DATE=6/30/2000
TYPE=BACKGROUND REPORT
TITLE=REBUILDING EAST TIMOR
NUMBER=5-46593
BYLINE=STEPHANIE MANN
DATELINE=WASHINGTON
CONTENT=
VOICED AT:
INTRO: International donors have pledged hundreds of
millions of dollars to help rebuild East Timor's
economy. But Timorese and aid workers agree the
benefits of those pledges have been too slow in
materializing. V-O-A's Stephanie Mann reports on the
problems in rebuilding East Timor.
TEXT: East Timor's economy has never been especially
strong. For more than two decades under Indonesian
control, it was dependent on subsidies from Jakarta.
East Timor's only viable product on the world market -
- coffee -- was managed by Indonesian-run companies,
with few revenues staying in the territory.
Last August and September, the local economy was
devastated by the violence that followed East Timor's
referendum on independence. Pro-Jakarta militiamen
rampaged through the territory, killing hundreds of
people and leaving much of East Timor in ruins.
Then, when Indonesia relinquished control and withdrew
from the territory, East Timorese who worked in the
Indonesian-run administration lost their jobs.
The United Nations stepped in to oversee East Timor's
reconstruction and to administer the territory until
it can handle full independence. The international
community has pledged 536-million dollars in aid to
East Timor, and so far, the money has been used to
rebuild roads and re-stock medical clinics.
The vice president of a non-governmental organization
trying to help in the reconstruction, Lelei LeLaulu
(le-LAY le-lah-OO-loo,) says the East Timorese people
welcome the pledges. But he says they expect faster
results.
/// LELAULU ACT ///
There is feeling among some sectors of the East
Timorese community that these pledges and
promises have not materialized in quite the way
they would have expected it, or with quite the
same dispatch that would have been expected from
multilateral sources. ... And there's also
misapprehension that perhaps a lot of this money
is going into the United Nations' coffers and
not being passed on ... /// OPT /// And as you
can imagine, people in East Timor with very
little in the way of belongings and without a
job, they can get a little bit upset if the word
spreads around that these very large expensive
four-by-four (EDS: four-wheel drive) machines
being driven around by international staff were
paid for by the money that was pledged for the
people of East Timor. /// END OPT ///
/// END ACT ///
Mr. LeLaulu is with the East Timor Development and
Reconstruction Organization. He says the people of
East Timor desperately need jobs and training for
those jobs. Mr. LeLaulu says the number of unemployed
is rising rapidly, especially in the capital, Dili.
/// BEGIN OPT ///
/// LELAULU ACT TWO ///
Apart from those few who are employed by the
multilateral organizations and other
institutions in East Timor, there's very little
around. And what's happening in the country,
the rural areas, the agricultural development is
not moving as quickly as it should, so people
are being drawn into Dili, which is already
overcrowded and full of people without jobs.
/// END ACT ///
/// END OPT ///
Mr. LeLaulu says East Timor needs a rapid infusion of
cash at the local level so people can rebuild their
own businesses.
That has not yet come from the international
donations, he says, so East Timorese Nobel Prize
recipient, Jose Ramos Horta, decided to do something
on his own. Mr. Ramos Horta has offered to put up the
prize money from his 1996 Nobel Peace Prize to provide
small-scale loans through what is called a micro-
credit facility.
The chief U-N administrator for East Timor, Sergio
Vieira de Mello, calls the slow pace of reconstruction
exasperating. At a recent news conference in New
York, Mr. Vieira de Mello described the problems
affecting one area of East Timor.
/// VIEIRA DE MELLO ACT ///
I visited Suai, a southern district, in the wake
of the heavy flooding, which took place there at
the end of May. And what I saw was truly
depressing. The district is now cut off from
Dili by land and is likely to remain so for at
least six more months. The people, already
traumatized by the violence of last September,
of which they bore the brunt, must now also face
the reality that even their temporary homes and
remaining few possessions have been destroyed,
washed away by the flood waters. We must
accelerate our rate of reconstruction.
/// END ACT ///
/// OPT /// The U-N official says decisions about
East Timor's development soon will be made by a
committee with participation by East Timorese, so they
can help plan which projects should take priority.
/// END OPT ///
East Timor's problems go beyond short-term
reconstruction projects, according to James Clad, a
professor of Southeast Asian studies at Georgetown
University in Washington. Mr. Clad says there is a
question whether East Timor, as an independent
country, will be able to generate economic growth
rates high enough to meet the people's expectations.
/// CLAD ACT ONE ///
Some of the things that have to be answered are
the longer-term revenue sources, if this place
is going to be anything more than a subsistence
economy. ... There's the broader question of
what does Timor have to sell on the
international market? And there's a lot of
quarreling going on between different families
and groups as to which groups are going to
control the coffee proceeds, which is really the
only thing that's prize-worthy in the
territory's economy.
/// END ACT ///
He says hopes that offshore gas and oil reserves will
provide sizeable future revenues may be unrealistic.
Professor Clad says another potential problem for East
Timor is that tensions among clans or religious or
political groups may discourage needed international
support.
/// CLAD ACT TWO ///
And the problem is that if after becoming an
independent state, the politics degenerate into
some kind of factional feuding, there's very
little tolerance in the international community
for carrying these people. And it would be the
dumbest thing the East Timorese could do, but
I'm afraid there's a pretty high risk they'll do
it.
/// END ACT ///
Mr. Clad says over the past 20 years, western
countries have suffered from what is called aid-
fatigue or compassion-fatigue, which he says has meant
a reduced willingness to give aid to the developing
world. He says the East Timorese must be careful not
to undermine what goodwill is still there to support
their cause. (Signed)
NEB/SMN/JP
30-Jun-2000 10:48 AM EDT (30-Jun-2000 1448 UTC)
NNNN
Source: Voice of America
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