The F-FDTL was reconstituted from the national liberation movement guerrilla army known as Falintil (Portuguese acronym for Armed Forces for the Liberation of East Timor).

During the period prior to 1999 some East Timorese leaders, including the current President José Ramos Horta, proposed that a future East Timorese state would not have a military.

The widespread violence and destruction which followed the independence referendum in 1999 and the need to provide employment to Falintil veterans led to a change in policy, however. Following the end of Indonesian rule Falintil proposed establishing a large military of about 5,000 personnel.

In mid-2000 UNTAET invited a study team from King's College London to conduct a study of East Timor's security force options. The team's report identified three different options for an East Timorese military. Option 1 was based on Falintil's preference for a relatively large and heavily armed military of 3,000-5,000 personnel, Option 2 was a force of 1,500 regulars and 1,500 conscripts and Option 3 was for a force of 1,500 regulars and 1,500 volunteer reservists.The study team recommended Option 3 as being best suited to East Timor's security needs and economic situation.

This recommendation was accepted by UNTAET in September 2000 and formed the basis of East Timor's defence planning. The plan was also accepted by all of the countries which had contributed peacekeeping forces to East Timor. The King's College report has been criticised on the grounds that it led to East Timor establishing a large police force and a large Army when its security needs may have been better met by a single smaller paramilitary force.

FALINTIL officially became F-FDTL on February 1, 2001. Few soldiers from the insurgency remain in the forces due to the narrow age requirement. The F-FDTL has suffered from serious disciplinary problems since its establishment.

Background and Short History of FALINTIL

FALINTIL was established on the 20th of August 1975, as a response to FRETILIN’s conflicting political interests with the UDT. FALINTIL started their mission with an army of approximately 27,000 and was based in the jungle when the Indonesian Army (TNI) invaded Timor Leste in December of the same year.

FALINTIL’s most difficult period was between 1978-1982. Most of their bases were destroyed by the TNI (which received support from the UK, the US and Australia). As a result, FALINTIL was functioning without any leader and without a clear structure. Many FALINTIL were killed when the TNI attacked FALINTIL’s bases, including Nicolau Lobato.

Xanana Gusmão was elected to be FALINTIL’s Commander in a Secret National Conference in Lacluta, Viqueque in 1981. This conference was held in order to reorganize the struggling organization. Some modifications were agreed on to change FALINTIL’s internal structure, a first step on the path to restructuring and reorganizing FALINTIL .

Xanana’s ideas for changes at the conference, included, first, introducing a change in the concept of FALINTIL as the main army of FRETILIN. This meant creating the idea of National Unity which meant that FALINTIL no longer operated independently, but with all Maubere (all people struggling) who wanted independence. The main purpose of this concept was to unify all political groupings to achieve independence. Xanana used a highly persuasive approach in negotiations towards this end with political organizations such as UDT, (Democratic Union for Timor-Leste) KOTA, (Fighters for Timorese Unity) Trabhalista (Labor party) and others.

The main goal of this policy was that FALINTIL should be a symbol of national unity, which would be open to everyone who wanted independence. Even though some of FRETILIN’s Commanders disagreed with this idea, Xanana strongly wanted to accommodate all groups outside of FRETILIN. The major internal disputes in FALINTIL were because of this policy.

The second change was the decision to have relations with the TNI (Indonesian National Army) leaders. As a strategy for negotiating a ceasefire, Xanana also negotiated with the leaders of the TNI, such as Gatot Purwanto, William da Costa and Moerdani. There was a subsequent recurrence of fighting though most of the strategies proposed by Xanana were overall able to unite the people. On the other hand, there continued internally to be major disagreements from some groups within FALINTIL that took a harder line.

Officially from 1987, FALINTIL was no longer under FRETILIN’s command. This policy came about with the establishment of the National Council for Maubere Resistance - CNRM (Conselho Nasional Resistencia Maubere). CNRM also served as an umbrella organization to accommodate members from different national parties. As a result, FRETILIN lost any power to control FALINTIL who became CNRM’s main army. The theme of the struggle at this time was National Unity. The cooperation between the clandestine, diplomatic and armed fronts continued until the referendum was achieved in 1999.
FALINTIL’s contribution as an armed movement is not limited to the period of struggle. In this time of independence we still need a military. However since the situation has changed from war to peace it was thought that the name FALINTIL should be changed to F-FDTL.