Alkatiri makes it to the top

Alkatiri makes it to the top

Pandaya, The Jakarta Post, Dili

After taking oath on May 20, East Timor Prime Minister Mari
Alkatiri warned that his government would have to "often take
unpopular measures" to keep it going.

He did specify what he meant by "unpopular measures" but he
insisted that the action would be necessary to create a solid
government.

Alkatiri, who is widely respected for his diplomatic prowess,
was showing his determination to establish a strong government
that he believed was necessary to lead the world's newest nation
to prosperity.

Alkatiri is a leading figure in the "Mozambique connection" in
the 24-strong cabinet which is dominated by politicians from his
Fretilin Party. In last August's elections, Fretilin won 55 of
the 88 seats in the Constituent Assembly that became a full-
fledged Parliament on May 20.

Advocates portray him as a brilliant politician and diplomat
who tirelessly fought for independence on the diplomatic front.
He was among the first of three East Timorese heroes who were
assigned to avert Indonesia's impending invasion in 1975.

He has been criticized for going his own way in forming his
cabinet dominated by Fretilin politicians. Not only that, his
political foes charge that he has formed a Mozambique clique.

Mozambique is a former Portuguese colony in Africa where
Alkatiri and many other politicians now holding key positions,
such as Jose Ramos Horta and Justice Minister Ana Pessoa, were
self-exiled, educated or grew up.

"Mari Alkatiri is clever and he should be given the chance to
prove that he is a good prime minister," said Jacob Xavier, a
Portuguese educated jurist, theologian and politician.

But his critics are seeing signs of authoritarianism in the
way he runs the government.

Mario Viegas Carrascalao, chief of the Socialist Democratic
Party, said that Alkatiri was building a dominant one-party
system comparable to that of Indonesia's political structure in
the Soeharto era by placing his people in key positions in all
levels of the bureaucracy.

"I'm afraid he is doing it now," Carrascalao told The Jakarta
Post. Carrascalao was a former East Timor governor during the
Soeharto regime and like any other bureaucrat, he had to align
with Soeharto's Golkar party.

Born on Nov. 26, 1949 in Dili, Alkatiri was raised there with
10 brothers and sisters by his family, the descendants of
migrants from Yemen in the 19th century.

He pursued further studies in Angola after he finished his
secondary education in Dili and graduated as a surveyor from the
Angolan School of Geography. Upon returning to East Timor,
Alkatiri started work at the Public Works Department as a
chartered surveyor.

In fact his political activism began even before he left for
Angola when, together with East Timor citizens, he established
the clandestine Movement for Liberation of East Timor on Jan 8,
1970.

The winds of change in Portugal brought him a windfall. After
the 1974 revolution in Portugal, the then colonial administrator
of East Timor allowed the establishment of political
organizations in East Timor. He co-founded ASDT - Associagco
Social Democrata Timorense' (Timorese Social Democratic
Association) and was appointed deputy secretary-general.

When an even freer political climate developed, ASDT
transformed into Fretilin (a political front), on Sept. 11, 1974.
The West and Indonesia saw Fretilin as dangerous because of its
communist orientation and Russian connections. Only a year later,
Alkatiri was elected National Political Commissioner by the
Central Committee of Fretilin.

He began to make a name for himself in the international
forums when Fretilin sent him and independence activists Ramos
Horta and Rogerio Lobato to the diplomatic front to mobilize
international support to stop the Indonesian troops' impending
invasion of East Timor.

He courted African countries for support. And after Fretilin
unilaterally declared independence on Nov. 28, 1975, proclaiming
it the Democratic Republic of East Timor, Alkatiri was appointed
State and Plenipotentiary Minister for Political Affairs.

As chief of the Fretilin External Department, Mari Alkatiri
moved his base to Mozambique where he remained until 1999. His
most remembered achievement in the diplomatic front was perhaps
when the UN Security Council adopted a resolution condemning the
invasion of East Timor.

In recognition of the achievement, Alkatiri was named minister
for external relations replacing Horta who was named East Timor's
representative to the UN.

Alkatiri, who has pledged to pay special attention to
education and health, has repeatedly underlined the need for good
relations with its closest neighbor, Indonesia.

Indonesia, he said, is not only vital for economic development
but also for the reconciliation efforts between the various
factions in East Timor.

"The success of reconciliation is connected to rebuilding
relations between Timor and Indonesia. Therefore we will make all
efforts to resolve existing problems and we can go forward
together with development of the two countries and the region,"
he said.

On the diplomatic front, Alkatiri pledged that his government
would strive to "increase the number of friends" and to have no
enemies.

Also high on his agenda was consolidation of maritime borders
with Indonesia and Australia because the issue was meaningful for
security and sovereignty as well as economic resources.

The first advise came from East Timor President Xanana Gusmao,
"The people expect the best."