• Burmese
Friday, July 18, 2025
No Result
View All Result
NEWSLETTER
The Irrawaddy
31 °c
Yangon
  • Home
  • News
    • Burma
    • Politics
    • World
    • Asia
    • Myanmar’s Crisis & the World
    • Ethnic Issues
    • War Against the Junta
    • Junta Cronies
    • Conflicts In Numbers
    • Junta Watch
    • Fact Check
    • Investigation
    • Myanmar-China Watch
    • Obituaries
  • Politics
  • Business
  • Opinion
    • Commentary
    • Guest Column
    • Analysis
    • Editorial
    • Stories That Shaped Us
    • Letters
  • Junta Watch
  • Ethnic Issues
  • War Against the Junta
  • In Person
    • Interview
    • Profile
  • Books
  • Donation
  • Home
  • News
    • Burma
    • Politics
    • World
    • Asia
    • Myanmar’s Crisis & the World
    • Ethnic Issues
    • War Against the Junta
    • Junta Cronies
    • Conflicts In Numbers
    • Junta Watch
    • Fact Check
    • Investigation
    • Myanmar-China Watch
    • Obituaries
  • Politics
  • Business
  • Opinion
    • Commentary
    • Guest Column
    • Analysis
    • Editorial
    • Stories That Shaped Us
    • Letters
  • Junta Watch
  • Ethnic Issues
  • War Against the Junta
  • In Person
    • Interview
    • Profile
  • Books
  • Donation
No Result
View All Result
The Irrawaddy
No Result
View All Result
Home News Burma

East Timor Primed for Legal Tussle with Australia

Matthew Pennington by Matthew Pennington
October 1, 2015
in Uncategorized
Reading Time: 3 mins read
0 0
A A
East Timor Primed for Legal Tussle with Australia

Australia’s Foreign Minister Julie Bishop speaks during an ASEAN-Australia ministerial meeting at the Myanmar International Convention Centre in Naypyidaw

2.2k
VIEWS
Share on FacebookShare on Twitter

Thirteen years after winning independence from Indonesia, East Timor has to wage another struggle for justice with a more powerful neighbor—but this time in the courts, the nation’s prime minister says.

After two years of inconclusive technical talks, East Timor last week announced it was initiating arbitration with Australia on jurisdiction of a seabed petroleum field—the latest round of litigation in a messy dispute between the two countries over how they split lucrative oil and gas revenues.

“We are claiming what belongs to us. It’s an issue of sovereignty and an issue of justice,” said Prime Minister Rui Maria de Araujo, who took office in February after independence hero Xanana Gusmao resigned to make way for a new generation of Timorese leaders.

RelatedPosts

More Than 20,000 Displaced As Myanmar Junta Burns Homes Around World Heritage Site

More Than 20,000 Displaced As Myanmar Junta Burns Homes Around World Heritage Site

July 18, 2025
19
Political assassinations and Myanmar’s fate

Political assassinations and Myanmar’s fate

July 18, 2025
21
Indian Top Brass Visit Myanmar After Cross-Border Drone Attack

Indian Top Brass Visit Myanmar After Cross-Border Drone Attack

July 18, 2025
97

Araujo spoke to The Associated Press Wednesday on the sidelines of the annual meeting of world leaders at the UN.

East Timor, an impoverished nation of 1.1 million, became a sovereign state in 2002. It depends on petroleum revenues for 90 percent of its economy and is concerned that funds could dry up within years.

In the new litigation, East Timor is disputing Australia’s exclusive right to the jurisdiction and taxation of the pipeline leading into a joint petroleum development area.

Australia said last week it will defend against the legal action. It said that the treaty under which the two nations divide the revenues states that jurisdiction depends on where the pipeline lands, which is in northern Australia.

East Timor has already challenged the validity of the 2006 treaty.

It contends that Australia spied on it during negotiations for the treaty. And in 2013, it launched a legal action at the International Court of Justice after Australian police seized documents from a lawyer representing East Timor who allegedly witnessed the spying. The court banned Australia from using the seized documents and it returned them to East Timor.

Araujo said the crux of the dispute with Australia is over where the maritime border in the Timor Sea lies. The territory jointly administered by the two countries currently follows a boundary set in 1972 when East Timor was still occupied by Indonesia. That boundary is much closer to the coast of East Timor than Australia. East Timor wants it to be set at a median line between them, so more of the petroleum fields would lie in its waters, so it would earn more revenue.

In June, Australian Foreign Minister Julie Bishop told parliament that Australia would resist East Timor’s effort to redraw the sea border between the nations as delineated under the 2006 treaty. She said the treaty was already generous enough.

Under the current arrangements, revenues from the Bayu Undan gas and condensate field that has been exploited for the past decade are divided up 90-10 in East Timor’s favor. But Araujo said the field has passed its peak production and is expected to dry up within five to ten years.

Revenues from the planned Greater Sunrise field would be split 50-50, but 80 percent of the field lies in Australian waters so it would earn the lion’s share if production starts.

Araujo says despite the political disagreement over the oil revenues and maritime border, relations with Australia are good, and he has invited new Prime Minister Malcolm Turnbull to visit East Timor.

Still, Araujo likens the long-running legal travails to the 24-year armed struggle against Indonesian occupation that had left more than 170,000 dead—a struggle that few outsiders expected East Timor to win, until a UN-administered referendum in which its people voted for independence in 1999.

“People were pessimistic, saying that Indonesia will never go out from East Timor because all the big Western powers were supporting Indonesia. The only thing we used as a strong moral and political motivating factor was international law,” he said.

“It may sound rhetorical, but we think that we are in the right side again.”

Your Thoughts …
Matthew Pennington

Matthew Pennington

The Associated Press

Similar Picks:

Exodus: Tens of Thousands Flee as Myanmar Junta Troops Face Last Stand in Kokang
Burma

Exodus: Tens of Thousands Flee as Myanmar Junta Troops Face Last Stand in Kokang

by Hein Htoo Zan
November 28, 2023
98.5k

Myanmar National Democratic Alliance Army troops are opening roads and pathways through forests for people to flee Kokang’s capital as...

Read moreDetails
Burning Alive in Myanmar: Two Resistance Fighters Executed in Public
Burma

Burning Alive in Myanmar: Two Resistance Fighters Executed in Public

by The Irrawaddy
February 7, 2024
90.4k

People’s Defense Force says junta troops told every household in the village to send one member to witness the double...

Read moreDetails
Another Entire Junta Battalion Raises the White Flag in Myanmar’s Northern Shan State
War Against the Junta

Another Entire Junta Battalion Raises the White Flag in Myanmar’s Northern Shan State

by The Irrawaddy
November 29, 2023
87.1k

Brotherhood Alliance member says it now has complete control of Kokang’s northernmost section after the junta’s Light Infantry Battalion 125...

Read moreDetails
Depleted Myanmar Military Urges Deserters to Return to Barracks
Burma

Depleted Myanmar Military Urges Deserters to Return to Barracks

by The Irrawaddy
December 4, 2023
59k

The junta said deserters would not be punished for minor crimes, highlighting the military’s shortage of troops as resistance offensives...

Read moreDetails
As Myanmar’s Military Stumbles, a Top General’s Dissapearance Fuels Intrigue
Burma

As Myanmar’s Military Stumbles, a Top General’s Dissapearance Fuels Intrigue

by The Irrawaddy
April 19, 2024
47k

The junta’s No. 2 has not been seen in public since April 3, sparking rumors that he was either gravely...

Read moreDetails
Enter the Dragon, Exit the Junta: Myanmar’s Brotherhood Alliance makes Chinese New Year Vow
Burma

Enter the Dragon, Exit the Junta: Myanmar’s Brotherhood Alliance makes Chinese New Year Vow

by The Irrawaddy
February 12, 2024
44.8k

Ethnic armed grouping says it will continue Operation 1027 offensive until goal of ousting the junta is achieved. 

Read moreDetails
Load More
Next Post
SE Asia Seeks New Strategy to Fight ‘Slash and Burn’ Haze Problem

SE Asia Seeks New Strategy to Fight ‘Slash and Burn’ Haze Problem

At the Khun Sa Museum

At the Khun Sa Museum, the House that Drugs Built

No Result
View All Result

Recommended

What the ‘Snake Charmer’ Analogy Gets Wrong About Myanmar

What the ‘Snake Charmer’ Analogy Gets Wrong About Myanmar

3 days ago
1.3k
Myanmar Junta’s Recapture of Nawnghkio Shows Strategic Missteps by TNLA

Myanmar Junta’s Recapture of Nawnghkio Shows Strategic Missteps by TNLA

23 hours ago
1.2k

Most Read

  • Myanmar Junta’s Recapture of Nawnghkio Shows Strategic Missteps by TNLA

    Myanmar Junta’s Recapture of Nawnghkio Shows Strategic Missteps by TNLA

    shares
    Share 0 Tweet 0
  • Myanmar Junta’s Power Transfer Looms, but Real Control to Remain With Regime Boss

    shares
    Share 0 Tweet 0
  • Karen Fighters Push for Myanmar Junta Outpost on Thai Border

    shares
    Share 0 Tweet 0
  • Belarus Universities Teach Myanmar Junta How to Kill: JFM

    shares
    Share 0 Tweet 0
  • Indian Army Accused of Deadly Strike on Separatists in Myanmar

    shares
    Share 0 Tweet 0

Newsletter

Get The Irrawaddy’s latest news, analyses and opinion pieces on Myanmar in your inbox.

Subscribe here for daily updates.

Contents

  • News
  • Politics
  • War Against the Junta
  • Myanmar’s Crisis & the World
  • Conflicts In Numbers
  • Junta Crony
  • Ethnic Issues
  • Asia
  • World
  • Business
  • Economy
  • Election 2020
  • Elections in History
  • Cartoons
  • Features
  • Opinion
  • Editorial
  • Commentary
  • Guest Column
  • Analysis
  • Letters
  • In Person
  • Interview
  • Profile
  • Dateline
  • Specials
  • Myanmar Diary
  • Women & Gender
  • Places in History
  • On This Day
  • From the Archive
  • Myanmar & COVID-19
  • Intelligence
  • Myanmar-China Watch
  • Lifestyle
  • Travel
  • Food
  • Fashion & Design
  • Videos
  • Photos
  • Photo Essay
  • Donation

About The Irrawaddy

Founded in 1993 by a group of Myanmar journalists living in exile in Thailand, The Irrawaddy is a leading source of reliable news, information, and analysis on Burma/Myanmar and the Southeast Asian region. From its inception, The Irrawaddy has been an independent news media group, unaffiliated with any political party, organization or government. We believe that media must be free and independent and we strive to preserve press freedom.

  • Copyright
  • Code of Ethics
  • Privacy Policy
  • Team
  • About Us
  • Careers
  • Contact
  • Burmese

© 2023 Irrawaddy Publishing Group. All Rights Reserved

Welcome Back!

Login to your account below

Forgotten Password?

Retrieve your password

Please enter your username or email address to reset your password.

Log In
No Result
View All Result
  • Home
  • News
    • Burma
    • Politics
    • World
    • Asia
    • Myanmar’s Crisis & the World
    • Ethnic Issues
    • War Against the Junta
    • Junta Cronies
    • Conflicts In Numbers
    • Junta Watch
    • Fact Check
    • Investigation
    • Myanmar-China Watch
    • Obituaries
  • Politics
  • Opinion
    • Commentary
    • Guest Column
    • Analysis
    • Editorial
    • Stories That Shaped Us
    • Letters
  • Ethnic Issues
  • War Against the Junta
  • In Person
    • Interview
    • Profile
  • Business
    • Economy
    • Business Roundup
  • Books
  • Donation

© 2023 Irrawaddy Publishing Group. All Rights Reserved

This website uses cookies. By continuing to use this website you are giving consent to cookies being used. Visit our Privacy and Cookie Policy.