Muhammad Al Azhari – A large mixed use property project, managed by an Indonesian building contractor, held a ground-breaking ceremony in Dili, East Timor, last week, signaling a stronger investment future between the infamously hostile nations.

Pembangunan Perumahan, an Indonesian state-controlled company better known as PTPP, will be constructing an iconic 26-floor building in Dili's premium area, which will provide facilities including a mall, office units, apartments and a hotel.

The Rp 1 trillion ($86 million) building, built on 15,000 square meters of land, is called AGP Square named after Artha Graha group, which is controlled by tycoon Tomy Winata who is a majority shareholder in the project. "The AGP Square will be the tallest building in Timor Leste. It will be the icon in Dili's elite area," PTPP president director Bambang Triwibowo said.

The ceremony, held on Saturday, was witnessed by Timor Leste government officials, including the country's Prime Minister Xanana Gusmao and his deputy Fernando Lasama de Araujo as well as top executives from PTPP including Bambang and Tomy.

Bambang said once the AGP Square is operational, its presence is expected to ease the life of expatriates and the affluent, who often travel outside the country on weekend as they feel that the capital of the youngest nation in Southeast Asia lacks facilities. The construction is expected to be completed in the next two to three years.

The AGP Square is not the first project for PTPP in East Timor. The company recently completed construction work on the East Timorese finance ministry buildings and two road projects (Likuisa and Tibar roads). A company statement did not disclose the value of PTPP's previous projects in the country.

Local media, The Timor News, reported on Saturday that Tommy has joined forces with Franky Tjahyadikarta, an Indonesian businessman who is the co- founder of Alila Hotels and Resorts.

"We hope that this investment will serve as a symbol of good friendship between Indonesia and Timor Leste," Tomy Winata said as quoted The Timor News.

Meanwhile, the country's prime minister was quoted by the media as saying that he expected such investments to motivate other investors to consider the country which was made independent from Indonesia in 1999.

Earlier this year State Enterprises Minister Dahlan Iskan urged Indonesian state-controlled companies to expand into East Timor and tap into the small country's economy as it starts to develop.

Human rights & justice

Remembering East Timor's Kraras massacre 30 years on

Cafe Pacific - November 30, 2013

David Robie, Dili – On 28 November 1975, Timor-Leste made its fateful unilateral declaration of independence. A week later, a paranoid Indonesian military, fearful of an upstart "leftwing" neighbouring government, staged its brutal invasion and 24 years of repression and massacres followed.

On 17 September 1983, the infamous massacre of at least 300 civilians (probably a far higher number) took place at the village of Kraras and Wetuka River near Viqueque.

This heralded the end of the so-called ceasefire between Indonesian and Falintil forces and led to the long guerrilla struggle against Jakarta's harsh rule.

This week, the people of Kraras – the "village of widows" – proudly hosted the 38th anniversary of Timor-Leste independence; the real date, not the "rewritten" post-UN date. They also honoured the 30th anniversary of the Kraras massacre.

The massacre has been graphically portrayed in Timor-Leste's first feature film, Beatriz's War, and it was fitting that this movie should be screened to thousands of Timorese in an open-air arena at the independence festival this week.

Film role

Popular actor Gaspar Sarmento who played the role of a cruel Indonesian commander in the film spoke at the screening.

Also screened were a documentary about Falintil by film maker and video historian Max Stahl, whose images of the Santa Cruz massacre in 1991 became a global record and contributed to the eventual independence vote eight years later, and the feature film Balibo about the killing of six Australian-based journalists.

Stahl interviewed a real-life "Beatriz" at the three-day festival in his quest to make oral histories along survivors of Timor-Leste's turbulent past.

Theresa dos Anjos was the real daughter of guerrilla leader Celestino in the film Beatriz's War, but in real life it was Celestino's son Virgilio who was a resistance hero. Controversy still surrounds the exact details of the Kraras massacre and some background is highlighted on the Timor Archives website.

Far worse

But the massacre was certainly far worse than at Santa Cruz, yet the latter was better known internationally because of the presence of Western journalists.

Other massacres included: The Dili Invasion Day massacre on 7 December 1975, the Oedaberek-Manufahi massacre in 1975, the Marabia-Dili massacre in 1980, the Santa Cruz massacre in 1991, the Maliana in August 1999 (during the "scorched earth" devastation by Indonesian troops and their orchestrated militia) and the Tumin-Oecusse massacre in August 1999.

A major question remains about Kraras: What has become of legal investigations into the massacre and to identify and mark the killing sites and memorialise those who died?

There is now a "Garden of Heroes" on the Kraras hill beside the military parade ground where the formal anniversary ceremony took place this Thursday, but no list of names of those who died or any markers at the actual massacre sites.

An NGO devoted to seeking justice for "enforced disappearances" held a media conference at Kraras and issued a statement calling for more international pressure on Indonesia to provide information on the remains of captured and "disappeared" Timorese resistance leaders.

"We ask the US, UK, French, Australian and other governments who supported the [Indonesian] occupation to help the Timorese government to put pressure on Indonesia to return the remains of [President] Nicolau Lobato, and to show the whereabouts of Falintil commander 'Daitula', Mahudu, Alex, Sabalae, and other enforced disappearances," said the statement signed by Francelino Antonio Ximenes.

A Guerra da Beatriz

East Timor diary postscript: A murder investigation was under way today in the Beto Timur neigbourhood on a street that the Cafe Pacific publisher walks daily on his Timor-Leste mission.

"We're investigating a homicide," said a detective placing yellow number cards on the killing scene in response to Cafe Pacific questions about the presence of some six police cars and 30 policemen.

But she declined to give other information. Other police officers said the killing was apparently part of a fight over money.

It's Time for justice in Timor

New Matilda - November 27, 2013

Amy Ripley – The respected East Timorese human rights organisation La'o Hamutuk is demanding that the Indonesian government finally be held accountable for their bloody 24-year occupation of East Timor.

This month, to mark the 22-year anniversary of the notorious Santa Cruz massacre – when Indonesian soldiers murdered over 200 peaceful student protesters in cold blood – La'o Hamutuk and a collective of Timorese human rights organisations issued a joint declaration demanding that all Indonesians involved in crimes during the occupation be brought to justice. (Amnesty's 2011 statement on the 20-year anniversary gives the clearest overview of events and numbers of those who died at Santa Cruz.)

Celestino Gusmao and Mariano Ferreira, activists with La'o Hamutuk, draw a direct correlation with current human rights abuses in West Papua. They told New Matilda that people in Timor-Leste are still suffering today because of the atrocities committed by the Indonesian military.

"We have clear examples of the consequences of impunity – in West Papua and other places in Indonesia, almost every day, people are murdered, tortured, raped or 'disappeared'. In Timor, the Indonesian occupation also murdered and 'disappeared' many people," says Gusmao.

"These bad memories are still alive in the survivors' minds, while criminals are still free to move around. Without justice it is even harder for us to forget or accept the horror that we lived through."

The joint declaration condemns Prime Minister Xanana Gusmao for publicly embracing the infamous retired Indonesian Military Commander Wiranto in 2004 and developing warm diplomatic relations with Indonesia:

"Military perpetrators do not fear criminal accountability... In Timor- Leste, our leaders follow only what the big men want, not what the law directs."

Indonesian atrocities during its occupation of East Timor are well documented. The Timor-Leste Commission for Reception, Truth and Reconciliation (CAVR) estimates that 102,800 people were murdered or disappeared, with 84,200 dying from starvation or illness. Many more were raped, tortured or displaced.

Apart from a handful of dedicated international activists, the world largely turned a blind eye to Indonesia's reign of terror until the Santa Cruz massacre, which was covertly filmed by several Western journalists, was exposed in 1991.

In addition to the joint declaration, La'o Hamutuk continue to needle the Indonesians, recently publishing an open letter requesting they release the whereabouts of the bodies of Timorese resistance fighters killed during the occupation. La'o Hamutuk say this is essential to both wider reconciliation and the healing of the families of those who were killed:

"During the resistance many of our soldiers were brutally murdered or captured and tortured. The families of the missing soldiers and the others that disappeared during the occupation want the bodies of their loved ones returned so they can give them a proper burial."

Echoing calls in the joint declaration, the letter also demands that the international community take its share of responsibility for enabling human rights abuses by supporting the Indonesian occupation.

"We want the governments of the UK, US and Australia and the international companies that benefited from the illegal Indonesian occupation to take responsibility for their complicity. They have an obligation to help us because they supported the occupation. We want them to support the establishment of an international tribunal to investigate human rights abuses by the Indonesian military. This will establish the truth and will have the legal capacity to ensure Timorese people obtain fair reparations from the perpetrators and from the major nations that benefited from Indonesian occupation, as CAVR recommends."

In many ways, East Timor today can be viewed as a success story. Since independence in 2002, infrastructure has been developed, children educated and real efforts made to deal with corruption. The Gusmao government hopes that a sustainable financial future might be possible, if substantial oil and gas reserves are used correctly.

However, according to La'o Hamutuk, the many wounds inflicted by the Indonesians must be healed before the country can really move on.

"The government is only thinking about developing the economy, not dealing with the past," says Ferreira. "But genuine accountability will help to bring greater democracy and justice to the people of Timor-Leste."

Dr Gordon Peake is the author of Beloved Land, which was published in September and tells the many different stories of East Timor. He says that reconciliation is a not a straightforward issue. "Timor's situation can't be found in a peace-building handbook," he told New Matilda.

He suggests that the East Timorese government is merely being practical in its dealings with Indonesia, acting to secure the future of the country.

"The government are being Class A pragmatists. Indonesia could put Timor in its pocket, if it wanted to – Dili would close down if Indonesia stopped supplying goods and products."

Alongside these discussions of reconciliation, Peake suggests that more attention needs to be paid to conflict-related mental health in East Timor. A 2000 study in The Lancet found that more than one fifth of East Timorese had witnessed the murder of a relative or friend, he writes in Beloved Land. A University of Auckland study found that 5 per cent of people had post-traumatic stress disorder, with 12 per cent exhibiting signs of psychosis. "It's amazing that the statistics are as low as they are," he said.

It may not be easy to bring those involved in human rights abuses to justice. Thirteen years on, many of those involved, both Indonesians and Timorese, now live in relative peace and obscurity, while the families of their victims continue to suffer. La'o Hamutuk insists that the past needs to be dealt with before the future can be assured.

"Everyone in Timor has been a victim of the illegal Indonesian occupation," Ferreira says. "Justice is needed to satisfy all the people that lost their beloved ones and justice is the only credible way to deal with criminals and respect those who died."

The East Timor Ministry of Justice did not respond to requests for comment for this article.

Media & journalism

East Timor's Independente champions genuine 'free press'

Cafe Pacific - November 23, 2013

David Robie, Dili – While the Timor-Leste media industry was rejuvenated by a national congress last month that voted on a new code of ethics, one of the country's most independent chief editors has warned against the risks of a "media council elephant".

Mouzinho Lopes de Araujo, editorial director of Timor-Leste's newest paper, the Independente, is proud of the progress of the country's fledgling media but says there are still many problems to address.

"There are many impediments to a free press in Timor-Leste," he says. "We don't really have a free press in this country. The press is all about what the government is doing and celebrations."

A draft media law is currently before the national Parliament and it is widely feared that a journalist licensing system and criminal penalties could be imposed as in Fiji and mooted in Papua New Guinea.

"The government is only interested in getting its own agenda across in the media, not what the people want," Lopes says.

"If we try to raise issues that are outside the government agenda, the reply we get is: 'We have no time to talk about this' or 'This is a state secret'.

"Here at the Independente, we're trying to break free from this mould and be independent. We want to cover other issues, not just the government's agenda.

"But the trouble is as soon as we raise an issue or questions, the government responds by saying this or that party is behind the story. There is no freedom to raise the people's issues.

"Our masthead motto is: 'Imi Nia Lian, Imi Nia Liberdade' – 'Your voice, your freedom' – and we run the newspaper based on this approach. And I think we live up to the motto – we have no political party influence."

Both Lopes – known as "Mouzy" to friends and colleagues – and a volunteer South African journalist working at the newspaper, Rowena McNaughton, believe non-government oganisations could raise a higher profile in the country for grassroots people.

Training advisers

The Independente has made wide-ranging and constructive use of foreign media advisers, trainers and volunteers – seven since it began in April 2011 – and believes it is raising standards.

"A lot of people don't want to speak out. They're afraid of losing their jobs if they take a stand on the record.

"The media in Timor-Leste is at a cross-roads. The media is in transition with the new code and hopefully things will improve. Every editor and journalist in Timor-Leste wants to do their best for the country and to follow their ethics. "We're all trying to get better."

The October self-regulatory media congress was well attended by 150 journalists and with a lot of enthusiasm.

"For me three things stood out: Our journalists are committed to ethics; our journalists are united for a better media; and concerns over the role of the government in the background," says Lopes.

"We want to act now. We want to get on with working in this new media environment. But also we have higher ideals than the press council, we are committed to good journalism for this country.

New journalism

"When we started the Independente, we wanted to produce a very different newspaper. I was chief editor at the time on the Timor Post, but I saw this new newspaper as a challenge to put in place a new form of journalism. What are the differences?

"We don't just tell only what the government wants to tell the people. We tell what ordinary people want to say, we are more responsive to the public," Lopes responds.

"Timor-Leste has many diverse groups in the country – rich people, poor people; Tetun-speaking people, Portuguese-speaking people, Indonesian- speaking people, English-speaking people. We serve them all.

The Independente is unique in regularly publishing an English-language page, including many background issue news features.

For example, this week the Independente published a four column article about the issue of "forced disappearances" during the 24 years of illegal Indonesian occupation of Timor-Leste after independence was declared in 1975.

Stalling 'abuse'

The article concluded that by stalling over the issue and calls for justice by the families of the disappeared and civil rights advocates, the Timor- Leste government inactivity was itself "akin to human right abuse". But the article was not translated into Tetun.

The allegations over Australian spying on Indonesia and Timor-Leste controversy have also been getting full coverage in Engish and Tetun this week.

"Compared to the other dailies, the Independente has more of a focus on ordinary people. Most of the others only report what the political leaders have to say, what Parliament has to say – that is our big difference," says Lopes.

"Another factor is the quality of editing and other papers also compliment us on the quality of editing."

Editorial team

The Independente has nine reporters, including three regional correspondents in Baucau, Lautem and Ainaro, and four editors, including Lopes as editorial director. Lopes himself is arguably the only journalist in Timor-Leste with a full media qualification at a recognised journalism school.

He studied for three years in Papua New Guinea in 2002-5, where he gained the Diploma of Communication Arts at Divine Word University in Madang.

The principal owner, Oscar Lima, a prominent businessman understood to have political ties to Fretilin, is committed to independent journalism.

The newspaper has a daily circulation of about 500 and is printed by an Indonesian company, Grafika Patria. It maintains an "open" Independente page on Facebook and is considering starting a website.

Student readers

It also gives away free newspapers to students in an effort to be more widely read – as young Timorese mostly get their news from online sources in a country that has less than two percent of its 1.07 million population on the internet.

Ironically, the Independente is produced in a dingy office at the end of Rua Palapaco in the central suburb of Farol, a street next to the Indonesian Embassy.

"The media industry in Timor-Leste is in a fragile state. It is up to he editors and journalists to raise our game," says Lopes.

"We need to adhere to good ethics and to have good media law. We don't want a bureaucratic press council elephant or media freedom will be destroyed.

"So we need a good media council. We don't need the Australian way. We don't need the Portuguese way – where all members are selected by Parliament. We don't need the Indonesian way.

'Own way'

"We need to put things together in our own way and make our own decisions. We need a media council that reflects the Timor-Leste situation.

"A draft media law was written by a Portuguese lawyer. All the journalists rejected it. It will not happen.

"We don't want the government to just be all sweetness like sugar with the journalists being attracted to all the jam."

Asked about payments to journalists, cited at the congress as being up to US$5-20 for attending press conferences or up to US$40 when accompanying ministers on visits to the districts, de Araujo is critical.

"I have never personally experienced an example of 'envelope journalism' – a common practice in Indonesia where cash inducements are paid out to journalists – or seen money being handed over.

Practice exposed

"In our own newsroom, we have a policy of covering events only if we regard them as newsworthy, not if there are inducements to turn up.

"But we ran a story several months ago exposing this practice when a reporter took pictures of a minister's handout involving another newspaper.

"News media is a new concept for the Timorese. It has really only been seriously developed since the renewal of independence just over a decade ago.

'Many rural people do not understand what the media is. What is journalism?"

Proud of media

During the quarter century of Indonesian education in Timor-Leste, there was no media subject in schools.

"We are proud of how the media has grown in Timor-Leste in a short time, says Lopes.

"Unlike some Pacific countries where the media has been dominated by foreign ownership, we have done everything by ourselves – and we have a lot to offer the country in the future."

Pacific Media Centre director Dr David Robie is on a sabbatical visit to Timor-Leste and is a volunteer attached to La'o Hamutuk (Timor-Leste Institute for Development Monitoring and Analysis). David was member of a NZ Electoral Commission media monitoring team to Timor-Leste in 2007.

RWB welcomes creation of press council and code of ethics

Reporters Without Borders - November 7, 2013

Australian RWB correspondent Mark Pearson tells us about an historic congress of Timor Leste journalists which was held in Dili from 25 to 27 October. Reporters Without Borders welcomes the holding of the conference and the results obtained, but stresses that only the creation of a favorable environment for the press would lead to true self-regulation of the media requested by the Prime Minister. He has the power to ensure the journalists' move to self-regulation is not restricted by tough new press laws which would run counter to the free expression enshrined in the Timor Leste Constitution.

An historic congress of Timor-Leste journalists held in Dili over the weekend (October 25-27) voted for their first code of ethics and a seven- member press council.

But the next hurdle for media freedom in the small Asia-Pacific nation will be a press law currently before the national parliament which it is feared will feature a journalist licensing system and criminal penalties.

The media law proposed by a committee of journalists advising the government featured self-regulatory controls. However, the final version includes amendments proposed by the Secretary of State for Social Communication, Mr Nelio Isaac Sarmento, rumoured to include the licensing and criminal sanctions.

Opening the congress on Friday, Prime Minister Xanana Gusmao scolded journalists for not having developed adequate self-regulation when he had warned them to do so in 2009.

But he congratulated the media associations on their latest efforts to unify for a code of ethics and press council; stating that press freedom was important to democracy, but that freedom should be exercised responsibly.

More than 150 journalists in attendance on Sunday – representing several journalism associations – voted for the 10 point code of ethics, featuring a preamble affirming the importance of free expression and media self- regulation and clauses on: accuracy and impartiality, opposition to censorship, defence of the public interest, anti-discrimination, separation of fact from opinion, confidentiality of sources, quick correction of inaccuracies, rejection of plagiarism, protection of identity of victims, and rejection of financial inducements.

That final clause will present major challenges for Timor-Leste journalists, many of who freely admit to accepting payments from politicians for positive coverage.

Media sources say reporters are often paid US$5-20 at press conferences and up to US$40 by officials when accompanying ministers on tours to the provinces.

Such payments represent a substantial influence, given media outlets only pay their reporters about US$140 per month plus lunch and travel expenses.

Other problems facing the industry are a lack of training, a dependence on government advertising and the endemic drift of journalists to public service positions when they become available. This leaves editors and news directors with newsrooms staffed by inexperienced personnel.

The congress was funded by the European Union's 1 million euro Media Support Program, co-ordinated by Portugal.

Foreign experts sharing their own countries' experiences with self- regulation included the chairman of the Indonesian Alliance of Independent Journalists (AJI) Eko Maryadi, Christiana Chelsia Chan from the Press Council of Indonesia, Portuguese journalism academics Joaquim Fidalgo and Carlos Camponez, and @journlaw.

[Mark Pearson, Professor of Journalism and Social Media, Griffith University, Australia.]

Health & education

Health ministry draft law for controlling tobacco consumption, advertising

Dili Weekly - November 29, 2013

Paulina Quintao – Despite the outcry from the community for the government to ban cigarette advertising in public spaces, the Minister of Health said it won't be able to because there is no law for this.

He said the new legislation will fortify articles in the International Convention of Controlling Tobacco which Timor-Leste has already ratified. He added the legislation is in response to community concerns over the increase in tobacco advertising in public spaces in the country.

"We now are developing new legislation that will be presented to the Council Ministers for approval that will put a total ban on tobacco advertising," said Chief dos Santos at Hotel Vila Verde, in Dili.

He said the new legislation is very important because it will ban these types of advertising and because tobacco taxes in Timor-Leste are very low compared with other countries making it easier for young people to pick up the habit.

In Timor-Leste there is a high prevalence of chronic diseases related to smoking such as hypertension, cancer and tuberculosis, with the costs for treatment heavy on the public purse.

He added smoking is a health hazard that puts lives at risk in the long run, leads to infertility, causes mouth and tongue cancer, and may lead to premature births in pregnant women who smoke during pregnancy.

According to global statistics approximately 6,000,000 die each year due to smoking related diseases and some 600,000 die each year due to passive smoking.

Meanwhile the President of Commission F (Health, Education, Gender Equality and Veteran Affairs), MP Virgilio da Costa Hornai, agrees with this initiative but warned the National Parliament has many other laws that it will need to be debated first.

"These initiatives are very positive and we will consider the types of advertising that are allowed but we have other laws to discuss first such as the Land and Property Law, the Decentralization Law, and others," said MP Hornai.

In the meantime the Minister of Health, Dr. Sergio da Costa Lobo, said the ministry currently is not able to ban cigarette advertising in public spaces because there isn't a legal basis for such a ban. "We can't do anything legally to force them to take down this advertising," said Minister Lobo.

Timor-Leste students earn medical degrees with Cuban aid

Prensa Latina - November 18, 2013

Havana – A total of 246 medical students in Timor-Leste received their degrees today in that nation as a part of a joint project between the Latin American School of Medicine in Cuba and the National University in that Asian country.

According to Timor-Leste Embasssy in Havana, 71 nursing students also received their diplomas in Dili, as did five students in the specialty of gynecology and obstetrics.

Five classes of students, for a total of 798 doctors, have earned their degrees through this project, which began in February 2003 in Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia, during the celebration of Non-Aligned Movement summit.

On that occasion, Kay Rala Xanana Gusmao, at that time President of Timor- Leste and currently Prime Minister, and Jose Ramos Horta, then Minister of Foreign Affairs and Cooperation, met with the leader of the Cuban Revolution, Fidel Castro.

The three leaders agreed to start a cooperation project in which Cuba would train 1,000 doctors from Timor-Leste with the support and the experience of Cuban health professionals.

MSI: Unsafe abortions can be deadly for mothers

Dili Weekly - November 7, 2013

Paulina Quintao – The Marie Stopes International Timor-Leste (MSI-TL) Clinic Coordinator Maria Fernanda Serra said mothers who have unsafe abortions risk their lives and could die if they're not treated by health staff.

She said abortion did happen in the country, but until now there was no concrete data on how many mothers had unsafe abortions because the community considered it a sensitive problem.

"Based on the law it's illegal, but the reality is that it happens as a lot of mothers have unsafe abortions and sometimes we're surprised when a mother abandons a baby in this or that place," said Coordinator Serra in Vila Verde, Dili.

Coordinator Serra said abortions happened because the mothers fell pregnant against their wishes and as a last resort they decided to have an abortion.

"We had a case in Oe-Cusse where a young lady fell pregnant but she was not ready so she had abortion outside and there was a lot of blood and the baby was taken to a health facility and the mother died because it was too late to take her to Dili," she said.

In another case from two years ago, a secondary student fell pregnant before she was ready, so she went to a witchdoctor who used traditional medicine but there was heavy bleeding and she was taken to the health centre but couldn't be saved.

Apart from unsafe abortions causing death, she said they could also cause ovary infections and infertility. She added that others asked at the MSI Clinic about getting an abortion but MSI refused, saying MSI-TL works based on the laws ratified.

President of the Parliamentary Women's Group Josefa Alvares Soares said Timor-Leste had a law to strongly condemn women who had unsafe abortions but implementation was still weak because health staff did not bring cases forward.

She said article 141 in the Penal Code stated those who spread information to others about having abortions or those who used different methods to give themselves an abortion would be sentenced to three years because it's a violation of the rights of children.

"It's not implemented well, if health workers detect people who chose to have an abortion and they don't report the mothers, it indicates that we don't seriously implement the law so people destroy their children," MP Soares said.

She said there were two kinds of abortions, a spontaneous abortion (miscarriage) meant it happened suddenly, caused by malaria, a fall or stress and the other way was by choice.

She said after an abortion it impacted a person's health and people ran to health facilities, so the hospital should not be silent and should process mothers who end their baby's life by choice.

Sexual & domestic violence

Domestic violence laws in East Timor failing to protect women NGOs say

ABC News - November 8, 2013

Stephanie Boulet – Legal experts and NGOs in East Timor say laws against domestic violence are failing to reduce rates of violence against women.

The government is nearing the end of a three-year campaign to reduce rates of violence in the country, but NGOs say perpetrators often go unpunished.

Patricia de Araujo Fatima, an officer with not-for-profit legal aid organisation Asistensia Legal ba Feto no Labarik (ALFeLA), says she sees many cases of domestic violence in her job. "In the Oecusse district there is a woman whose husband cut off both her hands with a machete," Ms Fatima said.

She says the man then slashed his wife across the face, knocking out multiple teeth and causing permanent damage to her eye. "This is a very sad case," Ms Fatima said.

In another case, a man stabbed his wife in the back of the head and struck her repeatedly with a block of wood, after an argument about feeding their children. The man received a suspended sentenced of seven months in jail.

Many women are hospitalised as a result of domestic violence. Every year, about 100 of the worst cases are offered free medical care and a safe place to stay by an NGO called PRADET. PRADET says it sees more women go through its doors every year.

In 2010, a comprehensive government survey found 38 per cent of women were victims of physical violence. That same year, the government passed the Law Against Domestic Violence and launched an education campaigned to raise awareness.

The national action plan also involves protection of victims through safe houses, as well as legal assistance to victims.

But Ms Fatima says violence against women remains alarmingly common and is under-reported. "The situation hasn't improved," she said.

Domestic violence victims face personal barriers

Ms Fatima says women who experience domestic violence in East Timor face a number of challenges.

"Women are economically dependent on their husbands and that is why they are scared to report their case," she said. "They are scared their husband will divorce them and they will be unable to care for their children."

Furthermore, she says many communities still view domestic violence as a private issue that should not be dealt with in public.

"Some women do not know that domestic violence is a crime," said Ms Fatima. "Then, when police get reports of domestic violence they keep quiet about it."

Lisa, a victim of domestic violence whose name has been changed for this report, says police did nothing when she went to them for help.

"I had a problem with my husband at home, he hit me and my face swelled up," she said. "I reported it to police but they sent me back home."

East Timor's peak judicial-system-monitoring NGO, Justice System Monitoring Programme (JSMP), says there is confusion about the role of police, prosecutors, lawyers and the courts.

The Australian Federal Police (AFP), which provides training and support for East Timorese police, says remoteness is another major problem.

"It might take hours or days to get to the police station," said Melita Zielonko from the AFP's Timor-Leste Police Development Program, Gender Equality and Vulnerable Persons Unit. "One way of dealing with crime is through the village or family, through negotiation."

Court backlogged with domestic violence cases

Monitoring by the JSMP shows that East Timorese courts are clogged with cases of domestic violence. The JSMP said the system is slow and unreliable and it causes women to lose faith in the legal process.

One woman, known only as Rosa, travelled more than 100 kilometres from a remote district for a hearing at a court in Dili. "My husband was angry and he hit me, then I reported it to police and they sent my report to the court," she said.

After waiting several hours outside the court room, the judge failed to turn up and she returned home. "I want my husband to promise to resolve problems peacefully, so we don't have to come back to court again," she said.

JSMP says there are only a few prosecutors, which means that the handling of cases is very slow.

Casa Vida is an NGO that provides permanent accommodation for 60 girls who are victims of sexual assault. Program manager Grace Pitanuki says the justice system is weak and slow.

"In five years, since 2008 until now, from 178 cases only five of them have been resolved in the court," she said. "Most of the girls don't want to talk about it anymore, because it is taking some time. They give up."

Punishments not deterring domestic violence

Nearly all the domestic violence cases monitored by JSMP result in a suspended sentence, which has not been proven to act as a deterrent.

"The victims are not happy with the punishment the court gives," said Ms Fatima. "They feel that the crime is not equal to the sentence they are given.

"I accompanied one victim who said, 'My husband hit me many times, he shoved me under the bed, then he pushed me through the window. I wet myself. Why is it only one year jail, suspended for two years?'"

In another case, a man who hospitalised his wife for not preparing his lunch was fined $40 by the court.

A man who kicked and slapped his wife because his clothes had not been washed was given a six-month jail sentence, suspended for one year. AFP says change will take time

The AFP says when it comes to gender equality, East Timor's government is headed in the right direction. The East Timor government is conducting workshops in remote districts, such as Baucau.

"The government has been very good and positive on socialising the community about domestic violence," said Ms Zielonko.

"These things take time and I'm sure things will improve. It's only a very young police force, established in 2002 and they need to be brought up to speed to dealing with gender-based violence crimes," said Ms Zielonko.

But Armando da Costa of the Secretary of State for the Promotion of Equality admits rates are still high.

"It needs time to change people's attitude and mentality. It's not an easy thing," he said. "Step by step, little by little, changes are happening in the community."

Graft & corruption

Timor Leste AGO seeks cooperation with KPK

Jakarta Post - November 13, 2013

Jakarta – The Timor Leste Attorney General's Office (AGO) plans to strengthen relations with the Corruption Eradication Commission (KPK) in the future.

Timor Leste Attorney General Jose da Costa Ximenes said on Tuesday the move was necessary to help the country combat corruption.

"Since Timor Leste became independent, we have good political relations [with Indonesia], but in terms of law, we haven't," he said at a press conference during a visit to the KPK headquarters in Kuningan, South Jakarta.

The visit was aimed at testing the waters before strengthening relations with the KPK, according to Ximenes. "We will invite the KPK to Timor Leste for it to become familiar with our legal system. We will also share information as well as [information] on human resources," he said.

Ximenes added that the AGO had taken measures to combat corruption in the country, including by focusing its human resources on graft cases involving public institutions.

MPs: Anti-corruption commission still weak

Dili Weekly - November 7, 2013

Ezequiel Freitas – Members of National Parliament consider the work of the Anti-Corruption Commission (KAK) to be ineffective combating corruption, especially in the area of human resources.

"Their capacity is still low, they have minimal experience and their framework is still weak and needs to be fixed," Member of Parliament (MP) Pedro da Costa said.

According to him, for the work of KAK to be more effective it needs the support of all entities. "We should all give our support to make a law, to make a regulation to give them power, to force them to follow laws and regulations so their work can control state organs," the MP said.

He said some people had not given their testimonies because KAK protected them, even though it was known they were corrupt. The MP said until now there was no law on coordination between KAK, the Public Prosecutor and investigators.

He said MPs had not yet presented the proposal on the draft Anti Corruption Law. "Now we just know about definitions, but there are not very rigorous regulations to force people to obey regulations and give sanctions to those who deviate from their authority to bring private benefits to themselves," he said.

At the same place, Member of Parliamentary Commission A, MP Antonino Bianco said KAK had already done some things, but they needed to make more of an effort in professional training. "We hope they cooperate with the Public Prosecutor so the process will run smoother," he said.

The MP said the Anti-Corruption Law was still with Commission A and it had not yet been put on the agenda for a debate in parliament. "I think this year it cannot be done as the general state budget has been submitted and there are many laws pending for us to discuss," said MP Bianco.

Meanwhile, the Judicial System Monitoring Program Director Jose Luis de Oliveira Sampaio said KAK's work to combat corruption was underway, because the former Minister of Justice was found to have committed corruption and was made accountable through a court decision.

Sampaio explained it was not only that case, but also some suspects from the Ministry of Finance had gone to prison. "I think the efforts of KAK together with other state institutions like the Public Prosecutor have brought some criminals to court," Sampaio said.

He explained to further empower KAK they needed a strong law as well as human resources.

The JSMP Director said there was not yet a law on anti corruption. "They just work with KAK's statute and some other laws relate to combating corruption in places like the Penal Code and some Indonesian laws."

He said according to JSMP, KAK had investigated a lot of cases. "We know of some cases like the case involving the former Minister of Justice, the case involving a Director from the Ministry of Finance, and some cases are still under investigation," he said.

Agriculture & food security

Timor-Leste provides land to Cabo Verde for agriculture

Macauhub - November 21, 2013

The government of Timor-Leste (East Timor) plans to provide Cabo Verde (Cape Verde) land for agriculture, as part of an arrangement that is similar to what it already has with Angola and Paraguay, the Timor-Leste Agriculture Minister said Wednesday cited by Cape Verdean radio.

Minister Mariano Sabino Lopes, who took part in an international agro- business symposium in Cape Verde, held in Praia, noted that it was important to "focus on the food wellbeing" of the populations of the Community of Portuguese-speaking Countries (CPLP).

Noting Cabo Verde's experience in fighting hunger, Lopes said that he hoped Timor-Leste would "know how to learn from the Cape Verdeans," particularly in terms of leadership, which is another of the areas in which the two countries want to boost cooperation. (macauhub)

Criminal justice & prison system

Prisoners flee East Timor prison after Sunday mass

Agence France Presse - November 3, 2013

Two dozen inmates escaped from an East Timor prison on Sunday by beating up wardens and fleeing through the main gate as they returned to their cells after mass, an official said.

The escapees, including two militants who fought against the nation's independence from Indonesia, had been among more than 350 prisoners at morning worship at a hall in the prison. East Timor is as majority-Catholic nation.

Other inmates who fled were serving time for crimes including murder, rape and theft. "Twenty-four inmates escaped. They beat up two wardens and ran out through the main entrance," said Joao Domingos, chief of the Becora prison in Dili, the capital.

Police had recaptured 13 inmates and were looking for the others, he said, adding the former anti-independence fighters were among those still on the loose.

Domingos blamed the breakout from the prison on a lack of guards and equipment such as walkie-talkies and batons. Almost 60 inmates escaped from the same prison in 2006.

Indonesia's brutal 24-year occupation of East Timor, Asia's youngest nation, ended in 1999 with a UN-administered referendum.

Both the run-up to the vote, in which the Timorese voted overwhelmingly in favour of independence, and its aftermath were marked by a campaign of violence by pro-Indonesian militias.

Following three years of UN administration, East Timor gained independence in 2002 but remains impoverished.

Border & security issues

TNI: Smuggling still rampant in Indonesia-Timor Leste border area

Tempo - November 24, 2013

Fransisco Rosarians, Kupang – Commander of Security Forces of Indonesian- Timor Leste Border, Major Infantry Budi Prasetyo said the number of smuggling in the border area of the two countries was still quite high.

In the past two months, he said security forces had foiled a number of attempts trying to smuggle oil, basic foods, firearms and vehicles. "More Indonesians smuggle goods to Timor Leste than the other way around," Budi Prasetyo said.

The main factors of those smuggling cases, he said, are the poor economic conditions of the people and the limited number of jobs in the border area. Plus, the needs of Timor Leste people for fuel and basic food due to the high price of those commodities in the country also play an important role to the smuggling.

Budi said one liter of fuel in Timor Leste is priced at Rp15,000 while in Belu Regency, Indonesia, it is only Rp8,000.

So far, the security forces have foiled the smuggling of 9,133 liters of oil. The Indonesian Armed Forces (TNI) has also foiled smuggling of 13 assembled firearms, 109 ammunitions and six hand grenades, and five M16 magazines. The security forces have also foiled smuggling of two jars of frying oils, 34 bottles of liquor, 7 boxes of instant noodle, 4 sacks of tobaccos and 1 sack of flour.

"We have also foiled smuggling of one Kijang Innova car," Budi added.

Foreign affairs & trade

Timor-Leste spying claims: Australia has a history of bugging its neighbour

The Guardian (Australia) - November 29, 2013

Reheated allegations that Australia bugged Timor-Leste's leaders during negotiations over resource revenues will reinforce perceptions that colonialism still underpins our foreign policy approach to smaller, less wealthy and more troubled northern neighbours.

But they will surprise few seasoned diplomats and intelligence experts the world over.

For they know that Australia's intelligence agencies have infamously carried out extensive electronic eavesdropping (not to mention human intelligence) operations in Timor-Leste since well before Indonesia's invasion and annexation in 1975.

The veracity of the allegations, which relate to negotiations in the Timor-Leste capital Dili in 2004 and Canberra in 2005, is yet to be publicly proven. While international arbitrators investigate whether Australia did actually gain an unfair advantage by spying, the standard federal government refusal to confirm or deny only adds further conjecture to the claims.

If they are untrue, they should be denied outright. The national interest can't possibly be served by heightening the perception that Australia would cheat on this poor, fledgling nation to get a bigger slice of the resources pie.

Unless, of course, the allegations are true. Which seems likely. Because a denial could be embarrassingly exposed as a lie should Timor-Leste actually produce proof that Australia bugged its government's cabinet room in Dili, as alleged, in 2004. And so the charade continues.

The truth is that the "national interest" as defined by successive federal governments is utterly arbitrary. Australian governments confirm – even leak – stories about "intelligence" that suit them politically and strategically; take, for example, the decision earlier this year to publicly confirm the intelligence about Australians who are returning from fighting in Syria.

Suggestions that Australia spied on Timor-Leste during the resources negotiations were first raised in Shakedown, a book about the grab for Timor oil written by journalist Paul Cleary – a former adviser to the Timor-Leste government who now writes for the Australian.

Cleary sat in many of Timor-Leste's tactics meetings in Dili and later in Canberra, when members of his team met Australian officials.

Timor-Leste has insisted that spies from the Australian Secret Intelligence Service (ASIS), which collects intelligence offshore, bugged the cabinet room and ministerial offices in Dili where the government's tactical discussions took place. This seems plausible on several levels.

Firstly, ASIS – which had been active in Timor-Leste in the lead-up to and after the 1999 UN-sponsored autonomy vote and subsequent transition of sovereignty in 2002 – was already taking close interest in the government of Mari Alkatiri when the 2004 Greater Sunrise oil negotiations began.

From the outset, Alkatiri's administration was beset by intrigue and tensions with the country's fledgling military of the type that, justifiably, provoked an active interest from Australian intelligence services. A failed state on Australia's doorstep at the height of global radical jihadi activity in the wake of 9/11 was rightly feared in Canberra.

Secondly, on a practical level, bugging the offices of the Timor-Leste government was simple.

As one person close to Alkatiri's government said: "As far as I am aware, no preventative measures were ever taken. It was so easy for them to do it, it would almost have been [done] as a matter of course. The Australian intelligence services knew those buildings well from Portuguese times and the [Timor-Leste] government knew that."

In 2005 in Canberra, the Timor-Leste negotiating team declined to hold its tactics meeting in the office provided for it by Australia in the Department of Foreign Affairs and Trade building, suspecting that it was bugged.

Cleary recounted last week how he and his colleagues instead held their discussions amid the Rodins and Moores in the National Gallery of Australia's sculpture garden and how he had taken all of the mobile phones from the group and placed them in a bag well away from the discussions.

Such caution was commendable but perhaps ultimately ineffective. Some agencies, it is said, have long had the capacity to eavesdrop on private conversations conducted near mobile telephones even if they are switched off and unless the batteries are removed.

The Timor-Leste government first went public with the spying allegations last May.

Its decision to raise them again this week have largely been dismissed in government circles (not least by former foreign minister Alexander Downer, who seems to be creating a new role for himself as interference runner-in- chief for incumbent Julie Bishop) as a cynical attempt to leverage off the greater spying scandal involving Australia and the Indonesian president.

Which it probably is. But when you're as small as Timor-Leste you must use whatever opportunity presents itself.

During Indonesia's long occupation of Timor-Leste, Australian intelligence technicians comprehensively eavesdropped on the radio and phone communications of the Indonesian military (and, sometimes, the resistance fighters) across the province.

Based on these intercepts Canberra-based intelligence analysts were able to provide forensically detailed briefs to relevant departments, including foreign affairs, on military actions including widespread atrocities against civilians.

Such intelligence gathering intensified in 1999 in the lead-up to the UN autonomy ballot. The Australian Defence Intelligence Organisation concluded that – contrary to assertions by the then federal government that only "rogue elements" of the Indonesian military were co-ordinating the violence of nationalist militias – responsibility for militia violence went all the way to the top.

The Australian intelligence heavily implicated Indonesia's military commander in chief, General Wiranto, later a failed presidential candidate.

In 1999 one of those involved in Australia's Timor-Leste intelligence operations told me: "When they say it, we hear it."

And that included the militias' plans to raze the province after the autonomy ballot. As predicted by Australian military intelligence, terrible violence ensued. The militias fled and the widespread violence stopped when the Australian-led Interfet force entered the province 16 days later.

Much of the incriminating material gathered by Australian intelligence services back then might have formed the evidentiary basis of a compelling case against the Indonesian military for the gross violation of human rights in Timor-Leste.

And here's the irony at the heart of all of this intelligence stuff regarding Timor-Leste.

Timor-Leste is reluctant to pursue the Indonesian military for its crimes, provable in part due to Australian eavesdropping, in the name of enhanced relations with its all-powerful neighbour in Jakarta. But they are more than willing to pick a fight with strategically less important Australia over alleged eavesdropping during the resources negotiations.

Senior Timorese minister backs Indonesia's call for spying code of conduct

Kiama Independent - November 28, 2013

Dan Harrison – A senior East Timorese minister has backed Indonesian president Susilo Bambang Yudhoyono's call for a code of conduct on spying, questioning whether intelligence gathering by some nations had got out of hand.

East Timor's Minister of State and President of the Council of Ministers Agio Pereira told Fairfax Media that he had been concerned by recent revelations about Australia's spying operations, including that it used its Dili embassy to intercept phone calls and internet data.

"You do wonder where does this stop," he said. Referring to Australia bugging the phone of Dr Yudhoyono's wife, he said: "When revelations come about recording the first lady of Jakarta... you wonder whether it is going too far."

Mr Pereira said the damage the spying revelations had done to Australia's reputation in the region had been exacerbated by Prime Minister Tony Abbott's reaction, which had been slow compared to US President Barack Obama's response to allegations US spies might have monitored the phone of German chancellor Angela Merkel.

"The response of Australian leadership to this crisis with Indonesia were not in my view the best," he said.

He said while all countries gathered information, "it is not true that all countries bug the heads of state of other countries", and East Timor did not eavesdrop. "You know the old saying that gentlemen don't read other gentlemen's mail?" he said.

Mr Pereira said espionage was only acceptable in limited circumstances. "I think after the cold war, many powerful countries are a bit confused about who are their real enemies."

He said as a member of the United Nations Security Council and as the chair of the G20 in 2014, Australia should demonstrate leadership on the issue. "When you want to lead, morality and ethics do play a very relevant role," Mr Pereira said.

In April, East Timor launched a challenge under international arbitration to a 2006 treaty between it and Australia on the grounds that Australia spied on it during negotiations. Mr Pereira repeated the spying claims on the ABC's 7.30 report on Wednesday night.

East Timor argues the treaty, which governs how proceeds are shared from oil and gas fields in the Timor Sea, is invalid because Australia did not act in good faith. An initial hearing is scheduled for December.

Former Australian Foreign Affairs Minister Alexander Downer said on Wednesday that it was "opportunistic" of the East Timorese to repeat the allegation at this time.

"I have to be a little cynical about this because the East Timorese made this claim months if not years ago and they've just come out and repeated the claim yesterday in order to gain themselves more publicity because of the Indonesia crisis. There's nothing new about this at all," he told ABC radio.

Mr Downer said the East Timorese ultimately wanted to abrogate the treaty governing the sharing of resources from the Timor Sea in order to ensure gas processing occurred in East Timor rather than in Australia or on a floating plant.

East Timor also supports a UN resolution drafted by Germany and Brazil, which calls for an end to excessive electronic surveillance. The UN General Assembly's third committee, which deals with human rights issues, adopted the resolution by consensus on Tuesday.

Australia, the US, Britain, Canada and New Zealand – known as the Five Eyes surveillance alliance – supported the draft resolution after language that had initially suggested foreign spying could be a human rights violation was weakened to appease them.

The resolution is expected to be put to a vote in the 193-member General Assembly next month. (with Reuters)

East Timor accuses Australia of spying in gas treaty

ABC Radio Australia - November 27, 2013

The Abbott Government is facing fresh accusations of spying on a near neighbour and it could cost Australia dearly. The government of Timor Leste -- East Timor – believes Australia's overseas spy agency covertly recorded Timorese ministers and officials in Dili in 2004. They say it happened during negotiations over a treaty that governs billions of dollars in gas revenue between the two countries.

Mark Colvin: The Abbott Government is facing a new accusation of spying on a near neighbour – and this could cost Australia dearly.

The government of Timor Leste – East Timor – believes that Australia's overseas spy agency covertly recorded Timorese ministers and officials in Dili in 2004.

They say it happened during negotiations over a treaty that governs billions of dollars in gas revenue between the two countries. The Timorese are now disputing that treaty, in part because of the alleged espionage.

Peter Lloyd reports.

Peter Lloyd: After Xanana Gusmao, Agio Pereira is perhaps the most influential man in Timor. He's a key minister and tipped to succeed Gusmao when he steps down as prime minister.

He is the most senior leader to go public with the accusation that Australia spied on Timorese leaders during the negotiations for joint petroleum exploration of the Timor Sea.

According to the Timorese, that means all bets are off. It says the deal on resource sharing is invalid and it's taking its case to a special three- person arbitration panel in the Hague in December.

This is Agio Periera:

Agio Pereira: The acts of espionage, the evidence will be tabled to the international arbitration as well.

The interpretation on international law is that the Vienna Convention for the Law of Treaties expects that countries, nation states, negotiate treaties in good faith and that implies that they re not making use of fraudulent means.

That is to be tested in the international tribunal. We hope that the three judges will ultimately give their opinion as to the merit of these arguments.

Peter Lloyd: Will you present evidence of this espionage?

Agio Pereira: Evidence will be presented because we have two very prestigious professors in international law defending Timor Leste.

Peter Lloyd: I understand that but what I m asking is: are you presenting evidence of espionage as well?

Agio Pereira: Whatever evidence is necessary to make the case will be presented, yes.

Peter Lloyd: Do you have it?

Agio Pereira: That will be seen at memorial or tabled at the international tribunal. I cannot talk details about it.

Peter Lloyd: If a treaty is procured under a violation of your rights, should it be invalidated?

Agio Pereira: In international law, yes. Applicable to any country.

Peter Lloyd: Agio Periera.

In all, there are three treaties between Australia and Timor over sharing resources that lie between the two nations. One stipulates that neither side can discuss maritime boundaries for half a century – the life of the treaties. That is what Timor wants overturned.

It wants a sea boundary half-way to Australia. If it succeeds, it can then lay claim to more of the vast reserves of oil and gas under the Timor Sea. At stake is billions of dollars.

Agio Pereira: That will give certainty and a lot more longer-term chance for Timor Leste to reach sustainable development by accessing to its natural resources that rightly belong to Timor Leste as far as sovereignty is concerned.

Peter Lloyd: How much difference will it make, sir, between what you currently have and if you win that case, how much more will Timor get?

Agio Pereira: Well, first our defence force will know what borders Timor Leste has in the Timor Sea so that they know what to defend.

And, secondly, Timor Leste by having permanent borders will definitely give a better chance to deal with multinational resource companies and give their investment more security.

Peter Lloyd: Timor could have simply cancelled the resource sharing treaties. It had the right. But it seems the calculation in Dili was that arbitration, not confrontation, is the better option.

I asked Agio Periera why?

Agio Pereira: Well, international arbitration will interpret the laws better and we value the relationship with Australia and we hope that in a neutral way where very highly respected experts, both at the arbitrators side and counsels side of Australia-Timor, we can reach a very, very strong outcome in terms of interpretation of international law.

Peter Lloyd: Were you worried that cancellation of the treaty may have been seen as a hostile act to a friendly neighbour?

Agio Pereira: Timor Leste sees that the option is open but Timor Leste sees that arbitration is also an option. So we take arbitration, seeing as Australia didn't want to dialogue in terms of substance in what East Timor sees as real issues to resolve.

Peter Lloyd: So in some senses, the relationship, the larger relationship is more important than having a confrontation, if you like, over this issue?

Agio Pereira: Yes. Timor Leste values the relationship with Australia. In fact, it's one of the strongest relationships: Australia and Timor Leste, and Timor Leste-Indonesia.

We value for strategic reasons and we also value because at peoples-to- peoples level, the relationship is very strong. We value all this and we think these are assets that we should protect.

International arbitration tribunal will give us expert opinion on how both sides should interpret the laws and that will be a plus.

Mark Colvin: The Timorese senior minister, Agio Pereira, speaking to Peter Lloyd.

Alexander Downer was foreign minister at the time of alleged bugging of Timorese officials. He declined to comment to PM today.

East Timor accuses Australia of spying for economic gain

ABC Radio Australia - November 27, 2013

East Timor is accusing Australia of bugging its cabinet for commercial advantage and threatening to end a lucrative gas treaty over the claims.

Leigh Sales, presenter: New spying allegations have blown up around the Australian Government, with East Timor claiming Australia bugged its cabinet ahead of crucial talks on a lucrative gas deal in 2004.

A senior Timorese Government minister currently in Australia has told 7.30 that Dili is seeking to have the gas treaty overturned in an international court because it was tainted by espionage.

The Timorese Government also claims Australia has cheated East Timor of the benefits of its rich resources.

The minister has revealed the East Timorese quietly sought a response from Australia last December, but when its approach was ignored, it sought international arbitration. As Conor Duffy reports, East Timor says the revenue in the treaty is crucial for its future.

Conor Duffy, reporter: In Dili in 2004, the cabinet of the newest country in the world met to work on a deal that could make or break its future.

At stake was $40 billion of revenue from the Greater Sunrise gas field, 100 kilometres off the East Timorese coast and about 400 kilometres from Australia. The resources were crucial for financing the young nation's future.

Agio Pereira, President of the Council of Ministers, East Timor: It's critical, critical because much of our annual budget is drawn from the petroleum fund and the development of our country demands infrastructures cause we re building a nation-state literally from zero.

Conor Duffy: Australia also wanted piece of the action. East Timor claims Australia was so intent on that outcome, it took the incredible step of bugging the East Timorese cabinet room, the place where negotiators talked tactics. East Timor believes the bugging gave Australia the edge in the talks that followed.

Agio Pereira: When you bug negotiating team's evaluation of the impact of their negotiations, you do have an advantage. It's more than unfair. It actually creates incredible disadvantage to the other side.

Conor Duffy: Former Labor government MP Janelle Saffin lost her seat at the last election and is now working as a legal advisor for East Timor.

Janelle Saffin, East Timor legal advisor: You know, some people say everybody spies on everybody, but certainly, look, there's got to be protocols around that and that's really a matter, I think, between the countries also within the United Nations, and secondly, it's the purpose of the spying or the listening, and I think that raises really serious questions. If spying has been taking place and somebody is able to gain a commercial advantage, that's certainly of deep, deep concern. And that's something that I m concerned about and I know a lot of people would be.

Conor Duffy: Paul Cleary was an advisor to the East Timor Government during the treaty negotiations.

Paul Cleary, FMR advisor, East Timor government: We were told by Peter Galbraith, who was a former US ambassador who had a really good insight into these intelligence activities, that all of our communications would be monitored. So at one meeting in Canberra in 2005, we were actually in the Foreign Affairs building and we decided to leave and we went to the Sculpture Garden of the National Gallery and we put all of our mobile phones in my bag and we put it about 100 metres away and we actually held our discussions in the Sculpture Garden because of the real concern we had that we will be bugged.

Conor Duffy: Even in East Timor, the team saw Australia's foreign intelligence service as a constant threat and there's suspicions bribes were paid.

Paul Cleary: We were also aware that there was potential for ASIS to be contacting members of our negotiating team, and there clearly is evidence, I think – and I cite this in my book – of one very senior advisor who all of a sudden sort of went weak at the knees and was advising the East Timor Government to capitulate and accept a really poor offer that was being made by Australia.

Conor Duffy: In Sydney today, East Timor's President of the Council of Ministers, Agio Pereira, sold 7.30 compelling evidence will be provided during international arbitration the country has commenced. An East Timorese delegation is heading to a preliminary hearing to scrap the 2006 treaty at the Permanent Court of Arbitration next week.

Agio Pereira: It's not about money, it's about sovereignty, it's about certainty and it's about the future of our future generations. Is very important for Timor.

Conor Duffy: Mr Pereira says East Timor has tried to discuss the matter several times and would abandon its arbitration if the Australian Government gave it a detailed response to its spying concerns.

Agio Pereira: Our Prime Minister, on 7th December last year, sent an official note, a memorial if you like, to the – to his (inaudible), the Honourable Prime Minister Julia Gillard, which we expect a substantive reply which never game. Instead we have a low-level discussion in Bangkok, which also did not really bear any fruit.

Conor Duffy: Tomorrow East Timor celebrates one of its two independence days. It says its relationship with Australia remains strong, but is warning Canberra to take its concerns on the spying seriously.

Agio Pereira: We need to define these boundaries – the way the national interests wears the red line and I think after the Cold War, you need to start to think seriously about who you consider your real enemies, not the virtual ones.

Conor Duffy: Should you not spy on friends then?

Agio Pereira: That's the old saying of President Eisenhower, no?, that gentlemen should not read gentlemen's mail.

Conor Duffy: Father Frank Brennan has long lobbied for East Timor to have maritime boundaries redrawn. He says the treaty was harsh because it stopped East Timor negotiating maritime boundaries for 50 years.

Frank Brennan, Australian Catholic University: What's even more strange is a provision was put in which said that even if the treaty was terminated, that if over time there was exploitation of the resources, then provisions of the treaty would be resurrected and you would no longer be able to negotiate maritime boundaries. Now that definitely is a piece of overreach which you don't usually find in treaties.

Conor Duffy: He rejects claims the allegations are only being raised again to take advantage of Australia's embarrassment over the allegations of spying on Indonesia.

Frank Brennan: I would think it's very damaging if there be evidence not just of espionage against another party during a treaty negotiation, but actually espionage within the cabinet room of that other government as they re making those arrangements. Now of course these things haven't been proved at this stage, but they have been strongly alleged and there is now an arbitration in tow.

Conor Duffy: Past and current Australian ministers weren't available for interview today, but back in May, then Foreign Minister Bob Carr and Attorney-General Mark Dreyfus issued a statement saying the Government didn't comment on intelligence matters, even those that were untrue.

East Timor won't use NSA leaks in Hague

The Australian - November 27, 2013

Leo Shanahan – East Timor Minister of State Agio Pereira has said allegations of spying by Australian intelligence on Indonesia's President will not be used as ammunition in Dili's dispute with Canberra over espionage.

During a visit to Australia, Mr Pereira said yesterday the revelations would not have an impact on Dili's relations with Canberra, although he said it was important Australia established "who its friends and enemies are.

The Australian revealed earlier this year that the East Timorese government alleges that Australian spy agency ASIS breached international law and Timorese sovereignty during the negotiations over the Greater Sunrise natural gas reserve, a resource worth billions to both nations.

ASIS allegedly broke into the East Timorese cabinet offices in October 2004 and bugged them during negotiations over the Certain Maritime Arrangements in the Timor Sea Treaty. East Timor has taken Australia to international arbitration in The Hague to have the CMATS Treaty declared invalid.

Mr Pereira said with two arbitrators chosen, the private arbitration would begin next month and was likely to run until September, with Timor working with world-renowned international lawyers Elihu Lauterpacht, employed by Australia during the nuclear test case, and Vaughan Lowe.

Mr Pereira said East Timor would not use any information leaked by fugitive former US National Security Agency contractor Edward Snowden as evidence against Australia, and had not been made aware whether similar surveillance had been conducted on East Timorese officials.

"This is an international arbitration tribunal, so it won't be influenced by the mainstream media... these are experienced people, who will apply the law. So politicisation and the media won't affect them, he said.

"The relationship between Timor L Este and Australia is a strong one. Defence to defence is very strong... It will not have a collateral damage on the relationship.

The minister did warn Australia that it needed to establish between "real friends and real enemies, because spying on the Indonesian President was more akin to an "act of war rather than something that took place among allies.

"It probably needs to stay within the realms of national interest. You need to define clearly who your real enemies are.

"Because if there's spying on the President of Indonesia, of Germany, of France or Japan, then the question that arises in the international community is who is your real enemy, and how do you define it?

Mr Pereira will deliver an address at the Australian National University in Canberra today.

Timor accuses Australia of spying for commercial gain during negotiations

ABC Radio Australia - November 27, 2013

Conor Duffy, Nikki Tugwell, Peter Lloyd and staff – Australia is under further pressure over spying in the region, with East Timor accusing spies of bugging its cabinet room for commercial advantage, and threatening to scrap a potentially lucrative treaty that could have earned Australia billions in royalties.

A senior figure in East Timor's government says the Australian Secret Intelligence Service (ASIS) covertly recorded Timorese ministers and officials in Dili in 2004.

It is not the first time the allegations have been made, but Agio Pereira -- the man tipped to be East Timor's next prime minister – is the most prominent leader to go public with the accusation.

In 2006 the then Howard government signed the Certain Maritime Arrangements in the Timor Sea (CMATS) treaty with East Timor. The two countries agreed to a 50-50 split of an estimated $40 billion in revenue from the gas development, but the Timorese are now disputing that treaty, in part because of the espionage.

Mr Pereira says the bugging took place during the negotiations over the CMATS treaty, and it would have given Australia a massive advantage.

"Insider trading in Australia is a crime. And when you bug the negotiating team's evaluation of the impact of their negotiations, you do have an advantage," he said.

"It's more than unfair, it actually creates incredible disadvantage to the other side and according to international law, the Vienna Convention and the law of treaties, you're supposed to negotiate in good faith."

While declining to provide evidence of the allegations, he says East Timor has decided to take the case to an arbitration panel at The Hague in December.

A lawyer working on the case said preliminary hearings would be before the permanent court of arbitration next week.

East Timor earlier sought explanation

The comments come at a difficult time for Australia in the region with the fallout from spying allegations is continuing to strain Australia's relationship with Indonesia.

And China today has issued a strongly worded rebuke over a statement from Foreign Minister Julie Bishop, which condemned China's newly-declared air defence identification zone in the East China Sea.

But Mr Pereira denies the timing of the comments is designed to further embarrass Australia. "It's not about money, it's about sovereignty. It's about certainty, and it's about the future of our future generations, its very important for Timor," he said.

He says East Timor quietly sought an explanation from the Gillard government in December last year, but the government declined to respond satisfactorily and so East Timor moved to seek international arbitration.

Past and present ministers, including the foreign minister at the time, Andrew Downer, declined to comment on the allegations today.

But back in May then foreign minister Bob Carr and attorney-general Mark Dreyfus released a statement saying Australia did not comment on intelligence matters even those that were untrue.

Aim to renegotiate maritime boundaries

Father Frank Brennan has long maintained that the CMATS treaty was unfair, saying it stopped East Timor from negotiating permanent maritime boundaries for 50 years.

And Mr Pereira says the maritime boundaries a key motivator for taking the allegations to the Hague. "Timor Leste by having permanent borders will definitely give a better chance to deal with multinational resource companies and give their investment more security," Mr Pereira said.

Father Brennan says he believes the allegations are damaging to Australia. "I think its very damaging not just of espionage against another party in a treaty negotiation but actually espionage in the cabinet room of that other government when they're making arrangements," he said. "Now these things haven't been proved, but they have been strongly alleged and there is arbitration in tow."

In an unusual twist former Labor MP Janelle Safin, who lost her seat of Page at the last election, is now working as a legal advisor to the East Timorese government. Ms Safin declined to discuss the specifics of the case but said the commercial aspect was concerning.

"You know some people say that everybody spies on everybody, but certainly there's got to be protocols around that and that's a matter for the countries but also within the United Nations," she said.

"And secondly it's the purpose of the spying or the listening and I think that raises really serious questions. If spying has been taking place and somebody has been able to gain a commercial advantage that's certainly of deep, deep concern and that's something that I'm concerned about and I know a lot of people would be."

East Timor again raises spying claim Australian

Associated Press - November 27, 2013

Amid the furore over allegations of spying on Indonesia's leaders, East Timor has repeated claims that Australia bugged its leaders during delicate negotiations on the Timor Sea resources treaty in 2004.

East Timor is pursuing international arbitration to have the 2006 treaty overturned, a process it launched last December after the Australian government failed to respond to the bugging claims.

But it says it would halt this process if the Australian government gave a detailed response to their spying allegations.

Agio Pereira, president of East Timor's council of ministers, said his country's development depended on revenue from the Timor Sea Greater Sunrise gas field.

"When you bug the negotiation team's evaluation of the impact of their negotiations, you do have an advantage. It's more than unfair," he told ABC television on Wednesday. "It actually creates incredible disadvantage to the other side."

Former Labor MP Janelle Saffin, now a legal adviser for East Timor, said there had to be protocols around spying. "If spying has been taking place and somebody is able to gain a commercial advantage, that is certainly of deep, deep concern," she told the ABC.

East Timor claims Australian intelligence bugged the East Timor cabinet room where their negotiators discussed tactics.

Canberra journalist Paul Daley, an adviser to the East Timor government during the negotiations, told the ABC they were advised that all their communications would be monitored.

To avoid eavesdropping during negotiations in 2005, East Timor negotiators left the foreign affairs building in Canberra and held their discussions in the nearby National Gallery sculpture garden, leaving all their phones 100 metres away.

Mr Pereira said compelling evidence would be presented at a preliminary hearing at the Permanent Court of Arbitration in The Hague next week. "It's not about money. It's about sovereignty, it's about certainty and it's about the future of our future generations. It's really important for Timor," he said.

Timor Leste on the ASEAN waiting list

The Myanmar Times - November 7, 2013

Nyan Lynn Aung and Tim McLaughlin – Aspiring ASEAN member Timor Leste appears likely to remain on the outside for at least another year, as Myanmar's Ministry of Foreign Affairs says the tiny country has not yet done enough to justify entry to the 10-member bloc.

In preparation for taking the helm of the group in 2014, the government has been in discussions with regional experts regarding Timor Leste's application, ASEAN Affairs Department deputy director U Aung Htoo said.

However, the government believes Timor Leste has a number of shortcomings that make joining the group in 2014 impossible.

One example, U Aung Htoo said, is that Timor Leste has failed to build embassies in all 10 ASEAN member nations, a prerequisite under the current entry requirements. Timor Leste does not have an embassy in Myanmar but has said it plans to build one in Nay Pyi Taw.

"Timor Leste needs to follow the ASEAN Charter and Road Map but they are not ready for that," U Aung Htoo said.

Jim Della-Giacoma, the International Crisis Group's project director for Southeast Asia, said building, staffing and operating the embassies would entail "considerable costs" to Timor Leste, whose economy is slowly recovering from a bloody 25-year struggle for independence from Indonesia.

Mr Della-Giacoma said Timor Leste remains the "poor cousin of geographic Southeast Asia" and sending representatives to numerous ASEAN meetings and summits, of which there are more than 1000 each year, would be a financial burden.

Its lack of infrastructure, including road and air links, means it would also not be in a position to host large meetings of ASEAN officials. In September, Timor Leste Prime Minister Xanana Gusmao spent five days in Yangon and Nay Pyi Taw in an attempt to bolster his country's relations with Myanmar. Though the trip was received front-page coverage in state-run newspapers for four straight days, Mr Della-Giacoma said it is unlikely to have a significant impact on bilateral ties.

"There is little diplomatic solidarity between these two very different countries," said Mr Della-Giacoma.

Other ASEAN members have said they support the idea of Timor Leste joining the group, which now encompasses more than 600 million people and has an economy of more than US$2 trillion.

Indonesia, which brutally occupied Timor Leste from December 1975 to October 1999, has been the most supportive of Timor Leste's push for membership, and was chair of ASEAN in 2011 when Timor Leste submitted its formal application to join.

Despite this support from one of the bloc's heavyweights, Timor Leste is likely to encounter opposition from other quarters. "There are a number of key ASEAN member states that do not consider Timor- Leste ready to join ASEAN," said Dr Hank Lim, a senior research fellow at the Singapore Institute of International Affairs.

No country has been stronger in its opposition than Singapore, which has argued that Timor Leste would provide little to the group and would instead be a substantial economic burden as the bloc enters the final stages of preparation for the ASEAN Economic Community.

Timor Leste has a population of 1.2 million and a GDP of $1.29 billion in 2012, according to figures from the World Bank. Its economy is less than 15 percent of the size of ASEAN's next-smallest, Laos, which has a GDP of $9.2 billion. The city-state of Singapore, by contrast, is an economic powerhouse with a population of 5.2 million and a GDP of $274.7 billion.

Though Singaporean Prime Minister Lee Hsien Loong said in September that his country would not block Timor Leste's bid to join ASEAN but that it required "careful consideration" before approval.

"At the end of the day," said Danny Chian Siong Lee, director for Community Affairs Development at the ASEAN Secretariat, "we want to make sure that Timor-Leste's membership will bring the most benefits to its people, while managing the impact effectively."

Gusmao launches barely-veiled attack on Australian spying in the region

Sydney Morning Herald - November 7, 2013

Michael Bachelard – East Timor's Prime Minister Xanana Gusmao has launched a swingeing attack "powerful countries [who] shamelessly violate the civic rights... of other countries" using electronic surveillance.

Mr Gusmao's speech at the Bali Democracy Forum on Thursday was a barely- veiled attack on the spying apparatus of Australia in developing countries such as East Timor and Indonesia.

He was the only leader to mention the issue in speeches on the first morning of the forum, which recent leaked documents reveal is being held in the same venue that United States bugged during climate change negotiations in 2007.

Australian foreign minister Julie Bishop avoided the issue in her speech, in which she ran through Australia's democratic credentials and its efforts to spread democracy in the region.

But Mr Gusmao was not so shy. Earlier this year, his government accused Australian intelligence forces of breaking into his country's cabinet room and bugging it during negotiations over a split in undersea oil revenues in 2004.

"When it comes to civic rights, which are imposed on new democracies or on countries in transition, the powerful countries shamelessly violate the civic rights not only of their citizens but, more scandalously, the citizens of other countries," Mr Gusmao said.

"Either we are in the presence of an extreme distrust where everyone is a potential enemy, or we are witnessing the fraudulent use of technology to obtain economic advantage over others, which is even more immoral when those others are weak and small."

The former soldier who fought a successful and bloody war of independence against Indonesia between 1974 and 1999, said his country had "no better friend than" the Indonesian president Susilo Bambang Yudhoyono. By contrast, he suggested that more developed countries were threatening true democracy.

"I ask you all whether we can really say that we are living in a democracy if we are subject to pervasive surveillance. "Now that information technology is part of the fabric of our lives we have to consider the impact on democracy when our communications are being watched by others. This is not, however, just a matter of privacy and personal freedom. For nations of the world this question goes to the very heart of what it means to be sovereign. And for a small nation like Timor Leste, with limited resources, it means that we are subject to prying nations acting in their own national interest."

Mining & energy

East Timor's Hera Power Plant – mega-project or 'mega problem'?

Cafe Pacific - November 21, 2013

The Timor-Leste capital Dili's Chinese-built main heavy oil power plant at Hera, about 15 km from the city, still remains at the centre of controversy.

A fact-based page by the advocacy group La'o Hamutuk (Timor-Leste Institute for Development Monitoring and Analysis) cites many critical performance reports and is headed: "Mega-project or mega problem?"

Little has been in the pubic domain in recent months, but according to review documents cited by LH, the supervising consultancy ELC/Bonifica said in a report in January 2012:

"The overall performance of the Contractor CNI22 [Chinese Nuclear Industry Construction Company No. 22 [responsible for the high-voltage national transmission grid], remains poor in particular for the quality of finishing works. Despite of continuous warnings done by the Consultant [E/B], the situation does not improve."

The report also said three (out of seven) generating sets from the Hera plant were operating, using diesel fuel unloaded at Tibar port to the west of Dili.

"During January 2012, the Hera plant consumed 3.7 million litres of high- speed diesel fuel, with around 100,000 litres being trucked across Dili to Hera almost every day."

In a casual visit to the Hera plant construction depot byCafe Pacific this week, the security guard was asleep. In response to a request to take a series of photos, this blog was referred to on-site Chinese consultancy officials who said: "You need official permission from the government."

Photographs were taken anyway. Some of the images are here and others are in the Timor-Leste gallery on David Robie's media Facebook page. Visiting the Hera power plant itself, the soldier on duty also fell asleep.

Economy & investment

Waskita, PP in East Timor tenders

Jakarta Globe - November 23, 2013

Agustinus Tetiro – State-owned construction companies Waskita Karya and Pembangunan Perumahan have set their eyes on the developing economy of East Timor.

Waskita Karya has won a tender worth Rp 700 billion ($59.9 million) to construct an airport for Indonesia's eastern neighbor. The company will build the aircraft runway and a terminal. That will be fully financed by the government there.

"The winner of the tender has been announced and the signing of the contract will take place at the end of this month," said M. Choliq, president director of Waskita, said in Jakarta on Thursday.

So far this year, Waskita has bagged new contracts worth Rp 11 trillion, equivalent to 69 percent of its 2013 new contract target.

Pembangunan, better known as PP, obtained a construction project from the Artha Graha Group to build AGP Square, a building in Dili, East Timor's capital. The project is valued at Rp 1 trillion and is set be the tallest structure in Dili.

AGP Square, which will be built on 15,000 square meters of land, is intended to be a symbol of a developing capital, as well as providing facilities including malls, office buildings, apartments and hotels. The project is expected to take two years.

PP has acquired new contracts amounting to Rp 13.93 trillion as of October 2013. The amount is approximately 70 percent of this year's contract target.

PP's net income rose 107 percent to Rp 218.3 billion in the first nine months this year from Rp 105.62 billion in the same period last year, while its revenue increased 84.03 percent to Rp 7.25 trillion from Rp 3.94 trillion.

PP's target for total new project value for next year is Rp 25 trillion, a 20 percent increase from 2013's target, in order to achieve a 25 percent rise in net income.

Shares in Waskita closed unchanged at Rp 455 apiece while shares of PP fell slightly by 0.8 percent to Rp 1,180 on the Indonesia Stock Exchange (IDX) on Friday, compared with a 0.2 percent fall in the main stock gauge.

Balibo 5

Families angered by delays to Balibo Five investigation

Melbourne Age - November 30, 2013

Rory Callinan – Six years ago, NSW magistrate Dorelle Pinch recommended that the killings of Australian journalists Brian Peters, 29, Malcolm Rennie, 28, Gary Cunningham, 27, Gregory Shackleton, 29, and Anthony Stewart, 21, in Balibo, East Timor be investigated as a war crime.

But now, despite a four-year Australian Federal Police investigation and extraordinary publicity generated about the case through a popular film, little seems to have been done.

Important witnesses are yet to be interviewed, key information has not been obtained from overseas authorities and one of the relatives of the journalists believes someone has tried to threaten him over the case.

There are rumours Australian authorities are aware of a location where human remains may have been buried near Balibo, but so far have been unable to conduct any excavation.

Greig, the brother of Gary Cunningham, says: "Anger is not a strong enough word to describe how we feel about the situation.

"I don't think people realise what impact it has on the families and I'm sure there are people who think we go on about it, but I wonder how they would feel if it was their relative. This (the delay) takes a pretty severe emotional toll on us."

From the inquest into the death of British-born Peters, Ms Pinch found he and the others "died from wounds sustained from being 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".

Ms Pinch referred the matter to the federal attorney-general, who turned the case over to the Australian Federal Police in 2008 and started an investigation the following year.

In April this year, relatives of the dead journalists were shocked to receive a a letter from the AFP's Mick Turner that led them to believe the investigation was stalling because the East Timorese government had not yet provided certain information.

This month, East Timor Justice Minister Dionisio Babo-Soares said he was not aware of any problems or any requests from the Australian government about the issue. He referred Fairfax Media to the country's foreign affairs department, which is yet to respond.

Meanwhile, in the capital Dili, two of the aged witnesses who gave evidence at the inquest said they had not yet had the appropriate statements taken by Australian Federal Police.

One witness who can only be known as "Glebe 4" – the code name allocated by the coroner – says he is still waiting to talk to the AFP about how he saw the bullet riddled journalists' bodies at Balibo before being ordered to leave the area by an Indonesian commander. "They (the AFP) must come and talk to me soon. I'm not too sure about my memory," he said.

Another witness code-named Glebe 3 also said he had yet to speak to the AFP but indicated his willingness, and then broke down in tears saying he thought about the journalists' killings every day. However, Fairfax Media understands the AFP has sought to interview the men but had so far been unsuccessful.

Australian relatives of the journalists say they have heard explosive rumours about the delays. One, who asked not to be named, says he heard the delay could relate to a possible grave site near Balibo, a controversial claim as the Indonesian authorities have said all Australian remains were buried in a cemetery in Jakarta.

The same relative confirmed he had alerted the AFP to a possible threat at his Australian home where something had been left outside his front door following some publicity about the case. Fairfax has also learned the children of Da Silva and Yosfiah regularly spend time in East Timor. One of them lives in the country.

On Thursday, the AFP maintained the investigation was continuing. A spokeswoman said the AFP had engaged with all witnesses willing to provide a statement on this matter. She said the matter remained an active AFP investigation and that it was conducting inquiries with overseas authorities; matters that were "inherently complex, transnational and protracted".

Struggle for independence

A brutal retreat

Al Jazeera - November 3, 2013

Step Vaessen – In 1999, after East Timor voted to reject Indonesian rule, the region was plunged into violence. Al Jazeera's Step Vaessen was one of the journalists who covered the resulting mayhem, along with her husband and cameraman Andre.

As part of the Al Jazeera Correspondent series, Vaessen returned to East Timor to trace the devastation wrought by one battalion of the Indonesian army as it retreated from the country, and to unravel the events surrounding one act of violence that would have lasting repercussions for Vaessen and her husband.

I am back in East Timor, a country that I came to many times during much more turbulent days in the late 1990s. I have returned to retrace the steps of one particular battalion of the Indonesian army, to find out exactly what they did, and to whom, on one of the saddest days I have ever known.

It was September 21, 1999; the day that Battalion 745 murdered my friend, the Dutch journalist Sander Thoenes.

Indonesia invaded East Timor in 1975, leading to an occupation that was often violent and bloody. The pro-independence guerrilla force, Falantil, fought for freedom. It is believed that one-quarter of the population died. But in 1998, a change of Indonesia's president brought hope to the East Timorese.

When President Bacharuddin Jusuf Habibie declared a referendum would be held on the future of the region, it was a story that my husband Andre and I were eager to cover.

In the run-up to the August referendum, in which the East Timorese voted overwhelmingly for independence, the Indonesian military and the pro- Indonesian militias they had established in East Timor grew increasingly violent. Journalists were no longer considered merely observers and instead became targets.

At one point the hotel Andre and I were staying in was besieged. We were on the roof when we came under fire, and I was in the lobby when a militiaman armed with a sword attempted to attack journalists. Our last report was filed while we were barricaded in our room.

The following morning, the Indonesian military came to our hotel, loaded us onto trucks and drove us to the airport – removing us from one of the biggest international stories at the moment. We were frustrated at being denied the opportunity to cover the events we knew were inevitable, and we feared for the lives of those we were leaving behind.

Trail of murder and devastation

When we returned to East Timor on September 21, 1999, our first glimpse from the plane windows confirmed our worst fears. The destruction was on an even greater scale than we had imagined. We readied ourselves for one of the toughest stories we would ever have to cover.

Just as we set off on our journey to hell, Battalion 745 of the Indonesian army embarked on their own – although with vastly different intentions.

Having set their base alight, the battalion headed towards the capital, Dili. A couple of days earlier they had been given the order to "destroy and kill everything you find on your way".

And it was not long before the Indonesian soldiers encountered their first victims of the day. Within minutes of the battalion leaving their base, brothers Egas and Abrio were dead.

Unbeknown to the soldiers, there was a witness to their actions. Zeila Pinto's account of what he saw is bitterly sad. But it was just the first of many tragedies on that day and as I continued retracing the battalion's route, I came across many others who were willing to share stories about the violence they witnessed.

Just outside Baucau one man showed me where his uncle was gunned down in the doorway of his now-abandoned home. Another family led me to the spot where their daughter, herself a young mother, was shot in both legs as she held her infant daughter and left to bleed to death.

The only resistance the battalion encountered that day came from Falantil rebels, who though prohibited by their leaders from reacting to the random killings, could take it no longer. Four Falantil fighters were killed in a skirmish before the Indonesian battalion continued on their way.

A young man, who had returned to his village with some friends to collect supplies, became one of their next victims. His aunt, Jacinta da Costa, recounted the events that unfolded in a testimony more shocking than I could have predicted.

Costa says not only was her nephew killed and his body hidden in a small river, but that members of the battalion raped her. "When we were running to the forest they, the Indonesian soldiers, caught me... I was in my 20s and raped by the Indonesian military," she told me.

An unsafe shelter

After we landed in Dili's deserted and partially destroyed airport, we took shelter in a convent. Although I have returned to East Timor many times in the years since, I have always avoided visiting the nunnery.

Returning now, I remember the fear we felt then. But there was little time for fear as a story was unfolding right across the road from us on a beach where thousands were cramped together, seeking safety. We went to interview them.

It was there that we encountered a young local called Florindo Aroujo, who had spent the day driving journalists around Dili on the back of his small motorcycle. Sander wanted to go to Becora, and although Aroujo warned that it was too dangerous, Sander insisted.

Today, Aroujo recalls seeing a military post with three soldiers on motorbikes as they turned into Becora. He describes how the soldiers started shooting at them and the moment a bullet hit his front tyre. He lost control of the motorcycle and, although wounded, managed to run away. The last time he saw Sander, he was alive.

Battered, bruised and bleeding, Aroujo returned to the convent to tell the journalists there what had happened. The message reached us that Sander was missing. Through the night we sought information about his whereabouts.

The following morning, a journalist called Paul Dillon was one of the first to venture out of the convent. When a young East Timorese man approached him to tell him about the "dead foreigner", they walked together to Becora, where they found Sander's body.

When we learned of what had happened, my husband Andre helped to identify his body, which by then had been recovered by Australian peacekeepers. It was an experience that left him traumatised.

The subsequent police investigation revealed that Sander was most probably alive when the soldiers dragged him off the road, took him to a piece of scrubland and shot him in the back. By the time his body was found his face had been mutilated beyond recognition, presumably by his murderers.

Beauty borne from tragedy

The special crimes unit in Dili eventually indicted General Wiranto, the commander of the Indonesian military at the time of the withdrawal from East Timor, for gross human rights violations, but he never appeared in court.

Today, Wiranto tells me that he followed state policies and that President Habibie was responsible for those. Habibie rubbishes his claims and says there are no facts to suggest he instructed Wiranto and his soldiers to kill. Meanwhile, Wiranto has big aims for the future. He hopes to be elected president of Indonesia in the country's 2014 election.

I am left more reassured by my meeting with Taur Matan Ruak, the former East Timorese guerrilla leader and current president of East Timor. He tells me: "I should apologise to his [Sander's] family because he shed his blood for the good of the Timorese, for our country. The people of East Timor will not forget him."

I have had to undertake this journey alone. Shortly after the events of September 1999, Andre began suffering from depression. His bouts were minor at first, but they grew increasingly severe. Then, three years ago, life became too much for him and he decided to end it.

In Indonesia and East Timor I have learnt that we must accept life and death as it comes. And while I no longer have Andre in my life, I do have our wonderful son, Agus. Conceived during that terrible time we spent together in Dili, I see in him the spirit of his father. He is the love of my life and proof, it seems, that true beauty can be borne from tragedy after all.

Analysis & opinion

Widening gulf a peril for the two East Timors

Sydney Morning Herald - November 28, 2013

Joanne Wallis – In March 2013 Australia drew down the last members of the Australian Defence Force-led international forces that had been deployed to stabilise Timor-Leste after a major security crisis in mid-2006.

Australia's withdrawal followed largely peaceful parliamentary and presidential elections in 2012, and the end of 13 years of successive United Nations missions in December 2013.

The Timor-Leste that the International Stabilisation Force left was very different to the one it encountered in 2006, when 38 people had been killed, thousands of homes had been burnt and 150,000 people had been displaced. It was also very different to the one that the Australian-led International Force for East Timor (InterFET) encountered in the aftermath of the 1999 referendum on the nation's independence.

After that vote, the Indonesian military and its supporting militias engaged in a scorched-earth campaign, killing hundreds and destroying almost three-quarters of all infrastructure and buildings.

Today, Timor-Leste is almost unrecognisable from those dark days in 1999 and 2006. The government has access to significant oil and gas revenues from the Timor Sea, with $US14.6 billion in its sovereign wealth Petroleum Fund.

The government has used those revenues to return or resettle the thousands of people displaced in 2006, to introduce social security schemes for veterans of the resistance, the elderly and disabled, and single mothers, and to make massive investments in infrastructure.

In 2010 the government started a scheme to bring electricity across the country, and it has engaged in a concerted effort to decentralise development projects to its rural areas. There has been a flurry of construction, bringing in new health centres and hospitals. More children have been immunised and more births are supervised by health-care professionals, increasing life expectancy and reducing infant mortality rates.

The government has also built and rebuilt many schools, and primary and secondary school enrolments have improved. As a result, the proportion of the population living under the basic needs poverty line fell from 49.9 per cent in 2007 to 41 per cent in 2010.

These improvements have been due to massive government spending, driven by oil and gas earnings, which provided 97 per cent of the state budget in 2012. The splash of cash has helped to stabilise the country and has mitigated many of the likely causes of future conflict.

But Timor's pockets aren't so deep. Some projections forecast oil and gas revenues will be exhausted by 2025, raising questions about how the government will replace earnings, and whether the stability it has bought will hold if it is not able to do so.

The government's spending has also created clear winners and losers. When swearing in the new government in July 2012, President Taur Matan Ruak lambasted the previous AMP government for failing to lessen socio-economic inequality, noting that the divide in Timor is growing, and glaringly evident in the capital Dili, with villas and five-star hotels overlooking unrepaired roads.

Matan Ruak's comments highlight the two Timor-Lestes: the increasingly developed and urbane capital, Dili, where luxury cars and high-rise apartments are now common, often underwritten by lucrative government contracts; and the comparatively neglected and underdeveloped rural areas, where more than three-quarters of the population rely on forms of near- subsistence agriculture and meagre seasonal incomes to survive. The yawning gap means that many Timorese people have not yet received a peace dividend from the independent state that so many of them fought to create.

While some performance indicators have improved, Timor-Leste's UN Human Development Index ranking fell from 2010 to 2013. It is the third worst place in the world for stunted growth in children, with 58 per cent of children experiencing restricted growth due to malnutrition. In 2011 the UN Special Rapporteur on Extreme Poverty and Human Rights concluded that growth and development has not translated into sustained improvements in standards of living, livelihoods and job creation. Poverty remains pervasive and widespread.

Rural poverty has been exacerbated by demographics: 45 per cent of the population is under the age of 14 years and 62 per cent under the age of 24 years, creating a youth bulge for which employment and other economic opportunities need to be created. An increasingly large population of young people have moved to the other Timor-Leste, Dili, to seek economic opportunities, but have often failed to find them, which has exacerbated the negative effects of high unemployment.

Disenchanted young people constitute a ready constituency that can be encouraged to join gangs and engage in criminality and violence. Many of those who inflamed the 2006 security crisis were members of youth gangs, whose experience of poverty, unemployment and marginalisation led them to feel that they have been ignored by their new state.

Australia should maintain a strong and enduring relationship with Timor- Leste. Challenges to its economic development and stability remain significant and warrant our ongoing attention.

[The Australian National University is hosting a two day Timor-Leste Update on November 28-29. More information can be found at . Dr Joanne Wallis is a lecturer in the Strategic and Defence Studies Centre at the ANU's College of Asia and the Pacific.]

Honouring the Matebian massacre victims in East Timor

Cafe Pacific - November 23, 2013

Celestino Gusmao – University students from Timor-Leste's eastern Baucau district gathered this week to commemorate the 1979 Matebian cave massacre in a month of events focused on protest against the impunity over atrocities during the illegal Indonesian occupation.

At the place at Foho Matebian on the slopes of the mountain of that name where the students lit candles, Indonesian forces used bombs to seal off the inhabitants of an entire village inside a cave with a rockfall.

Even if people had survived the rocks, they would have died of starvation trapped in the cave. Until now, their remains are buried behind the rocks.

It is in this area during 1978/9 when the majority of the Timor-Leste population abandoned the struggle against Indonesian forces and instead took up a guerrilla struggle.

The Fretilin leadership was disorganised but took up armed struggle in the hills until Indonesia reluctantly agreed to a referendum on independence in 1999.

The Matebian massacre and other human rights violations by the Indonesian military were similar to "animal hunting".

Civilians did not have access to clean water because the Indonesian military poisoned water sources; they also did not have food because their farms were destroyed.

Today the memory of this massacre is beginning to fade, but these students -- a new generation affected by the past crimes – have never forgotten. This historical tragedy deserves being remembered by everybody.

The military aircraft used by the Indonesian military at the time almost all were supplied by the United States, Britain and other nations interested in Timor-Leste's oil resources and worried about the Timorese communist movement.

Until now the criminals accused over human rights atrocities remain free in Indonesia and some are even candidates in the Indonesian presidency – such as Prabowo, Wiranto and others.

The major nations that supported and benefited from the 24-year Indonesian occupation have not yet apologised to the Timorese people through any formal judicial process.

Activists and survivors continue to ask for justice for the Timorese people and prosecution of the criminals.

Timorese political leaders are not ready to make this issue a policy priority. They keep on saying to those asking for justice that it is still too early to raise the issue of crimes against humanity and war crimes committed during the Indonesian occupation.

They say it is the responsibility of the international community, not just Indonesia and Timor-Leste alone.

[Celestino Gusmao is a civil society advocate working with the Timor-Leste development monitoring agency La'o Hamutuk and the human rights umbrella group ANTI.]

Leaders must face justice

Financial Times Editorial - November 4, 2013

In September 1999, Sander Thoenes, the Financial Times correspondent in Jakarta, travelled to East Timor to report on the turmoil engulfing the territory. Three weeks before his arrival, the people of East Timor had voted overwhelmingly for independence from Indonesia, seeking to end 24 years of brutal occupation.

Thoenes, a 30-year-old Dutch journalist, sought to report on how the Indonesian military was sabotaging independence by a murderous rampage against civilians. On September 21, a motorcycle taxi driver took Thoenes into the Becora district on the outskirts of the East Timorese capital, Dili. There, the two men were shot at by Indonesian soldiers, causing their vehicle to crash.

The next day, Thoenes's body was found near where the motorcycle had fallen.

In November 2002, East Timor's prosecutor, citing work carried out by a United Nations-led serious crimes unit, indicted two members of the Indonesian military – Maj Jacob Sarosa and Lt Camilo dos Santos – over the killing.

But to this day, the Indonesian authorities have taken no action to bring these men to justice. Neither has been formally investigated or prosecuted. Retired general Wiranto, the Indonesian military chief who led the military at the time of the 1999 operation, has also been indicted but not tried.

Thoenes was not the only victim of violence in the course of East Timor's independence campaign. The Indonesian military killed up to 1,500 East Timorese in 1999. But if Indonesia is to attain lasting respect, its leaders must face up to past wrongdoing.

Can East Timor dodge the 'resource curse'?

Al Jazeera - November 1, 2013

Tom Benner, Dili, East Timor – The 2014 budget unveiled last week by tiny East Timor is a $1.5 billion spending plan funded almost exclusively – 95 percent – by lucrative oil and gas revenues. One of the fastest-growing budgets in the world in recent years, it ballooned from $64 million in 2004 to $604 million in 2009.

That the budget depends on a single, finite resource that could be depleted in a generation has some worrying the country may fall victim to the same "resource curse" that has seen other developing countries lose their wealth to inexperience, mismanagement and corruption.

"Given how much money has poured through the country, and given how much money the government has access to, it's fairly depressing," said Anna Powles, an academic researcher who worked in East Timor for eight years as an adviser to the government and several non-government organisations.

East Timor is one of the most oil-dependent countries in the world, according to the International Monetary Fund. The country's non-oil industries, such as organic coffee and tourism, generate a fraction of the amount as the oil does.

A trust fund for petroleum revenues, modelled on Norway's conservative sovereign wealth fund, is now worth close to $14 billion. Although no more than 3 percent of the fund was meant to be withdrawn in any given year, it has been overdrawn regularly in recent times.

"It's an enormous concern," said Powles, now a lecturer at the Centre for Defence and Security Studies at the University of New South Wales. "The whole rationale for setting it up using the Norwegian system was to ensure there was sustainability. It's not enormously surprising that it's been tapped into to the degree that it has been."

The 2014 budget calls for taking $903 million from the petroleum fund, while the 3 percent sustainability cap would limit that withdrawal to $632m.

The 'resource curse'

Economists, academics, and government watchdogs also warn that the country needs to invest more heavily in education, health care, and other investments in human capital. Government expenditure on education and health are below accepted international norms, according to the Asia Foundation, with poverty, hunger, and illiteracy rates among the highest in the world. Last week, the Global Hunger Index ranked East Timor 75th out of 78 countries, worse than it has placed in recent years.

"The challenge for East Timor is to avoid the resource curse and enjoy the resource blessing," said David Bloom, an economist at the Harvard School of Public Health who specialises in global development. "That requires it to channel its oil revenues into human capital development – in particular, into improving the health, education, and skills of the population."

The government has been harshly criticised for not doing enough about social and economic inequality while spending lavishly on government ministers, and on perks such as lifetime salaries for members of parliament. A lack of transparency on government spending, critics say, invites mismanagement, collusion and corruption.

A spokesman for Prime Minister Xanana Gusmao did not respond to requests for comment, and partner organisations often avoid directly criticising the government. Hans Beck, the acting World Bank country manager for East Timor, said only: "The government is candid about the huge challenges the country faces and is looking for solutions."

While the World Bank says post-conflict countries take between 15 and 30 years to become stable – East Timor became independent in 2002 after years of fighting with Indonesia – citizens like Charles Scheiner of the fiscal watchdog group La'o Hamutuk worry that petroleum resources and revenues could be depleted within that period.

"The prospect that the Petroleum Fund could be gone in a decade underscores the urgency to develop East Timor's non-oil economy, increase domestic revenue, and use public funds wisely," Scheiner said. "If we don't invest this nonrenewable resource wealth in our people and in productive sectors of the economy – health, education and agriculture – we will have nothing when the petroleum runs out, which could be in half a generation."

Tensions with Australia

The importance of offshore petroleum is prompting East Timorese officials to revisit revenue-sharing arrangements with Australia. The two countries are engaged in a high-stakes battle over maritime boundaries in the resource-rish waters that separate them, along with industry players with their own set of bottom-line interests.

Australia currently takes about 40 percent of the revenues from oil and gas fields in the Timor Sea. But because these fields are closer to East Timor than to any other country, the resources should belong to East Timor under international law, according to La'o Hamutuk.

The latest wrinkle in the ongoing dispute with Australia involves a pending arbitration hearing over a 2006 revenue-sharing agreement on oil and gas exploitation. East Timorese officials, including Prime Minister Xanana Gusmao and Oil Minister Alfredo Pires, have said publicly in recent months that they believe Australia took advantage of its relatively inexperienced leaders, still reeling from the aftereffects of a long war and desperate to secure revenue sources. They also charge that Australia's secret services illegally obtained information and bugged East Timor government offices during negotiations that led up to the agreement.

The agreement between the two countries stipulated that oil and gas revenues from the Greater Sunrise field in the Timor Sea – one of the biggest in the region – should be shared equally between them. Permanent maritime boundaries between Australia and East Timor have yet to be settled.

"This is important for us. This is a small country and these are big resources," said Pires in a recent interview. "We need to know exactly what is ours and what should be ours, and get most of it to improve the lives and well-being of the people. And we have enough experience and knowledge to decide what is best for us."

Canberra has not directly addressed the spying charges. Asked for comment, Paul Wilson of Australia's Department of Foreign Affairs and Trade responded in an email, "Australia negotiated the Timor Sea treaty framework in good faith".

A date has yet to be set for the arbitration hearing. Some see East Timor's spying accusation, and the legal fight it has triggered, as a distraction.

"Australia's past dealings with oil and gas is an original sin that, for many Timorese, no amount of development assistance tendered subsequently will ever truly absolve," said Gordon Peake, author of Beloved Land, a recently published book on East Timor. "I am not sure of the cost-benefit of revisiting old agreements. In doing so the only guarantee is lots of lawyers' fees."