East Timor courts 'failed state' tag

Obrigadu barak Maun Duruhui!

If Australians or Indonesians are too dumb to learn other languages than Indonesian or English, that is their problem. In international tourism, the more languages you speak, the more employable you are.

Omit Portuguese and you will aspire further and quicker? Yeah, right! Goa did that, but that didn't make language issues any easier - people were killed in riots over the decision to make Konkani the official language instead of Maharathi. And people are worried about the threat from English.

Some people in Australia want to make East Timor a 'little brown brother', just like the US did with the Philippines. The result? The rest of Asia looks down on the Philippines as the country that never grew up.

Manuel wrote:

A lack of communication said UN responsible. Only 5% of population speaks Portuguese. It was a signal. This is the point which needs some attention. Beware despotism. Democracy is not a Portuguese speciality, as Mr.Guterrez UNHCR knows only since 1974. Portuguese educational system is itself in crisis. Portuguese teachers need knowing some rudiments of local language before departure from Europe, if not is a new kind of disguised neo-colonialism and Empire searching in cultural stupidity of the past. Science and technology associated is much more important. Portugal itself it is by tradition a traditionalist country even now with obscurantism. Not exactly a conservative country.

As for the Portuguese thay do not need to be there ....As for this (A lot of Portuguese teachers in Baucau some years ago, perhaps in 2004, had home attacked and burned but without casualties.) IT IS A LOT OF BULL SHIT AND get yours facts right .

Get the F##King Portuguese out of east timor as thay can not talk to poeple in Timor .

Sunshine wrote:

<quoted text>The Australians only purpose in helping E Timor is gratitude. They helped us greatly during WW2 and we are more than willing to return the favour.
We don't need to dominate like the Europeans did and please don't judge us that way. My ancestors left Europe to get away from the controlling ruling classes and poverty.

I'm glad you feel that way Mr J, but unfortunately there are still a few around such as the inimitable Mr J H (PM of OZ and all round regular guy) that still have that colonial raison d'etre. His motiviation i suspect is NOT entirely one of gratitude and nor is his foreign policy. There's this thing about oil, his desire to see a 'european oz' as a future force surrounded by a few scattered melanesian islands that make a convenient buffer zone. Were it otherwise, we'd have seen a more sympathetic stance on boat people, refugees, and a whole host of other things (internal to australia and otherwise). Bsically the guy is still living in the 70s but with the benefit of political correctness.

Oh and P.S. what a bloody typical left wing thing to say (for the benefit of those that don't like what is actually a moderate approach).

>Mastery of several languages is tantamount to one's success.
>
>I agree that Portuguese and Tetum should exist alongside in Timor-Leste.
>I was born soon after the invasion of Indonesia against Timor-Leste in 1975.
>Nonetheless, I still manage to converse in
>Portuguese, in addition to Tetum, Indonesia, English and Spanish.
>
>I am presently undertaking a study course in PNG
>sponsored by a multinational financial institution.
>
>I do agree with those who favour the use of
>Portuguese in TL. It is not about the fight of
>getting more developed in the near future, but
>it has to do with our identity and be different
>in the region. PNG are certainly not benefiting
>and are not far better off than TL, merely
>adopting English. It has a market-oriented
>economy, maybe too soon for such a country with
>deep division of cultures, even one village to
>the next does not speak the same dialect. A
>glance on the street, I can say that TL is
>slightly better, even only being independent for a few years.
>
>Thus, adoption of English guarantees prosperity
>and advancement of its population??? I don't think so.
>
>

Well, its doesn't really matter in terms of language. I guess, we should proud ourselves as a Timorese who can speak multilingual.
1 Million population can dealing with different languages and over 30 dialects surround us. Is it not great idea?

E uma coisa extraordinario! Voces sabem que, a montes gente queria aprender lingua. Mas infelizmente nao e assim tao facil e preciso fazer um grande esforco.

Por isso, nao vale a pena discutimos nessa area.
Cada um sabe por si. Se quiser comentar em Portugues, Ingles, Bahasa ou a nossa lingua maternal Tetum, tudo bem.

Nos temos que respeitar ideias de outra pessoa. E liberdade para expressar a maneira como queira.

Portanto, vamos ver outro ramo e mais importante para debater.