East Timor Research Question - East Asia Research Paper

East Timor Question - East Asia - Research Paper Example In addition, the real GDP growth was 10.2% in the year 2012, one of the highest in the world2. Despite all these positive indicators, it is rather surprising to see that the country is the third-worst place in the world to live in because of the high degree of poverty and unrest3. This work intends to identify the factors that prevent East Timor from growing politically and economically. An important factor behind the political instability in East Timor is the large number of actors and viewpoints in politics, making it difficult to have a coherent policy position. According to Kingsbury, the political spectrum in East Timor is divided into two broad categories; those in favor of, and those against, independence from Indonesia. However, these groups include a large number of actors and viewpoints, and hence, even now, it is difficult for them to have a coherent policy position4. Kingsbury believes this volatile situation is the reason behind the 2006 crisis in the nation5. The 2006 crisis had its beginning in the military of East Timor (F-FDTL). The military consisted soldiers from both eastern and western parts of the country. While easterners were the majority in the military and members of FRETILIN, the guerrilla force against Indonesia, the westerners were minority in the military, and were disliked in the army for their not-so-hard attitude towards Indonesia. In addition, there were conflicts between the military and the police force that consisted mainly of westerners and former members of the Indonesian military6. Slightly differing from this viewpoint, the International Crisis group identifies reasons for this clash within the political administration7. The then President Xanana Gusmao and the Prime Minister Mari Alkatiri were rivals and wanted to sack each other. Gusmao alleged that Alkatiri had ordered a hit squad to kill his political opponents, and this allegation was sufficient to ignite mass backlash in such a volatile