Madalena Boavida

Maria Madalena Brites Boavida is an East Timorese politician, a member of FRETILIN, and a former Minister of Planning and Finance in the National Parliament of East Timor.

Biography

Boavida comes from the present municipality of Ermera.^[1] Thanks to a scholarship in 1974, she was given the opportunity to study in Portugal.^[1] There she came into contact with students from the African colonies of Portugal and the local independence movements,^[1] after which she also supported the independence of Portuguese Timor. However, FRETILIN's unilateral declaration of independence from Portugal in November 1975 was rapidly followed by the Indonesian invasion of East Timor. Boavida belonged to the so-called Maputo group of FRETILIN members,^[2] including Marí Alkatiri (later prime minister), which spent much of the occupation (1975-1999) in Mozambique.

Boavida was the finance director of the Timor Gap Authority,^[3][4] which administered the Timor Gap Treaty, under which Indonesia and Australia jointly exploited the oil and gas fields in the disputed maritime area known as the Timor Gap.

Following the resignation of Fernanda Borges,^[3][4] Boavida became the Timor-Leste Minister of Finance^[2][3][4][5] on 30 April 2002,^[6] while the country was still under the administration of the United Nations. From 20 May 2002, when Timor-Leste became independent, she became Minister of Planning and Finance,^[7] and held that office until 8 August 2007,^[8][9][10] when FRETILIN had to relinquish government after losing its absolute majority in the 2007 parliamentary elections. The next Minister of Finance was Emília Pires.^[11]

In 2013, Boavida was appointed as a non-executive member of the Council of the Central Bank of East Timor. She was re-appointed in 2016.^[12]

References

1. Loney, Hannah (March 2015). "'The Target of a Double Exploitation': Gender and Nationalism in Portuguese Timor, 1974–75". Intersections: Gender and Sexuality in Asia and the Pacific (37). Retrieved 9 August 2019.
2. Kingsbury, D. (2009). East Timor: The Price of Liberty. Springer. p. 106. ISBN 9780230621718. Retrieved 9 August 2019.
3. "Boavida To Replace Critical Borges at Finance Ministry". ETAN. 23 April 2002. Retrieved 9 August 2019.
4. "VIEIRA DE MELLO NAMES NEW EAST TIMOR FINANCE MINISTER". United Nations Peacekeeping. Dili. 23 April 2002. Retrieved 9 August 2019.
5. Simião, Daniel Schroeter (2009). "III 2. Equal Before the Law, Unequal In the Community: Education and Social Construction of Female Authority in East Timor". In Sarmento, Clara (ed.). Women in the Portuguese Colonial Empire: The Theatre of Shadows. Cambridge Scholars Publishing. p. 226. ISBN 9781443807142. Retrieved 9 August 2019.
6. "II UNTAET Transitional Government. Sworn into office April 30th, 2002". Government of Timor-Leste. Retrieved 9 August 2019.
7. "I Constitutional Government. Sworn into office on May 20th 2002". Government of Timor-Leste. Retrieved 9 August 2019.
8. "II Constitutional Government. Sworn into office on July 10th, 2006". Government of Timor-Leste. Retrieved 9 August 2019.
9. "III Constitutional Government. Sworn into office on May 18th, 2007". Government of Timor-Leste. Retrieved 9 August 2019.
10. Hasegawa, Sukehiro (2018). Routledge Revivals: Peacebuilding and National Ownership in Timor-Leste (2013). Routledge. ISBN 9781351060134. Retrieved 9 August 2019.
11. "IV Constitutional Government". Government of Timor-Leste. Retrieved 9 August 2019.
12. "PRIMEIRO MINISTRO : Despacho No. 46/2016/XII/PM" (PDF). Jornal da República. II (50): 9548. 23 December 2016. Retrieved 9 August 2019.