LegiStorm

Summary:

Timor-Leste (also known as East Timor), is one of the world’s youngest nation-states, having gained its independence from Indonesia on May 20, 2002. The United States and the U.S. Congress have lent significant support to the new nation’s efforts to provide stability, economic prosperity, and democratic governance. Timor-Leste’s independence ended more than three centuries of foreign rule, including over 300 years of Portuguese rule followed by 24 years of Indonesian control. Following a 1999 nationwide referendum that supported independence, paramilitary militias supported by elements of the Indonesian military killed around 1,300 Timorese and displaced nearly 500,000. Today, with a population of 1.5 million, Timor-Leste is one of the world’s poorest nations, although it has made progress in many social development indicators over the past 25 years. Timor-Leste also has made considerable strides in building stability and democratic institutions, although it continues to face challenges in consolidating its democracy. The nation’s 2012 presidential and parliamentary elections, conducted peacefully as a U.N. peacekeeping mission prepared to leave the country, were widely seen as a turning point in Timor-Leste’s development. Subsequent elections have seen high voter participation, with many international observers describing them as largely free and fair. However, the country frequently has been led by weak and unstable political coalitions, leading to periodic stages of political stalemate and crisis. Although Timor-Leste has the youngest and fastest growing population in Asia, young Timorese are underrepresented in the political sphere, as the dominant parties remain led by a small group of leaders who were part of the country’s independence movement. The most powerful political figures in Timor-Leste remain Xanana Gusmão and José Ramos-Horta, both veterans of the independence struggle and both in their 70s. In 2022, Ramos-Horta, leader of the National Congress for Timorese Reconstruction (CNRT) party, won the presidency with 62% of the vote in a runoff election. Ramos-Horta, who won the Nobel Peace Prize in 1996 as an exiled leader of the independence movement and previously served as President from 2007 to 2012, took office in May 2022. (The Presidency traditionally has held relatively little formal authority, although some Presidents—notably Gusmão, Timor-Leste’s influential “founding father” who served as President from 2002 to 2007—have used it to exert considerable informal authority.) In July 2023, Gusmão became Prime Minister for the second time, having served in that role from 2007 to 2015. Gusmão’s strategic plan focuses on reducing poverty, increasing employment, and improving health outcomes. Timor-Leste’s economy is deeply dependent on energy resources in the Timor Sea. Oil generates substantial revenues managed in a Petroleum Fund, from which the government can withdraw a limited amount of funds annually. The fund’s balance stood at $18.2 billion as of December 2023. The issue of how deeply to tap the fund’s reserves for infrastructure development is hotly debated in Timor-Leste. Previous governments have broadened the scope of fund investments to include large-scale infrastructure and human capital projects, while opponents alleged the government was spending unsustainably. The World Bank projects that without significant change TimorLeste could experience a budgetary catastrophe in the next 10 years. However, this could potentially be avoided by diversifying the economy and developing the Greater Sunrise hydrocarbon gas fields located 150 kilometers south of Timor-Leste. U.S. congressional concerns focus on internal security, human rights, and the development of democratic institutions. The House Democracy Partnership (HDP) initiated a Timor-Leste program in 2006 that has managed training programs for Timorese legislators, and assisted with the building of a parliamentary library and the improvement of information technology in the Timorese parliament. HDP has organized six Congressional Delegations to Timor-Leste, and organized a series of seminars and training programs aimed at helping Timorese legislative staff learn about the legislative process.