Minister of Defense (East Timor)

The Minister of Defense (Portuguese: Ministro da Defesa, Tetum: Ministru Defeza) is a senior member of the Constitutional Government of East Timor heading the Ministry of Defense.

Minister of Defense
Ministro da Defesa (Portuguese) Ministru Defeza (Tetum)
Coat of Arms of East Timor
Flag of East Timor
Incumbent Pedro Klamar Fuik [de] since 1 July 2023
Ministry of Defense
Style	Minister (informal) His Excellency (formal, diplomatic)
Member of	the government
Reports to	Prime minister
Appointer	President (following proposal by the Prime minister)
Formation	1975 / 2005
First holder	Rogerio Lobato (1975) Roque Félix Rodrigues (2005)
Website	Official website

Functions

Under the Constitution of East Timor, the Minister has the power and the duty:

1. to implement the policy defined for the Ministry of Defense;
2. to ensure relations between the Government and the other organs of the State in the area of responsibility of the Ministry.^[1]

Where the Minister is in charge of the subject matter of a government statute, the Minister is also required, together with the Prime Minister, to sign the statute.^[1]

Incumbent

The incumbent Minister of Defense is Pedro Klamar Fuik [de].^[2][3]

List of ministers

The following individuals have been appointed as the minister:

No.	Party		Minister	Portrait	Title	Government (Prime Minister)	Term start	Term end	Term in office
1		Fretilin	Rogerio Lobato		Minister of National Defense	1975 CoM (Lobato)	1 December 1975	17 December 1975	16 days
1975–1999: Indonesian occupation of East Timor
2		Independent	Roque Félix Rodrigues		Minister of Defence	I Constitutional (Alkatiri)	26 July 2005	1 June 2006	310 days
(acting)			José Ramos-Horta				1 June 2006	10 June 2006	9 days
3						II Constitutional (Ramos-Horta)	10 July 2006	19 May 2007	313 days
4		Fretilin	Estanislau da Silva			III Constitutional (da Silva)	19 May 2007	8 August 2007	81 days
5		CNRT	Xanana Gusmão		Minister of Defense	IV Constitutional (Gusmão)	8 August 2007	8 August 2012	7 years, 192 days
					Minister of Defence and Security	V Constitutional (Gusmão)	8 August 2012	16 February 2015
6			Cirilo Cristóvão		Minister of Defence	VI Constitutional (Araújo)	16 February 2015	3 October 2017	2 years, 229 days
7		Fretilin	Agostinho Sequeira Somotxo		Minister of Defence and Security	VII Constitutional (Alkatiri)	3 October 2017	22 June 2018	262 days
8		Independent	Filomeno da Paixão de Jesus		Minister of Defense	VIII Constitutional (Ruak)	22 June 2018	1 July 2023	5 years, 9 days
9			Pedro Klamar Fuik [de]			IX Constitutional (Gusmão)	1 July 2023	Incumbent	1 year, 143 days

See also

• Timor Leste Defence Force

References

1. "Constitution of East Timor, Section 117" (PDF). Government of Timor-Leste. 20 May 2002. Retrieved 25 March 2022. This article incorporates text from this source, which is in the public domain.
2. Martins, Filomeno (30 June 2023). "The list of structure of IX Constitutional Government announced in Official Gazette". Tatoli. Retrieved 1 July 2023.
3. Sousa, Nelson de (1 July 2023). "PR Horta sei akompaña serbisu IX Governu" [President Horta will accompany the work of the IX Government] (in Tetum). Tatoli. Retrieved 1 July 2023.

External links

Media related to Ministers of Defence of East Timor at Wikimedia Commons

• Ministry of Defense – official site (in Tetum)