Within days of the first-ever ASEAN defense ministers meeting in Kuala Lumpur on May 9, 2006, Timor-Leste went into a freefall of violence and mayhem. This tiny state, situated just on ASEAN’s eastern doorstep, won its independence from Indonesia in 2002 following a UN-sponsored referendum in 1999. But it has been struggling to be a viable nation-state ever since.