East Timorese police, or PNTL was set up by the UN in 2000, following the referendum for independence from Indonesia.
Since then, the PNTL has received a diverse range of advice and training from many donor nations, including Australia. But it's Indonesia that's had the most influence, becoming a reference point for Timorese police.
Presenter: Sen Lam
Speaker: Gordon Peake, research fellow at the State, Society & Governance in Melanesia programme, Australian National University. Gordon Peake is also author of the book, Beloved Land: Stories, Struggles & Secrets from Timor Leste
Peake: If you take a look at even what the Indonesian police look like, their uniforms, their manner of carrying themselves, it's very similar to what the Timorese police look like. And that's not coincidental. But the relationship is much more profound. From 1975 to 1999, East Timor was occupied by Indonesia and many of the legacies and the ghosts of that occupation still linger on, in terms of practices and behaviours, and that's very apparent with the Timorese police.
Lam: And as foreign donors pull out, will Indonesia increasingly have a greater influence in the East Timorese force's development?
Peake: One of the great ironies about this, Sen, is that as you say, foreign forces pulled out, mostly in 2012. The UN left in 2012, and there's still a small but still quite important Australian police development programme and there're some small funding from other sources. But between 1999 and 2012, there would've been in the range of... I would say about 10-thousand police advisors that would've been in this very small country, working with about three-thousand-odd members of the Timorese police.
So East Timor was flooded by advisors during that period and one of the great ironies about Indonesia's influence is that this was achieved not by sending police advisors, not by sending expensive training programmes, but in a more subtle and cultural way. Many of the Timorese police were born before umm..., born after the Portuguese colonial period ended in 1975, and so they were brought up in an Indonesian milieu, very comfortable speaking Indonesian, very comfortable watching Indonesian TV, being surrounded by Indonesian culture, so it's that very comfort that they have with Indonesia that that makes the Indonesian influence so much more easy.
Of the way that advisors work is that they often work in English. They often work with sets of foreign concepts that the Timorese police may or may not understand. But the fact that there's this bond of language and shared culture makes it a lot easier for Indonesia to have a profound influence in Timor.
Lam: So if the PNTL is indeed influenced by Indonesia, what are some of the positives and what are some of the negatives?
Peake: On the positive side... one of the most remarkable things about East Timor's relationship with Indonesia, is just how strong, cordial and friendly it is. The two countries have a remarkable bond, given their pretty tumultuous histories. Er, not...
Lam: But this is of course since the democratisation of Indonesia...?
Peake: This is since the democratisation of Indonesia – that's an important point to make – but there's a 'forgive and forget' quality to the Timorese leadership. Because it's a small country inside a giant Indonesian archipelago, its room for manoeuvre is limited and I think they've made a fairly pragmatic decision. Having a large neighbour, no matter where you are in the world, forces small countries to act in a particular way, and East Timor is no exception.
Lam: And if the East Timor police were indeed to be emulating Indonesia's policing policies, what is of most concern (to you), as an outside observer?
Peake: I think in many ways, the Indonesian police have come a long way, as part of the democratisation process as well.
But certainly, there're certain trends that appear to be incipient in East Timor that are worth watching. The East Timor police have a huge outstanding disciplinary backlog. When I left in 2011, there was one case for every two-point-five officers. And certainly some of the behaviours of the East Timorese police seem to be fairly gung-ho, that they go about things.
There was an incident in Baucau district, where the second biggest town in East Timor is, where the East Timorese police had a shoot-out with a group. And when you look at the videos on Youtube, you think, "Is this the police that had been given countless hours of human rights training, countless hours of shooting training, countless hours of democratic behaviour training?" And it really makes you wonder how much of all this advice that had been given by ten-thousand-plus police advisors, how much of it really stuck?
Now, in 2006, about four or five years into the police building project in East Timor, the East Timor police pretty much collapsed. They revealed themselves to be little more than a collection of uniforms and an arsenal of weapons. And I think if you compare 2006, to 2014, the East Timorese police are certainly a much more robust organisation.
Lam: It's often said that a poorly paid force is a potentially-corrupt force. So what about wages? Is the East Timorese police paid adequately?
Peake: They're paid about the same level as the civil service, which in a country that is expensive, makes it hard to get by on. There does seem to be a culture of impunity within the Timorese police and I think that's probably of the greatest concern.
Lam: Would you say that the East Timorese police has some way to go, but that it is on the right path?
Peake: I think that's a very good way to put it. I think if you look at all police forces in the region, they would all have some way to go. And that's the reason why there's assistance that comes from various countries in order to make sure that they stay on the right path.
I think that a lot of the enthusiasm that were was, when the state of founded and when the police were developed, it's still there.
It's only a fourteen year old institution, and I think if you have enthusiasm, if you have commitment, then you can actually go quite far. Do I think there're trends that are uncomfortable in the Timorese police? Yes, I think there's an uncomfortable trend towards para-militarism. There seems to be no reason to have the huge amount of guns and macho uniforms and gear that they have.
And one would hope that the vision of the Timorese police, which is spelt out in their law of having community-oriented police, will be clear to everyone. It's clear in words, and let's hope that it's now clear in deeds.