Recent deaths around town and other anecdotal evidence suggests that the security situation is tending towards deterioration.  Most long-term expats tend to ignore the isolated incidents until it affects them personally.  It’s nothing like last year or early this year, but the worm seems to be heading up slowly once again.

I have heard of a couple of incidents where ex-pats have been cornered by groups of locals where the aim appears to have been to take money.  As in the past, solo women seem to be  deemed an easier target.  Travelling down small narrow laneways or taking taxis seem to be the higher risk movements.  And being followed after using one of the ANZ ATM money machines to load up with cash.

Last year, I developed the habit of using an old decrepit wallet with only the bare essentials in it.  So if I am ever done over, I am hoping the moths will tickle them into submission.  I am also tempted to install a personal protection device (ie a big stick) on my bicycle.  Some would say I am also taking ugly pills – sorry, but no … it’s genetic.

“Arte Moris” is an arts school, cultural center and artists’ association which provides a centre for Timorese artists to practise and refine their artistic skills.  For reasons I am unaware, many of the young artists (and it would appear most are in the young category) are into dreadlocks and a Bob Marley-like atmosphere.

You can’t miss an Arte Moris vehicle painted like a hippy vehicle and tripping along the road with drummers beating away inside.  You might even think they are on the magic mushrooms.  But I don’t think so.

Yesterday I saw them setup a rock concert-like event down at Christo Rei near “Sol E Mar”.  There was much music whether from the Arte Moris band or recorded music in between.  There was dancing on the sand and many others joined in from time-to-time.

Again, you might think “drop-outs” …  until the entire group moves up and down the entire beach collecting rubbish before returning to the reggae beat.  No evidence of stimulating substances either.  So who would you pull over for a shakedown ?  An Arte Moris student or a “suit” ?

Just like Tumbleweed I had trouble topping up the mobile phone on Tuesday on the special $2 for $1 top-up day.  Managed to get two $10 cards in but the 3rd took more than 20 tries and even then, it came through next day without the “double your money” bit.  I couldn’t make calls that day either and all up, it was another Timor Telecom shambles.  It was one of the reminders that one has returned.

Other things I noted on return were :

• Harbour View cafe is open again.
• I couldn’t get over just how quiet it was at night when I got back. The chopper work has tailed right off these days and it is more likely you will hear the Merpati flight to Bali than a chopper.
• There is a new Indonesian restaurant called “Lilis” diagonally opposite from the ANZ Bank. Further south past “Megha” is a new Sri Lankan restaurant called “Sigira” (must check name).
• Landmark Supermarket is now an agent for Ikea furnishings. There is a small offering on display but other items can be ordered from the catalogue and Landmark will ship it in for you.
• The National Hospital is undergoing significant re-building.
• Just about every drain in town is being dug up and presumably street drainage will eventually get fixed.  (Hopefully not like the roof drains at home here which were originally laid sloping away from the downpipes.)
• The new Foreign Affairs building has pretty much taken its final shape and the site on the heliport for the new president’s palace has been cleared of ISF military gear, including the less-than-a-year-old large warehouse erected by the ISF.
• The temporary pre-fab visa office at the airport has now been replaced by a more permanent solution adjacent to the entrance to immigration.
• The guy who runs the t-shirt souvenir stuff at the airport now has an outlet upstairs in the Landmark building and Landmark now has a fully occupied upstairs floor.

A nice little reminder that Dili is still not a retirement option, was the little spike that led to a flat tyre yesterday. Apparently, a handful of nasty metal spikes were laid on Comorro Road last evening to catch any unsuspecting vehicle. A passing UNPol vehicle provided torches and numerous local teenagers popped up out of the dark to help make the tyre change a swift operation.

It has actually been reasonably quiet in Dili over the last couple of weeks. Any trouble has been out of town in the Ermera, Baucau and Viqueque areas (with Uatulari being particularly bad). Last week there was the Metinaro incident which I saw reported as :

“TWO people were killed as hundreds of rampaging youths torched dozens of houses and clashed across East Timor”

Makes it sound like widespread insurrection or the like. While I don’t doubt that the Baucau and Viqueque stuff was politically motivated, the Ermera and Metinaro incidents don’t seem to be “violence … sparked by the appointment of independence hero Xanana Gusmao as Prime Minister” as reported in the same article.

Near IDP camps, there have always been tensions between camp residents and local residents. Setting up shops in competition … acquiring land against local wishes … perhaps nicking a wandering dog or pig for culinary purposes. I understand it was one of these sorts of issues (a dispute over a soccer game) which led to a rather over the top response. Burning houses down is a very popular form of retribution. Most of the time, we are talking about small shacks rather than houses as we know them in the west. Often wooden frames with galvanised iron walls and roof or perhaps bamboo slatted walls and a skillfully constructed palm leaf roof. And maybe only 2 or 3 separate rooms covering an area of 30 square metres in all.

The fact is that tensions are higher than normal around IDP camps and people are on the edge. If you were an IDP camp resident and you still didn’t feel like leaving because you didn’t trust the security situation, then I guess you wouldn’t trust the police to sort out a local issue. You sort it yourself.

Everyone would like to see the IDP camps disperse but today I noticed 2 camps flying large new Fretilin flags outside. This may not be the way to reduce tensions.

I heard this one recently and it is a reminder that this is not Sydney, Auckland, Dubbo, Bluff nor Beirut.

But an acquaintance related a neat true story about attempting to hire locals for manual labouring type jobs.  The lads roll up with machetes in hand for the interview.  When challenged that this might be a little on the intimidating side (at last the interviewer is intimidated !), the lads claim that this is the local way to assert oneself at the job interview.

Similarly, it is not uncommon for a group of the lads to hover about making it abundantly clear that if you don’t employ someone from “our” village, we will burn your building down.

I must try the machete tactic once before I retire.  Could only be once !!

Driving home last night, it was clear that something was up. You notice the small groups of 3 or 4 young guys idling outside front gates to residences and at ends of alleyways, all at a heightened state of awareness. I was with a recent arriver who had no idea what I was talking about when I said “Something is up”.

There was large plume of smoke coming from the heliport area and a phone call soon after from a Timorese friend confirmed that there was a fair bit of action going on. It all seemed to occur at about the same time around 9pm – the port IDP camp, Kampung Alor, Bairo Pite, Balide and Caiculidun were mentioned. The plume at the heliport is said to be a Molotov cocktail lobbed over the fence near the north-east corner (nearest Tiger Fuel).

There has not been much follow-up info but it represents the most active rough stuff for 3 or 4 months. There seems to be a bit more chopper work tonight but it comes and goes anyway. I noticed the APCs (armoured patrol carriers) doing the rounds over the weekend but they have to turn over the engines sometime.

The expat’s lot can vary over a wide range range of experiences.  From disgustingly overpaid to woefully underpaid.  From quite acceptable accommodation standards through to some quite rugged stuff.  Some who are quite happy to move from workplace to restaurant to bar, some who will read books and watch DVDs and some who live for diving and lying on hot sandy beaches.

Most of the time, you are still operating in a world far distant from most Timorese.   Every now and then, you meet an expat who makes you feel like an elite swine for living the “high life” while many Timorese are starving.  I don’t have an answer for this one.  Should I flagellate myself to increase my own level of discomfort ?  Should I forgo that one beer and hand over the money saved to someone who could eat for 2 days ?

Then I watch the TV news and see the rest of the world proceeding onwards regardless.  Global warming, Iraq, Afghanistan, Sudan, North Korea, food safety, iPods, 3G mobile phones, widescreen high definition TVs, streaming internet movies.

Should I feel more guilty because I am here ?  … sometimes

Two things crossed the radar screen in the last 12 hours.

Firstly, Dubya has set a stunning example for the rest of the world to follow by giving (via presidential intervention) one of his political mates (Scooter) a reprieve from jail.  Top work pal.  Leading by example – NOT.

And I see that the foundation stone has now been laid for the new presidential palace here.  The new palace is being donated by the Chinese government.  Now that’s prioritising “aid” money, isn’t it ?  Another NOT I am afraid.   Better kick out the OZ military from the palace site first I suppose.  More votes in palaces than basic infrastructure and security.