East Timor’s oil sector may be pouring more money than ever into state coffers, but the grinding poverty on the dirt streets of the capital underlines the challenge facing whoever emerges as the winner of weekend elections.
The half-island nation went to the polls on Saturday to elect a new president to preside over a country where about half the 1.1 million population lives below the poverty line.
East Timor is the world’s most oil-dependent economy with energy reserves accounting for about 90 percent of state revenue. Although oil and gas have bolstered the treasury — its Petroleum Fund recently swelled to US$10 billion — the majority of the population survive on agriculture, prompting warnings that energy alone is not the solution for Asia’s poorest nation.
In Dili, rains bring mud canals that cut through shantytown neighborhoods of huts slapped together with wooden planks and rusted tin roofs.
Destitute children without a stitch of clothing play in the streets alongside pigs, chickens and stray dogs.
Infrastructure is limited to a few paved roads, a single port and a tiny airport with one baggage carousel. There is no local currency — everything runs on US dollars.
The abject poverty, in a country celebrating its first decade of independence from Indonesia’s 24-year brutal and destructive military occupation, has fueled heated debate about how to use the Petroleum Fund.
East Timorese President Jose Ramos-Horta, a Nobel laureate who is up against 11 other candidates, has promised to prioritize infrastructure, health and education if re-elected.
However, Ramos-Horta’s bid for re-election appeared in doubt yesterday, as he trailed in third place behind an opposition leader and a former army chief with more than 50 percent of votes counted.
The election commission said Francisco Guterres from the main opposition Revolutionary Front for an Independent East Timor was leading with 27.28 percent of the vote, followed by former army chief and guerrilla leader Jose Maria de Vasconcelos with 24.17 percent. Ramos-Horta had 19.43 percent.
The Petroleum Fund, established by the government in 2005 to ensure sustainable use of energy revenues, is invested in US bonds and other assets.
However, the long-term viability of the East Timor’s energy business is contested, with modest exports from offshore fields it shares with Australia compounding concerns that proven reserves are relatively small.
“This is a petrol state without much petrol,” said Charles Scheiner of local independent development organization La’o Hamutuk. “The government must concentrate on agriculture, fishing, tourism and other sustainable industries instead of pouring resources into developing the energy sector, which one day will dry up.”
The organization believes oil and gas will enrich foreign companies and an emerging elite, but leave the rest of the population behind.
Gualdino da Silva, president of the East Timorese National Petroleum Authority, said the fund grew to US$10 billion as of Wednesday.
Most of the money comes from a project in the Timor Sea operated by ConocoPhillips.
East Timor’s hopes of an energy bonanza are pinned to the offshore Greater Sunrise gas and oil field, which is at the heart of a dispute with Australia over which country should receive the gas for refining.
It contains about 1.45 billion cubic meters of dry gas and 225.9 million barrels of condensate, according to Woodside, its Australian operator.
La’o Hamutuk estimates energy reserves from the contested field will generate about US$50 billion over 40 years — even assuming that 70 times more oil and gas are found in the future.
“That is about [US]$1.88 for each citizen for each day,” Scheiner said. “Petroleum is not a solution to East Timor’s future problems.”
Meanwhile, full provisional results from the election are scheduled to be announced today. The top two finishers will contest a run-off in the middle of next month.
Republican US lawmakers on Friday criticized US President Joe Biden’s administration after sanctioned Chinese telecoms equipment giant Huawei unveiled a laptop this week powered by an Intel artificial intelligence (AI) chip. The US placed Huawei on a trade restriction list in 2019 for contravening Iran sanctions, part of a broader effort to hobble Beijing’s technological advances. Placement on the list means the company’s suppliers have to seek a special, difficult-to-obtain license before shipping to it. One such license, issued by then-US president Donald Trump’s administration, has allowed Intel to ship central processors to Huawei for use in laptops since 2020. China hardliners
Conjoined twins Lori and George Schappell, who pursued separate careers, interests and relationships during lives that defied medical expectations, died this month in Pennsylvania, funeral home officials said. They were 62. The twins, listed by Guinness World Records as the oldest living conjoined twins, died on April 7 at the Hospital of the University of Pennsylvania, obituaries posted by Leibensperger Funeral Homes of Hamburg said. The cause of death was not detailed. “When we were born, the doctors didn’t think we’d make 30, but we proved them wrong,” Lori said in an interview when they turned 50, the Philadelphia Inquirer reported. The
RAMPAGE: A Palestinian man was left dead after dozens of Israeli settlers searching for a missing 14-year-old boy stormed a village in the Israeli-occupied West Bank US President Joe Biden on Friday said he expected Iran to attack Israel “sooner, rather than later” and warned Tehran not to proceed. Asked by reporters about his message to Iran, Biden simply said: “Don’t,” underscoring Washington’s commitment to defend Israel. “We are devoted to the defense of Israel. We will support Israel. We will help defend Israel and Iran will not succeed,” he said. Biden said he would not divulge secure information, but said his expectation was that an attack could come “sooner, rather than later.” Israel braced on Friday for an attack by Iran or its proxies as warnings grew of
A prominent Christian leader has allegedly been stabbed at the altar during a Mass yesterday in southwest Sydney. Bishop Mar Mari Emmanuel was saying Mass at Christ The Good Shepherd Church in Wakeley just after 7pm when a man approached him at the altar and allegedly stabbed toward his head multiple times. A live stream of the Mass shows the congregation swarm forward toward Emmanuel before it was cut off. The church leader gained prominence during the COVID-19 pandemic, amassing a large online following, Officers attached to Fairfield City police area command attended a location on Welcome Street, Wakeley following reports a number