Marí Bin Amude Alkatiri

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Marí Alkatiri (2020)

Marí Bin Amude Alkatiri (born November 26, 1949 in Dili , Portuguese Timor ) was the first Prime Minister from 2002 to 2006 after East Timor had finally gained independence and took over the post of Prime Minister again from 2017 to 2018.

Private

The Alkatiri family are the descendants of Arab immigrants from whom Hadramaut came to Timor in the 19th century. Marí Alkatiri is married to the Catholic Timoresin Marina Ribeiro Alkatiri . Between 2009 and 2014 she was the ambassador for East Timor in Mozambique . Their daughter, Nurima Ribeiro Alkatiri (* 1982), entered the East Timorese national parliament in 2017 . Nurima has two younger brothers, Lukeno and Solok.

Alkatiri, like his ancestors, is Muslim.

Career

Early years

Marí grew up in poor conditions in Dili's Kampung Alor district and went to school here. As a child, he helped his father in the family's rice fields in Fatuhada . Before the official school, Alkatiri attended a madrasa in the local mosque . The teachers also mostly came from the Hadramaut. The family's money was enough to send Marí Alkatiri to the regular Portuguese school from the age of 10 . He learned Portuguese and Tetum .

At a young age he fought for the independence of the Portuguese Timor colony . In January 1970, he and other citizens founded the Movimento para a Liberação de Timor-Leste ( Movement for the Liberation of East Timor ). Alkatiri is the only surviving member of this liberation movement. In the same year he went to Angola to study land surveying at the Angolan School of Geography . Back in Portuguese Timor, Alkatiri worked as an administrative officer in the building department. In addition, he joined an "anti-clonal discussion group". Among other things, he published articles in Seara magazine .

The way to the first independence

After the Carnation Revolution ended the military dictatorship in Portugal in April 1974, parties and political organizations were allowed in East Timor. On May 20, 1974, the social democratic party Assoçiação Social Democrata Timorense (ASDT) was founded and a founding member Alkatiri was appointed its secretary for political affairs, later general secretary. In September of that year, the ASDT changed its name to FRETILIN , with the aim of achieving the independence of the East Timor colony. Alkatiri became a member of the Central Committee and was responsible for international affairs. Portugal granted its colonies independence, but Indonesia tried to incorporate little East Timor, but there were also groups like the UDT who wanted to remain part of Portugal. The FRETILIN won the first free elections in the Lautém district on March 13, 1975 with 55%. in August there was a civil war with the UDT , which led to the establishment of FALINTIL , the East Timor’s National Liberation Army, on August 20. Alkatiri helped to organize the army. In addition, Alkatiri was commissioned to promote the East Timorese cause abroad. He traveled to Africa in November to receive aid against the Indonesian invasion. When he returned, Alkatiri was appointed chairman of the constitutional commission that would draft the new constitution. On November 28, 1975, FRETILIN declared the independence of East Timor and Alkatiri was appointed Minister of State for Political Affairs .

exile

On December 4, 1975, Alkatiri left with a delegation from East Timor to get further international support for his country. But three days after his departure, Indonesia attacked the militarily defeated East Timor. Thousands of people died in the first months of the occupation. Alkatiri could not return to East Timor and from then on devoted himself as the exile chief of FRETILIN to the task of ending the illegal occupation of his country. In the same month he obtained a condemnation of Indonesia before the UN Security Council . He settled in Mozambique and tried for years with the help of the UN to liberate East Timor from the Indonesian occupation. In Maputo he studied law at the Eduardo Mondlane University . In 1977 Alkatiri took over the post of Foreign Minister of the government-in-exile from José Ramos-Horta , who now became the spokesman for the government-in-exile.

From then on, Alkatiri taught private international law and constitutional law at his former university in Maputo. From 1992 to 1998 he also worked as a lawyer for a private law firm. From 1995 to 1998 he advised the parliament of Mozambique on constitutional issues.

In addition, Alkatiri held unofficial contacts with the People's Republic of China for the Timorese resistance . These ran through Hong Kong and its diplomatic missions. In 1997, Alkatiri was a guest of the Chinese government at the ceremony to hand over Hong Kong to China. Financial aid for his political work was passed on through Chinese businessmen.

In April 1998 the Conselho Nacional de Resistência Timorense (CNRT) was founded as the umbrella organization of the East Timorese resistance in Portugal. Alkatiri was elected a member of the National Political Commission of the CNRT.

Return to East Timor

In 1998 the longtime Indonesian dictator Suharto resigned and political change began in the country. After international pressure, Indonesia allowed a referendum on independence in East Timor in August 1999. The successful outcome led to attacks by pro-Indonesian militias , in the course of which almost the entire infrastructure of East Timor was destroyed. The devastation was only put to an end when a UN peacekeeping force intervened in September. Alkatiri returned to East Timor on October 13, 1999 and took on various tasks on the way to independence and the rebuilding of East Timor over the next few years. Among other things, he negotiated a treaty with Australia on the exploitation of the oil deposits in the Timor Sea . In the first transitional government he was Minister for Economic Affairs , in the second Chief Minister and Minister for Economic Affairs and Development.

Political life in independent East Timor

Marí Bin Amude Alkatiri (2002)
Anti-Alkatiri demonstration in Dili 2005
Alkatiri as President of ARAEO and ZEESM (2017)

On May 20, 2002, on the day of East Timor's renewed independence, Alkatiri became Prime Minister and Minister for Development and Environment (from 2005 Minister for Natural Resources, Minerals and Energy Policy from FRETILIN , which had obtained an absolute majority in Parliament in August 2001 ) appointed. In terms of foreign policy, he sought rapprochement (militarily, as economically) to the People's Republic of China and the left-wing states of South America , which brought him into conflict with President Xanana Gusmão .

Alkatiri struggled with popularity problems. On the one hand, he was seen by many as a cold technocrat , others accused him of spending 24 years in exile in Mozambique and not fighting against the Indonesian occupiers in East Timor. Alkatiri's house was burned down during the unrest in 2002 . Alkatiri has also been blamed for the eruption of the worst civil unrest since independence in April 2006. He had fired soldiers who protested against unjust treatment in the army , which led to serious rioting in Dili. There were calls for his resignation, but initially there was a government reshuffle that had two of his most important ministers to leave. In addition, a power struggle broke out between Alkatiri and President Gusmão, with Alkatiri relying on the police and Gusmão on the support of most of the army. Gusmão's demands that Alkatiri resign were initially rejected by the ruling party, while the popular Foreign Minister José Ramos-Horta and the Minister of Transport protested and withdrew from their political offices on June 25. Finally, on June 26, 2006, Alkatiri declared that he wanted to take responsibility for the political crisis and resigned. Ramos-Horta was appointed his successor on July 8th.

On October 17th, the UN published a report on the unrest recommending an investigation against ex-Prime Minister Alkatiri. Alkatiri failed to prevent weapons from being distributed to civilians, although he is said to have known about it. Investigations against him were stopped in early February 2007, which led to renewed protests. Alkatiri repeatedly accused Australia and its media of being responsible for his forced resignation.

Alkatiri is still the Secretary General of FRETILIN. In 2007 and 2012 he also ran for the national parliament. Despite his entry on the party list, he did not take the seat of parliament after the elections.

In 2014, Alkatiri was appointed President of the Regional Authority of Oe-Cusse Ambeno (Autoridade da Região Administrativa Especial de Oe-Cusse Ambeno ARAEO) and was entrusted with the development of the Special Zone for Social Market Economy (ZEESM) in the East Timorese exclave. To this end, the government granted him far-reaching powers in 2015. When two FRETILIN MPs became members of the government in February 2015 and therefore had to give up their seats, Alkatiri used his right after the 2012 election and took up his MP.

In the parliamentary elections in East Timor in 2017 , Alkatiri ran for FRETILIN in first place and thus successfully entered the national parliament . On September 15, Alkatiri was sworn in as Prime Minister of a minority government. The 7th constitutional government of East Timor consisted of a coalition of FRETILIN and Partido Democrático (PD) , which only had a minority in the national parliament. On September 15, Alkatiri was sworn in again as Prime Minister of East Timor, which meant that he again had to give up his seat of parliament. He was also Minister for Development and Institutional Reforms and headed this department until the appointment of the new Justice Minister Ângela Carrascalão on October 17th. Arsénio Bano replaced Alkatiri as president of the regional authority of Oe-Cusse Ambeno.

Since the minority government could not prevail in parliament, President Francisco Guterres dissolved it and called for new elections. In the new election on May 12, 2018 , Alkatiri was once again number 1 on the FRETILIN list and made it into parliament, where FRETILIN is now the strongest opposition party. But he renounced his parliamentary seat. On June 22, 2018, Taur Matan Ruak was sworn in as the new Prime Minister.

After being voted out of office as head of government, Alkatiri was again head of ARAEO and ZEESM. His term of office was set by Law 3/2014 until 2019. After Prime Minister Taur Matan Ruak's government signaled that they would not extend Alkatiri's term in office, he renounced it.

Web links

Commons : Marí bin Amude Alkatiri  - collection of images, videos and audio files

See also

Individual evidence

  1. ↑ a b c d e f Melissa Johnston: A 'Muslim'Leader of a' Catholic'Nation? Mari Alkatiri's Arab-Islamic Identity and its (Inter-) National Contestations , 2012.
  2. ↑ Timor Agora: Nurima Alkatiri: “Ha'u-nia Mehi atu Kontribui…” , October 2, 2017 , accessed on October 4, 2017.
  3. ↑ a b c d e f East Timorese Government: BIOGRAPHICAL NOTES ON Mari Bim Amude Alkatiri The Prime Minister , accessed August 29, 2005.
  4. ^ ETAN East Timor's Premier Has Arab Ancestry
  5. ↑ Loro Horta : "Timor-Leste - The Dragon's Newest Friend", 2009 (PDF; 103 kB)
  6. ↑ Lydia M. Beuman: Political Institutions in East Timor: semi-presidentialism and Democratization (2016).
  7. ↑ Website of the government of Timor-Leste: II UNTAET Transitional Government (English)
  8. ↑ Douglas Kammen: Fragments of utopia: Popular yearnings in East Timor , Journal of Southeast Asian Studies, 40 (2), pp. 385–408 June 2009, doi : 10.1017 / S0022463409000216 .
  9. ↑ List of FRETILIN MPs 2007 to 2012 ( Memento from October 29, 2008 in the Internet Archive )
  10. ↑ List of FRETILIN MPs 2012 to 2017 ( Memento from February 19, 2014 in the Internet Archive )
  11. ↑ Sapo Notícias: Governu Timoroan transfere poder ba autoridade Oe-kusse Ambenu , January 17, 2015 , accessed on January 17, 2015.
  12. ↑ Parliament's website: List of MEPs ( Memento of 10 January 2014 in the Internet Archive ) (Portuguese)
  13. ↑ La'o Hamutuk: Who will be in Timor-Leste's next Parliament? / Se sei tuir iha Parlamentu Nasionál? , July 23, 2017 , accessed July 24, 2017.
  14. ↑ Diário de Notícias: Mari Alkatiri confirma indigitação pela coligação para liderar próximo Governo timorense , September 12, 2017 , accessed on September 12, 2017.
  15. ↑ SAPO: VII Governo constitucional de Timor-Leste toma hoje posse incompleto , September 15, 2017 , accessed on September 15, 2017.
  16. ↑ Raimundos Oki Jornal: Arsenio Bano expels journalist in public place , February 24 , accessed on February 27, 2018.
  17. ^ Election lists for the 2018 parliamentary elections
  18. ↑ Timor-Leste Local Daily News: Local Daily News August 17, 2018 , accessed August 23, 2018.
  19. ↑ Prime Minister of East Timor: PRIMEIRU-MINISTRU TAUR MATAN RUAK SIMU PREZIDENTE INTERINU ZEESM TL ARSÉNIO PAIXÃO BANO , August 1, 2019 , accessed on August 1, 2019.
personal data
SURNAME Alkatiri, Marí Bin Amude
ALTERNATIVE NAMES Alkatiri, Mari
BRIEF DESCRIPTION East Timorese Prime Minister
DATE OF BIRTH November 26, 1949
PLACE OF BIRTH Dili , Portuguese Timor