TIMOR INTERNACIONAL

Timor-Leste donates $500,000 for humanitarian aid to Cyclone Nargis survivors in Myanmar

2009-02-03T18:57:00.000-08:00

Date: 02 Feb 2009

ASEAN Secretariat, 2 February 2009 - Timor-Leste last Thursday announced in Dili its donation of US$500,000 for the ASEAN led humanitarian operations to aid the survivors of Cyclone Nargis in Myanmar's Ayeyarwady Delta.

Prime Minister Kay Rala Xanana Gusmao made the announcement during a ceremony in the Ministry of Foreign Affairs to launch Timor-Leste's "ASEAN National Secretariat", established to organise and coordinate the country's preparations to join ASEAN.

He said that the contribution is Timor-Leste's show of "solidarity" with the people of Myanmar suffering from Cyclone Nargis. "We in Timor-Leste understand the pains and suffering caused by the cyclone. This modest contribution is also Timor-Leste's show of commitment to supporting the ASEAN Community," he added.

He also said the establishment of Timor-Leste's "ASEAN National Secretariat" is yet another special step towards obtaining the ASEAN membership for his country at the earliest possible date.

President Dr Jose Ramos-Horta, National Parliament President Fernando Lasama de Araujo, Foreign Minister Dr Zacarias Albano da Costa, Secretary General Imron Cotan of Indonesia's Department of Foreign Affairs, and Mr Termsak Chalermpalanupap, Special Assistant to the Secretary-General of ASEAN, among others, were at the ceremony.

Source: ASEAN

Czech Republic, East Timor offer asylum to Burmese rebels

2008-12-18T07:46:00.000-08:00

by Mungpi
Thursday, 18 December 2008 19:53

New Delhi (Mizzima) - East Timor and the Czech Republic have 'in principle' agreed to offer asylum to 34 Burmese ethnic rebels, who are currently lodged in Kolkata's presidency jail in India and facing trial for alleged gun-running.

Soe Myint, Editor-in-Chief of Burmese Independent News Agency – Mizzima – who is appointed by the Calcutta court as interpreter for the rebels said, the two countries have agreed to offer asylum in order to avoid deportation to military-ruled Burma, if they were found not guilty under the Indian law.

"Now that the trial is almost over, and if they are found not guilty, they cannot remain in India… But repatriating them to Burma could be dangerous for them so these two countries have offered to provide shelter to avoid repatriation," Soe Myint said.

But he added that in order to resettle the rebels to these countries, the UN refugee agency (UNHCR) needs to intervene and recognise them as refugees.

With the case of the Burmese ethnic rebels - Arakanese and Karen - drawing to an end, 38 Burmese organisations including the National Unity Party of Arakan (NUPA) and the Karen National Union (KNU), of which organisation the detained rebels belong to, have written an appeal to the UN High Commissioner for Refugee in Geneva to intervene into the case.

The 38 organisations include armed resistant groups, political groups and parties that have been living in exile and struggling to restore democracy in Burma.

In their letter to Mr. Antonio Guterres, the High Commissioner for refugees, the groups said, the 34 rebels, even if acquitted of the current charges, if denied UNHCR protection and promised resettlement to third country, could continued to be detained for charges under the foreigners act.

The groups said the worst would be for India to deport them back to Burma, as they would be executed or jailed by the military-rulers, whom the rebels have fought for years.

Akshay Sharma, one of the defence counsels of the rebels, said the prosecution has so far failed to provide sufficient evidence to prove the charge. But with at least three to four court schedules still pending, the trial could continue for another six months.

"Within this period the court will make a judgement," Sharma told Mizzima during an interview earlier.

"We have all the positive prospects," Sharma said.

However, the last court session, scheduled in late November was adjourned to January 15 to 21, 2009 by the court saying the prosecution was unable to bring some of the resources.

The 34 rebels, belonging to armed rebel groups the NUPA and KNU, were arrested in February 1998 by Indian armed forces after they had come to India's eastern archipelago of Andamans.

The rebels, who would be completing 11 years of detention in February 2009, said they had been framed by the Indian military.

They said, they have been associated for long with Indian military intelligence, and have been used to watch Chinese naval activity and movement of northeast Indian rebels on the Arakan coast in western Burma, until India's relations with the Burmese military junta improved in the late 1990s.

According to the rebels, the Indian military intelligence had made an offer to them to come and set up base in the Landfall islands of the Andamans. But when they came in two ships, six of their leaders were killed in cold blood and the rest were arrested and put in jail.

They were arrested and kept in Port Blair without being charged until October 2006, when they were ordered by the Supreme Court to be moved to Kolkata, after a leading human rights lawyer Nandita and her associates filed a petition and to conduct a day-to-day trial.

With defence counsels confident that the charges will be dropped as the prosecution failed to present adequate witnesses and evidence, Soe Myint said, they need a place where they can have asylum, because if they are not convicted under Indian law, and are not resettled to a third country, Delhi might deport them back to Burma.

"If they [the rebels] are sent back to Burma, they might even be executed," Soe Myint added.

Source: Mizzima

East Timor uneasiness on troops

2008-12-17T07:46:00.000-08:00

Lindsay Murdoch
December 18, 2008

MANY complaints against Australian soldiers in East Timor remain unresolved because there is no formal means to deal with them, Australian MPs have been told.

In one case, the family of a Timorese man killed when his motorcycle and an Australian army truck collided in August 2007 has received no direct condolence or compensation even though UN police found the Australian driver "bore the greater responsibility for the accident as he was speeding".

The victim's family has been unable to pursue civil damages or settlement because Australian soldiers serving in the International Stabilisation Force in East Timor are not answerable to either the country's court system or the UN mission in Dili.

Human rights activists say Australian soldiers serving in East Timor effectively have immunity for any crimes they commit, both on and off duty.

In 2006, the Howard government refused requests by the government in Dili and the UN for Australians troops being sent to Dili to quell violence to be put under UN command.

Under the UN's system of accountability, national forces operating in foreign countries must answer to an outside body.

La'o Hamutuk, a Timorese non-government organisation, told the Australian Parliament's Joint Standing Committee on Foreign Affairs, Trade and Defence the Australian forces in East Timor should be integrated into the UN peacekeeping force chain of command.

La'o Hamutuk told the committee's Inquiry into Human Rights Mechanisms in Asia-Pacific there needed to be a "clear, independent and transparent process for Timorese citizens to report to resolve complaints against the Australian military".

La'o Hamutuk's submission cites repeated efforts by human rights lawyer Natercia Barbosa de Deus to arrange a meeting between the ISF and the family of the dead motorcyclist, but each time the meetings were cancelled.

Ms de Deus was told the driver of the ISF vehicle was scared of meeting the family and left the country soon after the accident.

The man's death meant his wife could not meet rental payments for where she was living with five children. They now live in a shack with 20 to 30 others.

La'o Hamutuk also criticised the Australian soldiers for the way they patrol the streets.

"Carrying long arms at all times, on and off duty, even where there is a low security risk, such as speaking to small children, playing sport, shopping in supermarket, eating at a restaurant or relaxing at the beach, is inappropriate and insensitive to a population traumatised by a brutal military occupation," it said. "It makes people feel unsafe."

About 750 Australian soldiers are deployed with New Zealand troops in the ISF.

Source: The Age

On Alatas' Cambodian glory, E. Timor humiliation

2008-12-12T07:17:00.000-08:00

By: Kornelius Purba

It is very easy to say bad things about a living person, no matter how much we love or hate them. But immediately after the person dies, the bad things disappear and memories of the good things suddenly emerge. Unfortunately the dead person no longer has the chance to hear the loving choir.

When we heard of the death of former Indonesian foreign minister Ali Alatas -- affectionately known as Alex -- a colleague spoke about the aforementioned tendency. But Alatas often heard symphonies of adoration about his achievements as a diplomat from many people in the world during his life.

Journalists, including myself, who covered his actions during his 11-and-a-half-year ministerial tenure, definitely also played the pleasant music for him. The internationally respected diplomat and statesman won our and the media's hearts and mind.

However, I strongly criticized him once when he launched his book, A Voice for a Just Peace, in December 2001. I told him that he had practically ignored Soeharto and had not included a photo of himself with his former boss in the book. It was disappointing for me, because Soeharto deserves major credit for Alatas' success story.

One of the funnier memories I have of him is of a moment that occurred several years ago. At the time, although he was irritated, Alatas tried to remain calm when answering questions set to him by Michael Vatikiotis, the Jakarta correspondent of the weekly Far Eastern Economic Review, who persistently questioned him about human rights abuses in Indonesia's colony -- according to the UN standard -- East Timor.

Alatas gave lengthy answers, much to the boredom of the other journalists attending his weekly press briefing at the Foreign Ministry.

Alatas then turned his attention to one of the tape recorders being waved under his nose by the journalists. The machine was making an obnoxious "tic, tac" sound. It was my tape recorder.
"What is going on with that tape?" Alatas asked.

"The tape was designed to record only valuable remarks," I joked.

He laughed, realizing that he had been talking too much. And to the relief of the other reporters, Alatas stopped "preaching" at Vatikiotis.

No doubt, some of the most frequent and irritating questions put to him by reporters during his tenure as Indonesian foreign minister, which expired in September 1999, had to do with East Timor.

Other Indonesian diplomats were also tasked with -- according to current Foreign Minister Hassan Wirayuda -- telling "the truth but not the whole truth" about East Timor.

And the most painful period for him as Indonesia's chief diplomat was likely when he served then president B.J. Habibie's short-lived government from May 1998 to September 1999.

Not just because he had to compete with Habibie's advisor Dewi Fortuna Anwar, who was playing the role of "de facto" foreign minister, but mostly because Habibie did not consult him before deciding to hold a referendum in East Timor in 1999.

Internationally, Alatas is probably one of -- if not the most -- successful and respected Indonesian career diplomats in the country's history, thanks in part to the great deal of trust imparted on him by president Soeharto during the 10 years they worked together.

All of Soeharto's succeeding four presidents, including Susilo Bambang Yudhoyono, depended on him as their foreign affairs advisor.

His successor, Hassan Wirayuda, is a very eloquent diplomat, but Hassan lacks the charisma and the strong public relations capacity that allowed Alatas to build such a health rapport with the media as well as his international counterparts.

Among the incumbent leaders of the 10-member Association of Southeast Asian Nations, Cambodian Prime Minister Hun Sen spent the most time working with Alatas.

Alatas worked very hard for years to help encourage Cambodian warring parties to agree to a peace agreement.

Vietnam installed Hun Sen as its prime minister after it invaded Cambodia in 1978. The Paris International Conference was held in October 1991, but Indonesia had to share the glory with France, which joined in the final stages of the peace negotiations.

In contrast to his predecessor, Mochtar Kusumaatmadja, who often clashed with Indonesian generals, especially military chief Gen. Benny Moerdani, on several issues, especially East Timor and Cambodia, Alatas was more flexible and persuasive.

At the time of the Cambodian invasion, Indonesia's and Vietnam's armed forces were working together closely as the two countries attempted to counter China's growing influence on the region. Indonesia reopened its international relations with China in 1990 after 25 years of tense silence.

Soeharto enjoyed some glorious moments at various international forums, including when Indonesia successfully hosted the Non-Aligned Movement Summit in 1991 and the Asia Pacific Economic Cooperation summit in 1994. Human rights abuses by the military continued in East Timor and in many other parts of this country, but because Indonesia's economy was peaking in the 1990s before collapsing in 1998, the international community tended to ignore Soeharto's grave economic mismanagements.

Alatas was lucky, Soeharto concentrated most of his time on domestic affairs, although he also enjoyed international appearances, declaring himself the "champion" of developing countries.
The Foreign Ministry has produced many brilliant diplomats, including minister Hassan. But it will be very difficult to find a diplomat as charismatic and capable as Alatas.

Source: The Jakarta Post

Indonesia's Ali Alatas tarnished by East Timor

2008-12-11T07:23:00.000-08:00

11 Dec 2008 09:36:27 GMT 11 Dec 2008 09:36:27 GMT

Source: Reuters

JAKARTA, Dec 11 (Reuters) - Indonesia's former foreign minister Ali Alatas, who died in Singapore on Thursday, was a widely respected figure in the region tipped at one stage to be a possible United Nations secretary-general.

But his long career was ultimately stained by the mayhem surrounding East Timor's vote for independence from Indonesia in 1999, when Jakarta-backed militias went on a rampage, killing about 1,000 East Timorese according to U.N. estimates.

Alatas was Indonesia's longest-serving foreign minister, taking office in 1988 under long-time strongman president Suharto and serving until 1999 amid the turbulence of the reform movement that had driven Suharto from power a year earlier.

He also twice served as Indonesia's ambassador to the United Nations in the 1970s and 1980s.

Alatas, a member of the Southeast Asian grouping ASEAN's Eminent Persons Group, also helped broker peace in other hot spots in the region, including the civil war in Cambodia.

In recent years he was an adviser to President Susilo Bambang Yudhoyono, chaired international seminars, and was on the board of the Brussels-based International Crisis Group.

The gentlemanly Alatas' career, however, remained haunted by the Suharto era and the turmoil in East Timor, the former Portuguese colony that Indonesia invaded in 1975.

Alatas' account of events there, titled "The pebble in the shoe: The diplomatic struggle for East Timor", helped start a wider debate about the crisis among official circles.

But despite his skills as a diplomat, Alatas struggled to justify the brutal events in East Timor, said Damien Kingsbury, an associate professor at Deakin University in Australia.

"No matter how much he tried, he was always going to be trying to justify an appalling situation to the international community," said Kingsbury, who was speaking by telephone while on a trip to East Timor.

Australian Prime Minister Kevin Rudd paid tribute to Alatas for improving often testy ties between the two nations.

"Mr Alatas contributed both vision and hard work to strengthening the political, economic and personal links between our two countries," Rudd said.

Alatas, 76, was married with three children. He died of a heart attack after being treated in Singapore's Mount Elizabeth hospital for more than two weeks.

Presidential spokesman Dino Patti Djalal said that Yudhoyono was "sad and shocked" by the news of his death.

"I cannot spell out his achievements but in the milestones of his career, his highest achievement was when together with the French government he helped to solve the bloody conflict in Cambodia. But ironically he didn't get the credit he deserved from it," said Djalal.

Officials said Muslim prayers would be held in Singapore before his body was flown to Jakarta.

(Reporting by Muklis Ali and Tyagita Silka; Additional reporting by Olivia Rondonuwu in JAKARTA, Kevin Lim in SINGAPORE and James Grubel in CANBERRA; Writing by Ed Davies; Editing by Paul Tait)

Obama pick for National Intelligence director linked to East Timor genocide

2008-12-08T03:29:00.000-08:00

Submitted by WW4 Report on Sat, 12/06/2008 - 18:39. Southeast Asia Theater

From the East Timor and Indonesia Action Network (ETAN), Dec. 5:

ETAN Opposes Adm. Blair as Director of National Intelligence"President-elect Barack Obama's rumored selection of Admiral Dennis C. Blair for Director of National Intelligence is unacceptable," the East Timor and Indonesia Action Network (ETAN) said today. "During his years as Pacific Commander, Blair actively worked to reinstate military assistance and deepen ties to Indonesia's military despite its ongoing human rights violations in East Timor and consistent record of impunity," said John M. Miller, National Coordinator of ETAN.

"His actions demonstrate the failure of engagement to temper the Indonesian military�s behavior and his actions helped to reinforce impunity for senior Indonesian officials that continues to this day," added Miller. "He undermined the Clinton administration's belated efforts to support human rights and self-determination in the Indonesian-occupied territory and opposed congressional efforts to limit assistance."

"It is unfathomable that Obama would consider appointing someone to such a prominent position who has shown so little concern for human rights in the past. Can we expect someone who has sought to undermine efforts to link human rights to military assistance to be a champion of reform? We don't think this is the kind of change people are expecting," said Miller.

In April 1999, just days after Indonesian security forces and their militias carried out a brutal churchyard massacre, Adm. Blair delivered a message of 'business-as-usual' to Indonesian General Wiranto, then Commander of the Indonesian armed forces. Following East Timor's pro-independence vote, Blair sought the quickest possible restoration of military assistance, despite Indonesia's highly destructive exit.

Background

As Commander-in-Chief of the U.S. Pacific Command from February 1999 to May 2002 Blair was the highest ranking U.S. military official in the region during the final period of violence in East Timor, as Indonesian security forces and their militias killed, looted, and destroyed the country's infrastructure.

In April 1999, Blair met in Jakarta with General Wiranto, then the Defense Minister and the commander of Indonesian forces, just days after dozens of refugees in a Catholic church in the town of Liquica, East Timor were hacked to death by machetes by militia members backed by the military (including Kopassus) and Brimob troops.

Instead of pressuring Wiranto to shut down the militias, Blair promised new military assistance, which the military "took as a green light to proceed with the militia operation," according to Allan Nairn, writing in The Nation magazine at the time.

Nairn reported that a classified cable summarizing the meeting said that Admiral Blair "told the armed forces chief that he looks forward to the time when [the army will] resume its proper role as a leader in the region. He invited General Wiranto to come to Hawaii as his guest in conjunction with the next round of bilateral defense discussions in the July-August '99 time frame. He said Pacific command is prepared to support a subject matter expert exchange for doctrinal development. He expects that approval will be granted to send a small team to provide technical assistance to police and...selected TNI personnel on crowd control measures." Nairn writes that the last offer was "quite significant, because it would be the first new US training program for the Indonesian military since 1992."

Blair was fully aware of what was going on in East Timor at the time: "From a windowless concrete building near Blair's Pacific Command headquarters, seven intelligence analysts at the "Joint Intelligence Center," the world's largest military intelligence center, had tracked the movements of Indonesian and militia forces since May 1998," according to the Washington Post.

In the bloody aftermath of East Timor's independence vote, "Blair and other U.S. military officials took a forgiving view of the violence surrounding the referendum in East Timor. Given the country's history, they argued, it could have been worse. 'What they did was absolutely remarkable,' said one top Pentagon general," reported the Washington Post's Dana Priest.
Blair has acknowledged that U.S.-trained Indonesian military officers were among those allegedly involved in crimes against humanity in East Timor. "But at no point, Blair

acknowledges, did he or his subordinates reach out to the Indonesian contacts trained through IMET or JCET to try to stop the brewing crisis," wrote Priest. "It is fairly rare that the personal relations made through an IMET [U.S.-funded military program] course can come into play in resolving a future crisis," he told her.

In April 2000, over the objections of U.S. Ambassador to Indonesia Robert S. Gelbard, members of Congress and State Department officials, Blair made the first high-level visit to Indonesia since all military assistance was cut off in the aftermath of the 1999 independence referendum in East Timor.

Despite Blair's repeated overtures and forgiving attitude to Indonesia's military elite, they were of no help in his post-military role as chair of the Indonesia Commission at the influential Council on Foreign Relations (CFR). In 2002, Blair headed a delegation of observers who intended to visit West Papua. The government refused to let them in, with the Foreign Minister declaring that "there is no need for them to come to Papua."

The reason was clear: West Papua has become the new focus of Indonesian military and militia brutality. The military's mission is to violently suppress West Papua's simmering independence movement, its sympathizers, and terrorize ordinary citizens—and outside observers are not welcome. Though Blair's dream of renewed military engagement with Indonesia has been realized under the Bush administration, the Indonesian military's human rights violations continue and as does impunity for its senior officers.

General Wiranto was indicted in February 2003 by a UN-backed court in East Timor for his command role in the 1999 violence. The attack on the Liquica church is among the crimes against humanity cited in the indictment. He is currently a leading candidate for President of Indonesia in elections to take place next year.

World War 4 Report

Obama: Stand Up to the Indonesian Military

2008-12-05T07:56:00.000-08:00

John M. Miller December 4, 2008
Editor: John Feffer

Foreign Policy In Focus
http://www.fpif.org/

According to some pundits, U.S. reengagement with the largely unreformed and unrepentant Indonesian military is the best way to promote reform and human rights. The Wall Street Journal Asia, for instance, called on President-elect Barack Obama "to stand down liberal senators and interest groups" for seeking conditions on military assistance to Indonesia. Indonesia's military has certainly had human rights problems in the past," the editorial states, but urges the incoming administration to forget about them in the name of building an alliance on the "global war on terror."

The Obama administration and incoming 111th Congress should indeed change course on Indonesia. It should put human rights at the forefront of U.S. policy. This would contribute more to encouraging democratic reform and human rights accountability in the world's largest Muslim-majority country than any amount of military training or weapons. Indonesians who view the military as a chief roadblock to greater reform will be grateful.

History Lessons

In 1965, when U.S.-Indonesia ties were the closest, General Suharto seized power and, according to scholars, the Indonesian government killed up to one million people in the coup's aftermath. Earlier, Indonesia took over West Papua in 1963, leaving up to 100,000 dead. In 1975, with explicit U.S. support, Indonesia invaded East Timor, resulting in another 100,000-200,000 dead. Some 90% of the weapons used in the invasion and subsequent occupation came from the United States. These are the lessons the Indonesian military learned from unfettered U.S. military assistance.

The only period of significant reform came when the United States actually suspended much assistance during the 1990s. Chief among the changes were the end of the Suharto dictatorship in 1998. After he was driven from office, East Timor became independent (the Indonesian military's destructive exit from the country led for a time to a full cutoff of all military assistance). In the late 1990s, the military gave up a few prerogatives, including its seats in parliament. But since the United States began incrementally to reinstate military assistance in 2002, the reform process has stalled.

By 2005, the Bush administration reinstated nearly all military assistance and has since sought further expanded ties through training of the Kopassus, the notorious special forces unit responsible for some of the worst human rights violations in East Timor, West Papua, Aceh, and elsewhere. Senators Patrick Leahy (D-VT) and Russ Feingold (D-WI) have opposed lifting this final hurdle to unrestricted military engagement. They have called for following existing law barring training of military units with histories of human rights crimes where those responsible have not been brought to justice. If that provision has any meaning, it must apply to the Kopassus.

Reengagement has failed to end the widespread impunity enjoyed by Indonesia's security forces for crimes against humanity and other serious violations committed in East Timor and Indonesia. Rather, reengagement has emboldened the military's continued resistance to civilian control and persistent emphasis on internal security. The Indonesian military continues to resist attempts to dismantle its "territorial command" system, which allows it to exert influence over politics, commerce, and justice down to the village level. Finally, efforts to implement a law ending the military's involvement in business have degenerated into farce, and it remains involved in a variety of illegal enterprises, including logging and narcotics trade.

Several retired generals responsible for some of the worst atrocities in East Timor are serious candidates for president in next year's elections. General Wiranto is perhaps the best known after coming in third in the 2004 presidential campaign. A UN-sponsored court in East Timor indicted Wiranto for crimes against humanity for his role as top commander of the military during the bloodletting of 1999. Former Kopassus commander (and Suharto son-in-law) Prabowo Subianto is another credible presidential candidate. A third potential candidate, Lt. General Sutiyoso, was a member of a unit that, according to an Australian coroner's report, murdered five foreign journalists after they crossed the Timorese border a few months prior to Indonesia's full-scale invasion.

Current Abuses

Human rights violations are not just a matter of history. In West Papua, with Indonesian military protection, the U.S.-based Freeport Mining Company has destroyed the environment, livelihoods, and culture of the local people while making billions off the largest goldmine in the world. Just this year, the Indonesian government punished the protests of Papuan people demanding self-determination and greater voice with harsh reprisals, including long prison terms, torture, and the death of at least one bystander. In May 2007, Indonesian marines killed four civilians and wounded eight in a land dispute between villagers and the Indonesian navy in Pasuruan, East Java. According to The International Herald Tribune, "The marines were tried by a military tribunal but ultimately sentenced to just 18 months in prison. The marine station's relationship with the plantation company was never investigated, nor were any of the station's officers. The land dispute remains unresolved."

As in the past, the current U.S. administration downplays these and other human rights violations, while celebrating its reinvigorated institutional partnership with Indonesia's security forces. Military assistance flowing to Indonesia has yet to reach the levels of the Suharto years. The United States has funded coastal radars, supplied spare parts, and urged the Indonesians to prepare a military wish list. Earlier this year, the Indonesian Air Force sought F-16 fighters and C-130 Hercules transport planes. For 2008, foreign military finance funding jumped to $15.7 million from only one million dollars two years earlier. For now, an Indonesian budget crunch and a lingering wariness bred of past restrictions on assistance have limited Indonesia's willingness to buy substantial stocks of new weapons.

Meanwhile, the number of Indonesian students in the International Military Education and Training (IMET) program is increasing. IMET was the first military assistance program that Congress restricted in the early 1990s. Indonesia was a major beneficiary of the Regional Defense Counterterrorism Fellowship Program, created soon after the September 11 attacks to circumvent the IMET ban on Indonesia and other countries. Joint military exercises have covered counterinsurgency and counterterrorism, among other topics. However, the Indonesian police, not the military, tracked down and arrested those responsible for a series of bombings in Bali and Jakarta in 2002 and 2003. The Indonesian military tolerates and, more ominously, continues to back militias and vigilante groups that intimidate civilians, particularly those in ethnic, religious, and political minorities.

Ultimately, the size of the military assistance package may not matter. The United States had restricted aid as a means to build pressure for human rights accountability and reform. Now that Indonesia is eligible for unrestricted aid, its military can assume those issues no longer matter to their once and future patron.

A New Era with Obama?

President-elect Obama has described U.S. engagement in Indonesia, where he lived as a child, as less than positive. In The Audacity of Hope, Obama writes that "for the past sixty years the fate of [Indonesia] has been directly tied to U.S. foreign policy." This policy included "the tolerance and occasional encouragement of tyranny, corruption, and environmental degradation when it served our interests." In his earlier book Dreams from My Father, Obama writes of Suharto's bloody seizure of power: "The death toll was anybody's guess: a few hundred thousand, maybe, half a million. Even the smart guys at the [CIA] had lost count."

Based on these early positions, Obama is quite conscious of the problems with the Indonesian military. While in the Senate, he rarely spoke about these issues.

Indonesian advocates have called on Obama and Congress to pressure Indonesia's government to respect human rights. Rafendi Djamin, coordinator of the Human Rights Watch Working Group, acknowledged the U.S.'s past "huge role in pushing for rights advocacy in Indonesia… I have seen that during the Bush administration, the U.S. Congress is still concerned with Indonesia's democratization and human rights advocacy, but Bush has rarely given a direct warning of the importance of human rights advocacy."

Djamin said in the Jakarta Post, "We are now expecting Obama to put more pressure on Indonesia to resolve unfinished human rights cases by directly questioning the government about them and by addressing their importance." Another advocate said that "if Indonesia does not respond positively to U.S. pressure…the U.S. would reinstate its military embargo against us."

East Timor's official Commission for Reception, Truth and Reconciliation, after examining in detail the impact of Indonesian occupation and destructive withdrawal on the East Timorese, called on countries to make military assistance to Indonesia "totally conditional on progress towards full democratisation, the subordination of the military to the rule of law and civilian government, and strict adherence with international human rights."President Obama and the next Congress should follow that recommendation.

John M. Miller is the national coordinator of the East Timor and Indonesia Action Network and a contributor to Foreign Policy In Focus.

Source: Foreign Policy in Focus

Portugal, Indonésia e Austrália preparam cimeira sobre Timor

2008-12-03T05:50:00.000-08:00

Portugal está a envidar esforços para concretizar, em Maio de 2009, uma cimeira sobre Timor-Leste que envolva também a Austrália e Indonésia, disse o secretário de Estado dos Negócios Estrangeiros e da Cooperação português

Contactado por telefone em Díli, onde se encontra em visita de trabalho até sexta-feira, João Gomes Cravinho adiantou que três meses antes, em Fevereiro, haverá um encontro de chefes da diplomacia de Portugal, Timor-Leste, Austrália e Indonésia para preparar a agenda da cimeira.

O tema é o desenvolvimento de Timor-Leste, acrescentou, lembrando que a ideia foi apresentada pelo presidente português, Aníbal Cavaco Silva, ao primeiro-ministro australiano, Kevin Rudd, em Setembro, durante a Assembleia Geral da ONU.

A realização da cimeira, que poderá ainda contar com o Brasil, foi já analisada por João Gomes Cravinho num encontro que manteve hoje em Díli com o presidente de Timor-Leste, José Ramos-Horta, que se mostrou favorável à iniciativa.

Gomes Cravinho iniciou hoje uma visita de trabalho para contactos políticos e ligados à cooperação, tendo como pano de fundo o lançamento de um projecto de desenvolvimento na zona de Liquiçá e Ermera (noroeste de Timor-Leste), apoiado pelo Instituto Português de Apoio ao Desenvolvimento (IPAD) e que conta também com co-financiamento das cooperações espanhola e alemã.

O programa 'Mós Bele - Cluster da Cooperação Portuguesa em Timor-Leste', acrescentou Gomes Cravinho, tem quatro vertentes fundamentais e prevê a integração de diversos projectos ligados à agricultura, economia, saúde e educação, acção que envolve um montante de um milhão de euros.

O governante português reuniu-se também hoje com o primeiro-ministro timorense, Xanana Gusmão, que efectuou na semana passada uma visita oficial a Portugal, com quem abordou projectos concretos para um maior envolvimento de Portugal em Timor-Leste.

Segundo Gomes Cravinho, Lisboa pode vir a aumentar o número de professores em Timor-Leste, onde conta actualmente com cerca de 150 - 120 no ensino básico e 30 no universitário -, ao mesmo tempo que criou uma equipa de trabalho conjunta para integrar o projecto Magalhães nas escolas timorenses.

Por outro lado, acrescentou, Lisboa e Díli decidiram já retomar as negociações sobre um acordo para evitar a dupla tributação, interrompidas há cerca de ano e meio devido à pouca procura dos empresários portugueses em Timor-Leste.

Este acordo, juntamente com as quatro linhas de crédito a ser disponibilizadas pela Caixa Geral de Depósitos (CGD), a primeira no valor de 15 milhões de euros, vai permitir criar condições para o investimento dos empresários portugueses no território timorense.

Quarta-feira, em Díli, João Gomes Cravinho participará na abertura do I Congresso de Ciências da Saúde de Timor-Leste, que conta com o apoio do IPAD e da Fundação Calouste Gulbenkian, e terá encontros com o líder da Fretilin (oposição), Mari Alkatiri, e com o bispo de Díli, D. Alberto Ricardo.

Lusa / SOL

East Timor kills Chinese power deal

2008-12-03T05:42:00.000-08:00

By Matt Crook DILI, East Timor -

A US$390 million power project tendered to Chinese investors was to be the defining action of the Parliamentary Majority Alliance (AMP) coalition government, with the infrastructure seen as crucial for improving livelihoods and attracting foreign investment
to this impoverished island nation.

It was announced in October that the Chinese Nuclear Industry 22nd Construction Company had been awarded the tender to build two power generating stations - one in Manatuto district in central Timor and another on the country's south coast - and an electricity grid, with the project budgeted over four years.

That ambitious deal is fast coming undone, raising new questions about China's commercial diplomacy in the region. The project was dealt a legal blow when the Court of Appeal on October 27 upheld a petition submitted by 16 members of parliament, many from the opposition Revolutionary Front for an Independent East Timor (FRETILIN) party.

The court ruled in line with their complaint that the budget was unconstitutional and illegal because the money for the China-tendered deal would entail a withdrawal beyond the amount permitted by existing laws governing the country's oil revenue-financed sovereign wealth fund, known as the Petroleum Fund.

The controversy represents the latest botched government-to-government deal in the region to ensnare Chinese business interests. Beijing's commercial diplomacy hit a snag in the Philippines this year when a Chinese state-linked firm contracted to build infrastructure for broadband telecommunications came under fire on allegations the company paid kickbacks to high-ranking government officials to pave the way for the deal.

No such allegations have surfaced around East Timor's power plant deal. But the controversy has made clear how hard at work Beijing's soft power commercial diplomacy is in oil-and-gas rich East Timor. China was the first country to establish diplomatic relations with the country after it achieved independence in 2002 and has since been a major donor to the oil-and-gas rich nation, providing everything from food to military equipment.

Chinese assistance went towards building a new building for the government's Ministry of Foreign Affairs and an elaborate new presidential palace is on the way. The two structures have represented the biggest construction projects the capital, Dili, has seen, according to locals. A huge new Chinese Embassy is also on the cards.

In a seeming quid pro quo, Chinese investors may obtain 50-year land leases in East Timor, where most other foreigners are limited to 30-year deals. That's encouraged Chinese investment, witnessed in the growing numbers of Chinese-run businesses in Dili ranging from electronics stores to restaurants to bars. Despite its slim national coffers, East Timor donated $500,000 to China in September for relief efforts in Sichuan province, hit by a severe earthquake last May.

Relations between the two countries go beyond the commercial. In April, East Timor agreed to buy two Chinese naval vessels to improve its ability to patrol its sovereign waters, where it loses millions of dollars every year to fishing poachers and smugglers. Before turning to China, Dili had only two aging Portuguese boats to patrol the country's 870 kilometers of coastline.

Chinese counterbalance

Some analysts have suggested that East Timor is moving closer to China precisely because of Australia's unwillingness to accommodate Timorese strategic development, including a reluctance to help the small nation establish a naval force. Australia has until now taken the lead in patrolling East Timor's territorial waters. The two countries dispute the boundaries of the oil-and-gas rich Greater Sunrise field in the Timor Sea, but reached a joint revenue-sharing agreement in January 2006.

Australian energy company Woodside Petroleum plans a $14 billion Greater Sunrise project, with the aim of piping gas to Darwin, in the north of Western Australia, or build a floating plant. Timor wants the gas piped to its own soil. Neither side is prepared to back down and now it seems East Timor is cozying with China to bolster its negotiating position. President Jose Ramos-Horta was quoted as saying he would "prefer to forgo Greater Sunrise than surrender to the dictates of a bunch of oil executive millionaires".

Ian Storey, a security analyst at the Institute of Southeast Asian Studies, notes, "China gave a lot of support to the Timor independence movement in the second half of the 1970s, so there are friendly feelings. China has been looking into energy deals with East Timor for the past few years."

John Virgoe, Southeast Asia project director for International Crisis Group, said, "I think China should be congratulated for providing aid to [East Timor]. It would be better if the aid were more focused on relieving poverty and sustainable development than on prestige projects - but China is still early on the learning curve when it comes to foreign assistance."

Nor are China's interests limited to East Timor. "[China] is also stepping up its engagement across the Pacific region as a way of extending its regional profile," Virgoe said.

The circumstances surrounding the power project are raising new questions about how China conducts its business in the region. Tibor van Staveren, a researcher for La'o Hamutuk, a non-governmental organization that monitors development issues in East Timor, translated the Appeal Court's recent ruling against the power plant project tendered to Chinese investors.

The verdict said the deal "violates Timor-Leste's [East Timor] constitutional prohibition against secret budgets and parliament's power to oversee budgetary operations".

The government has withdrawn $300 million from the Petroleum Fund this year, according to La'o Hamutuk. This year's state budget was $686.8 million, but the court's ruling now limits that amount to $391 million. In August, the government proposed to increase the budget by 122% to about $800 million.

The revised budget was discussed in parliament and the budget line for the extra $390 million for the Chinese tendered power plants was voted down. Yet the $390 million earmark still went through after an alleged mix up with the paperwork, said Staveren.

Staveren also noted the speed of the tendering process for the heavy-fuel-oil power plant - three months from when the tender was announced to the contract being signed. "

A project like this would normally need almost a year to get through a concept stage and the drawing of technical specifications, to send out tenders, evaluate tenders and do an environmental impact study. They rushed it," said Staveren. "For a project like this, the [tender] documents would be the size of a telephone book - these were five pages."

The government remains adamant that the tendering process was legitimate. Secretary of State for Electricity, Water and Urbanization Januario da Costa said, "The tendering process was announced through the Internet. It was not done too fast. Fourteen companies offered their quotations."

Of the international companies that initially bid for the contract, one was rejected for a late submission and nine others were struck off for not complying with the full proposal. The five remaining proposals, according to a government media release, were then submitted to a committee comprising the National Procurement Director, two electrical engineers, and international advisers from the Ministry of Finance and the Ministry for Infrastructure.

Information about the company that won the bid, Chinese Nuclear Industry 22nd Construction Co, was not made readily available by the government. The Chinese company started as a construction outfit building elements mostly for nuclear power plants, La'o Hamutuk noted. It also built apartment complexes and roads and was involved in construction for the Three Gorges dam project in China.

As part of the deal, the Chinese company would have maintained management control of the plant for five years before handing it over to the Timorese. Critics note the technology the government proposed for the plants - two heavy fuel oil power stations - was an unusual move for a signatory to the Kyoto agreement on greenhouse gas emissions. Others have suggested hydropower would have been a more efficient energy strategy for the power-starved country.

Matt Crook is a East Timor-based freelance journalist. He may be reached at writer@whatismatt.com.

Source: Asia Times Online

Timor-Leste: Governo timorense assina em Portugal acordo para criação de TV Escola

2008-11-16T14:45:00.000-08:00

15 de Novembro de 2008, 20:04

Lisboa, 15 Nov (Lusa) - O Governo de Timor-Leste assinou esta semana vários acordos bilaterais em Portugal nas áreas da educação, que passam pela criação de uma TV Escola e pela formação de alunos e professores, disse hoje ministro da Educação timorense.

De acordo com João Câncio Freitas, foi estabelecido um acordo entre o Ministério da Educação português, a TV TEL (de Timor-Leste) e a RTP, com a possibilidade de parceria com canais brasileiros, para os timorenses aprenderem a língua portuguesa através da televisão.

"Estamos a explorar todas as possibilidades de ensino", disse o ministro à Agência Lusa à margem da reunião extraordinária dos ministros da Educação e da Cultura da CPLP, que decorreu sexta-feira e hoje em Lisboa.

Lembrando que Timor-Leste teve uma "interrupção de mais de duas décadas na língua portuguesa", o governante disse que o grande "desafio" prende-se com a geração mais nova que "quase não fala português".

Através da TV Escola, os timorenses terão acesso a aulas de português, acesso a programas culturais e a telenovelas portuguesas.

"O povo timorense gosta muito de novelas", disse o ministro, explicando que o facto de a novela ser falada em português poderá ajudar os timorenses a aprenderem a língua.

Foi ainda assinado um acordo com a reitoria da Universidade de Évora para a formação de quadros timorenses, "mais orientada para a exploração do mar, nomeadamente a formação de engenheiros petrolíferos", indicou João Câncio Freitas.

O acordo com a Universidade de Évora prevê ainda o intercâmbio de professores e alunos portugueses e timorenses.

O ministro timorense disse ainda que Timor-Leste defende a criação de um Instituto da Língua Portuguesa, que iria "facilitar e assegurar a formação continua em português".

MCL.
LUsa/fim

Woodside dehan Australia bele lakon Pipeline ba Timor

2008-11-13T04:27:00.000-08:00

Australia May Lose Sunrise LNG on Carbon Costs, Woodside Says

By Angela Macdonald-Smith

Nov. 13 (Bloomberg) -- Australia risks losing the Sunrise liquefied natural gas project to East Timor, where the venture could avoid the effects of the government's proposed carbon trading system, said operator Woodside Petroleum Ltd.

Should the venture partners decide to develop the Timor Sea gas field as a floating project, the ship could be located in an area jointly administered by the two countries, rather than Australian waters, Don Voelte, chief executive officer of Perth-based Woodside, said today. Sunrise could then avoid Australia's carbon constraints and pay lower royalties, he said.

Australia's proposed carbon trading system, to start up in 2010, doesn't award any free emission allowances to LNG producers under its current design. That increases their costs in comparison with rivals in countries with no charge on carbon. The Sunrise partners, which include Royal Dutch Shell Plc and ConocoPhillips, are due to decide in the first half of next year whether to use a floating plant or process the gas in Darwin, northern Australia.

Sunrise ``may be the first project that Australia loses,'' Voelte told investors at a briefing in Sydney. ``That's not a threat, it's a comment'' on the emissions trading plan, he said.

The field, which holds about 5.4 trillion cubic feet of gas, overlaps a boundary between Australian waters and an area jointly managed by Australia and East Timor.

East Timor and Australia in February last year completed a treaty for the administration of the Sunrise field, under which they agreed to split royalties from the upstream part of the project equally. Royalties levied on the downstream, gas processing part of the project would depend on where the LNG production facility was located.

Lower Royalties

In Australia, the downstream royalties would be about 40 percent, compared with 10 percent in East Timor, Voelte said today. Building a floating LNG plant, using Shell's technology, would limit the capacity to about 3.5 million metric tons a year, he said. An onshore plant built in Darwin next to ConocoPhillips' existing LNG plant would have a capacity of 4.8 million tons a year, he said.

The partners may approve the project for development by the end of 2010, Woodside said. The venture earlier this year ruled out a development option favored by East Timor of building an onshore plant in East Timor after finding that plan was riskier and more expensive than its two preferred options.

Woodside has about 33 percent of Sunrise and is the operator, while Houston-based ConocoPhillips owns 30 percent, Woodside's 34 percent-shareholder Shell owns 27 percent and Osaka Gas Co. 10 percent.

LNG is natural gas that has been chilled to liquid form, reducing it to one-six-hundredth of its original volume at minus 161 degrees Celsius (minus 259 Fahrenheit), for transportation by ship to destinations not connected by pipeline. On arrival, it's turned back into gas for distribution to power plants, factories and households.

To contact the reporter on this story: Angela Macdonald-Smith in Sydney at amacdonaldsm@bloomberg.net

Last Updated: November 13, 2008 00:00 EST

Source: Bloomberg

Talks Begin on Safeguarding Wonders of the 'Coral Triangle'

2008-11-12T04:45:00.000-08:00

By Phil Mercer

Sydney12 November 2008

The six nations that make up the so-called Coral Triangle in the Asia-Pacific region are working to preserve some of the world's most valuable marine life. The triangle spans the area between East Timor, the Philippines, Malaysia, Indonesia, the Solomon Islands and Papua New Guinea. From Sydney, Phil Mercer reports.

Scientists and environmentalists say the Coral Triangle is home to one of the most important collections of marine life on the planet.

It covers nearly six million square kilometers and its warm water is home to rich concentrations of iridescent corals, fish, crustaceans and marine plants.

It contains more than 3,000 species of fish, including the giant whale shark, as well as a rich diversity of sea grass meadows and mangrove forests, which attract sea turtles and humpback whales.

Delegates from the six Coral Triangle nations are meeting in Townsville in northern Australia. They hope to find ways to improve conservation efforts and to protect the food supplies and livelihoods of millions of people who rely on fishing and tourism.

The proximity of the Coral Triangle to Australian waters has prompted the government in Canberra to host the gathering.

Australian Environment Minister Peter Garrett says efforts must be made to protect the region's economic and environmental sustainability."

A significant driver of regional economies estimated to total over $2 billion annually and also in the midst of both those strong environment values, those significant economic benefits, this coral triangle is under extraordinary pressure, not only climate change impacts, potential acidification of the sea there and the raising water temperatures but also coastal development pressures and over-fishing," said Garrett.

Australia hopes the talks in Townsville will lead to the creation of the world's largest coral reef conservation program.

The Canberra government is willing to share scientific and management expertise and will also consider funding aid.

Delegates from the Philippines, Malaysia, Indonesia, East Timor, Papua New Guinea and the Solomon Islands are attending the conference.

Source: Voice of America

Ramos Horta felicitou Barack Obama

2008-11-05T13:56:00.000-08:00

«É uma agenda enorme para um homem só, por isso todos nós devemos ter paciência e dar-lhe tempo», disse o presidente timorense

O Presidente de Timor-Leste, Ramos Horta, felicitou Barack Obama pela sua vitória nas eleições presidenciais norte-americanas e salientou a importância da acção da sua administração para uma futura resolução do conflito israelo-palestiniano.

Ramos Horta acredita que uma nova administração chefiada por Barack Obama possa resolver questões como a da Palestina, «que é a mais urgente e gritante do ponto de vista moral, em conjunto com a questão da Birmânia».

Para o Presidente de Timor-Leste, a prioridade de Barack Obama deve ser a actual crise financeira que afecta os Estados Unidos. «(A prioridade) deve ser pôr ordem no escândalo financeiro de Wall Street», sublinhou.

«É uma agenda enorme para um homem só, por isso todos nós devemos ter paciência e dar-lhe tempo», concluiu Ramos Horta.

Fontes: Portugal Diário

East Timor again claims gas pipeline

2008-11-03T12:09:00.000-08:00

The president of East Timor has urged Woodside Petroleum of Australia to support its plans to base a multibillion dollar oil and gas plant in his country rather than Australia.

The East Timorese government is drawing up plans to develop a pipeline and petrochemicals facility to process oil and gas from the Greater Sunrise field. Experts think the field, which lies in waters claimed by both East Timor and Australia, could be worth $90 billion.

East Timor's plan competes with one by Australian company Woodside Petroleum, which wants to build a 500 kilometer pipeline to Darwin in Australia's Northern Territory.

Woodside executives say that laying the oil and gas pipeline to East Timor would make supplies vulnerable to political uncertainties in the tiny nation.

Under a licensing agreement, neither country can develop the field without permission from the other, and they must finalize a development plan within five years.

The East Timor president presented his arguments this week in an address to the Northern Territory parliament.

Jose Ramos-Horta says that East Timor is the logical destination for an oil and gas pipeline, because it is closer to the field than Darwin is.

"While Timor Leste is eternally grateful to Australia for its steadfast support since '99, our sincere sense of gratitude cannot be such that we surrender all to Darwin," he said. "The pipeline will go where it should go, the shortest route and the cheapest.

" Mr. Ramos-Horta was seriously wounded in an assassination attempt earlier this year and was flown to Darwin for life-saving surgery.

The attack prompted Australia to send an additional troops and police officers to the East Timor capital Dili because of fears of further unrest.

Peacekeepers from Australia, New Zealand, Malaysia and Portugal were sent to East Timor more than two years ago when fighting broke out between disaffected members of the military and units loyal to the government.

The impoverished former Portuguese colony voted to secede from Indonesia in 1999 and became an independent country three years later.

Source: VOA News

Bele Le hotu analise sobre caso pipeline ne iha tuir mai ne:

- Timor presiza hametin nia siguransa ho estabilidade hodi reforça pozisaun negosial hasoru Australia kona ba pipeline gás nian

Timor Leste Relations

2008-10-29T11:42:00.000-07:00

October 29th, 2008, in Opinion, by Purba Negoro

Purba Negoro sees broad sunlit uplands for East Timor-Indonesia relations, and current Australian nefariousness.

Timor Leste seeks Javanese Know-how

Timor Leste’s Economic and Development Minister Joao Gonzalves is visiting Yogyakarta Special Province (DIY) to explore win-win cooperation in various fields.

“We hope cooperation win-win cooperation with Yogyakarta in the field of agriculture, industry, handicrafts, and human resources development will be materialized,” Gonzalves said at a meeting with Yogyakarta Vice Governor Paku Alam IX here on Monday.

On the occasion, Gonzalves said Timor Leste as a new country in its development process invited Indonesian investors including from Yogyakarta to invest in various fields in his country.

Gonzalves said his visit to Yogyakarta was to obtain first hand information about the development of local small-and-medium scale industry.

“We want to get a lot of knowledge from Yogyakarta because this province has prospective micro and agrobusiness, and such a condition is similar to that in Timor Leste,” he said.

In his visit, Gonzalves also explored a possible business meeting with related institution in Yogyakarta and Timor Leste, as well as private parties to find out in which fields the cooperation could be made.

“Business meeting among government officials and businessmen will be of great advantage to Timor Leste`s development in agriculture, industry, handicrafts, and human resources development,” he said In the meeting with Paku Alam IX at Kepatihan Pareanom building, Gonzalves was accompanied by his deputy, Rui Mauvel.

Timor has finally had the scales removed from its’ eyes and seen the Australian “liberation” was exactly like that of the Australians in Papua New Guinea or the US in Iraq - a bold-faced grab for resources cloaked in an oft perpetuated lie - their own people delude themselves in as the truth is far too painful to digest.

Timor and Indonesia have buried whatever animosity existed since Gusmao’s highly respectful visit to Indonesia’s National Hero’s Cemetery - Kali Bata and met with many prominent Indonesian power-brokers including many former ABRI officers who served in Timor.

Hardly the actions of a victim of genocide - thus further proving Western NGO propaganda to yet again be propaganda, fabrication and embellishment.

History:

The relationship of Indonesia and Timor has historically been complex since the Portuguese abandoned the province amidst its’ civil war and the coup in Lisbon.

Timor was split into 3 main factions- one Leftist- FRETILIN, one pro Portuguese the landholder and business classes (majority Chinese) UDT and one Pro Indonesian- the APODETI. In June of 1975- FRETILIN boycotted the Portueguese tribunal on decolonization- representatives of UDT and APODETI complained that this was an effort to obstruct the decolonization process- UDP and FREILIN had formed a coalition since January.

The UDT started a coup and UDT and FREITILN fought violently - killing over 3000. UDT fled to West Timor and requested Indonesia’s military assistance under the guise of APODETI.

Australia was the first to recognise Indonesian sovereignty with full maritime border recognition and within three weeks a contract for US-Australian oil multinationals including Conoco Phillips, Sunrise Energy, Burmah Petroleum, former Borneo Oil, Woodside, and various other relics of those Anglosphere halcyon parasitic colonial days.

Fearing reprisals from FRETILIN when re-occupying Timor under the protection of the ABRI- UDT yet again flip-flopped and claimed the ABRO had coerced them with extreme violence and gladly payed extortion money to the FRETILIN thus enabling its’ terrorist activities prior to Australian NGO funding- principally through ETAN and the UK Foreign Intel Service’s construct :TAPOL

The West did not desire yet another Communist as Timor’s Fretilin was perceived. The US had real leverage to force Suharto to allow US nuclear submarines through the Timor Gap in violation of Australian sovereignty and maritime law- an act of war.

It should be remembered that US contempt for Indonesian sovereignty was highlighted again during the Yom Kippur War when the US deliberately kept an entire nuclear carrier fleet in the Malacca Strait.

Some of the few upright Australians later rued their latest transparent Colonial excursion as yet again selfless puppet of Britain and the US:

“We went to East Timor to help those people, and now we are slapping them in the face and stealing their oil.”

“We thought we were doing something decent. Now we have to ask the very real question of whether or not we went to East Timor to secure oil assets that aren’t ours.” Major (ret’d) Chip Henriss-Anderssen, March 7, 2005.

East Timor became politically independent on May 20, 2002. Three weeks earlier, Australia withdrew from international legal processes for resolving maritime boundary disputes. On its first day of independence, East Timor signed the Timor Sea Treaty with Australia, allowing oil projects begun under the 1989 treaty with Indonesia to continue uninterrupted.

“Since 1999, Australia has continued as an occupier for Timor-Leste’s territory, acting on control over the Timor Sea that it obtained through a deal with the illegal Indonesian occupier". charges La’o Hamutuk.

Prior to talks regarding Timor refusal to accept Australia’s demands for Timor to receive less than 18% of the Greater Sunrise Gas Fields on March 7-9, of 2005 - a foreign affairs and trade department official told reporters in Canberra that the Australian coalition government was prepared to hold out for up to 99 years - referring to a “Hong Kong” scenario if the government of East Timor maintained its demand that the maritime boundaries be settled according to international law.

Projected yield for Greater Sunrise was expected to attain 30 billion, with a paltry 4 billion maximum to East Timor.

East Timor’s North West continental shelf has the largest known deposits of gas on the planet.

Such are the actions of Indonesia’s now Timor’s alleged “friend” of the region. With friends like these - who bold-facedly fund seccessionist NGO movements then attack Indonesia’s suppression of their terrorism- who needs enemies?

China and the former foe by US decree Soviet Union suddenly look very friendly indeed.

Indonesia’s newly refound friend, Russia’s, will be constructing a new massive cosmodrome very possibly capable of independent ICBM launches from undisclosed islands off Biak Island - with full sovereign rights to Russia.

Australia hosts several joint US military advance warning installations on the former Soviet nations and now China’s, top ten nuclear strike list- Pine Gap, Shoal Bay, Dutson Downs and several others as well as individual components of the Jindalee Operaton Radar Network established under Menzies (quoted as desiring the F-111 to be able to launch a nuclear strike on Jakarta) to deliberately spy on Indonesia- tellingly never taken out of operation when Konfrontasi had ended and full war friendships under Suharto.

Seven JORN transponders are located at Christmas Island, Broome, Kalumburu, Darwin, Nhulunbuy, Normanton and Horn island QLD. With 12 Ionosondes at Laverton, Ajana, Boolathana, Learmonth, South Hedland, Curtin RAAF, Kalkaringin, Groote Eylandte, RAAF Scherger, Lynd River, Longreach.

It has range estimated to be in excess of 4000 miles- allowing Australia to spy on China, Taiwan and North Korea, as well as covering all Indonesian territory- including parts of Thailand and Philippines.Isonodes of the Jindalee over-horizon radar system- built specifically to spy on Indonesia (now upgraded sensitivity to 4-4500 miles radius).

Australia has taught us very well the art of friendly platitude disguising the lethal back-stab.

My next post will be on Australia’s sour grapes colonial military aggression in Indonesia sovereign territory and affairs.

Source: http://www.indonesiamatters.com/2795/timor-leste-indonesia/

Timor presiza hametin nia siguransa ho estabilidade hodi reforça pozisaun negosial hasoru Australia kona ba pipeline gás nian

2008-10-22T08:30:00.000-07:00

Kompara Timor nia Kazu ho rai seluk

Husi: Olivio de Deus

Hanesan hot-hotu hatene Timor agora dadaun enfrenta hela desafio bot ida, halo nusa atu konvence Austrália ho Woodside Petroleum iha negosiasaun tuir mai (futuru próximu) kona ba ligasaun pipeline (pipa ou kadoras) gás natural husi Tasi-Mane (Greater Sunrise) nian bele dada mai nia território. Governo Timor nian halo hela esforçu makas atu prova liu husi estudo batimétrico no seluk-seluk tan atu bele konvence nia oponente sira katak pipeline mos bele dada mai Timor. Mas tuir hakerek-nain nia haré, atu reforça liu tan Timor nia poder negocial, kondisaun ida nebe que Timor precisa kria mos maka hametin nia siguransa ho estabilidade para nuné bele haluan nia marjen de manobra negocial i transmite mensajen ida klara ba empreza (Perusahaan BBM) sira katak sira bele sente siguru no sei la koloka sira nia investimento iha risku (resiko) se pipeline ne liga mai Timor.

Klaro que afirmasaun sira hanesan ne mos bele provoka hotu reaksaun oi-oin. Balu bele kompreende tamba sá maka siguransa ho estabilidade ne importante ba negosiasaun ida ne, mas iha parte seluk mos bele hamosu hotu interpretasaun ingénua no desligada husi realidade kazu Greater Sunrise nian katak, Timor la precisa siguransa ho estabilidade para dada pipeline ne mai Timor tamba iha rai barak la estável no laiha siguransa liu fali Timor, mesmo hanesan ne la taka dalan ba explorasaun mina rai ho gás nian iha nebá.

Até certo ponto bele iha razaun, tamba ita haré ona iha exemplo barak nebé mesmo rai balun la estável no laiha siguransa mas empresa mina-rai sira ba investe nafatin. Exemplo típico ba kazu ida ne, ita bele haré iha Delta Níger, Nigéria nian nebá que regiaun ida instável teb-tebes, laiha siguransa, laiha estabilidade, halo bebeik rapto (penculikan) ba teknikus sira ou sabotajen ba pipeline. Situasaun ida nebé hanesan mos, ita bele haré iha Iraq no fatin seluk tan. Mesmo nuné la suficiente atu halo tauk empresa mina-rai sira que agora ne hamrok liu tan petroleu do que antes no lori sira ba buka rekursus energetikus tama to zona sira laiha siguransa ou tun tó tasi sira klean liu. Necessidade mundo nian ba mina-rai ho gás no lukro bot nebe empresa sira bele hetan husi negosiu ida ne, halo sira brani liu tan hasoru risku (resiko) bot no disponível atu fó vencimento (gaji) makas ba teknikus sira nebe hakarak ba servisu iha kondisaun extrema sira hanesan ne.

Klaro que haré ba exemplo sira ne, normal quando ita litik de forma ingénua (luguh ou polos), tamba sá maka iha Delta Nigér ou iha Iraq laiha siguransa no estabilidade empresa petrolífera sira hakarak ba investe nafatin iha nebá maibe iha Timor lae fali? Prontu.., nia resposta simples..! Iha Nigéria ou iha Iraq empresa sira laiha alternativa ka eskolha seluk, tenki investe duni iha nebá mesmo que risku ba sira nia investimentu makas, enquanto iha “Timor Sea” nia kazu ou mais especifikamente Greater Sunrise existe alternativa ou eskolha barak. Tamba né, nia lógika maka ne: se la iha alternativa tenki avança nafatin mesmo que risku makas mas se existe alternativa, laiha dúvida que se deit prefere hili ida nebe maka oferece kondisoens diak liu. Eskolha rua nebé que ema kulia liu maka LNG pipeline ne bele liga mai Timor ou mos bele liga ba Darwin.

Husi pontu de vista jurídiku, dala ruma ita precisa lembra fali katak tratado tolu nebe que Timor assina ona ho Austrália kona ba kazu Timor Gap, desde Timor Sea Treaty (TST), Sunrise International Unitization Ageement (SIUA, nebe fo vantajen bot ba Australia) no akordu ida ikus liu CMATS Treaty (Sunrise Agreement) laiha ida maka define tok Timor nia fronteira tasi ho Austrália, alias akordu ida ikus liu adia hela definisaun fronteira né ba tinan lima-nulu mai para empresa sira bele komesa dadaun ona halo explorasaun. Ho problema fronteira sidauk define lolos tuir Direito Internacional ou tuir Konvensaun ONU ba Lei Tasi Nian (UNCLOS, 1982), Timor sidauk bele reklama por direitu katak riku-soin sira iha Tasi-Timor nia laran né ninian mesak tamba pertence ba nia fronteira laran. Ho indefinisaun de fronteira ne, se Timor hakarak halo buat ruma ba riku-soin sira ne, em vez de nia maka decide mesak hanesan iha Nigéria ou iha Iraq, nia tenki decide hamutuk ho nia vizinho jigante i ganansiozo hanesan Austrália.

Processu negosiasaun nian

Kona ba processu de negosiasaun no tomada de decisaun, iha kazu sira seluk hanesan Delta Níger ou Iraq, nia prosesu la komplikadu, tamba halo deit entre governo rai-nain ho empresa petrolífera sira. Empresa sira apresenta sira nia Development Concept ou Development Plan ba governo ne rasik maka maka tetu no decide. Enquanto iha Greater Sunrise nia kazu operador projecto, Woodside Petroleum, apresenta nia Development Concept ou Field Development Plan ba governo rua (Timor ho Austrália) maka atu decide liu husi processu de negosiasaun. Tamba ne, se ita kompara ho kazu sira seluk, iha kazu ida ne Timor nia marjen de manobra ituan ou klot. Além de ida né, Timor mesak hasoru parte rua. Ida maka governu australiano no ida seluk maka empresa Woodside Petroleum nebe húsi Austrália hotu (Perth) apesar de nia defende liu nia interesse komersial mas……..(hatene deit ona).

Dala ruma mos ita bele hanoin katak negosiasaun ho governu husi Partido konservador (John Howard) maka difícil maibe agora né Partido Trabalhista (Kevin Rudd) maka ukun Australia ne sei laiha problema. Mas se ita haré fali ba kotuk, Austrália nia atitude mai Timor desde II Guerra Mundial (Perang Dunia ke dua) to okupasaun Indonésia nian no agora Timor ukun-an, tanto governu konservador ou trabalhista, sira nain rua mesak hanesan deit. Sira defende Austrália nia interesse no laos Timor nian como é obvio (ida né iha rai nebe-nebe deit hanesan). Exmplo diak ida maka, foin dadaun Austrália rekuza tia Timor nia Guest Worker (trabalhadores sazonais) sira atu ba kú aifuan iha Australia, ida né fo hela ona mensajen klara no primeiro sinal ida mai Timor katak nia mos sei la halimar iha kestaun sira seluk. Bele mos mosu hanoin katak Austrália agora né preokupa ituan ho problema ambiental (environment) tanba né nia bele lakohi dada pipeline ba nia rain tamba bele polui ambiente mas hakerek nain fiar katak iha kazu ida né, Austrália sei la troka ambiente ho ekonomia (osan)

Negosiasaun ida nebe sei halao mos lalos negosiasaun ida nebe ema bolu naran “jogo de soma positiva” (positive sum game) maibe negosiasaun ida ne “jogo de soma nula” (zero sum game). Se maka soma positiva karik, iha final Austrália ho Timor ida-idak bele hetan nia parte mesmo barak ka ituan, por exemplo hanesan Sunrise Agreement (CMATS) nebe assina iha Janeiro 2006 que to final Australia ho Timor fahe lukro explorasaun gás nian ba 50-50 (upstream revenue) ou Timor Sea Treaty nebé fahe lukru husi mina-rai no gás Bayu Undan nian 90 por cento ba Timor no 10 ba Australia. Mas negosiasaun atu dada pipeline ne “jogo de soma nula”, nebé to ikus ou pipeline ne dada ba Austrália ou dada mai Timor, laiha hipótese atu fahe ba rua. Normalmente iha jogo de soma nula, kada parte que envolve prontu atu aposta iha meios hot-hotu hodi to nia objektivo mas ida né depende fali ona ba poder no kapacidade ida-idak nian (o poder relativo que cada um possui no sistema internacional, “uma visão mais realista do sistema”). Klaru que iha mos opsaun seluk hanesan Floating LNG Plant iha tasi laran, nebé signifika la precisa constroi pipeline ba qualquer rai ida i konsequentemente tanto Darwin como Timor sei lakon hotu, mas ida ne possibilidade ida remota liu tanba alem de Austrália ho Timor la hakarak, solusaun teknika ida ne, se maka aplika duni foin maka primeira vez iha mundu, ne duni sidauk hatene husi experiensia passada, se nia funsiona diak ka lae. Tanba né diak liu joga pelo seguro.

Hanesan bai-bain iha negosiasaun ida, laos hare deit ba instrumento sira existe hanesan Field Development Plan no Tratados sira que existe kona ba kazu ida ne, maibe para hodi reforça ou hametin liu tan Timor nia posisaun negosial tenki konta hotu ho faktor sira seluk ou konjuntura hot-hotu nebe la iha ligasaun direkta ba projektu maibe nia iha influensia makas iha prosesu de negosiasaun no tomada de desizaun. Faktor sira ne, ida maka hakerek-nain temi bei-beik ona iha leten ou kestaun de siguransa no estabilidade. Hanesan explika ona iha leten, iha rai balun faktor siguransa ho estabilidade ne laiha nia pezu makas, maibe iha ita nia kazu kondisaun ida ne mos konta hotu.

Kona ba pipeline ne, tanto Timor como Darwin, haré ligasaun ne hanesan oportunidade diak ida para dezenvolve sira nia rain, liu-liu iha pontu de vista sócio-ekonomiku. Husi Timor nia parte, ho ligasaun ida ne, Timor hakarak atu industrializa nia zona sul no kria emprego barak ba nia sidadaun sira hodi bele hamenus ituan pressaun de falta de postos de trabalho nebe nia percentajem ás tebes iha Timor, iha parte seluk Darwin mos halo hela kampanya makas hodi hetan LNG plant iha nia rain tamba hotu vantajen sócio-ekonomika nebe projektu né bele lori ba nia rain. Timor tenki kompete ho Darwin, ida nebe maka oferece kondisoens diak liu para bele hetan ligasaun pipeline ba nia territorio.

Iha pontu de vista tekniku, fulan hira liu ba empresa operadora Greater Sunrise nian, Woodside Petroleum, halo deklarasaun (laos desizaun) ida katak pipeline ne, se maka liga ba Darwin iha liu vantajein komersial do que liga mai Timor tamba se liga mai Timor iha zona ida iha tasi laran nebá klean liu nebé sei fo kustu makas liu ba sira do que liga ba Darwin. Governu Australianu, sem surpresa, fó ápoiu tácito ba deklarasaun ida ne ho hateten dehan “kona ba vantajen komersial empresa sira maka hatene liu ida nebé maka diak liu”. Para kontraria argumentu sira hanesan né, Governu Timor mos halo hotu nia estudu ketak ida ho empresa Deep Gulf husi Florida Estados Unidos atu bele mede lolos profundidade tasi-kidun nian no hatudu katak pipeline mos bele liga mai Timor. Hanesan hot-hotu hatene rezultadu inisial fo sinal diak (Sunrise International Unitization Agreement exijente liu iha vantajen komersial).

Timor nia pasu ida ne halo Austrália mos tur la metin, tan né, nia tenki buka aranja hotu argumentu seluk i parece que fragilidade de siguransa no estabilidade iha Timor bele sai hanesan argumentu foun nebe sira bele explora hodi fó vantajen ba Darwin. Portantu sira nia lógika maka né: se Darwin siguru no estável liu, diak liu hili Darwin do que hili Timor. Além de ida né país (negara) sira nebé hakarak hola gás mos prefere liu fontes né mais husi rai ida nebe iha liu siguransa para bele garante fornecimento ida nebé estável ba sira nia konsumu internu. Husi parte seluk, klaro que empresa sira nebe hakarak fan gás né mos tenki konsidera faktor ida né hodi labele lakon merkadu. Tuir exemplo sira nebe ita haré iha rai seluk hanesan iha Iraq agora dadaun ou iha Angola durante Guerra Sivil (perang Sipil), tamba iha rai sira ne laiha siguransa entaun Empresa sira que hakarak ba investe iha nebá tenki kontrata hotu Empresa Siguransa Privada nian nebé hot-hotu hatene la baratu para nuné bele assigura sira nia projektu i ida ne laiha dúvida que aumenta tan kustu adisional projektu nian.

Tamba razaun sira ható iha leten ne, tuir hakerek-nain nia haré, se Timor hakarak duni Pipeline ne atu mai nia teritorio, hotu-hotu tenki kontribui no halo ninia parte. Governu Timor responsabiliza ba halo estudus no konduz processu de negosiasaun i, iha parte seluk, Partidus Politikus sira, Sociedade Sivil no Povo Tomak mos tenki kontribui hotu, laos deit ho sira nia apoio moral maibe ajuda hotu hametin Timor nia siguransa ho estabilidade para nuné bele haluan Timor nia marjen de manobra no reforça Timor nia pozisaun negocial. Pois, hakerek-nain fiar katak hot-hotu konkorda, Timor ida nebe forte, siguru no estável laos deit responsabilidade governu no forças de siguransa sira nian maibe Timor-oan hot-hotu nian.

Dala ruma bele mosu hanoin katak negosiasaun sei dok hela no sei 2009 (falta deit fulan hira ona atu tama 2009) maka Woodside foin apresenta Field Development Plan, tamba ne la preciza preokupa ho siguransa no estabilidade mas hakerek-nain sujere diak liu hanoin kontrario. Krise 2006 hanorin hela ita katak, violensia no instabilidade nebe ita assiste iha tinan rua liu ba, nia efeitu ita sei sente hela to oras ne. Se lae loron ida ita sei bele haré “Pipeline Greater Sunrise” ne tuir tan “Pipeline Bayu Undan” nia ain-fatin nebe iha 2003 ba hotu para iha Darwin nebá (pipeline husi Bayu-Undan começa halo iha junho 2003 no akaba iha Fevereiro 2006 husi Bayu-Undan ba Darwin). Se nuné, dala ida tan Timor hela deit ho upstream revenue i lakon hotu downstream revenue, no iha parte seluk, Austrália hetan rua né hotu (nia parte husi upstream no downstream tomak).

Tuir hakerek-nain nia perspektiva ba futuro kona ba negosiasaun nebé sei halao iha tempu oin mai, durante processu né tomak tó foti decisaun final ida kona ba assuntu ida né, sei bele mosu provokasaun barak nebe tenta atu destabiliza ita nia rain hodi bele justifika sira nia pretensaun. Sei bele mos mosu chantagen oi-oin. Ou bele mos ema uja ita sem ita hatene hodi kria instabilidade (Ita apoia ema sem ita hatene). Komportamentu sira hanesan né, komún los kuandu negosiasaun ida lao hela, liu-liu kuandu negosiasaun né halo entre rai-kik no frágil hanesan ita nian no rai-bot, poderozo no riku sira. Maibe hakerek-nain fiar katak, Timor-oan iha experiensia barak ona no aprende barak ona hodi bele kompreende ameasa sira né. Pois Austrália nia komportamentu sira hanesan né laos ona buat foun mai ita.

Hodi termina, hakerek-nain consciente katak ita laos moris iha mundu ida ideal mas iha mundo ida ho kontradisoens bar-barak. Mesmo nuné, hakarak sujere deit ba parte hot-hotu katak, independentemente husi deferenças sira nebe iha, hakarak pipeline ne atu mai ita nia rain, bazeia ba explikasaun sira ható tia ona iha leten, ita tenki evita komportamentu ou aktus sira nebé que bele provoka violensia no kria insiguransa no instabilidade para nuné bele fó força ba ita nia maluk sira nebé sei ba fera ulun atu konduz negosiasaun atu bele dada pipeline ne mai ita nia rain que sei ajuda Timor resolve dadaun problema balun nebé iha, liu-liu husi pontu de vista sócio-ekonomiku.

União faz a força e venceremos (Hamutuk ita força liu tan no ita sei manán)

Iha crise financeira global ne, Timor foti uluk medidas nebe agora dadaun rai riku sira foin hanoin atu halo

2008-10-17T05:08:00.000-07:00

Enquanto Banco de Investimento sira monu no namtate ida-ida, mercado de valores sira hasoru problema bot, Timor nia osan nebe mai husi gás no minarai halot hela iha US Treasury Bond.

Ministra das Finanças Timor nian, Sr. Emilia Pires hateten ba BusinessDaily katak, hanesan mos rai kik sira seluk, Timor la los immune husi crise financeira bot nebe mundo agora dadaun enfrenta mas nia mos dehan katak governo nia investimento conservativo nebe maka halo hela to agora ajuda Timor aguenta crise ida ne.

Ministra ne mos hateten iha Nova Iorque kona ba FMI (Fundo Monetário Internacional) nia critica iha fulan hira liu ba sobre governo Timor nia intervenção iha economia hodi combate preço aihan no mina nian nebe aumenta makas.

Governo Timor ba hasai osan husi Fundo-Petroleo nian atu hasae orcamento estado, nebe 240 milhões de dolares Americano sei uja hanesan fundo ida atu estabilisa economia no controla sasan folin nebe aumenta makas. Ho halo ida ne, rai kik ida ne, consege foti uluk medidas nebe que governos sira iha Estados Unidos no Europa agora dadaun halo hadau malu hela atu salva sira nia economia.

Ministra das Finanças tenik tuir katak “iha rai kik hanesan Timor ne ami laiha alternative seluk tan ne tenki halo duni nuné”.

Antes crise financeira ne começa mos, Timor prevê tia uluk ona ho atu diversifica tia nia Fundo de Petroleo ne para labele depende los deit ba US Treasury Bonds maibe bele inklui mos investimento seluk.

Srª. Pires hateten tan katak governo sei hola medidas diak atu bele aumenta lucro financeiro.

Fleur Leyden

Texto ida ne traduz husi texto original iha inglês husi endereço ida ne:
http://www.news.com.au/heraldsun

Editor Timor Internacional

Debating the Nobel Peace Prize

2008-10-17T03:52:00.000-07:00

By Dmitry Kosyrev

On Friday, former Finnish President Martti Ahtisaari won the $1.4 million (10 million Swedish krona) Nobel Peace Prize for his 30-year work as peace mediator on different continents and for his contribution to settling the Kosovo conflict.

Naturally, millions of people in Russia, Serbia and dozens of other countries will be enraged because Kosovo is not a classic example of a peace settlement.

On the contrary, the conflict highlights a situation when the Kosovo Liberation Army (KLA), a terrorist organization, used the most brutal methods, including armed force, to expel the Serbs from their native lands. However, KLA attacks met with armed Serb resistance.

In 1999, the United States and several European countries decided to support the KLA and enabled it to establish control over Kosovo, thanks to a plan formulated by UN Special Envoy Martti Ahtisaari in violation of international law. Now Kosovo is a Taiwan-style territory which is officially recognized by some nations and shunned by others. But at least there is no more warfare there.

In 1999, NATO launched air strikes against Belgrade and forced it to cede Kosovo to the Albanian diaspora.

Had the Kosovo conflict erupted after September 11, 2001, the situation could have been different because the international community had changed its opinion of terrorism and armed separatism after the 9/11 attacks in New York and Washington. Nonetheless, the issue is still being debated.

The awarding of the 2008 Nobel Peace Prize to Ahtisaari is probably the most scandalous decision in the past 10-15 years.

However, the decision highlights all-out disagreements between the international community on some key issues, including war and peace, justice and legality.

The Norwegian Nobel Committee's controversial decision has sparked a lively debate that will continue for a while.

This and other similar decisions will always be controversial because the loosing side in a conflict will feel that it has been treated unjustly. Peace enforcement also served to aggravate the situation in the former Yugoslavia.

The Committee should therefore look for different approaches and promote other candidates, rather than career diplomats like Ahtisaari.

In the last few years, the Norwegian committee has awarded the Peace Prize to many people who have had nothing to do with peace-making or the prevention of wars.

In 1996, East Timor's outspoken and often fiery Roman Catholic bishop Carlos Belo and an exiled activist, Jose Ramos-Horta, shared the Peace Prize "for their work toward a just and peaceful solution to the conflict in East Timor."

That was an obvious setback for the Nobel Committee because the East Timor conflict escalated into a bloodbath just three years afterwards. Even today East Timor can hardly be called a normal country. Similarity between East Timor and Kosovo - Ahtisaari is obvious.

The 1997 Peace Prize went to American teacher and aid worker Jody Williams for her work in the banning and clearing of anti-personnel land mines.

The UN and UN Secretary-General Kofi Annan received the 2001 Peace Prize, seen by some as an obviously predictable and trivial gesture.

In the last few years the Committee was prone to improvisation. In 2006, the Nobel Peace Prize went to Professor Muhammad Yunus and his Grameen Bank for efforts to create the foundations of socio-economic development.

Professor Yunus who invented micro-finance, namely, collateral-free loans, a powerful tool for fighting poverty worldwide, probably deserves a Nobel Economic Prize for this landmark achievement.

The 2007 Peace Prize was awarded to former U.S. Vice President Al Gore and the UN Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change. Although global warming is a major problem, it has nothing to do with peace-making.

It appears that the Nobel Peace Prize will soon be presented to international celebrity activists.

The choice of Nobel Prize winners inevitably has a philosophical side. The Nobel Committee often faces the dilemma of awarding scientists who have discovered new killer bacteria or a potent medication. The painful choice may have far-reaching implications because the medication could prove useless within the next 50 years, while the discovered germ could prove a work of genius, because once discovered, it can eventually be destroyed.

The Nobel Prize in Literature has even more profound philosophical implications because the Committee can either award a well-to-do bestselling novelist or some obscure author who can change public taste. However, the public may not be interested in changing its taste.

Predictably, the Nobel Committee now prefers to award cosmopolitan writers preaching the global merger of cultures.

True, awarding the Peace Prize can be a difficult challenge, but not that difficult as to lose any relation to peace. Some prospective candidates are human-rights, rather than peace, activists. But modern human-rights activists are more like political and ideological fighters than selfless champions of peace.

Although the Nobel Committee tried to select a classic peace-maker this time, its decision has caused discontent.

Let's not forget, however, that the decision was made by a group of individuals representing a rival global political philosophy. If the voting for the Nobel Peace Prize had been held at the UN, or better online on a global scale, the result would have been quite different. Let's hope this will happen in the future.

For the time being let's be grateful for what we have today.

Source: The Moscow News

East Timor looks to new agreement with Vatican

2008-10-16T08:55:00.000-07:00

Updated Thu Oct 16, 2008 12:04pm AEST

East Timor's President is calling for the state to sign an agreement, known as a 'concordata' with the Vatican, following his recent visit to the Holy See. The nation is 97 percent Catholic, and Jose Ramos-Horta strongly believes there will be no opposition to the proposal.

Presenter: Stephanie March

MARCH: Villagers in Soibada, in Manatotu district welcomed Jose Ramos-Horta with a performance of traditional Timorese music. The President spent a large part of his childhood living in the small mountain village. Despite the traditional welcome, the Presidential pilgrim was not returning to Soibada to celebrate the country's animist roots, but instead for the Catholic celebration of Our Lady of Aitara. He chose this visit to announce his plans for East Timor to sign a 'Concordata' with the Vatican. Portugal, the former colonial rulers of East Timor, is one of dozens of countries that have concordata's with the Holy See. While the agreements differ among countries, the principle is to provide formal recognition for the Catholic Church and give it certain privileges.

HORTA: In which first it provides, the government recognize the legal status of Churches in Timor-Leste. Now everyone takes for granted that the state recognize the churches, but there is stated, nothing written in law.

MARCH: While the draft concordata for East Timor is not yet complete, it's likely it will cement the Church's claim to large tracts of land and property, and allow it to develop education programs independently of the state. But President Ramos Horta says more importantly, it will ensure East Timor adopts in law the Vatican's views on abortion, and prostitution. The Catholic Church has always been highly influential in the country of one million people. The nation's constitution recognizes the valuable role of the church in the nation's 24-year struggle for independence from Indonesia.

HORTA: In any case only an atheist and an idiot would want to govern this country completely alienated from the church hierarchy and the church as a whole.

MARCH: He says Christianity is the reason the country has a strong national identity.

HORTA: Ninety seven percent of the people are Catholic, most are practicing, and one hundred percent are believers, and the church for them is the symbol of their belief. And they will listen first to the church before they listen to the sinful politicians.

MARCH: But almost a decade after independence, East Timor's leaders are still struggling to eradicate widespread poverty. The President believes the young nation can draw on the experience of the Catholic Church in areas like education, health care, and rural development to move the country forward.

HORTA: They have much more experience, so we are like youngsters, like students compared with the role of the church. So only an atheist and an idiot would not like to develop a strong relationship with the Church. This country cannot move forward, will only be stable if the two work together.

MARCH: He doesn't expect any resistance to the proposal. In 2005 the government led by Mari Alkatiri was criticized when the possibility of dropping religious education from the school curriculum sparked mass demonstrations against the state. But the president says Dr Alkatiri, secretary-general of the opposition party and an influential Muslim, was the first to suggest strengthening the state's relationship with the Vatican.

HORTA: One of the most misunderstood aspects of Mari Alkatiri was in regard to his stance on the role of the church, it is completely false that he was negative or antagonistic towards the church.

MARCH: It's no secret that President Ramos Horta is a deeply religious man. He almost died after being shot by a gang of armed rebels in February this year. While lying in a pool of blood on the road in front of his home waiting for an ambulance� he says he had an apparition. He says he heard a loud voice telling him it was not yet his time to die. Basilio do Nascimento is the Bishop the East Timor diocese of Baucau.He says the president's his experience has been received differently in Asia than it would be in European countries.

BASILIO: if you read the constitution of Portugal, France etc, it is very clear saying that the political man has no right to affirm his religious position, but here in Asia is different, and the religious side of the leader is very appreciated.

MARCH: Bishop Basilio says instead of being criticized for his affirmation, the President is admired because of it. Jose Ramos Horta agrees the experience only enhanced his ability to do his job.

HORTA: if anything, I realize that life is short, that life is beautiful, and god gave me a second chance for no other purpose other than to help my people and my country into the path of peace.

Source: Radio Australia

South Korea, East Timor Agree on Gas Development, Export

2008-10-14T08:58:00.000-07:00

Posted on: Tuesday, 14 October 2008, 06:00 CDT

Text of report in English by South Korean news agency Yonhap

SEOUL, Oct. 14 (Yonhap) - East Timor signed a memorandum of understanding (MOU) that could permit the export of gas from its Greater Sunrise well to South Korea by 2013, the government said Tuesday.

The pact was reached in Dili and marks the first time that East Timor, which gained independence in May 2002, has signed an energy- resources pact with a foreign country, the Ministry of Knowledge Economy said.

The MOU outlines giving South Korea top priority in the import of future gas production, and places local companies in a good position to conduct explorations of other prospective wells.
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A consortium led by Korea Gas Corp. (KOGAS) is currently conducting surveys in six offshore wells in the joint petroleum development area (JPDA) that lies between the Southeast Asian country and Australia.

KOGAS, Samsung Corp. and LG International Corp. are also engaged in pursuing LNG projects and a dimethyl ether production facility.

The JPDA, also known as the Timor Gap, could potentially produce 30,000 barrels of crude per day and large quantities of gas. The Greater Sunrise field may hold enough gas to meet seven years worth of South Korea's energy needs, although more exploratory surveys have to take place to determine the exact size of the reserve.

The ministry in charge of energy said the agreement lays the foundation for expanding bilateral resource cooperation and could give South Korea an edge in oil and gas exploration in East Timor.

Exact details on when gas can be imported will be decided at future meetings.
South Korea is the largest importer of natural gas in the world, with most of its supply coming from Southeast Asia. It is currently in the process of diversifying imports to cushion itself from sudden price fluctuations.

Originally published by Yonhap news agency, Seoul, in English 0340 14 Oct 08.
(c) 2008 BBC Monitoring Asia Pacific. Provided by ProQuest LLC. All rights Reserved.

EAST TIMOR: Int'l Peacekeepers Not Key to Stability

2008-10-09T10:15:00.000-07:00

Analysis by Setyo Budi

DILI, Oct 6 (IPS) - East Timor’s political elite cannot leave the country’s stability up to the International Stabilisation Forces (ISF). They must unite and stop bickering for power, according to experts, academics and observers.

"Sustainability of stability of [East Timor] does not belong to foreign troops; it belongs to Timorese leaders on how to overcome their contradictions," Mari Alkatiri, former East Timorese Prime Minister, told IPS.

The fracture within East Timorese leadership surfaced in 2005. It reached its peak in 2006 and that caused divisions between those who are from the western and eastern parts of the country. The conflict caused 37 deaths, and over 100,000 Dili residents to flee their homes. It resulted in Alkatiri’s resignation as Prime Minister and the arrival of International Stabilisation Forces -- comprised of Australian and New Zealand troops.

The rivalry between Alkatiri and Xanana Gusmao, East Timor’s current Prime Minister, intensified when Gusmao formed his National Congress for the Reconstruction of East Timor (CNRT) party and directly challenged and competed against Fretilin -- the political party which won the last general elections. CNRT went on to form a coalition government with other political parties, including the Majority Parliamentary Alliance (AMP). This CNRT government has never been recognised by Fretilin.

"There are two people here if they can sit and really understand each other, then 80 percent problems of the country will be solved. I am ready to sit with Xanana Gusmao but not as a commander and a soldier," said Alkatiri to IPS at the Fretilin headquarters.

At present there are 750 Australian Defence Force personnel in East Timor; their task is to maintain the country’s stability. They are composed of a joint task force headquarters and Timor-Leste Battle Group Four.

"East Timor is one of [Australia’s] nearest neighbours; the country is still in difficulties, as a neighbour that has a lot of resources we are happy to help. We want a secure safe and prosperous East Timor on our doorstep," Peter Heyward, Australia’s ambassador for East Timor told IPS.

East Timor is seen as being quite strategic for Australia, due to its geographic location. Any foreign intrusion may use East Timor as its military launching base.

Stability in East Timor will also ease the bilateral relationship between Australia and Indonesia. "East Timor’s security cannot be assured without the help and cooperation of Indonesia, and Australia’s relationship with Indonesia cannot prosper if East Timor’s security remains a problem between us. Neither of us wants it to become a source of instability in our neighbourhood, and threatening our own security or complicating our bilateral relationship," reads a 2002 Australian Strategic Policy Institute paper entitled ‘New Neighbour, New Challenge, Australia and the security of East Timor’.

Gusmao recently requested more troops from Australia following a double assassination attempt on both himself and East Timor’s President on Feb. 11.

Although Australian Prime Minister Kevin Rudd distanced himself from his predecessor John Howard’s rhetoric in foreign policies, Australian strategic interest -- to be the influential power in the region -- is still his governing motive.

"The Asia-Pacific region will become more prosperous and its population will continue to grow. As nations grow and become more affluent, they also update their military forces," Rudd said in a speech to the Returned and Service League.

Rudd has indicated there is an increase of "the real growth of the defence budget by three percent per annum 2017–18". Australia was ranked 14th in the world by Stockholm International Peace Research Institute in 2007 in terms of its overall military expenditure.

"If Australia wants to create stability in the region, it is not by creating military muscle and aligning with the U.S., or aligning with other economic powers, it is by empowering, giving more credibility to the region itself," Loro Horta, an associate research fellow at S. Rajaratnam School of International Studies at Nanyang Technological University in Singapore, told IPS.

Apart from sending its troops to lead the ISF, Australia has been providing funding to East Timor. It is one of East Timor’s main donors, apart from Japan and China. It will donate over 100 million dollars over the next four years to the country.

The East Timor security situation has been improving but is still fragile. This is the rationale for the ADF not pulling out of East Timor. Political rivalries are brewing as the early 2009 election looms, and East Timor military reform has not progressed much.

Many were surprised when Gusmao combined the country’s security forces -- the Policia National de Timor Leste (PNTL) and Falintil-Forças de Defesa de Timor Leste (F-FDTL) -- under a joint command.

"F-FDTL should not be acting as a second police force, internal security function is police function, and army is for external security. In East Timor until just recently, the army is quite heavily involved in internal security through the joint command," John Virgoe, a researcher with the Brussels-based independent, non-profit, International Crisis Group (ICG) told IPS.

The "problem within F-FDTL and PNTL has not been solved, particularly within PNTL," said Alkatiri.

This is a crucial problem that the country faces in the future, and urgently needs to be addressed, if the ISF presence in East Timor is to be temporary.

There is an opportunity now for the political elite to put aside their differences and unite, while a secure space is created by the presence of ISF. It is something that the Timorese population is waiting for.

"It is up to Timorese leadership to use the breathing space to give opportunities and create jobs for the people. The problem with Timorese is we are united by an external foreign threat, but when it is not there any more we tend to turn to each other," Horta told IPS.

(END/2008)

Source: IPSnews.net

Timor Leste Beri Perhatian Serius Kawasan Perbatasan

2008-10-03T07:04:00.000-07:00

Ticomar, Timor Leste (ANTARA News) -

Pemerintah Timor Leste akan memberikan perhatian lebih kepada pengawasan dan pengembangan kawasan perbatasan negaranya dengan Indonesia di Pulau Timor, baik di bagian Distrik Oekusi maupun di bagian induk negara itu.

Wakil Perdana Menteri Timor Leste, Jose L Gutterez, menyatakan hal itu dalam sambutan tanpa teks dalam bahasa Tetum dan Portugis, saat menjadi inspektur upacara peringatan HUT kelima Polisi Penjaga Pebatasan Timor Timur (UPF), di Subdistrik Ticomar, Distrik Kovalima, Timor Timur, Jumat.

Hadir dalam upacara itu sejumlah elite politik negara itu, di antaranya tokoh vokal Parlemen dari Partai Fretilin, Anna Pesoa, Panglima Angkatan Bersenjata Timor Leste, Brigadir Jenderal Taur Matan Ruak, dan Komandan UPF, Inspektur Quintilliano Soares.

Pihak Indonesia juga diundang dalam upacara itu, di antaranya Kapolda NTT Brigadir Jenderal Polisi Bambang Suedi, Kepala Fungsi Politik KBRI di Dili Victor J Sambuaga, Komandan Satuan Tugas Pengamanan Perbatasan Indonesia-Timor Leste Letnan Kolonel Infantri Kusdaryono, dan Kapolres Belu AKBP Sugeng Kurniaji, serta Kepala Staf Kodim 1605/Belu Mayor Infantri Widodo.

Lokasi peringatan hari jadi UPF itu sendiri terletak di pantai selatan perbatasan negara Indonesia dan Timor Leste, 96 kilometer dari Atambua. Sedangkan dari Dili, rombongan harus menempuh perjalanan selama enam jam untuk bisa tiba di tempat tersebut.

Tentang perbatasan negara, kata Gutterez, tidak bisa dilepaskan dari peran dan kerja sama Indonesia melalui TNI dan polisinya, yang secara aktif terus-menerus mengamankan seluruh garis perbatasan.

"Kita akan menambah berbagai peralatan dan fasilitas yang diperlukan. Penyempurnaan prosedur juga terus dilakukan. Kalau perbatasan tidak aman bisa merugikan negara kita dan berpengaruh hubungan baik kita dengan Indonesia," katanya.

UPF sampai saat ini baru memiliki 21 pos perbatasan di sepanjang garis perbatasan dengan Indonesia, sementara TNI memiliki 39 pos pengamanan. Pada masa awal kemerdekaan negara itu, Indonesia malah memiliki hingga 49 pos pengamanan yang dijaga tiga batalion gabungan.

Menurut Soares, selama lima tahun ini tugas pokok pengamanan perbatasan telah dilakukan. Tidak ada gejolak yang muncul secara berarti. Prosedur di lapangan pasti diubah sesuai dengan keperluan.

(*) COPYRIGHT © 2008

Fontes: Antara

“Marcha da paz” bele estraga Timor nia ambisaun atu dada pipeline gás nian mai Timor

2008-09-30T18:06:00.000-07:00

Husi: Olivio de Deus

Fretilin bele fila hikas ba poder husi dalan seluk

Ikus-ikus ne ema koalia barak kona ba “Marcha da Paz “ nebe maka partido historico bot, Fretilin, atu organiza iha fulan Outubro nia laran. Inisiativa ne provoca, naturalmente, opiniaun ou hakerek barak nebe pró ou contra, pois moris iha demokracia nia laran ida-idak iha direito hatudu ninia hanoin. Liu husi hakerek oan ida ne, hakerek nain mos apesar de costuma hakerek liu kona ba politica internacional no nia efeito mai Timor, sei tenta halo abordagem rua kona ba kestaun ne. Primeiro tenta atu explica halo nusa maka Fretilin nia Marcha de Paz ne bele afecta Timor nia ambisaun atu dada pipeline gás Greater Sunrise nian mai Timor? No iha parte seluk, hakarak estende hotu nia refleksaun ituan kona ba saída maka Fretilin devia halo hodi bele fila hikas ba poder?

Hanesan dehan tia ona iha leten, Fretilin atu halao Marcha de Paz ida iha fulan Outubro ne nia laran. Tuir informasaun nebe maka secretário-geral partido ne nian hato ba comunicação social, marcha ida ne sei mobiliza ema to 50.000 no hanesan demonstrasaun pacifika ida que contesta democraticamente politica sira nebe governo actual halao. Laiha dúvida que manifestasaun ne buat ida normal iha país nebe defende liberdade de expressaun hanesan Timor.

Iha parte seluk marcha ou manifestasaun ida ne mos coincide hotu ho kestaun bot ida nebe maka Timor agora dadaun enfrenta hela maka atu dada pipeline gás nian mai Timor. Sobre assunto ida ne, empresa petrolífera Austrália nian, “Woodside Petroleum”, declara tia ona fulan hira liu ba katak nia prefere liu dada pipeline ne ba Darwin, Austrália do que mai Timor. Deklarasaun ne hetan apoio tácito husi governo australiano. Empresa ne ho nia parceiro sira apresenta argumento rua nebe justifica tamba sá maka sira lakoi dada pipeline ba Timor. Primeiro, dada pipeline ba Timor la iha vantajein comercial hanesan dada ba Austrália, no nia segundo argumento hateten katak Timor nia situasaun rai-laran volátil liu no sei frágil hela, tamba ne, la siguru ba sira atu halo investimento.

Agora sei ita hare ba argumento rua ne, ida primeiro kona ba vantejein komersial ninian, se estudo alternativo ida nebe maka governo timorense ho empresa petrolífera seluk halo hela ne prova katak, dada pipeline mai timor mos iha vantajein komersial, até diak liu dada ba Austrália, ida ne bele halo la vale tia Woodside nia argumento. Mesmo nuné, argumento ida nebe maka bele hamate timor nia ambisaun maka kestaun de siguransa ho estabilidade nebe Timor foin maka hetan mas sei nurak ou frágil liu hela. Hanesan hot-hotu hatene situasaun ida ne precisa tempo hodi bele consolida.

Marcha de Paz nebe Fretilin organiza ne, se buat hotu lao diak laiha problema, mas se maka evolui ba violensia no provoca situasaun de instabilidade no insiguransa, ida ne laiha dúvida que mai reforça tan Woodside petroleum nia segundo argumento katak sira lakoi dada pipeline ba Timor tamba situasaun la estável, tamba laiha sigurança, tamba risco (resiko) makas ba sira nia investimento.

Claro que, se Timor maka rai ida nebe ukun an kleur ona, iha democracia forte no consolidada, manifestasaun oan sira hanesan ne, bele halo sem problema, pois ida ne direitos cívicos sidadaun sira nian hodi manifesta, mas realidade laos hanesan ne, Timor rai ida nebe foin maka halo tinan nen ukun-rasik-an, nia demokrasia mos foin maka okir, foin maka sai husi conflito político-militar ida nebe halo Timor atu sai tia estado-falhado no lori povo barak ba hela iha tenda okos, até grupos artes marciais deit maka baku malu mos hanesan tia kedas funu bot ida. Sira ne hotu hatudu katak estabilidade nebe Timor foin hetan ne sei frágil hela. Paz ida nebe maka timor oras ne hetan apenas paz ida nebe negativa ou apenas ausência de conflito, nia precisa tempo hodi bele consolida didiak no bele sai hanesan paz sustentável ou paz duradoura ou paz positiva ida. Tamba fragilidade sira hanesan ne maka, dala ruma marcha sira nebe ita hanoin atu halao ho paz mos dala ruma bele evolui ba violência, hanesan John F. Kennedy uluk hateten katak “nia ida nebe que hakarak halo mudança liu husi revolusaun pacífica, loke hotu dalan, ao mesmo tempo, ba revolusaun violenta”.

Bele fiar katak, oras ne dadaun mundo tomak tau matan hela ba Timor, balu ho hanoin diak no balun ho hanoin at, hodi acompanha saída maka sei acontece iha Timor ho Marcha de Paz ida ne. Rai sira hanesan Austrália nebe que hakarak hadau hotu Timor nia riku-soin sira, observa no hanoin hela halo nusa maka bele aproveita situasaun ida ne halo didiak. Aproveita situasaun halo didiak ba Austrália significa katak bele dada pipeline ba Austrália. Bele fiar hotu katak, oras ne dadaun Austrália bele coloca nia serviços secretos ou serviços de informasaun (pois nia tropa rasik mos sei iha Timor hela) barak iha Timor para bele hare didiak saida maka sira bele halo hodi serve sira nia interesse. Claro que Austrália mos lakohi situasaun ne atu at liu para labele afecta fali nia território rasik maibe suficiente deit ba nia hodi bele justifica katak, liga pipeline mai Timor perigo bot ida tamba laiha siguransa no estabilidade.

Se pipeline ne la dada mai Timor, ita lakon tia oportunidade bot ida atu ajuda resolve dadaun problema sira que ita iha no liu-liu ho problema de desemprego. Perde oportunidade bot ida atu industrializa tia ita nia zona sul. Ita bele dehan katak nai ulun sira Fretilin nian iha hela consciência sobre ida ne, maibe sira nia teimosia ne bele ladiak ba Fretilin, la diak ba povo no ladiak ba Timor. Tamba se Marcha de Paz ne provoca tan fali violensia foun no halo povo sira halai ba mai, bele contribui ba afunda liu tan partido bot, partido histórico ida ne. Partido ida nebe que hakilar uluk ukun-rasik-an enquanto sira seluk sidauk hatene saída maka atu halo.

Laiha dúvida que partido politico hot-hotu kria ho ideologia ida-idak nian mas ho objectivo ida deit, objectivo ne maka atu alcança poder (ukun), no ukun kleur. Ukun kleur ne, iha democracia nia laran significa katak, ukun durante tempo nebe que povo hakarak ita atu ukun (povo nia lian maka maromak nia lian). Tamba ne, hodi bele ukun kleur, politica sira nebe maka partido sira halo tem que ho objectivo ida i objectivo ne maka “atu hadian povo nia moris no resolve povo nia problema”, laos atu dificulta povo nia vida.

Fretilin agora atravesa situasaun difícil ba nia existência hanesan partido. Iha preocupasaun barak kona ba halo nusa maka bele ukun fali, halo nusa maka bele fila-fali ba centro de decisaun. Iha situasaun de desespero sira hanesan ne maka, as vezes, bele provoca hahalok nebe que, em vez de contribui ba hadian povo nia moris, halo susar deit povo nia vida.

Mesmo hanesan ne, Fretilin tem que fiar katak, se nia halo diak loron ida nia sei fila fali ba poder no bele ukun kleur. Dala ruma Fretilin hanoin katak , Xanana ho AMP mos sae ba poder husi circunstancia ida nebe rezulta husi violensia, tan ne, nusa nia labele. Em vez de hanoin nuné, Fretilin tenki hatudu katak nia laos hanesan ne, i depois, husik povo maka julga se maka diak no se maka la diak. Ita nia povo ne barak maka la hatene lê no la hatene hakerek mas laos povo ida nebe beik, povo ne hatene agradece. Se ita halo diak loron ida nia sei fo fali segunda oportunidade atu servi nia.

Tamba ne, hakerek nain nia haré, ho Marcha de Paz nebe Fretilin atu halao bele mos lori fali Fretilin fila ba poder, maibe, dalan ida ne nia risco (resiko) makas liu.

Hanesan dehan tia ona iha leten, tamba Timor mos sei frágil hela entaun Marcha de Paz mos bele evolui ba violensia no violensia bele husik hela problema foun barak no estragos barak nebe que no fim, povo ida nebe que políticos sira hakarak servi, maka sei terus no moris at nafatin iha riku-soi barak nia leten. Tenki hanoin katak poder ida nebe maka hetan husi violensia nia consequência maka, partido se deit maka ba governa tenki herda (mewarisi) nafatin país ida nebe instavel, ho estragos barak, ho povo hela iha tenda okos. Nia sae ba poder, em vez de hanoin ona atu halo desenvolvimento, tenki hanoin lai kria uluk estabilidade. Se situasaun hanesan ne hela deit bele cria tia circlo vicioso ida, tamba partido sira sae-tun poder preocupa deit ho cria estabilidade, no bainhira atu hanoin halo desenvolvimento nia tenki tun fali ona. Se nune hela deit Timor sei la ba oin, África - laos hotu - sei bolu ita hatan, ita nia moris sei at nafatin no ita nia bei-oan sira sei la goza. Dala ruma vale a pena hanoin hikas fali no halo analogia ida ba provérbio índio (suku indian) nian nebe se ita koloka ba Timor nia caso sei sai hanesan ne: “Timor ne ita laos simu-mai husi ita nia bei-ala sira mai be ita empresta husi ita nia bei-oan sira” tamba ne ita tenki hare didiak hodi loron ruma bele entrega fali ba nia nain ho diak liu tan.

Fretilin tenki hatudu katak nia mos alternativa sólida ida ba poder liu husi politica sira nebe diak, clara no eficaz. Aproveita agora iha oposisaun para bele redefine partido ne, remodela partido ne no prepara-an ba próxima legislativa nebe sei halo iha 2012 em vez de preocupa ho marcha sira hanesan ne, que nia consequência ita la hatene lolos, nebe dala ruma laos Fretilin maka aproveita maibe sira seluk maka aproveita fali (liu-liu rai sira hanesan Austrália). Pois la normal, agora laos período kampanye, partido politiku ida komesa halo kampanye ulu-uluk. Aguenta ituan to 2012, pois falta deit tinan hira ona. Dala ruma altura nebá, Alkatiri mos bele reforma (pensiun) ona (se nia hakarak). Maibe se nia reforma, hakerek nain fiar katak Fretilin iha quadros barak foin-sae nebe que competente liu hanesan Arsénio Bano, José Teixeira, Aniceto Guterres no seluk-seluk tan nebe bele lori partido bot ne ba oin ho didiak atu reclama fali nia grandeza ho credibilidade perante povo timor-oan tomak.

Fretilin desde que assume nia posisaun iha parlamento hanesan partido de oposisaun, hatudu hela ona katak, nia oposisaun ida nebe forte no credível, oposisaun ida nebe la fo deskansu ba governo, hatudu ho elegansia no qualidade i ida ne konserteza diak ba Timor nia demokrasia, pois Timor precisa governo ida nebe estável no oposisaun ida nebe forte. Trabalho sira hanesan ne maka Fretilin devia continua halo ho persistensia no ita bele fiar katak povo mos hare hela ho atentu ba Fretilin nia servisu sira ne, no se nia halo diak, iha 2012 povo sei la haluhan nia kossar ben.

Situasaun difícil nebe que Fretilin oras ne atravesa, laos Fretilin mesak maka liu husi ida ne. Iha partido bot barak iha rai desenvolvido sira mos atravesa situasaun de desespero no crise existencial bot. Ita haré ba Partido democrata iha Estados Unidos da América durante década 80 no Partido Trabalhista iha Reino Unido (Inglaterra) iha hotu década 80 to segunda metade década 90 nian. Iha tempo nebá, iha Estados Unidos, Presidente Cárter lakon eleisaun no entrega poder ba Ronald Reagen que ukun iha tinan walu nia laran no tutan kedas ho George Bush (Pai) tinan hat tan. Entaun durante tinan sanulu resin rua Partido Republikano maka ukun iha Estados Unidos. Partido Demokrata altura ne desespero los no hanoin katak se nia la redefine nia partido entaun nunka mais fila ba poder (ukun). Tamba ne saída maka sira halo uluk maka hili líder foun diak ida. Ho nuné, sira aposta iha Bill Clinton atu lidera no hadian partido nia imajen no partido nia politika para bele sai fali alternativa ida sólida ba poder. Bill Clinton entaun decide halo politica “Terceira Via” (Third Way) nebe que mais ou menos lori fali Partido né ba klaran no junta hamutuk ideias diak direita ho esquerda nian. Nia resultado, iha 1992 Partido Democrata fila kedas ba poder i tode ukun durante mandato rua. Politica ida nebe hanesan maka Tony Blair mos adopta iha Inglaterra no iha 1997 acaba ho reinado Partido Konservador nian durante década ida ho metade no lori fali Partido Trabalhista ba poder que ukun durante mandato tolu. Depois de tabik Estados Unidos ba halo intervensaun iha Iraq, Tony Blair nia popularidade mos monu iha Reino Unido, entaun trabalhista sira receia katak se Blair maka lidera nafatin partido, sira bele lakon eleisaun oin mai, ho nuné sira mos buka atu hadian lalais partido no prepara-an atu hasoru legislativa oin. Sira troka tia lideransa Partido ho lideransa governo nian husi Tony Blair ba Gordon Brown para nuné bele consolida fali sira nia poder no enfrenta fali eleisaun oin.

Ho exemplo sira ne, hakerek nain laos hakarak hateten dehan Fretilin mos tenki adopta hotu “third-way” pois buat sira nebe maka aplica diak iha rai balun, bele la funciona diak iha realidade seluk. Iha ne, hakerek nain hakarak hateten deit katak kuando partido sofre queda eleitoral i lakon nia atraksaun hosi votantes sira, partido tenki buka halo exircicio barak nebe bele hadian fali partido nia imajein, liu husi halo redefinisaun iha nia politika ou halo remodelasaun iha nia estrutura para nuné bele recupera fali terreno. Claro que apoiantes Fretilin sira bele dehan katak Fretilin la precisa halo buat ida tamba iha legislativa liu ba Fretilin maka hetan votus barak liu partidu sira seluk hotu, maibe se ita kompara ho primeira legislativa nebe lori fretilin ba poder ho maioria absoluta, partidu bot i históriku ida ne lakon ona votos barak. Barak duni to partidu sira nebe hetan votos menos iha eleisaun mos basta kria deit aliansa ida, suficiente ona hodi koloka kedas Fretilin ba oposisaun. Hakerek nain fiar katak, ho politica nebe diak, certa, clara no eficaz bele ajuda Fretilin recupera fali povo nia confiança no loron ida bele fila hikas ba poder ho didiak i tamba né ho razaun sira que apresenta iha leten, hakerek nain fiar katak Marcha da Paz mos dalan ida hotu atu fila ba poder maibe laos dalan diak.

Atu termina, hakarak halo deit observasaun kik ida sobre balun nia haré ba nia líder sira. Liu-liu ba figura sira hanesan Marí Alkatiri, Xanana Gusmão, José Ramos Horta no seluk tan. Líder sira ne nia kontribuisaun ba Timor nia luta ukun-rasik-an hot-hotu hatene no labele nega. Se la ho sira nia lideransa karik dala ruma Timor sei iha hela nakukun laran. Mesmo hanesan ne, ita labele koloka fali sira as liu povo Timor tomak nia interesse ba paz, ba estabilidade, ba siguransa no ba moris diak ho hakmatek. Ita bele gosta sira mas la precisa venera sira ou até adora tan sira, tamba, independentemente husi sira nia contribuisaun bot ba Timor, sira ne ema bain-bain hanesan ita, laos santo i muito menos maromak. La precisa fo an ba mate tanba sira, fó an ba mate tamba Timor deit tó ona. Oras ukun-an ne tempu para goza liberdade no moris hakmatek iha paz no domin ho dame nia laran.

Pengamanan Perbatasan RI-Timor Leste Makin Baik

2008-09-28T19:22:00.000-07:00

Jakarta (ANTARA News) -

Kualitas pengamanan garis perbatasan Indonesia dan Timor Leste akan semakin baik di waktu-waktu mendatang, demikian Panglima Kodam IX/Udayana Mayor Jenderal TNI Hotmangaradja Pandjaitan.

"Saya percaya demikian, karena kita selalu belajar dari kekurangan yang selama ini terjadi. Kesuksesan dan keberhasilan harus jadi pemicu, bukan menjadi alat pembenaran. Saya percaya pengamanan ini akan makin ketat," katanya kepada Antara, di Tobir, Kabupaten Belu, NTT, Senin.

Pandjaitan berada di Tobir untuk meninjau kesiapan akhir Batalion Infantri 744/SYB, pernah dipimpin Mayor Infantri (saat itu) Susilo Bambang Yudhoyono, untuk melaksanakan tugas sebagai STPPIT Markas Besar TNI menggantikan koleganya, Batalion Infantri 743/PSY.

Di Tobir, Pandjaitan memeriksa kesiapan para personel TNI, mulai kelengkapan pribadi, persenjataan, penguasaan prosedur, hingga kesiapan material pendukung.

"Secara umum mereka siap untuk bertugas. Mungkin akhir Oktober ini mereka bisa ditempatkan di pos-pos perbatasan negara kita," kata Pandjaitan menyimpulkan.

Di seluruh garis perbatasan Indonesia dengan Timor Timur, terdapat 39 pos pengamanan perbatasan dan pintu perlintasan resmi yang dijaga STPPIT Markas Besar TNI.

Awalnya, STPPIT Markas Besar TNI terdiri dari tiga batalion berasal dari dalam dan luar Kodam IX/Udayana, ditambah beberapa tim pendukung dari korps selain infantri.

Belakangan, jumlah itu dikurangi menjadi hanya satu batalion infantri yang berasal dari dalam Kodam IX/Udayana.

Pangdam Udayana menganggap semakin banyaknya pos pengamanan dari sisi Timor Timur sebagai hal yang baik demi keamanan kedua negara.

Dengan jumlah pos pengamanan milik UPF yang semakin banyak, berarti langkah koordinasi pengamanan perbatasan kedua negara bisa semakin baik dan harmonis, kata Pandjaitan. (*)

Source: ANTARA

East Timor fights to tap vast undersea gas field

2008-09-26T09:28:00.000-07:00

By ANTHONY DEUTSCH –

JAKARTA, Indonesia (AP) — East Timor is drawing up plans for a deep sea pipeline and petrochemicals plant to tap an estimated $90 billion in disputed underwater oil and gas, company and government officials said, in a rare opportunity for one of Asia's poorest and smallest countries to boost its economy.

It is the latest move in a high-stakes battle with Australia over where the oil and gas in the Greater Sunrise field — containing about 300 million barrels of light oil and 8.3 trillion cubic feet of natural gas — should be processed.

It also shows that East Timor, which became Southeast Asia's youngest democracy in 2002, is intent on protecting its economic interests after emerging from 500 years of foreign occupation.
"It means a lot for this little country," said Alfredo Pires, secretary of state for natural resources, by telephone from Dili, the Timorese capital. "We are just coming out of independence. We are looking for the creation of possible industries and we really see this as part of an engine of economic growth."

Between the Greater Sunrise field and East Timor lies a deep gash in the ocean floor, the 11,000-foot-deep Timor Trough, which Australia and its largest oil company, Woodside Petroleum Ltd., have argued makes it expensive and maybe even impossible to build a pipeline running north to the tiny state's shore.

But The Associated Press has learned that East Timor has commissioned a survey that suggests the pipeline is feasible. U.S. piping specialist DeepGulf Inc. says that so far its survey indicates that building such a 125-mile pipeline would work, Marc Moszkowski, the company's president, told the AP.

Woodside and a group of companies licensed to develop the Greater Sunrise field want to build a 530-kilometer pipeline running south to Darwin, where ConocoPhillips, of the group members, has built a $5 billion natural gas processing plant.

Australia and Woodside argue that laying a pipeline to the East Timor would undercut profits and expose supplies to political upheaval, while Darwin is stable.

The Greater Sunrise field lies almost entirely in territory claimed by both countries and neither can exploit it without approval from the other side. Under the current licensing agreement, they have until 2013 to sign a development plan.

Gunbattles between rival security forces killed dozens in Dili in 2006 and toppled the government, while rebel troops in February tried to assassinate President Jose Ramos-Horta and Prime Minister Xanana Gusmao. Australia has around 1,000 peacekeeping forces stationed across the mountainous nation of around a million people.

Still, the venture partners, which also include Royal Dutch/Shell and Osaka Gas, are "prepared to consider the results of the Timor Leste government's independent study," Woodside said in a statement, the country's official name.

Parts of the Timor Sea have been divided up into a complex system of revenue sharing zones with Australia, some based on boundaries drawn up more than three decades ago when the region was a Portuguese colony.

There is no permanent maritime boundary and large portions remain fiercely debated. Lawyers hired by East Timor to draw up a boundary based on international law place the entire Greater Sunrise field in its territory.

But the case cannot be heard by the U.N.'s courts for territorial disputes — the International Court of Justice and the International Tribunal for the Law of the Sea — because of legal exclusions obtained by Australia months before East Timor became independent in 2002.
The Australian government is aware of the new pipeline study, said Tracey Winters, a spokeswoman for Resources and Energy Minister Martin Ferguson.

"At the end of the day the decision on the location will be a commercial one," Winters said. Both countries "would like to see this developed as soon as possible."

Paul Cleary, author of the book "Shakedown: Australia's Grab for Timor Oil," accuses Canberra of applying cutthroat negotiating tactics.

"The pressure applied by Australia meant that the new country really didn't stand a fighting chance," wrote Cleary, who also advised the government in Dili on oil and gas policy.
Winters declined to comment on those allegations.

Pires said a new commercial national oil company is being created to invest "hundreds of millions of dollars" DeepGulf said it would cost to build the pipeline.

Fifteen companies from five nations have already expressed interest in purchases of oil and liquid natural gas, he added.

To bolster the argument for a pipeline to its coast, East Timor is conducting a joint feasibility study with Malaysia's national oil company, Petronas, for a multibillion-dollar liquid natural gas plant and petrochemical industry due to be released late October, Pires said.

Direct spin-off for the emerging democracy would include a new 100-megawatt power plant that could eliminate national electricity shortages, a petrochemical storage and shipping port and thousands of jobs that could cut into towering unemployment of around 50 percent.

Tax revenue from Greater Sunrise would reach around $3 billion over several decades for the plant's host country, according to estimates, on top of more than $10 billion from sales.

With all sides holding deeply entrenched positions, the fight over the Timor Sea could drag on for years.

Source: Associated Press

PR/ONU: Portugal e a Austrália poderão trabalhar em conjunto para apoiar Timor-Leste - Cavaco Silva

2008-09-24T08:33:00.000-07:00

Nações Unidas, 24 Set (Lusa) - Portugal e a Austrália poderão trabalhar em conjunto para apoiar o desenvolvimento de Timor-Leste, revelou terça-feira o Presidente da República, Cavaco Silva, admitimndo ainda a hipótese de reuniões com a participação dos três países.

Cavaco Silva, que está em Nova Iorque para participar na Assembleia Geral das Nações Unidas, reuniu-se terça-feira de manhã com o primeiro-mistro australiano.

"Falámos sobre Timor-Leste", disse o estadista português aos jornalistas, depois do encontro.
"Felizmente, defende-se o trabalho conjunto dos dois países para ajudar na estabilização política, na segurança, no combate à pobreza e na criação de emprego", precisou o Presidente, acrescentando que se abordou a possibilidade de se fazerem reuniões mais frequentes que incluam os timorenses.

Os encontros que o Presidente português manteve à tarde com os chefes de Estado da Bósnia, Sérvia e Montenegro foram, à semelhança dos anteriores, "pedidos pelos outros Estados", adiantou fonte da Presidência.

"Logo que tomou posse, o Presidente fez duas viagens muito rápidas a Bissau e a Cabo Verde. Depois visitou a Bósnia e o Kosovo, por via da presença dos militares portugueses. Desde essa altura, que há uma colaboração muito presente naquela região dos Balcãs", explicou a mesma fonte.

A 8 de Setembro, o presidente da Sérvia, Boris Tadic, enviou uma carta a todos os chefes de Estado cujos países ainda não reconheceram a independência do Kosovo, pedindo-lhes que apoiem a moção que vai submeter à Assembleia-Geral da ONU para que o Tribunal Internacional de Justiça se pronuncie sobre a legalidade da independência do Kosovo à luz do Direito Internacional.

O Kosovo declarou a 17 de Fevereiro, unilateralmente, a sua independência, reconhecida por 45 Estados, entre os quais os Estados Unidos e maioria dos países da União Europeia.
Até ao momento, Portugal, um dos países que ainda não reconheceu a independência do Kosovo, não disse como vai votar a moção da Sérvia.

Hasoru China iha Timor, Estados Unidos la confia nia "Sherif" Austrália mesak

2008-09-23T04:29:00.000-07:00

Foin lalais ba, halao simpósiu (Conferencia) bot ida iha Honolulu, Hawai hosi loron 12 to 18 Setembro kona ba sector siguransa no estabilidade iha Timor-leste. Simposiu ida ne Estados Unidos da América maka patrosina (sponsor) nebe que hola fatin iha Ásia-Pacific Center for Security Studies (APCSS). APCSS ne instituisaun peskisa ida, nebe iha ligasaun ho militar americano divisaun pacífika nian (Pacific Command).

Simposiu ida ne lori partisipantes barak ba to Honolulu, desde representante partidu oposisaun, AMP, ONU nian no hosi mos oficiais sira forças segurança Timor nian. Além de ida ne, ba partisipa mos embaixadores husi liur sira nebe representa sira nia rain agora dadaun iha Timor.

Tuir informasaun nebe maka meios de comunicação sira hato, simposiu ne diskute áreas barak que iha ligasaun ho problema seguransa nebe Timor enfrenta no haktuir hotu katak partisipantes conferencia ne nian quando sira fila mai Díli hateten, sira "sente satisfeito los ho inisiativa ida ne tamba bele permite diálogo construtivo ida entre timor-oan sira".

La iha dúvida que iniciativa sira hanesan ne importante tebes, liu-liu tamba koalia kona ba sector ida nebe Timor precisa tebes diálogo barak ka discussaun barak hodi bele hetan solução diak ruma ba problema sira nebe iha. Mas qestaun nebe hakarak coloca iha ne, halai liu ba politica internacional ou tamba sá maka Estados Unidos nebe que antes la dun preokupa ho problema segurança Timor nian no entrega buat hotu ba nia "sherif" Austrália maka hare e derepente deit patrocina simposiu bot ida nebe que kolia kona ba Timor nia situasaun de siguransa?

Estados Unidos, desde Timor ukun-an mai to agora, halo hotu cooperação diak ho Timor hanesan fo ajuda ba desenvolvimento, fo bolsa de estudo ba estudante Timor oan sira ba estuda iha neba no iha hotu cooperação kik-oan balun iha sector de defesa. Maske nune, quando koalia kona ba questão segurança em geral, nia sempre dudu nia sherif Austrália mesak maka ba iha oin, pois Austrália maka besik liu ba Timor no hare rai kik-oan sira iha nia sorin ne hanesan deit nia quintal, ne be nia hateten katak nia iha obrigação hodi tau-matan ba segurança rai oan sira ne nian. Tan ne Estados Unidos mos fó confiança ba nia atu hatudu nia influencia no projecta nia poder iha neba.

Só que ikus ne, ofensiva China nian mai Timor liu husi nia diplomacia de charme e nia soft power halo nia consege aumenta ona nia influencia balun iha Timor. Hanesan hot-hotu hatene katak, China constrói relação diak ho Timor, fo hotu ajuda ba desenvolvimento maske la barak, halo estudo sísmico hodi buka mina-rai iha rai maran, constrói edifício rua importante ba Timor, hanesan Edifício Ministérios dos Negócios Estrangeiros no Palácio Presidencial foun. Iha área segurança no defesa nian, China mos aproveita Austrália nebe que la dun atende Timor nia necessidade ho preocupação iha área ne, hodi oferece farda militar nian ba Timor, atu halo mos quartel FDTL nian foun nebe analista australiano sira preocupa katak quando edifício sira ne pronto tenki halo limpeza geral ida tamba China bele planta hela aparelho informação nian balun subar iha neba, no ida ikus liu nebe halo Austrália tur la metin maka Timor decide tan atu hola ró patrulha rua hosi China.

Bele halo leitura katak, depois de buat barak passa ona entre China ho Timor, foin questão ida sosa ró-funu hosi China né maka, além de halo Austrália tur la metin, fanun kedas Estados Unidos atu hader, tamba se nia toba bebeik, Austrália mesak la bele aguenta China nia influência iha Timor. Importante que nia tama lalais hodi contrabalança China nia presença.

Tamba ne, iha primeiro passo, kona ba fatin conferencia, se ita haré didiak, simposiu ida ne bele halao mos iha fatin seluk iha Estados Unidos nebá, mas sira prefere hili Hawai nebe meio caminho entre Estados Unidos ho China no hola fatin iha instituisaun de pesqisa ida que iha ligação ho militar americano, comando pacífico nian. Ida ne, nia importancia simbolica hakarak bolu China nia atenção katak iha Pacífico laos China mesak.

Estados Unidos ida que, analista sira hateten katak, antes la dun liga ho problema segurança iha Timor no nem concorda ho ideia katak Timor tenki iha nia força de defesa rasik agora hakarak patrocina simposiu ida nebe que koalia kona ba problema segurança nacional Timor nian. Tuir Agencia Lusa haktuir, assesor ida que partisipa hotu iha conferencia ne hateten dehan “agora Estados Unidos hatudu ona katak hakarak envolve an liu tan iha Timor”.

Nia só foin hakfodak no hakarak envolve liu tan iha Timor quando nia rival geoestratégica, China, consegue halo tia relação diak ho Timor iha área sensível ida hanesan segurança ho defesa. Tanba ne, ho patrocina rasik simposiu ida ne, hatudu ona primeiro sinal katak, Estados Unidos hakarak compete rasik ho China hodi projecta ninia poder no influencia mai Timor, em vez de husik área importante ida ne ba Austrália maka haré e já que Austrália mesak parece la suficiente hodi sata netik China nia avanço. Se China agressiva liu tan, obriga Estados Unidos atu fó atensaun makas liu ba Timor no iha parte seluk bele hamihis fali Austrália nia papel hanesan potencia regional. Ida ne claro que Austrália mos lakoi atu acontece ba nia, pois nia sente katak rai kik-oan sira iha nia sor-sorin ne, nia domínio exclusivo atu haré.

Hasoru conflitos de interesses sira hanesan ne, saída maka Timor tenki halo maka aproveita didiak hotu relação diak nebe que qualquer sira ne ida bele oferece. Além de ida ne, bele uja mos sira para halo jogo de equilíbrio atu nune Timor la bele depende los deit ba rai ida deit maibe bele diversifica ninia relação ba rai barak. Pois ho Estados Unidos tama tan mai corrida, Timor hetan ona atenção hosi potencia bot ida nebe que bele contrabalança China nia influencia iha Timor no iha sorin seluk aproveita fali China nia presença hodi contrabalança Estados Unidos no Austrália nia influencia. Perante situação hanesan maka Timor tenki jere didiak ninia politica externa para iha parte ida bele garante ninia interesse, no iha parte seluk la bele sai vitima ba interesse contrários sira hanesan ne. Atu nuné la bele acontece hanesan provérbio indonésio nebe hateten katak “Gajah berkelahi semut diinjak-injak” (Elefante sira luta, nehek maka dólar didiak).

Olivio de Deus

Timor-Leste: Incompreensão da "ideologia" timorense pelos vizinhos é ameaça à segurança do país

2008-09-21T17:37:00.000-07:00

Díli, 19 Set (Lusa) - A "percepção errada da política externa e da ideologia" de Timor-Leste pelos seus vizinhos está entre as ameaças à segurança do país, segundo um documento de reflexão do sector a que a Agência Lusa teve acesso.

O relatório final do Simpósio sobre o Sector Nacional de Segurança de Timor-Leste, realizado de 12 a 18 de Setembro no Havai, inclui uma análise das ameaças actuais ou potenciais às prioridades nacionais.

A falta de capacidade para integrar operações de manutenção de paz e o facto de Timor-Leste não pertencer à ASEAN (Associação de Nações do Sudeste Asiático) nem a outras organizações regionais são indicados como obstáculos à contribuição timorense para a estabilidade regional.
O documento inicia-se com a identificação dos interesses nacionais de Timor-Leste, destacando "a defesa e garantia da soberania do território".

Outras prioridades nacionais são "garantir a paz, liberdade e prosperidade do povo timorense", "garantir o primado da lei", "promover o desenvolvimento sustentável" e "contribuir para a estabilidade e segurança regional e internacional".

Em relação às "capacidades e processos necessários para enfrentar causas e responder a desafios", o documento analisa com mais detalhe a defesa da soberania e da integridade territorial.

O relatório final do simpósio aponta para "uma forte componente marítima", "capacidade de diplomacia preventiva", "integração de organizações regionais", "autoridade marítima integrada", "doutrina de segurança integrada" e "processo de construção de consensos em matérias de segurança nacional".

Estes aspectos reflectem-se num outro capítulo do documento, dedicado às áreas de possível assistência internacional, com destaque para o "diálogo marítimo trilateral" entre Timor-Leste, Austrália e Indonésia.

O documento salienta a importância para Timor-Leste de instituições como a Organização Marítima Internacional (IMO) e a participação na Coral Triangle Initiative (CTI, lançada por seis países em Dezembro de 2007 por iniciativa da Indonésia).

A importância e as dificuldades colocadas em torno das línguas oficiais e de trabalho são abordadas em diferentes capítulos do relatório, por exemplo no contexto do sistema jurídico e no desenvolvimento de capacidade técnica e critérios de exigência.

Entre os "próximos passos para implementar as recomendações" do simpósio, o documento inclui "a resposta rápida aos problemas dos veteranos de forma mais detalhada".
O simpósio sobre o sector de segurança foi acolhido pelo Asia Pacific Center for Security Studies (APCSS), uma instituição de pesquisa ligada ao Comando do Pacífico (PACOM) das forças norte-americanas.

Deputados, antigos governantes e oficiais das forças de segurança, diplomatas e representantes das Nações Unidas participaram dos quatro dias de discussão.
Vários dos participantes, ouvidos pela Lusa no regresso a Díli, consideraram o simpósio "uma oportunidade de diálogo intratimorense".

PRM

Lusa/fim

Australia won't withdraw troops until E Timor remains stable: Minister

2008-09-19T03:58:00.000-07:00

Australia's defence minister, Joel Fitzgibbon, says his government won't pull troops out of East Timor until it's certain the current level of stability will continue.

Our reporter in Dili, Stephanie March, says during a whistle-stop visit to East Timor Mr Fitzgibbon met with East Timor's prime minister, Xanana Gusmao.

Both leaders agreed the security situation in the country is fragile, and further economic development is required to create lasting peace.

Prime Minister Gusmao said the state agreed international forces should remain throughout 2009, but didn't rule out the possibility of a reduction in numbers.

Minister Fitzgibbon said troop numbers are constantly under review.

"So the time will come when we can start to reduce numbers, but we will be guided by the government of Timor-Leste and we certainly won't be reducing until we can be absolutely confident that a reduction in numbers won't lead to a reduction in [the] stability we have enjoyed," he said.

Australia currently has 750 troops deployed in East Timor.

Source: ABC, Radio Australia

Ramos Horta slams UN 'hipocrisy'

2008-09-15T15:43:00.000-07:00

By Lucy Williamson BBC News, Jakarta

Mr Ramos Horta has been criticised for being soft on perpetrators of violence
East Timor's President Jose Ramos Horta has accused members of the UN Security Council of "extraordinary hypocrisy".

He said small, post-conflict countries like his could not pursue justice blindly, as some UN states insist.

Dr Ramos Horta and Indonesian leaders say their joint Truth and Friendship Commission went far enough.

But East Timorese and others say it has failed to draw a line under the bloodshed that accompanied Indonesia's withdrawal from East Timor in 1999.

Dr Ramos Horta is a president who has been criticised, both within his country and outside it, for not bringing the orchestrators of East Timor's bloody past to trial.

They have this extraordinary hypocrisy of lecturing us about justice
Jose Ramos Horta He told me he had stopped calling for an international tribunal as soon as Indonesia withdrew from the country nine years ago - due to loyalty to Indonesia as it moved towards democracy, but also out of a pragmatic need for good relations with Timor's giant neighbour.

'Hypocrisy'

And he said the fact that Western governments were still publicly calling for a tribunal was hypocritical.

"If I were to be naive enough to go to them in Washington, Oslo, London, and say please support the resolution in the Security Council to establish an international tribunal, well I would call their bluff - they would not support it," the president said.

"But then they have this extraordinary hypocrisy of lecturing us about justice," Dr Ramos Horta added.
In fact, he said, in fragile, post-conflict states like East Timor, criminal justice could not be pursued blindly - that peace there often had to be bought with reconciliation rather than trials.
And that meant individual victims needed to opt for forgiveness rather than retribution.

Hard to forgive

"In our situation forgiveness is a necessity - for an individual who is a victim, to get on with his or her life, but before she or he forgives, truth has to be acknowledged, responsibilities have to be acknowledged, and then the victim feels at ease and can forgive," said Dr Ramos Horta.
But many of Timor's victims disagree.

Around 1,500 people were brutally murdered during East Timor's vote for independence in 1999, many others raped and tortured, and around half the population forcibly moved to Indonesia.

Those suspected of orchestrating the violence have never stood trial.
Against this background, President Ramos Horta's stance has been controversial.
Earlier this year, he used his powers of presidential pardon to free several militia members convicted of crimes against humanity during that time.
That move has brought criticism - both from the UN and those in Timor still hoping for justice.

Source: BBC News

Sondagem kona ba Australia ho Indonesia nia relação

2008-09-08T09:29:00.000-07:00

Tuir mai ne, tabela ho informação sira nebe que foti husi Sidney Morning Herald ho The Age kona ba resultado sondagens (opinions poll) nebe Roy Morgan Group halo ba Melbourne University's Asialink Institute. Sondagem ne husu opiniões australianos ho indonesios sira nian sobre relação entre Timor nia vizinho gigante rua nee e nia resultado hanesan tuir mais ne:

Informação sira ne bele consulta iha link Sidey Morning Herald ho The Age :
SMH : http://www.smh.com.au/news/national/indonesia-fears-fading-but-us-a-worry/2008/09/07/1220725858501.html

The Age: http://www.theage.com.au/national/younger-australians-wary-of-us-meddling-20080907-4bid.html

Fontes: Sidney Morning Herald e The Age

Timor ba halo compras iha China

2008-09-03T19:33:00.000-07:00

Artigo ida tuir mai ne foti husi ISN Security Watch (International Relations and Security Network) nebe kolia kona ba razão saida maka halo Timor decide ba halo compras (hola ró) iha China e explica hotu tamba sá maka Australia la precisa hakfodak ho Timor nia decisão ne.

Lê diak ba leitor sira hotu:

East Timor: Hard rock, soft water

East Timor's decision to acquire naval vessels from China makes Australia uneasy, Loro Horta writes for ISN Security Watch.

Commentary by Loro Horta in Singapore for ISN Security Watch (04/07/08)

East Timor signed an agreement with the Chinese government for the sale of two long range patrol boats in April this year - a decision that created uproar in the Australian media, with the country's top strategic thinkers and politicians issuing comments on the matter.

Australian apprehension toward Chinese influence in Timor, an area it considers to be on its exclusive watch, has been growing for the past two years. However, despite all the uproar and media attention, Canberra does not have much reason to worry about China's presence and should instead address some of its mistakes that have brought Timor close to China in the first place.

East Timor has 870 kilometers of coastline and two aging patrol vessels donated by the Portuguese to patrol it. As a result, the country's coast has been plundered by poachers in a systemic manner that has cost the government an estimated US$45 million a year in fishery revenues.

In addition to illegal poaching, the coast is used by smugglers under the cover of the dark to move illegal goods between the various nearby Indonesian islands and Timor. The trade in illegal commodities is believed cost the government US$8 million a year in lost tax revenues.

More worrisome, the country is slowly becoming a transit point for illegal narcotics. As such, Timor had few options but to create a naval force to deal with the current situation.

While certain Australian analysts rushed into criticizing the decision, no one seems to have bothered asking why Timor turned to the PRC for its boats in the first place.

The Timorese government has been requesting assistance from Australia and the international community to establish a coast guard for years. From the very beginning, Australia's position was against the establishment of a naval force, proposing instead that Australia take on the responsibility of patrolling Timor's coast itself. This led the Timorese to make a deal with Portugal in which two patrol gun boats were donated to Timor, and thus the country's new naval force was a fait accompli.

Rather than trying to undermine Timor's defense decisions, Australia should find ways to assist and influence these decisions. Criticism will only lead to more assertiveness and independence on the part on the Timorese and will further undermine Australian influence.

Timor turned to China out of desperation and the affordability of the Chinese vessels. Had Canberra been more accommodating toward Timor's desire to establish a naval force, Pacific Forum vessels donated by Australia (rather than their Chinese counterparts) could now be on their way to Timor. An arrangement by which Australian vessels with mixed Timorese and Australian crews would patrol together could have been proposed, but Canberra chose instead its usual policy of ignoring local sensibilities to sovereignty.

A similar mistake was made when Australia refused to train Timorese special border police, cutting funding and applying pressure on the government. In the end the forces were trained by Malaysia, to their great delight, and fully equipped without Australian assistance.

Still, the Chinese presence in Timor pales in comparison to the Australian presence. Australia has so far given US$600 million in aid to East Timor, and the country earns some US$200 million in oil revenues thanks to a deal with Australia. Thousands of Australians, military, police, doctors, engineers and other experts are currently based in Timor and have a far greater influence than the small Chinese community.

While China has built very visible infrastructure projects (including the Foreign and Defense Ministry buildings, the presidential palace and the future defense force headquarters) its presence in terms of investments and trade is rather insignificant and poses little threat to Australia. The visibility of the Chinese projects has somehow obscured this fact, giving them a weight well beyond their real value.

Still, China has been highly successful at building its soft power in Timor, whose residents seem to see it as a good balancing force for perceived Australian arrogance and paternalism. This is not to suggest that China will have free hand. For instance, Chinese oil companies have for the past five years been asking for exclusivity rights to Timor's inshore oil and gas depots, a request denied by the government, which refuses exclusivity to any country.

Chinese influence is further mitigated by the presence of other powers such as Portugal and Japan. After Australia, Portugal is Timor's largest aid donor followed by Japan. Both countries are close allies of the US and can play a positive balancing role vis a vis China.

At a time when Timor has its hands on growing financial means necessary to acquire weapons on its own, Australia should take steps to positively influence these procurements.

In addition to being able to purchase weapons in the international arms market, a number of countries have shown themselves willing to provide East Timor with free gifts. An Australian army officer based in Dili told ISN Security Watch that Malaysia was planning to donate an unspecified number of armored vehicles to Timor.

In the end the country most likely to be affected by the negative consequences of such a process is Australia, and not the countries that are so eager to supply East Timor with the means to destroy itself .Therefore, countries like Australia and Portugal should use their significant influence to redirect the restructuring of the country's security forces.

While Australia's hard power in Timor is unlikely to be seriously undermined, Canberra needs to be more aware of its waning soft power. In a circular fashion, Australia's soft power is further weakened by the increasing strength of its hard power. In contrast, Chinese hard power is minimum, while its soft power is significant and has been acquired and maintained at very little cost. Canberra needs to address this paradox of Australian power if it hopes to maintain its dominant position in East Timor.

------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

Loro Horta is a research associate fellow at the S Rajaratnam School of International Studies, Nanyang Technological University, Singapore and a graduate of the National Defense University of the Peoples Liberation Army (PLANDU).

The views and opinions expressed herein are those of the author only, not the International Relations and Security Network (ISN).

Site original: http://www.isn.ethz.ch/news/sw/details.cfm?ID=19158

Compreende China nia aproximação ba Timor.

2008-08-30T13:21:00.000-07:00

Saída maka China hakarak husi Timor?

Husi kedas 2002, quando Timor-leste restaura ninia independência, loron ida tuir mai, China estabelece kedas laços ho Timor hanesan primeiro país nebe maka halo relação diplomática ho nação foun ne. Hosi parte seluk, Timor mos responde kedas ho hari ninia embaixada iha Peking. Desde ne, relação China ho Timor começa diak tan deit e visita entre nai ulun husi China ba Timor no husi Timor ba China frequente liu tan.

Rai rua ne serviço hamutuk iha area oi-oin e assina acordo barak sobre comercio bilateral no ajudas externa ba Timor. Alem de ida ne, China mos halo hotu cooperação ho Timor iha área Militar ho ajuda hanesan tendas, fardas no selu oficial timor-oan sira ba estuda iha academia militar chinesa. China mos ajuda hotu Timor halo construção ba Edifício publico tolu nebe importante tebes ba rai ne hanesan, Palácio Presidencial foun, Edifício ba Ministério dos Negocio Estrangeiro no atu constrói tan Quartel FDTL nian. Foin iha semana hira liu ba, China anuncia tan katak Timor nia exportação ba China sei la selu taxa ba buat ida ou 0 % de taxa.

Provas sira hateten iha leten ne hatudu duni katak Timor ho China iha relação diak no belun bot. Mas se ita hare didiak, hanesan China maka fo hela deit e Timor simu los deit. Se nune saída maka China manan husi relação ida ne?

Husi ne maka ita buka hatene, tanba laiha rai ida maka fo hela deit ajuda sem hetan lucro ka vantagens ida e nune mos ho China.

Ita bele fahe China nia interesse ba parte tolu. Primeiro maka China hakarak isola Taiwan husi nação hotu-hotu, tuir mai nia hakarak aumenta ninia influencia iha região e ikus liu, bele tau nia liman ba Timor nia recursos naturais hanesan Mina rai, Gás no seluk tan.

Hodi começa, China nia relação ho Taiwan, relação ida nebe conflituosa. China sempre considera Taiwan hanesan nia província e fiar katak ho pressão no isolamento nebe maka nia halo ba Taiwan bele lori rai ne loron ida integra fila-fali ba China. Cada relação diplomática nebe maka China hari ho rai seluk, coloca kedas condição ida katak sira tenki reconhece China nia soberania sobre Taiwan. Quando China hari nia relação diplomática ho Timor, sira rua mos assina kedas comunicado ida hateten katak “Timor reconhece Taiwan hanesan China nian e Republica Popular da China deit maka bele representa China tomak ba liur e laiha rai seluk tan”. Ho comunicado ida ne China hetan garantia hosi Timor katak, nia sei la ba halo relação diplomática ho Taiwan. Parece que China aprende ho caso São Tomé e Príncipe nian ho sira seluk tan, nebe que reconhece Taiwan nia independência para bele hetan ajuda económica e lakoi buat ne repete tan ho Timor-leste nebe kik oan mas iha riqueza mina rai barak que hotu-hotu hakarak.

Razão ida tan maka, China hakarak aumenta ninia influencia iha região Ásia oriental no Sudeste Asiático tomak e acalma nia vizinho sira. Tanba ne nia relação ho Timor mos hola parte hotu iha projecto bot ida ne. Pois aproveita altura ida nebe maka, Estados Unidos preocupa liu ho nia funu contra terrorismo e ladun fo atensaun ba região ida ne, maka China bele aproveita para aumenta ninia influencia usa poder ida nebe maka cientista sira bolu naran “soft power” ou aumenta influencia laos usa força militar (Hard Power) maibe ho força económica. Ida ne importante tebes ba China tamba durante tinan rua nulu resin China nia força aumenta makas, laos deit força económica maibe força militar hotu. Situasaun ida nebe que halo China nia vizinho sira desde Japão, Coreia to nação sudeste asiático sira sente ameaçado e laran la hakmatek tanba sira la hatene lolos halo nusa maka China sei ba uja nia poder sira nebe nia hetan. Nune, ho relação diak nebe maka nia constrói no ajuda sira nebe maka nia fo ba nia vizinho sira hatudu katak China laos ameaça ida ba sira maibe China sei uja força nebe maka nia iha ho responsabilidade.

Razão ikus liu laos ona segredo, tanba China hakarak hetan hotu acesso ba Timor nia riqueza natural, liu-liu ba energia hanesan mina rai ho gás natural. China presiza tebes petróleo ho gás natural barak para bele sustenta nia economia. Desde 1978 quando Deng Xiaoping halo reforma bot iha neba maka China nia economia, husi kedas altura ne aumenta makas no conta ho crescimento media tinan-tinan nebe varia entre 8 ho 9 porcento. China depende los ba petróleo e sempre hola husi médio oriente (Timur Tengah) no mos Ásia Central. Maibe, acontecimento bot 11 Setembro (ataque terrorista iha Nova Iorque) halo buat barak maka muda, região rua nebe maka antes bele garante fornecimento petróleo estável ba China hetan impacto bot husi acontecimento ida ne. Ho conflito barak halo Médio oriente sai tia região ida nebe maka la estável e Ásia Central mos, China laos mesak ona tamba Estados Unidos depois de tama iha Afganistão hakarak mos hetan hotu acesso ba Petróleo ho gás iha região neba. Buat sira ne hotu halo China receia katak loron ida fornecimento de petróleo ba nia rain bele hetan corte no ida ne la diak ba nia economia. Tanba ne, em vez de depende los deit ba Médio Oriente ho Ásia Central nia tenki hanoin aranja mos petróleo husi rai seluk. China ikus-ikus ne cria relação diak ho rai sira nebe maka iha petróleo e Timor mos la ses husi ida ne. China halo relação diak ho Timor no fo ajuda barak maibe nia mos hakarak hetan hotu ninia parte iha ita nia petróleo ho gás. Ida ne maka agora nia halo mos iha África, iha país sira nebe hanesan Angola, Sudan ho seluk tan.

Agora, se ita avalia didiak China nia sucesso ho politica tolu nebe nia halo, bele dehan katak, iha pontu primeiro ho segundo China hetan ona sucesso balun. Ne maka, isola Taiwan no aumenta ninia influência iha Timor mesmo que laos nia mesak maka iha neba. Maibe nia terceiro objectivo – acesso ba petróleo - sei dok liu hela e rai sira seluk mos parece la fo fatin.

China hetan fiar husi governo Timor ato halo estudo sísmico para hatene mina rai hira maka Timor hetan iha rai maran maibe nia projecto ne parado tia ho conflito politico-militar 2006 liu ba. Nia mos hakarak explora hotu bloco mina rai nian balu iha Timor Gap maibe nia la manan concurso nebe maka governo Timor lança. Hanesan explika tia ona iha leten katak China presiza los petróleo barak para bele sustenta nia economia. Se China consegue ona, mais ou menos, nia objectivo rua seluk então ida nebe maka nia hakarak los agora maka hetan hotu porção ruma husi Timor nia petróleo. Coloca ona problema ida nebe cientista politica sira bolu naran “Fungibility of Power” ou to iha nebe maka China ho nia poder sira nebe maka nia iha, tanto económico ou militar, bele halo rai seluk tuir nia hakarak? Pelo menos iha Angola, China la consegue halo estado angolano tuir nia hakarak. China fo ajuda barak ba Angola ho intenção katak Angola so fan petróleo ba nia deit maibe Angola dehan nia fan ba se deit maka nia hakarak. Iha Timor nia caso, ita la hatene, to bainhira maka Timor resiste ba China nia sedução? Pois to agora nia sidauk hetan nem bloco ida para bele explora iha Timor Gap, nem exclusividade ba petroleo iha rai maran. Situação ida nebe maka interessante para ita acompanha.

Olivio de Deus

East Timor PM thanks New Zealand for help

2008-08-28T22:07:00.000-07:00

East Timor's Prime Minister Xanana Gusmao has thanked New Zealand for the assistance it is giving to his country.

"When we asked for it, you sent your men and women," he said at a press conference with Prime Minister Helen Clark on Thursday.

"They have gained the respect of our people, we know New Zealanders are our good friends."
New Zealand has about 180 defence force personnel and 25 police in East Timor as part of an international peacekeeping force, and there has been a New Zealand presence in the country since it gained its independence from Indonesia in 1999.

Clark, who held talks with Gusmao and several of his ministers on Thursday, said New Zealand would investigate future assistance in areas including community policing, education administration and customs service support.

"This high level visit is a good opportunity to look forward to the role New Zealand can play," she said.

Gusmao said East Timor's army and police were being reformed and were starting to work together.

He said he did not know how long New Zealand and other forces would be needed, but he hoped it would not be beyond the end of next year. On Friday, Gusmao will meet with the mother of Kiwi soldier Leonard Manning who was shot dead while serving in East Timor eight years ago.

Fontes: tvnz.co.nz

Timor-leste: entre os interesses económicos e assegurar a sua estabilidade.

2008-08-25T20:51:00.000-07:00

Um desafio para a política externa timorense

Timor está de novo numa posição delicada em relação as opções da sua politica externa. Trata-se da construção de gasoduto em que o lado timorense quer que seja ligado para a zona sul do país enquanto no lado australiano juntamente com as empresas petrolíferas preferem uma ligação para Darwin, capital da Austrália do Norte.

Se o gasoduto for ligado para Timor Leste terá muitas vantagens sócio-economicas porque irá permitir o país industrializar, principalmente, a sua zona sul, atrair maior investimento, criar mais postos de trabalho para diminuir a pressão do grande numero de desempregados que existe e até controlar melhor o fluxo da exploração do gás. Certamente uma vantagem que levará Timor a fazer um salto importante em frente em termos do seu desenvolvimento. O lado Australiano quer fazer o mesmo para o seu território do norte que está ainda atrasado em comparação com outras partes do país como Sidney, Melbourne e (ou) Brisbane.

A empresa petrolífera australiana Woodside Petroleum, que possui 33% de acções no projecto de gasoduto, no final do mês passado colocou de lado a possibilidade de ligar o gasoduto para Timor-leste que segundo ela comporta um custo mais elevado e um risco maior. Em troca disso, pondera uma ligação para a Austrália ou criar uma plataforma flutuante no alto mar para fazer refinação. Uma decisão que apanhou o Secretário de Estado de Recursos Naturais Timorenses de surpresa, pois sempre estava com a ideia de que o gasoduto vinha para o solo timorense.

Perante tais cenários resta três opções possíveis para Timor-Leste. A primeira é a mais extrema que é insistir na ligação para Timor; a segunda, seria adiar ou bloquear o processo para um tempo indeterminado; e a terceira é aceitar a vontade de Woodside Petroleum de construir a ligação para Darwin ou criar uma plataforma flutuante no alto mar. Diante destas opções é que os estrategas da politica externa timorense devem decidir, qual é a opção mais racional que por um lado proteger os nossos interesses e por outro evitar ao máximo possível os danos colaterais que provêm de cada decisão. É necessário lembrar que no cenário internacional as razões e as regras internacionais também se contam, mas o que pesa mais é o poder relativo que cada potência possui no sistema, e tudo isso deve ser considerado nas decisões que se toma. Voltamos para cima, a primeira e a segunda opção poderiam provocar uma retaliação por parte da Austrália e a mais temível seria incitar nova onda de violência e instabilidade num país pós-conflito e frágil como o nosso. Este pode por em causa todo o nosso plano de desenvolvimento. Alem disso, há razões técnicas e infra-estruturais que não estão a jogar ao nosso favor, pois nesta altura do campeonato ainda não temos o know-how necessário e condições infra-estruturais adequadas para um projecto daquela envergadura. A terceira opção seria muito vantajosa para a Austrália e menos para nós do ponto de vista económico, o que significa ligar o gasoduto para Darwin a qual lhe concederia todas as vantagens como está acima explicado. Nesta última opção, Timor ficaria com os lucros em concordância com o acordo sobre a partilha de Gás de Greater Sunrise.

O que se sucede na prática neste momento é que, embora Dili sempre quisesse que o gasoduto fosse para o seu território, os últimos desenvolvimentos deste processo indicaram para uma posição mais flexível do lado timorense. Na entrevista que Xanana Gusmão deu na sua última visita a Austrália para DowJones Newswires que foi publicado no site de CNNMoney.com, o Primeiro Ministro timorense disse que concordou com os responsáveis da empresa petrolífera australiana, Woodside Petroleum, para “estudar a viabilidade técnica e comercial das opções disponíveis” e adiantou ainda que Timor “pode aceitar qualquer decisão”. São declarações que com certeza não surgiram a partir do nada mas antes de mais partiram de análise cuidadosa das vantagens e riscos do problema que se coloca.

Por Olivio Deus

O Arco de Instabilidade

2008-08-22T16:35:00.000-07:00

Seguinte, é um excerpto tirado de ABC (Australian Broadcasting Corporation) duma discussão em que foi discutida o conceito de "Arco de Instabilidade".

O Arco de Instabilidade é um conceito geopolitico inventado pelo estratega australiano, Paul Dibb, no final dos anos 90 quando o regime de Suharto caiu na Indonésia e Timor-leste se tornou independente. Paull Dibb definiu que este arco é constituido pelos estados frageis e vulneraveis que se começa desde Indonésia, passa pela Papua Nova Guinea e Timor-leste e se extende até ao Pacífica do Sul. Para compreender melhor este conceito e como é que os paises do arco reagem a esta desginação, pode ler o debate seguinte:

The Pacific 'arc of instability'

Reporter: Graeme Dobell

HAMISH ROBERTSON: Turning to our own region now, Australia's Defence Minister recently gave a security pledge to the countries in what he calls the "arc of instability", stretching from Timor to the South Pacific.Dr Brendan Nelson says that Australia has a responsibility to defend the interests and values of the nations in its region.This report by Radio Australia's Foreign Affairs Correspondent, Graeme Dobell.

GRAEME DOBELL: The "arc of instability" is an Australian idea born at the end of the 1990s, as the Suharto era ended in flames in Jakarta, and Indonesia left East Timor in ashes.In defining the arc of instability, the strategic thinker Paul Dibb said the arc extended from Indonesia to Papua New Guinea and into the South Pacific.Where Australia might have once hoped for a security shield to its north, Professor Dibb said, now the arcipelago contained a group of vulnerable countries.Australia's Defence Minister, Brendan Nelson, has adopted the arc of instability, but has changed its geographic reach, quietly dropping Indonesia from the definition he offered Parliament.

BRENDAN NELSON: We cannot afford to have failing states in our region. The so-called 'arc of instability', which basically goes from East Timor through to the south-west Pacific states, means that not only does Australia have a responsibility in preventing and indeed assisting with humanitarian and disaster relief, but also that we cannot allow any of these countries to become havens for transnational crime, nor indeed havens for terrorism.

GRAEME DOBELL: Doctor Nelson says the deployment of the Australian Defence Force to Solomon Islands in April, after the riots, and East Timor in May to deal with the political breakdown shows how quickly Australia can respond to security problems in the arc.The Defence Minister says Australia will act to stabilise governments, protect borders, counter-terrorism, and help with disasters.

BRENDAN NELSON: Australia has a responsibility in protecting our own interests and values to support defending and protecting the interests and values of these countries in our region.(sound of parliamentarians saying "hear, hear")

GRAEME DOBELL: It might look like an arc of instability to Australia's Defence Minister, but the countries of the arc don't like the term, any more than they accept being called "failing" or even "fragile".The head of Canberra's Pacific Centre, Professor Stewart Firth, says the arc of instability has some domestic utility in Australia, but it doesn't impress the region.

STEWART FIRTH: I've always thought that that is a bit of an overstatement, because you have to look at particular countries in order to determine their particular situation.I mean, Fiji, for example, which was supposed to have been in the arc of instability, is - as far as anyone can see - entering a pretty stable phase, and people are pretty optimistic about Fiji's future.Solomons of course has RAMSI (Regional Assistance Mission to the Solomon Islands), and for the moment at least we've got a stabilised situation there.Papua New Guinea, I think, you know, there are too many pessimists about Papua New Guinea.So, I mean, to talk about it as an arc of instability I think is to paint a pretty broad brush.

GRAEME DOBELL: Is it a useful tool for an Australian Defence Minister to use arc of instability? Is it a way of explaining defence policy to Australians? What are the Australian uses of the term "arc of instability"?

STEWART FIRTH: Yeah, I think that is right. I think there is a use for an Australian Defence Minister.And you could see that also when Australia intervened in Solomon Islands, that we were able to justify that on the grounds of the possibility of a failed state becoming a haven for terrorists. Although, most people who knew the Solomons thought that this was a pretty way-out idea. Nevertheless, it had some traction and leverage for the Australian voter and I think that in that sense it was a justified kind of approach.And I guess the same thing applies to the phrase "arc of instability" for the Australian audience, but it doesn't go down too well in the region. Pacific Islanders don't like the idea of being labelled as failures, and in a way this is a label.

GRAME DOBELL: What model do you see for Australian policy towards the island arc - if we look at the Australian intervention in East Timor, the Australian intervention in Solomons in the last few months - what is the model of Australia's approach to the island arc?

STEWART FIRTH: Well, I think the existing model is really very much a securitised model. It's all about security, it's about regional security and Australian security. We're intervening in this region, and we're attempting to improve governance outcomes, and so on, in the interests of security. So the model is really built around a security approach.Now, some people would say that while that may be important, we have to look beyond that to a development approach. If you think of Solomon Islands, for example, Solomon Islands, yes we have law and order back, but is that enough? No, it clearly isn't enough, given the fact that within five or six years the logging will just about be finished in Solomon Islands. We've got to think about the Solomon Islands' economic and development future, not just about the law and order situation.

HAMISH ROBERTSON: Professor Stewart Firth, head of the Pacific Centre at the Australian National University.

Report by Graeme Dobell.

Fontes: ABC (Australia Broadcasting Corporation)

Como é que o jornal “The Australian” serve os interesses australianos em relação a Timor?

2008-08-21T13:43:00.000-07:00

Austrália e a sua real-politik veiculada pelos média

Os media australianos voltaram novamente a carga sobre Timor-leste. Se durante a crise politico-militar em 2006 eles tomaram uma posição muito nacionalista, a favor dos interesses australianos – mudança de regime -, parece que desta vez esta posição não se alterou, independentemente do governo que está no poder em Timor. Isto é, no que toca aos seus interesses nacionais, a Austrália pode sempre contar com o apoio dos seus media para atingir os objectivos.

O jornal The Australian, na sua versão electrónica, divulgou no dia 13 de Agosto de 2008 uma notícia que questionou a morte do líder rebelde Alfredo Reinado juntamente com o seu elemento Leopoldino Exposto. Esta notícia rapidamente se replicou por outros principais medias australianos como The Age, Sidney Morning Herald e ABC. Segundo The Australian, Major Reinado e Tenente Leopoldino levaram tiros a partir de curta distância, ou seja, os dois morreram não por causa da troca de tiros com os guardas presidenciais mas sim, foram executados. The Australian adiantou ainda que o relatório da autopsia de Reinado e Leopoldino ao qual eles tiveram acesso evidenciou claramente esta hipótese. O que é estranho é que esse mesmo relatório que The Australian referiu, segundo o Procurador Geral da RDTL, Dr. Longinhos Monteiro, ainda não está pronto para ser publicado, mesmo assim o jornal australiano precipitou-se em avançar já com esta história de possível execução das duas vítimas. Perante esta situação, será que The Australian está fazer um trabalho puramente jornalístico ou continua naquela onda nacionalista de apoio aos interesses nacionais do seu país?

Quanto ao timing do lançamento desta notícia, esta veio na sequência da posição tomada por parte da segunda maior empresa petrolífera da Austrália, Woodside Petroleum, que no final do mês passado anunciou a possibilidade de pôr de lado a hipótese de ligar o gasoduto de Greater Sunrise para Timor-leste, argumentando que “esta ligação é demasiada cara e arriscada porque conta com uma distância de 184 km e tenha que atravessar uma zona muito profunda com cerca de 3 km de distância”. Um anúncio que recebeu logo o apoio implícito do governo australiano o qual falou que “no que toca às vantagens comerciais cabe às empresas decidir porque percebem melhor o assunto”. Em termos de distância, uma possível ligação para Darwin, Austrália, seria muito mais longa pois é de 450 km enquanto para Timor conta apenas com 184 km. Mas, afinal, o que é que isso tem que ver com os media australianos e a notícia sobre a morte do Reinado?

Os media australianos, através do The Australian, servem como uma arma por parte da Austrália e das empresas petrolíferas para atingir os seus objectivos que são ligar o gasoduto de Greater Sunrise para Darwin. Do lado timorense, o governo já contratou uma empresa coreana para estudar a viabilidade de ligação do gasoduto para Timor que ainda está por concluir. Se este estudo provar o contrário daquilo que o Woodside Petroleum apresenta, Timor Leste terá maior margem de manobra na negociação da construção do gasoduto. Para prevenir este cenário, The Australian lançou um notícia que tem um impacto potencialmente destabilizador, principalmente para um estado que acabou de sair dum conflito étnico e político-militar como Timor-leste.

The Australian procura com a sua notícia levantar mais dúvidas e confusões sobre a morte do Major Alfredo Reinado que durante a crise de 2006 se auto designou como o líder dos rebeldes e dos peticionários. Este major rebelde conquistou muito apoio e simpatia de muitos timorenses da parte ocidental da ilha que o viram como a personificação de alguém que consegue recuperar o seu orgulho perante as ditas “discriminações étnicas” , para além disso muitos ainda não se sentem convencidos com a forma como ele morreu. Deste modo, uma notícia que vem questionar novamente as circunstâncias da sua morte pode provocar uma nova onda de violência que coloca novamente em causa a segurança e a estabilidade do país. Perante uma instabilidade e falta de segurança, não há justificação para ligar o gasoduto para o solo timorense, uma vez que as empresas petrolíferas podem, simplesmente, argumentar que um ambiente assim pode colocar em perigo os seus investimentos. Deste modo, a missão está cumprida! O gasoduto de Greater Sunrise segue o caminho do Oleoduto de Bayu Undan para Darwin e o plano australiano de revitalizar e industrializar os seus territórios do norte pode seguir em frente enquanto o plano timorense de desenvolver a zona sul do país fica adiado para um tempo indeterminado. Para lidar com uma provocação destas é importante que os timorenses, desde os políticos até aos cidadãos normais, se mantenham calmos e não se deixem facilmente levar pela onda que pode atirar o país de novo ao abismo.

O que é certo é que do lado australiano, as suas políticas em relação a Timor desde os anos da II Guerra Mundial até aos dias de hoje assentam sempre na real-politik, é indiferente de quem está no poder seja um governo de conservadores ou de trabalhistas. Cada passo que é dado reflecte sempre os seus interesses mesmo que isso seja à custa do sofrimento dos outros e recorrendo a qualquer meio para salvar esses interesses, tanto meios militares, como em 2006, bem como meios de comunicação social, como recentemente se verifica com o jornal The Australian e muitos outros. Tendo em conta a proximidade geográfica e o poder relativo que este nosso vizinho possui ao nível mundial mas sobretudo ao nível regional, é necessário conduzir bem as nossas políticas de maneira que não choquem cegamente com as suas e ao mesmo tempo garantir uma política externa mais independente para salvaguardar os nossos interesses, o que com certeza não é fácil de pôr prática mas temos que aprender viver com isso.

Por Olivio Deus