Flag of Timor-Leste

How to read it

Article 15 of the constitution of 2002 describes the flag: two isosceles triangles with overlapping bases, a black one whose height is a third of the flag’s length over a yellow one whose height is half the length, a white five-pointed star in the centre of the black triangle with one point turned towards the upper corner by the pole, and the rest of the flag red. The Norwegian encyclopedia Store norske leksikon gives the proportions as 1:2. The flag was first adopted on 28 November 1975, when Timor-Leste declared independence from Portugal, in the same design at 2:3, and adopted again on 19 May 2002. At independence that night it went up at Taci Tolu, outside Dili: the United Nations flag was lowered, six former members of Falintil carried the national flag to the stage, and soldiers of the new defence force raised it, the UN’s transitional administration reported.

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Yellow for colonialism or for wealth?

The constitution’s Portuguese text says yellow stands for the traces of colonialism (“os rastos do colonialismo”). The English translation on the Constitute Project gives golden yellow as “the wealth of the country” instead, and Store norske leksikon follows that reading. The same English text turns the star’s point to the upper right of the flag, where the Portuguese has the upper left, by the pole. In 2015 the government spokesman, Agio Pereira, gave the colours a reading for the present: red a constant reminder that independence could not have been won without sacrifice, black and yellow a reminder that the fight against poverty and illiteracy goes on, and the white star the commitment to bring the people peace.

Telling it from Guyana’s flag

Guyana’s flag also stacks two triangles at the pole, but on a green field: a golden arrowhead edged in white, and a red triangle edged in black, as Guyana’s constitution describes it. Timor-Leste’s field is red, its triangles are yellow and black with no edging, and the black one holds a white star.