Europe Solidaire Sans Frontières
TABLE OF CONTENTS
NEWS & ISSUES
* Horta flouting the constitution says interim
premier
* New Timor treaty ’a failure’
* East Timor resumes talks with rebels
* Dili anger over Australian raids
PRESIDENTIAL ELECTIONS
* Timor Leste president elected head of new party
* East Timor candidates open old wounds in
campaign
* East Timor’s Ramos-Horta wins key support for
runoff
* East Timor: Socialists prepare for parliamentary
elections
* East Timor re-checks votes
* Allegations mar East Timor election process
* Confusion mounts over East Timor polls
* East Timor election body rejects call for
recount
* Presidential poll run-off as candidates threaten
court action
* Voters intimidated in East Timor: rights group
* Timor savours its taste of democracy
* Calm holds as East Timor sets poll record
* Fear of chaos shadows East Timor poll
* Elections tension rises in East Timor
* East Timor votes for president after crisis year
* Rivals for Timor vote accuse PM of tricks
* Nobel winner vs former rebel
* Candidates allege manipulation of Timor election
* Legacy of Fretilin party looms large over Timor
poll
* I’ll bring home oil millions: Gusmao
* Socialist campaign mobilises in East Timor’s
districts
* Violence hits Timor campaign as candidate urges
unity
* East Timor: Elections on track, under heavy
guard
* Rival supporters clash during East Timor
campaign
* In shadow of violence, Asia’s newest nation
prepares for polls
HUMAN RIGHTS/LAW
* Rights groups slam truth body
* Former East Timor ’comfort women’ now speaking
out
* East Timor candidates should protect rights:
activists
LANGUAGE & CULTURE
* East Timor drowns in language soup
* Indonesian, English, yes, Portuguese, sorry, no
BOOK/FILM REVIEWS
* New focus helps crack Balibo Five film
* Book Review: ’Negligent Neighbour’
OPINION & ANALYSIS
* East Timor struggle may yet realise a failed
state
* Election offers no guarantees for East Timor
* Politics and poverty
* Is there hope for East Timor?
* Who’s to blame for Timor Leste’s chaos?
EAST TIMOR MEDIA MONITORING
* UNMIT Public Information Unit - April 3-27, 2007
NEWS & ISSUES
Horta flouting the constitution says interim
premier
Adnkronos International - April 30, 2007
Dili — East Timor interim premier Estanislau Da
Silva has accused prime minister and presidential
candidate Jose Ramos Horta of having shown
contempt for the country’s institutions when he
unilaterally called off the hunt for renegade
general Alfredo Reinado.
In an interview with Adnkronos International
(AKI), Da Silva said that East Timor does not need
a president who does not respect the constitution.
He is mandated to run the country until the
government is sworn in.
"Security is the joint responsibility of all three
organs of sovereignty. Horta should learn to show
more respect for institutional channels before
making public comments and commitments," Da Silva
told AKI on Monday.
"There has been no official change in the position
of the East Timor State and no recommendation has
been received from the recent meeting of the
High-Level Coordination Commission," added Da
Silva, regarding the hunt for Reinado — a
fugitive for some eight months.
The High Level Coordination Commission includes
members of all three state institutions
responsible for security, the president, the
parliament speaker and the prime minister, plus
the deputy prime minister and the UN Special
Representative. The commanders of national Army
and the International Stabilisation Forces (ISF)
are also invited to these meetings.
Australian Brigadier Mal Rerden, chief of the ISF,
confirmed that there has not been any official
change of order concerning the status of Reinado
as wanted. "We haven’t received any formal letter
from the government. If the government thinks this
is the best solution, then the government and the
ISF should discuss this," he told AKI.
Da Silva and Rerden’s comments follow East Timor
parliament speaker and presidential candidate,
Francisco “Lu-Olo” Guterres’ accusation that Horta
is using Reinado and the ISF for his own electoral
advantage.
Guterres accused Horta of having called off the
hunt for Reinado as part of a deal to secure the
Democratic Party votes for the presidential run-
off to be held on 9 May. "Five Timorese died in
the recent action to bring Reinado to justice.
Australian soldiers put their lives at risk, and
Timorese villagers in the areas where Reinado was
hiding were placed under extreme duress," Guterres
told the media during the weekend.
"But now Horta has tried to call the action off,
because Reinado’s capture will damage his chances
of being elected president. This is totally
unacceptable. Horta has no power under the
constitution to act on such matters act
unilaterally, either as prime minister or as as
president," he added.
Guterres received 28 percent of votes in the first
round of the presidential election compared with
Ramos Horta’s 22. Votes from the third-placed
candidate, Ferdinand Araujo Lasama of the
Democratic Party, who polled 19 percent, are
deemed to be crucial in the run-off next week.
The election of a new president to replace
independence hero Xanana Gusmao is seen as an
important test for the young nation after last
year’s violent upheaval that left scores dead and
forced more than 150,000 people from their homes.
Lasama polled best in the western districts, where
Reinado enjoys most support. According to local
sources, Lasama made the end of the operation
against Reinado a condition of his agreement to
support Horta. Horta made a public call to end the
hunt for Reinado on 23 April, four days before he
and Lasama signed an accord.
Reinado has been on the run since he escaped from
jail in East Timor’s capital Dili in August along
with 50 other inmates. President Xanana Gusmao
ordered his arrest after he was accused of raiding
a police post and stealing 25 automatic weapons
last month.
The rebel leader had been arrested for his role in
the violence that erupted in East Timor last April
after the dismissal of approximately 600 soldiers,
who were complaining of ethnic discrimination over
promotions. Reinado abandoned the army and joined
them on 4 May, 2006.
The clashes in East Timor left 37 people dead,
forced 155,000 to flee their homes, brought down
the government of former prime minister Mari
Alkatiri, and resulted in Australian-led
peacekeeping troops being deployed in the tiny
Southeast Asian nation.
New Timor treaty ’a failure’
Melborne Age - April 21, 2007
Richard Baker — A former senior Australian
Government negotiator has criticised a
controversial new treaty between Australia and
East Timor that fails to permanently establish a
maritime boundary between the two countries.
Andrew Serdy, a former executive officer in sea
law in the Department of Foreign Affairs and
Trade, said the Timor Sea treaty ratified in
February failed to deal with resources other than
petroleum and did not establish a maritime
boundary.
East Timor is the only nation with which Australia
has not finalised its maritime boundaries. There
has been a long-running dispute between the two
countries over the gas and oil deposits in the
Timor Sea.
Mr Serdy, who was on Australia’s negotiating team
for a 2003 treaty with East Timor, also told
Federal Parliament’s joint standing committee on
treaties that Australia’s handling of the most
recent agreement was "suggestive of a persistent
policy failure".
Now a lecturer in maritime law at Southampton
University in Britain, Mr Serdy said that
negotiations for the treaty began in 2004 with the
aim of establishing a permanent boundary, as is
East Timor’s right under international law.
East Timor had insisted on negotiations for a
permanent boundary, "a course of action to which
Australia agreed with markedly less enthusiasm
that its previous practice (with other nations)
would have led one to expect,“he wrote.”There is still ample room for disagreement and
dispute between the two countries over any non-
petroleum deposits that might subsequently be
found on or under the seabed."
Under the new treaty, which took nearly two years
to negotiate, East Timor has agreed to forgo
claims to a permanent maritime boundary for 50
years in return for an equal share of revenue from
the disputed Greater Sunrise gas field. The deal
is worth billions to the impoverished nation and
is a big improvement on its previous position.
But the treaty precludes East Timor from pursuing
claims against Australia for any other gas and
oilfields in the Timor Sea. Nor can it take legal
action against Australia in any disputes over
resources.
Previously, East Timor had claimed that most of
the gas and oil deposits being exploited by
Australia actually belonged to it if a permanent
boundary was established at the median distance
between the two countries.
Australia has consistently rejected this view. In
2002 it withdrew recognition of the maritime
boundary jurisdiction of the International Court
of Justice, leaving East Timor no avenue to pursue
its claim.
Other submissions to the committee are critical of
Foreign Minister Alexander Downer’s decision to
invoke a rarely used “national interest exemption”
to bring the treaty into force in February,
preventing the usual scrutiny by Parliament.
Academics Clinton Fernandes, from the University
of NSW, and Scott Burchill, from Deakin
University, wrote in their submission that
although details of the treaty were agreed in
January 2006, Mr Downer did not table the report
in Parliament until February this year.
Mr Downer said the exemption was required to bring
the treaty into force before elections in East
Timor. However, Dr Fernandes and Dr Burchill said
that Mr Downer acted without good reason and had
prevented proper scrutiny of the treaty.
Australia has come under international pressure to
resolve the dispute in recent years. In 2005, 17
senior US politicians wrote to the Government
seeking an urgent resolution of the issue, with
revenue from oil and gas fields close to East
Timor to be held in a special account.
East Timor resumes talks with rebels
Reuters - April 19, 2007
Tito Belo, Dili — East Timor Prime Minister Jose
Ramos-Horta met with a rebel representative on
Thursday to discuss an end to a military operation
against a fugitive army renegade.
Lawmaker Leandro Isaac, who abandoned his job in
parliament to join former army major Alfredo
Reinado in a mountain hideout in Manufahi
district, said he had asked Ramos-Horta to end a
military operation against Reinado and his
supporters.
"People’s fundamental rights have disappeared
since the operation began,“Isaac said.”We asked
the prime minister to establish calm and peace in
Manufahi. Law and order should be implemented."
Ramos-Horta said on Tuesday the government would
resume talks with Reinado, wanted for his alleged
involvement in the violence last year which left
more than 30 people dead.
Last August, Reinado escaped from a prison where
he had been held on charges of murder during the
unrest in May, which was triggered by the sacking
of 600 rebellious soldiers.
Australian troops, dispatched to East Timor to
help restore order, launched a major manhunt to
apprehend Reinado after government efforts to
negotiate with him failed. Five of Reinado’s
followers were killed during an operation to
capture him last month.
Ramos-Horta said he had decided to resume talks
with Reinado because the rebel did not disrupt the
April 9 presidential elections.
Ramos-Horta was one of eight candidates in that
vote, and will face the candidate of the Fretilin
party, Francisco Guterres, in a run-off poll on
May 8 after neither won an absolute majority in
the first round.
Some analysts said Ramos-Horta’s popularity had
been hurt because of his decision to arrest
Reinado, who enjoys support from many in the
impoverished country.
Ramos-Horta became prime minister when his
predecessor, Mari Alkatiri, quit after receiving
much of the blame for last year’s violence. The
unrest displaced more than 150,000 people and led
to the deployment of an international peacekeeping
force.
Gang violence still occurs sporadically in East
Timor. On Wednesday, five people were injured by
gunshots and steel darts when about 50 people
clashed near the capital, Dili, police said.
East Timor voted in a 1999 referendum for
independence from Indonesia, which annexed it
after Portugal ended its colonial rule in 1975.
The country became fully independent in 2002 after
a period of UN administration.
Dili anger over Australian raids
Australian Associated Press - April 14, 2007
Dili residents are angry about the latest
Australian military operations, apparently
undertaken to increase pressure on the fugitive
Major Alfredo Reinado.
Eight Reinado family members were detained during
a night-time raid on their central Dili home on
Monday, a move prompting criticism from human
rights watchdog Yayasan Hak.
"The soldiers think Alfredo is in Dili. His uncle
Victor Alves’s house was encircled, and relatives
taken to an Australian camp for questioning,"
rights activist Jose Luis Oliveira said.
He said they were interrogated for four hours.
"Among the questions asked was how they voted in
the elections,“Oliveira said.”This is a
violation of human rights."
On Thursday, houses in the inner suburb of Kampung
Alor were surrounded and searched around 4pm
(local time), raising occupants’ hackles.
Widow Rosa Soares said soldiers entered her house
with guns in hands. "They held up a photo of Major
Alfredo and asked if I had seen him. Then they
went through each room, searching drawers, and
pulling things out," she said.
Next-door neighbour Ana Maria was alone with three
children when soldiers appeared at her front door,
but in this case they asked permission to enter.
She said they searched each room, pulling out
drawers and overturning mattresses. "We were
scared,“she said.”My son Iko asked: ’Mummy why
are foreigners searching our house?"’
A spokesman for Australia’s International
Stabilisation Force (ISF) denied Thursday’s
operation was linked to Reinado, or that any homes
had been entered.
"UN police and ISF forces conducted operations in
relation to electoral security,“he said.”Our
targets were gangs and illegal weapons.“He said”many illegal weapons" were confiscated, including
a home-made rifle.
Ana Maria said the troops returned things to their
place before leaving, but Ms Soares said they left
her house in disarray, as did neighbour Jacinto de
Andrade, a deputy for the opposition Social
Democrat Association.
“They forced entry,” he said. "These troops were
supposed to come here to free us, not to violate
our rights. This system reminds us of Indonesian
times.“The spokesman denied the charges.”We did not
enter any houses," he said.
The ISF is currently sending regular unsolicited
SMS messages to mobile phones in East Timor
calling on Reinado to surrender. "We want a
peaceful solution-when are Reinado and his
fugitives coming to check this with us?" an army
text sent out to Dili phones last night asked.
PRESIDENTIAL ELECTIONS
Timor Leste president elected head of new party
Agence France Presse - April 30, 2007
Dili — Timor Leste’s President Xanana Gusmao was
elected the chairman of a controversial new
political party on Monday.
Gusmao was the sole candidate for the chairmanship
of the new organisation, the National Congress of
Reconstruction of Timor (CNRT), which has already
drawn criticism from a rival party.
"With this result, the president and the secretary
general for the 2007-2012 period are Kay Rala
Xanana Gusmao and Dioniso Babo," party spokesman
Virgilio Smith said. Gusmao, a charismatic onetime
guerrilla leader, made no immediate comment.
He is not seeking re-election in the former
Portuguese colony’s ongoing presidential poll,
which is to be decided by a runoff vote on May 9.
But he has said he wants to become prime minister,
a more powerful job in Timor Leste than the
largely ceremonial role of president, providing
the new party does well enough in a parliamentary
election due in June.
Timor Leste’s ruling Fretilin party, the most
powerful political force in the troubled and
impoverished country, has already attacked CNRT.
The new party’s initials, which are based on the
Portuguese version of its name, are the same as a
now disbanded pro-independence movement active
during Timor Leste’s occupation by Indonesia.
Mari Alkatiri, the Secretary General of Fretilin,
has said the use of the initials was “cynical” and
“opportunistic” and has threatened legal action.
The May 9 presidential runoff pits Prime Minister
Jose Ramos-Horta against Fretilin’s candidate
Francisco Guterres.
If Ramos-Horta wins and Gusmao achieves his goal
of becoming premier, the two associates would end
up swapping their current jobs. Gusmao has backed
Ramos-Horta’s candidacy.
The presidential election is Timor Leste’s first
since it achieved independence in 2002, after 24
years of occupation by Indonesia and a period of
UN stewardship.
Gusmao, feted by many Timorese for taking up arms
against occupying Indonesian forces, became head
of state in a presidential poll prior to
independence.
East Timor candidates open old wounds in campaign
The Australian - April 30, 2007
Mark Dodd — A damaging rift has opened between
East Timor’s two rival presidential candidates
over the treatment of a group of army mutineers
whose demands for military reform a year ago
brought the country to the brink of civil war.
Interim prime minister Jose Ramos Horta favours
compensation for the 591 so-called petitioners,
the name given to former eastern-born soldiers
dismissed after protesting ethnic discrimination
in the ranks.
If elected president in next month’s run-off
ballot, Mr Ramos Horta has promised to re-open a
contentious investigation into the illegal
distribution of weapons to civilian groups by the
former Alkatiri government.
That provoked an angry response from rival
candidate Francisco Guterres, head of the ruling
Fretilin party.
Speaking in the mountain town of Aileu yesterday,
Mr Guterres warned against plans to pay
compensation to the petitioners. He said it could
reignite civil strife in the troubled country
still trying to recover from violent ethnic
unrest.
A decision last year by former Fretilin prime
minister Mari Alkatiri to dismiss the petitioners
erupted into bloody mayhem that left dozens
killed, forced his resignation and led to the
deployment of an Australian-led peacekeeping
force. "We should be careful not to make a new
wound to heal another. If we decide to compensate
the petitioners, what will be the impact on the
other soldiers?" Mr Guterres said.
The plight of the petitioners, who are nominally
allied to another army renegade, Major Alfredo
Reinado, should be resolved “institutionally,” he
added, referring to a government commission into
the problem.
With a second-round of voting only weeks away, Mr
Ramos Horta was also challenged to explain what
happened to a diplomat-training college he
promised to build from his 1996 Nobel Peace Prize
winnings.
East Timor’s Ramos-Horta wins key support for
runoff
Reuters - April 26, 2007
Jose Ramos-Horta has won the backing of a key
powerbroker ahead of next month’s presidential
vote in East Timor by agreeing to call off a
manhunt for a fugitive rebel soldier wanted by
Australian troops, party officials have said.
Mr Ramos-Horta and parliament chief Francisco
“Lu-Olo” Guterres will contest next month’s run-
off after they failed to win a majority in the
April 9 election, East Timor’s first since
independence in 2002.
Fernando “Lasama” de Araujo, who finished third in
the election with 19.18 per cent of the vote for
the opposition Democrat Party, has publicly backed
Mr Ramos Horta at a party rally today.
In return for the support, Democrat Party
officials have said, Mr Ramos-Horta has agreed to
resume talks with and call off the search for
Major Alfredo Reinado, blamed for his part in last
year’s unrest which resulted in Australian and
other international peacekeepers being sent in.
Speaking to Democrat supporters in the capital
Dili and flanked by Mr Ramos-Horta, Mr Lasama said
the Nobel laureate, as president, would safeguard
democracy, unite the people and promote human
rights.
"Therefore, I call on all PD (Democrat Party)
activists to vote for Ramos-Horta in the upcoming
May 9 election,“he told about 100 supporters.”Yesterday (Wednesday) the PD leadership reached a
decision, by acclaim, to throw its support behind
Ramos-Horta."
Impoverished Timorese hope the run-off will pull
them from a cycle of violence and turmoil that has
beset the country since it voted for independence
from Indonesian rule in 1999.
In the run-off, Mr Ramos-Horta faces Mr Guterres,
candidate for the ruling Fretilin party, which has
been a force in the country since the struggle for
independence.
Mr Ramos-Horta, the nation’s current Prime
Minister, thanked Mr Lasama and the party for
their support. "Even though the party was set up
just a few years ago, it has already helped build
the country and help democracy and freedom in this
country," Mr Ramos-Horta told the crowd.
Mr Ramos-Horta has already clinched the backing of
three other candidates who bowed out after the
April 9 round.
East Timor voted for independence in a UN-
sponsored referendum in 1999, triggering an orgy
of killing by pro-Jakarta militia before
independence was declared in 2002.
Foreign peacekeepers have been on the streets for
nearly a year after gang violence left 37 people
dead and sent 150,000 more fleeing their homes.
Major Reinado has been on the run since his escape
from a Dili prison last year. Elite Australian
troops attacked his mountain hideout earlier last
month in a failed bid to capture him. Five of his
armed supporters were killed during the raid on
his hideout, which triggered rowdy protests.
East Timor: Socialists prepare for parliamentary
elections
Green Left Weekly - April 18, 2007
Max Lane — "The PST has increased its vote
slightly on its results in 2000", Avelino Coelho
da Silva, secretary-general of the Socialist Party
of Timor, told Green Left Weekly by telephone from
Dili. Coelho was the PST’s candidate in the
country’s April 9 presidential election, the final
results of which will be officially announced by
the National Election Commission (CNE) on April
16.
Preliminary results suggest that the ruling
Fretilin party’s Francisco “Lu’olo” Guterres
received 29% of the votes cast, while Prime
Minister Jose Ramos Horta, running as an
independent, received 23% and Fernando “Lasama” de
Araujo of the Democratic Party 19%. This will
require that a run-off ballot be held between
Guterres and Horta on May 9.
The Timorese Social Democratic Association’s
Francisco Xavier do Amaral, a founding member of
Fretilin and East Timor’s first president,
received 12%. The only female candidate, Lucia
Maria Lobato of the Social Democratic Party,
received almost 10%. Coelho said he had received
about 3% of the 357,766 votes cast.
Complaints of irregularities have been lodged by
five of the eight candidates, including Coelho.
Horta has accused Fretilin supporters, including
police officers, of intimidating voters to back
the party’s candidate. Fretilin’s secretary-
general Mari Alkatiri has rejected Horta’s claims.
There was a 68% voter turn out. While CNE
officials have conceded that there were many
“inconsistencies” in the presidential election,
including discrepancies between the number of
voters and the numbers of votes cast, they have
rejected calls for recounts.
Referring the parliamentary elections scheduled
for June, Coelho said: "If we work hard over the
next few months, and put forward some of our best
cadre to stand as members of parliament, we may be
able to win 3 or 4 seats, perhaps more, in the
parliament". The PST currently has one member of
parliament.
“We have a long struggle ahead”, said Coelho.
"Symbols and personalities, rather than policies,
still hold a lot of influence in the mass
consciousness. None of the three presidential
candidates who have emerged on top campaigned
around any platform for national development. They
concentrated on stories of the past struggle for
East Timor’s independence and tried to associate
themselves with past symbols, or with symbols
connected with the Catholic Church."
Coelho explained how his campaigners had been
heartened by the good response they had received
at public meetings and rallies, "But this has not
yet turned into a strong political consciousness",
he cautioned. "In the areas where our vote has
increased, it is a result of genuine political
identification and agreement with our platform.
Ideology and platform did not play a big role in
these elections. All the larger parties have
more-or-less the same political character."
According to Coelho, the drop in the Fretilin vote
to half its numbers from the 2000 election
reflects a growing disaffection with the
government. "But this disillusion is most likely
to be focussed on the leading figures" rather than
the Fretilin party, which continues to trade on
its role in the 1975-98 struggle for independence
first against Portugal and then against Indonesia.
Fretilin derives its name from the Portuguese
words for "Revolutionary Front for an Independent
East Timor“.”There will be blame apportioned to Alkatiri and
Luolo within Fretilin“, said Coelho.”But if they
keep these leaders, the discontent may continue to
grow and also be aimed at Fretilin as well.
"The people’s loyalties here are clearly very
fluid. It is not for certain, for example, how
people who supported losing candidates will vote
in the next round. When platform and ideology is
not operating as big factors in political
consciousness, other factors can come into play in
an arbitrary way. We will just have to wait and
see."
Coelho added that the PST would now be
concentrating on selecting its parliamentary
candidates. "We have made some steps forward but
we have a lot of work to do. We must be patient.
We are a very small force and, unlike some others,
we are committed to building up our party without
becoming dependent on the finances of the European
NGOs and other similar institutions."
East Timor re-checks votes
Agence France Presse - April 16, 2007
Dili — East Timor officials have said they have
found more discrepancies in last week’s
presidential election while stressing the poll’s
outcome will remain unchanged.
Some votes counted in the poll, the first since
the impoverished nation gained its independence in
2002, would be re-checked amid concerns of
irregularities, they said.
"This afternoon, we will reopen 42 ballot boxes
because the documents (inside) were incomplete,"
National Election Commission spokesman Martinho
Gusmao told reporters.
Voter turnout was high for last Monday’s election
and East Timorese hope that concerns about the
credibility of the poll will not plunge the tiny
nation back into turmoil and bloodshed.
In a closely fought race, the ruling Fretilin
party’s Francisco Guterres and Nobel Peace
laureate Jose Ramos-Horta emerged to run again
after neither gained more than 50 percent of the
vote.
Gusmao said the votes concerned were lodged in
seven districts, including the capital Dili, and
were originally counted in Monday’s poll. But he
said fears now existed that some of them had not
been properly filled in. He declined to specify
the problem or the number of votes involved.
Gusmao also said the election commission had
lodged legal action seeking to re-examine votes
placed in another 26 ballot boxes.
"The CNE (national election commission) is
submitting a request to the court of appeal to be
allowed to see again 26 ballot boxes because of an
inconsistency in data," he said, without saying
what the inconsistency was. Gusmao said the court
would determine whether there were grounds for a
re-check.
He stressed the checks on votes in both sets of
boxes would not affect the outcome of Monday’s
election, which would be decided in the runoff
vote on May 8. "The checks on those data do not
mean that (they) would change the existing
preliminary results," he said.
The checks come after it emerged on Saturday that
a district with 100,000 eligible voters had
produced three times as many votes. The
discrepancy was later put down to a technical
error.
Some candidates have also alleged intimidation at
booths on polling day, and have also demanded a
re-count.
There had been fears that violence would mar the
vote in East Timor, where foreign peacekeepers
have been on the streets for nearly a year after
gang violence left 37 people dead and sent 150,000
more fleeing their homes.
Allegations mar East Timor election process
Sydney Morning Herald - April 14, 2007
Lindsay Murdoch, Dili — The first indication
there would be problems with East Timor’s
presidential election came days before when
Martinho Gusmao, a key member of the organising
commission, publicly endorsed the rising star of
the country’s politics, Fernado “Lasama” de
Araujo.
Father Gusmao, an influential Catholic priest,
shrugged off cries of foul play, saying he could
anoint whoever he likes.
High in East Timor’s coffee-growing mountains
Alfredo Reinado issued his own public endorsement
of 43 year-old Mr de Araujo, humiliating once
again Australian combat troops who have been
hunting him for weeks after botching an attack on
his base that left five men dead.
Yesterday, Reinado, a cult-hero figure for many
Timorese, told The Herald through an interpreter
who rang him on his mobile telephone he was
preparing a statement on how he rated the
election. Apparently, like many other Timorese, he
is not happy.
The election of a new president to replace
independence hero Xanana Gusmao is an important
test for the young nation after last year’s
violent upheaval that left scores dead and forced
more than 150,000 people from their homes.
But despite the eagerness of more than half of the
country’s one million people to have a say in the
resolution of the country’s problems all eight
candidates have raised serious allegations about
the conduct of the election.
The High Court in Dili will be flooded with
complaints next week, almost certainly forcing a
delay in announcement of the official result.
Despite the problems which included intimidation
and count irregularities, voters showed they want
to punish somebody over last year’s violence.
Leaders of the ruling Fretilin party were taken
aback on Monday evening when they started to
receive reports from 500 polling booths around the
country.
Their candidate Francisco “Lu-Olo” Guterres was
polling poorly in many areas, including
traditional party strongholds in the country’s
eastern towns and villages.
Only hours earlier Mari Alkatiri, the party’s
powerful secretary-general, had refused to even
discuss the possibility that Mr Guterres would not
win a clear majority, preventing a run off vote in
a second round in one month.
“We never lose. We will win again,” he told
reporters as he voted alongside Mr Guterres at a
polling centre in a Dili beachside suburb where
they both live. But Mr Alkatiri did not hear
shouts from people lining up to vote. "Horta best,
Horta best," they called.
Mr Ramos Horta received 80,851 votes, according to
the unofficial count, a remarkable effort
considering he had no party to run his campaign.
This was only 23,000 votes behind Mr Guterres, who
had the backing of the biggest political machine.
What is shaping as a bitterly fought run off vote
between the two men will be held on May 8. Mr
Ramos Horta relied mainly on his high profile to
give him more votes than Mr de Araujo, who heads
the reformist youth-based Democratic Party In
interviews Mr Ramos Horta, co-winner of the 1996
Nobel peace prize, portrayed Fretilin as arrogant
and out of touch with Timorese, one third of whom
often do not have enough to eat. He said Mr
Guterres was a nice enough man run by Mr Alkatiri,
whose image was damaged last year when he was
forced from the prime ministership over
allegations he knew about the arming of a civilian
hit squad.
A former guerrilla fighter, Mr Guterres can claim,
like many other Timorese, to be a hero of the
independence struggle.
But he is not well known. He didn’t show up at a
press conference on Thursday when Mr Alkatiri gave
Fretilin’s version of what happened. For months Mr
Ramos Horta worked hard to portray himself as a
man for the poor, making frequent trips to remote
villages and Dili’s refugee camps where tens of
thousands of people are still languishing as
monsoon downpours turn them into quagmires.
When Fretilin’s leaders reassess their tactics,
after recovering from the shock of Monday’s vote,
they may realise that not only will they struggle
to win the run-off because all the non-Fretilin
candidates will back Mr Ramos Horta, they face a
tough battle to stay in power by winning the
parliamentary elections.
Maybe it is time to elect a new face to lead the
party, somebody like former NSW public servant
Estanislau da Silva, who has been Mr Ramos Horta’s
deputy for 10 months.
Mr Alkatiri insists he will continue to lead the
party into the parliamentary elections after being
cleared of the hit squad allegations even though
he appears to be unpopular.
Xanana Gusmao, the outgoing president who plans to
lead his own party into power, is already telling
voters they must shun Fretilin because it has
failed to significantly improve their lives. Mr
Gusmao, who remained distant and aloof during last
year’s crisis, will vacant the presidency on May
20.
The parliamentary elections are likely to see even
more insults flying than the presidential vote. Mr
Gusmao and Mr Alkatiri have been political enemies
for decades.
Mr Ramos Horta plans to swing his support behind
Mr Gusmao’s campaign no matter what the outcome of
the presidential run-off. The close friends and
longtime political allies plan on Monday to
announce a deal to compensate 700 soldiers whose
sacking sparked last year’s violence.
Confusion mounts over East Timor polls
Agence France Presse - April 14, 2007
Dili — The confusion surrounding the first round
of voting in East Timor’s presidential election
mounted Saturday when the election commission said
a district with 100,000 eligible voters had
produced three times as many votes.
Martinho Gusmao, spokesman for the national
election commission, could not explain the
discrepancy, which emerged amid growing questions
about East Timor’s first presidential poll since
independence in 2002.
"It registered a little more than 100,000 but the
result is more than 300,000," he said of Bacau,
East Timor’s second town. The surplus 200,000
would represent a huge proportion of the total
vote — East Timor has just 520,000 eligible
voters.
"The commissioners will discuss it together in
order to find out how this illogical situation
happened in Bacau."
Gusmao refused to say whether the new discovery
could invalidate the provisional results, in which
Jose Ramos-Horta, East Timor’s current prime
minister, and Francisco “Lu-Olo” Guterres, the
ruling Fretilin party’s candidate, emerged to
contest the run-off.
The commission said Friday that serious flaws in
the election could force some areas to repeat
first-round voting.
Most of the candidates who stood formally demanded
a recount, even though international observers
said the poll in the former Portuguese colony was
generally orderly and peaceful.
The commission rejected their demand on Thursday,
saying there was no legal basis on which to grant
the request.
A number of the candidates also raised the
possibility that voters were intimidated, stoking
fears of instability in the troubled state ahead
of the second round.
East Timor election body rejects call for recount
Reuters - April 12, 2007
Ahmad Pathoni, Dili — East Timor’s election
commission rejected on Thursday calls for a vote
recount as the tiny nation looked set for a
presidential run-off between Prime Minister Jose
Ramos-Horta and the ruling Fretilin Party’s
candidate.
Monday’s polls were mostly peaceful but a drawn-
out election period and allegations of
irregularities will raise concerns about fresh
instability in the impoverished nation, still
suffering from deep divisions five years after
independence.
Overnight dozens of people in the predominantly
Roman Catholic country, once a Portuguese colony,
held a candlelit vigil near a statue of the Mother
Mary in Dili to pray for peace.
Martinho Gusmao, the election commission
spokesman, said the commission had offered to meet
candidates to discuss voting disputes. But he said
there would not be any major shift in the results
and rejected calls by some candidates for a
recount. "If there’s a change it wont be drastic.
No candidate will win more than 30 percent."
He said it was almost certain Ramos-Horta and
parliament chief Francisco Guterres of the ruling
Fretilin Party, who is also known by the guerrilla
nickname “Lu’olo” he had during the fight against
the 24 years of Indonesian rule that followed
Portugal’s withdrawal, would contest a run-off.
In a later news conference, Gusmao said all
complaints would be submitted to the court of
appeal. "If the court decides we have to do a
recount, we will do so," he said.
If no one wins more than half the vote, a run-off
will be held on May 8. Preliminary vote counting
showed that Guterres, whose well-organised
Fretilin Party has bigger support in rural areas,
had 29 percent of the vote, while Ramos-Horta, a
Nobel peace prize winner who spearheaded an
overseas campaign for independence from Indonesia,
had 23 percent.
The election commission spokesman said, however,
that there were still disputes over the validity
of 30 percent of the votes. "We must understand
that we are not well prepared for this election
and things are a bit chaotic."
Counter claims
Five candidates, including Fernando de Araujo of
the Democratic Party, called for a recount on
Wednesday, alleging widespread irregularities.
Ramos-Horta also said there had been many flaws in
the polls. "I think there should be another count
because there are serious allegations," he told
reporters.
But he said if there was no recount he would
accept the results to contribute to stability. He
accused police in some districts of acting as
thugs for Fretilin.
Ramos-Horta said he had been told by the chief of
the UN mission assisting in the polls that about
150,000 voters did not vote, either because of too
few polling stations or bad weather.
A UN mission spokeswoman said: "If any of the
candidates have concerns they should be raised
with the national authorities and appealed through
the court of appeal if necessary."
EU observer chief Javier Pomes Ruiz said on
Wednesday that the election had mostly gone
smoothly with a high turnout.
The secretary general of Fretilin said there had
been a “well mounted campaign against Fretilin”
which he linked to Ramos-Horta and outgoing
President Xanana Gusmao.
"This campaign includes disinformation, abuse of
power and intimidation," said Mari Alkatiri,
replaced as prime minister by Ramos-Horta after
taking much of the blame for the chaos that
emerged in East Timor last year.
A regional split erupted into bloodshed last May
after the sacking of 600 mutinous troops from the
western region. Foreign troops had to be brought
in to restore order.
Presidential poll run-off as candidates threaten
court action
Radio Australia - April 12, 2007
Tony Eastley: Doubts are being raised about the
fairness of the Presidential election in East
Timor with claims of vote manipulation and voter
intimidation.
The accusations come from five of the eight
candidates. The Electoral Commission says it won’t
investigate though until it receives a formal
complaint.
At this stage of counting the Fretilin Party
Candidate, Francisco Lu Olo Guterres, is clearly
in the lead. From Dili, Anne Barker reports.
Anne Barker: All five candidates from East Timor’s
minor political parties have written to the
National Electoral Commission demanding a recount
of the entire vote otherwise they say they’ll
mount a court challenge to the final result.
Candidate: We are not happy with this process and
we want the boxes to bring all to Dili and we
recount it in, in the Capital.
Anne Barker: They’re not the only ones alleging
irregularities in the electoral processes.
European Union observers say they too witnessed
intimidation at four polling booths and irregular
practices during the count. One Australian
observer says he’s alarmed that close to a quarter
of all votes have been declared invalid.
Damien Kingsbury from Deakin University says there
must be a recount.
Damien Kingsbury: The problem’s not with the vote,
the problem appears to be with the counting
process.
Last night we had observers count, watching the
count, and the number of invalid votes appeared to
be very small, in order of a couple of per cent at
most and today we see it’s jumped to what looks
like about a quarter and that simply can’t be
explained.
It’s also worth noting that on a 70 per cent count
of the vote, provisionally, Lu Olo, the Fertilin
candidate had about 23 per cent of the vote at the
end of the day, when the last 30 per cent was
counted, he jumped to 29 per cent and that would
seem to be statistically highly unusual, highly
irregular.
Anne Barker: But doesn’t that, isn’t that because
the votes that have come in today have included
those towns where Fretilin has its strongest voter
base in Vlatal (phonetic) and Vlatem (phonetic).
Damien Kingsbury: Well they would come in from the
more remote polling stations for sure, but that
goes equally across the country where Lu Olo is
both popular and unpopular, you don’t usually
expect to see such a significant shift in voter
intentions, once 70 per cent of the vote has been
counted.
Anne Barker: So do you believe there’s been some
sort of manipulation of the vote in those two
towns?
Damien Kingsbury: I don’t know if it’s in those
two towns as such, I think that what we need to do
is to have a recount in Dili, with independent
scrutineers not party scrutineers but independent
scrutineers, participating and perhaps not
allowing the Electoral Commission to participate
because there has been concerns that a number of
Electoral Commission members are in fact Fretilin
Party appointees.
Anne Barker: Are you saying then that the count
hasn’t been properly supervised or that some of
the counters then are corrupt?
Damien Kingsbury: It looks like some of the
counters have been influenced by their, their own
political affiliations.
Anne Barker: So do you believe if, if Lu Olo
becomes the President of East Timor, that he may
have got there illegally?
Damien Kingsbury: Well, on the basis of the
current numbers he still only has 29 per cent of
the vote so he has to go to a second round.
That means that 71 per cent of the vote is non-
Fretilin so his chances of being successful of
becoming President are still pretty slim, but
having said that, I think that candidates like
Fernando Lasama de Araujo would have real concerns
about this because at 70 per cent of the count, he
was within a hairbreadth of overtaking Jose Ramos
Horta, now he’s well behind, and I think he would
have real grounds for being concerned.
Tony Eastley: Damian Kingsbury from Deakin
University. That report from Anne Barker in Dili.
Voters intimidated in East Timor: rights group
Agence France Presse - April 12, 2007
Dili — An East Timor human rights group said
Thursday it had received reports that supporters
of the troubled nation’s ruling party had
intimidated voters ahead the country’s
presidential election.
"We have reports from the districts and we noted
an increase of violence from Fretilin members,"
said Jose Luis de Oliveira, of the human rights
group Yayasan HAK.
Fretilin, the ruling party in East Timor, has
previously been accused of intimidatory tactics
and a lack of openness.
Its candidate, Francisco Guterres, will contest a
May 8 presidential runoff with Jose Ramos-Horta,
East Timor’s prime minister, after a closely
fought first round on Monday between eight
candidates ended in stalemate.
There were reports of increased violence in
Viqueque, Baucau and Ermeira districts, de
Oliveira said. "In Ermeira, on the last day of the
campaign, Fretilin members beat a Catholic priest
and one journalist," he said.
The reports received by Yayasan HAK indicated
intimidatory door-to-door campaigning by Fretilin,
he said. "They noted the identity numbers of
people and said if you don’t choose Fretilin, your
number will show on the computer. Even if that’s
not true, people are afraid."
But Fretilin spokesman Filomeno Aleixo took issue
with the claim of intimidation. "Fretilin never
encourages our people to use violence,“he said.”In fact people were intimidated not to vote for
our candidate. We have been targeted too," Aleixo
said.
International observers have said the election was
generally open, orderly and peaceful despite fears
that the former Portuguese colony’s violent
history heralded poll unrest.
But de Oliveira said while election day may have
gone well, international observers lacked a proper
understanding of the situation in East Timor.
“They cannot see or feel what’s happening,” he
said, adding there could be more intimidation
ahead of the runoff vote.
Monday’s poll was the first presidential election
in East Timor since its independence in 2002, but
has been clouded by growing calls for a recount
and allegations its was conducted unfairly.
Indonesian occupation of East Timor ended in 1999
with a bloody split, and violence has pulsed
through the impoverished state since then.
International peacekeepers were dispatched last
year to restore order.
Timor savours its taste of democracy
The Australian - April 10, 2007
Stephen Fitzpatrick, Dili — Hundreds of thousands
of East Timorese queued for hours under a blazing
sun yesterday to choose a new president in the
first election wholly run by the young country.
As UN police and observers, joined by European
Union monitors, helped with security and
logistics, East Timorese officials dealt with
streams of people voting at more than 500 polling
sites across the country.
Many participants said the result was not as
important as the fact the presidential election —
only the second since the country voted for its
independence in 1999 and the first without the UN
in charge — was taking place.
"There is little difference between this party or
that party; what’s important is that we have a
safe and democratic situation," said Faustino da
Souza, village chief of Vila, on the small island
of Aitaro, just a few kilometres north of the
capital, Dili.
"Whatever the people choose, it’s up to them. It’s
up to everyone, not just one person."
The presidency is being contested by eight
candidates but only two — current prime minister
Jose Ramos Horta and parliamentary speaker
Francisco “Lu Olo” Guterres — are thought to have
a strong chance.
There will be a run-off poll next month if no
candidate wins an absolute majority, and then
parliamentary elections on June 30, which could
see the ruling Fretilin Government unseated and an
administration led by current President Kay Rala
“Xanana” Gusmao take its place. Mr Gusmao has not
yet committed to running in that election but is
generally expected to stand on behalf of his CNRT
— or National Congress for Timorese
Reconstruction — party.
Mr Ramos Horta voted at a primary school near his
home as soon as polling opened, at 7am, and said:
"If today the people decide I should carry on for
five more years, I will accept that. But whatever
the result, I am the winner. I’m the winner if I
win and I’m the winner if I lose."
On Sunday Mr Ramos Horta said if he lost he would
at least get his life back. Asked who would be his
first lady should he take the presidency, however,
the single Mr Ramos Horta — whose ex-wife Ana
Pessoa is Administrative Affairs Minister in his
government — replied: "All the poor women of East
Timor will be the first lady."
Former prime minister Mari Alkatiri, who was
replaced by Mr Ramos Horta during last year’s
crisis, was full of confidence as he arrived at a
polling booth in his Dili harbourside suburb of
Farol with the Fretilin candidate, Mr Guterres.
“We have never lost, and we will win again,” the
Fretilin secretary general, whose opponents accuse
him of arrogance and a distant attitude, boasted.
Mr Guterres also predicted a result in his favour.
"I am happy because this is an election for the
Timorese people, and I am certain we will win,"
the former anti-Indonesian guerilla fighter said.
Opponents have accused Fretilin supporters of
dirty tricks, and Mr Ramos Horta claimed yesterday
to have been pelted with rocks by supporters of
his opponents while campaigning in Los Palos,
Viqueque and Metinaro — all towns in the east,
where Fretilin support for Mr Guterres is
strongest.
"I urge Fretilin militants to make the right
choice,“Mr Ramos Horta said.”If they don’t,
Fretilin will not be at the front line. I also say
that the leaders must be expelled or replaced so
Fretilin can go forward."
Mr Ramos Horta said his greatest priority if he
won would be addressing the nation’s security
problems, particularly its crisis-hit military and
police forces.
Casting his vote at a polling station in the
often-troubled Dili suburb of Comoro, Democratic
Party chairman Fernando de Araujo — widely
considered to be a dark-horse candidate who could
help force the poll to a run-off election between
Mr Ramos Horta and Mr Guterres — conceded that he
did not expect a spectacular result from his
campaign.
“I think I must be realistic,” Mr de Araujo said.
"There are eight of us, so it’s difficult for
anyone to get 50 per cent. I’m not hoping to win
in the first round — what’s more important is the
process."
Mr de Araujo promised that if he failed in his bid
to become president, he would not abandon his
place in East Timorese political life.
Mr Gusmao has backed Mr Ramos Horta, bringing with
him the votes of many veterans of the 1975-1999
armed struggle for independence.
Losing candidates are expected to throw their
weight behind Mr Ramos Horta or Mr Guterres in the
event of a run-off presidential poll.
Calm holds as East Timor sets poll record
Melbourne Age - April 10, 2007
Lindsay Murdoch, Dili — East Timorese voted in
record numbers yesterday in a peaceful election
for president. There were few signs of violence,
particularly in Dili where politically motivated
gangs have been fighting pitched battles for
months.
First reports of vote counting last night
indicated ruling Fretilin party candidate
Francisco “Lu-Olo” Guterres, 53, Prime Minister
Jose Ramos Horta, 57, and Fernando “Lasama” de
Araujo, head of the reformist Democratic Party,
were receiving the most votes. Voting was
continuing at many centres late into the night.
East Timor’s top election officials and the UN
mission in Dili last night declared the election a
landmark success.
Steven Wagenseil, the UN’s chief electoral
officer, said there were small problems that
officials worked to overcome. "People were able to
vote peacefully and happily,“he said.”That is a
very good sign for the country."
Former Australian diplomat in East Timor James
Dunn said he was amazed at how smoothly voting
went at packed polling centres in areas where
United Nations police and Australian and New
Zealand soldiers had been unable to stop violence.
More than 3000 international security forces in
the country will remain on high alert amid
concerns that violence could erupt after the vote
results become known, possibly later today.
Election officials were overwhelmed as an
estimated 500,000-plus voters cast their ballots
in East Timor’s first election since independence
five years ago. Three UN helicopters took
thousands of extra ballot papers to polling
centres in all districts before booths shut at
4pm.
UN spokeswoman Allison Cooper said UN police
reported that voting was without major violence or
intimidation.
Federal member for the Darwin-based seat of
Solomon Dave Tollner said he and six other members
of his Australian monitoring group were impressed
by the peaceful behaviour of voters.
Analysts say it is likely that none of the eight
candidates will win 51 per cent of the vote,
forcing a run-off contest early next month between
the two candidates with the highest tallies.
Fretilin’s powerful secretary-general, Mari
Alkatiri, dismissed speculation Mr Lu-Olo would
not win an outright majority. "I know the people
very well and I know they will vote for our
candidate," Mr Alkatiri said.
Mr Alkatiri, who was forced to step down as prime
minister amid violence last year, plans to lead
Fretilin into a parliamentary election in June or
July, which looms as a bitter battle between
himself and Xanana Gusmao, the outgoing President,
who has formed his own party.
Mr Gusmao has made clear that if his party wins
power and he becomes prime minister he will unlock
hundreds of millions of dollars of Timor Sea oil
and gas revenue to spend immediately to help his
country’s poor.
His Australian-born wife last night called for
political activists not to react violently to the
result of the election.
"There’s a lot at stake so I guess there will be
different groups and individuals who will not be
satisfied to be in a losing position," Kirsty
Sword Gusmao said on ABC TV. "We would like to
think that our leaders will be appealing for calm
and doing their best to ensure that violence won’t
erupt."
Mr Lu-Olo, a former guerilla fighter, said he
could unite the country where thousands of people
in refugee camps are still too afraid to return
home.
Mr Ramos Horta said he believed that if Fretilin
lost, its militant supporters would try to create
problems.
"The common people have behaved with civility and
respect during the campaigning, which I think, by
and large, was peaceful,“he said.”I appeal to
all our leaders to show their sense of
responsibility and statesmanship and abide by the
result whatever it is.
[With AAP.]
Fear of chaos shadows East Timor poll
The Australian - April 9, 2007
Stephen Fitzpatrick, Dili — Jose Ramos Horta went
to Easter mass at the weekend with "a host of
sins" to confess, not least of which was having
entertained lustful thoughts towards the film star
Jennifer Lopez while presenting her with a prize
in Berlin last year.
This morning, he will visit a small primary school
on the eastern outskirts of Dili to cast a vote
for himself as East Timor’s next president, in an
act he hopes can help expiate the sins lately
visited on his benighted nation.
It’s a risky move, partly because word on the
street is that if Ramos Horta defeats his main
opponent, the ruling Fretilin party’s Francisco
“Lu’Olo” Guterres, he will be assassinated.
In a broken-down country that thrives on rumour,
the threat is probably an empty one, although
there are genuine fears that a Fretilin loss could
herald a return to the violence of last year that
left dozens dead and injured and rent the
country’s body politic asunder.
There have already been scattered clashes between
supporters of various candidates in today’s poll,
with the tempo of threat and counter-threat
escalating at the weekend to the point where some
families in regions outside the capital were
fleeing homes in fear for their lives.
Ramos Horta is sanguine about the possibility of
more chaos, though far from humble: "If I am
elected, I will bear a wooden cross almost as
heavy as Christ’s," he said during an interview on
Holy Thursday. “If I lose, it’s my freedom.”
Indications are that East Timor’s Nobel Peace
Prize laureate will not be free just yet to resume
the urbane life for which he yearns: of writing,
contemplation and courting the world’s political
elite.
Of the eight candidates running for president
today, only Ramos Horta and Guterres are thought
to have any real chance of success. Dark horse
candidate Fernando “Lasama” de Araujo, of the
Democratic Party, looks likely to make third
place, with his main effect being to split the
frontrunners’ votes and force a May 9 run-off
election.
A fourth, the Social Democratic Party’s Lucia
Lobato, could attract a decent following from
certain sections of the population keen to buck
East Timor’s strong patriarchal tradition and
install the country’s first woman leader — one
who is a cousin of founding president Nicolau
Lobato to boot — but she is not expected to
overly trouble the scorers.
Fretilin officials insist they have the result in
the bag without even the need for a run-off, and
while Guterres himself urges caution — "I am
optimistic, but the only proof is the ballot
papers," he said in a weekend interview at his
comfortable Dili home — his advisers are far more
gung-ho.
"Look, if you just go by the numbers — we’ll get
80 per cent in Baucau, maybe 60 to 70 per cent in
Los Palos, about the same in Viqeque and 45 or 50
per cent in Manatuto — then he’s won," chief
political adviser Harold Moucho said. "The rest is
minor.“”We also have the votes of the small parties, many
of whom are offshoots from Fretilin," adds
Guterres campaign manager Filomeno Aleixo.
Others disagree, and with fair logic. Moucho’s
number-crunching focuses on the country’s east,
where undiluted Fretilin support is most evident,
and ignores the western districts, where the heart
of the military discontent that contributed
heavily to last year’s chaos lies.
Moucho is also relying on 270,000 registered
Fretilin members, out of a total voting pool of
522,933 East Timorese adults, to get his man over
the line.
It won’t be quite that simple, however. Even
within the party there is dissent, with an
internal “Fretilin Mudanca (reform)” bloc
directing members to vote for Ramos Horta, a party
founder who left the organisation more than 15
years ago but resumed his alliance with the
Marxist-based group when he replaced its
secretary-general, Mari Alkatiri, as prime
minister as an emergency pressure-releasing
strategy at the height of last year’s violence.
Fretilin Mudanca prime mover Jose Luis Guterres,
who took on the job of Foreign Minister after
Ramos Horta’s ascent to the prime minister’s
office, says there is no way the Fretilin
leadership can be allowed to continue
“misdirecting the country”.
"We have already seen that this Government cannot
do a good job," he says, sitting in an airy cafe
overlooking the Dili waterfront, filled with New
Zealand police and foreign bureaucrats and aid
workers, here as part of the massive international
effort to steer a straight course for the
struggling country.
"They are not doing any kind of rural investment,
and they have not even said sorry for what
happened last year. We had close to a civil war,
and all they can do is blame others for it, not
look to themselves.
"I think that Ramos Horta, and probably Xanana as
prime minister, can help unite the country. Ramos
Horta is someone everyone knows and they trust him
to work for East Timor.“The support of President Kay Rala”Xanana" Gusmao
will be crucial to Ramos Horta’s chances. After
bringing to his long-time ally the votes of the
nation’s “veterans” — those who, like Gusmao,
spent most of their adult lives in the jungle
waging guerilla war against the 24-year Indonesian
occupation — the man regarded as East Timor’s
founding father will then almost certainly stand
in mid-year parliamentary elections and run for
prime minister in a government led by his newly
formed National Congress for East Timorese
Reconstruction.
The intensity and complexity of East Timor’s
politics can be bewildering, and the reliance on
symbol and myth a crucial part of understanding
it.
Gusmao’s new grouping uses the acronym CNRT — the
same as that of the former National Council for
East Timorese Resistance, the umbrella group
formed by Ramos Horta and Gusmao that ushered in
independence and effectively functioned as both
political party and state machine between 2000 and
2002.
Reigniting the CNRT brand will attract a nostalgia
vote in the countryside, where heroes and freedom
fighters are revered.
The phenomenon helps explain the support for
renegade former military police commander Alfredo
Alves Reinado, who appears to have been spirited
away with the help of villagers in Same, south of
Dili, during a botched raid on his hideout by
Australian SAS troops last month.
Brigadier Mal Rerdon, the Australian commander of
the International Stabilisation Force providing
military security in East Timor, says "Alfredo
Reinado is a fugitive who must face justice“.”Some people in the districts seem to have the
impression that Alfredo is a hero," he said last
week. "It’s important for them to understand that
Alfredo is not going to provide them with any kind
of solution. While he remains a fugitive, he’s
only going to bring instability and unrest."
But for many East Timorese it’s not so simple:
they buy a parallel deliberately cultivated by the
rebel with Dom Boaventura, who waged a bloody
struggle against heavily armed Portuguese troops
in the early 20th century.
Boaventura was finally forced out of his Same
stronghold in a 1912 military action that resulted
in the deaths of thousands of men, women and
children; a statue in his honour stands not far
from the Australian embassy in Dili, overlooking a
refugee camp.
For many of the camp’s displaced people and others
in a nation where unemployment runs at well over
50 per cent and per capita GDP was $425 last year,
expectations are low and relatively easy to
fulfil.
All sides agree that the more than $1 billion in
oil money sitting in a New York bank account needs
to start flowing into infrastructure and
development. A recent Asian Development Bank
report predicted growth of more than 30 per cent
for East Timor in the coming financial year.
Filmmaker Max Stahl, who has followed East Timor’s
fortunes for years, is fluent in the Tetum
official language and occupies the privileged
position of documentarist and participant in the
country’s travails, likens it to a "basically
well-constructed but unstable boat“.”It’s as though it doesn’t have a heavy enough
keel,“he muses,”so that as soon as it’s hit by
gusts of wind it rocks from side to side and
threatens to capsize, although it never quite
does. It’s still well enough built that it doesn’t
tip over.“Stahl insists”the important question
is can East Timor be governed, not who should
govern it".
But first the mechanics of the poll must be
managed and, despite the best efforts of UN
representative Atul Khare to help East Timor run
its first general election, problems are
inevitable.
Criticisms have included concerns from a UN
certification team as recently as last month that
the conditions for free, fair and transparent
voting remained to be met. These fears were
emphasised on Friday, when it emerged that
identity cards produced by the country’s electoral
commission did not include photographs and were
unlikely to reach district booths in time.
"It’s like he (Khare) is so desperate for it to go
well, he doesn’t want to admit there are any
problems at all," says oneDili-based foreign
analyst.
But for many, including Khare, the fact that a
nation born in the fire of 1999’s violent
separation from Indonesia can so soon be holding
its own elections at all is a minor miracle.
"These elections, if they are credible, free and
fair, independent and if the results are
acceptable and accepted by the population, then
they can have a unifying effect," says the Indian
diplomat. "Moreover, elections are not the final
step in the democratic process but the first step
— it is the day after which I believe is far more
important than the day on which votes are cast."
[Stephen Fitzpatrick is The Australian’s Jakarta
correspondent.]
Elections tension rises in East Timor
The Guardian - April 8, 2007
John Aglionby, Dili — When East Timor’s 600,000
voters head to the polls Monday for the first
round of a presidential election they do so aware
that their choice will resonate far beyond which
of eight candidates they select to fill the
largely ceremonial position.
Everyone is convinced that after the nation
collapsed into anarchy a year ago, how they vote
will set the tone for a general election expected
in the next four months and which will therefore
determine the five-year-old nation’s future.
Last year’s crisis, which began with an army
mutiny, saw the poorly run police force implode
and communal violence erupt on the streets of
Dili, the capital. Three dozen people were killed
and 150,000 were forced to flee their homes.
Order has been restored since the deployment of
2,500 international troops last May and the
massive expansion — including the arrival 1,748
international police officers — of what had been
a United Nations mission focused mostly on
planning its exit. But as a five-year-old East
Timor and its 1m people seek to avoid becoming a
failed state, tensions remain high this election
season.
"The situation is [now] calm but the calm is
superficial," says Atul Khare, the head of the
UN’s mission. "The situation is volatile and it is
tense. [It] is a post-conflict country with
unresolved issues."
All election participants expect a significant
redrawing of the political landscape this year.
Fretilin, the leftist ruling party that won 57 per
cent of the vote in the only previous general
election, in 2001, believes voters are going to
flock to it and its presidential candidate,
Francisco “Lu Olo” Guterres, to lift the country
out of its mess.
For his part, Mr Guterres is convinced he will win
majority support in Monday’s vote and thus avoid a
run-off.
"We have not yet got to the point where we are
mature enough to rotate power," says Filomeno
Alexio, a Fretilin central committee member.
"Fretilin is like a banknote, with two sides that
cannot be separated. On one are the people, on the
other the state institutions."
With no opinion polls taken, the result is
impossible to predict. But virtually everyone
outside Fretilin believes the only real question
is how big a defeat it will suffer.
“In 2001 there was political euphoria,” explained
Julio Pinto, the executive director of the East
Timor Institute for Security Studies, a local
think-tank. "For 24 years [during the brutal
Indonesian occupation that ended in 1999] Fretilin
had been banned and so everyone ran to them. Yet
now it is fractured and there has been little
economic progress."
Fretilin’s biggest opponent is Jose Ramos-Horta,
the Nobel laureate who took over as prime minister
after last year’s crisis forced Fretilin’s Mari
Alkatiri to step down amid charges that he and
political allies helped engineer at least some of
the violence. The other leading contender is
Fernando de Araujo of the Democratic Party.
Allied against Fretilin with Mr Horta — although
neither will say so publicly — is Xanana Gusmao,
the revered former guerilla leader who is now
president. Mr Gusmao plans to run for prime
minister in the general elections as head of a new
party, the National Congress for the
Reconstruction of East Timor, or CNRT, of which Mr
Horta’s campaign manager has been elected
secretary-general.
In an interview with the Financial Times last
month, Mr Gusmao lashed out at what he dubbed the
corruption and incompetence of East Timor’s
Fretilin-led political elite. "People suffered
sev-erely for 24 years and they hoped that
independence would bring something new and better,
but it hasn’t,“Mr Gusmao said.”Indonesia used to kill and lie, but the economy
continued to function. Now we’re independent it
doesn’t anymore."
Observers say that Mr Gusmao’s decision to
challenge Fretilin has created an entirely new
political playing field. "For the first time in
this country, the two big bulls are coming to
clash,“says one senior diplomat.”For the first
time people are going to have to choose between
[Mr Gusamo and Fretilin]."
Many ordinary East Timorese are eager to see a
change. "The people here are certain the [2006]
crisis was triggered by the national leadership,"
says tailor Deonsius da Silva, referring to the
5,000 people he shares a refugee camp with in
Dili. “So what we need is new leadership.”
But whoever triumphs in the days and months to
come, Mr Gusmao’s new party is a positive
development, Mr Horta says. "Whichever [wins the
general election], you will have a real balance,
whereby whoever governs cannot govern with
absolute disregard for everybody else,“he says.”This has been the case for the past five years,
where [under] Fretilin everybody became enemies."
East Timor votes for president after crisis year
Reuters - April 9, 2007
Ahmad Pathoni, Dili — East Timorese streamed to
the polls on Monday to vote for a new president,
hoping the election can help end deep divisions
after a year of instability in one of the world’s
youngest and poorest nations.
Over half a million voters are picking a new
president in Monday’s election, which outgoing
President Xanana Gusmao says is a chance to
demonstrate his nation is not a failed state.
Supporters of rival candidates clashed during
campaigning last week, injuring more than 30
people and prompting international troops to fire
tear gas and warning shots.
As truck loads of troops patrolled the streets of
a sunshine-bathed Dili, voters poured into polling
stations across the capital. Some had queued from
before dawn.
"This election is important for the country’s
future. I hope the new president will lift us out
of the crisis," said Rogerio dos Santos, a
30-year-old farmer waiting to cast his ballot in a
polling station in an elementary school.
Turnout appeared to be high and although official
results are not due until April 16, an electoral
commission spokesman said preliminary results
could emerge on Tuesday.
The capital was calm on Monday, although residents
said that overnight two soldiers described as
drunk fired shots while stopping traffic. No one
was hurt in the incident, they said.
Campaigns have focused on how to reunite East
Timorese, split by an east-west divide that
erupted into bloodshed last May after the sacking
of 600 mutinous troops from the western region.
Eight candidates are running, including Prime
Minister Jose Ramos-Horta, a Nobel peace prize
winner who spearheaded an overseas campaign for
independence from Indonesia. If no one wins more
than half the vote, a run-off will be held, a
scenario some analysts see as likely.
Gusmao, an ally of Ramos-Horta, is not running for
re-election but plans to seek the more hands-on
post of prime minister in a separate parliamentary
election later this year.
Free and fair, so far
Ramos-Horta, speaking to reporters while waiting
to vote, said he was happy with the conduct of the
election so far. "Despite some flaws, despite some
intimidation, it can be said to be free and fair,"
he said.
Around 3,000 international troops and police will
patrol during the elections, while about 200
international observers are monitoring the voting.
"There have been a few problems in the districts
but it’s completely normal in any election," said
Javier Pomes Ruiz of the EU monitoring mission.
No figures have been released yet on voter
turnout, but all districts reported many voters
queuing outside polling stations before 7 a.m., a
statement from the election logistics body said.
Some of the 700 polling stations are so remote the
ballot papers had to be delivered on horses.
Gusmao has blamed last week’s clashes on the
Fretilin Party of ousted Prime Minister Mari
Alkatiri, accusing its leaders of allowing
supporters to provoke violence. The party has
denied the charges.
Fretilin’s candidate, Francisco Guterres, a former
guerrilla fighter known as “Lu’Olo”, is a front-
runner in the elections.
The electoral commission’s spokesman said that in
Kovalima district a warning letter would be sent
to Guterres after his supporters had warned of
consequences if people did not back their
candidate. However, the spokesman said: "Overall
the election is going smoothly."
Julio Thomas of the National University of Timor
Leste expects the poll to be a three-way race
between Ramos-Horta, Guterres and the Democratic
Party’s Fernando de Araujo, who has backing from
many young people.
Pro-Jakarta militiamen went on a violent rampage
following a 1999 vote for independence, killing
about 1,000 people and destroying much of the
territory’s infrastructure.
In the chaos after the mutiny by some troops last
May, more than 30 people were killed and 100,000
fled their homes, until the government asked
foreign troops to quell the unrest.
Rivals for Timor vote accuse PM of tricks
Melbourne Age - April 8, 2007
Lindsay Murdoch, Dili — Leading candidates in
East Timor’s presidential election have accused
each other of manipulating tomorrow’s vote as
officials race to deliver ballot papers to 500
polling centres, many of them in remote villages.
The ruling Fretilin party claimed yesterday that
Timorese Prime Minister Jose Ramos Horta had
manipulated state-owned television to make a final
pitch to voters for the presidency of the troubled
nation.
Earlier, four candidates including frontrunner
Fernando “Lasama” de Araujo claimed that their
campaigns were being damaged by intimidation,
violence, and manipulation in the issuing of
scrutineer passes for polling centres.
Fretilin’s candidate, Francisco “Lu-Olo” Guterres,
said Mr Ramos Horta’s TV appearance on Friday
evening with outgoing President Xanana Gusmao and
Dili Bishop Alberto Ricardo da Silva was an abuse
of power.
"The program was structured so as to give the
impression that Gusmao and the church endorsed
Ramos Horta’s presidential campaign," Mr Guterres
said.
During the broadcast Mr Ramos Horta told Timorese,
most of whom are Catholic, that the day after
Resurrection Sunday "we will see the resurrection
of democracy for East Timor".
More than 500,000 registered voters will chose
their head of state from eight candidates tomorrow
in the first election run by East Timor since
independence five years ago. Campaigning has been
marred by violence, but 1600 United Nations police
and 1120 Australian and New Zealand troops have
moved quickly to prevent more fighting.
With none of the candidates likely to win a
majority, a second run-off election is expected in
a month.
Mr Ramos Horta had criticised influential priest
Martinho Gusmao, the church’s representative on
the electoral commission, for publicly endorsing
Mr de Araujo.
Father Martinho told journalists last week that
priests and bishops in 200 churches would not
endorse any candidate during Masses today, but
they were free to speak their minds outside the
church walls.
The UN mission in Dili has provided helicopters to
deliver ballot boxes to remote polling centres,
many of which are cut off during the current wet
season. The result is not expected to be announced
for several days.
Once a president is elected, East Timor must hold
parliamentary elections within two months.
Nobel winner vs former rebel
Courier Mail (Australia) - April 7, 2007
John Martinkus — There was a moment this week in
Dili when it looked as though the increasingly
bitter race for the presidency would spill over
into violence.
On Thursday afternoon, as supporters of Prime
Minister Jose Ramos Horta gathered to attend a
rally, a convoy of rival Fretilin supporters drove
past.
Portuguese riot police frantically waved both
convoys away from each other as a few stones began
to fly between the two groups. Panicked bystanders
began to flee expecting a fight. But the convoy
drove on and the tension subsided.
Inside the Dili football stadium, Mr Ramos Horta
addressed the crowd. He spoke about the dangers of
supporting the Fretilin candidate Francisco
Guterres, who is known universally as “Lu Olo”, as
President and former resistance leader Xanana
Gusmao, watched approvingly from the crowd.
Monday’s vote to decide the president is a power
struggle with Fretilin, the majority party in East
Timor’s parliament, on one side.
The other camp is led by Mr Gusmao and Mr Ramos
Horta. The problem for these two high-profile
politicians is that they are relying almost
entirely on their own personal popularity to win
the contest.
Neither has a political party or organisation
behind them. Fretilin, on the other hand, has a
political organisation that has survived the
Indonesian occupation and formed the Government
since Fretilin won the first elections in East
Timor in 2001.
"In 2001, we had 270,000 militants and that got us
45 seats in parliament,“he told The Courier-Mail.”In the last five years, many of the youth who are
sons and daughters of our members can now vote so
the figure will be higher."
Monday’s election requires a candidate to obtain
50 per cent of the total vote to be elected
president. If no candidate reaches this figure
then a run-off election will be held between the
two highest polling contenders.
The contrast between the two main candidates could
not be greater. Mr Ramos Horta is well know
internationally for his role in lobbying
successfully around the world for East Timor’s
independence through the 24 years of Indonesian
rule. Lu Olo spent that period as a resistance
fighter in the mountains of East Timor rising to
the rank of Chief of Staff of the Falintil
resistance army where he oversaw operations
against the Indonesian military.
A lifelong Fretilin supporter he was elected as
chairman of the Parliament and oversaw the writing
of the East Timor constitution. He speaks little
English and has been mainly ignored by the foreign
press. Mr Ramos Horta by contrast is fluent in
English and openly courts the foreign press.
On the last day of the campaign he invited the
foreign media to his home to discuss his program.
“Lu Olo is not his own man,” he told the
gathering. “He is a puppet,” he said referring to
Lu Olo’s relationship with ousted prime minister
Mari Alkatiri who remains as the Fretilin party’s
president.
Lu Olo is direct about Mr Ramos Horta. He praises
the man’s diplomatic skills that brought a Nobel
Peace prize and international profile. But he
adds: "Ramos Horta became recognised because it
was our people fighting in the mountains. The
Nobel Peace prize was not for him but for us."
More than any other issue it is responsibility for
last year’s violence that remains the central
issue for this election. Lu Olo is scathing about
President Gusmao’s role in the crisis that led to
the resignation of Mr Alkatiri. He says Mr
Gusmao’s reputation has been burnt by his
involvement.
"There were demonstrations here to call for the
resignation of Mari Alkatiri," he told The
Courier-Mail. "Xanana Gusmao and the first lady
participated. He told the demonstrators ’you have
to shake the Government’."
Mr Ramos Horta is perceived in East Timor as the
candidate favoured by the international and
business community. He promises to kickstart the
economy by distributing part of the money
accumulating in the Timor petroleum fund and to
relax restrictions on foreign investment and tax.
Lu Olo believes these decisions should remain with
Parliament and Mr Ramos Horta would be acting
outside of his constitutional powers.
Candidates allege manipulation of Timor election
Agence France Presse - April 6, 2007
Dili — Half the candidates in East Timor’s
presidential poll said Friday they fear many
attempts have been made to manipulate the election
process ahead of Monday’s vote.
"We fear that there are a lot of attempts to
manipulate the whole election process," the
candidates said in a joint statement. "There’s
been a lot of intimidation, a lot of violence, and
a lot of threats. We fear that violence can occur
on the day of the vote," they said.
At least 32 people have already been injured in
clashes this week in and around the capital Dili,
although most of the two-week presidential
campaign has been peaceful, the UN has said.
The candidates’ statement was read at a press
conference by Joao Viegas Carrascalao, one of
eight people seeking to replace President Xanana
Gusmao in the election, the first since troubled
East Timor’s independence in 2002.
Joining Carrascalao was Fernando “Lasama” de
Araujo, chairman of the opposition Democratic
Party, who is a strong contender to win the
election. Two other candidates, Lucia Lobato and
Fransisco Xavier do Amaral, were also present.
"We ask the UN to guarantee security and to be
aware of all these attempts of manipulation,“Carrascalao said.”We have in many cases made
complaints to the proper authorities and so far we
haven’t seen any measures taken."
Carrascalao said the four candidates received
identity cards for their own election observers
only on Friday, leaving them insufficient time to
prepare to oversee the election.
They alleged the ruling Fretilin party got its
identity cards some time ago from a government
department, the Timorese Technical Secretariat for
Election Administration (STAE), which is
organising the election.
“The timing is premeditated,” Carrascalao told
AFP. "It’s a government department and we fear
that the government is manipulating through this
department."
Faustino Cardoso, the president of the Nation
Election Commission, said he was aware of the
identity card problem.
"We have been in contact with STAE. Most of the
cards have been finalised. I strongly believe that
everything is going to be ready for the election
on Monday," he said. The UN said 2,000 East
Timorese and 232 foreign observers would monitor
the ballot.
Two other presidential candidates, both considered
possible winners of the election, did not join
Friday’s press conference.
But Prime Minister Jose Ramos-Horta and Francisco
“Lu-Olo” Guterres’s Fretilin party separately
accused a priest who sits on the National Election
Commission of interference.
The accusation was levelled against Father
Martinho Gusmao, the Catholic church’s commission
representative and spokesperson.
Filomeno Aleixo, of Fretilin’s central committee,
said Martinho Gusmao "clearly prejudiced the
outcome of Monday’s ballot" by voicing support for
de Araujo’s candidacy.
Ramos-Horta said the church hierarchy was "equally
shocked" by Martinho Gusmao’s action, which he
said was inconsistent with his role on the
electoral commission.
But when contacted by AFP the priest said "it’s
not for the Catholic church to dictate" who people
should vote for. "Officially, as an institution,
we say all candidates are Catholic and we have no
preference," he said.
Aleixo, whose party led East Timor’s independence
struggle, said the electoral commission is
supposed to act as an independent body that helps
ensure free and fair elections.
Indonesia occupied East Timor for 24 years before
the former Portuguese colony gained independence
after a period of UN stewardship.
Violence has pulsed through the fledgling state.
Last year at least 37 people were killed and more
than 150,000 fled their homes in unrest that
triggered the dispatch of Australian-led
international peacekeepers.
Legacy of Fretilin party looms large over Timor
poll
Australian Associated Press - April 5, 2007
Karen Michelmore, Dili — The distinctive buzz of
motorcycles can be heard in the distance, growing
increasingly louder.
Within seconds more than 30 motorbikes, engines
revving and adorned with party flags and posters,
spill into the dilapidated compound, the
headquarters of East Timor’s major political
party, Fretilin, in the capital Dili.
Several large dump trucks crammed full of
shirtless youths chanting “Fretilin, Fretilin”,
many of them drunk, soon follow in the convoy, as
rallying music from the nation’s former decades-
long guerilla campaign for independence blares at
full volume.
Scores quickly clamber down and begin to jump and
dance in the dirt beside the trucks, as one
supporter wrapped in Fretilin’s distinctive red
flag shouts: "We are independent because of
Fretilin, fight for independence".
It is the end of another successful day on the
campaign trail ahead of Monday’s historic
presidential elections — the first since East
Timor gained independence from Indonesia in 2002,
and also the first national poll to be run by
local authorities.
Despite its profound poverty and social problems,
East Timor has embraced its chance at democracy
with vigour, with tens of thousands turning out at
political rallies across the nation over the past
two weeks.
Truckloads of mainly young people waving flags and
screaming in support for one of eight candidates
have circled towns across the country, and there
has been strong voter registration, with 522,933
set to cast their ballot at one of 705 polling
stations on Monday.
While the campaign has been marred by isolated
incidents of violence and intimidation — dozens
were injured in attacks on rival supporters in the
districts, and on the final big day of campaigning
in Dili yesterday — many feared it could have
been much worse.
Gang violence continues to haunt Dili, and
thousands of people remain in refugee camps across
the capital, still too afraid to return home after
last year’s wave of violence in which 37 people
were killed an 150,000 displaced after 600 army
members were sacked by the government.
The ruling party Fretilin’s candidate Fransciso
Guterres “Lu Olo” is considered a favourite among
the eight candidates vying to replace independence
fighter Xanana Gusmao as president of the tiny
nation.
The 52-year-old President of East Timor’s National
Parliament describes himself as "the son of a poor
family, of humble people", a devout Catholic and
former guerilla fighter who has vowed to be a
president for everybody, regardless of their
affiliations.
The party itself exudes confidence, saying that if
the election was judged on its turnout at rallies
across the tiny nation it would win in a
landslide.
"Things have been going well in all districts for
the Fretilin candidate — the lowest turnout was
four to five thousand and the biggest at Suai was
17,000," campaign manager, and East Timor’s
Minister for Labor and Solidarity Arsenio Bano
said.
"We have already won from the number who have
turned out everywhere we go. If we compare it with
the other candidates, the highest number they can
get is 1500. From that comparison we can already
say we will win the election."
But many, including some of the party’s own
members, disagree and believe there is a mood for
change in the electorate. Fretilin, they say, is
increasingly being perceived as arrogant, and many
Timorese have felt little improvement in their
daily lives after five years of Fretilin rule.
Independent candidate Jose Ramos Horta, who
replaced Fretilin’s Mari Alkatiri as East Timor’s
prime minister after last year’s crisis of
violence, is another frontrunner for the
presidency.
The well-educated Nobel Peace Prize laureate has
delivered a slick message of unity, along with a
swag of promises, vowing to funnel at least $US10
million ($A12.2 million) per year to the church to
help the impoverished nation “heal our wounds”.
Like other candidates he has promised to set up a
welfare system in the tiny nation, offering $US40
($A50) a month to the 100,000 poorest citizens,
along with the elderly, disabled and veterans of
East Timor’s fight for independence.
And there are also plans to review and, if
necessary, simplify the Constitution, install a
new tax system and scrap tax for those earning
less than $US1,000 ($A1,220) per month; and create
a network of “zones of peace” across the island in
a bid to curb violence.
Disillusioned by the recent crisis that has
engulfed the nation, a breakaway faction of
Fretilin is backing Ramos Horta for the presidency
over the party’s own candidate Lu Olo.
"We are supporting Ramos Horta — he has all the
diplomatic skills and is well known in the
national and international community, and was a
founding member of Fretilin," East Timor’s Foreign
Minister Jose Luis Gutteres said.
"This country is in a bad state, its a divided
country... facing so many problems. We need
someone with the right skills to find a way out of
this crisis. I believe Lu Olo and (former Fretilin
prime minister) Mari Alkatiri, they are
responsible for the crisis (last year). People
want change in this country."
Ramos Horta says he is relaxed about Monday’s
vote, and rates his chances as “reasonable”.
"I’m not worried about whether I win or I lose,
because for me, whatever the outcome I am a
winner,“he said.”If I win, I win the election,
and if I lose I will win my freedom. I will take
the message from the people that they want me to
retire and that I deserve a proper early
retirement. I would not hesitate to follow that
advice and retire for good."
Another major challenge to Fretilin could come
from the Democratic Party’s leader Fernando "La
Sama" de Araujo, who enjoys wide support among the
nation’s youth. La Sama has campaigned on a
platform of “stability, justice and governance”,
with a vision to unite the nation in "love and
peace".
However, in order to win, either candidate would
need to overcome the powerful symbolism of the
Fretilin logo on the ballot paper, which many in
the largely illiterate nation identify with the
nation’s long struggle for independence.
Ramos Horta is one of four candidates who have
chosen to put the symbol of Timor’s national flag
beside his name on the ballot, while La Sama has
opted for no symbol.
The outcome of the poll is expected to be
announced next Wednesday. If there is no clear
winner, the top two candidates will face off in a
second poll early next month.
There are fears that further violence could erupt
amongst those on the losing side when the results
are published. The head of the United Nations in
East Timor, Atul Khare, hopes the elections will
have a unifying impact on the fragile state.
"(An) election, in my view, is not the last step
in the democratic process, it is the beginning of
the democratic process," said the Special
Representative to the UN Secretary General.
"The day after the election, both the victors and
the losers have to get together with mutual
respect and have to decide to work together for
the betterment of the people of Timor Leste.
"Democracy is not something which begins with the
casting of the vote and then for five years you
forget about it until you have another casting of
the vote. It is the day after the election that I
believe is far more important than the day on
which the votes are cast."
I’ll bring home oil millions: Gusmao
The Australian - April 5, 2007
Stephen Fitzpatrick, Dili — East Timorese
resistance hero Xanana Gusmao has promised he will
unlock hundreds of millions of dollars in oil
revenue held in a New York escrow bank account if
he is elected prime minister.
Mr Gusmao’s current post of president is up for
election on Monday. He is not contesting the
symbolically important position but eight others
are, including incumbent Prime Minister Jose Ramos
Horta.
Monday’s presidential polls will be followed by
parliamentary elections mid-year, including for
the powerful position of prime minister — a job
Mr Ramos Horta inherited last year after the
ruling Fretilin party’s Mari Alkatiri was deposed
in a bout of bloody public unrest.
Campaigning in Dili deteriorated into violence
yesterday as sporadic fighting broke out between
gangs of youths from rival parties. Police fired
tear gas and warning shots to break up fights and
rock-throwing attacks, which left several injured,
including two UN policemen who were hurt during a
clash near the Australian embassy.
Mr Ramos Horta attracted several thousand people
to a stadium in the capital, Dili, yesterday
afternoon for the final official event of
campaigning for Monday’s vote.
No further election rallies will be allowed,
leaving the pulpits at Easter Sunday masses as the
last opportunity for political direction in this
devoutly Catholic country.
Electoral Commission spokesman Martinho Gusmao, a
senior Catholic priest, said yesterday that
parishioners would not officially be told who to
vote for, since "we ask people to choose according
to their conscience".
However, Father Gusmao said that of the eight
candidates, he favoured Democratic Party leader
Fernando “Lasama” de Araujo "and if someone asks
me to give advice in my personal capacity, that is
what I will say".
The priest denied he was creating a conflict of
interest in appearing to endorse a particular
candidate while working for the electoral
commission, "since we Timorese still in a way have
to develop the character of our political style —
the culture of our politics".
Speaking at a public forum in Dili, Father Gusmao
was interrupted by his namesake, the former
president, who said: "What he means is that, of
the candidates, Lasama is the one who satisfies
the younger generation — of the others, there
areonly grandparents standing for election."
The issue of a generation gap cutting across East
Timor’s political divide has become a rhetorical
theme of the poll, with the demarcation being seen
as between those who carried arms against the
Indonesian occupation and those who did not.
Mr Gusmao, a one-time guerilla leader jailed by
Indonesia for his actions, appears to have
delivered to long-time ally Mr Ramos Horta the
votes of those who did fight in the 24-year
resistance, by personally backing the latter’s
campaign. Mr Gusmao, wife Kirsty Sword Gusmao and
their children were at yesterday’s Horta rally, to
the delight of supporters.
In a targeted attack on the current government —
led by Mr Ramos Horta but run by the Fretilin
party machine — Mr Gusmao said yesterday it was
important that the next administration "put our
fingers on the many things that we did in not the
right way".
Key among these, he said, was the failure to
provide adequate healthcare, education and other
important social needs, "or even to make sure
people had enough to eat“.”Now we need to have a master plan on how to spend
the money, so that in 10 to 15 years this country
will live in a very good condition,“he said.”But democracy will not work if the people are
hungry. We have so much money in an account in New
York, while here in Timor people are struggling
and living in misery." Mr Gusmao went on to say he
would be able to get access to that money.
A third contender with a chance is Fretilin’s
Francisco “Lu Olo” Guterres, who attracted several
thousand people to a rally in Dili yesterday.
Formal election results are not expected to be
known for at least two days after polls close,
leaving the possibility of more violence should
the outcome be in dispute.
Socialist campaign mobilises in East Timor’s
districts
Green Left Weekly - April 4, 2007
Max Lane — East Timor’s presidential election
campaign is now officially underway. Voting will
be held on April 9. Max Lane spoke by phone with
presidential candidate Avelino Coelho, secretary-
general of the Socialist Party of Timor (PST).
What issues are people raising with you in your
campaign?
We have visited several towns already where we
have organised rallies and other meetings. The
language issue is important and people are
responding strongly. I am opposing the use of
Portuguese as the national language and arguing
that Tetun be both the national and official
working language. Indonesian can be a back-up
working language, as stated in the constitution,
but Tetun must be the national language.
Why is this so important?
There is the big issue of the urgent need for
Timorese to win back pride, to start defending and
developing their own national character. We are
more and more dependent on foreigners for
everything and are losing any sense of national
integrity. We have to develop the language that
the people speak. But at the same time it is a
very pressing concrete issue. People are being
discriminated against, especially regarding jobs,
because they don’t speak Portuguese. People who
fought long and hard against the military
occupation and can’t speak Portuguese — they
speak Tetun and Indonesian — can’t get jobs.
And this gets a bigger response than economic
issues?
The economic situation is a big issue too, but
they are tied together, the need to develop a
strong independent character for the nation and
the struggle to get out of the economic crisis
that the government has created. Apart from
employment, rice is the other issue. It is still
very expensive and hard to get. There are queues
for people to get rice despite the fact that we
have more than enough land to grow a lot of rice.
This is a failure of the Mari Alkatiri and Jose
Ramos Horta governments.
How are you finding campaigning?
It is hard. Unlike others, we have little money.
Our party is a party of the poor and the youth.
There is no media that reaches outside of the
capital, Dili. There is TV in Dili but not
outside. So we have to travel. I have invitations
from groups in every single district of East
Timor, to go there and speak. But we won’t be able
to do that. It costs money for petrol and for
cars. We will have to be selective about where we
go.
So how have things gone on your visits?
Where the PST has been doing work and where we
have had time to prepare, we have had some good
turnouts. A few days ago in Ossu we had a town
gathering where 7000 people turned up — in a town
of 9700. Fretilin held a rally around the same
time and got 1200 people, using more than 40
trucks to bring in people from outside. In
Viqueque we got about 1000 people. In Manututu,
there was less preparation time and we got about
500. We have made quite a few visits to the Bacau
region. They are not always big gatherings,
sometimes we visit people in the rice fields and
at work.
And what about the other campaigns, by Horta or
Francisco Guterres Lu-Olo from Fretilin?
To be honest, I can’t really say. I have been
visiting the villages and towns and there is no
media here, so I don’t hear much about what others
are doing. We don’t come across each other. But I
don’t think Horta has attracted more than 400
people at his meetings. Where there are rallies,
they are on different days. And there have been no
debates. Occasionally, we may have some contact at
a rally. On March 28, for example, in Vemasse, in
Bacau district, we held a rally of about 1000
people. A truck turned up with about five youth in
it shouting “Fretilin will win!” They confronted
our people and started shouting for the rally to
disband. They tried to provoke a fight but didn’t
succeed.
Why no debates?
There have been some invitations for debates
between candidates, for example from the
university students on campus, but Horta and Luolo
have declined. So they don’t usually happen or
they are attended just by some of the other
candidates. Horta and Lu-Olo, I think, are relying
a lot on symbols.
In Dili, for example, there are colour posters
everywhere with a picture of Horta receiving the
Nobel prize alongside Bishop Belo. He wants to
give the impression that he is supported by the
Catholic Church. I even heard there may be posters
with his photo when he was meeting the Pope. But
the church has stayed neutral so far.
And Fretilin?
I think they are worried about Lu-Olo’s national
profile and popularity. They have been pushing for
something that we think is not legal under the
current law. They want the Fretilin flag to appear
next to Lu-Olo’s name on the ballot paper.
Fretilin more and more relies on the historical
myth of its past. But under the current
constitution, presidential candidates are not
nominated as party representatives. They are
supposed to be nominated as individuals, by at
least 5000 people. I protested this move by
Fretilin at a meeting with the president a while
ago.
So your campaign is not actually a PST campaign?
In fact, there are different people getting
involved helping us. We are pleased about that.
The last round of campaigning will be focussed in
Dili. We are hoping to attract more than 10,000
people to our election rally there. We will press
home our case that the government has failed.
And what about the Australian and foreign military
presence? The last time we spoke you called on the
Australian military not to take sides in the
internal conflicts. Has that become an issue in
the campaign?
No, the foreign military presence has not
generated any big negative impacts so far.
Violence hits Timor campaign as candidate urges
unity
Reuters - April 4, 2007
Ahmad Pathoni, Dili — A former East Timorese
independence fighter jailed by Indonesia for six
years pledged on Wednesday to unite his conflict-
torn country and bring justice to its people, as
the final day of election campaigning was marred
by violence.
Fernando de Araujo, whose nom de guerre was La
Sama, is among eight candidates running in
Monday’s presidential poll.
By the standards of the tiny country’s chaotic
history, the election campaign has been relatively
peaceful, but on Wednesday rock-throwing clashes
between supporters of various candidates left some
30 people in need of medical treatment in the
capital Dili, according to Reuters eyewitnesses
and hospital staff.
Several victims had bleeding head injuries and a
nurse said at least one person had been wounded by
an arrow.
UN police said in a statement "the situation in
and around Dili has mostly been calm" but noted
two incidents, one brought under control when
officers fired two warning shots and another in
which five people were taken to hospital with
minor injuries.
However, a rally for De Araujo — at 44 the
youngest among the candidates and considered by
some to be a strong contender — went peacefully.
"La Sama has a good chance of winning. He appeals
to young voters who are disappointed with the
failure of the older generation," political
analyst Julio Thomas told Reuters.
The candidate with the highest profile, however,
is Jose Ramos-Horta, who succeeded Alkatiri as
prime minister and won a Nobel Peace Prize during
the struggle against Indonesia.
About 2,000 people turned up at a Dili soccer
field, waving De Araujo pictures and blue flags of
the Democratic Party he founded. "I believe the
young generation of Timor Leste will unite again,“De Araujo told his supporters, who chanted”Viva
La Sama".
New generation
"It’s time for young people to replace the old
ones, who have brought only chaos to this
country," said supporter Leo da Costa, his bare
chest emblazoned with the Democratic Party’s
initials painted in yellow.
De Araujo, whose campaign theme is "It’s time for
a son of the poor to lead the country," said he
would create a legal system free from
discrimination.
"The current judiciary is trash. Law must not
discriminate. It must not only punish people who
steal chickens but also those who distribute
weapons illegally," said De Araujo, standing on a
truck and wearing a colourful traditional scarf
around his neck. He did not mention any names.
Former East Timor Prime Minister Mari Alkatiri was
accused of giving weapons to supporters to kill
political opponents during last year’s wave of
violence which prompted the government to invite
in foreign troops to restore order.
The charges against Alkatiri were dropped earlier
this year after authorities said there was not
enough evidence.
East Timor became independent in 2002 after a
period of UN stewardship. It has rich energy
resources but has only begun to tap them and most
of the country’s one million people remain among
the world’s poorest.
De Araujo spent six years in a Jakarta prison,
from 1992 to 1998, for campaigning for East
Timor’s independence. He continued his studies
after being released and graduated from the
University of Melbourne in 2001.
East Timor: Elections on track, under heavy guard
Interpress Service - April 4, 2007
Mario de Queiroz, Lisbon — With less than a week
to go to the presidential elections in East Timor,
the violence has not let up in this small island
nation that was born in May 2002 after nearly five
centuries of Portuguese colonial rule and 25 years
of brutal occupation by Indonesia.
In the Apr. 9 elections, voters will choose the
successor to Josi Alexandre “Xanana” Gusmao, a
leader of the guerrilla struggle against the
Indonesian occupation who is currently president
of one of the smallest and poorest nations in the
world, with a total territory of 15,000 square
kilometres and 400 dollars a year in per capita
income.
The candidates with a real chance of winning are
Prime Minister Jose Ramos Horta, an independent
backed by Xanana Gusmao, and Francisco “Lu Olo”
Guterres of the Revolutionary Front for an
Independent East Timor (Fretilin), who is backed
by former prime minister Mari Alkatiri (2002-
2006).
Also running for the largely ceremonial post of
president are Avelino Coelho of the Socialist
Party of Timor, Lzcia Lobato of the Social
Democrat Party, Xavier do Amaral of the Timorese
Social Democratic Association, and independent
candidates Manuel Tilman, Joco Carrascalco and
Fernando “Lasama” de Arazjo.
Voter registration surpassed expectations, with
more than 500,000 people registering out of a
population of 1.063 million, as indicated by
statistics that the United Nations Development
Programme (UNDP) resident representative in East
Timor, Finn Reske-Nielsen, provided to Portuguese
correspondents on Mar. 29.
The elections will be overseen by around 1,000
local observers and some 100 foreign experts who
have received training from the UNDP, and
according to Reske-Nielsen, the process should go
smoothly, with neither logistical nor security
problems.
But the continuing instability in this Pacific
island nation means the elections will be held
under the vigilant gaze of a heavily armed
international peacekeeping force, in accordance
with a Feb. 22 UN Security Council resolution,
which extended the mandate of the UN Integrated
Mission in Timor-Leste (UNMIT) for another year
and authorised police reinforcements.
Violence has continued intermittently since June
2006, after rebel officer Alfredo Reinado, a
former military police chief, escaped from prison
with a group of followers. From their hideout in
the mountains surrounding Dili, they have incited
the activities of gangs made up of youths from the
city’s slums.
The election campaign has become the latest excuse
for street violence, like clashes between
supporters of different candidates, who threw
rocks at each other Wednesday, leaving an
estimated 30 people injured.
Local authorities have asked for help from
Portugal, given the growing tension caused by the
increasing presence of Australian peacekeeping
troops.
In the early hours of Tuesday morning, a Hercules
C-130 of the Portuguese air force transported to
Dili 77 members of Portugal’s National Republican
Guard to reinforce the UN police contingent in
East Timor, which occupies half of the island of
Timor, located southeast of the Indonesian
archipelago and north of Australia.
The international peacekeeping force is led by
Australia, which has deployed 1,100 troops. They
are treated with suspicion by the local
population, who fear that the country will become
a kind of Australian protectorate.
The governments of Australia and East Timor are
caught up in a longstanding dispute over the
demarcation of their territorial waters. The
underlying conflict is over who has the right to
exploit the immense oil and natural gas deposits
beneath the Timor Sea.
Since its empire fell apart in the mid-1970s,
Portugal has been especially careful in its
relations with its former overseas territories. In
the case of East Timor, it appeals to the friendly
relations with many local residents and the
political leaders, who were mainly educated in
schools and universities in Portugal.
Portugal is taking part in the peacekeeping force
with 220 National Republican Guard troops, who
were sent in response to a direct request by the
government of East Timor.
The election campaign began on Mar. 23. The
majority of violent incidents have occurred in
Dili. But on Mar. 27, stones were lobbed at the
headquarters of Fretilin in Liquiga, 34 km from
the capital.
A day later, in Viqueque, 220 km from Dili, stones
were thrown at the entourage of candidate Ramos
Horta, and 24 hours later, demonstrators threw
sharp objects at the motorcade of supporters of
“Lu Olo” Guterres. In none of the cases were the
aggressors identified.
In statements to the Portuguese news agency Lusa,
Catholic priest Martinho Gusmao, spokesman for the
National Electoral Commission, urged the
candidates to keep their supporters under control
but said the elections would be held as scheduled.
"We must not blow this out of proportion. We
regret what has happened, but these cases are not
going to stand in the way of the elections," he
said.
The priest took analysts by surprise Wednesday by
coming out in favour of a candidate, “Lasama” de
Arazjo.
Ramos Horta, a 1996 Nobel Peace laureate and the
candidate with the strongest chance of replacing
Xanana Gusmao, also downplayed the violence, in a
telephone interview with IPS from Dili.
Over the past year, "the violence has been
localised in Dili, and only in a few
neighbourhoods of the city actually. There is a
mistaken perception that the violence is a
nationwide phenomenon, but that’s not true," he
said.
Ramos Horta said that despite the violent
incidents that have been occurring for almost a
year, "crime levels in Dili are no higher than in
the large cities of Asia, or in Rio de Janeiro or
Johannesburg. The difference is that these and
other cities have police forces that are strong
enough to do something about the gangs."
The candidate said the future will be complex, but
not impossible to deal with. "Our police force
fell apart in late April 2006, and we are now
trying to reorganise it. Until we are able to do
that, we depend on the UN police, who are
unfamiliar with the city, the gangs and their
leaders. But little by little we are regaining the
initiative."
On Tuesday, Ramos Horta announced that if he loses
the elections, he will quit politics and retire to
private life.
The crisis erupted in late April 2006 after nearly
600 East Timorese soldiers led by Major Reinado
were fired after they went on strike, complaining
about ethnic discrimination and poor pay and
conditions. The crisis led then prime minister
Alkatiri to resign.
Many of the members of the military were former
guerrillas who had spent years fighting the
Indonesian occupation army. One-third of the
population of East Timor was killed during the
invasion and occupation.
When Reinado was interviewed in his hideout by the
Portuguese Lusa agency last month — refusing to
speak in Portuguese, and insisting on English —
he said he was opposed to what he sees as "neo-
colonisation" of East Timor through the increasing
influence of Portugal
Gertrudes Lambiza, who was a UN humanitarian aid
official during East Timor’s transition to
independence (2000-2002), told IPS that "many
international functionaries and diplomats from
English-speaking countries fuelled a systematic
campaign in that period to prevent Timor from
choosing Portuguese as a second language after
Tetum." Both are now the official languages of
East Timor.
Besides the internal conflicts among factions
disputing power, "there is also still a clear
division between the ’pro-English’ and ’pro-
Portuguese’ camps," said Lambiza. (END/2007)
Rival supporters clash during East Timor campaign
Australian Associated Press - April 2, 2007
Karen Michelmore, Baucau — Two people were
injured when supporters of rival political parties
clashed during campaigning in East Timor’s
presidential elections, a candidate said today.
Presidential candidate Fernando “La Sama” de
Araujo, of the Democratic Party (PD), said 20
supporters of the rival Fretlin party threw rocks
as he campaigned in regional Macadiqui, in East
Timor’s east, yesterday.
Final preparations are under way for next week’s
presidential poll, the first since East Timor was
granted independence from Indonesia in 2002. Eight
candidates are vying to replace independence
fighter Xanana Gusmao as president.
The two week campaign has been marred by isolated
incidents of violence and intimidation, including
an attack during the campaign of Prime Minister
Jose Ramos Horta where 21 people were injured last
Thursday. La Sama today said one or two groups of
young people threw stones at his supporters
yesterday.
The presidential candidate today campaigned in
another rival Fretlin stronghold Baucau. Tight
security surrounded the outdoor rally, with UN
police dressed in riot gear and more than 20 local
police on hand.
More than 1,000 people braved light rain for the
low key event, where La Sama urged young people to
stop the violence. The event, peppered with cries
of “viva La Sama”, was peaceful except for a lone
protester who was quickly bundled away by local
police.
After the rally, La Sama said he was campaigning
on a platform of national unity and peace. "I’m
very sad by that incident yesterday,“he said.”I did deliver a good message to them. I said
political parties shouldn’t divide the people.
Political parties should stop the violence."
He blamed supporters of Fretlin — East Timor’s
major party — saying they were scared of losing
the Easter Monday poll.
"I think East Timorese know that this election is
a moment for them to decide who they want as
president,“he said.”I’m confident more than 90
per cent — the majority — will come to the
polling stations and vote. We have to start with
peace in our hearts, I want people to revive their
love."
The UN team overseeing the election warned in a
recent report that it would have difficulty
certifying the poll unless the security situation
in the capital, Dili, improved significantly.
It warned the electoral process was "not
proceeding satisfactorily", with delays in setting
up the legal framework for the election and
establishing the electoral authority "already
having a serious impact on the process".
However local authorities today said they were
confident the April 9 election would proceed as
planned.
"The (UN) certification team has the highest
standards, and we are doing our best to fulfil all
those standards," said Electoral Technical
Administration Secretariat (STAE) director Edgar
Sequeira Martins.
"They are very useful to improve our work, our
preparations, and we will do all we can to fulfil
all that is necessary."
He said officials would begin distributing
election materials to the districts over coming
days.
There had been an improvement in security since
last month, although there have been reports of
sporadic violence and intimidation in the
districts, Martins said.
"We hope there is no more trouble during these
last few days during the election, especially on
the election day,“he said.”We are feeling
confident there will be an election on April 9,
even with all the limited resources we have."
In shadow of violence, Asia’s newest nation
prepares for polls
Associated Press - April 2, 2007
Rod McGuirk, Dili — Machete-wielding gangs roam
the dusty streets of Asia’s newest nation,
torching homes and shooting each other as
international troops struggle to keep order.
Nearly 40,000 refugees remain in crowded camps,
too afraid to return home.
Against this backdrop, East Timor is preparing for
presidential elections that many hope will usher
in an era of peace and stability. Others fear the
vote will only add to tensions in the desperately
poor country, triggering more violence.
"I’m ready to go home with my family and rebuild
our house if our leaders make it safe for us,"
said Brigida da Conceicao, 27, whose has lived in
a camp since her house was torched at the height
of unrest one year ago. "But I have no idea how
long that will take."
East Timor voted to end nearly a quarter century
of brutal Indonesian rule in 1999 and formally
proclaimed nationhood in 2002 in a lavish ceremony
complete with fireworks and traditional dance.
Then-UN chief Kofi Annan and former US President
Bill Clinton were among the celebrants.
But the tiny nation was pushed to the brink of
civil war in May 2006 when then-Prime Minister
Mari Alkatiri fired 600 soldiers, sparking clashes
between rival security forces in the capital Dili
that spilled into gang warfare. At least 37 people
were killed and another 155,000 others fled their
homes, leading to the fall of the government.
Though international troops curbed the worst of
the violence, analysts note that the underlying
causes remain unresolved — intense political and
regional rivalries dating back to Indonesia’s
occupation, economic stagnation and a failure to
bring to justice perpetrators of past crimes.
“It’s a very fragmented society,” said Benjamin
Reilly, a scholar at Australian National
University who is helping carry out election
training in East Timor. "It’s a very volatile
situation."
One of the leading presidential candidates is Jose
Ramos-Horta, who was in exile during Indonesian
occupation and shared the 1996 Nobel Peace prize
with former East Timorese Bishop Carlos Filipe
Ximenes Belo for keeping the spotlight on his
people’s plight.
He blames much of the population’s anger on the
government’s failure to fight poverty despite rich
offshore oil and gas fields. In a country of less
than one million people, nearly half the children
are said to be suffering from malnutrition.
"People have been waiting for more than five years
for the fruits of independence," said Ramos-Horta,
who thinks a fund created by parliament for oil
and gas revenues should be used to create jobs and
stimulate the economy. It’s valued now at US$1.2
billion (euro900 million), but is being largely
saved for future generations.
Around 3,000 foreign police and soldiers, most of
them from neighboring Australia, are currently
deployed to East Timor. They were invited by the
government at the height of last year’s crisis,
but resentment against them is steadily rising.
Australian soldiers killed two East Timorese at a
camp and another five during a failed bid to
capture a renegade military leader from his jungle
stronghold several weeks ago, sparking protests by
street gangs and unemployed young men demanding
foreign troops pull out.
Many of the gang members are common criminals
capitalizing on a general sense of lawlessness to
steal and extort, but politicians have also been
accused of plying gangs with amphetamines and
alcohol to continue the chaos.
Scores of people have been arrested over the
violence but are often released without charge,
giving them a sense of impunity, analysts say.
"We don’t have a culture of peace. We have a
culture of war," Belo said in a bleak assessment
of the former Portuguese colony. "Since the 16th
century we have been fighting each other. Fighting
seems to be the only situation in which we are
content. It’s in our blood."
The April 9 elections will be followed by
parliamentary polls in September that will decide
who will become prime minister, a more important
role than the largely symbolic president.
Ramos-Horta’s main ally, independence hero Xanana
Gusmao, said he would run for prime minister,
setting the stage for a bitter political battle
with Fretilin, Alkatiri’s party and the country’s
largest political grouping.
Some observers say there is an urgent need for a
national unity government. "If Fretilin is
sidelined there will be trouble, but if Fretilin
stays in power there will also be trouble," said
Olandina Caeiro, a respected female activist and
ex-member of parliament during the Indonesian
occupation.
The violence in the past year was the worst in
East Timor since the independence referendum, when
Indonesian soldiers and their militia proxies
killed more than 1,000 people and left much of the
territory in flames.
Brig. Mal Rerden, commander of Australian and New
Zealand troops, said he was confident violence
could be contained during the upcoming polls.
"The government, the UN and ourselves have a very
strong election security plan,“he said.”I think
it’s going to be robust enough to deal with the
circumstances that we might find during the
election period."
HUMAN RIGHTS/LAW
Rights groups slam truth body
Jakarta Post - April 2, 2007
Alvin Darlanika Soedarjo, Jakarta — A number of
human rights monitoring groups have accused the
recently-completed second phase of Indonesia-Timor
Leste Commission of Truth and Friendship (CTF)
hearings of having distorted facts regarding human
rights violations that occurred during Timor
Leste’s 1999 referendum.
"The CTF has deconstructed rather than
reconstructed the existing findings collected
previously," the head of the Commission for
Missing Persons and Victims of Violence’s impunity
division, Haris Azhar, said Saturday.
He said the CTF had ignored data gathered
collectively by the Indonesian National Commission
of Inquiry into Human Rights Violations in East
Timor in 1999, Timor Leste’s Commission for
Reception, Truth and Reconciliation and the UN’s
Special Panel for Serious Crimes.
The groups, which have joined forces to raise an
“alternative” voice in parallel to the second
phase of CTF hearings, said the original aim of
the hearings had been distorted to keep several
political players from both countries secure.
They said more “actors” and policy makers were
present at the hearings than victims. "Eurico
Guterres, a pro-Indonesia militia leader, spoke a
lot about (events) in 1959 and 1975 rather than
focusing on events in 1999. The hearing of former
president Habibie was also unfair because they had
a closed-door meeting."
The groups claim the CTF has strayed from its
original mission of disclosing the truth of human
rights violations during the 1999 referendum. The
second phase of hearings was completed Friday.
Khoirul Anam, deputy coordinator for the Human
Rights Working Group, said information concealed
during the hearings could be used as a basis for a
reform of the Indonesian Military (TNI).
The testimonies of actors have turned the United
Nations Mission for East Timor (UNAMET) into a
scapegoat, he said. "The CTF should reject the
data they gathered during the public hearing, as
they failed to focus on human rights abuses," said
Agung Yudhawiranata, networking coordinator for
the Institute for Policy Research and Advocacy.
The group noted that the testimony of Yenny Rosa
Damayanti, a member of a referendum monitoring
group, differed from statements made by (ret) Gen.
Zacky Anwar Makarim, who blamed UNAMET for
sparking the unrest. Yenny said she regretted that
UNAMET lost its dignity through its failure to
maintain a non-violent approach during its running
of Timor Leste’s administration.
Taufik Basari, a legal director at the Foundation
of the Indonesian Legal Aid Institute, said his
organization would send letters to the presidents
of Indonesia and Timor Leste, as well as to the
UN, signaling the need to question more victims
and less policy makers. "They can start by
changing their method of conducting the hearings,"
he said.
Several other rights watchdogs, such as Forum Asia
and the People Empowerment Consortium, are among
the organizations involved in the unified group.
Political observer Ikrar Nusa Bakti of the
Indonesian Institute of Sciences said it would be
difficult to uncover the truth behind the
incidents and violence that surrounded the Aug.
30, 1999, referendum.
"Such orders to destroy people’s houses and public
property could only have been made orally, rather
than in writing, to avoid it being used as proof,"
he told The Jakarta Post.
At the CTF hearing, former president B.J. Habibie
denied he had given the go ahead for the
destruction of property. Military officials also
denied they had received or issued any orders to
damage property.
Former East Timor ’comfort women’ now speaking out
Kyodo News - April 25, 2007
Keiji Hirano, Tokyo — Human right groups in Japan
and East Timor have launched a campaign to donate
history teaching materials to the newly
independent nation that focus on the struggles of
women who were forced to provide sex to Japanese
soldiers during World War II.
Based on interviews with 15 former “comfort women”
and others in East Timor, the groups have set up
50 panels bearing their pictures and testimonies
for an exhibition at the Women’s Active Museum on
War and Peace in Tokyo through May 27.
Under the ongoing campaign, they plan to translate
the explanations on the panels into the official
East Timorese language, Tetun, so people there
will be able to learn about wartime history.
"People in East Timor do not have enough materials
to learn their own history," said Akihisa Matsuno,
a member of the East Timor Japan Coalition. "We
hope we can raise 2 million yen in order to
complete the translation and creation of the
panels by the summer."
They plan to show the panels to junior and senior
high school teachers in East Timor at seminars for
use in their history classes, according to
Matsuno, also professor at Osaka University of
Foreign Studies.
As part of their efforts to promote the campaign,
the Japanese groups recently invited Angelina de
Araujo from East Timor, a member of the HAK
Association, or the association for human rights
and justice, so she could talk to people in Japan
about her interviews with the former sex slaves.
"I did not know anything about the wartime sex
slavery before the interviews, and I felt sad, as
a woman, about what they told me," Araujo, 27,
said. "Sometimes I was unwilling to listen to
their stories, but I continued the interviews as I
believed their history would be terminated if we
did not record them."
According to the study by Araujo and other
researchers, the Japanese military established
wartime brothels all over East Timor after
invading the region in 1942, and intimidated the
local people into providing young women for the
soldiers.
Some interviewees testified that they had been
repeatedly raped by the soldiers, even though they
had not yet started menstruating, while one woman
said that young girls were afraid of condoms as
they did not know what they were and felt afraid
to have something unknown entering their bodies.
Another woman said she had been kept at the house
of a high-ranking officer. "My parents sometimes
brought me food, but they never entered the
house,“she said.”They just stood at the door and
stared at me while I was inside the house."
Araujo, who held talk sessions in five Japanese
cities, including Sendai, Tokyo and Osaka, said,
"Some of them were initially hesitant to speak out
as they felt embarrassed with their past
hardships, while some started crying while telling
me their stories.“”But now they have allowed us to display the
panels on their testimonies,“she said.”Now that
I have come to know their tough lives, I expect
the Japanese government to compensate them." The
interviews also covered 85 other people who went
through the era of Japanese occupation and were
aware of the damage caused by the Japanese
military.
A former village chief said he had been ordered to
find and offer young girls, while another man
testified he had made the “comfort women” —
called “sweet girls” in the local language —
bathe every day to ensure that they would not
become dirty.
"The women were unpaid, and they were given
neither food nor clothes, so their parents brought
them food,“he said.”As for me, I was ordered at
the end of every day to clean up the women’s
rooms, in which condoms were scattered over the
floor."
Kiyoko Furusawa, another member of the East Timor
Japan Coalition, said, "Many high-ranking Japanese
government officials have visited East Timor so
far, but none of them has apologized for Japan’s
wartime acts or referred to compensation."
Furusawa, also associate professor at Tokyo
Woman’s Christian University, called on the
government to acknowledge the wartime history of
East Timor sincerely.
East Timor officially gained independence in 2002
after two-and-a-half years under UN administration
following a vote for independence from Indonesia
in 1999.
East Timor candidates should protect rights:
activists
Agence France Presse - April 4, 2007
Dili — The candidates for next week’s East Timor
presidential election should publicly commit to
addressing the country’s human rights problems and
propose reforms, a rights group said Wednesday.
"Institutional weaknesses in the police, military
and judiciary have fuelled the current crisis in
Timor-Leste," Human Rights Watch researcher
Charmain Mohamed said.
"Timor’s next president should immediately address
these weaknesses so that the country can meet its
international human rights obligations," she said.
Violence has pulsed through impoverished East
Timor since its people voted for independence from
neighbouring Indonesia in 1999 after 24 years of
occupation.
At least 37 people were killed and 150,000 forced
to flee during unrest last year which led to the
dispatch of an Australian-led international
peacekeeping force to stabilise the former
Portuguese colony.
"Long-term stability for Timor-Leste depends on
transparent and credible prosecutions of
perpetrators of last year’s violence," said
Mohamed.
Human Rights Watch also called on the candidates
to address "the ongoing impunity for gross human
rights violations perpetrated during the
Indonesian occupation."
The April 9 election will be the first since East
Timor formally won independence in 2002. Eight
candidates are vying for the presidency, a largely
ceremonial post, amid tightened security over
concerns that the poll could be a trigger for more
violence.
The fledgling state’s current prime minister,
Nobel laureate Jose Ramos-Horta, is thought one of
the favourites to win, along with Fransisco
Guterres from Fretilin, East Timor’s largest
political party.
LANGUAGE & CULTURE
East Timor drowns in language soup
Reuters - April 23, 2007
Ahmad Pathoni, Dili — Portuguese is one of the
two official languages in East Timor, but you can
hardly hear it spoken in the streets of the young
nation.
The tiny country was a Portuguese colony for more
than three centuries, but only an estimated 5
percent of its one million people now speak the
European language.
After Lisbon cut the territory free, East Timor
was occupied by neighbouring Indonesia for 24
years before gaining full independence in 2002.
Under Indonesian rule, Portuguese was suppressed
and speakers of the language now mostly come from
the political elite or are older people educated
in the colonial era.
Despite government attempts to push the use of
Portuguese as an official language, Indonesian
remains the main language of instruction in
secondary schools and universities, along with
native Tetum, the other national language.
Many of East Timor’s leaders left for exile in
Portugal or its colonies before or soon after the
territory was invaded by Indonesian forces and
many of them do not speak Indonesian. They
consider Portuguese to be the language of
resistance.
But the government’s decision to enshrine
Portuguese in the constitution is criticised by
some, who see it as short sighted. They say many
young people educated under Indonesian rule have
been denied state jobs because they lack
Portuguese skills.
"This is the biggest type of discrimination
practised by the government," said Suzanna
Cardoso, a Timorese journalist. "The government
does not recognise the contribution of those
educated under the Indonesian system to the
struggle for independence," she told Reuters.
Cardoso said English would be more useful for East
Timor. "Why do we have to use Portuguese?
Portuguese-speaking countries are poor and they
are far from us," she said.
Jumble of languages
Tetum is used in daily interaction but some
experts say it is mainly a spoken language and has
to be developed further for wider usage.
But the issue is sensitive and a cabinet minister
has been criticised for only speaking Portuguese
and never using Tetum in public.
Signboards at government offices are written in
Portuguese, although for most Timorese it remains
a foreign language they don’t understand.
Newspapers run articles in Tetum and Indonesian
side-by-side. Indonesian TV soap operas are also
hugely popular.
"I don’t know any Portuguese. I’d rather learn
English than Portuguese," said Ano Pereira, a
driver and high school graduate.
The language issue was raised by some of the eight
candidates contesting April 9 presidential
elections, with one promising to ditch Portuguese
if he won the presidency.
News conferences during the elections were held in
four languages — English, Tetum, Portuguese and
Indonesian — adding to the difficulty of co-
ordinating the fairly chaotic polls. No candidate
in the election won a big enough majority to win
outright and a run-off is expected to be held next
month.
At the National University of East Timor, teachers
give lectures and students write their theses in
Indonesian. "Most of our textbooks are in
Indonesian and most lecturers don’t speak
Portuguese," management student Julio Rangel said
as he sat at the hallway of a white-painted campus
building, a Catholic seminary during colonial
times.
A report released by the United Nations
Development Programme in 2002 said 82 percent of
East Timor’s one million population spoke Tetum,
while 43 percent could speak Indonesian. Only 5
percent spoke Portuguese.
The government, dominated by the Fretilin party
which spearheaded the struggle against Indonesian
rule, has brought in teachers mostly from Portugal
to teach in elementary schools. But there are
concerns that once pupils finish elementary
education, they will have to enrol at a secondary
school where teachers don’t speak Portuguese.
"This is going to be a big problem. These students
don’t speak Indonesian and their teachers don’t
know Portuguese," said Julio Thomas Pinto, who
teaches at two universities in the East Timor
capital Dili.
The head of East Timor’s National Institute of
Linguistics, Dr Geoffrey Hull, defends the
adoption of Portuguese as a national language.
"Anyone with the slightest familiarity with East
Timor’s history knows that the Portuguese language
has long been central to the national identity,“he said on the institute’s Web site.”East Timor
needs both Tetum and Portuguese to be fully
itself," he said.
But Silvino Pinto Cabral, an economics lecturer at
the national university, is not convinced. "This
policy of imposing a foreign language will not
work. I doubt that in 50 years the government will
be able to make the whole nation proficient in
Portuguese," he said.
Indonesian, English, yes, Portuguese, sorry, no
Jakarta Post - April 11, 2007
Abdul Khalik, Dili — Opening his math book,
Manuel da Silva, 17, discovered he had something
to clarify before he could finish the homework his
teacher had given him.
“I don’t understand question number three,” he
told his teacher in Indonesian, his eyes not
moving from his Indonesian-language textbook
His teacher, Jose Ribeiro, a man educated in
Jakarta, explained the problem in Indonesian
before walking out the door to the teachers’ room
in one of Dili’s senior high schools.
"We have to use the Indonesian language in class
because most of the textbooks we use are written
in Indonesian. Sometimes we mix it with Tetum (the
native language of Timor Leste) to make students
understand better," Ribeiro told The Jakarta Post.
Although Timor Leste’s government has declared
Tetum and Portuguese the country’s official
languages, only a few older people use Portuguese
in everyday conversation, he said.
"I don’t speak Portuguese, neither do most of the
teachers here, and my students certainly don’t.
But all of us speak Indonesian and some English.
"Although we use Tetum in everyday conversation,
it can’t be used in class as we have no national
standard for the language and words. We could end
up misinterpreting a scientific concept," he said.
He said that every educational institution, from
junior high schools to universities, experienced
the same problem.
The government made the teaching of Portuguese and
English mandatory in schools after receiving
independence from Indonesia five years ago, but
this is yet to have an impact on the student’s
fluency.
In every press conference during Timor Leste’s
presidential elections, local and international
journalists and observers shake their heads in
disbelief when officials continue to speak in
Portuguese despite the fact that even Timor Leste
natives cannot understand.
As a young citizen of Timor Leste, Vicente
Pereira, 21, has experienced life under Indonesian
rule and independence. He also is baffled as to
why his government adopted the Portuguese language
rather than Indonesian.
"We know nothing about Portugal or its language.
We need books from Indonesia. I hope one day will
have a book store like Gramedia here," he said,
referring to Indonesia’s largest bookstore and
publishing house.
An expert on Timor Leste, Nugroho Katjasungkana
from the Institute for Popular Education, said
that while the Timor Leste government seemed to
want to leave everything about Indonesia behind,
people were still very much attached to Indonesia.
"They did not like Indonesia when it occupied
their land. Now that they are independent, they
have no reason to continue this. Most people know
they need Indonesia for basic commodities.
Everything from soap to gas is still being
imported from Indonesia," Nugroho said.
A businesswoman from Indonesia, Utik, who has for
several years ran a business in Dili with her
Singaporean husband, also complained about the
attitude of the many officials who tend to
prioritize the Portuguese language.
"All businesspeople from Indonesia are very
confused when they have to fill in documents in
Portuguese as most of these documents are not
translated into English. Most officials pretend
they don’t understand Indonesian. I mean, come on,
they need Indonesian businesspeople because we are
the closest neighbor," she told the Post.
Indonesian Ambassador to Timor Leste Ahmed Bey
Sofwan said that Indonesia was now working on
establishing a cultural and language center in
Dili to monitor the development of the Indonesian
language in the country.
BOOK/FILM REVIEWS
New focus helps crack Balibo Five film
The Australian - April 26, 2007
Sandy George, Film writer — It has taken four
years to work out how to turn the story of the
Balibo Five, the TV newsmen killed in East Timor
on October 16, 1975, into a feature film. But
director Robert Connolly (The Bank, Three Dollars)
is confident filming can begin.
"Lots of film-makers have tried to crack this
story but haven’t been able to," Connolly said
yesterday, speaking publicly about the film for
the first time. "We finally think we have — by
telling it from the East Timorese point of view."
His two key characters are Jose Ramos Horta, now
East Timor’s Prime Minister but then 25 and a key
figure in the Timorese nationalist movement, who
went on to win the Nobel prize for peace; and
Australian journalist Roger East, who went to East
Timor to investigate the deaths and was executed
in December 1975 when Indonesia invaded the
island. Mr Ramos Horta does not yet know he will
feature so strongly in the film.
David Williamson has written the script from Jill
Jolliffe’s 2001 book Cover-Up, the inside story of
the Balibo Five. The film will concentrate on the
month following the killings and encompasses key
events since, including the NSW coronial inquest
into the deaths, due to resume next month.
"Thirty-two years later, the Balibo Five is still
deeply rooted in our culture and people are still
really troubled by it," Connolly said, referring
to the uncertainty surrounding Canberra’s role in
the invasion of East Timor.
"The film is about journalists in war and what it
takes to free a country,“he said.”The thing I
love about it is that it shows how the truth
always comes out. Decisions politicians made 32
years ago are still being investigated in the
court."
Connolly and business partner John Maynard,
producer for The Balibo Five, said they were
committed to exploring political issues. The Bank
tackled business ethics, for example. Their next
film, Romulus, My Father, is a migrant story.
Maynard describes The Balibo Five as his most
difficult film yet.
"The cinema world is full of First World heroes
going into Third World countries to liberate their
citizens, and it doesn’t work like that," Maynard
said.
"In 20 years, 200,000 people in East Timor, one-
third of the population, were killed while the
world turned its back on them... Their desire to
be independent is like some sort of miracle."
Book Review: ’Negligent Neighbour’
New Zealand Herald - April 10, 2007
[’Negligent Neighbour: New Zealand’s Complicity in
the Invasion and Occupation of Timor-Leste’ by
Maire Leadbeater. 280 pages $34.99Craig Potton
Publishing.]
Cameron Walker — In this book, long time anti-
nuclear and East Timor solidarity activist, Maire
Leadbeater, draws largely on official declassified
documents to paint a clear picture of the NZ
state’s shocking role in backing Indonesia’s 24
year long occupation of East Timor (now known as
Timor Leste).
Between 1975 and 1999 the Indonesian Military is
estimated to have killed 183,000 people in East
Timor — nearly one third of the population.
During this time both Labour and National
Governments voted against UN resolutions
supporting the Timorese people, attempted to
blacken the image of the Timorese resistance
movement and invited the Indonesian Military to
visit NZ to learn ’counter-insurgency’ techniques
and how to lay landmines from the NZ Defence
Forces.
Reading Negligent Neighbour you come to realise
that much of New Zealand’s foreign policy is made
behind closed doors by diplomats and bureaucrats,
without any care for what the public might think.
It is shocking the racist contempt that many NZ
diplomatic staff held for the Timorese. In 1978
New Zealand’s then ambassador to Indonesia, Roger
Peren, in official diplomatic communication, said
of the Timorese people ’considered as human stock
they are not at all impressive’ If you still have
illusions about New Zealand being a ’good
international citizen’, be prepared to have them
dashed. Even David Lange, who is remembered fondly
by many as the Prime Minister who stood up for
nuclear disarmament, was a happy cheerleader for
the brutal occupation of East Timor.
However, this book is certainly not completely a
show case of what’s wrong in our World.
Leadbeater’s account of New Zealand’s East Timor
solidarity movement and its eventual ability to
change government policy is extremely inspiring.
She writes of one incident in 1995 where
government officials had to write an apologetic
letter to Indonesia postponing a joint ’ground
attack skills’ exercise (read bombing East
Timorese villages from the sky).
After anti-military ties posters appeared around
Wellington the government was scared it would be
used as an opportunity for activists to raise
awareness about East Timor.
Maire Leadbeater was in the final stages of
writing her book when last year’s violence in
Timor Leste broke out and NZ and Australian troops
were sent to intervene. However, she does tackle
this issue. She writes ’While apparently welcomed
by all political forces in the country, the troops
of Australia, New Zealand and other countries are,
at the time of writing, taking on something of the
nature of a colonial occupation.’ She reiterates
the calls of Timorese NGOs for a fair distribution
of resources and for people at the grassroots to
be in control of development, not suited
businessmen from overseas.
The epilogue describes how East Timor is now a
supposedly independent nation but, like many other
developing nations, the World Bank has come to
control its economic policy — making the Timorese
economy work for multinational corporations not
the Timorese people. Things haven’t been helped
either by Australia’s theft of oil and gas
resources in the Timor Sea. Whoever ends up
winning the recent Presidential election or the
Parliamentary elections later this year will have
to cater to institutions like the World Bank and
Asian Development Bank.
Towards the end of the book Leadbeater says New
Zealand should retain its ban on defence ties with
Indonesia. Unfortunately this is now out of date.
Despite the fact the Indonesian Military is still
mass murdering people in West Papua and cracking
down on progressive forces within Indonesia, an
Indonesian Military officer shall be attending the
NZ Defence Force’s staff and Command College from
May 14th this year.
Negligent Neighbour is a brilliant book that
reminds us NZ foreign policy, like that of other
Western capitalist nations, is too often on the
side of the oppressor rather than the oppressed.
OPINION & ANALYSIS
East Timor struggle may yet realise a failed state
Irish Times - April 9, 2007
Joe Humphreys — It is the first such ballot since
the country gained independence in 2002 — after
21/2 years of transitional rule by the UN, and a
24-year occupation by an often brutal Indonesian
military.
It had been hoped the elections would show East
Timor is on the road to success. Instead, however,
they are raising fresh questions as to whether the
Timorese people struggled for freedom, only to
realise a failed state.
Ask why East Timor has fared so badly (it
continues to have the lowest income per capita in
Asia), and you will get a plethora of
contradictory answers from aid workers, diplomats
and local politicians.
Expectations were too high, ambitions were too
low, the UN stayed too long, the UN left too soon;
such are views of experts who seemingly agree on
just one point, the situation is complicated.
Take, for example, last year’s unrest which left
37 people dead and more than 150,000 displaced
from their homes. A trigger was former prime
minister Mari Alkatiri’s decision to sack 591
soldiers who had gone on strike over alleged
discrimination in the army. Passions were also
inflamed by President Xanana Gusmao who, in a
public pronouncement, unwittingly stoked up
ancient ethnic rivalries.
Whoever should take the blame, the episode
highlighted a failure of leadership which, in an
ideal world, should be punished. This being East
Timor (also known now as the Democratic Republic
of Timor-Leste), no action has been taken —
except against one low-ranking minister who was
found guilty of illegally distributing weapons.
Far from showing remorse, the leading figures
implicated in last year’s crisis are continuing to
fight for power. Gusmao, a former guerilla leader
once dubbed East Timor’s Nelson Mandela, has
broken away from the ruling party Fretilin to form
his own political grouping. The outgoing president
is seeking to become prime minister, and will
compete directly against Alkatiri in June’s
parliamentary elections — a poll that is sure to
test the country’s security apparatus to its
limit.
As for today’s presidential election, outside
observers are broadly satisfied about the
conditions. This is despite sporadic fighting last
week when Alkatiri joined election front-runner
Lu-Olo Guterres, the leader of Fretilin, on the
campaign trail.
The other main candidate in a field of eight is Dr
Jose Ramos-Horta, the former Nobel peace laureate
who dislodged Alkatiri as prime minister following
last year’s unrest.
Whatever the outcome of the series of ballots,
East Timor’s security situation is unlikely to
improve. At least, that’s according to Jose Luis
de Oliveira, director of Timorese human rights
groups’ Hak Association.
"The priority for us is law enforcement, and
getting the justice sector to operate without
interference from politicians," he says.
Like many Timorese, he believes the government
must address not just the latest wave of violence
but the countless atrocities committed during the
1999 vote for independence.
At least 1,500 people were killed, and countless
women raped, when pro-Indonesian militia went on
the rampage — seemingly armed and supervised by
the Indonesian military.
Last month Indonesia and East Timor reopened an
inter-state inquiry into the murders. But the
Bali-based Commission of Truth and Friendship has
been dismissed as a farce by human rights
observers.
At the hearings, Indonesian military chiefs and
militia leaders — including Eurico Guterres, who
controlled some of the worst killing squads - have
denied any responsibility for the atrocities,
blaming the UN instead for supposedly fuelling
tensions.
James Dunn, a former Australian consul to East
Timor, says attempts to portray the country’s woes
as stemming from some sort of civil war "makes me
ill“.”What we are seeing in Bali is history being
written in a most distorted fashion, and that
destablisises the current situation.“Indonesia, the world’s fourth most populous state,”is on its way to becoming a democratic country
but it won’t get there if it denies its past", he
adds.
Human rights groups both in East Timor and
Indonesia are now calling for the establishment of
an international criminal court to prosecute those
responsible for the slaughter of 1999.
Ironically, such calls are being resisted by both
Gusmao and several other Timorese politicians who
believe prosecutions will sour relations with a
neighbour on which East Timor is now dependent for
food aid.
A country like Ireland, which played a prominent
role championing the Timorese cause, could help to
break the logjam. That said, the chances are slim
of the UN sanctioning a criminal inquiry,
especially now Indonesia has joined the security
council as a temporary member until the end of
2008.
Can East Timor move forward without dealing with
the past? De Oliveira, for one, believes not.
“Without justice,” he says, “we can’t find peace”.
Election offers no guarantees for East Timor
Melbourne Age - April 8, 2007
Damien Kingsbury — Those who view East Timor’s
politics as largely benign describe the mood
before tomorrow’s presidential election as
“dynamic”. Those who view the situation more
ominously describe the environment as “fluid”.
Either way, it is likely that the outcome expected
just a few days ago has been thrown into doubt.
Of the eight candidates for East Timor’s
presidency, only three are believed to have any
real chance of winning — Fretilin’s Francisco
“Lu-Olo” Guterres, Democratic Party leader
Fernando “Lasama” de Araujo and the current prime
minister, Jose Ramos-Horta.
A week ago it seemed the contest would be between
Guterres and Ramos-Horta. Last week, de Araujo
became a favourite. All would distinctively shape
the political landscape.
A former guerilla fighter, parliamentary speaker
Guterres is regarded as a palatable option for
Fretilin’s hardliners. But support for Fretilin
has fallen since the civil conflict of a year ago,
for which the Fretilin government has been held
largely responsible.
Complicating Fretilin’s position, last year’s
stymied push against Fretilin leader and former
prime minister Mari Alkatiri by the party’s
“Mudansa” (reform) faction has led to an open
split. Up to half of the party, largely identified
as its youth wing, has now backed President Xanana
Gusmao’s new Council for East Timor National
Reconstruction (CNRT) party, which will contest
the elections, with Gusmao hoping to become prime
minister.
This split and likely additional protest vote has
seriously weakened Guterres’ chances of winning
the presidency. Should he be successful, however,
it will be an endorsement of Fretilin’s
conservative leadership and back to the problems
that led to the violence last year.
Former foreign minister and perceived "clean-
skin“, Ramos-Horta is standing as an”independent", although Gusmao and CNRT are
backing him for the presidency. This should have
put him in a prime political position.
However, since assuming the prime ministership
last year, Ramos-Horta has been constrained by a
lack of parliamentary and organisational support
and has been seen as somewhat ineffective.
Further, Ramos-Horta’s comments at the recent
trial of now-convicted former interior minister
Rogerio Lobato, that Lobato’s arming of civilians
was intended to establish security, has backfired
badly.
Although sentenced to seven years for
manslaughter, Lobato has not yet gone to jail,
living at home under “house arrest”. This has
angered many, especially those who already had
little faith in the justice system.
Ramos-Horta is also seen as responsible for
authorising the attack by Australian troops last
month on renegade prison escapee Afredo Reinado
and his supporters in the town of Same. While
Reinado faces charges of murder and escaping from
prison, many East Timorese see his actions within
the context of last year’s troubles and support
him accordingly.
The Australian troops hunting for Reinado could no
doubt find him if they choose but are holding back
for fear that another attack could further
destabilise the delicate political environment.
Opposition to Fretilin tended to sympathise with
Reinado. Ramos-Horta has consequently lost much of
that anti-Fretilin vote.
With Guterres and Ramos-Horta both mired in
political troubles, the way is increasingly open
for de Araujo to come from behind and take the
lead. De Araujo was a key leader of the
underground student movement during Indonesia’s
occupation of East Timor and was a political
prisoner in Jakarta’s Cipinang prison with Gusmao.
De Araujo’s political standing is largely built on
this foundation, his reformist policies and his
coalition with other non-Fretilin parties. De
Araujo is also strongly identified with the "young
generation" that grew up under Indonesian
occupation, as opposed to the “1975 generation” of
politicians who spent the occupation overseas or,
in a few cases, in the mountains.
Assuming Ramos-Horta cannot recover — and his
political rallies have been small — de Araujo
will attract the young and anti-Fretilin vote,
probably in a second contest between the two
leading candidates from tomorrow’s election. With
Fretilin’s “Mudansa” faction behind Gusmao’s CNRT,
a coalition of non-Fretilin parties is likely to
form a majority in the elections, with Gusmao
their likely prime minister.
The problem with this scenario is that Gusmao and
de Araujo are not only separated by a political
generation but they have differing policies. A
working relationship between these two built on
mutual respect could secure East Timor’s future.
Their failure to work together, however, could
split the parliament and spell further political
troubles for this still struggling nation.
Fretilin is likely to view losing with
considerable chagrin. If it restricts its loss to
active opposition, it will assist this fledgling
democracy. But Fretilin’s old guard has not yet
shown it is prepared to play a peaceful political
game. The elections are thus a possible step
forward for East Timor, but not a guaranteed one.
[Associate professor Damien Kingsbury is director
of the master’s program in international and
community development, Deakin University. He is
co-editor, with Michael Leach, of East Timor:
Beyond Independence, soon to be released by Monash
University Press.]
Politics and poverty
South China Morning Post - April 7, 2007
Fabio Scarpello — Fiery campaigner Ceu Lopes, 50,
was active during her fledgling nation’s 24-year
struggle against the occupation by Indonesia. From
Australia, where she has lived since 1985, the
founder of the NGO Timor Aid, campaigned
tirelessly, raised funds and often travelled
covertly to the jungles of her native island,
where she met guerilla fighters, sharing their
fears and hopes for a better future.
Yet, almost eight years after the 1999 referendum
that ended the Indonesian occupation and five
years after the declaration of independence, most
of those hopes remain unfulfilled. "I am utterly
disappointed with the current situation," Mrs
Lopes said.
In April and May last year, the country was rocked
by violence. Nearly 40 people were killed and
150,000 forced to flee their homes as the national
army and police disintegrated. A change in
government and deployment of foreign peacekeepers
brought a veneer of security, but ongoing violence
means nearly 70,000 people are still too afraid to
return home.
It is generally acknowledged that the violence
sprung from scars left by the trauma of
Indonesia’s occupation. More than 200,000 people
died during the occupation, tainted by widespread
abuses.
Moreover, most observers agree that the UN’s hasty
departure and Australia’s foreign policy have been
two aggravating factors. The UN administered East
Timor between 1999 and 2002, but left while the
country’s institutions were still weak.
Australia’s refusal to abide by international law
in regards to disputed gas and oil fields has
deprived the tiny state of much-needed income at a
crucial time.
Mitigating factors aside, most of the blame falls
on the Timorese leadership. "Our leaders proved to
be incompetent and arrogant," said Mrs Lopes, who
knows most of them personally. "Throughout the
years they have been more concerned about
strengthening their power than working for the
good of the country."
The leading characters in East Timor’s politics
are President Xanana Gusmco, Prime Minister Josi
Ramos Horta and former prime minister Mari
Alkatiri, who is also the leader of Fretilin
(Revolutionary Front for an Independent East
Timor), the country’s largest political party.
The same leaders are now getting ready to contest
the country’s first post-independence elections,
which will start with a presidential vote on
Monday that will be monitored by more than 2,000
national and international election observers. A
parliamentary election is due shortly after. In a
plot aimed at sidelining Mr Alkatiri, Nobel Peace
Prize-winner Mr Ramos Horta and former resistance
leader Mr Gusmco are seeking to swap places. They
have a good chance of success.
“I think that Horta will win,” said Warren Wright,
45, formerly based in East Timor with the UN and
now head of East Timor Law Journal.
The race for parliament is trickier. An internally
split Fretilin party remains favourite, but Mr
Gusmco’s new Congress for the National
Reconstruction of East Timor (CNRT) party, holds
some potential aces up its sleeve.
The Democratic Party (PD), which has forged an
alliance with several smaller parties, could be
the spoiler.
Damien Kingsbury, an academic with Australia’s
Deakin University and observer of East Timor
politics, said that "if the CNRT and PD-coalition
join forces, then Fretilin is probably out of
government".
Regardless of who wins, most agree that there is a
lot to do to get the country back on track.
Agriculturalist and veteran pro-Timor activist Rob
Wesley-Smith has a clear set of priorities.
"People’s basic needs must be taken care of first.
That is nutrition, clean water and sanitation," he
said, underlining the fact that rice shortages in
February triggered a fresh wave of violence.
The crisis was partially over-come after the
intervention of the UN World Food Programme. It is
estimated that East Timor requires 83,000 tonnes
of rice per year, but the Ministry of Agriculture
calculates that domestic production is only 40,000
tonnes.
"The new leaders must energise the agriculture
sector. People have abandoned the fields, and some
of the young causing troubles do so because they
have nothing to do," Mr Wesley-Smith said.
On the other hand, Mr Wright listed the
restoration of peace and the normalisation of
social and political relations as the overwhelming
priorities.
"These include the prosecution of gangs, the
confiscation of all weapons and prosecution of
those involved in distributing them, the creation
of competent institutions to deal with conflict
and disputes, the demobilisation of the military
from civil life, and a reformation of the judicial
system," he said.
Mr Kingsbury added the ongoing problem of rebel
soldiers to this list. "The new leadership will
have to resolve the issue of the sacked soldier-
petitioners and that of Major Alfredo Reinado. The
petitioners are still angry and have the potential
to cause future problems," he said.
Nearly 600 petitioners were sacked in March last
year after going on strike over what they claimed
was discrimination against those from the west of
the country. Violence erupted in the following
month when the petitioners and their supporters
attacked the Government Palace.
Mr Reinado joined them a while later. A fugitive,
he leads a group of well-armed men and has become
a cult figure among young Timorese.
Mrs Lopes stressed that “lack of justice” was the
main cause of the problems. "Timorese entrusted
their leaders to uphold the values they fought and
died for. But the general consensus is that no
changes have taken place since independence and
people’s cry for justice has gone unheeded.
"People feel that the leaders have failed our
country badly. The outbursts of violence are the
culmination of their frustration, anger and
profound mistrust."
Reviewing events since 1999, Mrs Lopes cited
perceived injustices such as the dismissal of
Falintil (the military wing of Fretilin) and the
abolition of the National Council of Timorese
Resistance, a neutral body formed by Mr Gusmco to
win the referendum for independence in 1999, as
key mistakes.
Falintil was highly respected, yet after
independence a narrow age requirement excluded
most of the guerillas from the national army.
"The army that emerged was a weak institution with
its pride and dignity in tatters. Former
resistance veterans started to reorganise
themselves to fight for their rights," Mrs Lopes
said. "The seeds of post-independence rebellion
were planted with this injustice."
Another negative byproduct of the abolition of the
National Council of Timorese Resistance was the
emergence of Mr Alkatiri’s Fretilin as the only
political force in the country. With hegemony,
Fretilin became despotic, inefficient and corrupt,
guilty of a series of wrong policies and
injustices. Among other problems, Mrs Lopes
singled-out the adoption of Portuguese as the
official language, despite the fact that more than
85 per cent of the population speaks Indonesian.
Portuguese is spoken only by a small elite,
considered supportive of Mr Alkatiri.
"Portuguese robbed the young Timorese of a hope
for a better future. After years of fighting and
studying, now they cannot get a job. They feel
marginalised, isolated, poor and full of rage,"
she said.
In her passionate analysis, Mrs Lopes did not
spare Mr Gusmco, whom she considered "guilty of
letting Indonesia off the hook for the crimes
committed during the occupation". Her comment
referred mostly to the findings of the Commission
for Reception, Truth and Reconciliation in East
Timor (CAVR), which documented countless cases of
executions, torture, mutilations and rape.
Released early last year, the report shocked the
world, which called for justice. Yet, Mr Gusmco
rejected CAVR’s call for reparations and a war-
crimes tribunal, saying that "Timor-Leste must
look forward and not to the past“.”Thousands of victims of war expected some justice
with CAVR. But they were, once again, greatly
disappointed," Mrs Lopes said.
Regarding the elections, she agreed that Mr Ramos
Horta was likely to become the new president and
that Mr Gusmco had a good chance of wrestling the
power away from Mr Alkatiri. Her message to the
two of them was simple.
"Bring justice to Timor-Leste, because without
justice there cannot be security, prosperity,
respect of human rights or peace."
Is there hope for East Timor?
Irish Times - April 7, 2007
It’s five years on from independence, and as the
troubled country gears up for Monday’s elections,
people there tell Joe Humphreys how they see the
future.
Frangelino is sitting on a wooden bench near a
taxi-stop when The Irish Times arrives. With an
inquisitive air, he tests his English on us. "I
like mathematics,“he says,”and chemistry,
physics, biology; I want to be a scientist."
Clearly a bright lad, Frangelino speaks lucidly
about his education and his plans. He’s the sort
of quietly determined, outward-looking 20-year-old
you could image topping his class in university,
or maybe setting up a small business, if he
happened to be from Ireland. But Frangelino is
from East Timor.
A few feet away from where he speaks is the
crumpled hulk of a government vehicle — hijacked
and torched last month by armed gangs who had
previously brought the small, southeast Asian
nation close to civil war. In a nearby laneway, a
column of Australian troops searched youths for
weapons that might be used to destabilise Monday’s
presidential election — the first such poll since
East Timor’s independence in 2002.
Few adults can be seen in Frangelino’s
neighbourhood — partly a knock-on effect of the
recent unrest, which caused tens of thousands of
families to flee to the countryside. The
demographic profile is also a legacy of East
Timor’s bitter occupation by Indonesia — a
foreign power that wiped out a third of the
Timorese population through starvation and
slaughter.
Today, East Timor has one of the youngest
populations in the world (40 per cent of people
are under the age of 14). The country is also the
poorest in Asia, thanks in large part to the
Indonesian army, which destroyed most of the
infrastructure on departing the former Portuguese
colony. Unemployment is conservatively estimated
at 50 per cent. For youths like Frangelino
survival depends upon small change — like the
dime he has lodged for safekeeping in his right
ear when we meet him.
"I was in college but I had to stop because I
couldn’t pay the fees,“he says.”The government
doesn’t help so I am trying to save." About the
only employment available, he explains, is selling
newspapers or mobile phone credit on the street.
“If you sell $100 of phone credit you get $2.” His
eyes lower with what seems to be shame. "I did it
one day and I sold $5; I got 5 cents." Shortly
after he finishes speaking, our transport comes.
We say goodbye and go on our way, thinking of how
Frangelino must have felt doing a day’s work for
the price of a sweet.
East Timor is, in every sense, an uncomfortable
place to visit. There is no easy way of reaching
the remote half-island, 500km north of Darwin,
Australia, nor of travelling around it. Although
only a fifth the size of Ireland, it takes at
least five times as long to get anywhere, so bad
are the potholed, snake-like roads that regularly
disappear behind tropical rains, mountain fog and
landslides.
Timor is an uncomfortable place to visit
emotionally too. Not only do you have to hear sad
stories such as Frangelino’s but you must delve
into the heart-breaking history of his homeland.
You must acquaint yourself with the victims of
Indonesian rule — from 1975, when a murderous
invasion began, to 1999, when Timorese who voted
for independence were mercilessly hacked down by
Indonesian-backed militia.
You must learn about the role played by certain
western governments in giving Indonesia diplomatic
and military support for many years.
And you must ask whether the United Nations,
despite all its good intentions, is really capable
of “nation-building”.
One person who has made the long, difficult
journey to the heart of East Timor is Tom Hyland.
A former bus driver from Ballyfermot, Dublin, he
first learnt about East Timor from a TV
documentary broadcast in 1992, a few years after
he was laid off by CIE. Along with some neighbours
who were also unemployed at the time, he founded
the East Timor Ireland Solidarity Campaign — a
group that persuaded successive governments to
champion the Timorese cause internationally, as
well as to send Defence Forces troops to the
country to secure the outcome of the 1999 ballot
for independence.
Today, Hyland can be found chugging around Dili on
his second-hand motorbike, stopping off to meet
everyone from government ministers to jobless
youths. Officially, he is employed by the Timorese
department of foreign affairs to teach English to
the local diplomatic corps, swear-words in a
Dublin brogue included.
Unofficially, he is something of a social worker,
living among the young of Timor, and also funding
dozens of them through college from his own
salary.
A clandestine visitor to Dili during the years of
occupation, he has been a resident there since
2000, and has seen first-hand how the population
has suffered. Conscious of East Timor’s
international image as something of a lost cause,
he says: "Things are difficult at the moment, yes.
But in 1999, there was nothing. Everything had
been destroyed."
Like many, he believes the UN was too hasty in
announcing its withdrawal from East Timor last
year. Under pressure from cash-conscious donors,
the international body was scaling down its local
mission, UNMIT, when violence erupted. The main
trigger of the fighting was a government decision
in April 2006 to sack a group of soldiers who had
gone on strike amid claims of discrimination in
the army. Passions were inflamed by intemperate
comments from politicians, including President
Xanana Gusmco, who was widely blamed for helping
to revive an ancient but largely artificial
division between “easterners” and “westerners” in
East Timor.
Following the unrest, the UN agreed to extend its
mandate in the country until February 2008.
Australian and New Zealand peacekeeping troops
restored order, but only after 37 people had died
with more than 150,000 displaced. As many as half
of these remain homeless, and are sheltering today
either with relatives or in refugee camps such as
that on the grounds of Dili hospital.
"People are frightened to move — especially with
the elections coming up," says Jose da Costa (43),
a school teacher who lives with his family of nine
on a tiled floor outside one of the hospital’s
clinics. "Compared to 1975 and 1999, this is
worse. People are asking, ’What did we suffer all
that loss for? For this?’ What’s so sad is that
it’s internal destruction — suco (village)
against suco."
The crisis has also affected the regions,
particularly Manufahi, where rebel Alfredo Reinado
— the leader of the main anti-government faction
— had been hiding up until a few weeks ago. On
March 4th last, Australian troops attacked his
base in Same, killing five of Reinado’s soldiers
but failing to capture the man himself, who has
considerable popular support.
The fighting meant markets were closed for almost
a month, and emergency aid programmes — such as
that run by Concern at Weberek, in southern
Manufahi — had to be suspended. The Irish Times
visited the centre the day it re-opened to see
hundreds of families queuing for food supplements
and immunisation shots. A few of the children had
bloated bellies — a clear sign of malnutrition.
"Whoever becomes president, we hope they give some
support to the people," says local villager
Aurelia da Costa, a mother of three who has no
family income. Asked to compare her situation now
with that before independence, she replies: "Life
was better then. Now it’s very difficult to get
work."
The Hak Association, a Timorese human rights
group, fears the government is using the elections
to deflect attention from underlying problems,
such as poverty and a poorly-functioning
administration. "Politicians think the elections
will solve the crisis. They will not," says Jose
Luis de Oliveria, director of the group, which is
part funded by the Government’s overseas
development arm Irish Aid. He says there is a
particular need to combat a widespread "culture of
impunity", noting that those responsible for the
massacre of innocent civilians during Indonesian
rule have never been held accountable.
“People are still traumatised,” says James Dunn, a
former Australian diplomat who now acts as a
political adviser to the Timorese government. "The
trauma goes right back to the Japanese invasion
[during the second World World]. Each episode in
the country’s history since then has had similar
characteristics — horrendous atrocities about
which really nothing was ever done."
For some youths, the violent gangs that caused
much of the recent unrest are a form of escape
from — and also retribution for — this trauma.
The groups, bearing names such as Korka and 77
(Seti-seti), engage in bitter turf wars, fighting
hand-to-hand with machetes and rama ambons —
home-made catapults that fire crude but deadly
steel arrows.
Clarewoman Emma O’Loghlen, a psychologist with
local mental health organisation Pradet, reports
that "gang identity is stronger than national
identity" among certain youths. With to depression
and alcohol abuse — the latter of which is
exploited by sellers of tuamutin, a cheap, egg-
flavoured local brew.
"Mental illness is a huge problem here, but it’s
just not on the agenda at the moment," says
O’Loghlen.
"The country needs a lot more help, and it has to
be long-term," says Hyland, who is glad to learn
that Irish Aid has just extended the lease on its
Dili headquarters by 10 years. He says a “deeper”
commitment from the aid community is also needed,
suggesting Ireland could play a valuable role in
“mentoring” East Timor in areas such as tourism
and education. This would be similar to a role
Norway is playing in helping to manage the
country’s oil revenues — now coming on stream
under an Australian-led exploration of the Timor
Sea.
To those grumbling about the cost of such
involvement, Dunn has an answer. "People keep
saying, ’look at all the international community
has done for East Timor’. But I say, ’look at all
it has done to East Timor’."
As the Easter Monday election approaches, tension
is mounting in East Timor. Dozens of people have
been injured in sporadic clashes linked to the
poll. Despite the ever-present setbacks, however,
there are signs of hope. People are back working
the land, and fresh reconciliation efforts are
under way. Money may be hard to find, but "at
least we are free", says local peace activist
Antero “Nito” da Silva. "We don’t have to run to
the mountains to hide (like under Indonesian
occupation)." Da Silva, who spent two years
studying in Dublin under an Irish Aid scholarship
programme, was shot with a rama ambon arrow and
nearly killed during last year’s unrest in Dili.
But he is not bitter, and nor is he pessimistic
about his country’s future. Describing the
easterner-westerner conflict as “temporary”, he
says: "There is a lot of intermarriage and common
relations between the two sides, so the chances of
a Rwanda- or Bosnia-type situation are not there."
To Hyland, the key challenge for the country is
job-creation. "The people need good political
leadership,“he says,”but also a vested interest
in the economy to keep things stable."
The cost of success in East Timor may seem great
to donor organisations that are always itching to
cut and run. But the cost of failure is arguably
greater. Don’t forget that, for all its problems,
this troubled little country is blessed with rich
natural resources and a relatively homogenous
society that has overcome massive odds in the
past. If the international community can’t build a
nation here, then where can it build one?
[Joe Humphreys and Bryan O’Brien travelled to East
Timor with the assistance of Irish Aid under its
Simon Cumbers Media Challenge Fund. Concern also
contributed to travel expenses Their reports and
extensive photo galleries are freely available at
www.ireland.com/focus/timor/.]
Who’s to blame for Timor Leste’s chaos?
Jakarta Post - April 4, 2007
Aboeprijadi Santoso, Amsterdam — Former president
B.J. Habibie has often been synonymous with
unpredictability. For a decade he was seen as
Soeharto’s crown prince loyalist, yet, as
president, he introduced press freedom, freed
political prisoners, initiated real autonomy for
the regions, held free elections and presided over
an orderly succession of head of state.
Most surprising was his decision to offer the
referendum that led to East Timor’s independence
in 1999. Now he blames former UN secretary general
Kofi Annan for the violence that was unleashed
after the vote. Why?
Habibie’s contention before the Indonesia-Timor
Leste Truth and Friendship Commission recently
that Annan’s decision to announce the ballot
outcome two days earlier than planned "had
escalated violence", is dubious. It avoids the
need to investigate the behavior of the security
apparatus and the militias.
At issue is whether the UN’s earlier announcement
triggered extensive violence.
Let’s recall the dramatic turn of events on Sept.
4, 1999, the day the UN announced the pro-
independence victory. Within a few hours, fear
pervaded society as the euphoric and joyful
morning at the Mahkota Hotel, Dili, where people
flocked in to hear the UN’s statement, changed
into fear and people went into hiding. Shots were
heard, tensions increased, yet there was little
destruction. Dili was a dead city. Fearing the
occupying army, people resisted by fleeing
eastwards — most did it immediately after casting
their ballots on Aug. 30. They had done so since
the invasion and the great Matebian tragedy in the
1970s, and did it time and again since in response
to threat and oppression.
While roughly half of the inhabitants went
eastward, the other half was forced to run away or
was deported to West Timor. But this was only
possible after extra troops arrived by Hercules
planes at night between Sept. 4 and 6 and the
militias were deployed to guard the city ports. I
was among a group of Indonesian activists and
journalists led by Yeny Rosa Damayanti and Mindo
Rajaguguk who witnessed a scene in Dili with
visible tension until, that is, the carnage
occurred. Those were the days when persecution,
attacks on Bishop Carlos Belo’s diocese, killings,
infernos and deportations had just began at some
places or were about to begin elsewhere.
In other words, the mayhem could only start
between Sept. 4 and 6 as the Army organized the
militia violence more extensively.
Meanwhile, hundreds of locals and foreigners,
including UN staffers, were hiding at UNAMET
(United Nations Mission in East Timor) compounds
while most Indonesian officials, observers and
journalists had left East Timor the week before
Sept. 4, including liaison officers, who were
supposed to safeguard the UN administered
referendum. Many were clearly aware of the coming
mayhem. Some had even been warned by the military
authorities in Jakarta to leave the territory in
particular after the UN changed the announcement
date. This suggests some planning on violent
actions.
Rumors about the pro-independence victory on the
eve of Sept. 4 had shocked Jakarta. It might have
caused some panic and moved the military
authorities to act quickly — possibly to
implement the so-called Garnadi Plan B. But to say
that because of the UN changing the announcement
date, the troops were “totally unprepared” to face
“riots” and, therefore, as Habibie and some
officers indicated, could not control the
militias, is turning logic and reality upside
down. A scapegoat was thus sought and found in the
need to act sooner than planned.
The truth is there were no “riots” except sporadic
incidents — let alone big clashes. The National
Council of Timorese Resistance (CNRT), led by
Xanana Gusmao from the British Embassy compound in
Jakarta, who commanded the Falintil guerrilla and
led the pro-independence group, had instructed
their supporters not to respond to any
provocation.
Armed, transported and financially supported by
the Army, the militias were not autonomous units.
This obviously was the Army’s strategy of using
proxies. But there is a problem of political
language here. From the outset, Jakarta’s
intervention in East Timor was constructed a
political and military response to a “civil war”,
despite the fact that the bloody war among the
Timorese (Fretilin vs. the Timorese Democratic
Union) had ended in 1974.
Twenty-four years later, in November 1998, this
paradigm was reactivated and the militias revived
as the Habibie administration moved toward a
wide-ranging autonomy option. Jakarta wanted to
put the pro-Jakarta Timor militias on equal
footing to the Falintil and attempted to provoke
the guerrillas, while military chief Gen. Wiranto
came to Dili on the critical day of Sept. 6,
claiming to be there to reconcile the warring
Timorese factions — rhetoric then resistance
spokesman Jose Ramos-Horta likened to "Jack The
Ripper pretending to reconcile the women he
raped".
However, the project failed. The Army commanders
not only failed to provoke the Falintil and, as a
consequence, found it harder to find motives to
discredit and intimidate the pro-independent
supporters.
The latter’s victory and the UN’s earlier
announcement only made the humiliated officers
more desperate. But the language — the myth of
the Timor “civil war” — remains.
Instead of looking at the modus operandi of the
orchestrated carnage, i.e. the conduct of — not
the policy on — the security apparatuses (who
according to a UN Agreement of May 5, 1999, should
guarantee security), Habibie took the “civil war”
for granted and blamed the UN chief and UNAMET;
neither did he explore them in his recent book.
“His” generals — Zacky A. Makarim, Adam Damiri,
Tono Suratman — sung the same song. Gen. Wiranto,
who is to testify at the next commission hearing,
is also likely to deny his responsibility and
replay the blame game.
Rather than contributing to impunity by blaming
outsiders, former president B.J. Habibie should
analyze the tragedy that shamed the country —
just as he made a cost-benefit analysis following
the pro-Timor protests in Dresden, Germany, in
1995 that, as this writer witnessed, humiliated
him and Soeharto. For wasn’t it the post-Dresden
analysis that led to his decision to offer a
self-determination vote and earned him
international respect?
[The writer is a journalist with Radio
Netherlands. He covered the East Timor referendum
in 1999.]
EAST TIMOR MEDIA MONITORING
East Timor media monitoring
UNMIT Public Information Unit - April 27, 2007
PD Supports Ramos Horta
The president of the Democratic Party (PD),
Fernando de Araujo Lasama, during the signing of
an accord between PD and Horta on 26/4, said that
PD all across the 13 districts has decided to
support presidential candidate Jose Ramos Horta
during the second round of the presidential
election. He said Horta has the capacity to lead
the country and is able recognizes different
people and political parties. (DN, TP and STL)
Government waiting for the official letter from PR
to halt operations on Alfredo
Deputy Prime Minister Estanislau Aleixo da Silva
said that the government has not received any
official letter from President Gusmco requesting
to halt the operation on Alfredo.
"The government is waiting for the official letter
from the president of the republic," said Aleixo
on Thursday (26/4) at the Palacio das Cinzas in
Caicoli, Dili, after meeting with President
Gusmco. (DN)
Horta: “I want to be the president for the poor”
Presidential candidate Jose Ramos Horta’s second
round of campaigning began on Wednesday (25/4) in
Manufahi, Dotik Village sub-district Alas, where
he said that if he is elected president he would
make peace and poverty reduction a priority. (DN)
UNMIT will rehabilitate damaged roads
The UN Special Representative of Secretary-General
in Timor-Leste, Atul Khare, stated that UNMIT
would look into ways to rehabilitate the roads in
order to ensure the road safety and minimize
traffic accidents. (DN)
Horta asking ISF to halt the operation on Alfredo
Prime Minister Horta asked the ISF to cease the
operation to capture fugitive Reinado. By
continuing the operation, the ISF would be
challenging the decisions made by the president
and the prime minister. (TP)
PDC calls for changing the president of the court
of appeals
The Christian Democratic Party (PDC) proposed to
replace the president of the court of appeals. PDC
said that the current president makes
inappropriate decisions. The PDC president
mentioned that no decisions have yet been made on
50 cases which had been presented to the court.
(TP)
Alkatiri: Xanana and Ramos Horta should be removed
Fretilin’s Secretary-General, Mari Alkatiri, said
that removing Xanana and Horta would solve the
country’s crisiss. "Xanana and Ramos Horta will
not resolve the crisis, but rather will increase
the crisis," said Alkatiri during Francisco Lu-
Olo’s campaign in Manatuto on Wednesday (25/4).
(STL)
UNMIT: Political Parties should not involve
children in politics
The UN Special Representative of Secretary-General
in Timor-Leste, Atul Khare, appealed to all
political parties not to involve children in
political activities.
"I have met with the CNE and STAE and asked them
to encourage all political parties and leaders to
avoid involving children in political activities,"
said Khare at a press conference on Thursday
(26/4) at the UNMIT HQ in Dili. (STL)
STAE and CNE asked to be credible
The Chairperson of Joint Commission of Monitoring
for Election (KOMEG), Fr. Agostinho de Jesus
Soares, at a press conference on Thursday (26/4)
at the Elections Media Center (EMC) in Caicoli
Dili, stated that STAE and CNE should be credible
and impartial to avoid manipulation during the
run-off presidential election.
KOMEG also identified some PNTL members involved
in the counting process at the polling centers.
"Some PNTL members in some districts did not show
their professionalism and independence and some
used their uniforms and weapons to vote," said Fr.
Agostinho. (STL, DN and TP)
PNTL case in Viqueque is under investigation
The chief of the investigation commission for the
Viqueque case, Clementino dos Reis Amaral,
reportedly said that Committee B of the National
Parliament will proceed to investigate the
involvement of PNTL members in cases of
intimidation of the population in Uatolari,
Viqueque. He stated that the commission consists
of eight members. (STL)
East Timor media monitoring
UNMIT Public Information Unit - April 26, 2007
Horta has no principles, KOTA supports Lu-Olo
Klibur Oan Timor Asswa’in party (KOTA) decided to
support the Fretilin candidate Lu-Olo, because
“Jose Ramos Horta has no principles.”
The president of KOTA, Manuel Tilman, on Wednesday
(25/4) at the national parliament declared that
even though KOTA supports Lu-Olo, he will not
force his supporters to vote for Lu-Olo. (DN)
Rerden: "ISF has not halted the operation on
Alfredo"
In response to Horta and President Gusmao’s
declaration to halt the operations to capture
fugitive Reinado, the Commander of the ISF,
Brigadier General Mal Rerden, said that the ISF
will not halt the operation until it receives a
clarification letter from the government. "ISF has
not received any formal letter from the government
requesting to halt the operation. Once ISF
receives the letter, it will discuss the issue
with the government," said Rerden on Wednesday
(25/4) at the ISF office in Caicoli Dili.
In addition, Rerden said that the operation to
capture Alfredo could be easily stopped, however a
public declaration to so should first come from
the government. (DN)
General Prosecutor does not want to mediate
Alfredo’s case
The Prosecutor General (GP), Longuinhos Monteiro,
said that the GP would not mediate a dialogue but
rather would take the case through a proper legal
process.
"I don’t want the youth or the public in general
to say that the GP intervened in some way. The GP
will take the case through the proper legal
process," said Longuinhos on Wednesday (25/4) at
his office in Caicoli Dili. (DN)
Horta promises to be a president of peace
Presidential candidate Jose Ramos Horta’s second
round of campaigning began on Wednesday (25/4) in
Manufahi, Dotik Village sub-district Alas.
Horta took this opportunity to affirm that if he
is elected to be president, he will be a president
for peace. He said his priority is to maintain
peace and work on poverty reduction. (TP)
Seven members of government against Ramos Horta
Presidential candidate Jose Ramos Horta, who left
his post as Prime Minister to run his campaign for
the second round of elections, is now being
challenged by other government officials.
At a press conference on 25/4 at the MTRC office
in Caicoli Dili, the Minister of Labor and
Solidarity, Arsenio Paixao Bano, accompanied by
the Vice Minister, and the Ministers of
Transportation and Telecommunication, Education,
State, Finance, and the Vice Ministers of
Education and Public Works, the Secretary of the
State, and the Minister of the Presidential
Council, said that Horta has no right to intervene
in the government’s duties until the second round
of elections are complete. (TP)
Estanislau asks for an investigation on the case
of rice distribution
At a press conference on Wednesday (25/4) at the
Office of Ministry of Agriculture Dili, the
Minister of Agriculture and Vice Prime Minister,
Estanislau Aleixo da Silva, said that if Prime
Minister Horta insists on an investigation, then
the Minister of Labor and Solidarity and Community
Reinsertion, Arsenio Paixao Bano, should be
investigated.
He explained that the rice was distributed to the
population in Balibo by MTRC as government
assistance to the people.
"If the Prime Minister does not agree with it,
then the case will be investigated. Arsenio is
being courageous," said Estanislau. (TP)
CNE held meeting with political parties
After attending a meeting with CNE Commissioners
on Wednesday (25/4) at the CNE office in Kintal
Boot Dili, the Secretary-General of the Democratic
Party (PD), Osorio Mau Lequi, said that the CNE
held a meeting with the political parties that
have registered with the court of appeals and
these parties will compete in the upcoming
parliamentary elections.
He said the meeting focused on ways that the
political parties could present their
parliamentary candidates and on security matters.
(STL)
Government ignoring CII recommendation
The Chief of Human Rights Assosiasaun Hak, Aniceto
Neves, reportedly told journalists on Wednesday
(25/4) at his office in Farol Dili, that the
government is ignoring the recommendations made by
the Commission of International Investigation
(CII), which was formed by the United Nations to
investigate and analyze the atmosphere of Timor-
Leste during the crisis. He said that ignoring the
recommendations is a way for the government to
protect those involved in the crisis and who have
not yet been arrested.
He said that the government has no intention of
bringing these actors to court as recommended by
CII. (STL)
Population in Hudi Laran flee from their homes to
Hosana Church
In the past two days, at least 13 families from
Hudi Laran moved to IDP camps due to
confrontations between martial arts groups, 7-7
and PSHT in Bairo Pite.
On Tuesday night, some evacuated to SeminA!rio
Fatumeta IDP camp and others to Hotel Hong Kong
then on Wednesday morning they moved to Cathedral
Villa Verde.
Members of PSHT used homemade weapons, looted and
damaged property and fired a man, who was
immediately brought to a hospital in Dili by
UNPol. (STL)
East Timor media monitoring
UNMIT Public Information Unit - April 25, 2007
Alfredo demands Ramos Horta to contact him legally
Alfredo Reinaldo said that he is ready to meet
Ramos Horta. "If he wants to contact me, it should
be done legally through my lawyers," said Alfredo.
On the other hand, The President of General
Prosecutor (GP), Longuinhos Monteiro, said that
the GP would not mediate a dialogue but rather
would take the case through the proper legal
process. (TP)
Lu-Olo: Horta should respect the existing
constitution
Fretilin’s presidential candidate, Lu-Olo, said
that the judicial body is an independent body and
no one should interfere with it. This comment
followed Ramos Horta’s decision to reopen the case
on weapons distribution if he is elected as
president. Lu-Olo said that Horta should respect
the existing constitution. (TP)
Door-to-door campaigning may cause manipulation
The Director of the East Timor Institute for
Security Studies, Julio Thomas Pinto, said that it
would be good for both candidates, Lu-Olo and
Ramos Horta to conduct door-to-door campaigns, but
should ensure dialogue. Julio said that they
should avoid a monologue but ensure that the
supporters are able to share their ideas. However,
he said that if door-to-door campaigning is not
controlled, the candidates may take advantage of
this opportunity. (TP)
Democratic Party’s allegations are false
Antero Bosco, Vice Commander of Border Police
Unit, denied the Democratic Party’s allegations of
arms’ threat in Suku Saburai, in Bobonaro
district. He said that he never threatened anybody
and never even campaigned in Suku Saburai as his
duties were in Maliana. (STL)
The Maputo Anger Dog Starts to Terrorize
Former Fretilin Commander, Vicente da Conceicao or
Railos, stated that the Maputo Anger Dog led by
Lebo are planning to terrorize people in Liquica
district, particularly in the remote areas. (STL)
No report on intimidation by government officers
The Chief of the Councils of Minister, Antoninho
Bianco, declared that he has not received any
reports regarding government officials terrorizing
and intimidating people during the elections
campaign and run-off presidential elections. (STL)
Horta should have the courage to fire the
undisciplined Minister A National Parliament
Member, Rui Menezes, said that it does not matter
if the Prime Minister’s decision to fire the
Minister came late as long as he is able to fire
all the undisciplined ministers. (STL)
Horta’s Door-to-Door Campaign in Lautem
Considering the failure in first round of
presidential elections in Lautem district, Ramos
Horta’s team is planning to conduct door-to-door
campaigning in the area ahead of the run-off
elections. (STL)
10 people arrested for spreading ethnic tensions
in Uatolari
Fretilin’s Party Deputy Coordinator in Viqueque,
Manuel Gaspar, along with 9 others were arrested
for creating ethnic tensions between the Makasae
clan and Nauweti. Joao Ximenes Amaral escaped.
Stop making promises involving the justice system
Prosecutor General of the Republic, Longuinhos
Monteiro, asked the presidential candidates to
stop making promises regarding cases that fall
under the justice realm. (STL, DN and TP)
East Timor media monitoring
UNMIT Public Information Unit - April 24, 2007
Alkatiri and Lu-Olo: "Ramos Horta has tendency of
dictatorship"
The former Prime Minister and the Secretary-
General of Fretilin, Mari Alkatiri, and the
President of Fretilin, Francisco Lu-Olo, said that
Ramos Horta’s declaration clearly demonstrate his
tendencies for dictatorship in Timor-Leste.
Ramos Horta declared on national television that
he will reopen the case on the allegation of
weapons distribution, which involved the country’s
Minister of Interior, Rogerio Lobato.
Rogerio was sentenced for seven and half years.
Joaquim dos Santos, a member of National
Parliament from Fretilin, also said that Ramos
Horta has no power to reopen the case.
"It’s political language to gain votes for
himself,“said Joaquim.”To reopen or close a case
is the competence of the Public Ministry, the
president has no authority to do so," added
Joaquim. (DN)
Horta gives no compensation to ASDT and PSD
After signing the joint declaration with ASDT and
PSD at the ASDT office in Lecidere Dili, Ramos
Horta declared that he gives no compensation to
these parties or any other political parties that
support him. (DN)
PD and PSD continue to reject the presidential
election results
The president of the Court of Appeals, Claudio
Ximenes, stated that the complaints submitted by
the three candidates, Francisco Xavier Amaral
(ASDT), Fernando Lasama (PD), and Lucia Lobato
have no legal base for further investigation.
The complaints submitted indicated manipulation
within the National Commission of Elections (CNE)
and the Secretariat of Technical Administration of
Elections (STAE) in the counting process.
"The presidential election of 2007-2012 is valid,
Ramos Horta and Lu-Olo should go to the second
round," said Claudio.
However, the spokesperson of the Democratic Party
(PD), Rui Menezes, and the Representative Chief of
the Democratic Socialist Party (PSD), Maria
Paixco, still rejected the results even after the
announcement. (DN and TP)
Halting the operation on Alfredo; Monica
Rodrigues: “I have no comment on this decision”
The spokesperson of United Nations Police (UNPol)
in Timor-Leste, Monica Rodrigues, said that she
could not comment on the decision made by
President Xanana Gusmao to halt the operation on
Alfredo.
Monica explained that the current function of
UNPol and PNTL is to provide security and maintain
law and order in order to create peace and calm in
the country. "About the capture, it is being
handled by ISF," Monica said. (DN)
Horta has no plans to meet Alfredo
Speaking to journalists after the graduation at
the Universidade Nacional Timor Lorosae (UNTL),
Ramos Horta said that he has no plans to meet
Alfredo.
"It is up to the lawyers, the General Prosecutor
and the Catholic Church to figure out what is best
for the people," said Horta,
Ramos Horta also met Leandro Isaac, a run-away
member of the National Parliament on Thursday
(19/4) to discuss Leandro’s situation. Horta said
that even though Mr. Isaac is also pursued by the
ISF, there is no mandate to capture him. (TP and
STL)
Political Parties should guarantee the security of
the elections Speaking to journalists on Monday
(23/4) at the Palacio das Cinzas in Caicoli, Dili
after meeting the President Gusmao, the Vice
President of the Commission of Security and
Defence of the National Parliament, Clementino dos
Reis Amaral, said that all the political parties
should have a joint declaration urging all
supporters to avoid violence.
East Timor media monitoring
UNMIT Public Information Unit - April 23, 2007
Oliveira: Sanction Free Access Cards
The Director of Hak Association, Jose Luis
Oliveira, reportedly said that the free access
cards used by government officials to access the
polling centers violates the electoral law. He
said that the director of STAE should get this
case sanctioned. (TP)
Run-Off Campaign, Horta is off duty In a press
conference on Friday (20/4) at the government
palace, Prime Minister, Jose Ramos Horta, stated
that he will leave his duties as chief of
government from Monday (23/4) to Monday (07/5) in
order to campaign for the run-off election.
Vice Prime Minister, Estanislau da Silva will be
in charge of Horta’s tasks as the Minister of
Coordination and Defence Forces. (TP and STL)
A close distance between Fretilin ’Radicals’ and
Fretilin ’Reformist’
The Coordinator of Fretilin ’Reformist,’ Victor da
Costa, on Friday (20/4) at the Central Committee
of Fretilin (CCF) Comoro, Dili, said that the
Fretilin ’Reformists’ and Fretilin ’Radicals’ who
are normally very separate are recently coming
together.
Victor met the President of Fretilin, Francisco
Guterres Lu-Olo, and the Secretary-General of
Fretilin, Mari Alkatiri, in an atmosphere of
friendship.
Fretilin broke into two, Fretilin ’Radicals’ and
Fretilin ’Reformist’ in 2006, when the party held
its second National Congress in CCF Comoro, Dili.
(TP)
Xanana Uses state power for his politics
The president of the national parliament and
presidential candidate, Francisco Guterres Lu-Olo,
said that the President of the Republic, Xanana
Gusmao currently does not place himself as a
neutral state figure and uses his position of
power to influence politics. "The President of the
Republic Xanana is not neutral, he uses power of
the state to make politics," said Lu-Olo. (STL)
SOMET recommends PNTL and F-FDTL to be transparent
The spokesperson of the Solidarity Observation
Mission in East Timor (SOMET), Catarina Maria,
speaking to journalists at a press conference on
Thursday (19/4) at the Elections Media Center
(EMC) in Dili, observed that there was
transparency during the election. SOMET urged the
PNTL and F-FDTL to ensure transparency at the
polling centers. (STL)
PST votes for Horta
The President of the Socialist Party of Timorense
(PST), Nelson Thomas Correia, said that PST will
vote for Ramos Horta in the upcoming run-off
presidential election, since Horta will ensure the
political obligation of the country.
"Because of such reason we are confident to vote
for Horta in the run-off presidential election,"
said Nelson on Thursday (19/4) at the PST office
in Dili. (STL)
The Court of Appeals approved: Lu-Olo and Horta
enter 2nd round of elections
The Court of Appeals approved the results of the
presidential election last 09 April. The
proclamation letter, which was signed by the
president of the Court of Appeals, Claudio
Ximenes, on Saturday (21/4) said that presidential
candidates Jose Ramos Horta and Francisco Guterres
Lu-Olo will compete in the run-off presidential
election for the reason that they got the top two
ranks.
The Court of Appeals approved that presidential
candidate Francisco Guterres Lu-Olo is in the
first rank with 27, 89% of the votes, followed by
Horta with 21,815. (TP)
Horta will reopen the allegation case of weapons
distribution
Presidential candidate Jose Ramos Horta pledged
that if he is elected he will reopen the case on
the distribution of weapons. Horta said that as
President of the Republic he would cooperate with
the Prosecutor General and the UN to look into the
matter and initiate the investigation. (TP)
Mari Alkatiri welcomes CNRT
At a press conference on Friday (20/4) in Farol
Dili, the Secretary-General of Fretilin, Mari
Alkatiri, declared that he welcomes CNRT to
compete in the upcoming parliamentary elections
this year. (DN)
ASDT-PSD-Horta Signing Agreement Presidential
candidate Jose Ramos Horta reportedly, on Saturday
(21/4) at the ASDT office in Dili, has signed an
agreement with the president of Association Social
Democratic Timor (ASDT), Francisco Xavier do
Amaral and the president of Social Democratic
Party (PSD) Mario Viegas Carrascalao. As the
founder of ASDT and an international figure with
the same political principles, the two parties
will support Horta to be the president of the
republic. (DN, STL and TP)
Claudio Ximenes: Complaints and Reclamation have
no Fundamental
The court of appeals officially announced the
result of the presidential election on Saturday
(21/4).
In answering to the reclamations and complaints
which were presented by some candidates, Ximenes
said the court of appeals has decided that the
complaints and reclamations were unfounded. (DN)
Juliao Mausiri: never believe in old leaders
In response to some leaders who used the media to
accuse and blame one another, the Commissioner of
National Political Commission (NPC) from
Democratic Party (PD), Juliao Agosto Mausiri,
urged people not to believe in old leaders as they
have damaged the concept of national unity of the
country.
"We reconstructed this nation. Do not give hope to
the old leaders. Let the young generation run this
country," said Mausiri at the national parliament.
(DN)
Mari Alkatiri: Xanana starts to invent things
The Secretary-General of Fretilin, Mari Alkatiri,
said that the President of Republic, Xanana Gusmao
is inventing policies. Mari called for Xanana to
present evidence to the court before accusing.
(DN)
Horta: Arsenio Bano providing rice to Nuno KORKA
Presidential candidate, Jose Ramos Horta, said he
was opposed to the attitude of some members of the
government, specifically the Minister of
Solidarity, Communitarian and Reinsertion, Arsenio
Paixao Bano, who provided 30 tons of rice to Nuno,
a Korta martial arts leader.
"I have witnesses from UNPol. This attitude has to
be investigated," said Horta in a press conference
on Saturday (21/4) when signing an accord with
ASDT and PSD. (STL)
Xanana: better to obey God than leaders
In a message to all Timorese, the President of the
Republic, Xanana Gusmao, said that it was better
to obey God rather than leaders who provoke
killing each other and damage the youths’ future.
(STL)
PD concerned about the efforts of the Court of
Appeals
The member of national parliament from Democratic
Party (PD), Juliao Mausiri, said that PD is
concerned about the court of appeal’s decision.
"The complaint we filed has not yet been examined
but the results have been announced," said Mausiri
on Friday (204) at the national parliament.
Mausiri said that both presidential candidates
Lu-Olo and Horta will go to the run-off because of
manipulation. (DN)
Osorio Florindo: who else will Horta bring to
invade Timor-Leste
Responding to accusations of Fretilin being
communist, the National Parliament member from
Fretilin, Osorio Florindo, declared that Jose
Ramos Horta was one of the founders of the party.
They were blamed to be communists; so Indonesia
invaded.
"By saying that Fretilin is communist, he is
calling for others to invade Timor-Leste again,"
Florindo said. Furthermore, Osorio affirmed that
Horta is playing a dirty game. (DN)
Rui Menezes: transparency is essential for the
nation
The member of national parliament from Democratic
Party (PD), Rui Menezes, speaking to journalists
said that both presidential candidates, Lu-Olo and
Horta have to declare their well-being to the
public and guarantee their transparency in
ensuring that no private interests will be
involved when either one becomes president of the
republic. (DN)
Ramos Horta: “Ready to declare my well-being”
After signing an accord with ASDT and PSD on
Saturday (21/4) at the ASDT office in Dili,
presidential candidate, Jose Ramos Horta, said
that he is ready to openly declare his well-being
to the public.
Horta demanded that such declaration should be
made not only by the presidential candidates but
by all members of the government. (DN)
East Timor media monitoring
UNMIT Public Information Unit - April 20, 2007
Alfredo criticized Lian Maubere’s pamphlet
Pamphlets with Fretilin’s symbols spread widely
throughout the country. Alfredo promised to bring
those spreading the pamphlets to court. "I am
disappointed with the suspect," he said. Alfredo
confirmed that he knows the suspect but it is not
the time to tell the truth. "It is a political
game of certain people," Alfredo added. (STL)
Horta or Lu-Olo for president, the people will
decide
Fretilin’s presidential candidate, Francisco
Guterres ’Lu-Olo’, speaking to the journalist at a
press conference yesterday, said that people will
decide who will be the president of the republic
in the second round of the elections.
Optimistically, Lu-Olo hopes to win the election.
Should he lose, he plans to accept it with
dignity. Lu-Olo was the only candidate who
competed with other 7 candidates, considered as
opposition. He expressed that there was much
pressure on him, even through the media, but he
still won over other candidates in the first round
election held in April 9. (STL)
Juliao Mausiri: Xanana and Horta seeking Alfredo’s
Votes
In response to President Gusmao and Prime Minister
Horta’s call to halt the operation on Alfredo, the
member of the National Parliament from Democratic
Party (PD), Juliao Agosto Mausiri, said that this
was done in order to obtain Alfredo’s votes for
the run-off presidential election.
According to Mausiri, Horta knows that Alfredo is
supported by many people in the western side of
the country and could influence them to vote for
Horta.
"Xanana and Horta know that if they do not use
Alfredo’s situation, they will not get enough
votes in the run-off presidential election,"
explained Mausiri on Thursday (19/4) at the
National Parliament. (DN and TP)
Joaquim dos Santos: “Watch out for the capitalist”
In response to the some declarations by youth
moneylenders and political consumers, the member
of national parliament and National Political
Commission (NPC) of Fretilin, Joaquim dos Santos,
said that the Timorese people have to watch out
for capitalists who recently rose in Timor-Leste
to occupy the country in the future.
"The self-interested never accept the realities.
They bear capitalist principles, not socialist. We
have to be careful of the capitalists in the
country", said Joaquin dos Santos on Thursday
(19/4) in the national parliament. (DN)
Antonio Ximenes: "I don’t agree with Horta’s
Declaration"
The president of the Democratic Christen Party
(PDC), Antonio Ximenes, speaking to journalists on
Thursday (19/4) at the National Parliament, said
that he does not accept Horta’s declaration that
Fretilin has been implementing a communist system.
(DN)
Lu-Olo: "Fretilin resists and refuses to go along
with communists"
Through a press conference on Thursday (19/4) at
the National Parliament in Dili, the presidential
candidate Francisco Guterres Lu-Olo reportedly
said that Fretilin has resisted communism since
1975.
Lu-Olo said that Horta’s comments indicating that
Fretilin supported a communist system were only
made to influence people to vote for Horta. "We
are not supporting communism and we are not
communist," said Lu-Olo.
On the other hand, Julio Pinto, a military and
political observer said that by blaming each
other, the presidential candidates are showing
their weaknesses to their supporters and people of
this country. (DN and STL)
The Lawyer of PD, PSD and ASDT Presents Proposal
to the Court of Appeals Refusing the final results
of the presidential election, three presidential
candidates, Fernando Lasama (PD), Lucia Lobato
(PSD) and Francisco Xavier (ASDT) on Thursday
(19/4) sent their lawyer, Vital dos Santos, to
submit a complaint letter to the CNE via the Court
of Appeals.
Vital dos Santos said that the candidates do not
agree with the results of the presidential
election because of manipulation. (DN, TP and STL)
Weak election socialization, voters giving wrong
votes
Observers from the Committee of General Elections
Monitoring at the Faculty of Social Politics of
Universidade Nacional Timor Lorosae (UNTL) said
that insufficient civic education caused voters to
cast their votes for candidates who they did not
want to vote for. (STL)
PSD and PD questioned CNRT’s instant victory in
the parliamentary election
The member of the national parliament and vice
president of Social Democratic Party (PD) Joao
Mendes Goncalves and Jose Nominando from the
Democratic Party (PD) reportedly questioned CNRT’s
victory in the parliamentary election.
"CNRT will become the great party in the country,
however I still question its ability to win the
elections," informed Joao on Thursday (19/4) at
the national parliament. (TP)
The clash of gang violence continues, 9 injured
Gang violence continues in Dili, after it had
settled for a couple of weeks during the campaign
and presidential Election Day.
Yesterday (19/4), the disturbances between PSHT
and 7-7 erupted in Hudi Laran and Quintal Boot.
The incident resulted in 9 injured, 4 in Hudi
Laran and 5 in Quintal Boot.
The ninth victims got stoned and others were shot.
The victims were immediately hospitalized in HNGV
Dili for intensive treatment.
UNPol and PNTL dispersed the clash successfully.
No one was arrested. (DN and STL)
East Timor media monitoring
UNMIT Public Information Unit - April 19, 2007
Final Count, Lu-Olo 27.89% and Horta 21.81%
After six days of counting, the CNE President,
Faustino Cardoso, announced the final preliminary
results of presidential election on Wednesday
(18/4) afternoon at the Election Media Center
(EMC), Caicoli Dili.
The top ranking candidate is from Fretilin,
Francisco Guterres Lu-Olo, with total number of
votes 112.666 (27.89%). The second is Jose Ramos
Horta with 88.102 (21.81%), third Fernando de
Araujo Lasama with 77.459 (19.18%), fourth
Francisco Xavier do Amaral with 58.125 (14.39%),
fifth Lucia Lobato with 35.789 (8.86%), sixth
Manuel Tilman 16.534 (4.09%), seventh Avelino
Coelho with 8.338 total votes (2.06%) and the last
finally Joao Carrascalao with 6.928 total votes
(1.72%). (DN, STL, RTL, TVTL and TP)
Halting the operation on Alfredo is a political
campaign
In response to the decision by President Xanana
Gusmao to halt the operation on Alfredo, as
declared by Prime Minister Jose Ramos Horta, the
President of National Parliament, Francisco
Guterres Lu-Olo, said that this was a political
move by Jose Ramos Horta to get more supporters
for the second round of presidential elections.
"Things are all happening at this time. The
decision (halting the operation) was made
urgently. I will not do the same thing. I want to
win or lose with dignity," said Lu-Olo.
Lu-Olo said that until now the National Parliament
has not received any letter of declaration to halt
the operation. (DN)
Jose Luis de Oliveira: "Halting the operation on
Alfredo will create stability"
The Coordinator of Yayasan Hak (Human Rights),
Jose Luis de Oliveira, speaking to journalists on
Wednesday (18/4) at the office of Yayasan Hak
Farol Dili, stated that President Xanana Gusmao’s
decision to halt the operation on Alfredo will
restore the stability of the country, especially
in Same, Manufahi district. (DN)
STAE stands on impartiality and transparency
Victor Belo and Umberto Fernandes, the District
Coordinators of STAE Baucau and Viqueque
districts, speaking to journalist in Caicoli,
stated that STAE is a body that stands on its
principle of impartiality and transparency to give
technical, administrative and logistical
assistance for the success of the elections.
Umberto said that there was no manipulation as
published by the media, but rather technical
shortcomings that would be addressed as lessons
learnt for the second round.
STAE recognizes its failures but did not intend to
manipulate the overall process of the elections in
the interest of some candidates and parties. (DN,
STL and TP)
Moneylenders in IDPs camps (TP)
Prime Minister Ramos Horta said that during the
crisis some people gave money to the IDPs to
continue provoking the situation.
The moneylenders thought that only Fretilin could
resolve the crisis and therefore wanted them back
to rule the country.
The State should have dialogues with F-FDTL and
PNTL
The spokesperson of Front Mahasiswa Timor Leste
(FMTL), Julio Soares, said that there should be
preparations for dialogue with Alfredo and his
group, as well as with F-FDTL, PNTL and
petitioners for the sake of justice in the
country.
He revealed that this crisis started within F-FDTL
(petitioners) and PNTL then caused Alfredo and his
members to leave their barracks and head to the
mountains. (TP)
Alfredo’s lawyer to be contacted by the state
Benevides Correia Barros, Alfredo Reinado’s
lawyer, confirmed that they are now waiting for
the state to contact them to resolve his client’s
problem.
"Even though Prime Minister Jose Ramos Horta wants
to resolve this problem in a peaceful manner, we
still have not been contacted by the state," said
Barros. (TP)
Jose Luis Guterres to forward President’s letter
to UN
The Minister of Cooperation and Foreign Affairs,
Jose Luis Guterres, accompanied by the Chief of
the Cabinet, Agostinho de Deus, yesterday (18/4)
traveled to the United States to pass the
President’s message to UN Secretary-General, Ban
Ki Moon in New York. Jose Luis stated that he
knows nothing about the content of the message.
(TP)
The court decision on the results does not benefit
anyone
The presidential candidate from the Social
Democratic Party (PSD), Lucia Lobato, speaking to
the journalists on Wednesday (18/4) at the PSD
office in Bairo Formosa, Dili stated that everyone
is waiting for the decision from the court on the
results of the presidential election.
"If the court decides that the result is properly
based on the facts and law and without any
manipulation, I believe that all people will
accept such decision," said Lucia. (STL)
East Timor media monitoring
UNMIT Public Information Unit - April 18, 2007
President asks the ISF to halt the operation on
Alfredo
Prime Minister Ramos Horta said that the ISF will
stop its pursuit of Alfredo Reinado and his men in
order to resume dialogue.
He expects that within the month, President Xanana
would meet Brigadier Mal Rerden, the commander of
ISF to discuss the issue. TP
Horta: “UN stays 5 more years in TL”
Ramos Horta, at a press conference at the
Government Palace yesterday, said that Timor-Leste
needs the UN to remain for another 5 years in
order to improve the professionalism of the PNTL
and F-FDTL. (DN)
Barris: "Security policy in TL is not in a
predicament"
The Minister of Interior, Alcino Barris,
reportedly said that security management is not a
problem as the PNTL’s strategies continually
progress in relation with the current situation.
(DN)
Ximenes: "Court has not received election results
from CNE"
After meeting with the President of the Republic,
Kayrala Xanana Gusmao, on Tuesday (17/4) at the
Palacio das Cinzas Caicoli Dili, the President of
the Court of Appeals, Claudio Ximenes, said that
Court of Appeals has not received the preliminary
results of the election from CNE.
"I don’t know anything about the preliminary
results of the presidential election because CNE
is still working and the process is going on,"
said Ximenes. (DN)
Barris: “Paul Martins is a member of the PNTL” The
Minister of Interior, Alcino Barris, told
journalists on Tuesday (17/4) at the Ministry of
Interior Villa Verde Dili, that Ex-General
Commander Paul de Fatima Martins is considered by
the Ministry as a member of the PNTL, so he has to
be registered, interviewed and evaluated before
returning to his previous tasks. (DN)
Xavier: “Vote for Lu-Olo means suicide”
One of the founders of Fretilin, Francisco Xavier
do Amaral, who is also a presidential candidate
said his coalition will not vote for Lu-Olo since
it would be considered a “suicide.”
"We tend to vote for a candidate who is capable to
lead the country. Voting for Lu-Olo would mean
suicide," said Xavier. (TP, STL, DN, TVTL, and
RTL)
CNE has no Capacity
The presidential candidate Avelino Coelho said
that the CNE is an independent body organizing the
presidential election in the country and cannot
blame STAE in relation with manipulation matters.
He revealed that if the court of appeals legalizes
the results of this election, this nation will
face manipulation, corruption and injustice for
next 5 years.
He said that the CNE has no capacity to resolve
problems and if the party’s observers present
complaints to the CNE, they should be accompanied
by evidence. (STL)
Horta accuses Fretilin of spreading Communist
Propaganda
The presidential candidate, Ramos Horta, accused
Fretilin of spreading propaganda to harm his
reputation and Xanana Gusmao, the president of
republic.
Horta claims that Fretilin engages in communist
propaganda saying that Horta wants to sell Atauro,
Oecusse and Jaco Island to the US after winning
the presidential election. (STL and TP)
Lu-Olo confident of having capacity to run for
presidency
In response to a statement by Jose Ramos Horta
about international relations with neighboring
countries, presidential candidate Francisco
Guterres Lu-Olo said that he has the capacity to
run for the republic’s presidency.
Lu-Olo pledged that if he becomes president,
Timor-Leste’s interests would be the priority
including maintaining relations with other
nations. (TP)
Horta awarded Noble Peace Prize because of
Fretilin
The member of national parliament from KOTA,
Manuel Tilman, reportedly said that Jose Ramos
Horta was awarded the noble peace prize because of
Fretilin and he added that Horta would not have
received it without Fretilin.
According to Tilman, Fretilin made it possible for
Horta to go overseas and was sheltered by the
resistance organization (CNRT) to help him to aid
in the liberation of his people from Indonesian
occupation 24 years ago. (TP)
Need to improve the working system of STAE and CNE
To minimize the errors in the process of the
second round of the presidential election,
improvements are needed in the technical
departments of STAE and CNE.
According to the Dean of Social Politics at the
National University of Timor Leste (UNTL), Jose
Magno, improvements rather than restructuring
would improve the system. (TP)
East Timor media monitoring
UNMIT Public Information Unit - April 7/9, 2007
Five messages for Timor-Leste from five countries
The New Zealand Ambassador in Timor-Leste, Ruth
Nuttall said to journalists in a press conference
on Thursday (05/04) at the USA Embassy that the
United States of America (USA), Portugal, New
Zealand, Japan and the Special Representative of
European Union call for people of Timor Leste to
come to the polling center on 09 April 2007 to
vote for the new president.
(STL)
Bishop Ricardo: Never vote for the criminals
The Bishops of Dili and Baucau Diocese, Mgr.
Alberto Ricardo and Mgr.
Basilio do Nascimento appeal to East Timorese not
to vote for the criminals.
"Vote for those who are good, loving people, who
forfeit their lives for people away from violence
and crime, bringing Timor-Leste to good," said the
Bishops in Palacio das Cinzas on Friday (6/4) in
their appeal to East Timorese on the presidential
election on April 9.
Fretilin “Maputo” threats CNE
Fr. Martinho Gusmao, the CNE spokesperson, told
journalists through a press conference at CNE
office on Thursday (5/4) in Kintal Boot Dili that
Fretilin supporters did not destroy or damage
materials. However, CNE considers their appearance
as a crime. (STL)
Security Council Appeals to Political parties to
avoid violence
To pledge that presidential election in Timor-
Leste is free, fair and in a pacific manner, the
Security Council appealed to political parties in
Timor-Leste to avoid violence.
"The Security Council appeals to all political
parties in Timor-Leste to secure themselves to the
principles of using no violence along with the
democratic and legal process to secure the
upcoming presidential election ....," said the
SRSG in a UNMIT press confference held in Obrigado
Barracks Caicoli, Dili on Friday (6/4).
Fretilin ’Maputo’ intimidates Father Henrique
The supporters of Fretilin “Maputo” intimidated
Fr. Henrique ini Ermera, when they returned from
the last day of a political rally in Dili on
Wednesday (4/4).
Fr. Henrique attempted to disperse the incident
between Fretilin supporters and youths of Ermera
Church, but was instead targeted. The militants
hit him causing him to be hospitalized to treat
the injuries. (STL)
Horta: Alkatiri considered Petitioners" problems a
joke
Ramos Horta said on the Easter Eve that Mari
Alkatiri was taking no initiative to solve the
petitioners“problem.”...I told Alkatiri to foorm a committee to solve
the problem. In March, Anna Pessoa contacted me
and said she presented this issue to Mari Alkatiri
but he just laughed and said he considered
petitioners“problem as a joke,” said Horta at a
debate of presidential candidate in Delta Nova,
Dili last Thursday (5/4). (STL)
Lasama concerned about UNPOL
The conflict between Fretilin and Partido
Democratica (PD) supporters and sympathizers at
the end of presidential campaign on last Wednesday
(04/04) in Dili invited Lasama"s concern who said
that UNPol did not anticipate the problem and let
the conflict took place.
"I am very disappointed that UNPol does not
anticipate and organize the campaign properly,"
said Lasama at the presidential debate in Delta
Nova last Thursday (5/4). (STL)
FSI broaden its operation across the districts
The Commander of ISF, Brig. Gen. Mal Rerden told
Journalists on Friday (6/4) at Phoenix Camp
Caicoli Dili, that ISF and New Zealand Forces will
broaden their operation across the districts to
provide security for the success of the
presidential election. (STL)
Xanana: people of Timor-Leste disappoint
The President of the Republic Xanana Gusmao
reportedly said that all East Timorese are
disappointed with economic development in the late
five years.
People have become bored waiting for the good
things said Xanana on Wednesday (04/04) in Dili.
He said that a million dollars from Timor oil
which might be useful to develop and improve
education and health in Timor-Leste is instead
saved in the US bank.
"The money is saved in one of the banks in New
York, while East Timorese suffer," Xanana added.
(STL)
Ballot papers and Boxes are deployed to Polling
Centers across Dili district The ballot papers and
boxes of presidential election all at once have
been deployed yesterday morning to 50 polling
centers in Dili districts.
Such materials are officially handed by a team
responsible for the general election in Dili
district to the team of polling centers in front
of President of Republic Xanana who will
accompanied by DSRSG UNMIT, Finn Rieske Nielsen in
the office of district Dili. It will be deployed
by STAE along with observers of various nations.
(STL)
2.000 observers of presidential election
The press release of UNMIT informed that the
presidential election in Timor Leste today is
observed by 2,000 national and international
observers.
Fifty national organizations prepare 1.900,
including the observers from Dili and Baucau
diocese who have joined with KOMEG.
The National observers will observe the polling
across 13 districts, 65 sub-districts and 504
polling centers. (STL)
Lu-Olo: Xanana and Horta Using TVTL to promote
their presidential campaigns
The presidential candidates of Fretilin, Francisco
Guterres Lu-Olo reportedly said that Ramos Horta
and Xanana abused and manipulate TVTL (stated
owned company) to promote their presidential
campaigns.
Lu-Olo said that as a presidential candidate, Jose
Ramos Horta has no right to put out any message
before Election Day. He said it shows that Xanana
and the Catholic Church assisted Horta"s campaign.
(STL)
East Timor media monitoring
UNMIT Public Information Unit - April 4, 2007
Horta: ’Ought to receive the result of the
elections courageously’
After attending a swearing-in ceremony for Armindo
Maia to be the Ambassador TL to the Philippines at
Palacio das Cinzas on Tuesday 03/04, presidential
candidate Ramos Horta appealed to all people of
Timor Leste, especially militants and sympathizers
of the parties, to take the result of the
presidential election courageously and with no
violence. (DN)
Lu-Olo believes that he will win presidential
election
After campaigning in all districts, presidential
candidate Francisco Guterres Lu-Olo campaigned in
Oecusse on Monday (2/4) accompanied by Fretilin
Secretary General Mari Alkatiri, Deputy of
Secretary General Jose Reis, National Political
Commission (NPC) and all members of Central
Committee Fretilin (CCF).
In his speech, Lu-Olo said that told his militants
and sympathizers in Nuno-heno Mota Tono, Cunha
Village sub-district Pante Makassar Oecusse
District, that he will win the presidential
election on 09 April 2007.
Furthermore, Lu-Olo said he felt he would win the
presidential election start, from the first
campaigns in Ossu, Laclubar, Same, Maliana, Suai,
Gleno, Liquica and Pante Makassar. In those places
he believes that he has the support of people to
become president of RDTL. (DN)
Horta: “some are hiding behind Symbols”
After attending a swearing-in ceremony for Armindo
Maya to be an Ambassador TL to the Philippines at
Palacio das Cinzas on Tuesday 03/04, the
presidential candidate 2007-2012 period Jose Ramos
Horta reportedly said that some are hiding behind
symbols.
"Does Fretilin hide behind the symbols, does Lu-
Olo hide behind the symbols or do I myself hide
behind the symbols. They reviewed a new law which
said that the presidential candidates have to add
symbols freely, so I want the national symbol not
party’s" Horta said. (DN)
Lucia in Dili: ’Youths have to confirm unity’
The presidential candidate Lucia Lobato called for
youths to confirm unity and stop the violence.
Lucia spoke to militants and sympathizers in her
last campaign rally on Tuesday 03/04, in Kampu
Demokrasia Dili.
She revealed that if she is elected, she will be a
figure who can return love, peace and national
unity which was destroyed during the crisis. (DN)
Horta will work hard with Church
Whilst campaigning in Baucau on Tuesday 03/04 the
presidential candidate Jose Ramos Horta, told his
militants and sympathizers that if he is elected
he will collaborate with the Catholic Church for
the reason that the Catholic Church works hard for
people to develop this country. He added that
State and Church are not separated, both
institutions are very important. (DN)
Lasama: ’I will abolish Lorosae and Loromonu’
The presidential candidate Fernando de Araujo
Lasama told journalists whilst campaigning in
Oecusse on Monday 02/04, that if he is elected he
will forge good relations with others sovereignty
organs to build and develop Timor Leste.
He also said that if he is elected, he will form a
law to regulate the people who use words Lorosae
and Loromonu to divide people. (DN)
Lu-Olo gets 70,000 participants
There are 70,000 people who participated during
the campaign of presidential election Francisco
Guterres Lu-Olo. It is many compared with others
presidential candidates.
A press communique received by DN from the Central
Committee of Fretilin (CCF) on Tuesday 03/04, said
that there were 10.000 participants who
participated in Lu-Olo’s first campaign in Ossu,
2.000 in Laclubar, 6.000 in Gleno, 3.000 in
Liquica, 7.000 in Maliana, 7.000 in Ainaro, 12.000
in Suai, 7.000 in Zumalai, 6.000 in Aileu and
8.000 in Same and it has not counted Dili and
Oecusse yet. (DN)
CNE Receives data on the group that attacked
candidate Lasama
The spokesperson of CNE, Father Martinho Gusmco
declared to journalists in a press conference on
Tuesday 03/04 at CNE office Kintal Boot Dili, that
currently CNE has received data about the group
who attacked presidential candidate Fernando
Lasama in Viqueque in the last few days.
The data is received from international observers
and it is broadcast by TV and News Papers which
show that people from the government and national
parliament attacked the rally of presidential
candidate Lasama. (DN)
Afonso de Jesus: PNTL and UNPol will guarantee
security
The Commander of PNTL Afonso de Jesus reportedly
told DN on Tuesday 03/04 at PNTL HQ Caicoli Dili
that PNTL and UNPol will work hard to guarantee
security to all people during the presidential and
legislative elections.
"Currently PNTL and UNPol are working hard to
guarantee and support major security for the
general elections, given people’s preoccupation on
security issues," Afonso said. (DN)
Mal Rerden: I don’t forgive Fretilin
After meeting with President Republic Xanana
Gusmco on Monday (2/4) at Palacio das Cinzas
Caicoli Dili, Commander of ISF Brigadier General
Mal Rerden told Journalists that he will not
forgive Fretilin’s leaders, especially Secretary
General Mari Alkatiri in relation to the incident
in Ermera-Gleno last Saturday. (TP) Electoral
security needs to involve F-FDTL and PNTL
The spokesperson of CNE Father Martinho Gusmco
asked that F-FDTL and PNTL be involved during the
campaign until the Election Day. He observed that
ISF has no will and just observes the violence
which occurs among Timorese, and he does not wish
to compare, but it is clear that F-FDTL and PNTL
would ensure the security of the electoral
process. The Father spoke to journalists on Monday
02/04 at CNE office Kintal Boot Dili. (TP)
CNE has sent Non-Sensitive materials to Districts
The spokesperson of CNE, Father Martinho Gusmco,
on Tuesday 03/04 at CNE’s office Kintal Boot Dili
informed Journalists that CNE has sent non
sensitive materials to the polling center offices
in 13 districts. He added that the material
consisted of foods and inks to support the tasks
in each polling center. (TP)
A member of UNPol dies
A member of United Nation Police (UNPol) died on
Sunday 01/04 from a heart attack whilst on duty
alongside PNTL of Bobonaro district.
UNPol reports from a few days ago mentioned that
at about 8:30pm in Maliana a member of UNPol died
of a heart attack after accompanying the commander
of Bobonaro district to a mudslide.
However the report did not mentioned the identity
of the officer. (TP)
CNE calls for candidates to educate
The CNE has called for all candidates to educate
his/her militants and sympathizers to understand
the atmosphere of a presidential election, the
spokesperson of CNE Father Martinho Gusmco told
Journalists on Tuesday 03/04 in a press conference
at CNE office Kintal Boot Dili.
The Father said that in the presidential campaign,
some of Fretilin’s militants wanted to support
Lu-Olo and others supported Horta and other
opposition parties also supported Lu-Olo and
Horta. He added that in this presidential election
all Timorese have the right to vote and should
count on their own mind. (STL)
Ministries support Lu-Olo’s campaign
According to sources close to government, each
ministry had to aid Lu-Olo’s campaign with funds
of up to US$50.000. In answer to this issue, the
member of Central Committee of Fretilin (CCF)
Constancia de Jesus said that CCF did not collect
money or get financial support from each ministry
to activate Lu-Olo’s campaign.
Fretilin has its own money and each supporter who
works for Fretilin put US$0.50-US$5.00 to the
kitty every month, she explained to STL on Tuesday
03/04 in National Parliament. (STL)
Horta: Fretilin uses Nakroma for propaganda
purposes
After receiving various statements from Fretilin’s
members, presidential candidate Jose Ramos Horta
answered that now it is Fretilin’s time to hear
from him. Initially when Nakroma Boat arrived in
Timor Leste, Fretilin used it for political
propaganda in enclave Oecusse. Horta expressed his
disappointment at the action. (STL)
PDHJ and PNTL investigating Makadique case
In relation to the assault on supporters of
presidential candidate Jose Ramos Horta which
resulted in 12 injured in Viqueque-Makadique,
Provedoria Direitos Humanus Justica (PDHJ) is
coordinating with the Commander of PNTL Afonso de
Jesus to investigate this incident, the Deputy of
PDHJ Silveiro Baptista told STL on Tuesday at
PDHJ’s office Caicoli Dili.
He explained that PDHJ was immediately sending its
people to monitor this incident. (STL)
Railos: Fretilin manipulates information
The Ex Commander of the Secret armed Group of
Fretilin, Vicente da Conceicao alias Railos,
claimed that “Fretilin Maputo” manipulate public
information saying that people damaged their
campaign equipment.
The president of Fretilin Lu-Olo and Secretary
General of Fretilin Mari Alkatiri said that Railos
and his group damaged or destroyed their campaign
equipment when campaigning in Liquica in last few
days. In answer to this, Railos said that Fretilin
manipulate public information. He added that he
built a tent for presidential candidates Lasama’s
and Horta’s campaign not for Lu-Olo so he has the
right to destroy it. (STL)
Horta deserves to be president
Vicente da Conceicao alias Railos from Liquica and
Ernesto Fernandes alias Dudu from Ermera
reportedly said that to presidential candidate
Jose Ramos Horta most deserves to be the president
of the republic and that they support him.
>From the 8 presidential candidates he prefers
Horta. Horta is the world diplomat and the Nobel
Laureate, the Ex Commander of Secret armed Group
of Fretilin, Vicente da Conceicao alias Railos,
told STL when attending a national conference of
CNRT on last Wednesday in Xanana Reading Room,
Lecidere, Dili. The Ex Commander of Falintil Dudu
agrees. (STL)
Campaigns of presidential candidates deceive
constitution
The member of National Parliament Pedro da Costa
claimed the presidential campaigns have deviated
away from the constitutional mandate of the
President; and have been discussing executive
programs too much.
"I observe that the programs of some presidential
candidates deviate from the mandate of the
constitutional powers given to the president".
Costa told STL in National Parliament on Tuesday
03/04.
Costa stated that in the mandate of the
constitution, the President guarantees social and
democratic institutions, the democratic
functioning of the state, symbolizes National
Unity, makes good relations with all neighbors and
has two councils of state to declare emergency
measures and laws. (STL)
East Timor media monitoring
UNMIT Public Information Unit - April 3, 2007
End of the presidential campaign in Dili, 39
injured
At the end of presidential campaign of
presidential candidates Lu-Olo, Horta, Lasama,
Francisco Xavier and Joao Carrascalao on Wednesday
04/04 in Dili, 39 supporters were injured, 2
motorcycles were burnt and 4 cars were damaged.
>From these 39 injured, 2 of them were heavily
injured and in need of intensive treatment and 37
have returned home.
The majority of injured supporters were injured
from Fretilin presidential candidate Lu-Olo, Joao
Soares and Domingos da Silva said.
UNMIT spokesperson Allison Cooper said that the UN
is still confirming information in relation to the
incident at the end of the presidential campaign
in Dili. The complete information will be
announced publicly on Thursday 05/04.
The 2 motorcycles burnt in Colmera belonged to
from Fernando Lasama’s supporters and took place
when they came with Lasama’s poster to attack IDPs
in Dili Jardim. And the 4 cars were damaged were
from Lu-Olo’s supports from Ermera district. (DN
and TP)
Julio Pinto: Presidential candidates violate
conduct code
The National Observer of the presidential election
Julio Thomas Pinto reportedly said that 8
presidential candidates have violated the Conduct
Code of the campaign. He added that during the
electoral campaign in 12 districts, 8 presidential
candidates did not discuss policy, instead
choosing to insult one another.
He stated that in the Conduct Code the campaigns
have to focus on campaign issues and are not for
insulting other candidates. Otherwise candidates
have violated the conduct that they themselves
signed. (DN)
Xavier in Dili: ’I am ready to serve East Timor’
The presidential candidate Francisco Xavier told
his supporters at the end of his electoral
campaign on Thursday 04/04 at ASDT office in
Lecidere Dili, that he is prepared to dedicate
himself totally to govern and serve the people of
Timor Leste.
He revealed that if he is elected he will totally
dedicate himself to make all people of Timor Leste
happy and free from suffering. (DN)
Lu-Olo in Dili: All of us obey the constitution
After campaigning in all districts, the
presidential candidate Lu-Olo finished in Dili on
Thursday 04/04 in Motor Cross Stadium Delta
Circuit Manleuana, Dili. To his all his supporters
he affirmed that whilst he is a presidential
candidate he is also a simple person who comes
from the East region and after long reflection he
decided to be a candidate himself to guarantee
peace and stability for the people of Timor Leste.
He also revealed that if he is elected he will
obey and act within the constitution, and the laws
which apply in this country. (DN)
Horta in Dili: ’I respect veterans and underground
movement’
The presidential candidate Jose Ramos Horta told
his supporters through his speech at the end of
the electoral campaign on Thursday 04/04 at
Municipal Stadium Dili, that he respects veterans
and underground movements (DN)
Lasama in Dili: ’I approve a law to consolidate
F-FDTL’
The presidential candidate Fernando Lasama told
his supporters in his final speech at the end of
electoral campaign on Thursday 04/04 in Democracy
Field Dili, that if he is elected, he will approve
a law to consolidate F-FDTL. (DN)
STAE hands ballot papers over to districts
coordinators
STAE handed the ballot papers and signing boards
over to the electoral coordinators of 13 districts
to bring to each districts’ polling centers.
After handing the items over, the Director of
STAE, Thomas Cabral, told Journalists that the
district Police and CNE accompanied him to bring
the items to districts in anticipation of any
trouble.
He mentioned that the ballot papers total 109.3950
and have been distributed to each district namely
Aileu 24750 with 21484 voters, Ainaro 32950 (28651
voters), Baucau 70950 (60552 voters), Bobonaro
54550 (47425 voters), Covalima 32900 (28581
voters), Dili 114150 (99260 voters), Ermera 62650
(54452 voters), Liquica 37400 (31191 voters),
Lautem 35900 (32511 voters), Manufahi 27400 (23809
voters), Manatuto (22143 voters), Oecusse 38350
(33434 voter) and Viqueque 45500 (39529). In total
504 polling centers and 720 polling station. (DN,
STL and TP)
PNTL is prepared to ensure the security of the
elections
After handing the items over to the electoral
coordinators of 13 districts the Commander of PNTL
Inspector Afonso de Jesus reportedly said that
PNTL is prepared to ensure security for the
upcoming presidential election on 09 April 2007.
He added that presidential election is enormous so
it will be the difficult for PNTL. PNTL is the
national security of Timor Leste and it is
prepared to ensure the security in election, in
order the election could be well organized in the
peaceful manners and calm. (DN)
Xanana participates in Horta’s campaign
As a leader of CNRT, Xanana participated in the
campaigning of presidential candidate Jose Ramos
Horta on Thursday 04/04 at Stadium Municipal,
Dili. Xanana did not comment on his participation.
It shows that he gives major support to Horta to
replace him in 2007-2012 period as President of
RDTL. (TP)
Lasama will reassemble F-FDTL and PNTL The
presidential candidate Fernando Lasama told his
supporters in his speech at the end of his
electoral campaign on Thursday 04/04 in Democracy
Field Dili, that if he is elected, he will
reassemble F-FDTL and PNTL. (TP)
Tilman: Ought to receive the result of the
election
After finishing his campaign in 10 districts, the
presidential candidate Manuel Tilman called for
the people of Timor Leste, including the military
to accept the results of the election.
He urged the Timorese in the spirit of democracy
to receive the result of the election in the a
peaceful manner. Tilman made the comments to
journalists at the KOTA office in Kampung Alor om
Dili. (TP)
Xanana votes to Horta
After presenting Horta’s campaign on Thursday
04/04 in the Dili Stadium, President Republic
Xanana Gusmao told Journalists that there is no
option for him to vote for other candidates. He
said that he wants to vote for Horta so he attends
Horta’s campaign.
"Presidential candidate Jose Ramos Horta is an
excellent figure so I will choose Horta to
reinstate me". Xanana declared. (STL)
Lu-Olo’s supporters is thrown stones in Comoro-
Aitarak Laran, 3 injured
The campaign schedule of presidential candidate
Francisco Guterres alias Lu-Olo has coincided with
other presidential candidates namely Xavier
Amaral, Jose Ramos Horta and Joao Carrascalao.
In relation to the overlap schedule among the four
candidates, the supporters of presidential
candidate Lu-Olo threw stones in Comoro Aitarak
Laran and the incident resulted in three injured
Fretilin members. Lu-Olo’s supporters threw stones
when they yelled and shouted Lu-Olo’s name, showed
Lu-Olo’s picture and displayed Fretilin’s flag
when passing through Aitarak Laran.
The incident happened yesterday and was closely
guarded by UNPol (GNR) and Royal Malaysian Police
(RMP). (STL)
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