The authoritarian temptation in East Timor: Nationbuilding and the need for inclusive governance

Asian Survey

Volumn 46, Issue 4, 2006, Pages 575-596

  Simonsen, Sven Gunnar ^a  

^a PEACE RESEARCH INSTITUTE OSLO PRIO   (Norway)

Author keywords

East Timor; intervention; Military; Nationbuilding; Peacebuilding; Security sector reform

Indexed keywords

GOVERNANCE APPROACH; MILITARY INTERVENTION; NATIONAL SECURITY; PEACEKEEPING; POLICY STRATEGY; STATE BUILDING; STATE ROLE;

ASIA; EURASIA; SOUTHEAST ASIA; TIMOR-LESTE;

EID: 33748493198     PISSN: 00044687     EISSN: None     Source Type: Journal    
DOI: 10.1525/as.2006.46.4.575     Document Type: Article

References (79)

1. This article was finalized in spring 2005 (field interviews were conducted early 2004) and covers developments up until that time. One year on, violence and political struggle have brought
2. While nationbuilding is here seen as relating directly to citizens' identity, statebuilding encompasses activities such as the building of political institutions, strengthening of civil society, and holding of elections.
3. George J. Aditjondro, In the Shadow of Mount Ramelau: The Impact of the Occupation of East Timor (Leiden, The Netherlands: Indonesian Documentation and Information Center [INDOC], 1994), p. 69.
4. Figures quoted in Gavin W. Jones, "East Timor: Education and Human Resource Development," in James J. Fox and Dionisio Babo Soares, eds., Out of the Ashes: Destruction and Reconstruction of East Timor (London: Hurst, 2000), p. 44.
5. Author's interview with Fernando de Araujo, Dili, February 2004.
6. Author's interview, Dili, February 2004.
7. Pat Walsh, "East Timor's Political Parties and Groupings," Australian Council for Overseas Aid, briefing notes, April 2001.
8. Ibid.
9. "Marching Toward a Peaceful Election," in TaisTimor (Dili), 2:29, August 2001.
10. Quoted in Dennis Shoesmith, "Timor-Leste: Divided Leadership in a Semi-Presidential System," in Asian Survey, 43:2 (March/April 2003), pp. 242-43.
11. Ibid., p. 235.
12. Paulino Guterres, Marcelino X. Magno, Estanislau de Sousa Saldanha, and João Mariano Saldanha, "Debate on Constitutional Draft: Positive, Negative, and Implications for East Timor, Proceedings," Dili, East Timor Study Group (ETSG), February 20, 2002, pp. 11-12.
13. Gusmão garnered 82.7% of the ballots cast in the election on April 15, 2002.
14. Author's interview, Dili, February 2004.
15. Author's interview, Dili, February 2004.
16. UNTAET Daily Briefing, January 31, 2002. An archive of UNTAET Daily Briefings is available at .
17. Anthony J. Regan, "Constitution Making in East Timor: Missed Opportunities," in Dionisio da Costa Babo Soares, Michael Maley, James J. Fox, and Anthony J. Regan, Elections and Constitution Making in East Timor (Canberra: The Australian National University, 2003), p. 40.
18. Report of the Secretary-General on the U.N. Mission of Support in East Timor, United Nations Security Council, S/2003/944, October 6, 2003.
19. See "Article-by-article Commentary on the Immigration and Asylum Bill," NGO Working Group to Study the Immigration and Asylum Bill, Dili, May 13, 2003, .
20. Judicial System Monitoring Program, press release, Dili, October 1, 2003,
21. As reported by ASAP East Timor News Digest, no. 17 (2003), .
22. "East Timor: New Law Aims to Stifle Political Dissent," Human Rights Watch (HRW), press release, London, December 29, 2004. Law excerpt as quoted by HRW.
23. "Government Harasses Daily Newspaper Suara Timor Lorosae," Reporters Without Borders, press release, March 3, 2005.
24. Report of the Secretary-General on the U.N. Mission of Support in East Timor, United Nations Security Council, S/2003/449, April 21, 2003.
25. UNMISET Local Media Monitoring, May 2, 2003. (UNMISET Public Information Office, Dili).
26. Author interview, Dili, February 2004.
27. Report of the Secretary-General on the U.N. Mission of Support in East Timor, United Nations Security Council, S/2004/333, April 29, 2004.
28. Author's interview, Dili, February 2004.
29. Tanja Hohe, "Totem Polls: Indigenous Concepts and 'Free and Fair' Elections in East Timor," in International Peacekeeping, 9:4 (Winter 2002), p. 73.
30. "National Opinion Poll," International Republican Institute, East Timor, November 2003, p. 24.
31. Agence France Presse, December 11, 2001.
32. This short outline of the linguistic situation in East Timor is primarily based on Geoffrey Hull, The Languages of East Timor: Some Basic Facts, Instituto Nacional de Linguística, Universidade Nacional Timor Lorosa'e, .
33. Joseph Oenarto, "Can East Timor Survive Independence?" Canberra, ANU North Australia Research Unit, discussion paper, no. 17 (2000).
34. Pat Walsh, "East Timor's Political Parties."
35. Author's interview, Dili, February 2004.
36. Joseph Oenarto, "Can East Timor Survive?"
37. Anthony J. Regan, "Constitution Making," p. 41.
38. Author's interview with Armindo Maia, Dili, February 2004.
39. East Timor National Survey of Voter Knowledge (Preliminary Findings), Asia Foundation, Dili, May 2001, p. 70.
40. Maia interview.
41. Author's interview with João Mariano Saldanha, Dili, February 2004.
42. Geoffrey Hull, "Portuguese Is Not Being Forced onto East Timor as the Official Language Despite Claims to the Contrary," On Line Opinion, September 22, 2002, .
43. Geoffrey Hull, "The Final Words on the East Timorese Language Choices," ibid., October 11, 2002, .
44. Comment made by José Ramos Horta, BBC News Talking Point Forum, June 12, 2002, .
45. Maia interview.
46. Edward Rees, "The U.N.'s Failure to Integrate Falintil Veterans May Cause East Timor to Fail," On Line Opinion, September 2, 2003, .
47. "Freedom's Disappointments: Riots and Incursions Mar Nation-building," in Economist, March 20, 2003.
48. Author's interview, Dili, February 2004.
49. Ibid.
50. Author's interview, Dili, February 2004.
51. Author's interview, Oslo, December 2004.
52. João Mariano Saldanha and Francisco da Costa Guterres, "Toward a Democratic East Timor: Institutions and Institutional Building," East Timor Study Group, working paper, July 2, 1999.
53. Dwight Y. King has concluded that the cleavage influenced voting support for Fretilin (higher in Firaco) and for the Association of Timorese Social Democrats (Associação Social Democrática Timorense, ASDT) (higher in Caladi). See Dwight Y. King, "East Timor's Founding Elections and Emerging Party System," Asian Survey 43:5 (September/October 2003), p. 753.
54. Shoesmith, "Timor-Leste," p. 247.
55. Author's interview, Dili, February 2004.
56. Shoesmith, "Timor-Leste," p. 250.
57. Author's interview with Rogério Lobato, Dili, February 2004.
58. Comment by FDTL Major Manuel Freitas, UNMISET Daily Media Review, June 27, 2003 (UNMISET Public Information Office, Dili).
59. U.N. police source, Dili, February 2004.
60. "Office of the President: End-of-year Message," as distributed by UNMISET, Public Information Office, December 31, 2004.
61. UNMISET Daily Press Review, December 17, 2004 (UNMISET Public Information Office, Dili).
62. Douglas Kammen, "The Ignominious Transformation of 'Glorious Falintil': Civil-Military Relations, Security, and Identity in East Timor," forthcoming in Paulo Gorjão, ed., Double Transition in East Timor: Consolidation of Sovereignty and Democracy (Singapore: University of Singapore Press).
63. Jill Jolliffe, "E. Timorese Police Mimic Violence of Ex-Masters," Asia Times, January 28, 2004.
64. Shoesmith, "Timor-Leste," p. 248.
65. Edward Rees, "The U.N.'s Failure to Integrate Falintil."
66. Mark Todd, "East Timor's New Govt. Faces a Challenge from Rebels," Far Eastern Economic Review, July 4, 2002.
67. Shoesmith, "Timor-Leste," p. 249.
68. Alan Sipress, "East Timorese Struggling for Survival," Washington Post, October 8, 2003.
69. Jill Jolliffe, "East Timor One year On," Asia Times, May 20, 2003. Colimau 2000 in September 2004 announced that it would transform itself into a political party, calling itself the Democratic Party of the Republic of Timor. See UNMISET Daily Press Review, September 4-6, 2004 (UNMISET Public Information Office, Dili).
70. UNMISET Local Media Monitoring, September 18, 2003 (UNMISET Public Information Office, Dili).
71. Author's interview with Bishop Carlos Filipe Ximenes Belo, Baucau, February 2004.
72. "The U.N. Looks to Renew for One More Year," in Asian Analysis, March 2004, .
73. Jill Jolliffe, "Rebels Threaten Timor Peace," The Age, January 24, 2004.
74. Kammen, "The Ignominious Transformation."
75. Author's interview with Aniceto Guterres Lopez, Dili, February 2004.
76. Araujo interview.
77. Jill Jolliffe, "Guerilla Veteran Returns in Triumph to Dili," Sydney Morning Herald, August 24, 2004.
78. Concerns over methodology were expressed in the Report of the Secretary-General, April 29, 2004.
79. Author's interview, Jakarta, March 2004.