UNMISET Daily Press Review

Compiled by the Public Information Office from national and international sources

Daily Media Review Monday, 27 December 2004

Timor-Leste Alliance for international tribunal letter to UNSG

In response to the governments of Timor-Leste and Indonesia to establish a Truth and Friendship Commission, members of the Timor-Leste National Alliance for International Tribunal addressed a letter to UN Secretary-General Kofi Annan. The letter is in support of Annan's efforts to ensure justice for the victims of the crimes against humanity in Timor-Leste, by bringing the perpetrators to justice. (East Timor Action Network) Please access the following link for full contents of the letter: English PDF version: http://www.jsmp.minihub.org/Statements/21dec04_Alliance_timor(e).pdf

PM Alkatiri: Timor-Leste should be confident of the UN

PM Alkatiri stated that the government of Timor-Leste and its people should be confident of the UN regarding the 1999 human rights violations, particularly in processing the perpetrators. The Prime Minister added that apart from the 1999 human rights violations, it is also because of UN assistance that Timor-Leste is a free and independent country. He also informed the media that the trial process against 1999 perpetrators of human rights violations is one of the main subjects that the UN and the International community are addressing. (STL)

Clementino Amaral: Government does not Govern according to the people's will

In assessing the work of the current Government over the last two and a half years, KOTA party Representative Clementino Amaral told the media last Thursday that the Government indeed runs its administration but it does not do so in accordance with the people's desire for quick performance.

Amaral stressed that in the political sector for example, the Government appeared to stunt the growth of other political parties. In his views, in the economic sector, there seemed to be zero progress because people continue to be poorer and poorer after independence. Meanwhile, MP Rui Menezes of the Democratic Party said that reality shows that the Government has done something. However, Menezes said, the people at the grassroots level have not felt the presence of the Govermment's activities. He noted that the Government only explained what it would do through its open governance programme but it has not guaranteed or carried out what it offered the people. (STL)

Rui Menezes : Political parties have not carried out Political Education

MP Rui Menezes of the Democratic Party told the media last Thursday that political parties have not carried out political education well, effectively and efficiently at the grassroots level. This, he said, was due to the fact that each political party faces problems. They lack means to carry out their work, he added.

In another article Menezes was quoted as saying that political parties should prepare themselves not only when there are elections but they should consolidate internally by providing political education to their members. In so doing, he said, they would understand the ideology of the party as well as its political programmes, adding that the people would understand that political difference is not a way for division but for competition in the democratic process. (STL)