PR Faux Pas? or Refreshing Honesty

it's always refreshing to read media releases from the PM's office as they run the gamut from announcements of scrap metal sale bans to everything else under the sun... today's latest release is about cuban docs.... BUT what's the most scintillating were these 2 paragraphs:

“During the worst of the crisis in May, June and July our Cuban doctors stayed unconditionally in the villages and hospitals with the patients and the people, providing the much-needed moral, medical and psychological support,” Dr Ramos-Horta said.

“This is in contrast with American Peace Corp volunteers, who, even though there was not the slightest threat to their safety and well-being in rural areas, were given orders by the US administration to leave our country.

“The Cuban courage and commitment is also in contrast with the Japanese. JICA, the Japanese International Co-operation Agency, abruptly interrupted its co-operation in Timor-Leste, even though there was never any threat to Japanese nationals, particularly in the rural areas.”

I must say i am shocked that the PM's office being the highest diplomatic office in the country would say something like this. I'm weirdly impressed by the (naive?) display of honesty, yet slightly concerned about the effect these rather undiplomatic statements would have upon those mentioned.

Although i do agree that the Peace Corp volunteers left pretty early and really abruptly - some of them without the opportunity to say a proper goodbye to their counterparts and host families (according to my knowledge) - I think that these few paragraphs are too generalised and simplistic and very inaccurate. It was NOT the volunteers who decided to leave - it was the organisation Peace Corp which is in turn funded by the US Govt. As for JICA, it's the same. It was funded by the Japanese Govt. I, too at that time, was a volunteer funded by my country. As a volunteer - i didn't have a choice to leave or stay. If i want to respect my terms with the organisation, i have to go when the organisation says so. If i stay on, it means I am cutting my ties with the organisation and my safety nets like security, insurance, post-volunteer stipends etc might be cancelled out. For me, luckily my contract was due to end 30th May anyways and i left on 26th May.

It's not quite fair to pinpoint the VOLUNTEERS as the ones abandoning ship. The same goes for the UN. When the JICA people left, they left only 1 or 2 days BEFORE the UN declared that all non-essential international staff would leave for their safe haven - Darwin. Isn't that the same? Also, JICA for example, don't hv the same kind of security setup that the UN has to protect its workers in case things worsen. In fact, i was impressed that JICA actually booked an entire ISOS plane to get its people out together. I took that plane.

I respect the Cuban docs for staying and i have seen many of them work ceaselessly during the emergency period in the IDP camps. perhaps the PM's media unit should have simply praised them and left it at that- there was no need to 'compare and contrast.'

I also don't agree with the statement that there was no threat or danger in rural areas for foreigners. Yes, i know that many foreigners in the districts were ok, as were us all in the city. But, there were many weapons that had been distributed across the country and till now at least 200 police weapons are missing. Police men were killed in Ermera too. With the complete breakdown of govt institutions during those 2 months, can we really blame other governments for reacting this way? For Peace Corp especially, if they did not pull their volunteers out and someone got hurt or killed, how will it explain to a family in the US what happened? Yes, perhaps they over reacted or were overly cautious, but i don't think they deserve to be disparaged in a press release.

Mak ne'e deit. Back to work now.

There is HOPE!

It's been a great day to end the week! This morning, the First Lady and the Prime Minister welcomed a role model for girls' rights - MARTA - who was finally 'born' after 3 years in the making. She's going to be the vehicle for any agencies or organisations in ET to promote children and girls' rights. In fact, the First Lady herself promised to use Marta in Alola Foundation's advocacy for women.

In the afternoon, at the beach, it was the final day of a week of sports (tug o war and beach volleyball)organised by Joao Choque Becora's new youth group to commemorate 12th November - the Santa Cruz massacre. When i arrived it was the OZ diggers versus the Kiwis - they put down their guns on the sand and dug their heels into the sand and pulled like crazy. Both teams proved to be as beefy as each other and the marker never moved beyond the winning line so it was a draw next up, was the exciting one. PNTL (Police) versus F-FDTL (army). I couldn't help but feel slightly tense. But Mr X was there - oozing charm as usual to work the crowd which by then had swelled to hundreds. He asked them not to shout 'Police' or "army' but just 'forsa' for both teams. At the blow of the whistle, both teams began tugging the rope. Incidentally none were dressed in their uniforms, preferring to wear the "timor unidade nasional" tee. The police won and the crowd cheered and then it was really touching when the POLICE and ARMY guys lined up and hugged each other.
That was a GREAT GREAT moment that gave us all so much hope for a better future. This is IT , i thought. That's IT. That's what we all need now. Such moral and psychological support and great SHOW of reconciliation through sport. And there was no doubt, the President's charisma provided the glue and stabiliser for the event. And then for one more great RALLYING moment for ALL the timorese there at the beach - police AND army VERSUS the international forces. It was absolutely fantastic. Kudos to Joao Choque and his team! Suddenly, you could feel that the national pride was really at stake cos it was now US versus YOU. It was just elevating to see the police and army officers lined up as ONE to............ BEAT the international forces TWICE TWICE TWICE TWICE.......

"Timor oan kiik liu maibe forsa bot!" Someone even said, "malae isin bot maibe mamar oituan." haha hilarious. But it was more than words can express when the crowd roared with triumph when the skinny officers hauled their much bigger counterparts' arses across the winning line in the sand.

Timorese police and army officers UNITED as one in a tug of war against the international forces. 10th Nov 2006


International forces digging their heels deep into the sand as they compete with the Timorese forces.

Scrapping sale of scrap

Yes, you heard it right. ET has temporarily banned the sale of scrap metal according to a press release just in from the PM's office.

Rogue scrap metal traders buying valuable cabling and other materials suspected to have been stolen have forced the Government of Timor-Leste to temporarily ban the export of all scrap metal.

Apparently, collection and trading of scrap metal has sky rocketed after the civil unrest obviously due to the deluge of damaged properties and the govt is having trouble policing which of the scrap metal being traded is bona fide scrap or simply stolen scrap. A colleague laughed and said,"you know now scrap metal is US$3/kg so the kids in the neighbourhood are all hunting for scrap metal to sell to the traders." So if your pots and pans start walking, you know where they've gone ;-)

Perhaps this explains the recent story "Timor Telecom becomes victim of theft" in Diario that said TT (the monopoly telecom provider) has lost some 9.5 kilometres of telephone cables, and has reported 43 cases of stolen cables and solar panels! [ my own primitive translation] The spokesperson even said that after they had replaced the stolen phone cables, they were stolen again, therefore TT has stopped replacement services until the authorities can guarantee some security. Perhaps that's why after a month of waiting for a new internet connection, our Becora home remains unconnected to the virtual world (albeit a very slow one even if we got online).

Speaking of internet, TT has been putting out adverts in the local papers "Is our internet is expensive? $2 = 1 hour" I can't help but suspect this is a reaction to Ramos-Horta's stab at the monopoly telcom company for having such skyhigh prices. JRH had said about a few weeks ago that he's requested for World Bank experts to look into the contract with TT to explore how prices esp for internet can be lowered. Coincidentally after those remarks, TT introduced a new $5 top up card to commemorate it's 4th anniversary but unfortunately the price per minute remains the same. I had to explain this to a disappointed colleague who couldn't understand why TT bothered to introduce a new card if the price remains the same. The local papers also interviewed a local economist to explain to the people that the new $5 top up card is NOT cheaper. Oh, when, when will we be liberated from the evil clutches of TT's US$0.20 per minute phone calls?

no more violence

FCJ at Balide organised a day of wall painting for the boys in the 'hood last Friday. Apparently the boys have been running to FCJ as a shelter each time they fight, using the walls as their shield. Instead of turning the boys away, FCJ got them and others in the neighbourhood to paint the walls turning it into a montage of colourful anti-war messages. A real lift for those passing through the area - on the way to Santa Cruz or towards Balide Church. Amen to small acts like this one!