Tom Allard – Australian man Roger Maguire has been accused by East Timor of being a "mole" for oil major ConocoPhillips amid revelations it paid him $US120,000 to provide evidence on its behalf.

Mr Maguire worked for the Timorese government as a revenue legal adviser but was paid to testify against his former employer by ConocoPhillips during a bitter conflict over tax involving hundreds of millions of dollars.

Mr Maguire angrily denied he had been a mole. However, he told Fairfax Media he received payment of "about 120,000 dollars US" for travel expenses and his time reviewing his files. He said he was paid an hourly rate of $US500. "We were talking about quite a number of man hours here," he said. "Having to take time off, jeapordising other projects I had going on."

Even after deducting $20,000 for travel expenses, the amount equates to 200 hours of work, or five weeks entirely devoted to the project.

Mr Maguire was not called by either side to appear but did compile two short witness statements, each less than 10 pages long.

Those familiar with arbitration hearings described the amount as "extraordinary". One oil industry insider, who asked not to be named, said the amount was "contrary to Conoco's policy".

Fact witnesses – those who recount what their direct knowledge of the matters before arbitration – are generally not paid, except for expenses. In contrast, expert witnesses – those with specialist knowledge but no direct involvement in the case – are typically paid, sometimes lucratively.

Industry sources and emails obtained by Fairfax Media reveal Mr Maguire, who was charged with assessing appeals by oil companies, liaised regularly with them and was seen as sympathetic to their claims.

Mr Maguire said such meetings were part of his job. But East Timor's legal counsel, former US ambassador for war crimes Pierre-Richard Prosper, said Mr Maguire was an "asset" of the oil industry, an intelligence term for an informer.

"This information clearly indicates that Roger Maguire was a mole for ConocoPhillips during the time he was a Timor-Leste government employee, " Mr Prosper said. "This raises the question as to how he became one. We wonder how deep this goes."

Mr Maguire said the notion he was a paid "asset" for ConocoPhillips was nonsense. "One might say that about everyone's who is on East Timor's payrolll or was a witness," he said.

Fairfax Media revealed on Tuesday the extraordinary case of Bobby Boye, the Nigerian national and convicted felon who worked alongside Mr Maguire. Boye was arrested in June for allegedly defrauding Timor of $3.5 million.

The investigation also revealed that ConocoPhillips executives were aware of Boye's criminal past and fraudulent conduct in East TImor for more than 12 months before telling its government.

Mr Maguire said he was appalled by Boye's conduct when he worked with him, although he was unaware of his criminal past and deceit until his arrest in June. He said Boye's tax assessments against the oil companies were almost invariably wrong "but I was not permitted to correct them".

Mr Maguire said he was "under instructions" when he supported one of Mr Boye's tax decisions in an email. "As far as they were being subject to illegal decisions, I was sympathetic [to the oil companies]," he said.

"There is an intriguing logic that while Prosper attacks my motives, credibility and character, his entire case is built around a proven fraudster, who is presently reported to be facing up to 20 years imprisonment on each of number of charges."

He also accused East Timor of using the media to influence the arbitration proceedings. A decision on the arbitration is pending.

ConocoPhillips declined to respond to questions from Fairfax Media on Wednesday.

Source: http://www.brisbanetimes.com.au/national/east-timor-accuses-australian-tax-assessor-roger-maguire-of-being-a-mole-for-oil-companies-20140910-10f1gl.html

Big Oil stands by as con man swindles East Timor

Canberra Times - September 10, 2014

Tom Allard – As Bobby Boye surveyed his extensive property portfolio, the 2011 Rolls-Royce Ghost and other luxury vehicles in the garage, he may well have reflected with some satisfaction on a job well done.

The Nigerian national with a penchant for signing off his emails "Bobby W. Boye esq." and wearing suits with waistcoats in the hot tropical weather made his fortune in East Timor, where he was lauded as a hero in the local media.

Boye had been working for the East Timorese government since 2010 in a role pivotal to the fledgling nation's prosperity. East Timor, still stumbling into nationhood, had just conducted the first tax audit of the oil companies that provide more than 90 per cent of its revenue. Until then, the oil companies essentially self-assessed, and East Timor was worried it was being ripped off.

Boye's job was to issue the formal tax assessments to claw back unpaid revenue. He succeeded brilliantly, forcing the oil companies to cough up more than $350 million. But as he was raking in the revenue, Boye was robbing East Timor.

The shocking truth was he was a convicted felon, a charlatan and embezzler who has allegedly scammed $3.51 million from East Timor's threadbare treasury.

Boye was arrested in June this year after the East Timorese tipped off the FBI in April 2013. Yet East Timor's government was not the first to know, not by a long shot.

Emails obtained by Fairfax Media, along with interviews with people involved in the saga, attest that at least a dozen people working for the oil and gas industry knew about Boye's chequered past. In many cases, that knowledge stretched as far back as two years before East Timor's government says it independently realised Boye's malfeasance.

Senior staff at oil and gas giant ConocoPhillips, among others, kept secret their concerns about Boye's credentials even though he was a man they detested, an imposing and arrogant interloper who had cost them a significant amount of money.

For Pierre-Richard Prosper, a partner at international law firm Arent Fox, who is acting for East Timor, the refusal to share the information was "shocking and appalling". "Clearly, they held this to be used as some kind of leverage; the question is against whom and for what intended gain?"

Oil industry sources and emails obtained by Fairfax Media reveal the oil companies became suspicious about Boye as early as December 2010, when an influential local website, La'o Hamutuk, ran a story about oil companies "robbing" East Timor of taxation.

The figures about the adverse tax assessments were uncannily accurate – prompting concerns that Boye had leaked the information.

Several industry sources said they tried to formally protest to the head of East Timor's customs and revenue service, Cancio de Jesus Oliveira, but he allegedly fobbed them off. Emails show ConocoPhillips decided not to pursue the matter with East Timorese authorities any further.

But the oil industry made further inquiries, using investigators and lawyers to do due diligence on Boye. What they found out about him was far more disturbing than the unauthorised leaking of information

Emails sent in June 2011, one bearing the subject heading "A Nigerian con artist in our midst?", outlined how Boye's claims to have studied at Cambridge University and worked at energy giant Chevron and the international law firm Clifford Chance were fake.

As the email noted: "I imagine the Timor government would be most embarrassed." The email was circulated to a number of ConocoPhillips Australia executives.

Research was not that difficult; the irregularities could be easily detected by perusing documents on the public record.

The investigations uncovered further evidence of Boye's unsavoury past. Boye had served three years in prison in California for embezzlement in 2007 and had been banned for life by the New York Stock Exchange after defrauding clients of their stocks in 2004.

By mid-2012, oil company staff were also aware of serious problems with Opus & Best, a company that was awarded a lucrative contract to provide tax advice to the East Timorese government.

According to emails obtained by Fairfax Media, ConocoPhillips deduced that the company was registered four days after it was awarded the contract.

Moreover, the Opus & Best contracts were unusually buried on the transparency portal of the Ministry of Finance. The company's website looked like a cut and paste job.

Inquiries to Opus & Best's office in New York for a contact elicited Bobby Boye's personal email address. Opus & Best was secretly owned by Boye, who used the sham company – it later emerged – to siphon off $3.5 million from East Timor's threadbare treasury into bank accounts established in New York.

Boye wrote Opus & Best's bid document and was on the committee that awarded the contract. The FBI states that Boye used his stature to dictate the winner.

According to the FBI, Boye used the proceeds of his fraud to purchase the Rolls-Royce, a Bentley Continental and a Range Rover, along with $US20,000 in watches and a portfolio of four homes in New Jersey.

If ConocoPhillips had informed the East Timorese government, it would have saved the impoverished nation at least $2 million. By mid-2012, only $1.5 million had been wired to Boye's fraudulent account.

One industry source said the companies went as far as to track the payments made to the company, and realised the accounts were linked to Boye.

"Everyone knew. Nobody did anything," said one oil industry source, who was among those aware of Boye's past. "They kept it in their back pocket."

Apparently unaware the FBI was investigating the case or that East Timor had independently come across Boye's mischief, it was not until November last year that Conoco told East Timor about its concerns about Boye, and then only in a two-minute "heads up" at the end of a teleconference between lawyers.

It took until January 2014 for the company to disclose everything it had come across – including the fraud involving Opus & Best, says Mr Prosper, East Timor's lawyer in the tax dispute with Conoco, now before arbitration in Singapore.

"You would expect a partner in a major development with Timor Leste and an honest taxpayer to tell you, 'Look, we have a problem here,'"said Mr Prosper, referring to East Timor by its official name.

According to multiple sources, Conoco's planned appeals against the adverse tax assessments from Boye explains why it refused to pass on what it knew about Boye promptly. It would make for a devastating case if Conoco could reveal that the author of the tax rulings was a convicted felon and con artist.

It is understood that Boye's character was the key to Conoco's case. The fact that it was able to present detailed allegations about Boye before the FBI investigation became public is proof that it had done its own detailed research.

Fairfax Media attempted to contact the ConocoPhillips executives directly but was referred to ConocoPhillip's media department.

Detailed questions were sent on Friday asking the company when its staff started having doubts about Bobby Boye's bona fides, if it was aware of investigations into Boye by oil companies and their proxies, if it had conducted an investigation itself, and if it contacted the East Timorese government about its concerns.

The oil giant declined to answer these specific questions and others, releasing a short statement instead.

"ConocoPhillips is aware that Bobby Boye was a consultant to the Timor- Leste Revenue service and that he was arrested on 19 June 2014," it said.

"Because of his role within the government, we were obligated to engage with Mr Boye over revenue matters. ConocoPhillips is not involved in the case before the US court."

Conoco's joint venture partners in its Timor Gap oil field include Santos, ENI Australia and Japan's Tokyo Timor Sea Resources.

A Santos spokeswoman said the company and its staff did not know about Boye's convict past and alleged criminality in East Timor until his arrest. Other joint venture partners ENI Australia and Tokyo Gas either failed to return calls or said they could not find anyone to comment.

East Timor is the world's most oil dependent nation. Its oil revenue comes from just two fields in the Timor Sea. Bayu-Undan, where ConocoPhillips is its major shareholder and operator, is by far the larger and has been operational for longer. Few, if any, nation states have had to rely on one company so much to underwrite their prosperity.

While East Timor has an annual budget of $US1.5 billion ($1.6 billion), ConocoPhillips had revenues of $US57 billion last year. Its market capitalisation is $US100 billion. It describes itself as the world's largest independent gas production and exploration company. It is among the top 25 oil producers in the world.

The $3.5 million that Boye siphoned off East Timor is the equivalent to almost one month of the tiny nation's health budget. But that amount is dwarfed in comparison with the $350 million-plus at stake in the tax litigation. ConocoPhillips alone is disputing more than $200 million in back taxes and penalties Boye forced it to pay.

The ease of Bobby Boye's fraud reflects badly on East Timor, but it was the Norwegian government that hired Boye and sent him to East Timor under its aid program. Its ineptitude in checking his credentials was staggering.

According to Norwegian news reports, Boye listed 3D Systems as a previous employer. This was true. But it was while at 3D Systems that Boye was found guilty of embezzling $250,000, money laundering and theft, and sentenced to two years in prison. All of this, again, was on the public record.

One of the world's most fragile states was badly let down by Norway, the country that ranks number one on the UN's human development index.

Conoco's conduct was even more reprehensible, Mr Prosper says. He called for Conoco's head office in Houston to undertake a "full and complete investigation as to why it withheld vital information regarding fraud from both Timor and law enforcement". Others in East Timor's government are talking about possible prosecutions of Conoco staff.

East Timor's struggle for independence after 24 years of Indonesian occupation was epic. Its efforts to transform into a middle income state are just as challenging. Frauds like Bobby Boye sadly prey on post-conflict states. Interlopers of his ilk are not uncommon throughout the developing world.

Emerging states building the infrastructure of government need all the support they can get to protect them. Its concerns about Boye were triggered by unexplained absences and dubious claims to have a life- threatening illness.

It was fortunate it acted. Boye, according to the FBI, was hatching another scheme to defraud East TImor when he was arrested.

Bobby Boye – Investment banker, tax lawyer, fraudster

1963 - Born in Nigeria. Later becomes US citizen. Other aliases Bobby Ajiboye, Bobby Aji-Boye.

1998 - Employed by Morgan Stanley. Fleeces clients of shares, which he sells for cash. Permanently suspended by New York Stock Exchange.

2002-2005 - Works at 3D Systems, a 3D printing pioneer, as head of tax department.

2006 - Arrested in California.

2007 - Found guilty of defrauding 3D Systems of more than $250,000. Serves prison term for grand theft, money laundering and perjury.

2010 - Gets limited licence to practise international law in New York, citing a Nigerian legal training.

July 2010 - Starts as a petroleum tax legal adviser to East Timor's government, hired and funded by Norway. Salary and benefits worth $350,000 a year. Falsified CV to claim he studied at Cambridge University, worked at Chevron and law firm Clifford Chance.

Mar-Dec 2012 - Boye on committee to award contract for external tax advice for East Timor. Contract awarded to a company that he secretly owns, Opus & Best. $3.51 million is wired from East Timor to an account he set up. April 2013 Flees East Timor.

May 2013 - East Timor refers Boye to FBI for investigation.

June 19, 2014 - Arrested at Newark International Airport by the FBI. Released on $1.5 million bail.

Source: http://www.canberratimes.com.au/national/big-oil-stands-by-as-con-man-swindles-east-timor-20140909-10eb13.html

Media freedom concerns over demands for ABC interview tapes

Pacific Media Centre - September 8, 2014

Mark Pearson, Brisbane (JournLaw/Pacific Media Watch) – Just as the Australian government proposes tougher national security powers for its agencies and penalties for whistleblowing, we have learned last week that the Australian Federal Police has asked the ABC for unedited current affairs interview footage in its pursuit of a former spy and a lawyer.

Attorney-General George Brandis confirmed in the Senate last Monday that Australian Federal Police started an investigation into the sources of leaks of classified information after it was revealed Australia spied on East Timor during sensitive oil and gas treaty negotiations.

The targets of the investigation are reported to be lawyer Bernard Collaery (a former ACT Attorney-General now in London about to represent East Timor in The Hague) and a former Australian Secret Intelligence Service (ASIS) agent who was allegedly the whistleblower.

The Australian Security Intelligence Organisation (ASIO) raided Collaery's Canberra office last December and seized documents.

Tom Allard reported in the Sydney Morning Herald on Monday that the latest investigation had prompted requests from the AFP for the raw footage of Collaery's interviews with programmes including 7.30, Lateline and Four Corners.

A report by Conor Duffy on 7.30 last December also featured actors' voices reading an affidavit from the former ASIS agent which the Herald has speculated could be important evidence the AFP needs for its investigation into the identity of the whistleblower.

However, in the Hansard record of Senator Brandis' comments on Monday (inset), the Attorney-General claims there are some inaccuracies in the Herald report. In particular, he claims it is inaccurate that he ordered the AFP investigation. Rather, it was ASIO-driven, he told the Senate.

As reported earlier at journlaw.com, the Australian government introduced the National Security Legislation Amendment Bill (No. 1) 2014 on July 14 which would extend security agencies' powers to search and use surveillance devices in the new communication environment, introduce a new 'multiple warrants' regime, offer immunity to intelligence personnel who break all but the most serious laws, while increasing penalties for whistleblowing and criminalising the reporting of leaked intelligence-related information.

Importantly, it would introduce a new offence carrying a five year jail term for anyone disclosing information relating to special intelligence operations.

This latest episode demonstrates how easily journalists and media organisations can get caught up in such investigations. It threatens to expose them to contempt penalties if they refuse to co-operate and will inevitably make sources reluctant to talk to reporters covering the important round of national security, particularly as it coincides with a push for even greater surveillance powers for federal agencies.

[Dr Mark Pearson is professor of journalism at Griffith University, Queensland, Australia.]

Source: http://www.pmc.aut.ac.nz/pacific-media-watch/australia-media-freedom-concerns-over-demands-abc-interview-tapes-8947

Timor spy row: Ramos-Horta downplays tensions over controversial gas treaty

ABC News - September 7, 2014

East Timor's former president Jose Ramos-Horta has downplayed frictions over Dili's spying row with Canberra and commended moves to seek an amicable settlement over gas revenues in the Timor Sea.

Speaking in Sydney, where he has received the honorary Companion to the Order of Australia, Dr Ramos-Horta described the relationship between the two countries as "exemplary".

"I do not wish to minimise the seriousness of spying but almost everybody anywhere in the world is spying on each other," he told the ABC.

"First the Germans were incensed at the Americans spying on them and recently we found out the Germans were spying on the Americans. So if we [in East Timor] had some means to spy on Australia or someone, we would, but we don't."

Dr Ramos-Horta's comments are a marked departure from late last year when he slammed the Australian government for allegedly bugging an East Timorese cabinet room in 2004. He told the ABC in December that Australia would never have won a seat on the United Nations Security Council had the allegations been known.

East Timor has taken Australia to the United Nation's highest court in the Hague and wants a 2006 gas treaty torn up, alleging Canberra spied in order to gain an advantage during the negotiations.

The two sides have now agreed to postpone the case, and a separate arbitration process, for six months in order to try and reach a settlement.

"I know contacts are taking place between Prime Minister Xanana Gusmao and Prime Minister Tony Abbott and between the two foreign ministers, so I'm confident that the the two countries will resolve this issue," said Dr Ramos-Horta.

The treaty gives the parties an equal share of revenues from the disputed Greater Sunrise oil and gas field in the Timor Sea, which lies between the two countries.

Dili believes the allocation of resources is unfair and is also pushing for an LNG processing plant to be built on Timorese soil, rather than in Australia or as a floating plant.

Dr Ramos-Horta hopes the fresh negotiations will lead to a more favourable outcome for East Timor. "It's in Australia's interests to contribute to further stabilising Timor-Leste and to create prosperity in Timor-Leste," he said.

He has also questioned Australia's decision to scale back its global aid commitments, describing it as a "huge mistake".

"Aid is part of soft power diplomacy and when you cut off aid, you're shooting yourself in the foot diplomatically," he said. "You diminish your engagement, your contacts, your influence in the region and beyond."

'High honour from our nation'

Dr Ramos-Horta is in Sydney to address a global health conference and formally receive an honorary Companion to the Order of Australia, which was announced in November last year.

The award recognises his "eminent service to strengthening Australia – Timor-Leste bilateral relations and for his outstanding leadership to bring independence to Timor-Leste."

Australia's Governor-General and former commander of international forces in East Timor, Sir Peter Cosgrove, bestowed the award on Dr Ramos-Horta at Admiralty House.

"You are an eminent global citizen, a champion of democracy, a great man of your country, a true patriot and a great friend to Australia," said Sir Peter. "I congratulate you most warmly on this high honour from our nation to a great representative of Timor-Leste."

Dr Ramos-Horta won the Nobel Peace Prize in 1996, along with Bishop Carlos Belo, for their international advocacy for an end to Indonesia's occupation of East Timor, which it invaded in 1975.

He was a co-founder of East Timor's resistance movement Fretilin and its permanent representative to the United Nations while in exile from 1975 to 1999.

Dr Ramos-Horta returned to the country in 1999, eventually serving as the country's prime minister and later president, surviving an assassination attempt in 2008. He is currently the United Nations' special representative in Guinea-Bissau.

Source: http://www.abc.net.au/news/2014-09-07/ramos-horta-plays-down-bilateral-tensions/5725936

UN court postpones East Timor spy case

Sydney Morning Herald - September 6, 2014

Harriet Alexander – The architect of East Timor's independence movement has welcomed the decision by Australia and his country to postpone court action over their spy row and pursue an amicable resolution.

East Timor dragged Canberra to the International Court of Justice in The Hague to seek the return of sensitive documents seized by Australia in a raid on the office of a lawyer working for East Timor.

The documents related to a controversial oil and gas treaty between the two countries that East Timor wanted torn up.

Jose Ramos-Horta, the former president of East Timor, said such disputes often arose between friends. "You just have to get over it," Mr Ramos-Horta said. "The relationship between Timor-Leste and Australia is too important."

The UN's highest court postponed the hearing on Friday. "The ICJ decided to grant the parties' request to postpone the oral proceedings in the case," it said in a statement in the Hague.

Lawyers were to argue their cases at the hearing's opening, set for September 17. But in a joint letter dated Monday, both Dili and Canberra asked for a postponement "to enable them to seek an amicable settlement", the court said.

In an interim ruling in March, ICJ judges ordered Canberra to stop interfering in East Timor's dealings with its lawyer and to ensure the content of the seized documents be put under seal.

East Timor opened a case against Australia in December after a raid on the Canberra offices of Bernard Collaery, in which electronic and paper documents were seized. East Timor contended the seizure violated its sovereignty and rights "under international and any relevant domestic law".

At the heart of the David and Goliath dispute was the treaty signed in 2006 between Dili and Canberra, four years after East Timor's independence from Indonesia. Australia allegedly used an aid program as cover to bug East Timor's cabinet offices so it could listen in on discussions about the treaty.

East Timor accused Australia of spying to gain a commercial advantage during 2004 negotiations over the Timor Sea gas treaty, called the Certain Maritime Arrangements in the Timor Sea, or CMATS, which covered a vast gas field between the two nations. East Timor now wanted the treaty scrapped.

The two countries were involved in a separate, behind-closed-doors case on the issue before the Permanent Court of Arbitration, which was in the same building as the ICJ.

Mr Ramos-Horta said he was confident both countries would find a mutually beneficial resolution to their disagreements, including the maritime boundary in the Timor Sea.

"A great country like Australia should be able to show leadership and pragmatism and compassion," Mr Ramos-Horta said.

"Great countries don't bully other countries. I believe that [Prime Minister] Tony Abbott and [Foreign Affairs Minister] Julie Bishop will be able to work out a great compromise." The ICJ did not give a new date. (with AFP)

Source: http://www.smh.com.au/world/un-court-postpones-east-timor-spy-case-20140906-10dad3.html

Australia, East Timor postpone ICJ case to seek 'amicable settlement'

ABC News - September 6, 2014

Australia and East Timor have agreed to suspend the International Court of Justice hearing into their bitter spy row as they try to "resolve [their] differences amicably".

A spokesman for Australia's Department of Foreign Affairs and Trade told the ABC the parties will postpone the proceedings in the UN's highest court for an initial period of six months.

They have also agreed to suspend a separate, behind-closed-doors case on the Timor Sea Treaty before the Permanent Court of Arbitration, which is in the same building as the ICJ.

"This is a positive step, which provides an opportunity to seek to resolve our differences amicably. Australia and Timor-Leste will meet regularly to discuss these issues," the spokesman said in a statement.

East Timor dragged Canberra to the International Court of Justice (ICJ) in The Hague to seek the return of sensitive documents seized by Australia in a raid on an East Timor lawyer's office in the capital. The documents relate to a controversial oil and gas treaty between the two countries which East Timor wants torn up.

"The ICJ decided to grant the parties' request to postpone the oral proceedings in the case," the ICJ said in a statement on Friday. Lawyers were to argue their cases at the hearing's opening, set for September 17 before the ICJ, which rules in disputes between countries.

ICJ judges in an interim ruling in March ordered Canberra to stop interfering with East Timor's dealings with its lawyer and to ensure that the content of the seized documents be put under seal.

East Timor opened a case against Australia last December following a raid on the Canberra offices of Bernard Collaery, in which electronic and paper documents were seized. East Timor contended that the seizure violated its sovereignty and rights "under international and any relevant domestic law."

At the heart of the David and Goliath dispute is the treaty signed in 2006 between Dili and its southern neighbour, four years after East Timor's independence from Indonesia. Australia allegedly used an aid programme as cover to bug East Timor's cabinet offices so it could listen in on discussions about the treaty.

East Timor has accused Australia of spying to gain a commercial advantage during 2004 negotiations over the Timor Sea gas treaty, called the Certain Maritime Arrangements in the Timor Sea, or CMATS, which covers a vast gas field between the two nations worth billions of dollars. East Timor now wants the treaty scrapped. (ABC/AFP)

Source: http://www.abc.net.au/news/2014-09-06/icj-postpones-australia-etimor-spy-row-case/5724918

Timor-Leste spy case: Brandis denies referring lawyer to police

The Guardian (Australia) - September 1, 2014

Michael Safi – The attorney general, George Brandis, has denied referring lawyer Bernard Collaery and a former intelligence officer to the Australian federal police after they revealed that Australia spied on Timor-Leste during negotiations over a lucrative oil and gas pipeline.

The AFP confirmed it was investigating whether Collaery and a former Asis agent identified only as "Witness K" had breached laws against the public disclosure of classified information, Fairfax reported on Monday.

But Brandis denied being the source of the referral in Senate question time on Monday. "The AFP received the referral from Asio, acting under section 18 of the Asio Act," he said.

Collaery is representing the Timor-Leste government in international legal proceedings, seeking to annul the 2004 treaty that resulted from the allegedly bugged negotiations.

After his Canberra home and office were raided, the lawyer gave details of the alleged spying to the ABC and other media organisations, revealing that the former Asis agent turned witness had planted listening devices in the Timor-Leste government's offices to give Australian negotiators an advantage in the talks.

The federal police have reportedly approached the ABC for unedited footage from its interviews with Collaery.

The shadow attorney general, Mark Dreyfus, questioned whether this was "the appropriate time to be pursuing its action, given that the court has ordered Australia not to interfere in any way with the communications between East Timor and its legal advisers".

"Australia's international reputation has already been damaged by the Abbott government's inept handling of this matter," he said.

Independent MP Andrew Wilkie, who quit the Office of National Assessments in 2002 and revealed that the then-Howard government had distorted the case for the war in Iraq, told ABC radio on Monday: "As a general rule intelligence officers and intelligence officials should be keeping quiet and going about their work.

"Except, of course, in extraordinary circumstances, and this particular East Timor episode is a particularly murky and ambiguous situation," he said.

"It appears that Australia was spying on the East Timorese, not for some legitimate security reason but rather to put us in a better position, and put some corporations in a better position when it came to negotiations over oil and gas in that part of the world," he said.

The head of the NSW Council for Civil Liberties, Stephen Blanks, said the lack of a public-interest defence available to Collaery or the agent was "a gaping hole in Australia's legal system".

"Some of the most important breachers of classified info have been totally justified because of those being in the public interest," he said.

"What this prosecution will do is have a chilling effect on potential whistleblowers and the media and if it continues, there will be self- censorship and the media will not live up to its obligation of being a fearless investigator and reporter on matters of national importance."

Enhanced whistleblower-protection laws, which came into effect in January, do not apply to Asio agents. Last month the government proposed to introduce a new offence punishable by five years in jail for "any person" who disclosed information relating to "special intelligence operations".

The amendments are intended to directly address the possibility of intelligence agents following the lead of NSA-whistleblower Edward Snowden, but there are fears that journalists could also be caught in the dragnet.

The non-executive director of Transparency International Australia, AJ Brown, who advised on the new whistleblower laws, said that without extending to intelligence agents the protections were "simply not doing their job".

"The balance is all wrong at the moment," he said. "It's of great public importance and great concern, because at the moment it's far too easy for too much potential wrongdoing to simply escape attention."

Source: http://www.theguardian.com/world/2014/sep/01/timor-leste-spy-case-brandis-denies-referring-lawyer-to-police

Political parties & elections

East Timor Gusmao: I'll stay as leader until 2015

Associated Press - September 26, 2014

New York – Veteran East Timorese leader Xanana Gusmao said Thursday he's pushing back plans to stand down as the fledgling nation's prime minister.

Gusmao told The Associated Press in an interview that he'd intended to resign this September, but will now stay on until the first half of 2015, as East Timor grapples with disputes over oil revenues with neighboring Australia and US energy giant ConocoPhillips.

He said he remained committed to transferring leadership responsibilities to a younger generation, but declined to say who might succeed him.

"If I suddenly leave without stabilizing these issues it's like running away from your responsibility," Gusmao said ahead of his address Thursday to the annual gathering of world leaders at the United Nations.

The 68-year-old Gusmao was a leader of East Timor's 24-year resistance against a brutal Indonesian military occupation had left more than 170,000 dead. He was elected the nation's first president after independence in 2002 and became prime minister in 2007 after internal unrest amid discord in the army.

The half-island nation is struggling with high rates of poverty and meeting post-independence expectations, but Gusmao said he did not believe there would be repeat of the unrest if the country's elite was unified.

East Timor, a nation of 1.1 million and dwarfed by its neighbors Indonesia and Australia, is heavily dependent on petroleum revenues, which Gusmao said had put $17 billion in state coffers over the past decade.

He described relations with Indonesia, which imprisoned Gusmao for seven years during the independence struggle, as better than ever. He paid tribute to the democratization efforts of outgoing Indonesian President Susilo Bambang Yudhoyono.

Ties with Australia, however, have been strained by a legal dispute over a 2006 treaty that carves up revenue from oil and gas under the sea between the countries. "We are not desperate for more dollars, but it must be recognized that resources within our maritime borders are ours," Gusmao said.

East Timor alleges Canberra spied in order to gain an advantage during the negotiations over the treaty. It has also taken Australia to the United Nations' highest court in The Hague over the seizure of documents from a lawyer working for East Timor in the arbitration case.

The two nations recently agreed to try to settle those differences outside the International Court of Justice. Gusmao said if the negotiations did not yield a satisfactory response, East Timor would resume litigation.

East Timor is also in arbitration proceedings with ConocoPhillips over what it alleges are unpaid tax revenues from the company's operations at a joint petroleum development area between Australia and East Timor.

Source: http://www.nzherald.co.nz/world/news/article.cfm?c_id=2&objectid=11331779

Party subsidies re-endorsed

Dili Weekly - September 12, 2014

Venidora Oliveira – National Electoral Commission (CNE) head Joana Dulce Vitor said the policy objective was to support the activities of political parties at a local level.

Commissioner Vitor said the State General Budget allocated money to the CNE to distribute to parties. "They can use the money to build their offices and celebrate important days in their party history," she said.

She said the subsidy was introduced in 2010 when $1 million was allocated across the parties. In 2011, the budget was raised to $3 million and it was increased again in 2013 to $5 million.

In 2014, Frente Mudansa received close to $185,000 while Fretilin received $2.3 million and National Congress for the Reconstruction of Timor (CNRT) pocketed almost $2.8 million

Commissioner Vitor said CNE monitored the use of the money by parties. If the funds were misused, CNE had the power to retract the money, she said. "But they have all used the money properly," she said.

Fretilin MP Eladio Faculto said the funds helped political parties deliver their messages and assure their continued existence. "(The money helps with) the party's internal plan and program to consolidate or extend the democratic policies," he said.

The money can be used to organize supporter meetings and to hold national party conferences. MP Faculto said parties were required to submit details of the events which used the public funds to CNE.

CNRT MP Arao Noe said the approval by Parliament of the policy's continuation would allow parties to continue their activities.

Source: http://www.thediliweekly.com/en/news/capital/12684-party-subsidies-re-endorsed

Media & journalism

Press freedom in Timor-Leste – Muzzling the messenger

The Economist - September 11, 2014

I.S., Dili – Ever since gaining independence in 2002, Timor-Leste has boasted one of Asia's freest presses. Its media exposed the mismanagement of state funds, corruption and other scandals involving government employees. But their freedom could come to an abrupt end if the parliament endorses a new law to regulate the media.

The act has come under fierce criticism from human-rights organisations, civil society and journalists' unions. It makes it compulsory for local and international journalists to be accredited by a government-sponsored press council. Although nominally the law enshrines the freedom of the press, it also tries to control who can qualify as a journalist. Anyone engaged in "collecting, analysing and disseminating information to the public" will have to apply for credentials. The press council's five members, two of whom will be appointed by the parliament, will have the power to issue and revoke licenses.

In addition, local journalists will have to complete at least six months of internship at a recognised media outlet before they can be accredited. There are no provisions for freelancers, let alone "citizen-journalists" or ordinary people who use social media to exchange news. Those who break the rules face hefty fines.

Furthermore, the media law would also impose vague "functions" and "duties" on journalists that might make them vulnerable to retaliation for reports that are critical of the government.

Phelim Kine, deputy Asia director of Human Rights Watch, says that "an official press council, a licensing requirement for journalists and undefined 'national culture' and 'public interest' obligations are the hallmark of undemocratic governments that want to repress media freedom".

The media act has been wending its way through the tiers of government for over a year. Timor-Leste's council of ministers promulgated a draft of the law in August 2013 and parliament approved it on May 6th of this year, without a dissenting vote. The president however refused to sign it. Instead he sent it to the court of appeal, to ensure that it "will not excessively limit the fundamental rights of citizens enshrined in the constitution."

The court ruled that some articles of the proposed law are indeed unconstitutional. Nevertheless, many analysts expect that if the president does not exercise his veto, the legislation will be passing through parliament with only minor adaptations, in a few weeks' time.

The law has been in the pipeline for many years. Xanana Gusmao, a hero from the independence movement and now the prime minister, had been warning the national press for some time that it was failing to regulate itself. He had become increasingly irritated by criticism of his government and especially by the local media's accusations of corruption. He accused them of being unruly, unprofessional and disloyal.

Of the dozen of publications that sprang to life while the country was administered by the United Nations, between 1999 and 2002, only a handful remain. Timor-Leste's independent newspapers face many of the same problems that are afflicting the business elsewhere, depending as they do on revenue earned by paid advertisements, and especially those bought by the government. Publishing costs are relatively high and the newspapers don't reach the countryside; in rural areas, half the population is still illiterate.

Soon after parliament approved the law, the government offered "capacity- building grants" to the affected organisations. Every publication but for one accepted the cash. The holdout was Tempo Semenal, a weekly newspaper. Its director, Jose Belo, is himself a former political prisoner and a veteran of the young country's resistance against Indonesia. After independence he became its leading investigative journalist, exposing multiple cases of corruption and other abuses of political power.

As president of the Timor-Leste Press Union Mr Belo is spearheading the local campaign against the media law. He says he "will neither submit to being certified, nor will pay any fines". And he is prepared to go to jail. Mr Belo sees the media law as part of a broader threat to Timorese democracy. In his view the ruling elite is using it to consolidate its grip on power, and the main parliamentary opposition is in cahoots.

Source: http://www.economist.com/blogs/banyan/2014/09/press-freedom-timor-leste

Health & education

Teachers urged to butt out in classrooms

Dili Weekly - September 19, 2014

Martinha Gusmao – Teachers are being told not to put their students' health at risk by smoking in classrooms.

Member of Commission F (for education, health, culture, veterans' and gender equality affairs) Eladio Faculto said while the government was unable to check up on whether teachers lit up in class, the educators should show some self-discipline.

Faculto said while he believed smoking could sometimes help people think, teachers should smoke only outside school. He called for the Ministry of Education to take action against teachers who smoked during class.

Lospalos Central Primary School teacher Alberto da Costa said no teachers at his institution lit up during class. "I don't know; maybe that happens at other schools but not at my school," he said.

Education Minister Bendito Freitas said laws prohibited teachers from smoking in class.

Source: http://www.thediliweekly.com/en/news/news/12700-teachers-urged-to-butt-out-in-classrooms

MP: International school must follow Timorese curriculum or risk closure

Dili Weekly - September 18, 2014

Martinha Gusmao – Member of Parliament Eladio Faculto has called on the Timor-Leste government to close down the Dili International School (DIS) as it does not follow the curriculum set down by the Ministry of Education.

The member of Commission F (for education, health, culture, veterans' and gender equality affairs) said this inconsistency could disadvantage Timorese students.

"The schools must follow the rules; they mustn't come and establish schools arbitrarily. There needs to be control," he said in Parliament.

Faculto said all schools in Timor-Leste, including international schools, must follow the Ministry of Education's curriculum. He said those who choose to run courses and companies must follow Timor-Leste rules and pay its taxes.

"We should not ignore this system," he said. "We must see the foreigners' identities and if they international schools do not follow the criteria, they must be closed."

Higher Education deputy minister Marcal Avelino said international schools were exempt from the national curriculum. "They do not have to follow our curriculum, but they use the systems used in their country," he said.

Source: http://www.thediliweekly.com/en/news/education/12698-mp-international-school-must-follow-timorese-curriculum-or-risk-closure

More than half of Timorese under-5s malnourished

Dili Weekly - September 12, 2014

Paulina Quintao – Research conducted by the Ministry of Health and UNICEF in 2013 shows that half of all Timorese children under the age of five suffer from malnutrition.

Ministry of Health department of nutrition chief Joao Bosco da Costa said malnutrition was caused by a variety of factors

"Poverty, lack of education, not having access to potable water or sanitation as well as a lack of food (all contribute to malnutrition rates)," he said. He said combatting malnutrition required a joint effort from all sectors.

Da Costa said initiatives by the Ministry of Health such as providing pregnant women with corn flour and vitamins as well as a push to increase breast feeding rates had driven down the incidence of malnutrition from 85 per cent in 2010 to 52 per cent in 2013.

He said the ministry had a plan to further decrease the rate of child malnutrition and would establish teams in districts and sub-districts to raise awareness of the importance of proper nutrition for children and pregnant women.

National Commissioner for Children's Rights Maria Barreto said all children had the basic right to proper nutrition for their physical and intellectual development. She said there was a lack of information about which foods provided the best nutrition for children.

HIAM Health director Rosaria Martins da Cruz said she believed little had changed and malnutrition had continued to be a big problem. "I do not know how they did the research because I did not take part in that, but the reality is that there are a lot of malnutrition patients in HIAM Health's rehabilitation center," she said.

Source: http://www.thediliweekly.com/en/news/children-youth/12678-more-than-half-of-timorese-under-5s-malnourished

Graft & corruption

Impartiality urged of new anti-corruption commissioner

Dili Weekly - September 19, 2014

Paulina Quintao – Baucau District Court prosecutor Aderito Antonio Pinto Tilman has been elected by the National Parliament to the position of Anti-Corruption Commission (KAK) commissioner.

Parliamentarians asked the incoming commissioner to maintain independence and to perform his duties to combat corruption in Timor-Leste.

Member of Parliament (MP) Aniceto Longuinhos Gutteres Lopes said the Tilman's experience as a prosecutor in Baucau meant he had extensive knowledge of investigative work.

"We hope the KAK commissioner can do his job effectively," he said. "Timorese citizens have high expectations that corruption in this country will be combatted."

MP Lopes said National Parliament held an election in June to elect a new commissioner from two candidates proposed by the government. Neither of those candidates – Sergio Hornai or Silveiro Baptista Pinto – won the absolute majority of votes necessary.

Both men withdrew their candidature and National Parliament proposed two new candidates; Dili District Court judge administrator Duarte Tilman and eventual winner Aderito Antonio Pinto Tilman.

An extraordinary meeting of the Council of Ministers was called for the election which Pinto Tilman won with 44 of 56 votes. The handover between Tilman and the outgoing commissioner took place directly after the June 15 vote.

Fretilin president NAME said he was skeptical that the new anti-corruption commissioner could act independently of a government which was directly responsible for the proposal of candidates to the post.

"It will depend on the commissioner," he said. "He must be ready to work independently and impartially in accordance with the laws. This is what we want."

MP Maria Lurdes Bessa welcome the new commissioner to his position, which had been vacant for four months. "The acting commissioner was in charge for only four months," she said. "We are very happy because we elected the commissioner early," she said

MP Bessa said she hoped Tilman would continue the work done by the previous commissioner to combat corruption in Timor-Leste.

Former commissioner Aderito de Jesus said Tilman needed to work with his team to present laws such as the anti-corruption and declaration asset laws which are passing through Parliament now.

De Jesus said Tilman should also strengthen the relationship between KAK and the Public Ministry.

"The most important thing the commissioner needs is to have the courage and integrity to do the job," he said. "He needs to have the courage to step forward and take on politicians as well as the public."

Source: http://www.thediliweekly.com/en/news/capital/12706-impartiality-urged-of-new-anti-corruption-commissioner

Police & law enforcement

MDG houses used as PNTL barracks

Dili Weekly - September 12, 2014

Venidora Oliveira – Millennium Development Goal houses are being used as police barracks rather than their intended use as homes for vulnerable people.

Member of Parliament Natalino dos Santos in National Parliament why police were occupying the homes in West Beto.

Social Solidarity Minster Isabel Amaral Guterres said some of the Millennium Development Goal houses were being used by police officers while they provided security for the communities. "If the police really need to look for places to stay, of course there is a need to help them because they provide us security," she said.

PNTL operations commander Superintendent Armandio Monteiro said the arrangement was temporary. "We know that there are consistently problems (in Beto) so the community has demanded a police post," he said.

Superintendent Monteiro said using the Millennium Development Goal houses was the most sensible option. He said the PNTL had an agreement with the Ministry of Social Solidarity which allowed them to use the space.

Source: http://www.thediliweekly.com/en/news/news/12682-mdg-houses-used-as-pntl-barracks

Foreign affairs & trade

Timor-Leste leader calls for more active UN during General Assembly debate

UN News Centre - September 25, 2014

Prime Minister Xanana Gusmao of Timor-Leste, a country which the United Nations shepherded to independence from Indonesia a dozen years ago, told the General Assembly today that while the world body still embodies hope for millions of people it needs to become more active in the face of a multitude of problems.

"The United Nations has been an unequivocal forum for approaching international issues and continues to be the hope of millions of people throughout the world," he said on the second day of the Assembly's 69th annual General Debate, referring to the Millennium Development Goals (MDGs), adopted 14 years ago to slash a host of social ills, such as poverty, hunger and disease.

"In the year 2000, the challenges came from the condition of extreme poverty, educational needs, enormous scarcity in terms of doctors and medication and lack of food production that affected the populations of many underdeveloped countries.

"Fourteen years later, little has been achieved under this effort by the community of nations. The fragile or conflict-affected countries are the furthest away from achieving their MDGs. Worse still, the challenges of the year 2000 have taken on a new path, increasing the problems related with the rise of tensions and conflicts in many parts of the world.'

He stressed that an organization's true greatness and ability in terms of global leadership are measured in difficult times such as these.

"In order to respond to these challenges, we require an Organization that operates effectively," Mr. Gusmao declared. "We require an Organization that is more active and less stereotyped – an Organization that strengthens cooperation with other organizations, particularly regional ones, and that acts with great respect for the sovereignty and the idiosyncrasies of each State.

"Every action carried out so far has just been a continuation of past measures that, in most cases, failed to achieve results that can be considered positive."

With regard to terrorism and violence, he said world crises must not be exacerbated by the desire to end war by waging war. "Instead, they must be based on the desire to build a world of peace, supported by dialogue and by an effort – herculean, if need be – to respond to the root causes of problems that lead to terrorism, racism, extremism and intolerance," he added.

Source: http://www.un.org/apps/news/story.asp?NewsID=48871

Australia honours former East Timor President Ramos-Horta

SBS - September 7, 2014

Manny Tsigas – Dr Ramos Horta has been recognised for his leading role in East Timor's independence movement, as well as helping maintain a strong relationship with Australia.

"You're an eminent global citizen, a champion of democracy, a great man of your country, a true patriot and a great friend of Australia," Governor General Sir Peter Cosgrove said during a ceremony in Sydney's Admiralty House. "I congratulate you most warmly on this high honour from our nation to a great representative of Timor-Leste."

Bilateral relations between Australia and East Timor came after Dr. Ramos- Horta's decades-long struggle to secure international support for Timor- Leste's fight for independence from Indonesia. Dr. Ramos-Horta told SBS he was overwhelmed by the recognition.

"I worked with Australian politicians, government, civil society, the media promoting the cause of Timor-Leste and Australia played a critical role in the liberation of Timor Leste," he said. "I was doing my duty as foreign minister, as prime minister, president to foster this relationship which continues."

The ceremony comes just days after East Timor marked 15 years since its historic referendum, when more than 80% of the population voted in favour of independence.

But it hasn't been easy since. With the focus now on roads and infrastructure, Dr. Ramos-Horta says other steps include eradicating poverty and securing more investment in health and education.

"TAFE I think is one of the best experiments in Australia," he said. "I'd like to see more Timorese come and do TAFE in Australia, and TAFE instructors going to Timor Leste. I know is it being done."

Dr. Ramos-Horta is also pushing for more discussions on sharing resources from the Greater Sunrise gas field.

He's welcomed the decision by both countries to try and settle their differences outside the International Court of Justice, where East Timor is demanding the return of sensitive documents seized by Australia surrounding a controversial oil and gas treaty.

"The relationship is too strong and it will be able to survive, to move on despite occassional differences that we have," he said.

"(The) next step could be for Australia to see how in the medium to long term can better help Timor Leste by agreeing to a maritime boundary that is acceptable to all. What Australia needs is to be surrounded by stable, prosperous countries."

Source: http://www.sbs.com.au/news/article/2014/09/07/australia-honours-former-east-timor-president-ramos-horta

Tourism & hospitality

MP: Miss Turismu useless

Dili Weekly - September 18, 2014

Paulina Quintao – Member of Parliament (MP) Brigida Antonia Correira has criticized the Ministry of Tourism's Miss Turismu initiative as a waste of money.

MP Correira said the winner of the inaugural Miss Turismo competition had performed no duties, a year after her election.

The member of Commission D (for economy and development) said a large amount of money had been spent on the program which did not provide any benefits for people. "It has been a year for Miss Turismu but has been no program," she said in Parliament.

MP Correira said most Ministry of Tourism programs were a waste of money. She said Parliament intended to cut funding to tourism related initiatives such as Carnaval in the 2015 General State Budget.

Rede Feto Timor-Leste interim director Filomena Fuca said there had not been adequate socialization of the Miss Turismu initiative prior to its implementation. "Many people don't know Miss Turismu's real function among the communities," she said.

She said while the program was worthwhile, it was ill-timed and did not offer solutions to problems faced by women such as poverty, violence against women and a lack of access to health care.

She said the Ministry of Tourism should spend money improving Timor-Leste tourism sites to encourage people to holiday domestically, rather than investing in the Miss Turismu initiative.

Ministry of Tourism human resources national director Aderito Babo Soares was not available for comment.

Source: http://www.thediliweekly.com/en/news/capital/12690-mp-miss-turismu-useless

Analysis & opinion

Timor-Leste spying case is a taste of our future under Asio's new powers

The Guardian (Australia) - September 10, 2014

Richard Ackland – Already we have a taste of what lies in wait once the new bundle of Asio laws are passed.

Legislation, to be introduced shortly, provides for two new offences relating to unauthorised disclosure of information about "special intelligence operations" – up to five years and then up to 10 years for aggravated offences. Currently the tariff for unauthorised communication of information is two years.

There's to be no mucking around when it comes to preserving state secrets, including ones that are not particularly worthy of the word "secret". The penalties will apply even in cases of public interest disclosures about misconduct by security agencies where no risk to national security is involved.

That's what makes the Timor-Leste spying case so apposite. Of course, it was a bugging and spying operation conducted by Asis, not Asio – though things have become a little blurred. The then head of Asis, David Irvine, who got authorisation for the bugging of the Timor-Leste ministerial office, is now the head of Asio, and ordered the raids on parties engaged in the complaint about the eavesdropping mission.

As a result of the espionage the Timorese are now before the permanent court of arbitration at the Hague, trying to unstitch the treaty with Australia over the oil and gas resources in the Timor Sea.

Timor-Leste lawyer Bernard Collaery and a former Asis officer, known as Witness K, both had their homes and offices raided by Asio early last December. An overblown task force of 15 Asio and AFP officers took to Collaery's office seizing files, a computer and an important USB stick, just days before a preliminary hearing at the permanent court.

Witness K was extensively interviewed, had documents relating to the case seized and his passport confiscated. Witness K was one of the Asis officers instructed by Irvine to wire-for-sound the office used by Timor-Leste officials during the negotiations over the gas reserves.

Not only is Collaery acting for Timor-Leste, but he also acted for Witness K in another capacity. Three of the operatives engaged in the offshore bugging operation, including Witness K, were subsequently removed from their jobs at ASIS, with the explanation that management was looking for "generational change".

The Asis officer was given permission to talk to the lawyer about his employment concerns. Collaery was an "approved lawyer" acting for Asio and Asis officers in their disputes with their respective agencies.

In a letter dated 2 April 2008, the then-inspector general of intelligence and security, Ian Carnell, noted there had been consultations and that Collaery would keep a watching brief on an internal inquiry into Witness K's employment concerns.

In a ministerial statement on 4 December, Brandis told the senate that the raids on Collaery and Witness K were nothing to do with the pending hearings in the Hague, were not a contempt of court or an interference in lawyer-client privilege.

It was simply a matter of keeping Australia safe, leaving interested citizens scratching their heads and wondering: from what?

However, the attorney general did attack Collaery, saying that because he is a lawyer, "that fact alone does not excuse him from the ordinary law of the land. In particular, no lawyer can involve the principles of lawyer- client privilege to excuse participation, whether as principal or accessory, in offences against the Commonwealth".

The suggestion seemed to be that Collaery shouldn't have talked to Witness K about Asis and the espionage in Timor-Leste, the very issues that were related to to the move to shaft him from his employment.

Yet, these were the very matters that the Inspector General of Intelligence and Security (IGIS) had cleared for discussion. A carefully worded denial from IGIS says there were no complaints made "about alleged Australian government activities in East Timor".

Now Irvine has taken it one step further and got approval from Brandis for the AFP to investigate the possibility of prosecutions of Collaery and Witness K over alleged "unauthorised communication of information".

There is a strong case that by spying on the ministers and negotiators of Timor-Leste, the Australian government may be in breach of international law.

Both countries are parties to the Vienna Convention on the Law of Treaties and article 49 says that if a country is induced to agree to a treaty by the fraudulent conduct of another party, then it may invoke fraud to invalidate its consent. Fraud extends to deceitful behaviour. Spying to obtain secret information is deceitful.

The testing point will be for Timor-Leste to show that that it was induced to enter the Cmats treaty as a result of that deceit. To this end the evidence of Witness K would have been crucial – yet he is without a passport and unlikely to be unable to attend the PCA.

So, we have the police and the security people seeking to establish a case that Collaery and Witness K broke the secrecy provisions of the security law in allegedly communicating about a government spying operation that itself was illegal.

In March the international court of justice ordered Australia to stop any spying operations against Timor-Leste and to seal the documents and data seized in the December Asio raids – all of which came as an embarrassment to Brandis and his swaggering assertions about the raid and our security.

Fifteen of the 16 judges on the ICJ panel concurred with the findings and orders. The only exception was Ian Callinan, the former "capital-C" Conservative judge appointed to the high court by the Howard government.

This overblown concoction by Brandis and the security wallahs has all the hallmarks of being more about the protection of Asis and Asio than anything directly bearing on the safety of the nation. No wonder there is no exemption for public interest disclosures in Brandis' new Bill.

Why the legal profession should be so quiet about the Commonwealth meddling with the functions of an independent lawyer in court proceedings is a mystery.

One consolation: Brandis doesn't have a good track record when it comes to his urging the authorities to take legal action against people he regards as enemies of the state.

For some time Brandis was at the forefront of a campaign to get the Commonwealth DPP to bring proceeds of crime proceedings against David Hicks, over the publication of his book Guantanamo: My Journey.

On July 23, 2012 the DPP made a decision to discontinue the proceedings. Apparently, until that point Brandis and the DPP had forgotten about section 84 of the Evidence Act, and the common law, both of which say that an admission of guilt in relation to a crime cannot be put to a court if it was procured by "violent, oppressive, inhumane or degrading conduct".

Source: http://www.theguardian.com/commentisfree/2014/sep/10/the-timor-leste-spying-case-is-a-taste-of-our-future-under-asios-new-powers

Our land is girt by oil-rich sea... that we steal from East Timor

Crikey.com - September 2, 2014

Clinton Fernandes – Australia has been flouting international law since 2002, taking billions of dollars in oil revenue that should rightfully belong to East Timor. No wonder we're being so cagey about the East Timor spying allegations.

In the Senate yesterday, independent Senator Nick Xenophon asked Attorney- General George Brandis about reports in the Fairfax press that a former spy and his lawyer might be charged with disclosing classified information about Australian espionage against East Timor.

East Timor is alleging before a three-person arbitration panel in The Hague that Australia breached international law by bugging East Timor's cabinet rooms during the 2004 bilateral negotiations over the Timor Sea Treaty.

A key witness for East Timor is a former spy who is said to be the director of all technical operations for the Australian Secret Intelligence Service, which allegedly conducted the bugging operation using the Australian aid program as a cover. On December 3, 2013, the Australian Security Intelligence Organisation raided his house and the office and home of Bernard Collaery, a former attorney-general of the Australian Capital Territory who is providing legal advice to the government of East Timor. ASIO seized documents and data containing correspondence between East Timor's government and its legal advisers.

The former spy, known as Witness K, is due to testify at The Hague on September 27. "It is quite distasteful to see Australia's intelligence services being used to deprive the people of East Timor of their principal economic asset."

Xenophon wanted to know whether the government would permit Witness K to travel to The Hague unimpeded (provided, of course, that the identities of current and former ASIS officers were not disclosed). After all, if he were prevented from giving evidence, that would impede a fair hearing. Brandis gave the standard defensive formulation: the matter is "currently before an international arbitral tribunal" and "it is the longstanding practice of Australian governments not to comment on matters currently before international arbitration".

East Timor is a fragile, new state, barely more than a decade old. It would like to draw a maritime border halfway between the Australian and East Timor coasts, as it is entitled to do under the UN Convention on the Law of the Sea. However, in March 2002, just two months before East Timor became independent, Alexander Downer, then Australia's foreign minister, announced that henceforth Australia would exclude all disputes relating to the delimitation of maritime zones from the compulsory jurisdiction of the International Court of Justice and the International Tribunal on the Law of the Sea. This meant that East Timor has the law on its side but can derive no benefit from that fact.

In 2004, Australia agreed to a median line boundary – with New Zealand, when we established a maritime boundary to resolve overlapping claims off the coast of Norfolk Island.

If international law were to apply, East Timor would be entitled to 100% of the oil and gas on its side of the median line in the Timor Sea. This includes the single most crucial resource, namely the Greater Sunrise field, the bulk of which lies just outside the lateral boundary of the Gap.

It is quite distasteful to see Australia's intelligence services being used to deprive the people of East Timor of their principal economic asset. Since 1999, Australia has taken more than $4 billion in oil revenue that should rightfully belong to East Timor.

Having taken a large portion of the wealth of one of the poorest countries in Asia, the Australian government has given back about $0.4 billion in bilateral and multilateral assistance, and about $0.5 billion in military assistance. This means that East Timor, believe it or not, is Australia's largest international donor. This is not a typo.

Source: http://www.crikey.com.au/2014/09/02/our-land-is-girt-by-oil-rich-sea-that-we-steal-from-east-timor/

Timor's success, Papua's struggle

West Papua Report - September 1, 2014

John M. Miller – Fifteen years ago, on August 30, 1999, thousands of East Timorese voters lined up to exercise their long-denied right to self- determination, a process that had been interrupted by Indonesia's US-backed invasion and occupation in 1975.

By noon of that day, most had chosen independence (in preference to an "enhanced autonomy"). As the United Nations announced the result, the Indonesian military and its militia proxies began their long-threatened wave of destruction and violence. This was meant both to punish the East Timorese for their choice and to send a message to other rebellious areas, especially West Papua and Aceh.

After a short period of UN administration, East Timor finally became the independent Democratic Republic of Timor-Leste on May 20, 2002. Timor's successful referendum inspired hopes for many in West Papua that they might also be able to choose their political status.

Indonesia's elite reacted to the "loss" of Timor-Leste by vowing never to let anything similar happen again. Many in the military were upset about the loss of opportunities for promotion and side income. In response, Indonesia combined grants of "special autonomy" with harsh crackdowns in Aceh and West Papua.

There are many parallels between West Papua and Timor-Leste and, as tellingly, substantial differences. First some of the parallels:

On the periphery of the archipelago, neither territory was part of Indonesia as it was established on independence. The colonizers of both had said that they would help them exercise their own rights to self- determination. Initially, the United Nations also agreed. In both cases, when Indonesia acted to annex the territories, major powers – especially the United States – actively supported Indonesia. (Indonesia's takeovers serve as bookends to Henry Kissinger's career at the highest levels of the US government. The annexation of West Papua was completed soon after he began serving as Nixon's National Security Advisor; Indonesia's invasion of Portuguese Timor was notoriously given the green light by President Ford and Secretary of State Kissinger a little more than a year before Ford's term ended.)

The populations of both territories suffered massive human rights violations, from arbitrary arrests and systematic rape and torture to discrimination. Indonesian security forces engaged in mass murder, deliberate starvation, and massacres – some well-known, others little documented. Indonesia stands accused of genocide in both regions. Where the number of pre-invasion colonizers was relatively small, both places saw an influx of people from Indonesia under formal and informal transmigration programs. Children, orphaned by war or otherwise, were permanently removed to other islands. Underlying this was a paternalistic and racist attitude holding that the mostly darker-skinned peoples of Timor and Papua were too stupid or primitive to govern themselves.

No Indonesian generals or political leaders have been held accountable for war crimes and crimes against humanity committed in occupied Timor-Leste. The same is true for West Papua. This impunity contributes to ongoing human rights violation in West Papua.

After a time, both territories were opened to tourism, but the Indonesian government worked to keep journalists, diplomats, and others from freely visiting to investigate conditions.

Importantly, as many insisted their causes were lost, both populations continued to insist on their right to self-determination. In the face of Indonesia's overwhelming force, aided by weapons and training from the United States and others, the armed opposition became less prominent and resistance tactics shifted to emphasize nonviolent opposition in the towns and cities and stepped up outreach and diplomatic efforts abroad. Indonesia's violent reaction to peaceful protest crucially highlighted the real nature of its rule over its unwilling subjects.

Now some major differences:

While Portuguese Timor was sometimes included in Indonesia's leaders' conception of a greater Indonesia, they never argued for any historic claim to the territory, instead they said that they were protecting their neighbor from civil conflict. On the other hand, West Papua – with its Dutch colonial heritage and its place in "the Indonesian nationalist imagination as 'the martyr place of the struggle for independence,' in the words of Sukarno" – was always seen as an important piece of a unified Indonesian state.

Timor's petroleum and other limited resources are mere drops in Indonesia's bucket compared to the great mineral and other natural resource wealth of West Papua.

Critically, while Timor's self-determination was never considered fully settled until it gained independence, the United Nations views the issue as closed for West Papua. Despite its well-documented flaws, the 1969 "Act of Free Choice" was accepted as valid and West Papua was taken off the UN agenda. (The Indonesians tried a similar gambit after invading Portuguese Timor. In November 1975, representatives of four Timorese political parties signed the Balibo Declaration, supposedly inviting Indonesia annexation. The declaration was written hastily in Bali, not the Timorese border town notorious for the pre-invasion murder of five Australian based journalists.)

Unlike West Papua, Timor remained on the UN agenda, even after Indonesia formally annexed Timor as its 27th province in 1976. The UN Security Council quickly, though ineffectually, condemned the invasion in two resolutions (on December 22 1975, and April 22, 1976) and the General Assembly passed annual resolutions supporting Timor-Leste's right to self- determination, beginning on December 12, 1975, through to November 1982, when the issue was placed under the good offices of the Secretary-General. The Committee of 24 on decolonization held annual hearings on Timor up until it was removed from the UN's list of non-self governing territories on independence in 2002.

Even some staunch Suharto supporters like the US government were not ready to unconditionally endorse how Timor became part of Indonesia. State Department officials were always careful to say "We accept Indonesia's incorporation of East Timor without maintaining that a valid act of self- determination has taken place." When asked about West Papua, the response has no such nuance. It is usually some variation of these remarks by then Secretary of State Hillary Clinton from September 2012: "Regarding the very important question on the situation in Papua, we support the territorial integrity [of Indonesia] and that includes Papua and West Papua provinces. We believe strongly that dialogue between Papuan representatives [and] the Indonesian Government would help address concerns that the Papuans have and assist in resolving conflict peacefully, improving governance and development." This is usually followed by support for the "special autonomy" many in West Papua have rejected and a statement deploring violence without identifying Indonesia's security forces as the main perpetrators.

To reinforce its diplomatic efforts, the Timorese resistance had the support of Portugal and the Portuguese-speaking African countries. Portugal as an EU member vetoed certain forms of cooperation with Indonesia and acted for the Timorese resistance in UN-sponsored negotiations. The Dutch government has shown no interest in advocating for West Papua, and Vanuatu has been its only consistently supportive government.

Once Suharto fell, there were many – inside and outside governments and the United Nations – poised to seize the opportunity to press for Timor's self-determination. And seize it they did. Building on past activism and advocacy, US policy changed to an explicit call for "a valid act of self- determination."

The above is history and government policies. What about movements for change?

Awareness of West Papua is certainly growing, as is the number of people acting as advocates. West Papuans, often at great risk, continue to resist and demonstrate within the territory and Indonesia proper. And Papuans are traveling the globe to advocate for themselves. Grassroots global support is important, but outside of Portugal support for Timor was never a mass movement except for a few weeks in September 1999. Changes in US policy were the result of targeted advocacy mostly aimed at ending US support for the Indonesian military in response to growing congressional concern about the violations of human rights.

In the 1990s, the Timorese resistance was clearly unified, both within the country and abroad, under the umbrella of the National Council of Timorese Resistance (CNRT). Its positions were clear, as was its main request to international solidarity activists: change your own government's policies to end support for Suharto and the occupation. The multiple messages and lack of unified leadership from West Papua is difficult for supporters to navigate.

Post-Suharto Indonesia is now a member of the international community in good standing, despite its ongoing rights violations in West Papua. Indonesia is seen as a democratic example to the Muslim world, a bulwark against China, and important front in the "war on terrorism."

Overcoming the many disadvantages relative to Timor's struggle, international efforts for West Papua will need to generate greater public support and more targeted campaigning to ensure an effective international response to Indonesia's 50-year rule over West Papua.

[John M. Miller is National Coordinator of the East Timor and Indonesia Action Network (ETAN). In 2012, ETAN received the Timor-Leste's highest honor, the Ordem de Timor, for its role in liberation of the country.]

Source: http://etan.org/issues/wpapua/2014/1409wpap.htm