Abani aldeia, Passabe sub-district, Oecusse district

We anticipate starting our research in Passabe in the first half of 2008. Chosen as a potential site due to its isolation from both the capital and also its ties and proximity to Indonesian west Timor, Passabe is situated in the southern-most corner of the district of Oecusse.

While Passabe is the territorially the smallest sub-district in Oecusse (containing the three sucos of Abani, Malelat and Haemnanu), it is also the most densely settled. It has one-and-a-half the number of households per square kilometre than the sub-district Pante Makassar, where the district capital is situated, and double the national average. One possible explanation is that comparative to the rest of Oecusse, Passabe’s mountainous landscape is relatively well-served by underground springs.

Oecusse district is uniquely situated due to its territorial isolation vis-à-vis the rest of the country. Lying 80 kilometres to the west of the main international border that separates Timor-Leste from the Indonesian province of East Nusa Tenggara (NTT), only Oecusse’s northern coastline prevents it from being entirely encircled by an international land border.

The requirement to carry passports and visas to pass from Oecusse through Indonesian west Timor and into the main territory of Timor-Leste makes such land travel impossible for most Oecusse residents. The population therefore relies on a twice-weekly ferry service for connection to Dili, and through that, contact with the rest of the country. Passabe regularly experiences isolation from even the district capital, Pante Makassar where the Dili ferry docks, when the River Tono swells during the rainy season. Multiple impediments to interaction with the rest of the country, as well as existing contacts, have encouraged a continuation of cross-border trade with people in Indonesian west Timor. Commerce, family and kinship groups, and ethno-linguistic bonds all span the international border with historical precedents that in many instances were highly developed before the territory was formed.  



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