DILI – Timor-Leste voted on Friday to scrap the lifetime pension law for MPs and public officials, following student-led demonstrations against lavish perks in one of Southeast Asia’s poorest countries.<\/p>\n
Former MPs and some public officials are entitled under a law passed in 2006 to a pension equivalent to their salary.<\/p>\n
But 62 members of parliament voted unanimously on Friday to pass a new law that scrapped lifetime pensions for MPs, former presidents, prime ministers and cabinet ministers.<\/p>\n
“To all university students, your demands have been fulfilled. Please stop the demonstrations,” Olinda Guterres, an MP from the Khunto party, said after the vote.<\/p>\n
Protests broke out last week in the capital, Dili, with thousands of demonstrators demanding that parliament cancel a $4.2 million plan to purchase SUVs for lawmakers.<\/p>\n
The protests later widened to include other issues, including lifetime pensions for former MPs and public officials.<\/p>\n
“Our fights are not futile; this is what we want. Now that the parliament has made a good decision, the funds can be allocated for productive sectors such as agriculture, health, and education,” Fortunata Alves, a 23-year-old university student, told AFP.<\/p>\n
The law will be sent to President Jose Ramos Horta to be signed before it takes effect.<\/p>\n
The controversy stemmed from a budget item, approved last year, to purchase Toyota Prado SUVs for each of the country’s 65 members of parliament.<\/p>\n
The plan triggered widespread anger in a nation where more than 40 percent of the population lives in poverty, according to the World Bank.<\/p>\n
Thousands of protesters rallied for two consecutive days last week, with demonstrators hurling rocks at police, who responded with tear gas.<\/p>\n
The parliament eventually bowed to public pressure and unanimously adopted a resolution to “cancel (the) new vehicle procurement process listed in the 2025 budget”.<\/p>\n
Timor-Leste, which gained independence from Indonesia in 2002 after more than two decades of occupation, continues to grapple with high inequality, malnutrition and unemployment.<\/p>\n
Its economy remains heavily reliant on its oil reserves. \u2014 Agence France-Presse<\/p>\n
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