(A version of this article has been published in Green Left Weekly newspaper)
The Presidential election campaign is now officially underway in East Timor. Voting will be held on April 9. Max Lane spoke by phone with Avelino Coelho, Secretary-General of the Socialist Party of Timor (PST) and one of the Presidential candidates.
ML: During the first days of the campaign and your campaign meetings what issues are people raising with you?
AVELINO: Yes, we have visited several towns already where we have organised rallies and other meetings. The language issue is important and people are responding strongly. I am opposing the use of Portugeuse as the national language and arguing that Tetun be both the national and official working language, Indonesian can be a back-up working language, as stated in the constitution but Tetun must be the national language,
ML: Why is this so important?
AVELINO: It combines two things. The big issue of the urgent need for Timorese to win back pride, to start defending and developing their own national character. We are more and more dependent on foreigners for everything and are losing any sense of national integrity. We have to develop the language that the people speak. Bit at the same time it is a very pressing concrete issue. People are being discriminated against, especially as regards jobs, because they don’t speak Portugeuse. People who fought long and hard against the military occupation and can’t speak Portuguese – they speak Tetun and Indonesian – can’t get jobs.
ML: And this gets a bigger response than economic issues?
AVELINO: The economic situation is a big issue too, but they are tied together, the need to develop a strong independent character for the nation and the struggle to get out of the economic crisis that the government has created. Apart from employment, rice is the other issue. It is still very expensive and hard to get. There are queues for people to get rice despite the fact that we have more than enough land to grow a lot of rice. This is a failure of the Alkatiri and Horta governments.
ML: How are you finding campaigning?
AVELINO: It is hard. Unlike others, we have little money. Our party is a party of the poor and the youth. There is no media that reaches outside of the capital, Dili. There is TV in Dili but not outside. So we have to travel. I have invitations from groups in every single district of East Timor, to go there and speak. But we won’t be able to do that. It costs money for petrol and for cars. We will have to be selective on where we go.
ML: So how have things gone on your visits?
AVELINO: Where the PST has been doing work and where we have had time to prepare, we have had some good turnouts. A few days ago in Ossu we had a town gathering where 7,000 people turned up – ion a town of 9,700. FRETILIN did a rally around the same time and got 1,200, using over 40 trucks to bring in people from outside. In Viqueque there were about a 1,000. In Manututu, there was less preparation time and we got about 500. We have done quite a few visits in the Bacau region. Not always big gatherings, sometimes visit to people in the rice fields and at work.
ML: And what about the other campaigns, by Horta or Lu’olo from FRETILIN?
AVELINO: To be honest, I can’t really say. I have been visiting the villages and towns. And there is no media here, so I don’t hear much about what others are doing. We don’t come across each other. But I don’t think Horta has attracted more than 400 people at his meetings, Where there are rallies, there on different days. And there have been no debates. Occasionally, we may have some contact at a rally. On March 28, for example, in Vemasse, in Bacau district, we held a rally of about 1,000 people. A truck turned up with about five youth in it shouting “FRETILIN will win!” They confronted our people and started shouting for the rally to disband. They tried to provoke a fight but didn’t succeed.
ML: Why no debates?
AVELINO: There have been some invitations for debates between candidates, for example from the university students on campus, but Horta and Luolo have declined. So they don’t usually happen or they are attended just by some of the other candidates. Horta and Lu’olo, I think, are relying a lot on symbols.
ML: Such as?
AVELINO: In Dili, for example, there are colour posters everywhere with a picture of Horta receiving the Nobel prize alongside Bishop Belo. He wants to give the impression that he is supported by the Catholic Church. I heard even there may be posters with his photo when he was meeting the Pope. But the Church has stayed neutral so far.
ML: And FRETILIN?
AVELINO: I think they are worried about Lu’olo’s national profile and popularity. They have been pushing for something which we think is not legal, under the current law. They want the FRETILIN flag to appear next to Lu’olo’s name on the ballot paper. FRETILIN more and more relies on the historical myth of its past. But under the current constitution, presidential candidates are not nominated as party nominations. They are supposed to be nominated as individuals, by at least 5,000 people. I protested this move by FRETILIN at a meeting with the President a while ago.
ML: So your campaign is not actually a PST campaign?
AVELINO: In fact, there are different people getting involved helping us. We are pleased about that. The last round of campaigning will be focussed in Dili. We are hoping to attract over 10,000 people at our election rally there. We will press home our case that the government has failed.
ML: And what about the Australian and foreign military presence? The last time we spoke you called on the Australian military not to take sides in the internal conflicts. Has that become an issue in the campaign?
AVELINO: No, the foreign military presence has not generated any big negative impacts so far.