Editing History of Timor-Leste (section)

===International lobbying===
Portugal started to apply international pressure, raising the issue with its fellow [[European Union]] members as well as in wider forums such as the [[United Nations Commission on Human Rights]] and the [[International Court of Justice]].<ref name="Strating2018"/>{{rp|73}} However, other EU countries like the UK had close economic relations with Indonesia, including arms sales, and saw no advantage in forcefully raising the issue.

Appeals by those advocating for East Timorese independence were targeted at western citizens as well as governments, emphasising the vision of the new state as a liberal democracy.<ref name="Strating2018"/>{{rp|81}}

In the mid-1990s, the pro-democracy People's Democratic Party (PRD) in Indonesia called for withdrawal from East Timor. The party's leadership was arrested in July 1996.<ref name="Solidarity-us.org">{{Cite web |title=Evolutionary Prospects for Indonesia, Part 2 Repression and Revival |url=http://www.solidarity-us.org/atc/miah72.html |last=Malik Miah |website=Solidarity-us.org |url-status=dead |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20060228220740/http://www.solidarity-us.org/atc/miah72.html |archive-date=28 February 2006 |access-date=29 December 2005 |df=dmy-all}}</ref>

In July 1997, visiting [[South Africa]]n President [[Nelson Mandela]] visited Suharto as well as the imprisoned [[Xanana Gusmão]]. He urged the freeing of all East Timorese leaders in a note reading, "We can never normalize the situation in East Timor unless all political leaders, including Mr. Gusmão, are freed. They are the ones who must bring about a solution." Indonesia's government refused but did announce that it would take three months off Gusmão's 20-year sentence.<ref name="Solidarity-us.org" />

In 1998, the [[reformasi (Indonesia)|reformasi]] movement in Indonesia led to the resignation of Suharto and his replacement by President Habibie, which brought political reform towards a more democratic system. In June 1998, facing increasing domestic and international pressure on the issue, Jakarta offered East Timor autonomy within the Indonesian state,<ref name="Strating2018"/>{{rp|81}} although it ruled out independence, and stated that Portugal and the UN must recognise Indonesian sovereignty.