The Socialist Party of Timor ( pt, Partido Socialista de Timor, PST) is a
Marxist–Leninist
Marxism is a left-wing to far-left method of socioeconomic analysis that uses a materialist interpretation of historical development, better known as historical materialism, to understand class relations and social conflict and a dialect ...
political party in
East Timor
East Timor (), also known as Timor-Leste (), officially the Democratic Republic of Timor-Leste, is an island country in Southeast Asia. It comprises the eastern half of the island of Timor, the exclave of Oecusse on the island's north-weste ...
.
History
The Socialist Party of Timor was founded in February 1997, whilst
East Timor
East Timor (), also known as Timor-Leste (), officially the Democratic Republic of Timor-Leste, is an island country in Southeast Asia. It comprises the eastern half of the island of Timor, the exclave of Oecusse on the island's north-weste ...
was still under
Indonesian occupation (though it claims it was founded earlier on 20 December 1990).
It is a splinter party of the
Fretilin
The Revolutionary Front for an Independent East Timor ( pt, Frente Revolucionária de Timor-Leste Independente, abbreviated as Fretilin) is a centre-left political party in East Timor. They presently hold 23 of 65 seats in the National Parliame ...
and was established by Avelino Maria da Silva Coelho, Pedro Martires da Costa and Antonio Maher Lopes. Labour and student groups based in the
Indonesia
Indonesia, officially the Republic of Indonesia, is a country in Southeast Asia and Oceania between the Indian and Pacific oceans. It consists of over 17,000 islands, including Sumatra, Java, Sulawesi, and parts of Borneo and New Guine ...
n capital of
Jakarta
Jakarta (; , bew, Jakarte), officially the Special Capital Region of Jakarta ( id, Daerah Khusus Ibukota Jakarta) is the capital and largest city of Indonesia. Lying on the northwest coast of Java, the world's most populous island, Jakarta ...
and other Indonesian cities where East Timorese studied and worked formed the basis of PST's members.
The party's first national congress was held from 10 to 11 February 2000 in
Dili
Dili (Portuguese/Tetum: ''Díli'') is the capital, largest city of East Timor and the second largest city in Timor islands after Kupang (Indonesia). It lies on the northern coast of the island of Timor, in a small area of flat land hemmed in ...
, the capital of East Timor.
Organisation
The party is represented in many communities and focuses its work on the traditional FRETILIN areas, such as Soibada and Aileu. Its members are mostly young people, but also some old members of the left wings of FALINTIL and FRETILIN. Some cooperative farms were set up by the party.
The party structure includes a Politburo, a Central Committee with 82 members, and party organizations for labour, women and youth. The party newspaper Vanguarda is also published irregularly.
The PST's political structure includes a political bureau, a central committee with 82 members, and labour, women's, and youth wings. The party also irregularly publishes a newsletter named ''Vanguarda''.
Links with Timorese unions exist but are very small due to few industrial jobs. The PST has various international ties, such as the
Portuguese Communist Party
The Portuguese Communist Party ( pt, Partido Comunista Português, , PCP) is a communist, Marxist–Leninist political party in Portugal based upon democratic centralism. The party also considers itself patriotic and internationalist,Portugue ...
, the
Dutch Greens, Australia's
Democratic Socialist Party, and Indonesia's
People's Democratic Party People's Democratic Party or ''variant thereof'', could refer to:
* People's Democratic Party of Afghanistan
*People's Democratic Party (Belize)
*People's Democratic Party (Bhutan)
*People's Democratic Party (Chile)
* People's Democratic Party (Dom ...
. Connections to
Abílio Araújo and his
PNT are denied as well as a hostile attitude towards the
Church
Church may refer to:
Religion
* Church (building), a building for Christian religious activities
* Church (congregation), a local congregation of a Christian denomination
* Church service, a formalized period of Christian communal worship
* Chris ...
''.'' The party has international ties with a range of political organisations and trade unions in
Portugal
Portugal, officially the Portuguese Republic ( pt, República Portuguesa, links=yes ), is a country whose mainland is located on the Iberian Peninsula of Southwestern Europe, and whose territory also includes the Atlantic archipelagos of ...
, Western Europe,
Australia
Australia, officially the Commonwealth of Australia, is a Sovereign state, sovereign country comprising the mainland of the Australia (continent), Australian continent, the island of Tasmania, and numerous List of islands of Australia, sma ...
and Indonesia.
Ideology
![2018 PST](https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/f/ff/2018_PST.jpg)
The PST supports the democratic and parliamentary multi-party system, the separation of powers, free press and free access to information, freedom of religion, gender equality, the right to divorce and human rights. It demands free access to education and the abolition of social classes. The party stands by workers' rights, including free trade unions, and demands a right to work and a home, as well as equal pay for equal work.
Child labor
Child labour refers to the exploitation of children through any form of work that deprives children of their childhood, interferes with their ability to attend regular school, and is mentally, physically, socially and morally harmful. Such e ...
should be banned, as should
Prostitution
Prostitution is the business or practice of engaging in Sex work, sexual activity in exchange for payment. The definition of "sexual activity" varies, and is often defined as an activity requiring physical contact (e.g., sexual intercourse, n ...
and
Polygamy
Crimes
Polygamy (from Late Greek (') "state of marriage to many spouses") is the practice of marrying multiple spouses. When a man is married to more than one wife at the same time, sociologists call this polygyny. When a woman is married ...
. Agriculture is to be further developed as the basis of the economy and microcredits are to be used to promote rural areas. Agricultural land should be distributed evenly, large estates should be expropriated.
The focus is on collective ownership.
Tourism should also be promoted. Access to the healthcare system should be
free, and the environment should be protected. The PST supports the abolition of the
Death penalty
Capital punishment, also known as the death penalty, is the state-sanctioned practice of deliberately killing a person as a punishment for an actual or supposed crime, usually following an authorized, rule-governed process to conclude that t ...
and calls for a maximum prison sentence of 10 years. Prisons are primarily intended to serve the rehabilitation of prisoners.
During the post-independence East Timor period in 2002, the PST advocated
Portuguese
Portuguese may refer to:
* anything of, from, or related to the country and nation of Portugal
** Portuguese cuisine, traditional foods
** Portuguese language, a Romance language
*** Portuguese dialects, variants of the Portuguese language
** Portu ...
and
English
English usually refers to:
* English language
* English people
English may also refer to:
Peoples, culture, and language
* ''English'', an adjective for something of, from, or related to England
** English national ide ...
as official languages until
Tetum
, nativename=Tetun
, states= Indonesia East Timor
, speakers=, mostly in Indonesia
, date=2010–2011
, ref=e18
, speakers2=50,000 L2-speakers in Indonesia and East Timor
, familycolor=Austronesian
, fam2=Malayo-Polynesian
, fam3= Central–East ...
was developed.
Today the party demands that in future Portuguese should only be the working language, but no longer the national language (compare
East Timor's languages).
That
Indonesia
Indonesia, officially the Republic of Indonesia, is a country in Southeast Asia and Oceania between the Indian and Pacific oceans. It consists of over 17,000 islands, including Sumatra, Java, Sulawesi, and parts of Borneo and New Guine ...
n government property in East Timor was to be confiscated and nationalized, and society reconciled after the occupation period (1975–1999). The PST advocated good neighborly relations with the countries of the Pacific-Asia region and the
Community of Portuguese Speaking Countries
The Community of Portuguese Language Countries (Portuguese: ''Comunidade dos Países de Língua Portuguesa''; abbreviated as the CPLP), also known as the Lusophone Commonwealth (''Comunidade Lusófona''), is an international organization and poli ...
(CPLP).
The goal of the PST is a socialist, classless society in East Timor, free from any colonialism, imperialism, paternalism and exploitation. This should be achieved peacefully through education and raising awareness. The PST is primarily concerned with the situation of the workers and peasants.
Members
![Avelino Coelho da Silva 2019-04-11](https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/1/15/Avelino_Coelho_da_Silva_2019-04-11.jpg)
2001 party leader was
Pedro dos Mártires da Costa. He also represented the PST and as a Member of Parliament in
East Timor's National Parliament from 2001 to 2007. Deputy Secretary from 1999 to 2002 was
Merício Hornay dos Reis, Secretary General and thought leader of the party
Avelino Coelho da Silva
Avelino Maria Coelho da Silva (b. Laclubar, Manatuto) was one of the candidates in the Presidential Elections in East Timor in April 2007.
He became involved in the clandestine resistance while he studied International Relations and Law in Jak ...
, Deputy Secretary General
Antonio Maher Lopes (common name: Fatuk Mutin ), party spokesman
Nelson Correia.
From 1999 to 2002,
Merício Juvinal dos Reis was vice-president of the PST, but left the party in 2003.
In 2007 Pedro dos Mártires da Costa switched to the conservative
National Congress for Timorese Reconstruction
The National Congress for Timorese Reconstruction ( pt, Congresso Nacional de Reconstrução de Timor, CNRT) is a political party in East Timor founded by former President Xanana Gusmão in March 2007 in preparation for the 2007 parliamentary ...
(CNRT). The new party chairman was Nelson Correia (at least until 2010), Secretary General continues to be Avelino Coelho da Silva.
In 2011, Avelino Coelho da Silva took over the party chairmanship
and still holds it (as of 2017). New Secretary General was Pedro Sarmento, second Secretary General Ana Pereira Soares, third Secretary General Joanica Pereira dos Santos.
Current General Secretary (as of 2016) is
Manuel Azancot de Menezes. Deputy party leader
Hélder Lopes died in 2017,
2020 Deputy Secretary General Luciano Hornay at the age of 42, and 2022 Deputy Secretary General
João Bosco Cárceres.
Electoral performance
In the
parliamentary election
A general election is a political voting election where generally all or most members of a given political body are chosen. These are usually held for a nation, state, or territory's primary legislative body, and are different from by-elections ( ...
held on 30 August 2001, the party won 1.8% of the popular vote and 1 out of 88 seats. In the
parliamentary election
A general election is a political voting election where generally all or most members of a given political body are chosen. These are usually held for a nation, state, or territory's primary legislative body, and are different from by-elections ( ...
held on 30 June 2007, the party won 0.96% of the vote and did not win any seats, as it did not reach the 3% threshold for winning seats.
In the
2007 parliamentary election, the PST won less than 1% of the vote and failed to win a seat.
The party's candidate in the
April 2007 presidential election was
Avelino Coelho da Silva
Avelino Maria Coelho da Silva (b. Laclubar, Manatuto) was one of the candidates in the Presidential Elections in East Timor in April 2007.
He became involved in the clandestine resistance while he studied International Relations and Law in Jak ...
, who took seventh place with 2.06% of the vote.
Results of 2007 presidential election
, East Timor Election Commission website.
In the October 2009 local elections, the PST won 79 out of 4,889 positions.
References
Political parties in East Timor
Communist parties in Asia
{{EastTimor-party-stub