A
collection of recent reports and articles concerning sources of funding
for reconstruction of East Timor.
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Up-Dated: Jan 16, 2002
NEW = Added
to BACK DOOR Website
since last Monday's Emailout
Main Contents: BD:
Financing Reconstruction in East Timor
Jan
12 STGET: Alkatiri on occasion of Offering of 2 Patrol Boats
Speech added Jan 16
"The East Timorese have become accustomed
to looking towards the sea as a potential source of income only
from petroleum and gas. However, the wealth
of our country and its potential to diversify its income stream is far
wider. We need to further develop the fishery sector and build our enforcement
capacity through the patrolling of our coastal waters. At the same time
we will also be able to avoid the illegal exploration of our resources
without the benefit to our People." Mr. Mari Alkatiri, Chief Minister,
Second
Transitional Government of East Timor
December
UNTAET: UNTAET Basic Facts (Fact Sheet 2) Info added Dec
31
"Budget: • The Donors have provided
a total of approximately US$ 60 million since October 1999 to support the
national budget through the Consolidated Fund for East Timor (CFET). ...
• The Trust Fund for East Timor (TFET), administered by the
World Bank, has also disbursed roughly US$ 67 million by the end of
November 2001. Spending has been in key reconstruction
and development activities in the areas of health, education, agriculture,
infrastructure and water and sanitation. Funds have also been allocated
at a grassroots level through the Community Empowerment Programme, while
the Small Enterprise and Microfinance Programmes are designed to kick-start
the private sector. • Since 1999, the donors have contributed over US$
600 million to East Timor for development assistance (including CFET, TFET
and Bilateral assistance). ... " UNTAET Press
Office
Sep
7 RDP: New ETimorese gov't sets anti-poverty fight as main objective
Interview added Sep 10
"I usually say that we were lucky because
we have oil, but we are also lucky not to be receiving the profits of its
exploration yet, because if we were, if we were presently in possession
of these profits, our economy would still not be sufficiently prepared
to absorb these profits appropriately, nor would be appropriately enabled
to manage these profits. Therefore, we would risk seeing these profits
being placed in private accounts abroad." Mari Alkatiri, secretary general
of the winning party Fretilin Revolutionary Front
for an Independent East Timor
Aug
2 ABC: East Timor pipeline on hold Interview added Aug
4
"The fact is that the treaty was only
initialled on July 5th. It left many questions to be resolved by East Timor
and by Australia separately. One of the provisions of the treaty provides
that East Timor will impose taxes on 90 per cent of the production of oil
and gas. ... there are issues that have to be worked out, incidentally
not just issues with East Timor but the companies also have issues with
Australia. Apparently the Australian tax office is changing the depreciation
schedule on pipelines in a way that could make them much less profitable,
and that too is a factor in this whole process." Peter Galbraith, UN’s
chief negotiator for the Timor Gap project
Jul
16 Free East Timor Japan Coalition letter to the Defense Agency
Letter added Aug 4
"The enormous budget that would be spent
on this proposed dispatch should be used for the rebuilding of East Timor.
It would be of far greater benefit to the people of East Timor if the money
were spent on things like safe water, medical care, food security, setting
up of a legal system, and development of human resources instead of on
an army that will only get there when "things have settled down." Free
East Timor Japan Coalition
Jun
30 JCCJP: Japanese church leaders oppose Japanese troops in East Timor
Position statement added July 10
"Most Japanese people want Japan to contribute
to world peace first and foremost by strictly adhering to its war-renouncing
“peace constitution.” They believe that Japan can best contribute to the
rebuilding of East Timor by providing humanitarian and economic aid
in keeping with the principles of our Constitution and by an active diplomacy
with Indonesia to punish crimes against humanity, facilitate the return
of the refugees and ensure a secure environment for the new nation of Timor
Lorosae." Japanese Catholic Council for Justice and Peace
May
20 FRETILIN: Electoral Commitment 2001 Position statement
added July 7
"Oil and natural gas are non-renewable
sources of energy and revenue. The Administration will set a policy on
the Timor Sea oil and gas exploration as well as on-shore exploration and
will adopt a modern Code to ensure State control over that wealth and resources
in order to maximise revenue and income. The Administration will define
a strict framework to regulate the allocation of such revenues to be
re-invested in the development of sectors such as fisheries, tourism,
agriculture, infrastructure, communications, education, health, transport
systems, development of alternative energy sources, etc." FRETILIN:
Frente Revolucionária Do Timor-Leste Independente
Apr
9-11 APPEA: Galbraith: Timor Sea Petroleum keynote conference
address added May 5
"No industry is more important to East
Timor than petroleum. Let me give the scale of its significance. East Timor’s
annual recurring budget is $45 million. ... The Bayu-Undan liquids project
currently underway will generate $100 million a year for East Timor by
the middle of the decade. A gas pipeline could increase the government
take to $150 million. Laminaria and Buffalo operating under Australian
license, but in an area to which East Timor has a compelling claim to the
continental shelf, could generate up to $1 million a day--$365 million
a year for East Timor as current oil revenues. Imagine what this means
to a country where every building was burned to the ground, where there
are 70 students for every teacher, where teachers have no opportunity to
develop further their skills."
Ambassador Peter Galbraith, Cabinet Member
for Political Affairs and Timor Sea, East Timor Transitional Government
Jan
15 SMH: Oil is more important to us than to Australia, says Gusmao
"To have a fair treaty, Australia has
to consider that we have our perception of the problem, our rights in this
issue. ... We will respect the rights and interests of Australia, but Australia
has to respect our rights and our interests there. ... It is more important
to us than to Australia - the new terms of the treaty. ... It is preferable
that we get it [oil revenue] rather than it goes to Canberra and then comes
to us as aid." Xanana Gusmao, President, National
Council of Timorese Resistance / Conselho Nacional de Resistência
Timorense (CNRT)
Portuguese:
Jan
12 OTL: O petróleo do Mar de Timor e as relações Timor
Leste-Austrália
"A principal fonte de rendimentos de Timor
Leste para os próximos 20 anos encontra-se no ‘Mar de Timor’. Principal
fonte de rendimentos para o país não é necessariamente
sinónimo de principal factor económico para a sustentação
da sua população, que trabalha e depende em 80% da agricultura.
Porém, os rendimentos do petróleo e do gás poderão,
a partir de 2005, ser duas vezes superiores ao actual orçamento,
uma ajuda determinante para a viabilidade económica do novo Estado,
que emerge das cinzas de Setembro de 1999."
Observatório
Timor Leste
Jan
12 ETO: Timor Sea Oil and East Timor-Australia relations
"The Timor Gap is to be East Timor's main
source of revenue for the next 20 years. Being the country's main source
of revenue does not necessarily mean being the main economic factor for
the livelihood of its population, 80% of which works and is directly dependent
upon agriculture. However, as from 2005, revenues from oil and gas royalties
could be twice the country's current budget - an immense contribution to
the economic viability of the new State emerging from the ashes of September
1999." East Timor Observatory
French:
Jan
12 OTO: Le pétrole de la Mer de Timor et les relations Timor Oriental-Australie
"La principale source de revenus du Timor
Oriental pour les 20 prochaines années se trouve dans la Mer de
Timor. Principale source de revenus pour le pays n’est pas obligatoirement
synonyme de principal facteur économique pour sa population, qui
travaille et dépend pour 80% de l’agriculture. Mais les revenus
du pétrole et du gaz peuvent, à partir de 2005, être
deux fois supérieurs au budget actuel, une aide déterminante
pour la viabilité économique du nouvel Etat qui émerge
des cendres de septembre 1999." Observatoire
Timor-Oriental
Tetum:
Nov
17 2000 BLH: Saude, Oekusi, Deskulpas, no Mina: Koneksaun Timor Lorosa’e
ho Australia
" ... justisa
basika haruka atu Canberra rekonhece no husu deskulpa tan sira nia passadu
nebe halo moe tebes. Manifestasaun konkretu kona ba akto ida ne’e sei fo
fatin ba Timor Lorosa’e atu menikmati, tanpa sanksi, beneficius hotu nebe
sei hetan husi depositu mina no gas natural iha Timor Gap. Gestu
ida ne’e sei diak duni ba Australia nia bem-estar politika. Ne’e mos sei
fo rekursu financial ba Timor Lorosa’e nebe precisa tebes, atu nune’e bele
garante acessu diak tebes ba Timor Lorosa’e oan sira atu hetan ajuda ba
sira nia saude saugate deit ho kualidade diak, no mos atu hari’i infrastrutura
social ekonomika nebe necessariu hodi hamenus sira nia kiak, nebe ema moras
barak maka eksperiencia (liu tiha ona)."
La’o
Hamutuk, Instituto Timor Lorosa’e ba Analiza no Monitoring Reconstrucao
Nov
17 2000 LHB: Health, Wealth, Apologies and Oil: The East Timor-Australia
Connection
" ... basic justice
requires that Canberra recognize and apologize for its shameful past. A
concrete manifestation of such an act would be to allow East Timor to enjoy
without sanction the full benefits of the oil and natural gas deposits
in the Timor Sea. Such a gesture would be good for Australia’s political
health. It would also provide East Timor with desperately-needed financial
resources to ensure that all East Timorese have adequate access to free
and high-quality health care, and to build the type of socio-economic infrastructure
necessary to reduce the profound poverty that underlies most of the illnesses
people experience." La’o Hamutuk
Bulletin Editorial
Dec
5-6 2000 INGO: Report on the Brussels Donors' Meeting on East Timor
Added Dec 20
"The Brussels Donors' Meeting on East
Timor worked according to the Goebbels principle of propaganda: 'If
you repeat anything often enough and long enough, people will believe it.'
By
repeating often and at length what a marvellous job the WB, UNTAET and
ETTA had done, one presumes everyone except the NGOs/INGOs went away believing
this."
Sieneke Martin, INGO representative
Dec
10 2000 ACFOA Position Paper: Negotiations of the Timor Gap Zone of Cooperation
"... it is critical to ensure that East
Timor will have access and make good use of all its resources in order
to enable the rehabilitation of its infrastructure and become in the medium
term more economically self-sufficient and therefore less dependent on
foreign aid. ... The East Timorese should be given a larger share of the
oil and gas resources than the one they presently receive under the Timor
Gap Treaty." Australian Council for Overseas
Aid
Dec
18 2000 CAAT: Re-build ET coffee economy - Buy Fair Trade Coffee!
Up-dated Aug 2
Upon reading about
the recent devastating crash in income from
East Timor's coffee harvest BACK DOOR did an extensive web-search for ways
that we could respond. And guess what? In several capital cities in Australia
there are retail
outlets that sell East Timorese coffee at much fairer prices. Buying
this fair trade coffee will help to re-build the coffee economy. This coffee
can also be purchased on-line!
Jan
6 Manning: "People-centered grassroots power-devolving reconstruction of
East Timor" Letter added Jan 22
This objective [of BACK
DOOR Newsletter] can be achieved with funding by the World
Bank / IMF / The International Community by way of non-repayable loans
to the people and Communities whose property has been wantonly destroyed.
The funds should be recouped from the perpetrators; nominally the Indonesian
Government / Military. ... The Indonesian Government and "Judiciary" might
then more earnestly pursue the persons responsible instead of the current
farcical charades, and in turn recover the costs from the Indonesian Generals
who profited from the 24 years of usurping East Timor's assets." Brian
Manning, Fretilin activist / supporter, member
of team that maintained early radio communications between Fretilin and
their external Mission