Timor-Leste scraps plan to buy MPs new cars after mass protests

Timor-Leste’s government abandoned a plan to buy new cars for members of parliament on Tuesday after thousands of people took to the streets in protest, though demonstrations continued a day later amid wider calls for political reform.

Protesters in the capital Dili burned tyres and set a government vehicle alight on Tuesday as police used tear gas to disperse crowds. Parliamentarians voted unanimously to scrap the purchase of Toyota Prado SUVs for the country’s 65 MPs, but many demonstrators remained sceptical and returned to the streets on Wednesday to press for additional changes, including the removal of lifetime pensions for former lawmakers.

Organisers and participants said they were driven not only by the car proposal but by broader frustration with inequality, unemployment and what they see as lawmakers’ self-serving policies. Cezario Cesar, one of the movement’s organisers, said the protests had long opposed free cars for MPs but had gathered new momentum as public grievances mounted. “People don’t have access to good education, water and sanitation…we have a lack of facilities, but they’re still creating so many laws to benefit themselves,” he told the BBC.

A student who declined to give her name said she had been hit by tear gas while near her university campus. “They wanted to buy luxury cars for work while their people are still suffering,” she told the BBC. Another demonstrator, 42-year-old Trinito Gaio, said rumours that the vehicles were already en route had driven him back into the streets: “This is why all of these students and myself are here today, to make sure my tax money is not going in the... wrong direction.”

The proposed purchase drew particular ire because lawmaker pay in Timor-Leste is high relative to average incomes. The Inter-Parliamentary Union reported an annual basic salary for MPs of about $36,000 in 2023, more than 10 times the country’s average income, which a 2021 government report put at roughly $3,000.

Demonstrations against free cars for MPs are not new in Timor-Leste. Protesters clashed with police in 2008 over plans to spend about $1 million on new vehicles, and students were arrested at that time. But organisers say the current wave has a broader base and reflects deeper social and economic frustrations in a country where more than 70% of the population is under 35 and where unemployment and inequality remain significant challenges.

Fidelis Leite Magalhães, a former minister and president of the Institute of Politics and International Affairs in Timor-Leste, said protests have become a familiar and accepted element of public life. “People are accustomed to the idea that protests are part of a democratic system,” he told the BBC, adding that life in Dili remained largely normal despite the large turnout.

Officials gave no immediate detail on alternatives to the scrapped purchase or on whether lawmakers would propose other benefits. Demonstrators have also demanded revision of a law that provides lifetime pensions to former members of parliament, a policy they say exacerbates the perception of privilege among elected officials.

Regional developments have echoed similar youth-led and anti-elite protests elsewhere in Asia in recent months, including large demonstrations in Nepal and Indonesia over perceived corruption, inequality and elite privilege. In Nepal, a week of unrest led to the rapid collapse of the country’s top political leadership, while in Indonesia cost-of-living pressures and anger at elites prompted mass rallies earlier this year.

As the parliamentary vote to cancel the vehicle purchase underscored, the government ultimately yielded to public pressure on the immediate issue. Protest organisers, however, warned they would keep mobilising until their broader demands — including pension reform and greater public investment in services — are addressed.