A visit to our near-neighbour – Timor-Leste (East Timor)

In the first week of July, Bill Richmond took a small group of people on a MindVentures visit to Timor-Leste. They were based in the capital, Dili, for five nights and through a program of meetings and visits learnt as much about the country and its people as is possible in a short visit. Is it on your short list? Now Dili is not your traditional tourist destination, but today we’ll look at what it does have to offer… and the pros and cons of this close tropical destination…

• The country is poor, having been a Portuguese colony for centuries and a province of Indonesia for 25 years. It only became independent in 2002, after increasing resistance to domination by other countries.

• Despite this, there are some high standard hotels, restaurants and facilities. Visiting the country can be a comfortable (yet still relatively inexpensive) experience.

• The country along the north coast to both the west and east of Dili is beautiful and spectacular, as is the hinterland – the mountains rise up quite close to Dili. We visited the towns of Liquica to the west, Baucau to the east, and the Australian War Memorial at Dare just inland from Dili and high up in the hills, affording expansive views of the city and the harbour.

• The resistance movement and the harshness of Indonesian rule are well documented in the Resistance Museum in Dili (get an English-speaking guide if you can) and at the Chega! Exhibition at the former Comarca prison where many in the resistance movement were interred. (The word Chega is Portuguese for ‘no more, stop, enough’, the reaction of many to the actions of their Indonesian rulers and the Timorese who aided and abetted them.) Again a guide is worth having.

• Despite the oppression and harm suffered by many Timorese during the decades of Indonesian ‘occupation’ (as many like to put it) and the destruction of property and life as the Indonesians departed in 1999, many look back on the ‘Indonesian years’ as ones of more significant material improvement than had occurred for centuries before under Portuguese rule. Half the present population grew up, and learned to read and write, speaking Bahasa. The language (even though it has official status only as a ‘working language’) is widely spoken. Many younger people are concerned more with their future rather than the past and look to Indonesia with less ill-will than one might expect.

• The economy of Timor-Leste is fragile with roughly 90 percent of GDP generated by government expenditure and the government relying for about 90 percent of its revenue on taxes and royalties received from oil and gas in the Timor Sea. Not only does this put the spotlight on the issue of ‘who owns’ the oil and gas deposits (a matter in which Australia has played what many see as a less than honourable role – see the blog on maritime boundaries posted on 17 July) but raises the question of how the strategy the country can keep developing after the oil runs out. (On this question we were much enlightened by discussions with representatives of La’o Hamutuk, a Dili-based, not-for-profit research organisation with a particular concern with matters relating to economic and social development.).

• And speaking of the ‘Australian connection,’ the well-documented war memorial at Dare details how Australian soldiers in World War II were bravely aided by their Timorese creados. The Australians were forced to withdraw at the end of 1942 as the Japanese occupation of the island was consolidated and the Timorese were left to be punished and, in many cases, put to death by the occupying forces. Was this the first shameful act on the part of Australia? It’s a wonder we’re as well-liked as we are.

VERDICT: Is Timor worth visiting? Decidedly yes. It’s a third-world country but offers a different culture, a great environment and (for those seeking it) a degree of comfort and sophistication. And all in just a little over an hour by air from Darwin.

Will it become, as many predict, ‘the next Bali’…?

It doesn’t have the surf, though it does have (according to aficionados) some of the best diving sites in the world. There’s a firm view among many locals that they don’t want Bali-type development. Tourism will be encouraged as a way of lessening dependence on oil and gas. They’re seeking a gentler, more environmentally-friendly type of visitor, be they young or old.

image:  Austronesian Expeditions