Abel Pires

Abel Pires da Silva (; born 24 May 1976) is an East Timorese computer scientist and politician. From March 2022 to July 2023, he was Minister of Public Works in the VIII Constitutional Government of East Timor led by Prime Minister Taur Matan Ruak.

At the age of 41 he was one of the youngest members of the National Parliament.

Early life and education Seran Toza Lialuli was born on the Foho Taroman mountain in southwest East Timor. During this time, the country was under Indonesian annexation, driving many residents to seek refuge in the wild. When Silva joined in the Catholic primary school, which demanded a Christian name, he changed to his current name. He moved to Dili at the age of 14, where he excelled in a computer course and graduated at the top of his class. Silva continued his education in Diponegoro University in Semarang with scholarship from the then Provincial Government of Timor-Timur, where he earned a BA in Engineering.

It is during his study at this university that he became very active in the Timor-Leste's resistance movements. Merely 3 months after arriving in Semarang, he joined the resistance movement as a sworn member of Resistência Nacional dos Estudantes de Timor-Leste (National Resistance of East Timorese Students) – RENETIL adopting a clandestine name, nom de guerre of "Lalehan Novembro" (LANOVE) or "November Sky".

He received most of his political trainings in this Timor-Leste's formal resistance organisation. In early 1997 at the age of 20 years old, he was entrusted by his fellow sworn members (membro jurados) to take the responsibility as their Vice-Responsável Principal to lead RENETIL's branch in Semarang city until Timor-Leste restored its formal independence in 2002, following the referendum in 1999. This video is one of many public demonstrations participated and/or led by Abel Lanove in Jakarta demanding for Timor-Leste's rights for self-determination.

He received his first Australia Awards scholarship in 2005 and enrolled at Swinburne University of Technology in Melbourne to pursue a master's degree in information technology. Then, in 2009, he received a second scholarship and attended The Australian National University (ANU) in Canberra from July 2010 to July 2014, earning his PhD in information systems

Academic publications In collaborations with his academic mentor, Professor Emeritus Walter Fernandez, Abel Pires da Silva has published a number of academic articles in prestigious and leading conferences in the Information Systems discipline such as the European Conference on Informations Systems (ECIS), Americas Conference on Information Systems (AMCIS), the Hawaii International Conference on System Sciences (HICSS) and the Working Group on the Implications of Information and Digital Technologies for Development (IFIP 9.4) conference. Below are several selected academic articles:

1. "Sharing Wisdoms from the East”: Developing a Native Theory of ICT4D Using Grounded Theory Methodology (GTM)-Experience from Timor-Leste, the First IFIP9.4 Virtual Conference on Implications of Information and Digital Technologies for Development, 2021.

3. ICT for Development and Self-serving International Agencies: No Free-lunch Even in a Shattered Tropical Paradise, the Americas Conference on Information Systems (AMCIS), Cancun-Mexico, 2019. He later served as the National Directorate of Informatics at the Universidade Nacionál Timór Lorosa'e (UNTL) in 2015 as Director of Information and Communication Technology. Last but not least, he has served as Senior Telecommunications Adviser in Inácio Moreira's office since February 2016 as the second Deputy Minister of Transport and Communications.

Silva ran for the People's Liberation Party (PLP) on the seventh list in the 2017 East Timorese parliamentary election, winning a seat in the country's national parliament. He was elected to lead the Commission for Infrastructure, Transport, and Communications from this position. He was ranked number 40 on the Aliança para Mudança e Progresso (AMP), a list that the PLP, CNRT, and KHUNTO jointly put together, however he was unable to get a seat in the 2018 East Timorese parliamentary election. He was elected to the National Security Council and served as president of the Infrastructure Commission. Silva was sworn in as the next Minister of Public Works on 22 March 2022.

Silva failed to recover position 31 on the PLP list in the 2023 East Timorese parliamentary election since the party only garnered four MPs. His tenure as Minister ended when the IX Constitutional Government took office on 1 July 2023. He was succeeded by Samuel Marçal.