The parliamentarians who gave up special pensions and luxury cars due to street pressure. The decision was made after two days of protests
The Eastern Timor Parliament reacted on Wednesday to the anger of public opinion and canceled an expensive plan to purchase vehicles for deputies, at the same time committing to eliminate the life pensions they benefit from, AFP reports.
The Parliament thus responded to the claims of the thousands of protesters who gathered from Monday in the Capital and determined the tear gas intervention of the police in the first two days. On Wednesday, about 2,000 protesters, mainly students, gathered again near the Parliament building, near the university campus, without incidents.
The protesters initially called for the annulment of the acquisition of Toyota Prado SUVs totaling $ 4.2 million, for each of the 65 members of the Island Country, where over 40% of the 1.4 million inhabitants live below the poverty line, according to the World Bank.
The measure, adopted last year and included in the budget on 2025, was canceled by Parliament on Tuesday. But, unconvinced, the protesters went out again on Wednesday. “As it is rumored, the cars are already on the road,” a 42 -year -old protester told AFP Gio. “That is why we and all these students here today: to make sure that our tax money does not go in the wrong direction.”
In response to other claims and following a meeting between protesters and parliamentarians, the Parliament also announced on Wednesday that they are committed to repeal a law adopted in 2006 which provides for a life pension for former parliamentarians. “The parliamentary groups, after meeting with the spokesmen of the student associations, have committed to promote a legislative initiative to eliminate the monthly life pension” for parliamentarians, Parliament made a statement.
“A symbol of injustice”
According to the same statement, student unions agreed to suspend the protests following the agreement with the parliamentarians. “If it does not respect the agreement, we will organize larger demonstrations,” but a 27 -year -old Cristovao Mato warned one of the representatives of the protesters.
On Monday and Tuesday, the protesters set fire to tires and an official vehicle and threw stones in the police, which responded with tear gas. On Tuesday, President Jose Ramos-Horta promised “zero tolerance” for vandalism and appealed to peaceful demonstrations. The protests take place in the context in which Prime Minister Xanana Gusmao has been in London on Monday, to return at the beginning of next week.
The expensive project to purchase vehicles, now canceled, has aroused strong reactions because it was perceived by many as “a symbol of injustice”, explained Caetano C. Correia, the dean of the Faculty of Economics at Paz in Dili. “Many people believe that civil servants, especially parliamentarians, do not live under the same conditions as ordinary people,” he said.
The former Portuguese colony, independent of 2002, after 24 years of Indonesian occupation, is struggling with high levels of inequality, malnutrition and unemployment and remains strongly dependent on its hydrocarbon production, with a reduced diversification in other sectors.
The protests in the East Timor occur less than a month after the neighboring country, Indonesia, was marked by similar protests, caused by the increase of the privileges of the parliamentarians.
The salaries of the parliamentarians in Indonesia – more than 30 times higher than the national average income – have triggered a wave of popular protests in the country, which started in Jakarta and spread in several corners of the archipelago.
Several protesters were killed, some buildings were burned down and the houses of plundered politicians, as the anti-government disorders spread.
