February 11 shooting

Attacks were coup attempt, Ramos-Horta says

Agence France Presse - May 21, 2008

Rebels who attacked the East Timorese leadership in February were trying to seize control of the country, President Jose Ramos- Horta says.

It is the first time the president, who suffered multiple gunshot wounds and required life-saving surgery in Darwin, has commented publicly on the suspected motives of rebel leader Alfredo Reinado. Prime Minister Xanana Gusmao was also targeted in the coordinated attacks on February 11, but escaped unhurt.

"I believe that Mr Alfredo Reinado was actually led to believe by certain people that killing me and Xanana would give him power and make him the strongman of the country," Dr Ramos-Horta said.

"He was irrational enough, incredibly vain and stupid enough to actually believe that people can get away with it and become the de facto leader of the country. The guy shot me with a high- powered rifle at close range. Surely he wasn't planning to tickle me, so he intended to kill me."

Reinado was killed leading the attack on Dr Ramos-Horta at the Nobel laureate's Dili residence. Asked who had made Reinado think the coup plot would work, Dr Ramos-Horta said he was hoping to learn more when the rebel's girlfriend, Angelita Pires, testified in court.

"I hope that his lover, Ms Angie Pires, can shed light on this when she is brought to court to testify. She is manipulator number one, a fake," he said. Ms Pires was the first person arrested over the attacks. She remains in custody but has not been charged and denies any involvement in the attacks.

Withhold Timor aid: rebel lover's family

Australian Associated Press - May 12, 2008

The family of the lover of rebel leader Alfredo Reinado has called on the Australian government to withhold aid to East Timor until she is "charged or exonerated".

Angelita Pires, 33, was the first person to be arrested over the February 11 attacks on President Jose Ramos Horta and Prime Minister Xanana Gusmao.

The dual Australian-East Timorese citizen has maintained she played no part in the rebel attacks, in which Reinado was killed.

But despite no charges being laid against Ms Pires, her brother Antonio Pires said she was still under investigation and unable to leave the country. Mr Pires said his sister had been accused of "a myriad of things".

"They surely could select even one of them to charge her but they haven't," he said, adding that the federal government had a duty to protect its citizens.

"We ask the Australian and the Northern Territory governments to lodge an official complaint about the mistreatment of one of their citizens and to withhold all further aid payments and withdraw the Ambassador for Consultations until Angelita is either charged or exonerated," Mr Pires said in a joint statement with his mother, who lives in Darwin.

Mr Pires also called on the government to investigate further claims that $1 million was deposited in a Darwin bank account in the name of his sister. He called the reports "unsubstantiated and wild accusations".

Mr Pires said his sister's bank accounts, computer, passport and mobile phones should be restored to her.

"Angelita is held only on suspicion that she had some influence and that's bizarre," he told AAP. "She was in a relationship with Alfredo, that is true... but that is not a crime. You can be in a relationship with a bank robber but that does not mean that you robbed the bank."

Mr Pires said his family sought an apology from Dr Ramos Horta and prosecutor general Longuinhos Monteiro "for their inappropriate defamation" of his sister.

Mr Monteiro had flagged possible conspiracy charges against Ms Pires, alleging she was with the slain rebel leader in the hours leading up to the president's shooting.

Dr Ramos Horta was critically wounded, while Mr Gusmao escaped unharmed.

Gusmao asks journos to go easy on Horta

The Australian - May 1, 2008

Stephen Fitzpatrick, Jakarta – As East Timorese President Jose Ramos Horta convalesces in Dili, some of his compatriots perhaps are wishing he had taken a while longer to recuperate, not least among them Prime Minister Xanana Gusmao.

Standing alongside Indonesian leader Susilo Bambang Yudhoyono at the Jakarta presidential palace on Tuesday, Mr Gusmao pleaded with Indonesian and international journalists to go easy on Mr Ramos Horta, 58, after a series of sensational statements in recent days made world headlines.

A weakened Mr Ramos Horta, on his return from Darwin two weeks ago after the shooting that almost ended his life, suggested that "individuals in Indonesia" were involved in the plot.

Specifically, he accused prominent Jakarta-based television reporter Desi Anwar of having provided false papers last year to rebel leader Alfredo Reinado so the fugitive, who died in the February 11 melee at the President's Dili home, could travel to Jakarta to give a nationally broadcast interview.

"Mr Alfredo Reinado had a lot of contacts in Indonesia. He went there with false documents," MrRamos Horta told reporters in Dili.

"Who issued to him these false documents? We knew who did. The authority in Atambua (on the Indonesian side of the border) did it with the help of Metro TV's Ms Desi Anwar. And I will take this complaint to Brussels, to all international journalists' institutions, because their activities among others that almost led me to be killed... if necessary I will take the matter to the (UN) Security Council, as happened with the assassination of the Lebanese Prime Minister (Rafik Hariri)."

Speaking to The Australian a few hours after the initial claims were made, Anwar expressed bewilderment at Mr Ramos Horta's accusation and apparently fragile mental state.

"I can only assume he is not yet fully recovered, and I will pray for him," the popular journalist said, speculating that the President, knowing she had covered news of East Timor's independence struggle over the years, had simply plucked her name from the air.

The Metro TV program on which Reinado appeared last year had nothing to do with Anwar; instead, it was on the evening talk show Kick Andy, hosted by genial interviewer Andy Noya.

Further, the location of the interview, whether in Jakarta or elsewhere, is still a tightly guarded secret and as one of the few people who knows, Noya is not saying. Mr Ramos Horta believes it was shot in a Jakarta hotel "pretending to be inside East Timor".

Within a few days Anwar had written in the national newsmagazine Tempo an angry response to Mr Ramos Horta's accusation and then, this week, came an announcement from Metro TV that it would sue unless he clarified his remarks.

The President's reaction was swift: he claimed to have been misquoted and, while admitting he was wrong to have used Anwar's name, accused Metro TV of engaging in "completely misleading" behaviour in its reporting.

No less a figure than Dr Yudhoyono had already expressed extreme displeasure at the implication by his counterpart that there might have been an Indonesian connection to the assassination attempt.

It was his "fervent hope", the usually phlegmatic Dr Yudhoyono said, that East Timor's leadership "would not issue any statement to insinuate any involvement on the part of Indonesia... statements such as these could disrupt our bilateral ties, which are currently in excellent condition".

Still back-pedalling furiously, Mr Ramos Horta, once a propaganda officer in the early days of East Timor's rebel Fretilin movement, described the row as the result of "a misrepresentation by the media". In Jakarta this week, an obviously pained Mr Gusmao was rather more direct, as he announced he would be calling on Anwar to convey the President's regrets over the episode.

"I just ask you to consider that, having been in an induced coma for two weeks, President Ramos Horta has made a remarkable recovery," he told journalists.

"However, we appeal to you for your understanding of his state of spirit, having come close to losing his life... I ask you not to blow up things but to understand the environment (in which) my President is dealing with (this)."

Politics/political parties

Defection splits East Timor ruling coalition

South China Morning Post - May 6, 2008

Fabio Scarpello, Denpasar – Prime Minister Xanana Gusmao's already fragile government has been dealt a blow with the defection of a coalition partner to the opposition Fretilin, leaving it relying on independents.

The Timorese Social Democratic Association (ASDT) on Saturday signed an agreement with Fretilin to enter into a 'solid coalition" to form the next government. In a joint statement, Fretilin and ASDT called the government "full of nepotism and corruption".

In last year's election ASDT teamed with the Social Democratic Party and won 18 per cent of the vote and 11 seats. The grouping became the country's third political force, after Fretilin and Mr Gusmao's National Council for Timorese Resistance.

ASDT's withdrawal deprives the ruling Parliamentary Majority Alliance (AMP) of five seats, making it reliant on the support of independent parties to stay in power. AMP now holds 37 seats in the 65-seat parliament, while Fretilin controls 21. The new Fretilin-ASDT alliance will have 26 seats and AMP 32.

The key swing seats are held by AD Kota/PPT and Undertim, which control two seats each, and the Party of National Unity (PUN), which holds three.

The smaller parties' votes could be instrumental should Fretilin try to oust Mr Gusmao in a no-confidence vote – which would require President Jose Ramos Horta to ask Mr Gusmao to resign. They could also block parliamentary approval for the budget.

Fretilin spokesman Jose Texeira warned the government could be in trouble when it sought extra funds through a budget review later this month. Dr Texeira did not confirm reports that Fretilin was courting independent parties and other parties from the government coalition.

PUN chairman Fernanda Borges said she would maintain the party's neutral stance. "We are not joining any coalition, and we will continue to call for justice and good governance," said Mrs Borges, whose party enjoys the support of the Catholic Church.

But she said "should the corruption allegations against the government be substantiated, Gusmao would struggle to survive a no-confidence vote".

The ASDT breakaway followed a rift between chairman Francisco Xavier do Amaral and Mr Gusmao, who refused to sack Tourism Minister Gil Alves or Environment Secretary Abilio Lima. The two are ASDT members, but the party recently expelled them, accusing them of corruption, being too close to the Indonesian military and straying from ASDT ideology.

Fretilin poised as Gusmao isolated

The Australian - May 6, 2008

Paul Toohey – Xanana Gusmao's Timorese Government is heading close to collapse as parties in his ruling Parliamentary Majority Alliance (AMP) coalition turn against him and leave the door open for Fretilin, the party with the biggest majority, to form its own coalition.

The AMP holds 36 seats in the 65-seat parliament but three of its member parties, the Social Democratic Party (PSD), the Timorese Social Democratic Association (ASDT) and the Democratic Party (PD) are shifting their loyalties.

The ASDT left the AMP coalition on Saturday and signed an alliance with Fretilin, which won a majority in last year's general election but was prevented from forming government by the AMP coalition.

The leader of PSD, Mario Carrascalao, has spoken out against Mr Gusmao and his ministers but said yesterday he planned, for now, that his party would stay with the coalition despite unhappiness within his own ranks.

"We will continue to stay in the coalition for now, because we do not like the alternatives," he said. "But there is no doubt this is all getting very close."

PD is deemed as vulnerable to Fretilin persuasion and could split down the middle.

The ASDT, headed by former president Francisco Xavier do Amaral, had a party meeting several weeks ago in which members voted to evict Tourism Minister Gil Alves and State Secretary for the Environment, Abilio Lima. The two ministers do not hold parliamentary seats (in East Timor, cabinet members are appointed from within and outside of parliament).

The party alleged the men were corrupt, were too close to the Indonesian military and businesses and did not represent the ASDT ideologies. Mr Amaral asked Mr Gusmao to remove the men from their ministries but the Prime Minister declined, causing ASDT to abandon the AMP coalition.

There are widespread claims the Gusmao Government is corrupted, not so much by its parliamentary wing but by its executive members.

"The view is he (Mr Gusmao) has a bunch of ministers who are corrupt and there's a view he has a bunch of people who worked way too closely with the Indonesians," said a source. "The AMP is supposed to be glued together by a common dislike of Fretilin but the departure of ASDT shows that is changing. He's known about this and he's been saying privately he's just going to ignore it. The numbers are there and he can't ignore it."

Mr Gusmao returned from a trip to Indonesia yesterday and will need to act urgently to stop the rot.

Fretilin is understood to be negotiating with the smaller parties and believes it could soon have a majority, but insists it will not use it to force Mr Gusmao to stand aside. "There is no constitutional trigger that says the prime minister must stand down if he does not hold a majority," said a Fretilin source.

But there are two other mechanisms to oust the Prime Minister before the next general election, which is expected, pending ongoing discussions, late next year.

One is a no-confidence vote by the parliament, which would require President Jose Ramos Horta to ask Mr Gusmao to resign. The second, and more pressing, is that Mr Gusmao requires the parliament to approve his budget, which must be delivered by the end of the month. Without approval, he will not be able to govern.

Anniversary of independence

Despite threats to peace, Horta optimistic for the future

Agence France Presse - May 22, 2008

Dili – East Timorese President Jose Ramos-Horta is confident about his young country's future, despite lingering poverty and swirling mistrust over rebel attacks three months ago that left him near death.

In an interview following celebrations of the sixth anniversary of East Timor's independence, the 58-year-old Nobel Laureate told AFP the twin shooting attacks on him and Prime Minister Xanana Gusmao brought the country to the brink of chaos. "I almost lost my life and the country could have gone into civil war over that," he said.

The attack on February 11 led by rebel leader Alfredo Reinado left Ramos-Horta shot and bleeding outside his Dili home. Reinado and one other rebel died in the attack.

The attacks raised fears that East Timor – which is propped up by UN police and international troops – could slip into violence similar to street fighting in 2006 triggered by the desertion of around 600 soldiers, including Reinado, that left at least 37 people dead and around 150,000 displaced.

But the president said he was now confident peace would prevail in the nation of one million. "I'm much more optimistic, the situation was calm before February 11 and was even more calm after February 11. People were in a state of shock with what happened to me," he said.

"When I came back from (receiving two months of medical treatment in) Australia, tens of thousands of people were in the streets to welcome me back. I read it more as people's reaction, opposition to violence."

In the wake of the crisis, Ramos-Horta said the key challenge was to ensure development in one of the world's poorest nations.

"Well the challenges are job creation, job creation, job creation. We must invest more in infrastructure development so that we create jobs. We (must) modernise our road network," he said.

"We must bring down the cost of electricity and telecommunications and reform completely the tax system in this country, make it almost tax-free like Hong Kong to attract foreign investors," he said.

"Before the end of this year we will have an almost totally tax- free country." Despite the high aims, East Timor faces monumental economic challenges. The country is the least developed in Southeast Asia, with around 50 percent unemployment and most of the population surviving off subsistence farming.

East Timor remains dependent on foreign assistance, with its sole significant exports being coffee and oil and gas from massive fields in the Timor Sea.

East Timor has diverted oil and gas profits into a special overseas fund, but Ramos-Horta told AFP that despite windfall profits – around three billion dollars by the end of the year – the country made a mistake in how it invested the money.

"We were not very wise with investing it because it was all stuck in US Treasury bonds, the interest rate is very low," he said. "With the depreciation of the dollar and high costs of everything else our investment in US Treasury bonds has actually turned out to be negative. We should have... diversified two, three years ago."

Despite the shortcomings, the government plans to start dipping in to the fund to finance spending on infrastructure, Ramos-Horta said.

East Timor, a former Portuguese colony, was invaded by Indonesia in 1975 as it moved towards formal independence. The resulting brutal 24-year occupation saw more than 200,000 people die as a result of fighting and preventable causes.

The country won its freedom in a 1999 UN-backed referendum that was marred by violence as Indonesian-backed militias laid waste to much of the country in a scorched earth campaign that displaced hundreds of thousands. The country gained formal independence in 2002.

Future uncertain after six years

Sydney Morning Herald - May 20, 2008

Jill Jolliffe, Dili – East Timorese citizens are celebrating the sixth anniversary of their independence today, but with an edge of uncertainty about their political and economic future.

It will be the first independence day under the Majority Parliamentary Alliance coalition led by Xanana Gusmao, a reforming government that narrowly ousted the liberation party Fretilin in elections last year.

Claims that the Government would collapse after Xavier do Amaral, the leader of the Timorese Social Democratic Association, apparently dumped the coalition in a deal backing Fretilin's return, have so far come to nothing.

Mr do Amaral does not sit in Parliament and his five representatives who do have said they would remain loyal to the coalition.

The Government reasserted its political personality yesterday when it decided to remind the President, Jose Ramos-Horta, that he could not grant amnesties to prisoners as an independence day present, given his limited powers under the constitution.

The Justice Minister, Lucia Lobato, said yesterday that no pardons in the sense of amnesties could be offered by Mr Ramos- Horta because "an amnesty is a political issue... which only Parliament can grant... the President can reduce or commute sentences, but nothing more".

When Mr Ramos-Horta returned last month from treatment in Darwin for the near-fatal bullet wounds he suffered in an assassination attempt in February, he delivered a stirring speech to Parliament.

In it he promised that during the May 20 celebrations he would "decree... an ample pardon which would benefit all convicted prisoners... of good behaviour", adding that the convicted former interior minister Rogerio Lobato would be among the beneficiaries.

Ms Lobato, who is a cousin of Rogerio, said the Government had sent the President a list of prisoners eligible for sentence reductions of three months for each year served, on grounds of good behaviour.

The issue is of great concern in the Timorese community, where there is a clamour for accountability from leaders like Lobato who instigated the violence which began in 2006 and has dominated the past two years. Thirty-seven people died, hundreds of houses were burnt and tens of thousands remain displaced.

The President's statement also caused alarm among international observers concerned at the apparent disintegration of East Timor's fragile justice system, with its growing culture of impunity.

A United Nations panel of investigators recommended in late 2006 that certain accused people be investigated for possible wrongdoing and others be put on trial. Lobato was among those named.

Poor and unstable, East Timor to mark six years of independence

Agence France Presse - May 19, 2008

Dili – East Timor is set to celebrate six years of independence Tuesday, with bursting national pride and dreams for the future contending with the harsh realities of poverty, violence and instability.

As the government puts the finishing touches to the planned Independence Day ceremonies featuring fireworks donated by China, doubts persist about the former Indonesian territory's ability to stand on its own.

The celebrations come just over three months after East Timorese President Jose Ramos-Horta was shot and wounded in rebel attacks that also targeted the prime minister, and amid political infighting that has driven the ruling coalition to the brink of collapse.

The attacks on the country's leadership, which also saw rebel leader Alfredo Reinado killed, raised fears of a return to violence similar to 2006 fighting between police, soldiers and militia that killed at least 37.

But against the worst predictions, calm has prevailed for this week's celebrations. The rebels surrendered last month, and on the streets of East Timor's somnolent capital people are cautiously looking forward to the Independence Day party.

"We're happy and proud about our day of independence but we want calm and for the situation to be normal. We don't want there to be problems. We want peace and calm," said Veronica Amaral, a 24-year-old resident of one of Dili's camps for people displaced by the 2006 unrest.

Around 100,000 people who fled the violence two years ago still live in camps, and although the UN is slowly closing them down some can still be seen near the city's waterfront which has been spruced up for Independence Day.

The camps are a reminder of the price East Timor has paid for its independence, and of the ongoing fragility of the infant state.

Even with the support of a United Nations mission and the presence of thousands of foreign police and soldiers, some analysts warn that the mainly Catholic country's highly factionalised politics could spill onto the streets.

"My reading of the situation is that it's unstable," said Dennis Shoesmith, an East Timor expert at Australia's Charles Darwin University.

"The UN and international stabilisation presence keep it on track (but) if that presence was run down in the next year or so it would quickly deteriorate. And it could deteriorate with the presence there anyway," he said.

Roughly half the population of 600,000 is unemployed and the majority of people live off subsistence farming. The country's baby boom – the average birthrate is 7.7 – is also straining meagre resources.

"The economy for us is not great. Everything is very expensive and it's difficult for those who don't work and the poor. We can't do anything," said Amaral.

Bernardo Almeda, a 35-year-old graduate in civil administration who earns up to three dollars a day selling cigarettes and mobile phone credit on the street, said the government had to provide work for the unemployed.

"It's clear that East Timor in the future will get better, the economy will probably move along well," he said.

But economic growth needs stability, and East Timor has had precious little of that.

The former Portuguese colony was invaded by Indonesia in 1975 and saw more than 200,000 of its people die as a result of violence and hunger that ensued.

The country voted for independence at the ballot box in 1999, but was soon ravaged during a scorched earth campaign by the Indonesian military that saw much of the country razed to the ground and hundreds of thousands seek refuge.

It formally gained independence in 2002 only to be plunged back into chaos when factional tensions within the security forces erupted into open fighting in 2006.

Foreign peacekeepers, who had left after intervening to restore order in 1999, returned to quell the unrest but could not stop hundreds of members of the security forces taking to the hills behind rebel leader Reinado.

With Reinado dead and the last of his rebels having surrendered, analysts say at least one major roadblock to long-term peace has been removed.

Truth & Friendship Commission

Truth commission to submit final report on May 26

Jakarta Post - May 2, 2008

Jakarta – The joint Commission for Truth and Friendship (CTF) announced Wednesday it had completed its final report on human rights violations committed during the 1999 independence vote in East Timor.

The commission plans to submit the report to the Indonesian and Timor Leste presidents on May 26, said CTF deputy chairman Agus Widjojo. It was initially scheduled to file the report on March 31, but delayed this following an assassination attempt that left Timor Leste President Jose Ramos-Horta seriously wounded

The commission had said the report would be submitted when Horta had completely recovered from his injuries.

"We asked for the delay because we also needed some time to discuss the report's contents. Now we have finished it and we are in the production stage, including translating the report into English," said Agus.

"We plan to submit it on May 26 but it depends on the two presidents. We are still waiting for confirmation from President Susilo Bambang Yudhoyono."

He said the report accommodated recommendations from the International Center for Transitional Justice (ICTJ), an NGO that has been critical of the CTF's work.

In January, the ICTJ recommended the commission identify and name report witnesses and carefully scrutinize the evidence given at the commission's public hearings.

It also demanded the commission make substantial efforts to respond to allegations made at those public hearings against the United Nations and to regain the confidence of Timorese, Indonesian and international stakeholders and observers.

ICTJ senior associate Galuh Wandita said the CTF members took the recommendations positively when her organization proposed them three months ago. "I hope the commission applies some or all of our recommendations. Let's see in their upcoming final report," said Galuh.

The CTF, which began its work in 2005, is made up of officials from Indonesia and Timor Leste. The joint commission was established to review documents from previous transitional justice institutions, reveal the truth regarding human rights violations in the former Indonesian province of East Timor and produce a final report.

The report comprised CTF's findings and conclusions on violence in East Timor following the UN-sponsored independence vote in 1999. (trw)

Balibo 5 killings

A diplomatic tightrope

Sydney Morning Herald - May 18, 2008

We will see how serious Kevin Rudd is in bringing the Balibo Five case to its logical conclusion, writes Paul Daley.

A week before the last election, Kevin Rudd placed on record his unambiguous views about a crime that many Australians have come to regard as perhaps the most shameful recent episode in Australian diplomacy.

On November 16 last year, NSW Deputy Coroner Dorelle Pinch referred the case of the Balibo Five – the Australia-based journalists murdered by the Indonesian military in East Timor in 1975 – to the federal attorney-general for possible war crimes prosecutions. This move followed four separate Australian inquiries that amounted to nothing, and three decades of official intransigence here and in Indonesia.

Finally, it seemed, officialdom had leapt the gaping moral abyss that has underpinned, for decades, a pragmatism-ahead-of-human rights approach to Canberra's sacrosanct bilateral relationship with Indonesia. Justice might finally be achieved, damn the diplomatic implications.

Rudd, former Australian diplomat and past Opposition spokesman on foreign affairs, was operating entirely within his comfort zone when commenting on Pinch's findings.

"This is a very disturbing conclusion by the Coroner concerning the fate of the Balibo Five back in 1975," he said. "I believe this has to be taken through to its logical conclusion. I also believe those responsible should be held to account. "

It was, if not exactly an election promise, something like a statement of principle. So, what is the logical conclusion? Who should be held to account? Let's briefly consider Pinch's findings.

She said: "The Balibo Five died at Balibo... from wounds sustained when [they] were shot and or stabbed deliberately, and not in the heat of battle, by members of the Indonesian special forces, including Christoforus Da Silva and Captain Yunus Yosfiah on the orders of Captain Yosfiah, to prevent them from revealing that Indonesian special forces had participated in the attack on Balibo [just inside the East Timor-Indonesia border]. "

In coming months we'll see just how serious Rudd was. For if the case is taken to its "logical conclusion" Rudd's Attorney-General (on the recommendation of the DPP) may soon seek the extradition of Yosfiah, a former Indonesian information minister, and Da Silva.

This case has won advocates from all over the world. And today there are some in Rudd's Government who are privately heartened by his comments last November. They were further encouraged by Rudd's subsequent comments when he travelled to Bali as Prime Minister barely a month later for a multilateral climate change meeting, when the issue arose with Indonesia's President, Susilo Bambang Yudhoyono.

"We had a general discussion on it and I also referred to the fact that the independent legal processes in Australia still had their own way to work through and these were independent of the executive arm of government and they should proceed as they normally do," he said.

At a time when Rudd faces increasing criticism from the foreign policy establishment – for supposedly nurturing ties with China at the expense of Indonesia, any move by the Commonwealth DPP to charge Yosfiah and Da Silva would be extremely provocative.

Rudd, however, has long believed close ties with Jakarta are a critical pillar – along with the US-Australia Alliance, free trade and open markets, and friendship with China – of Australian foreign policy, central to its security and, yes, the "national interest".

It is with some curiosity that Government insiders recall backbencher Rudd in the late 1990s when the Indonesian military was implementing a scorched earth policy in East Timor.

"He was absolutely at one with the view that despite the violence in East Timor, Australia had to maintain very strong relations with the Indonesian military. In fact, he was at pains to point that out within the Labor Party at the time," recalls one insider.

That is why, despite what Rudd might say publicly, there are parallel fears that any case against the two Indonesians – currently being assessed by the Australian Federal Police – could ultimately fall prey to bureaucratic obfuscation.

Australia's options regarding the Balibo Five and their suspected murderers are very clear. There are agreements (including a 1995 extradition treaty) with Indonesia to return suspects to the jurisdiction of their alleged crimes. With considerable fanfare in 2006, Australia and Indonesia signed the Lombok Security Treaty dealing with, among other matters, law enforcement.

The extradition treaty entitles Indonesia to refuse an extradition request. But in such circumstances it would be required to submit the case to its prosecutors. Fledgling democracy though it is, Indonesia would face enormous international pressure (not least from Britain, Brian Peters's birthplace, which has taken enormous interest in the case) to prosecute.

Meanwhile, Australian sources say the Yosfiah-Da Silva brief is close to completion and will soon be given to the Commonwealth DPP for assessment.

The Australia-Indonesia relationship may be about to be dealt one of its toughest tests yet, and the case will doubtless be raised again when Rudd meets Yudhoyono in an expected visit to Indonesia next month.

Of course, two high-profile cases have already pressured the friendship. Schapelle Corby's innocence or otherwise has incited enormous anti-Indonesian sentiment here, and the Bali Nine case is yet to reach its potentially tragic conclusion.

And let's not forget the pivotal role played by the Australian Federal Police in those prosecutions. Co-operation, in the name of diplomacy and law enforcement, must cut both ways. Rudd seems to understand this.

Balibo Five film in the making

Radio Australia - May 2, 2008

Eleanor Hall: It's more than 30 years since five Australian based newsmen were shot dead at Balibo in East Timor.

Few deaths have caused so much controversy in Australia for so long – with several parliamentary inquiries and last year's coronial inquest which found that Indonesian soldiers executed the men as they invaded the former Portuguese territory from West Timor.

Now, the Balibo story is being made into a feature-length film – with Australian star Anthony LaPaglia playing the role of Roger East – a sixth journalist who was also killed when he went to Timor to investigate the five deaths.

Anne Barker reports, from Darwin, where the film auditions are continuing.

(Sounds of chanting)

Anne Barker: It's 1975 in East Timor.

The Portuguese are gone – the tiny state declares independence.

(Sound of gunfire)

Anne Barker: And as Indonesia prepares to invade, five Australian-based news men head to the western town of Balibo.

(Sound of gunfire)

Greg Shackleton: At any rate we look like being the last people left in the town and we will make a decision very shortly on whether we too should pull back.

Anne Barker: Today Greg Shackleton, Malcolm Rennie, Tony Stewart, Gary Cunningham and Brian Peters are all household names. For decades their deaths at Balibo mystified Australians – none more so than freelance journalist Jill Jolliffe.

Jill Jolliffe: Well the very first reports were extremely dramatic.

Anne Barker: Jill Jolliffe was in Dili at the time and knew all five men and she remembers all too clearly the day they were shot

Jill Jolliffe: And then an eyewitness turned up in Dili a week and a half after that. A young Timorese soldier who had been present in Balibo and claimed to have seen them shot down by Indonesian soldiers.

Anne Barker: It was the testimony of that witness that underpinned Jill Jolliffe's book on Balibo which has now inspired the decision to make a feature length film.

Robert Connolly: The way we're telling the story is through another journalist, Roger East, a Darwi-based journalist who went up there about a month after the journalists went missing to find out what happened to them. We are telling the story through a combination of his point and the point of view of a Timorese woman.

Anne Barker: Director Robert Connolly and playwright David Williamson spent five years writing the screenplay – based on Jill Jolliffe's book and last year's coronial inquest. As a feature film it'll have a considerable fictional element – but Robert Connolly says it won't pull any punches on how the men died

Robert Connolly: It will show the Balibo Five being executed and I think in fairness to all the families who, over 30 years, have been told so many different stories and have fought so hard for the truth, I think it would be a pity if the film didn't actually show what we now know and what a coroner has now shown actually happened.

Anne Barker: A second round of auditions are planned for Darwin this weekend. Anthony LaPaglia will play the main character, Roger East and there's been no shortage of wannabe film stars. One of them Helmia Alkatiri – the niece of East Timor's former Prime Minister Mari Alkatiri.

Helmia Alkatiri: Any part would be good as long as the good part -- not the rebel side (laughs).

Anne Barker: As a young student now living in Darwin – Helmia Alkatiri says she has limited knowledge of the Balibo Five.

Helmia Alkatiri: I've just been hearing story from my parents and families and watched the movies about the '75 problems and everything.

Anne Barker: Filming will begin later this year in both Darwin and East Timor – where locals at Balibo may be used as extras.

Eleanor Hall: Anne Barker reporting.

Agriculture & food security

East Timor to use oil fund to stablise prices

Reuters - May 29, 2008

Dili – East Timor will use a fraction of its oil fund worth over $2 billion to protect the poor from rising food and fuel prices, Prime Minister Xanana Gusmao said on Thursday.

Gusmao said he would take three percent from the fund to stabilise prices and to import rice, fuel and construction materials. The oil fund was created from revenue earned from the country's oil and gas sector in 2005 in order to amass money for future generations of Timorese.

Gusmao said the government decided to use a portion of the money, which is deposited in a US bank, because some countries had not made good on their promises to provide aid.

"We are ashamed if we keep asking donors to give us money to resolve our problems," he told reporters. "Sometimes they renege on their promises."

East Timor, one of the world's poorest countries, is vulnerable to rising food prices in the international market because it relies on imports for nearly 60 percent of its rice needs.

Indonesia occupied East Timor for 23 years before the former Portuguese colony voted in favour of independence in a United Nations-sponsored ballot in 1999.

As Asia's youngest nation, the country is still struggling to achieve stability despite its rich oil and gas resources.

[Reporting by Tito Belo; Writing by Ahmad Pathoni; Editing by Valerie Lee.]

Timor-Leste: Rice price hike leads to government subsidies

IRIN - May 20, 2008

Dili – It is 8am and Star King in Dili, Timor-Leste's capital, is about to open. For most of the year, Star King, a dimly lit warehouse that sells tinned milk, noodles and cooking oil, is a store among a dozen just like it. But today police have been called to help manage the 100 or so anxious people waiting outside.

After weeks of rising global food prices, the government has agreed to subsidies rice and Star King is only one of about eight stores in Dili where rice is cheap enough for the average family -- though the discounted supply does not last long.

Rice is the primary staple food for the population of about one million. According to the Ministry of Agriculture, Timorese eat 83,000 metric tonnes of rice annually but only 40,000 MT is locally produced; the rest is imported from Indonesia, Thailand or Vietnam.

A 35kg bag of imported rice should cost about US$16, in line with local produce. However, over the past six months, the price of rice globally has risen from 40 US cents/kg to $1.20-$1.30/kg, pushing the cost of imported rice well beyond the means of most families, who subsist on only a few dollars a day.

The UN Mission in Timor (UNMIT) has blamed rising costs on environmental disasters, greater population demands, increasing fuel prices and a shortage of reserves. A rice crisis hit Timor last year and then as now, the government responded with subsidized rice. A 35 kg bag of subsidized rice is $17.

Epifanio Faculto, the Timor-Leste director of domestic trade under the Ministry of Tourism, Commerce and Industry, told IRIN the plan had been well received: "The people are happy with the price, but we still have some complaints about the [insufficient] stock."

Indeed, every morning there is a queue outside Star King. Lay Siu Kiat, the owner, said he sells 25 tonnes of subsidized rice – his entire daily ration – in about two hours.

Limited discount stocks

Isabelle Soares, 57, came from Aileu District, three hours away, to Dili for subsidized rice. She said her bus did not leave until 8am and by the time she got to Star King the subsidized rice was gone.

Soares, a mother of six, ended up buying a $25 bag, which she said would have cost her $35 in Aileu; a bottle of cooking oil and some instant noodles. She had traveled six hours to and from Aileu to save $10.

"The government doesn't help us," she told IRIN. "I have to come to Dili just to buy rice and then take it back to Aileu."

Faculto acknowledged the subsidized rice had been slow to reach the districts, but he said 1,360kg of rice would be delivered to all 13 districts by the third week of May.

UNMIT has praised the government's efforts at providing discount food. UN acting special representative for the Secretary-General Finn Reske-Nielsen said, "[T]here is no cause for alarm as the situation we are seeing elsewhere is not the situation we are seeing in Timor-Leste."

Beyond the short term, the UN Food and Agriculture Organization (FAO) in Timor is encouraging farmers to take advantage of the extended rainy season and plant additional rice and maize, the second staple crop.

Push for maize

"We will make good seed, planting material and fertilizer available for roughly 30,000 families," said Chana Opaskornkul, FAO's country director in Timor-Leste. "We think by these measures we will encourage people to plant a second crop and we will increase the food production by around 30,000MT in the country."

Compared with the rest of Asia, Timor-Leste has a robust maize yield. Because of the mountainous terrain and low rainfall, maize can be grown more easily than rice in many areas, but many Timorese prefer to eat rice and rely on maize when rice is not available.

Reske-Nielsen said the rice crisis could be an opportunity to change eating habits, which could spur better nutrition and give economic advantage to maize farmers.

"If handled correctly this could, in fact, have a positive impact on poverty alleviation in the rural areas, including on nutritional standards in the country," UNMIT's acting chief said.

High food prices 'will hit Pacific'

Australian Associated Press - May 12, 2008

High food and oil prices will put thousands in the Pacific at risk this year and could spark fresh violence in East Timor, an economist has found.

Craig Sugden from the Asia Development Bank, who recently led a study into the effect of high prices in the Pacific, predicted tough times ahead. Sugden said the food staples of rice and wheat would probably double in price in the Pacific this year, hitting East Timor and Fiji hardest.

He said the UN World Food Program helped provide emergency assistance to 300,000 people in East Timor last year and that number looked set to rise. Across the rest of the Pacific many more would be hurt by rising prices, Sugden said.

"It is very hard to say (how many) because we don't know how governments are going to react. I wouldn't put it in the hundreds of thousands, but I would put it in the tens of thousands of people that really are at serious risk in 2008," he said. "A lot of people are going to suffer... they may go very hungry and face having a very poor diet," Sugden said.

The Living With High Prices report he led showed an extra five per cent of households in the Pacific could slip into poverty this year. He said Fiji's problems were compounded by a military coup in December 2006, when the democratically elected government of Laisenia Qarase was ousted.

"They have had quite a number of shocks, quite serious economic shocks in the past two or three years in Fiji, of course starting in December 2006," he said.

"Most of the garment industry has closed down. Wages are generally under pressure because the economy is struggling. What has happened is that the December coup added to business uncertainty," Sugden said.

His research found East Timor could face fresh outbreaks of violence. "That is an obvious worry. The big problem is going to be the low-income urban households... It certainly heightens the risk of instability," he said.

While Papua New Guinea would be one of the few overall winners from rising oil and food prices, he said squatter settlements would face big problems, potentially leading to crime rises in the capital Port Moresby.

Although high oil prices have boosted earnings of East Timor too, its money was tied up in long-term funds, Sugden said.

He said some countries, like Vanuatu, may be able to stave off food shortages by switching from rice and wheat to goods such as sweet potatoes and taro, but ultimately these items would rise in price too.

East Timor jeopardising country's rice reserves says analyst

Adnkronos International - May 9, 2008

Dili – The government's attempt to hold on to power is dangerously depleting the country's reserve of rice and could lead to social disorder, claimed an analyst.

Loro Horta said prime minister Xanana Gusmao should immediately create a more effective food distribution system and change the way he is managing the emergency stock of rice.

Gusmao's decision to distribute 35 kilogrammes of rice every month to the country's 3,700 military and police personnel and its 17,000 public servants, is a sign of "incompetence and irresponsibility," Horta argued an analysis for the 'International Relations and Security Network' website.

East Timor, one of Asia's poorest nations, relies on imports to meet almost 60 percent of its rice needs.

Horta said the government's decision is "aimed at holding on to power" but is depleting the national rice emergency stock and "has increased the country's vulnerability to the volatility of international markets."

To the list of the government mistakes, Loro Horta added the granting of rice import monopolies to well-connected people, "such as, in one instance, the wife of a government minister who now directs all rice imports into the country."

The government said that it would draw on the two billion dollars deposited in an American bank to ensure there is enough rice for the the country's one million people. The so-called Oil Fund was created to save money for future generations of Timorese to prevent funds being squandered.

Rice prices have almost trebled this year in Asia. Countries including India, Vietnam, Indonesia and Brazil have restricted food exports in a bid to secure domestic supplies and limit inflation, but such moves have helped fuel price rises.

The price of rice has already risen dramatically in the former Portuguese colony. In February, a 35-kilogramme bag of rice was being sold in East Timor for 13 dollars. By April, the price had risen to 20 dollars.

"In the rural areas, high transport costs resulting from the country's dismal roads has led prices there to reach 27 dollars per 35-kilogramme bag of rice," said Loro Horta.

East Timor's average annual rice consumption is between 90,000- 100,000 tonnes, while the national rice stock currently stands at less than half the desired safety level of 8,000 tonnes and just enough to feed the country for a month

Skirmishes broke out repeatedly among East Timorese during the acute rice shortages in 2007 in the capital Dili. "There is no reason to think the same will not happen again," Horta concluded.

He is a research associate fellow at the S Rajaratnam School of International Studies and the son of East Timor's president Jose Ramos-Horta.

UNMIT/ISF

UN delays on Timor extension request

The Australian - May 14, 2008

Paul Toohey – The UN will wait until February to consider whether it will continue its peacekeeping mission in East Timor, despite President Jose Ramos Horta asking it to commit until at least 2012.

Mr Ramos Horta, still recovering from being shot in February, views his country as volatile despite the apparent calm following the surrender of rebels a fortnight ago.

"I want to play safe," Mr Ramos Horta told the BBC yesterday. "I don't want to, for sake of patriotism, pride, that we should ask, sorry, now you can leave. We should be very cautious. That's why I have said to the UN we need UN police here for at least five years – up to 2012."

UN spokeswoman Allison Cooper said her organisation had to consider the President's request "in the context of peacekeeping commitments globally".

"We currently have a mandate though to February 2009," Ms Cooper said. "We had a 12-month extension in February this year. We will have to report back to the Security Council in February next year and provide a report of progress and they will consider and vote on it. They will decide whether to trim back or reduce the mandate in certain areas, based upon our recommendations."

The UN has a mandated strength of 1748 police officers for East Timor, with 1500 in the country at any time. They come from 41 countries and 50 are Australians. They also have 438 international staff, 933 national staff and 134 volunteers.

"The peacekeepers here are police, with no military component, unlike the UN's military component in Dafur," Ms Cooper said. "The Security Council will listen to the mission and take into account requests from the President. They will hear what Jose Ramos Horta has said."

Australia has 750 troops in East Timor as part of its International Stabilisation Force, though that was lifted by 200 immediately after Mr Ramos Horta was shot. In late April, those extra troops returned home once the country was deemed secure.

Mr Ramos Horta also told the BBC he wanted the Australians to stay until at least next year, though that is a commitment Kevin Rudd appeared to give on his visit to Dili in the days after the President was shot.

UN on defensive over controversial East Timor appointment

Radio Australia - May 14, 2008

Stephanie March – The United Nations in East Timor is on the defensive after being lambasted by its own top lawyer in New York for hiring disgraced former defence minister, Roque Rodrigues, as a presidential security adviser.

In the wake of East Timor's civil unrest in 2006, in which 37 people died and about 100,000 fled their homes, a UN commission of inquiry report recommended that charges be brought against Mr Rodrigues, who was at that time East Timor's defence minister. The report recommended that Mr Rodrigues be prosecuted on charges of illegal weapons distribution.

Radio Australia's Stephanie March, who is in Dili, says those charges were never filed, and Mr Rodrigues has now been hired by the United Nations Development Program (UNDP) as a security adviser. The move has prompted criticism from the United States and Australian embassies in East Timor.

In a leaked confidential memo to UN assistant secretary general Edmund Mulet, assistant secretary general for legal affairs Larry Johnson called the UNDP's decision "unfortunate".

Mr Johnson added: "The decision to appoint Rodrigues has, in our view, placed the organisation in an awkward position and is potentially damaging to its credibility and image".

He also said the UNDP's hiring of Mr Rodrigues could undermine the UN's ability to press for organisational accountability in the future.

Stephanie March says sources close to the UN report that Mr Rodrigues' appointment was made at the request of East Timor's President, Jose Ramos-Horta.

Double standards

The International Crisis Group (ICG) says that raises questions about the commitment of East Timor's leaders to hold people accountable for their crimes and uphold the rule of law. The ICG also says it sends a message that there is one law for the powerful, and another for the poor.

Spokeswoman for the UN Mission in East Timor (UNMIT), Allison Cooper, says the UN must respect the presumption of innocence in all cases.

"The support the UNDP has given to the contracting of Roque Rodrigues to work in the president's office doesn't mean Mr Rodrigues should evade accountability," she said.

"It simply means, like all accused persons, he has rights, and at this particular stage we are defending that as the principle, that he has the right to a presumption of innocence, and that means not having a contract of employment terminated."

However Stephanie March says Larry Johnson, the assistant secretary general for legal affairs, wrote in his leaked memo that "it is quite unlikely that the matter will ever be determined by the local courts".

He said the key concern was not whether Mr Rodrigues was innocent or guilty, but "rather the policy issue as to whether the United Nations should have recruited someone reasonably suspected by the Commission of Inquiry of having committed a serious crime".

Mr Johnson's memo advised UNMIT to seek a mutual and amicable solution to end Roque Rodrigues' employment, and that UN should be prepared to offer to pay out the remaining eight months of his contract.

Allison Cooper says the opinions expressed in the memo are only draft legal opinions, and that UNMIT is waiting to hear from the UN headquarters in New York on the matter.

Human rights/law

Timor rebels partied with police, military after surrender

Australian Associated Press - May 1, 2008

East Timorese authorities hosted an alcohol-fuelled party for a band of rebels after they surrendered for trying to assassinate the nation's top leaders.

The soiree for the 12 rebels, including their leader Gastao Salsinha, was held at the joint headquarters of the police and military, hours after the men gave themselves up in Dili on Tuesday.

The event has outraged opposition MPs, who said it sent a dangerous message to citizens in a country plagued by instability and violence.

Salsinha and his rebels are wanted over February's assassination attempts against President Jose Ramos Horta, who was critically injured, and Prime Minister Xanana Gusmao, who escaped unharmed.

After their negotiated surrender on Tuesday, Salsinha and his 11 men were guests of honour at the party. Still dressed in their jungle fatigues, the rebels danced and drank with members of the police and military taskforce who only days earlier had been hunting for them in the mountains. They also watched themselves surrendering in reports carried on a TV news bulletin.

"They were offered beer and food, and they were hugged and greeted by their former friends (in the military) many times," said Max Stahl, filmmaker and East Timor observer who shares an office building with joint command. "It was an atmosphere where they began to de-stress a little."

The rebels left the party about 10pm, but police and soldiers drank beer and danced until after midnight.

Opposition Fretilin MPs have branded the party "bizarre" and said it sent the wrong message to the people of East Timor.

"It's quite immature and also looks bizarre that some, who you call as a rebel who has also been accused of conducting an attack against state, is welcomed like big head or commander in chief – it is not the right message," said Arsenio Bano, a Fretilin MP and member of the parliamentary defence and security committee.

"Anyone in this country will think now that if you need to get attention from the president or important men you just need to make trouble – a lot of trouble will allow them to talk to you and negotiate with you."

It has also emerged that there was no formal process around the rebels' surrender on Tuesday. Arrest warrants for the wanted men were not acted upon until yesterday. Salsinha, who is suspected of leading the February 11 attack on Gusmao, appeared at a preliminary hearing late yesterday.

The rebels are now being held in a secure facility in Dili, under police and military guard. Bano said the way the men had been treated made him "pessimistic" about the justice process.

MPs from Fretilin and the National Unity Party boycotted Tuesday's ceremony at government palace, where Salsinha and his followers surrendered themselves and their weapons.

The joint police and military command was not available for comment.

East Timor president cuts former minister's jail sentence

Agence France Presse - May 21, 2008

Dili – East Timor's President Jose Ramos-Horta said Wednesday he had slashed the seven-year jail sentence handed out to a former minister for distributing weapons during violent unrest in 2006.

Ramos-Horta said the sentence against former home affairs minister Rogerio Lobato was cut 75% in a show of mercy as part of the country's sixth anniversary of independence this week.

"It is three-fourths," he told AFP when asked the size of the reduction. He added that he didn't know how much more time Lobato would spend in jail because the courts had yet to review the sentence.

"My consideration for him and other cases are humanitarian, their health or family situation. Mr. Rogerio Lobato's health has been precarious for some time."

Lobato was jailed on five charges of arming hit squads during the 2006 unrest in the country, when fighting between factions of the security forces left 37 dead and made 150,000 flee their homes.

But Ramos-Horta said he didn't think Lobato was an instigator of the violence. "I sincerely believe that Rogerio Lobato is a decent man who was caught in the crisis of 2006 and he definitely wasn't one of the authors of the crisis," he said.

Lobato received a court permit to travel abroad for treatment last year. He has liver, heart and kidney problems but the exact nature of the care he is receiving in Malaysia is unknown.

He is a senior member of the opposition Fretilin party and founded a guerrilla army that fought Indonesia's 24-year occupation of East Timor, which lasted until 1999. East Timor formally became an independent state in 2002.

Indonesia

Let bygones be bygones: Gusmao

Jakarta Post - May 2, 2008

Thorny issues from the past have often derailed relations between Timor Leste and its former master Indonesia. Timor Leste Prime Minister Kayrala Xanana Gusmao, on an official visit to Indonesia, discussed with The Jakarta Post's Riyadi Suparno and Matheos V. Messakh bilateral issues and the future of Timor Leste. What follows are excerpts:

During your visit, a number of economic agreements have been signed. How do you see the prospects for economic relations with Indonesia?

We see the relationship as more than the small amount of trade volume. We have held a meeting with Kadin (the Indonesian Chamber of Commerce and Industry) where we told them to look at us as a place of investment. As a business, maybe we cannot offer Indonesia high capability to buy your products. But look at us as a place of investment.

If you invest money, we could together sell your products to some other countries. We are a member of ACP-EC (African, Caribbean and Pacific countries and the European Community) Partnership Agreement, which is also known as the Cotonou Agreement. We can sell your products to Europe without tariffs, we can also sell the products to China and even to Australia without any tariffs.

This is the relationship. You bring your money through investment, give jobs to our people and together we sell products from Timor Leste. This is what we are trying to say to Indonesians.

We understand that there are still some elements in Timor Leste who have hard feelings about Indonesia. Do you think Indonesian investments will be safe?

Many Indonesians live in Timor Leste currently. The relationship with Indonesian is not a problem.

The Commission for Truth and Friendship (CTF), which was founded under your presidency, has received lots of criticism including from the United Nations. Some critics said the joint commission offered only impunity and undermined the judicial system. What's you stance?

In December 2006, I went to New York and also to Geneva to hand over the final report of the CAVR (the Commission for Reception, Truth and Reconciliation), a similar report to the CTF report.

We talked about an international community solution. I said, "It's yours, we do what we think the best for our country. If you want, go on. It is not my business."

It is the CAVR report that recommended Timor Leste bring all the countries that helped Indonesia occupy Timor Leste, whether it was politically or financially or even with equipment, to an international tribunal.

I told Timor Leste's parliament in 2005, "We don't have to do this after the devastation in 1999. Do we have to do this after everything was destroyed? The international community came and pushed us to do this." I asked the parliament, the people elected by our people, to decide.

The decision of the state is that the past is the past. We have to build our future. Are we strong enough to put the past in the past? We should be and we must be.

We must not avoid the past. We must tell the truth, we must say that something happened in Timor Leste and Indonesia in the past. We cannot just erase these things. This is what we are trying to educate ourselves about, that we lived together in a very dramatic situation in our history. But it was the past. Now we live together to build a better future for all of us.

But critics say that you cannot provide truth without going through a tribunal process. Your response?

But why me? When Timor Leste has many social problems, security problems, humanitarian problems, why do I have to divert my attention to this when my task is to provide service to my people?

Mozambique also had a war after their independence with thousands of people dying, but they could solve their problem internally. Perhaps some problems still exist but they don't have to kill each other because of the past.

Northern Ireland is also in a process of national reconciliation.

Why only us? Our position is not to vacate the past but to take the past as a lesson in order to prevent similar mistakes in the future.

I can say that whoever provided the TNI (the Indonesian Military) with weapons, bullets and other equipment must go to trial. I can always say that.

But for now, my biggest concern is how to make the life of my people better. The TNI are in the process of putting themselves in a democratic system. So, the best that we can appreciate from both sides is that we are conscious that in the past it was wrong, and now we have to move to share the future.

Even in Timor Leste, lots of people criticize you and President Ramos Horta for your position on the CTF.

I met (former military commander) Wiranto before the Indonesian presidential election in Bali in 2004, and when I went back to Dili they called me a traitor and liar. I don't mind. You can define me however you like, but my concern now is how to put the interest of the people above what can happen to me.

Some say that the 2006 crisis in Timor Leste was caused by the rivalry between you and Jose Ramos-Horta on one side, and Mari Alkatiri and the Fretilin party on the other side. What's your explanation?

It will take a long time to tell. I was a member of the Fretilin central committee a long time ago. If each one said that they are the best, I can have this opportunity also to say that I am the best.

We were defeated by the TNI in 1978, all the senior leaders died and I took over the leadership. I did everything in my capability and my capacity to continue until 1986. I changed the policy, then I became a traitor at that time. I came out from Fretilin (Revolutionary Front for an Independent Timor Leste) and put the guerrilla forces (Falintil) outside of the political party, and we became independent.

In 1999-2000, I said I finished my duty and let the parties to deal with state issues. We had confidence in Fretilin to take over the government for five years, but they made mistake.

So, I said I'm still ready to defend the interests of my people and I built a party. I let them save the country, now I'm ready to lead them again to free themselves from a condition of frustration.

There are still thousands of refugees in West Timor. What's your policy about these refugees?

If we look at the past, from 1999 to 2001, I was along the border, meeting with many of them including some high-level leaders. We solved many things. We brought back thousands and thousands of people.

Now that I am the head of the government, first, I have to look after the stability within my country. I will continue to look at this issue and in the middle of that we will create all the conditions for them to be sure that if they return they will not meet the enemy.

Bahasa Indonesia is still spoken widely in Timor Leste. What will be the future of Bahasa Indonesia there?

In our constitution, Bahasa Indonesia is our working language. And now under our cooperation, Indonesia will help us with teachers to teach Bahasa in secondary schools so that our students will be ready if they go to Indonesian universities.

There is a joke in Timor Leste that Indonesian graduates are "sarjana supermi" (instant noodle scholars). What's your opinion?

I have many of them working with me. I am also a sarjana of life, graduated from "Universitas Tertutup" in Cipinang penitentiary.

Health & education

Timor Leste approves Cuba teaching method

Prensa Latina - May 17, 2008

Dili – The advantages of Cuban basic reading and writing teaching method Yes, I Can, which combines the student's basic learning primer with video classes, outstood here Saturday on occasion of the National Reading Day in this capital.

The opening of the exhibit was conceived inside the 2nd National Week for Incentives to Readingand Education in Timor Leste, and had the presence of Prime Minister Hanana Gusmao, who visited the Cuban area.

Gusmao was able to see a demonstrative sample of the first class in the YO SI PUEDO program, exchanged impressions with Cuban professors, together with local Education Minister Jouo Cuncio Freitas and ambassadors from several countries.

Under the motto "Language, Homeland and Identity" the 2nd National Week was useful to show different methods in use to improve the cultural level of the people of Timor Leste. (hr/tac/sus/mf)

East Timor thanks Cuba for support

Ganma International - May 8, 2008

Arnaldo Musa – East Timorese Foreign Minister Zacarias Albano da Costa met with Cuban Foreign Minister Felipe Perez Roque in Havana where he thanked the country for its continuous support of East Timor, "even under the most difficult circumstances."

On the first day of his official activity in Cuba, Albano da Costa said that the ties with Cuba will take on a new and more dynamic turn. He expressed his admiration for the spirit of sacrifice of the Cubans working in his country and spoke about the invaluable contribution from Cuban medical brigades and Cuban teachers working to eradicate illiteracy.

"The government and people of East Timor value the extraordinary and disinterested assistance and solidarity shown by Cuba throughout these years, including meeting the promise -made by Commander in Chief Fidel Castro in Kuala Lumpur in 2003 to Prime Minister Xanana Gusmaso- to strengthen ties," said the official.

Perez Roque recalled East Timor's first vote as an independent member of the United Nations when it did so on the resolution to put an end to the US blockade against Cuba."We will never forget that," he said.

The Cuban Foreign minister reiterated Cuba's commitment to continue collaborating with modesty and respect to improve the health and education of the sister nation. He said the island is proud of the work of its doctors and educators in East Timor, many thousands of miles from home.

Police/military

East Timor signs military pact

Reuters - May 18, 2008

Dili – East Timor's army will receive military training from Portuguese-speaking countries such as Brazil and Portugal as part of a military pact signed between the countries today.

Defence ministers of eight Portuguese-speaking countries signed the military agreement in former Portuguese colony East Timor's capital, Dili, in a bid to prevent conflict in their regions.

"This is the first meeting of defence ministers and the representatives of defence ministers from Portuguese-speaking countries... to discuss areas of cooperation where countries like Portugal and Brazil can further assist Timor Leste, particularly in the area of training," East Timor's president Jose Ramos Horta said.

"Portugal has played a very important role in the last few years together with Australia. The two countries are cooperating very well with us to enhance our defence capabilities."

East Timor, Asia's youngest nation, is still struggling to achieve stability six years after it became an independent nation.

The tiny nation plunged into instability following the dismissal of a group of 600 disgruntled soldiers from the army in 2006. The sacking triggered violence that killed 37 people and drove 150,000 from their homes.

International troops were sent in to the country of about a million people after the 2006 violence.

In February this year President Ramos-Horta and Prime Minister Xanana Gusmao survived assassination attempts blamed on rebel soldiers.

Indonesia occupied East Timor for 23 years before the former Portuguese colony voted in favour of independence in a UN- sponsored ballot in 1999.

People

East Timorese resistance fighter - 'Naldo Rei'

Radio Australia - May 4, 2008

Presenter: Monica Attard

A tale of East Timor's struggle for independence through the eyes of child resistance fighter - Naldo Rei.

Monica Attard: Hello, you've joined Sunday Profile and I'm Monica Attard. This week we're speaking to Naldo Rei, whose personal account of growing up amid East Timor's clandestine resistance movement has just been published in Australia.

Naldo Rei was just a baby when the Fretilin political party declared independence and Indonesian troops stormed into his country and his family fled into the jungle.

In only the second book to be published in English about first hand experiences of life during the Indonesian occupation, his book 'Resistance' is about a childhood lost, a father murdered, imprisonment and repeated torture at the hands of the Indonesian security forces.

Eventually, Naldo Rei was in too much danger and he fled, to all places, to Jakarta, where he tried to attract international attention to the cause of the East Timorese. Finally, he saw the birth of a new nation from Australia.

In the jungle he used to ask his parents, though, about the sound of the gunshots.

Naldo Rei: My question was why, you know when I hear this, the bullets, or this, the sound of shooting, why people disappear everyday and that's the question that come to my mind. This mean that if you wield guns or shooting, this means that's killing people or just take away people's life. This has always come to my question and come to my mind. And I keep asking my parents.

Monica Attard: And what were they telling you?

Naldo Rei: They didn't answer anything.

Monica Attard: They didn't know or they didn't want to upset the children?

Naldo Rei: They, they, they knew. They knew what happened, but they don't want to upset me, especially because as a child my life is not supposed to listen to the weapons or guns or shooting or killing.

Monica Attard: And your parents were Fretilin supporters?

Naldo Rei: Yes.

Monica Attard: And what did they do? Were they active members of Fretilin? What did they do to support Fretilin?

Naldo Rei: They help in they doing, ah, they provide the food, clothes and traditional medicine to help the guerrilla fighter.

Monica Attard: Do you remember when you were captured by the Indonesians?

Naldo Rei: Yes. Because, um, we were surround early in the morning. Somehow we heard a lot of shooting around, around us. And we didn't know what happened. And somehow they come surround us. We were living in the cave, it's called Kuru He'e Henu Cave. And they capture us and they took us to Indonesian headquarters in Lospalos. And they put my family away and then only leave the kids in a big hall in, um, in Indonesian Army headquarters, Lospalos.

Monica Attard: For how long?

Naldo Rei: For three months.

Monica Attard: For three months?

Naldo Rei: Yes.

Monica Attard: So did you see your parents in that time?

Naldo Rei: No.

Monica Attard: No. And were you treated well?

Naldo Rei: Well they, they treat us – they treat us well. But as kids you need the family to be around. But they teach us how to write and read, the Indonesian Army.

Monica Attard: And eventually they forced you back to your village?

Naldo Rei: Yes.

Monica Attard: With your mum and dad?

Naldo Rei: Yes.

Monica Attard: And, ah, but they were monitoring your activities?

Naldo Rei: Yes. They keep, because they – when we went to – before they release us, they release us to live in, it's called, um, Missao Fuiloro. It's a school of – agricultural school in Lospalos. So they move us there until, um, it's 1980 or something like that, for six months, living there as well]. And then they move us to our village.

Monica Attard: I believe that secretly your mother and father continued to support the independence movement?

Naldo Rei: Yes.

Monica Attard: And the Indonesians eventually found out?

Naldo Rei: Yes.

Monica Attard: And what happened?

Naldo Rei: Because my father, he was the leader of the community and also in my tradition he's a kin, generation kin in my family. He saw something was wrong, this mean why Indonesian Army come and kill us. So he have to establish, organise these people to go against, to support Fretilin Group, follow into the jungle and fight against the Indonesian Army, by different strategy, especially clandestine movement. And later on they found out that my father was involved in the movement, so they took him, with his friend – five of his friends and then kill all of them.

Monica Attard: Do you remember when he was taken?

Naldo Rei: Yes. I was nine to – almost nine to ten.

Monica Attard: So you would remember that, sort of...?

Naldo Rei: Yeah, he was killed in the 11 March in 1985 and six months later I tried to find my father, where he's gone. So I went to all the Indonesian headquarters in Lospalas area asking, 'Where is my father?' and they said, that the father, 'We don't know. We don't know your father'.

Monica Attard: Did you ever find out what happened?

Naldo Rei: Yeah, just six months later after I left, because they capture me and they release me.

Monica Attard: And why do they – how did they capture you? Why did they capture you?

Naldo Rei: They capture me because I went to ask the headquarter, the Indonesian Army headquarter, 'Where is my father?' I was looking for my father.

Monica Attard: So they took you?

Naldo Rei: Yeah they took me. And then later I decide, oh I have to join with the guerrilla fighter.

Monica Attard: And what did they do to you when they caught you?

Naldo Rei: They torture me for two weeks. And they keep asking me my involvement in the struggle, in the real stuff.

Monica Attard: And this is at the age of nine?

Naldo Rei: Of nine, yeah.

Monica Attard: What were they doing? What was the torture?

Naldo Rei: They torture me, they using electrocute to shock me. They using razor to cut my body and they ask me where is all the Falintil guerrilla fighter. But I said, 'I have no idea. I don't know anything. But I come here to find my father'.

Monica Attard: Did you ever find out how they had killed him?

Naldo Rei: Because I never ever go to, you know, his funeral. So, but the witness told me that, you know, they cut his – his neck and well his body. So they just dump into the cave.

Monica Attard: At the age of nine or ten, that would have had an immense impact on you?

Naldo Rei: Impact a lot to me, but I understand the consequences of war. The consequences of – of being resistant or resistance fighter. To fight against Indonesian Army or to defence your people and also the land of East Timor, you have to sacrifice yourself even if it's death. But at least one day East Timor will be free.

Monica Attard: And when you say you became a resistance fighter at the age of nine or ten, what did that mean? What were you doing? What did you have to do?

Naldo Rei: I mean I have to fight in different ways. I don't have to go fight with the weapons or guns. But we have a three front struggle: diplomatic, clandestine movement and also army movement. So because I living in Dili or in Timor, so I have to using my network, clandestine network, to organise, to work with the resistance movement – other resistant movement and support the guerrilla fight in the jungle.

Monica Attard: And I believe that you acted as a courier as a young boy?

Naldo Rei: Yes, yes.

Monica Attard: Between which parties?

Naldo Rei: Between clandestine to guerrilla fighter in the jungle.

Monica Attard: Right. So you were taking messages from the city, from Dili?

Naldo Rei: From Dili to the jungle.

Monica Attard: To the jungle?

Naldo Rei: Yes.

Monica Attard: Alone?

Naldo Rei: Yes.

Monica Attard: And how do you do that? How did you know your way?

Naldo Rei: Because we have a really good connection and different structure, different level.

Monica Attard: So there were people every step of the way, who were supporters?

Naldo Rei: Yes.

Monica Attard: Who were helping you?

Naldo Rei: Yes.

Monica Attard: And guiding you?

Naldo Rei: Yeah, guiding me.

Monica Attard: Do you remember being scared?

Naldo Rei: I never scared. Because when they start – kill my father, my fear of a scare or fear of something it disappear. I just go ahead and then to find out why my father was killed.

Monica Attard: And obviously you knew the jungle didn't you?

Naldo Rei: Yes.

Monica Attard: You were quite at home in the jungle?

Naldo Rei: Yes, yes.

Monica Attard: So that wasn't a problem for you?

Naldo Rei: No. I mean I know the consequences of war.

Monica Attard: You met Xanana Gusmao?

Naldo Rei: Yes.

Monica Attard: How old were you when you first met him?

Naldo Rei: I was seventeen or sixteen when I met him. I met him in Dili and also to Lospalos.

Monica Attard: What sort of impression did he make on you?

Naldo Rei: You know I was a young boy. You met a guerrilla fighter, the top one, you're really proud of. This mean that you are the person that he trusts or other leaders trust you to organise his trip and try to hide him and try to be a messenger. So this means that he trusts you and I was really proud of him.

Monica Attard: But how did he show you that he was a brave man?

Naldo Rei: Well because I been receive his letter a couple of times and I been receive his message, you know, through to a recording cassette sent to me, I listen to him and I – how to work with him and how to deal with the Indonesian Army. So that's why I know how you...

Monica Attard: And is that how he sent messages out to Fretilin supporters?

Naldo Rei: Yes, Fretilin supporters.

Monica Attard: So it was kind of like an underground...

Naldo Rei: An underground movement.

Monica Attard:... an underground movement of information?

Naldo Rei: Yes. Monica Attard: Which would be passed on from one person to another?

Naldo Rei: Yes. To another person.

Monica Attard: Yeah. And as a young man you heard those tapes?

Naldo Rei: Yes. And then I distribute to other people, especially.

Monica Attard: Now a bloody time in your fight, that a lot of our listeners will remember, is the massacre at Santa Cruz?

Naldo Rei: Yes.

Monica Attard: Did you see that massacre?

Naldo Rei: Yes. Yes. Because I was involved in that massacre.

Monica Attard: How were you involved?

Naldo Rei: Because I was, ah, Xanana had sent me tapes to organise the demonstration at the 12th of November. So I distribute his tape record to all different organisation, political organisation. So I have to be part of that too.

Monica Attard: And because of your role in helping to organise that protest you were arrested?

Naldo Rei: Yes.

Monica Attard: And tortured again?

Naldo Rei: Yes.

Monica Attard: What did they do to you then? What was the torture?

Naldo Rei: It's really, really bad. They torture me. They pulled all my toenails, my fingernails and they torture me. They hit me with an iron pipe and they shock me with electrocute – electrocute and it's horrible, horrible. They tied me upside down and they tortured me for every day.

Monica Attard: For how long?

Naldo Rei: For two weeks.

Monica Attard: And then what happened?

Naldo Rei: They moved me to 'Iron Prison'. This is called Balidu Prison but we always call it 'Iron Prison' because it's really dark there inside. You can't see anything. There is no sound. You can't hear anything, anybody. But the only – between your prison cells to all the friends, but you can't see anyone, anybody's face.

Monica Attard: And how long did you remain there?

Naldo Rei: I was living there for 59 days. And then they move me to a prison in Aileu district.

Monica Attard: But eventually you were released from prison?

Naldo Rei: Yes.

Monica Attard: And you became an informant for the Indonesians?

Naldo Rei: Yes.

Monica Attard: They thought you were an informant?

Naldo Rei: Yes.

Monica Attard: But you weren't really?

Naldo Rei: No.

Monica Attard: No. Tell me about that, what happened?

Naldo Rei: When you being released by Indonesian Army you have to sign a letter. You have to agree that you will be – accept the Indonesian flag. You will be working with the Indonesian Army to reveal all your friend, all your connection, to Indonesian Army so they can capture them. It has to be – everybody have to agree that, you know, East Timor is a part of Indonesia as a 27th province. But no-one can change our mind to be part of Indonesia.

Monica Attard: But I imagine that the Indonesians would have known that in forcing people like you to sign those documents and agree to become informants, that you weren't really going to do it?

Naldo Rei: No, because I – why I have to do it? Because if you force me and then it strengthen me to fight back. And then when you force people you know that you're going to – it's more, create a resistance opposite to Indonesia.

Monica Attard: Was there a sense amongst those of your friends and people in the underground movement, that in signing that agreement that you were kind of also signing your own death warrant, that people might have not trusted you?

Naldo Rei: Because they capture me so many times and I never reveal any of my friends.

Monica Attard: So people knew that you wouldn't betray them?

Naldo Rei: No. Even the top clandestine leaders I never betray them. Because I say that I prefer die than them because I am the young boy, I am nothing. But if kill one of my top leader and then the struggle will be finished.

Monica Attard: You then got out of East Timor didn't you? You got to Jakarta.

Naldo Rei: Yes.

Monica Attard: Why did you go to Jakarta? How did that happen?

Naldo Rei: Well I was asked by clandestine leader, Sabalae. He asked me to go to jungle first and I went to the jungle for almost a month. But I was a little bit sick and then they sent me back. And then they said, 'Okay you have to go to Jakarta and work with the Solidarity Group' in Jakarta. To change the situation in East Timor you have to change the people of Indonesia first so they can involve our resistance groups too for free East Timor.

Monica Attard: You've worked very, very closely with the pro- democracy activists and who occupied the Dutch Embassy as well didn't you?

Naldo Rei: Yes, yes.

Monica Attard: On Xanana Gusmau's orders?

Naldo Rei: Yes, yes.

Monica Attard: What do you remember of that? Were you there at the occupation?

Naldo Rei: Yes. Because I was the leader, spokesperson, of the occupation, I mean the demonstration in 7th December of 1995. We want to show to international community that the struggle of, for free East Timor is not only us, but Indonesian people itself. Because they knew that something was wrong in East Timor. Why have to be killed everyday? And that's why they support us to – to show international community that Indonesian people themselves, they don't agree with the Suharto decision to invade East Timor.

Monica Attard: What do you remember about that day?

Naldo Rei: It was – it's really tough because you are, we call, you are in the mouth of the tiger that can swallow you any time, especially Indonesian Army. Well we organise and then Xanana order me to organise and also with other people, to organise the '95, 7th December demonstration in Russian Embassy and also in Dutch Embassy, including Indonesian Solidarity Group. And we organise and three, three days in Dutch Embassy, but every day they just, the Indonesian Military and also Indonesian, um, also called, um, gangster in Indonesian Army, they come and they throw rocks to the Embassy and then hit the Embassy and oh it was really bad.

Monica Attard: And blamed the East Timorese?

Naldo Rei: Yeah. The East Timorese. They say that we are their betrayer and Horta is bad and Xanana is bullshit, don't believe Xanana or Horta. And, but and then they destroy the Embassy.

Monica Attard: You say that the Indonesians were the ones who did the damage to the Dutch Embassy?

Naldo Rei: Yeah Indonesian, Indonesian – Indonesian Army. Especially Kopassus.

Monica Attard: Were they actually in the building whilst the protesters were in the building?

Naldo Rei: Yes. In the building, yeah.

Monica Attard: And that wasn't recognised by the Dutch authorities?

Naldo Rei: They recognised, but they couldn't do anything at the time. So even they hit the Ambassador until his head was bleeding and...

Monica Attard: And you say that was Kopassus?

Naldo Rei: Yes.

Monica Attard: Did your perception of the Indonesians change when you were in Jakarta?

Naldo Rei: Yes.

Monica Attard: How and why?

Naldo Rei: Because East Timorese case and also Indonesian case, we have a different boat but same destiny. This means that Indonesian people under dictatorship for 32 years and there are no democracy in Indonesia themselves. And I believe that the movement of pro democracy movement in Indonesia growing every day. Why we don't have to – why we have to sit down in silence to live in a horror place for 32 years?

Monica Attard: So do you believe that average Indonesians, the ones that you came across in Jakarta, supported Timorese independence?

Naldo Rei: Yes. Because they hid me for 2 years. And I know and I work with them.

Monica Attard: So it was the problem clearly of Kopassus and the Indonesian authorities?

Naldo Rei: Yeah it's only – the problem is the Army not the people.

Monica Attard: And you know I suppose the – what happened at the Dutch Embassy, do you think that the Dutch allowed the Indonesians in?

Naldo Rei: Yes. I think they are scared of the Indonesian Army at the same time. Because they can't shoot the embassies, it mean that you invade the country, if you – because the embassies are representing the country, but if you invade it this mean that you are a traitor and invade the country as well. Why Dutch Embassy -- what they allowed the Indonesian Army to enter the office and they capture...

Monica Attard: Why?

Naldo Rei: I don't know. Capture us.

Monica Attard: So do you think that there was some sort of conspiratorial agreement between the Dutch and the Indonesians?

Naldo Rei: We don't know, but I believe so.

Monica Attard: You think so?

Naldo Rei: Yeah. And they capture us and then they didn't give me -- they interrogate me for 24 hours. It is lucky that, you know, um, international community know about our protest. So they press on Indonesian Government to release us.

Monica Attard: As a result of all of this you managed to get out of Indonesia didn't you?

Naldo Rei: Yes.

Monica Attard: How did you get out?

Naldo Rei: Because my situation was, you know, I had been working with Indonesian Solidarity Group and also I'd been in, publicly against the Indonesian occupation. They were looking for me, search me everywhere, targeting Indonesian group. They call us a so called communist. But whoever trouble them or make a problem or against the Indonesian authority they say that trouble maker or communist. So they label any people who are against the Indonesian regime. So I was not safe in Jakarta so that's why I left.

Monica Attard: Until you came to Australia?

Naldo Rei: Yes.

Monica Attard: A final question. What hope do you hold now for East Timor, given what we've seen recently with an assassination attempt on your top leadership, Xanana Gusmao and Josi Ramos- Horta, what hope do you hold now?

Naldo Rei: I – my, personally I against any kind of violence. Shooting the president this mean you shoot the people of East Timor. Even if we have a different idea, different ideology or different opinion, that doesn't mean you have to shoot him. And we own the independence once. Nobody can change it. So even the rebel leaders they try to destroy the country, but I believe that people are wanting independence, that's all they want. And now the leaders should sit down together to solve the problem, because as you know that we are inexperienced. Inexperienced for when Indonesian time – Indonesian time, we have no skills. For example in the independence movement they have no skills to run the country. And now we have to say to everyone that, you know, no violence and we hope that, you know, the problem will be solved by our leaders.

Monica Attard: Do you think they can solve it?

Naldo Rei: Yes, I believe. Because why we have to live in the horror in our situation, and we need peace in this country, and we need the development in this country. We have a bright future. That's what we fought for. The young generation will restore peace and stability in East Timor.

Monica Attard: And that was Naldo Rei, a child resistance fighter of East Timor.

Opinion & analysis

St Xanana's halo, and power, slipping

The Australian - May 17, 2008

Paul Toohey – Xanana Gusmao, his Australian wife Kirsty and their kids haven't been back to their home in the hills overlooking the East Timorese capital, Dili, since the morning of February 11, when his prime ministerial convoy was ambushed by a group of rebels. The family will never return to that home.

They have been living in a well-protected, Western-style compound near Dili's airport while Gusmao's new residence – a double- walled, steel-reinforced waterfront fortress near the Hotel Turismo – is completed.

Gusmao, 62, was security-conscious long before the ambush. He has been on high alert for more than two years, unable to move with ease among his people.

Things have changed much for Kay Rala Xanana Gusmao, once regarded as a god-like figure for his resistance to Indonesian rule. He has been stoned by youths, ambushed, abused and accused of being pro-Indonesian and of running a corrupted, incompetent government.

The halo has slipped and Gusmao is fighting – and, for his many supporters, not hard enough – to retain his authority. Once seen as the only possible legitimate leader of his country, all that is being stripped away. Gusmao looks – or is being made to look -- like any other leader, routinely accused of arrogance and indecisiveness.

Long-time Timor watcher Mark Aarons says the powerful symbolism of Gusmao's freedom-fighting days in the mountains, and of him "sitting there like Mandela in his prison cell", have faded. "Part of that is he isn't a good bureaucrat or administrator, which is 90 per cent of what makes a prime minister," he says.

Some claims against Gusmao tend towards the extraordinary. Fretilin leader Mari Alkatiri has said he was never ambushed by rebels in February – that the whole thing was a stunt.

Other allegations arrive from mystery sources in your inbox. One is that Gusmao, when he led Falintil, the anti-Indonesian guerilla force, co-operated with the Indonesian military to "neutralise" more radical members of his own resistance. There is a heavy campaign afoot to bring Gusmao down. Justified or not, it appears to be having an effect.

In 2001, Gusmao was able to wander in an ecstatic 15,000-strong crowd in the lead-up to the Constituent Assembly vote, without visible security. He had a film camera around his neck and I counted that he'd taken more than 36 shots, suggesting the camera was empty.

The idea he was trying to convey was that it was the people, not him, who were important. They loved him then. Everyone wanted a piece of him. Most of all, they wanted Gusmao to be their prime minister but he, claiming that for the sake of national unity he wanted to be aligned to no party, opted for the less powerful position of president, which he duly became in 2002.

Commentators say that was his first big mistake: that he should have formed his own political party – or maybe joined the major party, Fretilin, and cracked the country into shape as prime minister.

He now stands accused, incredibly, of not giving enough of himself, despite running a 17-year insurrection and spending seven years in a Jakarta prison.

By standing back as the symbolic president, he allowed Fretilin to rule under Alkatiri as prime minister. That all fell apart in 2006, when the country was close to civil war. It was divided along east-west lines, and Gusmao told Alkatiri to stand aside. Timor was more or less in caretaker mode until last year's general election, when Gusmao finally decided to run for prime minister. Gusmao formed a party, the Council for National Reconstruction of Timor, but didn't get it together until the last minute. Perhaps he thought the old magic would carry him past the post. It didn't. His CNRT only got about 22 per cent of the vote and Fretilin – the "people's party" – got just under 30 per cent.

This meant Gusmao needed to form a coalition in order to govern. In recent months, his ruling Parliamentary Majority Alliance, or AMP, has been looking shaky.

Gusmao has tried to buy loyalty by appointing an incredible 47 ministers, vice-ministers or junior ministers in his tiny Government. But in doing so he has spread power too broadly.

His own coalition members and Fretilin have complained his ministers are either corrupt or former Indonesian "collaborators". On the corruption point, there's a lot of smoke but it is difficult to say.

The lively Timorese media are heavy with gossip and innuendo – but they can report whatever they like. They're so broke, there's no point suing them. On Indonesian collaboration, it is certainly true.

But so many East Timorese have collaborated, associated, or survived on the basis of Indonesian connections. Gusmao has disappointed many by refusing to condemn former militia leaders or massacre-leading Indonesian army commanders. Instead, he has often been seen embracing them.

Gusmao and the President, Jose Ramos Horta, seem prepared to forgive the crimes of corrupt exiled senior ministers, gun-toting rebels, militia leaders or Indonesian army generals in the interests of moving on with life. Ordinary criminals in Dili's prison must wish their crimes were as political.

It's all very well, if, like Gusmao, you've lived by the gun and known the satisfaction of engaging your enemy. But ordinary Timorese are confused.

Gusmao took a big delegation to Jakarta a fortnight ago and returned to Dili with the news that the army and police would train with their Indonesian counterparts.

The wisdom of these arrangements is questionable with so many Timorese still feeling the pain of the long Indonesian occupation and, particularly, the savage events of 1999.

Now, a former associate of Indonesian generals, businessman Tommy Winata, is rumoured to be looking around Dili to build a casino, with Gusmao's blessing. That is likely to test the mood of the powerful Catholic Church.

Ramos Horta recently described to me how Gusmao had once been "the unquestionable leader. Even the Timorese media, who always criticise everyone, were very lenient on him.

"I remember when John Paul II died we all went to mass in the cathedral. Xanana didn't show up. When I asked him, he said he forgot.

"The media didn't say anything. If we hadn't shown up, if poor Mari Alkatiri had not have shown up, we would have been savaged in the media.

"Today the situation. . . is very different. Xanana has to do a lot to recover his authority. "

Gusmao's AMP coalition holds 35 seats in the 65-seat parliament, though Fretilin, with 21 seats (in reality, 23 seats, as one minor party always votes with it), is breathing down the AMP's neck.

Three weeks ago the first cracks appeared when AMP coalition member ASDT, the Timorese Social Democratic Association, which holds five seats, announced it was aligning with Fretilin. The ASDT then changed its mind and said it was staying in the AMP, but it showed how fragile Gusmao's coalition is.

This week, the veterans' party – which holds two seats – very publicly announced for Gusmao's benefit it would join the AMP coalition. It was meaningless, because the two veterans always voted with the Government anyway. But it showed Gusmao had finally recognised he had a problem.

Timor watcher Aarons says Gusmao was diffident for too long on whether he wanted to take executive power. In standing back, Gusmao allowed returning exiles from Mozambique, Australia and Portugual to take control in the name of Fretilin – and that was costing him now.

Fretilin says it will do nothing to further inflame the country but is nevertheless working hard to end Gusmao's reign by courting minor parties. Elections are not due till 2012 but it wants early elections, next year, and has the support of Ramos Horta. Gusmao is strongly opposed. Despite their apparent public togetherness, the two leaders are not close. Gusmao took more than a month to get to Darwin to visit Ramos Horta after he'd been shot.

Some point to a precise moment when Gusmao lost his freedom of movement among his people. It was March 23, 2006, after almost 600 soldiers born in the west of the country abandoned their barracks claiming they were overlooked for promotion in the army, which was commanded by veterans of the resistance, who were more than likely born and raised in the east.

Gusmao gave a speech in which he asked whether the army would now be made up of only easterners with no westerners, because they were "all militia's children". It was supposed to be ironic, but East Timor doesn't do irony well and he offended both sides. Many argue the comments legitimised the east-west divide and led to the ensuing chaos.

"I don't think he has understood the degree to which his standing has been diminished," says Aarons. Asked whether he could recover his position, Aarons says: "The signs aren't promising. He has not put together an effective administration and the only way he can recover his standing is for there to be improvements in people's daily lives, and that just doesn't seem to be happening yet."

East Timor: Governing coalition on brink of collapse

Green Left Weekly - May 14, 2008

Tony Iltis – A realignment of political forces appears to be underway in East Timor, with the signing of an agreement for a strategic alliance for future elections between the largest party in parliament, the Revolutionary Front of Independent East Timor (Fretilin), and the Timorese Social Democratic Association (ASDT) -- the second largest party in the coalition of non-Fretilin parties that has held government since the July 2007 parliamentary elections.

While the ASDT will remain in the current government of Prime Minister Xanana Gusmao, both parties are calling for these elections to be brought forward to early 2009. This was apparently agreed to by President Jose Ramos Horta at a February 7 all-party meeting.

A joint Fretilin-ASDT platform, released on May 7, emphasised the common heritage between the two parties in East Timor's long struggle for independence.

The platform described ASDT leader Francisco Xavier do Amaral as the "proclaimer of independence" (having made the November 1975 declaration of independence from Portugal that was quickly followed by Indonesia's Australian-backed invasion and occupation) and Fretilin leader Francisco Guterres Lu'olo as the "restorer of independence" (as in his position as president of the national parliament, he officially restored the independence proclamation in May 2002).

Timor Sea

The intervening quarter-century of Indonesian occupation saw the death of 300,000 Timorese (a third of the population) and the 1991 Timor Gap Treaty between Indonesia and Australia that granted the latter a disproportionate share of the oil and gas reserves in the Timor Sea.

Since the re-establishment of formal independence, Australia has used its position of power over the impoverished half-island to enforce an agreement, in violation of what East Timor is entitled to under international law, that grants Australia control over the majority of gas and oil reserves in the Timor Sea.

According to a May 5 Fretilin media release, the agreement is a response to a situation whereby"despite the people of Timor Leste having been liberated from centuries of foreign domination, the people are once again living under a government full of nepotism, corruption, collusion and injustice, and we are witnessing the persecution of our patriots.

"The situation has once again dragged our people into living lives of fear of those in political power and of a loss of hope for the economic development of their nation."

One of the joint platform's demands is for the establishment ofan"International Commission of Investigation" into the confused events on February 11 in which Ramos Horta was shot and seriously injured.

An article in the April 22 Australian reported that East Timor is awash with rumours about the shoot-out, including speculation that Major Alfedo Reinado, the Australian-trained military police officer who was killed in the attack, was "setup" and Australia was behind the incident in a bid to remove Ramos Horta. Reinado led a May 2006 mutiny that resulted in the overthrow of Fretilin Prime Minister Mari Alkatiri and the deployment of the Australian-dominated International Stabilisation Force (ISF).

It is unlikely that Australia would have attempted to assassinate Ramos Horta as his coming to power was supported by Canberra. Both Fretilin and grassroots NGOs have accused Australia of violating East Timor's sovereignty by both playing a role Alkatiri's overthrow and using the ISF to influence the presidential and parliamentary elections in 2007.

ISF's role

Any genuine inquiry into the February 11 shootings would need to investigate many unanswered questions surrounding the 2006 violence, which left 37 people dead and 150,000 homeless from arson attacks, which increased after the deployment of the ISF.

Among the questions are how Reinado and his followers managed to escape from ISF custody and take to the hills with weapons in August 2006. In two DVDs that circulated in the months leading up to his death, Reinado claimed that in 2006 he was acting under direct orders from then-president Gusmao and that he had been promised high office in a post-Alkatiri government.

The most likely explanation for what happened at Ramos Horta's residence on February 11 was that Reinado and his supporters went to the president's home with the intention of strong-arming him into delivering his earlier promise of an amnesty, but were met with unexpected resistance from the president's body-guards. Even more questions surround the alleged attack on Gusmao the same day, which saw the PM emerge unscathed despite his car being riddled with bullets.

In a February 19 interview with the Portuguese newsagency Lusa, Mario Carrascalao, a high-ranking member of Gusmao's coalition, suggested that the attack on the PM may have been staged, pointing out the improbability of anyone surviving an ambush on the stretch of road where it apparently took place.

Alkatiri has claimed that Fretilin has photographs of Xanana's car following the attack with just two bullet holes. When the car was shown to the media it had 16 bullet holes. Following his surrender on April 29, the alleged leader of the ambush, Reinado's deputy Gastao Salsinha, denied having fired any shots at Xanana.

Meanwhile, Fretilin has condemned the way in which Salsinha's surrender was conducted, which not only involved an official public ceremony but was followed by a party in which Salsinha and his followers were drinking and dancing with government soldiers and police!

The ASDT-Fretilin call for an international inquiry into the February 11 events has suggested that Australia should not be involved due to Australia's perceived inteference in East Timor's affairs. Contributing to this perception is the lack of accountability of the ISF. Prior to the November Australian elections, the ALP called for the Australian forces to be brought under UN control. However, since winning power, the Rudd Labor government has maintained the ISF's independent status.

Factual inaccuracy of Green Left report on Timor 'worrying'

Damien Kingsbury - May 15, 2008

[The following comment was posted on the East Timor list in response to a May 14 report that appeared in Green Left Weekly titled "East Timor: Governing coalition on brink of collapse".]

The factual inaccuracy of this report is worrying. The AMP government is not on the "brink of collapse". It may be challenged next year – the "brink" is still some way off.

Australia was quiescent in Indonesia's invasion of East Timor in 1975, but it was not an "Australian-backed" invasion; there was no logistical support for it.

Lu-Olo was not the "restorer of independence". He was one of among many who came together in the original CNRT which restored independence via the ballot in 1999.

There is no doubt the East Timor death toll under Indonesia was horrific. The CAVR report indicates that 180,000 died. The number might be a little more – maybe 200,000 or a bit over – but no- one claims 300,000. To do so is nonsense.

East Timoris "awash with rumors"? Well, that would be something new... not. While some rumors are more credible than others and may be worth investigating, none can be taken on face value. Reporting rumors is exceptionally poor journalism. Repeating rumors as "journalism" is even worse.

Arson "increased after the deployment of the ISF" in 2006? Really? Evidence for this? Arson continued, but was significantly reduced, and eventually stopped.

Alkatiri has claimed that Fretilin has photographs? Uhuh. How come these photographs have not been released? And of course, it is easy to doctor photos - even amateurs can use Photoshop.

One could go on, but the point is that this compilation of drivel only denigrates was has occasionally been a useful "news" service. GLW has done much better that this in the past. Hopefully it will do much better in the future.

East Timor media review

May 30, 2008

UNMIT celebrates International Peacekeepers Day - Timor Post, Diario Nacional and Televisaun Timor-Leste

The United Nations Integrated Mission in Timor-Leste (UNMIT) celebrated the 60th anniversary of UN Peacekeeping on Thursday (29/5) in Dili. The celebration was attended by PR Jose Ramos- Horta, PM Xanana Gusmao, Timor-Leste Independence Proclamator Francisco Xavier do Amaral, the Special Representative of Secretary-General (SRSG) Atul Khare, other senior leaders of Timor-Leste and the diplomatic corps.

During his speech, SRSG Atul Khare paid homage to those lost their life in keeping the peace. "It is always difficult to come to terms with the loss of a beloved one. But when the families mourn for a spouse, father, brother, or son who died in a far off land that many of them never visited, it is simply unimaginable. I pray for peace to all those who died in the service of the United Nations for the cause of peace and stability of Timor- Leste and for courage to their bereaved families and friends," stated SRSG Khare.

President Jose Ramos-Horta told the gathering he was happy to join the ceremony to celebrate the 60th Peacekeepers Day in Timor-Leste. "It is 60 years since the United Nations began sending men and women, the blue berets, to many nations.

Today is the day to give tribute to all the peacekeepers in the world, especially those who are in Timor-Leste, along with civilian staff and Timorese staff who, during the popular consultation, died and suffered as UN peacekeepers," said PR Ramos-Horta.

The ceremony included songs and performances by school children and local musicians, and the reciting of poetry. Prayers were offered by representatives of the main religious groups.

Carrascalao asks government to cancel MAF-Indonesian MOU - Televisaun Timor-Leste

PSD Member of Parliament Mario Carrascalao is asking the Government to cancel the Memorandum of Understanding (MOU) signed between the Ministry of Agriculture, Forests-Fishery (MAF) and the Indonesian Government. Last Monday in National Parliament Mario said the MOU was a secret agreement that will not be beneficial for the population.

"We ask this MOU to be cancelled because they signed it in secret. There should not be a law that is created only for the interest of the Government. We do not agree at all with them to sell the land to Indonesia, as stated in the MOU that TL will give a concession to Indonesia for two years to use 100,000 hectares of land," Mr. Carrascalao said.

In response to this, the permanent secretary of the Ministry of Agriculture said the agreement was not secret because at that time journalists were invited to the signing. "This agreement is not secret. We just want to say that on 15 January 2008 when we signed the MOU, it was witnessed by many journalists as well broadcast on TVTL that the Ministry of Agriculture had signed an MOU with a company named "GT. Leste Birotec," explained LourenA'o Borges Fontes. He added that this agreement may be cancelled if there has been no activity from the time of the signature up to now.

Xanana: Government has no authority to regulate international prices - Diario Nacional Televisaaun Timor-Leste

After attending the weekly meeting with President Horta in Farol on Thursday (29/5), Prime Minister Xanana Gusmao said that the Government has no authority to regulate prices because they depends on the international market.

"Suppose the price in the world is regulated, the price of rice in the nations which produce the rice is marked down, the price of petrol is regulated, and you do not need to ask me because everything will decrease by itself. Timor Leste a small country which is dependent on the fluctuations of foreign countries. If the price increases in the foreign countries, we will suffer the same thing in our country. So it is not for Timor Leste government to normalize the price because this crisis is affecting all nations in the world", said PM Xanana.

TL pays homage to UN Peacekeepers - Radio Timor-Leste

TL gives homage to UN Peacekeepers who sacrifice their lives for UN missions in conflict nations including TL (Horta). We give our homage to all UN members who had sacrifice their lives in the service of peace in conflict nations around the world. Sergio Vieira de Mello and his compatriots died in Baghdad (Iraq), because of UN efforts to maintain peace and stability in the world," said PR Horta during a briefing after the celebration of the 60th anniversary of UN Peacekeeping in Balide, Dili on Thursday (29/5).

Government to take 3% of petroleum funds as social subsidiary - Radio Timor-Leste

Prime Minister Xanana said that the government will take 3% of petroleum funds to give subsidize social programs. "The food crisis is an issue around the world, not only in TL. The government should allocate funds to respond to needs of society," said PM Xanana during ameeting with President Horta in the government palace yesterday (29/5).

MSS: plan to have department to protect children rights - Radio Timor-Leste < Minister of Social and Solidarity Maria Domingas Alves said on Thursday (29/5) in Delta Nova, Comoro that the Ministry of Social and Solidarity will create a new program and plan to establish a department to protect child rights. The department will focus on runaways, children who need protection from abuse within the home, and those who are facing violence.

Fr. Martinho: Peace stops violence - Diario Nacional

The Director of Peace and Justice of Baucau Diocese, Fr. Martinho Gusmao said that only peace could stop the violence in the world, especially in Timor-Leste. The observance of the 60th Anniversary of UN Peacekeeping was important to build unity and peace in the world, as UN missions to Timor-Leste have shown over the last few years.

"With this kind of ceremony we could work hard to build peace. Peace can not stand alone - it is always side by side with justice and unity to determine the destiny of the people and this country," said Fr. Martinho at the ceremony of UN Peacekeepers Day in Balide, Dili on Thursday (29/5)

MPs ask Horta retract statement – Suara Timor Lorosa'e

Members of the National Parliament are asking President Jose Ramos-Horta to withdraw his statement concerning the pardon of former Minister of Interior Rogerio Tiago Lobato in which he said that many of the Rogerio's family died in the fight for the country's liberation. "The president should give a pardon based on his authority and not because someone's family died during the struggle," said CNRT MP Natalino dos Santos on Thursday (29/5) in the National Parliament.

The big impact [of the president's pardon] is setting a bad precedent to the nation - therre is no legal basis on which to give a pardon based on family members who died during the war. President Ramos-Horta did not comment on the request even though journalists have been questioning him about the pardon and his recent statements.

May 22, 2008

Xanana agrees to reduction of Rogerio's sentence - Timor Post

Minister of Justice Lucia Lobato said that Prime Minister Xanana Gusmao agrees with President Jose Ramos-Horta to reduce the sentence of former Minster of Interior, Rogerio Tiago Lobato by three months.

"I had discussions with the Prime Minister on this matter. He agrees to give a three month reduction of sentence to Rogerio Lobato and other 82 prisoners," said Minister of Justice on Wednesday (21/5) in the Becora prison, Dili.

Minister Lobato said that the Government had recommended that the president also commute the time in jail of prisoners who have served half of their sentences by 6-12 months. Prisoners who were sentenced for domestic and sexual violence would receive a two month reduction.

Alkatiri dreams of early election - Timor Post

Fretilin Secretary-General Mari Alkatiri stated that in the near future Fretilin will assume the power to govern in order to improve peoples' lives as AMP is not capable of solving the country's problems and so must face early elections.

"We [Fretilin] will be back to govern. It wouldn't be too long, " stated Mr. Alkatiri in speech on the ceremony of 34th anniversary of ASDT/Fretilin held in the Central Committee of Fretilin (CCF) on Tuesday (20/5) in Comoro, Dili.

Alkatiri said that Fretilin will show that it is different from the Alliance Majority in Parliament (AMP). Alkatiri also said that when Fretilin is back in power, he will reappoint the directors and administrators who have been removed by AMP. "Fretilin will reappoint those people as what AMP did to them is against the law and the constitution.

Fretilin is only asking for early elections for the legislature, not the presidency. If it happens, then we will win all of them," he said.

Even though Mr. Alkatiri strongly criticized PM Gusmao, he continues recognize that he and the Prime Minister have to work together to solve the country's problems.

He said that he wants to sit with PM Gusmao as political leaders, not as a commander with his soldier. "If he [PM Gusmao] does not think of himself as a commander, I am ready to sit with him to improve people's life," added Mr. Alkatiri.

At the same function, Fretilin President and former President of the National Parliament Francisco Guterres Lu-Olo said that early elections are really needed to improve the bad performance of the AMP Government. "We are not satisfied when we won the election, only to become the opposition," said Mr. Lu-Olo.

Democratic Party (PD) MP Adriano Nascimento said that early elections might happen but certain criteria must be in place. For example, most of the MPs in Parliament must oppose the Government's programs, the State must be malfunctioning, the situation was unstable – at this point the president could dissolve the government and call for early elections.

MP Nascimento said that if Fretilin wants to destroy AMP midway in the implementation of its programs, this would be a bad precedent for the future. He also said that AMP should have 2-3 years to implement its programs. If at that time they were not successful, then one could say it was incompetent.

Horta askes government to respect prisoners' rights - Televisaun Timor-Leste

During the visit to Becora prison yesterday President Jose Ramos Horta said he does not have the authority to interfere in the judicial process but he will make recommendations to the Government to help solve their problems.

"Today I came here to show you my love and respect. I have no authority to take part in the judicial process but I will keep asking the Government through Ministry of Justice to pay attention to you", the President said.

He also asked the Government to respect the rights of the prisoners. At the same time, Minster of Justice Lucia Brandao Lobato said the Government is now improving the process of justice in order to defend rights of prisoners.

Court Lobato given until June to return - Televisaun Timor-Leste

Minister of Justice Lucia Lobato yesterday said the Court will give prisoner Rogerio until June to return to Timor Leste. If he does not return by then, the Government will implement the Court's decision against him. "The Government is ready to help him whatever he needs, such as an airline ticket and accommodation in Bali. He has to obey the decision from the Court. Suppose he does not come back in June – the Court will take action. Based on plan, the Court will ask the Interpol to get him back if he does not obey the decision," explained Lucia. According to the doctor who has been treating Rogerio during this time, he needs one month more to operate on Rogerio's leg.

24 identified as involved in February 11 attack - Televisaun Timor-Leste

The Public Ministry has positively identified 24 suspects who were involved in the attack on 11 February. General Prosecutor Longuinhos Monteiro said the investigation process into the attack on 11 February is going smoothly. "The investigation is running well and we have positively identified 24 suspects in connection with the incidents of 11 February," said Mr. Monteiro.

Of the 24 accused people, eighteen of them are currently in preventive detention and the others are under house arrest. Most probably, there is still one suspect more, a civilian at large.

In relation to this case, last week I sent the Prime Minister a letter requesting him to make sworn statement. "I asked to him to specify the exact date when he would submit his statement. This is the second request that we have made for his deposition", said General Prosecutor.

May 21, 2008

Horta: 20 May, National Day of Forgiveness - Timor Post

In his speech on 20 May, President Jose Ramos-Horta said that the country's national day was a day of forgiveness and clemency when people could forego vengeance and concentrate on the nation's development.

"I encourage all the political leaders to work hand in hand to open the ways to the development of the nation. We have to forgive each other as it is easy to fall into vengeance," said PR Ramos-Horta on Tuesday (20/5).

Afraid if ASDT runs away: AMP try to respond Xavier's demands - Timor Post The Government of AMP is trying to fulfill the demands of ASDT President Francisco Xavier do Amaral in order to win back ASDT's sympathy and its participation in the AMP coalition.

AMP President and the president of the National Parliament Fernando Lasama said that the AMP Government is trying to carry out its programme, not only as demanded by ASDT's president, but also for the national interest. "We will follow whoever need us to solve the nation's problem to the end, not stop midway," said Mr. Lasama.

ASDT President Xavier do Amaral said that for his part, he will always encourage the Government to improve itself in order to pay more attention to the nation's problems.

Editorial: After Rogerio, who will be pardoned next? - Timor Post

The President of the country Dr. Jose Ramos-Horta has said that the pardon he gave to 80 prisoners, including the former Minister of Interior Rogerio Lobato, will be realized based on the constitution and the Government's recommendations.

There is no citizen who could change the decision of the president, as he has the legal power to grant pardons.

Let the President use his [legal] authority, even though many people are concerned and do not agree with his decision about the Rogerio case.

We have a big question: Which big criminal will follow Rogerio to receive a pardon? There are still many well known people from the 2006 crisis and the attacks of February 11.

On the surface everyone is talking about who has the legal authority in such matters. But behind the scenes we all know that it is politics which is motivating the quick decision making.

We should avoid this attitude, if not then Timor-Leste will always lose confidence in its law. We wait.

Xanana to implement promises to the people - Timor Post

This year the AMP Government is going to realize its promises to the people as stated during the political campaign last year.

PM Xanana Gusmao said that the Government has an enormous responsibility to do this by creating more fields of jobs and employment for the youth.

"I thank the young people who demonstrate a good attitude. There was no violence during a big concert in Dili. This shows to the world that we need to move forward and create peace and stability in our country," said PM Gusmao on Tuesday (20/5) on the 6th anniversary of Timor-Leste independence day in the Government Palace, Dili.

PM Gusmao said that the Government has signed an accord with the Korean Government to send 500 workers to Korea. Furthermore, he said that the Government will also send 1,000 people to Philippines for capacity building prior to going overseas for work.

Gusmao: National unity needed for development - Diario Nacional

Prime Minister Gusmao said that national unity is needed for the nation's development, as the objective of national unity is to improve people's lives and bring them together.

Vice Prime Minister Jose Luis Guterres said that PM Xanana was the resistance leader who is starting to strengthen national unity.

"That's why today the Timorese people celebrate the Independence Day as many people contributed to the national liberation," said Mr. Guterres on Tuesday (20/5) on the 6th anniversary of Timor- Leste Independence Day in the Government Palace, Dili.

Fretilin-ASDT defend self determination - Diario Nacional

On the speech of 34th anniversary of the founding of ASDT/Fretilin held in the Central Committee of Fretilin in Comoro, Dili on Tuesday (20/5), Fretilin Secretary-General Mari Alkatiri said that his party and ASDT are the only ones defending the nation's self determination. From now on, he said, Fretilin will work hard to improve the party's structure.

"Today we are gathering her to celebrate the 34th anniversary of ASDT-Fretilin's life. Glance back at our history to see how we reached today.

We pay homage to our founders and remember our history. We are preparing for early elections. Fretilin with his coalition partner ASDT will step forward for early elections and we will win the elections. We demand early elections for the legislature not presidency," said Mr. Alkatiri.

The anniversary's ceremony was attended by SRSG Atul Khare and his deputy, the diplomatic corps, members of neighbouring governments such as Indonesia, Brazil, Portugal, the Executive Secretary of CPLP and Fretilin sympathizers.

AMP Government holds a meeting with MCC - Suara Timor Lorosa'e

After the former government failed to get assistance from the Millennium Challenge Corporation (MCC), the current government led by the Prime Minister Xanana Gusmao held a meeting with MCC where they discussed aid from MCC to Timor Leste in 2009.

Minister of Finance Emilia Pires said that the meeting between a representative from America who is responsible for the MCC project was attended by the Vice President himself, in order to discuss ways to work together better to benefit Timor Leste.

Past the two years, Fretilin held meetings with MCC but support was not forthcoming because MCC observed that the Fretilin Government did not have a good dialogue process with the civil society and others. Now the new government has created a better relationship with MCC which should help the process.

MCC has not discussed what projects they will invest in. The AMP government only consulted with civil society groups and all other partners to identify the key areas for investment.

"There should be a feasibility study carried out by the AMP government to create a base on which to make a decision about possible areas of investment for MCC," said Minister of Finance Emilia Pires to the journalists on Monday (19/15).

Horta: Lobato positively receives pardon - Suara Timor Lorosa'e

It has been a confirmed that Rogerio Lobato will receive a pardon along with others from President Jose Ramos-Horta.

The list includes former Minister of Interior Rogerio Lobato who was sentenced by the court of his involvement in providing weapons to civilians in 2006.

"I will still assess the recommendation that has already been made by my advisors and the director of the prisons on the number of prisoners who will receive pardons. But the pardon itself commute 100 percent of the sentence," President Jose Ramos Horta told journalists after attending a mass ceremony held on Monday 19/5 at Dili's Cathedral church. Regarding how many years the Rogerio Lobato will have to serve in prison, Ramos Horta said, "To give pardon is my decision as president and the authority to do so is contained in the constitution. I cannot make people happy 100 percent of the time," said Horta.

May 20, 2008

234 petitioners return to civilian life - Timor Post

A meeting held in Dili few days ago between Prime Minister Xanana Gusmao and 600 petitioners made good progress regarding the petitioners who decided to return to F-FDTL, the institution they abandoned during the 2006 crisis.

According to the questionnaires filled out the petitioners, 339 petitioners chose to return to the military. However, 234 of them withdraw their decision to rejoin the military as they thought that the recruitment mechanism would not help to solve their problems.

The coordinator of the petitioners, Augusto de Jesus [Major Tara], said that the 234 petitioners have re-registered themselves to become civilians. "Two hundred and thirty-four petitioners have registered and declared that they wanted to change their decision. In two or three days they all will prepare declarations that they want to return to civilian life," said Major Tara on Friday (16/5) in Aitarak-Laran, Dili.

Cesar Valente de Jesus, one of the petitioners who chose to return to military, said he had questions regarding the mechanism, management and the rules of the recruitment. "We had meetings with the Government but we were never informed whether we would be accepted back along with the new young recruits," said Mr. de Jesus.

CNRT, PD and PSD accused of trying to break ASDT - Timor Post

ASDT President Francisco Xavier do Amaral said that his party decided to sign an accord with Fretilin as CNRT, PD and PSD are trying to break the party.

Mr. Xavier do Amaral is questioning how power is apportioned in the Government, which is dominated by CNRT, PD and PSD. He also said that the three parties are going to have to engage in dirty politics in order to catch the attention of ASDT followers and recruit them. "They went to the rural areas to get people's attention with money. They may succeed in attracting people.

During the elections, CNRT stole many of our supporters, as well as those from PSD and PD. We have good cooperation on the surface but inside something is bad and it makes us sad," said Mr. Xavier on Friday (16/5) in his residence in Lecidere, Dili.

Mr Xavier do Amaral said that before forming the AMP Government, the leaders of ASDT, CNRT, PD and PSD agreed that whoever will become the Prime Minister should consult within AMP. Sadly, PM Xanana Gusmao never consulted with them. Mr. Xavier also said that even though AMP has a lot of programs, ASDT is questioning how they are being implemented. Furthermore, Mr. Xavier do Amaral said although that he never agreed to an early election, he would welcome it if it happened.

Pardon will be rejected by Timorese people - Timor Post

President Jose Ramos-Horta's pardon of former Minister of Interior Rogerio Tiago Lobato on 20 May 2008 will be strongly rejected by the East Timorese people. According to the Government, civil society and the National Parliament, prisoner Lobato does not deserve to a pardon as he has not fulfilled the requirements specified by the legal code.

Based upon the judicial criteria, a prisoner should fulfil one- third of his/her sentence and demonstrate a good attitude during this period. Mr. Rogerio, however, was imprisoned for just one month in Becora prison. He then went to Malaysia for medical treatment where he is now.

Minister of Justice Lucia Lobato stated last week that it was too early to pardon to Mr. Rogerio as he had only served one month of his prison sentence. According to Minister Lobato, at present the Government is making efforts to bring Rogerio Lobato back to Timor-Leste to continue medical treatment in Dili National Hospital.

National Parliament MP Vital dos Santos said that as a representative of the people he does not question the competence of the president. However, the president must not give a pardon but instead should shorten Mr. Rogerio's sentence.

On the part of civil society, the Director of Yayasan Hak Jose Luis de Oliveira, said that there are important points that the State, including the Government, need to be studied before make a decision.

Xanana: It is time to embrace peace - Timor Post

Prime Minister Xanana Gusmao said that it is time for Timor-Leste to embrace peace for the future. PM Gusmao is asking all Timorese people to commemorate Restoration Day, 20 May, as a day for all people to go ahead to develop the nation.

PM Gusmao also said that it was not time to create violence, but to contribute to the nation's future. "Young people want peace. It is time to prepare yourself to develop because you are the future of the nation," said PM Gusmao on Saturday night (17/5) on an Indonesian band concert in Dili.

Australia and Portugal support Timor Leste - Suara Timor Lorosa'e

President Jose Ramos Horta said that Australia and Portugal CPLP strongly support Timor Leste in the defence area. The two nations have agreed to provide advisory training for Timor Leste's military (F-FDTL).

"In the next five or ten years, we still need the help of Portugal and Australia to provide military training and advice to Timor Leste. These two nations have strongly supported Timor Leste in many aspects including defence," said the President Jose Ramos Horta on Sunday (18/05) at Hotel Timor in Dili.

Ramos Horta said that he had spoken to the Portuguese Defence Minister Nuno Severino Teixeira who had also agreed that Portugal will continue to support Timor Leste in the defence area. "Portugal will provide technical, human resource, financial and resource facility support to Timor Leste's defence force," he added.

The president also said that the Portugal's door was always opened for any request for assistance from Timor Leste in the area of defence. In terms of overall reform of defence forces, the President Ramos Horta said that Timor Leste still needs support from Portugal, Australia and UNMIT as well.

F-FDTL, PNTL to be deployed across region - Suara Timor Lorosa'e

In order to ensure the security situation within the Bairos, especially to ensure the safety of IDPs returning to their communities, both F-FDTL and PNTL will be deployed across the region including the Bairos in order to ensure the security situation in the country and the return of the IDPs.

"If you have decided to return home, it is your decision and the government cannot do anything without your own consent. It is important to be aware that we are Timorese are all responsible for finding solutions to our own problems. Therefore, it is now a time to resolve our problems," said the President of the National Parliament Fernando de Araujo Lasama to the IDPs after a farewell mass on Thursday (15/5) at Jardin IDPs camp in Colmera, Dili.

The President of the National Parliament said that he has asked the leader of PNTL Afonso de Jesus and F-FDTL Taur Matan Ruak to continue to work together to reinforce the security in the country after Salsinha and his men handed themselves over to justice. People need stability and peace and none of the groups should disturb the people anymore.

Fernando Lasama asked all the IDPs to return home spontaneously to their communities in order to create peace and love among each other, and to forget the past. If some people still felt pain or animosity in their heart, then it must be solved through a dispute resolution process like the traditional nahe biti boot where people sit together to discuss their problems and find solutions.

Jakarta band appeals for peace - Suaara Timor Lorosa'e

A group band from Jakarta known as SLANK appealed to the Timorese people to create peace and remain calm after a concert that held on Saturday (17/05) at Dili Stadium"We would like to ask all the Timorese people who have attended this concert to return home peacefully, said Kaka, the band's vocalist.

The SLANK group was invited by the Government of Timor Leste led by the Prime Minister Xanana Gusmao in order to entertain Timorese people as part of its 6th anniversary celebration of independence that will be held on 20 May this year.

Vocalist Kaka said that his group was totally happy to participate this kind of event. "We are kindly happy to participate this kind of event as we have never been here before. We have dreamt before of jump to this kind of country. We are bringing a message of peace to the Timorese people under the peace mission. Hopefully this kind of peace will be widely spread throughout this country," said SLANK vocalist Kaka during his performance at the concert.

There is a need to launch local products - Diario Nacional

A marketing specialist from the Development of Private Sector organization said that it is important to launch locally-produced products through the main shops in Dili such as Lita Store, Dili Mart, Dili Cold Storage, Eastern Dragon, Senior Shop, Jacinto, Acam and Leader.

The launch was aimed at promoting local products through the main shops in order to show people from all the outside countries that Timorese people also have their own high quality local products.

"We have chosen Saturday, 17 May to promote local products because this is a holiday for most people who can go shopping at the main shops and see the local products that we are promoting now," said Marketing Specialist Nina Sarmento.

May 16, 2008

ASDT withdraws coalition with Fretilin - Suara Timor Lorrosa'e, Diario Nacional, Timor Post and Televisaun Timor-Leste

Five ASDT MPs are asking the president of the party, Francisco Xavier do Amaral, to end the coalition with Fretilin, as they want to give AMP two years to correct the errors they have made in government.

"We will still support the AMP's Government and still give them time to correct themselves. The time given to AMP is intended to help improve people's lives. If this doesn't happen, then ASDT will find a solution to the problem. The coalition with Fretilin is not going to be implemented in the short term," said an ASDT MP Jose Carrascalao on Thursday (15/5) in the National Parliament, Dili.

Mr. Carrascalao said that if the accord signed with Fretilin is implemented in the short term then it will not give stability to the nation but have a negative impact on people's lives. The Vice President of Fretilin Arsenio Bano made no comment on ASDT's withdrawal, as Fretilin still does not know the reasons for the action.

UNDERTIM to get post in the Government - Timor Post

After UNDERTIM decided to join AMP on Tuesday (13/5), the President of the Alliance Majority in Parliament (AMP) said that AMP will prepare a post of State Secretary to be given to UNDERTIM. According to Lasama, UNDERTIM is a candidate for the position as the party has entered AMP block.

The President UNDERTIM Cornelio Gama said that his party will delegate his Secretary-General to take any post offered by the AMP government. "We will put our Secretary-General on the post as needed by the Government. We support AMP because we still consider Xanana as our resistance leader who led us during the struggle," said Mr. Gama on Thursday (15/5) in the National Parliament, Dili.

The Vice President of Fretilin Arsenio Bano said that even though UNDERTIM joined AMP, this does not guarantee that the AMP Government will be clear of corruption, collusion and nepotism. Fretilin is still considering options to force an early election.

"Fretilin is not concerned with their alliance. They are going to strengthen corruption, collusion and nepotism. Many people will see whether things are right or wrong," said Mr. Bano. Mr. Bano said that there will be early election if the corruption, collusion and nepotism are still rampant.

Lucia Lobato: Don't be in hurry to pardon Rogerio - Timor Post

Minister of Justice Lucia Lobato will present a legal opinion to President Jose Ramos-Horta, asking him not to be in a hurry to pardon former Minister of Interior Rogerio Tiago Lobato as the prisoner is not in Timor-Leste at the present time.

Minister Lobato said that based on the Constitution, the president has the authority to grant pardons to prisoners who have been ordered by the Court to serve their full sentences. Whether the prisoners are in the country or outside of the country is an important consideration.

"I think the President may give a pardon to Rogerio when he returns to Timor-Leste. If not, this will be a big controversy among the public," said Minister Lobato on Thursday (15/5).

Increasing local food production, FAO to support MAF - Timor Post

At an UNMIT press briefing held in Obrigado Barracks on Wednesday (14/5), the Chief of Food and Agriculture Organization (FAO), Chana Opaskornkul said that FAO will support the Ministry of Agriculture, Forestry and Fishery (MAF) to increase local food production in Timor-Leste.

"We will make good seed available and planting material and fertilizer available for roughly 30,000 families. We think by this measure we will encourage people to plant a second crop and we will increase the food production by around 30,000 metric tonnes of food production in the country.

And, we also try to provide the storage capacity to farmer and it is very important because of the post harvest losses which are huge, roughly around 30 percent of food is destroyed during the storage.

For the long term perspective, the Prime Minister mentioned at the rice ceremony last Saturday (9/5) in Maliana that he wouldn't say that Timor-Leste could not buy more rice from the outside. He would say that we have increased production and we will support to buy the product in the country in the next few years time," said Mr Opaskornkul.

FAO working with the government to support it in buying local products as one of the way of stimulating food production by local farmers.

February 11 shooting still a mystery - Diario Nacional

PD MP Gertrudes Moniz and Fretilin MP Arsenio Bano stated that the case of the attacks on PR Ramos-Horta and PM Xanana Gusmao on February 11 is a mystery as the government and the judiciary have still not identified the actors of the referred case.

"The National Parliament has approved a resolution to establish an independent commission of inquiry, but has not yet established it. Many alleged people have been arrested but the truth has not yet been revealed.

The Prosecutor-General made many political comments while working on the investigation. Is the General-Prosecutor working for the interests of the people or someone else? Is he working for politics or justice?

The President of Republic, a victim of the attacks of February 11, has given his statement, but how about the Prime Minister? In connection with cases from 2006, some leaders have been called to make statements, such as PR Ramos-Horta, Mari Alkatiri, Brigadier General Taur Matan Ruak, and Colonel Lere Anan Timur. They all have given their statements in the court. Has Prime Minister Xanana Gusmao as the previous president given his statement or not?," asked Mr. Bano on Thursday (15/5) in the National Parliament, Dili.

Editorial: Veterans saving each other! - Diario Nacional

UNDERTIM's joining of AMP is the subject of discussion subject of the leaders in and out of the National Parliament. It has created positive and negative reaction. Some say that UNDERTIM is joining the AMP in order to obtain a position in the government. The Vice president of UNDERTIM said that UNDERTIM is joining the AMP to save the people and bring development to them.

It is true that the recent government has started to solve the problems of the IDPs and the petitioners, as well as other problems facing the nation. Is UNDERTIM joining AMP because ASDT made coalition with Fretilin to bring down the government? If it is to save the government, why do they need the post offered?

UNDERTIM may give various reasons that the recent government could develop the people and the nation. But the public analysis may show that UNDERTIM is entering AMP to save Xanana, not AMP, because Xanana is a veteran, their big brother. They do not want a government ruled by a veteran which falls down half way through its elected term of office. We wait!.

May 15, 2008

Food crisis may create violence - Timor Post and Diario Nacional

An economist with the Asian Development Bank (ADB), Craig Sugden, has found that the high price of food will put thousands at risks in the Pacific region this year and may create violence in Timor-Leste.

Mr. Sugden said that food and maize prices might be twice as high in the Pacific region this year and could hit Timor-Leste and Fiji badly. He said that the UN WFP had provided emergency assistance to 300,000 Timorese people last year and these numbers seemed to be on the increase.

"It is difficult to say [how many] as we do not know how the governments [in the Pacific region] will react. I would not say hundreds of thousands, but I would say that tens of thousands of people are at risk in 2008," said economist Sugden.

Economist Sugden also said that many people will become poorer in the Pacific region and Timor-Leste may face new violence that would be happened. "This is a deep concern, a big problem that poor people will face  which might create risk and instability," he added.

FAO-WFP ready to help Timor-Leste Government

At the UNMIT press briefing held in Obrigado Barracks on Wednesday (14/5), Acting Special Representative of Secretary- General (SRSG) Finn Reske-Nielsen said that FAO and WFP are ready to support the government to secure food in Timor-Leste. He said he believed the country would not starve as the high food prices are a global problem and not only found in Timor-Leste.

Acting SRSG Reske-Nielsen said that the government has 7,500 tonnes of rice in stock in Timor-Leste and a further 16,000 tonnes are being imported. 2,500 tonnes have arrived from Vietnam and a further 3,800 tonnes are expected this week with the remainder due in the near future.

He went on to say that Timor-Leste currently produces 40,000 metric tonnes of rice per year and imports between 50 to 60,000 tonnes - 30 per cent of the rice consumed is grown in the country. Mr. Reske-Nielsen also said that in next few weeks the UN will work with Timor-Leste Government through the commission of national food security to find out a medium and long term solution for the problem.

Meanwhile, the Chief of WFP in Timor-Leste Joan Fleuren said that the imported food is being used to stabilize the market prices as prices have really increased in Timor-Leste. He said that the price in Timor-Leste is not as high as in other countries because the government is trying to stabilize market prices by selling rice below cost.

A source from UNMIT said that Timorese people will not starve. There alternative food, such as maize and cassava to consume during lean times.

ASDT should withdraw the accord with Fretilin - Timor Post

Social Democratic Party (PSD) President, Mario Viegas Carrascalao said that ASDT should call off its accord with Fretilin signed on 1 May 2008 to strengthen its block in the AMP.

Mr. Carrascalao said that it is difficult to reconcile two different things (AMP block and the platform of ASDT-Fretilin) because the opposition is always opposing the existing government.

"AMP is ruling the government. We cannot become members of AMP and at the same time we have an accord with the opposition. He [Uncle Xavier] wants to be in AMP or he leaves," said Mr. Carrascalao on Wednesday (14/5) in the National Parliament, Dili.

Editorial: long-life impunity - Diario Nacional

The recent statement of President Jose Ramos-Horta that he intends to give pardon to 80 prisoners, including former Minister of Interior Rogerio Tiago Lobato, became the subject of discussion within the community.

Some say that he is deserves to be pardoned because of his contribution to independence of the country. Others say that he should service his prison sentence as punishment.

For those who say that Rogerio does not deserve a pardon also say that the leaders are trying to destroy the judicial system in Timor-Leste and allow a climate of impunity to grow in this new born country.

The decision of the president to pardon former Minister Interior Lobato is a political intervention by the president in the judicial system, as the reduction of a prisoner's sentence can only be made by a joint recommendation from Public Ministry, Tribunal, and Minister of Justice to the president for a decision.

What are the criteria used by the president to pardon Mr. Lobato? If the decision to pardon 80 prisoners is implemented, then the judicial system of this country will be in disarray. A new president could pardon a family member who has been convicted and imprisoned.

The law is so strong for the small people, while the leaders tread all over it. We may yell and screaming at justice but nothing will change as the authority is in the president's hands.

As a man who wants justice, we should start first with reducing the sentence before granting a pardon. We wait 

UNDERTIM joins AMP, Fretilin positive - Suara Timor Lorosa'e

Fretilin just made a coalition with ASDT for the future and gives positive reaction as UNDERTIM joins AMP block. "It is good for all of us to think about what the alliance is, so we could not only criticize the alliance formed by Fretilin and ASDT," said Fretilin Vice President Arsenio Bano on Wednesday (14/5) in the National Parliament, Dili.

Mr. Bano said that the ASDT-Fretilin alliance is formed to combat corruption, collusion and nepotism, but the alliance of AMP is to strengthen themselves to get more power to rule. Separately, ASDT President Francisco Xavier do Amaral said that the coalition of Fretilin and ASDT was established for the future.

JOC's destiny is in the State's hands - Suara Timor Lorosa'e/Televisaun Timor-Leste

The General Commander of F-FDTL Brigadier General Taur Matan Ruak said that the decision to continue or end the mandate of the Joint Operation Command (JOC) of F-FDTL and PNTL is in the hands of the State. Related to the spread of illegal weapons in the societies of Timor-Leste, Commander Taur Matan Ruak said that they are still waiting for the decision of the Government about the mandate of the JOC.

"We are still waiting the decision of continuing the JOC or not. If the operation is stopped then what should we do  we are still waiting for the decision," said Commander Ruak after the high level meeting on Wednesday (14/5) in the Presidential Palace, Farol Dili.

UNDERTIM to have position in the AMP Government - Diario Nacional

The UNDERTIM party who just signed accord to join AMP may receive one position in the government. The President of the National Parliament Fernando Lasama de Araujo said that based upon the accord, the party who joined AMP has a possibility to have post in the government, including UNDERTIM.

"Political parties who are part of AMP should be involved in running the government; it has to be decided whether as a Minister, Vice Prime Minister, or State Secretary of Prime Minister," said Mr. Lasama on Wednesday (14/5).

May 14, 2008

Press Club, RTTL sign agreement - Televisaun Timor-Leste

Radio-Televisaun Timor-Leste (RRTL) and the Timor-Leste Press Club have signed a "Meet the Press" agreement on Tuesday (13/5) to disseminate information through Televisaun Timor-Leste (TVTL). The accord was signed in the offices of TVTL in Caicoli, Dili by the Director of RTTL Antonio Dias and the President of the Press Club Domingos Saldanha.

Mr. Saldanha said that the accord was a real step to facilitate RTTL as a public medium to disseminate information about the "Meet the Press" programs through TVTL's studios. "The Press Club wants to sign an accord with RTTL because RTTL is a public broadcaster whose branches could reach the people in the country, as well to foreign countries. That is why Press Club chose RTTL to transmit the Club's programs," said Mr. Saldanha.

The Director of RTTL said that the agreement is also a positive step to disseminate information to the public. "In this cooperation we hope that this is the first step between the Timor-Leste Press Club and TVTL to show the public that there is space to disseminate information to them," said Mr. Dias. The accord also states that the Timor-Leste Press Club will pay TVTL US$1,000 per year to disseminate their programs.

State to review work of the Joint Operation Command - Suara Timor Lorosa'e

President Jose Ramos-Horta said that the State is going to review the work of the Joint Operation Command in order to determine whether its mandate should be continued or not.

"We have discussed many things related to the current situation which concern the State's efforts to strengthen national stability. We also discussed the review of the mandate of the Joint Operation Command to determine whether it should be continued or not," said the President Jose Ramos-Horta to journalists after a meeting on Tuesday (13/5) at the President's office in Farol, Dili.

During the meeting, participants addressed the importance of both the F-FDTL and PNTL working together to strengthen the confidence that they have gained from the people since the crises broke out in 2006.

Meanwhile President Jose Ramos-Horta asked the petitioners to accept the proposed offer from the Government. If they want to rejoin military, they should follow the recruitment process. Those who want to return to civilian life should prepare themselves to receive a grant from the government to restart their lives. "I believe that the recruitment process will be fair. The trained commanders will know and understand what to do," said Horta.

Future election not decided by one party - Suara Timor Lorosa'e

PUN MP Fernanda Borges said that the future election is not decided by one party and is not something that only belongs to only one group. There was no need to discuss interests that belong to one party during this stage because everything has to be decided based on legal procedures.

"We need to know that there is a constitution, that the existing government has the confidence of the members of the National Parliament," said MP Fernanda Borges on Tuesday (13/5) at National parliament. PUN MP Fernanda Borges added that the AMP alliance members are only keen to listen to various rumours. She said that if this alliance was not going stand together confidently in the Parliament, then this government could fall.

Separately, KOTA MP Olinda Guterres said there is no need to obsess about the future election, as it was better for everyone to tackle current problems facing the nation. "I would like to say that our people have suffered too much. There is no need to create more politics in order to politicize people and bring suffering to the people," said Olinda Guterres.

AMP's meeting: UNDERTIM to join - Diario Nacional and Timor Post

The Alliance of Majority in Parliament (AMP) held a meeting on Tuesday (13/5) in the residence of President of the National Parliament which was attended by CNRT President Kay Rala Xanana Gusmao, PSD President Mario Viegas Carrascalao, ASDT President Francisco Xavier do Amaral, PD President Fernando Lasama, and President UNDERTIM Cornelio Gama. The meeting was aimed at welcoming UNDERTIM in order to strengthen the position of the alliance to withstand any efforts to weaken it. CNRT President Gusmao explained that the meeting was held to discuss UNDERTIM joining the AMP. "We welcome it to strengthen the AMP," explained Mr. Gusmao.

Separately, ASDT President Mr. Xavier said that his party is still in the AMP. The coalition of ASDT-Fretilin is not going to break the AMP down. In addition, UNDERTIM President Mr. Gama said that his party is going to join AMP because they have the same programs to be implemented.

"We join AMP with the conscience that the AMP's programs now being implemented are part of UNDERTIM's programs, such as, giving attention to the veterans and vulnerable people. Another reason to join AMP is that some people trying to break the AMP, and we are joining to strengthen it," said Mr. Gama.

Petitioners not to be mixed in new recruitment - Diario Nacional

President Jose Ramos-Horta said he is asking to not mix the new F-FDTL candidates with the petitioners in the recruitment process. PR Horta said the decision made by the State is still the same: those who want to return to the military are welcomed through recruitment process and those who want to leave will be directly supported by the Government to make better their lives.

"If some petitioners might be disappointed then it should be explained that for those who were previously sergeants or officers, they will be allowed to take their posts. But they will have to undergo new training as have been away from the barracks for two years. I think that the recruitment will take some time. It may be started with the [groups] of the petitioners, then the new candidates" said PR Horta on Tuesday (13/5) in Farol Dili.

Ed: What if I do not pass the recruitment - Diario Nacional

On Monday (12/5), the Government of the Alliance of Majority in Parliament (AMP) officially announced the results of the questionnaires submitted by the petitioners as one of the ways to solve their problems. The results show that 339 petitioners want to return to the military and follow the recruitment process, and the other 356 prefer to be civilians.

The decision they made does not have significantly different implications. Those who return to F-FDTL will have their monthly salary as military personnel. The others will have equivalent of three years of salary as F-FDTL members.

The salary range will be US$3,600 to $7,260. PM Gusmao said that this is not small change. Where does the money come from – from the State Budget or other sources? If it comes from 2008 State Budget, was this planned for or not? The public should know that the money is spent in order to guarantee transparency and accountability.

What to do if the petitioners are not recruited in the recruitment process? Do they still having the right to get three years salary or not? The Government should take this into consideration to avoid any unwanted things happening in the future. We wait.

May 12, 2008

It's not time for ISF to return home - Diario Nacional

Regarding the security situation in Timor-Leste, the International Security Forces (ISF) are still needed to provide security for the country. "I myself see that we still need the presence of ISF to give us security support until our forces can guarantee the security situation of the country," said President Jose Ramos-Horta on Friday (9/5) at a community dialogue held in Fatuhada, Dili.

According to PR Horta, the State has an obligation to guarantee the security of the people and continues to need the presence of the international forces and police in the country. "As the President, I do say that I am only asking the international forces and police to return [home] when we know that our forces, F-FDTL and PNTL, are 100% well functioning, that dialogue is going well, and violence has ended," said PR Horta.

Australia's doors opened for TL - Diario Nacional

PR Ramos-Horta said that the Australian Government has recently opened the door for Timorese people to work in Australia as temporary workers. "For three or four years while I was the Foreign Minister of this country, I had important consultations with an Australian Minister. I lobbied frequently with Australia to open its door for Timorese to work in Australia. The Howard Government rejected this, but the recent Government has accepted it," said PR Horta on Friday (9/5) in Fatuhada, Dili.

PR Horta said the Government of Timor-Leste and Australia had to negotiate the criteria and conditions for the Timorese workers working in Australia in order to bring the arrangement to fruition. According to PR Horta, unemployment is one of the biggest problems facing the country and one of the causes of poverty.

Senator Mullin meets Alkatiri - Diario Nacional

The Permanent Secretary of International Development, Senator Bob Mullin met former Prime Minister [Secretary-General of Fretilin] Mari Alkatiri to talk about the recent political situation and Fretilin's demands for an early election, which being is debated publicly. "We talked about the actual political situation and the early election," said Secretary-General Fretilin Mari Alkatiri.

Mr. Alkatiri explained that Senator Bob Mullin is an important member of the Australian Parliament, as he follows Australia's development cooperation with other countries, including Timor- Leste. He was delegated to come to Timor-Leste to see the real situation of the country," said Mr. Alkatiri in Farol, Dili.

"They sent him to meet me as a former Prime Minister and also as the Secretary-General of Fretilin. I welcome him gladly. I also informed him about my visit to Australia to talk about relations between Fretilin and Australia, not Timor-Leste with Australia," added Mr. Alkatiri.

Xanana ready to give statement about weapons allegation - Diario Nacional

Based on Fretilin's accusation about weapons in the 2006 crisis, Prime Minister Xanana Gusmao said that he is ready to give his statement to the Public Ministry. As the President at that time, he is ready to give a statement as needed. "Sure. I will go and am ready whenever the Public Ministry needs me to go," said PM Xanana. The case of weapons allegation is under investigation by the International Prosecutor.

Government has no comment on Horta's decision - Diario Nacional

Minister of Justice Lucia Lobato said that the Government will not comment upon the decision of President Horta to pardon 80 prisoners on May 20 The prisoners include the former Minister of Interior who allegedly distributed weapons to civilians in 2006 crisis. "The Government will give complete information to the President, as he is the only one to decide. It is clear that the decision of the President may have certain ramifications. From the government side, we have no comment.

The public should have known that the decision of the President was not made by the government. I think it needs to think about creating rules and establishing criteria to follow, and then see about giving pardon to prisoners," said Minister Lobato on TVTL last few days in Dili. About the President's controversial decision, Ms. Lobato said that everyone has to respect the Constitution and the Constitution gives the right to the President to pardon prisoners.

Time for people to give each other a hand - Suara Timor Lorosa'e

The Minister of Solidarity Social Maria Domingas Alves "Micato" said that there is no need for people to retaliate against each other as it is now time to give a hand to each other and develop the nation. The community dialogue that held in Fatuhada village (Dili) aimed at opening a free dialogue among the people to disclose what they have been thinking about and what they have been expecting, as the dialogue is an opportunity for both IDPs and community to talk each other frankly and openly.

"The dialogue in Fatuhada was slightly different then the previous one, as it was postponed because the situation did not permit us to carry out the dialogue in this community. But today the environment has changed. Therefore our presence here is a positive step so that we can clarify what we need to fix and improve," said Minister of Solidarity Social Maria Domingas Alves "Micato" during a dialogue meeting with the community on Friday (09/5) at Fatuhada village in Dili.

She added that everyone, together, needs to find a solution to better their lives as most of the IDPs are trying to reintegrate themselves into the community. Therefore, the people in the community should accept one another and live peacefully together to carry out government's program for the development of our villages and nation.

Separately, Father Agostinho Sampaio da Costa who acted as a moderator during the dialogue said that people should love each other although sometimes they didn't live up to this ideal. The people in this Fatuhada village should welcome each other and give a helping hand to each other in order to develop the nation.

Former IDPs present demands to parliament - Suara Timor Lorosa'e

Fretilin MP Domingos Sarmento said that some of the former IDPs from Fatumeta camp came to the National Parliament to demand what has been promised to them by the AMP government. The presence of the former IDPs at the National Parliament concerned promises made by the Government but not yet fulfilled. The Government had promised each will receive amount of US$200.00 and 16 kg of rice. So far, the Government has not kept its promise.

"They were IDPs, but at that moment they did not receive money but the others did. So, government had promised them that they will be given money because they were livining in tents, said MP Fretilin Domingos Sarmento on (8/05) at National Parliament. The MP added that government should not discriminate among IDPs. All IDPs have to be treated equally. So MP Fretilin said that he is going raise this issue in his 'Committee A' to discuss this policy.

Minister says need to free people from poverty - Suara Timor Lorosa'e

The Minister of Agriculture and Fisheries Mariano Sabino Asanami said that government led by the Prime Minister Xanana Gusmao has a strong commitment to free its people from poverty. He asked all those working in agricultural sector to join with the Prime Minister Xanana Gusmao, to continue to gradually to develop the country in order to strengthen freedom and democracy. He called on all of the farmers to work diligently.

"The freedom does not only mean to have a flag or a nation. Freedom also means to change ourselves, to free ourselves from our oppressors, to free ourselves from laziness to become diligent, to free ourselves from the mentality of handouts. Let our ten fingers develop our fertilized soils in order to promote our national production," said Minister of Agriculture and Fisheries Mariano Sabino Asanami during his official visit to Maliana on Saturday (10/5).

He added that Timorese people should not let the earth remain uncultivated. Plantation lands should be cultivated in order to increase output, as some investors intend to invest in East Timor, in order to improve its agricultural sector.

People in Ermera hand over weapons - Suara Timoor Lorosa'e

People in Riheu Village, Antigo Sub district in Ermera, voluntarily handed over illegal weaponries to the Joint Operation Command on Wednesday (7/5). The illegal weapons including 84 darts 'Ambon Arrow' or Rama Ambon, one rakitan (traditional weapon), 10 iron sticks, and one Motorola HT radio. The weapons were handed over directly to the F-FDTL Lieutenant Armindo Soares.

Lieutenant Soares said that if all the illegal weapons were handed over to the Join Operation Command, the people will be free, unified, and stabile to carry out their activities. Riheu Village Chief, Ildefonso das Neves Soares told his people to hand over their illegal weapons as soon as possible to the Joint Operation Command, before the approaching deadline on 10 May.

Fretilin pushing Xavier to break the AMP - Timor Post

PM Xanana Gusmao said that the Government of the Alliance of Majority in Parliament (AMP) does not accept the accord signed between Fretilin and ASDT last week as it is believes that Fretilin wanted to push President of ASDT Francisco Xavier do Amaral to break up the AMP.

In saving the AMP coalition, PM Xanana said that AMP will call ASDT Mr. Xavier do Amaral on Tuesday (13/5) to talk about how to strengthen political stability within the AMP block. "We may be accepting the '1 May Accord,' but we will not accept the '7 May Accord.' We feel that Fretilin wants to push Uncle Xavier to break AMP.

We will call the ASDT President on Tuesday to try to find solutions for the political stability of the AMP," said PM Xanana after meeting with the representatives from ASDT, PD and CNRT on Friday (9/5).

Separately, Xanana said that AMP was not concerned about the platform of ASDT-Fretilin because most of the ASDT members in the National Parliament will continue support the AMP. In the '7 May Accord,' ASDT-Fretilin said it wanted to establish a grand inclusive government led by Fretilin, as party that received the most votes in the 2007 elections.

May 9, 2008

Paulo Martins to give statement in Court on moving weapons during 2006 crisis - Suara Timor Lorosa'e

Former General Commander of the National Police of Timor-Leste (PNTL) Paulo Martins (currently a CNRT MP in Parliament) said that he is ready to give a statement in Court on Fretilin's accusation that PNTL weapons that moved from Dili to Liquica and Aileu UPF Headquarters during the 2006 crisis. "As the commander of PNTL, I can say that if moving weapons from Dili to Liquica and Aileu UPF Headquarter is a criminal offence, I am ready to make a statement on that in Court.

At that time, everything went before the Minister of Interior. Moving weapons to Rai Los is a real crime. But moving weapons from a weapon store to another store is a different matter," said Mr. Martins on Thursday (8/5). Mr. Martins said that the weapons were moved to Liquica and Aileu UPF to avoid violence during the crisis as the security situation in Dili was fragile.

Ramos-Horta: Coalition is not like going and out from a party - Suara Timor Lorosa'e

President Jose Ramos-Horta has asked parties who have made a coalition to act conscientiously and responsibly, and not enter into a coalition and then leave it [again and again]. "I do not know why Uncle Xavier stays away from AMP. Maybe there is a lack of dialogue. In the democracy there are coalitions and the members should be engaged in permanent dialogue," said PR Horta after participating in the anniversary ceremony of the Red Cross on Thursday (8/5) in Dili.

According to PR Horta the problem of ASDT leaving the AMP has no impact on AMP's ability to rule the country. "In a democracy it [coalition] is normal, but ASDT-Fretilin should be responsible. Recently I see that AMP continues to work and has not rocked the nation's stability. Fretilin is an historical party and is committed to the nation's stability," said PR Horta.

Separately, the Minister of Commerce and Tourism [former Secretary-General of ASDT] Gil da Costa said he was disheartened by the accusation of ASDT President Francisco Xavier that there is corruption in the ministry led by ASDT member. "We have an internal inspector and all the projects done have been reported. If there is corruption, evidence should be presented to prove these allegations," said Minister Gil.

Francisco Guterres: Security and national stability are important subjects in Timor-Leste - Suara Timor Lorosa'e

At the opening ceremony of the training of National Civilian Security Guards (DNSEA) held in Matadouro on Thursday (8/5), the State Secretary for Security Francisco Guterres said that security and national stability have become the important subjects in this country, as the Government is trying hard to create better basic conditions for the country's institutions.

According to Mr. Guterres the objective of DNSEA, especially in the area of operations, is to provide security to protect government offices and State institutions. DNSEA needs training to strengthen its ability to effectively carry out its duties.

Editorial: Need a special mechanism to control the market - Suara Timor Lorosa'e

The problem of lack of food and the high price of oil during the last two months is a global problem that is also facing other countries in the Asia Pacific region. As the biggest rice- producing nation in the world, Thailand has failed to produce a big harvest due to climate change and global warming. Besides rice, other agricultural commodities have not increased in production.

Timor-Leste's farmers who planted with corn are also facing bad crops this year. Most of the farms were destroyed by heavy rain fall.

In the oil sector, the high price of oil is impacting the price of food and construction materials. If the oil price goes up, then automatically the price of food or other goods increase.

If we do not pay serious attention to this issue, then people will always be shouting and blaming the Government because of hunger. This scenario may make the political situation unstable.

The Government should not be in quiet and calm or watching - or let the market be controlled by market forces. The Government has to anticipate developments or if needed, create a mechanism to control market prices to avoid price speculation.

The Government should also lower import taxes to help decrease the price of imported goods. Finally, since the time that PR Ramos Horta was in Darwin [for medical treatment], he said that he told the Government to allocate funds to buy rice for the hungry people in the country. We all hope that this will happen to help the people.

Government has no money to solve the rice crisis - Timor Post

The rice crisis facing Timor-Leste is part of a global crisis which the Government of Alliance Majority in Parliament (AMP) has no possibility of solving as there are no funds in the 2008 annual budget allotted to deal with the problem.

"It is clear this is a serious problem for the people and is a global problem. We could not expect that this would happen. According to the 2008 annual budget, we have no available funds to use to intervene in such a problem," said Adriano Nascimento, a PD member of MP of the National Parliament.

Mr. Nascimento said that in the coming annual budget the Government may use the state funds to buy rice in order to resell it to the community everywhere in the country in an effort to control the price of rice during the global crisis.

"The price of rice is higher due to international prices. We know that nations like Vietnam and Thailand who produce rice are also decreasing their rice exports to avoid hunger in their own countries," said Mr. Nascimento on Wednesday (7/5) in the National Parliament, Dili.

Separately, the Minister of Commerce and Tourism Gil da Costa said that the Government is ready to intervene in the market price in the country to make it possible for poor people to buy rice. "The Government has obligation to intervene in order to stabilize the price of food which is delivered by the government [through MSS]," said Minister Gil.

Horta: End the State of Siege in Ermera - Timor Post

President Jose Ramos-Horta on Thursday (8/5) ended the State of Siege in Ermera District based on an improved security situation in the country, especially in the district. Prime Minister Xanana Gusmao was also informed that the president has ended the State of Siege in Ermera District.

"President is also telling us that he has ended the State of Siege in Ermera," said PM Xanana on Thursday (8/5) after a high level meeting which focused on security, the high price of goods, IDPs, and the petitioners.

Gusmao: The government is committed to good governance - Diario Nacional

Prime Minister Xanana Gusmao said that the government is always committed to good governance in order to implement good programs. Xanana Gusmao said this during his speech to the Administrative Conference on Thursday (8/5) at the Office of the Foreign Ministry in Dili.

Xanana added it was previously announced in the past year that 2008 would be the Year of Administrative Reform, in order to improve the government's accountability and strengthen public functions. "When we hold this government, we are committed to establishing a good institutional system to carry out good governance," said Prime Minister Xanana Gusmao.

Xanana said there is a need to establish an effective institutional system in order to achieve effective governance. He said his government would continue to develop the nation, the society, and democracy. He promised to protect democracy via strong and independent organs of government. He said he wanted to form a public function commission to give more power to the Cabinet's Inspector-General so that it could become more independent, and form an Anti Corruption Commission. "I can say that this government is brave to prioritize the establishment of strong and independent institutions," he said.

PD MP says AMP suspects Fretilin of influencing ASDT - Diario Nacional

PD MP Vital dos Santos said that the AMP government suspected that the Fretilin party had influenced ASDT to agree to an accord and establish a strategic alliance. "We all know that when we formed AMP, Fretilin approached other parties such as the PD party, but they (Fretilin) did not succeed. Fretilin again has approached another party with an objective of winning power," said MP PD Vital dos Santos on Thursday (8/5) at the National parliament.

May 7, 2008

ASDT to stand for AMP, Horta not thinking of an early election - Televizaun Timor-Leste

Even though ASDT has given signals that it will leave the Alliance Majority in Parliament (AMP), five of its members in Parliament continue to give their support to AMP to govern the country. "The decision in the Parliament belongs to the bench [of ASDT]. We continue to support AMP. If they [ASDT-Fretilin] have signed an accord outside of the Parliament  that's up to them. The president of the party said it would leave the AMP. But as MPs we have the right to continue to support AMP," said ASDT MP Jose Manuel Carrascalao on Tuesday (6/5) in the National Parliament. Mr. Carrascalao also said that many militants in the party [ASDT] disagreed with the signing the coalition accord.

ASDT has signed an accord with Fretilin as an agreement and commitment between the two parties to form new government on May 1, 2008. In the accord, entitled Accord of 1 May, the two parties agreed to form a strong coalition to rule the country in the national interest.

President Jose Ramos-Horta said that he is not thinking about early elections which are preoccupying others with now. PR Horta said that the recent Government led by AMP is a Government with legitimacy, a Government he chose to rule the country. "An early election gives no opportunity to the legitimate Government which I chose to implement their programs for the people. At the moment I am not preoccupied with early elections but am thinking about holding a dialogue between the Government and the big party, Fretilin," said PR Horta on Tuesday (6/5) in on his visit to the petitioners in Aitarak-Laran, Dili.

Respecting dignity, PR Horta visits the petitioners - Timor Post

For the first time after his return from Darwin, Australia, PR Ramos-Horta visited the petitioners in Aitarak-Laran on Tuesday (6/5), a sign of respecting the dignity and rights of the petitioners.

"I have come here to give a message to my children, [my] young brothers, the petitioners that the First President never forgets. They are human. We should respect their dignity and rights. That is why I have come to them and I will try to collaborate with the Government to quickly implement the options for you [my] children," said PR Horta.

Salsinha does not provide NID with a list of supporters' names - Timor Post

Rebel leader Gastao Salsinha does not want to provide a list of the names of [rebel] supporters who took part in the attempt against PM Xanana Gusmao in, Balibar, Dili on February 11, to the National Investigation Department (NID) as part of their investigation.

NID official Nuno R. Gomes said that during the investigation, including a hearing process in the court, Salsinha never gave the names of people who supported him in carrying out the attacks on February 11. "During the investigation we did asked him about the people who supported him, but he did not give any names for the reason that he will do so during his trial in the court," said Mr. Gomes on Tuesday (6/5) Timor Post via telephone.

Coalition of ASDT-Fretilin normal process in democracy - Timor Post

PR Ramos-Horta said that the formation of a coalition between ASDT and Fretilin is a normal process. But he admitted that he had still not talked about this directly with ASDT President Francisco Xavier do Amaral and the AMP side.

"I heard that Uncle Xavier's party had left AMP. I still have had not discussed this with Uncle Xavier and the Prime Minister about the coalition of ASDT and Fretilin and its implications. I am not surprised and preoccupied with this as it is a normal process in democracy," said PR Horta on Tuesday (6/5) in Aitarak-Laran, Dili.

"Mr. Xavier Amaral knows the reasons for forming the new coalition. But I know that they have discussions now – a big delegation of AMP has talked to Mr. Xavier - it is a normal processs, so never be surprised," added PR Horta.

However, PR Horta said that PM Xanana himself with the Government will have to make efforts to execute public funds appropriately to avoid corruption, collusion, and nepotism within the Government. "Do not look only for cousins and families in the institution. Do not replace district administrators based on their political backgrounds.

Whether this is happening or not, Fretilin's members are concerned about it. I have talked to the Prime Minister and recommended he pay attention to this issue. We cannot change the political administration based on the party. Public administration should be totally professional," said PR Horta.

Fr. Martinho: ASDT-Fretilin coalition, a suicide for Xavier - Suara Timor Lorosa'e

The Commission of Justice and Peace Director of Baucau Diocese, Fr. Martinho Gusmao considers the decision made by ASDT President Francisco Xavier do Amaral to enter into a coalition with Fretilin is equivalent to political suicide. According to Fr. Martinho, in 2007 Mr. Xavier backed Ramos-Horta in the presidential campaign and appealed to all people not to cast their votes for Lu-Olo (President of Fretilin), as a vote for Lu-Olo equaled a vote for suicide.

Fr. Martinho said Mr. Xavier's recent decision to choose Lu-Olo, means he is on a suicidal path. "ASDT has brilliant ideas about the people's interest. But from what I read, they talk about the positions provided after they won over the election. This means that they are using people's interest to achieve particular goals," said Fr. Gusmao on Tuesday (6/5).

Editorial: ASDT and Fretilin's coalition - Suara Timor Lorosa'e

Recently ASDT made a coalition with Fretilin and signed an accord to prepare for the 2012 elections. However, ASDT continues to back AMP by collaborating with Prime Minister Xanana to develop the nation.

The coalition between groups or parties is a normal occurrence as foreseen in our Constitution - the questions is why has ASDT made a coalition with Fretilin, which never recognize the historical leader Francisco Xavier do Amaral as the founder of ASDT/Fretilin and the Proclamator of Independence in Timor-Leste.

We still remember, during the campaign, Uncle Xavier said, "If we vote for Ramos-Horta we will only get a headache. If vote for Lu-Olo we will all die." What we are worried about now is that Uncle Xavier words are coming back to haunt him.

About the May 1 Accord, it is said that Fretilin wants to give eight positions to ASDT, such as Vice President of the National Parliament, Vice Prime Minister, Minister of Telecommunications, Minister of Tourism, Minister of Transportation and Commerce, State Secretary of Environment, State Secretary of Solidarity and State Secretary of Administration.

If the ASDT has coalition with Fretilin is based on the positions offered, then we all can see that all parties are ambitious and power hungry. We may say that the coalition intends to go against and knock Xanana down. It is normal boy  !!!

Fretilin wants Xanana to face the court - Suara Timor Lorosa'e

Fretilin MPs in the National Parliament want Prime Minister Xanana Gusmao to make a statement to the Court as Horta has done, because he is one of the victims of the attacks on February 11. "Related to the cases which took place, we still do not hear that Xanana has given his statement to the Court," said Mr. Arsenio Paixao Bano on a press conference held on Tuesday (6/5) in the National Parliament, Dili. Mr. Bano also said that the work of the Prosecutor-General is sluggish because some cases are still pending, such as Rai Los's case.

However, the Vice President of the National Parliament, Vicente Guterres said that we should not hamper the work of the judiciary, as the court is an independent body in this country. Separately, Prime Minister Xanana Gusmao said that he is ready to welcome inquiries from the Prosecutor-General. Previously he had also responded to an inquiry from Provedor of Human Rights- Justice and the Prosecutor-General.

1,137 IDPS return home - Suara Timor Lorosa'e

Some 1137 IDPs have decided to return home after occupying the National Hospital since the 2006 crisis. At a reintegration ceremony of IDPs at the National Hospital, Dili, the Minister of Social Solidarity Maria Domingas Alves said that the IDPs' readiness to return home was a positive step towards a better life.

Among the participants at the ceremony was the President of the National Parliament Fernando Lasama, Vice Minister of Health Madalena Hanjam, Dili District PNTL Commander Pedro Belo and other officials from the UN Agencies that worked together on the process of reintegration.

Meanwhile, the PR of the National Parliament Fernando Lasama thanked all the IDPs for their decision to return home. "Once again, thanks a lot to all of you who have decided to return home, as the decision is in your hands," said PR Lasama on Tuesday (6/5) during the reintegration ceremony.

Public transportation on strike over the price of oil - Diario Nacional

Drivers of public transportation were on strike in front of the Government Palace on Tuesday (6/5) due to dramatic increase in the price of oil in Timor-Leste. The strike was aimed at demanding the Government to control the problem immediately.

Egas PatrA-cio, one of the drivers, said that the oil prices are being raised without any regulation. The drivers are demanding the Government to control the price. "We all are on strike because the oil price is very high. We need the Government to solve the problem as soon as possible," said Egas.

May 5, 2008

Price of rice threats poor people - Timor Post

As the price of rice continues to rise, poor people in Dili, Baucau and Liquica are feeling threatened. Most of public shops and kiosks are selling rice that used to cost US$19 for US$27, a price that poor people cannot afford.

"I am afraid this situation could bring about a big shortage of food," Jacob dos Santos, a local shopper, told the Timor Post. He said that before 30 kgs of rice cost US$12-US$15.

The Vice President of the National Parliament Maria Paixao said that the National Parliament is making efforts to approve a tax law to regulate the price of goods in the country. "We must recognize that the high price of goods affects the world, not only Timor-Leste," said Ms. Paixao on Wednesday (1/5) in Suco Vaviquina, LiquiA'a.

Court demands the truth from Salsinha, not politics - Timor Post

After two years in the mountains, struggling for justice with Alfredo Reinado and their men, Gastao Salsinha should now face justice with no weapons in hand. With five of his men, Salsinha appeared in the Court of Appeal to have a first hearing on the cases they have been involved in for the two years.

This is jusctice. Salsinha demands justice from the Court and now the Court instructs him to explain his motivation and actions. Salsinha is now living in the judicial - not political - world. In the judicial world, only legal facts are needed – need no for more talk about politics. In the first hearing, Salsinha directly faced pretrial detention for charges in connection with the attack on February 11, previous homicide attempts, and carrying weapons illegally.

The charges against him show from 2006 – 2008 the Court has been aware of Salsinha's actions. So, Salsinha has to be responsible and give clear explanations about what he has done. If Salsinha is found innocent of the charges, then we have to say CONGRATULATIONS. But if he is guilty, then WELCOME to the prison newcomer, who was fighting for justice but against the law. This might be our hope: that we may play in the political arena but with no violence. If not, our companions who were with us before will keep their mouths shut and wash their hands of us.

PNTL and F-FDTL to cooperate in investigation and collection of illegal weapons - Timor Post

The State Secretary for Security Francisco Guterres said that the Defence Forces of Timor-Leste (F-FDTL) and the National Police of Timor-Leste (PNTL) are going to cooperate in a thorough investigation of weapons still un the hands of civilians.

"If there is information about weapons carried by people, then there will be an investigation into those weapons to know their serial numbers, regardless of whether the weapons are those that are missing or not," said Mr. Guterres. He added that F-FDTL and PNTL will be searching and collecting the illegal weapons so as to avoid further conflicts in the future.

"We appeal the community to submit the weapons to F-FDTL and PNTL by 10 May. After that date, possession of weapons will be considered a criminal offense," Mr. Guterres said.

Fretilin: does not agree to TNI training of F-FDTL - Suara Timor Lorosa'e

Fretilin's bench in the National Parliament rejects a proposal that the Defence Forces of Timor-Leste (F-FDTL) be trained by the National Army of Indonesia (TNI). The objection stems from a desire to avoid offending the victims of TNI during its occupation in Timor-Leste.

"I do not agree with the training. We have to have to be considerate of sensitive feelings," said Fretilin's MP Francisco Miranda Branco on Friday (2/5) in the National Parliament, Dili.

Mr. Branco said that before conducting the military training, the Report of Commission for Reception, Truth, and Reconciliation in Timor-Leste (CAVR) and Indonesia and TL Commission of the Truth and Friendship should be implemented to heal old wounds.

An MP from the Alliance of the Majority in Parliament (AMP), Paulo de Fatima Martins said that Timor-Leste has to cooperate with Indonesia, as it is a neighbour who supports Timor-Leste for membership in ASEAN. "It is valid to cooperate and have good relations with Indonesia. In the first Government, some police officers went to Bandung and Jakarta to take part in staff command courses," he noted.

Do not believe 'insane' rumour - Suara Timor Lorosa"e

In a very mature and calm manner, Prime Minister Xanana Gusmao is facing the "insane" rumour that he orchestrated the attacks on February 11. The attacks are merely political "drama". If it is a political drama, then it is not true that Xanana is pulling the strings behind the curtain of violence. If it is true, why didn't Xanana kill himself rather than cooperate with the rebels trying to kill him?

We should not be surprised when the rumour is addressed to Xanana, but we should be careful and wise in giving our responses because Xanana has potential enemies from the opposition and inside AMP, too. In such a critical situation, the enemies are smart enough to create issues to find scapegoats for their sympathetic parties and groups,

Since August 2007, as the Prime Minister of the country, Xanana has made significant political progress in the country, national stability has returned to normal, IDPs are returning home, petitioners are gathered and cantoned, Salsinha and his men have submitted themselves  corruption,, collusion and nepotism are taken seriously, and the high price of rice is now handled.

Administrative reform from the national Government to the districts is ongoing. All will be done. All these matters show that Xanana is really working and responding to peoples' demands, especially the petitioners, IDPs and the veterans. It is impossible for Xanana to kill himself. It is just an "insane" rumour.

A free press is important for the newest democratic country - Diario Nacional

Vice Prime Minister Jose Luis Guterres said that a free press is very important for the world's newest democratic country. Journalists around the world should firmly commit to defending justice. But justice will never appear if it is under an authoritative State.

Guterres added that most of the Timorese journalists had shown the highest nationalism during the process to the independence. While it is now time for development, there is still a need for all journalists to obey their code of conduct during the course of their work. Sometimes journalists receive threats from others because most people have only a limited understanding about press freedom. It is also important for journalists to show their freedom and responsibility to this nation.

"I am very happy today to be with the journalists, as it is an important day for the press in this newest democratic country," said Jose Luis Guterres said during his speech on a World Press Freedom Day on Saturday (3/05) at the office of STL Newspaper. Bishop: the submission of Salsinha and his men key to shedding light on attacks - Diario Nacional

The Bishop of Baucau, Basilio do Nascimento said that the key to shedding light on the events of 11 February is in the hands of Salsinha and his men, as they have already peacefully submitted themselves to justice.

"Who will provide us enlightenment so that all of us will be able to understand the things happening around us? It was supposed to be Alfredo but he has died. The secret that Alfredo has is already buried with him. So people hope that Salsinha will divulge the secrets he has now," said Bishop Baucau Basilio do Nascimento trough the TVTL broadcast on Friday (02/05).

Government and UNMIT program starts to reduce the number of IDPs - Diario Nacional

The United Nations in Timor Leste and Government through the Ministry of Solidarity Social are currently being working together to reduce the IDPs camps in capital Dili. The chief of the UN OCHA, Pierre Bessuges said during a press conference that the policy to close the IDPs camps is an effort to solve the issue of the IDPs in Timor-Leste.

Bishop of Baucau: Collecting weaponry will contribute to stability and peace - Diario Nacional

The Bishop of Baucau Basilio do Nascimento said that he appreciates the plan of the Joint Operation Command to collect illegal weapons that are still at large and in the hands of the civilians in the Eastern part of Timor-Leste, because that effort can contribute to peace and stability in the nation.

"I think the plan to collect the illegal weapons in the Eastern region is the same as what the Joint Operation Command has been doing in the Western part of Timor-Leste, so that everyone will know that only the police and F-FDTL have a right to have guns or weapons," said Bishop Basilio do Nascimento.

Prime Minister's official visit to Indonesia is productive and positive - Diario Nacional

The Prime Minister's official visit to Indonesia is productive and positive but there is a need to follow up what has been agreed between two nations to ensure a good result.

During the Prime Minister's official visit in Indonesia, both nations signed and discussed three agreements related to the commercial sector industry. The agreements focus on how Indonesia will provide Timor-Leste with technical assistance, how to establish small industries Timor-Leste in order to strengthen Timorese industrial capacity, and how they will cooperate with each other to promote Timor Leste's health department.

May 4, 2008

Fretilin-ASDT sign agreement to form Government - Timor Post

One of the AMP members, ASDT has signed an accord with Fretilin which constitutes an agreement and commitment between the two parties to form a new government on May 1, 2008. In the accord the two parties stated they have a strong coalition to rule the country in the interests of the nation.

"ASDT and Fretilin were created to stand for total liberation, the nation, and the Timorese people," declared the two parties in their accord, entitled Accord of 1 May.

ASDT President Francisco Xavier do Amaral said that the coalition does not mean that his party, ASDT is out of the AMP. Rather the coalition was formed to prepare for the future. "We are not saying that we are leaving AMP. When the time comes, we will tell you [the aim of] this policy," said Mr. Amaral. Separately, the Secretary-General of Fretilin Mari Alkatiri said that there are still substantial subjects of the accord to be discussed within the two parties. Mr. Alkatiri also said that as ASDT has made a coalition with Fretilin, the AMP should be prepared to face early elections. "I told Prime Minister Xanana before that if you form a government with pieces of cloth, then it will fall apart," said Mr. Alkatiri.

Other AMP members of Parliament said that up until now, they have not received any information about the accord between ASDT and Fretilin.

The President of the National Parliament Fernando Lasama de Araujo, also a leader of AMP, said that at the moment the nation's Constitution does not allow for the conduct of early elections when the activities of the National Parliament are routinely going on. He appealed to the people and political leaders to live as a nation as regulated by law, and not create confusion among the different factions in society.

A high price of rice, a challenge for the AMP - Timor Post

Since the end of 2007 the price of rice has been getting higher and has become the preoccupation of the poor people who are feeling threatened.

Many comments have been made on the subject. Some MPs and Government members of AMP have said that the higher price of rice is influenced by international market prices, which have been affected by poor rice crops in Thailand and Vietnam. This means that the Government has not made any mistakes resulting in the higher price of rice in the country.

This reasoning that "this is not the Government mistake" might be acceptable. But on the other hand, we cannot ignore that this also the Government's mistake as it has responsibility to save the people of this country, especially those who are at the mercy of the economy.

Those who have power may not be careless with the situation because the price of rice might be considered as 'small change" or the price of a cigarette.

AMP should know that to rule the nation is not depend only on other nations' policy. We should be able to face our own internal problems. If not, there will be statements like this: "They are not capable of governing but want to rule." During the campaign they promised: "If we are elected, the price of all goods will decrease." The minister responsible for this situation must step down.

The Government should do something like it did when it provided rice to public servants who have a regular monthly salary. Why provide a quick solution for public servants but have difficulty in paying attention to the poor people? If not now, then when? If the rice problem is a global problem, the Government should recommend to people to consume their traditional food.

PSD, CNRT and PD AMP - Timor Post

The Alliance of Majority in Parliament (AMP) will be strengthened by the Social Democratic Party (PSD), Democratic Party (PD) and CNRT, as ASDT is going to have coalition with Fretilin [the strongest opposition in the National Parliament]. PSD representative Fernando Dias Ximenes said that up until now, the reason why ASDT coalition with Fretilin is unknown.

Mr. Ximenes said that even though ASDT is leaving AMP, AMP still has 32 seats and needs one more seat to hold an absolute majority in the Parliament. "It is normal if ASDT leaves the AMP, because differences are always cropping up among the members, and even in a single party," said Mr. Ximenes.

Bishop Basilio: Justice should be equal to all people - Diario Nacional

Commenting about the pardon given by President Jose Ramos-Horta to Rogerio Lobato, the Bishop of Baucau Diocese Basilio do Nascimento said that to live in peace in this country, justice should be applied equally to all people.

According to Bishop Basilio, even though all the people did not agree with the President's pardon given to Mr. Lobato, the President has the power to grant it. Bishop Nascimento also said that the President's pardon is not setting him free but will minimize Mr. Lobato and other prisoners' period of punishment.

Bishop Basilio: Salsinha has to present evidence in Court – Diario Nacional

Bishop of Baucau Diocese Basilio do Nascimento is asking Salsinha to present evidence when giving his statement in Court. Bishop Basilio said that Salsinha is an important key to understanding the 2006 crisis and the attempt of February 11 against PR Horta and PM Xanana. His contribution to the judicial process is very important for development of the nation.

"Now we all know that all the problems" keys are in Salsinha's hand," said Bishop Basilio. According to Bishop Basilio, whoever was involved in the process should admit their mistakes to avoid accusation and live in peace. Bishop Basilio wants Salsinha to make a full disclosure about everything he knows, as he has responsibility to do so.

Four former Timorese rebels deported from Indonesia to Dili - Suara Timor Lorosa'e

The four extradited four rebel soldiers from East Timor are wanted for alleged involvement in attacks on East Timor President and Prime Minister in February. The four rebels are Tito Tilman, Ismail San Sao Moniz Soares, Egidio Lay Carvalho and Jose Gomes. They arrived at Nicolao Lobato airport on Monday (5/5) under heavy security provided by Indonesian anti-terror police, two weeks after they were apprehended in Indonesia's West Timor and the capital Jakarta.

After arriving at the airport, Indonesian anti-terror police handed over the four rebels to Timorese authorities. The four rebels were directly received by East Timor's Prosecutor-General Longuinhos Monteiro who was accompanied by the Rapid Intervention Unit Commander Armando Monteiro, Dili District's Police Commander Pedro Belo and other PNTL officers at the airport VIP lounge. After an official hand-over ceremony, the four rebels were brought to the HQ of the Joint Operation Command in Dili, under heavy security of PNTL Rapid Intervention Unit and Task Force.

During an official hand-over ceremony, Indonesian chief of anti- terror operations Petrus Galose said that four rebel soldiers were caught by the Indonesian authorities because they crossed the border illegally after the February 11 attacks on East Timor President Jose Ramos Horta and Prime Minister Xanana Gusmao in Dili.

"Before we deported them to here, we gave them a medical check up in Indonesia and to make sure they all are in stable condition. These four rebels are brought to here today based on the law enforcement cooperation between to two nations," said Colonel Petrus Galose in a press conference at Dili's airport on Monday (5/5).

People in Hudi Laran area unhappy with PNTL's Task Force - Suara Timor Lorosa'e

People in Hudi Laran, Bairo Pite, are unhappy with the attitudes of PNTL's Task Force members as their actions are not bringing the situation under control. Instead of defending one of the martial arts groups fighting among themselves, they also capture people arbitrarily or recklessly. Therefore, the people in Hudi- Laran ask police to maintain their position as a defender of the people to not defend any of the martial art groups during fighting.

"Police have to have their eyes and ears opened in order to capture people who usually create problems and to not act recklessly," said one of resident in Hudi Laran, Bairo Pite.

Paixao: A residence in Liquica hands over rifle to joint operation command - Suara Timor Lorosa'e

The Commander of the Joint Operation Command Filomeno Paixao said that one residence in Liquica handed over a long rifle Mauser to the Joint Operation Command on Thursday (01/5). Separately in Ermera district, people handed over 268 AR-16 bullets, one air gun, and 2 traditional weapons.

On the 3rd of May, the residents in Fatubesi voluntarily handed over 19 traditional weapons, 39 traditional pistols, 1 rocket propelled grenade launcher, 2 hand grenades and many others traditional weapons to the Joint Operation Command.

Joint Operation Command member injures a lady in Haupu - Suara Timor Lorosa'e

A lady in Ermera was injured by a member of the Joint Operation Command on Monday (5/5). The victim was taken to the National Hospital in Dili for treatment and is in stable condition now. The member of the Joint Operation Command in question has been taken to Dili for further investigation.

The Joint Operation Command has been criticized by the community for holding a party on the night after Salsinha and his men surrendered. The Commander of the Joint Operation Command Lieutenant Colonel Paixao said that he did not give any order to the members in Ermera to mark any celebration or party regarding Salsinha's surrender.

"I have never told the Joint Operation Command forces in Ermera to celebrate with any party regarding the Salsinha's surrender. If there was one, it took place spontaneously because the forces have just wanted to celebrate as the hunt for Salsinha and his men has been going on for two months. But there was no order for them to hold a party regarding Salsinha's surrender. I hope the communities in Ermera will feel free to contribute to and cooperate with the forces in achieving stability and national security," said Commander Paixao.