6 reasons to visit East Timor – CNNGo

October 1st, 2011

http://www.cnngo.com/explorations/life/reasons-visit-east-timor-414416

Yes, really. The country also known as Timor-Leste  is not a popular destination — but it should be. Here’s why.

Diving, whale-watching, trekking, biking, great scenery, stunning mountain driving, and beautiful white-sand beaches. East Timor is one of the world’s unsung tourism destinations. Tourist numbers are low compared with other places in the region, perhaps put off by the country’s politically-unsettled and impoverished image, which contributes to a dearth of flights into the country, which in turn drives prices up and inhibits visitor numbers, which in turn keeps flight prices high, which in turn … you get the idea. (more…)

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Timor-Leste: Goodbye conflict, welcome development? – The Diplomat

September 29th, 2011



http://the-diplomat.com/2011/09/29/aid-and-independence/

‘Goodbye conflict, welcome development’ runs the panglossian banner on the Timor-Leste Finance Ministry website, and after centuries of sleepy Portuguese colonialism followed by a quarter-century of scorched-earth Indonesian occupation that killed an estimated 1/4 – 1/3 of the population, the Timorese are due an option on optimism as much as anyone else.

Making the slogan a reality is a different story, however, and independent Timor-Leste started from a low base, with most of the country’s infrastructure obliterated by the departing occupiers and their local militia proxies, after Timor-Leste voted for secession in 1999.

After a receiving an estimated US$6-8 billion in foreign assistance since 1999 and around the same in petroleum revenues since the mid-2000s, the numbers by themselves suggest Timor-Leste should be well-placed to make that leap the Finance Ministry aspires to. (more…)

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Potent mix for Timor-Leste – Asia Times

August 30th, 2011

http://www.atimes.com/atimes/Southeast_Asia/MH31Ae01.html

DILI – Land, corruption and poverty are all on the table as Timor-Leste gets into political mode ahead of parliamentary and presidential elections scheduled for 2012, with one controversial figure already throwing his hat into the ring.

Convicted of arming gunmen during Timor-Leste’s 2006 crisis, which threatened to destabilize the then four-year-old state, Rogerio Lobato told Asia Times Online that he will run for president, contesting a largely-ceremonial position now held by a fellow former Timorese exile activist, Jose Ramos-Horta. (more…)

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Timor-Leste weighs ASEAN membership – The Irrawaddy

August 30th, 2011

http://www.irrawaddy.org/article.php?art_id=21983

DILI – Across the city, banners and posters signal the new country’s increasing integration with the world outside, heralding events such as Timor-Leste’s hosting of the EITI (Extractive Industries Transparency Initiative) regional conference over August 25-27.

Timor-Leste was designated the first Asian country to match up to EITI standards on accountability in and management of its energy resources. According to World Bank Managing Director and former Indonesian Finance Minister Sri Mulyani, speaking at the EITI event, “Timor-Leste, as a nation, is building strength and economic resilience and has demonstrated how much can be won in a short space of time.”

The EITI is a voluntary mechanism, usually backed by member countries passing relevant laws. According to itself, the EITO “supports improved governance in resource-rich countries through the verification and full publication of company payments and government revenues from oil, gas and mining.” (more…)

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From Mon State to Timor-Leste – The Irrawaddy

August 25th, 2011

http://www.irrawaddy.org/article.php?art_id=21958

The man who organised parallel protests in Dili during the Saffron Revolution says despite Timor-Leste’s poverty, life is easier there than in Burma

DILI – “It is not like Myanmar, we are free here, no police or security always checking us, no worries like that”, says Kyaw San Naing, who says he was the first Burmese to arrive in Timor-Leste after the 1999 referendum on independence from Indonesia, and ensuing violence as the Indonesians and their local Timorese militia allies retreated.

Despite rural poverty in what is possibly Asia’s least developed country and high cost of living in Dili, Kyaw San Naing is very happy with life in the country that, for a time after formal independence was attained in 2002, touted itself as “The World’s Newest Democracy”.

“I came in 2001”, he recalls, putting his experience as a hotel worker in Rangoon to good effect on the floating Central Maritime Hotel, which for a time functioned as luxury guesthouse for visiting VIPs and as accommodation provider for the United Nations missions in the country, after much of Dili was destroyed during the 1999 violence. (more…)

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Time for risky ventures in Timor-Leste – RTÉ World Report/Huffington Post

August 21st, 2011

audio – http://www.rte.ie/news/av/2011/0821/worldreport.html#&autoplay=true

http://www.huffingtonpost.com/simon-roughneen/time-for-risky-ventures-i_b_940371.html

Railaco, Timor-Leste – Up a winding, rock-strewn road through stunning mountain scenery an hour from the Timorese capital Dili, coffee farmer Bartolomeo de Deus shakes a basket of his arabica beans, ready for resale to Timor Global, one of three main coffee exporters in Timor Leste, also known as East Timor.

“I have 200 hectares under cultivation”, he says, making him one of the bigger farmers in a country where coffee grows naturally and could be a lucrative export. “ (more…)

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Burma-Timor Leste Forge Closer Ties – The Irrawaddy

August 23rd, 2010

http://www.irrawaddy.org/article.php?art_id=19279

Burma Foreign Minister Nyan Win concluded a three-day goodwill visit to Timor Leste on Sunday, after being met by protestors at Dili’s international airport on Friday.

According to a Timorese journalist who requested that his name not be used, a small group of mainly university students clashed with police at Presidente Nicolau Lobato Airport.

Juvinal Diaz, who attended the demonstration, said that although the rally was peaceful, police seized banners and placards protesting the visit. According to eyewitnesses, Nyan Win was unable to leave the airport for more than an hour while the demonstration took place. (more…)

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Dili fires a broadside at Woodside – Asia Times

June 9th, 2010

http://www.atimes.com/atimes/Southeast_Asia/LF10Ae01.html

A conflict between the East Timor government and Australian company Woodside on where to process gas from the Greater Sunrise field is escalating, with officials in Dili rejecting a proposal for an offshore liquefied natural gas plant. Delays may cost the government revenue in the short term. Further ahead, they could work in East Timor’s favor

By Simon Roughneen

Timor-Leste’s government has declined a proposal by Australian oil and gas company Woodside to process gas drawn from the Greater Sunrise field onboard a floating liquefied natural gas (LNG) plant in the Timor Sea, claiming that it would be deprived of tens of billions of dollars in much needed revenues under the arrangement.

As the conflict between Australia’s second-largest energy company and one of the world’s newest and poorest island countries escalates, there is no quick resolution in sight. Dili may seek to prevent the plan coming into force and thereby seek a revision of the three treaties that underpin the Greater Sunrise project. Under the current agreement, Timor-Leste has only the option to veto any arrangement to extract the gas which it disapproves.

Dili has accused Woodside and its partner companies of ”grandstanding” over its plans for the multibillion-dollar floating processing project, and has said under no circumstances would it consent to the plans. The government also claims that the company has not followed all the procedures outlined in various international agreements between Timor-Leste, also known as East Timor, and Australia.

For its part, Woodside says that an onshore plant in Timor-Leste “presents significant technical risks”, according to a presentation (available on the Woodside website) given by chief executive officer Don Voelte to an investors conference in Sydney on June 3. Citing concerns about running a pipeline through the “seismically-active” 3,000 meter-deep Timor Sea trench to the Timorese coast, Woodside says that Timor-Leste’s infrastructure deficit would add “approximately US$5bn” to the capital cost versus the projected cost of the floating plant. The company has accused the Timor-Leste Government of “posturing”. (more…)

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From Balibo to Bangkok: Journalists Under Fire – The Irrawaddy

May 28th, 2010

http://www.irrawaddy.org/article.php?art_id=18573&Submit=Submit

BANGKOK—A couple of days before Italian journalist Fabio Polenghi was cremated at a Buddhist temple in Bangkok, another ceremony took place in New Zealand in memory of Gary Cunningham.

Separated by thousands of miles and 35 years time, the two events have a common thread: both men were journalists killed while doing their job. Cunningham was killed in late 1975 alongside four other journalists by the invading Indonesian Army while reporting from Balibo, a dusty hillside border town in East Timor. Polenghi died in unclear circumstances last Wednesday while photographing the fighting between the Thai military and Redshirt protestors in central Bangkok.

Thailand’s Deputy Prime Minister Suthep Thaugsuban spoke about the Polenghi case to Italy’s ambassador to Thailand, but his comments were vague. According to translations carried on the Bangkok Pundit website, Suthep talked about “an M79 bullet.” He is also quoted as saying that the “M79 bullet” caused multiple casualties.

There is no such thing as an M79 bullet, and while an M79 grenade caused multiple injuries to soldiers and a Canadian journalist during a separate incident, multiple accounts of the Polenghi case say that he was killed while photographing the army advance from the Redshirt side, and that the cause of death was a high velocity bullet or bullets to the chest and/or stomach.

On the afternoon of May 19, a couple of hours after Polenghi had been shot, Redshirt militants fired grenades at advancing troops, severely injuring Canadian journalist Chandler Vandergrift. As the troops and protestors fought it out, a group of around 40 correspondents spent an hour trapped in a side alley while the news that Polenghi had died filtered through to the already-frightened group.

Meanwhile, amid flickering mobile phone signals, other journalists trapped in the main rally area at Rajaprasong reported that Redshirt militants had declared the media a target. Gunfire rained down from troops advancing on Rajaprasong, even on the so-called ‘safe haven’ at Wat Pathum Wanaram, five hundred meters from the protesters’ main stage. The few reporters trapped in the crowded Wat reported coming under heavy fire, with people struggling to take cover. (more…)

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Ramos-Horta Launches Burma Petition – The Irrawaddy

March 9th, 2010

http://www.irrawaddy.org/article.php?art_id=17987

Timor-Leste President Jose Ramos-Horta has launched a worldwide petition for democracy in Burma, which also calls for the release of Aung Saw Suu Kyi ahead of the election due sometime in 2010.

Speaking at Bradford University in the UK, as part of the PeaceJam event, Nobel Peace Prize laureate Ramos-Horta said that Burma’s political divisions should be resolved by dialogue between all relevant parties and not through sanctions that penalize the people of the country.

His comments come after a recent controversy in which the Timor-Leste ambassador to the UN was apparently fired after voting in favour of a General Assembly resolution condemning the human rights situation in Burma. (more…)

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