East Timor goes to the polls today to pick a new president, with voters in the tiny country to choose between Nobel Peace Prize winner Jose Ramos-Horta and an ex-fighter who spent years in the jungle battling Indonesian rule.
Ramos-Horta and Fransisco "Lu-Olo" Guterres have both pledged to accept the results of the vote, which many in Asia's newest country hope will herald a new era of peace and stability following an often violent and politically divisive year.
"I will honor the result if Lu-Olo wins," said Ramos-Horta, who is the acting prime minister. "My obligation is to stand behind him and support him, in whatever way I can," said the 57-year-old who speaks five languages.
The vote follows balloting last month that did not produce an outright winner.
Most analysts see Ramos-Horta -- who fled East Timor during the occupation to became the international face of its freedom movement -- as the favorite, especially since five losing candidates in the first round of voting are urging their supporters to back him.
But Guterres, 52, is backed by Fretilin, the political party of the nation's former armed resistance to Jakarta's rule.
It traditionally has strong support across the country and a powerful party machine.
"I believe we will win [the] election," Guterres said, adding he would "work with anyone who becomes president."
East Timor broke free from 24 years of often brutal Indonesian rule in 1999 following a violence-plagued independence referendum. The bloodshed only stopped with the arrival of international peacekeepers.
The country was administered by the UN until 2002, and descended into chaos last year after then-prime minister Mari Alkatiri fired a third of the army following a mutiny, provoking gunbattles between rival security forces that spiraled into gang warfare and looting.
At least 37 people were killed and some 155,000 fled their homes before the government collapsed. A 1,200-strong Australian-led peacekeeping force has since restored order and, along with a similar-sized contingent of UN police officers, now provides national security.
Supporters of rival candidates clashed in the run-up to the first vote, but campaigning this time around has been peaceful.
"We are satisfied that there's enough security in place to guarantee that East Timorese will vote in a safe manner," Finn Reske-Nielsen, deputy head of the UN mission in the country, said late on Monday.
Ramos-Horta has pledged to make it easier for foreign investors to do business in the desperately poor country and said the UN and international troops would be welcome to stay in the country for many years.
"Ramos-Horta is the best person for this position," said Joana Brandao-Carmo, who has been living in a refugee camp since last year's violence. "He can be the ears, the eyes and the mouth of poor people like me."
Guterres spent the Indonesian occupation in the jungles and mountains of the country, battling in a war that killed more than 100,000 people, either in fighting or from starvation and disease linked to the conflict.
By 1999, he was the most senior resistance leader in the country.
Though traditionally left-leaning, Guterres has shown no sign he will steer the country away from the freemarket course it has taken since independence.
"Even though he is not well educated like Ramos-Horta, he has a clear program for people like me," 24-year-old Nelson de Sousa said. "In his last 10 months as prime minister, Ramos-Horta has been unable to ensure the return of refugees to their homes. All he has given us is empty promises."
The pledge by Japanese Prime Minister Sanae Takaichi to “work, work, work, work and work” for her country has been named the catchphrase of the year, recognizing the effort Japan’s first female leader had to make to reach the top. Takaichi uttered the phrase in October when she was elected as head of the ruling Liberal Democratic Party (LDP). Many were initially as worried about her work ethic as supportive of her enthusiasm. In a country notorious for long working hours, especially for working women who are also burdened with homemaking and caregiving, overwork is a sensitive topic. The recognition triggered a
Tropical Storm Koto killed three people and left another missing as it approached Vietnam, authorities said yesterday, as strong winds and high seas buffeted vessels off the country’s flood-hit central coast. Heavy rains have lashed Vietnam’s middle belt in recent weeks, flooding historic sites and popular holiday destinations, and causing hundreds of millions of dollars in damage. Authorities ordered boats to shore and diverted dozens of flights as Koto whipped up huge waves and dangerous winds, state media reported. Two vessels sank in the rough seas, a fishing boat in Khanh Hoa province and a smaller raft in Lam Dong, according to the
‘HEART IS ACHING’: Lee appeared to baffle many when he said he had never heard of six South Koreans being held in North Korea, drawing criticism from the families South Korean President Lee Jae-myung yesterday said he was weighing a possible apology to North Korea over suspicions that his ousted conservative predecessor intentionally sought to raise military tensions between the war-divided rivals in the buildup to his brief martial law declaration in December last year. Speaking to reporters on the first anniversary of imprisoned former South Korean president Yoon Suk-yeol’s ill-fated power grab, Lee — a liberal who won a snap presidential election following Yoon’s removal from office in April — stressed his desire to repair ties with Pyongyang. A special prosecutor last month indicted Yoon and two of his top
The Philippines deferred the awarding of a project that is part of a plan to build one of the world’s longest marine bridges after local opposition over the potential involvement of a Chinese company due to national security fears. The proposals are “undergoing thorough review” by the Asian Development Bank (ADB), which acts as a lender and an overseer of the project to ensure it meets international environmental and governance standards, the Philippine Department of Public Works and Highways said in a statement on Monday in response to queries from Bloomberg. The agency said it would announce the winning bidder once ADB
RSS