East Timor's President Jose Ramos-Horta attends a ceremony marking 10 years since East Timor's vote for independence in Dili August 30, 2009. A former Portuguese colony, East Timor was invaded in 1975 by Indonesia. An estimated 180,000 died during the occupation, and the U.N. estimates about 1,000 East Tiomorese died in the mayhem that surrounded the August 30, 1999 vote for independence.