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East Timor News Digest 1 - January 1-31, 2005
Asia Pulse - January 14, 2005
Perth -- Woodside Petroleum Ltd (ASX:WPL) has followed through on
its warning that the A$5 billion (US$3.8 billion) Greater Sunrise
gas project would be shelved if the stand-off between the East
Timorese and Australian governments continued.
Staff have been progressively transferred to other projects and
the company is not committing any more money to Greater Sunrise,
a spokesman said.
Woodside warned investors in November the project would stall if
it did not have legal and fiscal certainty by the end of last
year. "That time has come and gone and we've started to reassign
people to different projects," the spokesman said.
The project is being held up by a maritime boundary and royalty
dispute between Australia and East Timor.
A deal was struck between the nations last year and passed
through the Australian Parliament that split revenues from
Greater Sunrise 80:20.
But East Timor has said it would not ratify it until Australia
showed goodwill and good faith in negotiating the permanent
maritime boundary.
The Greater Sunrise field, estimated to contain 7.8 trillion
cubic feet of gas, is located in the Timor Sea 450 kilometres
from Darwin but only about 80 kilometres from East Timor. If the
agreement is not signed and the project's development plan
abandoned it could be years before the market presented
opportunities as suppliers currently enjoy, Woodside said last
year.
The spokesman said today the speed at which the project could be
brought back on would depend on the patience of prospective
customers.
"It's a matter of how quickly the governments can resolve the
issue as to how quickly we might be able to kick start it," he
said.
"The government has been well aware of our position since before
November, and then of course in November when we told the
investment market."
Federal Resources Minister Ian Macfarlane's office said it had
not received any official notification.
Woodside operates the Greater Sunrise project on behalf of joint
venture partners Royal Dutch/Shell, ConocoPhillips and Osaka Gas.
Northern Territory News (Australia) - January 15, 2005
Paul Dyer -- The $7 billion Greater Sunrise gas project in the
Timor Sea has been shelved by project operator Woodside
Petroleum.
Woodside has halted funds and reassigned project employees
because a border dispute between Australia and East Timor remains
unresolved.
There are fears the gas reserves, on which Woodside has already
spent more than $200 million on exploration and marketing, may
remain undeveloped for a decade.
If successful, the lucrative oil and gas field, 450km northwest
of Darwin, could have seen 7.68 trillion cubic feet of
recoverable gas come onshore to the Territory.
Company spokesman Rob Millhouse said last night the project had
stalled. "We have said consistently unless we get legal and
fiscal certainty by the end of 2004 the project would stall," he
said. "That is where we stand."
A dispute about the maritime boundary and the division of
royalties between Australia and East Timor was expected to have
been resolved last month.
Under an interim deal, East Timor will get 90 per cent of taxes
from the development area, which includes 20 per cent of the
Greater Sunrise field.
But a small shift in the boundary would see East Timor gain a
much larger share of the reserve -- and a larger share in
billions of dollars in taxes.
An accord between the nations passed through the Australian
Parliament last year -- but East Timor has refused to ratify it.
Negotiations are now at a standstill despite a more lucrative
royalty sweetener -- reported to be an additional $3 billion --
being offered to East Timor.
Mr Millhouse dismissed reports the project was "dead" and said
Woodside would reassess its decision if an agreement was reached.
"It is now in the hands of the two governments to sort it out."
Department of Foreign Affairs and Trade spokeswoman Nicole Guihot
said East Timor had been invited to restart talks before April.
"We are willing to discuss any creative solutions the East
Timorese come up with," she said.
Acting Chief Minster Syd Stirling said he remained confident the
project would go ahead -- and in less than 10 years. "It is a
very large reserve and it will be developed," he said. "The
question is when."
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Timor Gap
Woodside shelving Greater Sunrise gas project
$7 billion gas project shelved - NT misses out on bonanza
Dili, Canberra to revive stalled talks on sea borders
Lusa - January 17, 2005
Dili -- Australia and East Timor will resume in March talks to resolve their dispute over shared maritime boundaries and the carving up of Timor Sea hydrocarbon revenues, Prime Minister Mari Alkatiri said Monday.
The talks in Canberra will be the fifth round in negotiations that stalled last October and will be the first bilateral discussions since the expiry of a December 31 deadline set by a consortium of oil companies for both parties to reach an accord.
The oil firms, led by Woodside Petroleum Ltd of Australia, say Dili and Canberra must reach agreement on revenue sharing from the Greater Sunrise gas project to prevent the scheme stalling for up to ten years.
Timor has still not ratified a treaty on revenue sharing from the Sunrise project, saying the current seafloor boundary gives Canberra too larger slice of hydrocarbon royalties.
Dow Jones Newswires - January 21, 2005
Veronica Brooks, Canberra -- Australia is hopeful East Timor will in the next week or two accept its invitation to return to the negotiating table to settle ownership of vast oil and gas reserves in the Timor Sea.
Doug Chester, Australia's chief negotiator in the protracted maritime border dispute, also told Dow Jones Newswires on Friday that Canberra is open to any "sensible" solution Dili might have in the wake of Woodside Petroleum Ltd.'s (WPL.AU) decision to shelve its US$5 billion Sunrise liquefied natural gas project.
"There is a window to restart negotiations in the next few months so we would hope to hear something very soon," Chester said, with officials planning to host the meeting in Australia.
"If Dili wants to look at a so-called creative solution that could see an interim arrangement, something that may have an immediate impact, we are happy to talk. We will listen to any sensible proposal."
"Or if they just want to go into the regular discussions on a permanent boundary, where we get all the scientists in the room, we're happy to do that," added Chester, who has just been named Australia's new ambassador to the Asia-Pacific Economic Cooperation forum.
Woodside has put the brakes on its Sunrise development, having last year warned the two sides it needed fiscal certainty on the project by the end of 2004 to capture a 2010 marketing "window" for LNG exports.
Only this week Woodside restated it won't be spending any more money to advance Sunrise and has reassigned staff to other projects.
Woodside owns 33.4% of Sunrise, regarded as the richest prize in the Timor Sea. Its partners are ConocoPhillips (COP) with 30%, Royal Dutch/Shell Group (RD) with 26.6% and Japan's Osaka Gas Co. (9532.TO) with 10%.
The 2004 deadline passed after Canberra and Dili, during talks in October, failed to agree on a formula for splitting the billions of dollars worth of oil and gas revenues.
At the time, East Timor accused Australia of issuing an ultimatum to accept a permanent maritime border on its terms while lowering its offer of compensation to an extra US$3 billion over 30 years, down from US$4.3 billion. Chester rejected this claim, adding that Dili's team had rejected Australia's proposal and then took its own offer off the table.
"What we were discussing [in October] was an East Timorese proposal that we'd got very close to agreeing to. We asked them whether they still wanted to proceed on the basis of their proposal and they said no. They pulled their proposal off the table and they'd already rejected our proposal," said Chester.
East Timor is fighting for a maritime boundary in the middle of the 600 kilometers of sea separating the two countries. Australia, instead, argues the boundary should be the edge of the continental shelf, which in some places is just 80 kilometers from East Timor's coastline. That border puts the bulk of natural resources in the Timor Sea under Australia's control.
Chester restated Friday that securing agreement on a permanent boundary is a complex process that will take a number of years. "Those negotiations will take time. It is inevitable. Historically they take many, many years," he said.
In a reorganization of the duties of Department of Foreign Affairs deputy secretaries, Chester succeeds Geoff Raby as Australian ambassador to APEC, while also taking responsibility for Canberra's proposed bilateral trade deal with Malaysia and a free trade pact between Australia, New Zealand and the Association of Southeast Asian Nations.
Negotiations on the latter trade treaty began kicked off with informal talks between officials in Singapore this week, with the full process due to begin in February.
Australia and Malaysia are conducting parallel feasibility studies into a possible free trade pact and these are nearing completion, Chester said.
"There is certainly a lot of interest in the business communities of both Australia and Malaysia," he said. "It's hard to pre-empt the outcome of the scoping studies but one would think it made sense. It would be a high quality FTA, much along the lines of [those Australia has with] Singapore and Thailand," said Chester.
Sydney Morning Herald - January 27, 2005
Julian Lee -- The organisers of an advertising campaign that ambushed the Australian Open to highlight disputed maritime boundaries in the Timor Sea have pledged to dog John Howard at public events to further their cause.
Ian Melrose says that over the next three years he will spend $6 million on advertising campaigns and media stunts to embarrass the Prime Minister over the contentious issue of Australia's claim on the lucrative oil and gas fields.
The first of the businessman's commercials, which says the Federal Government has stolen $2 billion in revenue from the East Timorese, caught television viewers of the Alicia Molik fourth- round victory over Venus Williams on Monday by surprise.
But the 30-second spot -- estimated to have cost about $30,000 -- is just the beginning of a campaign by Mr Melrose and a recently formed coalition of groups, including World Vision, Oxfam and the Uniting Church of Australia, to push the Timor issue to the top of the political agenda.
"I'm not after dropping shit on Johnny -- he's done a good job on many things. I'm after justice for the Timorese. They need the money. We don't," said Mr Melrose, who runs a chain of optometrists and who has visited East Timor to see first-hand the population's plight.
Although not a member of a political party, Mr Melrose said his ownership of a business under the Coalition's stewardship made him, if anything, a "natural Liberal". A spokesman for the campaign team at the lobby group The Timor Sea Justice Campaign promised that for every big public event Mr Howard "used to promote himself" they would be there to "ambush" him.
The next event to attract the campaign's attention is the anniversary of Australia's decision to ignore the jurisdiction of the International Court of Justice on maritime boundaries, made two months before East Timor gained independence from Indonesia in May 2002.
Mr Melrose and his campaigners are pushing for Australia to recognise that court and accept its decision if it found in favour of East Timor's claims.
The Prime Minister's office did not return the Herald's calls.
| Security & boarder issues |
Lusa - January 19, 2005
Dili -- Police in East Timor detained a man after an exchange of gunfire between security forces and an armed group near the border with Indonesian West Timor, officials said Wednesday.
Six armed men opened fire on a police patrol Tuesday after being spotted by patrolling officers in the district of Ermera, about 50 kms southwest of Dili, a police source told Lusa.
Daniel Mendes, 24, was arrested after the firefight. He told police he was resident in Atambua in West Timor and had entered East Timor Sunday to join five other members of a group who have been in the country since November, 2004.
Residents of the village of Atudara in the district of Cailaco, about 30 kms southwest of Dili, said the group were part of a former pro-Indonesian militia gang that had operated in the area during Timor's bloody breakaway from Jakarta's rule.
A military source told Lusa that Tuesday's incident at Ermera was the first involving presumed ex-militiamen on Timorese soil for over a year.
Lusa - January 21, 2005
Dili -- Former pro-Indonesian militiamen are gradually slipping back into East Timor and resorting to banditry, a military source in Dili told Lusa Friday.
The officer said the latest evidence of the infiltration from Indonesia West Timor came from an ex-militiaman captured by police after a firefight Tuesday.
According to the officer, the captive, Daniel Mendes, told interrogators he was part of a six-man gang that had crossed the border planning to assault vehicles and rob villages to survive.
Mendes, a former member of the anti-independence Halilintar militia from the western Ermera area, said he entered East Timor last Sunday to join an armed group that crossed the border in November.
The firefight with the gang and Mendes' subsequent capture by police was the first concrete evidence of activities by former militiamen in East Timor in more than one year.
The military source told Lusa it was likely that other ex- militiamen would seek to return to home areas as bandits, "as a matter of survival, not politics".
| Justice & reconciliation |
Jakarta Post - January 10, 2005
Aboeprijadi Santoso, Amsterdam -- Indonesia has asked East Timor to initiate a joint-commission of truth and reconciliation to resolve the issue of the violence during and after the United Nations-organized vote in East Timor in 1999.
With some 1,500 deaths, a capital destroyed, hundreds of thousands forcibly deported and 17 of only 18 defendants acquitted (one more has an appeal pending), the crimes against humanity allegedly committed by the Army and its proxies, have apparently been completed with total impunity. But who, then, is responsible for the mayhem? During Dili's final observance of Indonesian Independence Day on Aug. 17, 1999, then governor Jose Abilio Osorio Soares proudly announced before UN diplomats and community leaders that East Timor would continue to celebrate the day because he believed the country would remain part of Indonesia. As he spoke, violence was sweeping the country, and in the hall, this writer recalls, some civil servants whispered to each other with a sense of disbelief. They were right: A few weeks later, the majority (79 percent) of the people voted for independence.
Yet the governor knew better. Abilio must have been aware of local anxieties and the upcoming danger, for example, what the soldiers and militiamen would do when defeat eventually came -- the "morning after (the vote)" problem had by then become an international concern. Pro-Jakarta militiamen said the administration authorized them to set up check points along the main roads and ports soon after the vote -- indicating that, far from rogue elements fighting in a "civil war", the violence had involved some planning. When Abilio was finally acquitted by the court, law experts warned that the verdict could endanger Indonesia's position in the international community, as the trials have been widely seen as a sham to avoid an international tribunal.
Indeed, Gen. Wiranto's adviser, Muladi, welcomed it as a step to avert international criticism that only military men were freed from punishment, while Foreign Minister Hassan Wirayuda regretted it, saying it would "erode the credibility of the rights tribunal".
In other words, rather than reflecting on the unjust treatment of the victims, Jakarta was concerned about the image of the military and the rights trials -- the two institutions most responsible for impunity, whose credibility was thus at stake.
A negative, possibly devastating, judgment could be the outcome if the expert commission initiated by the UN secretary-general -- instead of Jakarta's proposed truth commission -- is allowed to probe the way Jakarta handled the case. One expert who witnessed and researched the case is Professor Geoffrey Robinson of the University of California. The Canadian Indonesianist was a political adviser of UN Mission in East timor (UNAMET), which organized East Timor's referendum. His report to the United Nations Office of the High Commissioner for Human Rights in Geneva, East Timor 1999, Crimes against Humanity was for years suppressed, but is soon to be published.
"In both 1965 (left-wing massacres) and 1999 (E. Timor)," Robinson told Radio Netherlands recently, "the Army was directly involved in organizing the killings. People talked of the 1999 case as if it was just the work of some rogue elements, but it's clear that the Army was involved in mobilizing their own soldiers to take part in the crimes. The 1999 case was in front of the international community, that's the big difference ...
It's not easy, however, to explain how the massacres, rampage and rapes were organized. Robinson said, "What I think happened was that several Indonesian Military (TNI) officers and other officers in Jakarta spelled out a general strategy to mobilize the militia groups and to use terror and violence in order to intimidate people and to punish them. And within that strategy, as you went down the command, there were more specific ideas about what to do. So, yes, there was planning at some level, a general strategy, but that doesn't mean that a particular individual planned a particular massacre. There is no smoking gun ... but the links between the formal Army commands and the militia groups are well documented.
"That doesn't change the level of responsibility", Robinson insisted. For "the line of responsibility is only partly informal and some of the formal lines of command were still operating ... Probably the Army's Special Forces (Kopassus) had a separate, parallel command, controlling certain activities separately from the formal territorial lines of command". This conclusion is parallel to UN investigator James Dunn's report of Feb. 2001.
Mass murderers like to ensure and measure their success. Hitler did it at the special Wansee conference and the Khmer Rouge kept lists of victims that went into meticulous detail. Not so in the Timor case. But there were documents of a contingency plan to transport people, which according to Dili's Yayasan Hak suggests a preceding scorched-earth plan. This was the directive from the Office of the Coordinating Minister for Political, Legal and Security Affairs for the Army and police district commanders in Dili.
All these point to the use of Army infrastructure and other networks to operate the militia groups. Examples abound -- like attacks on churches in Liquisa and Suai and on Carrascalao's house.
The planning apparently involved the TNI headquarters, Army Strategic Reserves Command (Kostrad), Kopassus and the Armed Force's Strategic Intelligence Agency (BAIS), but also key members of President BJ Habibie's Cabinet. One was the defense minister and TNI chief Gen. Wiranto, who let his soldiers do what they did -- a very serious omission. But at a higher level the coordinating minister Gen. ret. Feisal Tanjung played a key role as he chaired a team, known by its acronym TP4OKTT, which included ministers of home and foreign affairs, of defense, justice and the BAIS chief. According to Robinson, it is this group that formulated the general strategy.
The Indonesia-East Timor Truth Commission is yet to spell out its aim and modus operandi. However, being a truth commission, it will have -- if any -- limited judicial power. To resolve the issue, a truly credible court -- a hybrid or international tribunal -- should precede such a commission, check the above findings, and let justice take its course.
[The writer is a journalist with Radio Netherlands, Amsterdam.]
Jakarta Post - January 18, 2005
Jakarta -- Former East Timor governor Abilio Soares vowed on Wednesday to continue his challenge against the retroactive application of the rights tribunal law despite his acquittal of all charges arising out the 1999 atrocities in the former Indonesian province.
"There are many people who, like me, are implicated in the case," he told reporters after a hearing at the Supreme Court.
Abilio said he had decided not to challenge the law in an "international tribunal" following his recent acquittal. Instead, he suggested that the government resolve the East Timor issue through the proposed truth and reconciliation commission.
The Supreme Court acquitted Abilio after he requested a review of his conviction. He had earlier been sentenced to three years in jail. He had already served four months of his term when his case review was allowed.
| Indonesia |
Detik.com - January 28, 2005
Astrid Felicia Lim, Jakarta -- The Timor Leste (East Timor) government has promised to lobby the US government in its congress, in February 2005 about withdrawing the embargo on Indonesian military requirements.
The president of Timor Leste, Xanana Gusmao, conveyed the matter after meeting the Speaker of the Indonesian House of Representatives (DPR), Agung Laksono and the Speaker of the Regional Representatives' Council (DPD), Ginandjar Kartasasmita at the People's Consultative Assembly (MPR)/DPR building, Jalan Gatot Soebroto, Jakarta on Friday (28 January 2005).
"Timor Leste's Foreign Minister, Ramos Horta said earlier in our meeting that he will lobby the US in congress in February about the embargo and restrictions concerning military equipment supplies to Indonesia," said Xanana.
According to Xanana, this is a continuation of Timor Leste's efforts that were carried out during the Association of South East Asian Nations (ASEAN) Tsunami Summit meeting (KTT) in Jakarta not long ago.
The speaker of the DPR, Agung Laksono expressed thanks for the Timor Leste government's initiative. "They initiated it themselves after seeing the situation in Aceh. There are a lot of military needs that Indonesia cannot fulfil because, among other things, their planes need to be fixed and there are no spare parts," he said.
Agung also discussed in the meeting plans to increase cooperation between the (countries') parliaments. "As my parliament conveyed, future relations between the two countries should not only be in the area of the executive but also in the legislative. Earlier, it was also stressed that the two countries may no longer live in the shadows of the past," said Agung.
Xanana expressed his intention to visit Indonesia's parliament as a continuation of the exchange programme, where previously members of Indonesia's DPR visited Dili. Xanana also said that he visited Indonesia to express the Timorese community's solidarity and sympathy regarding the Aceh and Northern Sumatera disaster.
"Yesterday, we gave a contribution to President Susilo as a sign of solidarity, the money collected by the general public, including school children, small children and kiosks was only small. But we gave from our hearts and out of a feeling of sorrow," he said.
[From BBC World Monitoring.]
Media Indonesia - January 28, 2005
Jakarta -- Indonesia and Timor Leste (East Timor) have agreed to establish a permanent border crossing (PLB) for traditional communities that live on the border between the two countries to strengthen kinship ties and to preserve peace.
The third Indonesia-Timor Leste border meeting was conducted in Atambua, in Belu district, East Nusa Tenggara (NTT) yesterday. The Indonesian delegation was led by the Commander of the Border Security Task Force (Satgas Pamtas) for NTT-Timor Leste, Colonel Aris Setia Budi. While the Belu District Administrator, Joachim Lopez and the Deputy-District Administrator, Gregorius Mau Bili Fernandez acted like house guests.
"Participants in the meeting agreed to establish the PLB for the traditional communities that live in the border region between NTT and Timor Leste and to reopen the border markets in Turiskain, Motamasin and Mota'ain that the communities from both regions have been waiting on," explained Gregorius while reading the results of the meeting.
Apart from that, they also agreed to conduct routine meetings every three months which would include (representatives from) the Belu, Bobonaro and Covalima district administrations as well as the Northern Central (TTU) and Oecussi enclave district administrations.
[BBC Monitoring International Reports.]
Xinhua News - January 28, 2005
Jakarta -- East Timor President Xanana Gusmao in a three-day visit here Friday sought to mend bilateral ties with Indonesia, hand humanitarian assistance to tsunami victims and express opposition against US military embargo.
Speaking to reporter after a meeting with House of Representatives Speaker Agung Laksono at the parliament compound here, visiting Gusmao said his government would lobby the US congress to lift military embargo imposed on Indonesia.
"During the meeting, Foreign Minister Ramos Horta said we would lobby the US congress in February on issue of embargo and restriction of military equipment supply to Indonesia," said Gusmao.
The US government has imposed military embargo on Indonesia on allegation of human rights abuses by Indonesian military personnel during the East Timor referendum for independence in 1999.
Gusmao said his visit was aimed at enhancing bilateral ties with Indonesia, which ruled the tiny country from 1976 to 1999.
He asserted what happened in the past must not overshadow relationship between both countries.
Gusmao arrived here Thursday and has met with President Susilo Bambang Yudhoyono.
He said during a meeting with Susilo he expressed sympathy and condolence of the East Timor people to victims of the December 26 tsunami in northern Sumatra and handed humanitarian assistance.
Although the sum of the assistance is not huge, "we give it with our heart," he said.
| News & issues |
Interpress News Service - January 4, 2005
Bob Burton, Canberra -- Despite his reputation as a progressive social thinker, former Australian Labor Party prime minister Gough Whitlam -- according to just declassified documents -- refused to criticise the invasion of East Timor by the Indonesian military in December 1975 or the subsequent brutal treatment of its population.
Thirty-year-old secret papers released by the National Archives on New Year's Day showed that the Australian cabinet had no discussions on East Timor before Whitlam decided it should be incorporated into Indonesia.
Asked at a briefing whether he had any regrets about his policy towards then Indonesian president Suharto in view of the treatment of the East Timorese between 1974 and 1999, Whitlam was unapologetic. "There are misrepresentations as to what I said to Suharto," he insisted.
Whitlam, who is revered by many as one of the great Australian social reformers, has doggedly refused to acknowledge that he erred in his support for Suharto or ignored East Timor's right to self-determination.
This is despite numerous government documents and accounts from journalists and former diplomats pointing to Australian complicity in the invasion and the subsequent killings and famines that may have killed as many as 200,000 East Timorese or one-third of the population at the time..
Whitlam has been widely accused of giving Suharto prior approval for the invasion and then remaining silent when the military unleashed a rule of terror.
"I saw him twice, once in Java [Indonesia] in 1974 and once in Townsville [Australia] in 1975 and I'm very happy for any of the documents to be released. One of the things that I point out is that the interpreter who was with me on those occasions denies completely that the green light was given to Indonesia to invade East Timor," Whitlam said.
After the September 1974 meeting between Whitlam and Suharto, Australian officials briefed journalists and informed them that the two had agreed that East Timor was best incorporated into Indonesia. Whitlam told the Australian press at the time that "an independent Timor would be an unviable state".
The then Australian ambassador in Jakarta, Richard Woolcott, sent a cable to Canberra in 1975 in which he foreshadowed Indonesia's plans to take over East Timor.
"We should leave events to take their course ... and act in a way which would be designed to minimise the public impact in Australia and show private understanding to Indonesia of their problems ... I know I am recommending a pragmatic rather than a principled stand but that is what national interest and foreign policy is all about," he wrote.
At the National Archives briefing, Whitlam reacted angrily when asked if at his 1974 meeting with Suharto he stated that his preference was that East Timor's future lay with Indonesia and that this should be achieved by way of an act of self- determination rather than through an invasion. "There was no discussion of preferences. I did say that one had to consider the people in the territory itself," Whitlam said.
When interrupted by a journalist wanting Whitlam to address what was said at his 1974 meeting with Suharto, contrary to a January 1963 briefing note by then Australian consul in East Timor, James Dunn, and support for Indonesia from an earlier conservative government, he responded angrily again. "You doubt that was their decision? ... No let me read Dunn's report," he insisted.
Dunn, who later became an outspoken critic of Australia's preference for turning a blind eye to the invasion and subsequent human rights abuses by the Indonesian military, found little support for independence at the time.
"The Portuguese in Timor have little real support from the indigenous population who, if given the opportunity, will probably favour a change in the status of their territory," he wrote in the 1963 briefing note.
"In these circumstances there would be some pressure towards the setting up of an independent state but the majority would probably favour Indonesian rule as the alternative to the continuation of Portuguese rule," added Dunn.
The following month the then conservative prime minister, Robert Menzies, and his cabinet colleagues opted to support Indonesia's territorial ambitions deciding that "no practicable alternative to eventual Indonesian sovereignty over Portuguese Timor presented itself".
For his part Dunn accepts responsibility for his initial briefing note. "If that's what I wrote I have to accept it but I doubt Gough cited my more critical 1974 briefing when he was prime minister," he said.
Whitlam, in fact, did not. Nor, Dunn argues, was Whitlam presenting his initial briefing in context.
"When I first went there I could find little support for the idea of Timor as an independent nation, which is what I reflected ... The situation changed rapidly later that decade both for the Timorese and for Australia," he said.
By the end of his posting in late 1964 Dunn said opinion had begun to shift in favour of independence -- a trend that accelerated right to the 1990s.
In late August 1999, East Timor voted in a UN-sponsored referendum to break away from Indonesia, setting off a wave of violence by pro-Jakarta militants and Indonesian security forces, which killed an untold number and caused hundreds of thousands to flee to neighbouring West Timor.
In May 2002, after a two-year period of interim administration by the United Nations, East Timor became the world's newest nation. Dunn recalled the period leading to East Timor's independence.
"There was the growth in support for independence by many small nations separating from their previous colonial rulers as well as the emergence of human rights law. The UN convention on civil and political rights, for example, placed the right to self- determination at the forefront," he said.
Dunn explains Whitlam's failure to support East Timor as an aversion to small states "which he didn't think were viable".
Sun-Herald - January 16, 2005
Adam Gartrell -- Buses donated to East Timor by the NSW Government in 2002 have never been used and sit in an empty parking lot, makeshift homes to a handful of Timor's poor.
Five of the 20-year-old Mercedes-Benz Mark Two buses, worth about $10,000 each, were shipped to East Timor, at an added cost of $70,000, by the Transport Department in January 2002.
The buses were intended to help establish much-needed transport services across the ravaged country.
The department failed to conduct proper feasibility studies, however, overlooking the fact that the buses are too large for East Timor's roads and cannot be used.
"Even in [the capital] Dili, the roads are old and too narrow," East Timorese Consul-General to Australia Abel Guterres said. "These buses are just too big. They would run everything else off the road."
The transport minister in January 2002, Carl Scully, who oversaw the donation of the surplus buses, said at the time: "These buses will enable people from all over East Timor to travel freely and easily for the first time in 25 years. "People will be able to visit their families and friends for the first time."
Instead, the buses have moved only two kilometres from Dili's port where they were originally unloaded. They sit in a dusty space in the Dili suburb of Colmera, in the shadow of a burnt-out building, and several homeless Timorese have moved in, sleeping on the seats and hanging their belongings from the handrails.
Mr Guterres called the NSW Government "very supportive and sympathetic" to East Timor's plight and said the gesture had been appreciated. "We were eager to get our hands on whatever we could at the time," he said. "There was no time to decide whether it was feasible or not."
He said a lack of spare parts and mechanical know-how were also problems. "If we needed parts we would have to source them [from Australia] and that would be very expensive for us," he said.
Much of East Timor's infrastructure, including transport, was destroyed in the violence that followed the vote for independence in 1999. Today, most Timorese rely on mechanically inadequate minibuses to move around the mountainous countryside.
Mr Guterres said East Timor's Government did have plans to improve the country's roads but work would probably not begin until 2010. "And by then [the buses] will probably be too old," he said.
Diario de Noticias - January 17, 2005
The secretary of state for defence's visit to East Timor, due to start tomorrow (Tuesday 18 January), has been postponed until the end of the month. Jorge Neto is now expected to visit the country on 30 January, during which he will sign the Military-Technical Cooperation Programme for 2005 with the Timorese authorities.
According to Timorese official data cited by (news agency) Lusa, Portugal is presently East Timor's most important defence partner, as a result of the 5.4m US dollars-worth (4m euros) of military assistance.
(Editor's note: On 16 January, Lusa reported that the Portuguese official will remain in East Timor until 2 February. Portugal's assistance consists of armed forces training, equipment and maintenance support, among others.)
[From BBC Monitoring International Reports.]
The Australian - January 29, 2005
East Timor's charismatic president Xanana Gusmao today made an emotional visit to the Indonesian prison where he was held for four years as a rebel before his country was granted independence.
Mr Gusmao toured Jakarta's notorious Cipinang jail, meeting inmates of the cell where he was incarcerated in 1992 for his role leading the Timorese rebel resistance to Indonesia's occupying forces.
"This is not just a nostalgic visit for me. I know exactly how the inmates feel and suffer. I'm here today also to give support to my friends who are still here," he said with tears in his eyes.
While behind bars Mr Gusmao gained a reputation as East Timor's version of Nelson Mandela, inspiring a separatist spirit that in 1999 led to a violent split from Indonesia. He reluctantly became the country's first president in 2002.
Prison chief Dedi Sutardi described Mr Gusmao's impromptu visit as amicable. "It was a friendly visit, we had a great talk about old times. We smoked and had coffee together," he told Jakarta's Elshinta radio.
| Daily media reviews |
UNMISET - January 4, 1005
Timor-Leste: President unveils campaign to assist tsunami survivors
Tsunami fears spark panic in Timor-Leste
January 2, Dili -- Scores of residents fled Timor-Leste's capital Dili late on Sunday after abnormally high waters on the tiny city's waterfront sparked a panic that a tsunami was approaching. Police appealed for calm in the dilapidated city, still recovering from the violence surrounding its separation from Indonesia in 1999, calling through loudhailers for people to return to their homes. Meteorologists in Dili told AFP they had no evidence of any seismic activity likely to cause a danger to the South-East Asian nation, which lies at the other end of the Indonesian archipelago to disaster-hit Aceh province. (ABC AFP)
Hundreds sleep in hills after Dili tsunami panic
January 3, Dili -- Several hundred Dili residents spent a second night in high ground after unfounded rumours that a tsunami was heading for the city's shoreline. Timor's acting police chief, Inspector Ismael Babo, said about 350 citizens of Dili had not heeded repeated warnings from the authorities that the tsunami rumours were baseless, opting to spend a second night away from their homes. Earlier, tens of thousands of Dili residents began returning home after fears of an imminent tidal wave panicked them into fleeing the Timorese capital Sunday.
Some media reported that the panic was initially caused by an abnormally high tide on the Dili waterfront. Police told Lusa that about half the city's population of 160,000 fled into neighbouring mountains Sunday evening, leaving Dili ripe for theft and looting. Inspector Babo said that despite reinforced police patrols the city had suffered a rash of overnight burglaries at abandoned homes, shops and warehouses.
Prime Minister Mari Alkatiri told Lusa late Sunday he was convinced whoever launched the rumours was "only interested" in creating an opportunity to "loot".
Ignoring calls for calm made by police from cars equipped with loudspeakers, panicked residents fled into the hills by foot and in vehicles, carrying whatever belongings they could. Despite the rush, police said only one traffic accident had taken place, slightly injuring one person. Authorities were also seeking to reunite 29 children who were separated from their families in the panic. (LUSA)
Gusmco and Alkatiri on the recent Dili Tsunami panic
President Gusmco made an appeal to the police and the local population to arrest those who were responsible for spreading rumours regarding a Tsunami attack that created panic among the local residents of Dili. PM Alkatiri urged the population to remain calm since the Timor-Leste government has contacted Australia regarding the seismic forecast. He said that the government would make an announcement in the event of any possible danger. (TP) PM Alkatiri welcomes President Gusmco's appeal for donations
PM Mari Alkatiri of welcomes President Gusmco's appeal to the people of Timor-Leste to donate towards victims of the recent Tsunami disaster in Aceh, Thailand and other Asian countries. He reiterated that the people of Timor-Leste needed to participate in the humanitarian donation as President Gusmco urged, because the same natural disaster could hit Timor-Leste in the near future. (STL)
US groups urge Indonesia to put people over politics
Washington, December 30 -- US-based groups with a long record of experience in the region today called on the Indonesian government to not let politics override the needs of people in tsunami-stricken Aceh. The groups include the East Timor Action Network (ETAN), International Labor Rights Fund (ILRF) and Nonviolence International (NI).
UN: Tsunami death toll expected to increase drastically
January 3, United Nations -- Tens of thousands more bodies were expected to be found in the rainforest and along the western coastline of Sumatra, near the epicentre of the earthquake that produced last week's tsunami, the chief UN relief official said Monday, adding he expected the toll in the region to drastically increase from the present estimated 150,000 dead. "We've had outstanding cooperation from many countries", in getting aid to the survivors, Undersecretary-General Jan Egeland told reporters at UN World Headquarters in New York.
Egeland praised the more than $2 billion in aid already pledged and was especially appreciative of "five, maybe six" helicopter carrier ships expected on station by Tuesday. "The international response has been truly overwhelming", he said. As for the response to the catastrophe, he said, "We have non-traditional donors in a manner, in a way, we have never had them before", pointing out small impoverished nations such as Nepal and Timor Leste, the former East Timor, stepping forward with offers of assistance. (World Peace Herald)
Police arrested nine members of Colimau 2000
The National Police of Manatuto district was reported to have arrested nine members of Colimau 2000, who recently have transformed themselves into a political party. The nine suspects who are currently detained at Manatuto police station pending further investigation were arrested due to illegal activities of manipulating the local population into believing that Nicolco Lobato and Vicente Sahe Reis were still alive and would appear on New Year's eve. It was also reported that apart from manipulating the local residents of Kairui, sub-district Laleia, they were also reported of holding illegal contributions in the range of US $2 to US $10 per household. (STL)
Horta: Timor has made some progress
Timor-Leste's Foreign Minister, Jose Ramos Horta said that the people of Timor-Leste should be proud of the progress made in terms of development over the past two and a half years after attaining independence from the transitional government UNTAET. Minister Horta was also quoted in a different article of stating the Minister of Foreign Affairs and Cooperation had negotiated with the Indonesian Ministry of Foreign Affairs to form the terms of the Commission's mandate, which would focus more on the 1999 mayhem. (STL)
UNMISET - January 5, 2005
Alkatiri: F-FDTL should reassure the public
Following a meeting between PM Alkatiri and Brigadier General Taur Matan Ruak, the Prime Minister has asked F-FDTL to reassure the local community regarding the recent Tsunami rumour that resulted in hundreds of residents seeking refuge behind in the hills or mountains in Dili.
Brigadier General Ruak said, "all government institutions needed to disseminate true and accurate information in order to ease the worries and concerns of the local community". Meanwhile, National Disaster Reduction Adviser in the Interior Ministry, Jane Morcelin said that it will be difficult for a Tsunami to reach Timor-Leste since the depth of the ocean in Timor-Leste is between 150 to 300 metres. She explained that the deeper the ocean, the greater will be the possibility of a Tsunami occurring. PNTL Deputy Commissioner, Ismael Babo said that the police are still investigating the source of the tsunami rumour. (STL, TP)
Lobato: PSD disagrees with government support for Indonesia
Socialist Democratic Party, PSD, MP Lucia Lobato stated that being a representative of the population, she disagrees with TL government's decision to donate US $10,000 to Alor and US $50,000 to Aceh communities who were affected by the natural disaster. She added that it is because Timor-Leste and its people are poor, and that sometimes the Timorese face destruction without receiving any assistance or support from the government. MP Lucia Lobato further explained that the above argument does not show her lack of solidarity to the victims, but she argued that solidarity could be shown through the expression of condolences through an official letter instead of giving US $60,000. (STL)
UNMISET - January 6, 2005
Government says people will know of Tsunami in time
Speaking to the media on Wednesday, Prime Minister Mari Alkatiri said that the Government guaranteed people would know about a Tsunami before it occurs. Therefore, he appealed to the population who were panicking and taking refuge in the hills to come back to town and resume their work as usual. Responding to the appeal from the President of the Republic to assist the Tsunami victims, Alkatiri said that the Government supported the idea and had opened a bank account for civil servants to make their contributions.
In a separate article, President of the National Parliament, Francisco Guterres "Lu-Olo" said that the Government should invite experts on tsunami and earthquakes to clearly explain to the people on the situation, particularly Dili and Timor Leste's geographical situation, so that people who were still on the hills would be convinced to return home. (Timor Post)
Protesters against government's donation lack maturity
Prime Minister Alkatiri and Foreign Minister Horta said that those who protested against the government's donation of USD 50,000 for the victims of the Tsunami disaster through the UN agency OCHA are brainless and lack maturity, sincerity and spirit of solidarity.
The Prime Minister said that a brainless person knows nothing more than to protest. While Minister Horta added that MP Lucia Lobato is an embarrassment and other political parties that share PSD's argument neither have the condition nor the alternative to govern in Timor-Leste.
Because, it represents lack of maturity, sincerity, spirit of solidarity as well as lack of diplomatic tact.
The government has also opened a bank account for Timor-Leste civil servants to donate towards the Tsunami fund. PM Alkatiri opened the bank account following President Gusmao's appeal. STL states that victims of the recent panic rumour of a Tsunami attack in Dili have increased. More than 13 people were brought to the Emergency Unit of the National Hospital of Dili. The report also mentioned that a woman, 7 months pregnant, lost her baby due to shock. (TP, STL)
Horta to attend world tsunami relief summit
Dili, Jan 5 -- East Timor's Foreign Minister, Jose Ramos Horta, will attend a summit of world leaders in Jakarta to coordinate global relief efforts in the wake of the Asian tsunami disaster and discuss a regional warning system to prevent future catastrophes, an official said Wednesday.
Leaders from the 10-member Association of Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN) are attending the emergency meeting Thursday in the Indonesian capital, along with top government officials from China, Australia, the United States, India, Japan, the European Union and donor organisations.
Countries participating at the summit represent some of the largest donors that have already pledged a total USD 2 billion aid. Japan has pledged USD 500 million of this, the largest offer, the US promised USD 350 million and China USD 60 million.
Indonesian Foreign Minister Hassan Wirajuda said Tuesday that the summit would issue a joint declaration containing "solidarity and commitment to handle this unprecedented disaster". Ramos Horta said the one-day summit would also study the possibility of establishing a regional tsunami warning system for all ASEAN members.
Timor, Southeast Asia's poorest nation, has already donated USD 50,000 to assist victims of the December 26 earthquakes and sea surges. (LUSA)
Becora Prison prepares special cell for female prisoners
The Director of Becora Prison, Carlos Sarmento told media that his department is rehabilitating a special cell for female prisoners at Becora Prison. STL reported that so far female prisoners could not be kept there and have always been transferred to Baucau and Gleno Prisons due to the lack of special cells for female prisoners. The report outlines that the special cell would be constructed away from the male prisoners' cell. He lamented that apart from the maximum 300 male prisoners, Becora prison aims to hold up to 50 female prisoners. (STL)
UNMISET - January 7, 2005
Gusmao opened an account for tsunami victims
President Xanana Gusmao along with Prime Minister Mari Alkatiri, President of National Parliament Francisco Guterres "Lu-Olo", and SRSG Sukehiro Hasegawa yesterday opened an account at BNU bank for citizens of Timor-Leste to contribute towards the Tsunami funds for victims in Aceh, Indonesia. With the account, the President said, it would serve as a gesture for people to demonstrate their solidarity to the victims not only in words but also in concrete actions. (STL)
Alkatiri: Governing a nation requires broad vision
Prime Minister Mari Alkatiri told the media on Thursday after his weekly meeting with President of the Republic that to govern a nation requires broad vision. He thus said that the Government hopes that the people think that its offering of solidarity for the victims of natural disasters such as the recent tsunami was an important gesture. Moreover, Alkatiri said the whole world is aware of Timor-Leste's participation in assisting the Tsunami victims with the amount of US$ 50,000, adding that such initiatives showed that Timor-Leste was indeed engaged in politics and diplomacy, the world over. (Timor Post)
Lobato: Fretilin lost local elections due to lack of trust
In response to Prime Minister Mari Alkatiri's recent statement saying that PSD (Social Democratic Party) was brainless, PSD Representative Lucia Lobato told the media on Thursday that Fretilin lost the local elections in Bobonaro and Oecusse districts because it had lost the trust from the people. "If I were the Prime Minister, when realising that Fretilin has lost the local elections in two districts, I would make it as a reference for reflection instead of attacking the opposition parties," Lobato said. Moreover, Lobato said that it would be better for the Prime Minister to change the mechanism of his administration so that they could continue to gain trust from the people. (STL)
Parliamentarians to relocate to districts
President of National Parliament Francisco Guterres "Lu Olo" said that all Parliament members would soon be relocated to districts in accordance with the Parliament's national plan. During their relocation the members would contact their constituents, and oversee other related work. (STL)
UNMISET - January 10, 2005
Gusmco opens bank account for "Operasaun Domin"
Dili -- President Gusmco, accompanied by SRSG Sukehiro Hasegawa, PM Alkatiri and President of the National Parliament, Lu'Olo opened a special bank account at BNU on January 6 for "Operasaun Domin" or "Peace Operation" in order to raise funds to assist the victims of the tsunami tragedy in Indonesia. President Gusmco explained that opening the account expresses solidarity and urges action and not just talk. He invited Timor-Leste citizens to participate in the "Peace Operation" with their donations.
Meanwhile, PM Alkatiri clarified that Timor-Leste government also has opened a separate bank account for civil servants to make their donations. When asked about collective contributions from NGOs, the Prime Minister said that their donations should be deposited in the account opened by President Gusmco.
In separate article, STL reported that Timorese population solidarity gesture was further highlighted when President Gusmco, SRSG Sukehiro Hasegawa, PM Alkatiri, dignitaries and local residents laid wreaths in the sea on Sunday, January 9. STL also reported that the donation through the bank account opened by President Gusmco has now reached US $7,497.50 as of January 10 2005. (STL)
Timor-Leste joins international aid for tsunami
Jakarta -- Timor-Leste President Xanana Gusmao is slated to visit Indonesia later this month to hand over a donation from his people for victims of the Dec. 26 tsunami.
In a meeting with President Susilo Bambang Yudhoyono on Friday, Timor-Leste Minister of Foreign Affairs Ramos Horta said that although his country is the poorest in the world, the people would like to share the grief of the Indonesian people.
"Our people are gathering donations, some are just one cent, some are more, and it was led by President Gusmao", the Minister said after the meeting. Horta was in Jakarta to attend the one-day summit on the aftermath of the earthquake and tsunami on Thursday. (The Jakarta Post)
Gusmco calls suspects believed to have spread tsunami rumour
President Xanana Gusmco on Friday, asked PNTL to bring him the five suspects that were arrested due to their involvement in spreading rumours about the tsunami attack in Dili, reported Timor Post.
Meantime, the National Police or PNTL was reported as ignoring President Gusmco's request due to the investigation process that police are conducting. The report describes that based on the legal procedure; the five suspects are not allowed to leave the cell until the investigation is concluded. The report also states that President Gusmco suggested not to use the existing legal process to try the five suspects but to take the five suspects around town to apologise to the population. (TP)
What of Truth Commission
Amsterdam -- Indonesia has asked Timor-Leste to initiate a joint-commission of truth and reconciliation to resolve the issue of the violence during and after the United Nations-organised vote in Timor-Leste in 1999.
With some 1,500 deaths, a capital destroyed, hundreds of thousands forcibly deported and 17 of only 18 defendants acquitted (one more has an appeal pending), the crimes against humanity allegedly committed by the Army and its proxies, have apparently been completed with total impunity. But who, then, is responsible for the mayhem?
The Indonesia-Timor-Leste Truth Commission is yet to spell out its aim and modus operandi. However, being a truth commission, it will have -- if any -- limited judicial power. To resolve the issue, a truly credible court -- a hybrid or international tribunal -- should precede such a commission, check the above findings, and let justice take its course. (The Jakarta Post)
School materials to be donated to Timor
Coimbra, 9 January -- In response to an appeal launched through the Internet by a Portuguese teacher in Dili asking for donations in order to minimize the almost non-existence of books in Portuguese language in Timor-Leste schools, over 16 boxes of school materials have been collected. These include over 2,000 schoolbooks, small encyclopaedias, dictionaries, Portuguese, English, and Natural Science manuals, colour pencils and other children/youth literature. Bonifrates Theatre Company of Coimbra, Portugal collected the materials which will be sent to Timor- Leste this month with the assistance of "Fundacao das Universidades Portuguesas" for distribution in schools. (LUSA)
UNMISET - January 11, 2005
Alkatiri participates in conference on development
Prime Minister Mari Alkatiri left on Monday for Mauritius to participate in a conference on development, organised by the United Nations, which begins tomorrow. The objective of the conference is to observe development in small countries, which is difficult, especially in countries where there are no natural resources.
Through the conference, Alkatiri said, Timor-Leste would share its experience on how it manages its oil resources for achieving sustainability, and being able to carry out development based on the National Development Plan that has been prepared by the Government. "The advantage for the image of Timor-Leste in participating in such a gathering is to ensure that the world does not forget about Timor-Leste," Alkatiri said." Moreover, Timor-Leste should continue to be engaged in politics, adding that this will show that the country has the desire to move forward and is aware of how to achieve its goals. (STL)
Gusmco: Timor continues to request UN assistance
Speaking to the media on Monday after the meeting on security which was co-chaired by President Xanana Gusmco along with Prime Minister Mari Alkatiri, the President said that Timor-Leste would continue to request for UN's assistance even though UNMISET ends its mission on 20 May 2005. The assistance which would be requested by Timor-Leste, he said, would be availability of advisers and technical assistance.
Meanwhile, Prime Minister said that there was a need to provide better training and technical assistance for both PNTL and F-FDTL and to establish better working relations between the two institutions after UNMISET concludes its mission. SRSG Sukehiro Hasegawa and other members of the diplomatic corps also attended the meeting. (STL, TP)
Parliament approves law on former veterans
The National Parliament on Monday approved the law on former combatants and veterans of FALINTIL. With this approval, the Parliament will establish a special commission to address this matter. The President of Parliament Francisco Guterres "Lu'Olo" was quoted as saying that the special commission would clearly identify the veterans. "If we do not create a special commission on the matter, then it will be difficult to identify them," Lu'Olo added. (TP)
Gusmco sharing Portuguese aid with tsunami victims
Dili, January 10 -- President Xanana Gusmco said Monday that 10% of funds collected in an ongoing Portuguese campaign to aid Timor-Leste would be used in other countries to help victims of the Indian Ocean tsunami. The president said he was taking the initiative, as head of the Xanana Gusmco Foundation, "despite all the needs and wants the Timorese people still face", adding that the funds would be donated to the Lisbon-based AMI medical charity that is currently working in Sri Lanka.
The pro-Timor Portuguese aid campaign, launched in June and set to run through March, is carried out in the name of the Gusmco Foundation. Dili pledged USD 50,000 last week to help Indian Ocean rim countries devastated by the December 26 tsunami. (LUSA)
UNPAZ and Hosanna Church raise US$4,935.99 Aceh victims
'Universidade da Paz' (UNPAZ) and Hosana Church have raised US $4,935.99 to be donated to Aceh Tsunami victims. Funds were raised through public contribution and a Humanitarian Concert held on 8th January at 'Democracy Field'. Reports confirm that the donation has been transferred to the Indonesia Red Cross in Jakarta. The organising committee for both institutions thanked the public for their support and contributions. (STL, TP, TVTL)
Indonesia aims to address pending issues with Timor
Dili, January 10 -- Indonesian Ambassador to Timor-Leste, Ahmed Bey Sofwan said that the Indonesian government aims to address pending issues with Timor-Leste amicably. Ambassador Sofwan made the statement after a follow-up meeting with President Gusmco, PM Alkatiri, SRSG Sukehiro Hasegawa and other diplomatic corps at the Palace of Ashes. He also mentioned that apart from the follow-up on the report of the 'working groups', he also discussed bilateral issues between Indonesia and Timor-Leste, such as development of police and army. "We tried to look at the issues regarding security in the border or border security" explained Ambassador Sofwan. (TP)
59 prisoners in Becora are from 1999 rights violations
The director of Becora Prison, Carlos Sarmento, said that of the total 206 prisoners, 59 have been imprisoned due to their involvement in 1999 human rights violations. He further confirmed and clarified that of these 59, two are Indonesian. 93 of the 206 prisoners' cases have been finalised by the court while others are currently in the process. (STL)
Cooperation between Timor and Portugal
Dili, 11 January A signing ceremony of the Annual Cooperation Plan between Portugal and Timor-Leste took place on 6 January 2005 at the Ministry for Foreign Affairs of Portugal. The Plan involves an amount of US $38.6 million (29.5 million Euros) and is designed for Timorese institutional capacity building and economic development projects.
The projects in support of education and the reintroduction of the Portuguese language in Timor-Leste constitute the priority in the assistance provided by Portugal to Timor-Leste. The intervention of Portugal focuses on the training of Timorese teachers in Portuguese language for both the official schools and the Catholic Church teaching institutions. This will allow the expansion of the teaching in Portuguese language to several subjects and education levels (basic, secondary and tertiary education).
As regards the tertiary education, the support to the Timor-Leste National University will have as a main objective the functioning of five university courses totally imparted in Portuguese language by teachers from Portuguese universities and Polytechnic Institutes.
Also, considering the commitment undertaken by Portugal at the Donor Conference held in Dili in 2002, Lisbon will ensure its support to the Timorese Government Budget deficit as well as its contributions to the Trust Fund for Timor-Leste for the reconstruction and the development of the country. (PR, Embassy of Portugal, Dili)
UNMISET - January 12, 2005
932 Timorese receive pension from Indonesian government
Jose Asa, the Director for the National Labour Department, told the media that around 932 of 1096 Timorese who have contributed to the Indonesian social safety net during the Indonesian period had been paid their pension by the Indonesian Government on Tuesday Jan 11, reported STL on Wednesday. According to Asa 892 people would be paid in Dili through Bank Mandiri while the other 40 would be paid in Oecussi. According to the newspaper, Indonesian government had allocated US$56,000 for the payments. (TP)
Babo: Police to be stationed in the Fragile Corners of Dili
PNTL Operations Commander, Ismael Babo, told the media that plans are in place to station police in troubled areas of Dili to prevent crimes reported STL. According to Babo, places like Becora, Taibesi and Tasi Tolu bus terminal have been identified as troubled areas and has appealed to the local communities to cooperate with the police in preventing crimes. In the meantime, Marcelino Lopez, a resident of Dili, responded positively to PNTL's initiative, urging the police not to use violence when handling cases as it triggers negative reaction from the public against the police.
(STL)
Santos: Timor government faces concern of starvation
Abilio dos Santos, a Disaster Management Official said Timor- Leste government is facing major concern regarding starvation noting that the population in some districts are without food. Santos pointed to the shortage food harvested, the fragile community based economy and the late rainfall as the main causes for the food shortages. He also said that despite the initiatives to assist the victims of the tsunami disaster in Aceh, 'Timor- Leste government has neglected the starvation problem currently experienced by its population at the districts level'. The sub- district currently facing food problems are Lospalos, Iliomar, Luro, Moro, said Abilio dos Santos. (STL)
Fretilin does not lose trust of the youth
In response to Fretilin party loss in the local elections in both Bobonaro and Oecussi districts, the Secretary General of OJETIL (Youth Organisation of Fretilin) Eladio Faculto told the media last week that the result did not mean that Fretilin had lost the trust of the youth. He noted that it was due to the democracy and that people chose their local leaders from the independent candidates based on their own wishes. (STL)
Sabino: Journalists key elements in alerting world
Democratic Party (PD) representative Mariano Sabino told the media on Tuesday that journalists all over the world always face challenges, and even some were killed while carrying out their duties. However, he said they are the key instruments in alerting the world [on various issues]. "Therefore I am proud of the journalists and highly value their work. Timor-Leste has just become independent, and even though they have limited skills, they have offered their total contribution to the nation.
We need to support the work of journalists in Timor-Leste," Sabino said.
According to Sabino, Timorese leaders should respect the existence of journalists, adding that very often they say bad things against each other, but when it is reported later in the media, they immediately blame on the journalists. (STL)
UNMISET - January 13, 2005
Timor to set up national oil company
Timor-Leste is set to establish a national oil company within the next few weeks. According to the State Secretary for the Environment and Investment, Jose Teixeira, the government has not yet decided if the new energy company will be a state or private company. However, Mr Teixeira told Lusa news agency that it would be modelled on Brazil's state energy firm, Petroleo Brasileiro SA, which is state-run but operates with a 'commercial logic'.
In December, Timor-Leste's parliament passed an historic petroleum law, which paves the way for foreign companies to secure oil and gas exploration licences in 2005. (Lusa, AFP, AFX)
Lobato: 2005 is the consolidation year for PSD
Member of the Social Democratic Party (PSD), Lucia Lobato, has labeled 2005 as the consolidation year for the party to strengthen its structure throughout the districts. She said the overall objective of strengthening the structure is to prepare the party's members for the upcoming legislative elections in 2006 as well as the suco elections. Moreover, Ms Lobato explained that before the upcoming legislative elections, PSD's national council would make an effort to discuss and approve the party's program before making it public. (Timor Post)
Isaac: People in districts have no access to information
Member of Parliament, Leandro Isaac, claims many people in the districts of Timor-Leste are not adequately accessing information via the national television and radio station. "We all know that when we go to districts, we find that our people do not listen to National Radio Broadcast (RTL)," Isaac said. He also added that if people did not get information from the national radio it showed that state institutions such as the Government, Parliament and the Court have made no effort to provide information directly to the people. He said such neglect could contribute to the violation of a person's basic human rights. (STL)
UNMISET - January 14, 2005
Timor and Portugal to sign new defense accord
Portugal is set to sign a new one-year cooperation accord with Timor-Leste next week. Portugal's State Secretary for Defence, Jorge Neto, will travel to Dili for a five-day visit, beginning Tuesday. Lisbon is currently Dili's main aid partner in defence cooperation with various programs worth an estimated 4-million euros. (Lusa)
Police accused of hitting suspects spreading tsunami rumors
Suspects being tried at Dili District Court for allegedly spreading the tsunami rumors have accused PNTL of physically assaulting them. PNTL authorities have dismissed the claim. The Deputy Commander of PNTL, Ismail Babo, asked the suspects to provide evidence. "I cannot say whether the police officers had hit them or not but if they have evidence, I really urge them to present it to the police for an investigation," Babo said. (STL)
Nascimento: Those making laws against church anti-Christian
In response to the decision of the Government not to include Catholic religion as a mandatory subject in schools, Bishop of Baucau Diocese Basilio do Nascimento said that whoever made the laws against the Church are considered to be anti-Christian. "Every time when we reach the end of the year, we always hear the anti-Christian reading. Those who introduce such things are the ones who no longer believe in God," said Bishop Nascimento.
Bishop Nascinmento added that the Timorese tend to blame foreigners for bringing modern customs to Timor-Leste as anti- Christian behaviour.
However, he said that the Timorese are not quite conscious of the fact that they themselves are the ones who are anti-Christ. (STL)
Parliamentarians to meet With Government Members On the Establishment of Superior Council for Defence
The Vice President of Commission B of the National Parliament in charge of Foreign Affairs and Defence, Clementino dos Reis Amaral, has announced that the Commission has decided to conduct a meeting with Government members, namely Minister of Foreign Affairs and Cooperation, Josi Ramos-Horta, Minister of Interior, Rogirio Tiago Lobato, Secretary State for Defence, Roque Rodrigues, PNTL Commander, Paulo Fatima Martins, and F-FDTL Commander, Taur Matan Ruak, on the establishment of Superior Council for Defence. The meeting is scheduled to be held on 16 and 17 January. (Timor Post)
US Ambassador congratulates president
US Ambassador to Timor-Leste Joseph Grover Rees has congratulated President Xanana Gusmao for his efforts to change the situation in the country and to mobilize the people of Timor-Leste to help others who are suffering even though they are still in the condition of being poor. "As a foreign ambassador to Timor-Leste, I congratulate the President for his good work in trying to better the living conditions of Timorese people. We fully agree with him in his endeavour to make the situation in Timor-Leste in general as stable as expected," said Ambassador Rees. Moreover, Ambassador Rees said that during the last three years a lot of progress has been made despite much more needed to be done. (Timor Post)
UNMISET - January 17, 2005
Australia asks Timor to resume talks on oil and gas
Australia has invited Timor-Leste to resume talks aimed at resolving a dispute about maritime boundaries and the division of royalties from oil and gas fields in the Timor Sea. According to Bloomberg, Timor-Leste is yet to respond to Australia's invitation. A spokeswoman from the Australian Department of Foreign Affairs, Nicole Guihot, said Australia has proposed that the talks be held some time in the first quarter of the year, although no date has been fixed.
In December, Woodside Petroleum stopped work on its proposed Sunrise gas project following the breakdown of talks between the two countries.
Last week, Woodside announced that it would cut the project and re-deploy its staff elsewhere. "Our position hasn't changed from November, that if we don't have legal and fiscal certainty by the end of the year, the project stalls, we won't spend any more money on it and people will be reassigned, and that's just what's happening," said Woodside's spokesman, Rob Millhouse. (Bloomberg)
Prime minister postpones trip to Portugal
Timor-Leste's Prime Minister, Mari Alkatiri, has postponed his official trip to Portugal. The trip, which was scheduled to take place on Wednesday, will now take place after Legislative elections in Portugal on 20 February.
Alkatiri's first trip to Portugal as head of government was in October 2002. (Lusa)
Ruak: Building an institution is not easy
F-FDTL Commander Brigadier General Taur Matan Ruak said that building an institution is not a task that can take place in a year or two but will take time and generations. The F-FTDL Commander added that problems will always arise throughout the process but the most important thing is to tackle them in a just manner. (Timor Post)
Gusmao: F-FDTL and PNTL helping people in times of disaster
On Saturday, President Xanana Gusmao stressed that it would be the responsibility of F-FDTL and PNTL, Timor-Leste's two security agencies, to assist the population in times of natural disaster. Taking part in a friendly soccer game, President Gusmao hoped that the sportsmanship showed by the two security agencies on the football field would continue off it. (Timor Post)
UNMISET - January 18, 2005
Alkatiri: Australia and Timor set to resume border talks in March
Prime Minister Mari Alkatiri has announced that Australia and Timor-Leste are set to resume talks aimed at resolving the dispute over the maritime boundary between the two countries in March. Yesterday, the Australian Government invited Timor-Leste to resume negotiations, suggesting the talks take place in the first quarter of this year. However, a spokesperson for the Australian Department of Foreign Affairs and Trade said whilst Australia has invited Timor-Leste to further discussions, she indicated that Canberra has not changed its view on the boundary and was awaiting a "creative solution" from the Timorese. In response, Prime Minister Alkatiri's office said Timor-Leste has always shown a willingness to negotiate and would look at every option that could resolve the boundary dispute. According to Lusa news agency, the talks will take place in Canberra.
Australia and Timor-Leste have so far failed to reach agreement on how best to divide the estimated $AUS41 billion worth of oil and gas deposits lying beneath the Timor Sea. Talks broke down late last year when Timor-Leste accused Australia of making an ultimatum on the boundary terms. Dili wants the boundary mid- point between the two countries. Canberra maintains it should be at the edge of the continental shelf, much closer to Timor-Leste. (The Australian, Lusa, AAP)
Alkatiri: Mauritius' experience important for Timor development
Upon his return, after participating in a conference on development held recently in Mauritius, Prime Minister Mari Alkatiri said that it is important to observe developments in Mauritius in order to further develop Timor-Leste.
"We cannot merely copy Mauritius' model. The secret of Mauritius' success is only one, that is investment in the education sector as a priority for preparing human resources as fundamental for development," said Alkatiri.
He added that the conference aimed to observe how small countries carry out development with international assistance and how they deal with natural disasters such as tsunamis. (STL)
Ramos-Horta: The World Is Pleased With Timor-Leste's Assistance to Tsunami Victims
Minister of Foreign Affairs and Cooperation, Josi Ramos-Horta, said that the world was pleased with the assistance provided by the people and the government of Timor-Leste to tsunami victims in Indonesia and other Asian countries. "As you know the recent meeting in Jakarta was to secure rich countries' commitment to assist tsunami victims in Aceh. Timor-Leste was the only poor country invited by Indonesia along with other rich countries such as Japan, United States and others to attend the meeting," said Ramos-Horta.
Moreover, Ramos-Horta said the solidarity gesture shown by Timor-Leste in helping the victims was a spontaneous one, adding that Timor-Leste itself is a poor country but its assistance provided, compared to other rich countries, was the highest. This, he said, showed that not only rich countries had the solidarity for the victims but also the small and poor countries like Timor-Leste. "This is a politically symbolic act of Timor- Leste to help others who are suffering because of natural disasters," Ramos Horta further explained. (STL)
Parliament will propose new candidates for Ombudsman
National Parliament's President Francisco Guterres "Lu-Olo" announced that the Parliament would soon propose new candidates for Human Rights Provedor. This, he said, has to do with the fact that the law on the Provedor has already been approved but not implemented. "The Parliament and I are particularly concerned with the matter. In the next week or so, we will present new candidates for the post. Some have thought of presenting them. I will soon send a letter to all heads of party benches, asking them to prepare the candidates for the new election of Provedor," Lu-Olo explained. (STL)
Menezes: Economy will shaken after UNMISET concludes mission
Member of National Parliament's Commission C in charge of Economy and Finance Rui Menezes told the media yesterday that Timor- Leste's economy would be shaken after UNMISET concludes its mission.
Morever, Menezes said in anticipating such a situation, the Government is expected to conduct some preventive measures in order to avoid social unrest. "If the Government continues to be silent on this, I am afraid there will be some negative impacts on the people," said Menezes. According to Menezes, the main impact which would affect Timor-Leste would be in the aspect of assistance of development partners, adding that for the last two years when the constitutional Government runs its administration, UNMISET plays a significant role in consolidating all the assistance to Timor-Leste. (STL)
Parliament Approved the Law on Council of State
National Parliament yesterday approved the law on the Council of State, with 61 votes in favour and 5 abstentions. Vice President Jacob Fernandes said that the law would soon be applied. (STL)
UNMISET - January 19, 2005
Five countries ready to receive workers from Timor
The Director of the Labour and Professional Training Unit of the Office of Secretary of State for Labour and Solidarity, Albano Salem, announced that at least five countries -- Australia, Taiwan, Singapore, South Korea and China -- have confirmed their readiness to receive workers from Timor-Leste.
"South Korea, in particular, is eager to take on board workers from Timor-Leste to fulfill an agreement signed between the two nations," said Salem According to Salem, the five countries have given the green light to Timor-Leste to send workers for a one- year period, where they will also be given the chance to extend their contract in accordance with the needs of the companies where they will work. (STL)
Police reserve unit engaged in a crossfire with group
Timor-Leste's National Police Reserve Unit (PRU) was engaged in a crossfire with an unidentified group in Cailaco, Bobonaro district yesterday.
PNTL's Deputy Commander Inspector Ismail Babo confirmed the incident but he was reluctant to provide the details before a complete investigation could take place. Babo said he would confirm the results of the investigation once he returns from Cailaco.
Members of PRU said that during the ten-minute crossfire, they managed to arrest one person after an unidentified person threw a hand grenade towards police. There has not yet been any confirmation on how many people were injured or killed. (Timor Post)
Xanana and Yudhoyono can further strengthen relations
The Minister of Foreign Affairs and Cooperation, Josi Ramos- Horta, said that he believed the upcoming meeting between President Gusmco and his Indonesian counterpart, President Yudhoyono, to be held on 28 January, will further strengthen relations between the two countries. Ramos-Horta said during the meeting between the two leaders they should further examine the Commission of Truth and Friendship (CTF) in which President Gusmco, Prime Minister Alkatiri and President Yudhoyono signed an agreement for its establishment in Bali last December. "The process of CTF is very important for the sake of closing a chapter of history between Timor-Leste and Indonesia. With this, we can move towards the future bettering our relations," Ramos- Horta said.
Ramos-Horta expects that President Gusmco himself will be the one to lead CFT, adding that the President is the one who knows Indonesia much better.
"People in Indonesia respect and trust the President, therefore we should put our trust in him," Ramos-Horta added. (STL)
Australian military chief to retire
Australian military chief, General Peter Cosgrove, who led a multinational peacekeeping force in Timor-Leste, is set to retire from the military in July. General Cosgrove will end 40-years of service in the military. A former Australian of the Year, Cosgrove took on Australia's top defence job in 2002. (AFP, The Herald Sun)
Launch of new system improves management civil service
The Government of Timor-Leste and UNDP have completed the process of data validation for 12,000 civil servant records in the country. The validation of data is a crucial first step for the implementation of a computerized Personnel Management Information System (PMIS), a database linked to the Government's payroll system. PMIS will enable the Government to centralize the management of human resources in the civil service, track recruitment, plan careers and manage pensions. The PMIS is an initiative under UNDP's "Capacity Development for Human Resource Management in the Civil Service" project. (UNDP Press Release)
UNMISET - January 20, 2005
Alleged pro-Indonesia militiaman arrested
Police in Timor-Leste have detained a man after an exchange of gunfire between security forces and an armed group near the border with West Timor.
According to Lusa news agency, six armed men opened fire on a police patrol two days ago after being spotted by officers in the district of Ermera, about 50-kilometres southwest of Dili. Twenty-four-year-old Daniel Mendes was arrested by police. Mendes allegedly told police he was a resident in Atambua in West Timor and had entered Timor-Leste on Sunday to join five other members of a group who have been in the country since November 2004.
Residents of the village of Atudara in the district of Cailaco, about 30-kilometres southwest of Dili, said the group were part of a former pro-Indonesian militia gang that operated in the during Timor's bloody breakaway from Jakarta's rule. (Lusa)
Parliament member supports PRU's action on group
The Vice President of the National Parliament's Commission B in charge of Foreign and Security Affairs, Clementino dos Reis Amaral, has come out in support of the work of PNTL's Reserve Unit (PRU) in dealing with the recent actions of an unidentified group in Cailaco, Bobonaro district. "Police officers were engaged in the crossfire with the unidentified group in order to defend themselves as well as to defend the population who live in the area," said Amaral. In addition, Amaral said the action of the police was correct and based on the applicable laws since the group entered the country illegally as militia. (Timor Post)
Timor government has not issued any gambling permits
The Vice Minister of Interior, Alcino Barris, stressed that the Government has yet to issue any permits for any form of gambling and therefore it is illegal for a person to be undertaking such activities.
Meanwhile, on the recruitment of new PNTL officers for 2005, due to be held next March, Barris announced that priority will be given to young single women. He also said that PNTL estimates that some 250 people will be recruited during the process. (Timor Post)
Government distributed rice to hungry population
The Secretary of State for Labour and Solidarity, Arsenio Paixco Bano, told the media on yesterday that his department has distributed four tons of rice to Baucau district in order to tackle the famine situation, which is having a great impact on people in the eastern part of the country. Mr Bano also said that the Government will be distributing rice to the needy in other districts. "The assistance provided is not only for the population of Baucau, but also for the population of Manatuto, Lautem and Viqueque.
We still have 400 tons of rice in the warehouse. The stock we have is strictly to help these people during this time of famine," said Bano. (STL)
Parliament is concerned with Dili city's image
During a plenary session yesterday, National Parliament members raised concern about the image of Dili as the capital of Timor- Leste. Members were most concerned with the image of Dili as being an "unclean" capital. "Dili is like a garbage city with animals as well as a city with no owner," said one parliamentarian.
Fretilin representative Flavio Guterres da Silva said the aim to make Dili a clean, safe, beautiful, and orderly city should not only be the responsibility of the Government and the related institutions, but also the responsibility of all of its residents. (STL).
UNMISET - January 24, 2005
Australia open to 'sensible' Timor solutions
Australia is confident Timor-Leste will accept its invitation in the next week or two to return to the negotiating table to settle ownership of vast oil and gas reserves in the Timor Sea. Australia's chief negotiator in the protracted maritime border dispute, Doug Chester, also said that the Federal Government is open to any "sensible" solution Dili might have in the wake of Woodside Petroleum's decision to stop its US$5 million Sunrise natural gas project. "If Dili wants to look at a so-called creative solution that could see an interim arrangement, something that may have an immediate impact, we are happy to talk. We will listen to any sensible proposal," said Mr Chester.
Timor-Leste has accused Australia of issuing an ultimatum to accept a permanent maritime border on its terms while lowering its offer of compensation to an extra US$3 billion over 30 years, down from US$4.3 billion. Mr Chester rejected this claim, adding that Dili's team had rejected Australia's proposal and then took its own offer off the table.
"What we were discussing was an East Timorese proposal that we'd got very close to agreeing to. We asked them whether they still wanted to proceed on the basis of their proposal and they said no. They pulled their proposal off the table and they'd already rejected our proposal," he added. (Dow Jones)
Opposition calls for Timor memorandum
The Northern Territory Opposition party has called on the Government to enter a memorandum of understanding with Timor- Leste in a bid to resume Greater Sunrise gas fields. The Country Liberal Party's Dennis Burke says the memorandum would demonstrate to all parties that the Territory and Timor-Leste want the project to go ahead. "It's not a matter of working against the Commonwealth or for or against Timor-Leste. It's a matter of demonstrating that we want this resource developed," said Mr Burke. (ABC)
Former militia slipping back into Timor-Leste
Military sources in Timor-Leste claim former pro-Indonesian militiamen are gradually slipping back into the country and resorting to banditry. A military officer told Lusa news agency that the latest evidence of the infiltration from West Timor came from a militiaman captured by police after a firefight last Tuesday. According to the officer, the captive, Daniel Mendes, told interrogators he was part of a six-man gang that had crossed the border planning to damage vehicles and rob villages. Mendes admitted that he had joined an armed group that crossed the border in November. The firefight with the gang and Mendes' subsequent capture by police was the first concrete evidence of activities by former militiamen in Timor-Leste in more than a year. (Lusa)
Amaral: Independence does not bring happiness to people
The President of ASDT, Francisco Xavier do Amaral, said that even though Timor-Leste has been independent for three years, independence has not brought happiness to all, in particular, those living in rural areas.
Amaral added these people continue to live in poor conditions, often with not enough food to eat and inadequate shelter. "Funds from oil revenue should be used to assist those who continue to suffer, such as orphans and widows," said Amaral.
Amaral added that it is all due to the fact that the party, which is now in power, does not function in a proper manner. Therefore, Amaral appealed to all people to elect the representatives of parties who will indeed serve them by paying attention to their sufferings in the upcoming elections in 2007. (Timor Post)
Police officer didn't use government cars for personal activities
PNTL's General Commander, Paulo Fatima Martins, has rejected allegations by some Parliamentarians that police officers in Baucau used Government cars for personal activities. Martins told the press that he had received a letter from the President of National Parliament Francisco Guterres "Lu-Olo" regarding the matter. He added that he had contacted Baucau District's PNTL office to obtain more information on the issue, but the office reaffirmed that such allegation was not true. (Timor Post)
Lu-Olo: Participated in CPLP meeting in Brazil
The President of the National Parliament, Francisco Guterres "Lu-Olo", and his delegation left for Brazil yesterday to participate in parliamentary meetings of Portuguese Speaking Countries Community (CPLP). Prior to his departure, Lu-Olo said Timor-Leste's delegation will present an overview on the situation of the country in general and the work of Parliament in particular. "Another topic to be covered by Timor-Leste's delegation will be on the cooperation between CPLP's Parliaments and the role of Portuguese language in Timor-Leste," said Lu-Olo. (STL)
Ximenes: Electoral process more democratic than other countries
A political observer from Timor-Leste's National University (UNTL), Valentim Ximenes, said the local electoral process that is currently taking place in districts is more democratic compared to other countries.
Ximenes said that even though Timor-Leste is a small and poor country, and it has been only independent for the last three years, it shows to the world that democracy is flourishing. (STL)
Alkatiri: There will be no justice if there is corruption Commenting on the allegation of abuse of power by a prosecutor from the Dili District Prosecutor's Office, Prime Minister Mari Alkatiri said if activities of corruption have taken place in this particular office, justice will not function properly. "When an institution such as the Office of Prosecutor General practices corruption, our justice system will not work. Therefore, we need to change the situation and it is the responsibility of the Government," said Alkatiri. (STL)
Timor's Fijian rugby team trounces Darwin
Timor-Leste's rugby team, made up of Fijian troops serving in the country, thrashed a Darwin Selection side 47-0 in Darwin yesterday. The toast of East Timor Barbarians side was Mosese Duilomaloa, who scored three tries. A spokesperson for the Barbarians said people were enthusiastic about watching the first ever team from Timor-Leste take part in a rugby tournament. (Fiji Times)
UNMISET - January 25, 2005
President launched CAQR'S activities
President Xanana Gusmao officially launched the activities of the Commission for Former Members of the Resistance (CAQR). The Commission has been tasked with collecting data on individual members, who were part of the resistance during the struggle for the country's independence. The data collected will help the nation honour these individuals as has been enshrined in the Constitution. It will also give historians the opportunity to properly write the history of the struggle for freedom in Timor- Leste so that future generations will be fully aware of it. The activities of the Commission will be funded by the Government of Ireland. (Timor Post)
Police misbehavior due to inadequate training
KOTA Party representative Manuel Tilman told a plenary session at the National Parliament that the misbehaviour of PNTL officers is due to the lack of training.
Commenting on the same subject, Vice President of the Parliament's Commission B responsible for Security and Foreign Affairs, Clementino dos Reis do Amaral, said "We should not only focus our attention on the police officers but also on those who are in charge of them." Both Fretilin representative Norberto Espirito Santo and Democratic Party (PD) representative Josi Nominando Buras also expressed their concern with the behaviour of some police officers. (Timor Post)
Lack of electricity, justice and stability will deter investors
Vice President of the Parliament's Commission B in charge of Security and Foreign Affairs, Clementino dos Reis do Amaral, told the press on Monday that if electricity, the justice system and stability are not in place properly, it will stop foreigners from investing in Timor-Leste. He called on government to tackle the issues and to pay greater attention to them, adding that foreign investment will generate employment in the country. (Timor Post)
PST disagrees with tsunami donations channeled through Indonesian government
The Timor Socialist Party's (PST) representative, Pedro da Costa, said his party does not agree with President Xanana Gusmao's initiative to directly hand over the donations collected through "Operation Domin" to Indonesian President Susilo Bambang Yodhoyono. This, he said, is due to the fact that his party was very much in doubt whether the donations would be properly used by the Indonesian Government to assist the victims in Aceh.
Moreover, da Costa said that his party preferred to have the donations channeled through an independent organization or through the United Nations. (STL)
UNMISET - January 26, 2005
Need for security cooperation between Timor and Indonesia
Vice Minister of Foreign Affairs and Cooperation, Olimpio Branco, claims cooperation between F-FDTL and the Indonesian military, TNI, as well as PNTL and the Indonesian Police, POLRI, is very much needed in order to address the problem of former militia entering Timor-Leste. Branco said whilst cooperation between PNTL and TNI in regards to the provision of security in the border areas has been quite good, it still needs to be enhanced in the future. "I think the presence of former militia in Timor-Leste is related to the Indonesian Government's policy to remove them from West Timor," said Branco. The Vice Minister also added that the militia's presence in Timor-Leste does not mean that Indonesia is behind such action. (STL)
Monteiro: "I'm ready to address parliament"
Prosecutor General Longinhos Monteiro said he is ready to address the National Parliament on recent allegations of abuse of power at Dili Prosecutor's Office. When asked about the process of the investigation on the case, Monteiro said that it is still being carried out by his Deputy, Amandio Benevides, and he is expecting a final report by next Thursday. (Timor Post)
Alkatiri: Timor needs international judges
Timor-Leste's Prime Minister, Dr Mari Alkatiri, believes that the country still needs the presence of international judges. With UNMISET's mandate coming to an end in May and following a recent assessment showing that trainee judges failed to meet certain criteria, Alkatiri said, "they (UNMISET) are aware of the fact that we are still weak in the area of justice, therefore the presence of internationals is still very much needed." (Timor Post)
No judges become permanent The President of the Court of Appeal, Claudio Ximenes, announced yesterday the result of a three-month assessment of training for judges, prosecutors and public defenders. Ximenes said that none of the trainee judges were able to move on and become permanent judges since many did not meet the criteria needed. (STL).
Catholic church donates $24,674.80 for tsunami victims
The Bishop of Dili, Alberto Ricardo da Silva, announced yesterday that both Dili and Baucau dioceses donated $24,674.80 for Tsunami victims.
Bishop da Silva thanked those who made a contribution. (STL)
UNMISET - January 27, 2005
Alkatiri: Assessing judges is not a political issue
Prime Minister Mari Alkatiri said on Wednesday that the recent assessment of judges, prosecutors and public defenders is not based on politics.
He added that those who did not pass the training indicated that there is indeed a real need for training. "We Timorese are the ones who will build our country, but we should do it with quality and responsibility," Alkatiri stressed. In addition, he said the Government is obliged to create conditions and provide opportunities for everyone to be trained in order to become a judge, [prosecutor and public defender]. (Timor Post)
Xanana to present more than US $60,000 to Indonesia President Xanana Gusmao and his delegation will depart for Jakarta today to present a contribution of over US $60,000, collected throughout the two week "Domin Operation" carried out by the citizens of Timor-Leste. The finale of the "Domin Operation" was marked last night with the auction of paintings donated by Timorese artists, held in Hotel Timor, Dili. Officially closing the ceremony, Prime Minister Mari Alkatiri thanked everyone for their solidarity towards the Tsunami victims, including Members of Government and the Diplomatic Corps, journalists, the business community and NGOs, adding that even though the amount being handed over to Indonesia was small, it would mean a lot to them. (Timor Post)
Nobel Peace Laureate calls for Aceh Peace
Bangkok, 26 January 2005 Timor-Leste's Nobel laureate Bishop Carlos Ximenes Belo is appealing for peace to be given a chance in tsunami-hit Aceh as an Indonesian top-level team meets with Acehnese rebels later this week at talks in Finland. "We hope that this meeting can bring forth some solutions or some way to create peace and mutual understanding in Aceh", said Bishop Belo, the Catholic Church's former apostolic administrator of Timor- Leste's capital Dili.
At a meeting with journalists on Tuesday, Bishop Belo added, "there is a movement to claim the independence of Aceh. The Indonesian people and the Acehnese should sit down, now, and through dialogue work this out. The chances for peace in Aceh are always there. It will take time for Timor-Leste it took 25 years. We have to have hope and perseverance", said Bishop Belo. (IPS)
Corte Real: Some cases are outstanding at Courts
Member of Parliament Alexandre Corte Real of Commission A in charge of Rights and Liberty Affairs said at the recent plenary session that some cases such as fighting between PNTL and F-FDTL members and others are still outstanding at courts, adding that no final decisions have been taken.
In addition, Corte Real argued there is a need for the Head of Courts to address the Parliament to clarify the matter. (Timor Post)
Maria Paixao: Parliamentarians should know of their power
Representative of Social Democratic Party (PSD) Maria Paixao expects Parliamentarians to be aware of their power as has been enshrined in the Constitution. "We have now entered the year 2005. We should be aware of who we are. We are the people's representatives and not of the Government. I appeal to all fellow members of Parliament to speak the truth", Paixao explained during the Parliament's plenary session on Tuesday.
Moreover, she said by citing an example that whenever people in [districts] complain that they are indeed facing hunger, the Parliamentarians are expected not to say the opposite, and defend Government's policy.
"When defending such policy at the Parliament, that means we are only defending our positions, and not of the people". (STL)
Prime Minister: Poverty needs to be eradicated
Addressing the workshop of Global Environment Facility-Country Dialogue Initiative yesterday, Prime Minister Mari Alkatiri appealed to all components of the nation to pay serious attention to the poverty faced by Timor-Leste through developing a sustainable economy. One of the efforts to eradicate poverty, Alkatiri said, is to protect the environment because the two are very much related to each other. Alkatiri added that the concern over the environment is an important aspect in his administration, and therefore there is a department addressing the matter. (STL)
Businessman wins ace in campaign for Timor
27 January 2005 The organisers of an advertising campaign that ambushed the Australian Open to highlight disputed maritime boundaries in the Timor Sea have pledged to humiliate John Howard at public events to further their cause. Ian Melrose says that over the next three years he will spend $6 million on advertising campaigns and media stunts to embarrass the Prime Minister over the contentious issue of Australia's claim on the lucrative oil and gas fields. The first of the businessman's commercials aired on Monday, which says the Federal Government has stolen $2 billion in revenue from the East Timorese, caught television viewers by surprise. (SMH)
UNMISET - January 28, 2005
Gusmao heads to Indonesia for 'truth commission' talks
Dili, 27 January -- President Xanana Gusmao departed Thursday to Jakarta for talks with his Indonesian counterpart, Susilo Bambang Yudhoyono, on the creation of a bilateral truth commission on Indonesian atrocities committed in East Timor in 1999. Gusmao, who is accompanied by Foreign Minister Josi Ramos Horta, will remain in Jakarta through Saturday, officials said.
Before departing Dili, Gusmao told a news conference he would personally deliver to Yudhoyono some US $75,000, or euros 50,000, in Timorese donations for survivors of last month's deadly tsunami. Gusmao, who launched the aid campaign, asking that his poverty- stricken people "share part of the little they have", said the drive had even netted "chickens and goats" from peasant donors. (LUSA)
Timor gives 'symbolic' donation for tsunami victims
Dili, 27 January -- President Xanana Gusmao departed Thursday for Jakarta carrying a "symbolic" donation of US $75,000 from his people for the victims of the December 26 earthquake and tsunami disaster in Indonesia's Aceh province. Gusmao said at a pre- departure press conference in Timor-Leste's capital Dili that the money was collected through a door-to-door fundraising operation supported by the government, and will be handed to Indonesian President Susilo Bambang Yudhoyono in Jakarta.
"This small country of poor people shows its sincere, heartfelt sympathy and love for those who suffer and are in need", Gusmao said in the country's official language, Tetun. "Not too long ago, it was us, the people of Timor-Leste , who received substantial international support following the tragic events of September 1999. Today, we are proud to contribute in our small way, to help alleviate the suffering of our nearest neighbours", he said.
The day after the disaster in Aceh, Prime Minister Mari Alkatiri provided a token of US $50,000 from the fledgling country's tiny budget for the relief effort there, winning praise from the United Nations and elsewhere. (AP)
SBY: 'Solve the problems between Indonesia and Timor bilaterally'
Speaking to the press yesterday evening during President Xanana's visit to Jakarta, Indonesian President Susilo Bambang Yudhoyono said that the solution for the pending issues post August 1999 popular consultation between Timor-Leste and Indonesia should be found bilaterally in the framework of the Commission of Truth and Friendship which is yet to be established, and not through other frameworks including sending a Commission of Experts by the United Nations.
Moreover, Yudhoyono said that he and President Xanana had agreed on the idea of solving the pending issues in such a framework. "These are the things that push us to tell the United Nations, and the world that solving the problems in that manner will be the best, and the wisest thing to do", said President Yudhoyono.
Meanwhile, President Yudhoyono expressed gratitude and appreciation to President Xanana for the assistance of Timor- Leste to both victims of Tsunami in Aceh and North Sumatra and the victims of earthquake in Alor, West Timor. "I am really moved by this gesture this evening. The assistance is offered by our brothers and sisters in Timor-Leste, not only from the part of Government, Church, Parliament, but also of the people. This is truly a very good form of friendship and cooperation", said President Yudhoyono. (Indonesian Press-KCM and Prim)
Guterres: Portugal underestimates ability to become judges
Commenting on the recent assessment of judges, prosecutors and public defenders, human rights observer Aniceto Guterres, who is also the Director of Commission of Reception, Truth and Reconciliation (CAVR), argued that if assessments were done based on the Portuguese way of thinking (since those who carried the assessment are all from Portugal and Portuguese speaking countries), certainly no Timorese would be able to become judges, ministers, and prime ministers, adding that this is due to the fact that the Portuguese have stated that Timorese are not "smart". Moreover, Guterres said that there are currently no Timorese permanent judges and these will automatically be replaced by the international judges thus indicating that Timor- Leste would no longer maintain its sovereignty in judicial matters. (Timor Post)
Parliament debates law on defence and security
National Parliament's Commission B in charge of Foreign and Security Affairs last Wednesday debated for the last time the law on Superior Council of Defence and Security with two international advisers from the Office of the President. The Commission's Vice President Clementino dos Reis Amaral said that the Commission still doubted some points of the proposed law. Therefore, more clarification is needed. Moreover, Amaral said that many members of the Commission raised their concerns over the proposed law's arcticle 2, section c, regarding the membership, stating that three members of the Council are from the National Parliament. "According to the Parliamentarians, it is better to have President of the Parliament himself, Prime Minister and another person on board instead of having all three from the Parliament," Amaral added. (Timor Post)
Xanana to invite Indonesian president to Timor
Prime Minister Mari Alkatiri told the press that he had suggested to President Xanana Gusmao, while visiting Jakarta, to invite Indonesian President Susilo Bambang Yudhoyono to visit Timor- Leste. Alkatiri explained, "The reason why I suggest this is because after our meeting in Bali last month, I noted that the Indonesian President was enthusiastic to visit Timor-Leste as the second foreign country after his appointment as the Indonesian President". The visit, Alkatiri added, will be for the sake of bettering future relations between the two neigbouring countries. (Timor Post)
Xanana to lobby US to lift military embargo on Indonesia
The President of Timor-Leste, Xanana Gusmao, said his government would lobby the United States' Congress to lift the military embargo imposed on Indonesia in 1999. Following a meeting with the Indonesian House of Representatives Speaker, Agung Laksono, Xanana announced that his Foreign Minister, Jose Ramos-Horta, would lobby the US Congress in February on the issue of the embargo and restriction of the supply of military equipment to Jakarta. The President and Foreign Minister are currently on an official visit to Indonesia. (Xinhua)
Carlos Jeronimo: Still difficult to control the border
PNTL's Commander of Immigration Unit Carlos Jeronimo acknowledges that his unit still faces difficulties to control all the border areas of Timor-Leste due to some obstacles. One of them, he said, is the geographical condition of the country which is very large, and is not balanced when comparing the borders to the number of officers who carry out their tasks in the area. Jeronimo added that to tackle the obstacles, his unit always tries to cooperate with the community in the border areas. "Immigration Police trust the people who live in the area for improved cooperation. They are always asked to provide information on any border-related problems that might arise," Jeronimo said. In addition, Timor- Leste's Immigration Unit has also tried to cooperate with Indonesian Immigration Office in the border as well as the Indonesian Embassy in Dili to better address related issues. (STL)
UNMISET - January 31, 2005
Dili and Lisbon to sign new defence agreement
Portugal and Timor-Leste are set to sign a new military cooperation accord this week during the visit of Lisbon's State Secretary for Defence to Dili.
Mr Jorge Neto arrived in Dili on Sunday for a three-day visit. The trip by Mr Neto will signal the separation of bilateral cooperation in the defence area from Lisbon's broader aid commitments to Timor-Leste. Portugal is Dili's main partner in defence cooperation, with current programmes worth an estimated euros 5.4 million, primarily in military training. (Lusa)
Xanana pays visit to Indonesian prison
Timor-Leste's President, Xanana Gusmao, made an emotional visit to the Indonesian prison where he was held for four years. Xanana toured Jakarta's notorious Cipinang jail, meeting the inmates of the cell where he was held captive in 1992. "This is not just a nostalgic visit for me. I know exactly how the inmates feel and suffer. I'm here today also to give my support to my friends who are still here," he said. (AFP)
Timor-Indonesia Truth Commission to begin work in 2005
The Timor-Leste-Indonesia Truth Commission will become operational this year following an agreement between President Susilo Bambang Yudhoyono and Xanana Gusmao in Jakarta on Thursday evening. According to STL, President Yudhoyono said that he and Xanana will be sending a message to the United Nations and the international community that it is more appropriate and wise to resolve the events of 1999 together and via a 'Commission of Truth and Friendship'.
Meanwhile, the UN will form a Commission of Experts to re-examine the process carried out by Indonesia in resolving the incidents that occurred post-referendum in 1999, among them the Indonesian Ad Hoc Human Rights Commission. In a press conference after the meeting on Thursday, President Yudhoyono stressed that Indonesia wants to resolve this matter bilaterally.
President Xanana said that the Foreign Ministers of both countries would work together to come up with a format for the commission that was suitable for both countries. However, he also hoped that the format would satisfy the wishes of the international community. (STL)
Meeting between Xanana and SBY productive
President Xanana Gusmao said the meeting with his Indonesian counterpart Soesilo Bambang Yudhoyono (SBY) last Thursday was very productive, ensuring ties between the nations are strengthened further. Aside from the meeting with the Indonesian President, Xanana also met with other senior officials from the legislative body and other institutions.
The President acknowledged that during the meetings the issue of the 'Commission of Truth and Friendship' was a central point discussion.
Xanana said that it is expected that in February both Indonesia and Timor-Leste will announce the terms of reference and the format of the Commission.
Responding to a question on whether the Commission goes against the UN Secretary General's idea of sending a Commission of Experts to Indonesia and Timor-Leste, Xanana argued that it was not, adding that the two commissions can compliment one another. Xanana further stated that Timor-Leste should respect Indonesia's position not to welcome the Commission of Experts. (Timor Post)
Alkatiri: Don't politicize Dili district court bribe case
Prime Minister Alkatiri has requested that all parties refrain from politicizing the issue of the misuse of funds in the Dili District Court by using repressive statements. The Prime Minister spoke to journalists after receiving a prosecutor from Dili District Court with the initials SG, who has been accused of extortion against a businessperson at the Government Palace last Friday. Alkatiri said that as the case is still being investigated, it is not yet appropriate to make repressive statements and to interfere in the legal process. (STL)
'Those who don't want judicial training, it's better not to make them'
The President of the Superior Council of Magistrate, Claudio Ximenes, stated that anyone who does not want to take further judicial training to be judges, prosecutors and public defenders, should not be forced.
According to Ximenes, Timor-Leste needs to establish a judicial system and it is up to the Timorese themselves to make the effort to seek training in order to better themselves in their profession. "I cannot force anyone to do so," said Ximenes. The two and a half year training program for judges, prosecutors and public defenders begins today. (STL)