East Timor is Southwest Pacific, not Southeast Asia
It's been quite some time since I last posted to this blog.
Many reasons, many excuses.
And a lot of things have happened.
Finally Mari Alkatiri stepped down as East Timorese Prime Minister and replaced by none-other-than Jose Ramos-Horta, the so-called Nobel Prize Winner by news wire agencies. It's quite a pity that the agencies now seldom say anything -- if any -- about former Dili Bishop, Carlos Felipe Ximenes Belo. I think the bishop was quite ambitious to lead the tiny, impoverished country.
As I have suspected, Ramos-Horta made the application to join ASEAN. He was the one who bluntly said in 1999 -- right after the referendum showed two-third East Timorese wanted to secede from Indonesia, thanks to UNAMET -- that East Timor had no intention to join ASEAN as the territory, err the country was not an Asian, not a Southeast Asian.
Ramos-Horta said the territory-turn-country was part of the bigger Melanesian tribe of Southwest Pacific countries. I wonder if all the East Timorese leaderships and elite could really identify themselves with being Pacific and not Portugues....
As live is getting harder and harder in East Timor, Ramos-Harta had to take his words back and turn to ASEAN. Why? Well, most of the countries and territories are so small and impoverished except for Australia, New Zealand and Papua New Guinea. In reality, it is Australia and New Zealand who have become the lifeline for most of the countries and territories. Oh ya, and the U.S. also have some protectorates and territories here and there.
So, being blackmailed by Australia -- the one who "liberated" East Timor -- over the oil deposit in Timor Gap, East Timor had no other place to go except to ASEAN as a leverage. Most of East Timor's basic supplies still come from.... Indonesia.
Many believed that Alkatiri was dumped by the Aussies for being "ungrateful" luring investors as far as China and former colonizer Portugal insted those Down Under.
I wonder if the laymen in East Timor now (starting to) think it is better to live under Indonesian rule instead of becoming a sovereigned country. Just like many Indonesians who think it is still better to live under Soeharto and his Orde Baru regime instead of having Reformasi.
Any clue?
Many reasons, many excuses.
And a lot of things have happened.
Finally Mari Alkatiri stepped down as East Timorese Prime Minister and replaced by none-other-than Jose Ramos-Horta, the so-called Nobel Prize Winner by news wire agencies. It's quite a pity that the agencies now seldom say anything -- if any -- about former Dili Bishop, Carlos Felipe Ximenes Belo. I think the bishop was quite ambitious to lead the tiny, impoverished country.
As I have suspected, Ramos-Horta made the application to join ASEAN. He was the one who bluntly said in 1999 -- right after the referendum showed two-third East Timorese wanted to secede from Indonesia, thanks to UNAMET -- that East Timor had no intention to join ASEAN as the territory, err the country was not an Asian, not a Southeast Asian.
Ramos-Horta said the territory-turn-country was part of the bigger Melanesian tribe of Southwest Pacific countries. I wonder if all the East Timorese leaderships and elite could really identify themselves with being Pacific and not Portugues....
As live is getting harder and harder in East Timor, Ramos-Harta had to take his words back and turn to ASEAN. Why? Well, most of the countries and territories are so small and impoverished except for Australia, New Zealand and Papua New Guinea. In reality, it is Australia and New Zealand who have become the lifeline for most of the countries and territories. Oh ya, and the U.S. also have some protectorates and territories here and there.
So, being blackmailed by Australia -- the one who "liberated" East Timor -- over the oil deposit in Timor Gap, East Timor had no other place to go except to ASEAN as a leverage. Most of East Timor's basic supplies still come from.... Indonesia.
Many believed that Alkatiri was dumped by the Aussies for being "ungrateful" luring investors as far as China and former colonizer Portugal insted those Down Under.
I wonder if the laymen in East Timor now (starting to) think it is better to live under Indonesian rule instead of becoming a sovereigned country. Just like many Indonesians who think it is still better to live under Soeharto and his Orde Baru regime instead of having Reformasi.
Any clue?
posted by novski | 5:53 PM
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