been as
