Dili, February 6, 2025 (Média Democracia) – The University of Ermera Students’ Union (UNEUMER), together with the Atsabe youth movement (MOFA) held a second press conference to reaffirm the students’ position for the press conference that was first held on February 1st and today was held for the second time in the 5 de Maio park, Dili.
Speaker from UNEUMER, Zaqueo Maria Eligio said that today a press conference was held to talk about the Ermera road which for years has not been properly accessible to the public, so that the relevant institutions are asked to pay attention to this matter.
“We held a press conference based on the principles of democracy that have been stated in the Constitution of the Democratic Republic of Timor-Leste, the State of RDTL which is based on human rights, respect for the basis of individual, collective social and political human rights guaranteed in the Constitution, based on the principle of popular sovereignty the people are the owners of constitutional power, therefore every citizen must show the right attitude by being active in political development for the welfare of the people.” He said.
He continued, one of these basic rights is the basic right to access adequate and good road conditions, but what is very unfortunate is that what is happening in Ermera is that the road conditions are very concerning for the people of Ermera and are difficult for the people to access.
“Currently, the road conditions are not adequate for public or private vehicles to move around, which ultimately has an impact on hampering the economic income of families in Ermera, due to the social reality that occurs in the community in five posts, namely Ermera Antigu, Letefoho, Hatulia A, Hatulia B and Atsabe.” he said.
He added that the people from the five posts lost domestic products such as corn, cassava, sweet potatoes, rice, coffee, vegetables because they could not market them and were unable to compete with imported products from abroad (Chinese people selling in Gleno and Ermera Antiga).
“The road conditions, minimize visitors from other municipalities and foreigners to visit tourism communities in Ermera such as Cristo Liurai tourism (Letefoho post), Warm Water (Hatulia A post), Red Water (Ermera Identity), Mother Coffee identity of Ermera (Fatubessi in Hatulia B), Statue of the Holy Mother (Fatubessi in Hatulia B), Arbrige Nino Koni Santana Registration located in Ermera antiga.” he said.
He emphasized, related to these problems are not new to us, nor are they new for us to discuss in the year of implementation stipulated in the Constitution of Government IX. However, this has become a public awareness, both for leaders who do not yet have authority, if we look closely at the history of Ermera community participation.
“This is the sixth election during this period of independence, the people of Ermera have always participated in the election which is called a democratic party, power and all decisions are only centralized in political power such as CNRT, FRETELIN and PD,” he stressed.
He said that the Ermera community had so far only been a target for votes, post-election the condition of the Ermera community was increasingly concerning, especially in potential sectors such as Education, Health, Agriculture, Tourism and Malnutrition.
“Seeing all these problems, we from UNEUMER and MOFA organization mobilized students and youth of Ermera to hold a press conference on February 1 this year to ask the ninth government led by the CNRT and PD parties to immediately look into the condition of connectivity infrastructure such as roads in Ermera.” He informed
He said that the holding of this conference was a legal basis that had given rights to everyone, as a proactive party, to realize thoughts and ideas in order to provide advocacy for unfair decisions, because this had been stated in the RDTL Constitution, Article 41 concerning freedom of the press and social communication.
“The President of the Ermera Authority (PAM-E) has now taken the decision to hold a press conference on February 4, two days ago, both interfering with the aspirations and spirit of the students in a true democracy, from here considering PAM-E as not responsible for the social suffering faced by the people of Ermera.” He said.
He questioned PAM-E as a traitor to the people, especially in Ermera, the reason being that he was afraid of losing the power given by the CNRT party. In addition, he was also a person who did not obey the democratic system.
To further explain that UNEUMER together with MOFA appeal to all Ermera people that what PAM-E said does not represent the suffering of the people, if PAM-E represents the people why has it never shown progress during its term of office to the Ermera people, because for years the Ermera people have continued to cry out for roads because access is not good, so we ask the relevant parties to pay attention to this problem.
Reported by : Nelfiano
Picture by : Nelfiano