Manatuto to host events marking 27th anniversary of 1999 Popular Consultation
DÍLI, 25 August 2026 (TATOLI) — A series of events will be held in Manatuto municipality from August 28 to 30 to mark the 27th anniversary of Timor-Leste’s 1999 Popular Consultation, including community activities, a thanksgiving Mass, a national reflection session, cultural performances, and a commemorative walk.
The celebrations will begin at 7 a.m. on August 28 with a municipality clean-up campaign.
The main commemorations will take place on August 29, beginning with a thanksgiving Mass at 8 a.m. at St Anthony Parish Church.
A national reflection session will follow at 10 a.m. at the Ulfa Ikero Hall, where President José Ramos-Horta is scheduled to deliver the opening address.
Minister of State Administration Tomás Cabral will give the welcoming remarks, followed by a presentation from Minister of the Presidency of the Council of Ministers Agio Pereira titled “27 Years: Building Development from the Grassroots.”
Director-general for Decentralisation and Local Government, António Guterres will speak on “Constitutional Mandate: The Future of Municipalities in Local Government.”
Hugo Fernandes, executive director of the National Centre Chega!, will address “The Contribution of History and Memory to Shaping the Future.”
The programme will also include musical performances by Lahane Group and Kore-Metan.
On August 30, participants will join a commemorative walk beginning at 3 p.m. from Manatuto Bridge. Accompanied by a drum band, the procession will head towards the ceremony site in Obrato.
The Popular Consultation was held on August 30, 1999, under a framework established by the New York Agreement signed on May 5 that year by the foreign ministers of Portugal and Indonesia, Jaime Gama and Ali Alatas, respectively, in the presence of then-UN Secretary-General Kofi Annan.
The agreement paved the way for a UN-organised ballot in which the people of Timor-Leste were asked to choose between a proposed special autonomy arrangement within Indonesia and independence.
The United Nations Mission in East Timor conducted the ballot on August 30, 1999.
The UN announced the results on September 4, reporting that 446,953 of the 451,796 registered voters had cast their ballots.
Of the valid votes, 344,580, or 78.5%, backed independence, while 94,388, or 21.5%, supported the proposed autonomy arrangement.
The overwhelming vote for independence set Timor-Leste on the path towards restoring its independence in 2002, after 24 years of Indonesian occupation and a long struggle for self-determination.
TATOLI
