MARK BOWLING: Outside Dili's Government headquarters, students are turning on the leaders who guided them to independence.
Proposed tax hikes, higher university fees and unemployment are just some of their grievances.
They blame the members of their new Parliament.
JOSE LOBATO, FRETILIN MP: I always understand, from the beginning, that the first days after independence, or the registration of independence is not going to be easy.
It's just we have to work, and it's going to be another struggle for the future.
MARK BOWLING: At just 29, Jose Lobato is one of East Timor's new breed of law-makers.
In a parliament building renovated at Australian taxpayer expense, MPs are drafting the country's laws.
It's important business, but the pace is painfully slow.
Only a handful of laws have been passed.
One problem is that most official documents are written in
Portuguese.
Many of the politicians require translations, hardly surprising in a country where most people don't even speak the language.
They're more comfortable with the traditional tongue, Tetun, or Bahasa Indonesian.
JOSE LOBATO: The Portuguese-speaking are a very small number, but, yeah, it became a official language because the elites of the leadership are more comfortable, or used to, that language.
MARK BOWLING: As the MPs grapple with that problem, the country's justice minister, who must sign off on any new laws, is out of the country.
She requested three months leave and is reported to be in
Mozambique.
East Timor is left in limbo, operating without even a basic legal framework.
In the Dili District Court, lawyers come to work, but proceedingss have been suspended.
Judges, court staff and prosecutors recently went on strike with a list of grievances.
SYLVIA DE BERTODANO, PUBLIC DEFENDER: We haven't had a court of appeal since November of last year.
There's a stack of cases waiting for appeal and no-one to listen to.
We just don't have the judges who are able to do these cases.
MARK BOWLING: In this court, three men are on trial for alleged crimes against humanity.
It's a case initiated by United Nations investigators.
The trial was supposed to start last year.
It didn't begin until April, and until now, only three witnesses have given evidence.
It gets worse.
Defendants in one case have been held in custody for 2.5 years.
SYLVIA DE BERTODANO: They've been waiting for their trials and they still don't have trial dates set.
From their point of view, they have a basic human right which is being disregarded, which this court simply cannot operate to answer.
MARK BOWLING: Xanana Gusmao has long been aware of the problem.
On the day of independence, he warned members of parliament they must act quickly to pass basic laws.
That was three months ago.
XANANA GUSMAO, PRESIDENT: The problem they face, and we all face, as an independent country is they must do their best to pass all the laws that can guide us, because if not we live in some confusion.
MARK BOWLING: That confusion is also holding back foreign
investment.
Potential investors are waiting for laws that will clearly determine property ownership.
EDUARDO SANTOS, RESTAURANT OWNER: There are no law about nothing.
The problem is every time when someone come and want to buy a place,land, or a warehouse or a house, or rent, the problem is there are no law, you don't know who is the real owner.
MARK BOWLING: Eduardo Santos is short on customers.
He's invested in a Portuguese restaurant.
His business has slumped since the United Nations pull-out soon after independence.
Until the property laws are in place, there will be no business confidence in East Timor and no rush to sample his enticing tropical drinks.
It's not just small businessman who are disillusioned.
Mario Carrascalao comes from one of East Timor's richest families.
They own coffee plantations.
A former Governor during Indonesian times, and now elected to
Parliament, he's already fed up with the new government's direction, and doesn't even sit in Parliament.
Independence, he says, should have been delivered gradually, over 10 years.
MARIO CARRASCALAO, MEMBER OF PARLIAMENT: People have nothing.
The poor people do not even have money to have three times a meal a day.
MARK BOWLING: In the midst of this post-independence confusion, one thing is certain -- life hasn't changed much for most of the people.
They cling to their old ways, hardly touched by the pull-out of the United Nations and the installment of the new government.
Yet there's still optimistic belief that East Timor can turn the corner.
KAMLESH SHARMA, UN MISSION OF SUPPORT: The East Timorese people are a people who are very very jealous of their liberties and freedom.
They've really been through a lot in order to get this.
This is the most hopeful thing.
MARK BOWLING: The United Nations is likely to stay with a
scaled-down presence for the next two years.
That includes Australian peacekeepers stationed close to the border with Indonesian West Timor.
UN development agencies and foreign aid groups will continue to set up health services, schools and agricultural projects.
But is it enough to rely so heavily on foreign donors and their handouts for years to come?
MARIO CARRASCALAO: What the Timorese people are producing?
Nothing. The Timorese people are producing nothing.
MARK BOWLING: One prediction is that offshore oil and gas reserves could deliver financial independence within five years, but big projects are still at the stage of political handshakes.
Nothing firmer.
In the meantime, East Timor remains a poor and fragile place.
XANANA GUSMAO: We all are learning and what I ask to myself, and sometimes I ask to the people, is that these five years are important for us because we can start making decisions -- right or wrong decisions.
From the mistakes that we do in this five years, we can improve in the next five years.
Proposed tax hikes, higher university fees and unemployment are just some of their grievances.
They blame the members of their new Parliament.
JOSE LOBATO, FRETILIN MP: I always understand, from the beginning, that the first days after independence, or the registration of independence is not going to be easy.
It's just we have to work, and it's going to be another struggle for the future.
MARK BOWLING: At just 29, Jose Lobato is one of East Timor's new breed of law-makers.
In a parliament building renovated at Australian taxpayer expense, MPs are drafting the country's laws.
It's important business, but the pace is painfully slow.
Only a handful of laws have been passed.
One problem is that most official documents are written in
Portuguese.
Many of the politicians require translations, hardly surprising in a country where most people don't even speak the language.
They're more comfortable with the traditional tongue, Tetun, or Bahasa Indonesian.
JOSE LOBATO: The Portuguese-speaking are a very small number, but, yeah, it became a official language because the elites of the leadership are more comfortable, or used to, that language.
MARK BOWLING: As the MPs grapple with that problem, the country's justice minister, who must sign off on any new laws, is out of the country.
She requested three months leave and is reported to be in
Mozambique.
East Timor is left in limbo, operating without even a basic legal framework.
In the Dili District Court, lawyers come to work, but proceedingss have been suspended.
Judges, court staff and prosecutors recently went on strike with a list of grievances.
SYLVIA DE BERTODANO, PUBLIC DEFENDER: We haven't had a court of appeal since November of last year.
There's a stack of cases waiting for appeal and no-one to listen to.
We just don't have the judges who are able to do these cases.
MARK BOWLING: In this court, three men are on trial for alleged crimes against humanity.
It's a case initiated by United Nations investigators.
The trial was supposed to start last year.
It didn't begin until April, and until now, only three witnesses have given evidence.
It gets worse.
Defendants in one case have been held in custody for 2.5 years.
SYLVIA DE BERTODANO: They've been waiting for their trials and they still don't have trial dates set.
From their point of view, they have a basic human right which is being disregarded, which this court simply cannot operate to answer.
MARK BOWLING: Xanana Gusmao has long been aware of the problem.
On the day of independence, he warned members of parliament they must act quickly to pass basic laws.
That was three months ago.
XANANA GUSMAO, PRESIDENT: The problem they face, and we all face, as an independent country is they must do their best to pass all the laws that can guide us, because if not we live in some confusion.
MARK BOWLING: That confusion is also holding back foreign
investment.
Potential investors are waiting for laws that will clearly determine property ownership.
EDUARDO SANTOS, RESTAURANT OWNER: There are no law about nothing.
The problem is every time when someone come and want to buy a place,land, or a warehouse or a house, or rent, the problem is there are no law, you don't know who is the real owner.
MARK BOWLING: Eduardo Santos is short on customers.
He's invested in a Portuguese restaurant.
His business has slumped since the United Nations pull-out soon after independence.
Until the property laws are in place, there will be no business confidence in East Timor and no rush to sample his enticing tropical drinks.
It's not just small businessman who are disillusioned.
Mario Carrascalao comes from one of East Timor's richest families.
They own coffee plantations.
A former Governor during Indonesian times, and now elected to
Parliament, he's already fed up with the new government's direction, and doesn't even sit in Parliament.
Independence, he says, should have been delivered gradually, over 10 years.
MARIO CARRASCALAO, MEMBER OF PARLIAMENT: People have nothing.
The poor people do not even have money to have three times a meal a day.
MARK BOWLING: In the midst of this post-independence confusion, one thing is certain -- life hasn't changed much for most of the people.
They cling to their old ways, hardly touched by the pull-out of the United Nations and the installment of the new government.
Yet there's still optimistic belief that East Timor can turn the corner.
KAMLESH SHARMA, UN MISSION OF SUPPORT: The East Timorese people are a people who are very very jealous of their liberties and freedom.
They've really been through a lot in order to get this.
This is the most hopeful thing.
MARK BOWLING: The United Nations is likely to stay with a
scaled-down presence for the next two years.
That includes Australian peacekeepers stationed close to the border with Indonesian West Timor.
UN development agencies and foreign aid groups will continue to set up health services, schools and agricultural projects.
But is it enough to rely so heavily on foreign donors and their handouts for years to come?
MARIO CARRASCALAO: What the Timorese people are producing?
Nothing. The Timorese people are producing nothing.
MARK BOWLING: One prediction is that offshore oil and gas reserves could deliver financial independence within five years, but big projects are still at the stage of political handshakes.
Nothing firmer.
In the meantime, East Timor remains a poor and fragile place.
XANANA GUSMAO: We all are learning and what I ask to myself, and sometimes I ask to the people, is that these five years are important for us because we can start making decisions -- right or wrong decisions.
From the mistakes that we do in this five years, we can improve in the next five years.