By Sam Polk

The president of Timor-Leste, José Ramos Horta, was in Canberra yesterday to inaugurate what the BBC calls a “gift embassy” – the new Embassy of Timor-Leste to Australia was entirely financed through charitable contributions through the government of Australia. But the five-day visit comes amid strained relations between the eight-year-old nation and Australia, its largest aid donor. A bitter standoff between Timor-Leste’s government and an Australian oil company has reinvigorated debate over how best to use the country’s petroleum wealth to fuel development, and the role outsiders play in the country’s affairs.

Timor-Leste remains in dire need of infrastructure development, and health and education have suffered under Portuguese colonial rule and then Indonesian occupation, and from the civil strife in the years since the 1999 referendum on independence from Indonesia. Photo by Conor Ashleigh

The subject of the dispute – which follows on years of acrimonious negotiations over access to petroleum found beneath the Timor Sea – is the potential location of a liquefied natural gas (LNG) processing plant.
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Conflict and fragile governance present enormous challenges for development and security in Asia. In places where violence is widespread and government ceases to function, the pace of development falls dramatically and conditions can deteriorate to extreme levels. Conflicts often include disaffected minorities or marginalized populations at odds with the central government and political establishment. Other elements that can heighten conflicts include limitations on local identity and culture, a lack of accounting for past abuses, and poor access to justice and security.

The Asia Foundation has a long history of working in fragile or conflict-prone areas, including in Afghanistan, Mindanao (Philippines), Nepal, Sri Lanka, Pakistan, Aceh (Indonesia), Southern Thailand, and Timor-Leste. Our long-term presence and extensive networks allow us to interact with key actors and support programs in highly challenging and sensitive environments.  Watch the slideshow.

By Silas Everett

In Timor Leste, the UN mission is meant to officially hand over law-and-order responsibilities to the national police force (PNTL) by the end of this year. While questions have been raised about what exactly is being handed over, an equal number of questions have been raised about how to measure the preparedness of the PNTL to provide security.

However, in a nation-wide poll conducted by The Asia Foundation on law and justice in Timor-Leste, more than three out of four people held that community leaders were still responsible for the rules that govern their daily lives in Timor-Leste and were also primarily responsible for maintaining security in their locality. On top of that, Timor-Leste boasts an astonishingly low crime rate.

If local communities are largely self-sufficient and crime is low, then what role is left for police to play?
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By Thomas Parks

There seems to be a growing consensus that aid to conflict-affected and fragile regions needs fixing. The worsening conditions in Afghanistan have had a sobering effect on the international community, particularly development donors and organizations. If we cannot prevent the slide back to conflict and continued poverty for Afghanistan’s war-weary population, despite our huge investments and commitments, then there must be something that isn’t working quite right.

Criticism of foreign aid is nothing new. Since the release of Graham Hancock’s book The Lords of Poverty: The Power, Prestige, and Corruption of the International Aid Business in 1989, there has been a vigorous debate over the effectiveness of international development assistance in the world’s poorest and most fragile regions. What has changed in recent years; however, is the increasing voice from aid recipient countries questioning the effectiveness of the current aid system, and the wisdom of standard aid approaches.
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By Kim McQuay

There is an instant before the start of a large event when, with logistical arrangements set and the agenda fine tuned, attention shifts to participants. One draws a breath and wonders what the chemistry of personalities, perspectives, and experience will yield. So I reflected at the start of last week’s regional conference on the role of leaders of influence in national development efforts in Dhaka. Over 80 participants representing 14 South, Southeast, and Central Asian nations sat in country teams, a human landscape of traditional white and saffron robes, capes, and headscarves, elegant saris and shalwar kameez, colorful batiks, and jackets and ties. Microphones crackled to life from the podium, and the session began.

Convened by The Asia Foundation and USAID, the conference provided a forum where those gathered could share views and experience drawn from different country contexts and working environments.
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Upon their return from the Leaders of Influence (LOI) regional conference in Dhaka March 21-24 that convened over 80 participants from 14 countries, In Asia spoke with Rosita MacDonald, program officer for The Asia Foundation’s Governance, Law, and Civil Society program, and Russell Pepe, chief of party for the LOI program in Bangladesh, on what they heard.

Q: Was there a sense from conference participants that progress has been made since U.S. President Obama’s much-heralded Cairo speech last year in which he declared the U.S.’s commitment to reengage with the Muslim community?

Rosita MacDonald: There was a lot of talk from the U.S. delegation about the shift to enhanced engagement with the Muslim community as well as with other religious communities. This point was acknowledged by several of the delegates, but they also made the point that the U.S. needs to be more effective in its public diplomacy efforts in Asia and to highlight tangible examples of engagement with, and support for, the Muslim world. There is optimism to be sure, but still a lot of uncertainty as to what this “engagement” actually involves and how deep it runs.

Russell Pepe: Participants were encouraged by President Obama’s speech, but several also expressed a need to see more concrete actions. LOI was cited as a very good example of how the U.S. can support a wider engagement with the Muslim community, and can effectively build bridges between different faiths and secular groups.
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By Silas Everett

Last week, Timor-Leste’s Ministry of Justice released an initial draft law on state financial legal assistance, signaling a bold new initiative for the government. The law outlines a mechanism through which private lawyers can be paid by the state for their legal services in a court process, either criminal or civil, when representing clients unable to afford such services on their own. The law foresees private lawyers submitting applications to the presiding judge for payment of their fees.

The Ministry of Justice’s move to finance legal assistance runs contrary to criticisms often levied at international assistance programs; chiefly, that such aid breeds dependency and erodes local initiative. Instead, we have here a case where although donor funds were initially used to build the legal aid sector, the government’s recent moves demonstrate its resolve to support its side of the development partnership.
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When President Obama declared in his Cairo speech last year “Americans are ready to join with citizens and governments, community organizations, religious leaders, and businesses in Muslim communities around the world to help our people pursue a better life,” a new sense of optimism charged those dedicated to building bridges between the two communities.

In direct response to President Obama’s call for greater engagement and his Global Engagement Initiative in which the United States has committed to work with Muslim-majority countries to advance democracy and development, USAID and The Asia Foundation convened a regional conference in Dhaka, Bangladesh, March 21-24 that attracted nearly 70 religious and traditional leaders from 14 countries to candidly exchange views and ideas on the critical role that “leaders of influence” play in promoting positive change in their communities and the power they have to affect national development.
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By Timotio de Deus

News stories have told the stories of thousands of Timorese people who suffered greatly during the 24-year fight for independence from Indonesia. However, perhaps a less told story is that many Timorese were also arbitrarily detained during that period, a violation of the principle of rule of law as stated in the constitution.

On Aug. 30, 1999, 78 percent of Timorese people voted for independence in a United Nations-sponsored referendum. In the beginning of 2002, 88 members of the Constituent Assembly drafted and approved a new constitution that states that Timor-Leste is to be a “sovereign, independent and unitary State based on the rule of law, the will of the people, and the respect for the dignity of the human person.” The new constitution helped to boost the confidence and hope of Timorese citizens in a secure democracy that respects the rule of law.

An officer stationed at the Tabesi Market records a complaint made by a local woman. Through the USAID-funded project Conflict Mitigation through Community-Oriented Policing, The Asia Foundation helps strengthen cooperation between police and communities in Timor-Leste. Photo by Conor Ashleigh.

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By Hugo Fernandes

Jose Belo, founder and editor of Timor-Leste’s local weekly newspaper Tempo Semanal, is familiar with uncertain terms. During the Indonesian occupation, the well-known and respected journalist was imprisoned and detained on numerous accounts for his efforts to expose official corruption. Now, Mr. Belo waits again. In October 2008, after his newspaper published an article alleging that Timor-Leste’s Justice Minister Lucia Lobato had improperly awarded government contracts to friends and business contacts, Mr. Belo was charged with defamation, and a possible prison sentence, if convicted. After a year of investigation, Mr. Belo received official notification from the General Prosecutor that the criminal defamation charges had been dropped, but today, civil defamation charges are still in place against him, with no trial date in sight.
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