Meritocracy within Government is the Key for Timor-Leste’s
Development
The Timorese democracy is unquestionable. In the Democracy Index 2016 highlighted
that the country stood at the 1st place in South East Asia, 5th in Asia, and 43rd in the world as
the most democratic country. The country’s ranking continued increasing where in the
following two years, based on the same resource, showed that the country was the
42nd democratic nation worldwide. It surpassed other ‘big’ and ‘most developed’ countries
such as Indonesia (65th), Singapore (66th), Hong Kong (73rd), and China (130th).
In this era, many people, including Timorese, tend to believe in the democracy concept
as the key to a country’s prosperity which basically means the ‘power should belong to the
people’ through their elected representatives. I do agree with this system, however looking
to the Timorese current social-political context, I would say “meritocracy” is the most needed
political practice at the time being, and it should be a priority along with continued
democratic development.
First thing first, what is meritocracy?
The word meritocracy itself comprises two words which are merit-, and –
cracy. Therefore, it simply defines a system of government which is governed by selected
people according to their abilities – right person for the right job.
Then, why does this really, really matter to Timor today?
It is very common in Timor that when a new government rises, many old officials are
asked to step down, and eventually the cycle of new government without meritocracy is
formed: New Government, New People, and New System – same old, same old…
This lack of a strong meritocracy foundation in a government leads to the country’s
questionable development across key sectors such as health, education, and basic
infrastructure. This is what exactly we, the Timorese, are experiencing today – people are
chose according to their political affiliations rather than their knowledge and skills. As a
result, after 17 years of the restoration of the independence, many schools are still reported
to have not had enough tables and chairs; majority of the students, whether junior or senior,
go to school with just one book; people still complain about the lack of water and sanitation;
the number of young smokers (<17) continues higher; several children are seen in street,
selling vegetables when they are supposed to be at school, etc.
What I am saying is, the government should be elected by the people and the members
of the government should be selected according to their abilities.
The next point is, what is the real goal of Timor-Leste?
Is being the most democratic nation in the world is our most important goal? Or being
the most prosperous nation, in terms of economy, in the world? What are we fighting for?
What is our government fighting for? What are we looking for?
The reason I ask these questions because in my personal view, I see the Timorese society
is so proud to be topping the Democracy Index while forgetting that without meritocracy in
democracy, we are going to be ruled again and again by just a small group of people who may
or may not be qualified.
To sum it up, our country is said to be the most democratic in South East Asia, I for one
am proud of this achievement, however I encourage you to look from different angles which
is, democracy without meritocracy will only lead us to nowhere. Our country deserves
democracy and with meritocracy we will have more than just democracy to be proud of.