BACK DOOR Newsletter on East Timor

A collection of recent reports and articles that analyse aid and trade relationships with East Timor.

NEW = Added to BACK DOOR Website since last Monday's Emailout

See: Organisations Watching & Monitoring East Timor's Reconstruction

Portuguese:
Out 25 OTL: A Indonésia deixa o regresso dos refugiados nas mãos dos dirigentes pró-autonomia
Reportagem de Dec 18
"A ajuda financeira internacional para os refugiados não pode ser atribuída na base dum recenseamento que as próprias autoridades indonésias reconhecem não ter significado. ... A ajuda internacional atribuída neste quadro só serve para prolongar esta situação. As agências internacionais no terreno são a resposta mais apropriada mas a Indonésia não toma as medidas necessárias ao seu regresso, particularmente o julgamento dos milicianos responsáveis pela violência." Observatório Timor Leste

Oct 25 ETO: Refugees’ repatriation to ETimor in the hands of pro-autonomy leaders  Article added Nov 8
"International financial assistance for the refugees cannot be attributed on the basis of a registration exercise that the Indonesian authorities themselves admit was meaningless. ... In such circumstances, [of 'refugee' camp control militias] international assistance only serves to perpetuate the situation. International agencies on the ground are the most appropriate response, but Indonesia is not implementing the measures that have to be taken to ensure their return, particularly in terms of bringing to justice the militiamen responsible for the violence." East Timor Observatory

Sep 29 JRH speech to Oxfam-CAA National Conference  Speech added Oct 17
" ... here is the agenda I propose: Debt cancellation. The G8, European Union and World Bank should lead the initiative in writing off the entire public sector debt of all non-oil producing countries whose per capita income is less than US$1,000. ... All rich countries should increase the percentage of their ODA within the next ten years to the UN recommended 0.8% of GDP. Perhaps on a dollar for dollar basis where applicable, such aid could match reduction in military expenditures associated with debt relief. ... for every $1 provided through aid and debt relief, developing countries lose another $14 as a consequence of protectionist barriers in the rich world." Dr Jose Ramos-Horta, Minister for Foreign Affairs and Cooperation, East Timor Transition Government

Aug 11 SMH: Stop-the-rot campaign helps E Timor on road to political integrity  Article added Aug 13
“Corruption in East Timor was endemic during 24-years of Indonesian rule that ended in 1999. An influx of aid money to help rebuild East Timor’s infrastructure destroyed during post-ballot violence has raised fears about the potential for corruption to flourish again.” Nathan Laws, program manager, Australian Legal Resources International (ALRI)

June 2001 LHB: Can East Timor Survive the Aid Industry?  Article added June 22
"They have come to help, with their 4x4 vehicles and consultants and experience of “helping” in Mozambique and India and Honduras. The United Nations, the International Monetary Fund (IMF) and World Bank, the bilateral aid agencies, and international non-government organizations (INGOs) are there by the score. They rent all the best houses for thousands of dollars a month, and they pay high salaries—$4000 a month or more sometimes—to skilled East Timorese, stealing the best people from already weak local institutions, and ensuring that any skilled people returning from abroad work for them. They are the international aid industry. " Joseph Hanlon

Bahasa Indonesia:
Jun 20 Profil Organisasi AID/WATCH  Article added July 21
"AID/WATCH adalah sebuah organisasi berbasiskan pada masyarakat, tidak mengambil untung, melakukan kampanye atas keterlibatan Australia dalam bantuan luar negri dan proyek proyek, program dan kebijakan pembangunan. Sewaktu kami memonitor Dolar pembangunan, kami bekerja untuk memastikan bahwa uang bantuan tersebut menjangkau individu, masyarakat dan lingkungan yang tepat. ...
Kampanye AID/WATCH: Timor Watch: Menyadari besarnya peran Australia pada pembangunan di East Timor maka AID/WATCH telah memulai kampanye 'Timor Watch' yang akan bekerja sama dengan Organisasi kemasyarakatan lokal untuk memonitor peran dari dana bantuan dan agen pembangunan dalam proses pembangunan kembali East Timor." Yoga Sofyar, AID/WATCH

Apr 14 CT: East Timor suffers under weight of world plans  Article added Apr 19
"The World Bank has a long history of blunders in developing countries with programs which impact heavily on the environment, and change social and economic structures by encouraging dependence on cash cropping, distributing non-native and genetically modified seeds, and by offering loans to larger-scale agricultural concerns, ignoring local patterns of smaller-scale landholding. These policies, well-intentioned as they may be, destroy communities’ strategies for self-sufficiency, often with disastrous results." Jenny Denton

Bahasa Indonesia/Malay:
Feb 3 STL: Uskup Belo meminta pendirian “Timor Gap Watch”
Berita ditambahkan tanggal 22 Januari, 2002
"Agar supaya honorarium pasti digunakan hanya untuk bangsa, Uskup Belo meminta pendirian badan independen yang bisa mengawasi setiap liter minyak dari Timor Gap dan cara honorarium dihasilkan dari minyak itu. Juga cara honorarium itu digunakan akan diawasi dengan teliti. Badan independen itu bisa didirikan oleh pemerintah baru, kata Uskup Belo. Tetapi, Uskup Belo memperingatkan bahwa komposisi badan itu harus memasukkan orang yang bisa dipercayai dari sektor swasta, organisasi sosial dan gereja. Dia menekankan bahwa badan itu harus merupakan badan nasional." Suara Timor Lorosae

Tetum:
Fev 3 STL: Bispo Carlos Ximenes Belo husu atu bele harii “Timor Gap Watch”  News from ETimor added July 7
“Ha’u ladun fiar uituan ho liafuan sira nebe hateten katak ita sei sai nasaun nebe riku tanba mina, ... Ita sei sai nasaun nebe riku wainhira honorarium (royalties) ne’e uza atu dezenvolve nasaun, la’os atu koruptor sira mak gasta. ... Wainhira iha badan nebe kontrola (watch-dog), ha’u fiar katak Timor Loro Sa’e sei sai nasaun nebe riku, ... Maibe se laiha ita sei bele sai hanesa nasaun balun iha Afrika nebe taxa ba mina nian uza fali atu hariku na’ok-teen sira, la’os povu.” Bispo Carlos Ximenes Belo

Feb 3 STL: Bishop Belo Calls For Timor Gap Watch  News from ETimor updated Feb 9
"In order to ensure that the royalties [from Timor Gap] are used only for the country [ETimor], Bishop Belo called for the setting up of an independent body [Timor Gap Watch] that will monitor every liter of oil from the Timor Gap and the way royalties are generated from it. Also the manner in which the royalties are spent will be closely monitored." Suara Timor Lorosae

Feb 2 JP: Aditjondro: ETimorese becoming guests in their own land  Interview updated May 16
" ... Timor has been transformed from an Indonesian colony to an outpost of global capitalism with investors from Hong Kong, Macao, Portugal, Singapore ... Everyone wants a piece of the reconstruction pie.  The World Bank says East Timor is a showcase in how to build an economy from scratch, thanks to the Indonesian Military, but (rebuilding) also involves many other groups, so the Timorese are becoming guests in their own country; this is a more subtle and entrenched form of colonialism." George Junus Aditjondro, self-exiled author and lecturer from Indonesia, currently teaching at Newcastle University

Portuguese:
Dez 22 2000 OTL: Reconstruir infra-estruturas adaptadas e sustentáveis  Report added Apr 4
"a chegada dum grande número de estrangeiros com necessidades de conforto e capacidades financeiras superiores levou à satisfação prioritária deste sector, ocupando edifícios e casas menos destruídas ou dando-lhe primazia na reconstrução e fornecimento de bens. Mais de um ano depois da chegada das NU, a imensa maioria dos timorenses, sobretudo em Dili, vive em ruínas." Observatório Timor Leste

Dec 22 2000 ETO: Reconstructing suitable sustainable infrastructures  Report added Dec 30
"The large influx of foreigners with different standards of comfort and greater financial capacity has meant that satisfying their needs has become a priority area: they took over the less damaged buildings and houses, and were given priority in reconstruction and supply of materials.  Meanwhile, a year after the UN's arrival, the vast majority of Timorese, especially those in Dili, are still living amidst the ruins." East Timor Observatory

Aug 2000 AW: The Rebuilding of ETimor and Bougainville  Newsletter
http://www.aidwatch.org.au/news/20/index.htm

Tetum:
Jul 17 2000 BLH: Ajuda Internasional ba Timor Lorosa’e: Misericordia?  Editorial from ETimor added Apr 4
"La’o Hamutuk husu ba nain ulun UNTAET tahan atu fo osan ba Timor Lorosa’e nudar “misericordia”, ita tenke hare sira nudar modesto hanesan compesacao husi governo nebe fahe sira nian responsabilidade ba povo Timor Lorosa’e nia terus no destrucao nacao-la’os deit iha Septembro 1999, maibe durante 24 anos nia laran." La’o Hamutuk, Instituto Timor Lorosa’e ba Analiza no Monitoring Reconstrucao

July 17 2000 LHB: International Funding for East Timor: Charity? Editorial from ETimor added Apr 4
"La'o Hamutuk calls upon UNTAET officials to refrain from referring to funds donated to East Timor as "charity" -- especially when the vast majority of these funds come from national governments which provided significant economic, military, and diplomatic support to Jakarta and its illegal occupation of East Timor. Rather than seeing these funds as "charity", we should see them largely as a modest beginning at amends from governments who share in the responsibility for the suffering of the East Timorese and the destruction of the country -- not only in September 1999, but in the almost-24-year period that preceded it." La'o Hamutuk: East Timor Institute for Reconstruction Monitoring and Analysis

Nov 2000 AW: Timor Watch: Analysis of development proposals of international agencies  Project proposal
"The aim of this project is to ensure that the East-Timorese people determine their own future.  In contrast, it is becoming increasingly evident that the development banks, and other development agencies are dictating the terms of reconstruction. We have been monitoring the reconstruction process with great concern." AIDWATCH: Monitoring the Development Dollar

Nov 17 2000 LHB: Building a National Health System for East Timor  Feature article added Jan 27
"the lack of significant inclusion of local businesses and organizations in the construction of health centers is a manifestation of a larger problem: the marginalization of local interests in the development of the national health sector." La’o Hamutuk Bulletin

Nov 17 2000 LHB: Health Care and Privatization: Lessons from Mozambique  Article added June 15
"It is unlikely that East Timor will be able to sustain any of its social programs on its own for many years to come, and will have to rely on foreign aid. The major question is whether that aid will be used to eliminate resource constraints in order to build a free, strong, universal health care system, or will it be diverted to a plethora of foreign agencies and privatization schemes?" James Pfeiffer, Case Western Reserve University in Cleveland, USA

Tetum:
Boletim La’o Hamutuk: [PDF formatu]
Vol. 1, No. 3, 17 Novembro 2000
Hari Sistema Saude Nasional iha Timor Lorosa’e:
http://www.etan.org/lh/PDFs/LHbul3tm.pdf

Tetum:
Novembro 2000 BLH: Hari Sistema Saude Nasional iha Timor Lorosa’e  Overview added Nov 1 2001
"Konstrusaun ba facilidadi saudi nian nudar area ida nebe kompanhia lokal sira potensialmente bele partisipa. Maibe tamba Banku Mundial ho DHS rekere standar nebe as teb-tebes ba kontrator sira, no aceita de’it tawaran kontrak ba grupu hosi klinika lima, ida ne’e la dun fo fiar katak timor oan sira nebe halo bisnis (ONG lokal ka internasional) sei simu kontratu ruma. Atu kaer projektu hirak ne’e precija kapital no kapacidadi nebe boot teb-tebes). Resultadu nebe ita bele hetan hosi ne’e mak osan tokon ba tokon sei ba para hotu iha malae sira nia liman. Osan sira ne’e sei la hela iha Timor atu ajuda hodi hametin ekonomia lokal." La’o Hamutuk, Instituto Timor Lorosa’e ba Analiza no Monitoring Reconstrucao

Bahasa Indonesia:
Jan 25-31 KPB: Lingkungan Hidup dan Masyarakat Sipil
Artikel ditambahkan tanggal 18 November
"Advokasi pelestarian lingkungan hidup selalu dibutuhkan. Prinsip dasarnya adalah: jangan biarkan pemerintah dan perusahaan bekerja sendiri, tanpa keterlibatan masyarakat. ...
Usulan saya untuk agenda di sini: • Mengawasi pemerintah dalam kebijakan dan pembuatan undang-undang, baik yang dibuat UNTAET maupun pemerintahan baru hasil pemilu. • Pengawasan Donor, seperti USAID, UNDP, ADB, WB, karena kelakuan mereka yang dapat menghancurkan lingkungan hidup kita. • Membuat Undang-Undang Lingkungan Hidup yang sesuai dengan kebutuhan-kebutuhan di Timor Lorosa’e- yang mengakui hak-hak masyarakat asli. • Pengelolaan Lingkungan Hidup oleh masyarakat – jangan biarkan hutan-hutan dikuasai oleh pengusaha. Masyarakat harus tetap memegang haknya untuk mengelola dan memiliki hutannya sendiri. • Mengawasi investasi yang masuk. Jangan ulangi kesalahan Indonesia. • Mengawasi korupsi, pemerintahan pasti korupsi. • Memperjuangkan transparansi, tanggung gugat, dan partisipasi dalam proses demokrasi. • Mendasarkan kebijakan-kebijakan baru pada adat dan kebiasaan lokal, jangan membuangkannya, tetapi menggabungkannya dengan sistem demokratik yang baik.
Lakukan sekarang juga, selagi pemerintah masih dekat dengan masyarakat- makin lama pemerintahan berkuasa, mereka makin jauh dari kita." Emmy Hafild, WALHI / FOE Indonesia