The People's Party of Timor (;

abbreviated An abbreviation () is a shortened form of a word or phrase, by any method including shortening, contraction, initialism (which includes acronym), or crasis. An abbreviation may be a shortened form of a word, usually ended with a trailing per ...

PPT) is a

conservative Conservatism is a cultural, social, and political philosophy and ideology that seeks to promote and preserve traditional institutions, customs, and values. The central tenets of conservatism may vary in relation to the culture and civiliza ...

political party A political party is an organization that coordinates candidates to compete in a particular area's elections. It is common for the members of a party to hold similar ideas about politics, and parties may promote specific political ideology, ...

East Timor Timor-Leste, also known as East Timor, officially the Democratic Republic of Timor-Leste, is a country in Southeast Asia. It comprises the eastern half of the island of Timor, the coastal exclave of Oecusse in the island's northwest, and ...

. Its predecessor was the Movimento do Povo de Timor-Leste MPTL (''Movement of the People of Timor-Leste''). The PPT is described as a conservative, backward-looking traditional party with utopian ideas and monarchist and religious tendencies.

General

The party has its supporters primarily among Timor's traditional petty kings, the

Liurai Liurai is a ruler's title on Timor. The word is Tetum language, Tetun and literally means "surpassing the earth". It was originally associated with Wehali, a ritually central kingdom situated at the south coast of central Timor (now included in I ...

, primarily in the municipality of

Ainaro Ainaro is a town in East Timor, the capital of the Ainaro suco, the Ainaro administrative post and the Ainaro Municipality, and is located in the southwest part of the country. The town of Ainaro is located 78 km south of Dili, the nati ...

. The party has its roots in the section of the population that was in favor of East Timor's permanent annexation to

Indonesia Indonesia, officially the Republic of Indonesia, is a country in Southeast Asia and Oceania, between the Indian Ocean, Indian and Pacific Ocean, Pacific oceans. Comprising over List of islands of Indonesia, 17,000 islands, including Sumatra, ...

. Among the founders was Ermino da Silva da Costa, a former leading member of APODETI, a party that was already striving to join Indonesia in 1974. Because of this background, the PPT was also never a member of the Conselho Nacional de Resistência Timorense (CNRT), the umbrella organization of East Timorese groups and parties striving for independence. Costa was number three in the hierarchy of pro-Indonesian militias in East Timor, after

João da Costa Tavares João da Costa TavaresPart 4: Regime of Occupation“
(PDF; 563& ...

and

Eurico Guterres Eurico Barros Gomes Guterres (born 4 July 1969) is an Indonesian anti-Timorese independence militiaman who was recruited by the Indonesian military during East Timor's bid for independence between 1999 and 2000. He was involved in several mass ...

, and a member of the Uni Timor Aswain (UNTAS) its political wing. He separated from both after the referendum on East Timor's independence in August 1999, which turned out in their favour, accepted the result and now worked together with

UNTAET The United Nations Transitional Administration in East Timor (UNTAET, ), was a United Nations mission in East Timor that aimed to solve the decades-long East Timorese crisis in the area occupied by Indonesian military. UNTAET provided an int ...

. Pat Walsh: (english;

MS Word Microsoft Word is a word processor program, word processing program developed by Microsoft. It was first released on October 25, 1983, under the name Multi-Tool Word for Xenix systems. Subsequent versions were later written for several other platf ...

; 174 kB) The party chairman was originally Jacob Xavier, who described himself as a direct descendant of the

Portuguese royal family The Most Serene House of Braganza (), also known as the Brigantine dynasty (''dinastia Brigantina''), is a dynasty of emperors, kings, princes, and dukes of Portuguese people, Portuguese origin which reigned in Europe and the Americas. The hous ...

and who regularly drew attention to himself with very eccentric statements. Vice President and Secretary General is ''Francisco Pinto'', Liurai of Uatucarbau. (english) Pinto explained that the PPT stands for the introduction of a two-bank system (one bank for the Liurais, one for the ordinary people), the reinstatement of the

Ten Commandments The Ten Commandments (), or the Decalogue (from Latin , from Ancient Greek , ), are religious and ethical directives, structured as a covenant document, that, according to the Hebrew Bible, were given by YHWH to Moses. The text of the Ten ...

, and is anti-communist. Pinto could not explain details in an interview. Only party chairman Xavier knows the details, and as a studied theologian he speaks in such a "high language" that all other party members do not understand him. The PPT supports the current republican political system after a monarchy failed to materialize so far. During the UN administration of East Timor (1999-2002), the PPT supported

Xanana Gusmão José Alexandre "Xanana" Gusmão (; born 20 June 1946) is an East Timorese politician. He has served as the 6th prime minister of East Timor since 2023, previously serving in that position from 2007 to 2015. A former rebel, he also served as E ...

as a candidate for the future

presidency A presidency is an administration or the executive, the collective administrative and governmental entity that exists around an office of president of a state or nation. Although often the executive branch of government, and often personified b ...

. During the first legislative period of Parliament (2001-2007), the PPT repeatedly supported

FRETILIN The Revolutionary Front for an Independent East Timor (, abbreviated as Fretilin) is a separatist organization turned centre-left political party in Timor-Leste. It presently holds 19 of 65 seats in the National Parliament. Fretilin formed the ...

on bills, including the unpopular legislation on the pensions of members of Parliament. (english; PDF; 996 kB) The PPT is linked to the Colimau 2000.

Performance in elections

In the first

legislative A legislature (, ) is a deliberative assembly with the legal authority to make laws for a political entity such as a country, nation or city on behalf of the people therein. They are often contrasted with the executive and judicial powers ...

elections An election is a formal group decision-making process whereby a population chooses an individual or multiple individuals to hold public office. Elections have been the usual mechanism by which modern representative democracy has operated ...

, 30 August 2001, the party won 2.01% of the popular vote, winning two of the 88 seats in East Timor's Parliament, primarily in Ainaro, Oe-Cusse Ambeno and

Dili Dili (Portuguese language, Portuguese and Tetum language, Tetum: ''Díli'') is the Capital city, capital and largest city of Timor-Leste. It lies on the northern coast of the island of Timor, in a small area of flat land hemmed in by mountai ...

. In addition to Jacob Xavier, Ananias do Carmo Fuka also sat in Parliament for the PPT. In the 2007 presidential campaign, Xavier and the PPT supported KOTA 's

Manuel Tilman Manuel Tilman (born 20 August 1946 in Maubisse) is an East Timor Timor-Leste, also known as East Timor, officially the Democratic Republic of Timor-Leste, is a country in Southeast Asia. It comprises the eastern half of the island of Tim ...

, giving him the highest number of votes in seven sucos. Overall, however, it was only 4.09%. For the first parliamentary elections after independence on June 30, 2007, the PPT drew up a joint electoral list with KOTA under the name ''Aliança Democratica KOTA/PPT''. Aliança Democratica KOTA/PPT ultimately received 13,294 votes, or 3.20% of the valid votes. Its greatest support was in the then district of Ainaro, where it received 18.15% (4,066 votes) of the vote and became the second strongest list. The Alliance still received over 1,000 votes in the following districts: (PDF; 121 kB) *

: 1.329 Votes(1,63 %) *

Ermera Ermera (''Vila Ermera'') is a city in East Timor and a former capital of the East Timorese community, Ermera. ''Ermera'' in Mambai language (Timor), Mambai means "red water." It has a population of 8,907. Its geographical coordinates are , ...

: 1.265 Votes(2,97 %) *

Aileu Aileu is the main township in Aileu District, East Timor. It is located 47 km (29 mi) southwest of Dili, the national capital, and had a population of 2,788 in 2015. In Portuguese Timor, the city was known as Vila General Carmona ...

: 1.012 Votes (5,60 %) According to provisional results, the party won together with the

Association of Timorese Heroes The Association of Timorese Heroes (Tetum language, Tetum: ''Klibur Oan Timor Asu'wain'', KOTA; , AHT), sometimes known as Sons of the Mountain Warriors, is a Cultural conservatism, culturally conservative political party in East Timor. In 2007, ...

3.20% of the vote in the June 2007 parliamentary election, and 2 seats. Manuel Tilman of KOTA and Jacob Xavier then entered the National Parliament of East Timor with 65 deputies on behalf of the alliance. The alliance was dissolved after the election. The PPT was not admitted to the 2012 parliamentary elections because it did not submit its electoral list to the electoral authorities by the deadline. Jacob Xavier instead ran on the list of the Partido Democrático (PD) and was thus able to re-enter the national parliament. However, he died only a few weeks later.Radio Liberdade Dili
''La Sama Hato'o Sentidu Kondelensia Ba Matebian Jacob Xavier'', 2 August 2012
Retrieved 13 December 2022. In the 2017 parliamentary elections, the PPT fell out of the round of competing parties when the lists of supporters were examined. It had not met the necessary eligibility criteria.Lusa

retrieved 5 June 2017.

Party flag

The ''Movimento Nacional para a Libertação de Timor-Díli'' (1979) and ''Movimento Popular Timor-Leste'' (1985), co-founded by party leader Jacob Xavier, already had blue and white flags, similar to the old royal

flag of Portugal The national flag of the Portugal, Portuguese Republic, often referred to as the Portuguese flag consists of a rectangular bicolour with a field divided into green on the Flag terminology#Description of standard flag parts and terms, hoist, and r ...

. And the emblem of today's party flag was also already in use. It shows royal Timorese symbols, such as the

Kaibauk ''Some of this article is translated from the existing German Wikipedia article at :de:Kaibauk; see its history for attribution.'' The Kaibauk is a type of headdress worn by the Timorese liurai. Traditionally made of silver, it is shaped lik ...

crown or the Belak disc. It also features the

coat of arms of Portugal The coat of arms of Portugal also referred, in Portugal, as the ''quinas'' are the main heraldic insignia of Portugal. They are used by the Portuguese Armed Forces, military and the Government of Portugal, government, including the courts. Ther ...

and two roosters as shield bearers. Also a relic of the predecessor movements is the name Timor-Dili on the banner, a replacement for the old colonial name

Portuguese Timor Portuguese Timor () was a Portuguese colony on the territory of present-day East Timor from 1702 until 1975. During most of this period, Portugal shared the island of Timor with the Dutch East Indies. The first Europeans to arrive in the regio ...

References

{{East Timorese political parties Political parties in Timor-Leste Conservative parties in Timor-Leste Right-wing parties Political parties established in 2000 2000 establishments in East Timor