When is FALINTIL Day?
The Government of Timor-Leste (East Timor) has decided to grant a tolerance day-off on August 20th 2019 to all officials and agents of the Ministries or services under their dependency, as well as of the institutes and bodies integrated in the indirect administration of the State.
This decision is based on the Law n. º 10/2005, of August 10, which establishes the days that are national holidays, the official commemorative dates and tolerance days-off.
With regard to the official commemorative dates set out in article 5, it provides in paragraph 3 which may be subject to tolerance days-off. Among the official commemorative dates, the law establishes August 20 as the official commemorative date of the day of the Armed Forces of National Liberation of Timor-Leste. The acronym FALINTIL comes from the Portuguese, "Forças Armadas da Libertação Nacional de Timor-Leste".
History of FALINTIL Day
Timor-Leste gained the majority of its military units when many of the former Portuguese garrison forces in the territory switched allegiance in August 1975, after the Portuguese withdrew.
Despite being a small and ill-equipped army without any external military support, Timor-Leste’s resistance army fought for 24 years in the difficult struggle for freedom, against Indonesia and its allies. Against the odds, FALINTIL soldiers maintained a persistent guerrilla campaign until the people of Timor-Leste were able to vote in the 1999 referendum on independence.
