East Timor scraps lifetime pensions after protests

East Timor voted on Friday to scrap the lifetime pension law for MPs and public officials, following student-led demonstrations against lavish perks in one of Southeast Asia's poorest countries.

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East Timorese protesters ride motorbikes during a motorcade through the streets of Dili on Friday.

(AFP)

Former MPs and some public officials are entitled under a law passed in 2006 to a pension equivalent to their salary.

But 62 members of parliament voted unanimously on Friday to pass a new law that scrapped lifetime pensions for MPs, former presidents, prime ministers and cabinet ministers.

"To all university students, your demands have been fulfilled. Please stop the demonstrations," Olinda Guterres, an MP from the Khunto party, said after the vote.