Timor-Leste Success

Aug 26, 2014 | Foreign Affairs
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The headline of Madhu Narasimhan’s recent piece (“The World’s Youngest Failed State,” August 12, 2014) is dramatic, but his assertion is unfounded and untrue. Over the years, more than a few armchair critics have prognosticated the demise of the Democratic Republic of Timor-Leste, also affectionately known as East Timor. But nation builders do not indulge notions of failure.

Just 12 years old, Timor-Leste, which emerged from 24 years of brutal occupation and four centuries of colonial exploitation, is at peace. It has a stable, democratically elected government, and it is in the process of economic development. Timor-Leste has the fastest-growing economy in the Pacific, with an 11.5 percent five-year compound annual growth, according to 2014 figures from the Washington-based Heritage Foundation. In 2014, the United Nations raised Timor-Leste from a “Low Human Development Country” to a “Medium Human Development Country” in its Human Development Report, alongside South Africa, India, and Indonesia. In the past decade, more than 2,000 schools have been built and rehabilitated across the country, and life expectancy has risen to 68 years, an increase of 11 years since independence. In just nine years, Timor-Leste’s sovereign wealth fund has grown to $16.6 billion, and prudent management has yielded higher returns. By almost any measure, these are not manifestations of doom. Like any developing nation, Timor-Leste faces many challenges. But is it a failed state? Certainly not.