Atauro Trip (Updated)

The trip up into the coffee-growing hills of Tursicai fell through on Friday, but my weekend was resurrected hours later with an invitation to go with nine others to Atauro, an island 30km north of Dili. We stayed in small bamboo cabins at the Tua Ko'in eco-lodge, a local development project supported by NZ Aid, AusAID, Australian Volunteers International, Australian Conservation Foundation and others.

It was a chilled-out weekend, and at times the group seemed almost narcoleptic. After a bit of walking and snorkeling I collapsed on some cushions to read the International Herald Tribune (brought kindly to me from Bali). Soon I was sound alseep. That evening the bioluminescence was intense, and the sparks in the water reflected the bracing Milky Way.

Great company, a wonderful vibe, and, as always, too short.
Above: A man in a dug-out looks on as we board the dingy.

Above: Fi and Lindsay on the way to Atauro.

Above: Me and Shelly in the back of the pick-up.
Below: Atauro on the ride home.

UN Update

The Security Council met on Monday to discuss extending UNMIT's mandate. While my internet connection was too poor to watch the session unfold, I was able to read transcripts the next day. No decision has yet been made, but there is general consensus among the key players - including Lusaphone countries, Australia and the UN special representative in Timor Leste - that the mission should continue for another full year.

Interestingly, many of the statements highlighted the withdraw of the former UN mission as one of the main reasons for the eruption of violence in April and May 2006. For now, UN member states appear to be taking the long view. As part of this shift in thinking, the UN recently completed a security agreement with Timor Leste and Australia. I would not be surprised if the UN, if not this mission, stays through the 2012 election cycle.

Regardless of what is diplomats are spouting in New York, UN money is flowing unabated into Timor Leste. Procurement officers must be feeling pretty confident about the mission's longevity; on Tuesday a cargo ship came into the port from Singapore with 20+ glinting white Toyota Prado SUVs strapped to the deck and perched on top of containers. The UN stickers were already afixed to their flanks, ready to rumble out onto the pot-holed streets of Dili.

Phote: Kate in Com (East East East road trip).

Where is the love?

This year to celebrate the beheading of St. Valentine in 270 AD, I took a walk around Dili during my lunch break in search of appropriate inspiration. I found angst ridden graffiti on the main shopping street (right - "Where is the love?"), foam mattresses wrapped in heart-covered ticking, and the usual profusion of acetate roses.

But my favorite find was in the Lucky Cake bakery: two glorious cakes in a busted-up display case.

These cakes sat defiantly behind the cracked glass, as if saying "Hey, you can throw stones in anger, but people will still crave a taste of something sweet!" So cheers for subversive confectionary and indulgence, and good luck to all the toke and teki in Dili.*

Happy Valentine's Day and lots of love from Timor Leste. Domin mak dame!




* Terms of endearment for young men and women, meaning "gecko" and "little lizard."

UN Live!

On Monday the UN Security Council will discuss extending the mandate of the UN Mission in Timor-Leste (UNMIT). There is really no question that this will happen, but it will be interesting if they choose to extend the mandate for three, six or twelve months. The UN is a major force here - politically, militarily, economically - so this decision is pretty big.

The meeting, chaired by Slovakia, is going to be streamed live online at 10 am EST on Monday (or midnight tonight in Timor Leste). It will subsequently be available from the online archives. According to the press release "The list of speakers includes Prime Minister Jose Ramos-Horta, SRSG Atul Khare, Security Council members and representatives of Japan, Portugal, Singapore and the European Union." Scintillating!

Certifiable, Part Deux

I just wrote a lot about the nitty-gritty of the elections, and here I am writing about them again. As a disclaimer, if the minutia does not interest you, please just take away two things: a) these elections are critical for Timor Leste and b) this is what my peers and coworkers here in Dili talk about over coffee, at lunch, at the beach, after work, before work, etc.

So, you ask, why are they so important?

First, these elections are a key component in Timor Leste's fight for political legitimacy. New states must prove that they deserve a seat at the table, and elections are the key way to demonstrate a viable, sustainable, political system.

Second, the elections are a critical step towards establishing Timor's autonomy from the UN (the UN ran the last set of elections) and building a strong foundation for future, less assisted, elections. If they flounder, it will be the UN to step in and pick up the pieces. As with #1, this is about 'performing' state sovereignty.

Third, the elections will shake up the political landscape. While the majority party remains strong, the popular President, former guerrilla leader Xanana Gusmão, may form a rival party and run for Parliament, inevitably creating fissures in Fretilin. Unlike cautious, two-party US politics, Timor's are fluid and major party upheaval is coming in the next two months.

Finally, done poorly, these elections could cause greater instability in Dili and beyond, increasing the number of displaced persons and putting many at risk.

The stakes are high.

So now for the update: It turns out that the date for the parliamentary elections will not be announced until after the presidential elections are held on 9 April 2007. This news was embedded in the straightforward announcement from the President, and I think that most people just read the headline - as I did at first - and will be surprised by the delay.

There is already grumbling coming from Fretilin (the majority party), and they have threatened to pull out of the parliamentary elections if they are not held before 20 May 2007, Independence Day. They may have the constitution on their side (terms are supposed to end on the 20th), but this kind of threat is disquieting and too closely echoes the rhetoric that shut down elections, amidst fighting, in Bangladesh in December.

Anyway, this is an unfortunate move, prolonging the period of uncertainty, agitating Fretilin and making planning difficult. While waiting does give elections officials more flexibility in the case of instability, this solution also appears to compound the problem. Stay tuned!



Photos: Bali flashback - The SV Infinity (the new ship) has a fantastic rigging system and gorgeous stainless winches; the light sails can be raised and lowered by two people rather than a minimum of five on the RV Heraclitus. No more sticking poles into the big red deck-winch and running in a circle to raise the main (top).

Orla checks the radar to see if we have dragged anchor (middle).

The volcano visible from the Candidasa anchorage (bottom).

Certifiable

We have a date. After months of speculation, a day has been chosen for the presidential elections: 9 April 2007. The date for parliamentary elections is still TBA. There is a lot to do in these next two months.

While the UN is not in charge of the elections, they have geared up their machine and deployed both UN staff and UN police to all the districts. More importantly, the UN (though not under the Timor mission, UNMIT) has sent in an electoral certification team (ECT).

The ECT will, in theory, certify each stage of the elections according to predetermined benchmarks. The benchmarks are set out as a series of yes/no questions, for example: Are the qualifications and disqualifications for registration based on objectively verifiable criteria prescribed by law?

The ECT just released their third report, highlighting problems with the electoral laws, voter registration, vote counting, complaints handling and security. Weaknesses include disqualifying voters of “unsound mind,” without providing “objectively verifiable criteria” to make this determination or offering an appeals process.

Other issues are more technical. Timor Leste uses a list system in which people vote for a national party rather than a regional representative. The new parliamentary electoral law places a 3% threshold for a seat, meaning that of 100,000 votes cast, the party must receive at least 3,000 votes to gain a seat. Thresholds are not without precedent – they are commonly used in new democracies to put pressure on small parties to form coalitions or join larger parties.

The problem with the current electoral law is that it is unclear if this percentage will be taken from all votes cast (including those rejected for being blank, double votes, etc.) or only valid votes. Reading the laws for these oversights requires visualizing each tiny step of the electoral process.

The electoral law has a number of provisions that, while not unconstitutional, are unpopular. For example, the majority shot down the requirement of one woman in every five candidates on the list, instead only requiring one woman in the top five candidates. At a workshop today, numerous participants were upset that there is no provision for overseas voting; this was a particularly raw issue because a planeload of lauded Timorese students just left for two years of medical training in Cuba.

The challenge for the ECT is that this flawed law has been signed, sealed and delivered and there is no political will in Parliament to amend it.

That said, if everything goes reasonably well, the ECT will confirm the legitimacy of the elections and their adherence, however imperfect, to international standards. While many here are concerned that the ECT will not certify the elections, I think that there will be tremendous pressure from the UN, donors, Australia and the Timorese government for them to do so.

NDI commented on the electoral law during the public hearings a couple of months ago. NDI’s focus has now shifted and currently the organization is working with a coalition of twelve NGOs that will conduct domestic elections monitoring. On 23 January 2007, the Coalition for Monitoring the General Elections (KOMEG) officially launched, complete with the signing of the Pactu Nasional – a pledge in support of free, safe, and fair elections.

There are already lots of eyes watching this election; the real question is what the Timorese courts and government will do when more critical reports start rolling in.


The photos are from the KOMEG launch. Top: The swearing in of district coordinators. Middle I: Prof. Julio Tomas Pinto signs the Pactu Nasional. Middle I: KOMEG member signs the Pactu Nasional. Bottom: My signature.

Hide and Seek

The world of camouflage among Timor-Leste’s peacekeepers is something to behold. The Kiwis sport snazzy pixilated desert-tones; the troops from the Philippines waiting at the bank wear blue and teal swirls; and the Malaysians and Thais get by in solid navy blue. I just had coffee next to a Brazilian UN Policewoman who stepped off the curb in three-inch heels.

The Australians, however, are no nonsense. Their camo is so pitch-perfect that I worry about running them over when I speed to a birding site in the milky morning light. At night they patrol the main roads, and looking up from dinner at a restaurant, I'll realize that two lines of guys just stalked by in between bites of pad thai.

Yet when they disappeared in the supermarket, I knew that they have taken stealth to new heights.

Please note Exhibits A and B.*



The Aussies are here as part of the Joint Task Force, a force under Australian control composed of soldiers from Australia, Malaysia, New Zealand and Portugal. The UN Police are controlled by UNMIT; there are currently 1,099 UNPOL in Timor Leste, 509 short of the maximum deployment. Numbers are expected to peak for the elections.

* Note also the two peacekeeper staples in the foreground: UHT whole milk and beer.

Third Spaces, cont.

These thoughts by way of Cambridge, MA:

Lee Cott explained the importance of the Malecón (the ocean side promenade) in his slide show about Havana. Since whole families live in two room apartments, the Malecón provides a place for lovers to meet, a place for courtship. The same is true of Chapultepec park in Mexico City. Every Sunday, the park is full of families picnicing and young couples courting.

Perhaps third spaces are vital to urban areas and just as government services are vital to urban areas, they provide an opportunity for government to build a cohesive community.

Rural areas in third world countries abound in third spaces. Perhaps they are something else that is lost when a family feels compelled to move to the city.

Urbanization, dislocation; public spaces as opportunities for both escape and cohesion. New layers on the third spaces puzzle!