East Timor News Digest 2 – February 1-28, 2013
- Martial arts gangs banned for another year - Dili Weekly. February 2, 2013
- Unemployment amongst the educated is a risk to the nation - Dili Weekly. February 2, 2013
- Malnutrition in Timor-Leste rises to 58 percent - Jornal Diario Nacional. February 1, 2013
- MPs deem 2012 budget execution inefficient, of no benefit to the people - Dili Weekly. February 2, 2013
- Policing Timor Leste border difficult, officials concede - Jakarta Globe. February 20, 2013
- Assets in Timor's oil fund totaled US$11.777 billion at the end of 2012 - Macauhub. February 25, 2013
- East Timor may explore natural gas in Timor Sea on its own - Macauhub. February 22, 2013
- East Timor mulls kicking Australia's Woodside from gas project - Agence France Presse. February 21, 2013
- Woodside gas deal could redraw Australia-East Timor borders - Crikey.com. February 12, 2013
- East Timor and Thailand to cooperate in oil sector exploration, development - Macauhub. February 5, 2013
- Lifting lives in Timor-Leste - The Star/ANN. February 25, 2013
- Australia holding back East Timor - The Australian. February 28, 2013
- Secret committee weakens transparency - La'o Hamutuk. February 8, 2013
Martial arts gangs banned for another year
Dili Weekly - February 2, 2013
The Council of Minsters has decided to maintain the ban on martial arts groups after it decided they could cause conflict for another year.
"Once they display good behaviour then we will consider lifting the suspension, however for now things will have to stay as they are for another year," Prime Minister Kay Rala Xanana Gusmao said recently at the Presidential Palace in Dili.
According to the Prime Minister, 2013 will be the year for troublesome martial arts groups to straighten up, move away from violence and join in the development of the nation.
"If they don't straighten up then we will close them down. I don't want Timorese to suffer for this reason," said the Prime Minster. "Everything will work out if we show mutual respect, compassion and are prepared to listen to one another," he said.
Secretary of State for Youth and Sports Miguel Manetelu said he would call on these martial arts groups to discuss this suspension. "This resolution has not been published in the Government Gazette (JornaldaRepublica), and as soon as it is I will call them all to discuss the significance of the suspension," said SoSManetelu.
He said the suspension was renewed in light of recommendations made by the general community, which gave an indicator of the groups' behaviour.
"This information was used by the Council of Ministers to extend the ban for another year. UNMIT's mandate has also just finished, so it is another way of reducing the crime rate by controlling these martial arts gangs," said Manetelu.
Unemployment amongst the educated is a risk to the nation
Dili Weekly - February 2, 2013
According to the Ministry of Education unemployment amongst educated people, some of whom have qualified overseas, is on a par with the unemployment of recently graduated high school students posing a serious threat to the development of the nation.
This situation according to the ministry is attributed to the limited job market. "I believe we must be proactive in creating jobs for these people, jobs which use their intellectual capacity and qualifications, and try not to rely only on the public service employment opportunities," said Minister for Education Bendito Freitas recently at the launch of the 2014 Australian and New Zealand Development Scholarships.
The ceremony took place at the Beach Gardens Hotel in Pantai Kelapa, Dili. He said the government is looking at ways to create job opportunities during the establishment of the district municipalities as well as the supply base installation in Suai.
ADS/NZDS Manager Maria Braz said more than 400 Timorese students have been awarded ADS/NZDS scholarships since 2000. Of those some had yet to find jobs in areas for which they had qualifications.
"For those who have not as yet found a job we are channeling them through graduate programs within the government so they get some experience," she said.
Students graduated in areas of agriculture, health, economics as well as others. In 2014 scholarships will be awarded to 55 candidates, 40 from Australia and 15 from New Zealand.
Data from the Secretariat of State for Professional Training and Employment Policy shows the number of qualified unemployed, including those with tertiary education, is 9000.
Malnutrition in Timor-Leste rises to 58 percent
Jornal Diario Nacional - February 1, 2013
According to statistics from the UN agency and UNICEF, malnutrition in Timor-Leste has risen to 58 percent. These figures show that Timor-Leste is in third place among Asian countries, where the majority of the population lives "inside" malnutrition.
The representative of UNICEF, Honggwel Gao said that health and nutrition are key factors for the growth of children and are also important for human development in the nation.
The prevalence of malnutrition among mothers and children, including micro nutrition deficiency is quite high in Timor-Leste, based on data from a survey conducted on health and demography between 2009 and 2010.
Six out of ten children (or 58%) are stunted and suffer from malnutrition, whilst 19 percent of children are severely affected by malnutrition and underweight and 45 percent of children do not reach their ideal weight.
The deputy prime minister, Fernando La Sama de Araujo admitted that malnutrition remains a major problem for Timor-Leste, because many children aged under five have skinny arms and legs and dry bloated bellies.
"I call the attention of the Health Minister Sergio Lobo, his two deputies and even the directors and employees in the Ministry of Health to this, and for them to work harder to prevent and reduce the percentage of malnutrition in Timor-Leste," said Fernando La Sama on last Wednesday, during his opening speech to the meeting on validation and strategic review on nutrition held at the Hotel Timor in Dili.
MPs deem 2012 budget execution inefficient, of no benefit to the people
Dili Weekly - February 2, 2013
Members of Parliament used the number of roads unrepaired and in a bad condition as an example to highlight what they say is poor and inefficient budget execution.
"Just as an illustration, the road works from Tunubibi to Maliana have just been completed and handed over to the government, yet two months on they have all but been destroyed or are in a bad state of disrepair," MP Mateus de Jesus, (10/01), in parliament.
MP de Jesuscriticised the fact all ministries' reports on 2012 budget execution showed good results yet the implementation of these projects in reality was not good. According to him, year after year the allocated budgets increase phenomenally yet in practice people have not seen any of the benefits.
He attributed this problem to the government's lack of monitoring and control over the construction companies implementing these projects.
"These are indicators which must be used to approve the budget, we must go and see for ourselves the implementation of these projects, whether they really benefit the people or not," said the CNRT MP.
National Development Agency Director Samuel Marcalstated the government will not pay companies whose work is unsatisfactory. "They will be asked to correct and repair any damages, and only then will they be paid," said Marcal.
Policing Timor Leste border difficult, officials concede
Jakarta Globe - February 20, 2013
Yoseph Kelen, Kupang, East Nusa Tenggara – Officials from Kupang district and neighboring Timor Leste met on Tuesday to discuss enforcing security along a particularly porous section of their shared border.
Felixiano da Costa, the Timor Leste consul in Kupang, conceded that the situation on the border between Oepoli ward in Kupang and Oeccuse ward in Timor Leste was "quite complex" as it entailed longstanding cultural and family ties.
Ayub Titu Eki, the Kupang district head, said that due to the border splitting a community that for decades had lived together, simple enforcement of border integrity was not the best solution for addressing the high number of unauthorized crossings, intermarriages, social interactions and even property transactions.
"We can't rely just on the prevailing rules and regulations to resolve this border problem," he said. "We have to ensure that families split by the border can still meet one another."
The Oepoli-Oeccuse border runs through farmland along the Noel Besi River that is technically considered terra nullius – a Latin term meaning "land belonging to no one." Residents living there continue to freely pass between the two countries.
"For instance, there are cases of Oepoli residents farming in Oeccuse, and vice versa," Ayub said. "You also get people from one side getting married to someone from the other side, and similarly people who die in the area are sometimes buried on the other side of the border."
Assets in Timor's oil fund totaled US$11.777 billion at the end of 2012
Macauhub - February 25, 2013
East Timor's Oil Fund grew by US$720.94 million in the fourth quarter of 2012 and ended the year with a total value of US$11.777 billion, said the East Timor Central Bank.
The report on the last three months of 2012, available on the East Timor Central Bank's website and dated 12 February, said that the "capital of the fund increased from US$11.054 billion to US$11.777 billion."
Capital added to the fund from taxes, royalties and other revenue totalled US$1.234 billion and a total of US$590.4 million had been taken out of the fund.
Around US$586 million was used to fund the State Budget, and the remaining US$3.5 million were used to pay the fund's management fees.
The Oil Fund Law was outlined in 2005 in order to contribute to the effective management of Eat Timor's oil resources. The fund is managed by the East Timor Central Bank and the Finance Ministry.
In August 2011 the country's parliament approved a change in the law in order to make it easier to diversify its investment portfolio, which until that point had focused exclusively on US Treasury Bonds, as a way of increasing the return on investments. (macauhub)
East Timor may explore natural gas in Timor Sea on its own
Macauhub - February 22, 2013
East Timor may carry out its natural gas exploration in the Timor Sea without other partners, thus bringing an end to its partnership with Australia's Woodside Petroleum, the Timorese Minister for Oil and Mining Resources, Alfredo Pires said Thursday in Dili.
Differences of opinion between the two sides about the strategy to be adopted for the liquefaction of the natural gas in the Greater Sunrise block of the Timor Sea, with East Timor planning to build a gas pipeline to process the gas in Timor itself and Woodside Petroleum calling for setting up a processing platform at sea.
"We may decide to move ahead on our own but that is something that will have to be decided along with the Australian Foreign Ministry," said Pires. The minister also said that his government was in discussions with Australia's Energy Minister, Martin Ferguson, who visited Dili Thursday.
An agreement to share the resources in the Timor Sea signed by Australia and East Timor in February 2007 is due to come to an end Saturday, but may be revised at a later date if the two sides reach a new agreement or establish new sea borders.
The government of East Timor, which has been an independent country since 2002, plans for the gas processing unit to be built within the country and the companies associated to it to be a starting point for the country's economic development.
East Timor mulls kicking Australia's Woodside from gas project
Agence France Presse - February 21, 2013
East Timor's petroleum and natural resources minister said Thursday the nation may develop a multi-billion dollar gas project alone, ending its involvement with Australia's Woodside Petroleum.
Differences between the two sides have arisen over how to liquefy gas from the Greater Sunrise Field in the Timor Sea. Casting aside Woodside's $20 billion investment would also mean revenues are not split with Australia. The Certain Maritime Arrangements in the Timor Sea (CMATS) signed by Australia and East Timor came into effect in February 2007, setting a deadline of Saturday for the two sides to agree on how to process the gas.
"Maybe we'll decide (to process the gas) unilaterally, but we have to decide with the foreign affairs (ministry) of Australia," Petroleum and Natural Resources Minister Alfredo Pires told reporters.
Woodside wants to process billions of dollars worth of gas on a floating processing platform while East Timor wants the gas liquefied on its soil via a gas pipeline.
Pires said the government was in talks with Australian Resources and Energy Minister Martin Ferguson, who visited the capital Dili on Thursday.
The CMATS was drawn up after a maritime dispute between the two nations and includes a gag clause that prevents East Timor from disputing maritime borders. It can begin to negotiate borders, however, if the CMATS is terminated Saturday.
"CMATS is signed by two governments, but until now, we have not yet (drawn) maritime boundaries. We will choose the best solution for our future," Pires said.
After meeting with Pires, Ferguson said Australia wanted to continue working in East Timor's petroleum industries "to contribute to the development" of the country. "I'm still continuing discussions with Mr. Pires. I can say this matter will continue to be discussed between our governments," he said.
If no agreement is made by Saturday, the CMATS can be revived at a future date if the two parties come to new agreement on the project, or set new maritime borders.
East Timor, which gained formal independence in 2002, is a half-island nation of 1.1 million people with a sluggish economy dependent on oil and gas reserves. The government plans to kick-start the economy with its sovereign petroleum fund, which surpassed $11 billion last year.
Woodside gas deal could redraw Australia-East Timor borders
Crikey.com - February 12, 2013
Damien Kingsbury – Woodside and the East Timorese government have just 10 days to strike a deal on a lucrative gas project – or the controversial sea boundary between Australia and East Timor will be redrawn. Billions of dollars are at stake.
Australia's relationship with East Timor is at risk as the deadline looms on a hotly disputed and lucrative liquid natural gas project – with no resolution in sight.
West Australian-based Woodside Petroleum has until February 23 to reach an agreement with the government of East Timor over the site of processing LNG or else the arrangement between the two is likely to be stopped. This would then trigger the cancellation of Australia's sea boundary agreements with East Timor.
At this late stage it's unlikely Woodside will change its long-held position and accede to East Timor's demand that the LNG be processed on East Timor's south coast. Woodside's preferred option is a floating processing platform at the Greater Sunrise LNG field in the Timor Sea.
The East Timorese government can cancel Woodside's involvement in the project, valued at $20 billion, if no agreement is reached on processing by February 23. But more critically, the termination of Woodside's contract would end Australia-East Timor agreements on the Timor Sea boundary between the two countries.
The bilateral treaty (the Timor Sea Treaty), the Certain Maritime Arrangements in the Timor Sea (CMATS) and a third document – all imposed by Australia on East Timor in 2002-3 – allocate revenues from the Joint Petroleum Development Area (JPDA) in the Timor Sea. Within the shared, now largely exhausted JPDA, East Timor receives 90% of revenues, Australia receives 10%.
However, 80% of the more important Greater Sunrise field lies outside the JPDA, where the benefits are divided evenly under the Sunrise International Unitisation Agreement (IUA).
East Timor points out the imposition of the boundary contravenes the UN Convention on the Law of the Sea, which Australia withdrew from recognising just before negotiations with East Timor. Under this convention, all of the Greater Sunrise field should be within East Timor's exclusive economic zone.
East Timor reluctantly signed the Timor Sea Treaty, CMATS and the IUA in 2002-3 with a metaphorical gun to its head. Australia's position, led by then foreign minister Alexander Downer, was that if East Timor did not sign the treaty Australia would simply allow the pre-existing boundary agreement with Indonesia to remain in place, East Timor would be starved of revenue from the fields and the new state would collapse just after it had gained independence.
There are still 10 days remaining for an agreement between Woodside and East Timor, but the indications are that neither side will budge sufficiently to allow the project to proceed. This will then allow the East Timorese government to cancel the agreement with Woodside and trigger the right of the East Timorese government to terminate the CMATS treaty, throwing open the issue of boundaries between the two countries.
Assuming the agreement is cancelled, East Timor is hoping for two outcomes: it can quarantine the issue of the sea boundary within the bilateral relationship, and it can renegotiate the boundary, following international convention, at the median point between Australia and East Timor.
Despite criticism of Australia in 2010, East Timor's Prime Minister Xanana Gusmao wants a continuation of the currently close relations between the two countries. This includes Australia's $116.7 million aid program, diplomatic support and future security arrangements.
But Australia showed in 2002 that it can be brutal in its dealings with its smaller neighbours so, assuming the treaty is cancelled, the decision on whether the sea boundary issue is quarantined from the wider bilateral relationship will sit firmly with Australia.
When in 2004 Australia negotiated its sea boundary with New Zealand, it opted for the UN Convention's median point. East Timor is hoping that, if the Timor Sea Treaty is renegotiated – presumably after the next federal election – Australia will revert to the UN Convention. Doing so, however, would mark an ethical consistency in Australia's regional relations that has to date been absent.
[Professor Damien Kingsbury is director of the Centre for Citizenship, Development and Human Rights at Deakin University. He is co-editor, with Michael Leach, of The Politics of East Timor: Democratic Consolidation After Intervention, Cornell University Press, 2013.]
Re: Woodside gas deal could redraw Australia-East Timor borders
Comment by Charles Scheiner - February 13, 2013
Charlie Scheiner, La'o Hamutuk – Although the conclusion of this article – that Australia should respect the international legal principle of a median line maritime boundary with Timor-Leste – is laudable, many of the "facts" are incorrect.
Unfortunately, inaccuracy and misinterpretation are becoming common in reporting on the imminent possible end of the CMATS gag rule. La'o Hamutuk just published an introductory article on CMATS basics (http://www.laohamutuk.org/Oil/Boundary/2013/CMATSImplications11Feb2013.htm), and we have written in more detail at http://www.laohamutuk.org/Oil/Boundary/CMATSindex.htm (overview, current developments and links), http://www.laohamutuk.org/Bulletin/2007/Jun/bulletinv8n2.html#50year (ratification) and http://www.laohamutuk.org/Bulletin/2006/Apr/bulletinv7n1.html (analysis and history through 2006). This posting is intended to correct misinformation in the referenced article.
1. There are no "borders" to "redraw." The underlying obstacle to this process is that Australia has NEVER agreed on a maritime boundary with Timor-Leste. The three agreements signed so far are about managing petroleum development and revenues. Many people in Timor-Leste and elsewhere feel that this country's struggle for independence is incomplete until its actual borders (which involve many more issues than oil and gas) are defined. In effect, Australia continues to occupy maritime territory which would be part of Timor-Leste under a fair, legal boundary determination – prolonging illegal territorial control taken during Indonesia's illegal occupation of Timor-Leste's land.
2. There is no chance that a Sunrise development plan will be approved before 23 February 2013. Even if Woodside or Timor-Leste were to change their position today on where the gas should be liquefied, a development plan requires extensive engineering and design. It could not be finished and approved by both governments (Australia also has to approve it) in ten days.
3. This disagreement does not threaten Australia's relationship with Timor-Leste. The controversy, with different views, began long before Timor-Leste voters ousted Indonesia in 1999. Although bilateral negotiations over Timor Sea issues have had their ups and downs over the last twelve years, ties between the two neighbors remain strong – notwithstanding Timor-Leste's repeatedly ignored wish to be treated fairly as an equally sovereign nation.
4. The currently applicable contracts between Woodside and its partners and the Governments of Timor-Leste and Australia to develop the Sunrise field were signed in 2003 (replacing earlier contracts with Australia and Indonesia during the illegal Indonesian occupation). The CMATS Treaty was signed in 2006 and came into force on 23 February 2007. Its termination would not have any effect on the contracts signed five years earlier. Although those contracts are unfortunately secret, we believe that they will be in effect until 2037 or later, unless the four companies and two governments agree to amend them.
5. Although the Bayu-Undan field (which contains most of the resources in the JPDA) has passed its peak of production, it will not be exhausted until around 2024, and Timor-Leste gets 90% of its upstream (extraction) tax and royalty payments. Gas and oil fields in the JPDA currently provide more than 90% of Timor-Leste Government revenues.
6. Although the Sunrise field may be "more important" to Australia, it is less clear from Timor-Leste's perspectivEast Timor-Leste will receive only 50% of Sunrise upstream revenues, and Sunrise's value may decline as new sources of natural gas enter the world market. Bayu-Undan, which is carrying Timor-Leste during this critical period before our non-oil economy has developed, is essential to this nation today. By the time Sunrise production begins (about five years after a development plan is agreed), we hope that Timor-Leste will have income from sources other than petroleum, and annual receipts from Sunrise (which will be smaller than those from Bayu-Undan today) will be less indispensable.
7. The relationship between the Timor Sea Treaty (TST, signed in 2002, ratified in 2003), the Sunrise International Unitization Agreement (IUA, signed in 2003, ratified in 2007) and CMATS (signed in 2006, ratified in 2007) is more complex than the article indicates. In brief, Timor-Leste needed the TST so that Bayu-Undan could go ahead, but Australia refused to ratify the TST until Timor-Leste signed the IUA – which Senator Bob Brown termed "blackmail." Timor-Leste then declined to ratify the IUA, which it had signed under duress. In the CMATS compromise four years later, Timor- Leste ratified the IUA and acquiesced in a gag rule on boundary discussions in return for 50% of Sunrise upstream revenues.
8. If Timor-Leste or Australia exercises its right under CMATS Article 12 to terminate the treaty at any time after February 23, processes to settle the maritime boundary could resume. The CMATS treaty will automatically would come back into force (restoring the 50-50 Sunrise revenue sharing) if and when Sunrise production begins in the future.
9. Under international treaty law, two signers to a bilateral treaty can always decide to cancel or modify the treaty. In other words, if Australia had been willing to discuss maritime boundaries at any time since 2006, both governments would have agreed to revoke the CMATS gag rule. Articles 24 of the TST ("This Treaty may be amended at any time by written agreement between Australia and East Timor") and 27.2 in the IUA ("This Agreement may be amended or terminated at any time by written agreement between Timor- Leste and Australia") are in fact redundant – that principle applies to all agreements between governments, as spelled out in the Vienna Convention on the Law of Treaties.
We hope that Australia is finally ready to deal fairly and openly with its northern neighbor, without imposing a gag rule on Timor-Leste to bar discussion of particular topics. And we hope that Australia is ready to comply with the rule of law – allowing courts or arbitration to settle the boundary issue when inherently unbalanced negotiations (due to the relative size, wealth, power and experience of the parties) are unable to. Law exists to protect the weak from the strong, and to ensure the everybody's basic rights are respected. Do some of the "Rule of Law" trainers and advisors AusAID pays to work in Dili need to build capacity in Canberra.
RE: Woodside gas deal could redraw Australia-East Timor borders
Response by Damien Kingsbury - February 13, 2013
Thank you for reinforcing nearly all of the points made in the article published by Crikey.com. CMATS was, indeed, signed in 2006, applying in 2007. That was my oversight.
1. The article's reference to redrawing the 'boundary' between Australia and Timor-Leste refers to the three demarcated divisions in the JPDA. That term was used to me by a senior Timor-Leste official on Monday. So while the 'boundary' (or 'border', a word not used in the article) does not apply in a legal sense, it is held to apply in a functional sense.
2. As the date of expiry has not yet been reached, the article was necessarily qualified on the issue of a possible agreement on the Wodside issue. While it is exceptionally unlikely that any formal agreement could be completed by the 23rd (government can convene at short notice to make large decisions, e.g. going to war), it does remain possible to reach an agreement in principle to be later formally ratified.
3. The view that the cancellation of the Woodside agreement could negatively impact on the bilateral relationship is not mine but a very real and live concern on the part of the Timor-Leste government. While it would be inappropriate to nominate my source, you can be assured that the Timor- Leste government is sensitive to this possibility, which it trusts will be avoided should the Greater Sunrise issue come to a head.
4. See the second line re CMATS.
5. As you say, production from the JPDA is in decline. It is not yet exhausted, but its capacity to continue to delivery royalties to the Timor-Leste government will reduce.
6. The issue is that this, then, increases the relative importance of the Greater Sunrise field. 'Hoping' that Timor-Leste will have income from sources other than petroleum is – to use your word – laudable. We all hope for that, but this does not make it so. Indeed, without the development of a petro-chemical industry, it is difficult to see where that income will be produced. As such, resource income will remain critical to Timor-Leste's opportunities for development at least until the middle future. This is why we agree that its income should be carefully and sustainably managed.
7. I agree that the TST, IUA and CMATS are much more complex than the article indicates. It is a news article, by definition limited in space, and not focused as such on the three agreements.
8. The issue is not about Greater Sunrise' 50-50 share (although it probably should be), but about the processing site. La'o Hamutuk itself said two days ago that CMAT is being considered for cancellation by Resources Minister Alfredo Pires. http://www.laohamutuk.org/Oil/Boundary/2013/CMATSImplications11Feb2013.htm
9. It is usual to have a public and fairly well developed reason for canceling a treaty – especially if one wishes to preserve anything remotely resembling good bilateral relations.
In conclusion, it is far from established that 'many of the "facts" are incorrect'. It actually it appears there is one, about a date, which does not go to the substance of the article or the issue.
With best wishes,
Damien
East Timor and Thailand to cooperate in oil sector exploration, development
Macauhub - February 5, 2013
The governments of East Timor and Thailand last week signed a memorandum of understanding to boost cooperation in exploration and development of the Timorese oil sector.
The memorandum which was signed by Thai Energy Minister, Pongsak Ruktapongpsial and East Timor's Oil Minister, Alfredo Pires, is intended to boost cooperation in developing the Timorese oil sector, build infrastructure and provide training.
East Timor and Thailand started cooperating in the oil sector in 2009 after signing an agreement to create the Timorese oil and gas plan and related studies.
Cooperation with the Thai authorities will benefit the Timorese government's Tasi Mane project, which is intended to develop the south coast of the country through the oil industry and includes construction of three industrial groups, which will be the backbone of the oil sector in the country.
Tasi Mane includes the Suai supply base, the refinery and a group of petrochemical industries in Betano as well as a gas unit (supplied by the gas pipeline that the Timorese authorities want to build from the Greater Sunrise field) in Viqueque/Beasu.
Lifting lives in Timor-Leste
The Star/ANN - February 25, 2013
Lim Chia Ying, Dili – The breast cancer diagnosis that came just before Christmas was the latest in Kirsty Sword Gusmao's series of continuous battles.
The former First Lady of the Democratic Republic of Timor-Leste (East Timor) faced her illness squarely; she disclosed her health status through media statements, confirming reports she is undergoing treatment in her hometown Melbourne, Australia. The cancer is in its early stage, and Kirsty sounded optimistic about her recovery.
Kirsty also assured everyone she felt strong and thanked everyone who has shown her love and support.
Her cancer diagnosis has not dampened her spirit. After all, she has been through some really trying times and this diagnosis only serves to force her to take stock of things.
"It (the diagnosis) probably means that I need to slow down and give myself some space and time to get better," reflects Kirsty, 46, in a recent e-mail interview. "I need to be well to see my family and my little nation grow strong and confident."
The nation is the young Timor-Leste, which is barely 11 years old. Kirsty rose to prominence when her husband Xanana Gusmao became Timor-Leste's first President in 2002.
In May the same year, Timor-Leste proclaimed its independence officially, having broken free from over two decades of Indonesian occupation in 1999.
(The last of Indonesia's militia was forced to pull out of Timor-Leste in Oct 1999, following an intervention from the United Nations.)
For about two-and-half years, the United Nations governed Timor-Leste until the 2002 presidential elections, when former militant Xanana was sworn in as President.
Kirsty is respected for more than just her position as a former First Lady. Her extensive work on the ground has endeared her to the people. She founded non-profit and non-governmental organisation Alola Foundation in 2001, which has helped improve livelihoods and access to education and employment for thousands of Timorese girls and women.
It is all part of her efforts to rebuild Timor-Leste, which grapples with poverty and an economy stunted by its tumultuous past.
Deep-rooted traditional practices and cultural/economic barriers have also stood in the way of the attainment of key development goals.
Kirsty became the one that schools go to for requests of extra classrooms, the one to whom rural women appeal for loans to get small businesses off the ground.
Then there are the young girls who turn to her for scholarships in hopes of receiving an education, and whom neighbours approach to seek solace from abusive husbands.
"Alola's motto 'strong women, strong nation' is a testament of my conviction that women and girls have the power to transform their lives as well as the course of history and national development. It underpins everything my organisation does," she says.
In 2007, she was appointed the Goodwill Ambassador for education in Timor- Leste by President Dr Jose Ramos Horta, who succeeded Xanana after the latter stepped down at the end of his term.
Xanana is now Prime Minister (he has been reappointed for a second term following last year's presidential elections), and Kirsty continues to work with the Education Ministry to address pressing needs in the education sector.
A consciousness awakens
Kirsty was born and raised in Melbourne, and did Indonesian and Italian studies in the 1980s at the Melbourne University. During her student days, she volunteered for several years as a writer and administrative assistant for a progressive magazine called Inside Indonesia that documents political and social developments in Indonesia.
"The then editor, Pat Walsh, drew me into a very interesting and dynamic circle of academics and human rights activists who made me aware of the struggle for self-determination in Indonesia's "renegade" provinces of Timor-Leste, West Papua and Aceh," says Kirsty.
"Throughout those years, I came to know dozens of East Timorese dissidents who had been forced to flee their homeland and seek refuge in Australia.
"They shared their stories of courage and resistance to the cruel oppression, and I was filled with admiration for their bravery and persistent struggle."
Those stories touched Kirsty and in 1992, she packed up her bags and headed to Jakarta to get to know the Indonesian people and culture better, and to contribute more actively to the East Timorese independence cause.
As she got more involved in championing the East Timorese cause, she got to know Xanana who was serving a 20-year prison term for his role as the independence leader.
Despite being on different sides of the prison walls, Kirsty and Xanana were able to exchange letters and communicate, and love soon blossomed.
"Gradually, we were in contact via more sophisticated and daring means such as audio tape, video tapes and mobile phones," she recalls.
They got married in 2000 when Xanana was released from jail. When she moved to Timor-Leste, she was well aware that the climate would be one of restrictions on freedom of speech, oppression and high levels of surveillance of foreign visitors' activities by the police and military.
"I was in fact followed by spies sent by military intelligence the minute I arrived in Dili (capital of Timor-Leste) despite having declared myself a 'mere tourist' who had no intention beyond taking in the sights and enjoying East Timorese hospitality," she recollects.
In the post-independence days, Kristy's work has changed from that of resistance activism to her humanitarian mission at the Alola Foundation. The aim now is for Kristy to help the East Timorese people acquire new skills sets and reshape their priorities.
"For me, the priority was to respond to the needs of my adoptive homeland's most vulnerable citizens, its women and children.
"It became very clear to me early on that East Timorese women were the backbone of their families and societies, yet are undervalued and underutilised resources in an extremely patriarchal society,"says Kirsty, explaining that Alola was established to address needs of women and children in areas of maternal and child health, economic empowerment, education and advocacy.
At East Timor's independence in 2002, she estimates that some 55% of the women and 46% of men in the country were illiterate. The literacy rate has improved over the years thanks to efforts by the Education Ministry, in collaboration with Unicef, the Government of Cuba and other bilateral donors, in expanding the reach and quality of educational services.
Kirsty admits that despite the improvements, there's still a long way to go in ensuring that every East Timorese child receives quality education based on modern, relevant curricula, which is delivered by trained teachers in a language understood by students.
Being the former First Lady actually hasn't made the work any easier. "I enjoyed very little institutional support nor did I have any political power to wield. If anything, I had to seek funding from private sources to support my pursuits across all areas, and even to pay the salary of a personal assistant.
"Alola is the vehicle through which I was able to realise some of my goals related to women's empowerment and improve the access of girls to educational opportunities."
She says Alola and other women's organisations operating inside Timor-Leste have urged for greater participation of women at the national and local political levels, and have been successful in ensuring that women are adequately represented within the national parliament and on village councils.
"We have also contributed to the campaign calling for a national domestic violence law to be implemented, thus making domestic violence a crime. This was quite a significant achievement in a country where family violence is rife and a huge social problem," she says.
In a speech she delivered last July at a UN Women Luncheon in Sydney, Australia, Kirsty shares the story of Brigida, a primary school teacher who helped care for her children. The girl, in tears, said her father had beaten her mother severely.
"Domestic violence has in fact been happening in the household for over two decades. I told (the teacher) to bring her mother, and after that offered the mother and her children refuge in my home and a medical check-up at the hospital the next day.
"The mother decided to press charges against her husband for his unrepentant abusive behaviour, which took a great deal of resolve on her part as she had no support from her own family, the village authorities or the police.
"She managed to take the case to court with the help of women's NGO Fokupers (which operates Dili's only women shelter for victims of domestic violence). However, the judge ruled that the husband did not commit an offence after a key witness lied in court and her medical reports went missing.
"This story shows the fragility of our state institutions and underscores the need for its strengthening in the interests of defending the fundamental rights of our citizens. It also demonstrates how the interests of the most vulnerable, particularly women, are often poorly served by both traditional justice and the formal legal system," says Kirsty. On a more hopeful note, Brigida is now studying in a prestigious university in Brazil.
She admits that there are still many challenges to confront. At the same time, taking stock of such small steps in the right direction is important.
Kirsty highlights how Alola Foundation has also succeeded in reducing infant mortality and boosting awareness on the importance of simple practices such as exclusive breastfeeding for the first six months of an infant's life by working at the village level to make mothers, women and young girls the agents of change.
"Back in 2005, rates of exclusive breastfeeding stood at approximately 30%, today closer to 52% of mums feed their babies nothing but breast milk for the first six months of life. It might be a slow process as it involves addressing age-old customary practices and beliefs, but we are extremely satisfied with the progress recorded to date," she says.
Stumbling blocks to girls attending schools include cultural and economic obstacles, distance, inadequate or non-existent sanitary facilities, classrooms with roofs that leak so badly during the rainy season as well as shortage of school furniture.
"Together with my friends Kris Webb and Jenny Coles, we are doing a rural school rebuilding project financed by Kris's Brisbane-based organisation, Spend It Well. This situation is slowly improving with help of donor partners and Timor-Leste government providing schools with subsidies."
She says it is difficult to quantify the changes and benefits that have resulted from Alola's work, though she is confident that they have opened educational doors and improved the health and well-being of thousands of East Timorese women since its inception.
Australia holding back East Timor
The Australian - February 28, 2013
Tom Clarke – If you thought the debate over East Timor's oil and gas resources had been put to bed, think again. Because Australia has never agreed on permanent maritime boundaries with East Timor, the temporary resource-sharing agreement the Howard government jostled it into in 2006 may come crashing down.
The exploitation of oil and gas resources in the Timor Sea has been a thorn in the side of successive Australian governments since foreign minister Gareth Evans signed the infamous Timor Gap Treaty in 1989. It allowed Australia to pocket millions of dollars from Timor's oil and gas reserves in exchange for becoming one of the only countries in the world to legally recognise Indonesian sovereignty over East Timor.
Neither did the Howard government intend to take a more equitable approach than its predecessors. Two months before East Timor's independence, Australia pre-emptively withdrew its recognition of maritime boundary jurisdiction of the International Court of Justice and the International Tribunal for the Law of the Sea.
Following a period of stonewalling, then hard-ball negotiating from the Australian government, a temporary resource-sharing agreement was reached in relation to the massive Greater Sunrise gas field. Just 100km from Timor, the field is estimated to be worth at least $40 billion in government revenues and would most likely be owned entirely by East Timor had permanent maritime boundaries been in accordance with international law.
The Certain Maritime Arrangements in the Timor Sea treaty signed in 2006 resulted in an agreement to a 50-50 spilt of the upstream revenues to be generated by Greater Sunrise. This increase from the previous plan involving an 18-72 split in Australia's favour came with a condition. East Timor would shelve its claim for permanent maritime boundaries for the next 50 years or more.
Six years later, the Greater Sunrise field remains untouched. East Timor is eager to benefit from the downstream revenues and possible spin-off economic development that would be generated by processing the resources in Timor, while Woodside would prefer to liquefy the gas at a floating plant in international waters. A stalemate. CMATS included a provision that if processing of the field had not begun within six years either country could terminate the deal.
That time is upon us and this issue will haunt our governments until Australia negotiates in good faith with East Timor for permanent maritime boundaries in accordance with international law. This issue has never been about charity. It's about justice and what the sovereign nation of East Timor is legally entitled to.
Since the UN Convention on the Law of the Sea in 1982, international law has favoured median-line boundaries between countries less than 400 nautical miles apart. Put simply, a line should be drawn halfway between the two coastlines.
While there are 80 examples of the median line resolving such claims, there is only one exception – the 1972 Australian-Indonesian Treaty. Current understanding of international law and advances in drilling and mining technology have made geological and geomorphological factors, such as continental shelves, irrelevant in such cases.
In addition to peddling the continental shelf argument during his time as foreign minister, Alexander Downer also liked to highlight Australia's aid and military assistance to East Timor. While Australia played a very important role in helping to stabilise East Timor from 1999, over the same period the Australian government has taken more in contested oil and gas royalties than it has given to East Timor in combined military and humanitarian aid.
It was the inherent injustice in this, and the discomfort of watching a wealthy and powerful country like Australia trying to bully the poorest country in Asia into an inequitable and temporary deal, that motivated the Timor Sea Justice Campaign. The TSJC was made up of concerned Australians from all political persuasions, of various ages and professions, that called on our government to give East Timor a fair go.
The Gillard government, or a possible future Abbott government, would be wise to remember that support in Australia for our East Timorese neighbours runs deep. Should East Timor choose to withdraw from CMATS and seek a fairer deal based on international law, it may well find it still has many allies here in Australia.
The only thing standing between East Timor and what it is legally entitled to is the Australian government. Australia could and should put an end to decades of hard-nosed greed and offer to negotiate in good faith with East Timor.
Permanent maritime boundaries will provide more economic certainty for both countries and for the companies seeking to exploit the oil and gas resources. But, more than this, setting permanent boundaries in accordance with international law is the right thing to do.
It would also bring some closure to the Timorese people's long and determined struggle to become an independent and sovereign nation complete with maritime boundaries.
[Tom Clarke was the co-ordinator of the Timor Sea Justice Campaign in 2005.]
Secret committee weakens transparency
La'o Hamutuk - February 8, 2013
On February 6, 2013, Timor-Leste's Parliament gave general approval to the proposed 2013 State Budget. Forty MPs from the Coalition voted in favor, and 25 from Fretilin abstained.
Yesterday, which would have been the first day of debate on the details, Parliament decided to establish an "Ad Hoc Committee to Collect and Analyze Proposed Consensus Amendments to the Proposed State Budget." This Committee includes the President and Vice Presidents of Parliament, six MPs from FRETILIN, one representative of each of the three parties in the Coalition and the chairs of the six standing committees, all from Coalition parties.
The ad hoc Committee will compile and discuss proposed amendments, presenting those which receive consensus to the plenary for approval without substantive debate. The Committee will work for three days, and is closed to the public. Journalists and civil society organizations are not allowed to observe, and the only non-Parliamentary participants are Government ministers, experts and advisors.
La'o Hamutuk thinks that although this Committee gives more space to the opposition to contribute than in the previous Parliament, the lack of public access weakens Timor-Leste's transparency.
Up to now, La'o Hamutuk has been proud that Timor-Leste, especially Parliament, has been a model of budget transparency for other countries. Our Parliamentary budget debates are very open, with live radio and television coverage, and civil society groups like La'o Hamutuk are allowed to participate in Committee discussions. However, the secret meetings of this ad hoc Committee make us afraid and sad, as this reduces Timor-Leste's transparency in the eyes of the world.
The just-released 2012 Open Budget Survey measures transparency in the state budget process of many nations, and rated Timor-Leste at 36 out of 100, slightly better than our score of 34 in 2010. Although it's a little improved, Timor-Leste's score is still lower than Indonesia, Malaysia and the Philippines. We're somewhat better than Cambodia, Myanmar and Vietnam, which shows that Timor-Leste gives a bit more information to the public.
A non-transparent budget process weakens democracy, because citizen's participation in the decision-making process is limited. In addition, less transparency often makes it easier for leaders to divert state resources to a special interest group or individual, or to corruption, preventing the public from receiving state benefits and condemning them to poverty.
[Adapted from http://laohamutuk.blogspot.com/2013/02/secret-committee- weakens-transparency.html.]