A Day in Dili

8am: We at the World Bank are in discussion ahead of a meeting planned that morning with Timor-Leste’s Prime Minister, Xanana Gusmao. The quiet of the local Coffee Shop is punctured by the sound of sirens. A police car speeds by; an ambulance; and another and another again.

 

Someone mentions they’d heard gunfire – not uncommon around Dili – a little earlier that morning near the President’s compound. The discussion of public finance management is cut short by the stunning news that President, Jose Ramos-Horta, has been shot. So many questions: when, where, by whom? How bad is he? Where is he now? Has anyone else been shot?

 

The answer to that last question casts a shocking situation into an altogether more perilous one: yes; Major Alfredo Reinado: the rebel soldier on the run for more than year; a man whose revolutionary appeal has won him a following amongst the young, the disaffected. He is dead.

 

At the World Bank office the staff are wondering what it all means? Rumours are rife. But they know they can head home to take care of their families and bring them back to our compound if they want to. They did this during the chaos of 2006. But work goes on. The front gate, normally open in daylight hours, is locked. Just down the road is a camp of internally displaced people, just one of many housing the homeless, the hungry and fearful in Dili. How will they react? How much support did Reinado have?

 

The development community, the United Nations and others call a security briefing. The international media is interested; they want comment. I am a conduit for that – I wear a new hat now: Senior Communications Officer for the World Bank. My instinct is to head for the streets to interview people: but that is not what I do now.

 

This is my first trip to Timor-Leste with the World Bank. The last time I was here was 2006, then with CNN. The country was in turmoil then too. Looting, arson, bashings; gangs roamed the streets. And Reinado was at large. I had his phone number and made contact, my crew and I traveled to his mountain hideaway. There I met a cocky man; Travis Bickle (De Niro: taxi Driver) style Mohawk hair cut; AK-47 across his chest. He told me he would not surrender; he reveled in his image as a modern revolutionary.

 

Just yesterday I went back to the same mountain retreat with World Bank Country Director. We met a youth group telling us how frustrated they are. They have no jobs; no money; the Church gives them hope where politicians do not. And they talked of Major Alfredo Reinado; in his struggle they saw their struggle.

 

A renegade soldier, his men had fired on Australian troops; a man wanted for court martial. In this the young of Timor-Leste see themselves? Such is the confusion; the desperation in this young nation.

 

At a conference in Darwin just last week, I heard from Timor-watchers how fragile the country is. The speakers told of how the rural poor have lost faith in the ideal of independence. They painted a picture of a country divided between east and west; between urban and rural; they wondered at the country’s resource wealth and why that didn’t buy better health, housing and education. They saw a country teetering on collapse and chaos.

 

There is another story though. Timor-Leste has overseen a credible, relatively safe handover of power. This is more than many countries ever achieve. Since the election last year the government has spent over 50 percent of its transitional budget; a better performance than anything in the past. Parliament and prepared and passed a realistic budget for 2008. This year is being positioned as a year of reform and of rapid delivery of services to those who so desperately need them; who need to believe in a better life. The World Bank is playing a crucial role in this process helping government focus its efforts, developing programs for youth, and the unemployed, and working closely with others like Australia whose presence here is so crucial.

 

This day in Timor started with a discussion of how we can get the budget spent on the right things and quickly. We were interrupted by the news of a political assassination attempt and the killing of a rebel. The headlines will tell of trouble; but behind the headlines is another story – a tougher one to tell; a story of the hard graft of nation building. It is a story not only of rebels or gunfights but the less spectacular issues of governance and transparency and budgets. We started the day with a discussion of public finance management; amidst the violence it’s important that Timor-Leste has that discussion again tomorrow.