[Kabar-indonesia] 4 Alkatiri Updates: Thousands cheer as PM quits; 'Unloved' [+Speech]

[JoyoNews at aol.com]

also: East Timor's unloved prime minister gives in to popular president;
Alkatiri's resignation speech; and Australian PM Says East Timor Crisis 
Nearing Resolution

Protesters cheer as East Timor PM quits

DILI, June 26 (Reuters) - East Timor's embattled prime minister, Mari 
Alkatiri, resigned on Monday, saying he would share responsibility for a political 
crisis 
that has gripped Asia's newest nation for over two months. 

There was no immediate word on a replacement, but news of his departure was 
welcomed by thousands of protesters who have been demonstrating in the capital 
for the past week. They cheered and car horns blared as word of the 
resignation spread. 

Alkatiri said he was stepping down to avoid the resignation of the nation's 
popular president, Xanana Gusmao, who had threatened to quit himself unless the 
prime minister left office. 

"I am ready to resign from my position of prime minister of the government of 
RDTL (East Timor) so as to avoid the resignation of his excellency the 
president of the republic," Alkatiri told a news conference. 

He said he was doing so "having deeply reflected on the present situation 
prevailing in the country ... assuming my own share of responsibility for the 
crisis affecting our country". 

Alkatiri added that he was "determined not to contribute to any deepening of 
the crisis". He read out his statement and refused to answer questions. 
 
The prime minister has been widely blamed for violence that erupted in May as 
fighting within the armed forces spiralled into rioting, arson and looting in 
the streets of the capital, Dili. 

The violence ended only with the arrival last month of a 2,700-strong 
Australian-led peacekeeping force that has disarmed the army and police and taken 
responsibility for security. 

Calls for Alkatiri's resignation have been the rallying cry of protests by 
thousands of Timorese that peaked in the past six days after damaging 
revelations in an Australian news documentary linked him to a plot to arm a civilian 
militia. 

"The important thing is that the East Timorese fix up these problems 
themselves and it does look like they are getting to a point of resolution," 
Australian Foreign Minister Alexander Downer said in Paris. 

"You can't expect us to carry the burden of security while you yourselves sit 
back in nothing but a state of impasse," he told Australian television. 

EXPECTED TO RESIGN 

One of the country's best-known political figures, Nobel Peace Prize laureate 
Jose Ramos-Horta is being touted as a possible replacement for Alkatiri 
should Gusmao ask parliament to form a national unity government to rule until 
elections due by May 2007. 

Neither Ramos-Horta, who himself had resigned on Sunday, nor Gusmao -- both 
urbane and Western-leaning -- belong to Fretilin. The party is seen in the West 
as socialist-orientated, a legacy of the years its leaders spent in exile in 
Mozambique or Angola during East Timor's long independence struggle. 

Another possible contender for premier is Ana Pessoa, Ramos-Horta's ex-wife, 
who is a staunch Fretilin member. 

Whoever takes over, many Timorese and potential foreign investors want to see 
more done to rebuild the country's infrastructure and develop projects to 
create jobs in a country where unemployment is around 70 percent. 

Although Timor's only export is "boutique" coffee, the country has 
potentially vast untapped oil and gas reserves in the sea that divides it from 
Australia, and has already earned hundreds of millions of dollars in exploration 
rights. 

East Timor was a Portuguese colony for centuries before a revolution in 
Lisbon in 1975 gave the territory a brief taste of independence. Indonesian troops 
invaded a few days later and Jakarta annexed East Timor in 1976. 

After a 1999 vote for independence marked by violence blamed largely on 
pro-Jakarta militia with ties to the Indonesian army, an international peacekeeping 
force moved into the territory, ushering in a transitional period of U.N. 
administration before East Timor became a fully fledged nation in 2002. 

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East Timor's unloved prime minister gives in to popular president

DILI, June 26 (AFP) - East Timor's outgoing Prime Minister Mari Alkatiri was 
largely unloved, accused of authoritarian tendencies and a lack of charisma, 
in contrast to the popular president who finally won their stand-off.

On Monday, after weeks of steadfastly refusing to step down in the wake of 
bloodshed on the streets last month, Alkatiri finally announced his resignation 
in 
a hastily convened press briefing.

"I declare I am ready to resign from my position of prime minister... so as 
to avoid the resignation of His Excellency the President," he said, referring 
to a threat from President Xanana Gusmao to step down if Alkatiri did not.

Gusmao, a hero of East Timor's independence fight against Indonesia, had 
ordered Alkatiri to quit last week but was initially rebuffed.

Alkatiri, a long-time exile who spent much of Indonesia's 24-year rule living 
in relative comfort in Mozambique, lost the president's confidence after 
Gusmao saw a documentary purportedly showing evidence that the premier was 
involved in arming hitmen to kill his opponents. 

Alkatiri strongly denies the claims.

Many East Timorese had been calling for the premier to resign since late May, 
when at least 21 people were killed in street violence as rival factions 
among the security forces battled each other and gangs rampaged.

Nearly 150,000 people remain in overcrowded refugee camps, fearing for their 
lives despite the presence of more than 2,200 foreign peacekeepers deployed to 
restore order.

Much of Alkatiri's unpopularity stems from his out-of-touch style and a 
common perception that he lacks empathy for the hardships the East Timorese endured 
under Indonesian occupation.

He is also a Muslim and has Yemeni origins in a Roman Catholic country where 
local ties and former colonial power Portugal remain major influences.

"He still thinks it's 1975! He doesn't understand Timor has changed since 
then," said Fernando Alves, a doctor who complained about Alkatiri's handling of 
last month's violence.

While Gusmao enjoys enormous respect among ordinary people, few East Timorese 
knew Alkatiri when he was elected by the ruling Fretilin party to the prime 
minister's post in 2002.

"If he had contested direct elections, he never would have been elected as 
prime minister," Australian-based political analyst Bob Lowry told AFP.

Alkatiri qualified as a surveyor in the former Portuguese colony of Angola, 
and then studied law and economics in Mozambique.

He launched his political career when he was appointed politics minister by 
Fretilin shortly before Indonesia's 1975 invasion. He left just a few days 
later but managed to remain influential in the party while abroad.

His status within the party, combined with Gusmao's refusal to run as a party 
candidate in East Timor's first elections after independence in 2002, saw him 
rise to the post of prime minister.

Alkatiri has been criticised for his rigid ruling style and a tendency to 
blame others for the country's woes.

"His political style is a mixture of post-Marxist Mozambique combined with 
Suharto's Golkar," Joao Cancio Freitas, director of the Dili Institute of 
Technology, told AFP, referring to the party of Indonesia's former dictator.

Alkatiri's strong connections to Mozambique, Angola and China often earn him 
the tag "communist" -- an insult in this deeply Catholic nation.

"He's very arrogant. He seems like he does not care about the problems of the 
people," Dili woman Umvelina said when asked about perceptions of him.

Despite the criticisms, the 56-year-old's tough bargaining style allowed him 
to negotiate successfully with powerful neighbor Australia over the Timor Gap 
oil and gas fields.

"I wouldn't portray him as an evil demon. I think he has done some good 
things, such as the Timor Sea Gap" negotiations, said Lowry.

"He drove a hard bargain and got as good as could have been expected... 
problem is he is too much of a one-man band and tried to keep things too much in 
his own grip."

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AAP
June 26, 2006

Alkatiri's resignation speech

The text of Mari Alkatiri's announcement today that he had resigned as East 
Timor's prime minister:

Having deeply reflected on the present situation prevailing in the country;

Considering that above all interests are the interests of our nation;

Assuming my own share of responsibility for the crisis affecting our country;

Determined not to contribute to any deepening of the crisis;

Recognising that the people of Timor Leste deserves to live in peace and 
tranquility;

Believing that all militants and sympathisers of FRETILIN will understand and 
support this position;

I declare:

1. I am ready to resign from my position of Prime Minister and a member of 
the Government of RDTL (the Democratic Republic of East Timor) so as to avoid 
the resignation of His Excellency the President of RDTL;

2. I am ready to dialogue with His Excellency the President of the Republic 
in order to contribute if necessary to the formation of the interim government;

3. I am ready to contribute to the presentation of the State budget to the 
National Parliament.

Finally, I declare that I will reassume my functions as a member of the 
national Parliament until the end of the parliamentary term.

Dili, 26 June 2006

Mari Alkatiri, Prime Minister

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Australian PM Says East Timor Crisis Nearing Resolution

BATAM, Indonesia, June 26 (Dow Jones)--Australian Prime Minister John Howard 
said Monday he is pleased that the political crisis in East Timor appears 
close to being resolved. 

"I want the issue of who governs in East Timor resolved as soon as possible," 
Howard told reporters ahead of a meeting scheduled for Monday afternoon with 
Indonesian President Susilo Bambang Yudhoyono. 

"It seems to me to be part of the process of working out the difficulty, 
resolving the impasse," he said in reference to the planned resignation of East 
Timor's prime minister. 

Mari Alkatiri told reporters at a news conference in the capital, Dili, 
earlier Monday that he is ready to resign to help end weeks of unrest and political 
turmoil in the tiny southeast Asian nation. 

"I declare I am ready to resign from my position as prime minister," Alkatiri 
said. 

Many East Timorese say Alkatiri's decision to dismiss 600 disgruntled 
soldiers in March was to blame for street battles and gang warfare that left at least 
30 people dead and sent nearly 150,000 others fleeing from their homes. 

Alkatiri is also battling allegations that he formed a hit squad to silence 
opponents, a charge he denies. Thousands of protesters have joined calls in 
recent days by church leaders and politicians - including President Xanana Gusmao 
- that he step down. 

Howard said the issue of East Timor will be discussed with the Indonesian 
leader, but it won't be the main topic. Australia has 2,500 military and police 
in East Timor following a request from the nation to help restore order. 

Any kind of joint agreement isn't likely to arise from the meeting, he added. 

Howard said he will discuss the accelerated aid program provided to Indonesia 
after the Asian tsunami in late 2004. 

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Joyo Indonesia News Service
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