独立から10年、観光地としての東ティモール

　旅の筆者が訪れた東ティモールは今年、独立国家となって10年を迎えました。インドネシア領西ティモールとの国境付近など一部を除き、治安は概ね安定しているようです。開発が進んだ他のアジアの観光地とは違い、手つかずのままの南国の景観が楽しめるそうです。

　東ティモールの空の玄関口「プレジデンテ・ニコラウ・ロバト空港」は、バリ島やシンガポール、オーストラリアのダーウィン空港と定期便で結ばれています。到着した空港から首都ディリに向かう途中、筆者の目をまず引いたのは、野菜やテレホンカード、タバコなどを道端で売る行商の姿でした。

　そして運転手に勧められ、海沿いの道路を走りました。青く澄んだバンダ海に面した海岸沿いには、小さな商店や市場が並んでいます。筆者はそこで小さな豆腐工場を見つけました。豆腐職人らは写真を撮ってほしいとせがみ、筆者が写した彼らの表情を見ると、東ティモールの人びとの人懐っこさがよく分かります。

　ポルトガル、日本、そしてインドネシアに占領や併合された歴史をもつ東ティモールですが、そうした歴史をしのばせる場所がいくつかあります。そのひとつが、ファツカマの岬に立つ、高さ27メートルのキリスト像です。ポルトガル領時代が長かったことから、東ティモール国民の多くはカトリックです。しかし、この巨大なキリスト像は、実はイスラム教徒が多数を占めるインドネシア政府が1996年に建造したものです。東ティモール併合20年の際、「27番目の州」という意味も込め、住民を懐柔しようと作ったそうです。また、ディリ郊外には旧日本軍が作った壕（ごう）も残っています。（柄）

　In the decades prior to independence in 1999, the Southeast Asian island nation of East Timor experienced a near genocide in which the Indonesian army killed over 100,000 people. Even with such a past, my weeklong visit to the capital of Dili reveals it to be a vibrant city of hope amid a backdrop of astounding natural beauty.

　East Timor exists as a nation of immense poverty in which a large part of the population of 1.2 million relies on agriculture and rudimentary commerce. That becomes clear upon my exit from the parking lot of Dili's Presidente Nicolau Lobato International Airport, which is served by flights from Singapore, Darwin and Bali.

　A common sight are peddlers selling leafy vegetables, pre-paid phone cards, Indonesian cigarettes, or cold drinks along the edge of one of the city's hot and dusty streets as motorbikes and cars fly past.

　The driver of my four-wheel-drive vehicle suggests a jaunt along the coast. Here, rows of freshly caught fish are on display at a number of small stalls as waves lap up on the shore. I approach one as a female customer looks over the merchandise.

　"It's tongkol. Five for three dollars," says the merchant, referring to the U.S. currency and a fish that is basically a small, silvery tuna. He then waves a stick at flies circling through the humid air as the woman makes her selections.

　As rain begins to fall, I enter a muddy market nestled under a series of large trees. Nuts, meat, and fruit, are among the items on sale. In the back is a tofu factory whose three lean-bodied employees are eager to be photographed as clouds of steam rise from the boiling soy milk. As with many locals, they do not speak English, but are all smiles after seeing their faces appear on the screen of my digital camera.

　My driver and I then zip up a winding mountain road to a perch overlooking Dili Bay. Large cargo ships sit idly, anchored off the coast. Just behind me, goats are climbing the rocky bank.

巨大なキリスト像

　This spot is not far from one of Dili's top tourist activities: the hike up approximately 500 stairs to the 27-meter tall Jesus Christ statue on top of Cape Fatucama. After centuries as a Portuguese colony, Indonesia began its occupation of East Timor in 1975. The statue, featuring Christ outstretched and standing atop a globe, was built by Indonesia in the mid-1990s to appeal to East Timor's Catholic majority.

　My visit to Dili coincides with East Timor's second presidential election since independence from Indonesia. The streets are especially festive and jammed with citizens waving flags and sporting colorful masks and face paint to promote their candidate of choice.

　On the day before the election, I am introduced to an eager voter, a female administrative assistant at a construction company. "We want our country to develop, to come out of poverty," explains the 23-year-old. "We want to support the president in order to make our nation at the same level as others. That is the hope of the people of East Timor."

　Election day is quiet, with many businesses shutting down. The next day I decide to attend a popular recreation for men: cockfighting.

　Participants begin arriving at the stone-covered ground with cigarettes dangling from their lips and birds nestled in their arms in the early afternoon. Dozens of them slowly gather around the chicken-wire pit to wager fists of U.S. cash on the gruesome proceedings that will unfold throughout the rest of the day. One is a 50-year-old Malaysian who works in the car repair business. His bird draws first blood, the mark of victory.

　Foreigners are counted upon in many ways to spend money. Vehicles from the U.N., which supported East Timor before and after nationhood in 2002, and various NGOs can be seen parked in front of the small hotels, bars, restaurants and cafes throughout the city.

　Locals, however, tend to occupy small dwellings in outlying villages, many along the edges of rivers that flow down from the green mountains into the bay. On a drive up the bank of the lower reaches of the raging Benamauk River, I see children bathing naked and mothers washing clothes in shallow pools.

　I think back to this scene the next day, when a 22-year-old clerk at a DVD store selling bootlegged versions of many Hollywood films ($1.25 each) exp-lains that many of his customers are residents in villages. He says that popular selections include titles from "The Muppets" and "The Smurfs" series of cartoons.

　I purchase "Scarface" and "Citizen Kane." I then ask him what he would like to see for East Timor in the future.

　He pauses for a bit, shakes his head, and then says, "It's a slow process. It takes time."