By
Ted McDonnell
IN
January 2013, former Fretilin Parliamentarian Jose Teixeira gave me a lengthy
interview on the government of Xanana Gusmao. He was highly critical of
Gusmao's government; mis-handling of the economy and the petroleum fund.
Teixeira
agreed because of the poor policies of the Gusmao government Timor Leste may
very soon become a basket case like Nauru. Teixeira was highly critical of
Gusmao's government in this interview.
He
also states in the interview he would never want to trample over of human
rights and the rule of law of his fellow Timorese.
Fast
forward to 2016.
Teixeira
is a long-time personal friend and confidante of Prime Minister Rui de Arjuao,
who is considered a puppet of former PM Xanana Gusmao.
Today,
Teixeira's company Da Silva Teixeira is a key legal advisor to the Government
of Timor Leste.
Teixeira's
friend Dr. Rui has entered into legal proceedings of defamation against
Raimundos Oki. The action could see Oki jailed.
I
wonder whether Dr. Rui sought advice from his lawyer friends at Da Silva
Teixeira on his silencing action against the media.
Teixeira
is one who has always spoken about freedom of speech and freedom of the media,
but one must ask two things:
(1)
Is Teixeira advising Dr. Rui on his shutting down of freedom of speech in the
media; and
(2)
Should Teixiera himself face legal action by the government due to the
criticisms in his interview in 2013?
Surely,
there are clear double standards in Timor Leste today given the pressure being
put on the media and journalists such as Raimundos Oki and Teixeira's own
comments in 2013.
There
is lots of hypocrisy today in Dr. Rui's government...
Since
this interview the political elite has further prospered.
Corruption
has prospered.
Teixeira
himself has prospered through his well connected legal practice.
His
friend Dr. Rui has prospered.
But
the wealth of Timor Leste has been squandered.
Journalists
are being victimised for doing their duty as reporters, and at the same time
the rich get richer and the poor get poorer.
And,
the final insult is that nepotism well and truly exists in Timor Leste all the
way to the Courts. Public Prosecutor in the defamation case against Oki is
Lydia Soares... a relative of the Prime Minister's family...
Well,
I suppose one has to keep the family in work!
In
the meantime, Dr. Rui, PM, is running a defamation case that would lose in any
court in the western world in a bid to protect embedded corruption in Timor
Leste!