By Jordan Peterson
Rather than waiting for ASEAN, the less conventional option might prove more effective.
Timor-Leste, the nation birthed out of a traumatic twenty-five year struggle for liberation from Indonesian occupation, remains one of Southeast Asia’s most vulnerable states. As Timor-Leste continues its long wait for membership in the Association of Southeast Asian Nations (a prospect that looks dim) it would do well to consider another less conventional option that has a higher likelihood of success: an enhanced relationship with Portugal including limited political unification. Counterintuitive though it may appear to a superficial observer, looking to Lisbon makes just as much sense for Timor-Leste as looking to Jakarta or Canberra, or Beijing for that matter. Southeast Asia faces a tumultuous decade as it prepares for economic, political-security, and socio-cultural integration. Timor-Leste remains marginal in the minds of ASEAN leaders and faces a Godot-like wait for a membership that will occur too late, if ever. Timor-Leste shares centuries of history with Portugal. The cultural, religious and linguistic orientation of the country is oriented towards many poles and Lisbon is one of the strongest. A modus vivendi political arrangement, similar to those of other overseas territories and collectivities of European states, including France and Portugal itself, would help Timor-Leste to grow economically and strengthen the state-building project it has embarked upon.
Even the most optimistic observers would admit that the microstate of Timor-Leste faces challenges that threaten to unravel the progress made in the first 13 years of independence. It is true that Timor-Leste has been more successful than other post-conflict countries in erecting state institutions and creating a sustainable economy. When compared with other newly independent states, such as crisis wracked South Sudan or the politically paralyzed non-state of Bosnia-Herzegovina, Timor-Leste looks to have done remarkably well in mitigating ethnic conflict; this is even more remarkable considering that Timor-Leste has speakers of more than 33 different languages from two separate language families and dozens of distinct ethnic and local identities.
Read the full story at The Diplomat