Timor Leste's Petroleum fund

Leftclick - Sunday, September 30

16Mb. 96kbps mono 21:42 mins.

Listen at http://leftclickblog.blogspot.com/2007/09/timor-lestes-petroleum-fund.html

Jennifer Drysdale at the Centre for Environmental Studies at the Australian National University spent 2 years in Timor Leste researching the governance of East Timor's hard won petroleum resources. Now, with the new Timorese Parliament taking control of the Petroleum Fund she talks with Nimbin Community Radio 2NimFm about the past and future prospects for East Timor's budding economy. The lineup of political parties that kept Fretilin out of government campaigned strongly on accusations that Fretilin was 'holding out' on the petroleum fund. Yet, the new parliament shows no signs of changing the Fretilin policy. Jennifer's PhD. research turns Australian media preconceptions on its head, indicating that the Fretilin policy was, in fact, what the people really wanted, and that Fretilin was actually responding to the popular will.