Comments on: Of guns and constitutions

By: Gary

Gary — Mon, 29 May 2006 05:22:37 +0000

“What I was concerned about was whether Canberra had an agenda of its own.”

Well I hope so after all who do they represent?

By: Rob

Rob — Sat, 27 May 2006 12:16:13 +0000

East Timor’s finding out the hard way that independence is no bed of roses.

ET has for years now shown signs of systemic instability and corruption.

Its basic problem is that it is a non-viable nation state. Half a small island – plus the Oecussi enclave – bang in the middle of the Indonesian archipelago, clinging to its colonial past, led by people like Alktiri who spent the years of occupation in Mozambique (another ex-Portuguese colony and basket case). (I agree Ramos Horta is an exception.)

East Timor should have been part of Indonesia since its post-war inception as a nation. Many thanks to the Portuguese, who refused to return their colonies when the Dutch did.INot until the ovethrow of the fascist regime in Lisbon did they change their minds – and then disengaged fromtheir colonies with indecent haste, forgetting that, as the Europe’s worst colonisers, they had not nurtured an educated middle class capable of taking over when they pulled out.

Hard reality: East Timor will be a perpetual beggar state, inherently broken-backed and dependent on Australia. Did we really do such a good deed bringing them on to independence? I wonder.

By: Mark Bahnisch

Mark Bahnisch — Sat, 27 May 2006 01:56:33 +0000

I don’t agree with Mark Bahnisch that this would be unacceptable interference in East Timor’s affairs

Ken, I think you’re placing too strong a construction on my comment. I certainly have no objection to negotiations which might lead to peace. What I was concerned about was whether Canberra had an agenda of its own.

By: Ken Parish

Ken Parish — Fri, 26 May 2006 23:16:02 +0000

Ramos Horta would be better in that AFAIK he’s scrupulously honest. Mind you, I don’t think Alkatiri is corrupt with a capital C, he just has a high level of tolerance of it in his close cronies. However there are two problems with Ramos Horta. He’s just as administratively incompetent as Alkatiri, and he’d rather strut the international stage than do the hard slog of running the country.

By: Scott Wickstein

Scott Wickstein — Fri, 26 May 2006 14:25:30 +0000

This is exactly the sort of imbroglio that the Jakarta lobby warned us off. The Oz today reprinted some of Richard Woolcott’s preachings from his auto-biography along these lines.

Be that as it may, and I do agree that Australian blood may well be spilled, I still think it’s a lot better for East Timor to have a chance to sort out these matters while Australian troops hold the ring. When Indonesia ran Timor, things were rather more gruesome.

I must admit I’m a bit dismayed by your view that Alkatiri is the best that East Timor can come up with as a PM. I don’t know much of the ins and outs but surely Ramos-Horta couldn’t be worse?