68 Special Report SPECIAL REPORT April 2011 — Issue 39 Dr Sam Bateman retired from the Royal Australian Navy as a Commodore and Important disclaimer is now a Professorial Research Fellow at This publication is designed to provide the Australian National Centre for Ocean accurate and authoritative information Resources and Security at the University of in relation to the subject matter covered. Wollongong, and a Senior Fellow and Adviser It is provided with the understanding that to the Maritime Security Programme at the the publisher is not engaged in rendering S Rajaratnam School of International Studies any form of professional or other advice A reliable partner or services. No person should rely on at the Nanyang Technological University in the contents of this publication without Strengthening Australia – Timor-Leste relations Singapore. He has written extensively on first obtaining advice from a qualified defence and maritime issues in Australia, professional person. the Asia–Pacific and Indian Ocean. He has Executive Director’s introduction co-authored the reports Our western front: About Special Reports Australia and the Indian Ocean (2010) and Generally written by ASPI experts, Timor-Leste is a fledging nation wrestling with the challenge of forging a viable state. It’s entering a Sea change: Advancing Australia’s ocean Special Reports are intended to deepen interests (2009) for ASPI and the RSIS Policy understanding on critical questions very complex period in the lead-up to the 2012 elections. The country’s leaders inherited a difficult facing key strategic decision-makers Paper Good order at sea in Southeast Asia. situation, reconstructing a devastated country and healing deep-seated community divisions. The and, where appropriate, provide policy economic and social challenges facing Timor-Leste are daunting, although the exploitation of oil He is a nominated member of the expert recommendations. In some instances, and eminent person’s group established material of a more technical nature may and gas revenues offers a potential lifeline. by the ASEAN Regional Forum to advise on appear in this series, where it adds to the This report sets out a number of the challenges for the country, such as possible domestic unrest, regional security issues, and a member of the understanding of the issue at hand. Special international editorial board for the Journal of Reports reflect the personal views of the transnational crime, food security, land reform, law and justice issues, security sector reform and author(s), and do not in any way express the Indian Ocean Region. maritime development. The situation is made more complex by the large number of donor states or reflect the views of the Australian and the need for Timor-Leste to coordinate their assistance. Dr Anthony Bergin is Director of Research Government or represent the formal position of ASPI on any particular issue. Programs at ASPI. His training is in law, While the challenges facing Timor-Leste are significant, the country has defied the odds before and political science and international relations. ASPI prevailed. With targeted and sustained international support, it has every chance of doing so again. Tel +61 2 6270 5100 His doctoral dissertation was on Australian Fax + 61 2 6273 9566 Australia wishes to have an equal relationship with Timor-Leste, working together to advance our law of the sea policy. For twenty-five years Email [email protected] common interests. This year is the tenth anniversary of Australia’s Defence Cooperation Program he taught on the political and legal aspects Web www.aspi.org.au with the country, one of our largest cooperation programs. The DCP will underpin Australia’s long of marine affairs first at the Royal Australian © The Australian Strategic Policy Institute Naval College and then University of New Limited 2011 term defence relationship with Timor-Leste. South Wales at the Australian Defence This publication is subject to copyright. Australia has around 400 ADF members deployed as part of the International Stabilisation Force Force Academy. For several years he taught Except as permitted under the Copyright Act (ISF) that has a clear drawdown process. Timor-Leste’s Government has expressed a wish for the ISF a graduate course in international law as 1968, no part of it may in any form or by any to eventually leave as a matter of national sovereignty. an Adjunct Reader in Law at the Australian means (electronic, mechanical, microcopying, National University. He has held visiting photocopying, recording or otherwise) be reproduced, stored in a retrieval system or A central message of this report is that Australia stands ready to assist Timor-Leste as a reliable academic appointments at the Department transmitted without prior written permission. partner, not just to ensure the state’s own survival but also to strengthen regional security. of Maritime Studies, University of Wales Enquiries should be addressed to the publishers. and the Center for Marine Policy, University I’m grateful to all the contributors to this volume, and in particular to our Timorese contributor of Delaware. He has served on the editorial Dionísio Babo-Soares, former co-chairman of the Commission of Truth and Friendship between boards of two leading international ocean Timor-Leste and Indonesia. I also acknowledge the work of ASPI’s Director of Research Programs, law and policy journals and for many years Anthony Bergin, in preparing this special report for publication. edited the journal Maritime Studies. Dr Bergin has been a consultant on maritime issues to a I’m confident that this report will make an important contribution to public debate on Australia’s wide range of public and private sector clients role in assisting Timor-Leste to meet its long-term security and development challenges. and has published extensively on the political, Peter Abigail security and legal aspects of marine policy. Executive Director 2 Special Report A reliable partner: Strengthening Australia – Timor-Leste relations 67 Contributors adviser to the Vice Prime Minister for Social Affairs to Timor-Leste. Professor Damien Kingsbury holds a Personal Chair in the School of International and Dr Vandra Harris is a Senior Lecturer in Political Studies at Deakin University. He has the graduate program in International published widely on politics and security Development at RMIT University’s School of issues in Southeast Asia, amongst which Global Studies. Prior to entering academia are two edited books and an authored book Vandra worked in community development in on Timor-Leste, East Timor: The Price of Australia and with an INGO. As an academic, Liberty. A third edited book on Timor-Leste she has lectured in a range of topics with post-independence politics is now in press. an international focus, and has worked Damien first visited what was then referred as a research fellow on two Australian to as Timor Lorosae in 1995 to undertake Research Council projects at Flinders PhD research for his thesis on the role of the University Law School, and at the Nordic news media in Australia–Indonesia bilateral Institute for Asian Studies in Copenhagen, relations. Damien returned to Timor-Leste Denmark. Vandra’s publications are primarily to lead more than forty Australian ballot focused on partnerships and cultural observers in 1999, basing himself at Maliana change in international development, and and spending most of the ballot day in Balibo. on Australia’s international policing in the He also coordinated Australian observers Asia–Pacific region. Her main research focus for the 2007 presidential and parliamentary is the intersection of these two research elections. Damien is a board member of the interests, in the nexus between security Balibo House Trust and is a regular media and development. Her most recent book commentator on Timor-Leste political and is Conflict, security and nation-building in security issues for both the Australian and Timor-Leste: Cross-sectoral perspectives, international media. edited with Andrew Goldsmith (Routledge, forthcoming 2011). Dr Dionísio Babo-Soares holds a PhD in Anthropology from the ANU, Masters Professor James J Fox is currently a Professor Degree from Massey University Palmeston (Emeritus) at Australian National University. North, NZ and Degree in Constitutional Law He served as the Director of the Research from Udayana University in Bali, Indonesia. School of Pacific and Asian Studies from Dr Babo-Soares is currently a professor at the August 1998 until the end of February 2006. Faculty of Law and Social Sciences with the He has carried out research on Timor since Universidade da Paz and at the Facullty of 1965. He was an international observer with Social and Political Sciences the University of the Carter Center for the Popular Consultation Timor-Leste (UNTL). Together with Professor (1999), the Constituent Assembly elections Jim Fox, he is co-author of, Out of the Ashes: (2001), and the Presidential Elections (2002 East Timor: Destruction and Reconstruction and 2004); he was a member of UN/World (Adelaide, 2000) and Constitutional Writing Bank Joint Assessment Mission (1999) and the and Elections in East Timor (ANU, 2003). He is King’s College Independent Study Group on also the author of several chapters in books Security (2002) and served as a consultant to published in Indonesia, Australia, Portugal and ACIAR/AusAID on the design mission for Seeds Timor-Leste. Between 2005 and 2008 he was of Life 2 (2004). With Dionisio Babo-Soares, the co-chairman of the Commission of Truth he has published Out of the Ashes: Destruction and Friendship between Timor-Leste and and Reconstruction of East Timor and Indonesia. He was a member of the Council with Helder da Costa, Colin Piggin and of Defense and Security between 2003 and Cesar J da Cruz: Agriculture: New Directions for 2005 and is currently the Vice-President of the a New Nation, East Timor (Timor-Leste).