Formed during Portuguese and Indonesian occupation, the 15 or so major gangs have an estimated membership of around 90,000 and boast names such as Commando or Korka. AusAID, the Australian Government's overseas aid program, says it is estimated that almost half of East Timor's 1 million people live on less than $US1 a day half are illiterate and more than 40 per cent of young males are unemployed, offering the gangs plenty of recruitment opportunities.Įven on the new construction sites, freshly painted gang signs are daubed - demonic skulls and murals, such as the distinctive four-pointed symbol that designates the PSHT, or Persaudaraan Setia Hati Terate ("Brotherhood of the Faithful Heart of the Lotus Flower"). East Timor is ranked 162nd out of 182 countries in the United Nations' human development index. A three-storey shopping mall is half-built a beachside resort is planned fleets of new government cars hog the streets and on weekends businessmen take the afternoon air in their European convertibles.īut the development picture is misleading. And where once burnt-out buildings lay smothered in weeds, a modern city is emerging. President José Ramos-Horta recently announced East Timor had experienced 14 per cent economic growth in 2009 - among the highest rates in the world. On the surface, East Timor appears to be undergoing a miraculous transformation, thanks to its oil and gas industries and the government's decision to expend revenue from the nation's $5-billion petroleum fund on infrastructure and other projects. It's a measure of the power and immunity of the gangs, which many believe now pose a significant threat to the nation's security. The police haven't even bothered to interview him, let alone his attacker - something that has become common in East Timor. To be arrested and go to court."īut official justice may be slow in coming for da Silva. I want the guy who did it - and I know who he is - to face justice.
Doubling over with pain, he grabbed the wound and held it to stop the bleeding, then staggered to the main road to get a taxi to hospital.Ī week later, lying on his bed in his small airless bedroom, wincing from the incision which doctors made to remove the dart, he says: "I've told my friends not to get revenge. It speared deep into Jose da Silva's chest, stopping a millimetre from his heart. It is the preferred weapon of Dili's gangs, who often coat them in battery acid. THE lethal projectile was a rama ambon, a 20cm dart with a barbed, razor-sharp tip.
Gang violence is threatening to ruin the chance for peace and prosperity in East Timor
Mean streets Rory Callinan From: The Australian Ap12:00AM
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