Lakon Direitu Ba Vota: Viola Direitu Timor Oan Iha Rai liur

Agi Soares

Lian Husi Estudante Iha Rai Liur

Hanesan nasaun demokratiku Timor-Leste autoriza ninia sidadaun ho direitu atu vota. Bazeia ba Konstituisaun RDTL, artigu 22 katak” Sidadaun sira ne’eb”e hela e tu’ur iha tasi-balun iha protesaun husi Estadu kona-ba sira-nia direitu, no sei hakruk ba obrigasaun ne’ebé la’os inkopantivel ho sira-nia auzensia husi rai laran”. Ida ne’e signifika katak direitu ema hotu ne’ebé mak hela iha tasi balun hetan protesaun husi estadu. Maibe iha artigu ida ne’e la fo klaru kona ba direitu atu vota tan ne’e lei eleitoral nian persiza deskuti iha parlamentu.

Direitu atu vota signifika katak kontribui ba eleisaun liu husi votasaun. Tinan 10 liu ona depois komemorasaun restaurasaun ba independesia. Eleisuan dekade ida mos liu dadaun no la inklui sidadaun hotu atu fo sira nia votu. Ida ne’e la’os konaba votantes iha rai laran maibé konaba sidadaun ne’ebé iha tasi balun wainhira eleisaun hala’o. Mai ita hanoin hamutuk tok estudante hira mak agora estudu iha nasaun liur no sidadaun hira mak agora hela iha tasi balu. Ema sira ne’e iha ka lae direitu atu vota? Se sira iha duni, rezultadu votasaun iha Timor-Leste ba dadaun ne lejitimu ou lae?

Ses husi ita nia governu ne’ebé mak seidauk bele realiza eleisaun iha tasi balun. Ida ne’e hamosu hanoin konaba posibilidade sa mak governu responde neneik liu atu trata ninia sidadaun hotu ho direitu hanesan. Iha ema barak tebes mak agora dadaun namkari iha tasi balun ho razaun ne’ebé diferente balu hala’o estudu e balu fali servisu. Embaisada sira ne’ebé mak hari’i iha tasi balun ho objektivu klaru atu proteje no asiste direitu husi sidadaun tomak inkluidu atu fasilita sidadaun sira atu vota iha eleisaun. Maibé, ita hare’e katak atu hala’o eleisaun iha tasi balun ne’e sei defisil. Iha pontus balu mak persiza deskuti iha artigu ida ne’e, mak hanesan falta de osamentu, limitasaun rekursu humanu no ikus liu mak seidauk iha rekursu ka sistema tekniku ne’ebé diak.

Pontu permeiru mak falta osamentu: Suportasaun osamentu sai nudar fatores importante ne’ebé mak persiza iha planu husi embaisada sira iha tasi balun. Se laiha suporta osamentu ne’ebé propriu maka sei laiha eleisaun ne’ebé bele hala’o iha tasi balun. Osamentu mai husi governu, organisasaun internasional no doador sira. CNE & STAE nudar instituisaun ne’ebé mak responsavel ba prosesu osamentu eleisauan nian, sira persiza esforsu e servisu maka’as tan instituisaun rua ne’e mak komisaun eleitoral iha Timor-Leste. Opsaun ida mak tenki influensia membru parlementu atu aprova lei eleitoral no finansiamentu ba eleisaun iha tasi balun. Maibé, Iha realidade hatudu katak CNE no STAE seidauk preparadu atu debate isu ida ne’e ho razaun katak sira preokupa hela ho eleisaun presidensial ne’ebé liu ba dadaun no preparasaun ba eleisaun parlementar ne’ebé mak atu mai dadaun. Ida ne’e indika katak limitadu rekursu humanu la’os iha embaisada sira iha nasaun liur deit maibé mos iha railaran mos.

Pontu segundu mak limitasaun reskursu humanu: Hanesan mensiona iha leten, rekursu humanu refere ba ema ne’ebé mak atu hala’o servisu ba eleisaun no hala’o monitorizasaun. Ema sira ne’e persiza hetan treinamentu, signifika katak sei gasta osan mos ba ida ne’e no ida ne’e sei afeita diretamente ba alokasaun osamentu. Hanesan ita hatene katak, Iha embaisada TL barak ne’ebé mak iha nasaun liur hetan limitasaun ema ne’ebé servisu iha konsuladu e atu hala’o eleisaun iha tasi balu persiza ema barak ka matenek nain ne’ebé mak bele organiza, hala’o monitorizasaun no hare’e ba prosesu tomak wainhira eleisaun hala’o.

Pontu ikus liu mak laiha suporta tekniku: Suporta tekniku refere ba ekipamentus, material no sistema eleisaun e mos oinsa atu aplika sistema ida ne’ebé utiliza metodu ne’ebé mak efetivu no sistema ne’ebé mak efisiente. Maibé ekipamentu ne’ebé diak, ema matenek no sistema diak hanesan votu online karun tebes. Ezemplu mak hanesan rai Amerika, nasaun ne’ebé sempre utiliza sistema votu online wainhira eleisauan involve ekipamentu monitorizasaun ne’ebé mak karun tebes kompara ho selu ema hala’o monitorizasaun iha eleisaun. Maibé ninia benefisiu mak ne’e efesiente liu no bele utiliza iha tempu naruk.

Ema barak dala ruma hateten katak isu ida ne’e la importante atu deskuti. Balun fali dala ruma bele dehan katak analiza ne’ebe hau halo ladun klean e ladun klaru tanba la hatudu evidensia forte atu suporta hau nia idea. Maibé realidade hatudu katak liu ona tinan 10, estadu seidauk bele hala’o eleisauan iha ninia embaisada sira iha rai liur no hatudu katak parte balun husi sidadaun Timor Leste abandona husi governu. Hanesan konsekuensia sidadaun barak iha rai liur lakon sira nia direitu atu vota e ida ne’e klaru katak viola konstitusaun RDTL. Governu ladun preokupa ho problema ida ne’e maibé hanesan sidadaun ida, hau senti hau tenki koalia sai tamba ema barak mak ladun kontenti ho sistema ne’ebé mak la’o dadaun.

Hanesan rekomendasaun ba eleisaun tuir mai, gorvernu tenki konsidera isu ida ne’e ho foti asaun atu deskuti lei eleitoral nian. Hala’o ona planu alokasaun osamentu atu aumenta servisu ne’ebé iha embaisada sira, aumenta rekursu humanu no estabelese sistema ne’ebé diak, liu liu hanesan sistema vota online iha embaisada ne’ebé hari’i ona iha nasaun liur. Ho ida ne’e sei fo oportunidade ba Timor oan sira iha tasi balu atu partisipa iha desizaun politika ne’ebé hala’o iha ita nia nasaun no ninia ikus mai mak rezultadu husi eleisaun iha Timor-Leeste sei absolutu tan inklui sidadaun hotu. (AS).

Losing The Right to Vote: The Violation of The Rights of Timorese Citizens In Overseas

A voice from a Timorese student abroad

As a democratic nation Timor-Leste has conferred its citizens with the right to vote. Based on the constitution of the RDTL, article 22 cites the following in its original language: “Sidadaun sira ne’ebe hela e tuur iha tasi-balu iha protesaun husi Estadu kona-ba sira-nia dereitu, no sei hakruuk ba obrigasaun ne’ebe la’os inkopantivel ho sira-nia auzensia husi rai laran”. This means that the right of all overseas citizens is protected by the state. However this article does not make any special reference to the “right to vote” therefore the electoral law has to be discussed in the parliament.

The right of a citizen means contributing to the electoral process through voting. Ten years have now passed since the restoration of our independence. Another election has also passed without the involvement of all its citizens fulfilling their right. It’s not about people in the country but it’s about people who are not in the country when the election takes place. Let us think together of how many people are currently studying abroad and how many Timorese citizens are residing overseas. Don’t they have the right to vote? If they do, is the result of the election in Timor-Leste legitimate?

Despite the fact that our government has yet to be able to conduct elections overseas, it does beg to wonder about the possible reason why the government has acted so slowly in taking action in treating all of its citizens equally. There are many Timorese citizens spread overseas for different purposes; some are studying while many others are working. This forms one of the reasons why a state establishes embassies overseas so to look after and assist its citizens through the provision of services. One of the embassy’s aims is also to protect the right of its citizens including facilitating citizens to vote in an election.

However, the running of overseas polling stations presents numerous challenges. There are several points that need to be discussed in this article such as lack of funding, lack of human resource and the lack of a technical system.

The first point is lack of funding. Financial support is the most important factor required in the planning of overseas elections through embassies. Without the appropriate funding, there can be no election abroad. Funding comes from the government, international agencies and donors. CNE & STAE are the responsible institutions for the process of acquiring funding and they need to intensify their efforts as they form the election committee in Timor-Leste. One option is to persuade Members of Parliament to acquire the approval of the electoral law and the financial support for overseas elections. The reality is that, both CNE and STAE are not prepared to debate this issue since they are already overwhelmed with organizing the past presidential election and the upcoming parliamentary election. This clearly indicates that there exists a lack of human resources not only in Timorese embassies overseas but also inside the country.

The second point is a lack of human resources. As mentioned previously, human resources refer to those people who will run the election and conduct its subsequent monitoring. These people need to be trained and paid and this will affect the allocation of the budget. In Timorese embassies abroad, few people work in the consular section. However, holding an election overseas requires more people who are experts in organizing, monitoring and taking care of all the process.

The last point is lack of technical support. Technical support refers to the equipment, materials and the electoral system, and how to apply the effective method and efficient system while undergoing the election. However, virtuous equipment, expert resources and the system identical to the online voting, of course, is more expensive. For example, in the case of America, its online voting in the elections, involves very expensive equipment to monitor the system and this can be more costly than paying people to do the monitoring in the election but the efficiency can be extended.

Many people may argue that this issue is not important to discuss. Some may say that my analysis is not deep enough or it is bias because it does not provide evidence to support some of my ideas. However the reality shows that after 10 years, the State, is still not able to conduct elections overseas and its seems that a segment of Timorese citizens have been abandoned by its government. As a consequence, many Timorese citizens overseas are losing their right to vote and this is a clear violation of the RDTL constitution. On the other hand, the government does not seem preoccupied with this problem but as a citizen, I feel I should speak out, as many people are not content with the ongoing system.

As a recommendation for the next election, the government must consider this issue by taking action and discussing the electoral law. The Allocation of a greater budget so to improve embassy services, the improvement of human resources and the establishment of a good system of election such as online voting in each embassy, should all be considered. As a result, this will allow those Timorese overseas the opportunity to participate in the political decisions of their own country. As a result, the legitimacy of the election will be absolute because it will involve all its citizens. (AS).