Timor-Leste, 2005

Because of the

constraints on our time, I shall omit several paragraphs

of my statement, the full text of which has been

distributed to delegations.

The President, the Prime Minister and the people

of Timor-Leste have conveyed to the people and the

Government of the United States our profound

sympathy for the people of the Gulf states, in particular

the people of the city of New Orleans, who were the

victims of Hurricane Katrina. President George W.

Bush and Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice have

spoken touching words of gratitude in recognition of

the outpouring of sympathy from so many nations. We

must remember that the United States Administration

and the American people were among the first and

most generous to respond to the tsunami tragedy that

befell the peoples living on the borders of the Indian

Ocean on 26 December last year.

Only a little more than three years ago, the

Secretary-General, Kofi Annan, handed over power to

our elected President. Since then, we have made real

progress in nation-building, peacebuilding, economic

development, national reconciliation and enhancing

relations with our neighbours. Timor-Leste has acceded

to the seven main international human rights

instruments, and my Government is committed to

fulfilling its obligations. We were among the first in

the world to pioneer a streamlined treaty reporting

procedure. We are currently drafting our first reports,

and all Government agencies are participating in that

exercise. The internal political and security situation,

including our porous common land borders, is peaceful

and stable. A recent report of the World Bank,

commenting on the general situation of peace and

stability in my country, stated,

“Most countries emerging from conflict ... relapse

into violence within five years. Timor-Leste has

avoided that fate, maintained peace and political

stability, and established security”.

As a result of the unexpectedly high prices of oil

and gas, Timor-Leste today enjoys a surplus, which has

enabled our Government to increase our public

expenditure by 30 per cent during the current fiscal

year. That increase will benefit mostly the rural

population and the poorest. In addition, we are proud to

report that 36 per cent of our national budget is

allocated to education and health.

We have fostered the best possible relationships

with our neighbours. At of the end of July, we became

the twenty-fifth member of the Regional Forum of the

Association of Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN); our

next goal is ASEAN membership. We enjoy special

observer status in the Pacific Islands Forum. Without

the active involvement of our regional and

international friends, the leadership and coordinating

role of the United Nations and the engagement of its

many agencies, of the Bretton Woods institutions and

of the Asian Development Bank, we would not have

been able to achieve the impressive progress we have

made thus far.

With regard to truth and reconciliation, I shall

now address the issue of justice. In an effort to uncover

the truth about the events of 1999, the Governments of

Timor-Leste and Indonesia have established a joint

commission on truth and friendship. The commission is

mandated to examine serious acts of violence that

occurred in the period before, during and after the 30

August 1999 popular consultations sponsored by the

United Nations.

We are accused in some quarters of being too

preoccupied with forging close relations with

Indonesia, to the detriment of justice for past abuses,

and in doing so of encouraging impunity. To our

accusers, we say the following. We are mindful of the

need to accord dignity and respect to the victims of

past abuses, and we believe that in the pursuit of

justice we must be sensitive to the need to establish a

balance between comprehensive justice and national

reconciliation in order to avoid perpetuating the

divisions of the past and risking the exacerbation of

existing cleavages in our society. We believe that our

first obligation, as a responsible member of the

international community, is to build a peaceful, stable,

democratic and prosperous country. By consolidating

nation-building, internal peace and stability and

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unshackling our people from poverty, we can

contribute to wider peace and stability.

If one were to read the aforementioned World

Bank report on the developments in my country, one

would reach the same upbeat conclusion about the

impressive gains that we have attained in only three

years. Let me share with members some additional

findings:

“Timor-Leste, the world’s newest nation,

was created out of ashes ... Given that the country

started from scratch both physically and

institutionally, Timor-Leste has done remarkably

well”.

We have developed a model Petroleum Fund legal

and policy regime, which we took directly to the

people and to the National Parliament for approval. We

do not want Timor-Leste to fall prey to the developing

nations’ so-called resource curse, whereby God-given

resources are squandered. The key principle is that

only the sustainable income from our petroleum wealth

will be available for current expenditure. Commenting

on our Petroleum Fund, the World Bank said that

Timor-Leste

“has adopted a state-of-the-art legal framework

for on- and off-shore petroleum production and

taxation and a draft savings policy and associated

Petroleum Fund Act consistent with the

Extractive Industries Transparency Initiative

(EITI) ... having embraced transparency

principles even before EITI existed ... True to

stated principles, the Government has adhered to

a provisional savings policy for petroleum

revenues ahead of the adoption of the permanent

savings policy”.

I should now like to touch upon the theme of

United Nations reform. As we observe the current news

coverage surrounding the oil-for-food scandal, with the

United Nations painted as the villain, we are certainly

disappointed that the Organization we idealize is

tainted by allegations of corruption.

In peacekeeping and conflict prevention, we must

remember that while the Secretary-General has the

responsibility to alert the Security Council to ongoing

or potential conflicts that may threaten international

peace and security, the ultimate decision to act rests

with the Security Council, in particular the five

permanent members. The role of the United Nations in

the world has not, however, been limited to

peacekeeping; it has provided facilities and an

environment for informal meetings between parties in

conflict, it has mediated hostage situations or border

disputes, and it has mobilized resources and

coordinated assistance to war-torn countries or to

communities affected by natural disasters.

While we all agree that our collective

Organization has failed at times, those shortcomings

and failures should not obscure its virtues and

successes. The United Nations can become more

effective if regional bodies do their share in addressing

the challenges in their respective regions.

Much has been said and written about the need

for a thorough review of the United Nations system,

and much of the debate has been focused on the

Security Council, overshadowing all other issues,

including the much-needed reform of the General

Assembly itself. Reform is also urgent in regard to the

existing human rights system. The proliferation of

treaty bodies and agenda items results in a morass of

duplication, waste, inefficiency and loss of focus.

The General Assembly remains the prime organ

of the United Nations that brings together all nations,

rich and poor, large and small. The endless and

repetitive yearly general debate and agenda must be

reviewed in order to shorten it and make it more

focused.

I now turn to the Commission on Human Rights.

No country or group has a monopoly on selectivity. We

are all good practitioners, focusing our attention on

issues that are often remote from our shores or that do

not collide with friendships, alliances or interests.

Timor-Leste fully endorses the establishment of a

Human Rights Council and is prepared to serve in such

a body if we are asked to do so.

Timor-Leste strongly supports the creation of a

Peacebuilding Commission, which will play a critical

role in post-conflict situations. The merits are sui

generis. In view of our unique and rich experience,

Timor-Leste would be pleased to serve on that new

body if our friends believe we can be useful there.

There is agreement that the Economic and Social

Council must be reformed. It seems to duplicate or add

little value to its subsidiary bodies. We do not support

expanding the Council’s mandate to include managing

United Nations post-conflict activities.

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A permanent member of the Security Council

should not limit its peacekeeping contributions to

eloquent rhetoric while refraining from providing the

troops necessary to back up its words. We are all

capable of delivering eloquent speeches with apparent

moral force, but we do not all have the same political

will, courage or raw power to match our words.

Aspiring Security Council members, permanent and

non-permanent alike, should be countries with stable and

open political systems and with effective credible national

leaderships that inspire trust and respect in their

respective regions and throughout the world as a whole.

My Government holds the view that regional

balance remains a sine-qua-non principle as should

representation of civilizations. Asia, which contains

half of the world’s population, is grossly

underrepresented in the United Nations system and will

remain so, even with the possible addition of India and

Japan. Timor-Leste supports the G-4 initiative, because

we believe that the four countries concerned fulfil

every reasonable qualifying criterion for permanent

membership in the Security Council.

Timor-Leste, which has an overwhelmingly

Catholic majority population, is proud to have been the

first country to draw the attention of this body to the

need to insure that the Muslim world be adequately

represented in an expanded Security Council. We

continue to believe that Indonesia, the world’s largest

Muslim country, with the third largest population in

our region and the third largest Asian democracy, is

uniquely suited for permanent member status.

I wish now to touch on an issue that has been

very much in the news in the last few months: Japan

and its neighbours. Timor-Leste understands the

reservations of certain countries that do not wish to see

too large a Security Council; we understand the

reluctance of some of the current permanent five to

abandon or share privileges with new ones. We

understand that countries that were invaded and

colonized by Japan during the Second World War are

not receptive to their former aggressor. Timor-Leste,

too, was occupied by Japan during the Second World

War. But we also remember how the proud Japanese

people were made to pay an extraordinary price for

their Second World War sins. Hiroshima stands as the

living reminder of that horrible price.

Japanese leaders were brought to trial at the

International Military Tribunal for the Far East and

paid for their crimes. A defeated Japan was effectively

occupied and administered by the victorious American

Power. This benign occupier charted the course of the

new Japan, which today is a world economic Power, a

peaceful and vibrant democracy that has made

enormous contributions to the well-being of developing

countries and the United Nations system.

Allow me now to share with the Assembly my

Government’s concern on some key international

issues — the Middle East, Afghanistan and Iraq.

First, we commend Israeli Prime Minister Ariel

Sharon for his courage in disengaging from Gaza. We

hope that this is only a first step towards the full

implementation of the road map leading to the

establishment of a democratic Palestinian State. The

new Palestinian leaders and people deserve equal

praise for their moderation and statesmanship, patience

and tolerance.

In Iraq and Afghanistan, local extremist elements

and foreign mercenaries continue their campaign of

terror to reverse the democratic gains made by the

people of the two countries. The international

community and, in particular, the neighbouring

countries, have a special duty to provide all necessary

support to the brave peoples of Afghanistan and Iraq in

their struggle to consolidate their hard-won freedoms;

the neighbouring countries must do more to prevent

their territories from being used as springboards for the

infiltration of mercenaries and weapons into

Afghanistan and Iraq.