Faktus Timor-Leste

Friday, October 20, 2017

The minority government program rejected

By Raimundos Oki
DILI,  Timor – Leste - The majority alliance parliamentary has been rejected the minority government policy program which presented by the prime minister Mari Alkatiri. 

Following this voting, Alkatiri stated that this repudiation motion was like a poison to his government and promised that he will go to all municipalities to explain to everyone.
“I will start from Oe - Kusi to Lautem. But this is does not mean I have to resign. I still obey to the constitution until January 2018 as prime minister of minority government,"  Alkatiri said in the national parliament on Thursday, October 19, 2017.

"I will not bring another new government program to the national parliament".

“In this weekend I will go to the base with this document to conduct a referendum to all the people in the country. No one forbids me”.

He added: “I am a party leader; my obligation is to explain to the public about what has happened in this parliament”.

“During the debate process, I have answered all the questions from the opposition, but their eyes do not want to see anymore, their ears do not hear anymore”.

“Therefore, I ask to the beloved people in this country to remain calm to accompany this process. We just started. Not yet final. Drink  you tea, drink your coffee, because this process is just starting”.

The majority parliamentary alliance in the national parliament rejected the minority government programs.

“Reiterating the understanding that although it is an unconstitutional act, the appointment of a minority government is politically senseless and reckless, so the president of the republic should have sought solutions,” stated the rejection document which presented from the parliamentary majority alliance to national parliament today.

The majority alliance parliamentary rejected the program based on Timor – Leste constitution in article 109 stated that Rejection of the program of the Government shall require an absolute majority of the Members in full exercise of their functions.

The political statement from the CNRT fraction rode by Terezinha Viegas that their faction has received a government program since October 10, 2017. And has read all the contents of this document that the minority government will not guarantee the stability of government and will ultimately not achieve success.

“If this government does not get support from the opposition, government programs and state budgets will not succeed in parliament. And this is who will be guilty, who will be responsible. The President of the Republic must be responsible,” she said.

She added, the decision of the president of the republic to vote FRETILIN party and the democratic party that leads this government is not wise.

According to the democratic rules that the minority must submit to the majority.

CNRT party will not let any political party to make violation against the constitution.

“We note that this program is not based on the reality in the country. We do not see this program can solve the problem in the country,” she said.

Therefore, we do not believe that this program may solved the current problem in Timor – Leste.

At the same time, Fidelis Magelhaes, chairman of the People Liberation Party (PLP) faction stated that since the beginning the president of the republic wants to establish a stable and strong government, but the present government is a minority.

The PLP is also part of a parliamentary majority alliance established on 12 October 2017. The alliance consists of three opposition parties in parliament: the CNRT, PLP and KHUNTO parties with a total seat of 35 and the government has only 30 seats.

"We see that this program has no new priorities. We see that it really should not happen like this. The program also is too general, there are many agreements but no valid data to use. We do not know what the government will do and what to achieve.

Prime Minister Mari Alkatiri continues to defend his program that this program is very good  and will bring development to the community.

The prime minister Mari Alkatiri has brought his program to the national parliament on Monday and during three days the oposition always declare that they will not approve his program. 

During this time, the prime minister Mari Alkatiri and the republican president Francisco Guterres Lu - Olo said that if the government program is rejected it will be held a re-election.

Previously, Fretilin was part of a national unity government with the National Congress for Timorese Reconstruction party of independence hero Xanana Gusmão, or CNRT. In the July election, CNRT lost support and Fretilin was narrowly the largest party, but they failed to agree on a new grand coalition.

East Timor, a former colony of Portugal, was occupied by Indonesia for a quarter century and gained independence after a U.N.-sponsored referendum in 1999. Indonesia's military responded to the independence referendum with scorched earth attacks that devastated the East Timorese half of the island of Timor.
Today, the country of 1.3 million people still faces desperate poverty. Leaders have focused on big-ticket infrastructure projects to develop the economy, funding them from a dwindling fund of former oil riches, but progress is slow.
The July vote was East Timor's first parliamentary election without U.N. supervision since peacekeepers left in 2012.

A version of this article appears in The Associated Press, The New York Times and The Washington Post website on October 19th, 2017, with the headline: East Timor Government Suffers Defeat in Parliamentary Vote.

https://www.nytimes.com/aponline/2017/10/19/world/asia/ap-as-east-timor-politics.html

 

  



  

No comments:

Timor-Leste's Prime-Minister offers his resignation Prime-Minister Timor-Leste Taur Matan Ruak. Dili, Timor-Leste - Prime Ministe...