BBC Monitoring Asia Pacific - Political

Timor: Labour Party protests against UN "favouritism"

RDP Antena 1 radio, Lisbon, in Portuguese 0900 gmt 17 Jul 00

Excerpt from report by Portuguese radio on 17th July

Presenter The new government of East Timor met today for the first time. This coincided with a demonstration from a party which existed in 1975. Labour Party supporters protested against what they describe as discrimination and the favouritism shown by UNTAET UN Transitional Administration in East Timor to other parties.

Reporter The slogans are shouted in Portuguese, Indonesian and Tetum local dialect , the banners are in English so that the message will get to the UNTAET leaders.

Olivio Pinto Torres, Labour Party, in Indonesian or Tetum with translation superimposed The objective is to protest because they only hire people who speak Portuguese or English. There are educated people unemployed because of this.

Reporter Overnight Indonesian Bahasa, taught in schools for 24 years, no longer matters. Most youths do not speak Portuguese, let alone English. All job applications to UNTAET are doomed.

Angela Freitas, vice-president of Labour Party, in English, with translation superimposed The salaries are different as are the contracts. This has to stop because this is our nation.

Peter Gallbraith, minister for political affairs, in English with translation superimposed It is unrealistic to expect foreign staff to come to Timor and receive Timorese wages.

Reporter Discrimination is one of the points on the agenda of the Labour Party, which originally emerged in 1975. At this morning's one-hour protest, the party wanted to show it has been reborn and that it wants to be part of the National Council, which will comprise 33 Timorese.

Nelson Martins, Labour Party secretary-general, in English with translation superimposed In nine months nothing has been done in East Timor. The people are still suffering, hungry and without homes.

Joao Carrascalao, minister for infrastructures, in Portuguese Perhaps not tomorrow, but perhaps the day after, we will start seeing people rebuilding. When I say the day after tomorrow, it might mean in a week's time, two weeks' time. It all depends on my budget and on the priorities we have to set.

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