BACK
DOOR Newsletter on East Timor home
| timor oil
| search
"If the ... 'creative solution' [90% to
East Timor and 10% to Australia] was followed, out of the likely
available US$40 billion 'government take'
from Greater Sunrise,
East Timor would get US$36 billion. Instead from what your good
friend Alexander 'Lord" Downer has leaked to Australian media the East
Timor government /people will get 18% of say US$40bn which is US$7.2
bn,
plus a 'generous offer' of $2-5 bn (A$ or US$ not clear), a total of
say $10-12bn for giving up its legal maritime boundary entitlements.
This is barely one third of what East Timor should be expecting and is
entitled to in our view under international law. ONE bloody THIRD!...
East Timor being ripped
off by US$24 billion plus?" Rob Wesley-Smith, activist, Australians For
a Free East Timor (AFFET) & member, Timor Sea Justice Coalition
(TSJC) - Darwin (Northern Territory, Australia)
This
page last updated 5 Apr 2005
Open Letter to Jose Ramos Horta
Rob Wesley-Smith
3rd May 2005
Dear Maun Jose
It was you who first brought me into the just struggle for human rights
for East Timor including independence via a meeting in Darwin in 1974,
and we have shared a lot, for better or for worser. Of course due
to a large measure of success you are now a Nobel laureate, and foreign
affairs minister of the government of a notionally independent East
Timor, and I am still a little Aussie bleeder.
But is East Timor really independent when
we see its craven behaviour towards Indonesia over Human Rights, and
towards Australia over loss of maritime boundaries and entitlement to
its Timor Sea revenues? Should activists now give up their
support or only do in detail what the first and very inexperienced East
Timor government wants? If we see looming gross economic and
territorial injustice should we remain silent before this is set in
stone? Are we only to be outspoken in your support in all
matters? [That said I acknowledge that Prime Minister Mari
Alkatiri may yet be 'holding the fort' on these negotiations]
In your media release 29th April 2005 'Talks
on Timor Sea make unprecedented progress' you said: Dr
Ramos-Horta also thanked and expressed appreciation for the vast amount
of international support Timor-Leste had received on this issue. He
noted, however, that some comments made by parties outside this process
did not reflect the approach being taken by both governments.
Yes, supporters are outside the process due to the refusal by the East
Timor Government to keep us even slightly informed. We know the
issues, we know we have several times been asked to fight for a just
outcome on these matters, but we don't receive any real information.
Timorese academics Dionísio Babo Soares and Francisco da Costa
Monteiro in Timor Post, 30 April 2005 point out 'there has not been any
formal declaration from Timor-Leste on this matter, but from the media
report, etc, government seems to entertain this proposal. This
'creative solution' will prejudice Timor-Leste's national interest if
it does not involve amendments ....'
You, Maun Jose, stated above 'some comments by some parties outside the
process did not reflect the approach taken by both governments'. Well
how do we know since no information is made available? Despite
you saying the talks on Timor Sea made unprecedented progress, you
don't indicate anything substantial except to say "Timor-Leste proposed
a creative solution which may involve a resource sharing arrangement in
lieu of hastily attempting to resolve the complex and sensitive issues
involved in agreeing to a permanent maritime boundary".
After being forced to sign the Timor Sea Treaty in order to get revenue
flowing from Bayu Undan, it was activists who proposed trying to find
'creative solutions', however not such that sold East Timor
short. We proposed, for example, expanding the jpda to the west
and the east to the point where it was most likely maritime boundaries
would be established under UNCLOS, probably first proposed in that form
by the late Andrew NcNaughtan. But as I argue the starting point
for the consequent split of financial returns should be the existing
precedent within jpda of 90% to East Timor and 10% to Australia.
(Actually why Australia should get anything is beyond comprehension
unless East Timor gets 10% of Australian resources south of the median
line. This just goes to prove again the negotiations are
between very unequal parties).
If the above 'creative solution' was followed, out of the likely
available US$40 billion 'government take'
from Greater Sunrise, East Timor would get US$36
billion. Instead from what your good friend Alexander
'Lord" Downer has leaked to Australian media the East Timor
government/people will get 18% of say US$40bn which is US$7.2 bn, plus
a 'generous offer' of $2-5 bn (A$ or US$ not clear), a total of say
$10-12bn for giving up its legal maritime boundary entitlements.
This is barely one third of what East Timor should be expecting and is
entitled to in our view under international law. ONE bloody
THIRD!
Why then do you speak so enthusiastically of the negotiating process,
which as far as I know you are not a part of, and the likely outcomes?
Why the emphasis on bilateral relations and 'the role played by my good
friend and counterpart' Lord Downer. Downer, to most observers,
has played the role of thug and bully, and we have seen some
transcripts on Crikey.com to support this even in his personal
dealings; and we note his constant bleating of 'after all we have
done for them' - is that a sentiment you agree with? 'I am
pleased that our friendship and goodwill has prevailed despite having
differences at times', you concluded, prevailed how and with what
result? East Timor being ripped off by US$24 billion plus?
I suspect you didn't like my PR "Horta Fantasies and McFarlane
Mendacities". There I noted that your not uncommon prediction of
negotiations resolution was unlikely given how far apart the parties
were or should be. So far, just, I'm vindicated.
You said 'afterwards hundreds of million will flow', which I
challenged. Note that as a result of your PR the Australian
media have burst into print, but again only really with Downer's PR
spin.
'Australia and East Timor's settlement of the long-running dispute over
maritime boundaries and the sharing of oil and gas revenue from the
Timor Sea is not itself enough for Woodside to begin planning for the
$6.6 billion development of the Greater Sunrise gas project'.
In The Age 2nd May: 'Woodside, project operator for Sunrise, said on
the weekend that while it welcomed the agreement on major issues
between the two governments, announced on Friday by Foreign Minister
Alexander Downer, progress on the stalled project would "ultimately
depend on the ability to secure gas customers".
'The company noted that a final agreement between the governments would
require ratification by their parliaments. "We would also require legal
and fiscal certainty before proceeding", Woodside said. ... Sunrise
would be unlikely to make it to the starting stalls until the second
half of the next decade'. That is, Sunrise would not even begin
to get started until after 2015, with first oil and gas on that
scenario unlikely to flow until after 2020.
Thus your earlier spin that resolution is near and 'afterwards hundreds
of million will flow' is not supported unless 'afterwards' means 15-20
years. The present contention that agreement will 'unlock the
enormous hydrocarbon potential of this region' is a complete nonsense
given (a) the above re Sunrise (b) Bayu Undan is already
happening and the petroleum dollars are already flowing into East Timor
coffers, at a higher rate than predicted as oil prices are so high, but
lower than might have been negotiated if all went at it optimum for
East Timor, so the region oil and gas is already 'unlocked'. The
long term control mechanisms for that money needs to be tightened.
The East Timor government has asked Australian activists to change the
attitude to these matters of the Australian people and Government. With
a Howard-compliant media this has been hard, but change is
occurring. It was harmed by the show of mateship with your good
friend Lord Downer before the last election. Our campaign has
been greatly boosted by the formation of the Timor Sea Justice
Campaigns initially in Melbourne, and by the applied expertise and
financial resources of Ian Melrose. Your government is by all
accounts finalising an agreement for one third of its potential well
before these Aussie efforts have had a chance to meet their potential.
And for NO GOOD REASON - East Timor will get all it needs for the next
20+ years from Bayu Undan revenues.
I would rather put productive energies towards continuing the campaigns
for justice, but with either silence or smug satisfaction for East
Timor government spokespeople one cannot help but point out the
unnecessary dangers ahead. We cannot mind-read. I also know
that Timorese civil society shares this view. And Ms Kirsty Sword
Gusmao, who last week spoke at a women's conference in Melbourne, said
the people who had fought so bravely for independence should not be
made to beg for financial autonomy. "East Timor should not be forced
into the position of beggar," she said. "It's not befitting of a
country and a nation of people who fought so bravely.
"I think it's really important for the country as a whole to have that
sense of dignity that as a sovereign nation we're able to stand on our
own two feet, at least in the long term". We agree.
Maun Wes
Rob Wesley-Smith
Activist, Australians For a Free
East Timor - Darwin (Northern Territory, Australia)
Member, Timor Sea Justice
Coalition - Darwin (Northern Territory, Australia)
Home: http://www.TimorSeaJustice.org
Phone: 61 8 89832113
Mobile: 0419 807175
Email: rwesley@ozemail.com.au
See also:
26 Mar
2005 McKee: How
much is Sunrise really
worth?:
The True Value of a Timor Sea Gas Resource
http://www.pcug.org.au/~wildwood/05mar26mckee.html
Timor Sea Talks between
Timor-Leste & Australia:
Dili, East Timor 26th 27th & 28th of April, 2005
http://www.pcug.org.au/~wildwood/talks.html
Receive
FREE email Web-updates: email wildwood@pcug.org.au
and include the words "Subscribe BACK DOOR" in the message
header.
To add items related to Timor Oil send to BACK
DOOR's email:
wildwood@pcug.org.au
Petitions, Reports
& Position statements are especially welcomed.
Postal address: BACK DOOR PO Box 5
Lyneham
ACT 2602 AUSTRALIA
BACK
DOOR Newsletter on East Timor home
| timor oil
| search
Website: http://www.pcug.org.au/~wildwood
Email: wildwood@pcug.org.au