Timor-Leste, Southeast Asia’s smallest financial 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, just below a decade after it gained formal independence from Indonesia, its a lot bigger neighbor. Timor-Leste, often known as 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, due to the country’s instability and associated risks,” says Norashiqin Toh, a post-doctoral fellow at Tsinghua College’s Institute for Superior Research in Humanities and Social Sciences.
“Becoming a member of ASEAN will likely send a credible signal to international investors of the country’s political stability, and also attract further investments from businesses in other 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 international locations, particularly Vietnam, Laos, Cambodia, Brunei and Myanmar.
A turbulent previous
Timor-Leste is Asia’s youngest nation, gaining independence on Could 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, aside from a short Japanese occupation in the course of the Second World Struggle, 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 folks to decide on between independence or larger autonomy inside Indonesia. A number of 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 vital progress in nation constructing, increasing vital 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 will be credited to its reliance on oil and fuel 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 financial system. (The following smallest financial system, Laos, has a GDP of round $16.5 billion).
Timor-Leste’s oil and fuel wells are already operating dry, with oil manufacturing on the Bayu-Undan area within the Timor Sea—the nation’s solely producing area—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 similar to China, the U.S., and Australia.
“This is similar to Singapore’s strategy of a small country utilizing the bloc to increase its influence,” 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 have the ability to entry by itself, Toh, from Tsinghua, provides. “Many formal and informal bilateral meetings occur on the sidelines of summits such as the ASEAN summit, so Timor-Leste can use the opportunity to develop its political ties,” she says.
Economically, the nation can even profit from near-zero tariffs within the ASEAN market, which may also help diversify its business.
Moreover, Timor-Leste will possible 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 heart primarily based in Singapore.
The initiative offers focused capacity-building help for newer and fewer developed ASEAN members—particularly Vietnam, Laos, Myanmar and Cambodia—to strengthen establishments, infrastructure and human capital.
“This will help Dili better align with ASEAN’s economic and technical standards,” 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 “reflects the strength of its democracy, built through regular elections, peaceful political transitions and a vibrant civil society that continues to hold institutions accountable,” Lin says.
