Routledge Handbook of Contemporary Timor-Leste

Andrew McWilliam, Michael Leach

• Publisher: Taylor & Francis
• Year: 2019
• eBook ISBN: 9781317225218
• Edition: 1
• Topic: Social Sciences
• Subtopic: Regional Studies
• Index: Social Sciences

Reflecting on the legacies of Timor-Leste's remarkable journey from colonialism to sovereign and democratic Independence, the Routledge Handbook of Contemporary Timor-Leste provides a comprehensive and up-to-date reference work on all aspects of life in Timor-Leste.

Following an introduction and overview of the country, the Handbook is divided into five parts:

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• Politics and governance

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• Economics and development

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• Social policies and the terms of inclusion

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• Cultural impacts

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• Regional relations

Written by an international team of experts, the Handbook covers the principle concerns that have contributed significantly to the shape and character of contemporary Timor-Leste. It offers a timely and valuable reference guide for students, scholars and policymakers with an interest in International Relations, Southeast Asian Studies and Peace Studies.

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Timor-Leste

Historical legacies and contemporary challenges

Andrew McWilliam and Michael Leach

Introduction

The history of Timor-Leste is a compelling story of a people prevailing against the odds. The nation’s harrowing journey from an economically impoverished colonial Portuguese backwater in 1975, followed by a generation-long military occupation by Indonesia, only to emerge as an independent republic at the turn of the twenty-first century, is as remarkable as it is unlikely. Perhaps above all, it stands as a lasting testament to the resilience and desire of a people to be free.

Since the dramatic referendum on independence in 1999 followed by the destructive withdrawal of the occupying Indonesian military and the re-establishment of political governance and socio-economic life under the UN Transitional Administration, the people of Timor-Leste have been engaged in the long and difficult journey of post-conflict recovery. The process has not been without its own complex set of challenges, illustrated most vividly in the explosive communal violence accompanying the military-political crisis of 2006, continuing entrenched high levels of youth unemployment and disaffection, and a massive trade imbalance favouring consumer imports over meagre non-oil export industries. At the same time, the first two decades of liberation have also seen renewal with the rebuilding of many essential government services and public infrastructure, the commitment to a strategic vision of prosperity for the nation (Kammen 2009), and the public recognition and financial support for heroes and martyrs of the independence cause. The unlikely nation of Timor-Leste continues to confound its critics who took its early policy missteps and arguably over-ambitious development plans to signal all the hallmarks of a failed state (Cotton 2007).

This new Routledge Handbook of Contemporary Timor-Leste offers a fresh set of compelling perspectives on Timor-Leste society as it continues the sustained work of rebuilding and recovery over the first two decades of the twenty-first century. The volume brings together a group of 25 international and domestic scholars presenting their specialist insights on many of the pressing public policy and social issues facing East Timorese society today. The contributors are all seasoned observers of the complex processes of post-conflict and postcolonial recovery that have shaped the character and quality of governance and socio-economic life across the country. They bring to the task their own disciplinary perspectives and research experience with contributions from political science, economics, anthropology, human geography, history, art, law, archaeology and strategic studies. In presenting a selection of this scholarship at this time, the collection speaks directly to the central concerns and developments that have defined the post-independence era of Timor-Leste and now frame the directions and terms of engagement for the future. The volume is organised into five complementary themes that bring into focus key challenges and legacy issues that continue to inform decision-making and political debate in contemporary society.

Politics and governance

As in many decolonised states, a relatively unified pro-independence front broke into factions in the wake of national liberation and the UN-auspiced introduction of multiparty democracy. Efforts to rebuild unity and establish effective forms of democratic governance have been at the forefront of parliamentary politics in Timor-Leste in the years that have followed. We begin with a brief outline of post-independence political governance.

The restoration of independence in 2002 saw the victorious Frente Revolucionária de Timor-Leste Independente (FRETILIN), founded in 1974, form government from 2002 to 2006. Then in the wake of the 2006 crisis, a major new entrant into post-independence politics emerged, with an alliance of parties replacing the Fretilin government at the 2007 elections. Led by the National Congress of the Timorese Reconstruction (CNRT), and headed by former President Xanana Gusmão, the CNRT Party successfully reprised the historically significant acronym of the National Council of Timorese Resistance, the united front that had led the nation to the 1999 referendum, and become a popular symbol of national unity.

The Parliamentary Majority Alliance (Alianca Maioria Parlamentar – AMP) controlling 37 seats governed until 2012 and was re-elected, with some revised junior coalition partners, in 2012. The 2007–2012 era was characterised by fractious divisions within the small political elite, with Fretilin labelling the new government a ‘defacto administration’ as Fretilin remained the largest party in parliament, albeit well short of a majority. The 2007 election had also seen strongly regionalised voting blocs emerge, with the eastern districts backing Fretilin strongly and the west backing the AMP parties; the contrast highlighting wider problems of national unity. This period also saw wider social tensions, with a large number of internally displaced people (IDPs) living in camps in Dili, and the return of UN peacekeepers. Most dramatically, early on 11 February 2008, President Ramos-Horta was shot and gravely wounded by a member of a rebel group led by a disaffected former military policeman, Major Reinado. Shortly before these events, Reinado and one of his men had been shot and killed by the Presidential Guards of the Timorese army (Forças de Defesa de Timor-Leste). The surviving members of the rebel group involved in these events claimed the episode was part of a ‘negotiation strategy’ gone wrong (Leach 2009). This dramatic incident became a turning point for governance in Timor-Leste, as the new government settled disputes with the main body of disaffected army petitioners and established a pathway for the eventual dissolution of the IDP camps through cash grants for rehousing. The initiatives saw a greater level of security return to urban streets.

The profound nature of CNRT’s 2012 election victory saw the new Government Coalition Bloc (Bloku Governu Koligasaun) coalition win control of 40 seats. The victory led to a moderation in political conflict and the emergence of a new ‘consensus politics’, evident in Fretilin’s unprecedented support for budget votes in parliament and the appointment of Fretilin leader Mari Alkatiri as the head of the major project to develop Oecussi as a Special Economic Zone (ZEESM).¹ Fretilin also conspicuously dropped the ‘defacto government’ label it had used after the 2007 election, reducing tensions considerably.

The remarkable trend continued into early 2015 with the formation of a new government, dominated by CNRT ministers but led by Fretilin’s, Rui Araújo as Prime Minister. Though best seen as a power-sharing executive rather than a formal government of national unity, this informal ‘grand coalition’ between Timor-Leste’s two largest parties was described by a senior CNRT minister as a transition from ‘belligerent to consensus democracy’ (Pereira 2014). With Gusmão relinquishing the prime ministership to move to the Ministry of Planning and Development, the new power-sharing executive also seemed to represent an intergenerational shift. Meanwhile, the power-sharing coalition continued the previous government’s development focus on large-scale infrastructure spending, drawing down the country’s oil and gas revenues. It also took a stronger position on national boundaries.

The 2017 round of elections beginning on 20 March saw Fretilin’s candidate, Francisco ‘Lú Olo’ Guterres (a former guerrilla commander and 24-year veteran of the Falintil military resistance) win in the first round with 57%, having received a massive boost with a previously unthinkable endorsement by Xanana Gusmão. Gusmão’s position led many observers to conclude that the era of national unity would likely continue but ironically the 2017 presidential election would prove the final chapter of what had been an unprecedented era of ‘consensus democracy’.

In the 22 July election, the two main parties—Fretilin and CNRT—once again took the majority of the vote, with 29.7% and 29.5%, respectively. In a significant twist, Fretilin narrowly beat the previously dominant CNRT, resulting in a slim but important lead of 23 seats to CNRT’s 22. Ultimately, Fretilin formed a 30-seat minority coalition with the Democratic Party. On 16 September 2017, with no apparent alternative majority coalition, President Guterres appointed the first minority government in Timor-Leste’s short constitutional history. But events moved rapidly, and a political stand-off emerged on 19 October when three opposition parties—the CNRT, the Partido Libertasaun Popular (PLP) and Kmanek Haburas Unidade Nasional Timor Oan (KHUNTO), together controlling 35 of parliament’s 65 seats—rejected the government’s programme.

‘Belligerent democracy’ then returned in force over the second half of 2017. In December, the minority government failed to pass a budget rectification measure through parliament. This period also saw the Fretilin parliamentary president delay motions of no confidence and refer a motion for his own removal to the courts. These moves seemed designed to delay the second rejection of the government programme until a time closer to 22 January, the earliest day the president could dissolve Parliament and call early elections. On 25 January 2018, President Guterres duly announced that a new election would take place on 12 May.

Following nine months of Fretilin-led minority government, Timor-Leste’s parliamentary elections on May 12 seemed set to deliver stability as a newly formed ‘Alliance for Change and Progress’ (AMP) combining CNRT, PLP and KHUNTO, secured an outright majority of 34 seats. Despite leading a smaller party, Tau Matan Ruak was appointed Prime Minister in June, with the CNRT leader, Gusmão, proposed as Minister of State advising the Prime Minister. The AMP’s clear majority looked set to provide for stability and a much-needed budget.

However, the first experience of genuine ‘cohabitation’ in Timor-Leste’s semi-presidential system between a Fretilin president and an AMP government would disrupt these early projections, revealing the potential extent of presidential power in Timor-Leste’s semi-presidential system and causing problems for the governing coalition. Tensions came to a head in June as President Guterres refused the appointment of 12 of the 41 proposed ministers in the new government, citing corruption investigations. Though Gusmão was not amongst them, the CNRT leader boycotted the swearing in ceremony in protest, accusing the President of ‘unprecedented, unusual, seditious and politicized’ behaviour by not swearing- in the full suite of government members. For his part, President Guterres stated that he merely asked the Prime Minister to review the names in light of the evidence provided, arguing that such nominations might undermine public faith in the government. Soon after, in another clear sign of cohabitation tensions, the parliament denied the President permission to travel on a scheduled state visit to Portugal. This stand-off over ministers continued at the time of writing and highlights the continuing challenges of creating stable processes of democratic governance in Timor-Leste.

Several chapters in this volume reflect directly on these emergent trends in East Timorese politics, on the processes of democratic consolidation, on inter-party and intergenerational tensions within the political elite and on the relationship of modern governance with more established forms of traditional authority.

Rui Feijo examines the consolidation of East Timorese democracy since 2002, highlighting its strengths and weaknesses in the historical context of its emergence from two consecutive colonial eras, and the particular challenges of establishing the ‘double transition’ to independence and democracy simultaneously. This chapter analyses the difficult transition from a united front independence movement to a multiparty democracy, following an unprecedented period of UN transitional governance. Feijo commends the relatively open party registration processes, and highly competent electoral administration institutions, but also notes the high level of party volatility, with only two parties that participated in the inaugural 2001 constitutional assembly elections still participating in 2018. Arguing that resistance legacies and personality still dominate a relatively fluid party system, Feijo addresses key challenges in democratic consolidation: the evolving relationship between presidential and prime-ministerial power under the semi-presidential system, the relationship of government with highly legitimate but constitutionally neglected traditional authorities, and the overdue processes of generational transition.

Douglas Kammen’s chapter takes a different approach, peering behind formal political institutions and processes to examine patterns of political mobilisation since 2006. Analysing what he sees as emergent forms of patrimonialism, Kammen examines government practices of ‘buying peace’—using windfall oil and gas revenues to patch over entrenched problems in the wake of the crisis. He argues that early successes in this regard became a ‘general ruling strategy’ involving the ‘purchase’ of the electoral loyalty of significant actors in East Timorese society, particularly veterans. Whilst this encompassed regular social welfare payments, and the expansion of the civil service, Kammen observes that it also saw special arrangements for the politically powerful veterans, and measures targeted at the emerging middle-class and business elites, most notably state-funded infrastructure contracts for the private sector. For Kammen, subsequent moves against martial arts gangs, disaffected veteran groups, the press and foreign judges indicate that this strategy was at times backed by forms of state coercion.

In their contribution, Maj Nygaard-Christensen and Angie Bexley address the recurrent issue of an overdue generational transition in power in post-independence Timor-Leste. With effective political power still largely in the hands of the ‘1975 generation’ leadership, and especially those with the particular legitimacy of participation in the military resistance, the authors examine the persistent marginalisation of a younger generation of leaders, many of whom were active in the youth-dominated civilian clandestine resistance to the Indonesian occupation. Examining the way an older generation’s hold on power is reinforced by particular development agendas, the authors argue that prevailing conceptions of national identity have limited the scope for emergence of alternative modes of political legitimacy.

Anthropologist David Hicks presents a broader perspective on processes of governance in his study of the relationships between customary authority (lisan), the Church (Igreja) and the state (estado) experienced in East Timorese local communities. Hicks’ typology categorises these experiences into three modes: displacement, syncretisation or hybridisation, and ‘cohabitation’. Each refers to the ways that these distinctive interactional modes of traditional authority, modern governance and Church affiliations are negotiated in local communities. Hicks analyses the inter-relationships between these institutions, arguing that each provides distinctive strategic resources for local actors to meet their daily needs, to resolve disputes and to navigate competing claims and interests.

Michael Leach’s chapter takes a broader historical view on the new state, examining the evolving character of East Timorese nationalism. Leach’s chapter analyses the distinctive features of East Timorese nationalism, including its rapid transition from a conventional anti-colonialist narrative, mobilised against Portuguese colonialism, to one contesting Indonesia’s looming forced integration of the decolonising territory in 1975. The analysis examines the way competing ‘nations of intent’ have ideologically contested the political values and identity of the nation. His chapter then focuses on more recent shifts in ‘official’ East Timorese nationalism, in the way recent government discourses have invoked the arrival of Catholicism as the ‘affirmation of Timorese identity’ (RDTL 2015), and development of a modern nationalist narrative which invokes traditional ‘origin stories’. The unsuccessful government attempts to transform a national identity focussed on the history of the resistance to one mobilised around the goals of national development is another case in point. Finally, Leach speculates on the future of East Timorese nationalism, reflecting on the implications of the demographic ‘youth bulge’ in East Timorese society.

Economics and development

Chief amongst the challenges facing the fledgling nation is the question of the economy and the urgent need to repair the financial status of the sovereign Petroleum Fund (Fundo Petrolifero) that currently provides the lion’s share (90%) of the country’s annual budget expenditure. In the absence of any viable or sustainable, alternative sources of export income beyond coffee, the petroleum sector and the sovereign wealth fund remain key to the future of Timor-Leste. At least for the immediate future, the economic fortunes of the nation remain highly dependent on its capacity to invest its substantial oil revenues prudently, and gradually move towards a more diversified economy.

This scenario, however, is by no means assured, as Charlie Scheiner makes clear in his contributing chapter on the Timor-Leste economy and its fiscal management. Entitled ‘After the Oil Runs Dry’, Scheiner draws on extensive analysis of the government’s own fiscal reporting and data projections to highlight the distorting effects of Timor-Leste’s, near-complete dependency on oil and gas revenues. Excessive drawdown of the country’s multibillion-dollar petroleum fund and the absence of new sources of oil revenue anytime soon risk exhaustion of these funds within a decade. He sees little evidence that the government has used its resource revenues effectively to prepare for a non-oil future. For its part, the government argues that its strategy of ‘front-loaded’ infrastructure projects across the country will drive investment and attract private-sector development and skills training as a basis for a more diversified economic future.

The largest of these multibillion-dollar megaprojects are the Tasi Mane petroleum infrastructure project on the South Coast of Timor-Leste and the so-called ZEESM (Special Economic Zone for Social Market Economy) project in the enclave of Oecusse. Both have attracted criticism and controversy over their massive scale and the lack of economic justification for their development (for further analysis and critique, see Scheiner this volume, Bovensiepen ed. 2018 and Meitzner Yoder 2015). In the present volume, Laura Meitzner-Yoder offers her analysis of the planning and regulatory development process of the ZEESM project in Oecusse. Long critical of the inadequate economic rationale for its scale and vision, Meitzner-Yoder focuses on the growing gaps and shortfalls between the promises and assurances extended to the resident Oecusse population and the reality of an investment process that contributes little to ameliorating endemic levels of poverty, the highest in Timor-Leste.

The challenge of managing and investing the substantial resource revenues is also the subject of Joanne Wallis’ chapter that focuses on the expansion of social transfers and targeted pensions to a range of beneficiary groups, and its impact on reducing poverty and inequality. She argues that these public transfer schemes have supplemented the income of certain vulnerable groups (especially the elderly and disabled) and facilitated a successful peacebuilding effort in the aftermath of the 2006–2007 security crisis. But the overtly political basis of some social transfers, particularly the generous payments made to veterans (Veteranus) of the independence struggle, have favoured some groups over others and arguably failed to address chronic levels of poverty, particularly in many a...

Table of contents

• Cover
• Half Title
• Title Page
• Copyright Page
• Table of Contents
• List of illustrations
• List of contributors
• 1 Timor-Leste: historical legacies and contemporary challenges
• Politics and governance
• Economics and development
• Social policies and the terms of inclusion
• Cultural impacts
• Regional relations
• Glossary
• Index