Deteriorating freedoms in Timor are of a particular concern as the country pursues accession to ASEAN, an authoritarian-heavy group whose freedom rankings in the last decade have been on the decline and point to a regression in regional democracies.

This risk would be further exacerbated by Timor-Leste’s choice investment partner for the development of its internet infrastructure. Australia, China, Indonesia, the United States and Vietnam are competing to invest in Timor’s critical infrastructure. The choice and values of Timor’s partners for infrastructure and telecommunication service providers, will have a knock-on effect on censorship and internet surveillance.

Presently, Timor-Leste ranks high on freedom indices across academic, internet and press thresholds, according to the Global Public Policy Institute, Reporters Without Borders and Freedom House.

In spite of high costs and poor access, internet accessibility has increased year on year, expanding coverage and consequently, social media use. The online sphere is increasingly being used to express critical opinion, scrutinize political incumbents and progress democratic ideals.

Resultantly, political leaders and government officials who feel offended by poignant criticisms have made use of current legislation, pushed for amendments to existing laws and drafted new laws to curtail online criticisms.

In the past decade, the Timorese government has misused articles in the Penal Code to attempt to prosecute critical journalists. For example, in November 2016, a slanderous denunciation charge was filed against Raimundos Oki and Lourenço Vicente Martins, journalists of the Timor Post, under Section 285 of Penal Code. Although the charges were dropped in 2017, the misuse of current legislation provides an indication of what may occur should the proposed Criminal Defamation Law, under the Penal Code, be introduced.

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