Who is the president of timor leste

Fireworks marked the end of formalities at 3am, before a public concert entertained those who were still awake at dawn. He indicated that his administration would push Timor-Leste on to the world stage, fostering relationships and defending its hard-won sovereignty.

Domestically, he pledged sustainable development, political stability, national unity, and action on violence against women and children, and poverty. Nona and Angelina Fernandez, year-old twins who grew up learning of the troubles that began before they were born and continued until they were young children, stayed most of the night. Another woman, year-old Melania, said she hoped the new leader would make education a priority.

The presidency is largely ceremonial but is influential and seen as a figure of unity. The year-old is a veteran guerrilla commander and was president of the national parliament following independence. He received the Nobel Peace Prize in largely in recognition of this work.

The work of networks of democracy and human rights activists like the World Movement for Democracy is essential to protecting those freedoms where they exist, and providing hope where people are still striving to achieve them.

In he presented a peace plan, which contained concrete proposals for humanitarian cooperation between the Indonesian government and UN workers in East Timor. We use cookies to ensure that we give you the best experience on our website. If you continue to use this site we will assume that you are happy with it. The domestic economy is overwhelmingly dominated by public spending funded by oil revenues.

Although real non-oil GDP per capita grew an average of 2. The productive agriculture and manufacturing sectors are shrinking. The formal unemployment rate is low 3. Prices are stable, but much higher than in neighboring countries. Environmental policy is a cross-cutting policy field for which several institutions have responsibility in Timor-Leste.

One is the Secretary of Natural Resources responsible for natural resources, including gas and oil under the prime minister; another one is the State Secretary of Energy Policy, which is responsible for renewable and alternative energy sources.

Even though the constitution establishes the importance of protecting the environment, the legal framework concerning the environment remains deficient. In , the Environmental Basic Decree Law came into force, which sets the framework for other environmental legislation, such as the Environmental Licensing Law and the biodiversity law. Environmental concerns are represented in the law and in official discourse, and some important efforts have been deployed, such as the definition of a national park in the easternmost district of Lautem Parque Nacional Konis Santana.

However, large public policy projects normally take precedence over those concerns and environmental licensing laws are frequently not enforced. NGOs and international agencies encourage the executive to pay more attention to environmental concerns, but real incentives are missing most of the time. Programs for renewable energy have been largely canceled. The development of an inclusive, high-quality education service in Timor-Leste is a goal of the authorities, but it is unlikely to be achieved in the short term.

The U. Education Index for scored the country 0. Primary schools exist throughout the country, but their quality is often very poor. A new primary school curriculum was introduced in , withdrawn in and reinstated in Although it will lead to better materials and instruction, most schools are grossly under-resourced, with large class sizes, few textbooks and poor conditions.

Many teachers require more training and experience. However, a small fraction of public schools receive special assistance from Portugal and higher government allocations, and therefore have more resources, as do the Catholic and international school systems for those who can afford them.

Secondary education is concentrated mostly in the district capitals, reducing the capacity of children to attend. Tertiary education standards are very far from First or New World levels.

Very bright, affluent or well-connected students go abroad, often funded by the government or on other scholarships. In , the public education budget was 5. Although GDP grew after petroleum production began in , it has been declining over the last seven years as production has declined. Especially among older people including the most powerful politicians , habits of clandestine leadership, lack of consultation, resistance and hierarchical command are still visible.

Formal democracy is rather stable, although democracy is far from being consolidated and does not represent a solid positive factor. However, the median age of the population is under 20, and the post-war generation is playing an increasing role in society and is being socialized in a democratic environment. There are also infrastructural deficiencies partly due to poor planning, quality control and maintenance, as well as Indonesian destruction in The majority of the population lives in rural areas and is dependent on subsistence farming.

Public administration is centralized, with little authority or resources devolved to regional or local levels. Timor-Leste is a dual society in which the reality of life in the capital city, exposed to integration in world structures and forms of cosmopolitan life, contrasts sharply with the reality of life across the majority of the country, which is mostly rural and dominated by customary practices.

The urban society has absorbed the international impact of cooperation and a significant number of NGOs testifies to the fact that its civil society is capable of self-organization. However, this fact cannot be generalized to the whole country. It is important to bear in mind that the territory was under Indonesian occupation and mostly cut off from the world for 24 years, with Indonesian occupation ending as recently as The state does recognize the legitimacy of traditional forms of community organization to the extent that community groups do not contravene the constitution or the law.

This arrangement offers space to non-state organizations to persist. Traditionally, participation in civic life was limited, and there was clear discrimination against women and young people. This is being actively challenged by the authorities, for example, through the legislation that frames the elections for community leaders the suco council — or village council — must have at least two female members, one young female member and one male member.

Permanent civil society organizations are weak. The history of Timor-Leste since independence is marked by a few episodes of violence. However, since , the country has been largely peaceful. The conflict was the most serious one since independence. It arose from the mishandling of land after the widespread displacement of people in , the historical roles of the police and the military, factional disputes between political leaders, regional differences, and other factors.

These factors were all magnified by pervasive memories of trauma, which led to tens of thousands of Dili people fleeing their homes. Even so, the homicide rate in Timor-Leste during that crisis was lower than in most major U. There has not been significant political violence, either by the government or the population, for four years.

Religion and ethnicity are not factors of significant conflict. The political elite has alternated between periods of convergence and periods of heated verbal confrontation — all within the constitutional framework for debate.

The last two years have been marked by significant political polarization among the two largest political parties and their supporters. Like the Bible, it is frequently cited by every political party to justify what they intend to do, while nothing is said about the many sections of the plan that are ignored or discarded. Since , under four prime ministers, state budget allocations have favored large infrastructure projects.

Public investment is the engine for those plans and thus public contracts are of critical importance. However, the technical capacity of the state to deal with the complexities of those projects is limited, and this leads to a degree of uncertainty and to possible manipulations in the short term. The capacity to resist lobbying is limited and this is reflected in decision-making that does not always coincide with stated goals.

Because state spending makes up the majority of economic activity, rent-seeking by contractors, employees and pensioners is common. As shown over the last two years, a relatively small contraction in public disbursements has widespread economic effects. The Petroleum Fund is being depleted. Timor-Leste has defined strategic goals and elaborated public policies to respond to them. The fragility of public administration, namely in terms of human resources, implies that the capacity to implement public policies is somewhat limited.

Also, the strategic goals of the government imply a mix of public spending and private investment, and some projections regarding the flow of private investment — namely foreign direct investment — seem to have been overstated, creating additional pressure.

However, the stated priorities of all recent governments — health care, education, water supply and agriculture — are not allocated adequate resources or political power to be implemented effectively. Although lip service is given to economic diversification, governments have yet to develop policies that could move the country in that direction. It is much easier to pay for a few overseas scholarships or to send some well-connected people abroad for health care than it is to build a well-functioning education or health care system, which could serve the entire population.

Other problems with the implementation of public policies stem from the need to develop an entire legal system from scratch after independence. The main objections to the development plan set out by the government criticize the concentration of investment on mega-projects whose feasibility is not assured and the relative sidelining of other priorities e. The life-expectancy of the oil and gas production fields is another point of contention, as underlying projections for the stated goals are disputed for being far too optimistic.

The strategic plan is based on a mix of public and private investment, and compatible with a market economy, although few foreign investors have been interested.

The economic development components of its concept have yet to materialize. Taking into consideration the low levels of experience in the public administration, Timor-Leste has relied on many international advisers since independence, and has sought the support of the international community to foster policy expertise and adopt new forms of organization.

International consultants are a familiar presence in many departments, although their number and influence has dropped significantly over the last few years. As a younger generation has more opportunities to study overseas, the availability of more diverse knowledge is increasing.

When officials travel overseas to visit, for example, petroleum infrastructure projects, they are shown around by the proponents and owners of these projects, and only hear about the positive aspects.

There is little interest or opportunity to learn about the negative social, environmental or community impacts, or about projects that did not meet expectations. This cost is higher than the benefits of the services performed, as there is a lack of efficiency in many public departments.

Recruitment is based on a mix of competitive procedures and clientelistic practices, and a rigid hierarchy often stifles the capacity for the adequate management of human resources. The accountability of civil servants is gradually improving, but accountability of political appointees who head ministries and departments is largely nonexistent, except for those with the power to appoint other political appointees.

The workings of parliamentary life provide for transparency in the development of the state budget after government has proposed it to the parliament although few changes are made at that stage.

There is also good transparency surrounding petroleum revenues. Because of significant income received and saved from exporting fossil fuels, public debt has been kept low, but this could change as oil and gas wealth is depleted. Furthermore, recommendations by the Audit Court regarding state finances and performance are often not implemented. Despite constitutional prescriptions mandating the construction of a multi-level public administration, with local and regional levels of decision-making, Timor-Leste remains a very centralized state.

Regional administration has been inscribed in many government programs, but has so far failed to materialize. The result is that the pyramid of decisions is highly centralized and inefficient. The Timorese government has a difficult task to coordinate conflicting objectives, namely the strategic plan to invest in mega-projects, with significant public spending intended to attract private investment, and the basic needs of a nascent welfare state, which has to build education, health care and social security systems.

The fact that recent governments including the present one include ministers from different political parties offers the possibility of implementing contradictory and incoherent policies, as partisan interests seek to offer clientelistic rewards to their supporters.

The lack of a stable civil service with technical expertise makes it more difficult to obtain adequate coordination. There is a special Anti-corruption Commission.

Its mandate, though, is limited to investigation, with decisions about prosecution and judgment left to other authorities. A number of senior figures, including cabinet members, have been tried, and sometimes convicted and heavily sentenced. However, there is generally a degree of leniency toward well-connected people involved in corruption and prosecution is not always effective. At least one person convicted of corruption fled the country. Although Timor-Leste has been party to the U. Convention Against Corruption since , it has not yet enacted legislation to implement its commitments.

State spending is normally audited by the parliament, which must approve the state accounts for the previous year, as well as by a special audits branch in the Court of Appeals.

However, the capacity and thoroughness of such audits is limited, and their recommendations are often ignored. Party financing is limited to the electoral period and does not attract much regulation.

There is public financing as well as private donations, and reporting requirements are not effectively enforced. Public procurement is regulated by law, but the extent to which it is transparent is not certain, as clientelistic practices often intervene in the process. A public procurement website contains information on most but not all tenders and awards, but it is difficult to use and shows a large percentage of single-source contract awards.

Although civil society organizations and journalists occasionally bring information on corruption to light, this is unusual and the local media rarely undertakes investigative reporting. There is little will, even among opposition political parties, to pursue possible corruption involving high-ranking public officials, their families or cronies. There is broad consensus on the basic tenets of a democratic polity among the political elite, and democracy is working remarkably well for a year-old nation emerging from centuries of foreign autocratic rule and a generation of brutal war.

However, these remain minority voices. Attitudes toward a market economy are somewhat more nuanced. Although there is little government interference in the private sector today, this could change if the private sector grows enough to become a significant part of the economy.

At present, the vast majority of non-subsistence economic activity is driven by state spending, while rent-seeking dominates private sector decisions. In recent years, the first significant non-oil FDI took place a Heineken beer brewery , while another, for a limestone mine and cement processing, had been unable to proceed without significant government investment.

Government policies have favored the emergence of a new entrepreneurial group and small middle-class population, which are linked to the operation of a democratic polity and thus have widened the social basis of democracy, although the rural majority remains largely disempowered.