Timor-Leste: Protests against the police recruitment process and calls for reforms to improve press freedom

Timor-Leste’s civic space is rated as ‘narrowed’ by the CIVICUS Monitor, placing it among the countries with the best ratings for civic freedoms in Southeast Asia. The country generally fosters an enabling environment for freedom of expression, peaceful assembly, and association. Journalists are largely free to report without interference, and civil society remains active and engaged. Citizens regularly participate in peaceful demonstrations, reflecting a vibrant culture of public discourse. However, the law places some unjustified restrictions on protests, and protesters have been detained.

On 26th October 2025, Timor-Leste was formally admitted as ASEAN’s 11th Member State with the signing of the Declaration at the Opening Ceremony of the 47th ASEAN Summit. This milestone caps a 14-year journey that began with its 2011 application, followed by Observer Status in 2022 after in-principle approval, and the adoption of a Roadmap in 2023 to meet membership criteria.

In February 2026, authorities in Timor-Leste initiated legal proceedings against Myanmar’s military junta, including its leader, Senior Gen. Min Aung Hlaing, for war crimes and crimes against humanity. The move comes after the Chin Human Rights Organisation (CHRO) submitted a criminal file in Dili, accusing the junta of a litany of abuses, including rape, murder, and indiscriminate attacks on civilian populations in Chin State.

In recent months, there were protests by youth against the police recruitment process. There were also calls for reforms to ensure press freedom and events to commemorate the Balibo Five killings fifty years on.

Peaceful Assembly

Protests against the police recruitment process

On 16th March 2026, protests were organised by youths who were seeking to be cadets of the Timor-Leste national police. The youths said there were allegations of favoritism in the recruitment process and called for the whole process to be cancelled pending review. The protest action against the Minister of Interior took place at the National University of East Timor (UNTL) in Dili. On 18th March, police used tear gas against protesters at the UNTL campus. At least seven people were reported to be injured and had to be evacuated to the Vera Cruz Health Centre for treatment.

The Timorese government had already temporarily suspended the recruitment process on 11th February 2026 after candidates and several civil society organisations denounced a lack of credibility in the process. The chair of the PNTL recruitment supervision commission, Paulo Assis Belo, said the team had detected 71 children of police officers and 72 children of veterans placed in privileged positions on the list of vacancies.

Executive Director of AJAR, José Luís Oliveira said: “we must not discriminate against our citizens, we all have the right to compete in this vacancy, do not give priority only to veterans and PNTL members' children.”

Following the protests, the Timorese prime minister Xanana Gusmão announced on 19th March 2026 the opening of a new recruitment process for the National Police, following a recommendation by a review commission comprising members from Portugal and Australia.

Expression

Press freedom body calls for reforms

With Timor-Leste formally becoming a member of ASEAN, Reporters Without Borders (RSF) calls on the government to pursue reforms that would position the country as a benchmark for transparency and openness within a regional bloc where media freedom is deeply compromised.

Timor-Leste stands alone in Southeast Asia as the only country whose press freedom situation is considered “satisfactory” by RSF, in contrast to a region where eight countries are classified as facing “difficult” or “very serious” conditions.

According to RSF, while the media in Timor-Leste generally operates with a high degree of freedom, journalists continue to face risks from legal harassment, particularly through Article 285 of the Penal Code on “defamatory denunciation,” and may still be subject to pressure or intimidation from state authorities.

The Balibo Five journalists remembered 50 years on

In October 2025, the legacy of the journalists known as the “Balibo 5” was commemorated on the 50th anniversary of their killings in Timor-Leste. The Minister of the Presidency of the Council of Ministers, Agio Pereira, representing the Prime Minister, participated in the ceremonies marking the 50th anniversary and the celebration of National Press Freedom Day, held on 16th October 2025, in Balibó, in the municipality of Bobonaro.

The five - Australians Greg Shackleton and Tony Stewart, New Zealander cameraman Gary Cunningham, and Britons Brian Peters and Malcolm Rennie - were working for Australia’s Channel 7 and Channel 9 when they were killed in the remote Timorese town of Balibo by Indonesian forces during the 1975 invasion while investigating reports of cross-border incursions. Half a century later, the Balibo Five have come to represent the global struggle for press freedom.

In 2003, the United Nations-sponsored Serious Crimes Unit in Timor-Leste indicted former Indonesian officers for the Balibo killings. But Indonesia refused to recognise the jurisdiction of the Timorese courts over its nationals. An inquest by the New South Wales coroner in 2007 concluded the journalists had been “deliberately killed” by the Indonesian army to prevent them from reporting on the impending invasion.