East Timor News Digest 5 – May 1-31, 2014
- La'o Hamutuk appeals to president to veto harsh new media law in Timor - Pacific Scoop. May 30, 2014
- East Timor's curbs on media freedom - Index on Censorship. May 20, 2014
- Timor-Leste: RSF 'information hero' fights new media law - Pacific Media Centre. May 16, 2014
- East Timor passes tough laws to muzzle media - The Australian. May 7, 2014
- More investment needed to reduce stunting in Timor-Leste - IRIN. May 29, 2014
- Education key to HIV/AIDS prevention - Dili Weekly. May 9, 2014
- Awareness campaign for draft cigarette control laws - Dili Weekly. May 2, 2014
- AlFeLa: Traditional justice benefits criminals, not victims - Dili Weekly. May 12, 2014
- Timor-Leste's mobile courts promote access to justice - IRIN. May 20, 2014
- Indonesia, Timor Leste hold joint patrol along border - Jakarta Post. May 26, 2014
- Timor fuel smugglers deal in liquid money - Jakarta Globe. May 21, 2014
- Timor-Leste betting on Lusophone ties for growth - Jakarta Globe. May 23, 2014
- How can Timor-Leste be failing? - Jakarta Globe. May 23, 2014
La'o Hamutuk appeals to president to veto harsh new media law in Timor
Pacific Scoop - May 30, 2014
Anna Majavu – La'o Hamutuk, an independent development watchdog, has called on Timor-Leste President Taur Matan Ruak to veto a controversial new media law that has just been passed by Parliament.
The draconian law has faced widespread criticism by Timorese journalists, media freedom groups, opposition MPs and civil society advocates.
La'o Hamutuk (Timor-Leste Institute for Development Monitoring and Analysis) says the law "is reminiscent of policies implemented by dictatorships everywhere to hide the reality in their countries from the world, strangling people's freedom of expression to preserve their power".
The new law will only allow government-registered journalists to write and publish stories; and journalists will only be registered and permitted to work if they are employed by a "recognised media outlet" and if they have done an internship of at least six months in one of these outlets.
It is feared that this will lead to a clampdown on freelance journalists, bloggers, academics, civil society organisations and others.
Several international organisations, including the Auckland-based Pacific Media Centre and Timor-Leste solidarity groups from the US, Japan, Sweden, Australia and the UK have endorsed the letter, as have local NGOs and journalists, who have long lobbied against the new law.
Investigative journalist Jose Belo, who was tortured by the Indonesian military and later founded the Tempo Semanal newspaper, told the Sydney Morning Herald earlier this year that he was prepared go to jail to oppose the new law.
Key points raised in the letter delivered to President Ruak yesterday include:
No to compulsory registration of journalists: "The law must not block the way for anyone to distribute information, even if they don't have credentials from the Press Council, because everyone has the right to carry out such activities, including sharing information through their personal means, free of censorship or intervention from special interest. In truth, nobody needs to request accreditation to distribute information to the public."
Students should also be allowed to write: The new law also restricts students from becoming journalists, stipulating that only "adult citizens" will be registered – a human rights violation, says La'o Hamutuk.
"We cannot accept that everyone has to apply for Press Council credentials to do the work of collecting, analysing and disseminating information to the public. The law should protect the diversity of opinion. A key function of the press is to circulate information and opinions from different perspectives, to help people understand various inf ormation, not to give only one view," says the organisation.
New law may discourage journalists from covering dissent: La'o Hamutuk is also worried that a clause restricting the media to promoting "peace, social stability, harmony and national solidarity" could be used to discourage dissemination of other points of view, and points out that this clause contradicts another which says journalists have a duty to "defend the plurality of opinions, ensuring the ability of expression of different currents of opinion and respect for cultural, religious and ethnic diversity."
Instead, La'o Hamutuk wants journalists to voluntarily comply with the Journalists' Code of Ethics, which was developed by journalists themselves, instead of being forced by law to comply with a much wider set of rules.
New law 'denigrates' Timor-Leste's liberation struggle: The letter to the president says the law denigrates Timor-Leste's liberation struggle from 1974 to 1999.
"Many people in the resistance used media to communicate and share information to defend the rights and dignity of the people of this land. The Seara Bulletin and Radio Maubere were among Timorese media which helped liberate Timor-Leste from colonialism and occupation.
Jose Ramos-Horta, Xanana Gusmao, Francisco Borja da Costa and others used these media to educate, inform and coordinate the struggle for liberation, even though they were not "professional journalists" accredited by the Portuguese or Indonesian governments", the letter points out.
In a vote of support for the international media, La'o Hamutuk says foreign journalists should not be required to get Press Council approval before reporting on events in Timor-Leste.
Nine journalists had given their lives reporting on Timor-Leste's liberation struggle. "If they sought accreditation from Suharto's "Dewan Pers", Timor-Leste might still be under Indonesian rule today," the letter says.
No need for the press to be regulated by law: For the past decade since Timor-Leste's independences, the media has functioned well without a law. It was for the first time in almost 500 years that the Timorese people could freely express their opinions and read whatever they liked, La'o Hamutuk wrote.
"We believe that there is no urgency for Timor-Leste to create a press law, especially a defective one like this, which will reverse our society's advances toward using social and other media to exchange ideas without limitation... Timor-Leste can continue with the freedom of expression and the press defined in our Constitution and the International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights, with the good intentions of our leaders, journalists, media owners and entire society" the letter concludes.
[Anna Majavu is contributing editor of the Pacific Media Centre's Pacific Media Watch freedom project.]
East Timor's curbs on media freedom
Index on Censorship - May 20, 2014
Thomas Hornall – Twelve years ago East Timor, or Timor-Leste, was recognised as the 191st member of the United Nations after a devastating 25-year Indonesian occupation.
The fledgling democracy has since faced unprecedented challenges in building and maintaining its infrastructure, institutions and society after a UN-effort to help rebuild the tiny, impoverished island of 1.1m people. Adding to this struggle, the government has recently been criticised after a media law was ratified on 7 May, which seeks to regulate the media by imposing restrictions on journalists.
The legislation requires journalists complete a six, 12 or 18 month internship with a certified media organisation that must be recognised by a government-funded press council. These laws effectively exclude citizen, freelance and student journalists from publishing anything, with the prospect of fines and disciplinary action if they do. Foreign journalists, too, will now be compelled to apply to for accreditation and permission from the same council to report inside the country.
Further restrictions are enumerated in Article 17, which states that "The profession of journalism cannot be performed concurrently with the following functions," listing civil servants, office holders in local authorities, members of political parties, people in public relations and those involved in advertising. Violation of this "shall be punished by a fine of $250-$1000", more than a month's salary for most Timorese.
The constitution of East Timor is written with admirable clarity and Articles 40 and 41 enshrine freedom of the press and of expression for all citizens. The Timor-Leste Journalists Union pleaded its concern about the restrictive effect the law would have upon them, recognising the long shadow of censorship implicit within it. They were endorsed from outside by the International Federation of Journalists (IFJ), who called "on the government of East Timor to take heed of the concerns raised by its media in developing the country's new media laws. Any legislation that would limit the capacity of local and international journalists reporting on East Timor also limits the public's right to know and is of great concern to the IFJ."
The weekly publication Tempo Semanal is edited by Jose Belo, perhaps the most eminent and decorated journalist in the country. Belo was rated as 'one of the top 100 information heroes' by Reporters Without Borders for his role in documenting the Indonesian occupation and his integral position in building the democratic media in East Timor.
He has been vociferous in his criticism of the legislation, saying it "gives excessive powers to a state funded media council with the power to impose penalties that will be used to control journalists." One of Belo's expose led to the imprisonment of a government minister for corruption in 2012, and despite its democratic nature, the country was ranked at 119 out of 177 countries surveyed in Transparency International's 2013 Corruption Perceptions Index.
Indeed, Australian freelancer Meagan Wymes, of The Dili Weekly, another paper in the capital, wrote that "it is incredibly difficult for journalists to access what should be public information through official channels. When it comes to reporting on corruption in any depth, this tightly controlled environment makes it very difficult. For most investigative stories, leaks are required from within the government or public service."
Belo went further, saying: "It seems to me the Press Council is likely to be police or prosecutor – even judge – for journalists and media." Having also worked for outside news agencies – like The Associated Press – during the occupation he was naturally concerned that "foreign correspondents who have played a key role in our struggle for independence will not be able to operate freely" alluding to Article 25 of the new law, which requires agencies of foreign media to register and gain permission before being allowed in to report.
It is the contention of the government that the largely unprofessional nature of the emerging media often results in inaccurate and unbalanced reportage, sometimes blurring the distinction between fact and opinion. A regulatory law and mandatory training is needed to increase standards, they argue.
This is not entirely unreasonable and Toby Mendel, an international human rights lawyer for the Centre for Law and Democracy, told Index: "It could be useful for the country to pass a media law. As in most young democracies, the press there is just establishing itself and this inevitably leads to a measure of unprofessional behavior.'" Mendel, though, was critical of a number of "problematic" provisions in the law, and specifically noted "the biggest problem is control over who is a journalist, pursuant to Articles 12 and 13, and the fact no one may work as a journalist without being accepted into the profession. This is completely contrary to international standards."
There are a handful of daily and weekly publications in East Timor and the print media remains quite small largely due to a near 50 per cent illiteracy rate and high publishing costs. Radio is the widest reaching channel of information reaching some 63 per cent of the population monthly, with public TV estimated to be watched by around half. Internet access is extremely limited, though not censored, and reaches around 1 per cent of the population, according to Freedom House. The US-based NGO also rated the country as "partly free" and reported that already "journalists practice self-censorship and authorities regularly deny access to information. The free flow of information remains hampered by poor infrastructure and scarce resources."
The prevalence of two main languages, Tetum and Portuguese, as well as multiple different dialects, further complicates the process and distribution of news and events to citizens.
East Timorese NGO, La'o Hamutuk, added its voice to the sceptics, saying that: "Timor-Leste has already gone for more than a decade without a media law and we have not had problems with media and information, During this time, Timorese people enjoyed their right to information and freedom of expression through various media, after nearly five hundred years of repression and censorship."
This is a nation where around 60 per cent of the population is under 24 years old and where around 40 per cent of citizens live below the international poverty line. After centuries of Portuguese colonialism -then a brief 10 day sojourn of independence – a quarter century of brutal Indonesian occupation followed razing the infrastructure and intimidating the populace of the island. The UN mission here had to effectively re- author the state from ruin and is regarded as one of their biggest success stories, producing a self-determining democratic government.
For the optimist it may be that the passing of this law is a well-meaning, essentially benign attempt to produce more professional standards of journalistic conduct. Though it seems a number of the conditions extend beyond that, bordering on constrictive regulation.
A government statement read: "Its purpose is primarily to regulate the activity of professionals, adequately prepared and ethically responsible, so that they can inform the public objectively and impartially and encourage active and enlightened citizenship by the population, thus contributing to a democratic society." All very well in theory, then, though its imposition in practice could be much more sinister.
The passage of time will determine what effect this law has on the press in real terms and it remains unclear how authoritatively the regulations will be enforced. If this nascent democracy is going to develop properly, an unhindered press will be vital to that process. However, these restrictions could, in potentia, open the door for parliamentary encroachment and censorship, stunting the growth of a nation just embarking on its first experiment in self-rule.
Source: http://www.indexoncensorship.org/2014/05/restrictive-regulation-ratified-east-timor/
Timor-Leste: RSF 'information hero' fights new media law
Pacific Media Centre - May 16, 2014
Dili (Jornal Independente/Pacific Media Watch) – It was a stunt that arguably in any democratic country on any given day would have led the media headlines and stopped anyone that cared about their rights to speak freely in their tracks.
But as the man who was this year included in Reporters Without Borders 100 "information heroes" list for his contribution to journalism world-wide, Jose Belo, sat quietly on the head table at yesterday's Secretary of State-led media capacity workshop in Dili with a bandana fixed across his mouth, the noise was sadly minimal.
For almost an hour Belo sat, his mouth forced shut as a sign of the gag the veteran journalist believes will soon be forced on Timor-Leste's fragile media under a new law.
As the nation's first new media law now sits waiting presidential approval, Belo warned that in it's current form its restrictions on who can and can't operate as a journalist, government control of the regulating press council body and worrying stipulations on information access would signal the death of Timorese journalists' spirit.
Sobering times, but is it too little too late to save freedom of expression and plurity of voice in a country that so many times proudly parades its own long fight for freedom?
Timor-Leste's new media law bars journalists working for political parties, NGOs or government departments from being registered and accredited as journalists.
Special permit
It also requires foreign journalists to get a special permit before being able to report from Timor-Leste and restricts foreign ownership of any form of media to 30 percent.
All media must provide the government with a list of journalists employed by the media company and publish their names in their outlets.
At a World Press Freedom Day seminar at the University of Timor-Leste on May 1, the head of the parliamentary committee, Carmelita Moniz, told journalism students and working reporters that any evidence of corruption by investigating reporters should be sent directly to authorities and not be published first in the media.
Belo has repeated claimed that the media control laws "go directly against the 'spirit of the Constitution'" guaranteeing freedom of access to information. He said he would not abide by these new laws and go to jail if necessary to oppose them.
East Timor passes tough laws to muzzle media
The Australian - May 7, 2014
Ted McDonnell – The East Timorese parliament has passed legislation that will restrict journalists.
The controversial media laws will restrict those it classifies as a journalist and potentially prevent foreigners from entering East Timor to report on news the government dislikes. A foreign journalist will now need to seek advance permission from the government to enter the country.
East Timor media laws, considered some of the most restrictive in the world, has created a Press Council answerable to parliament. The Press Council will be made up of three senior journalists and two citizens – chosen by National Parliament, potentially parliamentarians.
The new Press Council can impose fines and jail journalists who are deemed to have broken the media laws.
Jose Belo, publisher and editor of Tempo Semanal, said yesterday was the last day that East Timor could be considered democratic. "East Timor journalists have lost their freedom of speech, as have the people of East Timor," Mr Belo said.
"This law has been devised by the Prime Minister, (Xanana) Gusmao, and his government to protect itself from media scrutiny and scrutiny of the people. It is against our constitution."
Mr Belo said he would refuse to submit his name as a journalist to the Press Council. "They can throw me in jail again, but I will not be controlled by this government or a politicised Press Council," he said.
More investment needed to reduce stunting in Timor-Leste
IRIN - May 29, 2014
Dili – New data indicate that stunting among under-five children is being reduced in Timor-Leste, but experts warn much greater investment is needed in areas such as micronutrient supplementation, salt iodization and education to bring levels down further.
"Overall it's important that we look at Timor-Leste as a success story," Hongwei Gao, country representative for the UN Children's Fund (UNICEF) in Timor-Leste, told IRIN.
A 2013 UNICEF report listed Timor-Leste as having the highest percentage of children under five who are moderately or severely stunted in the world (58 percent), matched only by Burundi. Preliminary analysis of a 2014 nutritional survey administered by UNICEF and the Timorese government shows that that indicator has dropped (improved) to 52 percent.
Stunting reflects chronic undernutrition during the most critical periods of growth and development in early life, especially the first three years. Children who are stunted are at greater risk of illness, death and impaired cognitive development.
"Stunting coming down over the recent years is a good sign," said Joao Bosco, head of the nutrition department at Timor-Leste's Ministry of Health. "We hope in the next five years we can reduce it to 40 percent."
Timor-Leste, home to 1.1 million people, was a former Portuguese colony before it was occupied by Indonesia in 1975, prompting a decades-long violent struggle; it achieved independence only 12 years ago. In 2006, widespread riots and conflict due to dissent within the army led to military intervention. More than 100,000 people were displaced, mostly in the capital Dili.
Poor childcare and feeding are partially to blame for the country's high rates of stunting.
To tackle malnutrition, the government drafted the National Nutrition Strategy in 2004, and in 2012 revised it to promote behaviour changes to improve nutrition, such as the infant and young child feeding programme, education, micronutrient supplementations, treatment of severely malnourished children, and a salt iodization programme.
"In the fight to improve nutrition, there are many factors – including having access to nutritious and secure food, using the right care practices, having good quality basic healthcare, and good water, sanitation, and deworming," explained Gao.
"It's unclear which of these factors played a role in decreasing stunting in Timor-Leste, but what's more important is that all of them are seen as crucial components and the government should start investing in each one."
Despite the recent drop in stunting rates, some are concerned about the pace of progress, and link investments in child nutrition to the country's political future.
Rosaria Martins da Cruz, director of Hiam Health, a Dili-based NGO that runs a rehabilitation and feeding centre, lamented: "If those new percentages are true, why am I still seeing my facility full of skinny children? And what does a continued high stunting rate mean for the future of this proud independent country?"
Building awareness, changing behaviour
Juliana Martins, 18, participated in a three-week malnutrition rehabilitation programme at Hiam Health's facility in Dili. "When I was first told that my child was [malnourished] I didn't understand," she said. Her daughter is now four years old.
"When the nutrition assessment happened, it was the first time my daughter had been seen by a [medical professional] since she was born. She was always thin. I thought maybe she was sick, but I didn't know where to take her or what to ask for."
Hiam Health screens children for malnourishment in rural areas. The NGO's facility in Dili can house up to 20 children and their mothers, as the children gain weight and the mothers are trained on everything from food preparation to hygiene.
"Most of the mothers who come to us have very little education, if any," explained da Cruz, adding that the facility offers hands-on cooking and feeding training for mothers. "The mothers see the impact of their work on their child's health with their own eyes," she said.
"Telling people 'do this' then walking away doesn't work – they are not accustomed to educational practices," she said, explaining that during her six-year tenure from 2003-2009 at Dili's National Hospital – the only national referral hospital in the country – the treatment regime for malnourished children consisted of only a short lecture for parents. Only 58 percent of adults in Timor-Leste are literate.
"We would see the same parents and children in cycles every few months because the knowledge didn't stick," da Cruz said. "The programme there didn't take poor people seriously."
Nutrition underpins progress
"The nutrition situation as it is now remains a silent emergency of loss of human capital," said UNICEF's Gao, adding that the government should institute a separate specific budget line for nutrition as an investment in the country's future.
The 2014 national budget notes that malnutrition remains a major issue, and points to contributing factors such as "poor education regarding the benefits of nutrition, as well as cultural attitudes, such as the overemphasis on staples." The budget increased spending on the nationwide school feeding programme from 15 to 25 US cents per student per day.
"People talk today about Timor-Leste's weak capacity. But if you don't invest in human capacity now, you'll be saying the same thing in 20 years," Gao explained.
"We have support from donors and a new campaign to end hunger," said the Health Ministry's Bosco, referring to the "Zero Hunger Challenge", a UN- coordinated global campaign that includes the goal of "zero stunted children under two years of age", which was recently launched in Timor- Leste.
"But the current government budget attention to nutrition is rather small. In order to achieve our goals to reduce stunting more, we will need more investment," he said.
For da Cruz, Timor-Leste's continued struggle with malnutrition is a tragedy underscored by inequality. "I tell mothers that demanding access to the knowledge and services to raise a well-nourished child is part of being an equal citizen of this country," she said.
"Making sure stunting ends in this country is a step towards equality in society," she argued. "The government must start to take it seriously – this should no longer be donor-funded, but Timorese money."
World Bank analysis has shown that malnutrition (and stunting) can impact GDP by contributing to weaker school performance and higher lifelong health costs, among other factors. "Good nutrition is a basic building block of human capital," the Bank argues.
The Dili-based policy analysis organization Lao Hamutuk lamented in 2014 that while the government has been slowly investing more in areas such as health, "even with these increases, Timor-Leste still spends less than 2/3 as much on human infrastructure as other well-run developing countries."
The UN World Health Organization and the Health Ministry are currently finalizing "food-based dietary guidelines" that will encourage the consumption of locally-sourced foods, injecting support into the domestic economy.
Domingas Angela Sarmento, maternal child health and gender officer with WHO Timor-Leste, explained: "The purpose of these guidelines is to instruct people how to eat according to nutritional standards and the food that is available locally."
According to Gao, nutrition is "an extremely efficient investment" for Timor-Leste. "If the country continues to not invest in healthy children, they are losing their future capacity," she said.
Source: http://www.irinnews.org/report/100147/more-investment-needed-to-reduce-stunting-in-timor-leste
Education key to HIV/AIDS prevention
Dili Weekly - May 9, 2014
Paulina Quintao – National Commission on Combating HIV/SIDA Timor-Leste (CNCS-TL) General Secretary Daniel Marcal has said education is key to combatting the rise of the rates of HIV/AIDS which is increasing each year.
Marcal said when communities had clear information, they could protect themselves from this disease. "This illness cannot be cured and all people are at risk of it, when there is no adequate information," he said at Hali Laran, Dili.
The prevention campaign will continue to hold events in public places easily accessible by the community such as Cristo Rei, Largo Park and markets as well as border areas.
Youth were most at risk of contracting HIV/AIDS, Marcal said. Marcal said from 2003 to 2013, the Ministry of Health, through the Voluntary Counselling Confidential Testing program (VCCT), 408 people tested positive for HIV/AIDS.
Some of these patients had died, some were undergoing treatment and others remained in the community untreated, he said.
President of Commission F (health, education, gender equality and veterans'affairs), Member of Parliament Virgilio da Costa Hornai agreed the only way to combat HIV/AIDS was to increase the knowledge of the disease in the community.
The PD MP called on the commission to continue raising awareness for the youth in schools as it was young people who were most at risk. He also promised to coordinate with the Ministry of Education to include the prevention of HIV/AIDS on the school curriculum.
Vera Cruz sub-district administrator Mateus Gomes said they were ready to cooperate with CNCS-TL in order to share information with the communities.
In this opportunity the district leader called on the community not to discriminate against those affected by HIV/AIDS as they need moral support to fight the illness.
Source: http://www.thediliweekly.com/en/news/news/12408-education-key-to-hiv-aids-prevention
Awareness campaign for draft cigarette control laws
Dili Weekly - May 2, 2014
Paulina Quintao – The Ministry of Health has begun a campaign to raise awareness of the context of draft laws to control the sale and use of cigarettes in order to get ideas about how to improve the laws which are to be brought before the Council of Ministers for approval.
Deputy Minister of Health Ethics and Service Achievements Natalia de Araujo said this year, the ministry will give priority to the elaboration of the law to control cigarettes in Timor-Leste as the country signed and ratified the International Convention on the Control of Cigarettes in 2014.
She added even though Timor-Leste does not manufacture cigarettes, cigarettes are imported to Timor-Leste, the low cost of which make them easily accessible to consumers.
She said this law will legally empower the relevant institutions to intervene.
It will allow the Ministry of Finance to increase import taxes on cigarettes, as well as allow the government to regulate cigarette advertising and prohibit smoking in public places to lessen the effects of secondhand smoke.
Resident Manuel Sales said the government was obliged to protect its people. He said the proposed legislation would control cigarette circulation in Timor-Leste. "However the important thing is its implementation," he said.
Chief of the Department of Non-infection Diseases Herculano Seixas dos Santos said statistics from the 2012 annual health report showed that non- infectious diseases accounted for 17.193 hospitalizations in six Timorese referral hospitals.
This was 49.9 per cent of all hospitalizations, he said. He said 262 people died due to chronic smoking-related diseases such as hypertension, cancers or respiration diseases. This was 22,2 per cent of all deaths in hospital.
"Although smoking does not cause a person to die immediately, it causes people to get diseases and people die from those diseases," he said.
Source: http://www.thediliweekly.com/en/news/news/12384-awareness-campaign-for-draft-cigarette-control-laws
AlFeLa: Traditional justice benefits criminals, not victims
Dili Weekly - May 12, 2014
Paulina Quintao – Legal Assistance for Women and Children (ALFeLa) coordinator Laura Afonso de Jesus says resolving domestic violence criminal proceedings using methods of traditional justice is beneficial only to the perpetrators of the crimes, not to their victims.
Timorese laws dictate that domestic violence is a public crime and should be resolved through formal court proceedings.
"I don't think traditional justice is of benefit to the victims but (is beneficial) to the family and the suspects instead, because the victims continue to be victims," de Jesus said in her role as a spokes woman in a debate on traditional versus formal justice in cases of domestic violence, held at the Timor Hotel, Dili.
She advocated for victims to bring their cases to trial as although such methods often took longer, the perpetrators were aware they were not to do any harm to women again. She said many victims of domestic violence were reluctant to bring cases to trial as their financial security was dependent on the men who abused them.
Parliamentary Women's Group (GMPTL) deputy president Member of Parliament (MP) Albina Marcal, one of the spokes women of the debate, said many victims chose to revolve cases using traditional justice as it was the easier option. "Resolving cases using formal justice can take a long time and some cases are left pending," she said.
However, she encouraged victims of domestic violence to bring their cases to trial so the perpetrator scan be punished. "For women who are victims; don't be reluctant to raise your concerns attrial because there will be many people supporting you receive justice," MP Marcal said.
She recognized organization Ba Futura which organized the debate which highlighted the advantages and disadvantages of traditional and formal justice methods.
Ba Futuru director Juliana Oliveira Marcal said the public discussion was held to gather information from all entities about the advantages and disadvantages of both systems implemented in Timor-Leste. "Timor-Leste has criminalized violent actions within family life as public crimes," she said.
However, she said the choice between traditional and formal justice was an individual decision. "We're not about to get rid of the traditional system but we want both systems to be of benefit to the victims," Marcal said. The outcome of the debate will provided to the relevant government institution, she said.
Timor-Leste's mobile courts promote access to justice
IRIN - May 20, 2014
Dili – Taking judicial proceedings to rural areas of Timor-Leste with "mobile courts" is increasing citizens' access to justice as the young country builds its government from the ground up, experts and practitioners say.
"Before mobile courts, Timor-Leste was dealing with a very formal and new system of law, and a population that had only a small taste of how that system worked, and even less access to it," Pedro Raposo de Figueiredo, a judge in a mobile court unit based in Suai, a town on the southern coast of Timor Leste, told IRIN.
The Justice System Monitoring Project (JSMP), a Dili-based NGO, notes: "Timor-Leste only has four district courts to handle cases from the country's 13 districts, which means many people must travel considerable distances to access the courts, which is often difficult and expensive."
According to the Japan-based Asia-Pacific Human Rights Information Centre, Timorese mobile courts are "a way of showing the community that the court is functioning, addressing transport and infrastructure problems; and educating the community about judicial procedures".
First introduced in 2008, mobile courts are currently operational in four districts – Ainaro, Manufahi, Bobonaro, and Cova Lima – with plans to scale the programme in Dili District and others pending funding in coming years. But, experts say, addressing physical access issues is just the beginning.
"Mobile courts offer a touch and feel experience with justice, and with government, so the implications to educate the public and inspire confidence are enormous," argued Noura Hamladji, UN Development Programme (UNDP) country director in Timor-Leste.
"Building citizens' confidence in the state in a post-conflict society like Timor-Leste is crucial to maintain stability and to support all other development activities."
Timor-Leste, home to 1.1 million people, was a Portuguese colony before it was occupied by Indonesia in 1975, prompting a decades-long violent struggle during which hundreds of thousands of people perished; it achieved independence only 12 years ago. In 2006, the country experienced widespread riots and conflict due to dissent within the army, which resulted in military intervention. More than 100,000 people were displaced by the violence, mostly in the capital, Dili.
The country's legal system is modelled on Portuguese law and its history is plagued by violence, impunity, and occupation – causing "limited Timorese participation in national government". The mobile courts system is as much an attempt to educate about the law as it is to enforce it, experts say.
Enforcement
"We work with highly skilled interpreters who speak many Timorese languages and dialects," explained de Figueiredo, adding that judges focus intensely on the clarity of the process and its outcomes because in most cases it is the first time for the petitioner and the defendent to handle a crime in a formal system.
"The mission of these courts is of course to deliver actual justice by sentencing perpetrators, but it's also partly a charm offensive – we want people in the areas we visit to understand that this is an accessible option for every citizen," he said.
In February 2014, Vice-Minister for Justice Ivo Valente announced that from 2010-2013 mobile courts had processed 280 cases and "2,000 people or more had benefited from the mobile court process."
However, JSMP has documented some issues of patchy compliance with protocols, and warned that the system must maintain its adherence to the central law. In some instances in 2012 and 2013, mobile courts failed to adequately protect victim identities by leaving proceedings open to the public.
Education
"The entire community goes through the experience of how the court gathers and considers evidence of a crime," explained de Figueiredo, stressing that courts are mandated to protect victim identities in sensitive cases.
And the opportunities for education go beyond courtroom proceedings.
"Suko [village cluster] chiefs have told us they are thankful that there is a formal system to deal with difficult and complicated cases," he explained, pointing to a recent incident in which a fight between two village members escalated until 50 houses in one village were burnt down. A mobile court handled the case.
"After listening in on court proceedings, police officers ask us questions about the law and their responsibilities, whether they can improve the way they respond to reports of crimes," de Figueiredo said, touching on issues highlighted by a 2013 International Crisis Group report which explained that police "Investigative capacity remains very limited. Few officers understand the Criminal Code, and both record-keeping and storage of evidence remain problematic."
The Asia Foundation's 2013 Timor-Leste Law and Justice Survey found a long-term increase in awareness of, and desire for, formal justice. Eighty percent of respondents who had heard of a court reported they would want a court to settle local disputes, up from 54 percent in 2004. The number of cases resolved by the four district courts has also increased – from 808 in 2010 to 1,380 in 2012.
"Part of the utility of mobile courts is to deliver formal and transparent justice; part of it is to let people have their first ever glimpse of the fact that it can serve them," said de Figueiredo.
Source: http://www.irinnews.org/report/100108/timor-leste-s-mobile-courts-promote-access-to-justice
Indonesia, Timor Leste hold joint patrol along border
Jakarta Post - May 26, 2014
Kupang, East Nusa Tenggara – Security personnel from Indonesia and Timor Leste have held a joint border patrol to guard the two countries' shared border.
The situation in the border area shared by Indonesia and Timor Leste was generally safe and under control, Lt. Col. Fransiskus Ari Susetio, commander of the Indonesia-Timor Leste border security task force, said on Monday as quoted by Antara news agency.
Besides the joint patrolling, Indonesia and Timor Leste also hold regular meetings on border security. Fransiskus said the participation of local people was also crucial to maintaining security and order in the border area. (hhr)
Timor fuel smugglers deal in liquid money
Jakarta Globe - May 21, 2014
Josua Gantan, Atambua, East Nusa Tenggara – At a state-owned gas station in an Indonesian border town in Timor's Belu district, a liter of premium fuel on Sunday went for Rp 6,500 ($0.57) – less than half of the price at the pump in poverty stricken East Timor, just a few kilometers away, where the government does not provide generous subsidies.
The vast price disparity has long stoked a bull market for fuel smugglers, at great cost to a government already strapped for cash under the heavy burden of subsidy costs.
Last year, President Susilo Bambang Yudhoyono was forced to raise fuel prices to keep the budget deficit below the 3 percent threshold. This year's widening deficit owes itself to a projected increase in subsidies to Rp 285 trillion ($25 billion) from an initial estimate of Rp 210.7 trillion -- more than 15 percent of the total budget.
Over the weekend, the Jakarta Globe witnessed in action what were almost certainly smugglers at work.
While over one hundred people waited in line to fill their tanks, people on motorcycles were able to ride up, cut the line with impunity, refuel, ride off, and return after a short while to refuel again, making small payments to the gas station attendants each time.
The practice was not isolated. A source familiar with the illicit transactions, who spoke on condition of anonymity, told the Globe that the practice was widespread at Pertamina stations all along the East Timor border.
In April, the military thwarted a plot to smuggle 3,200 tons of fuel across the border. Small-scale smuggling, however, accounted for much of the overall illicit trade.
A barrel of fuel, which would cost some Rp 900,000 in Indonesia, could be sold for as much as the equivalent of Rp 1.8 million in East Timor, the source said. He said premium grade fuel, the least expensive option in Indonesia, was not widely available in East Timor.
Smugglers used enlarged gas tanks on their motorbikes to ferry the fuel to barrels, which they brought across the border through official entryways or backchannels, he said.
He said gas stations near the border sometimes went through four tanker trucks worth of fuel in a single day due to the prevalence of smuggling. For many in Belu, where the majority earn their living from farming, fishing or livestock, subsidized fuel is a source of liquid money.
The border attracts other illicit activities as well, including a steady stream of stolen cars, the source said. Cars stolen across Indonesia find their way to the border, he said, where fences resell them at a fraction of their original worth. A 2013 Toyota Avanza Veloz, he said could be bought for as little as Rp 75 million on the border.
He said fences waited along the border for for sellers, mostly from Java, to show up and arrange deals. "Everyone gets their share," he said, without elaborating further.
Indonesia has struggled for years to stop the flow of fuel and other illegal goods from East Nusa Tenggara into East Timor, but the trade remains strong. Belu district juts far to the east, with one area surrounded on three sides by East Timor, making illegal trade there particularly difficult to stanch.
Source: http://www.thejakartaglobe.com/news/timor-fuel-smugglers-deal-liquid-money/
Timor-Leste betting on Lusophone ties for growth
Jakarta Globe - May 23, 2014
Eduardo Mariz – The district of Oecusse, an isolated portion of Timor- Leste in Indonesian territory, carries under its name the nostalgic origins of a nation.
It was here where the Portuguese first landed in 1515, in what is now the town of Pante Macassar, and began four centuries of dominance in their farthest-flung colony. Despite being on the western side of the island, the enclave of Oecusse has never ceased to be part of Timor-Leste, even the 24-year long Indonesian occupation kept the district under the forcefully incorporated province of Timor Timur.
Last month the government in Dili announced that commemorations of the Portuguese arrival would be held in Oecusse from 2015, a rare announcement for a subject of colonial oppression. But for East Timorese, colonial roots and the landing in what is now Pante Macassar are remembered in a very different light: they mark the beginning of the nation's history.
In spite of living for over two decades under Indonesian rule, the decolonization of Timor-Leste in 1975 remains a fresh event in the minds of today's leaders and has allowed for the reestablishment of dynamic ties with Portugal and other lusophone (Portuguese-speaking) countries, like Macau.
Ties that bind
Today, former Portuguese colonies like Timor-Leste cooperate globally through the Community of Portuguese Language Countries, an intergovernmental organization where Portuguese is an official language. East Timor-Leste has been a full member of the CPLP since its independence in 2002 and so far has benefited from educational exchanges, development aid and research funding for in-country projects.
The CPLP brings together eight member states in four different continents and an estimated population of 240 million people – similar to that of Indonesia. Beyond sharing a single language, some member nations have also overcome internal conflict, enjoy developing economies and anchor strong relations within their respective regions – particularly Angola, Mozambique and Brazil.
In July, Timor-Leste will replace Mozambique as the two-year rotating chairman of the CPLP for the first time. With slightly euphoric expectations, preparatory arrangements have been widely reported in Timorese media and the government has set up a committee composed of high- ranking diplomats and officials from member countries to polish the fine protocollary details of the big ceremony, the upcoming CPLP summit to take place from July 20 until July 25 in Dili.
"We have prepared ourselves, to successfully stage this summit and invite the respective heads of state and government to Timor Leste," Jose Luis Guterres, the country's minister for foreign affairs and cooperation, said during a recent visit to Jakarta.
Guterres hopes that fellow members of the CPLP will take advantage of Timor-Leste's position in Asia during its chairmanship to establish private sector partnerships with other countries in the region, such as members of the Association of Southeast Asian Nations and Pacific Islands Forum nations, including Australia and New Zealand.
"[Asia] is a dynamic region economically and there are also a lot of new ideas coming from here. Many people talk about the Asian century, so it is important for Timor-Leste to do our best to facilitate progress (...) The theme we have chosen for the meeting in the summit in Timor-Leste is the globalization of CPLP. It allows, encourages and facilitates the members of the group to integrate in their regions" he said.
But Damien Kingsbury, a professor at Melbourne's Deakin University and a close observant of Timor-Leste's development, sees more than just commercial gain in this opportunity. "East Timor's engagement with Portugal and the CPLP is intended to act as a counterweight to its relations with Australia, Indonesia and China – in particular – to ensure that its not captured by any one forum or national interest," he says.
Kingsbury also believes that Timor-Leste's chairmanship of the CPLP is not only important, "but also indicative of East Timor developing maturity, particularly as an international actor."
Human rights, energy challenges
This acting role has been further highlighted with the controversial membership bid of Equatorial Guinea to join the CPLP, which Dili has fully supported. The small African nation of just over 700,000 people is governed by an authoritarian regime with a grim record on human rights, contrary to the membership policies of the CPLP.
Foreign ministers of the CPLP countries have endorsed Equatorial Guinea's ambitions, defying the organization's statutory requirements on the basis that becoming part of the community will eventually foster democracy and individual liberties. To fulfil the requisites, the government in Malabo has recently made Portuguese an official language – even though few people speak it – and halted capital punishment to improve its track record on human rights issues.
However Petro Krupenski, president of Portugal's Platform of NGOs for Development (Plataforma ONGD), recently voiced his scepticism of the measures and denounced powerful economic interests behind the CPLP's complacency. "[The measures] don't show a genuine will to solve the human rights situation. The death penalty is one of many issues," he said in an interview with the Portuguese daily Publico.
But Guterres remains optimistic about the efforts of Equatorial Guinea despite the possibility of it undermining Timor-Leste's stance as a defender of human rights. "I believe they have been doing all what we have asked from them, and human rights is a process, it's something that never ends, you have to do it every time even in democratic nations," he says.
Another matter in which the government in Dili is now pulling the strings is energy resources. Timor-Leste is one of the most petroleum-export dependent countries in the world and approximately 95 percent of government revenue comes from oil. At current extraction rates, it is estimated oil deposits could be depleted by 2020 if the Greater Sunrise project remains stalled over disputes with Australia.
Recently Timor Gap, the national oil company of Timor-Leste, announced its intention of forming a consortium with other CPLP members for the on-shore exploration of oil in Timor. The partnership has already interested Sao Tome and Principe and Francisco Monteiro, president of Timor Gap, has also been in negotiations with counterparts in Portugal and Mozambique. If successful, details of the deal would be presented during the CPLP Dili summit in July.
That announcement, timed in the year of the East Timor-Australia spying scandal, could spell a warning to Woodside Petroleum, the lead operator of the once again disputed Greater Sunrise joint development area. "There is no doubt that the spying allegations and the difficulties around the Timor Gap [also the name of a maritime area believed to be holding vast energy reserves] have made relations with Australia difficult, and certainly has complicated negotiations with Woodside" says Kingsbury.
But for Guterres, cooperation with CPLP countries and Timor-Leste's commercial relations with Australia are completely different matters. "This is a policy that has been in our mind for many years already, based on the analysis that CPLP members have an expertise in exploring oil and gas in their own countries. Brazil is one of them, and so is Angola and also Mozambique... so it makes sense that countries that belong to the same international organization try to come together and share their best practices," he says.
The minister also perseveres in saying that his country's "pragmatic consensus" in terms of foreign relations will not change despite the announced resignation of Primer Minister Xanana Gusmao this year, halfway through his current mandate.
"The policies that we have in international relations are a consensus, so whoever will be the head of government or head of state in Timor will continue the policies we have implemented since our independence (...) we try to do our best in order to establish relations with all countries including with Australia," he says.
Refresher course needed
Enhanced cooperation with the CPLP will also mean brushing up on the Portuguese language. Last year the national parliament approved a resolution making the use of Portuguese compulsory in at least one plenary session and parliamentary commission each month. The first of these sessions was held last month, a long wait for a language that enjoys the same official status as Tetum.
Fernando Lasama Araujo, leader of the house, justified the initiative as necessary to "instigate the habit of using it amongst parliamentarians as well as Tetum, as the Constitution dictates," he told Lusa, the Portuguese news agency.
Only 25 percent of East Timorese can read, write and speak Portuguese according to the 2010 census, most of them aging citizens and clerks in the nation's capital. In comparison, Indonesian is spoken by around 45 percent of the population and English by almost 15 percent.
But Portuguese has much going for it in Timor-Leste.
"Portuguese language is part of our heritage, we will continue to learn Portuguese as well as our [other] official language [Tetum]," says Guterres. "Brazil is one of the major countries today in the world, and they speak Portuguese, the economies of all these countries, almost all, have oil and gas and natural resources: like Angola, Mozambique, Brazil and others."
Source: http://www.thejakartaglobe.com/international/timor-leste-betting-lusophone-ties-growth/
How can Timor-Leste be failing?
Jakarta Globe - May 23, 2014
Loro Horta – The leader and founding father of Asia's youngest nation, Xanana Gusmao, announced in November that he was resigning as prime minister and leaving politics.
The announcement comes amidst growing state failure and rampant mismanagement. Since Timor-Leste's independence from Indonesia in 2002, Gusmao has dominated the small nation's politics. His intention to resign has led many to accuse him of cowardice – after all, he carries the bulk of the responsibility for the current chaos. His resignation is likely to create a power vacuum and exacerbate the crisis.
State failure in Timor-Leste can have severe consequences for regional security, creating a refugee crisis and providing a safe haven for criminal organizations and other illicit activities. Despite massive international support and oil money the country remains fragile.
More than a decade after independence from neighboring Indonesia and two United Nation interventions, the former Portuguese colony remains an impoverished and fragile state. For a decade Timor was the highest recipient of foreign aid in the world, in per-capita terms, with Australia, Portugal and Japan footing most of the bill – even as the country, since 2007, has been receiving significant revenues from oil and gas at the tune of $2 billion a year. Very little has reached the common people while the country's infrastructure remains one of the worst in the region with power cuts frequent even in the capital of Dili.
According to a May 2013 International Crisis Group report, 71 percent of the workforce in East Timor is either unemployed or just informally employed. Nearly two thirds of the country's population is under 30 years old creating a serious source of tension. One third of the country lives in poverty and 50 percent are illiterate. As of 2010, the country had the highest rate of urbanization in the world at 5 percent a year with thousands of unemployed young men moving into the capital. Slums with deplorable conditions are emerging on the foot of the mountains that encircle Dili, while luxury houses such as the one built by the Minister of Finance Emilia Pires in Farol are being erected by a privileged few.
Timor is no stranger to poverty. However, the appearance of small pockets of affluence next to abject poverty is new. Child prostitution is common, even among school children. In June this year the secretary of state for gender told the media that prostitution was increasing in the country, particularly among high school students.
Corruption is fast becoming endemic with several scandals exposed in the media involving ministers and other senior officials. The most ridiculous case is that of the minister of justice, in contempt of court for refusing to pay child support to his chronically ill child.
Following the July 2012 elections Gusmao created the largest government in the Asia Pacific with a cabinet made up of 55 members – this in country with a population of just over 1 million. Not surprisingly, the state bureaucracy is in total disarray with Gusmao himself admitting that most of his numerous ministries are only able to use about 30 percent of their yearly budgets allocated to the ministries. Public servants go for months without pay, and hundreds of international advisers go for a year without pay.
The country has one of the most generous retirement packages for its politicians. Ministers, deputy ministers, members of parliament, judges and other senior officials are entitled to a life pension that varies from $2,500 to $4,000 after completing a five-year term – in country where the yearly per capita income is $3,335. Neither the government nor the opposition has been keen on changing the law, instead spending millions on luxury cars, houses and trips abroad while unemployment continues to grow.
So far Gusmao has kept a fragile peace by spending significant amounts in expanding patronage networks, awarding contracts and other benefits to supporters and buying off critics.
The strategy works – as long as the state continues to have access to generous finances from the country's oil wealth. The off-shore oil production creates few jobs because of minimal production and refinery capabilities.
Another problem, several studies indicate that the country's oil and gas reserves will last for another 15 years at most. More than a decade of independence, riots, corruption and outright arrogance on the part of the young nation's leaders have led to an economy completely dependent on oil and gas, one that produces little else. Oil and gas exports account for more than 90 percent of the nation's GDP, the highest dependence on natural resource extraction in the world. The Asian Development Bank estimates that in 2014 the country's oil revenues will decline by 41 percent.
There are some signs of hope. East Timor remains a democracy, its media among the freest in the region. Figures like President Taur Matan Ruak, a former chief of defense force and guerrilla fighter, and Minister for State Agio Pereira are widely respected for their honesty. The country's former prosecutor general, the implacable and ill-humored Ana Pessoa jailed several senior officials including former Minister of Justice Lucia Lobato. While Pessoa was eventually replaced after some obscure maneuvers, her successor seems determined to carry on her legacy. When Pessoa was forced out of office in March 2012, the local media run headlines proclaiming, "She is still our prosecutor general" and the US ambassador held a farewell party. A survey of law students found that over 80 percent wanted to become prosecutors.
In January 2014 Gusmao reaffirmed his intention to resign, adding that the state was in complete disarray and something needed to be done soon. He has promised on several occasions a radical reduction in the size of government and a serious crackdown on corruption. His resignation will only accelerate the process of state failure. Ironically, Gusmao oversaw such a state of chaos and only he can fix it. Citizens wait to see if the hero of independence and the father of Asia's youngest nation has the courage to lead the nation in what maybe is its most difficult hour. Or, will he take the easiest option and leave?
Timor's case also has profound implications for future international efforts at state building. If a tiny territory rich in resources that received generous support from the world fails, then what are the chances for less prosperous territories? Since the early 1990s international efforts at state building have increased, however there are few success stories. While the international community has hailed Timor a success story this may turn out to be a self-deceiving exercise.
Timor-Leste due to its heroic struggle for independence that saw a quarter of its population butchered by the Indonesian military has and still elicits great sympathy from the international community. The country and its leaders should not take such generosity for granted as the great hopes that once inspired its many supporters around the world are slowly fading away.
[Loro Horta was the United Nations project manager for security sector reform in Timor-Leste and a senior adviser to the country's Foreign Ministry.]
Source: http://www.thejakartaglobe.com/opinion/can-timor-leste-failing/