Timor-Leste—the
Future of Australia’s Engagement
Timor-Leste
(also known as East Timor) has been an
ongoing concern to Australia.
In recent years there has been a belief that Timor-Leste was
facing the possibility of becoming a failing state on Australia’s
doorstep.
Australia’s
mission in Timor-Leste has been the country’s largest contribution
to multilateral peacekeeping in the post-Cold War period. Australia
played a leading role in the International
Force in East Timor (INTERFET) in 1999–2000. INTERFET was
a response to the large-scale violence that erupted after the
East Timorese overwhelmingly
voted for separation from Indonesia
on 30 August 1999.
Australia
is currently contributing to two multinational missions in Timor-Leste:
When East Timor formally
became independent on 20
May 2002, hopes were high for the world’s youngest
democracy. However, political tensions remained between the
former prime minister of Timor-Leste and Fretilin secretary-general,
Mari Alkatiri, and the former
president, Xanana Gusmão.
A contentious issue for the first East Timorese
Government was the role of the national army. Timor-Leste experienced
violence and civil disorder in April–May
2006 following Alkatiri’s dismissal of 594 members of the
1400-strong army in March
2006. Australian forces were redeployed in Timor-Leste in
June 2006 to restore basic law and order after the riots left
an estimated 150 000
civilians displaced across the country. In May 2006, then
Prime Minister John Howard
stated that Australia
had a ‘special
responsibility’ for the maintenance of regional peace
and stability, and a ‘particular
obligation’ to Timor-Leste, given Australia’s
engagement since the birth of the new nation.
The communal violence adversely affected
the country’s economy. Tens of thousands of East Timorese currently
live in refugee camps, reportedly too frightened to return home.
Economic problems are likely to persist into the future, as
much of the growing population is unemployed and approximately
42
per cent of East Timorese continue to live below the
poverty line. The non-government sector has also raised concerns
about the amount of money generated from the revenues under
the Greater Sunrise Treaty (signed with Australia
in 2003), which has been re-invested in the country’s development
projects. The sustained presence of East Timorese refugees
and ex-militias in West Timor continues to be a challenging
issue for Timor-Leste’s leaders.
Following the breakdown of civil order in April–May 2006, and
the arrival of international troops in June 2006, Alkatiri was
forced to resign, and called new elections. In the presidential
elections held on 9 May 2007, Dr
José Ramos Horta was elected president, winning
approximately 69 per cent
of the popular vote. Horta later appointed
Gusmão as the prime minister, following the deadlock resulting
from the parliamentary elections held on 30
June 2007.
The parliamentary elections were the first
to be held in Timor-Leste since the country’s independence from
Indonesia.
They were marked by the contest between the two main political
parties, Fretilin (Revolutionary Front for an Independent East
Timor) led by Alkatiri, and the National Congress for Timorese
Reconstruction (CNRT), led by Gusmão. Although Fretilin won
the largest number of votes as an individual party, the CNRT
managed to secure a legislative majority with support from several
smaller parties. Concerns remain about the political stability
in Timor-Leste given the loose coalition of interests that keeps
the current government in place.
Australia
provided over $570 million
in Official Development Assistance to Timor-Leste between 1999
and June 2007. In the 2006–07 Budget,
Australia
increased its assistance in response to the 2006 unrest and
humanitarian crisis. The Howard Government undertook to provide
a further $72.8 million to Timor-Leste in 2007–08. Australian
assistance comprises projects that target good governance,
capacity building, national reconciliation and peace-building,
rural development, and health and education. Australia
is helping the East Timorese Government to improve justice and
regulatory systems and to strengthen national agencies in order
to build a better future for the country—one of the poorest
in the Asia–Pacific region.
Apart from the continuing maintenance of
security, the main challenge for Australian
engagement in Timor-Leste is fostering the creation of a
resilient institutional structure and sufficient expertise to
deal with unresolved issues and future challenges.
Documentation
Australian Agency for International Development (AusAID)
East Timor,
updated June 2007.
James Cotton, ‘Timor-Leste
and the discourse of state failure’, Australian Journal
of International Affairs, vol. 61, no. 4, 2007, pp. 455–70.
James Dunn, ‘East
Timor in the Arc of Instability’, in Dennis
Rumley, Vivian Louis Forbes
and Christopher. Griffin
(eds), Australia’s Arc of Instability: The Political and
Cultural Dynamics of Regional Security, Springer, the Netherlands,
2006, pp. 101–10.
|
