JakartaPost/AFP-Oct 16
Since emerging from decades of brutal occupation in 2002 on the back of an independence vote 25 years ago, Asia’s youngest nation has made remarkable political strides in its short history. A long the waterfront of Timor Leste’s capital, buzzing restaurants sell local dishes and Portuguese colonial fare facing turquoise waters where the Indonesian military launched an invasion nearly half a century before. Since emerging from decades of brutal occupation in 2002 on the back of an independence vote 25 years ago, Asia’s youngest nation has made remarkable political strides in its short history. “The most successful? National healing, reconciliation, peace and stability,” President Jose Ramos-Horta told AFP in a recent interview at his home in Dili. “There has been tremendous progress.” Independent observers also say the micro-state of 1.3 million stands out as a regional beacon of democracy and press freedom. But the country is fighting new battles on various fronts — a poverty rate above 40 percent, crucial energy reserves that experts say will deplete within years, and a balancing act between Western allies and China. “If you go outside of Dili, you’ll see things have not changed economically much in the last 25 years,” said Charles Scheiner, researcher at Dili-based NGO La’o Hamutuk. “There’s still very high levels of poverty. Child malnutrition is probably one of the worst in the world.” Read more at: https://www.thejakartapost.com/world/2024/10/16/timor-leste-fights-new-battles-25-years-after-independence-vote.html
