Faktus Timor-Leste

Tuesday, July 2, 2019

Is this the first "failure"​ in the first year?


By Raimundos Oki
The eighth government led by prime minister Taur Matan Ruak will celebrates one year of his government on June 22nd this year. The president of the Popular Liberation Party (Partido Libertasaun Popular) was installed by the president of the republic Francisco Guterres Lú - Olo on June 22, 2018 at the Palacio Nobre Lahane, Dili, Timor - Leste.

According to the 2015 Census, about 51.24% of the population is under the age of 20. This means that, in the next 5 to 10 years, hundreds of thousands of young people will enter the labor market, with the legitimate aspiration of creating their own way of life in a dignified way, in a just economy that values their work.

With this in mind, the private sector, regardless of its vocation and dimension, is and will continue to be one of the main drivers of the national economy, guaranteeing the creation of employment and, as such, constituting one of the major factors to combat poverty and improve the social capital of nation.

The government of the Prime Minister Taur Matan Ruak came up with a high- ambitious program to build Timor-Leste into a country with economic income and will open around 300,000 jobs in five years, and 60,000 in one year. But for almost a year, his government has not been able to realize its promise to open 60,000 new jobs. These programs and promises have no real results, even no shadow is available.

“We have the great ambition of keeping the unemployment rate in a single digit, with the creation of 300,000 new jobs (an average of 60,000 a year); to reduce poverty by 10%; and to ensure economic growth above 7%, sustained by the progressive increase of the private sector by a minimum of 10% per year,” he promised when presented his program in the national parliament on July 24, 2018.

“But we know that the viability of these macroeconomic objectives depends on our ability to implement the great options of the plan and the rigorous execution of the budget, with rigor, effectiveness and efficiency, promoting the saving of means or resources and avoiding the expense or superfluous expenses”.

This is the political promise of the Prime Minister Taur Matan Ruak, who almost failed to realize it.

Politics and promises are inseparable; they are likened to "husband and wife" which cannot be separated. There is no politics without promises in this planet. Politics without promises are like coffee without sugar or coffee without milk. How do you taste coffee without sugar? Tasteless.

The community needs real work from a leader, talking directly to acting or if you can shut up and work. For example, the promise to construct roads, bridges, create job opportunities, and so on. This has become a demand of the community, which must be fulfilled by politicians while serving as leaders or while elected to be a leader. That is, the realization is clear and hits the hearts of the people.

So far, there have been many comments about the Matan Ruak government with the incompleteness of several ministers in his government, and the answers he told the public that he would discuss with the president to immediately resolve or provide solutions to cabinet members who were still rejected by the president until now.

Calculated from his term of office since June 2018 to the present, he has almost met 48 times with President Lú - Olo, but the results have not yet been made about several cabinet members who have not received inauguration. With the incompleteness of some of these cabinets, the result is not having the chance to realize his promise to open 60,000 jobs every year.

Not fulfilling political promises is pleading to the public. Lies begin with improper promises. This is a promise that is not qualified. The leader who give promises to people are like hot air balloons, attract the attention of many people, beautiful, and the sound of the wind that brings it into the air is very pleasant to hear but is temporary only because soon it will break and disappear.

This means that the politician that give promises to the people just only to calm their nerves, after that they will go to take care of their self and families. Forgetting a promise for the welfare of society as the womb that gave birth to them. Promises of lies look thick. Part of the promise is hidden in the political campaign. The campaign is an advertisement that shows the picture of the leaders. Their expression were persuasive but harming the people, there were victims of fraud and intellectuals were plunged into the rhetoric of the leaders who always buried the truth.

With the incompleteness of some of these cabinets, the result is not having the chance to realize his promise to open 60,000 new field jobs every year.

Former president of the republic, José Ramos Horta questioning the government plan to absorbed unemployment rate in the country.

“I do not know, why they make this promise 60.000 jobs a year, difficult to create,” he said.

Moreover, the president of Chamber of Commerce and Industry of Timor – Leste, Oscar Lima said, the economic situation in the country seems very slow and getting worsen because of political deadlock almost two years.

Lima added, the government alone cannot create 60,000 new field jobs per year, how the private companies can do it?

“It is very difficult to recruit new workers, except to reduce workers because the economy is not working well,” he said.

Now, all East Timorese is waiting for this eighth government to realize its promise to open 60,000 new field jobs every year.

Today, the country of 1.3 million people still faces extreme poverty. Leaders including Kay Rala Xanana Gusmão, who was East Timor’s first president from 2002 to 2007 and prime minister from 2007 to 2015, have focused on big-ticket infrastructure projects to develop the economy, funding them from a dwindling amount of oil riches.

A version of this article appears in Tempo Timor Online on June 29, 2019 with the headline: Is the first failure in the first year?

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