There is still gas in the tank!

Welcome to our first newsletter for 2009! o:p>

On Saturday, 21st February 2009, a very important meeting was held in Brisbane to discuss the future of the Connect East Timor campaign. Given that key members of our volunteer team have been committed to the campaign for a number of years, it was also important to consider their personal enthusiasm and willingness to keep going in pursuit of our core vision: to ensure that the people living in rural and remote areas of Timor-Leste have access to affordable communications.

I am very happy to advise that no one present at the meeting – nor our volunteers based in Perth - thought that we should close down the Campaign, indeed quite the opposite.

The meeting made several very important determinations and decisions:

1. The village radio technology first proposed by CET in 2002 (and subsequently agreed by telecommunications experts in the Federal Department of Communications, IT and the Arts as a suitable interim technology for rural areas of Timor-Leste) remains entirely appropriate for the foreseeable future, noting the slow progress in overall rural development, the lack of capacity to use and support more complex technologies, and also the much higher cost of alternatives.

2. To support the various rural communities and organizations, and to underpin the Government’s ongoing deliberations in relation to rural telecommunications, CET will continue its support of the installed Demonstration and Pilot systems until end of 2011. This is a 2 year extension of previous plans/commitments. We just don’t want these systems to ‘fall over’ and fail the people that are now reliant on them or to paint a negative picture of the technology for the policy makers!

3. The current arrangements for ongoing maintenance by the local CET workers in st1:place w:st="on">East Timor will be reviewed to try and improve communications and reporting.

4. In September 2009, there will be a maintenance visit (2-3 weeks) to Timor-Leste to check on all installed sites. Robert Moore and Peter Snell have very generously confirmed their willingness and availability to undertake this visit on a voluntary basis. Alan Collier has kindly agreed to assist with planning and coordination of the visit and with the necessary spares purchases beforehand.

5. The remaining CET budget of AUD20,000 will be substantially allocated in 2009 to the costs of this visit and purchase of spares.

6. CET will need to raise an additional AUD25,000 in 2009 to cover the costs of maintenance for another 2 years, including a further maintenance visit planned for 2011. Consequently, a fundraising event will be conducted in Brisbane probably in October-November 2009.

7. In 2009, CET will be seeking clarification of the Government of Timor-Leste of its position in relation to full scale deployment of the CET vision across all rural areas.

The progress to date by the Government of Timor-Leste has been inadequate, even inexcusable. It is hard to understand (or believe!) that they have not yet expended even one dollar on the CET/Project Telesuco vision! There is also no evidence that viable alternatives to the solution proposed by CET have been or are being explored. In the meantime, government service delivery (especially in the portfolios of health, education, internal administration) and overall economic development continue to be held back in the absence of affordable, accessible and reliable communications services.

So it is very hard to avoid the conclusion that, for the Gusmao administration, rural areas – where some 300,000 people live - just don’t matter when it comes to communications!

As the person who founded the Campaign and who has been allowed to lead it since its inception, I must confess that after a disappointing lack of progress in 2008, I was starting to question whether keeping the Campaign alive was worthwhile. At the same time, I felt torn as it was very clear to me that our mission is not yet accomplished while the need for affordable communications in rural areas remains as important as when we started in 2002!

So, it was just wonderful for me to see everyone at the meeting put their hands up, to learn that there is still enough “gas in the tank” for each of them to keep going for another two years – nearly three if one adds the remainder of this year! I have found their enthusiasm infectious and I hope that everyone who receives this newsletter - the members of the wider CET donor and supporter family - will also be inspired and enthused by their steadfast commitment to the CET vision.

I would now like to invite you, each recipient of this newsletter, to send by return email a brief confirmation of your continuing interest in this important Campaign, and also, if appropriate, to consider a note of support and encouragement destined for the CET volunteer team! We will make sure that these are passed on. This will help us to gauge what wil hopefully be a high level of ongoing support in the broader CET ‘family’.

Thank you for taking the time to read and respond to this newsletter!

Peter de Haas