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The challenges, development, and promise of
The Challenges, Development, and Promise of Timor-Leste., 2019
This chapter explores the shifting fortunes of East Timor during the Cold War and beyond. For most of the Cold War it seemed likely that the fate of East Timor, a small territory under some kind of Portuguese rule since at least the eighteenth century, would be decided by larger powers, most notably neighbouring Indonesia and Australia, with the backing of the United States. In the later 1970s, the United States and Australia acquiesced in and even encouraged and facilitated Indonesia’s annexation of East Timor. The brutality with which the Indonesian military imposed control and suppressed opposition during these years prompted not just simmering low-level internal insurgency, which continued into the 1980s and 1990s, but also persistent external criticism and concern, expressed in international forums such as the United Nations by East Timorese activists and their allies within the increasingly influential human rights movement. East Timor was one example of a territory that initially found its interests subordinated to broader Cold War considerations, yet ultimately succeeded in winning international backing for its quest for independent status. East Timor, initially too small and inconsequential to count for anything in the international balance sheet, displayed great skill in deploying those assets and allies it possessed to win external sympathy and ultimately full independence. A tiny territory with sophisticated activists who developed a real understanding of the shifting workings and levers of power of the global system punched above its weight and was finally able to achieve its objective of becoming a separate state. Yet victory was bought at a high price, leaving up to 25 to 30 percent of the population dead, with hundreds of thousands forced to flee their homes, and most of East Timor devastated.
Timor-Leste central government approach towards sustainability of petroleum revenues
This research seeks to given an understanding of and answers to the question of how does Timor-Leste central government approach sustainability with respect to its petroleum revenues. In the context of Timor-Leste, sustainability is often associated with inter-generational equity and the avoidance of resource curse. Institutional theory and MCS package are two theoretical frameworks to help building the understanding of how Timor-Leste government approaches sustainability. The empirical findings show that the institutionalized practices that government has adopted and implemented are influenced by the internal and external factors which taken place through coercive, mimetic and normative pressure. Timor-Leste reliance on petroleum revenues, the uncertainties associated with petroleum activities, the mandatory financial reserved put forward by the Constitution, learning from the mistake of resource curse and the success story of Norwegian model and with the help of IMF and other organizations and experts; all these factors influence Timor-Leste to institutionalizes the followings approaches; establishing Petroleum Fund Law and Petroleum Fund, investing the Fund in financial market and non-oil sector i.e. education, health, infrastructure and agriculture. All these aforementioned institutionalized practices are argued to help Timor-Leste to achieve sustainability of petroleum revenues and hence the avoidance of resource curses. The evidence also shows the importance of reporting mechanisms i.e. budget and financial reports as management control tools to direct efforts towards the goal and to hold government accountable by measuring its performance. Budget is the most important of all prevailing controlling mechanisms. In doing so, it functions as planning and controlling mechanism. However, the effective of these reports are remained to be seen and is not covered in this research. This is what further research in Timor-Leste approach towards sustainability can be dealt with. A comparative study between Timor-Leste and Norway is also recommended for future research to look at.
Can the Petroleum Fund Exorcise the Resource Curse from Timor-Leste?
2015
Oil and gas comprised 76.4% of Timor-Leste’s gross domestic product (GDP) in 2013 (RDTL GDS 2015) and provided more than 93% of state revenues in 2014. Most of the money from selling off non-renewable petroleum wealth has been saved in the Petroleum Fund — a sovereign wealth fund containing $17 billion. People expect the Fund to finance state activities after the oil and gas fields are exhausted, which could happen within five years, but the Fund may be empty by 2025. Timor-Leste has about a decade to use its finite oil resources to underpin long-term prosperity and development. This article gives an overview of the consequences of Timor-Leste’s reliance on its limited oil and gas reserves, focusing on its impacts on economics and decision-making. It explores how effectively Timor-Leste’s Petroleum Fund, established in 2005 with extensive guidance from international agencies, can prevent or ameliorate some of the most serious consequences of the resource curse — the negative impacts of non-renewable resource wealth on citizens of most countries which depend on exporting petroleum and mineral wealth. [This is an updated version of a paper last published in February 2015.]
Real World Globalization: A Reader In Business, Economics, And Politics, eds. Ravi Bhandari and Chris Sturr , 2009
The oil resources of Timor-Leste: curse or blessing
Pacific Review, 2008
Timor-Leste is among the youngest nations in the world. It started its independence under difficult circumstances: poverty is widespread, education is poor, the industrial sector is nonexistent, and political turbulence is on the rise. On the positive side, future oil revenues are predicted to be substantial, which could potentially be of large help in Timor-Leste's strive for development. This paper examines critically the possibility for Timor-Leste to use oil revenues to achieve economic development. It describes how difficult it is to estimate the future revenues because of volatile prices, territorial disputes, and insufficient seismological mapping. It continues with a discussion of the "resource curse": the difficulty of combining natural resources with economic development. Moreover, the particular challenges for Timor Leste's development are dealt with at some length, as are possible ways to avoid the resource curse.
David and Goliath Revisited: A Tale About the Timor Leste/Australia Timor Sea Agreements
This Article offers a tale about a dispute over the continental shelf resources of the oil-rich Timor Sea that currently involves a Goliath, Australia, and a David, Timor-Leste. The story includes colonization by a European state, Portugal, an invasion and annexation by a neighbor country, Indonesia, the negotiation of several contentious international treaties, and, more recently, is akin to a John le Carré novel, as it includes espionage, thefts, and imprisonment of whistleblowers. This story is not about the kid-glove diplomacy that usually characterizes relations between states.
Journal of Southeast Asian Human Rights, 2017
Land in Timor-Leste had been a subject of national importance even before the government first announced a planned petroleum infrastructure 'mega-project' in 2009, the 'Tasi Mane' project, on the country's south coast in Suai, Betano and Beaco. This project has brought again into sharp relief the question of land and its control. Much recent work has focussed on 'land grabs' or how foreign capital and the state have played a significant role in dispossessing smallholders of arable land in other settings. This paper highlights three aspects which are inherent in the process of control. First, authority lies at the heart of land control alongside political-economic factors that lead to relocation of residents from land in project areas. Second, problems of recognition of land rights in project areas have led to more strident claims to authority locally. This issue I demonstrate by showing the historical legacy of two communities that occupy Beaco land. Third, the case study of the two comunities sheds light on the social relations inherent in local property relations and subsequent disputes catalysed by contests over land control.
La'o Hamutuk (Walking Together in English) is an independent social justice and development communication non-government organization established in Timor-Leste in 2000 by Timorese and international human rights activists and campaigners involved in the country's struggle for independence. Over the past 15 years, the NGO has monitored, analyzed, and reported on development processes in Timor-Leste and has forged a reputation for the quality of its communication for social change. La'o Hamutuk facilitates communication between grassroots people in the country and its elected leaders and decision-makers, and also establishes solidarity links with communities in other countries to explore alternative and independent development models. This author worked on a voluntary basis with La'o Hamutuk in November-December 2013 on a collaborative journalism education project to test notions of critical development journalism, peace journalism, and human rights journalism (HRJ) explored in his book published in 2014, Don't Spoil My Beautiful Face: Media, Mayhem and Human Rights in the Pacific. This paper explores a case study on communication for change strategies deployed by La'o Hamutuk on specific issues including the maritime Timor Gap dispute with neighboring Australia and the future of the country's oil and gas reserves; the State budget and Tasi Mane project on the underdeveloped south coast; unresolved human rights cases; food sovereignty and land rights; and a controversial media law regarded as a threat to freedom of speech and information. The paper examines these issues in the context of notions of both HRJ and collaborative citizen journalism.