In respect of the original inhabitants of this country, let me express the following greeting to you:
'Tena koutou, tena koutou, tena koutou korua'
IT is indeed an honour to be invited for the third time to this lovely country of the long white cloud, Aotearoa. Therefore, allow me to express my gratitude to the following friends for organizing this conference and inviting me to speak: Maire Leadbeater and her colleagues from the Indonesian Human Rights Committee (IHRC), Murray Horton and his comrades from Campaign Against Foreign Control of Aotearoa (CAFCA), Dr Xin Chen from the New Zealand Asia Institute (NZAI), and my old friends, Dr Tim Behrend and Saut Situmorang from the Indonesian Section of the Department of Asian Languages and Literature of the University of Auckland.
There is no other way to describe the decision by Xanana Gusmão (XG) to announce publicly that he would be withdrawing himself as candidate to be Minister Counsellor to the PM and Minister of State for Strategic Investment and Planning, but as a desertion or abandoning of the coalition.
Taur Matan Ruak (TMR) stalwart and PLP founder, veteran journalist Jose Belo, was the most honest announcer of the significance of Xanana’s move when he wrote in an international news service: “New Timor-Leste govt beset with problems as Gusmao walks away.”
A resignation such as this, at such an important event as the approval of the government program by the national parliament is without doubt as Belo wrote, a walk away, an abandonment of the government, a very clear and unambiguous message being sent to the PM and his government that they do not have his support. This is particularly so because of the important figure represented by XG and the fact that he is the leader of the party that has 71% of the seats in the governing coalition.
Now, if there was goodwill involved at all in this decision, and it was a matter that was not meant to be misinterpreted publicly in any way, or calculated so as not to have a negative impact in any way on the health of the government, then the logical and reasonable thing to do would have been to wait until the government had a program pass through the parliament then make the announcement. Why could it not have waited? Just a few days? Because it was in bad faith.
It was clearly meant to be a signal or expression of unhappiness with the performance of the Prime Minister either during the debate on the government program, or the negotiations with the president of the Republic in relation to the remaining members of government to be sworn in.
In any other country, and even here, it is reasonable to assume that in withdrawing his name from the list of ministers in the government, that he is unhappy with some aspect of the new coalition government.
In fact it is reasonable to draw the conclusion that he is withdrawing his moral and political support from the Prime Minister and the government. When you consider that in light of clause 22 of the coalition agreement (see below for the pre-electoral agreement between CNRT, PLP and KHUNTO), which stipulates that 30 days after the Prime Minister being sworn in the coalition is automatically dissolved, it is a signal of an even deeper severing of relations between all concerned.
There are rumours that the big man is unhappy with the fact that the government program gave little attention to the gas pipeline coming from greater sunrise and the LNG plant on the south coast.
During the debate on the government program, it was also clear that there was not much defense by the Prime Minister of the record of governance by the big man. In contrast we heard him praise the FRETILIN petroleum fund.
It is also a well known fact that XG did not participate in the workshop the coalition held at the Novo Turismo hotel to discuss the government program to be presented in parliament. It is clear that XG was not happy from that time onwards.
AMP members also report a rift between XG and the PM arising out of the breach by the PM of an agreement reached at the coalition’s retreat in Liquica not to have the government program debated in parliament until XG was sworn in as a minister. It appears the PM and his clique in the government took a different view afterwards.
The statement in the CNRT media center Facebook page announcing the withdrawal tried in vain to put a positive spin on it by declaring that the reason was so that he could devote more time to the Maritime Boundary negotiation. Nor does it make any sense. He was Minister with the same portfolio as he was listed to become when he negotiated the maritime boundaries the last time round. This is just a smoke screen.
The CNRT media center is discredited and nothing that they say can be believed in even a small way. It is clear that his hangers on are very concerned about what this will mean for the future of the government.
One thing is clear, it seems that he is engaging in a new political guerilla campaign, as he likes to self describe his moves against his opponents. But the question this time is: against whom?
One thing is clear, a prime minister and a government have been sworn in. Regardless of how many members are still to be sworn in, this government is now constitutionally in place, and there is no reason why it should not continue to govern with all effect. In fact as far as the Constitution is concerned, the post-election governing process and role of the president have been carried out.
What remains to be seen now is how the major party in the coalition, the CNRT, who will follow XG over a cliff if asked, will behave in relation to the first budget the government is due to present soon.
There are other important tests coming up including deliberating on proposed laws. The anti-corruption law is the most important one of all of those. The election of a new anti-corruption commissioner will be another test for the coalition. One would expect there to be no clear unified position within the coalition on the candidate given that the PM was rolled by the parliament. Every approval needed by the government from the parliament will be major test with accompanying tension.
XG and his 11 presidentially rejected ministerial appointments are increasingly more isolated. Not only have the veterans supported the president, but even a group usually balanced, and concerned not to support XG, RENETIL, have met with the president and expressed their support for the president in vetting these 11 candidates for Minister, Vice Minister and Secretaries of State.
The obvious question that must also be asked now is: is XG's withdrawal as a ministerial candidate an admission of impending defeat by him of his fight against the president of the republic, albeit grudgingly, or as some have suggested, a temper tantrum in the face of inevitable defeat?
Or has he just engaged in a strategic retreat to set up the new strategy to strike back. He does after all just seem to like to fight; anyone who disobeys or confronts him; that is obvious from his history. CNRT is supposed to have a party conference next week. There is always the possibility that XG will use that conference to create confusion and perhaps even political instability, in order to regain strategic ascendancy. He should remember that he is no longer the leviathan of Timorese politics he once was. He should accept the diminution of his political power with humility and responsibility and contribute to political and civil stability, not manipulate it to suit his Machiavellian gamesmanship. This includes supporting the coalition government he created and not undermine it.
A Portuguese officer who was expelled from Timor-Leste by Xanana's government is promising to tell all in a book he says he's about to publish.
The PSP officer, Jose Fernando Brito, used to work for CAC, Timor-Leste's anti-corruption body, or Comissão Anti-Corrupção. Writing in Portuguese for a Facebook post amid the political tension brewing between Xanana and FRETILIN, Brito left a number of "clues" for his readers.
On the electricity project, he claims to have handed documets to the then CAC commisisioner, José Neves. Brito alleges that all energy projects in Timor-Leste have been tainted by corruption. At least Brito maintains, that someone is making 3 times as much in profit for the cost of running the sector.
On Bobby B. Boye's case, Brito says that the Timor-Leste authorities have always been warned about his activities. The government should have detained Boye, instead the warnings were ignored and worse of all, Boye was awarded in recognition of his outstanding services.
Investigations into allegations of corruptions within health sector began in Novemberof 2010 by CAC. But, because of a lack of willingness within CAC and Prosecutors General's Office, the investigation continued instead in Holland, England, the US and Australia. As a result of this, $240 million was recuperated and a number of individuals were detained, including World Bank staff.
Brito was expelled from Timor-Leste, along with a group of Portuguese prosecutors who were investigating members of Xanana's government in 2014. Following the incident, Brito alleged in Portugal that Xanana is connected to contracts to buy rice through his daughter, as well as contracts to supply fuel to Timor-Leste's power station through his nephew Nilton Gusmão. Brito further alleged that Xanana also has a stake in the petroleum exploration, on- and offshore.
See below for a Google translation of Brito's Facebook post.
Xanana is an eminent person of the g7+ group of fragile countries
Today, the day of freedom of thought, I am here to satisfy all my Timor-Leste friends and those who are concerned about the fate of the increasingly excluded East Timorese, who insist in seeking me to help expose the tragedy raging in that country with corruption. I am a police officer by profession from the moment I decided to embrace this cause, so I am guided by principles that aim at the satisfaction of the public good. I am not available to feed the media in the media and in the now very fashionable "social media", which, like what happened after November 5, 2014, is the scene of the usual weapons of the cowards: easy insult and attempts to disbelief to attacks on the character of my person. Being of "law enforcement", I believe in principle and am and will always be available to support Justice. Justice in Timor-Leste, however, does not include balance and impartiality and is stalled and unable to continue on its path to a just and free society. It would be exhausting here and now to enumerate the situations of the past and the present! You do not need to question me about the evidence of acts of corruption perpetrated by a corrupt and power-hungry elite. The evidence is in Timor-Leste, it is enough to want and be able to follow its trail .... money leaves traces and marks and can easily identify the agents and beneficiaries of corruption .. Take the projects, study the moments of their conception, the actors on all sides, and see the disparity between objectives and results, which invariably focus on enriching this elite, always on the royal blessing of infamous leadership. I leave some clues: Electricity project (whose documents and evidence were hand-delivered to Mr José Neves, then Commissioner in the CAC, by an adviser ... who later obtained a contract in the CAC as a "prize" for silence). The entire energy project in Timor-Leste is damaged by acts of corruption, which have consumed and consumed huge financial resources that nearly tripled its real cost. The tangle of relationships in the mud that has been constituted around the development of the infrastructures of the project, well investigated, exposes an entire elite that like the limpet is perpetuated in the power developing the tentacles to the style of criminal organization mafia, with its padrinho and acolytes that are not confined to Timor-Leste, extending to gluttons in several countries that suck everything around them. By purging this toxic and corrupt garbage, Timor Lorosae will finally come to fruition!
Get the Bobby B. Boye case. Why in Timor-Leste, instead of being arrested when they should, ignored the timely warnings, and rewarded him with recognition awards for the high services rendered! But that did not stop justice being done, Bobby B. Boye was arrested ... but much remained unclear!
The largest research ever done in the health field began in November 2010 at the CAC. In the absence of the will of CAC and MP, the investigation continued in the Netherlands, England, the United States and Australia. Result: $ 240 million in assets recovered and several individuals detained, from World Bank staff and a hospital equipment distribution company. Nothing happened in Timor-Leste .... But I could and should have led this work, giving the world and especially the Timorese a positive signal that it was committed to the fight against corruption! What a sad fate ... the Timorese follow their heroes who today are their rulers, elected by what they insist on calling democracy. Despite the pain that they cause and even exclude, without fair and equitable access to the distribution of wealth that the country has, denying them access to education, health, housing, security, and dignity of human condition, continue from the side of the streets waiting for the magnanimous acts of their heroes, content with the crumbs and sacks of rice ... That said, I do not want to say that I have not abandoned or left the Timorese, especially those who trusted in me and with whom I have eternal bonds of friendship and gratitude. However, they are not available to enter the mire or contribute to triggering situations of personal attacks that are not intended to disqualify me and the anti-corruption cause as a way to divert attention from the problems that corruption generates. My contribution to the necessary struggle of Timorese will soon be made available in book form, where everything is exposed, transparently denuded. It is up to the Timorese to reflect and create conditions for Justice to act through its instruments, so that society becomes more just and equitable! It is in Justice and with Justice that I know and can contribute so that all Timorese can benefit from their due! It is up to the international community, in particular those
This story in the Associated Press about the latest saga in the formation of new Timor Leste government gives the strongest signal yet that the
alliance is cracking. Negotiations for the line up of the VIII Constitutional Government have been tense.
Three political parties all want a big slice of power in the new
government tried to muscle in their people. Xanana wants to control
power by having his people in key position where the money is: finance,
petroleum, infrastructure, veterans, etc. Matan Ruak wants to be the PM
at all cost even if without control of the government (budget).
And then KHUNTO comes in asking for key positions like interior
(security), social solidarity, etc. New positions are also created just
to accommodate others who could potentially become spoilers. But right
now the biggest spoiler of them all seems to be President Fracisco Guterres Luolo. But
is it? A week before the government was sworn in rumour had it that
Matan Ruak had asked President Fracisco Guterres Luolo to block some CNRT appointees
from the government lineup. Taur had promised during the campaign that
he would lead a clean government free of corruption and mismanagement.
And that means he would not allow anyone with questionable record to
join his government. For his part Matan Ruak sent a list of PLP
appointees to CAC and Prosecutor General's office to get clearance., something that neither CNRT nor KHUNTO did.
A day before the
swearing in President's office informed AMP that about a dozen of their
appointees have not been accepted by President Lu. And those people, now
we know that there are 11 of them, include people like Francisco
Kalbuady who had been named by Aljazeera as having been involved in
major corruption scandal in FIFA, for which Sepp Blatter was forced
to stand down. Back home, Kalbuady had been the worst performing
minister whose tourism portfolio had been a total failure. As head of our football federation (FFTL) Kalbuady also
provided TL passports to foreigners (mostly Brazilians) in violation of our immigration and naturalization laws in order
to have them play in our national soccer team.
Other than Kalbuady, we now know that the exclusion list also includes;
- Gastao Sousa (planing and strategic investment) - formerly PD but switched to CNRT, ex minister of public works
- Thomas Cabral (state administration) - CNRT ex vice minister of state administration
- Helder Lopes (finance) - CNRT, used to be vice minister of finance
- Marcos da Cruz (agriculture) - PD then switched to CNRT, ex vice minister agriculture
- Abel Pires (public works) - PLP without previous experience
- Sergio Lobo (health) - CNRT and minister of health in V government
- Virgilio Smith (veterans) - CNRT head of veterans commission
- Amandio Benevides (justice) - KHUNTO
- Jacinto Rigoberto (tourism and comerce) - CNRT
- Jose Turqel (foreign relations) - KHUNTO
Filomeno
Paixao was among the group that didn't take their oath on Friday. However Filomeno's is an
administrative matter. He is currently the number two person in FFDTL. He
has resigned but there is a number of administrative hurdles he has to
overcome before he could be exonerated from the military. The rest
either have ongoing cases before the court, have committed crimes
previously or are under suspicion. The President had himself sought
clearance from the courts and CAC for everyone on the AMP lineup.
Matan
Ruak is in a grave dilemma. He has branded CNRT in the past as the most corrupt
political party in Timor before promising the electorate that he would
never accept CNRT as partner in whatever shape or form. But Matan Ruak's
PLP is a minor party in the coalition and would never, on its own, gain enough electoral support to take PLP
to power. PLP was lucky to have come to and understanding with CNRT and found common ground. Matan Ruak
wants to be PM, Xanana and CNRT want control of government. KHUNTO for
wahtever reason joined CNRT and PLP.
After the
2018 elections Matan Ruak got his way and given the job of PM. But would
he have full control of government? No! Xanana wants control of key
positions, which effectively controls most of the budget: infrastructure
and veterans. People like Gastao Sousa, Helder Lopes, Alfredo Pires
(petroleum) and Virgilio Smith are Xanana's most trusted elements in
CNRT. If AMP gets rid of Alkatiri from ZEESM, then Tomas Cabral would
also control another huge portion of the budget as ZEESM is under
ministry of state administration (at least under the VI government).
Most of the decisions about mega infrastructure projects (such as South
Coast and potentially ZEESM) will come under Xanana's control.
Matan
Ruak has two issues with the CNRT appointees. The first is that he
won't have effective control of government. The second is that his
credibility would be tarnished if his government included these
individuals. But he also wants to be PM!!!!! But his PLP with 8 seats is
very small compared to CNRT's 21. Taur doesn't call the shots and can't
call the shots. He couldn't force Xanana to exclude any CNRT appointee
to his government's line up. Hence, it makes sense for Matan Ruak to ask
President to block these people.
Anyone who
has been paying attention would notice that PLP and Matan Ruak have
stayed quiet when President Lu announced that he had removed those 11
people from the government's proposed line up. Matan Ruak, as president back in 2015, also did exactly the same when he refused to swear in Francisco Borolaco as the secretary of state for institutional strengthening (SEFI)!!
Xanana
was extremely vexed and wrote a blistering letter to his "brother" Taur
to repudiate President Lu's decision. In the letter he informed Taur
that neither he nor his CNRT appointees would be taking part in the
Friday's swearing in ceremony (well, CNRT ministers did show up at the ceremony and too their oath). Xanana also informed Matan Ruak that he
and CNRT have prepared a criminal case against President Lu regarding an
alleged $1 million payment from the government to President Lu.
The
CNRT mob have also been busy calling the President out for his
decision. CNRT's and AMP's (obviously controled by CNRT elements)
official social media sites have accused the President of trying to
plunge the country into chaos once again.
But the public opinion is firmly in favour of President Fracisco Guterres Luolo's decision.
Matan
Ruak and PLP is remaining quiet to avoid a confrontation with Xanana. A
confrontation with Xanan would spell the end of Matan Ruak's experience
as head of government almost immediately. But soon Xanana will ask
Matan Ruak to speak up as a partner in the coalition and as the head of
government. Will Matan Ruak side with Xanana and defy the President and
public opinion? He will start off his government with a big blemish on
his government. And as a nominal leader of the government (like Rui
Araujo was once) the government he leads will be commanded by Xanana and
CNRT (and rightly so as the largest party). Faced with a fierce
opposition as FRETILIN and PD, Taur and PLP will quickly lose support
and be overwhelmed by CNRT. If Matan Ruak decides to ignore Xanana's position and
Xanana calls on CNRT (and KHUNTO) to abandon the AMP government, then the so
called VIII Constitutional Government will quickly unravel. It was hard
enough for the FRETILIN-PD alliance to maintain a government with 30
seats. What can Matan Ruak and his PLP do with 8 seats? It could be the
shortest government that's ever lived. Difficult choices for Matan Ruak.
But...
Could Xanana and CNRT cave in to President's demands and appoint other
people with cleaner records? Unlikely. There is another reason why
Xanana particularly wants people like Kalbuady, Gastao Sousa and Helder
Lopes. They could potentially be called to answer questions in the court
the answers of which could incriminate Xanana. Emilia Pires has
conveniently ran away from Timor and settled in Portugal away from the reach of
Timor's courts. But there are others who could end up in
court and end up having to reveal "things". Just recently Gastao was
forced to admit that it was Xanana who instructed him to take government
vehicles for his private use. So trusting is Gastao of Xanana that he even removed the government registration plate and replaced it with a private one and encouraged his children to use the vehicles. Beyond this, there are other cases
involving hundreds of millions of dollars that have been, at best
mismanaged and wasted, or at worst, embezzled. As members of
government, these people would be immune from prosecution and that is precisely where Xanana wants them to be, in government and immune from prosecution. Imagine... If in 7
months in which Gastao ceased to be a member of government, our courts
managed to get his confession, what could 5 years do? President Lu
must be aware of this and that's why he has asked for these
individuals not to be included in Taur's government. Naturally Xanana
would oppose the President's decision.
And
Matan Ruak should know by now that he (and KHUNTO) is being used by CNRT
to shield certain individuals from prosecution, and to ultimately protect
certain leaders and their interests. In 2017's negotiation to form
government FRETILIN refused Xanana's requests to include, yes, Gastao Sousa and Santina Cardoso (ex finance minister who wasn't
included in this year's CNRT list because she has already been convicted and is
now appealing), Alfredo Pires, and others in the line up. And what happened? Xanan turned against FRETILIN and brought it down with Matan Ruak's help.
FRETILIN only managed to hold on to government for a few months thanks to Alkatiri's stubbornness. Will the same
thing happen to Matan Ruak's government? Will we head for another
election?
Donald Trum, US President (left) and Xanana Gusmão former President of Timor-Leste (right)
Donald Trump likes to grab women "by their pussy" because, it seems to him, he can. He is famous, wealthy and powerful, so women surrender themselves to him. Donald is all about that: "grab pussies", or basically, using his power to exploit and abuse women. But is it just Donald? Not so. It's a symptom of the powerful, specially powerful old men, to use their power to abuse the weak.
Far away in tiny Timor Leste we too have our own powerful old men always preying on the weak, specially women. The difference is, while Donald tries to be a little discreet with his shenanigans, in Timor Leste they do it in the open. It's as if our society demands this sort of abuse as proof of their strength and virility, and leadership.
That's our Xanana. He's up there in the league of dirty old powerful men who look at women as objects to satisfy their sexual malady. Xanana fools a lot of people with his statesmanlike demeanor, his so called charisma, when the situation demands it. But he also has his repugnant side which in a decent country would have him thrown in a facility. But it appears Xanana needs help!
Pictures of Xanana in cuddling young women, including pubescent girls, have surfaced on the internet in the past. An Australian journalist called Ted McDonnell was the first to point them out for everyone.
McDonnell published pictures of Xanana with three seemingly very young girls. The location is said to be at Hotel Borobudur.
The furniture and the picture frame seem to be a give away of their location. Wearing black shorts,
looking excited, he embraces the three girls one by one for a picture. In one photo,
he appears to be trying to bite one of the girls' cheek, the other, he presses his
lips tightly to her cheeks. We don't know who these girls were or when
the photos were taken (at least they were taken before 2014).
Xanana embracing an unidentified girl at Hotel Borobudur in Jakarta
Xanana embracing a different girl at the same location
Yet another girl at the same location and possibly at same event
When these pictures first surfaced, many people attacked McDonnell for posting them on his blog. People were saying that these girls were in fact relatives, or nieces of Xanana. Xanana is close to his nieces (or grandchildren according to others) and this is how he shows them his affection. As it turned out, and Timor Leste is a small place, none of these girls were ever identified. What was Xanana doing?
More damaging pictures surfaced of Xanana during the election campaign. I have my own prejudice against the man and I have looked at these photos and tried very hard to shrug them off. But as more and more of them turned up, I can only conclude that Xanana is our own Donald Trump and a predator. More picture below.
For me, these photos show Xanana's contempt for women and his willingness to exploit their weakness. In doing so, Xanana is also sending a message across the country, specially to young men, and, sadly, young women, that it is a man's right to view and treat women as sexual objects.
Xanana doesn't run short of apologists, however. Mery Barreto, our own commissioner for the protection of the rights of children and a CNRT party official, went out of her way to defend Xanana. She warned the public that the picture where Xanana appeared to be biting on a young girl's cheek is doctored, or photoshopped. It's evidence that she considered this type of contact, between Xanana and the young girl unacceptable and repugnant, therefore it could only have been a hoax.
Later on, Signey Verdial, a female figure within the AMP clique appeared on TV wearing a shirt signed by Xanana. The signature has been pressed right above her right breast. Her message was loud and clear that it is OK for women to allow dirty old men to leave their autograph in parts of the female body traditionally considered out of bounds.
Where Xanana likes to leave his mark
Xanana likes to sign on women's top and chooses the least appropriate place to do so. I don't know whether the women, or girls, asked him to sign in these very places or not, but it seems that when it comes to men, he normally signs on the back of their shirt.
AMP member of parliament, Signi Verdial proudly displays Xanana's signature on her right breas
Following Xanana's footstep, other AMP leaders also make their mark on young girls
Xanana has started the trend. Dirty old powerful men can sign the shirts of women and girls anywhere they please and this is acceptable.
Where Xanana likes to put his hands
Xanana and a 13 year old girl
Xanana at a CNRT rally last year
Sexual assault?
Xanana bites into an adolescent girl's cheek for a selfie
During a campaign rally in Suai, Xanana was asked by a young girl for a selfie. She took out her phone, stood next to Xanana to snap the selfie when Xanana decided to turn his lips to her and bite her cheek. The girl was later identified to be a 16 year old who is completing grade 11 at local high school. When this image surfaced on the internet, CNRT activists quickly came to deny its veracity, going as far as to deny the authenticity of this image. As mentioned earlier, even the country's commissioner for the protection of rights of the child, Mery Barreto, suggested that this image has been doctored.
Another young girl getting a bite on her cheek from Xanana
Unknown woman
More kissing...
The most audacious display of his power takes place during AMP's campaign rally. It's as if to show how powerful he is while demanding total submission from his subjects. In two separate occasions, one in Lospalos, the other unknown, Xanana invited young women to the stage, made speeches, looked deep into their eyes, then moved his lips close to theirs.
Xanana pressing his face against an AMP supporter in Lospalos
Xanana forces a kiss on the lips of a woman, an AMP supporter, on stage at unknown location during the campaign rally
These photos have caused a lot of discussion on social media. Those who found it bizarre seem to be in the minority. Many others thought this to be Xanana's way to show his affection and take it as acceptable. Others believe it to be a privilege to be on the receiving end. But, honestly, this is clearly a form of abuse, it is repugnant and deplorable.
And recently, the President of the Philippines, Rodrigo Duterte, came under fire for kissing a married woman on her lips on camera.
Obviously the response to this sickening behaviour has been disapproving:
You can visit Ted McDonnell's Facebook posts (1, 2, 3) for more reactions.
Back in 2006 an Australian journalist, Jane Fraser, already noted Xanana's habit to force his lips against other women's. Fraser wrote that "apparently Xanana Gusmao insists female reporters kiss him on the lips after an interview." We scoffed at Fraser, scorned her for her attempt to slander our national leader. But evidence also piled up against Xanana. Either Xanana thinks that he is entitled to expect women to be accepting of his advances or he has a disorder that needed to be put in check. I can't help but think of those women and girls who fell victim to him.
Xanana is indeed powerful and charismatic. And he exploits these qualities to feed his ego and his needs. He uses his power to exploit the unwavering respect from his people, not only to run a government which ended up making his own family and friends wealthy, but he also regularly uses this privilege to get away with almost anything, including sexually abusing women and young girls.
Let's face it. Xanana has a sickening problem. Don't let his tears, his appeals to being a statesman, his warm touch, fool you. It's all a show that masks a perverted man struggling to suppress his sexual disorder. His appetite for young girls needs to be closely checked.
Xanana has been married twice. His first marriage started before the Indonesian invasion and occupation of which he had two children, Nito and Zenilda. Zenilda is a business woman but currently under investigation over allegations of tax fraud (here and here in Tetum).
Xanana's second marriage was to Australian Kirsty Sword-Gusmao. But this marriage ended in 2015. He and Kirsty have 3 children but since the divorce, the children and their mother have relocated to Melbourne in Australia.
Kirsty is has been a vocal advocate for women's and girls' rights. She established an NGO called Alola, the Alola Foundation "to improve the lives of women and children." The Foundation was named after a teenage girl from Suai who was taken hostage by the local pro-Indonesia militia leader and taken to West Timor as a "trophy wife" following the announcement of the 1999 referendum results. Alola was adopted as the name of her NGO to continue the fight to protect girls' rights and to free Alola herself, which Kirsty fought for in vain for years. But, while Alola languished in West Timor, Kirsty's own husband was busy abusing others girls like Alola in Timor-Leste and abroad.
Xanana is soon to be returned as Prime Minister of Timor Leste following the elections in May this year. He will resume his trips abroad to preach to the leaders of the g7+ countries about peace, dialogue, human rights, good governance, and Goal 16 of the SDGs. But this is the true Xanana. Everything else is lies. At home, he will continue to use his power to satisfy his needs and ensure his family and friends' needs are met by stealing from the people.
Days before the elections on the 12th of May I responded to an AP article on ETAN news list reporting on a call by Xanana Gusmão the "East Timor hero" for "restraint after campaign violence". I was critical of Xanana (and of the unashamedly biased AP article) as he was represented in this story without question (see below). As he called for "restraint", Xanana and his AMP clique were spreading the seeds of conflict in order to win the election. One of his targets were Alkatiri whose Islamic faith became a target for Xanana's demagoguery.
For many years, since we separated from Indonesia (the largest Muslim country in the world, and a democracy), religious differences have never been the subject of discussion, much less of political nature. A nation firmly rooted in Catholicism, we are also a model of tolerance in the region, a fact made obvious by Mari Alkatiri, a Muslim of Yemeni origin who became our first prime minister post 1999 referendum.
But Alkatiri also had a powerful rival, Xanana Gusmão. Their rivalry is made worse by Xanana's style and tactics, his unscrupulousness, and his shrewdness. While he was out from power between 2002 and 2007, Xanana plotted to overthrow Alkatiri by encouraging a series of national crisis, including one in 2006 that nearly plunged the country into an all out civil war. Alkatiri resigned and Xanana gained control of the state, holding on to it until 2017 when he was defeated in the elections. Having failed to wrest power from Alkatiri, Xanana formed alliance with Taur Matan Ruak and forced the country to an early election. His alliance with Matan Ruak was a success and together they soundly defeated Alkatiri.
But here is the problem. Although Xanana formed a powerful alliance with two other political parties and another influential figure, Taur Matan Ruak, he also saw the need to play the racial and religious card. Xanana and his AMP clique spread lies among the rural voters saying that a Muslim prime minister would turn the country into an Islamic country. The specter of mosques being built in all corners of the country was graphically illustrated through fake IDs on Facebook and promoted by CNRT and AMP official Facebook pages. Accusations of Alkatiri not being of Timorese origin were also launched, targeting rural voters. Fretilin leaders were forced to defend Alkatiri in every meeting it held with the voters. No AMP leaders, much less Xanana or Taur Matan Ruak, came out to Alkatiri's defense or to denounce these tactics. In fact Xanana was actively pushing this line as he did during one of his public speeches in Maliana (watch video). It was a sad state of affairs!
Now that the elections are finished, how are we going to pick up the pieces? Can we go back to the times when religion was not an issue, much less a political issue? Unlikely. For starters, the recent bombing in Indonesia is being used as an excuse locally to persecute the minority Islamic community in Timor Leste. There has been a flurry of Facebook posts, many by fake IDs, to draw connection between Timor's small Islamic community and the bombing in Indonesia. Timorese Muslims, in Muslim garbs, have been anonymously photographed and the photos posted on Facebook, shared, liked and followed by slurs and threats in the comment section. Why now? Elections are finished, aren't they?
Timorse Muslims being photographed secretly and posted on Facebook linking them to terrorists
Expect more of this to keep coming, that's my view. Xanana has made it his personal mission to destroy Alkatiri, even if it means sacrificing our tradition of religious tolerance. One way to weaken Alkatiri is to vilify the Muslim community, painting it as outsiders, as "others". Throughout the campaign, Xanana has been busy trying to erase Alkatiri from history despite Alkatiri being one of our founding fathers. Removing Alkatiri's Timoreseness will be his ultimate goal this time. As the process to ostracize Alkatiri unfolds, we will neither see Xanana nor Taur come out in defense of our Muslim community. You watch!
And all this for what? You may disagree with my assessment above. Or you may agree with it and call it gamesmanship for the electoral campaign. But I think it goes much deeper.
You see, Alkatiri is perhaps the only leader with enough awareness of the abyss currently staring at us. If we are not careful with our limited financial resources, we will be begging for donors in 10 years time to keep our nation together and our state afloat. Xanana on the other hand is weak as a leader and incapable of making decisions in the interest of the country. The only way to maintain his power is to raid our sovereign wealth fund and buy off his critics through handouts disguised as government contracts, often extended through single source contracts signed personally by Xanana himself. Members of his family and his close associates are involved major national projects, from diesel to fuel our power plants, to mega projects in the South Coast, to media outlets, retails, quarries, oil companies, land acquisitions, real estate properties, you name it. The stakes are high and Xanana is the key to protecting them. I hear from trusted sources that Nilton Gusmão, Xanana's wealthy nephew, is a shareholder in Timor Resources, a subsidiary of Nipean Resources, a small mining company in Australia. Timor Resources has been awarded contracts to prospect for oil in the South Coast. It is also suspected that Nilton Gusmão may also have a stake in Hyundai Industries, a Korean company awarded with $700 million contract to build the Suai Supply Base.
I used to think of Xanana as a man with a mission to transform this country from a post-colonial, post-conflict stricken land into a modern prosperous economy. Now it has become more obvious that Xanana's first priority is to satisfy his own personal desires, then, those of his family members, his cronies, including those veterans who once fought in the armed resistance beside him, and, the saddest part of all, his friends in Indonesia, i.e. Indonesian generals whose companies, such as Hutama Karya and Waskita Karya, regularly receive monstrous government projects
Not only is Xanana is a demagogue, he is also the archetypal post-independence third world leader whose mission to rid his country of foreign dominance is born out of his own desire to replace those foreigners with himself. I wonder what he talks about with those warlords in Juba or in Guinea-Bissau every time he visits those countries under the g7+ umbrella.
Ah.... let's continue another time!
Dear readers,
I am saddened by what is taking place in Timor Leste. I am particularly saddened by the acts of Mr. Xanana Gusmao.
Mr.
Xanana is a national hero and for many years he has been the voice at
home and overseas for peace and dialogue. But his behaviour during the
last few years are very inconsistent.
Mr. Xanana's control
of government in the last 10 years has been tainted with issues of
nepotism and corruption. It began with his government awarding millions
of dollars worth of contract to his own daughter and his own nephew.
Then many of his senior ministers were found guilty of corruption and
jailed. The latest person to be sentenced is Madame Emilia Pires. But
Pires has now ran away to Portugal. The former minister of justice,
minister of education, have all been sentenced for crimes related to
corruption. What kind of government is this?
Mr. Xanana and
Madame Emilia Pires are the architects of the g7+ group. G7+ promotes
peace among fragile member countries from Afghanista to South Sudan to
West African countries. Mr. Xanana and his government have gone on many
g7+ tours to talk about dialogue and peace as percursor to development.
But what does Mr. Xanana do in his home country?
Mr. Xanana
is very vindictive. He has had fall outs with all of Timor Leste's
national leaders and every time this happens he closes his door to them,
he refuses to talk to them and instead campaigns to destroy them
publicly. When Taur Matan Ruak was president, Xanana as Prime Minister
refused to talk to Taur Matan Ruak. Then he also refused communications
with Dr. Jose Ramos-Horta. Since the results of last year's elections
came out, he also began to avoid Mari Alkatiri. Today he has not talked
to Alkatiri, who is the leader of the ruling party and current prime
minister. If g7+ promotes dialogue, then Xanana has failed to live up to
his the mission and vision of this group.
I also need to
say something about how Xanana reacted to the results of last year's
elections. When the results came out, Xanana went in to hiding. He did
not publicly congratulate the victor Fretilin. He did not publicly
congratulate our electoral bodies like STAE and CNE. He did not publicly
congratulate the people for taking part in the elections peacefully. It
took him many days, many weeks, to finally come out. This is not the
quality of a good leader who goes to fragile countries to promote
dialogue and peace. Xanana's actions seems to show that he did not
accept the results of the election and we must conclude that his actions
resulted in the failure of the formation of a stable government.
That
is a big pity. As a father of the Timor Leste nation, he needs to set
the good example for other leaders. As the architect of g7+ and an
eminent person, he needs to set the example for other fragile nations to
follow suit.
The campaign period is
another episode which reveals Xanana's weakness. AMP has campaigned on a
very divisive platform forcing the Timorese people to chose between
those who fought at home and those fought abroad. Timor Leste people
went through 24 painful years. Many became war refugees abroad after
having lost families and possessions. But Xanana and his AMP are sowing
division among the Timorese people in order to exploit it for elections.
His AMP group is making this election as a contest between those who
fought in the armed resistance and those who fought in the diplomatic
front. During their campaigns they regularly portray those who lived
abroad and fought in the diplomatic front as free riders, as people who
came back after independence to enjoy what he and Taur Matan Ruak
sacrificed their lives for. There is an active attempt by Xanana and his
AMP group to divert discussions in the electoral campaign from one
about policy and program, to one about who did what during the
resistance period. It is a big pity because as a former guerilla
commander, Xanana's record over the past 10 years have not been pretty.
When you have a number of your senior ministers ending up in jail for
corruption, that is a sign of weak leadership and incompetence.
Even
more shameful is Xanana and AMP group's attempt to exploit religious
differences to gain advantage. AMP people regularly tell community
members in the rural areas that if Fretilin wins in the May election,
Timor Leste will become a Muslim country. Why? Because Mari Alkatiri the
leader of Fretilin is a muslim. Fretilin has been forced to defend
itself over this insidious tactic. Xanana himself has been at the
forefront of this making subliminal references to Mari Alkatiri's
religion during his public speeches. During a public campaign in Maliana
Xanana even said that Mari Alkatiri ate pork and as a result of this
Mari Alkatiri's brains stopped functioning. Call it what you want but I
find this to be very disrespectful of other religions and it is obvious
that Xanana is trying to stoke religious prejudice and intolerance. As
the conceptor of the g7+ group, which also includes many Muslim
countries like Afghanistan, and as a neighbour to the largest Muslim
country in the world, Xanana should be the first person to promote
tolerance. Timor Leste has a proud tradition of religious tolerance but
Xanana is willing to sacrifice this for the sake of winning an election.
Then what of the g7+ members he is trying to steer towards the path of
peace and development? Very sad!
Xanana and AMP's
discourse during the elections have also been characterised by hatred,
seeing their political opponents not as adversaries but as enemies,
sometimes the enemies of the people. Xanana and Taur Matan Ruak
regularly speak of chasing away, from Oecusse or even from Timor Leste
their opponents. Taur Matan Ruak called his opponents dogs, describing
them as lice, talked about killing both the dog lice and dog to get rid
of the lice. Another AMP official who is also a former guerrilla fighter
threatened to spray bullets against community members.
Taur Matan Ruak
regularly warns former combatants that only he and Xanana can continue
to pay them their benefits. They campaigned on lies that Fretilin and
Mari Alkatiri are agents of the Australian government and are working
towards bringing the Greater Sunrise pipeline to Australia instead of
Timor. All these discourse have lead to an unprecedented level of
polarization in Timor's politics, and that is a recipe for acts that
could lead to violence. We are already seeing minor incidents going both
ways between supporters of AMP and Fretilin. Instead of calling for
peace, Xanana regularly exploits this. In Manatuto public campaign,
Xanana held up pictures of victims to the public and blames Fretilin for
this. While he calls for peace and restraint, I say his actual message
was to the contrary. He was inciting AMP supporters to react and
retaliate. All parties call for restraint and tolerance. All criminal
incidents resulting from the campaign activities should be treated as
crimes and be investigated by the police. They should not be exploited
and used to incite further anger and retribution. Xanana's call for
Fretilin to be shut down should be the ultimate act of provocation from a
leader who is supposedly the voice of tolerance, of dialogue, of peace,
of reconciliation, of g7+. Maybe Xanana wants Fretilin's supporters to
react and sow the seeds of conflict? I can't see it any other way.
I
should also add that the way Timor's election is being reported in here
is showing a lot of bias. I don't know who the journalist is but the
news is largely one sided. I hope The Associated Press has some
journalistic decency to also report the voices of the other side.
I have been following the latest political developments with dismay. The victory by AMP, another five years with Xanana and his cronies, now with the support of Taur Matan Ruak, spells disaster for Timor Leste.
Xanana led a very corrupt government over the past 10 years. He has successfully created a society where corruption and mismanagement is acceptable; where the public servants and officials can use the state to enrich themselves.
The Timor Leste elite, veterans, family members of the politicians, and their cronies, have now captured the state. The Timor Leste intelligentsia, many of whom supported Taur Matan Ruak and now Xanana and his CNRT, have chosen to reinforce this system.
This system will drive the country further down the path towards failure; failure for the people but not for the elite. In the last 10 years, Xanana has managed to waste $14 billion of Timor Leste's financial resources, in addition to hundreds of millions of dollars of loans from ADB, World Bank and Chinese banks.
Still Timor Leste is a country without proper functioning health system on par with the supposed investments over the past 10 years. The education system still fails to produce capable Timorese people able to perform many tasks key to developing the country. The country still lacks adequate water and sanitation; most homes still don't have piped water, children and women still walk large distance to fetch water, still yet many defecate openly. Although I admit that it would be unfair to say that nothing at all was produced over the last 10 years, but one should expect there to be more if you take the $14 billion they spent over the last 10 years.
But who became millionaire in the process? Among the nouveau riche includes Xanana's own daughter and nephews. They benefited handsomely from Xanana's generosity, mostly channeled through government contracts handed out by the government. Xanana's daughter, Zenilda Gusmao was finally investigated over her business dealings, among the charges include tax avoidance. But now that her father is back in the hot seat, she may see these charges dropped and will revert back to her old corrupt dealings. Xanana's family is known as the Keluarga Cendana, or the Cendana Family, a name given to Suharto's family.
Alas, the people have chosen. Xanana and Taur Matan Ruak ran a very successful campaign against FRETILIN and PD. They employed some of the most devious tactics against FRETILIN; a lot of scare mongering; racial and religious slurs; and plenty of falsehoods. Unfortunately, FRETILIN, and PD, was not prepared for such assault. Perhaps no one would have thought at the time that Xanana would sink to the level of a shrewd African politician. While FRETILIN tried to play nice, Xanana was eroding its support through demagoguery. It was a shocking experience to watch FRETILIN being devoured by a demagogue.
In a properly functioning democracy, where the public is well informed, Xanana would have been wiped out at the election. But in Timor Leste personality based politics is strong; patron-client relationship between politicians and the elite remain strong and perhaps proved decisive - it's true; my well off relatives who benefited from the past 10 years see FRETILIN as its enemy who would tighten spending and rid the system of hand outs. Where the society sees corruption as acceptable way of managing the state, Xanana would be a first choice.
So what will happen over the next 5 years? It's scary. If Xanana's appetite for mega projects continues, we will see whatever is left of the country's sovereign wealth fund, the Petroleum Fund, quickly exhausted. The rich and those well connected will get richer and reap most of the benefits. The public at large will remain with bad roads, bad health and education system, lower standards of living, etc. Poverty numbers will perhaps improve in the short run, but after the Petroleum Fund is exhausted, without much alternative to derive its income, the country will quickly descend into chaos.
Even if the much promised Greater Sunrise project is developed, the returns from this development is only enough to hold the country for another 5 to 10 years. But with the ongoing stalemate as to where a processing centre should be based, we may end up not developing this project at all, unless if we can fork out between $7 billion to $12 billion to extract the resources ourselves. Currently we have less than $17 billion in our sovereign wealth fun.
Xanana and his crew campaigned on a promise to bring the pipeline onshore, of downstream benefits, of thousands of jobs, of developing the south coast, etc. These promises were popular among some of the intelligentsia, mainly from the PLP faction. But I know that these PLP hacks don't believe in these promises. Many of them are smart enough to do simple analysis, some number crunching, understand global economic trends, etc., to conclude that these promises are empty campaign sloganeering. Yet, they were happy to perpetuate such lies during the campaign. Sad indeed.
So in this blog, I will try to put my thoughts together and reflect on what has just happened and why. What possible future lay ahead of us. Let me know in the comments section, your opinion, objections, or questions you may have. I'll be happy to answer them.
