Flag of East Timor


The national flag of East Timor is one of the official symbols of East Timor. It consists of a red field with the black isosceles triangle based on the hoist-side bearing a white five-pointed star in the center superimposed on the larger yellow triangle, also based on the hoist-side, that extends to the center of the flag.

History

The flag of East Timor was adopted in 2002. It is the same as the flag that was originally adopted when the country declared its independence from Portugal in 1975, nine days before being invaded by Indonesia. At midnight on 19 May 2002, and during the first moments of Independence Day the next day, the United Nations flag was lowered and the flag of an independent East Timor was raised.
As per the Constitution of East Timor, the yellow triangle represents "the traces of colonialism in East Timor's history". The black triangle represents "the obscurantism that needs to be overcome"; the red base of the flag represents "the struggle for national liberation"; the star, or "the light that guides", is white to represent peace.

Official description of the flag

According to the Constitution of the Democratic Republic of East Timor'', Part I, Section 15:

Historical flags

Other flags

A different flag had been suggested by the representatives of the Timorese political parties and organisations during the first East Timorese National Convention held in April 1998 in Portugal. This flag was originally the flag of CNRT. Because of CNRT's popularity, there was a consensus of the participants of the Convention to adopt their flag as a temporary flag for East Timor. It was replaced by the former design of 1975 in 2002.