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by JONATHAN
HEAD
Optimism as Timor Leste votes
Dili: The sun is brutally hot at this
time of year in Timor Leste, so everything – including voting –
gets done early in the morning.
Still, as I made my way to a polling station at 6.30am, I wondered
how this election would compare with the extraordinary scenes we
witnessed nearly eight years ago.
Then, the people of Timor
Leste were given their first chance to vote freely, in the
referendum which led to their independence from Indonesian rule.
The crowds waiting outside polling stations back then were huge.
The desperate desire to take part in that historic vote was
extraordinarily moving.
Independence has been a great disappointment to many, but the
crowds waiting to vote in the warm, dawn light for the first
presidential election since full independence in 2002 were still
impressive.
The visible international presence certainly helped.
There were times over the past year when it seemed unlikely Timor
Leste could hold any election, and many voters expressed their
fears about another breakdown in security, like the collapse of
order they witnessed in the capital, Dili, last April.
But Australian and New Zealand troops are still here, maintaining
the peace, and special Portuguese riot police are taking a tough
line against the gangs of youths who have been responsible for
much of the destruction in
Dili.
The United Nations has significantly strengthened its mission, and
is helping to run this election – an implicit admission that it
blundered five years ago when it started winding down after Timor
Leste’s declaration of independence, insisting the world’s
youngest country should stand on its own feet as soon as possible.
I consistently heard two kinds of sentiments from voters, one
encouraging, the other very worrying.
Time and again people expressed their enthusiasm for the election,
a touching belief that voting for a new president is an almost
magical process that will somehow help ease the tensions which now
grip the country.
Turnout was high because people who were so long denied the
freedom to vote still cherish it.
But the other sentiment I heard a lot this time was one of
suspicion and fear, a conviction that trouble lies ahead.
Timorese society is now recognised as a scarred and traumatised
one from its tragic past, and fears are easily blown out of
proportion.
The thousands of people who still will not leave the miserable
camps dotted around Dili and go home are testimony to that.
But that is what makes the climate of intense insecurity here so
dangerous.
The old historical enmities that have opened up over the past year
now run very deep, with many Timorese convinced that their rivals
will resort to force to resolve their quarrels.
The fact that so many guns were allowed to leak into the civilian
population during last year’s crisis only reinforces that
conviction.
The political leadership is not helping.
Some of the eight candidates contesting this election have spent
the campaign throwing charges of manipulation and intimidation
against their opponents, despite the assessment from independent
monitors that any such incidents will not affect the outcome.
Some have made grand promises to the people that seem impossible
from the relatively powerless office of the president.
There has been little talk of co-operation and compromise.
And the parliamentary elections due later this year are likely to
be contested far more fiercely.
For now, the voters of Timor Leste retain their faith in their
democracy, but for how much longer?
They have seen little visible development, and they remain at the
very bottom of the world ranking of poor countries.
They have seen plenty of violence and some disastrous
decision-making by their political leaders.
They will surely need to see some good news soon if they are to
keep turning out to vote in such impressive numbers. – BBC
 
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