Today About Timor!

East Timor teachers back in classroom

2009-11-13T00:55:00.001+09:00

Mudgeee Guardian and Gulgong Advertiser

BY LYNN PINKERTON After working with the Mudgee community to raise $40000 to build the St Francis of Assisi school in Fatuberliu East Timor two years ago, ...

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A free Timor, but the price is high

2009-08-22T19:06:00.002+09:00

August 22, 2009

East Timor voted for independence 10 years ago, but its people await a better life, writes Lindsay Murdoch in Dili.

The first time I saw Pedro Unamet Remejio he had just poked his head into the world as gunfire was echoing around the United Nations compound in Dili.

It was at 3.15 am, probably the darkest hour of six long nights we spent huddled together as pro-Indonesia militias looted, raped and killed on Dili's streets. I was dozing two metres away on a concrete floor.

Pedro did not cry much and his mother, Joanna Remejio, muffled the pain of the birth of her third child, so I never woke.

Instead of opening my eyes to see killers from over the razor wire fence, as I had feared, I saw a beaming Mrs Remejio nursing her newborn son on a piece of cardboard. ''I am very happy my baby is alive,'' she told me.

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Tough 10 years for East Timor

2009-08-22T00:28:00.001+09:00

Lindsay Murdoch, Dili
August 22, 2009
THE first time I saw Pedro, he had just poked his head into the world as gunfire was echoing around the United Nations compound in Dili.

It was at 3.15am, probably the darkest hour of six long nights we spent huddled together as pro-Indonesia militias looted, raped and killed on Dili's streets.

I was dozing two metres away on a concrete floor.

Pedro didn't cry very much and his mother, Joanna Remejio, muffled the pain of her third child's birth, so I never woke.

Instead of opening my eyes to see killers over the razor-wire fence, as I had feared, I saw a beaming Mrs Remejio nursing her newborn son on a piece of cardboard.

''I am very happy my baby is alive,'' she told me.

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CHED chief faces graft raps over foreign student program

2009-08-21T17:23:00.000+09:00

MANILA - A concerned citizen has filed graft charges against the chairman of the Commission on Higher Education for illegally benefiting from a foreign student enrolment program between the Philippine government and the Democratic Republic of East Timor.

According to the complaint filed before the Office of the Ombudsman, CHED Chairman Emmanuel Angeles is guilty of violating of the Anti-Graft and Practices Act when he allowed 36 students to enroll in the Angeles University Foundation in Angeles City, which is owned by his family.

The Philippine and East Timor governments earlier signed an agreement to allow Timor-Leste scholar students to take up college courses in qualified colleges and universities in the Philippines. The Timor-Leste government would pay $22,000 per scholar, which covers the student’s tuition and board and lodging for four years.

Last June, 109 East-Timorese students enrolled in various Philippine universities including Adamson University, Mapua Institute of Technology, and Centro Escolar University.

With 36 East-Timorese scholars, the Angeles University Foundation cornered the most number of scholars from East Timor and will earn more than P37 million from the foreign nation.

Source: http://www.abs-cbnnews.com/nation/metro-manila/08/20/09/ched-chief-faces-graft-raps-over-foreign-student-program

Battle for East Timor fought in Canberra's corridors

2009-08-21T17:18:00.000+09:00

ROBERT Connolly's film Balibo graphically reconstructs the murder by Indonesian special forces, on October 16, 1975, of Greg Shackleton, Gary Cunningham, Tony Stewart, Malcolm Rennie and Brian Peters because they had tried to capture on film Indonesia's covert invasion of East Timor.

It does this through the story of Roger East, another Australian journalist who, having gone to find out what had happened to the Balibo five, was himself summarily shot by Indonesian soldiers on the docks in Dili on December 7, 1975, in the first hours of Indonesia's conventional invasion of East Timor.

Neither the Indonesian nor the Australian government has been keen to see this story publicly aired. But what the film misses is that the battle for East Timor was waged for many years in the corridors of Canberra.

There has been a long and complex debate within Australian government circles since the 1940s about how to come to terms with Indonesian nationalism and the ambition of the Javanese to control the entire archipelago that had made up the Dutch East Indies.

Canberra opted to support Indonesian nationalists against the Dutch in 1948 but for two decades after that struggled to come to terms with Sukarno, his loose alliance with the powerful Indonesian Communist Party (PKI) and his tendency to resort to force during territorial disputes. When Suharto rose to power in 1965-66, destroying the PKI and overthrowing Sukarno, there was enormous relief in Canberra. Thereafter, there was a strong disposition to work with Suharto, a feeling that was reciprocated in Jakarta.

Crucial to Canberra's perceptions of what scope it had for containing Indonesian territorial ambitions was the case of Dutch New Guinea (Papua). A secret study by Army Intelligence in 1958 advised that Australia's national interest would be best served by inducing the Dutch to co-operate in developing New Guinea and giving the whole of it independence eventually, as a unified and economically viable Melanesian state.

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New appeal to help disabled East Timorese children

2009-08-19T17:07:00.001+09:00

Paul Stewart, brother of Balibo Five journalist Tony Stewart, has launched a national appeal to help raise money for a unique group of women helping children with disabilities in East Timor.

Stewart has turned his support toward helping hundreds of children with disabilities by raising vital funds to purchase essential equipment for a small group of Timorese Nuns working in the region.

The money raised will go toward helping the ALMA (Association of Lay Missionaries for the poor and the disabled) Nuns, a small group caring for disabled children in the area.

All fully qualified physiotherapists, in addition to providing free therapy the ALMA Nuns are also teaching parents basic physio techniques to enable them to continue to help their own children to improve movement and flexibility.

“Raising a disabled child is tough enough in Australia, but in one of the world’s newest and poorest nations, it’s just a nightmare,” said Stewart.

“These four amazing women are fighting a constant battle against the odds to treat the number of disabled Timorese children who, in their society are described as ‘the lowest of the low’.”

However, the nuns are limited by their small numbers, as well as a lack of adequate equipment.

Thus, Stewart is calling for Australians to make donations to “help the Nuns in their vital work.”

Source : http://thirdsectormagazine.com.au/news/new_appeal_to_help_disabled_east_timorese_children/004621/

Navy Delivers Vehicles and Stores To Timor Leste

2009-08-19T00:01:00.001+09:00

His Excellency the President of the Democratic Republic of Timor Leste, Jose Ramos-Horta with the Commanding Officer of HMNZS CANTERBURY - Commander Jim Gilmour.

For the first time a New Zealand warship has entered Dili’s small harbour to offload vehicles and equipment for New Zealand and Australian forces in the International Stabilisation Force.

HMNZS CANTERBURY was the largest military vessel to be seen in the Timor Leste capital for a long time and she attracted a high level of interest including a visit from the President of the Democratic Republic of Timor Leste, Jose Ramos-Horta.

With this visit New Zealand’s Amphibious Sea Support Vessel HMNZS CANTERBURY has successfully completed another pivotal stage in developing and showcasing her amphibious versatility and her significant ability in demonstrating New Zealand’s contribution to regional security.

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Remains identified as Dili massacre victims

2009-08-18T22:53:00.001+09:00

Lindsay Murdoch, Darwin
August 19, 2009

VICTORIAN forensic experts have identified the remains of three victims killed in an Indonesian army massacre 18 years ago in East Timor.

Confirmation of the identities ends an agonising wait for the victims' families, who have been searching for their loved ones since Indonesian soldiers opened fire on East Timorese mourners in Dili's Santa Cruz cemetery on November 12, 1991.

It followed years of preliminary detective work into accounts of what happened to the victims and forensic investigation by a team of experts led by Dr Soren Blau, a forensic anthropologist at the Victorian Institute of Forensic Medicine.

Up to 200 people are believed to have been killed during a funeral for a man killed by Indonesian soldiers.

But until Timorese investigators and the forensic team unearthed mass graves at Hera, 15 kilometres east of Dili in March, none of the bodies of the victims had been found.

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Matheus Guedes: From flight to fight

2009-08-18T20:28:00.001+09:00

With his generous smiles and amiable demeanor, Matheus B. C. Guedes is a man with many friends. But his ongoing struggle to help refugees means he also has many enemies.

"I don't care what people say, I just want to defend the rights of refugees from the former East Timor," says the former combatant from East Timor, one of the many made a refugee after opposing East Timor's independence.

The 1999 referendum in East Timor that saw the province become an independent state called Timor Leste was a major event in Indonesia's recent history, colored by the tragedy of those caught up in conflict.

Matheus Guedes was a witness to that history. The youngest of eight children in a coffee farming family chose to join the Aitarak organization (which means "thorn" in Tetun, the Timorese language), first as a computer technician in Dili, to help fight for citizens who supported integration with Indonesia.

"I call it a fight, because we defended what we considered to be true," he says.

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Kosovo, East Timor, R2P, and Ian Williams

2009-08-18T17:55:00.000+09:00

In a discussion of Responsibility to Protect (R2P) in Foreign Policy In Focus, Ian Williams vehemently denies my uncontroversial observation, well-known to everyone familiar with the Kosovo events, that "NATO air raids on Serbia [beginning March 24 1999] actually precipitated the worst atrocities in Kosovo." He declares that this familiar observation "isn't only untrue but morally unpalatable in its spurious causality, like claiming that the British air raids on Germany precipitated the Nazi gas chambers."

Williams doesn't explain what he regards as untrue and morally offensive, so let us review carefully what he should certainly know well, and ask what might support his charges.

There is massive evidence about Kosovo in impeccable Western sources, never questioned. That includes two compilations of documents by the State Department, detailed reports of the Organization of Security and Cooperation in Europe Kosovo Verification Mission monitors, a British parliamentary inquiry, reports of NATO, the UN, and more. As I wrote in the paper on R2P to which Williams refers, the results are unequivocal: The worst atrocities began as the bombing started (to be precise, there was a slight increase a few days earlier when the monitors were withdrawn, over Serbian objections, in preparation for the bombings). On March 27, NATO Commander General Wesley Clark informed the press that the vicious Serbian reaction was "entirely predictable." He added shortly after that the sharp escalation of atrocities had been "fully anticipated" and was "not in any way" a concern of the political leadership.

Clark clarified the matter further in his memoirs. He reports that on March 6, 1999, he had informed Secretary of State Madeline Albright that if NATO proceeded to bomb Serbia, "almost certainly [the Serbs] will attack the civilian population," and NATO will be able to do nothing to prevent that reaction. Correspondingly, the Milosevic indictment kept to crimes after the bombing, with a single exception, which we know could not have offended the consciences of the United States, the United Kingdom, and their supporters, as discussed in my R2P paper.

We may ask, then, what is untrue and morally offensive in my repeating uncontroversial facts that Williams doesn't happen to like. Was it untrue and morally offensive, for example, for General Clark to inform the White House and the press that the bombing would precipitate the worst atrocities — correctly, as it quickly turned out?

Considerably more remarkable even than these apologetics for NATO is what Williams says about the crimes in East Timor at the same time. These crimes were far worse than anything reported in Kosovo prior to the NATO bombing, and had a background far more grotesque than anything claimed in the Balkans. He writes that "Chomsky quite rightly raised the question of why there was no intervention in East Timor." It would have been outlandish to raise that question, and I did not do so. Since Williams favors Holocaust analogies, it would be like raising the question of why Nazis didn't intervene to stop the slaughter of Jews by local forces in the regions they occupied.

The question doesn't arise, and for a simple reason: The United States and United Kingdom had been intervening for decades, providing decisive support for atrocities committed against Kosovars, and continued to do so right through the escalation of crimes in 1999, even after the vast destruction in early September. There was no secret about the reasons. In my R2P paper I quoted National Security Council advisor Sandy Berger who, after the September atrocities, dismissed the matter by saying "I don't think anybody ever articulated a doctrine which said that we ought to intervene wherever there's a humanitarian problem" — in this case, a "problem" we are directly expediting. Britain and Australia reacted the same way. As discussed further in the same paper, there would have been no need for any form of intervention: it would have been enough for the United States, United Kingdom, and their allies to have withdrawn their decisive participation in Indonesia's crimes. That was demonstrated a few days after Berger's dismissal of the "problem" when, under strong domestic and international pressure, Clinton finally informed the Indonesian generals that the game was over and they instantly withdrew, allowing a UN peacekeeping force to enter unopposed — a step that could have been taken at any time during the 25-year horror story.

It is understandable that Williams doesn't like to look at the blood on his hands, but it cannot be so simply washed or wished away.

If Williams really is uninformed about the topics he is addressing, he can find easily accessible sources that review them in some detail, including my book A New Generation Draws the Line (Verso, 2000) and a great deal more since.

On R2P, I have nothing to add beyond what is in the R2P paper. As pointed out there, the version of R2P adopted by the 2005 UN summit affirms what had already been accepted, at most with a shift of emphasis, which is why it was so easily adopted. There is, however, a radically different version of R2P, presented by the 2001 Evans Commission, which adds a provision allowing "regional" organizations to act without Security Council authorization in their "area of jurisdiction." That provision is sharply distinct from the African Union (AU) exception, which permits AU intervention within the AU. In practice, the Evans extension refers solely to NATO, which claims an extremely broad "area of jurisdiction." The Evans version of R2P simply reinstates "the so-called 'right' of humanitarian intervention," which has always been vigorously opposed by the non-aligned countries, the traditional victims.

Much of the discussion underway evades or obscures this crucial distinction, as well as the fact, which I also discussed, that the great powers right now are adopting Berger's principle, refusing to exercise the responsibility they like to orate about, as could be done in some cases in quite straightforward ways. I also discussed the AU exception, and why it differs so radically from the OAS Charter. Judging by the irrelevant question on non-intervention he raises, Williams did not hear or read that section of my talk. I cannot, of course, take responsibility for his baseless beliefs about my views on this and other matters.

Noam Chomsky is a noted linguist, author, foreign policy expert, and contributor to Foreign Policy In Focus.

Source:
http://www.fpif.org/fpiftxt/6363

SA, Timor-Leste to strengthen ties

2009-08-17T20:52:00.000+09:00

Compiled by the Government Communication and Information System
Date: 17 Aug 2009
Title: SA, Timor-Leste to strengthen ties
--------------------

Pretoria - International Relations Minister Maite Nkoana-Mashabane and her Timor-Leste counterpart Dr Zacarias da Costa are expected to foster relations when they meet later today.

Dr Da Costa is on an official visit to South Africa. His visit takes place within the context of South-South cooperation with relations between the two countries dating back over decades.

According to a statement issued by the department, the bilateral meeting between the two ministers seeks to identify areas of cooperation for the benefit of both countries.

"South Africa has played a critical role in assisting with nation building and the development of democratic institutions to further strengthen democracy and good governance in East Timor," the department said.

South Africa also stands ready to assist the government of Timor-Leste with reconstruction and development of the country.

It is expected that some of the priority areas that the ministers will focus on include capacity building with emphasis on the justice system, security sector reform, infrastructure development, education and skills training.

On the multilateral level, South Africa, during its term as Non-Permanent Member of the United Nations Security Council in 2007 to 2008, was designated as the lead Nation on Timor-Leste.

It was during this time that the Timorese government invited South Africa to send observer missions to the Presidential and Parliamentary elections respectively. -BuaNews

Source: http://www.buanews.gov.za/news/09/09081710551004

South Africa - Minister Nkoana-Mashabane to host Timor-Leste Foreign Affairs Minister Dr Zacarias da Costa, 17 August 2009

2009-08-17T17:24:00.001+09:00

Pretoria- International Relations and Cooperation Minister Maite Nkoana-Mashabane will on Monday, 17 August 2009 host her counterpart Timor-Leste Foreign Affairs Minister, Dr Zacarias da Costa at the Presidential Guest House in Pretoria. Dr Zacarias da Costa is on an official visit to South Africa from 17 -21 August 2009.

This visit by Timor-Leste Foreign Affairs Minister takes place within the context of South-South cooperation with relations between the two countries dating back over decades. Accordingly, the bilateral meeting between Minister Nkoana-Mashabane and Minister da Costa seeks to build on this solid foundation by exploring and identifying areas of cooperation for the benefit of both countries.

South Africa has played a critical role in assisting with nation building and the development of democratic institutions to further strengthen democracy and good governance in East Timor.

In addition South Africa stands ready to assist the Government of Timor-Leste with reconstruction and development of the country and it is expected that some of the priority areas that the Ministers will focus on include:

Capacity building with emphasis on the justice system;
Security sector reform;
Infrastructure development;
Education and skills training; and
Youth Development
On the multilateral level, South Africa, during its term as Non-Permanent Member of the UN Security Council in 2007-8, was designated as the lead Nation on Timor-Leste. It was during this time that the Timorese Government invited South Africa to send observer missions to the Presidential and Parliamentary elections respectively.

MEDIA PROGRAME

14:30 Media arrives for photo opportunity

15:00 Minister Nkoana-Mashabane receives Minister Da Costa at the Presidential Guest house.

Photo Opportunity

15:05 Opening Remarks

Media in attendance

15:15 Minister Nkoana-Mashabane and Minister da Costa are taken to the meeting room for bilateral meeting

17:15 Close of meeting

For more information contact Nomfanelo Kota on 082 459 3787
Issued by the Department of International Relations and Cooperation
Private Bag x152
Pretoria
0001

16 August 2009

Source: South Africa - International Relation&Cooperation

SpecialReport: Changing face of Timor Leste-RI border

2009-08-17T17:08:00.002+09:00

Since Timor Leste (formerly East Timor) voted for independence from Indonesia 10 years ago, during a UN-sponsored referendum in 1999, Jakarta's interest in development along the border areas has continued to increase.

This has occurred despite frequent complaints over technical problems, such as disruptions to communication equipment at Indonesian military (TNI) posts in Oepoli, Aplala and Napan, which border with Oecusi district in Timor Leste.

The Pancasila eagle coat of arms installed over the border entrance gateway that reads "Welcome to Indonesia" has not lost its glory.

However, the condition of the border crossing is vastly different from a decade ago.

The makeshift barracks accommodating border security troops have been refurbished into a grand building.

The floor, which was previously made out of dirt, has now been paved with ceramic tiles.

A number of supporting facilities, such as immigration, customs and animal and plant quarantine posts, as well as the police posts, have been refurbished, apart from the barracks that once housed 650 TNI personnel.

"All the buildings were built by the central government," said Wirasakti 161 Kupang military commander Col. Dodi Usodo Hargo.

The smiling faces and the polite greetings of officers working at the border entry point are another sign of the changes the area has experienced.

"Previously, the situation in Mota'ain was eerie, but now the situation is very different," said a missionary from Mota'ain, East Timor.

The condition along the 300-km border is becoming more conducive to security.

"I often communicate with officers from the Policia Patrolha Fronteiras (East Timor border police)," said TNI border security force commander Lt. Col. Yunianto.

However, CIS director Winston Rondo said that he thought something was missing from the peaceful relations in the border area - namely a humanistic approach to border control.

"Previously, family gatherings were common on the border, but now they have been prohibited due to illegal levies," said Winston.

Consequently, family gatherings have become covert meetings along the border, with people often using secret paths to meet up with family members that live on either side.

Winston said it would be better if the TNI saw the border as a peaceful zone.

"I always say, don't let tensions run high as it could complicate things. Why don't they let people cross by paying US$5, when a family member is sick for example," he said.

A simple fee could have helped facilitate economic activity in the area, especially in June and August, when former Timor Leste refugees from shelter camps crossed over to Timor Leste to harvest coffee.

During the period, the activity was carried out illegally on covert paths.

Unlike Winston, local resident Picing Palu, saw Mota'ain as a place to earn money.

He decided not to migrate to Dili, Timor Leste, with his wife and two children and to instead pursue the economic potential of the area.

"The *economic* situation is lively. Business would be good if you could open a kiosk because most of the kiosks here are located outside the neutral zone," he said.

Equipped with just a small amount of capital from his hometown, Picing started a business selling basic necessities that has become a thriving enterprise.

"I have to go to Atambua every week to buy goods to meet the needs of people crossing the border," he said.

He keeps part of the profits for growth and future investment.

He also bought a 400 square-meter plot of land located just 20 meters from the border post.

Picing has built a kiosk and a home on the plot and earns a daily profit of between Rp 300,000 and Rp 400,000, from selling various household goods, such as instant food, canned drinks, videos, cds and cell phone vouchers.

"On a good day, I can earn Rp 1 million in profit," he said.

When The Jakarta Post visited the Mota'ain border town recently, dozens of people crossing the border from the Philippines, Portugal and Indonesia were buying their basic necessities from Picing.

The presence of the Mota'ain border gateway has also become a source of income for dozens of teenage school dropouts living in the area.

Equipped with a cart only, they can earn between Rp 100,000 and Rp 300,000 per day acting as porters, earning between Rp 10,000 and Rp 50,000 each way. While those serving foreign citizens are usually paid in dollars.

"Each of us can usually bring home more than Rp 100,000 working on busy days," said Okto Bere, 27, a porter.

He said he used the money for living expenses and the needs of his daughter in Atambua.

Source: The Jakarta Post

SpecialReport: Pro-integration refugees tell of hardship

2009-08-16T19:48:00.002+09:00

Tears roll down the face of 31-year-old Maria da Corta as she relates the fate of her 13-month-old daughter, Modestina de Araujo, who doctors say is suffering from acute malnutrition.

She only has a few more days to live, they say. Maria says she is resigned to her fate.

"I have no more money and can only rely on donations while I continue praying," says Maria, who lives in the home of a local resident in Oebelo, East Kupang, East Nusa Tenggara.

Maria is a former East Timorese refugee living in uncertainty. Since leaving East Timor for Indonesia in 1999, Maria says her family has not been able to rise from poverty, especially since the death of her husband, Domingus da Costa, from a lung disease.

At the time, the family was looking for a place to stay. Maria then lodged with one of her relatives.

The house in which Maria, from Viqueque, East Timor, and her six children live is a modest one, with a thatched-grass roof, rickety wooden walls and dirt floor. Located in a resettlement area, the house sits at a tilt.

There is an outhouse behind it and a porch at the front.

Winston Rondo, director of the Center for Internally Displaced Persons Service (CIS), says the hardship experienced by Maria and her family has gone on for years.

"Just from their names, the new citizens or Indonesian citizens of East Timorese descent already face discrimination," Winston tells The Jakarta Post.

CIS Timor says the former East Timor refugees have been deprived of their rights and are now barely surviving.

The option to return and become East Timorese citizens is no longer possible. CIS data shows the Indonesian government stopped providing relief aid to them in 2002.

The resettlement program, initiated by various parties, including the Indonesian Military (TNI), has not been effective. The construction of resettlement homes has led to land disputes between the refugees and local residents.

Winston says the resettlement program in Oebelo, Kupang, is one of the worst examples. The construction project, initially funded by Japanese aid worth Rp 51 billion (US$5.1 million), complete with a clean water facility and a church, was part of a compensation program for local residents, but sparked problems when the resettlement homes were built too close to local homes.

The resettlement site in Weliura, Atambua, revealed 4-by-6-meter homes built in a hilly area. The road to the site was built of limestone, which became slippery when it rained. The resettlement site was not connected to tap water or the power grid.

"We built all the facilities ourselves, including a school in the middle of the complex," says local resident Esperanza Lopes, adding elementary school students in Weliura will begin the new school year there.

Problems also arise when the former East Timorese seek jobs. In East Timor, they cultivated their own farms, but not in East Nusa Tenggara. A few lease farmland from local residents, but many cannot afford it.

They also claim to be discriminated against by the local community, who they say stigmatize them as being "rough and intolerant".

"Jealousy also prevails among the local community against the former East Timorese refugees, due to the various assistance they received," says Dionato Moriera, a CIS Timor worker in Atambua, citing the UNHCR aid program in the form of fishing boats for refugees in Lospalos, Baukau and Viqueque.

"The assistance has fueled the inter-group conflict," Winston says.

More efforts to aid the former East Timorese require the resolution of underlying issues, the CIS says, adding land negotiations based on traditional approaches to local residents is needed to minimize disputes and end stigmatization.

This way, the CIS goes on, stories like those of Maria da Costa and her six children will no longer be repeated.

Source: Jakarta Post

SpecialReport: Fight not yet over for Ex-Timorese refugees

2009-08-15T19:43:00.002+09:00

The events that took place 10 years ago, in September 1999, remain vivid in the mind of Mateus Guedes, a former member of the pro-Indonesia Aitarak militia in Dili.

Mateus and tens of thousands of East Timorese citizens in favor of integration with Indonesia left for neighboring East Nusa Tenggara province in the wake of an independence referendum.

In the UN-sponsored referendum in then East Timor, an overwhelming majority of people voted for independence from Indonesia.

"Our only choice was to flee," Mateus tells The Jakarta Post.

The incident 10 years ago - 23 years into Indonesia's annexation of East Timor - was bloody. East Timorese residents were split into two groups: those in favor of integration and pro-independence, with the former carrying out massacres against the latter.

The pro-integration groups were affiliated with the Integration Defenders Front (PPI), and comprised the militias Alfa (in Lautem), Saca/Sera (Bacau), Makikit (Viqueque), Ablai (Manufahi), AHI (Aileu), Mahidi (Ainaro), Laksaur (Covalima), Aitarak (Dili), Sakunar (Ambeno), BMP (Liquisa), Halilintar (Bobonaro), Jati Merah Putih (Lospalos) and Darah Merah Putih (Ermera), while the pro-independence groups joined the Timor Leste political party's military wing.

At least 100,000 pro-integration refugees fled to East Nusa Tenggara.

Some of them set up shelters in a number of areas in Belu district, while others sought refuge in North Central Timor and Kupang.

They occupied vacant land in those areas, including farmland, public land and hilly areas.

Mateus opted to live in Atambua in Belu district with his extended family, who had been living there since 1975.

Living in a new area and starting from scratch was a problem for the former East Timorese then.

Their claims to being refugees was overlooked, with the national political scene in disarray. A high incidence of violence gripped these shelters and the border area, leaving many casualties.

In a meeting in December 2000, pro-integration leaders Eurico Guterres, from the Aitarak militia, and Cansio Lopes de Calvalho, from the Mahidi militia, insisted the government handle the refugee issue more seriously.

The government eventually provided the refugees with homes through a resettlement program in a number of areas.

After 10 years, most of the refugees claim to still live in misery.

"People from the outside only see that they've been provided with 6-by-6-meter homes," says Eurico, the mastermind of the massacre and destruction of Dili just after the referendum.

"The government is being halfhearted in resolving the issue. The resettlement homes are poorly built in a slipshod manner."

In Oebelo, Kupang, the refugees live in very modest resettlement homes, with dirt floors and wooden planks as roofs.

One water pump is shared among hundreds of people there.

The land, some of them claim, was not given to them for free.

Domingus Soares, a former PPI member living in the camp, says he is still paying for the land he now occupies.

"I have to set aside all my earnings as a farmhand to pay for the house, and not for my family, for years," he tells the Post.

Illness has plagued the family of the former Aitarak militia man. One of his children, less than 5 years old, suffers from malnutrition.

Other problems the refugees claim to suffer include land disputes with local residents.

The former East Timorese also have to pay for having leased the land for the past 10 years. If they refuse to pay, they say, they face eviction.

"People don't know about this," says Eurico, the war criminal convicted by the Indonesian government.

"I want the public to know. Something must be done about this," adds the military-backed militia leader who has never served time in jail.

Similar complaints abound in Belu regency, especially in Atambua. The CIS Timor refugee coordinator in Atambua, Meri, says 20,000 refugees currently live in Atambua, 5,000 of them in shelters.

"The rest live in the resettlements," she says.

She adds former East Timorese have to deal with at least three major issues - land and property disputes, stigma as former East Timor citizens and jealousy.

"The number of institutions concerned with their plight is very limited," Meri says.

Pro-independence East Timorese will celebrate 10 years of freedom from Indonesia later this month in Dili, while their rivals who opted to remain with Indonesia and fled to neighboring East Nusa Tenggara are still camped out in refugee shelters there. The Jakarta Post's ID Nugroho and Yemris Fointuna visited the refugee camps on the border between East Timor (now Timor Leste) and Indonesia from July 17-24, 2009.

Source: Jakarta Post

Timor gears up for gruelling cycle race challenge

2009-08-14T17:17:00.002+09:00

DILI — East Timor President Jose Ramos-Horta has thrown down the gauntlet to foreign cyclists ahead of the inaugural Tour de Timor and warned the race will be one of the toughest in the world.
The tour from August 24 to 28 will be a highlight of festivities surrounding the 10th anniversary of East Timor's vote for independence from Indonesia, and the biggest sporting event the tiny country has ever held.
The president has been enthusiastically promoting the race, which the government is hoping will boost not only tourism but also the fledgling nation's image as a peaceful country after years of unrest.
The Tour will be "one of the most challenging bike races anywhere in the world, probably tougher than the Tour de France", he said.

read more ...

Film Balibo balances drama, politics of East Timor invasion

2009-08-14T17:13:00.001+09:00

The film Balibo is a portrayal of the true story of the killing of five Australian-based journalists during Indonesia's invasion of East Timor in 1975, but almost 35-years-on the truth of what actually happened is still not fully known.

The Indonesian government insists that the five were caught in a cross-fire between Indonesian troops and Fretelin forces. In 2007, an Australian coronial inquiry found that the journalists had been deliberately killed by Indonesian troops. Anthony La Paglia plays the lead character in the film, as well as being one of the executive producers and a driving force in getting the movie made.

Presenter: Fran Kelly
Speaker: Anthony La Paglia, Australian actor and executive producer of the film Balibo

Source: http://www.radioaustralia.net.au/connectasia/stories/200908/s2655931.htm

EAST TIMOR: Tackling Corruption Head On

2009-08-14T00:42:00.001+09:00

By Matt Crook

DILI, Aug 13 (IPS) - After a string of corruption allegations were levelled against Xanana Gusmao’s coalition government, a civil society organization in East Timor Thursday launched an anti-corruption campaign it says will help tackle East Timor's endemic corruption head on.

The National Campaign Against Corruption, spearheaded by non-governmental organization Lalenok Ba Ema Hotu (LABEH), will use local radio and community-level meetings to raise awareness of corruption issues in East Timor’s 13 districts, says Christopher Samson, LABEH executive director. The campaign will have a "powerful and positive impact on the government" he says, because "only a fool will steal when the people are watching him".

"We will distribute it to the people so that people can listen to what is happening in their own district to give them the power and awareness that something is happening in the country," he told IPS.

Students, journalists, members of the public and representatives from non-governmental organizations gathered at the LABEH office in the Comoro neighbourhood for the campaign launch and a discussion about corruption.
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Timor-Leste to become role model for post-conflict countries: president

2009-08-13T22:12:00.001+09:00

DILI, Aug. 13 (Xinhua) -- Timor-Leste President Jose Ramos Horta said here on Thursday that Timor-Leste will become a peaceful country that hopefully can be a role model for the countries that had been going through conflicts and violence in their history.

Speaking at a session to commemorate the referendum day on Aug.30, 1999 whose result split the territory from Indonesia, the president said that each citizen of Timor-Leste has the obligation to prevent the violence from occurring again.

"It would be the test for all of us. I hope that peace will grow among us and develop well among the public," the president said.

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Solidarity Movements to Celebrate Tenth Anniversary of Timor Referendum

2009-08-12T22:21:00.000+09:00

2009-08-12 06:40:17 - Timorese and International Activists will gather in Dili to reflect on the past and plan for the future

For further information:

Charles Scheiner charlie@laohamutuk.org +670-734-0965
isto dos Santos lanarra.del@gmail.com +670-726-6564

On 30 August, 1999, hundreds of thousands of Timorese voters braved an Indonesian-directed terror campaign to cast ballots for independence in a U.N.-organized referendum. This event, which ended Indonesia’s 24-year illegal, brutal military occupation, led to the creation of the Democratic Republic of Timor-Leste as the first new nation of the

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Order of Australia petition for East Timor

2009-08-12T17:41:00.002+09:00

Some 14,500 people have signed a petition organised by the Mary MacKillop East Timor Mission supporting the nomination of Timor-Leste for the award of Companion of the Order of Australia (Honorary). It will be presented to parliament next month.

In nominating the country, the Mission said that such an award would recognise "the unique contribution of the Timorese people to Australian soldiers during World War II," the Mission said in a press statement. The petition will be presented to the House of Representatives.

"The loyalty and care given to Australians by the Timorese is unique in the annals of war. The nation of Timor-Leste certainly deserves our tribute," the Mission quotes Labor politician Tom Uren saying.

"At the very least, 40,000 Timorese civilians died as a result of their assistance to Australia," said Sister Susan Connelly of the Mary MacKillop East Timor Mission.

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U.S. Activists to Gather in Timor-Leste for Anniversary of Historic Independence Vote

2009-08-12T17:34:00.001+09:00

2009-08-11 17:03:16 - Members of the U.S.-based East Timor and Indonesia Action Network (ETAN) will gather in Timor-Leste later this month to commemorate the tenth anniversary of the country's historic vote for independence.

Contact: John M. Miller +1-917-690-4391 (New York, before August 14);
+670-746-7636 (Dili, from August 17)

ETAN to Gather in Timor-Leste for Anniversary of Historic Independence Vote

"In Dili we will demonstrate our ongoing commitment to the Timorese people," said John M. Miller, ETAN's National Coordinator. "We will join with Timorese and international activists to look back at the East Timorese struggle

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Balibo was not just the best Aussie film I've seen in years

2009-08-11T17:47:00.002+09:00

Which is why it's so odd that Balibo is still reverbing around in my brain two days after I saw it at the closing sesh of the Brissy International Film Festival. The dramatization of Indonesia's invasion of East Timor in 1975, and the subsequent murder of five newsmen from Channels Seven and Nine - and the killing of indy newshound Roger East, whom everyone forgets - is still echoing away inside me. Whereas two minutes after I left Transformers I couldn't remember a single thing about it besides a vague dissatisfaction with Megan Fox for wearing too many clothes.

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East Timor’s bloody nightmare

2009-08-10T18:02:00.000+09:00

Review by Barry Healy & Vannessa Hearman
9 August 2009

BaliboDirected by Robert ConnollyBased on the book by Jill JolliffeIn cinemas from August 13

Robert Connolly’s Balibo is an account of the murder of five journalists who went to East Timor to cover Indonesia’s illegal cross-border incursions into the then-Portuguese territory on October 16, 1975 in the border town of Balibo.

The five newsmen were Greg Shackleton (played by Damon Gameau), Tony Stewart (Mark Winter), Gary Cunningham (Gyton Grantley), Brian Peters (Thomas Wright) and Malcolm Rennie (Nathan Phillips).

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Vietnam beat East Timor 3-1 at Thong Nhat Stadium

2009-08-10T17:50:00.003+09:00

Vietnam vs Australia in U19 SEA Football Champs semis

Vietnam beat East Timor 3-1 at Thong Nhat Stadium in HCM City on August 8 to top Group B and will clash against much tougher rivals Australia in the first semi-finals.
Since Vietnam had already qualified for the semis after winning its first two games, Coach Vo Hoang Buu used 7 substitutes, offering them a chance to garner experience in an international match.

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East Timor boy to go back home with a supple spine

2009-08-10T17:45:00.003+09:00

RESTORING THE SMILE: Director of Ganga Hospital S. Rajasekaran (centre) and spine surgeon Ajoy Prasad Shetty (right) with Alberto Paiva Matos Freitas of East Timor after his corrective spine surgery under Project Swasam at the hospital.
COIMBATORE: Alberto Paiva Matos Freitas cannot certainly understand the meaning of the Tamil word ‘swasam’; the 16-year-old boy from East Timor does not even know English.

But, in a couple of days, he will take back home the spirit of Project Swasam, a community outreach programme of Ganga Hospital to cure poor people of spinal problems caused by tuberculosis.

Surgeries, however tough and expensive, are done free of cost under this project.

The dimuntive boy was referred to the hospital here by the Australasian College of Surgeons as part of their outreach programme.

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Timor-Leste : The edge of reality

2009-08-08T01:24:00.002+09:00

Anthony LaPaglia strived for truth about the Balibo Five, writes Philippa Hawker.

‘‘IT DIDN’T matter to me what size the role was,’’ says Anthony LaPaglia. ‘‘I’d already committed to playing it.’’

He’s talking about journalist Roger East, the real-life character he portrays in Balibo, a powerful new Australian feature that premiered two weeks ago at the opening night of the Melbourne International Film Festival and which engages, viscerally and thoughtfully, with history, politics and individual experience.

It was LaPaglia who set the project in train, several years ago, after reading Cover-Up, a book by journalist Jill Jolliffe that follows events during the Indonesian invasion of East Timor in 1975.

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Timor-Leste; Rising in the east

2009-08-07T16:52:00.002+09:00

ROOM 11 at the Hotel Turismo, Dili, 2008.
Author of Shooting Balibo, Tony Maniaty, has just checked in for work as a consultant on the film Balibo.

He is shocked to find he has been put in the same room where he stayed in 1975, when, as a young ABC journalist, Maniaty reported the death of the Australian television journalists later immortalised as the Balibo Five.

Just days before, his crew had fled Balibo when it came under heavy fire, passing his colleagues going in as they left.

The Hotel Turismo, long a haunt of journalists, is where the Balibo Five were based.

It's 33 years since his last visit but Maniaty finds that, like the rambling beachfront hotel with its perfectly preserved leafy beergarden and faded old world charm, little has changed in East Timor.

Outside the hotel the streets buzz with the four-wheel-drives of the UN and aid agencies that are helping to rebuild the fledgling nation.

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Timor-Leste: Commanding lead

2009-08-07T00:01:00.002+09:00

Oscar Isaac brings an inspirational presence to Balibo, writes Helen Barlow.

When Oscar Isaac was offered the role of Jose Ramos-Horta in Robert Connolly’s new film, Balibo, he knew nothing about East Timor’s history.

Ramos-Horta, the Nobel Peace Prize-winner and East Timor’s president, hadn’t heard of the Hispanic New York actor either. He had jokingly suggested George Clooney should play him.

Thankfully, Isaac never heard this and was up for the challenging movie, which is about as far from his other recent films, Body of Lies, Robin Hood and Agora, as you could get. "To prepare for the role, I watched a documentary called The Diplomat, which follows President Ramos-Horta’s work right up until East Timor gained its independence in 1999," Isaac explains, referring to Tom Zubrycki’s film.

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East Timor: Ricegate scandal

2009-08-06T22:03:00.000+09:00

Responding to a looming food and rice shortage last year, East Timor Prime Minister Xanana Gusmao awarded 17 companies with contracts to import rice. These contracts are now being questioned by the opposition after Radio Australia News exposed that one of the companies is partly owned by the Prime Minister’s daughter.

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East Timor Opposition Says Accused Ministers Must Go

2009-08-06T21:58:00.001+09:00

DILI (AFP)--East Timor's opposition Fretilin party called for Prime Minister Xanana Gusmao to sack his justice and finance ministers Thursday after investigators recommended action against the pair for "abuse of power."
Fretilin parliamentary leader Aniceto Guterres told reporters that Justice Minister Lucia Lobato and Finance Minister Emilia Pires had to face the music for the latest corruption scandal to hit the government.
"Now an independent and impartial investigation by the country's constitutionally mandated anti-corruption watchdog has found sufficient evidence that Lobato and Pires abused their powers," he said.
Allegations were made last year that Lobato had provided business people with inside information about justice ministry projects to renovate a perimeter wall and provide uniforms at Becora prison.
In his report dated July 2, Ombudsman Sebastiao Ximenes wrote that there had been "an abuse of power by the minister of justice because she opted to implement single-source direct contracting for the rehabilitation works."
Furthermore, there had been "an abuse of power by the minister of justice and the minister of finance because they failed to duly observe the rules and procedures of procurement."

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Reinado's lover 'stressed' by assassination trial

2009-08-06T17:16:00.001+09:00

An Australian woman charged with conspiring to kill East Timor's President is stressed and concerned by the trial, her Darwin solicitor says.

Angelita Pires, 43, is one of 28 people charged over the attack on President Jose Ramos-Horta in February last year.

Pires - a dual citizen of Australia and East Timor - is in the fourth week of her trial in Dili, charged with conspiracy over the assassination attempt.

She was the girlfriend of rebel leader Alfredo Reinado, who was killed during the attack.

Her solicitor, Peter Maley, is still calling on the prosecution to drop the case.

He says Pires is being supported by her family, friends and local residents, but she is stressed and worried about the serious allegations made against her.

Mr Maley says things are progressing satisfactorily, with two to four witnesses giving evidence each per day.

"Unfortunately the trial is expected to proceed for at least another four or five months and there are 150 witnesses," he said.

"This is probably the biggest trial that the new independent state of East Timor has ever embarked upon so she's understandably taking this seriously."

Source:
http://www.abc.net.au/news/stories/2009/08/06/2648213.htm?section=justin

CEBUANOS PAY LAST RESPECT TO TITA CORY

2009-08-06T17:13:00.001+09:00

CEBU CITY, AUGUST 6, 2009 (The Philippine Star) (The Freeman) - Cebuanos paid their last respects to former President Corazon “Cory” Aquino through Masses and forum.

Aquino, who was laid to her final rest at the Manila Memorial Park yesterday evening, was also remembered for the great role she did to restore democracy and how she ruled the country in her six years as president.

Mayor Tomas R. Osmeña said Cory was like Jesus Christ, who is a “symbol of crucifixion,” because “she saved us from a dictator in 1986.”

“President Cory carried the cross for us,” the mayor said during a Mass for the eternal rest of the former president at the Luz barangay hall yesterday afternoon.

Barangay captain Nida Cabrera and other barangay officials were just among the many local government units that initiated Masses yesterday in time for the burial of the “icon of democracy” of the country.

About 100 persons, clad in yellow T-shirts, which is the signature color of the former president, attended the Mass in Barangay Luz that was celebrated by Rev. Fr. Monico Catubig.

Read more ...

East Timor head attends Aquino funeral

2009-08-06T17:07:00.000+09:00

August 06, 2009 05:17:00
Cynthia Balana Marlon Ramos
Philippine Daily Inquirer
MANILA, Philippines—The only head of state who came for the funeral of former President Corazon Aquino Wednesday said he was “very impressed and touched” by the outpouring of public affection for her.

East Timor President Jose Ramos-Horta broke protocol when he came to Manila to bid farewell to his friend of many years. Diplomats said the gesture was a no-no for heads of state given the fact that it was not a state funeral.

Ramos-Horta braved a downpour and arrived on Wednesday morning in time for the funeral Mass at Manila Cathedral.

However, he had to proceed to Manila Memorial Park in Parañaque City ahead of the mourners because he could not sit for long hours due to the wound he sustained from an attempt on his life in East Timor in 2008.

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Balibo ghosts return to haunt Labor

2009-08-06T00:52:00.001+09:00

I HAVE reservations about some of the thinking behind the film Balibo, which deals with the murder of six journalists in East Timor during the 1975 Indonesian invasion but brushes over the bigger political questions.
In my opinion the five journalists killed at Balibo - Brian Peters, Malcolm Rennie, Greg Shackleton, Gary Cunningham and Tony Stewart - placed themselves at risk by ignoring warnings about going to the region.

The subsequent killing in Dili of a sixth journalist, Roger East, did however demonstrate the Indonesians didn't care for rules of warfare.

They were intent on killing anyone who could report their activities.

Read more...

East Timor aid “never made it to the people”

2009-08-05T23:12:00.000+09:00

August 05, 2009 06:19 AM PDT

East Timor’s President Jose Ramos Horta has urged the Australian Government to review its policy on aid to East Timor.

He claims that three billion dollars in recent western aid, quote, “never made it to the people”.

Mr Horta says most of the funds were swallowed up by consultants, study missions, reports and recommendations.

He even claims that poverty levels in Timor are on the rise despite billions in aid.

Dr Tim Anderson from the aid monitoring group AID/WATCH spoke with Ann Deslandes about the uses and abuses of Australian aid money in East Timor and the region.

Source: http://2ser.podomatic.com/entry/eg/2009-08-05T06_22_16-07_00

Balibo Captures Hearts And Minds Of Melbourne

2009-08-05T18:35:00.001+09:00

By Natalie Kalow
Executive Producer
Published Aug 5, 2009

FILM TO SUPPORT EAST TIMOR'
Balibo House Trust Fundraiser Screening – Wednesday 12 August

Since its acclaimed world premiere screening at the Melbourne International Film Festival on Friday 24 July, the new Australian political thriller film Balibo, directed by Robert Connolly and starring Anthony LaPaglia, has become one of the most eagerly anticipated local cinema releases in years.

In the lead up to its national release on Thursday 13 August, Balibo has inspired a series of events in Melbourne this month with public dialogue about the 1975 events in East Timor reignited. As Indonesia prepared to invade the tiny nation, five Australian-based journalists went missing. Four weeks later, veteran foreign correspondent Roger East was lured to East Timor by the young and charismatic Jose Ramos-Horta to tell the story of his country and investigate the fate of the missing men.

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East Timor head in Manila to attend Aquino burial

2009-08-05T17:31:00.000+09:00

By Dennis Carcamo (philstar.com) Updated August 05, 2009 01:43 PM

MANILA, Philippines -- East Timor President José Ramos-Horta has arrived today at the Manila Memorial Park to attend the burial of former President Corazon Aquino.

He arrived with a few security men.

Deedee Sytangco, Mrs. Aquino's friend and spokesperson, yesterday bared Horta’s plans to personally witness the burial rites for the former chief executive.

A Nobel Peace Prize recipient, Horta is the second president of East Timor since its independence from Indonesia in 2002

Mrs. Aquino’s cortege, followed by throngs of supporters, is on its way to the Manila Memorial Park in Sucat, Parañaque City.

Source: http://www.philstar.com/Article.aspx?articleId=493302&publicationSubCategoryId=200

Timorese islanders receive 'house call'

2009-08-05T17:21:00.002+09:00

by TSgt Cohen Young
Defense Media Activity-Hawaii

8/4/2009 - BEIKELI, Atauro -- Four U.S. Air Force and three Royal Australian Regiment medical personnel provided basic family care support to 283 people in the tiny fishing village of Bikeli, Atauro in Timor Leste, July 22, in support of Operation Pacific Angel 09. The small group was flown to the island by the International Stablization Force on two Royal Australian Regiment helicopters.

Atauro island primarily functions as a fishing village where people live extreme rural conditions. There is no running water and locals must fetch their pail of water at the well every morning, children run around the area with no shoes, and rice is flown in from non-governmental agencies for the local islanders to eat.

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Mystery Over Jakarta Firm and E. Timor Arms Deal

2009-08-05T17:18:00.001+09:00

Defense Minister Juwono Sudarsono and an Armed Forces spokesman on Tuesday both professed to have no information on a report that an Indonesian company had been contracted to supply neighboring East Timor with police and army equipment.

Juwono said he had not yet received any information on the reported multimillion-dollar contract secretly awarded to a Jakarta-based company to supply the equipment to the East Timorese army and police.

“Maybe because all the arms are for police, not the military,” he said.

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Australian foreign aid to East Timor 'wasted'

2009-07-29T17:32:00.000+09:00

The spotlight is again on foreign aid from Australia after comments by East Timor's president Jose Ramos Horta that foreign aid was being spent on East Timor but not in East Timor.

It was only in April that the Australian prime minister Kevin Rudd made similar claims about aid to Papua New Guinea, saying too much Australian aid was being spent on consultants' fees.

Presenter: Claudette Werden
Speakers: Dr Jose Ramos Horta, East Timorese president; Dr Tim Anderson, AID/WATCH, Australia; Mark Purcell, The Australian Council for International Development; Paul Barker, Institute of National Affairs (independent think tank), Papua New Guinea

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Balibo: Bold and defiant filmmaking wrapped up in a tense political thriller.

2009-07-29T17:21:00.002+09:00

A tense political thriller, Balibo recreates events surrounding the shooting of five Australian journalists during Indonesia's invasion of East Timor in 1975. BALIBO is told through the eyes of a sixth Australian, Roger East, who is lured to East Timor by Jose Ramos-Horta to investigate the truth behind the death of the five men, who were supposedly "caught in cross-fire" during the invasion.

Complete Article ...

Angara hosted dinner for Timor Leste parliamentarians

2009-07-28T18:46:00.001+09:00

MANILA, Jul 27, 2009 (Asia Pulse Data Source via COMTEX) -- SGLHF | Quote | Chart | News | PowerRating -- ?Senator Edgardo Angara last Saturday hosted a dinner in honor of members of the parliament from Timor Leste (East Timor) at Makati Shangri-La Hotel and discussed the political, health, media freedom, education and food issues of both countries as well as possible partnership to develop in the future.

The MPs, who come from various political parties of the Timor Leste government, are in the country to obtain information on the Philippines' basic education system and its laws and regulations and relevant projects, such as the school feeding program; and to visit the 109 Timorese scholars who are completing studies and training in the Philippines.

Present were Timor Leste's Chair on Education, Health and Culture Virgilio Maria Dias Marcal; CNRT Party's Romeu Moises; FREITILIN's Ilda da Conceicao; PSD Party's Maria da Coasta Exposto and Technical Staff member Rita Sequeira. With them were Amb. Francisco Cepeda from the embassy of Timor Leste to the Philippines; Counsellor Francisco Dionisio Fernandes and Education Attaché Paul Henrique Ribeiro.

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Airmen help hundreds in Timor Leste

2009-07-28T17:30:00.000+09:00

by Tech. Sgt. Cohen A. Young
Defense Media Activity-Hawaii

7/17/2009 - DILI, Timore Leste (AFNS) -- Thirty-seven Airmen from various medical and engineering units across the Air Force treated more than 300 East Timorese people as part of Operation Pacific Angel 2009 at a local school here July 16.

Pacific Angel is a Pacific Air Forces humanitarian assistance operation aimed at improving military civic cooperation between the United States and other Asia-Pacific area nations, and led by 13th Air Force officials at Hickam Air Force Base, Hawaii.

Two Pacific Angel events are currently on-going through July 24 -- one here and another in Indonesia. A second Pacific Angel 2009 iteration will take place in Vietnam Sept. 12 through 25.

The East Timorese patients had their vitals checked before receiving free optometry and primary medical care from a combined team of U.S. and East Timorese officials. Capt. Joni Scott-Weideman, a native of Tallahassee, Fla., is an optometrist deployed here as part of Pacific Angel.

"We saw 146 Timorese in all, while primary care saw 168 people," said Captain Scott-Weideman, who is assigned to the 622nd Aeromedical Staging Squadron at Robins AFB, Ga.

Read more...

Film takes East Timor's President back to Balibo

2009-07-28T16:51:00.000+09:00

PETER CAVE: A new feature film detailing the murders of the Balibo Five and of journalist Roger East who went into East Timor to try to find out what happened to the five in that small town in 1975 was launched at the Melbourne Film Festival at the weekend.

Anthony LaPaglia play the role of Roger East and Oscar Isaac plays the young East Timorese activist Jose Ramos Horta who is now President of East Timor.

(Extract from film)

ROGER EAST: Like my secretary told you, I'm busy.

JOSE RAMOS HORTA: No obviously I see you are very, very busy. I have come a long way to find you, Roger East.

ROGER EAST: Disappointed?

JOSE RAMOS HORTA: My name Jose Ramos Horta. I am the East Timor Fretilin Government Secretary of Foreign Affairs. I have a proposition for you.

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Sanjay studies Gangs!

2009-07-28T16:47:00.002+09:00

The actor is busy reading up on gangs. He tells us, “Ross Kemp’s book Gangs and his documentary on the same has left me awe struck. The man has travelled the world and interviewed gang-leaders — from Rio de Janeiro to Orange County, from El Salvador to St Louis, from Jamaica to East Timor, from Liverpool to Belize. I wonder how he convinced them for interviews in the first place. He must’ve gone through hell.

He has even been threatened and put at gunpoint. He next plans to go to Afghanistan. You journalists must do something like that,” Dutt animatedly suggested. Meanwhile, the actor — who is trying hard at working on his physique — has given up alcohol completely and has become a bookworm of sorts. “I was always a reader, more so when I am sober,” he guffawed.

Source

Featured Author: Sara Moreira

2009-07-27T20:15:00.001+09:00

This past week I was able to catch up with Global Voices author Sara Moreira at the International School for Digital Transformation in Porto, Portugal. Sara arrived to the program after spending several weeks in Dili, East Timor, the country whose blogosphere she dutifully covers on Global Voices.

Read more ...

East Timor's President urges for review of Western aid policies

2009-07-27T20:11:00.000+09:00

East Timor's president, Jose Ramos Horta has urged western countries including Australia to review their foreign aid policies.

Mr Horta has claimed most of the $US3 billion in aid pledged to East Timor, never made it to the people.

In a guest lecture at the University of New South Wales, Mr Horta said much of the money was spent on consultants, study missions, reports and recommendations.

Mr Horta says poverty actually increased in East Timor after the foreign aid was provided.

"Where they spent alot of it, they claim to have spent on training, capacity building schemes. Yes, we needed that and there has been some positive use to that," he said.

"But if that money was really used for capacity building in a proper way, every Timorese would have a PhD by now."

Source: http://australianetworknews.com/stories/200907/2637915.htm?desktop

Filming Balibo 'was life-changing'

2009-07-27T19:52:00.003+09:00

Australian Associated Press

It was an overwhelming experience, not just doing the film but meeting and interacting and living with the people there.

Gyton Grantley

Movie stars Anthony LaPaglia and Gyton Grantley say filming the new political thriller Balibo in East Timor was a life-changing experience.

The movie tells the story surrounding the execution of five Australia-based newsmen during Indonesia's invasion of East Timor in 1975.

Grantley plays one of the reporters, while LaPaglia plays another Australian journalist, Roger East, who was killed when he went to East Timor to investigate the deaths of the Balibo Five.

The movie was shot in East Timor - the first feature film ever made in the fledgling nation - using a lot of local talent.

"For me personally it was kind of life-changing," Underbelly star Grantley said.

Read more...

For ANZ, Timor is going places

2009-07-27T19:49:00.001+09:00

Fleur Leyden Banking
July 27, 2009 12:00am

IT MAY look like any other suburban bank, but ANZ's Dili branch is one of the group's fastest growing outlets in the world.

Customer foot traffic has been increasing by 2 per cent a week for over a year, new accounts are up 80 per cent over the past year, while lending has doubled.

As one of only three commercial banks in the country, ANZ is operating in an economy which last year had the second-highest growth rate in the world and which has also managed to avoid the wrath of the financial meltdown.

Despite being one of the world's poorest nations East Timor has $US4.75 billion-plus ($A5.8 billion) in oil and gas revenue invested in US Treasury bonds.

Read more...

Ramos-Horta discusses Western Sahara

2009-07-27T19:46:00.000+09:00

Ron Guy
26 July 2009

MELBOURNE— Federal Labor MP Janelle Saffin was interrupted by heckling from five Moroccan protesters at a forum called “Western Sahara and East Timor: What has really been stolen?” on July 23.

The protesters interjected each time Saffin spoke, and verbally abused
Kamal Fadel, the Saharawi representative to Australia and ambassador to East Timor, and Fatima Mahfoud from the women’s union of Western Sahara. The protesters were eventually escorted from the auditorium by Victorian Police and Federal Police.

Read more ...

The nominal effect makes big difference

2009-07-27T19:35:00.002+09:00

By PEGGY USSERY

Published: July 26, 2009

Years of military rule by Indonesia and the struggle for independence took their toll on the country of East Timor.

Today, medical facilities are less than sanitary and patients will gladly wait however long it takes to see a doctor. Infections are common in the impoverished country, and on average, a resident lives to the age of 65. The country has one of the lowest per capita income rates in the world.

“The airport still looked like a war zone,” said Dr. Peter Zloty, an ophthalmologist with Southeast Eye Clinic in Dothan.

Zloty and Dr. Michael Belin, an ophthalmologist from Albany, N.Y., traveled to East Timor in late June as part of the East Timor Eye Program founded by Dr. Nitin Verma of Tasmania. During their trip, Zloty and Belin performed the country’s first corneal transplants.

Read more ...

The nominal effect makes big difference

2009-07-27T19:29:00.001+09:00

Our maths education being what it is — out of 134 countries, only Peru and East Timor do a worse job of teaching numeracy than South Africa, according to the World Economic Forum — few of us understand interest rates.

Even if you are among the lucky few who had a maths teacher at school, chances are you’ll get confused by the various ways financiers quote interest rates.
For example, if you left a R1000 debt on a credit card charging 23% interest unpaid for a year, you might think it will cost you R230. But, in fact, the interest bill will have grown to R255.86.

This is because while the interest on credit cards and other bank loans is quoted as per annum, it is calculated monthly. A more realistic way of seeing 23% annual interest is 1.92% per month (one-12th of the annual rate). At the end of the first month your initial R1000 debt would have grown by R19.17, adding 36c to the following month’s interest bill, compounding over 12 months into an “effective” annual interest rate of 25.6% rather than the “nominal” 23% stated by your credit card issuer.

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East Timor leader relives dark days

2009-07-27T19:20:00.000+09:00

JOSE Ramos Horta looks a little abashed. The film Balibo is "largely accurate", he says, in its portrayal East Timor's current President as a young revolutionary struggling to draw attention to the plight of his country — but he admits it does feature a couple of "Hollywood" moments.

"In the past I always avoiding seeing films in which I am directly involved because I do not like to relive past events," he said yesterday, sitting alongside the director and actors from the movie.

"Watching Balibo has caused me the same effect. You go back to 35 years ago … reliving what I thought I had forgotten about."

Read more...

Spot where Balibo five saw invasion building is now a place of solemn contemplation

2009-07-27T19:18:00.000+09:00

FROM the old Portuguese fort on the crest of a hill in Balibo, steep mountains dotted with eucalypts and bamboo fold down into the distant sea.

This is the spot where the five journalists from Australia stood in 1975 and watched the build-up of Indonesian naval ships off the coast, grey flecks on the ocean.

The crumbling fort is now a place of quiet reflection for the occasional visitor, a beautiful view that belies the ugliness of the events that took place in the tiny village of Balibo and throughout the country of Timor Leste.

Nearby is the small building in which the young journalists hid, daubing an Australian flag on the wall in the hope it would protect them. It has been turned into a memorial room and a ghostly outline of the flag remains, preserved behind a sheet of glass.

The journalists remained in Balibo in the belief that they — as citizens of Commonwealth countries that turned a blind eye to the invasion of East Timor — would be safe, protected by nationality and occupation.

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Timorese President Jose Ramos Horta hopes movie Balibo, about the 1975 murder of six Australian journalists, prompts leaders to learn from mistakes.

2009-07-27T19:11:00.002+09:00

EAST Timorese President Jose Ramos Horta hopes movie Balibo, about the 1975 murder of six Australian journalists, prompts leaders to learn from mistakes.

Robert Connolly's political thriller Balibo tells the story surrounding the execution of five Australia-based journalists during Indonesia's invasion of East Timor.

Balibo star Anthony LaPaglia plays another Australian journalist, Roger East, who was killed when he went to East Timor to investigate the deaths.

In Australia for the world premiere of the movie at the Melbourne International Film Festival on Friday night, Dr Horta said he hoped the film inspired world leaders to be moral in their conduct of foreign policy.

"I hope that the film, if anything, help Indonesians, help Australians, help us do some soul searching and learn from this tragic chapter of our history," he said at a media conference for the movie.

"I hope that the enormous price paid by the East Timorese, paid by the six (Australians) will help leaders elsewhere to try to always put principles and morality and decency above expediency."

East Timor leader relives dark days

2009-07-27T19:06:00.000+09:00

Jose Ramos Horta looks a little abashed. The film Balibo is "largely accurate", he says, in its portrayal East Timor's current President as a young revolutionary struggling to draw attention to the plight of his country — but he admits it does feature a couple of "Hollywood" moments.

"In the past I always avoiding seeing films in which I am directly involved because I do not like to relive past events," he said yesterday, sitting alongside the director and actors from the movie.

"Watching Balibo has caused me the same effect. You go back to 35 years ago … reliving what I thought I had forgotten about."

Read more...

Timor leader says Indonesia tortured 'Balibo Five'

2009-07-25T19:05:00.002+09:00

MELBOURNE — East Timor President Jose Ramos-Horta on Friday said Indonesian troops tortured and mutilated the "Balibo Five" foreign journalists whose 1975 killing has sparked calls for war crimes charges.

The Nobel Peace Prize winner made the allegation at the Melbourne launch of the thriller "Balibo," which depicts the deaths of the five Australian-based journalists during Indonesia's invasion of East Timor.
Ramos-Horta, a rebel commander at the time, said he looked into the deaths of the five soon after they were killed in the border town of Balibo. Indonesia says the journalists were killed accidentally.

"They were not just executed, from what I remember researching at the time, back in '75, '76, at least one of them was brutally, brutally tortured," Ramos-Horta told reporters.
He added that the film was largely accurate but its makers were unable to depict the gruesome nature of the killings because the scenes of torture and mutilation by the Indonesian military would be too shocking.

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Timor leader urges Australia to push harder on Myanmar

2009-07-25T19:03:00.000+09:00

East Timor President Jose Ramos-Horta on Friday urged Australia to learn from the past and push harder for reform in military-ruled Myanmar.

The Nobel Peace laureate said Australia had turned a "blind eye to blatant human rights abuses" during Indonesia's 24-year occupation of East Timor and should not repeat the mistake.

"Australia can, working together with Indonesia for instance... help bring an end to that ugly situation in Myanmar," he told reporters.

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Timor violent? Try Melbourne: President Ramos-Horta

2009-07-25T19:01:00.001+09:00

MELBOURNE — East Timor's President Jose Ramos-Horta on Friday urged Australians to ignore the "bogus" travel warning against his country, saying violence was also common in Melbourne.
Ramos-Horta took issue with Australia's travel advisory, which warns of gang violence, civil unrest and robbery, and said tourists would enjoy visiting the tiny, impoverished state.
"It is a very, very peaceful country with fantastic people who will welcome you," the Nobel Peace Prize winner said during a visit for the Melbourne International Film Festival.

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Indonesia 'tortured' Balibo Five

2009-07-24T21:51:00.001+09:00

East Timor's President Jose Ramos-Horta has said five foreign journalists who died in Indonesia' 1975 invasion were tortured and shot by the military.

He made the allegation at the Melbourne launch of the film Balibo, which depicts their deaths as Indonesia's army crossed into East Timor.

Jakarta has always said that they were killed in crossfire with rebels, which Australian governments have accepted.

The film shows them being shot on the orders of Indonesian army officers.
Mr Ramos Horta was a rebel commander at the time and is a central figure in the film. He said he had looked into the deaths of the "Balibo Five" soon after they were killed in the border town of Balibo.

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Balibo film revives controversy

2009-07-24T16:26:00.001+09:00

A film receiving its world premiere in Melbourne is likely to revive the controversy over the deaths of five foreign journalists in East Timor.

The five Australia-based correspondents died during Indonesia's invasion of the territory in 1975.

Jakarta has always said that the five, who died in the town of Balibo, were killed in crossfire, an explanation accepted by Australian governments.
The film, Balibo, shows them being shot on the orders of Indonesian officers.

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Timor won't push for new Balibo probe

2009-07-24T16:24:00.001+09:00

East Timorese President Jose Ramos-Horta says he will not push for a war crimes tribunal to investigate the deaths of six Australians in 1975.

A coronial inquest in 2007 found that Indonesian forces shot and stabbed five television journalists in the small town of Balibo, near the West Timor border.

A few weeks later another Australian journalist, Roger East, was also executed as Indonesian troops parachuted into Dili.

Mr Ramos-Horta says there would be little point in pursuing charges against the soldiers who killed the Australians, or those responsible for deaths of tens of thousands of East Timorese civilians.

"We are dealing with a still powerful neighbour," he said.

"It is highly unlikely that any government in Indonesia in the foreseeable future [would] feel strong enough to bring to trial surviving Indonesian military officers who perpetrated barbarities in East Timor."

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Indonesia attack a surprise or not?

2009-07-24T16:22:00.002+09:00

DENPASAR, Indonesia.

Despite the July 16 terrorist attacks on Jakarta's JW Marriott and Ritz-Carlton hotel, Indonesia's tourist hub Bali seems as bustling as ever, with beaches packed and the downtown Kuta market doing its usual roaring trade.

At the ever-busy international airport, swine-flu masks and checks aside, the only sign of any additional concern was the 45-minute queue for holiday-makers to get their visas, which took somewhat longer than usual as officials ran vigilant eyes over travel documents. Otherwise, however, there was little sign of extra security presence, such as sniffer dogs, with security and customs conducting nothing more than routine bag inspections.

Still, airport Police Chief Agung Merdita was quoted in local media as saying, "We are maintaining the level-one alert in Bali until further direction from the central police force in Jakarta."

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Time to bring Balibo remains home: widow

2009-07-24T16:15:00.002+09:00

More than 30 years after five Australian-based newsmen were killed in East Timor, Shirley Shackleton, the widow of the late Channel Seven reporter Greg Shackleton, says it is time for her husband's remains to be brought home.

A coronial inquest found that in 1975 Indonesian forces shot and stabbed the Balibo Five in the small town near the West Timor border.

A few weeks later another Australian journalist, Roger East, was also executed as Indonesian troops parachuted into Dili.

Tonight a film about those events will premiere at an international film festival in Melbourne.

Read more...

ASEAN Para Games Coming to Malaysia

2009-07-23T22:02:00.001+09:00

Considered the biggest multi-sports and multi-disability sporting event for athletes with a disability in the ASEAN region, the ASEAN Para Games have been organized every two years since the formation of the ASEAN Para Sports Federation (APSF) in 2001. A total of ten APSF members plus Timor Leste will be participating in the Games this year.

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Bring remains home, pleads Balibo widow

2009-07-23T20:24:00.000+09:00

Paul Mulvey
July 23, 2009 - 7:59PM
On the eve of walking the red carpet at the premiere of Balibo, Shirley Shackleton has called on the government to bring her husband's remains home, 34 years after the Balibo Five were killed in East Timor.

Ms Shackleton wants the film to educate and outrage a new generation.

But she also hopes it will prompt Prime Minister Kevin Rudd to repatriate the ashes of Greg Shackleton and his four colleagues which lie in a single coffin in a Jakarta cemetery.

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President's lesson on Balibo

2009-07-23T17:52:00.002+09:00

Miki Perkins
July 23, 2009

EAST Timor will not pursue the soldiers who killed five Australian television journalists in 1975 because it is Indonesia's responsibility, President Jose Ramos Horta says.

In Melbourne for the world premiere of the film Balibo tomorrow, Mr Ramos Horta said most of the military leaders who directed the attack on the village of Balibo at dawn were dead.

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Geocapital prepares to launch first East Timor bank in Dili [ 2009-07-23 ]

2009-07-23T16:41:00.000+09:00

Dili, East Timor, 23 July – Financial company, Geocapital wants to open the first private East Timor bank, at an estimated investment of between 4 and 6 million euros, company director, Diogo Lacerda Machado told Portuguese news agency Lusa.

Machado, who Wednesday in Dili made the request to open the bank to the East Timor banking authority, said that the new bank would be set up as an investment bank.

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Timor thriller 'Balibo' to stir up controversy

2009-07-22T18:04:00.002+09:00

MELBOURNE — A hard-hitting movie depicting the infamous killing of six Australian-based journalists during Indonesia's 1975 invasion of East Timor should prompt war crimes charges, its director says.
"Balibo," the first feature film ever made in East Timor, premieres Friday at the Melbourne International Film Festival before an audience including East Timor President Jose Ramos Horta and Hollywood director Quentin Tarantino.
The film, starring Anthony LaPaglia, tells the story of five journalists killed when troops overran the border town of Balibo in October 1975 and a sixth who died weeks later when Jakarta launched a full-scale assault on Dili.

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East Timor Ombudsman recommends prosecution of Justice Minister

2009-07-22T18:02:00.000+09:00

Updated July 22, 2009 12:00:16
East Timor's Ombudsman is calling for the country's Minister of Justice to be prosecuted, over allegations of corruption, following calls from the country's opposition for Prime Minister Xanana Gusmao to resign, following revelations he authorised a multi-million dollar rice-importation contract to a company linked to his daughter.

The Ombudsman says his office has launched an investigation into the Ministry of Commerce and Industry over that - and a number of other deals - authorised by Mr Gusmao.

Presenter: Stephanie March
Speakers: Sebastiao Ximenes, East Timor Ombudsman; Jose Ramos-Horta, East Timorese President

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E Timor justice minister faces corruption probe

2009-07-22T17:34:00.001+09:00

By Stephanie March

Posted Wed Jul 22, 2009 5:22am AEST

East Timor's Ombudsman is calling for the country's Justice Minister to be prosecuted following a corruption investigation.

Late last year, allegations surfaced that Justice Minister Lucia Lobato had colluded with a friend in order for that friend to secure a $US1 million contract to rebuild the wall of a prison in the capital Dili.

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Timor's link to a Saharan struggle

2009-07-22T01:45:00.000+09:00

Jose Ramos-Horta
July 22, 2009
Page 1 of 2 | Single Page View
As I visit Australia again, to attend this week's opening of the Melbourne International Film Festival, I have been confronted by the outcry over the film Stolen, which will screen at the festival and which represents, in microcosm, the importance of truth in the struggle for justice. The film, which makes claims of widespread slavery in the Western Saharan refugee camps, represents many of the ugly realities of this central dynamic. It is a scenario I know only too well.

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Angola occupies third position at general standings of Lusophone games

2009-07-21T23:07:00.001+09:00

Luanda – Angola occupied the third position in the second Lusophone Games, with four gold medals, two silver and eight bronze, thus improving the seventh position achieved in 2006, during its first edition.

The country was represented in sports like soccer, futsal, basketball, beach volleyball, sports for the disabled, taekwan-do, judo, athletics and table-tennis.

The athletes’ engagement was acceptable, considering the results achieved in various areas.

Brazil had the largest delegation and were the winners with 75 medals, overcoming Portugal (71), while Guinea Bissau, Equatorial Guinea and East Timor did not conquer any medal.

See: Board of medals

Film recalls our failure in East Timor

2009-07-21T22:09:00.000+09:00

Balibo again raises the question of who really matters in the world.

GO AND see Balibo - a feature film like this will do more to encourage widespread debate about Australia's place in the world than any dry academic book on foreign policy, think tank report or government white paper. It's the sort of debate the Australian public should always have. The complex problems at the heart of this story - the contest between national self-interest and general morality in international affairs - are as difficult today as during the time depicted in the film.

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E Timor Ombudsman: prosecute Justice Minister

2009-07-21T19:24:00.002+09:00

Stephanie March and Steve Holland
Last Updated: 9 hours 5 minutes ago

East Timor's Ombudsman is calling for the country's Justice Minister to be prosecuted following allegations of corruption.

The new call follows earlier ones from East Timor's opposition asking Prime Minister Xanana Gusmao to resign, after disclosures he authorised a multi-million dollar rice importation contract to a company linked to his daughter.

The Ombudsman says his office has launched an investigation into the Ministry of Tourism, Commerce and Industry over a number of deals authorised by Mr Gusmao.
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Doctor performs corneal transplants in East Timor

2009-07-21T18:38:00.001+09:00

By AZRA HAQQIE, Staff writer

First published in print: Tuesday, July 21, 2009
ALBANY -- A local ophthalmologist accompanied a team of physicians and performed the first-ever corneal transplants on residents of the southeast Asia island nation of East Timor.

Dr. Michael Belin of Rensselaer is an Albany Medical College professor and medical director of the Lions Eye Bank at Albany, which played a key cooperative role in the medical mission. Belin is also a fellow of the Royal Australia and New Zealand College of Opthalmology.

East Timor, which was colonized by Portugal and won its independence from Indonesia in 2002, is one of the the poorest countries in the world. It is about a 90-minute plane ride away from the north coast of Australia.

Last year Belin was in the Australian state of Tasmania where he spoke with the head of the Royal Australasian College of Surgeons that has provided charity medical care in East Timor and learned that an eye care program was looking for cornea specialists to do transplants.

All eyes on total force Pacific Angel team

2009-07-21T18:36:00.002+09:00

by Tech. Sgt. Cohen A. Young
Defense Media Activity-Hawaii

7/20/2009 - DILI, Timor Leste -- A total force team of U.S. military eye specialists is working together here to improve the eyesight of local East Timorese people as part of Operation Pacific Angel 2009.

Pacific Angel is a Pacific Air Forces humanitarian assistance operation in the Asia-Pacific region led by 13th Air Force at Hickam Air Force Base, Hawaii. Two Pacific Angel teams are operating through July 24 - one here and another in Indonesia.

"My role here on this mission as an optometrist is to provide basic eye care services to the East Timorese people," said Maj. Brian Kemper, a native of Eagle River, Alaska. Major Kemper is assigned to the 3rd Aerospace Medicine Squadron at Elmendorf AFB, Alaska.

"We're providing eyeglasses, medication and referrals for surgery to the national hospital [in Timor Leste]," said Major Kemper.

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Timor Leste engineering, medical assistance continues

2009-07-21T18:34:00.001+09:00

7/20/2009 - DILI, Timor Leste — An East Timorese volunteer checks a local man's blood pressure July 20 before sending him to the family care section of a clinic here, set up as part of Operation Pacific Angel 2009. The family care section has seen more than 1,000 East Timorese patients since opening July 16. Pacific Angel is a Pacific Air Forces humanitarian assistance operation in the Asia-Pacific region led by 13th Air Force at Hickam AFB. (U.S. Air Force photo/Tech. Sgt. Cohen A. Young)

Source: http://www.pacaf.af.mil/news/story.asp?id=123159512

'Britain should bear some responsibility for Timor Leste'

2009-07-21T18:31:00.000+09:00

LONDON : As the 10th anniversary of the UN-sponsored referendum for Timor Leste's independence approaches, a yearlong campaign by a Catholic agency to raise awareness of the country in Britain is reaching its climax.

On Aug. 30, 1999, the people of Timor Leste voted overwhelmingly to sever ties with Indonesia, which had occupied their land for 25 years following the withdrawal of former colonial ruler, Portugal. During Indonesian rule, up to 200,000 East Timorese are reported to have died due to famine, the independence struggle and reprisals.

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East Timor advances despite Australian aid failures

2009-07-21T16:55:00.001+09:00

Last week, Australian citizen Angelita Pires was one of 27 people brought to trial for the attempted assassination of East Timor's President José Ramos-Horta on February 11, 2008. Pires, who insists she is innocent, is the former lover of rebel leader Alfredo Reinado, who was killed in the attack.

Next month will mark ten years since Indonesia agreed to a plebiscite. Four out of five Timorese voted for independence. The assassination attempt was undoubtedly the low point of the decade.

There have been many other setbacks, including the current destabilising accusations against Prime Minister Xanana Gusmao for his role in authorising a multi-million dollar contract for a company part-owned by his daughter.

Read more ...

Top End premiere a 'thanks' from Hollywood star

2009-07-21T16:51:00.002+09:00

BALIBO director Rob Connolly said he and leading man Anthony LaPaglia wanted to do the "right thing" by the people of Darwin and hold a red-carpet premiere of their film Balibo for the city.

The film tells the story of Roger East, a Darwin-based journalist who went to East Timor to investigate the fate of five newsmen killed at Balibo.

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Pires trial: all eyes on Dili

2009-07-20T16:35:00.000+09:00

East Timor's capital Dili is full of signs of change.

As my camera crew and I drove into the city at dawn we saw teams of uniformed workers armed with brooms cleaning up the streets.

Our driver told us this is a weekly event and that usually East Timor's President, Jose Ramos Horta, is out here cleaning up too.

It's just one part of the effort to change the face of Dili.

Construction sites are dotted around the capital - buildings burnt down during times of unrest are now being repaired and repainted.

The facades might be changing but we'd come to cover a story that suggests that under the surface all is not well in East Timor.

Angelita Pires, an East Timorese-born Australian, is standing trial for conspiring to kill Dr Ramos Horta.

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East Timor President: 'chance of mistakes' in contracts

2009-07-20T16:33:00.000+09:00

East Timor's President Jose Ramos Horta has conceded there's a chance of making mistakes when multimillion dollar contracts are signed by government officials.

Mr Ramos Horta has once again defended Prime Minister Xanana Gusmao who signed off on a multimillion dollar contract for Prima Food - a company in which his daughter was a shareholder.

Last month, Radio Australia's parent company the ABC obtained documents which suggested Mr Gusmao had awarded 3.5 million dollars to the company Prima Food, to import rice last year.

Mr Ramos Horta says he has confidence in the Prime Minister

"I think corruption is serious in Timor Leste but I reject the charges that top government officials are involved like the prime minister," he said. "The prime minister is a very very honest person. He wants to do things fast."

Mr Gusmao has also rejected the allegations, and says he welcomes an investigation by the country's newly formed anti corruption commission.

Source: http://www.radioaustralianews.net.au/stories/200907/2629688.htm?desktop

East Timor: Trials begin over 2008 Horta-Gusmao “assassination attempt”

2009-07-18T23:27:00.000+09:00

By Patrick O’Connor
18 July 2009
Dual East Timorese and Australian citizen Angelita Pires is now on trial, facing a series of charges relating to last year’s so-called assassination and coup attempt against the country’s Prime Minister Xanana Gusmao and President Jose Ramos-Horta. The court, which convened last Monday, has heard the prosecution allege that Pires is guilty of attempted murder and conspiring to kill the president on the grounds that she was the “indirect author” of these events.
Initial proceedings have underscored the numerous unanswered contradictions and far-reaching political interests involved in the events of February 11, 2008.

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Airmen Help Hundreds in Timor Leste

2009-07-18T23:26:00.000+09:00

uly 17, 2009
Air Force Print News|by TSgt. Cohen A. Young
DILI, Timore Leste - Thirty-seven Airmen from various medical and engineering units across the Air Force treated more than 300 East Timorese people as part of Operation Pacific Angel 2009 at a local school here July 16.

Pacific Angel is a Pacific Air Forces humanitarian assistance operation aimed at improving military civic cooperation between the United States and other Asia-Pacific area nations, and led by 13th Air Force officials at Hickam Air Force Base, Hawaii.

Two Pacific Angel events are currently on-going through July 24 -- one here and another in Indonesia. A second Pacific Angel 2009 iteration will take place in Vietnam Sept. 12 through 25.

The East Timorese patients had their vitals checked before receiving free optometry and primary medical care from a combined team of U.S. and East Timorese officials. Capt. Joni Scott-Weideman, a native of Tallahassee, Fla., is an optometrist deployed here as part of Pacific Angel.

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Son of Balibo Five cameraman tells story

2009-07-18T23:20:00.001+09:00

The controversial death of Channel 7 cameraman Gary Cunningham is to be re-examined in an episode of the ABC's Australian Story series.

Cunningham died alongside four other journalists during an attack by Indonesian troops on the East Timorese town of Balibo in 1975.

Introduced by actor Anthony LaPaglia, Flag of Our Father focuses on Cunningham's son, Melbourne environmental officer John Milkins.

Mr Milkins was adopted at birth and never met his father, whose death he had coincidentally studied at university.

He was 19 when he was reunited with his real mother, Heather Norman.

"Heather Norman had never told Gary Cunningham about her pregnancy," an ABC spokesman said.

"He'd been a fleeting boyfriend - a brief holiday romance, as Heather describes it.

"And so begins an extraordinary family reunion and the beginning of John Milkins' journey to understand and seek justice for his father's death."

Cunningham was covering the Indonesian war with two Australians and two Britons when Balibo came under attack.

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East Timor advances despite Australian aid failures

2009-07-17T18:03:00.002+09:00

This week, Australian citizen Angelita Pires was one of 27 people brought to trial for the attempted assassination of East Timor's President José Ramos-Horta on 11 February 2008. Pires, who insists she is innocent, is the former lover of rebel leader Alfredo Reinado, who was killed in the attack.

Next month will mark ten years since Indonesia agreed to a plebiscite. Four out of five Timorese voted for independence. The assassination attempt was undoubtedly the low point of the decade.

There have been many other setbacks, including the current destabilising accusations against Prime Minister Xanana Gusmao for his role in authorising a multi-million dollar contract for a company part-owned by his daughter.

Read More ...

Pacific Angel helps 300-plus in Timor Leste

2009-07-17T17:58:00.002+09:00

by Tech. Sgt. Cohen A. Young
Defense Media Activity-Hawaii

7/16/2009 - DILI, Timore Leste -- More than 300 East Timorese people were treated at a local school here July 16 as part of Operation Pacific Angel 2009.

Pacific Angel is a Pacific Air Forces humanitarian assistance operation led by 13th Air Force at Hickam Air Force Base, Hawaii. It is aimed at improving military civic cooperation between the United States and other Asia-Pacific area nations.

Two Pacific Angel events are currently on-going through July 24 -- one here and another in Indonesia. A second Pacific Angel 2009 iteration will take place in Vietnam Sept. 12-25.

The East Timorese patients had their vitals checked before receiving free optometry and primary medical care from a combined team of U.S. and East Timorese officials. Capt. Joni Scott-Weideman, a native of Tallahassee, Fla., is a U.S. Air Force optometrist deployed here as part of Pacific Angel.

"We saw 146 Timorese in all, while primary care saw 168 people," said Captain Scott-Weideman, who is assigned to the 622nd Aeromedical Staging Squadron at Robins AFB, Ga.

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Oil giant looks for Timor Sea riches

2009-07-17T17:13:00.001+09:00

Mathew Murphy
July 16, 2009

CHINA'S attempt to control the lucrative iron ore market in Australia may have foundered, but it is hoping its bid to start drilling its own oil and gas wells off the West Australian coast could begin within weeks.

In documents lodged with the Federal Government, China's largest oil producer, CNOOC, has applied to drill three wells in the Timor Sea, 350 kilometres off the WA coast.

If the drilling, in the WA-406-P exploration area, results in a significant gas discovery, it could reshape Australia's liquefied natural gas (LNG) market, with ConocoPhillips the operators of the neighbouring Bayu-Undan gas project and the Darwin LNG plant.

Conoco also has a 51 per cent stake in the Poseidon well in the Browse Basin off WA, which could contain 7 trillion cubic feet of gas.

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Hollywood stars set to shine in Territory

2009-07-17T17:10:00.002+09:00

HOLLYWOOD star Anthony LaPaglia and top Aussie director Rob Connolly will return to Darwin for the NT premiere of their film Balibo.

The controversial film looks at the last days of Roger East, a Darwin journalist who goes to East Timor to find out what happened to the Balibo Five, a group of newsmen who were killed during the Indonesian invasion.

The film depicts East, as with the five newsmen before him, being killed by Indonesian soldiers.

The movie was filmed largely in and around Darwin last year.

Its Territory premiere will be held on August 8 at the Deckchair cinema.

Its world premiere is at the Melbourne International Film Festival on July 24.

LaPaglia, star of hit TV series Without a Trace and Australian film Lantana, and Connolly, director of Romulus, My Father, will be special guests as the Deckchair rolls out the red carpet.

Connolly's director's statement explains why LaPaglia and producer John Maynard were so passionate about telling the story.

"Balibo is a story that demands to be told," he said.

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TIMOR-LESTE: Grappling with youth unemployment

2009-07-16T19:54:00.002+09:00

DILI, 16 July 2009 (IRIN) - A decade after voting to end Indonesia's 24-year occupation, Timor-Leste is struggling with one of its thorniest socio-economic problems: half the men aged between 20 and 24 in Dili, the country’s largest city, are unemployed.

Various government and non-government initiatives are in place to address this problem, but in the absence of foreign investment or a dynamic local private sector, much more is needed, say analysts.

An estimated 20 percent of the country’s 1.1 million inhabitants are unemployed.

About 90 percent of the workforce is employed in agriculture, though this is largely seasonal, subsistence work, leaving an estimated 40 percent of this cohort effectively underemployed.

Read more ...

East Timor: Justice in the Dock

2009-07-16T19:04:00.002+09:00

Seeking to leave the past behind, East Timor could be undermining the rule-of-law and fostering a sense of impunity, with negative implications for future development, Simon Roughneen writes for ISN Security Watch.

By Simon Roughneen in Dili for ISN Security Watch

Opening statements for the defense of former Liberian president Charles Taylor on 13 July were delivered at the Special Court for Sierra Leone proceedings in The Hague, with Counsel Courtenay Griffiths QC telling the Court that whatever atrocities took place in Sierra Leone were beyond the control of the indicted ex-warlord.

Meanwhile, on the same day in Dili, the trial of 28 people accused of trying to assassinate East Timor President Jose Ramos-Horta on 11 February 2008 opened in equally dramatic fashion, with one of the accused, Angelita Pires, coming to proceedings barefoot in traditional Timorese dress, setting the tone for what is likely to be a confrontational few months in court.

Source:
http://www.isn.ethz.ch/isn/Current-Affairs/Security-Watch/Detail/?lng=en&id=103345

'Ricegate': Timor PM encourages corruption dig

2009-07-16T17:01:00.001+09:00

By Stephanie March, Steve Holland for Radio Australia

Posted 11 hours 40 minutes ago
Updated 8 hours 54 minutes ago

East Timor's Prime Minister, Xanana Gusmao, has defended his role in authorising a multi-million dollar contract for a company part-owned by his daughter.

Prima Food last year won a contract worth $US3.5 million ($4.35 million) to import rice into East Timor.

Radio Australia has previously revealed daughter Zenilda Gusmao has a stake in Prima Food.

East Timor's Opposition Fretilin Party has called the situation a case of nepotism and corruption, and is calling for the prime minister to resign.

Now, after weeks of silence on the matter, Mr Gusmao says he will face an investigation by East Timor's recently established anti-corruption commission.

"I don't want to explain any more, I don't want to explain any more. The anti-corruption commission can dig, and will dig, including into what happened in the past. Then we will see," he said.

Source:
http://www.abc.net.au/news/stories/2009/07/16/2627143.htm?section=world

Horta's guard identifies alleged gunman

2009-07-16T16:59:00.000+09:00

Adam Gartrell And Rosa Garcia
July 15, 2009 - 8:19PM

The gunman stood 30 metres away and wore a mask that covered most of his face. But Isaac da Silva says he still recognised the man who shot East Timor's president.

"Marcelo Caetano shot the president," da Silva, one of President Jose Ramos Horta's military bodyguards, told Dili District Court on Wednesday.

Da Silva was with Ramos Horta when the shooting started on February 11 last year. Ramos Horta was critically wounded in the rebel attack.

Source:
http://news.smh.com.au/breaking-news-world/hortas-guard-identifies-alleged-gunman-20090715-dlg1.html

RI to give Timor Leste a number of privileges

2009-07-15T22:21:00.000+09:00

Erwida Maulia , The Jakarta Post , Jakarta | Wed, 07/15/2009 8:57 AM | National

Indonesia has agreed to provide Timor Leste with a number of privileges in line with recommendations made by the final report of the Indonesia-Timor Leste Commission of Truth and Friendship (CTF).

The privileges include the extension of permits for East Timorese students in Indonesia, and payment of retirement fees to former Indonesian civil servants who are now Timor Leste citizens.

The permits for 5,000 East Timorese students currently studying in Indonesian universities, such as in Makassar and Yogyakarta, will be extended from six months to two years.

“The final report included a joint statement from the two country leaders, it has become a bilateral agreement that needs to be implemented,” Wiwiek S. Firman, the Indonesian Foreign Ministry’s director for human rights and humanity, told a media briefing Tuesday.

“That is why the Timor Leste and the Indonesian government are drafting the plans.”

Source:
http://www.thejakartapost.com/news/2009/07/15/ri-give-timor-leste-a-number-privileges.html

Timor PM responds for first time to 'Ricegate' allegations

2009-07-15T20:21:00.001+09:00

East Timor's prime minister, Xanana Gusmao, says he welcomes an investigation by the country's anti-corruption commission into allegations that he signed off on a multi million dollar deal for a company, part owned by his daughter, to import rice. Responding for the first time to the allegations, which are now being described as 'Ricegate' by East Timor's government spokesperson, Mr Gusmao says he doesn't believe his daughter used her relationship with him to negotiate the deal.

Presenter: Stephanie March
Speakers: Xanana Gusmao, East Timorese prime minister; Arsenio Bano, deputy leader, opposition Fretilin party, Dili

Source:
http://www.radioaustralia.net.au/asiapac/stories/200907/s2626998.htm

Cuba's solidarity with Timor Leste and the Pacific -- the Pacific School of Medicine

2009-07-15T19:40:00.001+09:00

By Tim Anderson

July 14, 2009 -- In 2008, the 700 Timor Leste and Kiribati students studying medicine in Cuba were joined by students from all over the South West Pacific -- Vanuatu, Solomon Islands, Nauru and Tuvalu. Their college in western Cuba has been called The Pacific School of Medicine. For more information see ``Solidarity aid: the Cuba-Timor Leste health programme'', visit the ``Timorese students in Cuba'' Facebook group at http://www.facebook.com/reqs.php#/group.php?gid=84093583428 or see the leaflet below.

Source:
http://links.org.au/node/1150

Former Rebels Go to Court Over Plot to Kill East Timor's President

2009-07-15T16:57:00.002+09:00

Former rebels have gone on trial in East Timor accused of the attempted murder of President Jose Ramos-Horta. He was seriously hurt in an assassination attempt outside his home in February 2008, when gunmen targeted two of the fledgling country's most senior political figures.

Prosecutors charge that the mastermind behind the assassination attempts on East Timor's leadership was an East Timorese-born Australian, Angelita Pires.

Source:
VOA: http://www.voanews.com/english/2009-07-14-voa8.cfm

Radio Australia:http://www.radioaustralia.net.au/connectasia/stories/200907/s2624083.htm

AFP: http://www.google.com/hostednews/afp/article/ALeqM5iz7GLsEyYqLILnAEcP0PRVWAw0_g

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RI and Timor Leste implement commission's recommendations

2009-07-15T16:54:00.000+09:00

Erwida Maulia , The Jakarta Post , Jakarta | Tue, 07/14/2009 10:34 PM | National

The Indonesian government will extend an East Timorese student’s staying permit and return retirement funds belonging to former Indonesian civil servants that are now East Timorese citizens.

The recent moves are just some of the end results of recommendations made in the final report of the Indonesia-Timor Leste Commission on Truth and Friendship (CTF), which was delivered in Bali in July 2008.
The Indonesian and East Timorese governments have been working on following-up the recommendations.

Source:
http://www.thejakartapost.com/news/2009/07/14/ri-and-timor-leste-implement-commission%E2%80%99s-recommendations.html

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