Falintil (or FALINTIL) originally began as the military wing of the political party FRETILIN of East Timor. It was established on 20 August 1975 in response to FRETILIN’s political conflict with the Timorese Democratic Union (UDT).

The name FALINTIL is an acronym of its full name in Portuguese, Forças Armadas da Libertação Nacional de Timor-Leste. In English this translates as "The Armed Forces for the National Liberation of East Timor".

FALINTIL gained most of its initial military units when most the former Portuguese garrison forces in the territory switched allegiance to FALINTIL in August 1975, after the Portuguese withdrawal.

At the time of the Indonesian invasion of East Timor in 1975 FALINTIL consisted of 2,500 regular troops, 7,000 who had some Portuguese military training, and 10,000 who had attended short military instruction courses, for a total of 20,000.

The first commander of FALINTIL was Nicolau Lobato. Lobato was killed during a battle with the Indonesian armed forces in 1978 and Xanana Gusmão was elected as his replacement during a secret national conference in Lacluta, Viqueque in 1981. This meeting also saw the formation of the Revolutionary Council of National Resistance (in Portuguese Conselho Revolucinario de Resistencia Nacional or CNNR), which was the first step in uniting the different resistance movement factions under one umbrella organisation.

José Maria Vasconcelos, popularly known by his nom de guerre Taur Matan Ruak (Tetum for "Two Sharp Eyes") is an East Timorese politician who has been President of East Timor since 20 May 2012. Before entering politics, he was the Commander of the FALINTIL-Forças de Defesa de Timor-Leste (F-FDTL), the military of East Timor, from 2002 until 6 October 2011. Prior to serving in the F-FDTL, he was the last commander of the Armed Forces of National Liberation of East Timor or FALINTIL (Forças Armadas para a Liberação Nacional de Timor Leste), the insurgent army which resisted the Indonesian occupation of the territory from 1975 to 1999.

Leaving the military in 2011, he stood as an independent candidate in the 2012 presidential election and prevailed in the second round of the vote, held in April 2012.

On 7 December 1975, when Indonesia invaded East Timor, Taur Matan Ruak took to the hills with the recently formed FRETILIN Army, FALINTIL. As a combatant, he participated in battles against the Indonesian military in Dili, Aileu, Maubisse, Ossu, Venilale, Uatulari and finally in Laga on the northeastern coast, where he eventually stayed. Major-General Ruak’s first official FALINTIL appointment was at the end of 1976. From 1976 to 1979, he rose through the FALINTIL ranks in the two eastern military sectors, the Central East Sector and the Eastern Point, or the Ponta Leste Sector. Then he became a company commander.

Try Sutrisno (born Surabaya, East Java 15 November 1935) was Indonesia's sixth vice president from 1993 to 1998.

Try Sutrisno was born on 15 November 1935 in Surabaya, East Java. His father Subandi was an ambulance driver, and his mother Mardiyah was a housewife. After the Indonesian Proclamation of Independence, the Dutch returned to claim back Indonesia as their colony. Try and his family moved out of Surabaya to Mojokerto. His father worked as a medical officer for the Poncowati Army Battalion, forcing Try to stop his schooling and find a living as a cigarette and newspaper seller.

Aged just 13, Try wanted to join the Poncowati Battalion and fight but no one took him seriously and he ended up being employed as a courier instead. Try's duty was to find information to areas occupied by the Dutch Army as well as retrieving medicine for the Indonesian Army. Finally in 1949, the Dutch retreated and recognized Indonesia's Independence. Try and his family then returned to Surabaya where he completed his education in 1956.