Learn From East Timor

Yesterday the whole world witnessed the next solid step towards the birth of a new democratic nation which is at present known as East Timor - a United Nations administered non-self governing territory since November 1999. It was the day when the newly elected 88-member Constituent Assembly was inaugurated and all 88 newly-elected members took oath.

I think Nepal may have few lessons to learn from East Timor, which has 27 per cent of women’s representation. The East Timor Assembly has a balance of nationally elected members and the members elected district wise, which will argue for the case not only of their districts but also of the nation as a whole. But in our system, the vision of most of our elected members rarely goes beyond their respective constituencies.

With a whole Assembly debating the Constitution, the chances are very high that the end product will reflect the aspirations of the entire nation rather than the ‘few intellectual elite’, which was the case when our Constitution was drafted in 1990. In East Timor, a conscious effort through civic education was made to make people aware of what a Constitution is and why is it so important and how it can influence the governing of a country. Here again if we do a national survey in Nepal among common people on the awareness about our Constitution, I am sure the result will be dismal.

In East Timor, before the political campaign kicked off, all political parties agreed to campaign peacefully and to abide by a code of conduct. All eligible voters were issued ‘ID cards’ which again ensured ‘no fraud’ and proxy voting. While stating the above I am fully aware of the geographical and ethnic diversities of our country and also the size of population. Some of these things cannot be compared with a country which is completely different. But I am just trying to highlight the process and what is possible in a short span of time if there is a genuine political will at the highest level.

Let us draw lessons from countries which are trying to come up with something new which ‘suits their soil’ by drawing lessons from both the good and the bad experiences of other countries.

Adarsha Tuladhar
UNDP, East Timor