Unemployment remains a major problem in East Timor
By T. Sima Gunawan
DILI, East Timor (JP): A young man collects a sack of 10 cement bricks and puts the heavy load on his head. He takes a deep breath and starts to climb the Fatucama hill carefully.
The bricks are being used as paving surrounding the enthralling statue of Kristus Raja, or Christ the King -- a spectacular government project in East Timor. A stairway with 170 steps has been built from the foot of the hill to the top, where the statue stands.
Each brick weighs five kilograms. A worker earns Rp 100 for each brick he carries to the hill.
"I work here from 6 a.m. to 5 p.m., carrying these bricks to the hill," a worker named Casper says.
He says he could make 10 trips a day to the hill and earn Rp 10,000.
"I am very tired. This is not the job I want, but I have to work to make money," says the 21-year-old, who has just graduated from high school.
Casper is one of 3,432 high school graduates who recently applied to become civil servants in Dili. But Casper knows that his chances are very small, because the local administration is only recruiting 94 new employees.
East Timor, which has a population of 850,000, has a high unemployment rate.
In 1994, there were almost 15,000 job seekers on the waiting list at the local manpower ministry office. The number is estimated to have increased to around 20,000. Most of them are high school graduates. Thousands of others out of work simply do not bother to register.
The central government may boast that it has brought development to East Timor in the 20 years since the former Portuguese colony integrated with Indonesia. But development has ushered in a new and different kind of problem: how to provide jobs for young East Timorese. On this score, the government's record is nothing to be proud of.
To be fair to the government, the territory indeed was in a virtual shambles when Portugal abandoned it in 1975. The central government in Jakarta has infused the territory with no less than Rp 1.9 trillion (US$832 million) in development projects over the last two decades to help bring East Timor on par with the rest of Indonesia.
Most of that money was spent on physical and social infrastructure -- particularly roads and education -- two aspects that were virtually non-existent during Portuguese rule.
In 1975, East Timor had only 20 kilometers of asphalt roads. Today, it has more than 2,683 kilometers.
In 1975, East Timor had 47 elementary schools, two junior high schools and one senior high school. There were no higher learning institutions. Today, every school-age East Timorese attends school. There are 715 elementary schools, 114 junior high schools, 58 senior high schools and four higher education institutes: the University of East Timor, the Polytechnic Institute, the secondary teachers training college and the Catholicism college.
Soon after East Timor became part of Indonesia, the government established the provincial administration. Tens of thousands of people were recruited.
Initially, the administration was staffed with people from outside East Timor, because there were only a few East Timorese who had the required skills and education background to become an administrator.
But with more East Timorese gaining the necessary qualifications through education, these administrative posts are now being reserved for locals.
The economic situation in East Timor being the way it is, with very few investors willing to take a chance given the political instability, government jobs become the best hope for young East Timorese. But there are only so many government jobs available.
Since integration, East Timor has also had its share of migrants from other parts of Indonesia. Some came to trade, but others were looking for jobs. Aggressive people from Java, Sulawesi, Bali, East Nusa Tenggara and other areas are coming to try their luck in East Timor. The migrants, mostly non-Catholics, now dominate the province's economics.
This is one of the things that may explain why the region is often rocked by ethnic and religious conflicts.
Governor Abilio Jose Osario Soares is aware that the East Timorese, who had to endure 450 years of Portuguese colonization, cannot compete with the migrants, who were relatively more ready to enter the job market and more experienced.
The government is currently drafting a regulation to curb jobless migrants, which will close the territory to their employment. "We don't want people to come to East Timor with their social problems," Abilio told The Jakarta Post.
Abilio is also concerned that the majority of young East Timorese are aspiring to become civil servants, while the number of jobs available are limited.
"I call upon the young generation not to depend on government jobs. Please understand our limitations and look for other jobs instead of civil servant positions," he said.
Last year, 14,000 high school graduates competed for 2,000 job openings in the East Timor provincial administration.
For many young East Timorese, a government job is their one and only dream. They do not have the entrepreneurship skills possessed by most migrants, and therefore cannot compete in business.
Because of the limited number of government jobs, many are simply waiting for their chance to be admitted, taking the tests again and again each year.
Others are making their living from the informal sector.
Stanis Gouterres, 26, who sells newspapers to earn a living, is a typical case.
"I have taken the civil servants admission test three times," he confided.
He took the first test in 1994 after he graduated from senior high school. At that time, there were around 2,000 people who took the test. With the third test, which took place earlier this month, the number increased to 3,432.
"I want to become a civil servant so I can eat and drink sufficiently. If I become a civil servant, the government will possibly provide me with a place to live."
"I also want to become like my friends, who have become successful civil servants," he said.
He added that there is pride in being a civil servant, regarded by society as a respectable job.
A newspaper vendor, Stanis earns enough money. He makes a Rp 200 profit for every newspaper, which costs Rp 1,000. At the end of a typical day, he can take home Rp 10,000 in earnings. But when business is slow, he earns between Rp 3,000 and Rp 5,000.
Stanis, who started selling newspapers when he was an elementary school student, has Rp 5 million in savings in the bank.
"I still want to become a civil servant. But as an alternative, if I can't get a place in the administration, I want to open my own shop. I think I will be able to open the shop within five years," he said.
Joao Baptista, 22, also sells newspapers.
He started the business in July 1995, shortly after he finished senior high school. Since December 1995, he has been working two jobs: he is a parking attendant as well. A young man helps him with the newspapers and they share the profit.
He said that many of his ex-classmates are jobless, but they refused when he offered to help.
"They were ashamed of doing this kind of job. They want to become civil servants," he said.
As for Joao, he is not ashamed of his two occupations. He does not have any problem working in the informal sector, because since he was in elementary school, he had worked as a shop attendant.
He said he had saved around Rp 3 million, but spent most of the money to pay school fees for his three younger siblings. Joao is the breadwinner in the house, as his father has passed away and his mother spends her time caring for their home.
Joao does not want to spend his life selling newspapers. He has his own dream.
"If I have enough money, I want to buy a machine to grind coffee or rice," he said.