"Protests erupted in East Timor's capital Dili after a budget item, approved last year, assigned $4.2m to buy Toyota Prado SUVs for each of East Timor's 65 members of parliament, at a cost of $61,500 per vehicle. The plan triggered widespread anger in a nation where more than 40 percent of the population lives in poverty, according to World Bank statistics. Thousands of demonstrators took to the streets on September 15 demanding that parliamentarians vote to cancel the plan."
"Lawmakers in East Timor have voted to end a law providing lifetime pensions for parliamentarians, following student-led demonstrations against lavish perks for public officials in one of Southeast Asia's poorest countries. Former members of parliament (MPs) and some public officials were entitled under a 2006 law to a lifetime pension equivalent to their salary. But, on Friday, 62 MPs unanimously passed a law scrapping their lifetime pensions, as well as for former presidents, prime ministers and cabinet ministers."
Lawmakers in East Timor voted to end a law that granted lifetime pensions to former MPs and certain public officials, removing benefits introduced in 2006. The move followed large student-led demonstrations triggered by a budget allocation of $4.2m to buy Toyota Prado SUVs for 65 MPs, at $61,500 each. Protesters, citing widespread poverty affecting over 40 percent of the population, also demanded cancellation of lifetime pensions and health allowances for lawmakers. On Friday, 62 MPs unanimously passed the pension-scrapping law covering former presidents, prime ministers and cabinet ministers. The law awaits signature by President Jose Ramos Horta.
Read at www.aljazeera.com
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