Tears as East Timor completes journey into Asean: ‘this is history’

Prime Minister Xanana Gusmao called Dili’s inclusion ‘a powerful affirmation of our journey, marked by resilience and hope’

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East Timor’s Prime Minister Xanana Gusmao (centre) is presented with a document stating that his country has joined Asean by Malaysia’s Prime Minister Anwar Ibrahim (left) and the bloc’s Secretary General Kao Kim Hourn during a summit in Kuala Lumpur on Sunday. Photo: Reuters

Published: 4:06pm, 26 Oct 2025Updated: 11:34am, 27 Oct 2025

When the red, black and yellow flag of East Timor was hoisted alongside the colours of its new Southeast Asian peers inside the Kuala Lumpur Convention Centre on Sunday, several Timorese journalists in the media gallery broke into tears.

After more than a decade of waiting since it first applied in 2011, the small half-island nation – Asia’s newest country – on Sunday formally joined Asean as its 11th member.

The ceremony at the 47th summit of the Association of Southeast Asian Nations, hosted by Malaysia where leaders gathered to discuss trade, regional security and how to keep the bloc united amid intensifying power rivalries between China and the United States, fulfils a burning ambition for the country to find belonging inside a wider regional community.

“For us, this is history,” Andre Paulo, a local East Timor broadcaster, told This Week in Asia. “We waited so long to stand with the other nations in this region. It’s a victory for our people.”

Video of the media contingent from his country wiping away their tears went viral on social media, while East Timor’s Prime Minister Xanana Gusmao gave a moving acceptance speech.

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