Development gap could grow with Timor Leste’s presence

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Mustaqim Adamrah - The Jakarta Post, Jakarta - Fri, 05/06/2011

The developmental gap among ASEAN member states would become worse if Timor Leste, an underdeveloped Southeast Asian country, joins ASEAN, experts say.

Gadjah Mada University regional economic scholar Mudrajad Kuncoro said on Thursday that a wide developmental gap already existed among member states with or without the presence of Timor Leste.

“There is already a developmental gap between Singapore and Malaysia and Indonesia. The gap is quite wide already, and will get wider when Timor Leste comes in,” he told The Jakarta Post.

He said it was an easy decision for ASEAN to engage with China and India — two world industrial giants — due to economic reasons, but it remains to be seen how ASEAN would benefit from Timor Leste’s admission.

“The question must be reversed — what are ASEAN’s interests in accepting Timor Leste as a member? Does it have economic or political benefits for ASEAN?” Mudrajad said.

“Timor Leste, which uses the US dollar as its currency, leans more toward the US and Australia than to ASEAN. So, why do we have to bother pushing ASEAN to accept Timor Leste?”

He also said that Indonesia had no moral responsibility to push for Timor Leste’s admission into ASEAN either, because it was Timor Leste who chose to secede from Indonesia.

Timor Leste was a Portuguese colony from the 16th century until its decolonization in late 1975 when then-East Timor declared its independence. Later that year it was invaded by Indonesia.

In 1999, following the UN-sponsored act of self-determination, Indonesia relinquished control of the territory and Timor Leste became the first new sovereign state of the 21st century on May 20, 2002.

Echoing Mudrajad, University of Indonesia international relations expert Syamsul Hadi said the developmental gap among ASEAN member states would widen with Timor Leste’s membership, and Papua New Guinea might question why it was not invited to join the bloc.

Despite the developmental gap, Syamsul supported the admission of Timor Leste on grounds that the pool of democratic countries in ASEAN would get stronger with an additional member of another relatively democratic country.

“Yes, [Timor Leste is underdeveloped] but that’s because many infrastructures were damaged and abandoned since Indonesia left the country,” Syamsul told the Post.

“I believe Timor Leste’s economy, which is not well-structured yet, is pretty much the same as that of Cambodia and Laos.”

Timor Leste Foreign Minister Zacarias Albano da Costa went to Jakarta in March to meet his Indonesian counterpart and chair of ASEAN, Marty Natalegawa, to submit his country’s formal application to join the bloc. Indonesia has repeatedly expressed its support of Timor Leste’s membership in ASEAN.

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