tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-28192219.post115140449310918147..comments2024-03-24T18:22:40.376+09:00Comments on Timor Online - Em directo de Timor-Leste: A ajuda dos "amigos" golpistas. Os vencedores vão ouvir e calar...Unknownnoreply@blogger.comBlogger1125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-28192219.post-1151467352273230732006-06-28T13:02:00.000+09:002006-06-28T13:02:00.000+09:00Last Updated: Monday, 26 June 2006, 12:48 GMT 13:4...Last Updated: Monday, 26 June 2006, 12:48 GMT 13:48 UK <BR/><BR/> E-mail this to a friend Printable version <BR/><BR/> E Timor's 'wrong kind of leader' <BR/> By Jonathan Head <BR/> South East Asia correspondent, BBC News <BR/><BR/><BR/> It was with a characteristically unemotional performance that Mari <BR/> Alkatiri announced the end of his - and East Timor's - first prime <BR/> ministerial term. <BR/> <BR/> Mari Alkatiri has been blamed for all that has gone wrong<BR/> "Having reflected deeply on the present situation prevailing in the <BR/> country, assuming my own share of responsibility for the crisis, I <BR/> am ready to resign from my position as prime minister," he told a <BR/> press conference in Dili. <BR/> This, after weeks of pressure, during which he had repeatedly <BR/> insisted his resignation would solve nothing, and had received the <BR/> full backing of his party, Fretilin, which holds a majority of the <BR/> seats in parliament. <BR/> So why the change of heart? <BR/> Mr Alkatiri referred to his desire to avoid a threatened resignation <BR/> by President Xanana Gusmao - but that threat was made last week, and <BR/> then withdrawn, so it is difficult to understand why it would have <BR/> changed his mind now. <BR/> More likely it was the continued discussions with his colleagues in <BR/> government on how to get East Timor out of the mess it is in that <BR/> persuaded Mr Alkatiri to go. <BR/> He has long been indifferent to his own unpopularity, but in the <BR/> current chaos the country needs a less divisive leader. <BR/> There was jubilation over the decision across the capital, Dili, and <BR/> probably in many other areas of East Timor. <BR/> Mr Alkatiri has become a hate-figure, blamed for everything that has <BR/> gone wrong in the country, and it was hard to see how rebuilding <BR/> confidence and stability after the traumatic events of the past few <BR/> weeks could start while he remained in office. <BR/> But was he really so bad? <BR/> Brusque manner <BR/> You hear many complaints about Mr Alkatiri, some of them obviously <BR/> unjust. <BR/> I have often heard young people complain that he is a Muslim, as <BR/> though that is a crime in a supposedly democratic and tolerant <BR/> country. <BR/> <BR/> President Gusmao has a popularist touch<BR/> They also accuse him of being a communist, because of his left-wing <BR/> views and his long years living in Mozambique. <BR/> But these may at times have served East Timor well. His instinctive <BR/> mistrust of Western help led him to drive a very hard bargain with <BR/> Australia over East Timor's rights to oil and gas in the Timor Sea, <BR/> helped by his skills as a negotiator. <BR/> It is unlikely anyone else could have done as well for the country. <BR/> He also has a deep personal commitment to the sustainable <BR/> development of his country, and has tried hard to avoid too much aid <BR/> dependency - ideas formed during his African exile. <BR/> Much of his unpopularity is due to his brusque, business-like <BR/> manner. <BR/> He is an intellectual, impatient with people who express poorly <BR/> thought-out ideas. <BR/> He has never seemed able to empathise with the suffering experienced <BR/> by much of the population during the Indonesian occupation, or to <BR/> find the right words to comfort those who are often unable to <BR/> articulate what they feel about those years. <BR/> By contrast, President Gusmao is a master of the art of healing. <BR/> With a few simple words, or just a hug, he can move crowds to tears. <BR/><BR/> Shortage of talent <BR/> The two men who have been running the country since independence <BR/> could hardly have more different styles, and they have had a very <BR/> uneasy relationship with each other. <BR/> Much of that goes back to Mr Gusmao's distrust of the Fretilin <BR/> party, which he blames for harsh treatment of its rivals during the <BR/> bitter struggle against Indonesian rule. <BR/> Mr Alkatiri is a consummate party man - Fretilin reaffirmed its <BR/> backing for him three times in recent weeks, the last time less than <BR/> 24 hours before he resigned. <BR/> The party remained loyal to the end, but he was arguably the wrong <BR/> kind of leader for a country as traumatised as East Timor. <BR/> <BR/> Crowds have been calling for Mr Alkatiri to go for weeks<BR/> More serious are the charges against Mr Alkatiri of corruption, and <BR/> abuses of power. <BR/> Some of these will now be examined by an internationally-supervised <BR/> investigation, as East Timor's infant judiciary is not up to the <BR/> job. <BR/> Some corruption is perhaps inevitable, given the traditions of <BR/> patronage and money-politics that prevail elsewhere in the region, <BR/> but the charges of abusing his power are more serious. <BR/> A documentary by the Australian Broadcasting Corporation's Four <BR/> Corners programme claims to have documentary evidence that Mr <BR/> Alkatiri tacitly approved of the distribution of police weapons to <BR/> civilians - a charge that has already led to the arrest of former <BR/> Interior Minister Rogerio Lobato, at one time an ally of the prime <BR/> minister. <BR/> Mr Alkatiri has denied the charges, and the prosecutor-general says <BR/> he has not yet uncovered any evidence against him. <BR/> Certainly the murky events leading up to and after the fateful <BR/> decision by Mr Alkatiri to endorse sacking more than a third of the <BR/> army earlier this year need more investigation. <BR/> The fact that he was re-elected at the Fretilin party congress last <BR/> month by a show of hands, rather by a secret ballot, does not <BR/> reflect well on his democratic values. <BR/> But it is also worth remembering that East Timor has few capable <BR/> leaders. <BR/> Education levels are among the world's lowest, and the long years of <BR/> conflict under Indonesia's occupation, and Indonesia's chaotic <BR/> withdrawal in 1999, left few local people with experience of <BR/> government. <BR/> Mari Alkatiri is among the best they have. The country can <BR/> ill-afford the loss of his abilities. <BR/><BR/><BR/> E-mail this to a friend Printable versionAnonymousnoreply@blogger.com