Here what we had were Timorese students with law degrees, none of whom had the slightest law experience. Early on, attempts at nation-building were fraught with mistakes and criticism that it was too bureaucratic, too slow and too secretive, that its staff members zipped around in shiny white Land Rovers while locals struggled to find plastic tarpaulins to cover their demolished roofs. Earlier this year, hundreds of Timorese youths held noisy demonstrations criticizing the United Nations for not creating jobs faster. Forced to wait in long lines for food handouts and sleep in tents, some independence supporters questioned whether they had made the right choice at the ballot box. Nowadays, though, the protests have died down.
Aid workers say food distribution is no longer necessary.
People are finding employment and realizing that reconstruction is a much slower and more challenging process than they expected. But Timorese leaders also say that the U.N. administration here, despite its bureaucracy and its inexperience in nation-building, is starting to hit its stride. The U.N. Transitional Administration for East Timor, as the operation here is formally called, plans to reopen schools this fall with a new crop of 3,500 teachers selected through proficiency exams. The first batch of recruits recently graduated from a new police academy. And in a large gymnasium, dozens of international experts are training aspiring civil servants.