[Daniel Casey was on hand to watch the world's newest country, and our neighbour, embark upon the road to democracy with its people tackling the ballot box for the very first time.]
"If there is independence, blood must flow" read the graffiti on a building still burnt out from the violence that followed the 1999 popular consultation. Below, a young East Timorese girl, who would barely remember the violence, sits and reads. On Sunday, April 14, the world's newest country, East Timor, went to the polls to elect their first President. As I arrived at the small Dili airport, a few days before the election, Alessandro Gusmao Xanana's young son ran up to meet his Australian grandmother, Rosalie, who was on the same flight. Young Alessandro was accompanied by his mother, Kirsty Sword-Gusmao, but no security-guards.
The mood was very relaxed, as I chatted to Kirsty, and Rosalie put away a Mars Bar for her President-in-waiting son-in-law, Xanana, who has a sweet tooth.
The only two candidates were Francisco Xavier do Amaral and Kay Rala Xanana Gusmao. "Xanana" as he is popularly known, was a guerrilla commander, and the international face of the East Timorese resistance. Gusmao, 56, only reluctantly agreed to run, with his nomination form only being lodged with 20 minutes to spare. Although he was backed by nine of the 12 political parties, he described himself as an independent, and ran on a platform of transparency and scrutiny of the Fretilin-led government. He drew support from a wide spectrum of Timorese society, including church and pro-autonomy groups.
Do Amaral, 66, was the true populist leader of the East Timorese resistance in the 1970s, and declared East Timor's independence on November 28, 1975. He was the country's first and, so far, only President, for nine days before the Indonesian invasion. After being sick for the first two weeks of the campaign, he fought on the basis of a partnership with government in the development of the island. He was backed by Parantil and ASDT, the third largest party in the Constituent Assembly, and drew most of his support from the rural highlands. On the Friday before the election, each candidate closed their campaigns with massive rallies around Dili.
Do Amaral's rally, at his home, attracted a few thousand people, while Gusmao attracted close to 10,000. The crowd sat, stood, jumped up onto fences, bus and truck roofs and trees to watch more than an hour and a half of music in the sweltering heat, using newspapers for shade, before Gusmao arrived. One of Gusmao's key campaign tools was a weekly newspaper, Xanana, featuring extensive articles about his campaign and policies. This paper was devoured by the locals, with children as young as eight distributing and reading it.
The first clear success of the United Nations Transitional Administration in East Timor (UNTAET), CivPol (the international police force) and the Timor Lorosa'e Police Service (TLPS) was restoring law and order in the troubled country. Only one act of politically motivated violence was confirmed throughout the country by the Independent Electoral Commission (IEC), while the general crime rate is also very low.
Unfortunately, there is no word for "democracy" or "human rights" in Tetum, the indigenous language around Dili, and it was clear that it was indeed a strange concept to many East Timorese. On polling day, I went to four polling booths in rural Dili and the neighbouring town of Manatuto, 60km east of Dili. Long queues developed early, but by midday, the queues had abated. Between midday and 4pm, when polls closed, I saw no more than two dozen voters. Most voters needed to be carefully directed how to vote, with many people naively trying to put the blank ballot paper directly into the ballot box. I saw a handful of people being turned away from the booths, with polling officials stating they were not eligible to vote.
Significantly, none of these people challenged this decision, seemingly viewing voting not as a right, but rather as a privilege, or perhaps they were scared of recriminations if they challenged the decision. The voting age is 17, a legacy from Indonesian occupation. To be eligible to vote people must either be born in East Timor, or have a parent born in East Timor, or be married to someone born, or whose parents were born, in East Timor.
People were allowed to vote with either a pencil or a nail, with which they punched a hole in the box of the candidate of their choice. Because of the low level of literacy and education in East Timor, the ballot papers had both the candidate's name and photo, and a vote was considered valid as long as the voter's intention was clear. However, there was significant debate about whether a nail hole through the head of the photo of the candidate demonstrated an intention to vote for him or assassinate him!
The most striking aspect of all parts of East Timor is the continued devastation. After the popular consultation in 1999, pro-Indonesian militias, with the backing of sections of the Indonesian military, systematically looted, pillaged and burned huge amounts of the country, leaving the country destitute. Although the UN has significantly re-built some areas of the country, almost half of all commercial buildings in Dili remain burnt out shells.
As has been reported in The Canberra Times earlier, Xanana Gusmao won a commanding 80 per cent of the vote. However, this is well down on the expectations of over 90 per cent. Turnout was also very high, around 86 per cent. Gusmao will be sworn in on the same day that East Timor formally declares independence, on May 20.
Thus, although they seem to have succeeded in getting democracy "right", a lot more support is needed for this developing nation. Yet they may only have one chance, in order to stop this fledgling nation sliding backwards into anarchy or dictatorship. So, after significant consultation with the local community, the UN has recommended a new Tetum word for democracy, which literally means "a group of people sitting together, weaving a mat". However, without another election scheduled for five years, it is vital that this "mat" is securely made, in order to prevent further bloodshed.
[Daniel Casey went to East Timor as an official election observer with the International Commission of Jurists. He is a fourth-year student at the ANU, and would like to thank the ANU for their generous financial assistance.]