DATE=10/13/2000
TYPE=BACKGROUND REPORT
TITLE=EAST TIMOR / INDEPENDENCE PROSPECTS
NUMBER=5-47165
BYLINE=ALISHA RYU
DATELINE=DILI, EAST TIMOR
CONTENT=
VOICED AT:
INTRO: A United Nations Security Council delegation is due to visit Indonesia next month to observe progress being made to disarm militias in West Timor. The militias destroyed much of East Timor last year after the territory voted for independence from Indonesian rule. And they are still threatening tens of thousands of East Timorese refugees trapped in West Timor. VOA's Alisha Ryu reports from East Timor's capital, Dili, about what the future may hold for the world's youngest nation once law and order can be restored.
TEXT:
/// OPEN UP FOR ROCK MUSIC BLARING FROM A RADIO EST. AND FADE UNDER ///
A favorite haunt of some Dili residents these days is a coffee shop called Café Dili that serves up toe-tapping Western music to go along with steaming cups of Italian espresso.
The coffee shop is just one example of small businesses popping up in Dili as the city begins to rise out of the ashes of violence. Most of the businesses cater to the needs of thousands of foreigners who began pouring into the capital last October as part of the United Nation's transitional government in East Timor.
With presidential elections scheduled for next July, the United Nations and numerous other humanitarian support groups here have been preoccupied with the urgent task of rebuilding this territory destroyed to the core by Indonesian-backed militias determined to keep East Timor from becoming an independent country.
But now that the East Timorese have resoundingly said yes to independence, what few people can foresee is how this fledgling nation will be able to stand on its own feet when the massive U-N bureaucracy - that is supporting it for the time being - pulls out. East Timorese businessman Ruy Goncalves says he finds it difficult to even speculate about it.
/// GONCALVES ACT ///
I cannot say. I cannot tell. It is still too early to say anything about this.
/// END ACT ///
Most Timorese agree their country faces enormous challenges. They must first choose a leader who can help the population come to terms peacefully with its brutal past - first as a Portuguese colony and then as an annexed territory under Indonesian rule.
Many East Timorese still harbor deep hatred of the militias who killed their families and laid waste to their villages a year ago. Many fear if the leaders of the militias are not quickly brought to justice the country may well explode again in violence.
Then, there is the problem of instilling the concepts of freedom and justice to a country with no experience in exercising such rights. The United Nations is concerned that the absence of democratic tradition in East Timor may make it difficult for the country to make a smooth transition to independence. Barbara Reis is the U-N spokesperson in Dili.
/// REIS ACT ///
You cannot teach democracy in six months or in a year. We are doing all we can to create the basis and share with the Timorese the basic ideas of democracy. We have just started a national campaign on civic education asking what is democracy, what is a constitution, what is the role of parliament.
/// END ACT ///
Less pressing, but equally important, is the question of what will be the official language of East Timor. Older East Timorese are in favor of speaking their native tongue called Tetum or Portuguese. But only eight percent of the 800-thousand Timorese speak Portuguese and very few people under 25 years old speak either language. Young people are insisting on speaking Bhasa - the language of the Indonesians as the official language. How they will overcome the generation gap in deciding this issue is still unknown.
Other problems lie among the East Timorese themselves. The National Council of Timorese Resistance or C-N-R-T was recently created as an umbrella group for two long-time adversaries Fretilin and the Timorese Democratic Union. The two groups now have the appearance of unity. But that could change if a power struggle ensues. It was the fighting between the two groups after the Portuguese left the colony in 1975 that opened the door for the Indonesian invasion and annexation.
But Indonesian expert Ross McLeod, at the Australia National University in Canberra, thinks one of the biggest challenges for an independent East Timor will be in building a new, efficient government that does not revert to corrupt practices of old.
/// MCLEOD ACT ///
One of the mistakes that Indonesia has made is that it does not pay high enough salaries to people in high levels of the bureaucracy and the result of that is that you get unskilled people and corruption in your civil service.
/// END ACT ///
The consensus among experts and U-N officials is that East Timor will have to rely heavily on outside assistance for at least five more years after the country's first government is formed. The sheer lack of skilled workers in health, education, and civil service is expected to keep overall progress at a minimum.
But if and when the country can overcome these challenges, experts say East Timor could have a bright future. The country has rich soil that can grow enough rice for export and world-class coffee beans. And the surrounding Timor Sea has abundant oil and gas reserves that could provide instant revenue and the collateral to underwrite international loans. (Signed)
NEB/HK/AR/JO/PLM
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