Global Voices » East Timor

East Timor Presidential Candidates

Mong Palatino — Tue, 07 Feb 2012 13:43:40 +0000

Centru Jornalista Investigativu Timor Leste uploads the list of presidential candidates in East Timor who have registered with the Court.

East Timor: Monitoring the 2012 Elections

Mong Palatino — Mon, 23 Jan 2012 10:50:39 +0000

There are 10 candidates so far in the coming elections in East Timor. Centru Jornalista Investigativu Timor-Leste is one of the media networks monitoring the polls

Online Highlights from the Portuguese-Speaking World in 2011

Maisie Fitzpatrick — Sat, 31 Dec 2011 02:11:32 +0000

2011 has been another year in which bloggers and activists from a number of Portuguese-speaking countries have come together to report, translate and promote blogs and citizen media from all over the world. This article selects the highlights in the coverage of Lusophone countries on Global Voices over the last year.

Portuguese language and culture

In February we covered several blogs that gave voice to their love of the Portuguese language, paying tribute to the great variety of dialects spoken by more than 200 million people worldwide.

Hau nia lian, hau nia rain (My language, my country). Photo by Sapo Noticias Timor Leste (public domain)

In May the newspaper @Verdade, our partner in Mozambique, described Portuguese as a language that is bound up in what it means to be Mozambican.

In its coverage of Timor Leste, Global Voices examined the role of languages in asserting the identity of a country which has 16 national languages and dozens of dialects. Some blogs on Cape Verde also suggested that there are “distinct social functions” for both the language spoken by the people, Crioulo, and the official language, Portuguese.

Online demonstrations brought a more political dimension to bear on this issue, with heated reactions to the proposal for Equatorial Guinea to become a member of the Community of Portuguese Language Countries, despite having a poor track record on human rights.

Brazil: Paths towards Development

In spite of the current global crisis, Brazil is experiencing a period of economic optimism fuelled by domestic consumption. In order to maintain this growth, ongoing development policy in the country has been putting pressure on the environment and human rights.

The social cost of the rising demand for biofuels: the indigenous Guarani Kaoiwa community of Laranjeira Nhanderu were expelled from their lands 14 months ago to make way for sugarcane plantations. Photo by Annabel Symington, copyright Demotix (10/21/10).

The Amazon rainforest is seen as potential land for agriculture and as a source of raw materials and energy. Brazil's new forestry code, which regulates the use of the country's forests, has led to concerns and public demonstrations against the encouragement of farming and deforestation. “Green” agribusiness focused on biofuels and the replacement of felled trees with eucalyptus plantations have been shown to be unsustainable practices in both social and environmental terms. The dispute for land provoked by agribusiness led to the killing of activists and indigenous leaders during 2011. Yet Brazil is persisting in exporting its agribusiness model to other countries, such as Mozambique, regardless.

Coverage of events surrounding the Belo Monte Dam certainly caused the greatest outcry this year, uniting environmentalists, indigenous people and Brazilians living alongside the affected rivers. Protests in the immediate area of the dam and in major cities attracted international attention and challenged the human rights policy of Dilma Rousseff's government. This action did not wane after construction of the plant began, but rather took on different forms, including an Occupy protest by the Tupiniquim people and court cases.

These and related issues have been organised into four special features: Forest Focus: Amazon, Dossiê Belo Monte [only in pt], Indigenous Rights and Global Development.

Portugal: Crisis, Austerity and Protests

From the “Scraping-by Generation” protest in March to participation in the global protests on 15 October, Portugal has seen its political and economic crisis reach unprecedented proportions in 2011, with the fall of a government and the EU committee coming into the country to effect the financial “rescue” of public debt.

Keep calm and protest: outraged protesters outside Porto Town Hall. Photo by the protest organisers, 15 October.

Netizens took to social networks to mobilise action against severe austerity measures and to speak out in opposition to the racket conducted by the rating agencies, but also to gain inspiration from other countries, such as Iceland, on other forms of public participation.

Having launched a page devoted to special coverage of the current situation, Europe in Crisis, in September, Global Voices has acted as a bridge between different languages and has facilitated greater dialogue between outraged citizens from European countries that are suffering similar problems.

Angola: 32 Years in Power sparks Protests

In Angola the sense of revolt against the 32-year government led by José Eduardo dos Santos is becoming increasingly palpable in the streets and on the internet. Protests would have begun in March had the government not been successful in pre-empting them.

In September the police used heavy force to break up a protest, resulting in at least 18 protesters receiving prison sentences. Against all expectations, the movement has regrouped, while the number of citizen reporters in the country is also on the increase.

Video uploaded to the post Angola: Videos of Repressed Youth Protest in Luanda

Internet and the digital culture in Brazil

The fruits of increasingly widespread access to the internet in Brazil were borne out in 2011 by many creative, collective and effective examples of action. One such case was the mobilisation of social networks to take down a paedophile blog, and the call put out on Facebook to join in the unique “Different People's Big Barbeque Protest” in an upscale São Paulo neighbourhood.

Protest poster which reads "We want to be Maria Bethania", organised by Leon Prado on Facebook.

The online arena has also been the scene for a number of less auspicious episodes related to digital culture. In January the Ministry of Culture announced that it was abandoning Creative Commons licensing on its site, a blatant step backwards in public policy on the internet and copyright. Shortly afterwards, in March, the same ministry allowed the famous signer Maria Bethânia to raise 1.3 million reais tax-free for the creation of a poetry blog, thereby rousing the ire of bloggers, the twitterati and activists involved in the cultural sphere.

Cases of online censorship continue to crop up and, on occasion, overflow into the non-virtual world, with attacks on bloggers who are critical of the authorities.

In December we became aware of renewed death threats made against Ricardo Gama, who blogs against cases of the abuse of power and other irregularities by the Brazilian police. Gama had already been shot in an attack in Rio de Janeiro in March. Towards the end of this year, many were not convinced by the reason of “suicide by hanging” given for the death of Hamilton Alexandre, a controversial blogger from Santa Catarina, and social networks are being used to call for a thorough investigation of the case.

In 2012 we will continue to listen to the stories that are being told by the citizens of the world through the internet, and to amplify them so that they reach a global audience. Our doors are always open to anyone who wants to get involved in what Super magazine earlier this year dubbed “one of the 10 coolest projects on the internet”.

http://pt.globalvoicesonline.org/?p=25165

João Miguel Lima collaborated on this post.

East Timor: Perceptions of Corruption Index

Mong Palatino — Fri, 16 Dec 2011 04:33:54 +0000

East Timor-based NGO La'o Hamutuk, the Timor-Leste Institute for Development Monitoring and Analysis, writes about Transparency International's latest report on perceptions of corruption in every country in the world. East Timor’s rating slightly slipped this year

Video Highlights: Identity, Refugees, Conflict and Open Technology

Juliana Rincón Parra — Wed, 07 Dec 2011 03:33:09 +0000

This section aims to showcase interesting and recent posts in Global Voices that show the many ways in which videos are helping people tell stories all around the world. You can follow the activity by regions in our YouTube channel or by clicking on the regional header links.

East Asia

For our Special Coverage page on Languages and the Internet comes an article about the different languages of East Timor. This next short film shows us the importance of receiving education in the mother tongue and the innovative Education Policy for Multilingual Education that East Timor is adopting.

Sub-Saharan Africa

In the post ‘Mali, Niger: Tuareg Voices Barely Heard Over the Sounds of War ‘, a video amplifies the voices of the Tuareg:

In Kidal, a town in north-eastern Mali, an unofficial number of Tuareg people marched to claim the autonomy of the Azawad region on November 1.

In ‘Kenya: Life in Dadaab, the World's Largest Refugee Camp‘ we look through the eyes of different aid organizations the complexities of life in Dadaab, a refugee camp receiving more than 1,400 people every day:

Central Asia and Caucasus

In Armenia and Azerbaijan, video is being used to improve understanding of the complex issues dividing the people of both nations. We linked to this insightful blog post on the Armenia-Azerbaijan conflict as seen through YouTube videos. It included this next video, which shows an interesting experiment on both sides of the border. In the video, a taxi with a camera records passengers reactions to the taxi driver's musical selection: he plays Azeri music in Armenia and Armenian music in Azerbaijan. The passenger's comments have been captioned in English.

You can visit our Special Coverage page on Caucasus Conflict Voices to learn more about the region's situation. To read more about the role of video in the conflict, visit ‘Armenia-Azerbaijan Dialogue Through Film‘ and its second part, ‘More Armenia-Azerbaijan Dialogue Through Film‘ will provide extra information.

Latin America

Global Voices Author and Lingua Editor in Spanish Juan Arellano has been interviewing different Latin American experts. In this one he spoke with Santiago Hoerth of the Codigo Sur project about open technology and Open Software:

In another interview, he spoke with attorney and Creative Commons regional representative Carolina Botero and asked her to give her opinion on piracy.

Lusophone Heritage of “Portugality” Around the World

Sara Moreira — Mon, 05 Dec 2011 13:50:21 +0000

A Facebook group and a mapping website called “Portugality” have been created to explore the cultures that result from the “global cultural fusion started by Portuguese navigations of the XVth. century and lasting to this day in places like Brazil, Mozambique, East Timor or Malacca”.

East Timor: Building One Country Out of Many Languages

Sara Moreira — Mon, 28 Nov 2011 22:01:39 +0000

This post is part of our special coverage Languages and the Internet.

On November 28, 1975, Timor Leste unilaterally proclaimed its independence, after nearly four centuries of Portuguese colonization. Though the declaration was read in Portuguese, only a few days after, Indonesia invaded the country and the use of that same language would be forbidden for the twenty four years that the occupation lasted (1975-1999).

When East Timor became an independent country in 2002, both the Tetum and Portuguese languages were chosen as official for the newborn country. Nevertheless, the number of national languages is up to 16, and dozens of other dialects are used on a daily basis by Timorese citizens.

Idiom(s) of identity

Hau nia lian, hau nia rain (My language my homeland). Photo by Sapo Noticias Timor Leste (public domain).

In practice, Tetum, the lingua franca of East Timor, is the most widely spoken throughout the territory. On the other hand, “Portuguese is not the language of unity, but it is the language of identity”, said Mari Alkatiri, the leader of Fretilin (the opposition party), in an article [pt] from 2007 by the Portuguese journalist Paulo Moura, republished on the blog Ciberdúvidas da Língua Portuguesa (Cyberdoubts of Portuguese Language).

Moura further explains why after the independence there is an “overwhelming majority of the population” that does not speak Portuguese:

Aprendeu bahasa Indonésia e inglês como segunda língua e fala tétum em casa, além de alguma outra língua timorense, como o fataluco ou o baiqueno. É a chamada geração “Tim-Tim”, do nome Timor-Timur, que os indonésios davam à sua 27.ª província. Muitos estudaram na Indonésia ou na Austrália, e é difícil explicar-lhes, hoje, a importância do português. Pior ainda, como vêem que as elites políticas, privilegiadas, falam português, e como lhes é vedado o acesso aos empregos na administração pública, por não falarem a língua agora oficial, estes jovens criaram alguma hostilidade em relação a Portugal e à língua portuguesa.

They learned Bahasa Indonesia and English as second languages and they speak Tetum at home, besides any other Timorese language, as Fataluku or Baikeno. It is the so-called “Tim-Tim” generation, from the name Timor-Timur, that Indonesians called their 27th province. Many have studied in Indonesia or in Australia, and it is difficult to explain to them, nowadays, the importance of Portuguese. Even worse, as they see that the privileged political elites speak Portuguese, and as their access to employment in the public administration is barred because they don't speak the now official language, these youngsters have developed some hostility towards Portugal and Portuguese language.

The World Bank's 2011 report on the progress of the country over the last decade illustrates that “Portuguese was spoken by only 5 percent of the population” and adds that “by 2009, more than 70 percent of students tested at the end of the first grade could not read a single word of a simple text in Portuguese. This is a dismal record after 10 years of efforts (…). A full cohort of the population may be functionally illiterate.”

Online documentation of languages

According to the UNESCO Atlas of the World's Languages in Danger, there are six Timorese languages threatened by extinction.

Languages of East Timor. Map from the website Fataluku Language Project.

In the scale provided, Adabe (from the island of Atauro), Habu (from the Manatuto district), and Kairiu-Midiki and Naueti (from the Viqueque district), are considered vulnerable, as “most children from the areas speak the language, but it may be restricted to certain domains”, such as home and traditional life.

One level above is Waima'a, considered critically endangered - “children no longer learn the language as mother tongue in the home”. On the northeast tip of the island, Maku'a language, which according to the Atlas had only 50 speakers in 1981, is critically endangered and it may even have become extinct. There has had only been one booklet ever published in this language.

Some of the languages of East Timor however have been making their way into new media and online platforms, which may support their continuity.

Such is the case of Fataluku, a Papuan language spoken by 35,000 people in the eastern most district of Timor, which has been quite well documented on the websites Fataluku Language Project and Fataluku Community. A group of young artists from the region of Lospalos have been using it in their musical and performative works:

A research project for language documentation from the University of Hawai, has promoted several Timorese languages with the help of exchange students such as Osoroa and Fatumaka dialects of Makasae - the “major language in the eastern part of Timor-Leste” - as well as Waima'a, Fataluku, Mambae and Tokodede. The latter has been occasionally used by the Portuguese linguist and translator João Paulo Esperança on his blog Hanoin Oin-oin (Diverse thoughts) [tet].

An East Timorese girl speaking (from clockwise) Bunak, Tetum, Fataluku and Portuguese. Translation: "In Bunak/Tetum/Fataluku/Portuguese, we say: I am in Dili. I have some money. I do not have any money." Image by Joao Paulo Esperança (public domain).

Another blogger in under-represented languages is Abe Barreto Soares, who was interviewed for Global Voices in 2009, and besides writing in English, Tetum, and Bahasa Indonesia, has also kept a poetry blog in the Galole laguage from the Manatuto district called Limusan.

A bit further to the South, Idaté language is featured on the blog of Ildefonso Pereira. Facebook has also been used for communicating in Timorese languages, as for instance this group in Naueti.

Last year a proposal was made to use mother tongues first in the national educational program, as this short film entitled Lian Inan (Mother Tongue) [tet] points out, highlighting “the importance of a child's first language in helping them to learn to read and write, to respect the culture of their parents and community, and to become fluent earlier in the official languages of Timor-Leste”:

Rising Voices - the outreach project of Global Voices - is hosting an online dialogue called “Using Citizen Media Tools to Promote Under-Represented Languages” together with New Tactics and Indigenous Tweets. All practitioners from Timor Leste who are venturing into the world of citizen media to promote online communication using under-represented languages are welcome to share their strategies, successes and challenges in the online forum.

This post is part of our special coverage Languages and the Internet.

Petition for ‘Support a Debt-Free Timor-Leste'

Mong Palatino — Sat, 19 Nov 2011 00:25:42 +0000

An online petition opposes the plan of the East Timor government to obtain foreign loans next year. East Timor is urged to learn from the mistakes of other developing countries whose economies were crippled by huge foreign debt.

East Timor Budget Deliberations

Mong Palatino — Mon, 14 Nov 2011 01:35:05 +0000

East Timor’s National Parliament has initially approved the government’s proposed 2012 budget and deliberations will continue until the final voting on November 25, 2011. Local NGO La’o Hamutuk has set-up a special page on its website to track the budget discussions while providing the public with pertinent budget documents, analysis, and policy reforms.

Budget Overview: 'Goodbye Conflict, Welcome Development'

La’o Hamutuk notes that the increase in East Timor’s budget is one of the highest in the world:

In nominal terms, the 2012 budget is 35% larger than 2011, more than five times the original 2008 budget. According to the IMF World Economic Outlook, Zimbabwe is the only country in the world whose state budget grew faster during the last four years. Congo (DRC) places third with an increase of 267%. Even after adjusting for inflation, Timor-Leste's 2012 budget is 25% larger than last year's and has grown 273% since 2006.

Summary of budget proposal

East Timor’s economy is heavily dependent on oil revenues but economists have been urging the government to diversify the country’s economic activities. La’o Hamutuk is concerned that the budget doesn’t reflect the need to develop non-oil industries:

If you remove state expenditures, Timor-Leste's non-oil economy is stagnant and probably shrinking. With about 95% of state revenues coming from oil and gas, what economy will we have after the oil and gas is used up?

In the medium term, our oil wealth can't even pay for provide half the level of services the Government will provide next year. That's why we need to develop our non-oil economy.

East Timor doesn’t have a foreign debt but it will become a debtor next year:

The proposed budget includes $33 million in loans for Dili sanitation and national roads during 2012, with more in future years. This is the first time the Government has asked Parliament to approve actual borrowing, now that the Deputados have approved all the required legislation over the last few months.

The government has created a Budget Transparency Portal which allows the public to access budget documents. The government also uploaded the proposed 2012 budget on its website. There’s also a summary of budget deliberations in the Parliament:

Some parliamentarians criticized that the budget allocation for the three key priority sectors (education, health, agriculture) has gradually decreased over the past years which they clam will demonstrate the lack of attention given by the government to them and contradicts with this Government’s initial commitment. Further, some also alleged that the Government prefers investing in mega projects which are beyond their capacity to execute and will end up in misuse of lots money. Other argued that the Government neglected the most fundamental sectors that are the pillars of development of any government across the world.

A ‘Budget Made Simple’ document was also released which gives an overview of the budget:

Timor-Leste now has one of the most transparent budget processes in the world with the budget debates broadcast live on television and radio, the budget documentation available to the public and comprehensive real-time budget expenditure data available online through the Timor-Leste Transparency Portal

…the Government presents the “Budget Made Simple”, an information campaign to present budget information in a clear and practical manner.

La’o Hamutuk thinks the budget websites need improvement:

We appreciate the efficient coordination between the Parliament and the Ministry to publish the documents online quickly, improving transparency to make them more accessible than in recent years. Unfortunately, the Ministry website is cumbersome to access and some of the budget files are unnecessarily large.

East Timor Transparency Portal

Mong Palatino — Sun, 13 Nov 2011 21:24:33 +0000

The government of Timor Leste has created the Timor Transparency Portal which provides access to state expenditures and transactions on Budget, Aid, Procurement, and Government Results.

East Timor: Cries for justice 20 years after massacre

Janet Gunter — Sat, 12 Nov 2011 09:56:07 +0000

On the 20th anniversary of the infamous Santa Cruz massacre by the Indonesian military in Dili, East Timor, long-time activist Charles Scheiner reflects. Founding member of the East Timor Action Network and NGO La'o Hamutuk, he writes “if we want justice, we have to demand it – it will not come by itself”.

East Timor: Investing in Creativity and Culture

Janet Gunter — Fri, 28 Oct 2011 20:44:54 +0000

East Timor is known for its material, musical and dance traditions. Celebration of “culture” was a crucial part of its resistance to Indonesian occupation from 1975 to 1999, and East Timorese independence has seen a number of emergent cultural projects. But something that goes overlooked is a strong culture of craft and “making” with locally available materials.

Enter a new project called “Tatoli ba Kultura“, meaning “Passing on Culture”. The objective of the project, after extensive research and preparation, will be to support the development of a school of creative industries:

The project aims to create an institution to conserve and protect indigenous culture but also to bring creativity to an educational level in order to create innovation.

The coordinator of the project, David Palazón, is an artist who hails from Barcelona, Spain. He says:

Passing on culture

By chance I came here [to East Timor] to have a break with my career, do some volunteering in my field, one thing led to another.

He has been crisscrossing the country with his team researching Timorese material and performance culture, and posting fascinating videos, images and audio on the Tatoli ba Kultura “media map”, which is fast becoming a great reference.

Some of the most compelling videos are of musical instruments which are region-specific. Take for example this video of a musical instrument called Rama from Ataúro Island:

The Timorese context is quite specific, argues Palazón:

Kultura is not quite the same as we understand culture in the western world. For Timorese, culture is all those things that comes from the past, it's a reference point to understanding where they come from. My most common question when I do fieldwork is: Why do you do this like this? And the reply is always the same: ‘Because it is the way our ancestors used to do it, and it has been passed on from generations.' Obviously they have many influences from Indonesia, China, Portugal, etc … which are also rooted in the inside of the culture and are in practice totally embedded.

He says, in relation to innovation:

Traditionally speaking, Timor is still very much a country dependent on subsistence agriculture, the economy outside the capital is very much dependent on the family, their goods, what they can exchange, their family members and their incomes, and how these are distributed among who they choose in relation to their own traditions and beliefs. So in a way it is very conservative - not politically speaking - but because changing things implies a serious risk that many people cannot afford […] Nevertheless inside the traditional system there are people who are more progressive.

Ultimately, Palazón hopes that a school of creative industries would among other things generate employment through the rise of a “creative class”, increase small business development, and boost tourism.

Tatoli ba Kultura has the support of Griffiths University in Queensland, Australia and a number of institutional donors. Palazón paraphrases Griffiths Professor Tony Fry, who says, “Timor has two national resources: oil and culture. Oil will not last forever, on the contrary, culture will last forever.”

East Timor: Petition to Keep the Country Debt-Free

Sara Moreira — Mon, 24 Oct 2011 17:35:55 +0000

The Movimento Kontra Deve (Movement Against Debt) and East Timor and Indonesia Action Network (ETAN) have launched a joint petition to “For a Debt-Free Timor-Leste”. The Government of Timor-Leste is currently free of debt. Despite current substantial income from petroleum resources, the government has announced plans to begin borrowing.

Worldwide: Dialogue and Peace Through Sport

Claire Ulrich — Sun, 16 Oct 2011 22:33:15 +0000

Joël Bouzou [fr], a bronze medalist at the 1984 Olympic Games and modern pentathlon World Champion in 1987 from France, is the founder and president of Peace and Sport, a global initiative created in 2007 whose objective is building sustainable peace through sport.

Burundi: Peace & Sport sport center in Gihanga - Image from website Peace and Sport

In countries where Peace and Sport operates, the organization supports local actors and heps them design and implement programs for vulnerable youth, while strengthening existing sports facilities damaged during armed conflicts.

In Burundi, for instance, Peace and Sport is funding the renovation of sports facilities, equipment and training for coaches. Since 2008, 300 out-of-school children in Gihanga, war orphans and children living in the streets nearby, have been receiving training in football, athletics, karate, modern biathlon, judo, volleyball, basketball and tennis. Community events are organized to foster reconciliation, education as well as the promotion of peace.

Pascal, a 16-year old former refugee and would-be football player from the Gihanga Center, is quoted [fr] on Peace and Sport's Burundi page:

Sport clears my mind. When I play football, I expend a lot of energy: suddenly, I no longer think about the death of my relatives, it removes dark thoughts from my mind. It soothes me. In addition, through football, I can communicate better with other children. I am learning how to guide them, not necessarily by giving them orders. I like that.

Peace and Sport worked in Côte d’Ivoire, even during the period of political turmoil and ethnic strife in early 2011, and continues to do so in Bouake, Abidjan (Marcory), Daloa, Man and Yamoussoukro. The organization supports local NGOs and reaches nearly 600 children through social, education and social inclusiveness programs (literacy, health, civic education).

Global Voices spoke to Joël Bouzou about his work.

Global Voices (GV): Joël Bouzou, why did you create Peace and Sport?

Joël Bouzou with Nelson Mandela - Image from Peace & Sport website

Joël Bouzou (JB): I created Peace and Sport in 2007 because, as an Olympic medalist, I am particularly attuned to the power of sport to create unity across political, social, ethnic or religious divides, which are often the core reasons for conflicts on the planet.

GV: In which countries do you operate?

JB: We have supported or coordinated the implementation of programs in seven countries: Côte d'Ivoire, Burundi, Timor Leste, Colombia, Haïti, Israël-Palestine and, more recently, in the Democratic Republic of Congo.

GV: To what extent do you think you have contributed to peace?

JB: To me, peace is not just a state of “no war”; peace has to be taught, learned and transmitted. Sport is a recognized educational tool. It is easy to implement, even when infrastructure is lacking. Sport, taught in a structured manner, helps vulnerable children regain a personal balance and to set goals and standards for themselves. They reacquire the wish to improve and to succeed. They rediscover the path to solidarity, tolerance and a sense of solidarity. They learn how to communicate, to overcome their prejudices and to engage in dialogue.

Peace and Sport, whose patron is Prince Albert II of Monaco, has also created Champions for Peace, an initiative that brings together 56 world level athletes. It grants awards to grassroot organizations or sports events, such as Skateistan, a skateboarding teaching initiative for both girls and boys in Afghanistan.

On September 21, on the occasion of World Peace Day, the Peace and Sport youth centers organized a special event, an Open Door day, to promote the values of sport.

East Timor: Tasi Mane Petroleum Infrastructure Project

Mong Palatino — Wed, 28 Sep 2011 02:21:21 +0000

A local Non-Government Organization, La'o Hamutuk, has set-up a special website page to gather information, monitor project updates, and document the resistance of a community to East Timor’s Tasi Mane Petroleum Infrastructure Project.

Tasi Mane (Male Sea) Project is among East Timor’s flagship strategic development programs:

To bring petroleum development to our shores and provide a direct economic dividend from petroleum industry activities, supporting infrastructure will be developed on the south coast of Timor-Leste. This will be led by the Tasi Mane Project, a multi-year development of three industrial clusters on the south coast which will form the backbone of the Timor-Leste petroleum industry. The project will involve development of a coastal zone from Suai to Beaço and will ensure that required infrastructure is in place to support a growing domestic petroleum industry. Tasi Mane will include the Suai Supply Base cluster, the Betano Refinery and Petrochemical Industry cluster, and the Beaço LNG-Plant cluster.

Overview of the Tasi Mane Project

East Timor is dependent on its oil revenues but economists have already advised it to diversify its economy. La'o Hamutuk thinks that Tasi Mane reflects the continuing dependence of the country on the petroleum industry:

…the 2011 state budget allocates over $30 million for the Tasi Mane project, more than twice as much as the Ministry of Agriculture. We lamented the nearly exclusive focus on the petroleum industry (and resulting lost opportunities to explore other possibilities for economic development).

Since there is consensus that Timor-Leste needs to move away from oil-dependency in the long-term, we are disappointed that petroleum processing is the only industrial development discussed. What about agricultural processing, or light industry to replace imported products? The capital-intensive oil industry will provide few jobs for anyone, including Timorese. Allocating most of our intellectual and financial resources to the petroleum sector obstructs moving to a non-oil economy after oil and gas reserves are used up in 13 years.

The group is concerned that a large amount of public money has been allotted to a single project:

We also wonder about the economic viability of the Tasi Mane project, given that no private sector investors have shown interest. From an investment perspective, the returns may not justify the amount of public money being expended

It also doubts if the project will generate enough number of jobs for the local population:

…nothing is said about how many jobs these projects will provide for Timorese workers, how much land they will take from uses such as agriculture and fishing, how many people will have to be displaced, or how much revenue they will generate for the state.

If Parliament does not receive such information in a credible and accessible form, we urge you not to give the Government a “blank check” for a project which may turn out to be useless or have negligible benefits

Based on the government’s Procurement Portal, most of the companies which signified intention to participate in the program are foreign companies. One of the qualified firms, TOKE OIL & GAS SA, received a contract worth US$6,639,517.

Community assembly about the project. Image by laohamutuk.org.

The Tasi Mane became controversial because many communities will be affected and displaced by the project. One community member, Manuel da Costa, clarifies that the people are not against development:

…the south coast land will be a Promised Land for Timor-Leste's development, but we children of Betano will become victims of development. We from Betano support development, but our needs must be considered.

The Betano community has already agreed to give up four hectares of their land to the government but it protested the occupation of their other lands:

The People of Betano, Aldeia Bemeta months ago offered four hectares of their land to the Government in order to construct a heavy oil power station. Recently the Government contracted Tinolina Construction Ltd, to prepare the site. During this process they occupied more land.

Because this occupation of land was more than the original agreement between the Government and the Community, the community began to organize themselves as is their right, consecrated in the Constitution as People of an “independent nation”.

The Government and the Company showed a lack of transparency and much manipulation of facts throughout the entire process, and there are many inconsistencies in their story.

When they protested, the action was violently dispersed by the police:

Because of this the community carried out a peaceful action in the field. However the community suffered violent actions from the Police who went to intervene and prevent this peaceful demonstration