East Timor ends MP pension allowances after protests

East Timor deputies have accepted to draw plans to provide lifetime pension allowances for them by submitting to the pressure of thousands of students who have organized demonstrations against plans since Monday.

Eastern Timor, commonly known as Timor-Leste, has a population of 1.3 million people living on a slightly larger island than Qatar. It is one of the poorest countries in Southeast Asia and depends on decreasing oil and gas reserves.

Previously, more than 1000 students protested for a third day in front of Eastern Timor’s parliamentary building in the Başkent Language and demanded that the government can cancel the plans to provide lifetime pension allowances for MPs.

The parties in the Eastern Timor Parliament said that they would remove the plan as an understanding they hit with the students.

MPs had previously removed 65 cars for themselves, which triggered the anger.

Parties, students stopped their demonstrations, he said.

This week, the protesters damaged the government buildings, burned the tires, and threw rocks to the police, and led the authorities to ignite tear gas.

East Timor officially gained independence from Indonesia in 2002 after a turning point vote audited by the UN in 1999.