Timor-Leste, Southeast Asia’s smallest economic system, is now ASEAN’s latest member.
On Oct 26, the regional physique voted within the island nation as its eleventh member on the ASEAN Summit in Kuala Lumpur. Timor-Leste first utilized for membership in 2011, slightly below a decade after it received formal independence from Indonesia, its a lot bigger neighbor. Timor-Leste, also called East Timor, is ASEAN’s first new member since 1999, when the bloc welcomed Cambodia into the group.
“Timor-Leste has struggled with securing investments, as a result of nation’s instability and related dangers,” says Norashiqin Toh, a post-doctoral fellow at Tsinghua College’s Institute for Superior Research in Humanities and Social Sciences.
“Turning into a member of ASEAN will probably ship a reputable sign to worldwide traders of the nation’s political stability, and in addition entice additional investments from companies in different ASEAN member states.”
ASEAN, or the Affiliation of Southeast Asian Nations, is a regional grouping which seeks to advertise financial and safety cooperation amongst its members. Based in 1967, ASEAN started with 5 member nations: Indonesia, Malaysia, Philippines, Singapore and Thailand. It has since expanded to incorporate different regional nations, specifically Vietnam, Laos, Cambodia, Brunei and Myanmar.
A turbulent previous
Timor-Leste is Asia’s youngest nation, gaining independence on Might 20, 2002. The japanese half of the island of Timor was colonized by the Portuguese within the sixteenth century. The territory remained underneath Portuguese rule, other than a short Japanese occupation throughout the Second World Warfare, till 1975, when a left-wing Portuguese authorities pledged to withdraw from all its colonies.
Indonesia invaded Timor-Leste only a week after Portugal withdrew, resulting in nearly a quarter-century of occupation marked by extreme human rights abuses.
In 1999, Timor-Leste’s inhabitants voted overwhelmingly for independence in a United Nations-sponsored referendum. The vote was organised on the request of then-Indonesian president B. J. Habibie, permitting its individuals to decide on between independence or higher autonomy inside Indonesia. Just a few years later, in 2002, Timor-Leste grew to become the primary new sovereign state of the twenty first century.
Within the 23 years since its independence, Timor-Leste has made important progress in nation constructing, increasing crucial infrastructure like roads, airports, and web entry. The nation has additionally eradicated once-rampant tropical illnesses like malaria.
But a lot of Timor-Leste’s growth may be credited to its reliance on oil and gasoline income, which at instances made up over 90% of the nation’s GDP. As of 2024, the nation’s GDP stood at roughly $2 billion, making it ASEAN’s smallest economic system. (The subsequent smallest economic system, Laos, has a GDP of round $16.5 billion).
Timor-Leste’s oil and gasoline wells are already working dry, with oil manufacturing on the Bayu-Undan discipline within the Timor Sea—the nation’s solely producing discipline—ceasing manufacturing in June 2025.
The Singapore technique
There are additionally geopolitical advantages to ASEAN membership. Timor-Leste now has entry to ASEAN-led safety and financial mechanisms, and the nation can now leverage the coalition to interact with exterior companions resembling China, the U.S., and Australia.
“That is much like Singapore’s technique of a small nation using the bloc to extend its affect,” says Pasha L. Hsieh, a legislation professor from the Singapore Administration College.
Being a member of ASEAN additionally provides Timor-Leste a seat on the desk with world leaders it won’t be capable of entry by itself, Toh, from Tsinghua, provides. “Many formal and casual bilateral conferences happen on the sidelines of summits such because the ASEAN summit, so Timor-Leste can use the chance to develop its political ties,” she says.
Economically, the nation will even profit from near-zero tariffs within the ASEAN market, which may help diversify its business.
Moreover, Timor-Leste will probably change into a part of the Initiative for ASEAN Integration (IAI), says Joanne Lin, a senior fellow and coordinator from the ISEAS-Yusof Ishak Institute, a analysis middle based mostly in Singapore.
The initiative gives focused capacity-building assist for newer and fewer developed ASEAN members—specifically Vietnam, Laos, Myanmar and Cambodia—to strengthen establishments, infrastructure and human capital.
“It will assist Dili higher align with ASEAN’s financial and technical requirements,” Lin says.
And importantly, Timor-Leste’s ASEAN membership is an affirmation of its sovereignty, placing it in equal standing with its former occupier, Indonesia, inside the regional bloc.
Timor-Leste’s ASEAN admission “displays the energy of its democracy, constructed by means of common elections, peaceable political transitions and a vibrant civil society that continues to carry establishments accountable,” Lin says.
