Global Voices

English

The world is talking, are you listening?

The East Timor Law and Justice Bulletin features the worsening drug trafficking problem in Timor Leste. It quoted a government report which recognized that the country is being used as a “transit zone for criminals smuggling drugs into both Indonesia and Australia.”

Julio Gil da Silva Guterres writes about Timor Leste's application to join the Association of Southeast Asian Nations or ASEAN. He warns that “ASEAN without Timor Leste is the same as a state without sovereignty.”

Olavio Quintas, from the eastern tip of Timor, expresses his frustration with “development” in his country to Radio Liberdade Dili. He says “Timorese people have become observers to foreigners’ investments” lamenting the lack of employment for young people, as investors and government do not trust Timorese to do the smallest tasks.

The La'o Hamutuk NGO links to an editorial of the influential Petroleum Economist which discusses the problems faced by East Timor's economy:

Timor-Leste was once seen as the poster child for developing nations. It had natural resources, a comprehensive legal framework covering their extraction and an oil fund. Now, almost 11 years after attaining independence, the country better resembles a problem child.