2013 Timor-Leste Update Conference

2013 Timor-Leste Update Follow Up - IPS - ANU

Amb. Abel Guterres and Agio Pereira (Minister of State and of the Presidency of the Council of Ministers) on left. Ruth Nuttall (ANU) at the podium.

The 2013 Timor-Leste Update was the first to be held at the ANU and brought together leading and emerging scholars and policy analysts working on Timor-Leste to reflect critically on the prospects and challenges for the nation over the next 5-10 years. The main objective of the Update was to contribute to Australia's knowledge of, and engagement with Timor-Leste, by providing a public forum to discuss recent developments in Timor-Leste. The Update also aimed to strengthen relationships between scholars, government agencies, civil society organisations and research institutions working on Timor-Leste and to help build the profile and capacity of East Timorese researchers and policy analysts.

The 2013 Timor-Leste Update was hosted by the State, Society and Governance in Melanesia Program at the ANU, with funding from the ANU’s Research School of Asia and the Pacific, and the Australian Government’s Department of Foreign Affairs and Trade, and it is hoped that the Timor-Leste Update will become a biennial event.

Click on the links below to access all the outputs and related material from the 2013 Timor-Leste Update:

• 2013 Timor-Leste Update - Podcast Series: Audio recordings of key sessions
• 2013 Timor-Leste Update - Participant Presentations
• 2013 Timor-Leste Update - Program
• Keynote Address - 'Peace and Prosperity', Agio Pereira, Timo-Leste Minister of State and of the Presidency of the Council of Ministers
• Video Interview  - Dr Lia Kent on the key aims of the 2013 Timor-Leste Update
• Press Coverage - 'Widening gulf a peril for the two East Timors', Sydney Morning Herald, 28 November 2013

Related Publications

• 'In Timor, a new house does not make a home', Joanne Wallis and Pyone Myat Thu.
• 'The Australian Seasonal Workers Program: Timor-Leste's case', SSGM In Brief 2013/13

Speakers included: Agio Pereira (Minister of State and of the Presidency of the Council of Ministers), Fidelis Magalhaes (Chief of Staff, Presidency of the Republic of Timor-Leste), Charles Scheiner (La’o Hamutuk); Meabh Cryan (Rede ba Rai); Ines Martins (La’o Hamutuk); Nelson Belo (Fundasaun Mahein); Catharina Maria; Jose Neves (Deputy, Anti-Corruption Commission Timor-Leste); Lurdes Bessa (Member of Parliament, Timor-Leste); Laura Soares Abrantes (Asia Pacific Support Collective Timor-Leste); Lia Kent (ANU);Sue Ingram (ANU); Michael Leach (Swinburne University), Gordon Peake (ANU) and more.

Panel on Sub-national development.

'via Blog this'

Transparency International release scores - Timor 127th least corrupt, Indonesia 110

Transparency International just released their 2010 Corruptions Perceptions Index, available at http://www.transparency.org/policy_research/surveys_indices/cpi/2010. Timor-Leste scored 2.5 (out of 10), ranking 127th least corrupt country among 178 countries -- in other words, worse than more than 2/3 of the countries rated. In the Asia-Pacific region, TL is 24th out of 34 countries, worse than Indonesia (110th, 2.8 compared to 111th, 2.8 in the 2009 survey), Thailand, Mongolia, and Vietnam, among others.

For Timor-Leste, this is a slight improvement over 2009, when its score was 2.2, ranking 146 of 180 countries worldwide, and 28th of 33 in Asia-Pacific. In 2008, its score was also 2.2 (145th/180). In 2007, it scored  2.6 (123th/180), better than this year. 

In other recent indexes: 


Global Hunger Index


Timor-Leste is "among the countries with hunger levels considerably higher than their GNI [Gross National Income] per capita would suggest" according to the International Food Policy Research Institute (IFPRI) Global Hunger Index (GHI). It is one of four countries (the others are Bangladesh, India and Yemen) which have "the highest prevalence of underweight in children under five -- "more than 40 percent." 23% of the population is under-nourished.Timor-Leste's GHI of 25.6 is considered "alarming"  and is the highest of any country in South and Southeast Asia, and ranks 71 of the 84 countries ranked globally. The ranking does not include many countries where hunger is not a serious problem. The previous calculation of the GHI was in 1990, and Timor-Leste was not included. Indonesia is rated "serious" ranking 36 with a score of 13.2 - compared to 19.5 in 1990. 16% of its population was malnourished.


Open Budget Index


On the International Budget Partnership's Open Budget Index 2010, Timor-Leste scored 34 out of 100, characterized as "Provides minimal information to the public in its budget documents during the year." (Timor's country data sheet is here.). TL ranks fifth among the seven Southeast Asian countries rated, better than Vietnam and Cambodia but worse than Indonesia, Malaysia, the Philippines and Thailand. T-L's score of 34 is less than the global average of 42.  It ranks 62nd best of the 93 countries rated. This is the first time Timor-Leste has been included in the OBI. Indonesia ranked 39th, scoring 51, down from 54 in 2008. Indonesia's 2010 country data sheet is here.

UPDATE: added missing data on Indonesia for previous year, also some copy-editing and an added link.

Tempo Semanal english language video reports

Tempo Semanal has just posted several English-language video news reports. All of them can be accessed  from their blog.

From Tempo's description of its report on the protests over the PNTL killing of Kuta late last year:

A young man was shot dead by police (PNTL) in Dili on December 28 2009. Unrest and tension on the streets followed the tragic death with calls for control of PNTL officers. Security of the government and ministers was increased during the period and President Jose Ramos Horta and Prime Minister Xanana Gusmao mediated upset family members. Jose Belo reports for Tempo Semanal.

 Another covers the burial of a victim of the Santa Cruz massacre. Several bodies were found and recently identified as having been killed at Santa Cruz cemetery 18 years ago.



Two additional report involve an interview with the Minister of Tourism and end of the year demands from contractors for payment from the government.

Timor Parliament Debates the Budget

A committee of Timor-Leste's parliament has rejected the Government's proposed budget, offering detailed criticisms and recommendations.


La'o Hamutuk has posted the complete Portuguese version of the Report of Parliamentary Committee C (Economics, Finance and Anti-Corruption) on the proposed RDTL General State Budget for 2010.

An unofficial English translation of the Recommendations section of the report, including recommendations from all the Parliamentary Standing Committees is here.

The opposition Fretilin party applauds the report, passed with no opposition, but says it doesn't go far enough.

All members of the committee voted in favour of the report, except for the three FRETILIN committee members and the National Unity Party MP and leader, Fernanda Borges, who abstained because the report did not go far enough in condemning the illegality of the so called "referendum package."

La'o Hamutuk collects documents and other information, including its own submission to Parliament, related to the proposed 2010 budget here.

The 20 recommendations of the Commission C in english are here.

UPDATE  - The Government responds here. The Fretilin Bancada blog is here

Juvinal Dias and Charles Scheiner present La'o Hamutuk's testimony to
President Manuel Tilman and other members of Parliament's Committee C.