Hated?

I am intrigued by the number of times I have seen the Australian media refer to East Timor’s former Prime Minister as the “hated” Mari Alkatiri. It seems that in their rush to put their own spin on the story, they have chosen to ignore the facts. Drawing parallels with John Howard’s standing among many Australians, the Australian media could, if they wanted to, just as easily portray the Australian PM as the “hated” John Howard. I wonder if (he) would have acted any differently to Mari Alkatiri if he found himself in the same situation?

  Both were elected with comfortable majorities, both have majority support within their own Party. I wonder what Howard would have done if the State police forces turned their guns on the Commonwealth armed forces and members of the military deserted their posts, taking their weapons with them.

  Considering the past record, I am sure he would have dug in and used every means at his disposal to crush the rebellion.

  The difference between Howard and Alkatiri is that Alkatiri has finally seen the writing on the wall and resigned as PM for the good of ET and . . . Fretilin. It will be interesting to see if the “hated” Alkatiri stands for ET’s Parliament at the next election and whether Fretilin is re-elected by the people. The “good guy-bad guy” scenario being played out in the Australian media and the Australian Parliament, makes good copy but has little to do with the reality. It is likely that the successful coup d’ etat (sic)  that occurred in ET will be reversed at the ballot box at the next election. ET is a perfect example of what can happen when the people don’t have the power to recall elected representatives who . . . have run off the rails.

  Interestingly, in Venezuela, Chavez successfully defended his Presidency at the ballot box when the Opposition was able to collect enough signatures to hold an election to recall him. I would not be surprised if the shadowy forces in ET, who have engineered this coup for their own political ends, find egg on their faces when the (East Timorese) once again put their faith in Fretilin to find a way out of the political morass they are currently in.

- as taken from the June-July Anarchist Age Weekly Review