10 July 2008

East Timor Students Petition

delivered July 7, 2008

University Students protest will be carried on today in Dili.A petition was delivered yesterday to the following institutions-

Parliament: Received by the President of the Parliament, Fernando Lasama and the two vice-Presidents of the Parliament, Vicente Guterres and Maria Paixão.

- Office of the President: Received by the Chief of the Cabinet, Ms Natalia Carrascalão

- Office of the Prime Minister: Received by Ms Elisabeth Exposto

- F-FDTL: Received by Colonel Lere

The students will deliver today the same petition to the Court of Appeal and the Office of the Ombudsman.

This petition was presented by ASUTIL (Timor Leste University Students Solidarity Action) and aims at raising concerns of the people of Timor-Leste.

It demands the following:

that state institutions look into measures to decrease food prices to allow people to have greater access to food

that the President of the Republic uses his power of veto to block the rectifiying budget because it is too high, the government is incapable spending it appropriately, it is only going to further benefit the powerful elite, it would lead to corruption and also lead to greater dependency of Timor-Leste on debts when the country stops receiving revenues from the petroleum resources. This could happen in the very near future.

that the Parliament blocks the proposal on the arms law in which article 4 is a major concern

that the President and the both Vice-Presidents of the Parliament should not change the agreement they had made with the students on the 12 June 2008 in regards to the purchase of the luxury cars for the parliamentarians. On this agreement they were told that only 26 cars would be purchased for the Parliament Committees.

that Mariano Sabino, the Minister of Agriculture should stop making agreements to provide land for foreign companies for sugar cane and rubber plantations because people need this land for food production.

that the President meets the students to hold talks on scholarships which should have taken place on the 11th of February 2008 (the date of the assassination attempt on the President).

that government should resolve the issue of Internally Displaced People to avoid having refugees in our own country.

A peace march will be organized to defend people’s rights if the students’ demands are not met.

Action Coordinator: Santiago Ximenes Vaz “Kilikai Mata”

Spokesperson: Marcos Guterres Gusmão “Auraga”Dili, 7 July 2008Contact: +670 737 9007

Post sponsored by East Timor Law Journal - Towards the rule of law in Timor-Leste.

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