In the interests of continuity, I will try to be good and post daily until the election results are out at the end of next week.
I don’t need to do much as there are international press crawling all over the place looking for a story. The hotels are full and its not because of the holiday weekend.
Yesterday was completely uneventful for me and I have to resort to UN security reports to tell me if anything happened. No-one talked about anything out of the ordinary so I assumed nothing more than the usual occasional rock and abuse. Most of the longer-term expat residents don’t tend to talk much about the small incidents.
By the look of the candidate supporters, there would appear to be a certain proportion of hangers-on looking for a good time. Many looked curiously similar to the same hangers-on around some of the gang fights. For this reason, I am not going to be surprised to hear of the occasional altercation when rival supporters cross paths. This stuff may well be outside the candidate’s control.
Officially, the campaigning is over. I am told that Fretilin supporters are camping out down at Tasi Tolu which is about 8kms west of the centre of town. (I will guess and say in the racecourse area.) I assume other candidate’s supporters are doing the same at various points around the place. One of these groups will end up having a big party next week. Who knows if these groups will stick together right through until next Friday when a final result is expected.
As for me today, a bit of body maintenance may be required and without the peak minute traffic, a bit of sucking in the silence.
Thanks, Squatter, for the update. My daughter is flying out at this moment on Duct Tape Air (Merpati) on the first leg of a 2 week vacation back home. Hopefully, she was able to drive the gauntlet down Comoro Blvd & past the IDP camp to the airport.
Things do seem relatively quiet & under control there despite what the prognosticators anticipated. SC agrees that folks have been fairly well-behaved during the campaigning, much better than expected. However, I’m sure the press is waiting with baited breath to hype any incident into the next big newsbreak. Kudos to the Timorese who are trying to make the democratic process work for their country. Less Worried Mama
It was real quiet today except for that Merpati flight and my screams. I was compus until around 10am then the batch of crook meat from the freezer did its work. I just got up (ie 6pm). Mouth as dry as a dead dingo’s donger, bum like a fireplace tools receptacle, headache and importantly, no stomach cramps anymore.
Fortunately, it rained heavily most of the afternoon (the roof leaked again) so I had no regrets about wrecking my day or wading out through 6 inches of water at the front gate.
Daughter should have left without any problem (I think) – the gauntlet you refer being near the OZ Embassy and the airport IDP camp, but it could have been World War 3 today and I wouldn’t have known (or cared).
Hello,
What do you do in Dili, besides write the blog? Nothing tells us why you are there. I am interested to know.. and understand.
I am a former resident (of Aimutin) and regular reader. I only lived in Dili because I was employed by UNTAET.
Thanks for providing the best news and information I can find on Timor. I used to rely on Lusa, but even their coverage of Timor Leste dwindled over the past couple of years.
p.s. Fresh fish have bright red gills. If they are pink or grey, they have been out of the water too long. But, if you want fresh fish you have to catch it yourself. Those boxes of frozen fillets that you buy at the grocery store certainly do not have red gills. The worst damage done is to fresh fish is to break the bile sac when gutting the fish… it leaves a yellow stain on the meat and tastes bad. Like any food, you have to keep fish clean and cook it properly.