16 August 2022

Transparénsia Ezije Informasaun, La’ós De'it Imajen Furak

 Link to this article in English 

Foin lalais iha fulan balu nia laran, Governu Timor-Leste promove ‘e-governasaun’ no ho orgullu fó sai mudansa di’ak iha valor transparénsia. Sira implementa hela meius tékniku nian atu mantén lista eleitor, no sistema “Unique ID” hodi bele verifika identidade sidadaun sira.

Maske nune’e, mudansa ne’ebé akontese foin lalais ne’e hatudu formatu ka imagen sira hetan atensaun barak liu kompara ho asuntu substantivu. Website balun ba ajénsia Governu nian hetan ona dezeñu foun, ne’ebé nia rezultadu hatudu katak transparénsia menus no sai susar liu (ka la posivel duni) atu asesu ba informasaun atuál ka informasaun sira antes. Tuir mai iha ezemplu balun:

Website tomak Ministériu Finansas nian antes muda hotu, no versaun foun https://www.mof.gov.tl/ iha hela durante fulan balun. Website foun ne’e ladún kompletu no susar liu atu uza. Ligasaun hotu ba dokumentu sira iha website uluk taka ona. Ligasaun barak husi website foun lakon ka la funsiona. Labele identifika informasaun foun, no website ne’e uza gráfiku no coding barak ne’ebé halo susar atu halo ligasaun ba webpage espesífiku ka atu download iha website ida. Mákina atu buka informasaun (search engines) hanesan Google labele ajuda hetan matérias sira husi webpage ida ne’e, no la bele buka dokumentu espesífiku iha website ne’e rasik.

TimorGAP, nudár kompañia mina estadu nian ne’ebé simu ona subsídiu públiku ho valor kuaze to’o dolar biliaun ida, foin lalais ne’e implementa dezeñu foun ba ninia website https://www.timorgap.com/. Maioria husi informasaun sira antes ne’e iha, agora lakon, no website foun ne’e disponivel iha lian ingles de’it. Iha website refere laiha informasaun seluk, iha de’it mak informasaun kona ba staff sira no esperansa ba kampu Greater Sunrise - maske kompañia ida ne’e asina tiha ona kontratu atu hala’o esplorasaun ba iha fatin hitu iha rai laran no tasi laran. Informasaun kona ba sira nia relatóriu anuál, finansas, tender, kontratu, konsultasaun públiku, no komunikasaun imprensa sira laiha hotu ona.

Website ofisiál seluk, inklui Primeiru Ministru nian https://www.gpm.gov.tl/tl/ no Autoridade Nasionál Petroleum no Minerais (ANPM) http://www.anpm.tl/ sei kontinua la’o, maibé dala ruma lori fulan balun atu atualiza no publika informasaun sira. ANPM nian laiha lingua Tetum.

Website Parlamentu Nasionál https://www.parlamento.tl normálmente funsiona, maibé la fornese informasaun importante. Presiza tebes atu inklui informasaun sira hanesan ezbosu lei sira, komisaun sira nia relatóriu, no agenda sira tuir mai, aléinde informasaun istória no jerál sira ne’ebé iha ona. 

Nune’e mós ba iha website Ministériu Obras Públika nian https://mop.gov.tl/, ne’ebé la atualiza dezde kedas Agostu 2021, fó sai de’it kona ba reuniaun ofisiál sira, maibé laiha liu kedas informasaun kona ba konsultasaun públiku ka informasaun kona ba projetu espesífiku haktuir ba sira nia mandatu. Ministériu Petróleu no Minerais nia website: http://mpm.gov.tl/ mós fornese informasaun barak kona ba enkontru sira duke substánsia sira.

Jerálmente, pajina online sira iha leten, hanesan mós sira seluk ne’ebé Governu mantén, la fornese informasaun relevante ka liga ba sira nia relatóriu ka dokumentu ruma. Sira nia komunikadu imprensa la ajuda lee na’in sira atu hetan informasaun konkretu ka informasaun espesífiku, hanesan lei sira ka dokumentu sira. Barak liu, Governu hakarak hatudu katak sira okupadu, maibé lakohi fahe sira nia informasaun kona ba programa no projetu sira. Hare ezemplu atuál ne’ebé fó sai husi pajina ofisiál Governu nian iha website:
 
Ajénsia balu fó sai sira nia komunikadu foun ka iha pajina iha Facebook. Maske hirak ne’e util, liu-liu bainhira ita konsidera katak ema barak mak uza liu Facebook iha Timor-Leste, maibé la signifika katak ida ne’e troka fali importánsia husi website ofisiál. Ita labele liga direta saida mak tau ona iha FB liga link ne’ebé la’ós FB, no informasaun sira ne’e mós la’ós permanente, ka estruturadu ho lójiku liu no labele hetan liu husi Search Engines (ez. Google). Hirak ne’e mós inklui dokumentu sira – so de’it imajen. Atu governa nasaun ne’e knaar importante tebes, no fornese informasaun ba sidadaun sira mós esensiál duni, no labele depende ba media sosiál sira de’it. 

Ba notas sira ne’ebé pozitivu liu mak hanesan:

Atu halo informasaun importante sira disponivel liu ba iha públiku, La’o Hamutuk koleta dokumentu barak no matériais barak ne’ebé loloos mantén no públika iha Governu nia website rasik, maibé barak liu mak laiha. Ami fornese kópia barak iha ami nia pajina website (duke tau ligasaun ba iha fatin seluk) atu nune’e sira la lakon bainhira website seluk muda ka la eziste ona. Tuir mai mak ligasaun importante balu iha ami nia website:

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Transparency requires information, not just pretty pictures

 Liga ba artigu ida ne'e iha lingua Tetum 

In recent months, Timor-Leste officials have promoted “E-government” and boasted of improved transparency scores. They are instituting technical means for maintaining the electoral rolls, as well as a “Unique ID” system for citizen identification.

However, recent developments indicate that more attention is being given to form than to substance. Several websites for government agencies have been redesigned, resulting in less transparency and making it more difficult (or impossible) to access current and/or historic information. Here are a few examples: 

The entire Ministry of Finance website was deleted, and a new version https://www.mof.gov.tl/ is being assembled over several months. The new one is less complete and more difficult to use. All links to documents on the previous site no longer work. Many links in the new version are either missing or nonfunctional.  Newly released material is not identifiable, and the extensive use of graphics and coding makes it virtually impossible to identify materials, link to a page or download the site with a web spider. Search engines cannot find its material, and the search in the site itself doesn’t work.

TimorGAP, the national oil company which has received nearly a billion dollars in subsidies from public money, also just redesigned its website https://www.timorgap.com/. Most previous information has evaporated, and the new site is in English only. It has no information about anything other than TimorGAP’s staff and its hopes for Greater Sunrise – although the company has signed contracts to explore seven other areas. All information about annual reports, finances, tenders, contracts, public consultations and press releases has been removed.

Other official websites, including those of the Prime Minister https://www.gpm.gov.tl/en/ and the National Petroleum and Minerals Authority (ANPM) http://www.anpm.tl/ still work as well as they have, but it often takes months before current information is posted (example at left).

The National Parliament’s website https://www.parlamento.tl usually functions, but does not contain much useful information. It should have draft laws, committee reports and upcoming agendas, in addition to the historic and general information which is already there.

Similarly, the Ministry of Public Works website https://mop.gov.tl/, which hasn’t been updated since August 2021, has a lot about meetings with officials, but almost nothing about public consultations or specific projects under its mandate. The Ministry of Petroleum and Minerals site http://mpm.gov.tl/en/ also has more about meetings than about substance.

More generally, most of the above sites, as well as others maintained by the government, do not contain or link to relevant reports or documents. Their vacuous press releases do not help the reader find more concrete or specific information, such as laws or other documents. Often, the government appears to want to look busy, but declines to post information about its programs and projects. Here’s a recent example from the main Government website.

Some agencies post news releases or have pages on Facebook. Although this can be useful (especially considering the number of Facebook users in Timor-Leste), it is not a substitute for a website. You cannot link to a FB posting from outside FB, and the postings are not permanent, logically structured or indexed by search engines. They cannot include documents – only images. Governing a nation is too important a responsibility, and providing information to citizens is too essential, to rely solely on a “social network.” 

On a more positive note: 

To make important information more available to the public, La’o Hamutuk collects many documents and materials that should be accessible on government websites, but often aren’t. We put copies on our own site (rather than linking to them elsewhere) so that they don’t disappear when another website is deleted. Here are some key links on our site:

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