Post-Election "Stoners" in Rumor-Leste

I decided to wait a few days after recent post-election violence here in Timor-Leste before talking about it. I did this so for two reasons: 1) so my mom would not get too concerned about a situation that was sounding worse than it was; and 2) because I figured it would calm down soon. Now, almost a week after opposition party Fretilin's suppporters started throwing rocks at cars and other outbursts of "protest," the situation has indeed calmed down. There are still isolated rock-throwing incidents in the capital and in the eastern districts Viqueque and Baucau (hotbeds of Fretilin support). But mostly the worries of a return to 2006-style violence (which pitted the police against the military and houses burning throughout the country) seem unfounded. Most Timorese seemed to immediately condemn the violence and wanted to just move on.

So what caused this violence? CNRT, the Prime Minister's party, won the most seats in the recent parliamentary election, but not enough for an outright majority. So it had to form a coalition. The second-place vote-getter, Fretilin, had just spent 5 years as the opposition and hoped to be a part of the coalition with CNRT. This would create a "unity" government that would represent most of the country's voters. Instead, CNRT formed a government with the 2 smaller parties (PD and Frenta Mudanca), and used provocative language in a televised party conference. This language, and the government snub, outraged some Fretilin supporters, and they took their anger out on government (and UN/NGO) vehicles. Despite the fact that the cry heard throughout Sunday and Monday of "Cars are getting stoned!" sounds like a line from a Cheech and Chong movie, it became a regularity to hear tales of rocks smashing windows and denting cars as they drove along one of Dili's main strips. And outside the capital, mostly in the east, more reports were heard of similar incidents. Worse, one student supporter of Fretilin was shot by a police officer, and some Fretilin members tried to use this incident for political purposes, displaying the body in a processing in Dili. Cooler heads prevailed, apologies were made, and the last few days have been quite peaceful. Still, there is a lingering fear that any day Timor is just a stone's throw away from devolving into violence.

There are a couple of interesting points in this. One is that Timor-Leste is full of fear, thanks to its turbulent history. Timorese writer Dalia Agostinho has a great blog post on this here entitled Clashes in East Timor "The fear that dominates us":

In social networks ther are  comments emphasizing this "disgrace" and turning it into a form of political propaganda proclaiming it  even as a heroic act. In fact we feel the  loss and respect it , however, we must look at these events in a different way, we cannot be straight nor fail to be concise, because these are acts which are recorded in the history of our country and serve as a lesson so that we fight against ourselves and against our own impulsiveness, because sometimes, we are our own enemies, and the result is in plain sight of us all in addition that  to this type of "emphasizing and transformation" in no way contributes to the development and welfare of our country.

The other interesting point is that Timor-Leste is dominated by unfounded fears, perpetuated by the incredibly quick network of rumors here. One of my colleagues likes to use the term "Rumor-Leste," and indeed it seems people are often responding to a perceived slight or atrocity a few districts away before there is any confirmation that it even happened. The fact that the CNRT comments were televised made for a rare confirmation immediately, but the subsequent facts were slow to emerge and rumors ran rampant throughout the country. There was nothing to do but wait and see what the truth of the situation was. Rumors that cause violent reactions can be more dangerous than the truth!

Fretilin campaign parade before the election

Perhaps it should not be too surprising that all of the passion stirred up throughout the campaign led to violence when Fretilin was excluded from the government. And with so many young people full of grievances over joblessness and such, frustration was bound to come out somehow. Yet it would be unfair to say that this was anyone's "fault" really; rather, it seems all parties and public personalities condemned the violence and calmed their supporters. Now hopefully the government can go about remedying the concerns of the youth through legitimate means...

Lots of young people became very passionate about the campaign... raising expectations that high can be dangerous...

In case you think my reaction to all of this is too optimistic in thinking the worst is past us and the Timorese are tired of violence and want to move on, I give you this blog post that describes one experience of being in the wrong place(s) at the wrong time. It concludes with a much darker take on the inequity of our entire global system (something my friend Mr. Perkins would probably support):

A few more dents and as Nuno explained one of the perils of driving around in a government car in times when people are not happy. This was not a one off, it was not just an uprising by a few upset because they had been left out of government, Timor is not a failed state, it is an experiment for a failed global system. The problems of Timor are a symptom of a wider problem initiated by the UN, the World Bank and the IMF back in 1999, the painful process of structural adjustment, of primitive accumulation and the manufactured creation of a middle class, in order to make Timor another piece in the global Empire of a failed economic system. The process and the logic impose on the Timorese involves at its core the creation of the haves and the have nots, it is the global system creating its aristocracy in the name of peace, justice and economic growth and fulfilling its mission of accumulation by dispossession. It is in the end a racist project in which the whole world is sought to be remade in the image of the West. It could happen on any Sunday, and increasingly in any place in the world.

[Oh, and if you want to follow happenings here, check out CJITL's great facebook page]