From UNMISET

Dili, 05 May 2003

Daily Media Review

64 Border Patrol Police Were Sworn-In

Sixty-four Border Patrol Unit officers have sworn in on Saturday, April 03, in Batugadé. The Interim Commander of UNPOL, Luis Elias, and Superintendent Paulo Martins attended the ceremony, which was headed by the Minister of Interior, Rogério T. Lobato. According to plans, the 64 Border Patrol Unit will be stationed in Bobonaro, Suai and Oecussi. (STL, TP)

PM: There is no Anticipated Election

Speaking to the local population of Manufahi during the ‘Opening Governance’ gathering, Prime Minister Alkatiri said the government will not hold anticipated elections. He said a few groups would like the government to call on an earlier election because they do not want to see “this government for the next four years”. Alkatiri said his government would carry on until the next election. In another address to the population, in February, On Wednesday, Alkatiri had said “It looks like the opposition cannot wait to be in power, because it is constantly criticizing the government, no matter what it does”. (STL, TP)

Rui Menezes: Proposal of the Opposition Have Never Been Approved

MP Rui Menezes (PD) said that he is disappointed with the implementation of the democracy system in Parliament, dominated by the majority party. On Friday, May 02, Menezes said in a short interview with STL, that many proposals of the opposition parties have been frequently rejected. He said that within the majority party system in the Parliament, there is a hidden authoritarian power ‘covered by democratic clothes’. He reiterated that very often proposals from the opposition parties were never being approved except if there is pressure form outside. (STL)

The Linguistics of ‘Nation Building’ How does an ‘oral’ culture turn itself into a ‘literate’ culture? Can the community exercise choice in the matter at all, or will the process be the result of the dominating tides of the world’s globalization cultures? Timor-Leste is facing these issues and Australia’s Macquarie University is working with the National University of Timor-Leste to find some solutions. There are many languages in Timor-Leste [between 13 and 30, depending on how you make the division]. Tetum, currently used by around three-quarters of the population, is the ‘national’ language. Portuguese has contributed to the evolution of Tetum, and has also been the mode of the institutions of education, church and state. For these reasons, Portuguese has been designated the ‘official’ language, taking up where Tetum cannot presently function. The Indonesian language was imposed by importing teachers for high schools and by military induction its influence is localised and its associations problematic. Other foreign languages such as English can not be regarded as tools for community literacy, nor can they ensure that the institutions of East Timorese communities-law, governance social structures, oral performance-are maintained. Such considerations were the focus of discussions between the National University of East Timor’s Vice-Rector, Francisco Martins, Director of the University Institute of Linguistics, Benjamin Corte-Real and Macquarie University linguistics presently in Timor-Leste. (STL)

"Correio de Timor" on UNPOL

In the editorial of its most recent edition (dated April 29), the Portuguese language newspaper "Correio de Timor" praises the organization of the Institutional Capacity Building Workshop for the Timorese Police, saying it was "an event of major importance (...) which brought many important insights about the present problems and also many contributions for their solution".

The quality of this initiative, added the newspaper, offers an interesting contrast with the recent incident evolving UNPOL, which set free a Malayan national who had been arrested by the National Police. The incident had the involvement of members of the Government, being the behavior of UNPOL criticized by the Prime-Minister and by several other authorities."If UNMISET is really worried, as it says it is, about the implementation of the official languages, police training, capacity building in public administration, creation of the necessary structures that may guarantee national progress, then it is time to show what it is worth, for it is only a little more than one year before it leaves the country". (Correio de Timor)

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