SAGES Magazine
Wednesday 15 March 2006

SAGES has continued its partnership with UNPAZ (Universidade da Paz), a university in the new nation of East Timor (Timor Leste). A 10-day trip took place to Dili in mid February. It was generously funded by a Melbourne University International Collaborative research grant. The SAGES staff comprised Marcia Langton, Lisa Palmer, Thomas Reuter, Simon Batterbury and Balthasar Kehi (research fellow). We led a short course on Social Impact Assessment and Resource Management at UNPAZ over five days, involving fifty students and up to 15 UNPAZ lecturers. Our hosts were coordinated by Dr Lucas da Costa, Rector of UNPAZ, who had previously visited Melbourne in 2005.  

After outlining the principles of social impact assessment, we heard from students and staff about the current issues facing the new nation. These included a proposed hydroelectric scheme that, while reducing dependence on imported oil and gas, would channel water from a lake deemed sacred by local people. A representative from one village in the Lautem district addressed the workshop. Thomas Reuter and Andrew McWilliam (ANU) both discussed their own research on the anthropology of highland and lowland societies in Timor and Bali. Two days were devoted to training students in qualitative research methods and proposal-writing, and groups conducted visual mapping exercises and interviews in the area surrounding the campus, as well as producing draft research proposals. At the end of the workshop, the staff worked on a joint research proposal for empirical research on land use and rural development in rural Timor, focussing on the twin issues of local government reforms and the complex and overlapping system of land tenure. This will be submitted for British and Australian funding over the coming months, and examines the tensions emerging in rural development polices that are simultaneously ‘modernising’ the country’s resource use and agriculture as part of the nation-building efforts following years of Portuguese and Indonesian rule, while potentially threatening traditional social and cultural practices. The latter remain poorly understood and documented.  

Six years after the violent withdrawal of Indonesia from Timor Leste, which marked the end of an occupation in which a quarter of the population were killed and much of the infrastructure destroyed, conditions facing university staff and students in Dili are still difficult. They include water and power shortages, poor building stock, inadequate IT and library resources, confusion over (four) languages of instruction, and a lack of urban employment to finance university studies. Education was severely disrupted until the last four years of true political independence, and there is a lack of trained staff. Nationally, only a handful of Timorese hold PhDs, for example. After being forced to leave a previous campus, UNPAZ has now purchased its own land and teaches a range of undergraduate degrees. The main campus building (pictured) was constructed in 86 days by the staff and students themselves. Significant challenges remain, as student numbers are expanding in a university that is training a future generation of critical thinkers and potential leaders.  

The trip included several visits to highland and coastal regions, meetings with key policy actors and political figures including the Land and Property Department of the new government, and generous hospitality from our Timorese hosts. We met several former SAGES students now volunteering in Timor. A cocktail party we attended for the Commission of Truth and Friendship between Indonesia and Timor Leste was somewhat incongruous (it was held in a former Indonesian prison), but we concluded with a fruitful discussion with Haburas, an environmental NGO led by Demetrio de Carvalho (Goldman environment prizewinner, 2004) on several challenges facing the new nation, notably its energy policy, tourism, and recognition of traditional forestry and environmental management practices. For our water researchers, catchments are being degraded by the removal of stones and gravels from riverbeds, to sell for construction. The effects on flows and erosion are unknown. There will be a second visit by UNPAZ to Melbourne, tentatively scheduled for May this year.  

On a practical note, Timorese organic coffee, supplied by UNPAZ and sold to support the development of UNPAZ, will shortly be available in the Tea Room, and further supplies can be arranged (contact Simon or Lisa)! (Report compiled by Simon Batterbury)

UNPAZ campus, self-built main building

The seminar

Students explaining local land use maps

Steet peddler, Dili