Manual essay

East Timor is the country located in the South East Asia, in the Eastern half of the island of Timor. The country has gained independence in 2002 after a long lasting struggle against Indonesian oppression. Today, East Timor is a fast growing nation, which though is still stumbling in poverty with about 50% of the population living below the poverty ceiling (Taylor, 1999). In this regard, the elimination of poverty, democratization and the enhancement of the national health care system are just a few challenges to mention, which East Timor confronts today. Nevertheless, being an independent state, East Timor still confronts considerable problems but the nation can overcome it, on the condition of the development of efficient policies since the nation has sufficient resources to improve the quality of living of the local population. In this regard, the further democratization and the introduction of the open market economy principles can help East Timor to complete its transition from the colonial state toward a fast growing emerging economy in South East Asia.

History of East Timor

The physical remoteness of East Timor from the mainland did not prevent the inhabitation of the island, which occurred mainly due to the migration of the population from Australia and neighboring islands. First settlers appeared on East Timor over 40,000 years ago. About 5,000 years ago, the local population started developing agriculture. In the course of time, East Timor developed trade relations with India and China but basically the island remained relatively isolated community. By the Middle Ages, East Timor was one of many islands in South East Asia with the local population employed in agriculture mainly. Consistent changes started with the colonization of the island by Portuguese, who brought European culture and lifestyle to the island and started to develop their colonial policies and system. In fact, the colonization of the island by Portuguese has brought consistent changes in virtually all aspects of the life of the local population. Portuguese created the colonial administration to run the island. They integrated the island into the international trade, although the island was mainly used as a source of coffee, valuable species and other agricultural products, which were taken by colonists from the island and exported to Europe mainly. In addition, Portuguese colonization brought a considerable cultural impact on the local population. Portuguese brought European culture and lifestyle to East Timor, which were totally different from the culture and lifestyle of the local population. However, colonization had developed the disparity between local culture and traditions, which the local population has started to perceive as inferior, and European ones, which were perceived as superior. However, such difference was determined by the different level of socioeconomic and technological development of East Timor and Portugal. In 1974, Portuguese colonialism had come to the end under the impact of the Portuguese revolution.

However, East Timor has failed to gain independence since the territory was immediately occupied by Indonesia. In such a way, the population of East Timor still remained under the foreign control and could not gain independence to conduct independent policies. However, the occupation of East Timor by Indonesia evoked a strong opposition from the part of the local population. In response to the opposition to the occupation, Indonesia used the military power to stop riots and to set the full control over the East half of the island of Timor

Nevertheless, the resistance of the local population to Indonesia occupation carried on, although it shifted to the new strategy of civil protests and disobedience as the major tools used by the local population to struggle for independence. Eventually, East Timor had got a chance to gain independence after the resignation of Indonesian President Suharto in 1999. Under the pressure of the international community, the popular referendum was conducted in East Timor, which revealed the support of East Timor’s independence by the overwhelming majority of the population. In spite of repressions from the part of pro-Indonesian militia, the population had launched the active civil struggle for independence relying heavily on the support of the international community, including Portugal and the US, which supported efforts of the local population to gain independence at the UN level. Eventually, East Timor has gained independence in 2002 and now the country builds up its political and economic system based on democratic principles, although democracy is still under-developed in East Timor.

Political system of East Timor

The political system of East Timor is based on democratic principles. East Timor is a republic, with the President as a formal head of the state. However, the executive branch of power is run by the Prime Minister, who is the head of the government (Hдgerdal, 2012). The government takes decisions and determines policies conducted by East Timor. The legislative branch of power is represented by the Parliament elected by the local population to a five-year term, just like the President who is also elected by the popular vote to a five-year term.

East Timor is the Unitarian state consisting of 13 districts and 65 sub-districts. Sub-districts consists of 442 villages and 2,225 hamlets.

Foreign relations of East Timor

Today, East Timor attempts to integrate into the global community and develop close international relations with neighboring states, including Indonesia, the US, Australia, New Zealand, Portugal, China, and other countries of South East Asia. The country applied for the membership in the Association of Southeat Asian Nations in 2011. In such a way, the country attempts to integrate into international relations, which open the way for the country to develop its international economic relations and to enhance the quality of living in East Timor due to the economic growth.

Economy of East Timor

At the moment, the domestic economy of East Timor is under-developed. The oil industry is the core industry of the national economy which covers over a half of the total export of the nation. The export map shows that the oil and oil-related industries prevail in the export of East Timor:

The production of coffee is also very important but East Timor export not roasted coffee that means that just like in case of the export of crude oil, East Timor is just a supplier of raw materials and natural resources with the under-developed industry. Instead, the ready-made products are imported to East Timor mainly, while local manufacturers focus on the production of essential products only, which are agricultural products mainly.

The nation attempts to introduce principles of the open market economy but they still do not always work because of the corruption and under-developed technologies. The economic and technological backwardness of East Timor leads to the desperate poverty, which affects over the half of the total population of the country (Charny, 2009). However, the gap between the rich and the poor is enormous that reveals the unfair distribution of wealth within the nation.

Demographics of East Timor

The population of East Timor is predominantly young. The fertility rate is high in East Timor that contributes to the growth of the local population, although health care services of the low quality make the growth relatively low because of the high mortality rate among newborns and the low longevity level. The population of East Timor is predominantly of Malayo-Polenisian and Melanesian-Papuan decent. The total population of the nation is over 1,144,000 with a large part of the population living in the area of the capital of East Timor, Dili.

Culture of East Timor

The culture of East Timor is grounded on the local tradition of mixed ethnic groups and the impact of Indonesian and Portuguese cultures. The local population has its own traditions, norms and beliefs grounded on norms and traditions of their ancestors (Levinson, 2010). At the same time, the impact of foreign powers is still obvious in the field of culture. For instance, the Portuguese impact can be traced in the wide spread of Christianity in East Timor with about 97% of the total population of the country being Cathilics.

Balide Church, Dili.

In such a way, Catholicism prevails in the culture of East Timor, which comprises a blend of local traditions and beliefs and Christian norms.

Education of East Timor

Today, almost a half of the adult population of East Timor is illiterate. In spite of all the efforts of East Timor, the illiteracy rate remains very high. About a third of primary-school age children do not attend school. Nevertheless, East Timor has made a considerable progress in the field of education because the illiteracy rate reached 85% in 1974, when Portuguese retreated from the country, while today it dropped almost twice. East Timor has one University – the National University of East Timor.

Health care system of East Timor

The health care system of East Timor is under-developed that results in the low life expectancy and relatively low quality of living. A large part of the population does not have access to health care services and uses traditional medicine. The lack of health care professionals is one of the main reasons for the low quality of health care services and the shortage of such services. However, the Cuban-East Timorese doctor-training program launched in 2003 contributes to the professional training of health care professionals in East Timor. On the other hand, the costs of health care services are still unaffordable for the larger part of the population because of the poverty that prevents many people from the opportunity to receive at least basic health care services.