[asia-apec 212] SMEAR CAMPAIGN BY JAKARTA AGAINST JOSE RAMOS-HORTA

[sonny at nation.nationgroup.com]

(Please respond immediately. Reply to editor at nation.nationgroup.com)


LETTER TO THE EDITOR, THE NATION,BANGKOK,

Wednesday, October 30, 1996, FROM INDONESIAN EMBASSY, BANGKOK.
--------------------------------------------------------------

Ramos-Horta not deserving of peace prize
----------------------------------------

The Nobel Prize Committee announced its decision to award Bishop Carlos
Felipe Ximenes Belo and Jose Ramos-Horta, in two equal parts, the Nobel
Peace Prize for 1996.

The Indonesian government has always shared Bishop Belo's determination to
enhance the welfare and well-being of the people of East Timor and to
ensure that they live in peace in an atmosphere of religious freedom and
tolerance. The growth in the number of adherents of the Catholic religion
and other religions in East Timor as well as the dramatic increase in the
number of churches in the province attests to this fact.

The Indonesian government, however, has been astounded and surprised at
the reason given for the award to Bishop Belo and Ramos-Horta. It has been
announced that the award was for their "sacrifices for the oppressed
people of East Timor." This is not true, for in no way are the people of
East Timor being oppressed.

The Indonesian government has always given the highest priority to the
social and economic welfare of the people of East Timor.

The record shows that it was only when East Timor integrated itself with
Indonesia that the East Timorese began to enjoy universal suffrage,
adequate political representation in decision-making centres of
government, and real opportunities for socio-economic upliftment so that
they could break away from the stagnation that had been the result of
centuries of exploitation by the former colonial power.

In fact, during the last meeting of the UN-facilitated all-inclusive
intra-East Timorese dialogue in Burg Schalining, Austra on March 22,
1996, East Timorese representing all shades of opinions, including
Ramos-Horta, stated that they were "encouraged by the substantial role of
the East Timorese in the administration and development of East Timor."

The Nobel Prize Committee has also stated that Bishop Belo has "tried to
create a just settlement based on his people's right to
self-determination". On this matter, it is pertinent to note that Bishop
Belo himself, in his pastoral letter of August 1994, took the position
that he opposed referendum in East Timor as he believed that it would lead
to renewed civil war in the province.

Bishop Belo has also supported endeavours at reconciliation among the East
Timorese, a process that the Indonesian government has whole-heartedly
encouraged, supported, and promoted.

What the Indonesian government finds difficult to understand is the choice
of Ramos-Horta as recipient of the Nobel Peace prize along with Bishop
Belo.

Ramos-Horta was a key leader of the Fretilin, a radical and violent
political group which was responsible for unspeakable atrocities
perpetrated on a massive scale against their fellow East Timorese when
they briefly took control of East Timor by force until mid-1975. Bishop
Belo himself publicly condemned the brutality of that brief rule by the
Fretilin.

As a key member of the central committeee of the Fretilin at the time of
the atrocities, Ramos-Horta has yet to account for his complicity and
responsibility in that bloodbath. Thousands of widows and orphans of the
Fretilin massacre are still alive today and are easily accessible for
testimony. It is perhaps the ultimate irony that the person whose hands
are stained with the blood of Fretilin's reign of terror should be the
recipient of the Nobel Peace Prize.

It is no wonder, therefore, that his claims to being a spokesman for the
people of East Timor has been firmly and repeatedly rejected by the
overwhelming majority of East Timorese people.

The Nobel Prize Committee has also mistakenly cited Ramos-Horta for making
a significant contribution through "reconciliation talks and by working
out a peace plan for the region."

In fact, Ramos-Horta would have nothing to do with the ongoing
all-inclusive East Timorese Dialogue (AIETD) when the idea was being
developed, although he was finally persuaded to participate, perhaps
because he thought that he could inflict more damage to the process by
joining it.

His behaviour during the deliberations of the AIETD has been disruptive
and served mainly to sow confusion and raise tensions.

The Nobel Peace Prize may have been awarded to Ramos-Horta, a man whose
career has been devoted to subverting peace, but there is nothing he can
do with the prize that will raise his dismal record of his past misdeeds.

                                           Madam Sri Rahayu Poernomo
                                           Minister Counsellor
                                           (information)
                                           Indonesian Embassy
                                            BANGKOK.
                                            Fax:662-255-1267.
                                            600-602, Petchburi Road
                                            Bangkok 10400, THAILAND