Fred, I agree with the opinion of Damien Kingsbury. "Unmet expectations: You see this in a lot of postcolonial countries," Damien Kingsbury, an Australian academic and expert on Indonesia and East Timor. "Lots of people believe once their colonial masters are gone everything will get better. Well, often that isn't the case."
You see, the problem in East Timor is lack of an Administrative Machine good enough to carry out the work planned by the government. The truth is that there is no Administrative infrastructure in East Timor yet. The country is only 4 years old. It has got a legitimate democratically elected government but lacks the remaining necessary administrative infrastructure to rebuild it. There are not enough engineers, not enough architects, not enough doctors. People's expectations are huge, but the government is unable to deliver because there is no infrastructure. The Australian PM and the wife of the President Xanana Gusmao blame the government and say that the ET Government is bad. I personally think that the government is doing what they can however they cannot do it on their own. What can a government do without a proper administrative infrastructure? Of course the solution for the problem is a longer co-operation between ET and the west. It is obvious that they need help and they are not getting enough. And now, to answer your tricky question Fred, I believe that it is more likely that they have learned their violence from the more recent colonial power of Indonesia than with the former Portuguese colonial power... And also a small comment about Martinho's email: Dear Martinho, this is no return of favour from the Australian. Don't even think about that. If Australia did not have any profit in the oil of East Timor, they would have not got involved so strongly as they currently are. Trust me, if it was not for the oil of East Timor (whose main beneficiary is Australia), the East Timorese would have been left completely alone to fall into civil war. Let us not have any illusions about this. Return of favour, yeah, right. East Timor saved by the oil of East Timor Gap. Nothing else! This document dated 2000 gives an introduction to the problem for those who want to read more about this: http://www.wsws.org/articles/2000/oct2000/tim-o25.shtml Best regards Paulo Colaco Dias. > -----Original Message----- > From: [EMAIL PROTECTED] [mailto:[EMAIL PROTECTED] On > Behalf Of Frederick [FN] Noronha > Sent: 26 May 2006 21:48 > To: [EMAIL PROTECTED]; [email protected] > Subject: [Goanet] TIMOR LESTE > > Hi Martinho, Here's another perspective on what's happening in another > former Portuguese colony. Without intending to bait our Lusostalgic > friends, could one ask whether there was something specific about > Portuguese colonialism that left behind strongly polarised, violent, > almost-futureless societies when compared to others (apart from French > colonialism too, to a degree ... where we also saw violent implosions like > the Portuguese case?). FN > > http://www.forbes.com/work/feeds/ap/2006/05/26/ap2776496.html > > > From: "Anthony and Nolette de Souza" > > Subject: TIMOR LESTE > > > > It's no big deal that Australia has sent troops to reestablish > order in Timor Leste > > for, during the Second World War, the Timorese saved hundreds or Aussies > fighting the > > Japanese. Australia is merely returning the favour. > > > > Martinho > _____________________________________________ Do not post admin requests to the list. Goanet mailing list ([email protected])
