It's Time For Timor-Leste

THE FIRST NEW NATION OF THIS CENTURY IS FULL OF COFFEE PLANTATIONS, DUGONGS, AND UNEXPLORED COASTS—AND BLISSFULLY FREE OF TOURISTS

- Anand Holla

The near-empty flight from Bali to Dili, the capital of Timor-Leste or East Timor, lasts barely two hours. The landing is wildly cinematic—the restful, royal blue waters lie a pole-vault away from the airstrip; pale brown hills and a sparsely inhabited hinterland fill out as the backdrop. Modest Dili airport resembles one in an Indian satellite town of the ’90s, with only half the latter’s crowd and chaos.

Past the unrelenting immigration personnel, I encounter three security staff keen on scouring, nay, ransacking, my suitcase. Watching them displace every item of clothing and electronics in a frenzy, the friend who has come to receive me chuckles. “It’s a new country, man. Don’t mind.”

So, here I am in the Democratic Republic of Timor-Leste, a little-known, little island nation located northwest of Australia, at the eastern end of the Indonesian archipelago. After enduring more than 400 years of occupation—the Portuguese ruled from the 17th century to 1975, and Indonesia from 1975 to 2002—Timor-Leste emerged as the first new nation of the 21st century. It has slowly entered the global consciousness as the place where Starbucks sources its organic Arabica from; and some of the richest coral reefs and the world’s most biodiverse waters are believed to be in Atauro Island, a 1.5-hour water taxi ride north of Dili.