Talk of a failed state is not accurate

East Timor’s political complexities cannot be reduced to simple slogans. A United Nations Development Program (UNDP) report published in January highlighted the country’s shortcomings but also the positive steps it has taken in recent years. While noting its low human development index and the fact people are still “chained by poverty”, the report praised the nation’s democracy as being “in the vanguard of popular participation” - hardly the sort of observations one would make of a failing state.

Robert Johnson, an occasional United Nations adviser who lives Dili, says that the blueprint for Timor’s achievements is in its National Development Plan - a “roadmap” for development established through a process of national popular consultation under the leadership of the now-embattled Alkatiri. With all the talk about failing states, one might be surprised to learn that Australia’s aid agency has described East Timor’s advancement in implementing the plan as “impressive”.

But a greater surprise comes from the World Bank. It has throughout the crisis stood by Alkatiri, the man accused on On Line Opinion by one Jakarta-based Australian journalist of being a “1960s Marxist-style ‘Che Guevara’ figure”. The bank director Paul Wolfowitz, a staunch “neo-conservative” and former mover and shaker in the Bush administration, said last month, “Timor-Leste has achieved much thanks to the country’s sensible leadership and sound decision-making which have helped put in place the building blocks for a stable peace and a growing economy”.

Such support paints a more complex picture of an East Timor with mixed achievements and highlights the unavoidable fact that nation-building is an ongoing, long-term process. As the UNDP report prophetically concludes, the East Timorese people will face “many painful decisions” in realising where they want to go as a nation. Their journey could be made less painful through continued practical assistance from Australia. It could be made better with moral support and well-informed and robust debates. As the latest crisis approaches its second month, the last thing the East Timorese need is more rumours about a failed or failing state.