Yemris Fointuna, Dili – After 10 years of independence, two presidents and two prime ministers, Timor Leste has not changed much, at least on the surface.
Except for the new construction of the president's office and national parliament, almost all government buildings are still housed in the structures left by Indonesian and Portuguese rule.
Intercity roads connecting 13 districts with the capital are still the same. "When roads are damaged there are only minor repairs," said Heriu, a Dili resident.
Basic public services like provision of food, clean water and electricity, are far from satisfactory. More than 80 percent of the nation's population of 1.1 million lives in rural areas with difficult access to such services.
One legislator, Arsenio Bano says, "This is all because of KKN or corruption, collusion and nepotism – the same bane cited by Indonesians under the past New Order government.
"Corruption is everywhere," said Bano, who is of the Fretilin faction, the main party of the former freedom movement.
After 10 years of independence only the elite have enjoyed its benefits, he says, with the rest of the population largely living in poverty. "Every year large portions of the budget remain unspent," he added, citing the annual US$800 million budget.
Government officials cite the nation's infancy as the main source of all shortcomings – coupled with the legacy of 1999, when the Timorese who lost the vote went on a rampage, targeting strategic facilities and spreading terror, with tacit support from Indonesian security forces, as acknowledged in the final report of the Commission of Truth and Friendship of Indonesia and Timor Leste.
Also widely blamed is the United Nations, which officially transferred its authority to the government in Dili in 2002, heading off to other new independent lands. Some Timorese blame themselves for shooing away the UN to leave as soon as possible, amid brewing jealousy of UN staff wages compared to other jobs, and protests against what were seen as the UN's various shortcomings.
Student activist Sisto do Santos criticizes both the present government under former rebel leader Xanana Gusmao and the parliamentarians.
"In 2008 there was a severe food crisis; but the MPs and government were busy debating about buying luxury cars. Students that demonstrated were arrested and jailed," he said.
The coordinator of the Timor Leste Front for the Campus Movement, do Santos said that such measures of "intervening into expression of freedom" renders the government just the same as Indonesia's New Order.
Criticism is rife over everything else in the country. Do Santos says he has found households that find it difficult to gain even one dollar in a month.
Yet for all their complaints, the Timorese can be proud that education and health services are free.
Edio Saldanha Borges, deputy director of the Hak foundation, which focuses on human rights, says a popular program is the assistance of $20 a month for each elderly citizen.
He also cited the free education of 500 students in the last five years, who were sent to Cuba to train to become medical practitioners. The target is one doctor per village by 2020, he said.
Indonesia, says Ambassador Eddy Setiabudhi, has a large role to play in boosting the local economy. As of last year Indonesia ranked first in trade with its neighbor with $109 million in imports. Cultural and social links, apart from security, will also be improved, he said.
At the last celebration of Indonesia's 64th year of independence, Eddy said, "the ones who played angklung [traditional instruments] were from Dili's St Joseph high school."
They had just learned how to play the West Javanese instrument for three months before the August celebration, he said.