Mao Boot (to be read Maun Bot) came to Maliana today. it means Big Brother. That is what people call Xanana Gusmao, Timor's Prime Minister and leader of the CNRT party, a contender for the legislative elections.
This morning, as always, on waking up, I turn to my right to see what time it is...I don't have an alarm clock so I do this by looking at my electricity extension which has a light on it, if the light is still on, I know it's far too early for me to be up since electricity gets cut off at 6:30am. Today, however, the light was on but by looking at the window I could tell that it was already later than that, it was 7:12 and the electricity was still on! To what did we owe this priviledge?? My flatmate J told me, Xanana is coming, that's why!
To this I can only think of two reasons and neither are good. The first is: Xanana is coming so he allows the District Administrator (DA) to keep the electricity on to remind the people of what a great leader he is (none of the other candidates were given the same priviledge when they came to campaign...) or the second would be: the District Administrator thought that if Xanana is coming he must have electricity, he's the Prime Minister after all...none of these reasons are good, they are quite awful actually!!! So, do I need to thank Mao Boot for our good fortune in our extra hours of light or the DA? We keep hearing rumors that Maliana is to have 24/7 electricity any day now...with our luck it will happen after we have already left!
Xanana came to Maliana to campaign for his party, CNRT, he came to promise more things that apparently he hasn't been able to accomplish this time around and he came to ask the people to keep their trust in Mao Boot. There were thousands of people, on foot and in dump trucks, all lined up at Maliana's football field listening entranced to Mao Boot speak. It's uncanny, and actually a bit disconcerting, the power that the myth of Xanana holds over the Timorese people! They are ready to trust him blindly... Kind of reminds of 1984's Big Brother...It's very likely that his party will have a high result but he will not, however, win the majority, he already failed to do it last time around so he will need to form a coalition, let's just hope that the people will understand this time. The 2006-07 violence sprung from the fact that the party with the most votes failed to win because it failed to create a coalition and the people didn't understand this and rebelled against the winning coalition...
Meanwhile, however, at STAE bobonaro headquarters, we're busy checking 64,900 ballot papers, ONE by ONE! The ballot papers arrived on Tuesday with a ceremony and much fanfare. This time, STAE ordered the printing to be made in Indonesia to safeguard against fraud, it also inlcuded some nifty secrets in each ballot paper to assure their authenticity - honestly, I'm quite impressed - our ballot papers in Portugal are quite humdrum compared to the snazzy Timorese ones!
We haven't even gotten through half today, with more than 10 pairs of able hands doing the job. Every little flaw, scratch or ink stain needed to be verified and recorded, we even had to wear gloves to make sure we didn't damage them in the process!
My back is sore and my hands stink from the medical gloves but I'm happy because this is actually the fun part of the process...that is until our colleagues start putting "Ai ai se eu te pego" music in the office while we're checking the papers! Please, someone do me a favor and kill Michel Telo, he's causing me headaches!!
Tomorrow is Saturday but a working day for us with quite a few more boxes of papers to check. The night watches have also started - the ballot papers need to be under constant vigilance and we take turns doing it - my shift starts tomorrow so no weekend rest for me.
Oh well, that's a sacrifice I'm willing to make, with elections only one week away and my departure only 3 weeks away, everything is greeted with a smile these days!
This morning, as always, on waking up, I turn to my right to see what time it is...I don't have an alarm clock so I do this by looking at my electricity extension which has a light on it, if the light is still on, I know it's far too early for me to be up since electricity gets cut off at 6:30am. Today, however, the light was on but by looking at the window I could tell that it was already later than that, it was 7:12 and the electricity was still on! To what did we owe this priviledge?? My flatmate J told me, Xanana is coming, that's why!
To this I can only think of two reasons and neither are good. The first is: Xanana is coming so he allows the District Administrator (DA) to keep the electricity on to remind the people of what a great leader he is (none of the other candidates were given the same priviledge when they came to campaign...) or the second would be: the District Administrator thought that if Xanana is coming he must have electricity, he's the Prime Minister after all...none of these reasons are good, they are quite awful actually!!! So, do I need to thank Mao Boot for our good fortune in our extra hours of light or the DA? We keep hearing rumors that Maliana is to have 24/7 electricity any day now...with our luck it will happen after we have already left!
Xanana came to Maliana to campaign for his party, CNRT, he came to promise more things that apparently he hasn't been able to accomplish this time around and he came to ask the people to keep their trust in Mao Boot. There were thousands of people, on foot and in dump trucks, all lined up at Maliana's football field listening entranced to Mao Boot speak. It's uncanny, and actually a bit disconcerting, the power that the myth of Xanana holds over the Timorese people! They are ready to trust him blindly... Kind of reminds of 1984's Big Brother...It's very likely that his party will have a high result but he will not, however, win the majority, he already failed to do it last time around so he will need to form a coalition, let's just hope that the people will understand this time. The 2006-07 violence sprung from the fact that the party with the most votes failed to win because it failed to create a coalition and the people didn't understand this and rebelled against the winning coalition...
We haven't even gotten through half today, with more than 10 pairs of able hands doing the job. Every little flaw, scratch or ink stain needed to be verified and recorded, we even had to wear gloves to make sure we didn't damage them in the process!
My back is sore and my hands stink from the medical gloves but I'm happy because this is actually the fun part of the process...that is until our colleagues start putting "Ai ai se eu te pego" music in the office while we're checking the papers! Please, someone do me a favor and kill Michel Telo, he's causing me headaches!!
Tomorrow is Saturday but a working day for us with quite a few more boxes of papers to check. The night watches have also started - the ballot papers need to be under constant vigilance and we take turns doing it - my shift starts tomorrow so no weekend rest for me.
Oh well, that's a sacrifice I'm willing to make, with elections only one week away and my departure only 3 weeks away, everything is greeted with a smile these days!
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