Timor-Leste é a Nossa Nação

Diving in Timor Leste (East Timor)

2012-01-22T00:29:00.004+07:00

The Beauty of Timor Leste : One of the world's most spectacular and undiscovered diving destinations, Timor Leste boasts pristine coral reefs and an abundance of marine life.

Diving in Timor Leste (East Timor)

The Beauty of Timor Leste - Video

2010-09-22T11:30:00.001+07:00

Travel to the island of Timor Leste, a new nation with a struggling economy and a bounty of unspoiled natural beauty.

Welcome Message from Government Tourism Office Director

2009-11-13T15:57:00.003+07:00

Welcome Message from the Timor-Leste Government Tourism Office Director :

As you probably know, Timor-Leste is still undergoing a reconstruction and development process. The recent past was difficult and hard, but in Timor-Leste we are all strongly confident and committed towards building a better future.
Tourism, the world’s Peace Industry, will be one of our tools to ensure economic and social sustainable development. Raising Timor-Leste’s tourism to quality-level standards is our goal!
This web page will be the starting point for those who wish to visit Timor-Leste, a useful working tool for tour operators and travel agencies and a source of information for tourism investors.

In time, the Turismo de Timor-Leste web page will be updated and improved. Visit it often and decide to come and visit Timor-Leste, The World’s Newest Nation.
Seja bem-vindo a Timor-Leste! (Welcome to Timor-Leste!)
Miguel Lobato

East Timor (Timor Leste) Travel Guide

2009-11-13T15:50:00.000+07:00

Timor Leste is a small half island country in Southeast Asia. Timor Leste has beautiful beaches, mountains covered with lush green vegetation and towns with a brush of Portuguese culture and architecture. East Timor travel guide has many things to offer to visitors going to this beautiful country.

Timor Leste has many cities that can be visited for pleasant trips. While referring to East Timor Travel Guide the country presents Portuguese touch in its cities for the long rule of Portugal there. Dili is the main city of Timor Leste that offers sites worth one's money:

Dili-It is the capital of Timor Leste. Dili has many cheap hotels for travelers to stay in. Central Maridine is one of the good hotels of Dili offering good accommodations and facilities at reasonable rates. There are many restaurants in Dili offering delicious Indian, Indonesian and Asian food items complete with local fruits and desserts. Great amount of shopping can be done in Dili's local markets at cheap rates. Dili has many places worth seeing, these are:

Motael Church
Old Governer's Palace
Santa Cruz Cemetry
East timor National Stadium
Mani Catholic Church

The ideal time to go to Timor Leste is between May to November. After November the wet season starts in Timor Leste which can make traveling difficult especially on the slippery roads. Apart from this the political uncertainty can destroy the fun of one's travel so it is better to check the situation there then plan for vacation to Timor Leste.

Before You Travel to East Timor

2009-11-13T15:48:00.000+07:00

One day, a boy came across a baby crocodile struggling to make his way from the lagoon to the sea. As he was very weak, the boy took pity on him and carried him in his arms to the sea.
The crocodile was very grateful and promised to remember the boy's kindness. He told the boy that should he ever want to travel, he should come to the sea and call, and the crocodile would help him.
After a while, the boy remembered the crocodile's promise, and went to the edge of the sea and called out the
crocodile three times. The crocodile told the boy to sit on his back and over the years he carried the boy on many journeys.

But, although the crocodile and the boy were friends, the crocodile was still a crocodile, and felt an irresistible urge to eat the boy. However, this bothered him and he decided to ask the other animals for advice. He asked the whale, the tiger, the buffalo and many other animals, who all said, "The boy was kind to you, you can't eat him". Finally, he went to see the wise monkey. After hearing the story, the monkey swore at the crocodile and then vanished.

The crocodile felt ashamed and decided not to eat the boy. Instead he took the boy on his back and together they travelled until the crocodile grew very old. The crocodile felt he would never be able to repay the boy's kindness, and said to the boy, "Soon I'm going to die, and will form a land for you and all your descendents".
The crocodile then became the island of Timor, which still has the shape of the crocodile. The boy had many descendants who inherited his qualities of kindness, friendliness and sense of justice. Today, the people of Timor call the crocodile "grandfather", and whenever they cross a river, always call out, "Crocodile, I'm your grandchild - don't eat me!"

Resettlement money increased for displaced East Timorese

2009-10-07T05:14:00.002+07:00

Radio Australia Connect Asia
Resettlement money increased for displaced East Timorese.

More than three years since fighting forced 150,000 East Timorese from their homes, hundreds of displaced families still live in temporary housing managed by humanitarian organisations.

In the past, East Timor's Government had been criticised for not offering enough support to help families return home, or find permanent housing. But a new push to resettle the families - which includes a substantial increase in resettlement money - seems to be working

Presenter: Beverley Wang
Speakers: Alfredo Zamudio, country director for the Norwegian Refugee Council in East Timor; Luis Vieira, country director for the International Office for Migration in East Timor

* Listen:
* Windows Media

(sound of gunshots)

BEVERLEY WANG: In May and June 2006, fighting between rival security factions threw East Timor into crisis.

By the time foreign forces intervened to help end the violence, thousands of houses had been burned and 150,000 had fled people fled their homes in fear.

Three years later, about 425 displaced families still live in temporary housing.

Alfredo Zamudio is the country director for the Norwegian Refugee Council (NRC), which manages the four remaining transitional housing sites.

BEVERLEY WANG: A 2007 progress report on IDP returns criticised the Government's reintegration strategy - citing a lack of housing and security as the main problems.

Recently, East Timor's government has made moves to encourage the remaining families to leave transitional housing - with the biggest incentive being an increase in housing resettlement payouts to help them find permanent homes.

Depending on the damage to their homes, remaining families are receiving $500 to $4,500 in recovery money. Those who previously did not have homes will receive $1,500.

Alfredo Zamudio says the increased support is working, and says it's likely the NRC will likely be able to close one of the transitional housing sites this week.

BEVERLEY WANG: Luis Vieira is the country director for the International Office (IOM)for Migration, which has been helping displaced people resettle.

He says in some cases families have returned to their home districts to find their houses destroyed or occupied by others. The IOM has been helping those families negotiate the return of their homes or seek other housing.

He says improved security in East Timor is also persuading families previously reluctant to leave transitional housing - to move on.

BEVERLEY WANG: East Timor's Ministry of Social Solidarity says it hopes to finish paying out the money by December 2009.

The NRC's agreement to manage the transitional housing sites ends at the end of this month. Alfredo Zamudio says if families remain after that - it's up to the government to decide what to do.

BEVERLEY WANG: But even if with a permanent roof over their heads, the return to normalcy is far from guaranteed. Alfredo Zamudio again:

NOTE: Radio Australia tried repeatedly to contact East Timor Secretary of State for Social Solidarity, Jacinto Rigoberto Gomes, to talk about the IDP housing, but was unsuccessful.

East Timor ten years after the referendum

2009-10-07T05:10:00.002+07:00

Just over ten years ago, the Interfet force led by Major General Cosgrove, carried out the biggest operation of its kind in our history, in effect liberating the East Timorese people from a deeply unpopular. It followed the results of the plebiscite in which 78.5 % declared their desire for independence in the face of severe intimidation. It was the celebration of that historic event which took me back to East Timor, to participate in
celebrating the tenth anniversary of the referendum.

For those of us on the ground in 1999 it was an emotional experience. The Indonesian invasion had ended as it began, but this time as well as the indiscriminate killing of hundreds of civilians, the TNI set out to destroy the towns and villages they left behind. It was an act of cruel revenge, in effect leaving the Timorese and their liberators with only ashes on which to base the construction of a new nation. Unfortunately it was a gross injustice that has never been properly aired.In judging what has been achieved in the past ten years our starting point should be that grim scene in 1999 – Ground Zero, those of us in the UN mission often called it. The few hundreds of thousands who had escaped the TNI’s depopulation operation were milling around searching for food relief, relatives and friends in the smouldering city. It was a community without any binding infrastructure, totally dependent on aid for their very survival.

Against that bleak scene in 1999 the new nation has made quite remarkable progress, despite the problems that continue to exist. Some of those problems are undoubtedly because the UNTAET mandate was too short. The first Alkatiri government had the insurmountable task of reconstructing devastated towns and villages, at the same time developing a self-sustaining economy, with a tiny budget.

The first years of independence were thus lean years, during which East Timor had to battle with an unsympathetic Australian government to secure the fair share of the resources of oil-rich Timor Gap it so desperately needed. The first government simply did not have the means to offer jobs to its youth, most of whom soon lost their enthusiasm for independence, and joined gangs whose violent activities threatened national unity. 2006 was a low point. There was a breakdown in political leadership, when fighting broke out between police and rebellious army units, costing 37 lives and hundreds of burnt houses.

To those of our media who took little account of East Timor’s tortuous journey to independence, it had become a failed state. But to those of us who were aware of its background, and who had returned to Dili to help, it was a crisis for which we all shared responsibility. The UN mandate had ended too early (thanks to pressure from donor states), leaving East Timor in a financially crippled state, which inevitably resulted in disunity and instability, as public confidence in nationhood almost collapsed.

A lot has happened since those difficult times, and the situation is now easier. The refugee camps have now been closed, their inmates having returned to re-establish their homes. Thanks to assertive leadership, international security intervention and administrative support, and to a boost to the economy from oil royalties (which now stand at over 5 billion dollars in US Treasury bonds) East Timor’s economy is growing quite briskly. Indeed, this year a growth of almost 13% is expected, which would place the new nation near the top of developing countries in these difficult times. The scene in Dili is one of bustling development activity, with a heavy emphasis on infrastructure. Multi story buildings are being erected, and shops, filled with goods, most of them from Indonesia, are in abundance.

However, behind this facade there are quite serious problems, of the kind that affect most new nations. Increasing corruption is causing concern to the leadership, especially President Horta and Deputy Prime Minister Mario Carrascalao, who has the task of dealing with the problem. Then there is the growing disparity between the elite and the population at large. Although East Timor’s GNP per capita is now about $3,400, for over 50% of the population it is only about $300 per annum. As for the Government itself, the problem is perhaps less about corruption than administrative weaknesses.

The democratic institutions are in place, but they are functioning imperfectly. Significant advances have been made in education and health, but these services still fall short of meeting the needs of East Timor’s growing population – now at over 1.1 million. Also, while there is an appearance of prosperity in Dili and other major towns, the reality, in relation to trade, agricultural development, and the development of export industries, has been disappointing. In trade coffee remains the main industry but this year coffee production will probably decline, having been affected by the drought conditions. As things stand the value of total exports last year amounted to little more than $US14 million, compared with an expenditure of over $300 million on exports.

Unfortunately too little of the growing business activity is in Timorese hands. Much of it has been accounted for by an increasing number of Indonesian entrepreneurs. Most food imports come from Indonesia. Although Australia is a major aid donor, we are minor players in the new nation’s trade development (re-exports aside). Germany, Indonesia, and the US account for some two thirds of East Timor’s modest exports.The security situation is really much improved, and UNPOL has handed over full responsibilities to the Timorese PNTL. The latter’s performance has improved, though their respect for human rights is still causing some concern in the UN mission.

For both the police and the Defence force, the FDTL, a major restructuring, just announced by Xanana, aims to integrate police, security and defence services - a kind of National Guard, which will deal with disaster situations as well as security and defence issues. This wider integrated function should overcome the rivalries that led to the disruptive events of 2006. However, I feel that both the UN mission and the ISF will be needed to help with this restructuring, at least until 2012. The predominantly Australian ISF has already been reduced in size, and it was good to see that its military profile has been eased somewhat, leading to a less formal relationship with the local population. There are those who want the troops to leave (including some Indonesians who claim that Camp Phoenix is really an Australian base) but their presence is still necessary. One way to deal with such allegations would be to allow the ISF to become a PKF, that is, formally part of the UNMIT mission.

Now with 1300 staff, and about 1600 police the UN mission is in a reduced state. While the political situation is much more stable, East Timor is encountering problems common to newly independent countries. The leadership and governing elite generally, has become rather too distant from the population at large, to some, assuming the kind of image attributed to colonial regimes. Although significant advances have been achieved in health and education, the gap between living conditions of the governing elite and the population at large has if anything widened, helped by income disparities (a proposal to dramatically increase government and parliamentary salaries is currently being considered.

While the essential democratic institutions are in place they still appear to be functioning imperfectly, with the National Assembly not yet operating as effectively as it should -as the guardian of the new democracy - leading to insufficient accountability, (a problem referred to in the latest UN Security Council Report on East Timor), and to inadequate attention to human rights issues.The Assembly appears to be too easily diverted from its essential role as the ultimate democratic authority of the electorate at large. It is perhaps too deferential to the authority of East Timor’s leaders. As for the Opposition, although Fretilin has become an active critic of Government policies, it is time it ceased referring to the Xanana Government as de facto, for it did come into office with the support of the majority of Assembly members. In the circumstances the rather bitter stand-off between the Prime Minister and Mari Alkatiri is regrettable. Together with Jose Ramos Horta, these are outstanding leaders of the kind the new nation desperately needs, but their differences are unhelpful to the important task of consolidating national unity. All in all, East Timor possesses the ingredients to transform the state from the devastation left by the TNI a decade ago into an outstanding success, but more effort, circumspect leadership, and continued international support, is needed to bring that about.

by James Dunn

GOVERNMENT AND POLITICAL CONDITIONS

2009-08-05T14:01:00.001+07:00

GOVERNMENT AND POLITICAL CONDITIONS
Timor-Leste held presidential elections in the spring of 2007. On April 9, voters chose from a slate of eight candidates. With a voter turnout of almost 82%, the top two finishers were the FRETILIN Party candidate Francisco "Lu-olo" Guterres, who received 28% of the vote, and Jose Ramos-Horta, who received 22% of
the vote after stepping down as Prime Minister to run as an independent candidate with the endorsement of then-President Xanana Gusmao. In the runoff election on May 9, required because the electoral law specifies that a candidate must win a majority, Ramos-Horta won by a landslide, receiving 69% of the vote. The presidential elections experienced some procedural glitches, but were largely free of violence and significant irregularity.

The Government of Timor-Leste held parliamentary elections on June 30, 2007. Observers agree that the elections were generally free and fair. FRETILIN won the most seats in parliament, but no single party won a majority and the various parties did not agree to form a national unity government. On August 6, 2007, President Ramos-Horta asked Xanana Gusmao, the leader of a coalition with a majority of the seats in the parliament (the Alliance with a Parliamentary Majority or AMP), to form a government. Gusmao was sworn in as Prime Minister along with most of the other ministers in the new government on August 8, 2007. Although the June elections proceeded in a largely peaceful atmosphere, violent disturbances broke out in several areas of Dili and the eastern districts of Baucau and Viqueque when the president announced the formation of a new government as FRETILIN partisans took to the streets to protest that they had not been given an opportunity to form a government. The unrest subsided within days, but the affected areas remained tense for several weeks thereafter and FRETILIN continues to assert that the AMP government is unconstitutional although it participates actively in the work of the national parliament.

Upon taking office, the AMP government put the problems of the internally displaced persons, the petitioners, and other issues flowing from the 2006 crisis at the top of its policy agenda. The Ministry of Social Solidarity launched an IDP reintegration program, including resettlement assistance and financial support, that allowed for the gradual closing of the camps. All but a few of the nearly 150,000 IDPs had returned home or been resettled by July 2009. The government also succeeded in resolving the grievances of the military petitioners. Accepting monetary compensation, they closed their encampment in Dili and returned to their homes.

On February 11, 2008 followers of former military police commander and fugitive Alfredo Reinado attacked President Ramos-Horta. Ramos-Horta sustained gunshot injuries and was airlifted to Darwin, Australia, where he underwent medical treatment. Prime Minister Gusmao escaped unharmed after his bodyguards thwarted a separate attack against him the same day as the attack on the president. The president's bodyguards killed Reinado. The government, with the approval of the national parliament, immediately imposed a state of siege which temporarily imposed a curfew, curtailed freedom of assembly, and gave security forces greater latitude for arrests and searches. These emergency measures were scaled back as conditions stabilized over the following weeks. President Ramos-Horta returned to Timor-Leste on April 17. The state of emergency was lifted completely when the remainder of Maj. Reinado’s followers surrendered to authorities on April 29, 2008. The government subsequently succeeded in restoring relative calm and stability throughout the country.

Demographics of East Timor

2009-06-08T10:53:00.003+07:00

Demographics of East Timor

The population of East Timor is about one million. It has grown considerably recently, because of a high birth rate, but also because of the return of refugees.[citation needed] The population is especially concentrated in the area around Dili.

The Timorese are called Maubere collectively by some of their political organizations, an originally derogatory name turned into a name of pride by Fretilin. They consist of a number of distinct ethnic groups, most of whom are of mixed Malayo-Polynesian and Melanesian/Papuan descent. The largest Malayo-Polynesian ethnic groups are the Tetum[41] (or Tetun) (100,000), primarily in the north coast and around Dili; the Mambae (80,000), in the central mountains; the Tukudede (63,170), in the area around Maubara and Liquiçá; the Galoli (50,000), between the tribes of Mambae and Makasae; the Kemak (50,000) in north-central Timor island; and the Baikeno (20,000), in the area around Pante Macassar.
The main tribes of predominantly Papuan origin include the Bunak (50,000), in the central interior of Timor island; the Fataluku (30,000), at the eastern tip of the island near Lospalos; and the Makasae, toward the eastern end of the island. In addition, like other former Portuguese colonies where interracial marriage was common, there is a smaller population of people of mixed Timorese and Portuguese origin, known in Portuguese as mestiços.

The East Timorese mestiço best-known internationally is José Ramos-Horta, the spokesman for the resistance movement in exile, and now President of East Timor. Mário Viegas Carrascalão, Indonesia's appointed governor between 1987 and 1992, is also a mestiço. East Timor also has a small Chinese minority, most of whom are Hakka. Most left after the Indonesian invasion, with most moving to Australia although many Sino-Timorese have returned, including Pedro Lay, the Minister for Infrastructure.

Timor Leste Religion & Linguage

2009-06-06T13:54:00.002+07:00

Religion

The Catholic faith has become a central part of East Timorese culture during the Indonesian occupation between 1975 and 1999. Although under Portuguese rule, the East Timorese had mostly been animist, the number of Catholics dramatically increased. This was for several reasons: Indonesia was predominantly
Muslim; the Indonesian state required adherence to one of five officially recognised religions and did not recognise traditional beliefs; and because the Catholic church, which remained directly responsible to the Vatican throughout Indonesian rule, became a refuge for East Timorese seeking sanctuary from persecution. The 'Apostolic Administrator' (de facto Bishop) of the Diocese of Dili, Monsignor Martinho da Costa Lopes, began speaking out against human rights abuses by the Indonesian security forces, including rape, torture, murder, and disappearances. Following pressure from Jakarta, he stepped down in 1983 and was replaced by the younger priest, Monsignor Carlos Felipe Ximenes Belo, who Indonesia thought would be more loyal. However, he too began speaking out, not only against human rights abuses, but the issue of self-determination, writing an open letter to the Secretary General of the United Nations, calling for a referendum. In 1996 he was awarded the Nobel Peace Prize, along with exiled leader Jose Ramos-Horta, now the country's Foreign Minister.

In spite of accusations by the Suharto regime that East Timor's independence movement, Fretilin, was communist, many of its leaders had trained to be priests, and their philosophy probably owed more to the Catholic liberation theology of Latin America than to Marxism.

However, in spite of the majority of the country's people now being Catholics, there is freedom of religion in the new republic, and the Prime Minister Mari Alkatiri, is a Muslim of Yemeni descent.

Language

The lingua franca and national language of East Timor is Tetum, which is a Malayo-Polynesian language influenced by Portuguese, with which it has equal status as an official language. Other indigenous languages, which have official recognition under the constitution include Fataluku, Kemak, Makassae, and Galoli. Fataluku, a Papuan language, is widely used in the eastern part of the country, often more so than Tetum. Under Portuguese rule, all education was through the medium of Portuguese, although it coexisted with Tetum and other languages. Portuguese particularly influenced the dialect of Tetum spoken in the capital, Dili, known as Tetun Prasa, as opposed to the more traditional version spoke in rural areas, known as Tetun Terik. Tetun Prasa is the version more widely used, and taught in schools.

The Indonesian language, or Bahasa Indonesia has ceased to be an official language, although it, along with English, it has the status of a 'working language' under the Constitution. It is still widely spoken, particularly among younger people who were educated entirely under the Indonesian system, under which the use of either Portuguese or Tetum were banned. For many older East Timorese, the Indonesian language has negative connotations with the Suharto regime, but many younger people have expressed suspicion or hostility to the reinstatement of Portuguese, which they see as a 'colonial language' in much the same way that Indonesians saw Dutch. However, whereas the Dutch culture and language had little influence on those of Indonesia, the East Timorese and Portuguese cultures became intertwined, particularly through intermarriage.

Many foreign observers, especially from Australia and Southeast Asia have also been dismissive about the reinstatement of Portuguese, but this is not surprising. Until the demise of the Suharto regime, many were equally dismissive about the very idea of an independent East Timor, arguing that the East Timorese were culturally no different from Indonesians. Even many people who were supportive of East Timor take this view, again mistakenly drawing parallels with Dutch in Indonesia.

Culture: Timor-Leste

2009-06-06T13:49:00.002+07:00

Culture: Timor-Leste

Culturally speaking, the significative fact is the ethno-cultural heterogeneity of the Timorese, evidenced by the various languages and dialects as well as the material productions, expressed in various forms of architectonic constructions that differ according to the regions. Animists by nature, not even the considered Christians can be considered totally converted. Mythology and legends are frequent in the rich oral tradition that tells about the pre-colonial period and the posterior evolution of the kingdoms.
Neither Hinduism nor the Islam had influence in the Timorese beliefs. That achievement was reserved to the Christian missionaries.

When they first disembarked in Timor, inhabitants were found to be animists. Pigafetta, in 1522, referring to them as <>, wrote that <>.The priest Baltazar Dias states in a letter of 1559 that the Timorese <>. It is therefore acceptable that the expansion of Islamism, diffused from Malaysia in the 15th century, hadn't reached Timor although it is said that the sultan of Ternate, Cachil Aeiro, should have subjected the island.

The Muslims, Japanese and Malays frequented these islands before the arrival of the Portuguese, but the islamization didn't constitute their purpose or wasn't permitted by the local chiefs (liurais) who <> in the words of the captain of Malacca, in 1518, to king D. Manuel.

The Muslims, as in the beginning the Portuguese, should have inhabited the island for the short period of time sufficient to cut the sandalwood and embark it.

Not but a minority of Christian natives (serani in Tetum) can be considered to be exempt of animist beliefs, but Christianism is strengthening in East Timor and inhales prestige among the people since the Indonesian occupation, against which the diocese of Dili oftenly manifests in defense of Timorese lives.

As for the non-Christian, they remain in a more or less primitive religion feeling as moreover the mental culture. Religion consists in superstitions in a medley of fearness and adoration of the spirits of the dead, materialized through stones, animals, wells, streams or objects endowed with mysterious magical power, beneficent or malignant. They call them lulik, which means sacred and intangible.

Statue of Jesus Christ

2009-05-23T13:48:00.006+07:00

Statue of Jesus Christ who stood on the hill in Dili Timor-Leste. with a height of 27 meters

Mother Mary

2009-05-23T13:14:00.003+07:00

Statue of Mother Mary in the Peak of Mount Ramelau (Mountain Top in Timor Leste)