Download pdf - Timor-Leste Political Parties ALP Int. Projects

Political Parties and Groupings of Timor-Leste

3RD EDITION | OCTOBER 2011

Dennis ShoesmithAn initiative of Australian Labor International

under the auspices of the Australian Political Parties for Democracy Program

POLITICAL PARTIES AND GROUPINGS OF TIMOR-LESTE

2

ContentsACKNOWLEDGMENTS 3

FOREWORD 4

GLOSSARY 5

INTRODUCTION 7

USEFUL SOURCES 17

PARTY LISTINGS 18

ASDT Associação Social Democrata Timorense 18

CNRT Congresso Nacional da Reconstrução Timorense 21

CPD-RDTL Conselho Popular pela Defesa da Republica Democrática de Timor-Leste 24

FRENTI- Frente de Reconstrução Nacional MUDANÇA Timor-Leste-Mudança 26

FRETILIN Frente Revolucionária do Timor-Leste Independente 28

KHUNTO Kmanek Haburas Unidade Nasional Timor Oan 32

KOTA Klibur Oan Timor Asuwain 33

PD Partido Democrático (Democratic Party) 36

PDC Partido Democrata Cristão 39

PDL Partidu Democrática Liberal 42

PDN Partido Desenvolvimento Nacional 43

PDRT Partido Democrátika República de Timor 46

PLPA Partido Liberta Povo Aileba 48

PMD Partido Milénium Democrático 50

PNT Partido Nacionalista Timorense 52

PPT Partido do Povo de Timor 54

PR Partido Republikanu 56

PSD Partido Social Democrata 58

PST Partido Socialista de Timor 62

PTT Partido Trabhalhista Timor 65

PUN Partido Unidada Nacional 67

UDT União Democrática Timorense 70

UNDERTIM Unidade Nacional Democrática da Resistência Timorense 72

3

AcknowledgmentsThis edition builds on the work done for the 1st edition by Pat Walsh and the 2nd edition by Gavin Ryan.

I would like to especially thank Dr Faustino Cardoso Gomes, President of the National Electoral Commission, for his generous advice on the registration and funding of political parties in Timor-Leste.

I would also like to express my thanks to Geraldo Moniz da Silva for his invaluable help with interviews and gathering information for the political party entries in this book.

Dennis Shoesmith

SOMET 2007


4

ForewordAustralia and Timor Leste continue to be not only close neighbours but also close friends. Relations between the Australian Labor Party and the political parties of Timor Leste have been built over many years of political cooperation in both countries.

It has now been a decade since the first edition of this publication was authored by Pat Walsh on behalf of the Australian Council for Overseas Aid, and next year will see Timorese political parties competing for a third time in both Presidential and National Parliamentary elections.

The elections will see a record number of 22 political parties contest for 65 seats in the National Parliament via the closed list proportional representation electoral system. A change to the legislation since the last election will also see women filling at least one in every three spots on each of the parties’ candidate lists for the first time (it was previously one in every four).

Australian Labor International’s Timor-Leste program focuses on supporting the organisational capacity of parties as well as sharing technical campaigning and party organising skills. Our program is open to all political parties in Timor-Leste and includes in-country workshops, training events and consultations, as well as a growing alumni of participants who have attended our annual Political & Policy Advisors’ Course in Sydney.

We hope this handbook is a useful addition for those interested in the politics of Timor-Leste and the 2012 elections. The goal of this handbook is to provide information on each of the political parties currently registered to compete in the 2012 elections (as of September 2011), as well as some history and general analysis of the political environment that the parties will be competing in.

We wish to thank the political parties of Timor-Leste for their cooperation in providing information and their time for this project, and also the authors of the previous editions of this handbook which has been built upon for this iteration. Dennis Shoesmith has done a fantastic job with this edition and we are extremely grateful.

Nick Martin Assistant National Secretary Australian Labor Party

5

GlossaryAldeia Hamlet

AMP Aliança para Maioria Parlamentar The Parliamentary Majority Alliance, the coalition government formed after the 2007 election

ASDT Associação Social Democrata Timorense (Timorese Social Democratic Association)

COLIMAU 2000 Comando Libertasaun Maubere

CNRT Resistance umbrella organisation

Conselho Nacional da Resistencia Timorense (National Council of Timorese Resistance). The umbrella body created by Xanana Gusmão in April 1998 from the CNRM (National Council of Maubere Resistance)

CNRT (Party) Congresso Nacional da Reconstrução Timorense (National Congress for Timorese Reconstruction)

CPD-RDTL Conselho Popular pela Defesa da Republica Democrática de Timor-Leste (Popular Council for the Defence of the Democratic Republic of Timor-Leste)

CPLP Comunidade dos Paises de Lingua Portuguesa Community of Portuguese Languages Countries

FRENTI-Mudança

Frente de Reconstrução Nacional Timor-Leste-Mudança (Front for National Reconstruction Timor-Leste - Change) FRENTI-Mudansa in Tetum

FRETILIN Frente Revolucionária do Timor-Leste Independente (Revolutionary Front for an Independent Timor-Leste)

KHUNTO Kmanek Haburas Unidade Nasional Timor Oan Enrich the National Unity of the Sons of Timor New political party granted registration in June 2011

KNN Korupsi, Kolusi dan Nepotisme Corruption, Collusion and Nepotism a term adopted in Timor-Leste from Indonesia

KOTA Klibur Oan Timor Asuwain (Association of Timorese Heroes)

Loromonu (sunset)

People from the western part of Timor-Leste. The kaladi

Lorosa’e (sunrise)

People from the eastern part of Timor-Leste (principally the three districts of Baucau, Viqueque and Lautem). The firaku.

Liurai Traditional ruler or king

PD Partido Democrático (Democratic Party)

PDC Partido Democrata Cristão (Christian Democrat Party)


6

PDL Partidu Democrática Liberal (Democratic Liberal Party)

PDN Partido Desenvolvimento Nacional (National Development Party)

PDRT Partido Democrátika República de Timor (Democratic Republic of Timor-Leste Party)

PLPA Partido Liberta Povo Aileba (Aileba People’s Liberty Party)

PMD Partido Milénium Democrático (Millennium Democratic Party)

PNT Partido Nacionalista Timorense (Timorese Nationalist Party)

PPT Partido do Povo de Timor (People’s Party of Timor)

PR Partido Republikanu (Republican Party)

PSD Partido Social Democrata (Social Democrat Party)

PST Partido Socialista de Timor (Socialist Party of Timor)

PTT Partido Trabhalhista Timor (Timor Labour Party)

PUN Partido Unidada Nacional (National Unity Party)

RENETIL Resistência Nacional dos Estudantes de Timor-Leste (Students’ National Resistance Movement of Timor-Leste).

Sagrada Familia Holy Family

Veterans’ religious-political organisation led by Ely Foho Rai Bo’ot

Suco Village. The chefe de suco (village chief), while not a government official, plays a major role in local government.

Timor-Leste This is the official name for the country and should be used from independence in May 2002. When Portuguese Timor was invaded by Indonesia in December, 1975, it was generally called East Timor. The adjective ‘East Timorese’ is used here generally.

UDT União Democrática Timorense (Timorese Democratic Union)

UNDERTIM Unidade Nacional Democrática da Resistência Timorense (National Democratic Unity of Timorese Resistance)

UNTAET United Nations Transitional Administration in East Timor

7

IntroductionNew states that have emerged from episodes of major conflict find establishing a robust party system highly problematic. In common with almost half of the world’s post-conflict states, Timor-Leste has experienced recurrent political crises, a condition that tends to provoke political extremism rather than democratic pluralism. Despite these crises, Timor-Leste has established a reasonably successful record of pluralist, competitive party politics. Fair, free and peaceful elections in 2012 will confirm the transition to a democratic and stable state.

Political parties were first established in Portuguese Timor in 1974, following the Carnation Revolution and the overthrow of the dictatorship in Portugal. The parties formed then were ASDT which then became FRETILIN, KOTA, PTT, APODETI and UDT. These parties were deeply divided over the future of the territory with FRETILIN demanding immediate independence, UDT initially advocating a federal union with Portugal, and APODETI seeking incorporation into Indonesia.

After an attempted UDT coup there was a brief but violent civil war with FRETILIN in August 1974 which FRETILIN won. FRETILIN then unilaterally declared independence and the creation of the Democratic Republic of Timor-Leste (RDTL) on 28 November, 1975. Nine days later, Indonesia invaded and occupied the territory from that time until 1999.

East Timorese were not exposed to multiparty democracy in 1974-75. There was a restricted ballot in July 1975 when the Portuguese Decolonisation Commission organised local elections to select liurais (chiefs) to form an executive council to prepare for a Constituent Assembly that was planned for October 1976. Most of those elected it was claimed were FRETILIN members or FRETILIN supporters (although FRETILIN was not a supporter of the liurais).

The short-lived Democratic Republic was not the outcome of an election or popular consultation. It was established by the party leadership and intended to govern as a one-party state. In negotiations with the Portuguese Government in 1975, FRETILIN demanded ‘recognition of FRETILIN as the only legitimate representative of the people of East Timor’. The Indonesian occupation ruled out this outcome. In resistance to the Indonesian occupation, FRETILIN moved further to the left, adopting Marxism-Leninism as its party ideology in 1977, a position that was formally abandoned in the late 1980s.

As an Indonesian province from July, 1976, under direct and severe military control, the East Timorese could merely vote in stage-managed Indonesian elections that provided no experience of competitive multiparty politics.

The first experience of a free election was that provided by the popular consultation organised by the UN for 30 August, 1999. The East Timorese voted overwhelmingly (78.5%) to reject autonomy within Indonesia and to endorse independence.


8

This was followed, in August, 2001, by the election to the Constituent Assembly conducted under UNTAET supervision. The Constituent Assembly elections were contested by some sixteen parties and five independents. By far the best organised party, FRETILIN, was easily the most serious contender. The FRETILIN leader, Marí Alkatiri, went into the campaign confident his party would win by a landslide. In the event, FRETILIN won 55 of the 88 seats with just 57.37 per cent of the vote (well below its predicted 80–90 per cent support).

The Constituent Assembly adopted a constitution that included a clause that transformed it, on independence on 20 May, 2002, into the first National Parliament. East Timorese had no opportunity either to vote in a referendum on the constitution or to directly elect their representatives in the National Parliament.

The record of democratic multiparty politics in Timor-Leste since independence is mixed. As noted above, in comparative terms, Timor-Leste has been relatively successful in establishing a working multiparty system. This is despite major episodes of political crisis, most seriously the breakdown of state order in 2006.

In 2007, national elections delivered a change of government, a significant achievement for a new, post-conflict state. The appointment by President Horta of a CNRT-led coalition government provoked major violence, notably in the districts of Baucau, Lautem and Viqueque, the three FRETILIN strongholds.

SOMET 2007

9

Some suggest that the party system may not have survived the crisis of 2006 without the intervention of the International Stabilisation Force. However, since then the political system has stabilised. If Timor-Leste does not yet have a fully mature, consolidated multi-party system, against the odds it has made significant progress in that direction.

The formal, multiparty political system in Timor-Leste is broadly defined by the constitution adopted by the Constituent Assembly in 2001, by supplementary legislation, the Law No.3/2004 on Political Parties, and by an electoral system operating on proportional voting for closed party lists in a single, national electorate.

The Fundamental Principles of the Constitution include recognition of universal suffrage and a multi-party system and require that ‘The State shall value the contribution of political parties for the organised expression of the popular will and for the democratic participation of the citizen in the governance of the country’ (Section 7.2).

Section 65 of the Constitution on Elections enjoins that the conversion of votes into mandate ‘shall observe the principle of proportional representation’ (Section 65.4). Broad rules for the election and composition of the National Parliament are set out in Section 93 of the Constitution. Section 70 of the Constitution enjoin that:

1. Political parties shall participate in organs of political power in accordance with their democratic representation based on direct and universal suffrage.

2. The right of political parties to democratic opposition, as well as the right to be informed regularly and directly on the progress of the main issues of public interest, shall be recognised.

Law No.3/2004 defines that the purpose of political parties is to ‘democratically participate in the life of the country and to contribute to the formation and expression of the political will of the people …’ (Section 1.1). Their role includes the definition of government programs (Section 2 (c)). They are to ‘critically appraise the actions of the government and the public administration’ (Section 16 (e)).

Registered parties receive state funding through the Comissão Nasional Elektoral (National Electoral Commission, CNE). There is an annual public subsidy distributed since 2008 to the parties determined by the number of seats they hold in the National Parliament. The total subsidy has been US$1 million but this was increased to a total fund of US$3 million for 2011. This has already been transferred for the current year. Additionally, parties registered to contest parliamentary elections receive a standard US$30,000 each (this may be also increased for the 2012 election). Coalitions receive US$45,000.


10

The electoral system appears unusual to those familiar, for instance, with the Westminster system and its plurality of single member electorates.

Section 93.3 of the Constitution requires that ‘The law shall establish the rules relating to constituencies, eligibility conditions, nominations and electoral procedures’. These rules were encoded in Law No.6/2006, the Law on the Election of the National Parliament. Law No.6/2006 rules that ‘There shall be only one single constituency in the election of the National Parliament, corresponding to the entire national territory, headquartered in Dili’ (Article 9).

Members of parliament ‘shall be elected through pluri-nominal lists, presented by political parties or party coalitions, and each voting citizen shall be entitled to one single vote in the list’ (Article 11). Recently Article 12.3 was revised so that lists of candidates must now include at least one woman per every group of three candidates (previously it was one in four).

Party-list systems have advantages: they provide better opportunities for the legislature to include a range of party representations, including a place in the parliament for smaller parties. They can ensure (as the Timor-Leste system does) that women candidates are given a proportion of the seats in the legislature.

The disadvantages include the result that the link between representatives and constituencies is broken: members of parliament represent everyone and perhaps no-one. Party leaders can decide who appears where on their party lists, ensuring that otherwise unpopular or compromised candidates can be assured of a place in the legislature. Parties become heavily centralised because aspiring MPs are dependent upon the party leadership for any hope of election.

There is an issue of political leadership. The peculiarity of the historical development of political parties in East Timor has been that the party leaders of the 1975 phase of political development reappeared as the political leaders of the independence phase begun in 1999.

The survival of the original cast of leaders continues into the forthcoming 2012 elections. The three key players continue to be President (and a former prime minister) Ramos-Horta, Prime Minister Gusmão (the former President) and Opposition Leader Alkatiri (the former first prime minister).

As the party that fought for independence, FRETILIN’s leaders accepted multiparty democracy but assumed FRETILIN had a unique claim to govern. In government, Prime Minister Alkatiri exhibited limited tolerance for the political opposition. With 55 of the 88 seats, FRETILIN formed a single-majority government, against a fragmented opposition of some eleven parties with between one and seven seats each.

11

Table 1 Composition of the National Parliament that came into effect on 20 May, 2002

Party No. seats

FRETILIN Revolutionary Front for an Independent Timor-Leste 55 seats

PD Democratic Party 7 seats

PSD Social Democratic Party of Timor-Leste 6 seats

ASDT Social Democratic Association of Timor-Leste 5 seats

PNT Timorese Nationalist Party 2 seats

UDT Timorese Democratic Union 2 seats

KOTA Association of Timorese Heroes 2 seats

PPT People’s Party of Timor 2 seats

PDC Christian Democratic Party 2 seats

UDC Christian Democratic Union of Timor-Leste 1 seat

PST Socialist Party of Timor 1 seat

PL Liberal Party 1 seat

Other 2 seats

Total: 88 seats

This situation was reversed after the 2007 parliamentary elections. A coalition of four parties linked to the CNRT, with 18 seats, then formed government. FRETILIN, with 21 of the parliament’s 65 seats (the largest single party result), claimed it had the right to govern. FRETILIN rejects the legitimacy of what it calls the ‘de facto’ current Parliamentary Majority Alliance (AMP) but it has performed in the parliament as a disciplined opposition.

Political parties in Timor-Leste in a number of cases have developed real national structures, they have developed party platforms and policy strategies, they offer a spectrum of political choices.

But there are constraints that hinder the consolidation of a mature party system. These include the limited role of the National Parliament in the formal and informal political system. Most parties, with the exception of FRETILIN, struggle for organisational discipline. A number (including PSD, ASDT and KOTA) are experiencing serious internal factionalism. FRETILIN itself has produced a number of splinter parties, most recently in the form of FRENTI-Mudança (from Portuguese mudança – reform).

The key political actors, most notably the current Prime Minister Xanana Gusmão, tend to operate as individuals rather than as party leaders. Again, Marí Alkatiri, former prime minister and continuing Secretary-General of FRETILIN, is the exception. His personal authority is institutionalised in his party’s highly centralist organisational structure. It is the position as party secretary-general that confirms his authority.


12

In a single national electorate, parties struggle to establish reliable constituencies in the districts and sucos (villages). The First (FRETILIN) and Fourth (Parliamentary Majority Alliance, AMP) Constitutional Governments have each struggled to ensure stable, effective and representative government in the context of weak state capacity, entrenched rivalries within the national elite, and episodes of serious civil unrest, rebellion and communal violence.

Table 2 Outcomes of the 2007 parliamentary election

ASDT Member AMP governing coalition 5 seats

CNRT Member AMP governing coalition 18 seats

FRETILIN In opposition 21 seats

KOTA In opposition 1 seat

PD Member AMP governing coalition 8 seats

PPT In opposition 1 seat

PSD Member AMP governing coalition 6 seats

PUN In opposition 2 seats

UNDERTIM Member AMP governing coalition 2 seats

Independent In opposition 1 seat

Total: 65 seats

The AMP government is an uncomfortable coalition of parties with long-standing differences. Xanana Gusmão, former leader of the resistance movement, first president with independence, and now prime minister in the AMP government, inclines to operate as the charismatic leader, operating independently of his own party, the National Congress for Timorese Reconstruction (CNRT). His relationship with his other coalition partners has often been strained.

By May 2011 some 22 political parties had registered for the 2012 parliamentary election:

Table 3 Registered or seeking registration as of 27 May 2011

Party Name Foundation

ASDT Associação Social-Democrata Timorense, Timorese Social Democratic Association.

1974–2000

CNRT Congresso Nacional da Reconstrução Timorense, National Congress for Timorese Reconstruction.

2007

FRETILIN Frente Revolucionária do Timor Leste Independente, Revolutionary Front for an Independent Timor-Leste.

1974

13

Table 3 Registered or seeking registration as of 27 May 2011

FRENTI-MUDANÇA

Frente de Reconstrução Nacional de Timor-Leste — Mudança, Front for the National Reconstruction of Timor-Leste — Cahnge. Currently seeking registration.

2010

KHUNTO Kmanek Haburas Unidade Nasional Timor Oan, Enrish the National Unity of the Sons of Timor

2011

KOTA Klibur Oan Timor AsuwainAssociation of Timorese Heroes.

1974

PD Partido Democrático, Democratic Party. 2001

PDC Partido Democrata Cristão, Christian Democratic Party. Incorporating the Partido Democrata-Cristão de Timor which had one seat in 2002.

2000

PDL Partidu Democratica Liberal (Liberal Democratic Party). Formerly Partai Liberal, Liberal Party

2001–2011

PDN Partido Desenvolvimento Nacional, National Development Party

2009

PDRT Partido Democratika Republica de Timor, Democratic Republic of Timor-Leste Party

2007

PLPA Partido Liberta Povu Aileba (Aileba People’s Liberty Party)

2009

PMD Partido Milénio Democrático, Millennium Democratic Party

2004

PNT Partido Nacionalista TimorenseTimorese Nationalist Party

1999

PPT Partido do Povo de TimorPeople’s Party of Timor. Contested 2007 election in Democratic Alliance with KOTA. The coalition was subsequently dissolved.

2000

PR Partido Republikanu, Republican Party

PSD Partido Social Democrata, Social Democrat Party 2000

PST Partido Socialista de Timor, Socialist Party of Timor

1997

PTT Partido Trabhalhista Timor, Timor Labour Party 1974

PUN Partido Unidada Nacional, National Unity Party 2004

UDT União Democrática Timorense, Timorese Democratic Union.

1974

UNDERTIM Unidade Nacional Democrática da Resistência Timorense, National Democratic Unity of Timorese Resistance

2005


14

Parties do offer real choices. Governments can be elected into and out of office and alternative public policy programs can be put before the electorate. The indications are that the presidential and parliamentary elections in 2012 will be free and fair. Political parties (and their leaders) are expected to participate in the election within a system of accepted rules.

As in 2007, the dangerous period in the 2012 elections may well be the election aftermath when the results are published and probably after a period of negotiation, the president appoints a government. Prime Minister Gusmão has made it clear that he is determined that his CNRT will win the parliamentary election in its own right. The highly ambitious target is ‘P45’, 45 CNRT seats in the 65-seat parliament. He is certainly doing all he can to realise this through generous distribution of state funds to the districts and sucos drawing on the Petroleum Fund.

The 2007 parliamentary election was held in extreme circumstances following the violent crisis of 2006, the forced resignation of the FRETILIN prime minister, and the communal antagonisms encouraged by the collapse of state security. The 2012 parliamentary election will occur in a much more normal political context after five years of AMP coalition government.

It is to be expected that some of the determinants of the 2007 outcomes will again operate in 2012. The most important of these is the concentration of FRETILIN support in the three eastern districts of Baucau, Lautem and Viqueque. The election will show if FRETILIN in opposition and through a process of internal reform has broadened its appeal in the other nine districts and the capital Dili.

The new factor is CNRT. The party was created in 2007 to act as a political vehicle for Xanana Gusmão. The question is whether the new party has managed to established itself with the electorate in its own right. The indications are that the campaign will very much focus on Xanana Gusmão, the charismatic leader, more than the party. CNRT does have a clear political position: the promotion of an ambitious economic development strategy. The Prime Minister has made every effort to promote this strategy in the sub-districts.

On the 2007 results, both the CNRT and FRETILIN face a formidable challenge to increase their number of seats from 18 and 21 respectively to the 33 needed to deliver a majority government in its own right. The Prime Minister has announced he will not accept a coalition government if the CNRT fails to win a majority of seats from its own party list. In the event, it is difficult to imagine that the CNRT would not take the opportunity to continue in government is that were possible by a coalition with one or more of the smaller parties.

To govern, FRETILIN would also need to attract other smaller parties to form a majority. In the past, the smaller parties in the parliament have been anti-FRETILIN.. Some of the antagonisms between FRETILIN and the older

15

smaller parties are long-standing and bitter. FRETILIN could not form a coalition government in 2007

Of the smaller parties in the present parliament, PD, with its 8 seats, appears to be closest to the CNRT. A CNRT-PD alliance after the 2007 parliamentary election is a real possibility. On the current membership of the National Parliament, that would provide a CNRT-led government with a base of 26 seats.

Some of the smaller parties in the current parliament could fail to win a seat in 2012. These include KOTA, divided by an internal leadership struggle, possibly PUN, the Independent (who left PUN), UNDERTIM (with its own internal divisions) and PPT.

If, as the Prime Minister claims, CNRT will significantly increase its number of seats in 2012, these new seats will very likely be at the expense of the smaller parties.

ASDT has shifted its support to FRETILIN while continuing on the government side in the current parliament. ASDT’s problem is that it too is divided by serious internal faction fighting. This could reduce its present five seats in the parliament. PSD is potentially a significant player in determining whether the CNRT or FRETILIN will be able to form a coalition government in 2012. The three senior leaders of PSD, Mario Carrascalão, Zacarias da Costa and, to a lesser extent, Lúcia Lobato, have suffered personal attacks by the Prime Minister and the party has only just hung on in the AMP coalition. It could well consider moving to FRETILIN in 2012. The difficulty here is that

SOMET 2007


16

the PSD is a party of the right and its leadership go back to UDT, the party that fought a civil war with FRETILIN in 1975. If FRETLIN Mudança were to win one or more seats it would very likely align with the CNRT.

If FRETILIN not only retains its support base in the three eastern districts but manages to perform better in some other districts and were able to form a coalition with ASDT and PSD, that could deliver it a base in the new parliament of anywhere between 27 to 32 seats or more. This would depend on the performance of minor parties, including how many seats ASDT manages to retain.

The performance of older parties who did not gain a seat in 2007 will probably not be any better in 2012.Of the newer parties that have not yet contested a parliamentary election their performance is uncertain. It has been alleged that some of them have registered merely to attract the state subsidy for registered parties.

One new party, PDN, has a capable leader and apparent election resources. It appears open to either a CNRT-led or a FRETILIN-led coalition. Its leader, Fernando Gusmão, originated in PSD but he would find it easier to negotiate with FRETILIN than the continuing PSD leaders. In a tight contest to form a post-election coalition, PDN might win enough seats to hold the balance of power.

The most likely outcome of the 2012 parliamentary election is a CNRT-led coalition government. A less-likely, but possible outcome is a FRETILIN-led coalition government. An unlikely scenario is both major parties fail to negotiate a coalition majority and the President then approves a minority government. The assumption in Dili is that the current three key political players, Gusmão, Alkatiri and Horta will continue to be the three key players after the parliamentary election.

A very unlikely scenario, given the severe lessons of 2006 and 2007, is that a major player refuses to accept the result of the election and encourages his supporters to create a political crisis. This could cause the president to invoke Section 85 (g) of Constitution and declare ‘the state of siege or the state of emergency’. Political parties have engaged in a series of consultations on ensuring peaceful elections and appear to be committed to this outcome. The UN will remain in Timor-Leste until the end of 2012 and the International Stabilisation Force will be in place to provide security before, during and after the elections.

A free and generally accepted outcome of the 2012 elections will substantially advance the institutional consolidation of the new state. Much more uncertain is the larger challenge for political parties, in government and opposition, to promote shared values and norms in an emerging civil society. The next generation of leaders, those who should emerge as presidents and prime ministers following the 2017 elections, do not yet seem to have emerged.

17

Useful sourcesCardoso Gomes, Faustino. Eleisaun Parlamentar Sira Atlas Eleitoral. Dili: Comissão Nacional de Eleições, 2010.

Democratic Republic of Timor-Leste. National Parliament. Law No. 3/2004 Political Parties.

Democratic Republic of Timor-Leste. Ministry of State Administration. Technical Secretariat for Electoral Administration. STAE/III/2007. Regulations on the Electoral Campaign.

Democratic Republic of Timor-Leste. Official Gazette. Law No.6/2006. Law on the Election of the National Assembly. 28 December.

Elections and Political Processes Program in Timor-Leste. Evaluation Report. USAID. February 2008.

Kammen, Douglas. ‘Fragments of utopia: Popular yearnings in East Timor’. Journal of Southeast Asian Studies. 40(2). June 2009. 385–408.

Leach, Michael. ‘The 2007 Presidential and Parliamentary Elections in Timor-Leste’. Australian Journal of Politics and History. 55(2). 2009. 219–32.

Ryan, Gavin. Political Parties and Groupings of Timor-Leste. 2nd ed. ALP International Projects. May, 2007.

Saldanha. João, ‘Anatomy of Political Parties in Timor-Leste’, in Roland Rich with Luke Hambly and Michael G. Morgan, eds. Political Parties in the Pacific Islands. Canberra: ANU. April, 2008.

Shoesmith, Dennis. ‘Political Parties’, in Michael Leach and Damien Kingsbury, eds. The Politics of Timor-Leste, Ithaca, NY: Cornell Southeast Asia Program. 2011. Forthcoming.

Tan, Paige Johnson. Political Society, Parties and Democracy, ca. 2002. Available at: http://people.uncw.edu/tanp/polsocpartieset.html

Timor-Leste’s Parliamentary Elections. International Crisis Group, Asia Briefing no. 65. Dili/Brussels. 13 June 2007.

USAID. Elections and Political Porcesses Program in Timor-Leste. Evaluation Report. February 2008.

Walsh, Pat. East Timor’s Political Parties and Groupings, Briefing Notes. Australian Council for Overseas Aid. April, 2001.

http://people.uncw.edu/tanp/polsocpartieset.html


18

ASDTAssociação Social Democrata Timorense Timorese Social Democratic Association

KEY FACTS

Leading figure/s Francisco Xavier do Amaral

Origins One of the first three parties established in April–May 1974 in Portuguese Timor, ASDT was was succeeded by FRETILIN five months later. It was revived by Xavier do Amaral in 2000

Links ASDT contested the 2007 election in coalition with PSD. The coalition was dissolved after the election. PSD entered into a formal agreement with FRETILIN in May 2008

Parliamentary seats 6

Status The party gained significant support in Ainaro, Aileu and Manufahi districts among Mambai-speaking East Timorese in the 2007 parliamentary elections. An internal faction within the party attempted unsuccessfully in 2011 to secure official recognition as the party leadership from the National Electoral Commission (CNE)

CONTACT DETAILS

Avenida do Direitos Humanos Lecidere, Dili, Timor-Leste

Tel: +67 732 3970 +67 724 9524 +67 731 1744 +67 738 6571

OFFICE BEARERS

President: Dr Francisco Xavier do Amaral Tel: +670 7311744

Secretary-General: Gil da Costa Alves

Former Secretary-General: João Correia Tel: +670 7323970

HISTORY AND ORGANISATION

ASDT was founded in Portuguese Timor in May, 1974 following the overthrow of the Portuguese dictatorship in April that year. Its founders included Francisco Xavier do Amaral, Nicolau Lobato and José Ramos-Horta. ASDT promoted ‘the universal doctrines of socialism and democracy’. Its program called for a fairly lengthy period of progressive autonomy leading to independence. It gathered support from young, educated Timorese.

19

In September, 1974 ASDT became FRETILIN, a revolutionary front calling for immediate independence and adopting radical political and social policies. Xavier do Amaral was briefly president of the Democratic Republic of Timor-Leste (RDTL) following a unilateral declaration of independence on 28 November, 1975, until Indonesia invaded on 7 December. FRETILIN, in resistance, adopted Marxism-Leninism in 1977, the same year Xavier do Amaral was expelled from the party and placed under arrest.

Returning from Indonesia to East Timor in 2000, Xavier do Amaral revived ASDT as a ‘Third Way’ party, claiming the middle ground in East Timorese politics. Ideologically ASDT has moved from a left-of-centre position to the political middle ground.

Drawing on networks active during the resistance movement, ASDT established branches in all thirteen districts. It currently claims party organisations in 400 of the 442 sucos and a membership of 5,000. ASDT won 37 of the 4889 seats contested in the 2005 suco elections.

ASDT formed a coalition with PSD to contest the 2007 parliamentary elections. It won five seats, PSD six, their strongest support in Aileu, Ainaro and Manufahi districts, the heartland of the Mambai-speaking East Timorese. ASDT-PSA became part of the Parliamentary Majority Alliance (AMP) Government, led by Prime Minister Xanana Gusmão. The coalition dissolved after the election.

ASDT senior party officials complain that their leader has not been given the recognition he deserves. On 5 May 2008, Xavier do Amaral announced that ASDT would leave the governing coalition because of ‘nepotism and corruption’ and establish a coalition with FRETILIN. The agreement with FRETILIN was not so much a new alliance as an arrangement to consider an alliance to contest the 2012 elections. It currently identifies FRETILIN as its alliance partner. Francisco Xavier do Amaral announced on 27 May 2008 that the people should no longer blame the ASDT for the AMP Government’s policies making life increasingly difficult for them. The ASDT would no longer participate in the decisions taken by the AMP Government. At the same time, the ASDT appears not to have moved into active opposition to the Government. ASDT has continued to function within the Parliament without challenging the AMP Government.

The party has experienced internal factional struggles in recent times which remain unresolved. The rival faction, led by Domingos da Costa, MP, approached Dr Faustino Cardoso, the President of the CNE (National Electoral Commission), seeking recognition and the transfer of state funding from Francisco Xavier do Amaral to the ASDT Parliamentary Bank (bancardo). This was refused: CNE ruled that as the ASDT official leadership had complied with reporting and auditing requirements it would continue to be recognised and funded by CNE. Dr Cardoso has advised the rival leadrs in ASDT to take their dispute to the court.


20

The Secretary-General of ASDT, Francisco Gomes left the party in 2010 to form his own party, the PLPA.

At a party meeting in Dili in July 2011, Secretary-General Gil Alves announced that ASDT supported Xavier Amaral as a presidential candidate, while acknowledging that a way had to be found to solve the party’s problems and develop it. Ozorio Mauleki, president of the Timorese Republic Party (PDRT) pledged his party’s support for Amaral in the presidential election.

OUTLOOK AND POLICIES

ASDT, when reconstituted in 2000, adopted a program markedly to the right of its original leftist position. Its party manual endorses liberal values and an open market economy. It seeks support as a centre-left party, committed to justice, security. and development. Its policy priorities are poverty reduction and the creation of employment. It describes itself as a socialist party with an ideological position in the centre. It is concerned at corruption and mismanagement in government. It supports education campaigns to build a stronger civil society and good governance.

ASDT SOURCES■■ Interviews with Dr Joao Correia, Secretary-General, June 2011.

■■ Questionnaire completed by PSD Secretary-General June 2011.

■■ Declaration of Political Position of the ASDT party. 27 May, 2008.

■■ ‘ASDT case should be resolved in court: CNE’. Timor Post, 26 May, 2011.

■■ The Strategic Alliance Policy Platform agreed between ASDT and FRETILIN on 7 May, 2008, is available at: www.easttimorlegalinformation.org/Miscellaneous/asdt-fretilin_strategic_alliance_policy_platform.html

■■ See also ‘Profile: Francisco Xavier do Amaral’, BBC News, 15 May, 2002. http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/special_report/1999/05/99east_timor/1916419.stm

http://www.easttimorlegalinformation.org/Miscellaneous/asdt-fretilin_strategic_alliance_policy_platform.html



http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/special_report/1999/05/99east_timor/1916419.stm

http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/special_report/1999/05/99east_timor/1916419.stm

21

CNRTCongresso Nacional da Reconstrução TimoreseNational Congress for the Reconstruction of Timor

KEY FACTS

Leading figure/s Xanana Gusmão, President

Origins The CNRT was founded by Xanana Gusmão in 2007 to contest the parliamentary elections of that year.

Links strong links to former resistance elements and networks including past supporters of Fretilin and links to a national network of verterans’ organisations


Status The CNRT is the second largest party in the National Parliament. With ASDT, PD, PSD, and UNDERTIM it forms the Parliamentary Majority Alliance (Aliança para Maioria Parlamentar, AMP) currently in government.

CONTACT DETAILS

Bairo Gurilhus, Dili

Tel: +670 727 3693

Secretary-General: Dionisio Babo Soares Tel: +670 724 3952

OFFICE-BEARERS

President: Kay Rala Xanana Gusmão José Alexandre Gusmão was born in 1946 near Manatuto. Xanana derives from the middle syllable of his middle name. He was educated at the Jesuit seminary in Dare and the Liceu High School. He worked as a clerk and a draftsman before a 30 month period of national service in the Portuguese army. He then spent about six months in Darwin working in a bakery. Returning to Portuguese Timor, he joined FRETILIN in May 1975. He was elected Commander in Chief of the FALINTIL resistance against Indonesian occupation in 1981. He was captured in 1992 and on release returned to Timor-Leste in October 1999. He served as the first president of RDTL from 2002–07. He became prime minister when his successor, President José Ramos-Horta, announced the formation of the AMP coalition government.

Vice-Presidents Eduardo Barreto, Bilou Mali, Januario Perreira, Virgilio Smith Tel: +670 729 2246

Secretary-General: Dionisio Babo Soares

Vice Secretaries-General: Duarte Nunes, José da Silva, Jacinto Rigoberto Tel: +670 723 8065


22


CNRT was founded in March 2007 with 6,225 members to contest the parliamentary elections in June that year and as a vehicle for its leader, Xanana Gusmão, to become Prime Minister. The Party ideology is identified as centre-left and democratic socialist with a central concern with economic development.

The CNRT acronym deliberately recalls that of the Conselho Nacional da Resistencia Timorense (National Council of Timorese Resistance), the umbrella body created by Xanana Gusmão in April 1998 from the CNRM (National Council of Maubere Resistance), also established by Gusmão when he left Fretilin in 1987. In turn, CNRM replaced the National Council of Maubere Resistance (CNRM) founded in 1981. Gusmão created CNRT in 1987 to bring together nationalist and resistance groups, including UDT, to form a broad alliance. By 1988, FALINTIL, the armed resistance force, was reorganised as a non-partisan, nationalist movement, effectively removed from Fretilin’s direct control. While still in an Indonesian prison, Gusmão was elected president of CNRT when it was created in Portugal in 1998. FRETILIN was a member of CNRT (the resistance) but did not control it.

CNRT (the party) contested the June 2007 election on a platform of national stability following a period of political crisis and violence. The party program emphasised recovery and economic development and rebuilding confidence in the state. CNRT won 24.1 per cent of votes, performing most strongly in the Western (Loromonu) districts of Bobanaro, Liquiça, Manatuto and Oe Cussi and attracting 45.2% of the vote in the capital, Dili. By June 2011 it claimed over 200,000 members, with party organisations in all districts and sub-districts. It has women and youth organisations, professional associations and an extensive veterans’ network.

In government, CNRT has pursued an ambitious national development plan, funded by substantial withdrawals from the Petroleum Fund. Relations with its coalition partners in the AMP Government have been strained, particularly with ASDT, which concluded an agreement with the Opposition, FRETILIN, in 2008, and with PSD whose leader, Mario Carrascalão was forced to resign as Deputy Prime Minister in 2010 and another senior PSD leader, Foreign Minister Zacarias da Costa, was challenged by Prime Minister to resign earlier that year.

The Prime Minister has made it clear that CNRT will contest the 2012 elections alone and not as part of a coalition. At the CNRT Congress in May 2011, the election slogan was P45, the goal of winning 45 seats in the 65 seat parliament. If the party won 31 or fewer seats, the claim was it would go into opposition and not form a new coalition to govern.

23

CNRT SOURCES■■ Interview with CNRT Secretary-General, Dr Dionisio Babo Soares, June

2011.

■■ Questionnaire completed by the Secretary-General, June 2011.

■■ CNRT web page: http://cnrt-timor.org/

■■ See also: Sara Niner, Xanana, Leader of the Struggle for Independent Timor-Leste, North Melbourne: Australian Scholarly Publishing. 2009.

http://cnrt-timor.org/


24

CPD-RDTLConselho Popular pela Defesa da Republica Democrática de Timor-LestePopular Council for the Defence of the Democratic Republic of Timor-Leste

KEY FACTS

Leading figure/s António “Ai Tahan” Matak, General Coordinator of CPD-RDTL; Cristiano da Costa. Matak was a former FALINTIL resistance fighter. He was captured by the Indonesian military and taken to Kupang where he was tortured

Origins CPD-RDTL was established in 1999 to restore the 1975 Democratic Republic of Timor-Leste

Links Links CPD-RDTL opposes both FRETILIN and the CNRT

Parliamentary seats None

Status CPD-RDTL is not a registered political party as of June 2011

OFFICE-BEARERS

General Coordinator: António “Ai Tahan” Matak Other leaders include: Cristiano da Costa, Marito Reis, David Dias Ximenes.


CPD-RDTL is included here because, although it is not a registered political party and does not contest elections as a party, it is the largest organised political movement outside the party system. CPD-RDTL members did contest the local, suco elections in October 2009 as individuals (the electoral law forbade political party affiliation for local candidates).

CPD-RDTL was founded in 1999 as a movement to restore the original Democratic Republic of Timor-Leste proclaimed on 28 November 1975. It is not a political parties and does not contest elections which it regards as illegitimate.

CPD-RDTL rejects the legitimacy of the state and constitution founded in 2002. It demands that Timor-Leste return to the constitution of 1975. Its leaders and supporters include former resistance fighters associated with dissident FALINTIL groups. They represent themselves as the ‘real FRETILIN’, and that the true FALINTIL resistance has the right to govern

25

Timor-Leste. CPD-RDTL has issued its own identity cards, dismissing official identity cards as invalid.

CPD-RDTL has had links with Sagrada Família, the millenarian movement led by Cornelio (Elle-Sette, L-7), now a Member of Parliament and, as the leader of UNDERTIM, part of the AMP governing coalition. In Bobonaro and Cova Lima districts CPD-RDTL has operated alongside Colimau 2000 and Bua Malus, political/ritualist groups. Allegations were made, including by then Interior Minister, Rogerio Lobato, that CPD-RDTL was secretly supported by military elements in Indonesia seeking to destabilise the East Timorese government.

CPD-RDTL is most active in the western districts adjoining Indonesia but it is also organised in Daili, Baucau and Verqueque and is the largest political movement operating against the state. The government attempted to negotiate an arrangement with the movement in 2003 but this failed. In December 2003 through to early 2004 police mounted nationwide raids against CPD-RDTL members.

Matak was tried and placed under eight months’ house arrest in June 2007 for defaming the police involved in the shooting of two CPD-RDTL members in 2004. He was summonsed in September 2009 for allegedly plotting to disrupt the October 2009 local elections. In early 2010 there was another crackdown against CPD-RDTL supporters and alleged “ninja” gangs, but Matak was not detained for lack of evidence. CPD-RDTL protested police brutality against their members in the March-April raids.

As Prime Minister, Xanana Gusmão has held talks with Ai Tahan Matak, for instance, in Viqueque in April 2011. The movement remains active and may represent a potential problem as the political climate heats up as the 2012 elections approach,

CPD-RDTL SOURCES■■ Pat Walsh, East Timor’s Political Parties and Groupings, Briefing

Notes, Australian Council for Overseas Aid. April 2001.

■■ Various articles and media reports.


26

FRENTI-MUDANÇAFrente de Reconstrução Nacional de Timor-Leste - MudançaFront for National Reconstruction of Timor-Leste - Change

KEY FACTS

Leading figure/s José Luis Guterres, President of FRENTI-Mudança, Vice-Prime Minister

Origins FRENTI-Mudança is a breakaway faction from FRETILIN and unsuccessfully contested the FRETILIN leadership in 2006. It claims it is the real inheritor of FRETILIN’s political development, completing the democratic reforms the party began in the late 1980s and 1990s

Links although a number of current MPs claim allegiance to FRENTI-Mudança


Status New party which obtained registration on 19 July 2011, to contest the 2012 parliamentary election

CONTACT DETAILS / OFFICE-BEARERS

President: José Luis Guterres Tel: +670 723 0015

Vice Prime-Minister For Social Issues: Palacio do Governo, Dili

Vitor da Costa Tel: +670 723 0082 + 670 729 6603

Jorge Teme Tel: +670 723 0041 +670 731 5811 +670 727 3089 Email: [email protected]


FRETILIN Mudança (Revolutionary Front for an Independent East Timor - Change), as it was originally known, originated in FRETILIN. It adopted a reformist, left-of-centre, position in opposition to what the group saw as the failure of the radical FRETILIN leadership to come to terms with political change and the development of inclusive pluralist politics in Timor-Leste.

27

In the emerging political crisis of 2006, the faction unsuccessfully sought to change FRETILIN from within. Led by José Luis Guterres, a former RDTL ambassador to the UN, the group unsuccessfully moved to replace Marí Alkatiri as Secretary-General at the FRETILIN national congress in April 2006. The voting, it was ruled was by show of hands. Alkatiri retained the leadership.

In the 2007 presidential election, FRETILIN Mudança supported José Ramos-Horta’s candidature and in the parliamentary election, they supported CNRT. José Luis Guterres was appointed 1st Vice-Prime Minister in the AMP Government after the elections. FRETILIN Mudança did not have representation in the National Parliament.

The party re-named itself FRETLIN (dropping the ‘I’ for Independent), to distinguish itself from FRETILIN and to seek registration as a new political party for the 2012 elections. The Court of Appeal, which has to approve parties seeking registration, rejected the party’s application for registration in May 2011, because the party’s name was too similar to that of FRETILIN and could confuse voters. The party has since re-submitted its application for registration in early July 2011, with the name FRENTI-Mudança. The Court of Appeal accepted this name but ruled that the party’s flag was still too similar to FRETILIN’s and had to be resubmitted.


FRENTI-Mudança presents its position as in line with FRETILIN’s political evolution since 1975 proposing a one-party political system on the radical left through a series of developments marked by first the creation of the CNRM and then the CNRM and finally the CNRT (National Council of Timorese Resistance), the umbrella body created by Xanana Gusmão in April 1998. FRENTI-Mudança accepts the inclusive, pluralist party system developed since independence but believes the FRETILIN’s leaders continue to represent a political ideology that remains radical and locked in an earlier era.

FRENTI-MUDANÇA SOURCES■■ Interview with FRENTI-Mudança Secretary-General, Vitor da Costa, July

2011.

■■ Various media reports


28

FRETILINFrente Revolucianária do Timor-Leste IndependenteRevolutionary Front for an Independent Timor-Leste

KEY FACTS

Leading figure/s Marí Bim Amude Alkatiri, Secretary-General, Leader of the Opposition, former Prime Minister. Francisco Guterres Lú Olo, President of FRETILIN.

Origins FRETILIN began as the ASDT, founded on 20 May 1974. ASDT was transformed into FRETILIN on 11 September 1974

Links FRETILIN adopted a written strategic alliance with ASDT in April 2008. It has a loose parliamentary voting alliance with KOTA and PPT but this is not formalised in a written agreement


Status In government for the first five years of independence, since the 2007 elections FRETILIN has been in opposition in the National Parliament with the single largest number of seats of any party

CONTACT DETAILS

Avenida Martires da Patria, Comoro, Dili

Member of Parliament: José A. Fernandes Teixeira, Tel: +670 728 7080 Email [email protected]

OFFICE-BEARERS

President: Francisco Guterres Lú Olo Vice-President: Arsenio Bano Secretary-General: Mari Bim Amude Alkatiri

Marí Alkatiri, born 26 November 1949, is a Hadhrami Arab from Yemen by family origin. He studied in Angola from 1970, returning to Dili to be one of the founders of FRETILIN. He was Minister for Political Affairs in the short-lived RDTL in late 1975. In exile, following the Indonesian invasion, he established the headquarters of the FRETILIN External Delegation in Maputo, Mozambique. He became the first Prime Minister of an independent Timor-Leste in May 2002

1st Assistant Secretary-General: José Reis 2nd Assistant Secretary-General: José Manuel Fernandes


FRETILIN began as the ASDT, the nationalist social democratic association formed in May, 1974, following the overthrow of the Portuguese dictatorship. In September of that year, FRETILIN emerged as revolutionary

mailto:[email protected]

29

front. Its founders included Francisco Xavier do Amaral (President of RDTL in late 1975), Mari Bim Amude Alkatiri, Jose Ramos-Horta, Nicolau dos Reis Lobato, Justino Mota and Francisco Borja da Costa.

Its program included immediate independence and political and social reform, including land reform. While FRETILIN adopted the ‘revolutionary African nationalism’ of its mentor, Frelimo (the Liberation Front of Mozambique, Frente de Libertação de Moçambique), in 1975 it was a broadly nationalist party, including many Catholics as well as an active minority of Marxists.

A short-lived coalition with UDT ended when UDT staged a coup on 11 August 1975. FRETILIN prevailed in the brief but violent civil war that followed. Threatened by invasion from Indonesia, the leadership unilaterally declared independence from Portugal on 28 November and governed as the Democratic Republic of East Timor (RDTL) for nine days until the Indonesian military invasion on 7 December. FRETILIN created its armed wing, FALINTIL (Forças Armadas de Libertação Nacional de Timor-Leste), in August 1975 and FALINTIL fought a war of resistance against the occupying Indonesian army. Nicolau Lobato, then the FRETILIN leader, was killed by Indonesian troops in December 1978.

In the resistance struggle, the radical faction gained ascendancy and took over the Central Committee in 1977, adopting the name Fretilin Marxist-Leninist Party (Partido Marxista-Leninista Fretilin, PMLF). By the end of Indonesian rule, FRETILIN (like its mentor, FRELIMO) had abandoned Marxist-Leninism and in its draft constitution in 1998 FRETILIN embraced pluralist multiparty politics.

FRETILIN’s leaders understandably continued to regard it as the ‘foundation party’ of East Timorese nationhood, the party historically entitled to govern. With the fall of the Suharto regime in May 1998, FRETILIN’s leaders responded to the possibility of a politically negotiated independence by renewing party organisation and policy. An Extraordinary National Conference was held in Sydney over 14–20 August which produced a party platform and a proposed constitution for an independent Timor-Leste. Following the August 30, 1999 ballot on autonomy or independence, and the overwhelming vote for independence, Indonesia departed in a frenzy of militia violence and the United Nations established a transitional authority in the territory, UNTAET. In late 1999 Marí Alkatiri returned from his long exile in Mozambique to lead the party in preparation for independence.

In the elections for a Constituent Assembly held on 30 August, 2001, FRETILIN won 57.4% of the vote and held 55 of the 88 seats. The Assembly produced a constitution based on that produced by FRETILIN at the party’s August, 1998 Extraordinary National Conference. The Constituent Assembly transformed into the National Parliament with independence, automatically giving FRETILIN a five-year term in Government. In the 2005 suco elections, FRETILIN won 2964 of the 4889 seats contested, giving an incumbency


30

advantage in the October 2009 local elections when it claimed to have won in over 60% of the sucos (although the law on local elections for 2009 did not permit candidates to indicate any party affiliation).

Relations between FRETILIN and the Catholic Church were strained. In March, 2005, the Church organised mass demonstrations against the Government’s plan to make religious instruction in public schools voluntary and outside school hours. Up to 20,000 demonstrators gathered over a twenty-day period. Protesters called for the resignation of Prime Minister Alkatiri. The Church prevailed.

In a deteriorating security situation, a breakaway faction, FRETILIN Mudança, unsuccessfully attempted at the party’s national congress in April 2006 to take over the party. In the 2007 presidential election, FRETILIN Mudança supported José Ramos-Horta’s candidature and in the parliamentary election, they supported CNRT. José Luis Guterres, who challenged Alkatiri for the party leadership in 2006, was appointed Deputy Prime Minister in the AMP Government after the elections. Now naming itself FRETLIN (dropping the ‘I’), FRETILIN Mudança is seeking registration as a political party for the 2012 elections. Its case was considered by the Court of Appeal (June 2011) which rejected the group’s submission for registration as a political party because its proposed name was too similar to FRETILIN. Spokesperson, Cesar Moreira, said his party would rename the party FRETILIN Mudança and reapply for registration.

FRETILIN faced a greater crisis in April-May 2006 when the dismissal of 591 defence force personnel provoked a rebellion and widespread violence. President Gusmão forced the retirement of Prime Minister Alkatiri in June.

In the June 2007 parliamentary elections, FRETILIN won 29.02% of the vote gaining 21 seats, the largest number of any party. After tense post-election negotiations, President Ramos-Horta appointed Xanana Gusmão Prime Minister of the AMP coalition government. This decision provoked serious violence.

In opposition, FRETILIN has pursued a program of restructuring and consolidation of the party organisation. Its district, sub-district and suco committees have been strengthened and transparent, direct election of delegates by secret ballot introduced. There has been a re-registration drive to increase party membership which is said to be over 135,000 currently and expected to reach 160,000 this year. FRETILIN owns a radio station, Radio Maubere, which presently reaches half the population and is intended to cover all East Timorese communities in time for the 2012 elections. The radio station has attracted criticism: the powerful Secretary of State for the Council of Ministers condemned Radio Maubere in June 2011 as propaganda and a challenge to the state.

31

In opposition, FRETILIN has subjected the government to sustained and disciplined scrutiny while refraining from exploiting divisions in the governing coalition to force and early election. The party’s focus is on successfully contesting the 2012 elections.


From the late 1980s, FRETILIN has moved from being a radical, revolutionary party to the moderate left. Its Political Manual emphasises liberal democracy, including multi-party politics. It identifies its core values as social justice, progress, and participatory and sustainable development. It is committed to promoting a dynamic, pluralist and transparent political environment. It seeks to harmonise the public and private interest, the collective good and private interests. It is a democratic socialist party espousing solidarity, tolerance and social justice. FRETILIN has been an active member of the Socialist International since 2002 and supports SI’s internationalist agenda. Priorities included in its program include free, mandatory education, greater healthcare, the eradication of poverty, the development of agriculture and cooperatives, the promotion of universal human rights, specifically the rights of women and children, and the rights of peoples to self-determination.

FRETILIN SOURCES■■ Interview with José Teixeira June 2011.

■■ Questionnaire completed by José Teixeira June 2011.


32

KHUNTOKmanek Haburas Unidade Nasional Timor Oan Enrich the National Unity of the Sons of Timor

KEY FACTS

Origins KHUNTO is a new party which was granted legal registration on 22 June 2011


Status New party which will contest the 2012 parliamentary election

CONTACT DETAILS

Matiaut, Dili

Tel: +67 738 4165 +67 730 3373 +67 723 3195

OFFICE-BEARERS

President: Secretary-General: Vice-President:


Partido KHUNTO was registered as a new party in May 2011.

KHUNTO SOURCES■■ ‘Partidu KHUNTO Legal Fretlin Mudansa Seiduk’, Timor Post, 24 June

2011.

33

KOTAKlibur Oan Timor Asu’wainSons of the Mountain Warriors or Association of Timor Heroes

KEY FACTS

Leading figure/s Manuel Tilman, M.P.

Origins KOTA was formed in November 1974. Its platform promotes local culture and tradition and supports the authority of the liurai (customary rulers)

Links In the early period, KOTA had links with UDT and later with UDC (União Democratica Cristão, Christian Democratic Union) and PDC (Partido Democrata Cristão, Christian Democratic Party). It contested the 2007 parliamentary election in coalition with PPT but this alliance was later dissolved

Parliamentary seats 1 (KOTA in coalition with PPT won 2 seats)

Status KOTA won two seats in the 2001 elections. Its single MP following the 2007 elections Manuel Tilman, is in opposition

CONTACT DETAILS

Praia Couquerus, Dili Tel: +670 734 8633

OFFICE-BEARERS

Note There is some ambiguity concerning current office holders in KOTA. Manuel Tilman MP has been described as President but also as Secretary-General of the party.

According to information from Mr Tilman’s office, the office bearers are:

President: Manuel Tilman Secretary-General: Cesar Agosto dos Santos Carlos Coordinator-General for Culture: Ameila da Costa Tel. +670 7235725’ +670 7234970 Email [email protected]

A rival faction in the party claims the presidency. In a newspaper article of 10 May 2011, Pedro da Costa Ramailho is described as the president of KOTA. He is quoted as calling for the resignation of Manuel Tilman as the Secretary-General of KOTA ‘because the party does not recognise him any more’.



34


KOTA was founded in November 1974 by by Leão Pedro dos Reis Amaral, Pedro da Costa Ramalho and the late José Martins. Clementino dos Reis Amaral was a former district administrator of Baucau in the Portuguese period, and then a member of the Indonesian parliament for 14 years. Other important members in the period after independence were spokesman João Francisco dos Reis Amaral and former permanent representative in the CNRT, Augusto Pires.

KOTA was previously known as the Associação Monarqu ia de Timor (APMT, the Popular Association of Monarchists of Timor). It was supported by several traditional rulers or kings (liurasi) in contrast to FRETILIN which identified with the maubere (“my brother”: the poor, the people).

KOTA was refused official recognition by Portugal because of its small membership. Its leader in 1974 was José Martins who had close contacts with the Indonesians and became an advocate of integration of Portuguese Timor into Indonesia. Martins defected from the Indonesian side in 1976.

In August 1998, KOTA, together with UDT, FRETILIN, APODETI and Trabalhista, rejected Indonesian offers of autonomy and called for the release of Xanana Gusmão from prison and a referendum on the future of Timor-Leste.

The party was re-constituted at a meeting of some 20 members in Dili in August 2000. In the 2001 elections for the Constituent Assembly, KOTA won two seats with 2.1% of the vote. In the 2007 parliamentary elections, which KOTA contested a Democratic Alliance with PPT, the party gained one seat with 3.2% of the votes.

Its only strong showing was in Ainaro where it attracted 18.69% of the vote(almost double that of FRETILIN in that district). The coalition with PPT dissolved after the election.

KOTA is experiencing serious internal divisions. In May, 2011, President Pedro da Costa Ramailho called on Secretary-General Manuel Tilman to resign, saying the party did not recognise him anymore, that he had misused party funds and that he never attended central committee meetings (Timornewsline, 10 May, 2011).


KOTA is a conservative party that promotes Timorese culture and traditions. It is the advocate of maintaining respect for liurai families, the customary rulers. It was the only party in the 2007 elections whose name was in Tetum (lierally “Union of the Hero Sons of Mountains of Timor”). The party does not now advocate a constitutional monarchy controlled by traditional elders, and supports multiparty democracy. It does, however, support a kind of federalism where the state is organised along the lines of the traditional kingdoms. In its original constitution as Associação Popular Monarquica de

35

Timor, the party argued for ‘an indirect electoral process [that] would allow each tribe to choose a chief froma hereditary line of males; the chiefs would then choose the parliamentary representatives from among themselves; and the parliamentary members would choose the king’.1

During the 2007 presidential campaign, the Lisbon daily, Público, published an interview with Manuel Tilman:

He declares himself, socialist, monarchist and mystic …. “I am the descendent of the earlier kings of Timor … [KOTA] is a party of tradition and ethnology … The cultural identity of the people is mystical. I want to recover this”.

Clementino dos Reis Amaral claimed the party was founded in 1974 to resist the dangerous polarisation of the territory by the pro-western Timorese Democratic Party (UDT) and the radical leftist FRETILIN.

Manuel Tilman pursues a ‘policy of unification’ which would draw the kingdoms of independent Timor-Leste and Indonesian West Timor together:

Politically we are separated. But we are just one nation. I have a project of unification, but it is not for the moment.

The party is wary of Western influences and resists the decline in respect for the liurais. Indeed, liurai families continue to exercise considerable if informal authority in many sucos in Timor-Leste, although they do not have a formally recognised role in the state system.

The party’s social policy programs have drawn on those of the Socialist Party of Portugal. They include support for a strong welfare state with a progressive taxation system. KOTA supports the current multi-party system and an executive presidency. It promotes poverty reduction through support for agriculture, fishing, anminal husbandry and coffee production and a system of ‘the four subsidies’: state assistance for birth, for marriage, for family benefits, for funerals.

KOTA recognises the traditional bonds between Timor-Leste and Indonesian West Timor and seeks a special relationship with Indonesia that will permit greater interaction between the peoples of West and East Timor.

KOTA SOURCES■■ Questionnaire.

■■ Contact with Secretary-General Manuel Tilman, MP.

■■ Douglas Kammen, ‘Fragments of utopia: Popular yearnings in East Timor’, Journal of Southeast Asian Studies, 40(2), June 2009. 385–408.

■■ ‘President of KOTA calling for Tilman to leave his post as Secretary-General, Timornewsline, 10 May, 2011.

1 Bill Nichol, Timor: The stillborn nation, Melbourne: Widescope International Publishers, 1978.


36

PDPartido DemocráticoDemocratic Party

KEY FACTS

Leading figure/s Fernando ‘Lasama’ de Araujo, Mariano ‘Assanami’ Sabino

Origins Formed in advance of the 2001 Constituent Assembly elections

Links Links to student and youth movements. PD has connections with PSD and ASDT


Status Part of the governing AMP coalition

CONTACT DETAILS

Rua de Colmera, Dili Samuel Mendonça Tel: +670 7238507 +670 723 5980 +670 724 0558 Email [email protected] [email protected] Website http://partidodemocratico.org/?m=20110305

OFFICE-BEARERS

President: Fernando ‘Lasama’ de Araújo Araújo was born in Manutassi, Ainaro District. At the age of 12 he witnessed many members of his family massacred by the Indonesian Army. He studied in Bali, becoming Secretary-General of RENETIL the underground student movement. He was imprisoned for over six years. He was a founder of PD in 2001 on his return to Timor-Leste. He was the PD candidate in the April 2007 presidential elections, taking third place with 19.18% of the vote. PD supported José Ramos-Horta in the second round. Leading the PD party list, he entered the parliament following the 2007 election and at its first session was elected as President of the National Parliament, defeating the FRETILIN candidate. Following the attack that seriously wounded President Ramos-Horta in February, 2008, he became Acting President from 13 February to 17 April, 2008.

Vice-President: João Boavida Secretary-General: Mariano ‘Assanami’ Sabino Tel: +670 723 0028 +670 733 3311 Sabino was born in Luro Subdistrict in Lautem District, the son of a liuari father. He was later adopted. Studying in Indonesia, he became a leading



http://partidodemocratico.org/?m=20110305

37

activist in RENETIL, occupying foreign embassies in Jakarta as a protest against Indonesian occupation of Timor-Leste. His code name was Assanami when in the underground. He returned to Timor-Leste in 1998 on Xanana Gumsão’s instructions to organise the student protest campaign. After independence, he did not join FRETILIN but was a founder of PD where he was the party’s Secretary-General. He was elected in 2001 and served as a PD member in the 1st Constitutional Government (2002–07). After the 2007 election, PD formed part of the governing coalition and Sabino was appointed Minister of Agriculture and Fisheries.


Partido Democrático (PD) was founded on 10 June, 2001 with an original membership of around 200 supporters. It currently claims some 31,000 members. In August 2001, the party contested the elections for the Constituent Assembly, winning seven seats with 8.7% of the vote, giving it 7 seats in the 88-seat parliament, the second largest representation in the National Parliament formed on independence, after FRETILIN.

PD attracted support from young political activists, those involved in the student movement against Indonesia, and ex-FRETILIN and resistance members. Many of these latter had held influential positions in the CNRT Frente Politica Interna (FPI, Internal Political Front) connected to large networks of supporters in the districts.

In the 2007 parliamentary elections, PD won 11.3% of the vote, giving it eight seats in the 65-seat parliament, the fourth largest representation after CNRT, FRETILIN, and the PSD-ASDT. PD’s support is concentrated in the western districts, Ermera (21.97% of the vote), Bobanaro (19.32%) and Ainaro, Liquiça, While performing very poorly in the eastern districts of Viqueque and Baucau (3.86% and 2.72%) it did attract significant support in the eastern district of Lautem (13.69%). It fared only modestly or badly in the central districts of Aileu (6.13%) and Manufahi (0.5%).

After the election, PD formed part of the AMP governing coalition. It has a representative in the Council of Ministers, its Secretary-General, Mariano ‘Assanami’ Sabino, and occupies the presidency of the National Parliament. Its relations have not been as strained with the Prime Minister as ASDT and PSD.

PD has party organisations in all 13 districts and 65 sub-districts, and in 370 of the 442 sucos. It won 387 of the contested positions in the October 2009 local elections. It receives funding support through the state Public Subsidy Scheme and receives election funding from a second state funding program. It receives contributions during elections from its activist support base. The party has active women and youth movements.


38


Since its foundation, PD has moved from the left to the centre-left. It promotes the political principles of democracy, pluralism, and individual rights. Its party platform prioritises strong self-government, national unity, and higher living standards for the people, particularly in the rural areas. Its party slogan is Strengthen Independence and Build the State from the Base. It supports sustainable agricultural development and decentralisation. The party’s position on government action and intervention has been moderated over time and by 2007 was espousing privatisation and deregulation as appropriate policy directions. PD favours a progressive tax system. It would eliminate sales tax on basic necessities. It supports policies to attract foreign investment through deregulation, market liberalisation and privatisation.

PD has identified five ‘Principles of Good Governance’ as guiding state policy:

■■ Participative nation-building essential for sustaining and developing democratic institutions and economic prosperity in the long-term

■■ Rule of law all persons, organisations and the government are equal before the law and answerable to it

■■ Transparency and accountability the public sector must be efficient, transparent and accountable

■■ Quality management there must be high quality management of budgeting and administration in the public sector

■■ Control and combat corruption oversight bodies must ensure high levels of transparency and accountability in the formulation and execution of public policies and in the administration and expenditure of public institutions.

PD promotes Tetum as the official language, reflecting its different political origins to the FRETILIN leaders of 1974–75.

The President of the PD, Fernando ‘Lasama’ de Araujo announced in May, 2011, that PD will contest the 2012 election in its own right, in competition with both the CNRT and with FRETILIN. The party now had a sufficiently strong support base to increase its number of seats in the national parliament.

PD SOURCES■■ Interview Samuel Mendonça June 2011.

■■ Questionnaire June 2011.

■■ Manifesu Eleitoral. Partidu Demokrátiku. Dili, November, 2006.

■■ Liña Gerais Plataforma Politítika. Hametin Ukun Rasik An: Harii Nasaun Hosi Baze. Eleisaun Parlamentar, 30 June, 2007.

■■ ‘PD ready to compete in the elections: Lasama’. Timor Post. 31 May, 2011.

39

PDCPartido Democrata CristãoChristian Democrat Party

KEY FACTS

Leading figure/s Antonio Ximenes

Origins PDC was established in August 2000 as a centre-left party, one of two Christian Parties in Timor-Leste (the other was UDC/PDC). Its platform promoted Christian values of social justice and it included both Roman Catholics and Protestants

Links In the period of the 1st Constitutional Government PDC had links with PDCT (Partido Democrata-Cristão de Timor), a centre-right party which won one seat in the 2001 elections. PDC was also linked to UDC/PDC. It also had links with the Indonesian National Christian Democratic Party, PDKB


Status In the Constituent Assembly elections of 2001 PDC won two of the 88 seats with 2.0% of the vote. In the 2007 parliamentary elections it won no seats with 1.03% of the votes below the 3% threshold to win seats

CONTACT DETAILS

Quintal kiik, Dili Tel: +670 7324683 +670 7311343

OFFICE-BEARERS

President: António Ximenes


PDC was founded on 5 August 2000 with António Ximenes its foundation president, the position he continues to hold currently. Ximenes undertook tertiary studies in Indonesia, including a period at the Catholic seminary in Flores. He received his political training with the moderate Indonesian Christian party PDKB in Java. He was a director of the National Commission for Study on the Future of East Timor, a local NGO, and was a university lecturer in Dili after independence. He was elected in 2001 and was a deputy in the National Parliament 2002–07. He is identifies himself as a veteran of the resistance.

In the Constituent Assembly, in which it held two seats, PDC formed, with ASDT, a de facto political bloc with FRETILIN. Its commitment to human rights and social justice in a Christian framework reflected the position of its president and its long-time Secretary-General, the Rev. Arlindo F. Marçal. Rev. Marçal studied in Kupang and Yogyakarta during the Indonesian


40

period. He was a respected international advocate for Timor-Leste during the Indonesian period. He has a strong interest in human rights and was a founder of Yayasan Hak, a leading human rights NGO.

Marçal stood as a PDC candidate in the 2001 Constituent Assembly elections and was elected together with Antonio Ximenes. PDC was aligned with FRETILIN in the Assembly and Marçal was appointed one of the Assembly’s two Vice-Presidents (Francisco Xavier do Amaral of ASDT was the other). Another Christian party, the centre-right Partido Democrata-Cristão de Timor (Christian Democratic Party of Timor) held one seat in the Constituent Assembly. PDC initially merged with UDC (União Democrática Timorense, Christian Democratic Union) in 2006 giving it three seats in the Assembly. UDC was an offshoot of the conservative UDT while PDC aligned itself with FRETILIN and the parties dissolved the merger. During the 1st Constitutional Government, PDC was active in assisting the return of groups of refugees who had fled or been transported to Indonesian West Timor in 1999.

In 2006, PDC and UDC again merged, possibly motivated by the need to win at least 3% of the vote to achieve representation. Their combined vote in the 2007 parliamentary election was only 1.03%, well below the minimum required to take a seat. PDC won no representation in the October 2009 local elections.

Rev. Marçal served as Moderator of the Synod of Protestant Churches in Timor-Leste until recently and continues as the Moderator of the Evangelical Presbyterian Church of Timor-Leste. In February, 2003, he became the first East Timorese ambassador to Indonesia.


PDC drew on both Roman Catholic and Protestant support with a political position on the centre-left. PDC’s program was strongly based on principles of Christian social justice and an ecumenical and pluralist outlook. The party supports a democratic, multi-party system with a strong emphasis on the role of civil society and the promotion of human rights. Its philosophy is based on a Christian understanding of justice and the value of the human person. It is concerned at the possible erosion of Christian morality in Timor-Leste.

The party’s economic position is people-oriented. It supports assistance to local business and joint ventures with foreigners but supports the policy that foreigners cannot own land freehold. Government should subsidise petroleum products to help the poor and reduce the use of local timber for fuel. Education, health and sporting services should be universal and

41

affordable for every citizen. Programs should be developed to advance the moral development of youth.

PDC advocates a free and active foreign policy, independent of big powers. In a letter in June 2011 to the Foreign Minister of Singapore, Antonio Ximenes expressed his support for Singapore blocking Timor-Leste’s entry into ASEAN, arguing that the country would not be ready for membership until 2018. He also criticised Prime Minister Xanana Gusmão and supported a report from within UNMIT criticising the Prime Mininster as ‘an obstacle to democracy’.

PDC SOURCES■■ Letter from Antonio Ximenes to Minister of Foreign Affairs, Singapore, 3

June 2011.


42

PDLPartidu Democrática Liberal Liberal Democratic Party

KEY FACTS

Origins The PDL originated in the PL which had one seat in the 1st Parliament

Links


StatusNewly registered party, revived from the PL

CONTACT DETAILS

Tel: +67 723 4185

OFFICE-BEARERS

President: Armando José Dourado da Silva


The PDL originates as the Partai Liberal (Liberal Party) which was registered in 2001 and contested the Constituent Assembly elections in that year. Although the party consistently ran last in the voting, its 01.1% of the vote just entitled it to one seat in the Assembly and so in the 1st National Parliament. The seat was held by PL President, Armando José Dourado da Silva. The only districts where the PL made any showing were the districts of Oecussi (5.7%) and Viqueque (03.1%).

The leader of PL, Armando José Dourado da Silva, headed the PL voting list and became the party’s single representative in the first National Parliament.


The PDL inherits a position on the right of national politics from the PL. The PL slogan was ‘Liberdade, relijiaun, Kultura’ (Freedom, Religion, Culture). Unlike other parties (with the exception of KOTA), PL’s name and party slogan were in Tetum, not Portuguese.

PDL SOURCES■■ Walsh (2001); Ryan (2007).

43

PDNPartido Desenvolvimento NacionalNational Development Party

KEY FACTS

Leading figure/s Fernando Dias Gusmão

Origins New party founded by a former leader in PSD

Links PDN is open to political dialogue with other parties


Status New party

CONTACT DETAILS

Rua Caicoli, Dili

Secretary-General: Lucas Soares Tel: +670 723 6184

Vice-Secretary General: Zeferino Tilman Tel: +670 740 2006

OFFICE-BEARERS

President: Fernando Dias Gusmão Tel: +670 724 0063 +670 724 6118 Email [email protected]

Secretary-General: Lucas Soares Tel: +670 723 6184

President of the National Jurisdiction: Manuel Sarmento President of the National Council: Cansio Pereira National Political Commissioner: José Eduardo Corte Real Presidential Counsellor: Agostinho Moniz


PDN was established on 30 May 2009 with a claimed foundation membership of around 38,000. Founder and President of the Party, Fernando Dias Gusmão, had formerly been one of the founders of PSD in 2000 along with Mario Carrascalão and Zacarias da Costa. He was elected to the Constituent Assembly in 2001 and re-elected to the National Parliament in 2007 as a PSD representative. He was Secretary-General of PSD for a period from 2003.

Gusmão left PSD and resigned from the parliament in 2009, because of disenchantment with PSD’s failure to implement its election policy promises. He wanted to found a new party that would deliver on its promises.



44

PDN claims a presence in all thirteen districts, 65 sub-districts and 442 sucos. Its organisational chart identifies party officials in Dili headquarters and the districts. PDN claims good support in the districts of Bobanaro, Ermera, Cova Lima, Oecussi and Liquiça with also supporters in Ainaro, Dili and Baucau.

PDN has a Secretariat, a Political Commissary, a National Council, and Vice-Presidents for the Economy, Finance, Infrastructure, Production, Rural Development, Social Services, Veterans Assistance and Governance.


PDN identifies itself as a centre-party. It describes its vision as idealistic and progressive, with support from youth, intellectuals and founded to attract majority support.

Its program sets out as its program as:

■■ The enrichment of Timorese democracy

■■ Economic devolution for the people of Timor-Leste

■■ Defence of the value of universal political, social, economic and cultural rights

■■ Defence of social justice

■■ Oppose KKN (corruption, collusion, nepotism)

Among its priorities it identifies a commitment:

■■ To support the system of decentralisation

■■ To build infrastructure

■■ To build the education system

■■ To build the health system

■■ To build the agricultural system

The PDN President identified as the top party priorities as decentralisation with strong local participation and decision-making, and development of the country’s infrastructure as the basis for economic development.

PDN could work with other parties, including FRETILIN and was open to coalitions. The president said PDN was not critical of the policies of PSD; rather, the failure to implement them. PDN and PSD policies were similar, in many respects. PDN did not have any major policy differences with either CNRT or FRETILIN. The party could work with these in the public interest.

The PDN would address weakness in AMP policies, such as the poor contracting and poor procurement regimes in the Referendum Package and PDD1 and PDD2 infrastructure programs. The budgets for these were outside the budget approved by the National Parliament.

45

PDN SOURCES■■ interviews with Fernando Dias Gusmão June 2011.


■■ DVD Declarasaun Partido PDN. 30 may 2009.

■■ Structural Chart of PDN

■■ List of national and district officials


46

PDRTPartido Democrátika República de Timor Timorese Democratic Republican Party

KEY FACTS

Leading figure/s Osório Mauleki (Ozorio Mau Lequi)

Links Fretilin, Kolimau 2000


CONTACT DETAILS

Secretary-General: Osório Mauleki Tel: +670 725 9874 +670 729 2457

OFFICE-BEARERS

President: Gabriel Fernandes Vice-President: Fernando do Rego Secretary-General: Osório Mauleki


Osório Mauleki has had links with FRETILIN in the past, attending, for instance, a FRETILIN Central Committee meeting in August 2007. he supported FRETILIN’s claim that as the party that won the most seats in the 2007 parliamentary election, it had to right to form government and that the AMP Government was not legitimate.

Mauleki was also a leader of Colimau 2000 and claimed that Colimau 2000’s roots were in FRETILIN and would resist FRETILIN adversaries. The leaders in the AMP coalition were interested not in justice or truth but in privileged political positions.

PDRT contested the 2007 parliamentary election but with 01.86% of the vote, was well below the 3% threshold to gain a seat. It only attracted some support in two districts: Bobanaro (6.11%) and Lautem (4.76%).

Following the election, PDRT joined the LDP alliance of small parties.

Osorio Mauleki was prosecuted for involvement in attacks against the Government Palace and addressing a rally held by the petitioning soldiers in 2006.

47


PDRT, like Colimau 2000, claims to represent the ideals that inspired FRETILIN and the creation of the Democratic Republic founded in 1975. Its flag carries a Latin cross possibly representing a religious influence in the Party’s ideology (part of what Kammen calls the cultura tradition shared by Colimau 2000).

Ozorio Mauleki, president of PDRT, has pledged his party’s support for Amaral in the presidential election.

PDRT SOURCES■■ ‘SG of PDRT says Kolimau 2000 was used’. Jornal Nacional Diário, Dili,

6 August 2007. Available at: www.etan.org/et2007/august/11/06sgpdrt.htm

■■ Public Prosecution threatens Mauleki for two up to three years in prison, Timor Post, July 14, 2010. Available at:www.etan.org/et2010/07july/17/tlnews14.htm

http://www.etan.org/et2007/august/11/06sgpdrt.htm

http://www.etan.org/et2007/august/11/06sgpdrt.htm

http://www.etan.org/et2010/07july/17/tlnews14.htm

http://www.etan.org/et2010/07july/17/tlnews14.htm


48

PLPAPartido Liberta Povo Aileba Aileba People’s Liberty Party

KEY FACTS

Leading figure/s Francisco Gomes; Miguel Fernandes

Origins A break-away party from ASDT


Status New party

CONTACT DETAILS

Secretary-General: Miguel Fernandes Tel: +670 741 0163

OFFICE-BEARERS

President: Francisco Gomes Gomes is the former Secretary-General of ASDT Tel: +670 781 7558

Secretary-General: Miguel Fernandes Tel: +670 741 0163


The PLPA was founded by Francisco Gomes on 11 December, 2009, as a splinter party from ASDT. Other founders included José Armindo Martins, Miguel M. Fernandes, José Soares, Florino N. avier, Veronica Lopes Gomes, and Mariano Laku-Loe.

It registered in 2010 as a new party for the 2012 parliamentary election. The Party’s name indicates that it seeks to address the needs of the poor: Aileba means Ai (wood) — Leba (carry), that is, poor people who carry their merchandise on their shoulders to sell from one place to another.

The Party claims it has established party structures from the national, to the district to the suco and the aldeia levels and is ready to participate in the 2012 elections although coordinators in the districts and the sucos have yet to be inaugurated. It estimates its membership as 1600 across the thirteen districts.

PLPA claims support from activists in ASDT. The Party President said PLPA would not support Francisco Xavier do Amaral as a candidate in the presidential election. They still regard him, however, as the Proclaimer of Independence (in 1975).

49


The PLPA is a pro-poor party. It sees that people in remote areas still live in poor conditions. People keep asking about the construction of roads, access to clean water, schools and health facilities. Improving the living conditions of the poor is the objective of the Aileba Party. PLPA is ready to cooperate with Government to improve people’s lives.

PLPA supports national unity, the needs of the poor, the reconciliation of loroasa’e and loromonu, Timorese culture and the religious beliefs of the Timorese people.

PLPA SOURCES■■ Interview with Secretary-General Mr Miguel Fernandes, July, 2011.

■■ Questionnaire, July, 2011.

■■ Media reports June 2011.


50

PMDPartidu Milénium DemokrátikuMillennium Democratic Party

KEY FACTS

Leading figure/s Ermenegildo ‘Kupa’ Lopes

Origins Created u July, 2004, the party was registered in December 2005


Status Contested the 2007 parliamentary election unsuccessfully. PMD was registered in December 2007, for the 2012 election.

CONTACT DETAILS

Rua Acadiru Hun, Bidau, Dili Tel: +670 723 5808/724 5758 Tel: +670 726 2751 (Inocencio Gama) Email: [email protected]

OFFICE-BEARERS

President: Ermenegildo ‘Kupa’ Lopes Vice-Presidents: Lettu Purn. Melio de Jesus Secretary-General Vice Secretaries-General


PMD was founded in early July, 2004 by Ermenegildo ‘Kupa’ Lopes and former members of the PSD. Lopes has worked and studied overseas, studying in England. During the independence struggle he wa involved in pro-independence activites in Indonesia and Europe. He is originally from Lospalos.

During the party launch Lopes said the party was founded to bring important ideas to better people’s lives ‘from actual bitterness to sweet reality’. He said that the important thing for the party was to be able to change the actual Timorese political atmosphere.

The Party’s name reflects the need to respond to the challenges of the new millennium. Timor-Leste faces a number of challenges in its development. The Timorese must enjoy better living conditions in a spriti of democracy and reconciliation. The party platform refers to the Millennium Development Goals.

51

The Party was registered on 30 December, 2005. In the 2007 parliamentary election, PMD ranked last with just 0.69% of the vote and failing to win a seat. PDM claims support in all 13 districts. In the 2007 parliamentary elections, however, its best result was in Lautem where it only manages to attract 2.13% of the vote. PMD won only one of the 4889 positions contested in the October 2009 local elections.

In July, 2007, PMD joined with five other parties who had also failed to gain seats in the parliamentary election to form the LDP (League Democrática Progressiva (Progressive Democratic League). PMD supported José Ramos-Horta for the presidency in 2007.


PMD is a centre party with a reconciliation and democracy focus. The Party’s motto is ‘Democracy, Reconciliation, Development’. As a centrist party, PMD aims to work with other parties left and right of centre to help units Timor-Leste again and foster greater harmony and prosperity. It supports better equality for women in Timorese society through a more egalitarian school system. It promised it would run at least 35% female candidates in the PMD Party List (the minimum quota for female candidates required by the electoral law is 25%). PMD promotes English as an official language in recognition of the benefits this would bring in trade and better relations with countries in the region and globally.

PMD SOURCES■■ New political party born in Timor-Leste, ETAN Timor-Leste Local Media

Monitoring, 6 July, 2004.

■■ Ryan (2007).


52

PNTPartido Nacionalista TimorenseTimorese Nationalist Party

KEY FACTS

Leading figure/s Dr Abilio Araújo

Origins FRETILIN and then expulsion

Links . CPD-RDTL


Status Registered for the 2012 parliamentary election

CONTACT DETAILS

Lahane, Dili Tel: +670 724 8676

Aliançia Conceição de Araújo Tel: +670 724 2209

OFFICE-BEARERS

President: Dr Abílio Araújo Vice-President: Aliança Conceição de Araújo


The founding congress of PNT was held in Dili on 15 June, 1999, two months before the historic ballot on Timor-Leste’s status regarding Indonesia. Its original program was support for broad autonomy within Indonesia. Dr Araújo explained the Party’s position as a ‘third way’ between a CNRT ‘dictatorship’ and remaining Indonesia’s 27th province. Autonomy was presented as ‘a starting point for peace and reconciliation’. He recognised the result of the ballot, an overwhelming vote for independence, and UNTAET as the legal international authority in Timor-Leste (unlike the CPD-RDTL) during the transition to what PNT called the Second Republic. PNT was anti-CNRT (the umbrella organisation founded by Xanana Gusmão) which it regarded as attempting to impose a system of ‘guided democracy’.

Dr Abílio Araújo was originally associated with FRETILIN and was the Minister for Economic and Social Affairs in the 1975 Democratic Republic of East Timor (DRET). A controversial figure, he was an avowed Marxist in the past, an economist, a successful businessman, Head of the FRETILIN External Delegation, associate of Skti Hardiyanti ‘Tutut’ Rukmana (daughter of Indonesia’s former president Suharto). He a well-known composer (‘Foho Eamelau’ and ‘Funu nain FALINTIL’). He was expelled from FRETILIN because of his position in Indonesia.

53

Araújo had connections with CPD-RDTL and was reported to have provided its leaders with financial support around 2000-2001. Like CPD-RDTL, PNT recognises the proclamation of the Democratic Republic of Timor-Leste on 28 November, 1975 but, unlike CPD-RDTL, PNT participated in the 2001 election and recognised the UN’s authority.

In the 2001 Constituent Assembly elections, PNT won two seats with 2.21% of the vote, attracting around 2–3% of the vote in most of the districts. The seats were held by Aliança da Conceição Araújo, Abílio’s sister, and Aires Francisco Cabral.

In the 2007 parliamentary election, PNT with 2.42% of the vote did not meet the 3% quota and held no seats in the National Parliament.


PNT supports democracy and a multi-party system. It supports Indonesian and English to be taught in schools and for English to become an official language along with Indonesian and Tetum. Portuguese would be a historical or working language only. It is an advocate of better relations within the region through membership of ASEAN and cooperation with neighbouring states, particularly Indonesia. This would promote better economic outcome for the country and its people. They opposed the parliamentary pension law.

In the past, PNT has been critical of the major parties, questioning their commitment to human rights and their failure to sufficiently control political violence.

PNT SOURCES■■ ‘Extracts from an interview with Abílio Araújo, 18 March 2001.

■■ Dr Abílio Araújo. ‘East Timor: To be or not to be a X(B)anana Republic’. The Jakarta Post, 19 February, 2001.

■■ Walsh (2001)

■■ Ryan (2007)


54

PPTPartido do Povo deTimorPeople’s Party of Timor

KEY FACTS

Leading figure/s Jacob Xavier

Origins PPT originated in the Movimento Popular Timor-Leste founded by Jacob Xavier in Portural in 1979

Links Contested 2007 election in coalition with KOTA; involved with Colimau 2000

Parliamentary seats 1 (PPT in coalition with KOTA won 2 seats)

CONTACT DETAILS

Balide Raiolon, Dili Tel: +670 7282799

Jacob Xavier Tel: +670 7282799 Email: [email protected]

OFFICE-BEARERS

President: Jacob Xavier Vice-President and Secretary-General: Francisco Pinto


Jacob Xavier was born in Hatumera village in Ainaro District in 1936. He studied at the seminary in Soibada and then at the higher seminary in Dare and gained a degree in theology from the seminary of St. Joseph in Macau. In the 1960s he was a sub-district administrator in Lautem. He spent time in Angola and Portugal in the 1970s. In Portugal in 1979 he was involved in the foundation of Movimento Nacional da Libertação de Timor Dili (The Dili Timor National Liberation Movement) but left the group to found the Movimento Popular Timor-Leste (Timor-Leste Popular Movement).

In 2000 Xavier returned to Timor-Leste and transformed MPTL into a political party, Partido do Povu de Timor (PPT, People’s Party of Timor) in May of that year to contest the 2001 Constituent Assembly election. PPT was connected to Colimau 2000, a veterans’ group which adopted the religious ideas of a group called Sagrada do Coroção de Jesús (Sacred Heart of Jesus) formed in the mid-1980s by Martinho Vidal in the Hatu Builico area of Ainaro. Vidal prophesised that the territory would agin independence from Indonesia in 2000. The focus of Colimay 2000 is the demand that all parties that have committed crimes or violated rights, including UDT and FRETILIN in 1975, should be brought to justice. In 2000 a younger generation took


55

over Comilau 200. These new leaders included Osório Mauleki, the leader of PDRT.

Colimau 200 has been held responsible for violent incidents in Atabae, Maliana and Suai.

Attracting 2.01% of the vote, the party gained two seats in the Assembly which then became the 1st National Parliament. PPT’s support was concentrated in Ainaro, Oecussi and Dili. The parliamentary representatives were Jacob Xavier and Ananias do Carmo Fuka. PPT did not contest the 2007 election but it re-registered and is listed to contest the 2012 parliamentary election.

PPT supported KOTA’s Manuel Tilman when Tilman campaigned in the 2007 presidential elections. PPT contested the 2007 parliamentary elections in a Democratic Alliance with KOTA, each party winning a seat in the National Parliament with a combined 3.2% of the vote. Their success was in Ainaro where they captured 18.69% of the vote. The Alliance dissolved following the election. Jacob Xavier holds the PPT seat in the current parliament.


PPT is a conservative party that looks back to the traditional past. The Party is described by Kammen (2009) as a utopian, traditionalist party with monarchist and religious inspiration. Xavier has claimed to be the descendant of the Bragança Kingdom, suppressed by the Portuguese in 1910. As described by Kammen, the PPT leader has made ‘eccentric’ claims to links, among others, to Buckingham Palace and the British royal family. He claimed ownership of the World Bank and his supporters gathered at the World Bank compound in Dili in 2001 to demand its return to their leader. He called for two banks for Timor-Leste: one for royalty (liurai) and the other for commoners, earning him the nickname ‘Mr. Two Banks’.

PPT SOURCES■■ ‘SG of PDRT says Kolimau 2000 was used’. Jornal Nacional Diário

(Timor-Leste), 6 August 2007.

■■ Douglas Kammen, ‘Fragments of utopia: Popular yearnings in East Timor’, Journal of Southeast Asian Studies, 40(2), June 2009. 385–408.


56

PRPartidu RepublikanuRepublican Party

KEY FACTS

Leading figure/s Dr João Mariano Saldanha, Dr Edmundo Viegas, Mr Belarmino Neves, Mr Luis Berebuti, Mr Roberto A. Da Cruz

Origins Party created on 30 December 2005

Links East Timorese academics, student movements


Status Social democratic centre party

CONTACT DETAILS

Secretariat PR Head Office Rua da India Aldeia Palapaso, Dili, Timor-Leste. Tel: +670 729 5511 +670 731 6647 Email: [email protected]

OFFICE-BEARERS

President: João Mariano Saldanha Saldanha, an economist with a Ph D from the University of California at San Diego, is a prominent East Timorese academic. He was born in Uata-Lari, Timor-Leste. He has been Director of TIDS (Timor Institute of Development Studies), a member of the Council of State RDTL, and a senior adviser in the Ministry of Finance.


PR was founded in 30 December, 2005. The Party adopted the slogan, The Voice of the People is the Highest Law. Another slogan of the Party is, Timor-Leste: a home for all, a country of opportunity.

The party has separate youth, women, workers and farmers organisations and strong ties to student movements. Its highest decision-making body is the National Conference. The Party was launched on December 18 2006 and held its first National Conference on 4–5 May 2007, attended by Party leaders from the National Council Directive, nine District Councils and the Republican Youth, Women, Workers, and Farmers organisations. The Party unsuccessfully contested the 2007 parliamentary election, attracting 1.06% of the vote, well below the 3% threshold to gain a seat. Its best showing was in Oecussi, where it received 3.89% of the vote.


57


The PR wants to create a social democracy on the principles of equality, justice and tolerance. The party platform identifies six key themes: security; job creation; peace and order; education; health; decentralisation and gender equality. The Party calls for a more professional and better educated police force (PNTL) and a clearer role for the Timor-Leste Defence Force (F-FDTL) focused on emergencies, peacekeeping, and natural disasters.

Its program includes abolition of taxes on capital and goods for daily needs, free competition to reduce prices, especially in telecommunications, and 20% of the budget allocated to agriculture to create employment. It advocates a regulated labour market to protect local unskilled workers. Rural infrastructure should be developed through the construction of water and sewage systems, electricity, roads, and health centres. The cost of electricity for poor families should be subsidised.

A Ministry of Gender Equality and Minorities should be created to promote the participation of women in politics, public administration, the military, and other fields.

PR supports national unity which should be strengthened by criminalising the terms Loromunu and Loro Sa’e (‘Western’ and ‘Eastern’) as discriminatory. English should be an official language, alongside Tetum, which should be the first official language, and Portuguese. In his speech at the Party launch on 18 December, 2007, Saldanha lamented the crisis of May-June 2006 and the violence between Easteners and Westeners. The Party was committed to national unity, a nation inclusive of all Timorese as reflected by the slogan a home for all, a country of opportunity.

The PR is pacifist and urges that problems should be solved through dialogue. International trade, sporting and cultural relations with other countries should be encouraged. Religion and ethics should be taught from primary school to university. Education should be decentralised and private and Church schools provided with support.

PR SOURCES■■ Communication with João Mariano Saldanha

■■ Speech by João Mariano Saldanha, President of PR, at the occasion of the launching of the Party, Venture Hotel, Dili, 18 December, 2007.

■■ Wikipedia article: http://de.wikipedia.org/wiki/Partidu_Republikanu

http://de.wikipedia.org/wiki/Partidu_Republikanu


58

PSDPartido Social DemocrataSocial Democrat Party

KEY FACTS

Leading figure/s Maria Viegas Carrascalã, Zacarias Albano da Costa, João Mendes Gonçalves

Origins PSD was established in 2000 as a moderate alternative to FRETILIN and UDT

Links PSD has worked with ASDT and PD and has connections in Australia. It remains, with CNRT, ASDT, PD and UNDERTIM , a member of the governing AMP coalition


Status PSD is a member of the AMP governing coalition. Two of its most senior, leaders, former Deputy Prime Minister, Mario Viegas Carrascalão, and current Foreign Minister, Zacarias Albano da Costa have been in conflict with Prime Minister Xanana Gusmão recently but PSD has decided to remain in the AMP Government until the 2012 elections

CONTACTS

Colmera Mandarin, Dili Tel: +670 747 9096

Secretary-General: Dr Marito Magno Tel: +670 7230270 Email: [email protected]

OFFICE-BEARERS

President: Zacarias Albano da Costa Previously the Secretary-General of PSD, he was elected President in 2009. Zacarias da Costa is the Foreign Minister in the 4th Constitutional (AMP) Government. He was formerly a Vice-President of UDT. Email: [email protected]

Vice-President: João Mendes Gonçalves Secretary-General Marito Magno President of National Council PSD: Lúcia B. Lobato Vice-President of National Council: Maria Paixão President of MSD/Social Democrat Women: Josefa Xavier Vice-President MSD: Maria de Fatíma da Costa Secretary-General MSD: Maria Lourdes de Sousa



59


Mario Viegas Carrascalão founded PSD on 20 September, 2000 taking the position of party president. He previously had been a former senior member of UDT. Later he was Vice-President of CNRT (the resistance umbrella organisation). During the Indonesian period, Carrascalão was Governor of East Timor (1982–92) and Indonesian ambassador to Romania.

The Party contested the 2001 Constituent Assembly election, winning 8.18% of the vote, equating to six seats in the Assembly and subsequently the first parliament. Its performed best in the districts of Oecussi (23.4%), Ermera (19.99%) and Bobanaro (11.15%). PSD performed an active role in opposition, campaigning against the Fetilin Government’s electoral law proposals. PSD established a national organisation down to the suco level. PSD claims around 80,000 members currently. It has a National Political Commission, a NATIONAL Council, a Jurisdiction Commission, District, Sub-District and suco Political Commissions.

PSD contested the 2007 parliamentary election in coalition with ASDT. Together they attracted 15.73% of the vote, PSD gaining five seats and ASDT six. PSD joined the coalition government head by Xanana Gusmão. ASDT-PSD performed well in amny districts” in Aileu (47.30%); Ainaro (29.13%); Manufahi (26.8%); Liquiça (19.82%); Covalima (17.75%); Manatuto (17.18%) Bobanaro (16.85%); and Dili (14.80%).

PSD held three senior positions in the AMP Government: Zacarias Albano da Costa as Foreign Minister, Lúcia B. Lobato as Minister of Justice and, from early 2009, Mario Viegas Carrascalão as 2nd Vice Prime-Minister, a position he was forced to resign in September, 2010. PSD won 130 of the 4889 contested positions in the October 2009 local elections.


PSD is a self-described moderate centrist party. The PSD motto is ‘Equality, Solidarity and Freedom’. The Party Platform identifies its guiding principles as:

■■ The development of a well-organised and harmonious society, democratic, social equal between men and women, without privilege or discrimination or exclusion … free to obtain the best conditions of life based on the capacity of each person without neglecting case of those with less capacity.

PDC seeks to promote universal human rights, pluralism, participation, creativity, social justice, rule of law, equality, and the rights of women, children and minorities. Its policy priorities are economic development, better health and education services, agricultural development, better infra-structure and social well-being. It supports better governance and decentralisation. PSD aims to spur the development of a strong middle class to advance civil society while not disregarding the poor.


60

On agricultural development, the Party seeks to develop a more advanced agricultural system, giving more attention to mechanisation, diversification of crops, and higher value agricultural production. It would develop a system of mobile workshops to service agricultural equipment in local communities. It promotes mini-markets and information centres in the rural areas and cooperates with UNDP and the Government in supporting rural cooperatives and micro-credit schemes.

It supports rapid industrial development for domestic use as well as exports. In the tourism sector, PSD would develop a policy of taxes and foreign investment in the tourism industry, the development of tourism infrastructure and developing Dili as a tourist hub for Bali and Darwin.

PSD is committed to the development of a National Development Bank. It supports employment training and job growth, a minimum wage, employment security, and pensions. It supports a family subsidy for widows and the families of civil servants. Its educational policy prioritises more inclusive education, raising the capacity of teachers and installing medical facilities in all schools. It wants universities to establish faculties of inclusive education to advance the country’s human resources. Its language policy supports Tetum as the official language and the teaching of English in primary, high schools and universities. Unemployed university graduates pose a problem that could provoke unrest in coming years and the Party seeks to address this issue. It supports renewable energy programs and special environment laws to protect Timor-Leste’s flora and fauna and nature reserves.

The party has a Social Democratic Youth organisation and a Social Democratic Women’s organisation, active at the national, district and local levels. It is using these to inform local communities about their rights in the new electoral law. PST seeks the development of an independent body, financially independent, to address the issue of corruption, nepotism and collusion (KNN, Corruption, Collusion and Nepotism). PSD supports membership of ASEAN and the CPLP (the association of Portuguese-speaking nations).

The problems between Foreign Minister Zacarias da Costa and Vice Prime-Minister Mario Carrascalã and Prime Minister Xanana Gusmão in 2010 created a political crisis for PSD. After the forced resignation of Mario Carrascalão the Party considered its position in the governing AMP coalition. The Prime Minister attempted to force Zacarias da Costa to resign by attacking him in the Council of Ministers in April, 2010 (this attack became available on the internet). Da Costa was subsequently charged with corruption but the Court of Appeal dismissed the charge. In September, 2010, the Prime Minister publicly called Carrascalão ‘stupid’ and ‘a liar’. Carrascalão resigned. The issue was Carrascalão’s allegations about the corrupt use of $3 million by the Finance Ministry.

61

The Secretary-General of PSD, Marito Magno, explains that the party decided to stay in the AMP coalition until the 2012 elections in order to preserve political stability in the national interest. Xanana Gusmão was the pre-eminent leader and had to be recognised. There actually was not a policy problem between the Prime Minister and PSD; they shared the same goals. But the methods to achieve these goals were different: Mario Carrascalão wanted more direct, immediate outcomes.

The Party’s election strategy is to increase its representation in parliament to at least twelve seats in 2012 to position itself to form a government in its own right in the 2017 parliamentary elections. Magno announced in June, 2011, that PSD will not forma coalition with other political parties after the parliamentary election.

PSD SOURCES■■ Interview with Secretary-General Marito Magno June 2011.

■■ Questionnaire.

■■ Essência do Programa do PSD (PSD Program).

■■ Paige Johnson Tan, ‘Political Society, Parties and Democracy’. Ca. 2002. http://people.uncw.edu/tanp/polsocpartieset.html

■■ Various media reports.

http://people.uncw.edu/tanp/polsocpartieset.html


62

PSTPartido Socialista de TimorSocialist Party of Timor

KEY FACTS

Leading figure/s Avelino Maria da Silva Coelho

Origins PST was established in February 1997, as a splinter group from FRETILIN. PST claims an earlier foundation on 20 December 1990

Links East Timorese workers groups and unions, international links with socialist organisations in Portugal, Western Europe, Australia and Indonesia


Status Registered to contest the 2012 parliamentary elections

CONTACT DETAILS

PST headquarters: Rua Colegio das Madres Balide, Quintal Bot. Tel: +670 779 8087

Party President, Evelino Coelho da Silva Tel: +670 723 7664

OFFICE-BEARERS

President: Evelino Coelho da Silva President Coelho da Silva (formerly the PST Secerary-General) studied law and international relations in Indonesia where he was involved with the clandestine movement for independence. He is the key policy architect and spokesperson for the party.

Vice-President: Domingos Caeresi 1st Secretary-General: Pedro Sarmento 2nd Secretary-General: Ana Pereira Soares 3rd Secretary-General: Joanica Pereira dos Santos


PST is a FRETILIN splinter party founded as a party in February 1997, in Indonesia. It claims an earlier foundation on 20 December 1990. The founders were Avelino Maria da Silva Coelho, Pedro Martires da Costa and Antonio Maher Lopes.

It held its first national congress in Dili over 10–11 February 2000.

PST grew out of student and labour groups based in Jakarta and other Indonesian cities where East Timorese studied and worked. Its membership is predominantly young but it has attracted a number of older supporters from FALINTIL and the left-wing of FRETILIN. It has branches in many districts, concentrating its activities in traditional FRETILIN areas such as

63

Soibada and Aileu. It has established a number of cooperative farms. Party structures include a Political Bureau, a Central Committee, labour, youth and women’s organisations. The party produces an occasional newsletter, Vanguarda.

PST is distinctly disadvantaged by very limited extent of organised labour in Timor-Leste. The Timor-Leste Trade Union Confederation (TLTUC/KSTL), formed in 2000, has a small membership, reflecting the absence of a significant industrial workforce.

PST has international links with a range of political organisations and trade unions in Portugal, Western Europe, Australia and Indonesia.

With 1.78% of the vote, PST gained one seat in the 2001 Constituent Assembly election and thus in the National Parliament from 2002 to 2007. In 2001, it only managed to attract significant support in one district, Aileu (5.6%). In the 2007 parliamentary election it only managed 0.96% of the vote gaining no seat in the National Parliament. Its share of the vote in Aileu District fell to 0.71%. Its best results were 2.90% in Manatuto and 2.16% in Viqueque. It managed only 0.68% of the vote in the capital, Dili. PST won 79 of the 4889 contested positions in the October 2009 local elections.


PST aims to build a socialist and classless Timor-Leste, free from colonialism, imperialism, paternalism and exploitation. PST’s ideology is based on Marxist-Leninist principles and organisation. Its program is to peacefully construct a socialist, classless society through education and consciousness-raising. Its primary concern is with the situation of workers and farmers. PST emphasises collective organisation and ownership.

PST policies include support for:

■■ a multi-party, democratic, parliamentary system and the separation of powers

■■ universal, free, and compulsory education

■■ the further development of Tetum as the national language with Portuguese to be used as a working language

■■ universal human rights and equality

■■ worklers’ rights, including free trade unions and equal pay for equal work

■■ prohibition of child labour

■■ equality between men and women, including the right to divorce

■■ prohibition of prostitution and polygamy

■■ the right to housing

■■ the development of agriculture as the basis of the economy and micro-credit schemes in rural areas

■■ equal distribution of arable land and expropriation of large landholdings


64

■■ religious freedom, including the traditional religions/beliefs of Timor-Leste

■■ reconciliation

■■ free and universal health care

■■ freedom of the press and free access to information

■■ protection of the environment and anti-pollution programs combined with greater attempt to promote tourism

■■ prohibition of the death penalty and sentences over 10 years

■■ prison regimes aimed at rehabilitation of prisoners

■■ good relations with countries in the Asia–Pacific region and the CPLP.

PST SOURCES■■ Questionnaire June 2011

■■ Interview at SPT headquarters, June 2011.

■■ João Saldanha. ‘Anatomy of Political Parties in Timor-Leste’, in Roland Rich with Luke Hambly and Michael G. Morgan, eds. Political Parties in the Pacific Islands. Canberra: ANU. April, 2008.

■■ Ryan, 2007.

65

PTTPartido Trabalhista TimorenseTimorese Labour Party

KEY FACTS

Leading figure/s Angela Freitas

Origins PTT was founded in 1974

Links Trade unions and workers organisations


CONTACT DETAILS

Rya Travessa de Befonte No.2/B Bairro Formosa, Dili

Trabalhista Media Advisor: Robert Trott Tel: +670 796 9082 Email: [email protected]

OFFICE-BEARERS

President: Angela Freitas Paulo Freitas, the former president of PT, was a member of the CNRT Permanent Council. He was born in Ossu. He was co-founder of PTT. He was a member of the Indonesian parliament for five years, representing the Partai Demokrasi Indonesia (PDI), later headed by Megawati Sukarnoputri. Freitas was also former head of the East Timor branch of the official Indonesian Trade Union. PTT Vice-President in 2001, and Paulo Freitas’ daughter was Maria Angela Freitas, a member of the National Council established by UNTAET.


Partido Trabalhista was established in 1974 by Paulo Freitas da Silva and Alpido and the late Albano Abrao Martins. The PTT supported independence but favoured a phased process and continuing links with Portugal. A PTT official signed the 1975 Balibo Declaration calling for Indonesian intervention. Party officials late said this was done in a private capacity and did not represent the PTT position. Indonesia used PT for propaganda purposes.

Freitas signed a statement dated 25 July 1998 calling for a referendum and rejecting Indonesia’s offer of autonomy for the territory.

In 2001, PTT had approximately 2500 members with branches in all 13 districts. The party contested the 2001 Constituent Assembly election, winning only 0.56 of the vote and failing to take a seat. Its vote was poor in all thirteen districts. The party did not contest the 2007 parliamentary election. It re-registered to contest the 2012 election.



66


The Party’s motto is servico ba desenvolvemento (Tetum for “service for development”).

PTT describes itself as a democratic socialist party. The party advocates the democratic socialisation of industry, production, distribution and exchange so far as is necessary to eliminate exploitation and other anti-social feature of a market economy. This would involve redistributing political and economic power to allow all members of society to participate in the operation of political and economic processes that shape their lives.

PTT represents the interests of workers and engages with trade unions. The party strongly supports international human rights as the basis for a tolerant and multicultural society with a particular emphasis on equal opportunity and choice for women in all aspects of life.

PTT was a member of the CNRT in 2001 but it was critical of Xanana Gusmão and José Ramos-Horta for what it described as their ‘dictatorial’ tendencies. Current president, Angela Freitas, charges the AMP and the FRETILIN governments with failing to achieve any basic progress in meeting the neds of the ‘real people; those who have suffered for the past ten years from hunger, malnutrition and a pathetic hospital and medical service’.

Foreign policy should recognise the rights of all nations to self-determination and independence. Conflicts should be resolved through the UN.

PTT SOURCES■■ Walsh, 2007.

■■ Angela Freitas, Media Release, 4 August 2011.

67

PUNPartido Unidada Nacional National Unity Party

KEY FACTS

Leading figure/s Fernanda Borges, M.P.

Origins PUN was established in October 2005

Links Strong links to East Timorese networks and to Australian academics

Parliamentary seats 3 (one of the three MPs is now an Independent)

Status Centre right party. In opposition in the National Parliament

CONTACT DETAILS

Taibesi, Dili

Lúcia de Araújo da Cruz Tel: +670 734 0301

Jacinta Alves Freitas Tel: +670 735 2685 Email: [email protected]

PARLIAMENTARY GROUP CONTACT DETAILS

Nicolau Gusmão Tel: +670 734 4363

OFFICE-BEARERS

President: Fernanda Borges Fernanda Borges is the main person behind PUB. She was previously a Finance Minister during the UNTAET Administration. She was elected to the National Parliament in 2007 where she is the Parliamentary Group Leader and is currently chair of Parliamentary Committee A Constitutional Issues, Justice, Public Administration, Local Power and Government Legislation.

National Secretary: Lúcia de Araújo da Cruz District, Dub-District, Suco and Aldeia Office Holders: elected officials


The party was established in October, 2005. The first National Conference was held in January, 2007. PUN contested the 2007 parliamentary elections and won three seats with 4.55% of the vote. It performed best in Ermera (19.67%) and Bobanaro (10.04%). With the defection of one representative, Mateus de Jesus, who is now listed as an Independent, the party has two active MPs in the parliament, Fernanda Borges and Domingos Canossa C. Mesquita.



68


PUN has focussed on establishing recognition of its program and democratic principles. The party is strongly committed to human rights and Christian values. Its program identifies as priorities anti-corruption strategies, security sector reform, women and youth participation, access to justice, social justice for the poor, promotion of land laws, an even playing field in economic development and human development. PUN is concerned about the lack of basic services and the urgent need for job creation.

PUN defends the equal promotion of Tetum and English alongside Portuguese to ensure the efficient functioning of all East Timorese institutions and to facilitate the real participation of the East Timorese people in the development process. PUN believes the English language is a key factor for East Timorese access to markets and opportunities in the ASEAN and Pacific region and globally.

PUN is committed to a sustainable transformation of the oil wealth into infrastructure programs targeted to eradicate poverty. The party’s priority is to promote quality of life for children, youth, women and men and particularly the aged through access to food and services, education and knowledge, participation in economic development programs and basic but quality infrastructure.

The party has a strong focus on strengthening equality and democracy and a commitment to human rights principles and values. PUN policy is to ensure the basic needs of all people are met and to distribute income, wealth, social services and opportunity more equitably. The party promotes family policies as one of the strongest foundations of society.

In economic policy PUN places astrong emphasis on private enterprise for expanding the economy and ensuring better living standards. The party believes in minimal government intervention and promotes freer access to local markets. PUN encourages decentralisation of industries and agricultural development in rural areas for export.

In governance, PUN promotes participatory democracy, transparency, freedom of speech, religion and association. PUN supports the principle of the separation fo powers and is committed to good governance, justice, fairness and equity for all. It encourages equal treatment of women in the workforce and in all aspects of life, particularly defending women and children against sexual exploitation and prostitution. PUN promotes community access to justice and stronger anti-corruption laws and oversight institutions. The party is supportive of good local governance and an efficient public service.

69

Regarding security and policing, PUN seeks truth and justice, reparations and reconciliation for crimes committed against humanity from 1975 to 1999. The party promotes reform and better training for PNTL to ensure respect for human rights. PUN supports the implementation of the recommendations of the Independent Commission. It supports investment in facilitating community access to justice. On an international level, PUN promotes Timor-Leste’s role as a constructive member of the world community in maintaining peace and democracy.

PUN supports free education for all Timorese studying in public institutions and the development of Timor-Leste’s human resources through quality education and training. PUN upholds the right to life, the promotion of ante-natal and post-natal programs for mother and child, increased efforts to reduce infant mortality rates and the promotion of government action on housing, clean water, electricity and basic sanitation, especially in all districts and remote rural areas. PUN is committed to environmental protection and preserving the natural beauty of Timor-Leste for future generations.

PUN SOURCES■■ Interview with Fernanda Borges June 2011.


■■ PUN Constitution.


70

UDTUnião Democrática TimorenseTimorese Democratic Union

KEY FACTS

Origins UDT was founded in 1974 as one of the first political parties in Portuguese Timor

Links Continuing links with Portugal


Status Registered to contest the 2012 parliamentary election

CONTACT DETAILS

Tel: +670 743 9407

OFFICE-BEARERS

President: Gilman Exposto


UDT was formed on 11 May, 1974, the first of the political associations formed following Portugal’s Carnation Revolution and the decision to allow political parties in Portuguese Timor. Its founders and first members were predominantly public servants in the Portuguese administration, landholders and Catholics and strongly anti-communist. Its political base were conservative professionals and Portuguese-speaking assimilados and support from some influential traditional chiefs (liurai). Founding president was Mario Carrascalão, later an Indonesian-appointed governor of East Timor and then founder and president of the Timorese Social Democrat Party (PSD). The first members included the then mayor of Dili, Augusto Cesar Mouzinho, Francisco Lopes da Cruz, later a senior adviser to then President Suharto. Mario’s brother João Carrascalão later replaced him as UDT president.

Mário Carrascalão’s previous political experience was as a member of the Portuguese Timor branch of Accão Nacional Popular (ANP), what Ramos-Horta called ‘a sort of fascist action group, the only political party then allowed in Portugal. UDT favoured a continued association with Portugal as part of a federation.

UDT opposed integration with Indonesia. As it became clear that Portugal had no interest in retaining East Timor, Mári Carrascalão, and his brother João Carrascalão, changed the UDT platform to support independence but under their conservative control. In a joint communiqué with FRETILIN on 18 March, 1975, UDT hardened its position on independence and declared its ‘intransigent defence of the right of the people to national independence’. UDT’s coalition with FRETILIN broke down by May, 1975, and there was a

71

brief but violent civil war between UDT and FRETILIN in August 1975 after UDT launched a coup to try and take power.

The party mainly operated in Portugal and in Australia during the Indonesian period gaining the international contacts, resources and experience. A national congress, held in Perth 3–6 December 1997, revised the party’s statutes and the party’s internal organisation and re-committed the party to East Timor’s independence, human rights, pluralism, democracy and non-violence.

UDT participated in the founding CNRT Congress in Portugal in 1998 and the August 2000 CNRT Congress in Timor-Leste. It later withdrew from CNRT. They lost some important people to PSD when Mario Carrascalão formed that party in September 2000.

UDT contested the 2001 Constituent Assembly elections in which it won two seats with 2.36% of the vote. UDT performed strongest in Ainaro (5.10%), Oecussi (4.07%), Manatuto (3.92%) and Ermera (3.55%) districts. Joáo Viegas Carrascaláo and Isabel da Costa Ferreira, as the first two names on the party list, became the UDT representatives in the Assembly and then the first National Parliament. UDT contested the 2007 parliamentary elections but with just 0.90% of the vote failed to take a seat. In this election the best it could manage was (2.22%) of the vote in Ermera (1.98%) in Manatutu and (1.35%) in Ainaro districts.


UDT remains a conservative party on the political right. Its platform includes a commitment to democracy and human rights. The party has held regular conferences where it has adopted a variety of policy positions. Its guiding principles remain, however, much like those in its first Statement of Principles issued on 1 August 1974 whichcommitted UDT among others to:

■■ accelerated social, economic, cultural and political development

■■ national use of the Portuguese language

■■ yhe Universal Declaration of Human Rights and democracr

■■ just distribution of income

■■ good neighbour policies

■■ cooperation with other political parties.

Its conservative character and its lack of popular roots in East Timorese society apparently separates the party from the great majority of East Timorese voters. The 2007 parliamentary results showed the UDT faces a significant challenge in attracting popular support.

UDT SOURCES■■ Ryan 2007

■■ Walsh 2001


72

UNDERTIMUnidade Nacional Democrática da Resistência TimorenseNational Democratic Unity of Timorese Resistance

KEY FACTS

Leading figure/s Cornelio da Conceicão Gama

Origins Founded in 2005 by Cornelio Gama

Links Former, broken links with FRETILIN; support from war veterans


Status A member of the AMP governing coalition

CONTACT DETAILS

Becusse de Baixo-Becora, Dili Tel: +670 723 3727 +670 728 3549

OFFICE-BEARERS

President: Cornelio da Conceicão Gama Tel: +670 7241004 Email: [email protected]


Cornelio da Conceicão Gama, now 66, was born in Laga,a sub-district in Baucau District. He is variously known as Eli Fohorai-Boot and as Elle-Sette (L7), his nom de guerre as FALINTIL commander during the resistance. He reported that of the 152 guerrillas from his village only he and three others survived the struggle. His three sisters and two of his three brothers were killed. After independence, Gama led a secretive, quasi-religious movement of resistance veterans that combined Catholic rituals with animistic practices.

His followers were embittered by a sense that after the struggle for independence they were ignored and unrewarded. He led demonstrations against the FRETILIN government in July 2004 demanding jobs and financial help for war veterans. UNDERTIM originally constituted a faction of FRETILIN. After disagreements with FRETILIN over party policy and methods, Gama and his supporters left FRETILIN and founded their own party in 2005. The party was launched on 30 August 2005.

UNDERTIM won 3.19% of the vote in the 2007 parliamentary election, giving it two seats in the current National Parliament, held by Cornelio Gama and Faustino dos Santos. Its best showing was in the districts of Baucau (8.76%), Gama’s home district, Lautem (3.99%) and Viqueque (3.99%). UNDERTIM allied itself with the AMP governing coalition.


73


UNDERTIM supports the following issues:

■■ reasonable living standards, including food security for all

■■ assured housing for Timorese

■■ ensuring good health services and social welfare’

■■ equality and social justice

■■ maintenance of a healthy environment.

The party’s policy statement outlines a number of domestic policy priorities. These include:

■■ fostering a diverse economy with only selective government intervention in economic management

■■ create a new Timorse currency, boost the agricultural and tourism sectors and increase exports

■■ encourage an inclusive policy on languages, keeping Tetum as the national and official language alongside Portuguese, English and Indonesian

■■ establish pilot education centres for adult literacy and training

■■ increase employment through private and public selective investment

■■ pursue equal opportunity and the equal participation of women within Timorese society

■■ restructure the military and introduce compulsory 18-months military service

■■ establish means for customary justice in the sucos

■■ provide better medical services and education and access to family planning and a ‘free medical access scheme.

UNDERTIM SOURCES■■ Ryan 2007

■■ Alan Sipress, ‘Independence breeds resentment in East Timor, Dream of a better life eludes former fighters’. Washington Post. 9 October 2003.

■■ Mark Bowling. Sacrifice in Timor. ABC Broadcast. 4 May, 2004.


74

Notes

75

Notes

SOMET 2007