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If cheaper fights were offered from Australia then Timor Leste might see more tourists.

I loved my time in Papua New Guinea. I went prawn trawling on my friends trawler for 11 days in Gulf Of Papua off Kerema. I visited Bougainville in 1980 and helped with a Pidgin Radio broadcast on Radio Kalang. I visited many wonderful places from Vanimo to Rabaul, Mendi, Lae, Mt Hagen and along the Papuan coast. The place was truly uplifting for the warmth of the people once you were trusted by Papua New Guineans as a person there to help and not just chase the dollar. I was married while I was there and 3 of my kids were born at POMGH Maternity ward. I am still in touch with a number of my friends there after not being in PNG for 24 years. It really is an amazing place and yes I have seen the worst of it but still hold my time there dearly.

Carmen, Thank you for writing this positive article about PNG. PNG does suffer from too much negative coverage and those of us who have come to love the country and its people share your enthusiasm and vision for its future. While I acknowledge the many challenges PNG faces, I have no doubt that the resourcefulness of its diverse and resilient population will find culturally appropriate solutions to develop a fair and equitable society.

I am sorry to hear of your experience Jim - that must have been shocking. However I was not saying at all that every negative story on POM incenses me. But tragic and shocking crimes also happen here in Australia and women and men die here as a result - every day. What incenses me is the single image of PNG and Port Morseby which is perpetuated by a heavily vested interest, security industry, and the media. POM has its dangers and it would be naive to ignore them. What Carmen has done is present an alternative story of the vibrant and beautiful country which is PNG and a balanced account of living in Port Moresby in a way which respects the people whose country it is. It is still true that few expats have the sort of traumatic experience you had. The data does not lie.

Thank you , Carmen for writing this,. As a local born , bred and educated in this beautiful country that I call home,. it pains me when working , for an International Company,. my expat colleagues utter negative words about the country and its people,. it often hurts and I wonder if their homes are truly better than ours,. Or if they look beyond and see the beauty,. Thank you so much for your honesty and what you have written, it is uplifting to know that no everyone views the country with such narrow eyes,. I wish you Gods blessings as you stay in my home and if we ever do cross,. I would very much like to give a hug and take you home to meet my extended family and the beauty of the Land of the Bird of Paradise- PNG , especially the Papuan Coast,. where I am from

Carmen great article, I would also like to add it is not within the best interests of any of the "Security Agencies" to paint PNG and or Port Moresby as a safe and comfortable location to reside, first of all they would all be out of business if they did, so in effect the worse it appears from the outside the more money they make, why the PNG Govt continues to blame the "Foreign Media" for this is anyone's guess as from my perspective a person who was born and remains a resident of Port Moresby for the past 52 years the biggest culprit for PNG's or Port Moresby's bad name is the resident Security companies as they are the ones who work in tandem with "The foreign risk management" agencies to write up most of this negative rubbish. It is a huge multinational business with many shareholders in the UK, US and of course Australia who receive huge dividends based on PNG's bad international reputation....I accept Port Moresby has its crime issues not unlike many cities where people are hungry and have little hope, however I have traveled extensively and note there are many places in the US I would not walk after dark nor drive for that matter, so it is in fact all relative.

Hi Kate, I'll offer some thoughts below re Timor Leste's economy, though better informed people than me have probably already discussed these ideas and many others. One thought re Timor Leste's economy is that it's right next door to some pretty tough competition. Indonesia can produce almost anything more cheaply than Timor Leste and with a more pliant, better skilled workforce. Timor Leste may have to content itself with niche markets, where its competitive advantage is not regarding price but regarding its uniqueness. The obvious example is Timor Leste coffee, which can compete against Indonesian coffee because of its established reputation from Portuguese times, its use of overwhelmingly organic farming methods, certain countries' sympathies with Timor Leste, etc. Perhaps other Timor Leste agricultural products could exploit similar themes to be marketed overseas. If Timor Leste's sandalwood or teak industry ever recover, its reputation with these industries may help with marketing. If it can produce these while complying with international conservation standards, that'll probably also give it a marketing edge over Indonesian wood. Tourism needs to emphasise the things that Indonesia hasn't got: the Portuguese architectural and cultural heritage, various sites connected with the history of resistance to Indonesian rule, and (up until recently) less traffic. I'm sure there are other niche markets. Fishing has potential but policing Timorese waters could be expensive. In addition to Timorese fishing fleets, maybe Timor Leste could sell fishing rights to some larger companies from just one or two countries. The companies or even their governments could then assist with policing. Then there are dodgier schemes like a tax haven or money laundering facilities. Maybe that's the only way the Oi Cussi special economic zone will ever be profitable. A final thought is that more of Timor Leste's money needs to be spent domestically. Currently, middle class Timorese do their shopping sprees overseas and international advisers send large amounts to overseas bank accounts. It's not inconceivable that a 'playground for the rich' could be set up on Atauro Island or the lake at Maubara. It might become a centre of vice but at least it would keep more money in-country.

I lived in Port Moresby for 11 years and had to leave as I was attacked by 3 men who were after my car in my front yard. One had a machete and I lost my left hand when he tried to strike my head with it. I was well known and had many Papua New Guinean friends right up to the ex GG Sir Tore Lokoloko. Unfortunately some of these incidents do occur and I was extremely vigilant around my home, travelling at night and while at work. I hold no-one other than the 3 who attacked me responsible for the attack. This is a horror story as it took 14 operations to my left hand over 2 1/2 years before I finally recovered. But to label every negative story as one that would incense you is going a bit far.

Dear Carmen - thank you for posting this account of your time in Port Morseby. I too loved Port Morseby and lived there for 7 years until April this year. I worked in the law and justice program so the horror stories always found their way to our in-boxes. I loved the city, the harbor, the people and its vibrancy. Many of my friends felt likewise. My two adult children visited several times and loved POM too, choosing to stay in POM on one visits o they could experience everything POM could offer. I found a local driver and guides who gave them the best time possible. I had a couple of minor incidents during that time but was never hurt. Few expats ever are. The security industry and many expats have a lot to answer for Port Morseby's image. I learned so much culturally whilst i was there - one of the most lasting was how damaging it is for the people of a nation when other (almost always expats) people write negative stories about their country - whilst benefiting financially themselves. I hated the horror stories - they still incense me. I had my car stolen in Canberra and know of quite a few incidents where friends or family members have been hurt through crimes in Australia. No-one would dare write Australia off as a place to visit. Thank you for writing this and enjoy the rest of your time there.

Terry you raise some very important points, but I cannot help but feel you have missed the main one. That is the enormous effort required to achieve political, social and economic stability in a diverse post conflict state. That vibrancy of small town Malaysia not evident in rural Timor-Leste is not at all surprising to me. The last 12 years have been an entirely different journey for these two nations. While much more needs to be done, I think more credit could be afforded the government for its efforts post 2006: Re-building everything from scratch, healing a traumatised population, maintaining peace and investing in human resources to build the capacity of the civil service. All of this takes money, time, conviction and support. As you point out the money is there (and again we should celebrate the accumulation of the oil funds which is nothing short of miraculous in a newly established political culture). From what I have witnessed* so too is the conviction of government. The analysis considers domestic capacity improvements as part of the machinery required to install the desired improvements and outcomes in rural life. I guess my point is that the political will to quarantine revenues from resource sectors is never a given. Even a couple of billion USD in sovereign wealth seems like a titanic effort by anyone’s standards but more particularly in a new nation. The measures for relative development progress employed here seem narrow. Concrete floors, greater rights and freedoms, less sick families, bums on desks in classrooms with truly qualified (and paid) teachers can't possibly be captured in an image like this. Perhaps more time and support will overcome your disappointments, and more importantly see a greater transfer of benefits to the people of Timor-Leste. For an alternative journey down memory lane you may want to have a look at this <a href="http://pacificpolitics.com/slideshows/timor/" rel="nofollow">multimedia essay</a>. *FULL DISCLOSURE: The Pacific Institute of Public Policy (PiPP) is supporting the government of Timor-Leste on the Post 2015 Development Agenda. Dan McGarry, the author of the multimedia essay, also works at PiPP.

Really interesting insight into contemporary rural Timor Leste. I wonder how much development can come from businesses other than resource exploitation, though? What are your thoughts on this?

Hi David, I think your comment is a bit dismissive of the potential of complexity, and just wanted to come back to share my thoughts on your points: 1. Some of the best complexity work in development has utilised models AND participatory processes - a number of which I reference in my book, and have been involved in developing. IDS is doing some especially interesting work in this area, led by Danny Burns, which has informed, among other things, the Participate programme: http://www.ids.ac.uk/participate 2. Some of the most powerful applications of complexity thinking have come from the private sector - use of agent-based modelling in strategy, system dynamics in supply chain management, network analysis in marketing and social media, etc. When I worked with DFID to apply some of these approaches in their programme on wealth creation, most of the people who came on board to support the work had long experience in the private sector. 3. Complexity science is being utilised in the West - and there many examples of programmes and funding streams. It's not mainstream, granted. But neither is it non-existent. To take just one example, the OECD Science Group published this paper in 2009, and has continued to develop this area: http://www.oecd.org/science/sci-tech/43891980.pdf 4. You are right that Western countries didn't need complexity to help their development. But taking this to its logical conclusion leads one to a rather odd place (a) we should only be using things in development that worked in the West and (b) we shouldn't have any methodological or theoretical innovation that is specific to the challenges we face in development. Moreover, if you are going to apply this particular empirical criteria to the entirety of development policy and practice, what do you think would be left?