I never said the Alkatiri government was perfect and I support investigations into all parties involved, including against Alkatiri and Lobato. If either are proven guilty by a court of law (not the media) then they should be punished by the law. If they are innocent they should be allowed to return to politics. I am not afraid to admit that FRETILIN itself has made mistakes, but I am sure the independent investigations will reveal that there are many others at fault as well.
I was also merely pointing out that the opposition parties need to get their act together from a policy perspective to challenge FRETILIN. I still haven't been shown anything that would suggest they have a clear strategic vision for the country.
The challenge to FRETILIN's political power needs to originate from the opposition parties as they are members of parliament. The President is not a member of parliament and has a clearly defined constitutional role as President. If the President wants to intefere in parliamentary politics the President needs to leave his current role and start a political party himself.
The constitution is the highest and most important law of the country and that is why the President's actions are setting a dangerous precedent for any constitutional crisis that arises in the future.
sexta-feira, julho 07, 2006
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It is a foregone conclusion that the problem is really the constitution itself. It does not provide proper mechanisms for this king of crisis to be resolved smoothly. On one hand the President is given this task of being the "the symbol and guarantor of national independence and unity of the State and of the smooth functioning of democratic institutions." and on the other he is stripped of any kind of power to guarantee anything and be nothing more than a rubber stamp.
It is a mess and this mess should be blamed on those highly intelligence individuals who drafted such a "briliant" contitution. It is obvious that this parliamentary or semi-presidential system as some like to call it does not work. You can either opt for a Paliamentary system and get rid of the President altogether or you keep him and provide him with the necessary power to do his job without having to go through an arm wrestle everytime there is a crisis.
"I am not afraid to admit that FRETILIN itself has made mistakes, but I am sure the independent investigations will reveal that there are many others at fault as well."
There is one fundamental difference between fretilin and the "others" that you forgot to mention regarding this crisis. Fretilin is in government and these "others" are not. As such fretilin's (as in gov.) responsibility for this crisis is far greater than the other's.
dont blame it on the constitution. it is the people who are refusing to work with each other. it's very symple, i reckon. it says clearly in the constitution that the majority party or coalition in the parliament can form a new government. so just for a new government and go back to running the country. but the president is being difficult because it wants to dissolve the parliament by appointing someone that the majority party or coalition in the parliament will not accept.
the "others" caused this crisis by trying to remove the government unconstitutionally!
"It is a foregone conclusion that the problem is really the constitution itself." Anonymous 11:27
The problem is not the Constitution, the problem is the Individuals and Groups being unconstitutional in their behaviour.
I believe the Constitution has proven itself against possible breaches and passed the test during this crisis.
What has happened is the PR who you consider to be the symbol of the state was unable to remove the Government or sack a legitimate Prime Minister and dissolve the Parliament.
This is a testament to a constitution which has not allowed anyone to be above the law when it comes to the removal of legitimate representatives and institutions.
So how did the PR manage to at least achieve the resignation of the Prime Minister without breaching the constitution? At first it was held that the President was to sack the Prime Minster and dismiss the Parliament which would have had its repercussions and it would have set off a Constitutional crisis. The answer to the question is that it took a deviously schemed threat for the resignation of the Prime Minister That threat was that if the Prime Minister did not resign then the PR would resign. This scenario could of triggered would cause further instability.
The Prime Minister in his resignation quite rightly said that he resigned so that the PR would not resign.
What is important is that this Constitution has protected the most sacred of all democratic principles that is the right of the people to be represented by choice not by force.
If one day an opposition party was to be in power it would rest assure that the only way to be removed is that the people chooses to vote them out during free and fair elections.
A most successful Constitution.
Absolutely agree with the writer and let’s put the justice on top of everyone. Crime is crime and no one has the immunity to go away from justice.
"On one hand the President is given this task of being the "the symbol and guarantor of national independence and unity of the State and of the smooth functioning of democratic institutions." and on the other he is stripped of any kind of power to guarantee anything and be nothing more than a rubber stamp."
The Presidents role is symbolic...as with Governor General in Australia...and the President of Portugal. Know the system of Governance first.
Thank God we dont have a Presidential system imagine Xanana developing policies for East Timor's future. We will go backwards and forget negotiations with Australai in regards to Oil because he will only rubber stamp what Australia says.
"On one hand the President is given this task of being the "the symbol and guarantor of national independence and unity of the State and of the smooth functioning of democratic institutions." and on the other he is stripped of any kind of power to guarantee anything and be nothing more than a rubber stamp."
The Presidents role is symbolic...as with Governor General in Australia...and the President of Portugal. Know the system of Governance first.
Thank God we dont have a Presidential system imagine Xanana developing policies for East Timor's future. We will go backwards and forget negotiations with Australai in regards to Oil because he will only rubber stamp what Australia says.
Yeah,it's well known that they want throw down Mr. Mari! Find the weakness of the RDTL Constitutions and create crisis with suport violence that lead by Alfaredo in East Timor. Australia is familiar with that behavior and it's becoming worst that they can also atrack Mr. Gusmao not to follow the RDTL Contitutions by Judging Mr. Mari without any investigation on "Dead Squadron" cases. That's charateristic assasination!
The Constitution was drafted deliberately to have the supremacy of parliament as its centrepiece.
The parliament is the representative of the people as it contains political party representation based on the proportion of people who voted for a particular party. As an institute, the parliament reflects, more than any other institution, the political landscape of the electorate. It is parliament that should be the decisive factor in politics.
The President, as an institute, is not completely reflective of the electorate i.e those who voted for Amaral are not represented. In an emerging democracy a President with wide ranging powers is more of a threat to democracy than parliament as such a situation can easily lead to the formation of a dictatorship.
The evolution of the current crisis has shown that the Constitution, so far, is functioning because it prevents one man, the President, from easily dissolving the institution that represents the people, the Parliament.
NEXT
Extractos da acusacao se OCEANIC EXPLORATION Co. contra o PHILLIPS PETROLEUM
TIMOR SEA, INC. em processo civil em curso nos USA.
"168. A number of seriatim approvals by various forms of the new East
Timorese government were required in order to finalize the arrangements between East -59- 04163/563861.1 Timor and Australia for the exploitation of oil and gas in the Timor Gap. Each of these steps in solidifying Australia's and ConocoPhillips' prior arrangements with Indonesia have provided an opportunity for ConocoPhillips to pay bribes to the East Timorese leadership to secure the approvals. In particular, ConocoPhillips has made cash payments
to and for the benefit of Mari Alkatiri in amounts over US$2.5 million in order to secure his agreement, as the Economic Affairs Minister and then as Prime Minister, to ensure that East Timor will provide favorable treatment to ConocoPhillips. The significance of these payments can best be understood by comparing them to Mr. Alkatiri's current US$450 monthly salary as the Prime Minister. These payments were cash in U.S. dollars transferred as a result of travel between Australia, the United States and East Timor by Godlove, Brand and even James Mulva, the Chief Executive Officer of ConocoPhillips."
"171. Ahmed Alkatiri is Mari Alkatiri's brother. During this time and
thereafter, Mari Alkatiri sometimes used Ahmed to collect bribes made by foreign
companies, including ConocoPhillips, to secure favorable treatment. In the six-month period preceding the signing of the Memorandum of Understanding in July 2001, Ahmed Alkatiri received $74,000 in U.S. funds, which were then paid into bank accounts in Australia. Those accounts are with the Australia and New Zealand Bank ("ANZ Bank") facility, one of which is Account Number 0164955606-24866. Another account used for this purpose at the same bank, but in the name of Mari Alkatiri, is Account Number 0159015376-18038. Some of the cash banked was deposited at the ANZ branch at 247 -61- 04163/563861.1 Trower Road, Monterey House, Casuarina. This money was paid by ConocoPhillips in its efforts to solidify approval of the previous arrangements that had been secured from Australia and Indonesia in the Timor Gap."
This is another of the countless unsubstantiated accusations made towards the Prime Minister. Time after time they have been proven beyond doubt to be false. This allegation surfaced two years ago and until now there have been no real incriminating evidence to suggest that Mari or anyone mentioned was involved in activities that surmounts to corruption.
If this allegation was in anyway substantiated or true Mari would not have been removed from the Prime Minister ship a long time ago.
One of the main witness in this allegations has since withdrawn his allegations.
Do not publish any false documents on this blog. It may surmount to defamation.
Anonymous from 3:12:31.
Defamation? telling about a court case in America "surmount(s) to defamation?" you definitly don't know jack about what you are talking about.
It is not false information. It's rather an EXTRACT (if you know what that means) from a legal accusation made against Phillips petroleum in the USA.
However, I don't think the case has been finalised yet in the USA, prove me wrong. But in any case I recall seeing and hearing Mari Alkatiri on TVTL saying that he was going to be a rich man because he was going to sue the living daylight out of OCEANIC EXPLORATION and that his case was already in the hands of his team of lawers. What happened to that? Why did he not sue and become a rich man (more than he already is)? Was it just antics to fool the timorese people?
Who knows....
Anónimo das 2:41:52 PM : se volta à do ConocoPhillips, é que já concluiu que a dos 60 mortos e os “esquadrões” não têm pernas para andar. E essa já, salvo erro a Helen Hill, a “perseguiu” para concluir que é nada, nadinha, niente.
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