Ted McDonnell – Doctor, human rights worker and refugee are just a few of the labels put on Angela Freitas. The next tag may be East Timorese president. Ms Freitas, head of East Timor's Labour Party (Partido Trabalhista), announced her candidacy last week for the March 17 presidential run-off.
The frontrunner is President Jose Ramos-Horta, who says he will announce next month whether he will run. Despite declining popularity among the population of 1.1 million, Dr Ramos-Horta will seek a second term, family and close political allies tell The Australian.
One of his most significant obstacles is the lack of support from Prime Minister Xanana Gusmao and his CRNT party. Dr Ramos-Horta had the backing of Mr Gusmao at the last election, but CRNT will run its own candidate this time – the popular Major General Taur Matan Ruak.
Ms Freitas sees the 85 per cent unemployment rate and massive government corruption as East Timor's two biggest problems.
"Nepotism and corruption are rampant throughout the entire government from the Prime Minister down. Corruption is like a cancer in this country. It should be a capital offence," she said.
"There are five ministers being investigated for corruption but none has been charged as the government-controlled tribunal is doing nothing due to the upcoming elections."
Ms Freitas describes Mr Gusmao as a failure. "He has allowed rampant corruption within government and has awarded huge rice contracts worth hundreds of millions of dollars to family members. He is not in control of his ministers and has allowed East Timor's income from resources to be wasted."
She saves a special barb for the President: "Ramos-Horta has for 10 years presided over rising unemployment, diminishing living standards and increasing government corruption. He is too busy strutting the world stage. He has done nothing to bring the country under control."
Ms Freitas says part of the corruption problem stems from the fact that the public service is replaced every five years if there is a change in government.
"We need a permanent public service, one that doesn't change with government, a public service that isn't controlled by corrupt politicians and public servants that are not trying to get as much out of the system before their time expires."
She points to an abandoned hotel opposite the East Timor National Parliament building where 120 families squat with as many as 12 family members to a room living without electricity or running water. She says the Hotel Rezende squatters are an example of the endemic poverty in East Timor. A family is lucky if it earns $80 a month.
"These people live in total poverty right under the government's nose, but the corruption and nepotism continues while people literally starve on the streets," she said.
Ms Freitas, like many East Timorese, suffered under Indonesian rule – as a student protester, she was tortured by the Indonesian army. In 2001, she was thrown into a men's prison with her three children, one of whom she was still breast-feeding, for allegedly murdering an Australian citizen.
Ms Freitas was never charged, the alleged victim never found. She was released after two weeks. She escaped to Australia as a refugee in the 1990s and gained a degree in political science and medicine at the University of Queensland.
She worked at a Brisbane hospital after being seconded into the Royal Australian Navy to act as a medical officer and interpreter aboard a naval patrol vessel, which was committed to intercepting boats heading for Australia carrying refugees. She also worked as a drug and alcohol counsellor in the Northern Territory.
In 1988, she worked as the chief liaison officer at the Institute of Human Rights, based in Indonesia, and a year later was the secretary of human rights with Amnesty International.
She has been a member of parliament in East Timor since 2000. She predicts massive government "money handouts" just prior to the elections.