East Timor's Prime Minister is supporting a new law that would allow civilians to own guns, less than five months after illegally armed rebel soldiers tried to kill him and the president
The proposal has sparked heated scenes in parliament, with MPs almost coming to blows over what some say is a dangerous development that could threaten the nation's fragile security.
Prime Minister Xanana Gusmao last week introduced the proposed gun law to parliament for "urgent debate" – pushing back scheduled budgetary discussions.
Under Article 4 of the law, civilians would be allowed to own firearms. Currently, only police and military personnel can carry weapons. The law, if passed, could have grave consequences for East Timor, where memories of February's attempted assassinations of Gusmao and President Jose Ramos Horta are still fresh.
In 2006, East Timor was rocked by violence that involved illegally armed civilian militias. Dozens died in the unrest, and 100,000 people were forced from their homes.
Former Prime Minister Mari Alkatiri was forced to resign over the unrest, and former interior minister Rogerio Lobato was later convicted of illegally arming civilian hit squads tasked with eliminating political opponents.
The United Nations, which heads a stabilisation force in the young nation, has expressed concern over the proposed gun law. "The less weapons we have on the streets, the safer it is," said acting United Nations Police Commissioner Juan Carlos Arevalo.
MP Fernanda Borges said Article 4 of the proposed law was initially voted down, but was resubmitted for another vote in what she calleda"highly unusual" move that saw the vote tied on Monday.
A physical fight almost broke out after two parliamentarians – from a party with Gusmao's ruling coalition, and who had initially abstained – voted in favour of Article 4, resulting in the tied result. Parliament subsequently decided to sit on the issue for later consideration.
MP Fernanda Borges said she and many other members of parliament were opposed to any plan to allow civilians to own guns. "The danger here is the parliament is not really voting on its conscience, but receiving orders from the government, which is not helping democracy," Borges said.
Jose Texeira, a member of opposition party Fretilin, said members of Gusmao's CNRT party had been pressured to support the plan. "CNRT members have come under tremendous pressure to get this through," Texeira said.
State Secretary for Defence Julio Tomas Pinto defended the proposed law in parliament on Monday. He said the plan to allow civilians to bear arms should not alarm anyone, and many countries in the world allowed citizens to own guns.
"We would not hand guns out to just anyone," he said. "Our citizens would have to get certified through the police before they were allowed to carry guns."
Ramos Horta's office said the president had no comment to make on the issue, and had not yet decided if he would veto the law should parliament pass it.
Major Ian Toohill, a spokesperson for the Australian International Security Forces stationed in East Timor, said the army had no comment because it was a matter for the government.
If the law is passed it could affect security firms, whose employees are currently unable to carry guns.
But Philip Knight, the technical director of Maubere Security, one of the oldest security firms in the country, said he was unaware the gun law was even being debated as no one from the prime minister's office had sought his opinion.
In any case, Knight said there was no reason to arm civilians. "Definitely not," he said."I go on the policy, if you've got a guy with a gun at the gate and the security guard has no gun, then he's more likely not to get shot. But if they both have guns, someone's going to get shot."
In February this year Ramos Horta was shot twice by illegally armed rebels. Gusmao was attacked in a separate ambush an hour later, but he escaped unharmed.