Liam Cochrane, Dili – The government in East Timor has shown off a European-built pipeline which it says can be used to send natural gas to the country from the disputed Greater Sunrise Field off the north-west coast of Australia.

Adapted from http://laohamutuk.blogspot.com/2012/05/lh-observations-on-president-election.html.

On 30 April 2012, La'o Hamutuk submitted this report in Tetum to the National Elections Commission and other relevant officials. Printable PDF versions with photos are available at:

Damien Kingsbury – As Timor-Leste moves towards marking the 10th anniversary of its independence and completing the third round of its national elections, the question arises as to whether it has consolidated its democracy.

The federal government is in discussions with East Timor about carbon price liabilities for gas companies which operate in the Timor Sea.

Police in the East Timorese capital Dili fired warning shots and arrested 84 people to disperse some 500 May Day protesters calling for higher wages on Tuesday, police and a witness said.

Lindsay Murdoch – Jose Ramos-Horta guns his Mini Moke along Dili's pot-holed backstreets, waving and laughing with barefooted children running to see their President.

"I'll show you the real Timor," he says as the Moke races past ramshackle homes where some of the world's most disadvantaged people live in squalor, despite a five-year government spending spree.

The East Timorese government has raised concerns that it risks losing millions of dollars in revenue, as a result of Australia's carbon tax.

The carbon price of 23 dollars per tonne, which will be imposed on July the 1st, might be applied to companies operating in the oil and gas fields in the Timor Sea, which are jointly shared by both countries.

David Wroe – East Timor could be slugged millions of dollars a year under the carbon tax, which is set to take a bite out of revenues from offshore natural gas fields that Australia shares with the impoverished nation.

Anna Powles, Dili – In a vote influenced by nationalism and nostalgia, Timor Leste's voters overwhelmingly chose former defense force chief Jose Maria Vasconcelos, more commonly known by his nom de guerre Taur Matan Ruak, as the young country's next president.

Former guerrilla fighter Taur Matan Ruak has officially won East Timor's presidential election, according to a court statement that confirmed preliminary results announced last week.

The Supreme Court of Appeals said in a statement dated Monday that Ruak had won 61.2 percent of the vote, beating rival Francisco Guterres "Lu Olo" in the April 16 run-off ballot.

Damien Kingsbury – States that have been colonised commonly reflect elements of their colonial past. Timor-Leste has the unusual distinction of having been colonised by two different powers in living memory, with each leaving significant elements of themselves imprinted upon Timorese society.

Michael Bachelard – Three weeks ago some of the world's unluckiest people were given one more reason to curse their fate.

Fleeing persecution in their home country, and after years of living in Malaysia as non-citizens, 26 Arakanese Muslims from Burma set out on a boat bound for Australia.

Max Lane – The second round vote for the President of Timor Leste has been announced.

The second round vote for the President of Timor Leste has been announced. The two candidates were Lu'olo (Francisco Guterres), a candidate put forward by Fretilin and Taur Matan Ruak (Jose Maria Vasconcelos), a non-party candidate, being supported by Xanana Gusmao, current prime minister and president of the political party, National Council for Timorese Reconstruction (CNRT).

Michael Bachelard, Dili – Australia can expect a more aggressive line from East Timor's new president Taur Matan Ruak over maritime boundaries and oil and gas revenue, after he described Australia's approach to these issues as "always a problem".

Guido Goulart, Dili, East Timor – Two former guerrilla leaders vied for East Timor's presidency Monday, each hoping to help steer the region's newest and poorest nation after UN peacekeeping troops begin their planned withdrawal later this year.

Gerry Van Klinken – There is bitter irony here. Even for the winning side, this bloody outcome was not optimal. Indonesia was left in physical control of the towns, but not of the mountains, where low level guerrilla warfare continued for decades. It controlled most bodies but few hearts and minds among the traumatised population.

Damien Kingsbury – When East Timor's outgoing president, Jose Ramos-Horta, won office in 2007 by a crushing 69 per cent, many outsiders attributed the victory to his high profile as a campaigner for the country during the 24 years of Indonesian occupation.

Meagan Weymes – Former guerrilla Taur Matan Ruak has won East Timor's presidential run-off by a wide margin, preliminary results showed Tuesday, in a pivotal year for the nation almost a decade after independence.

Michael Bachelard, Dili – A military man recommended by the United Nations for criminal prosecution six years ago seems almost certain to become the new president of East Timor.

Meagan Weymes – Former military commander Taur Matan Ruak was ahead in an early count for East Timor's presidential run-off vote on Monday, according to the elections secretariat.

Victor R Savage – The current presidential election in Timor-Leste has brought international visibility to this rather marginalised state within Southeast Asia. The freedom-fighter generation of Timor-Leste has everything to be proud of in these elections.

Dili – East Timor's second presidential election as a free nation will see two ex-guerrillas compete in a run-off vote on Monday, after the Nobel Prize-winning incumbent was knocked out in the first round.

Unrest has broken out in East Timor, where the campaign office of presidential candidate Taur Matan Ruak has been attacked in the lead-up to the election on Monday.

Dili – Following a peaceful presidential poll in March and several years of stability, international peacekeeping forces dispatched in 2006 to prevent the outbreak of civil war in Timor-Leste are preparing to pull out.

Pat Walsh – On 20 March, Attorney-General Nicola Roxon agreed to a Department of Foreign Affairs request to block public access to 34-year-old cables on the famine that ravaged East Timor early in the Indonesian occupation.

Tim Anderson – East Timorese PM Xanana Gusmao looks likely to lose government to Fretilin in June. Gusmao's mixed legacy proves that a great resistance leader does not necessarily make a great nation builder, writes Tim Anderson.

Damien Kingsbury – Jose Ramos-Horta's decision to support the Democratic Party (PD) in the parliamentary elections has two sets of implications for Timor-Leste's politics. The first and most obvious will be the effect that this has on the outcome of the parliamentary elections and in particular the level of success of PD.

The first-round vote of East Timor's presidential election went smoothly, defying low expectations based on the tiny country's violent history.

Anna Powles, Dili – The second round run-off of Timor Leste's presidential elections scheduled for mid-April will pit two heavyweights of the decade-old country's past resistance struggle and signals a shift towards a new era of nationalist politics.

Matt Peacock – Federal Attorney-General Nicola Roxon has blocked the release of cables about East Timor, despite the fact they are up to 37 years old.

Ms Roxon decided to keep the documents secret on the grounds that opening them up would prejudice Australia's security.

Michael Bachelard – Less than a week after Jose Ramos-Horta lost his bid for another term as president of East Timor he has decided to throw his weight behind the country's third party, the Democrats, for the June parliamentary election.

Zubaidah Nazeer – In many ways, the re-election bid of East Timor President Jose Ramos-Horta was doomed even before he threw his hat into the ring.

Dili – East Timor's parliament has suspended the country's justice minister after a court summoned her to face charges of corruption and abuse of power. The suspension comes amid a presidential election in which some candidates have accused the government of rampant graft.

Commentator Joao Saldanha from the Timor Institute of Development in Dili has started the Republican party to run in East Timor's parliamentary elections in June.

Presenter: Sen Lam

Speaker: Dr Joao Saldanha, commentator from the Timor Institute of Development, Dili

Canberra, Australia – Australian Defense Minister Stephen Smith says parliamentary elections planned in East Timor could allow international troops to begin withdrawing after six years of restoring stability to the fledgling Southeast Asian nation.

Aubrey Belford – East Timor's people are desperately poor but its government is swimming in cash. Is the country buying its way out of poverty, or into economic disaster?

Damien Kingsbury – East Timor incumbent president, Jose Ramos-Horta, has failed in his bid for re-election, with his former key rival, Fretilin's Francisco "Lu-Olo" Guterres, and former armed forces commander Taur Matan Ruak, who is supported by Prime Minister Xanana Gusmao, going through to the second electoral round.

Brendan Brady – When residents of Dili voted to elect a new president five years ago, more than a hundred thousand displaced people were scattered about the city in tent camps and gangs of disgruntled youths exorcised their angst in the street. The scene this year reflected a very different mood.

Dili, East Timor – President Jose Ramos Horta, who campaigned tirelessly for East Timor's independence for more than two decades and then went on to help steer the new nation, conceded defeat on Monday after a poor showing in weekend elections.

Timor-Leste Friendship Network (AusTimorFN) in conjunction with Deakin University's Centre for Citizenship, Development and Human Rights (CCDHR)

Anwar Faruqi – Early results from East Timor's presidential polls on Sunday showed the opposition Fretilin party's Francisco "Lu Olo" Guterres had surged ahead with incumbent Jose Ramos-Horta lagging in third.

Jose Ramos-Horta has lost his attempt to win a second term in office, with preliminary results from East Timor's presidential race showing he has failed to win enough support to feature in a second-round run-off election.

Tito Belo, Dili – East Timor kicked off a peaceful presidential election on Saturday, a critical test to whether Asia's youngest and poorest country can maintain stability and build confidence to develop the economy.

Anwar Faruqi – East Timor voted Saturday in the country's second presidential election as a free nation, seen as a key test for a young democracy taking charge of its own security as UN forces prepare to leave.

Dili, East Timor – More than 1,200 UN forces are ready to intervene in East Timor's presidential election this weekend if there is an outbreak of major violence, the top UN official in the country said on Friday.

Karlis Salna – East Timor's incumbent president, Jose Ramos-Horta, remains nonchalant even though this weekend could mark the beginning of the end for his career as one of the country's most respected and renowned political figures.

David McKittrick – At the funeral of Francisco Xavier do Amaral the president of East Timor paid handsome tribute to the man he described as "a symbol of unity in our aspiration to independence and freedom, a courageous nationalist with faith in democracy."

Anna Powles, Dili – Timorese voters will go to the polls twice this year to elect the nation's president and parliament for the third time since achieving independence in 2001. The elections, scheduled respectively for March and June, promise to be the most significant to date for Timor Leste, also known as East Timor.

Michael Bachelard, Dili – When East Timorese voters go to the polls on Saturday to choose their new president, every candidate with a chance of victory will be a veteran of the struggle against Indonesia.