Business Communication 2 EPM3: East Timor Economy/ Politics

Hello everyone

We are now in East Timor and I have to admit that we have had some troubles with adapting to the way of living here in East Timor. It’s totally different than our luxurious life that we are used to in Belgium. There is nothing luxurious to the way that people have to live here. Contrary there is a lot of poverty here in East Timor.

Half the population of East Timor live in extreme poverty, and this is part due to the fact that the country continuous to suffer the after effects of a decades-long independence struggle against Indonesia, which damaged infrastructure and displaced thousands of civilians.

East Timor is therefore one of the poorest countries in the world and you can see that when you’re visiting East Timor. Half of the population is illiterate, 20% have no job and only 36% of the households have electricity.

80% of the active population works in the agricultural sector. Here in East Timor there are a lot of markets where the farmers sells their products.

Farmers

Market

East Timor earns revenue primarily from exports. These include export of sandalwood, coffee, marble, oil and petroleum. The economy depends on exports but also of government spending and assistance from international donors.

Politics

The government Palace is situated in Dili and the head of state of East Timor is the President of East Timor. He is elected by vote for a five-year term. The unicameral East Timorese parliament is the National Parliamant en the members are elected by popular vote to a five-year term.

The east Timorese constitution is modeled on that of Portugal. There are also soldiers here in East Timor. They are called the Timor Leste Defence Force and they are responsible for the defence of East Timor.

East Timor is divided into thirteen administrative districts. The districts are subdivided into 65 subdistricts, 442 sucos (villages) and 2,225 aldeias (hamlets).