Since the security crisis of 2006–07, the East Timoresegovernment has increasingly relied upon cash paymentschemes to mitigate further conflict and to providea form of social security. A series of schemes haveprovided payments to different groups, including:people displaced by the crisis, the military officersthat helped inflame the crisis, the elderly and disabled,and female-headed households with school-agedchildren. By far the most significant — and expensive— scheme provides pensions to veterans of the resistancestruggle against the Indonesian occupation. Thispaper highlights who is benefiting from the veterans’pension scheme and who is missing out, and examinessome of the potential long-term ramifications.