With political intervention influencing public broadcasting RTTL, EP has now become more unreliable in the information it provides to the public, whether  it is credible and independent.

President of RTTL, Mr Francisco, who promised to make changes is just like a curtain hiding the political intervention in RTTL, EP. The newsroom is now controlled by the members of a political party which cannot guarantee the independence of media.

Under Gary’s leadership RTTL, EP has become a branch of political parties, used to share their power and money to pay their members. This is proven by their appointment of political parties’ members in every department at RTTL. According to information Tempo Timor collected from a credible source at RTTL, EP most members of political parties are now working at RTTL, EP as advisers. “The majority come from CNRT and PLP,” the source said. They also mentioned that these advisers have no quality because they were not recruited through normal procedures but were political appointees only. One adviser is pay USD 3500 to control the editorial room.

To clarify this information, our journalist at Tempo Timor (JTT) conducted an exclusive interview with the President RTTL, EP, Mr Francisco da Silva Gary (FSG), at his office in Caicoli, (9/05)

JTT: Mr President, according to our source, RTTL, EP, a public instituition, is now dominated by members of political parties from CNRT and PLP. What is your opinion?

FSG: I think RTTL, EP is under the Press Council and we have received a few complaints about this so I consider this information is true. We are trying to solve this issue internally especially in the editorial room. I think the Press Council is playing an important role of bringing attention to the public media. We have received complaints and recommendations and this is helping us to fix the issue internally. We hope that the Press Council treats all public media in Timor-Leste equally.   

JTT:  The source also mentioned that the content of news is being censored by you, is that true?

FSG: Yes, I received complaints from the Press Council and as the President I have answered all the compliants and I accepted all the criticism to make a better RTTL.

JTT: Mr President, since you become President, have you broken any laws through your actions?

FSG: When you break any laws we have regulations to obey. RTTL needs to make alterations to Law 24. Secondly we see internal regulations which mention public servants working here and we need to change that because all people working here are on a contract basis. We need proper regulations to follow and protect the rights of those working here.

JTT:  Mr President, is RTTL, EP using Decree Law 42 or previous law?

FSG: RTTL, EP is a public entreprise and we use Decree Law 42, which allows us to make money for RTTL through our publicity.

JITL:  The alteration of decree Law 42 was vetoed by President Taur Matan Ruak and the current president so which  law are you applying to RTTL, EP?

FSG: We still using Decree Law 42 because the alteration was vetoed by our two presidents of Republic so we are still using the old version.

JTT: About salary for the staff, which law are you applying?

FSG: We are using the public entreprise salary scale

JTT: But the President of Republic vetoed that so why are you still implementing it?

FSG: President of the Republic vetoed the alteration, not the old version.

JTT: But the salary scale you are using is the one that was vetoed?

FSG: Yes, this the situation…I think this is the salary scale we have and we have to pay our staff with this scale for them to want to continue working for RTTL. Public servants are now no longer working with us and have been allocated to different institutions.

JTT:  Mr President, can you explain why staff are not receiving their salary on time?

FSG: Firstly, the public transfer from the Ministry of Finance was late, not until 30 April. Secondly we had a meeting on 4 May with all staff to solve the problem and finally yesterday we transferred their salary through to their bank accounts which also takes two days to be processed.

JTT: A few board members said that the problem occurred because you mixed together the salary of advisers and staff with other expenses and that’s why they didn’t sign the request paper. Is that true?

FSG: I want to clarify that the request was only for the salary of staff and advisers, not for other expenses.

JTT:  What is the total expenses for RTTL, EP in 2019?

FSG: Government provided 1.6 Million to RTTL which is not enough, therefore we are using RTTL income through publicity to facilitate our work 

JTT: Mr President, we would like know the future of RTTL.  Where is it heading to?

FSG: Firstly you must know our mission and the vision of RTTL. The vision of RTLL is one of a media institution that provides information to all communities in Timor-Leste. Secondly we need to promote the official languages we have. Thirdly, we are to inform our community about the development process in Timor Leste. I think we want RTTL to be the source of credible information so the community can trust us.

JTT: What is your dream during your mandate as President of RTTL, EP?

FSG:  Our dream is that RTTL will have a new office for broadcasting. As you can see our office situation is very fragile since this office is from Indonesian time. It was built for radio only, not for television and the risk is, when flooding or an earthquake happens in Timor Leste, the whole of the equipement we have installed could be destroyed. In the future we want a sufficiently resourced institution so people can get credible factual information.