Ready to be anything

by Larry Teo

WILL Timor Leste be freed of all foreign controls and stand proudly one day among the countries of Asean and the world?

Or will its economy go down once the United Nations, or even Australian assistance, pulls out?

Whatever social occasion I was in — except at the birthday party of Timor Leste's president — these same questions about Asia’s newest country were always put to me by a non-Timorese midway in a get-to-know-you conversation.

President Horta (left) and Prime Minister Gusmao in mutual bantering guests at the former's birthday party on Dec 26 at the presidential residence.
ST PHOTO: Larry Teo

I flew in to Dili a day after Christmas as one of eight Singaporeans or PRs invited to President José Ramos-Horta's party and I must say the first sight of Timor Leste’s international airport was depressing.

Though I had been to less developed places, they were for vacation. Presidente Nicolau Lobato Airport is in such rudimentary state, including having to pen down my particulars at the Immigration, that I believed Timor Leste would have little to interest a media person.

After all, the mechanics of building a nation from scratch could never be more exciting than the tales of independence struggles. And those tales stopped in 2002.

The repeated failures to set up a private interview with the president sealed the feeling that nothing substantive would get done here.

First, a presidential lunch specially arranged for the Singapore guests did not materialise as we missed the appointed location by more than 100 kilometres after being chauffeured eastward along the coast to the wrong venue — Mr Ramos-Horta's recreational villa.

That was due to some miscommunication. Thankfully, the breathtaking coastal and mountain views more than compensated for the roller-coaster journey that ended with some self-paid village fare for lunch instead of a sumptuous feast.

Reminder of Timor Leste's Portuguese origin, although this huge statue of Jesus Christ that looks over the Timorese in Areia Branca in Dili was ordered built by President Suharto after Indonesia seized the former Portuguese colony in 1975. It resembles the one in Rio de Janeiro. Areia Branca, a sheltered cove, is where the best-known beaches of Timor Leste can be found.

More incredible was that the president's villa had been demolished for some time. What greeted us were the stumps of some pillars on a virtually empty yard filled with charred remains.

Then while travelling back to Dili, we ran into the president, his family and his escort on a narrow desolate path next to a cliff.

Mr Ramos-Horta came down from his car to shake our hands and said earnestly he would meet us at dinner. That did not work out too, probably because he could not make it in time back to Dili.

The next morning I was wakened from a deep sleep to be told the president had sent for me and others for a media chat. Even though I washed up with boot-camp speed, I was still too slow for the president's men, who left impatiently without me.

For someone from Singapore, all this must seem unbelievable, for which statesman at home would be so immoderately casual towards the media to the point of being, yes, slipshod? They are wary of incurring bad press.

But soon it hit me that I had been too harsh on this place. After all, Timor Leste was still ruled as a remote backwater by Jakarta some ten years ago.

Since then it has been struggling to become a modern state, but without a sound governmental framework such as that we inherited from the British to start with.

My enlightenment came from the Chinese, Japanese and Singaporean businessmen who came here in hopes of grabbing a fortune home.

These are admirable souls, braving the political uncertainties of this former Portuguese colony and later subdued land of the Indonesians.

For now they have only inefficiency to contend with, not competitors, but they are ready to roll with the punches.

"This place would be superb for investment if it could be more generous and open like Singapore and China," said Singapore businessman Steven Ong with enthusiasm.

"You can't attract long-term investments if foreign businesses can only plan on a year-by-year basis. That point has yet to dawn on the officials here," added the machine dealer.

"Timor Leste ought to reduce its dependence on UN and Australian assistance and diversify their options. As things stand now, it would certainly sink if these slip away overnight," said a Japanese engineer surnamed Akatsuka.

Enterprising spirits like Mr Ong and Mr Akatsuka are vigorous reminders that under Timor Leste's languid surface lurk boundless opportunities that could make or break many a venture. And how its history would unfold forward depends on the government's policies and character.

The presence of the Chinese is another reminder. No Singaporean would not be struck by the Chinese embassy building with its grand facade and the numberless Chinese restaurants, karaoke and mini-marts that line some parts of downtown Dili.

As hotel manager Li Mengxi, from Fujian Province of China, put it: "This is a place which could go up or down, and the bolder among the Chinese would think it’s worth a bet."

At the president's party, the 60-year-old birthday "boy" cut a spunky and burly figure although just 22 months ago he was badly injured in an assassination attempt.

Under the rain-filled canvas, the president, who is of Portuguese descent and has sharp South European looks, was mobbed not just by dignitaries, but also apparently indigent Timorese of all ages.

You may call that populism, but the informality did not look faked and newcomers might guess, rightly or wrongly, that egalitarianism is ingrained in the Timorese culture.

To my mind the intermingling sincerely reflects the sociopolitical agenda of the president and his even-more-famous prime minister Xanana Gusmão.

That this half of an island nation where many could speak Bahasa Indonesia, Portuguese, English and the native tongue of Tetum with different levels of efficiency, is to be forged into a harmonious multi-ethnic, multi-lingual polity with few class differences.

Another turbo-charged South-east Asian economy in the making?

Or destined to be trapped in the slumbers of the South Pacific?

Or a Latin remnant with equal affections for the Pope and the likes of Che Guevara?

Timor Leste can be any or all.

Who will say this land of many faces is uninteresting, if prejudices are left behind at its uninspiring airport?